So this week’s show started with a huge, life-altering announcement: I’m studying abroad in London next semester. Other topics discussed included the release date of the Asteroids Galaxy Tour’s debut album (October 26th), Alex James, and cheese. Everything else is listed below in some fashion.

Playlist

1. Victoria – The Kinks
2. Tigerlily – La Roux
3. Touches You – Mika*
4. The Golden Age – The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
5. Never Forget You – The Noisettes
6. Fuck You – Lily Allen**
7. Charmless Man – Blur
8. California Waiting – Kings of Leon
9. Tropical Iceland – Fiery Furnaces
10. Secret Door – Arctic Monkeys
11. Brazil – The Spinto Band***
12. Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps – Cake
13. Kiss With a Fist – Florence + the Machine
14. Wings of a Dove – Madness
15. Save It For Later – The Beat
16. No You Girls – Franz Ferdinand
17. Ignore the Ignorant – The Cribs
18. Goody Two Shoes – Adam Ant
19. You Want History – Kaiser Chiefs****
20. Take the Long Way Home – Supertramp

News Items

• Lady Gaga relaunches her North American tour but forgets DC. Of course.
• On the other hand the Arctic Monkeys announce more North American tour dates and remember DC. But it’s during exams. I just can’t win.
• Some very lucky Mancunians got to see Alex Kapranos and Nick McCarthy of Franz Ferdinand play an acoustic set this past Saturday. I, per usual, took Alex’s Twitter update literally and thought he was at an actual tea party.
• Kings Of Leon career-spanning exhibition to open in London. I’m confused as to how they earned this, but whateves.
• Amy Winehouse hasn’t taken drugs in a year. According to her Dad. Very reliable, I’m sure.
• The Madness re-release their debut album, One Step Beyond. Unlike with other re-releases, this one’s old, so it’s cool.

Releases

• Florence + The Machine – Lungs
• Flight of the Conchords – I Told You I Was Freaky
• Sufjan Stevens – The BQE
• Electric Six – Kill

And that is it until next week. In the mean time, listen to some good music and don’t panic.

*Here’s some insider information for you lot. I’m going to be playing at least one track from Mika’s The Boy Who Knew Too Much every week until the end of the semester. Slowly but surely you will a learn to love Mika. Mwhahahahahaha
**About mid-way through this song I found out my GM (general manager, person who owns me) was listening. And I wasn’t playing the clean version of the song. Not a good idea.
***My sister recommended two of the tracks for this week’s show, the other being Florence + the Machine’s “Kiss with a Fist.”
****I will always love this video because towards the end there’s a great shot of Mark Ronson sitting on the drum platform with a Leeds United scarf playing the tambourine. Makes me laugh every time.

We’re back from fall break and the weather has decided it’s actually winter. Here are the basic details from the show, I’ve got a lot of foot notes this time, so quickly, onto the songs and stuff!

Playlist

1. Blame It On the Girls – Mika
2. Disco 2000 – Pulp
3. I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked – Ida Maria
4. Emasculate Me – The Cribs
5. Can’t Stop Feeling – Franz Ferdinand
6. Once in a Lifetime – Talking Heads*
7. Like It Too Much – Kaiser Chiefs**
8. The Fix – Elbow
9. Bleeding Love – The Wombats***
10. Song Away – Hockey****
11. Pretend That You’re Alone – Keane
12. Heart of Glass – Blondie
13. Bulletproof – La Roux
14. New In Town – Little Boots
15. Push the Envelope – The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
16. Lover Boy – Mika*****
17. Whistle for the Choir – The Fratellis
18. I Could Say – Lily Allen
19. Cornerstone – Arctic Monkeys
20. Star Star – The Frames
21. Thick as Thieves – Kasabian
22. London – The Rumble Strips
23. French Navy – Camera Obscura
24. All My Friends – LCD Soundsystem******

News Items

• James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem announces a potential release month for new album. Nora decides against holding her breath until it comes out.
• Elbow announce re-issue of their first album with loads of fun extras including home videos and live tracks.
• Kanye’s spiral into obscurity and insania continues with the cancellation of a joint tour with Lady Gaga.
• London and NYC are huge except in real life.
• Arctic Monkeys announce that “Cornerstone” will be there next single. I continue to wonder what the video will be like (Here’s what it looks like. Alex can’t act.)
• According to Pete Wentz the emo haircut is dead. According to my polling of NoVA high schools, not so much.
• Keane are re-releasing their first album too. Sadly, no home videos.
• Johnny Marr is certain he’ll record a 2nd album with the Cribs. No one is really surprised, but some start to wonder if the Jarmans would be willing to adopt Johnny, so that it can go back to being a band of brothers.
• Freddie Mercury will receive a Hollywood style star outside the library of the town he lived in. Now everybody go “awww.”
• Pulp announce the release of delux editions of their first three albums the day after I buy the blah version of one of them. Curse my bad timing!
• Liam Gallagher comes out in support of the disappearing honey bees. All I can think of are Daleks.

Releases

• David Archuleta – Christmas From the Heart
• Bob Dylan – Christmas in the Heart
• Flaming Lips – Embryonic
• Death Cab For Cuties – Box Set

Well that’s it for this week. Next week’s show will be starting late, so prepare yourself for less insanity by listening to Mika. Or the Kaiser Chiefs or whatever causes you to go crazy. Until then, don’t panic.

*This is from the concert video Stop Making Sense which was my first introduction to the idea of a tiny, tiny man in a really big suit. Enjoy
**In this same recording session, Lily Allen pretended to be a cat. It was great.
***As you can tell, this is not the version by the Wombats. I just like messing with your heads and I like Leona Lewis’ version just as well.
****The bassist for this band was on Never Mind the Buzzcocks last week and talked a lot more than I thought he would. However he didn’t know the lyrics to his own band’s song.
*****Mwhahahahahaha.
******Turned out I had more time than I thought, so I unofficially played another song. Here’s the link to the “official” video of Mika performing “Billy Brown.”

This week’s show was made in the face of much opposition. This week’s show was created out my sweat and tears as the last thread of my sanity went down the proverbial drain. This week’s show happened in spite of the fact that no one did a thing to speak of. This week’s show was created because I care about all of you. This week I’ll give you both the talking points and videos. Don’t expect that kind of respect next week. So now for the dets.

Playlist [There were two minor revisions from the original playlist, but no worries, I wrote everything down this week]

1. Morning Light – Ida Maria
2. Ignore the Ignorant – The Cribs
3. Bad Reputation – Joan Jett
4. Rudie Can’t Fail – The Clash
5. Right Where They Left – The White Rabbits
6. Can’t Stop Feeling – Franz Ferdinand
7. Just – Mark Ronson
8. When The Cows Come Home – Blur
9. French Navy – Camera Obscura
10. London – The Rumble Strips
11. Mouthwash – Kate Nash
12. Waiting – Cake
13. Good Days Bad Days – Kaiser Chiefs
14. F*** You – Lily Allen [This is the explicit version, so be warned]
15. Seattle – The BPA
16. Young Love – Mystery Jets
17. Burial – Miike Snow
18. Fire – Kasabian
19. Grounds for Divorce – Elbow*
20. Wait For Me – The Pigeon Detectives
21. Low Rising – The Swell Season
22. On the other side – The Strokes
23. Blue Skies – Noah and the Whale
24. Can’t Say What I Mean – Kaiser Chiefs**
25. Golden Years – David Bowie***
26. We Are Golden – Mika
27. Ulysses – Franz Ferdinand

The Talking Points

• Zooey Deschanel and Ben Gibbard tie the knot
• Many bands and artists, including Thom Yorke, sell their souls to the Twilight franchise
• OK Go, go on tour in the UK this January
• Canada awards its version of the Mercury Prize to punk rock sextet F-ed Up
• Ted Leo signs to Matador Records and everyone hopes he’s not actually a black widow in human form
• I expounded on the illegal download policy situation in the UK. Here’s the end result (4 paragraphs in). Further updates will be given if I don’t get to tired of reporting on it.

Releases

• Mum – Sing Along to Songs You Don’t Know
• Rufus Wainwright – Milwaukee at Last!!! [Deluxe Edition]
• Baseman Jaxx – Scars
• Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk

Well that’s it for this week. Next week is up in the air, though there will defininatly be music, I can promise you that. Until then, don’t panic.

*As with last week I’m featuring Elbow backed by a full orchestra. The first link is to the official video, the second to the Abbey Road session. What can I say, I’m a sucker for orchestration.
**This is me, dragging you into my sad obsession. I apologize.
***Whenever I hear this song, I think of the big dance scene from A Knight’s Tale. So in choosing a video link, guess what I went with. The big dance scene from A Knight’s Tale.