Sweet Hereafter April 25, 2006: Advice to anyone wanting to DJ, how I don't know, the Grad Formal

Open letter to the DJ brother who DJed the Grad Formal:

Dear DJ fellow,

In my mind, there is no one more important to the success of a party than the one who sets the music, because you are setting the tone of the evening and you, yes you, have the greatest amount of power to get your fellow partygoer shake their moneymaker. Having DJed a few dances and weddings, I can tell you that perhaps the most difficult part is to leave your a bit of your college hipster DJ tastes behind for the sake of the party. While I had a great night at the Grad Formal (don't ask about the morning after though), I found the DJing left a lot to be desired. While I was very pleasantly surprised to hear such great tracks at Such Great Heights by the Postal Service, Neighbourhood #3 (Power out) and Dead Disco by Metric, the rest of the set left a bit to be desired because there was an apparent lack of familiarity between the crowd and the music, which left the crowd disappointed (and not dancing). DJing a party is different than Djing a radio show because during a radio show, you assume that people have made the effort to tune in or download your podcast because they like what you've played before and trust that you will take them on similar listening pleasures. When DJiing a party, there is very little history between the listeners and the DJ. It is up to you to figure out what they want to hear, not to impose your tastes on them.

And so, when you find a couple slow-dancing to Michael Jackson's Beat It at the end of the night because they were so desparate to slow dance to anything but you had deprived them of that simple pleasure, that is not an example of catering to your crowd. Again, had the great indie tunes that I mentioned above been played alongside more popular songs to serve as catalysts for the party, I would have stopped whatever I was doing, stood up and deliver a slow applause for a masterful performance. The potential was there but alas, I found myself mostly busy talking to others who were uninspired to groove it up, while the rest of the crowd was headed towards the exit.

Tuan

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Okay, so for today's show, expect to hear the Subways and definitely some Silver Hearts of whom I have heard nothing but praise (hi Justin and Melodie) for their live show at the Grad Club (there were twenty of them in the band!), and sweet remixes from the Feist Machine who just put out an album of remixes called "Open Season". Yeah, even more excuses for me to play Feist!

Cheerio,
Tuan

April 18, 2006

1. It's a wonderful life - Sparklehorse
2. Gold Day - Sparklehorse with Nina Persson
3. Lucky - Radiohead
4. Such great heights - The Postal Service
5. Chosen One - The Concretes
6. Once in a while - Sondre Lerche
7. All my little words - The Magnetic Fields
8. Hold on hold on - Neko Case
9. Another Sunny Day - Belle and Sebastian
10. Alive - Ima robot
11. Shine a light - Wolf Parade
12. Looks just like the sun - Broken Social Scene
13. See you on the moon - Great Lake Swimmers
14. A lovely day - Bill Withers
15. Your Ex-Lover is dead - Stars
16. The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure - Magnetic Fields
17. Blow it out - The Features
18. Pumping on your stereo - Supergrass
19. No Photographs - Harmony Trowbridge
20. Camera shy - Mike O'Neill
21. The Man who would be king - The Libertines
22. Heavy Metal Drummer - Wilco
23. Grace - Jeff Buckley
24. Hands in my pocket - Jim Guthrie

Sweet Hereafter April 18, 2006: Keeping it simple, Smartie-Pants!

Hey everyone,

The great thing about having setup the podcast is that it holds me to a certain degree of accountability. Because these shows are now floating out there on the internet, accessible to you anytime of the day, any day of the week, I feel like I should provide some substance to the podcast, something to give it matter and a raison d'etre. And it's been fun the last few weeks with band interviews or with thematic content and discussions. But this week, I say f...iretruck it. No themes for today or guest appearances. The sun is shining outside and I just want to stare out the window with some music in the background to frame my mood or set my daydreaming in all sorts of direction.

So I warn you, today's set will, at times, make you want to quit whatever you're doing, go outside and find a tree to lie under with a strand of hay in your mouth; and at other times, it will make you want to throw the frisbee around or play catch while waiting for that slab of meat or corn of cob to finish cooking on the grill.

I can't wait. Hope it's bright and sunny wherever you are in the world

See you at 3PM - 5 PM

Tuan

April 11, 2006

Yesterday's show including the interview with Infotourist

Podcasts

Entire show

If the mp3 doesn't work, please download them by clicking on the links under Other Sections.

Just as a reminder, the feed for this site is http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheSweetHereafter

Thanks for listening wherever you are in the world,

Tuan

Sweet Hereafter April 11, 2006: Making you smarter, one song at a time

Hey kids,

First off, I've added a few superstars to the mailing list so if you're getting this for the first time, congratulations on your entry to this highly exclusive group. Basically, this list serves as a reminder to tune in to the show from 3 to 5 and to give a preview of what's going to be on the show, assuming I've thought that far ahead.

Queen's undergraduate students are currently entering their final exam period before the promises of a summer of freedom and enlightenment. I can remember back when I was an undergrad, an x number of years ago, studying ardently and having to forego listening to music fearing that the background music would interfere with the process of getting smarter for exams. But what is the relation between music and mental capability? Some of you might have heard of a study reported a few years back where listening to classical music, Mozart to be precise, was purported to increase intelligence. While this study may explain why sales of Mozart spike around this time of the year, the so-called Mozart effect on intelligence has since been frequently contested. However, we'll talk about why biologically and psychologically listening to classical music may indeed increase your performace at final exams. We'll rely on scientific evidence and on Malcolm Gladwell for such a discussion.

Thus, we'll try to play smart music. Not nerd music, smart music. Songs from artists noted for the intelligence of their lyrics. Artists such as The Weakerthans, The Shins, Belle and Sebastion, and Sarah Slean will grace our airwaves.

So whether, you're assiduously studying/writing a post-structural essay/crunching numbers/designing websites/writing computer code/doing some serious fundraising or simply chilling, the show will strive to make you better at what you're doing.

And remember that if you miss the show today, our show's podcast is available on this site within a day of broadcast.

Cheerio,

Tuan

April 4, 2006: Podcast

Yesterday's show including the interview with Infotourist

Podcasts

Entire show

If the mp3 doesn't work, please download them by clicking on the links under Other Sections.

Just as a reminder, the feed for this site is http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheSweetHereafter

Thanks for listening wherever you are in the world,

Tuan

Sweet Hereafter April 4, 2006: Buck65 was a good idea, Pamela, not so, and, introducing Infotourist

Hey everyone,

It'll be our pleasure today to have local band Infotourist drop by and chat. While not easy to peg down, their sound can be described as crossing the spectrum from evocative Radiohead to Propagandhi meets Spiritualized. They'll be playing at the upcoming AMS Food Bank Fundraiser this Thursday April 6 at Clark Hall Pub alongside the likes of Lacklustre, Reno's Hitmen and Team Fence. For more information about this event, please visit http://www.myams.org/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29&Itemid=71

Along with the fundraiser, we'll talk about their current album "Selected Case Studies", the challenges that every up and coming bands face, and alternative forms of music distribution. They also want to talk about curling but we'll see about that. If you would like more information on the band or to sample some of the songs that appears on "Selected Case Studies", check out http://www.infotourist.org

I've got a couple of requests to play today, including one for Sarah Harmer. Also expect some Soundtrack of our Lives, Broken Social Scene, Stars and Michael Buble. Just kidding about that last one. I don't mind his music in the proper setting but verything in its proper time and place. Thanks again to all those who've confirmed that my podcast splicing experiment worked.

See you in a bit,

Tuan