Andy Gapin

So after seven years, The Playlist is over. It’s hard to believe that something that’s been a large part of my life for so long is gone, but it’s true. Almost fittingly though, last night’s show was the most fun I ever had doing a radio show. It reminded me of everything I loved about doing college radio, much of which got lost in a cloud of jadedness. Hosting an all new music show was great, but it was often hard to fill the entire show with music I was excited about. There’s only so much great stuff that can come out each week. I’d get to play a few great records and fill in the rest with average records. That was always the biggest struggle, but last night had none of that. Last night’s show was nothing but music I love.

I spent the night before running some really custom queries against our database–you get this luxury when you’re the sucker that wrote the software that the radio station relies on for music databasing and logging. I found the artists that I played the most over the last four and a half years and built a playlist from there. I would have liked to go all the way back to when the show first started, but we were still using paper logs up until the beginning of 2006 and there was no way that I was going to try to hunt those down…assuming they still exist. The playlist I created was over two hours long so I had more than I was able to play, but it was alright, I was able to prune down as I was doing the show. I decided not to order anything, I didn’t want to make a pre-planned show and just sit there on autopilot. Instead, I burned two identical MP3 CDs–works out better than playing everything from a computer–and stuck them in the CD players. I had a list of the tracks and switched between players selecting what felt right at the time and what was going to create a solid flow. It’s the way that I always did my show and I didn’t want to change that. I’ve always been about going with the moment and what songs just feel right together. I feel like I nailed this as well as I ever have last night.

I was lucky to be able to score a second hour for last night. It was the first time in two years that I’ve done a two hour show, but it was great, I was able to fit in 34 songs along with a lot of stories about the last seven years and about the music I was playing. I always tried to talk about what the bands I played meant to me, but it wasn’t easy when much of the music was coming from new artists and not just new albums by artists I already was into. Last night, I was able to tell many stories about the bands and what they meant to me. It was great and it made me remember why joining the radio station was my first priority when I started college nine years ago.

The decision to end the show wasn’t easy, I knew it would come eventually, but I could never bring myself to do it. Once I finally made that decision, it was a tough back and forth between knowing how much I’ll miss it and being relieved that I could end it positively and free up a little bit of much needed time in my personal life. Though, as I progressed through the show, I felt myself becoming sadder and sadder that it was ending. By the end, I was feeling almost like I was going to cry. I knew walking away wasn’t going to easy. So I’m sad that it’s over now, but I do know that it was the right time for me and that the show had an amazing seven year run. I had many dedicated listeners and got to expose them to over 1500 different artists and bands over that time. I don’t know how many different albums I played, but my best estimate puts it well over 2000. To me, that’s pretty impressive. That’s a ton of new music. I can walk away knowing that the show was very successful in doing what I created it to do, push new music.

Over the last week, I’ve learned that beyond doing what I set out to do with The Playlist over the airwaves, I also was able to extend that via my blog for the past few years. I learned that I not only had listeners who looked to the show for new music, but I also had readers that couldn’t listen to the show and instead came here to see what I played and found out about the music that way. So awesome.

So last night’s show was a seriously stacked playlist, there was a ton that I still wanted to play, but I couldn’t get it all in. I dediced to end the show with the band that had the most spins on The Playlist. I was surprised when I found out it was The Loved Ones, but thinking back, I did play Keep Your Heart in its entirety when it came out. I wanted to post a big list of the most played artists, but I didn’t know where to cut it off. I may save that for a future post to milk one last entry about the show here. We’ll see, but if you’re really interested, let me know and I’ll make it happen.

The show wasn’t entirely hiccup free though. Just as I was about to start, the internet in the studio went out and for a while, I had to do the show entirely old school. I had to log on paper and couldn’t look up album info. I guess it was an appropriate reminder during the last show of what it was like when the show first started. It was surprisingly fun. However, this seems as though it may have messed up the beginning of the recording of the show. I haven’t verified this yet, but if it’s true, I will almost definitely cry. It was such a memorable show for me and to not have a recording of it would be seriously upsetting.

I’m staying an active DJ at the station so I don’t plan for this to be the last time I have a radio show playlist to post, but when it comes down to it, only the future knows how much I’ll actually end up subbing shows when needed. So for the very last time ever, here’s the playlist from last night’s The Playlist…

• Cheap Girls – A Lesser Rate – Find Me A Drink Home
• Ted Leo And The Pharmacists – Me And Mia – Shake The Sheets
• Drive-By Truckers – The Day John Henry Died – The Dirty South
• Minus The Bear – Knights – Planet Of Ice
• Spoon – Don’t You Evah – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
• Electric Six – Night Vision – Switzerland
• Tilly And The Wall – Bad Education – Bottoms Of Barrels
• Feist – So Sorry – The Reminder
• Frank Turner – Poetry Of The Deed – Poetry Of The Deed
• Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band – Air Mattress – Outer South
• The Thermals – I Don’t Believe You – Personal Life
• Maritime – Parade Of Punk Rock T-Shirts – We, The Vehicles
• The Pipettes – Pull Shapes – We Are The Pipettes
• M. Ward – Never Had Nobody Like You – Hold Time
• The Hold Steady – Chips Ahoy! – Boys And Girls In America
• The Copyrights – Knee Deep – Make Sound
• The Steinways – Arena Rock – Gorilla Marketing
• Against Me! – Thrash Unreal – New Wave
• Murder By Death – Rum Brave – Red Of Tooth And Claw
• Coconut Records – Microphone – Davy
• Neko Case – The Next Time You Say “Forever” – Middle Cyclone
• The Lawrence Arms – The Revisionist – The Greatest Story Ever Told
• Radiohead – 15 Step – In Rainbows
• Okkervil River – Pop Lie – The Stand Ins
• Lucero – I Don’t Wanna Be The One – Rebels, Rogues, And Sworn Brothers
• She And Him – I Was Made For You – Volume One
• Bryan Scary – Macedonia Hotel – The Shredding Tears
• Lemuria – Pants – Get Better
• The Measure [SA] – Portland – One Chapter In The Book (A Collection Of Standard Waits And Measurements)
• The Gaslight Anthem – Orphans – American Slang
• Rilo Kiley – The Moneymaker – Under The Blacklight
• Mclusky – She Will Only Bring You Happiness – The Difference Between You And Me Is That I’m Not On Fire
• NOFX – Seeing Double At The Triple Rock – Never Trust A Hippy
• The Loved Ones – Living Will (Get You Dead) – Keep Your Heart

90.3 The Core

My review was going to be titled “Fuck Gaslight Anthem,” but alas, it is not. Nor should it be. The last time I saw the band kind of killed them for me for a while, they played well, but they gave off a rockstar vibe that just didn’t sit well with me. Then American Slang came out and it was (is) solid. Very solid. I started to get excited about Gaslight Anthem again. American Slang was the in-your-face indication that this band is still on its way up and is the real deal. After that, the video for “American Slang” was released featuring nothing but New York City imagery. What the hell? It felt like a slap in the face. Moving from NJ isn’t a big deal and writing some songs about NYC, especially when you’re from a state squished between two major cities, isn’t either. That stuff is totally cool with me, but it felt like Gaslight Anthem had turned their backs on New Jersey and no song about Andy Diamond and The Court Tavern was going to be enough to convince me otherwise. New Jersey isn’t just where the Gaslight Anthem is from, it’s who they are and what made them what they are. This was always something they embraced, but I I didn’t feel that way anymore. It wasn’t that they weren’t putting Jersey front and center anymore, it was that they dropped it and replaced it.

Now last night, the band came out to Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” and Fallon was wearing a Yankees shirt–on its own, who cares, if you’re from Central or North Jersey, you’re probably a Yankees or Mets fan–but with everything else…yikes. This immediately felt like a second slap in the face. I felt all the sincerity this band had just disappear. And that’s saying a lot for me because I’ve always felt that their music oozes sincerity more than just about any other band out there.

At this point, I was really thinking about how I was going to say “fuck this band” and that wasn’t helped much when Fallon had someone else play second guitar just so he could hold the mic stand with two hands while singing on a few songs.

I stand by most of these feelings, but still I have to say, damn, this band writes some great songs and damn do they know how to play them on a stage. They were absolutely great. They really were. Despite everything else, the sincerity was still there and the passion for the music was as strong as ever.

The set was long, over an hour and a half. My knees were hurting, but I was still enjoying every second. The band ripped through almost everything they have spanning every release under the Gaslight name. It was impressive how much they got through and how much they didn’t neglect Sink or Swim except a few of the songs you would have expected them to play. In fact, just about the only songs they didn’t play from Sink or Swim, besides the acoustic ones, were the expected standards. “Red in the Morning” was even followed up by a comment from Fallon saying how he thought it sounded like it should be a song by The Bronx. This was a comment that about ten people in the crowd actually got. I looked around, no one knew what he was talking about. It was awesome.

Honestly, Gaslight Anthem was seriously solid last night. Seriously.

Now, Frank Turner…well, I would have liked to see more than I did. Thanks to an ever-late friend, we got there in time to only see a few songs, but he sounded awesome. Frank Turner is the kind of opener that I would gladly pay to see headline and I’m hoping that I get the chance soon.

The outdoor stage at the Stone Pony was surprisingly decent as well. There was a nice breeze and the sound, while not great, was good enough. It was a serious set up and I think I enjoyed it more than I would have inside. However, they were charging $20 for parking which is ridiculous. We drove three blocks down the road and parked for free near Asbury Lanes. I would suggest anyone going to other shows this summer there do the same.

And below are a few cellphone pics that all look the same. I tried and failed to get the DSLR in.

PS: A friend mentioned something about Brian being sick of the Springsteen comparisons, but I say that’s a load of crap, if you don’t want to be compared to Springsteen, don’t sound so much like him. Easy solution.

PPS: Contrary to the rumor going around before the show, Springsteen did not come out and play with them.

This week’s show was my countdown of my top 10 albums of 2009. It was an easy show to do since I picked out everything beforehand. I opened up with a few honorable mentions and then went right into the top 10. I ended with a Thorns Of Life track. I figured that bootleg from 924 Gilman St. was one of my most listened to records in the early part of the year so I should play something from it. The only real difficult part of this year’s countdown was trying to find a clean track from the Dear Landlord album. Everything I wanted to play had profanity in it and I didn’t have time to edit something out. I could have done it on the fly, but I never like leaving it to that. Don’t want to risk getting distracted and missing it.

So here’s the playlist (if you’re reading via Facebook, it’s going to be a jumbled mess since their import sucks. Click to read the original instead.)…

Source: 90.3 The Core

2009 was a pretty fucking awesome year! Seriously. I’ll probably make another post about the rest, but there were some amazing movies and some great records that came out.

Top 10 Albums

A lot of people are making lists for the decade, but I decided that I just couldn’t do that. It was too difficult of a task. So I stuck with just doing a top 10 favorite records for the year. In previous years, I’ve done bigger lists, but I’m keeping it small this year. And, as usual, this is a list of my favorite records, kind of like a personal playlist, rather than ones that I would say are the best.

Anyway, the list is below and I’ll also be counting this list  on The Playlist with The Reverend on 90.3 The Core tonight at 9pm! Make sure to tune in. I’ll be playing one song from each album.

1. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone – Anti
2. Frank Turner – Poetry Of The Deed – Epitaph
3. The Lawrence Arms – Buttsweat And Tears – Fat Wreck Chords
4. M. Ward – Hold Time – Merge
5. Coconut Records – Davy – Young Baby Records
6. Monsters of Folk – Monsters Of Folk – Shangri-La
7. Dear Landlord – Dream Homes – No Idea
8. Conor Oberst And the Mystic Valley Band – Outer South – Merge
9. NOFX – Frisbee/Coaster – Fat Wreck Chords
10. Future Of The Left – Travels with Myself and Another – 4AD

And besides those, there are a few honorable mentions:

• Cheap Girls – My Roaring 20s
• Sonic Youth – The Eternal
• The Decemberists – The Hazards Of Love
• Mason Jennings – Blood Of Man
• Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
• Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
• Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
• Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career

You know, I almost wanted to put Lady GaGa on that list somewhere. I think I’ve spent some serious time in the second half of this year discovering a love for her. I never would have thought that I’d think so highly of her, but she’s pretty friggin’ awesome. However, I just can’t say that The Fame Monster was that great overall. It’s good for a few really great songs, but there’s also a lot of filler. Oh well.

And 2010 is already looking like it’s going to be a great year with new records by Murder By Death, Minus The Bear, Against Me!, Spoon, She And Him, and more already announced. I can’t wait!

Top 10 Movies

I actually had a much harder time making my list of top 10 movies for the year. There were a TON of good flicks this year and there were so many that I just didn’t have time to see either! Ultimately, these were my favorites:

1. Inglourious Basterds
2. Star Trek
3. Up
4. The Hangover
5. Dead Snow
6. Zombieland
7. District 9
8. Paranormal Activity
9. Fantastic Mr. Fox
10. Coraline

And of course, some honorable mentions:

• Whip It
• (500) Days Of Summer
• Watchmen
• Last House On The Left
• Whatever Works
• The Wrestler

So there you have it, my favorite albums and movies of the year. I’m hoping to post another entry about other things from 2009 if I get a chance over the next week. But until then, don’t forget that I’ll be counting down that top 10 albums list tonight on The Playlist with The Reverend on 90.3 The Core!

I felt a little off my game for last night’s radio show, but I think it came together alright even though there were a couple wrong button presses. I got to play The Lawrence Arms again and I was able to play a song by The Drums for my co-worker who as been talking about them nonstop for the past couple of weeks. I want to find some time to spend with the Castanets and Kitty, Daisy, And Lewis records though. The songs that I played were awesome, but I haven’t had time to listen to the rest yet.

Source: 90.3 The Core

Overall, last night’s radio show didn’t really come together as well as I would have liked, but, at the least, I was able to play a lot of music that I was really excited to spin. New stuff from The Lawrence Arms–seriously Buttsweat and Tears is such a great 7″–, Cheap Girls, Flight Of The Conchords, Coconut Records, Frank Turner, and They Might Be Giants. Along with Monsters of Folk and some of the other stuff I’ve been playing over the past few weeks, there is a lot going on right now from some more well known, at least in the indie scene, bands. It’d be awesome if every week could be like this.

So musically, I really loved last night’s show and I think I had my mic breaks mostly where I wanted them, but I slipped up a bit on my segues between songs. I guess it happens. Oh well.

Source: 90.3 The Core

Also, I wanted to post Frank Turner’s new video for Poetry of the Dead because he looks kind of like a cleaned up

I had another great show last night and I had a lot of fun doing it. Nice mix of music and a bit more diverse than usual. I’ve been saying that a lot recently, but it’s true!

I’ve been listening to the new albums by Frank Turner and World’s Greatest Ghosts a bit and I have to go ahead and recommend both of them. Frank Turner is becoming one of my favorite British acts and World’s Greatest Ghosts sounds a lot like a mix of The Paper Chase and Jukebox The Ghost. Check them out.

Source: 90.3 The Core

Last night was another fantastic show. Almost perfect all around. Great music, great segues, and the phone was ringing off the hook. Not even just the phone, but the instant messages too. So much so that it was almost stressful trying to keep up. I was actually sweating because of it.

I found out last night that our station streams perfectly fine over an iPhone just by going to www.thecore.fm and clicking to listen. I’m assuming this will work on any other smartphone too, I guess I never thought about it before.

Apparently, we’re supposed to get a Nor’easter this weekend so that’s going to put a damper on my Field of Terror plans, but I’m still excited to see Gaslight Anthem, Murder By Death, and The Loved Ones on Sunday in Philly. And it seems that there are still tickets for the Monday night show as well. You may want to check that out. Either way, expect a full report next week.

Anyway, here’s what I played…

Source: 90.3 The Core