spotlight on: MOLLUSKS

Cute, right? MOLLUSK (definition): "Any of numerous chiefly marine invertebrates of the phylum Mollusca, typically having a soft unsegmented body, a mantle, and a protective calcareous shell and including the edible shellfish and the snails." [free dictionary]

This means that the phylum Mollusca contains cephalopods like octopi and squids, AND clams and shellfish. Check out a comprehensive guide to mollusks here compliments of some ocean-side inn.

Choice pics

oyster!

giant clam!

The giant cupacabras snail! (a deep sea lurker)

PRETTY GROSS.

PLAYLIST 9/27/09

Crashed in with the Pixies, showed you cool new seashells and shrimps, floated downstream, got tropical, brought back the garage pop beach party, and kept it whalin' the whole way through.

6:04 PM	The Pixies "Blown Away" Bossanova (4AD) CD 1990
6:05 PM	Free Kitten "Seasick" Inherit (Ecstatic Peace) CD
6:06 PM	Intelligence "Warm Transfers" Fake Surfers (In The Red) CD
6:14 PM	Hush Arbors "Water II" Hush Arbors (Ecstatic Peace!) CD
6:14 PM	Precious Fathers "Prairie Train" s/t (White Whale) CD
6:22 PM	Ilsebill "In The Office" Ilsebill (Fetkakao) CD
6:25 PM	PJ Harvey "Seagulls" Uh Huh Her CD
6:28 PM	Whales "The Ballad of Hardly Ever" S/T (Log Jam) CD
6:30 PM	The Pains of Being Pure At Heart "Contender" S/T (Slumberland) CD
6:37 PM	Tyvek "Air Conditioner" Fast Metabolism (What's Your Rupture) CD 2007
6:40 PM	Hole "Pretty On The Inside (Excerpt)" Pretty On The Inside (Caroline) CD 1991
6:42 PM	Love Is All "Turn The TV Off" Nine Times That Same Song (What's Your Rupture) CD
6:47 PM	Mirah "Archipelago" You Think It's Like This But Really It's Like This (K Records) CD
6:54 PM	Ducktails "Wishes" Landscapes (Olde English Spelling Bee) CD [N]
6:57 PM	Taken By Trees "Sweetness of Air France" Sweetness (single) (Chico Records) CD {Air France remix of Sweetness}
7:00 PM	The Very Best ft. M.I.A. "Rain Dance" Warm Heart of Africa (Green Owl) CD [N] {WAY DEVIATING FROM THE SHOW DESCRIPTION... surprise! Think of it as a fun surprise!!}
7:04 PM	Islands "Switched On" Vapours (Anti-) CD 2009 [N]
7:06 PM	Beach House "All the Years" Devotion (Carpark) CD
7:15 PM	Crystal Stilts "Bright Night" Alight of Night (Slumberland) CD 2008
7:17 PM	The Beets "Happy But On My Way" Spit In The Face Of People Who Don't Want To Be Cool (Captured Tracks) CD
7:19 PM	The War on Drugs "Taking the Farm" Wagonwheel Blues (Secretly Canadian) CD 2008
7:27 PM	The Sea And Cake "Bird and Flag" The Fawn (Thrill Jockey) CD 1997
7:30 PM	Yo La Tengo "More Stars Than There Are In Heaven" Popular Songs (Matador) CD 2009
7:39 PM	Deleted Scenes "Fake IDs" Birdseed Shirt (What Delicate) CD
7:42 PM	Woods "Gypsy Hand" Songs of Shame (Woodsist/Shrimper) CD
7:49 PM	Blank Dogs "No Compass" Under and Under (In The Red) CD
7:53 PM	The Clean "Tensile" Mister Pop (Merge) CD [N]
7:56 PM	The Cramps "I can't Hardly Stand It" Off the Bone (Illegal) CD 1998
8:00 PM	Cat Power "Sea of Love" The Covers Record CD

Today's show featured many whales, whale facts and other whale related data such as:

• WHALES: Introducing a band that sent their debut CD EP to WNYU, but which I cannot find on the Internet! Maybe it's because they named themselves after a generic term for a common marine animal! Still, they are really good (especially for whale-related content), even if one of their songs says "fart" and I can't play it on air. Find some further disambiguation at Last.fm.
• NARWHAL WHALES (see below).
• I played a long ass track by Instrumental post-rock Vancouverers Precious Fathers from their self-titled LP released by WHITE WHALE RECORDS. They've put out records by other lesser known Canadian acts of "blue collar indie soul," and their website is pretty cute.
• PLUS a whale-centric story and PSA, which you can read in the LIT post in the near future.

LOOK AT WHITE WHALE'S LOGO WITH THE WHITE WHALE

That's all for now, mes petits! A toute!

Narwhal Whales, don't you know?

From NarwhalWhales.com:

"Even though the narwhal may look like a mythical creature or one from a fairytale, it is not. It is a real mammal that lives in the Arctic seas (more on the narwhal habitat). It is a cetacean with an appearance similar to a Beluga whale, and Irrawaddy dolphin.

The name narwhal is a derivation from an Old Norse word that means "corpse man" (nahvalr). This description is generally attributed to the fact that the narwhal whale has a white and gray coloring when fully grown. The name is further supported by the fact that the narwhal whale can lie belly-up for several minutes without much motion.

Narwhal whales are, however, known more for their almost unicorn-like tusk that springs from their forehead (in the male of the species), or so it seems. The tusk is actually a tooth which grows from the left side of the upper jaw and is twisted into a left handed helix. The narwhal tusk can but up to three meters long.

Narwhals are active mammals, just like most of the cetaceans, and feed primarily on cod. But, they have also been known to eat squid, shrimp as well as fish (i.e. halibut, redfish)."

Byyye, Buddyyy!

NAME CHANGE: THALASSIQUE

this just in: the life aquatic is now called THALASSIQUE.

Hence the URL has just changed to http://radiothalassique.blogspot.com .

Tune in NOW on WNYU.ORG to hear whale tales, thalassic grooves and layered guitars with seafoamy feedback.

FIRST EDITION (like a book!)

The first edition of the Life Aquatic aired tonight 6-8. You missed it? Aw, I'm sorry. Here's what I played:

6:04 PM	Sleater Kinney "The Swimmer" All Hands On the Bad One (Kill Rock Stars) CD 2000
6:06 PM	Real Estate "Fake Blues" Fake Blues (Half Machine Records) CD [N]
6:09 PM	Box Elders "Atlantis" Alice and Friends (Goner) CD [N]
6:15 PM	Tamaryn "Ashore" Led Astray, Washed Ashore (Troubleman Unlimited) CD 2009
6:18 PM	Holiday Shores "Experiencer" Columbus'd The Whim (Two Syllable Records) CD 2009 [N]
6:21 PM	Soft Tags "Catherine Sings" Seafoam Green (Self-Released) CD 2009 [N]
6:24 PM	Little Claw "Human Taste (Below the Tide)" Human Taste (Ecstatic Peace!) CD 2009 [N]
6:27 PM	Vivian Girls "When I'm Gone" Everything Goes Wrong (In The Red) CD [N]
6:32 PM	The Smiths "This Charming Man" The Sounds of the Smiths: The Very Best of the Smiths (Rhino) CD 2008
6:42 PM	Emma Watson?? "Sea Turtle & Greed" Life Aquatic Fables (Self-Released) CD
6:44 PM	Shark Quest "Blake Carrington" Battle of The Loons (Merge) CD 1998
6:46 PM	Patti Smith "Ain't It Strange" Radio Ethiopia (Arista) CD 1976
6:51 PM	X-ray Spex "Germ Free Adolescents" The Anthology (Sanctuary) CD
6:58 PM	Broadcast "Still Feels Like Tears" The Future Crayon (Warp) CD 2006
7:06 PM	Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Diamond Sea (Sonic Youth Cover)" B-Sides, Rarities and Remixes CD
7:09 PM	Desolation Wilderness "Turquoise and Gold" White Light Strobing (K Records) CD
7:11 PM	Grouper "Traveling Through a Sea" Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill (type records) CD
7:15 PM	Asobi Seksu "Blind Little Rain" Hush (Polyvinyl) CD
7:21 PM	Little Joy "No One's Better Sake" Little Joy (Rough Trade Records) CD 2008
7:23 PM	Alexander Pushkin "Excerpt from "The Bronze Horseman"" CD
7:26 PM	Black Water "Abyss" (Self-Released) CD
7:28 PM	Pavement "Unfair" Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (Matador) CD 1994
7:35 PM	Thee Oh Sees "Enemy Destruct" Help (In The Red) CD 2009
7:36 PM	The Breeders "Roi" Last Splash (4ad/Elektra) CD 1993
7:43 PM	The Séquelles "Un Train" Et Tant Pis Si Cela Vous Déplaît CD
7:46 PM	Meth Teeth "Unemployment Forever" Everything Went Wrong (Woodsist) CD 2009 [N]
7:48 PM	Cymbals Eat Guitars "And the Hazy Sea" Why There Are Mountains (+1) CD 2009
7:57 PM	Bikini Kill "For Tammy Rae" Pussy Whipped (Kill Rock Stars) CD 1993

If you caught it, I'm sure that you will agree that it was absolutely wonderful. If you didn't catch it, I'm sure that you still agree after perusing the above list of songs.

Literary Addendums
The following were read:

"A sea turtle pawned diamond rings, and kept his clients in debt to their graves. This was in hopes of owning libraries full of bookshelves, but he never had time to read, so instead he was stuck with others' riches for which he had no use. The shelves he built for books sagged under the weight of gold treasure chests in his house, his giant shell. Finally they collapsed on his sinewy, tender body, crushing him without breaking his skin."
-A Life Aquatic original penned by yours truly.

And an excerpt from Pushkin's "The Bronze Horseman," which I can't find verbatim on the internet to copy and paste and which I do not have time to type out.

The wnyu archiver is still not fixed/replaced, so dozens of awesome live performances as well as this episode of the life aquatic will probably never make it to internet immortality for your eternal listening pleasures. Sorry! I recorded the second half, give or take, of my show though. Will it make it to the archives? who knows!

Until next time, old chaps!

INTRODUCING: The Life Aquatic on WNYU.ORG

Hi,

My name is Pier and I will be hosting a new net radio show at WNYU, broadcasting from NYC and streaming live on the internet on WNYU.org every Sunday evening from 6 to 8 PM. It is going to be super awesome. Here's the description:

In recent years, fleets of doo-wop-wistful garage pop bands with punk sensibilities have emerged from the musical wharves of LA, NY and beyond, bathed in lo-fi production and hazy effects pedals. From the gentle and ambient to the downright tempestuous, The Life Aquatic scoops them up with shovel and pail and skips them back out to join the surf licks and crooners of rock's past, complete with tales of marine adventure among the sound waves.

I am bad with the whole genre thing (or just apathetic), so don't be surprised if what you hear couldn't necessarily be classified as 'garage.' Everything will flow smoothly with similar musical conventions and nautical themes, though, rest assured. Still I think it's safe to say that this will be the weirdest show WNYU has ever had, and certainly the only concept-driven one united by an abstract theme.

I'll play new surf-redolent punk stuff like Vivian Girls, Meth Teeth, the Intelligence, King Khan & BBQ Show, and Box Elders, as well as more kicked-back, floaty drifters by the likes of Grouper, Desolation Wilderness, Real Estate, and Yo La Tengo. Obvious throw-backs to the Pixies will be a must, plus other favorites of mine that may seem out of place but totally and completely fit in like Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, Patti Smith and the Smiths (I will refer to Morrissey as 'the Sea Otter').

There will ALSO be this cool literary aspect to the show, as songs will be inter-spliced with readings of fables, mythology and masterpieces of literature where thalassic themes reign.


I used to host a show called The Sound Between, a weekly two-hour block of brand new independent music. It was quite good and my new show will be much like it, but better. If you want to check out my old shows in the archives (the archiver broke at the end of july, though... but you can still check out my playlists from then on!) head on over to wnyu.org/archives.

TUNE IN
THE LIFE AQUATIC
SUNDAYS, 6-8 PM
HTTP://WNYU.ORG