Altrok Radio's Grind-Up For 2007

The following were judged by our panel of expert (sic) to be the most interesting, intriguing songs played on the Altrok Radio stream in 2007. We realize, and encourage, the fact that your mileage may vary.

1: Le Sac, Dan & Scroobius Pip - Thou Shalt Always Kill - MP3 Single

2: Wombats, The - Let's Dance To Joy Division - A Guide To Love, Loss And Desperation

3: LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends - Sound Of Silver

4: Maps - You Dont Know Her Name - We Can Create

5: Modest Mouse - Dashboard - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank

6: Interpol - The Heinrich Maneuver - Our Love To Admire

7: Editors - An End Has A Start - An End Has A Start

8: New Young Pony Club - Get Lucky - Fantastic Playroom

9: Arcade Fire, The - Intervention - Neon Bible

10: Wire - 23 Years Too Late - Read & Burn 03

11: Radiohead - Bodysnatchers - In Rainbows

12: Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby - Yours Truly, Angry Mob

13: Bjork - Earth Intruders - Volta

14: Bloc Party - The Prayer - A Weekend In The City

15: Arctic Monkeys - Flourescent Adolescent - Favourite Worst Nightmare

16: GoodBooks - Passchendaele - 7'' Single

17: Wombats, The - Backfire At The Disco - CD Single

18: Air Traffic - Charlotte - CD Single

19: Tokyo Police Club - Your English Is Good - 7'' Single

20: National, The - Mistaken For Strangers - Boxer

21: Cajun Dance Party - Amylase - CD Single

22: LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum - Sound Of Silver

23: Jakobinarina - This Is An Advertisement - The First Crusade

24: Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing! - 7'' Single

25: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Weapon Of Choice - Baby 81

26: Siouxsie - Into A Swan - Mantaray

27: Maximo Park - Girls Who Play Guitars - Our Earthly Pleasures

28: !!! - Heart of Hearts - Myth Takes

29: Killers, The - Shadowplay - Sawdust

30: Nash, Kate - Foundations - CD Single

31: Art Brut - Direct Hit - It's A Bit Complicated [Unmixed Advance EP]

32: Los Campesinos! - We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives - 7'' Single

33: Arcade Fire, The - No Cars Go - Neon Bible

34: Middleton, Malcom - A Brighter Beat - A Brighter Beat

35: Le Sac, Dan & Scroobius Pip - Beat That My Heart Skipped - 7'' Single

36: Reverend And The Makers - Heavywight Champion of the World - Ten Songs

37: Feist - My Man My Moon - The Reminder

38: Spoon - The Underdog - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

39: CSS - Off The Hook - Cansei De Ser Sexy

40: Lean, Joe and the Jing Jang Jong - Lucio Starts Fires - 7'' Single

41: Editors - Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors - An End Has A Start

42: Digitalism - Pogo - Idealism

43: Bird And The Bee, The - Again & Again - The Bird And The Bee

44: Depeche Mode - Martyr - The Best Of, Volume 1

45: Harris, Calvin - Merrymaking At My Place - I Created Disco

46: National, The - Fake Empire - The Boxer

47: Klaxons - Atlantis To Interzone - Myths Of The Near Future

48: British Sea Power - Atom - Krankenhaus [EP]

49: Payne, Candie - All I Need To Hear - I Wish I Could Have Loved You More

50: Babyshambles - Delivery - Shotter's Nation

51: Blakes, The - Don't Want That Now - The Blakes

52: !!! - Must Be The Moon - Myth Takes

53: Ting Tings, The - That's Not My Name - 7'' Single

54: Arctic Monkeys - Brianstorm - Favourite Worst Nightmare

55: Winehouse, Amy - Rehab - Back To Black

56: Sky Larkin - Molten - Molten (7'' Single)

57: Architecture In Helsinki - Heart It Races - Heart It Races

58: Maximo Park - Our Velocity - Our Earthly Pleasures

59: Hadouken! - That Boy That Girl - 7'' Single

60: Foals - Hummer - Foals

61: Harris, Calvin - Acceptable In The 80s - I Created Disco

62: Winehouse, Amy - Tears Dry On Their Own - Back To Black

63: Tokyo Police Club - Cheer It On - A Lesson In Crime

64: Chiara L's, The - Kate's Kid - 7'' Single

65: Severy, James - Do The Circus Circus - 7'' Single

66: Apples In Stereo, The - Skyway - New Magnetic Wonder

67: Shy Child - Drop The Phone - I Was Here

68: New Young Pony Club - The Bomb - CD Single

69: Blood Red Shoes - It's Getting Boring By The Sea - CD Single

70: Shins, The - Australia - Wincing the Night Away

71: Middleton, Malcolm - We're All Going To Die - A Brighter Beat

72: Twisted Wheel - You Stole The Sun - MP3 Demo

73: Answering Machine, The - Silent Hotels - CD Single

74: Interpol - Who Do You Think - Our Love To Admire

75: Futureheads, The - Broke Up The Time - Downloadable Single

76: Foals - Mathletics - 7'' Single

77: Bloc Party - Hunting For Witches - A Weekend In The City

78: Maccabees, The - Precious Time - 7'' Single

79: Blood Red Shoes - You Bring Me Down - 7'' Single

80: Babyshambles - The Blinding - The Blinding [EP]

81: Moving Units - The Kids From Orange County - Hexes For Exes

82: Cook, Bobby - Deja Vu - Deja Vu [CD Single]

83: Penate, Jack - Second Minute Or Hour - CD Single

84: Video Nasties, The - Accessory - The Shed Sessions [EP]

85: Xerox Teens - Onkawara - 7'' Single

86: Little Man Tate - House Party At Boothy's - Man I Hate Your Band

87: VHS Or Beta - Burn It All Down - Bring On The Comets

88: Gram - The Joke Is On Me - Advance Track

89: Teddybears - Punkrocker (radio edit feat. Iggy Pop) - Soft Machine

90: Hitchcock, Robyn - Underground Sun (with The Venus Three) - Ole! Tarantula

91: KMFDM - Looking For Strange - Tohuvabohu

92: Cook, Bobby - Gone So Far - CD Single

93: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Need Some Air - Baby 81

94: Dead Disco - You're Out - CD Single

95: Late Of The Pier - Space And The Woods - CD Single

96: Bjork - Innocence - Volta

97: Cooper, Amy - Come Alive - Mirrors

98: Mr. Fogg - Seciov - Seciov (7'' Single)

99: Maximo Park - Books From Boxes - Our Earthly Pleasures

100: Ronson, Mark - Stop Me (feat. Daniel Merriweather) - Version

Two Thumbs Up For New Wave Sex Dwarf

A month or so ago Sean posted an invite for Sex Dwarf, Philadelphia's long running New Wave dance party at club Fluid. I meant to check it out last month, but life got in the way, and I had to wait until last Friday.

This time I was all ready, and had my boots and black t-shirt on by eight thirty. I arrived in Philly a little after nine, and drove right past the place on 4th street, since it had no signage to show me where it was. Parking was a bit of an adventure, but fortunately when I found a spot by the river, the parking meters allowed you to dump in as much money as you like so I plugged in three hours worth of change and hiked the six blocks or so back to the club.

I got in just before ten so there was no five buck cover. I walked up a short flight of steps which opened to a cozy little dancefloor, all wood, very old city feel. I checked my coat and surveyed the space--intimate, nice bar, several warrens for chilling on plush couches, not bad at all. Initially I was concerned about the lack of dancefloor space, it seemed very limited. How rocking could this place be with such a small dancefloor? Duh, it wasn't really much different than the Melody dancefloor.

I made my way onto the all but empty dancefloor and staked out an area near the wall opposite the bar in a little rounded corner. The crowd was definitely a new wave crowd with plenty of people dressed in the fashion of the day. This was clearly a devoted scene and I had a good feeling about it. So far the music hadn't really been too inspiring, but it was authentic new wave, and the DJ allowed songs to end before starting the next one, which is always a good sign.

It wasn't long before things started to take off. The first track to get me going was Talk Talk's It's My Life. Right after that they played The Selecter, the Jam, the Buzzcocks, Devo and Come On Eileen. Within a few minutes I was sweaty, happy and dancing like it was 1982. Life was good. Late in the evening the new DJ played a lot of what I call alternative (as opposed to new wave) like Depeche Mode, Echo and The Bunnymen and the Smiths.

I stayed till about midnight by which time the place was packed. The vibe was great, the crowd full of energy. Everyone knew every song and how to dance to everything. Towards the end of the night I spent a good fifteen minutes on the raised platform which gave me room to move at my speed without causing too many casualties. By twelve I was pretty spent, the sure sign of a good time. I gathered my coat and headed down the steps to the street with the sounds of Love Shack fading behind the door. I walked the cold blocks to my car happy and tired, knowing I would be back again to this event for sure.

For anyone looking for an authentic trip back to the New Wave and early Alternative era, this event is for you. Sex Dwarf is held on the FIRST friday of every month at the Fluid club in Philly. They have a myspace page (Sex Dwarf) where you can get all the info.

I don't know if I'll make the one on Jan 4th, but I'll probably be there for the February event. I hope to see some of you too!

DJ Pat Pierson's "3 Daze Of X-Mas" tour...

Friend of Altrok Pat Pierson stomps 'round the more northerly parts of the Great State of Noo Joisey, and here's what he's up to this weekend:

THURSDAY, December 20th: THE LOOP LOUNGE (Passaic, NJ)
10pm-2:30am
no cover
$2 PBRs

FRIDAY, December 21st: THE GOLDHAWK (Hoboken, NJ)
10pm-2:30am
no cover
drink specials

SATURDAY, December 22nd: THE GOLDHAWK (Hoboken, NJ)
10pm-2:30am
no cover
drink specials

Altrok Radio Music Update #186

Firstly, the important stuff:

Altrok Radio is at http://www.altrokradio.com

Please remember to tune in whenever you can - every hour you listen turns into more visibility for the station; we show up higher in search listings, and such like that. And if you'd like to help us keep the stream running, check out the advertisers if they appeal to you; your interest actually helps fund us.

Now then, in addition to the outstanding Altrok Radio music mix that got us an Editor's Pick nod at Live365 and at About.com, we've added features we know you'll like...

Thursdays at 11:30am Eastern (and repeated at 9:00pm), you get to hear Sean Carolan (often referred to in these dispatches as "me") showcase the new music we've added this week on the Altrok Radio FM Showcase. New stuff, classic stuff, and Jeff Raspe with his Altrok Radio Underground Pick Of The Week...

And on Friday, it's Altrok's Eighties Friday: music from the eighties that mattered then AND now. An eight hour playlist that features some of the best that decade had to offer, drawing from all the music that was available at the time (yes, even from the seventies.)

But for now - we've got songs to let you know about.

This week, our Grinders (the stuff we play heavily) include music from:

- Carbon-Silicon
- Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
- The Killers
- The Ting Tings
- Johnny Foreigner
- Tokyo Police Club

Plus we've got newly-added music:

- Bearsuit - Foxy Boxer
- The Black Ghosts - Any Way You Choose To Give It (Extended Mix)
- Black Kids - Im Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance
- Cage The Elephant - Let Me Beat Your Eardrum
- Cazals - To Cut A Long Story Short (Xtopher Fiction Remix)
- Delta Spirit - Trashcan
- Foals - Balloons
- Four Dead In Ohio - Utah
- Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. - Waiting For The Monster To Drown
- Holy F--- - Milkshake
- Lismore - Paradis
- MGMT - Time To Pretend
- Moving Units - Pick Up The Phone
- Okkervil River - Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe It Is
- The Pierces - Kill! Kill! Kill!
- Team Waterpolo - Letting Go
- The Terrordactyls - Fall
- The Shaky Hands - Whales Sing

Our Newly-Added Classics:

- The Colour Field - Your Love Was Smashing
- The Comsat Angels - (Do The) Empty House
- The Cramps - Goo Goo Muck
- The Fall - Cruiser's Creek
- Oingo Boingo - Private Life
- Pedro The Lion - When They Really Get To Know You They Will Run
- Polecats - Make A Circuit With Me
- The Ramones - Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
- Pete Shelley - I Don't Know What It Is
- Wire - Being Watched

As always, thanks for listening!

- Sean Carolan
Altrok Radio
On your computer right now at http://www.altrokradio.com

On the radio Fridays at 10pm, at 90.5 The Night

Thursday is a night for Running W/Scissors! (In New Brunswick.)

Featuring special guest,
fellow Melody Bar refugee
DJ Trent



Click on the picture, or click here for the latest.

See you there.

New (And Damn Spiffy) Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.

Well, the new track from Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. is called "Waiting For The Monster To Drown" and for the small price of your email address, it can be yours...

...if only you'll go to their website to get it.

(And why not check out the Altrok Radio web station while you're at it? You'll never know what I've tucked in there 'til you do...)

Altrok Radio Music Update #185

Firstly, the important stuff:

Altrok Radio is at http://www.altrokradio.com

Please remember to tune in whenever you can - every hour you listen turns into more visibility for the station; we show up higher in search listings, and such like that. And if you'd like to help us keep the stream running, check out the advertisers if they appeal to you; your interest actually helps fund us.

First off, an announcement:

-------
Thursday, December 13
at The Court Tavern in New Brunswick

DJs Drew, IronMike and Sean Carolan are...

RUNNING W/SCISSORS

With special guest,
fellow Melody Bar refugee
DJ Trent!

Two floors of music - four DJs
playing retro classics
and dance music for edge dwellers

21 and Over - Doors open 9PM
No cover 'til 10pm, $3 afterward.
Drink specials and giveaways from Metropolis Records

Go forth!

The Court Tavern is at 126 Church St, New Brunswick, NJ
-------

Now then, in addition to the outstanding Altrok Radio music mix that got us an Editor's Pick nod at Live365 and at About.com, we've added features we know you'll like...

Thursdays at 11:30am Eastern (and repeated at 9:00pm), you get to hear Sean Carolan (often referred to in these dispatches as "me") showcase the new music we've added this week on the Altrok Radio FM Showcase. New stuff, classic stuff, and Jeff Raspe with his Altrok Radio Underground Pick Of The Week...

And on Friday, it's Altrok's Eighties Friday: music from the eighties that mattered then AND now. An eight hour playlist that features some of the best that decade had to offer, drawing from all the music that was available at the time (yes, even from the seventies.)

But for now - we've got songs to let you know about.

This week, our Grinders (the stuff we play heavily) include music from:

- The Killers
- Damn Shames
- The Futureheads
- Calvin Harris
- The Video Nasties
- James Severy

Plus we've got newly-added music:

- Agnes Kain - Puddles And Mud
- Apostle Of Hustle - National Anthem Of Nowhere
- The Bent Moustache - Can The Man
- Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Need Some Air
- The Bravery - Believe
- Candy Panic Attack - Spending Time With You
- Dogs - These Days
- Mitch Easter - I Want A New Scene
- The Enemy - Had Enough
- Howlies - Angeline
- Ken Hyland - Kiss In The Middle
- Johnny Foreigner - Our Bi-Polar Friends
- Lady Fortune - 12 O'Clock, Nearly 1 O'Clock, Hurry Up
- Lowlife - Definition
- Put The Rifle Down - Hot Video
- Team Robespierre - 88th Precinct
- Ween - Friends

Our Featured Classics:

- The Clash - Career Opportunities
- Elvis Costello - Less than Zero
- Devo - Mongoloid
- The Fleshtones - Girl From Baltimore
- The Libertines - Time For Heroes
- Nine Inch Nails - The Perfect Drug
- Squeeze - Another Nail In My Heart
- U2 - A Celebration
- Ultravox - Passing Strangers
- XTC - Ball And Chain

As always, thanks for listening!

- Sean Carolan
Altrok Radio
On your computer right now at http://www.altrokradio.com

On the radio Fridays at 10pm, at 90.5 The Night

LeSac Vs. Pip Hack X-Factor

Dan LeSac Vs. Scroobius Pip...pop culture hackers. Here they are hijacking Britain's X-Factor for their own nefarious purposes (and BBC Radio 1 listeners might recognize Zane Lowe's announcing at the end...)



And for those not already familiar (and if you've listened to Altrok Radio over the past year, you should be...) here's "Thou Shalt Always Kill":



Remember, they're just a band.

The Melody Reunion Returns to New Brunswick Feb 16th

Last February was the first Melody Bar Reunion at the Loop Lounge in Passaic. I knew it was going to be fun, but I have to admit it was even better than I had hoped. So many familiar faces together again after so many years, dancing to the music that made the Melody and New Brunswick such great places to be in the eighties. During that night a lot of people came up to me in a state of rapture and asked when the next one would be. At the time I was focused on the moment, dancing to music I hadn't heard in a long time and reconnecting with folks who I hadn't seen in nearly 17 years.

After several months had past, when the warm glow of that cold February night had finally faded, I began to think about when we should try it again. I asked a few people, and without exception they thought we should do it every year. That seemed reasonable to me, but then the question arose as to where should we have it. The Loop was fantastic, but it wasn't in New Brunswick. Wouldn't it be great if we could find a hot spot in the Hub City and bring all the original Melody refugees back home? Thanks to Jigs Giglio, we now have a New Brunswick home.

I am happy to announce that on February 16th of 2008 from 6 pm until ??? the Orignal Melody Bar reunion will return to the heart of New Brunswick at the Elk's Club at 40 Livingston Ave. The Elk's have enthusiastically offered their beautiful hall as the home of our event at no charge! The place has huge fully stocked bar and is all in wood, giving it a real warm authentic New Brunswick feel. The dancing area is equally generous and there will be plenty of space to sit and relax. A side bar will also be open for those who want a slightly quieter spot to catch up with a old friend/lover.

As before it will be a cash bar with a portion of the proceeds going to an Elk's charity. This party is for the Pinfield era crowd (35 and up), and Matt Pinfield himself has promised (his words) to be there! He was very sorry to have missed the first one, and is looking forward to rocking us twice as hard to make up for it. Several DJ's from the first event have already signed up to spin, including Ed Wong, Sean Carolan, Andy Prescott and Pete Santiago.

The Elk's Club is a half block south of the State Theatre, with tons of parking on the street, in their own lot and in the bank lot across the street.
It's a safe walking distance from the parking decks downtown, so it should be no problem getting a space.

I look forward to seeing the old gang together again in New Brunswick, celebrating the great times we had. Make sure to spread the word to anyone who missed the last one and let them know how great it was. This is their chance!

So get the sitter lined up, dust off the leather jacket, and I'll see you on the dancefloor Feb 16th!

Get A Kindle And Help Altrok

Here's something nice Amazon's done for its affiliate types...as you may know, Altrok is an Amazon affiliate, meaning when you go to Amazon through a link found here at Altrok such as this one and buy something, we get some of that money as a referral fee.

Now they have this cool electronic book reader called a Kindle, that has a display that kinda looks like ink on paper and reads like you're reading a book, instead of a computer screen, and when you want a new book, wherever you happen to be at the moment, it just kind of goes and gets it - you don't have to think about connecting it to anything to do it.

It looks like this:



Here's why it's nice for Altrok: they're actually passing us back 10% of whatever you pay for it...which means, not only do you get a nifty electronic doodad, you also keep Altrok running at the same time. (And Amazon gets a bit of free promotion. Hi, Amazon!)

And so, it's Christmas time...you've got lots of people on your list...lots of other people have you on their list...so if you all buy each other a Kindle, we here at Altrok will be able to buy presents for all our favorite people, too.

Like you, for instance - 'cause you know we're just gonna spend it on music to play for you...

Altrok Radio Music Update #184

Firstly, the important stuff:

Altrok Radio is at http://www.altrokradio.com

Please remember to tune in whenever you can - every hour you listen turns into more visibility for the station; we show up higher in search listings, and such like that. And if you'd like to help us keep the stream running, check out the advertisers if they appeal to you; your interest actually helps fund us.

Now then, to be clear: Altrok Radio is free to listen to, and will be for as long as I can manage it.

But if you'd like to listen without advertising (we'll interrupt occasionally to tell you what's coming up on the station) there's a VIP program run by Live365. When you're a VIP, you get access to the commercial-free version of the station, plus all the ads on their website go away. Cost is actually pretty reasonable; the roughly-$15-every-three-months plan seems to be the most popular option. Here's the link if you're interested:

http://www.live365.com/rewards/pm?tag=muddychannel

And yes, we get a small kickback on that - $1.50 when you sign up, and a penny or so about every three hours you listen. Not much, but we're a pretty lean operation; we'll take what we can get.

All that said, bet you're wondering what those new songs we've added are...

This week, our Grinders (the stuff we play heavily) include music from:

- Wire
- Black Francis
- These New Puritans
- Love Ends Disaster!
- Frightened Rabbit
- Twisted Wheel

Plus we've got newly-added music:

- Nicole Atkins - Brooklyn's On Fire! - Neptune City
- Crystal Castles - XxzxcZx Me - Downloadable Single
- Damn Shames - Fear Of Assault - 7'' Single
- Electric President - Dotted Lines - A Number Of Small Things [Comp]
- Fiery Furnaces - Duplexes Of The Dead - Widow City
- The Gay Blades - He She Say - Ghosts
- The Kinks - Sunny Afternoon (Minitel Rose Remix) - Downloadable Single
- Lima Research Society - Magic Juice Box - WoO! an EP
- Mum - Dancing Behind My Eyelids - Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy
- Operator Please - Ghost - Yes Yes Vindictive
- Lou Reed - Safety Zone - Nanking
- Tokyo Police Club - Your English Is Good - 7'' Single
- The Video Nasties - Accessory - The Shed Sessions [EP]
- Voxhaul Broadcast - The Backrooms - Rotten Apples
- West Indian Girl - To Die In LA - 4th & Wall

Our Featured Classics:

- The Alarm - Marching On - The Alarm
- Cabaret Voltaire - Sensoria - Micro-Phonies
- Filter - The Best Things - Title Of Record
- The Jam - Pretty Green - Sound Affects
- Kitchens Of Distinction - The 3rd Time We Opened The Capsule - Capsule; The Best Of K.O.D; 1988-94
- The Motors - Dancing The Night Away - Motors 1
- Our Daughter's Wedding - Lawn Chairs - 7'' Single
- Siouxsie And The Banshees - Monitor - Juju
- Tears For Fears - Shout (Extended Version) - 12'' Single
- Violent Femmes - Gone Daddy Gone - Violent Femmes

As always, thanks for listening!

- Sean Carolan
Altrok Radio
On your computer right now at http://www.altrokradio.com

On the radio Fridays at 10pm, at 90.5 The Night