Open Water

Happy Thanksgiving to you… and yours… and theirs… and that other guy who just showed up, and you’re not sure how to feel about it because your sister insisted she was done with him. good tidings all around.

it’s a weird, angular version of the show this week, in what looks more like junior-year geometry than inspired radio programming; we get leftfield musings from audiobooks, an unearthed gem from the Lynch-Badalamenti paradox Thought Gang, plus a double-dose of The Glands. it’s like they say — we’ll always have Athens.

it gets pretty gritty tonight. but then, it also gets… pretty tonight. some dude showed up at the station with salsa in a canvas bag, and asked a lot of questions about where to drink and whether to feed the meter. sometimes KX is a bit like that colorful mat you buy for the baby, where all of the loose toys collect. sometimes.

hey, Pill is back. reason enough to have a show (though it’s a weekly thing, so truthfully it was already in the works). we muse over what a frogstrap is, Ty takes on The Dils, The Skiffle Players busk their way through the midsection, and Death Valley Girls bring it home as we close the front door on another Halloween. on to the next one.

we start off with a double-bang of Cloud Nothings, and end with a double-bang of Concrete Blonde (only because I timed the thing wrong and ended up with 2 minutes of surplus real estate). it’s all good, cuz that last one is sufficiently Halloween-ie. trick or treat, y’all…

in search of the freshest possible fruit, we find ourselves going back… and back… and back… to Australia. I don’t play favorites. I just play hits.

it’s a 2-hour endurance test, as we experience at least one instance of playing two songs at the very same time. not so much a mashup as a f***up. register to vote so that this sort of thing never happens again. it’s in your hands now.

i get ready for Desert Daze. i get you ready for Desert Daze. i also play new old stuff from Bowie & Joe Strummer. i live without regrets, but often with more irrational fear than I’d like.

there are clues in 4 of the songs that will help you get Billy out of the basement. go.

I’ve wanted to get down to Oz for years now. tonight, we go there in our minds — but you didn’t bring your passport, so I send you to Ontario to catch Billy Moon, DC for some Escape-ism and LA for all the Warm Drag you can handle. in the end, we’re back on terms.

a celebration of Rhino Records' release of the 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of the classic Ramones album Road to Ruin, with producer Ed Stasium

it’s a pre-tape, which only means I had something far better to do. I left the window cracked, some cold tofurkey in the fridge, and IDLES, Viagra Boys & scorching new Ty on the turntable. you’ll be fine. number’s on the fridge.

so the show has a mind of its own (once again) and decides to start itself 5 mins. before the hour, while I’m in repose in the lobby, enjoying a hot toddy. a life of surprises. new stuff from down under, and we dabble in punk just enough to wake you up but not enough to get kicked off the shift (hopefully).

I urge you to register to vote. then I play you a buncha freedom fries, like new stuff from Beach Goons, Ethers, BC Camplight and Ultra Beauty. and you squeeze out the final rays of summer as you drift into the mix. as it should be.

like an adult playdate, it’s two solid hours of fun with all the requisite ingredients: post-punk, psych rock, shoegaze, indie pop and a little Naardwaar for seasoning. you can’t get this kinda value just anywhere.

The Beths, Jorge Elbrecht & Shy Boys keep the summer sun high in the sky, Moses Sumney puts a welcome wrench in things with his experimental protest anthem, and that Soft Boys track that got bumped outta last week and the week before finally sees its moment. rest, Queen of Soul.

some old friends stop by to witness the slow destruction of a man afforded a mic, and we celebrate new releases from The Love Language, David Nance, Post Pink, Art Brut and more more more. and I spin the new Sleaford Mods, only in hopes the dialect will rub off and I can summon it at will, while in angry traffic on the 5.

is it Valentine’s Day? mightaswellbe, cuz Iggy & Underworld, Protomartyr & Spray Paint, and Ty & White Fence all did the collab thing. we get jittery & skittery with Dumb and Table Sugar, there’s some delightful bits of Old England in Peel Dream Magazine. plus new-old stuff from The Lords of the New Church and Swervedriver. strobe effects may cause seizures.

new noise from Ovlov, Mike Krol, Chastity, Slang, Data, Former Member… some vinyl purloined at the finest SoCal wax emporiums, and weather more or less on the 12-and-a-halfs. it’s a living.

summer’s here, and that can only mean one thing — I’m drained from carpooling to camps. let’s all sing a song for the 5 fwy. and mean it.