Signal:Noise

Happy New Year and Welcome to the Great Apocalypse! Endure your freedom to freak the fuck out with a host of beautifully doomed rats, yawns, pretending robots, futures, new beginnings, winters, years 1999, 2012, 2080 and, of course, Episode 17 of the Signal:Noise music podcast. With guest host Ida in tow, Mr. Chuck will look into the crystal light bulb for supreme tunes by Eskimo & Sons, Andrew Bird, Yeasayer, The Walkmen, Les Savy Fav, Arcade Fire, MGMT, Los Campesinos!, Love is All, Badly Drawn Boy, and Flight of the Conchords (pictured above). Love this stuff to death? iTunes users can subscribe to this podcast by clicking HERE.

Welcome to the Eugene, Oregon Episode. Join Mr. Chuck on the 16th installation of the Signal:Noise music podcast as he mines the local scene for music and unearths a few treasures along the way. (Although he readily admits that he totally forgot to include some of his favorite Eugene bands ... therefore this is probably just part ONE of many.) Check out the mud-slicked, waterlogged sounds of Bad Mitten Orchestre, Muke, Heavenly Oceans (pictured), Eleven Eyes, Sid & Fancy, Mood Area 52, The Sawyer Family and more!

The Obama Hell Yeah! Episode. On the 15th dispatch from the Signal:Noise studios, host Mr. Chuck rallies the cherubs, unicorns and other mystical & majestic beasts of lore for a show that is both celebratory, cerebral and catastrophic. Tune in for the songs of Radiohead, Bob Dylan, Bright Eyes, Department of Eagles, Atlas Sound, The Clash, Of Montreal, The Fugees, The Go! Team, Michael Jackson and TV on the Radio. And why not make it easy on yourself? Obama-supporting iTunes users can subscribe to this podcast by clicking HERE. V is for Victory. P is for Play.

This, the SCANDINAVIAN episode of Signal:Noise, is probably the most signally of all the podcasts. Host Mr. Chuck lets the hits from the Nordic region of the planet reverbate in your ears uninterrupted. It’s streaming audio for your whale blubber milkshake lunch! Since there is no spoken playlist, here is your cheat sheet:

INTRO
Bjork • Pneumonia

SWEDEN
Lykke Li • I’m Good, I’m Gone
Shout Out Louds • South America
The Knife • Marble House
El Perro Del Mar • How Did We Forget
I’m From Barcelona • The Painter
Jens Lekman • Sipping on the Sweet Nectar

DENMARK
The Raveonettes • Love in a Trashcan

NORWAY
Lindstrøm • The Long Way Home

ICELAND
Múm • Rhuubarbidoo
Sigur Rós • Festival (radio edit)

EXIT
Ace of Base • Happy Nation

The Disco-Synth Drizzle Episode. With a dollop of high society infiltrating the Signal:Noise studios, join an echoey Mr. Chuck the Friendly Ghost as he plays, in his own words, “discotheque along with some down-tempo and synth-pop” music. “Please, bear witness,” he says, laughing like a giddy schoolboy. If you decide to tune in, you might hear new music from the likes of Hercules & Love Affair, Cut Copy, Glass Candy (pictured), Crystal Castles, Daedelus, Friendly Fires, Stars, Dntel, of Montreal and Chromatics. Poison or remedy? And why not make it easy on yourself? iTunes users can subscribe to this podcast by clicking HERE. Hit it, people.

Blame it on The Beatles. Ever since they popularized the animal name in band names (along with their offshoot The Monkees), it's been downhill ever since. On Episode 12 of Signal:Noise, host Mr. Chuck explores recent bands that best embody the animal moniker in honor of our recent Pets Issue. Along the way he somehow manages to play actual human music by the likes of The Dodos, Wolf Parade, Sea Wolf, Grizzly Bear, Breathe Owl Breathe (pictured), New Buffalo, Dr. Dog, Monkey: Journey to the West, Bear Hunter, Animal Collective, White Rabbits and the band Eddie Vedder was in before Pearl Jam. And remember, iTunes users can subscribe to this podcast by clicking HERE.

Photo by Tom Humphrey

Episode de la Musicfest Northwest (aka MFNW). In anticipation of the live music feeding frenzy that is MFNW, this 11th episode is devoted entirely to acts who will appear at the music fest (along with some who will play Eugene before or after MFNW). Check out this podcast's lineup: TV on the Radio, The Shaky Hands, The Old 97's, Port O'Brien, Britt Daniel (of Spoon), M Ward, Built to Spill, Rachel Taylor Brown, Battles, Les Savy Fav, Blind Pilot, Mirah and Paul Simon cover band Vampire Weekend. Go to the MFNW website to get all the details on the over 150 bands who will be playing in Portland Sept. 3-6. Also, check out EW! A Blog. for our coverage of MFNW.

The Oregon Summer Episode. We just keep on steamrolling along with another dispatch of Signal:Noise, our 10th issue of semi-intelligible musings and musical selections. Join a sleepy Mr. Chuck as he crafts a podcast worthy of playing while cruising the gauzy nighttime streets of Eugene (or Portland), or speeding over half-moon-lit highways through forests, along coastal bluffs with your brights on or jetting across the open and rugged Oregon Outback in the scorching mid-day heat. Your soundtrack consists of Panda Bear, John Lennon/Yoko Ono Band, She & Him, MGMT, Blind Pilot, Gillian Welch, Billy Bragg & Wilco, The Cave Singers, Jose Gonzalez, Zach Condon and more! This one's a mellow one, balancing out Episode 9's dance freak-out. And remember, iTunes users can subscribe to this podcast by clicking HERE.

This is it, folks. Episode 9: The Epic Dance Mix & Mash Spectacular! In which I make a Girl Talk Sandwich stuffed with the following ingredients:

Beck
Aphex Twin
Bel Biv Devoe
Diplo
Justice
Justin Timberlake
Kanye West
The Knife
Of Montreal
Notorious B.I.G.
MGMT
Dmitri from Paris
Crystal Castles/HEALTH
Peaches
Radiohead
Justice
Britney Spears
Hercules & Love Affair
Daft Punk
Hot Chip
Ratatat
The Avalanches
Spank Rock
Timbaland
CSS
Groove Armada

This is your perfect party-starter. With special guests DJs Cara and Ida from KWVA's Sunday Night Sleepover program.
BONUS: Over six minutes of pointless banter included at the end of the program. No apologies. This episode is dedicated to all who have ever been the only one dancing at a club and could give a care in the world.

Out! Out! Damned Clouds! Welcome to the 8th episode of Signal:Noise, your favorite local music podcast (as voted on by listeners like you!), and join host Mr. Chuck as he prays on hand and knee for the parting of the Constant Gray and plays music that has a light, summery feel to it, as well as words like "summer" and "sun" in the title. Featuring the likes of The Decemberists, Caribou, Grandaddy, Beach House, Yann Tiersen, Yeasayer, Le Tigre (pictured), A Sunny Day in Glasgow, M.I.A. and some dude who directed Moulin Rouge — but hasn't been heard from since — who sings of the perils of sunlight and the pitfalls of graduating in the year 1997. And remember, iTunes users can subscribe to this podcast by clicking HERE.