Music For Listeners 10/16/2010

1) The Beastie Boys-"Country Mike's Theme"  From the CD 'Anthology'.
2) Conan O'Brien and the Legally Prohibited Band-"Blue Moon of Kentucky (Live)"  From the brand new vinyl LP 'Conan O'Brien and the Legally Prohibited Band - 06-10-2010'. Produced by Jack White for his record label Third Man Records.
3) Dinosaur Pile-Up-"Never That Together"  From the brand new CD 'Growing Pains'.
4) Amusement Parks on Fire-"Flashlight Planetarium"  From the brand new CD 'Road Eyes'.
5) Johnny Marr-"Tendency To Be Free"  From the download charity album '1969:Key To Change'.
6) Edwyn Collins and Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand-"Do it Again"  From the brand new CD 'Losing Sleep'.
7) Wild Nothing-"Quiet Hours"  From the brand new CD EP 'Golden Haze'.
8) Cloud Nothings-"Talk To Me"  From the brand new vinyl 7" single for "Leave you Forever".
9) Werewolves-"Spiritual Hustling" Brand new demo sent to us straight from the band.
10) The Wombats-"Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves)"  From the brand new CD single for "Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves)".
11) Belle and Sebastian-"Come On Sister"  From the brand new CD 'Belle and Sebastian Write About Love'.
12) The Count and Sinden featuring Mystery Jets-"After Dark"  From the vinyl 7" single for "After Dark".
13) Cosmetics-"Sleepwaking"  From the vinyl 7" single for "Sleepwalking".
14) Egyptian Hip Hop-"Rad Pitt"  From the vinyl 12" single for "Some Reptiles Grow Wings".
15) The Octopus Project-"Fuguefat"  From the brand new CD 'Hexadedcagon'.
16) Deerhunter-"Revival"  From the CD 'Halcyon Digest'.
17) Pale Saints-"Throwing Back the Apple"  From the CD 'In Ribbons'.
18) Sad Day for Puppets-"Touch"  From the brand new CD "Pale Silver and Shiny Gold".
19) The Dharohar Project with Laura Marling-"Devils Spoke"  From the CD EP 'The Dharohar Project'.
20) Sunset-"The Past Won't Forget Me Soon"  From the brand new CD 'Love Shines but the Moon Is Shinning Too'.
21) Summer Camp-"Why Don't You Stay?"  From the CD EP 'Young'.
22) My Two Toms-"Ballad of Karen Glenn"  From the vinyl LP 'Who We Are and What We Meant By It'.
23) First Aid Kit-"Ghost Town"  From the brand new 7" single for "Ghost Town".
24) Conan O'Brien-"And They Call Me Mad"  From the brand new vinyl 7" single for "And They Call Me Mad". Produced by Jack White for his record label Third Man Records. One theire green label, spoken word releases.
25) The Orb featuring David Gilmour-"Metallic Side (Metallic Spheres , Hymns To The Sun , Black Graham , Hiding In Plain View , Classified)"  From the brand new CD 'Metallic Spheres'.
26) Laurie Anderson-"Strange Angels"  From the CD 'Strange Angels'.
27) "The Mid Morning Recording"    Ry Cooder-"Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to the Wim Wenders film 'Paris, Texas'".
I've never been to Paris, Texas, but I've been to almost every place the film that shares its name was produced: All along the southwest I-10 corridor, Los Angeles, Houston, Port Arthur, and strangely enough, the film doesn't take place in Paris, Texas at all. I have also never been to Marathon, Texas or the Big Bend area, but I can guarantee that when I go there, I will have thoughts of Travis walking through the vastness of the desert. The overpasses of Los Angeles, the highway exits and downtown buildings of Houston, the locally colored small town rooms of Port Arthur. This film, like all good film, invokes a certain atmosphere and really takes you on the journey of a man in search of making right with his life. It's a big time character study and would be considered "a slow watch" by most movie watchers. While it isn't my favorite film by the great Wim Wenders, it is certainly up there in his body of work. It certainly has influenced a lot of the music you hear today, from Primal Scream, to The Orb, to the band Travis, who is apparently named after the main character. This soundtrack we play for tonight's 'Mid-Morning Recording' might be the best of the Wenders soundtracks, but that is so incredibly hard to say with all the great music compilations his films has produced. "Wings of Desire", "Until the End of the World", "The Buena Vista Social Club", "A Lisbon Story", "The Million Dollar Hotel", and even the unreleased soundtrack to "Alice in the Cities" by Can are all incredible collections, and that's not even naming them all. Atmospheric music and Wenders have always been intertwined, and it was no mistake when Wenders and Cooder would later collaborate for the score to "The End of Violence", and then once again for "The Buena Social Club" film and soundtrack. The "Paris, Texas" soundtrack takes you there....on the road through the southwest corner of the United States. I couldn't imagine this film without this original, bluesy, lonely music. Speaking of blues, I'm going to dedicate this out to Steve Cushing, the host of the Chicago based radio program "Blues Before Sunrise". He plays pieces of this soundtrack every week on his broadcast, and currently he does not have a home for his show in San Antonio. Hopefully that will change soon. I'm also going to dedicate it out to the people who have yet to see the film. May you take delight in having such a great film experience for the first time. One that makes you think, instead of just entertain. "Yep, I know that feeling".
Michael - MFL
28) James-"Sayonara"  From the CD 'Wah-Wah'.