Listeners to opbmusic know we feature what's new and what's local. (Whether or not you wish to call Spoon an almost-local group because of Britt Daniel's zip code is up to you.) But regardless, the band's new record features a return to a rougher style that will likely please fans of records before Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, and it sits at the top of our most-played list this week.
Other big releases for January by the likes of Vampire Weekend and Beach House are heavy in our mix, along with Laura Veirs' very charming new record July Flame. The Gigi record is fun throwback you should hear... and fans of the first Midlake record no doubt have tomorrow circled on the calendar as the release date for their new LP, The Courage of Others.
Here's what we're currently playing:
1. Spoon - Transference
2. Beach House - Teen Dream
3. The Magnetic Fields - Realism
4. Laura Veirs - July Flame
5. Vampire Weekend - Contra
6. Gigi - Maintenant
7. Midlake - The Courage of Others
8. Surfer Blood - Astro Coast
9. Blind Pilot - iTunes Session EP
10. The Soft Pack - The Soft Pack
11. Dan Black - ((Un))
12. The Rural Alberta Advantage - Drain the Blood
13. Dirty Projectors - Ascending Melody 7"
February 7, 2010 at 10:10pm by gunky
Dave,
As far as I can remember, this is the first time you've shown such a list. It's interesting -- as a listener I've certainly heard many of these songs several times. Raises several questions in my mind, including the obvious-- how are songs selected for play, and how much do listener ratings of songs affect that selection?
Anyway, thanks for posting the list.
February 7, 2010 at 10:45pm by inmemoryofjohnpeel
Gunky
I interviewed JP for a now defunct arts outfit 2 years ago and asked him if there was a playlist. He told me (praphrasing) no, it was more of a concensus between the staff and an awareness that OPB isn't going to play outlandish or offensive stuff, but they endeavour to push what they see as the boundaries of their listenership. It'll be interesting to hear if the listener ratings actualy affect play - I doubt it unless several people vote 1 or 5, but bands could rig that as they did with John Peel's old festive fifty (so he stopped it)
February 9, 2010 at 2:02pm by David Christensen
Gunky, DJs pick the songs. Like any station, we keep the focus on what we feel is important here -- which is new, noteworthy, and local (not necessarily in that order). A lot of conversations begin with "Have you heard the new___ record.." and go from there. We pay attention to the listener ratings as well, and when a song is rated highly, we will play it more often (or the reverse of that). There is a curious phenomenon with ratings, though: over time, many of them move to the middle, presumably because more ratings creates a bell curve, or possibly because people revise their ratings to the middle as they become less excited over time about the song that's no longer new to them.
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