Post - On Pirate Satellite | US Indie Music and Television Blog

If you want to just get to the music just hit play!

I am renaming my Playlists as Pirate Transmissions. This is, I believe, my 25th playlist, but I want to tie the message more closely to the purpose of my blog.

Why?

#OPS Manifesto

(If you want to skip to the details about the songs scroll down)

I chose "On Pirate Satellite" as the name of this blog for two reasons:

1) I believe music is best when "genre" functions less like a fence and more like one of the ingredients in a recipe. The song that provided the phrase was "This Is Radio Clash" by the band The Clash and the song integrated elements of punk rock, disco, funk, and hip-hop into the song.

"This is Radio Clash" is the spiritual godfather of this blog and informs the construction of the playlists. If I am doing things right, they will always appear as a fusion, pastiche, or goulash rather than a basic course. The song was never released on an album, so I am including it in a greatest hits compilation above.

2) I want this site to stand against music industry consolidation. I see myself as sending counterculture transmissions from all the great bands and artists who are not represented in the mainstream music coverage today.

As "This Is Radio Clash" puts it, "This sound does not subscribe to the International Plan."

As "This Is Radio Clash" puts it, "This is Radio Clash using aural ammunition, This is Radio Clash, can we get the world to listen."

My goal is to create space for alternative musical voices to be heard. My goal is to broadcast the music that you could hear late at night or from rogue or college radio stations all over the country when I was growing up.

My goal is to provide space for diverse listening experiences. You will hear punk, you will hear rock, you will hear blues, you will hear hip-hop, and you will hear funk. There will be electronic music, there will be noise, and there will be people burning the place down with rock and roll.

My dream is that people will start to embrace the project and stop listening to only the music they hear through mainstream sources.

I hear people talk all the time about how "today's music sucks" I could not disagree more. In my experience, there is as much good music now as ever before, just less is being discovered and played on radio, on television, and talked about in print.

I don't care if you agree with my musical choices, but I hope you will embrace the exploration of new music and start to find alternative places to discover music.

I embrace urban roots music from the late 60's to today.

If you click on the artist or band name below they are hyperlinked to articles, you will hopefully gain some more context or information about the bands that I include in each playlist.

The names of the lists are kind of goofy because I am kind of that way sometimes.

You might ask about the links I include in my posts, one of the few areas I agree with Malcolm Mclaren about is embracing the use of corporate tools to your advantage. If I can help good bands make more money through a site like Spotify or through Itunes I feel I have done my job. If I can take a few dollars from Amazon or Itunes pushing bands I love, it really doesn't bother me.

So, anyway, my playlists are now Pirate Transmissions, which might sound trite or silly, but is actually what I want to represent in this space, a pirate ethos.

Haunted Faith Attack (The Songs)

1. Tropical Hot Dog Night, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) - 1978

If you are wondering where I got my style of playlist naming, now you know the answer. Captain Beefheart is one of the patron saints of wierdness and exploration in modern music (along with Frank Zappa).

2. End Of Faith, The Autumn Stones, Escapists - 2015

Not only a great band, also had really great conversations with them on Twitter. LOVE this album. The singer does sound a bit like Brian Ferry which is cool, but they are much more than this, so many different styles all built into fun 4 minute packages.

3. Wasted Days, Cloud Nothings, Attack On Memory - 2012

One of my favorite songs off of my favorite album by one of my favorite contemporary bands. People who say rock music is dead don't listen to Cloud Nothings. They released a great album after this (Here and Nowhere Else) and supposedly will release a new album soon.

4. From The Night, Stars, No One Is Lost, 2014

For those that see me as Rockist, Stars is probably my best defense might be Stars, I love this FUN and (sometimes) silly band full of Canadians. They have all the fun of pop with pretty strong songwriting skills and often beautiful vocals.

5. (I'm) Stranded, The Saints, (I'm) Stranded - 1977

I cannot decide how scared of Spotify's suggestion algorithm I should be. I had just posted a link to an article about The Saints to my Twitter stream the day before this recommendation appeared on my Spotify page. The robots are us and we are becoming them. Oh, and the Saints are one of Punk's forgotten gems.

6. 90210, The Courtneys, The Courtneys - 2013

This just makes me happy to listen to, simple as that. It doesn't hurt that The Courtneys also love Dinosaur Jr. either. But they make me happy either way. Also, they stand as a good reminder that music doesn't have to be "about something serious" to have an emotional impact on you.

7. Florian Saucer Attack, Black Mountain, IV - 2016

This band speaks to my "recipe" theory of genres, I hear a bit of everything from metal to goth to synth pop to space rock in Black Mountain. All Hail Pastiche!

8. On The Lips, Frankie Cosmos, Next Thing - 2016

I might have mentioned on Tuesday how much I love this album. I think I said something like "I don't lie on picnic blankets on summer days, but if I did, they would make me want to hear Frankie Cosmos."

9. No Ground, No Age, An Object - 2013

I believe Japandroids, No Age, and Cloud Nothings form the core of what rock is today (or should be). In case you are confused, I love these bands. They come from the "use the tools at hand and do it by any means necessary" ethos I love and

10. Haunted When The Minutes Drag, Love An Rockets, Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven - 1985

Sonic goodness from Love and Rockets released during the year that I graduated from high school. As you may know, Love and Rockets are one of the many bands made up of members of Bauhaus (Tones on Tail, Dali's Car, Peter Murphy, Love and Rockets etc.). Love and Rockets were really popular during the mid to late 80's but are not remembered for some reason. I always loved David J's bass work at the end of this one.

Love and Rockets, Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven

How do you like the rebranding of the playlists? Do you like the playlist? Let me know what you think of the Manifesto, share your opinion, leave a comment!

Pirate Transmission 1: Haunted Faith Attack

#OPS Manifesto

Haunted Faith Attack (The Songs)