Tuesday night was the big Stranded In Stereo event over at Great Scott in Boston, at which yours truly feigned being a club DJ (we prefer the term selector, since we don't beat match or possess a shiny shirt with zippers all over it). Below we recount for those of you not in attendance what exactly was blasted in your general direction via the sound system. But before we get to that we'd like to try to express how awesome we thought This Car Up was that night. We're relatively new to the Boston-based quintet, who are quirky, entertaining and write the most anthemic indie rock we've heard coming out of this city in years. We loved how the one singer and guitarist -- who lost his eyeglasses and guitar strap within moments of the set opening -- undulates kind of like, well, crap, we can't show you because NBC Universal is suing YouTube, or something. We wanted to point to that awesome video of DEVO playing "Satisfaction" on "Saturday Night Live." You know, the one where they're playing under a strobe light. If you don't know it, it is bonkers.
Anyway, the one guy wriggled like he was in DEVO and was dressed like Fonzie in that one episode where The Fonz pretends to be a nerd that collects snails, and then the other singer looked like that dude from Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start. And the bass player and keyboard player made with the funny stage banter. But mostly it was the songs. They played "Tarzan vs. Graham Chapman," they played "Shiny Objects" and they played "Dislocate," and it was huge. All of those tracks are from This Car Up's debut full-length Smile When You're Alone, which was released early last year and which very likely would have made our Best Of 2008 list had we known about it. The band plays in Worcester Feb. 20 and then it is back in Boston at O'Brien's on Sun. Feb. 22 for an early show which we very much want to see. Below is what we played at the Great Scott Tuesday. We prepared three mix CDs to make trebly certain that we'd have enough material to play, and we didn't even get to the end of the first disc. But that means we have three mix CDs that we have no need for, so the first person to email us (address in the sidebar at right) with the words "MIX ME" in the subject line will receive the discs in the mail. Good luck.
Playlist:
1. Weezer -- "Tired Of Sex" -- Pinkerton
2. Johnny Foreigner -- "The Houseparty Scene Is Killing You" -- B-side
3. Telekinesis -- "Coast Of Carolina" -- Telekinesis! [right click/save as]
4. The Small Screen Light Show -- "I'm Too In Love" -- Demo
5. The Hush Now -- "Sadie Hawkins Dance" -- The Hush Now [right click/save as]
6. The Pernice Brothers -- "One Foot In The Grave" -- Yours, Mine And Ours
7. Hot Club De Paris -- "I Wasn't Being Heartless When I Said Your Favorite Song Lacked Heart" -- Live At Dead Lake
8. Crooked Fingers -- "Your Control" -- Forfeit/Fortune
[Spectator performs]
9. Frightened Rabbit -- "Go-Go Girls" -- Sing The Greys
10. Vampire Weekend -- "Campus" -- Vampire Weekend
11. The Manhattan Love Suicides -- "Burning Wire" -- Burn Out Landscapes
12. Varsity Drag -- "Summertime" -- For Crying Out Loud
13. Lemonheads -- "The Year Of The Cat" -- Lovey
14. Eddyfink -- "Will I Get Through Today Without Being Kicked In The Knickers?" -- AQA 63336 Greatest Questions [right click/save as]
15. Johnny Foreigner -- "Rhapsidy/This Trapeze Ball Thought Out" -- Demo
[This Car Up performs]
16. Dinosaur Pile-Up -- "Let's Get Up" -- Demo
17. Dirty On Purpose -- "Audience In The Room" -- Like Bees EP
18. Ringo Deathstarr -- "Sweet Girl" -- Ringo Deathstarr EP [right click/save as]
19. Charlene -- "Ripoff" -- Charlene [right click/save as -- this is the radio edit, we played the longy]
[Black Diamond Bay performs]
