My last session of Acts of Volition Radio was recorded in the waning days of my bachelorhood. Though this session now features a married host, the music continues to rock (though sometimes gently). I’m as excited about sharing these great songs as I was when recording the first session. This session is the first available in Ogg Vorbis format (info and rational, though the MP3 version is still available if you prefer.
Songs that rock, gently. Recorded Sunday, November 6, 2005 by Steven Garrity. Run time: 47min.
Session Twenty Three Playlist:
- Fountains of Wayne – Mexican Wine
- The New Pornographers – The Bleeding Heart Show
- Denison Witmer – Little Flowers
- Starflyer 59 – Good Sons
- Sum 41 – Pieces
- Nada Surf – Always Love
- Without Gravity – Beautiful Son
- Death Cab For Cutie – I Will Follow You Into The Dark
For more, see the previous Acts of Volition Radio sessions or subscribe to the Acts of Volition Radio RSS feed.
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Loved your picks, especially the New Pornographers song. Mmm, indie pop. And thanks indeed for introducing us to Denison Witmer, I hadn’t heard of him before.
Always Love and I Will Follow You Into The Dark (so pretty!) were the only songs I knew before, and I can relate to your feelings towards Death Cab For Cutie. I have three different versions of Ben Gibbard covering Avril Lavigne’s Complicated, and he’s a prick in all of them. But damn, he writes some damn fine songs. (His cover of Jóga was unnecessary, though.)
And who suggested that one might be ashamed of liking the Counting Crows?
Hey, Steven.
Great show, especially getting to hear the Without Gravity song. I also loved the Denison Witmer track. I didn’t know he had collaborated with Sufjan, nor that he wrote about Saint Francis. Once again, listening to the show it’s uncanny how similar my tastes are to yours.
I actually saw Death Cab for Cutie in concert in Walla Walla, Washington a month ago and it was probably the best show I’ve ever been to. The guys in the band are exceptionally gracious in their performances. I was fairly irritated by several of the folks who attended the concert.
One guy I stood behind in line was angrily and telling his girlfriend why he would not let her buy the new Aqualung album, essentially because it wasn’t cool.
When I first heard Death Cab years ago in college, they were just a fun band from the other side of the state. And, more recently, I was telling everyone I could to buy Transatlanticism.
It’s not like I’m one of those guys that dislikes a band because they get big and I don’t mean to feel similarly embarassed about liking them, but I do. I think it’s not just their “coolness” but that the *kind* of cool associated with them is this “look at me, I’m hip to something you’re not” kind of fake indie cool.
For me, it’s all about the music (which is why I feel just fine about calling an incredibly cheesy Roy Orbison song my favorite song ever). But when a band that writes music this great gets associated with the kind of hipster image they’ve acquired over the past couple of years, it’s hard for me to publicly admit I enjoy their stuff.
By the way, the band’s name comes from a song title by the Beatles’ fake band in their Yellow Submarine film.
Wow. Long comment.
Oh yeah — Thanks for the mention. Steve and I will have a new show up pretty soon. We were two minutes away from recording a week and a half ago. Then I had to go and poke my eye out with an RCA cable! Luckily, I got to keep my vision but we lost the chance to record the show.
Dear Steven,
Great that you’re back. I thought I would use the occasion to post a comment.
The New Pornographers I heard through the English CBC Radio 3 podcast the other day and in the meanwhile I bought their new album Twin Cinema. What a coincidence 🙂
Thanks for introducing some new (to me) music, personal background on when and where you first heard it and all. I, for one, greatly enjoy listening to your show and sometimes end up buying some new records (Postal Service, The Innocence Mission) that I greatly enjoy as a result of it. Yay!
Keep it coming, if only every so often.
Regards,
Olivier Oosterbaan
Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Hey Steven: This is one of the better sessions in a while. Some really beautiful stuff. Being married made me like gentle thoughtful music, it seems to be doing the same to you. No shame in that.
On a side note, I think the thing that makes the SF59 song is that cheezy electronic drumroll. I hear that and I’m sold.
I just saw Death Cab for Cutie last night and heard I Will Follow You Into The Dark for the first time (yes, just now catching up with your latest session)… the song is fantastic. They started their encore with this song. It is absolutely amazing, sends chills down my back.
I remember the first time I ever heard/saw Sum41. They won the Golden Ear at Jonopalooza (the Jonovision battle of the bands) which was judged by some of the Treble Charger guys. I beleive that’s how they were discovered.
Thanks for another enjoyable show, Steven. I particularly enjoyed the excellent Without Gravity track. Incidentally, I plumped for the mp3 version for ease of iPod playing.
Whilst I completely agree with your stance on Ogg vs. MP3, the other – perhaps more irrational – reason for choosing MP3 over Ogg is the massive investment I have in the format in terms of the huge amount of time taken ripping, collecting, tagging, quality controlling and filing the thousands of MP3s in my existing collection. It’s going to take more than a comparable file format, even without its licensing disadvantages (which, at the end of the day, don’t impact me directly, save for a perhaps a slight price increase), to get me to switch. Yes, this could be a gradual move, but the perfectionist in me would then want to make switch lock-stock & barrel for my whole collection. This is something I’d dread having to re-do. Of course, this is going to happen one day when the quality bar is raised sufficiently high, but I don’t think there is a compelling enough reason to do so yet.
That said – keep pushing!
A strong session. Immediately before you said you should not use the word “tidbit” I thought to myself “he should not use the word tidbit”. I also like the Sum 41 song (I would put “Work” by Jimmy Eat World in the same category) and feel that Good Charlotte is total ass. Its very synergastic.
Steven, thoroughly enjoyed the show. Look forward to more listening…how’s about another Christmas show, some more Christmas tunes for the listeners (me). xoxo
I am grateful to you for bringing such beautiful music to me. Now that I am an iTunes sucker, I can immediately grab the stuff you play. I paused your show and surfed over to iTunes for Denison Witmer – Little Flowers song.
Awesome. Congratulations on marriage. Keep on producing great shows.
Steven, IMHO this is the strongest AOV set to date. Most awesome! Apparently marriage agrees with you! I was introduced to, and have come to genuinely adore, several of the bands that you exposed me to in this episode. I found much of their work on iTunes (my lock-in of choice). A bit of advice dude; build some iTunes links to the bands you showcase and get a little of the love I just payed to Steve Jobs. Anyway, I’m a big fan (“me love you long time!”), so please keep them coming! – Danny