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

Last night’s The Playlist was one of those ones that I wish I could have every week. Everything just fell right into place, the music flowed perfectly from one song to another and there was so much music I wanted to play that I could have filled two hours without even trying. When there’s that much music to work with, it’s so easy to get by without any filler songs and I think that really comes across over the air. It also allows you to do things like starting and ending a set with songs by artists linked by Jenny Lewis–Jason Boesel and The Watson Twins. I got one request that I had no problem playing, World/Inferno Friendship Society fit in so perfectly. I also was able to pull off playing two local bands, Screaming Females and Home Blitz.

But besides the music, I also felt like my mic breaks were coming even more naturally than normal. There was no struggling to find something to say or rambling messes that I didn’t know how to get out of. So, it was a fun show all around and I got to snap a few pictures while I was in the studio.

Here’s the playlist, Facebookers, click on over to the original…

The Playlist last night felt like it was packed with new stuff by known bands. As much as I love finding out about new bands, it’s awesome to have a ton of stuff to play by bands that I already love; it’s easier to get excited about what I’m playing because it’s something I know. This is definitely something that came out last night for me, I felt really into it. And I feel like this is going to be a recurring theme for the year too with everything that’s going to be coming out, it seems like every single day I see another band I love announce an album for this year.

She & Him have a new album coming out next month–you can hear their new single “Thieves” on Stereogum, it rules. The Hold Steady and Murder By Death both have records coming out on May 4th and Gaslight Anthem, Minus the Bear, and a ton more bands have records coming out as well. Oh, and The Thermals posted a new single called “Canada” on their MySpace page. It’s sweet and catchy with more “woah-oh-oh-ohs” than an entire Less Than Jake album. It’s going to be a crazy year.

In the last week, I found some time to check out the new stuff by Eels, Magnetic Fields, The Watson Twins, and Hey Young Believer. All awesome. The Hey Young Believer album reminds me a lot of a band called Del Cielo that played the ZEN House a few times when I used to do shows in college, and I’m down with that. I just wish the album wasn’t 64 minutes long. It’s a bit too long.

Anyway, I went way out on a tangent, but here’s the playlist for last night’s show. I actually ended up playing the new Alkaline Trio. I wasn’t planning on it, but I had the song stuck in my head so I figured I’d just go for it. If you’re reading on Facebook, you know the drill, head on over to the original or you’ll just see a jumbled mess below.

Source: 90.3 The Core

I can’t believe it had been three weeks since my last radio show. Soooo long. I walked into the studio to a lot of great new music to check out. New stuff by The Magnetic Fields, Eels, and The Watson Twins, as well as the Spoon full-length. There was more too that I didn’t even get to check out.

The show itself was pretty decent actually. It’s nice to have a lot of music to work with, especially when you confine you show to strictly new stuff. There was a lot that I just couldn’t fit it which sucks, but it’s better than struggling to fill the time which is sometimes the case.

Unfortunately, I’ve been finding that I have very little time to listen to music anymore. Work has been too hectic to really be able to have my headphones on and I don’t have a solo commute to work anymore. So I don’t know when I’m going to get to catch up. I feel like I’m months and months behind. Oh well.

Anyway, here’s the playlist from last night. And, as always, if you’re reading this on Facebook, you’ll need to click to the original or you’ll just get a jumbled mess. Screw you, Facebook, for removing my HTML tables.

Source: 90.3 The Core

Great show this week, definitely a huge bounce back from last week‘s disaster. I felt completely on top of it all and it was a return to more of the randomness that normally makes up The Playlist. For the past month or so, I’ve been picking out my entire playlist ahead of time instead of merely grabbing about fifty CDs to work from and then just flying by the seat of my pants during the show. I finally returned to the unplanned style last night and, even though it’s a bit harder to do a show that way, it’s a ton more fun and comes with a greater connection to the listener.

My only low points of the show were the Erik Hassle and Twilight Hours songs that I played. I’d never heard either before and thought they would fit in well based on the reviews on the albums. I was wrong. Definitely not a fan of either, but that’s one of my favorite things about the way I do The Playlist. It’s not only an adventure for the listener, but it is for me as well. I play a lot of music that I haven’t listened to yet on the show. To sound overly cheesy, I feel like it makes every week a journey that the listener and I take together.

On the opposite end of the spectrum from those two are the albums by Dawn Landes, Thomas Function, and Spoon. Spoon’s Transference is an excellent follow up to Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. While not quite as good, it gets very close. And before next week, I want to spend some time with the Taylor Hollingsworth and Curtis Harvey albums as well. I liked the songs I played a lot so I’m anxious to give the rest of each album a listen.

On a final note, last night was actually the first time I’ve ever heard Vampire Weekend. It’s not like I haven’t heard of them seemingly incessantly for quite some time now, but I just never actually heard their music. I guess it had something to do with the people who were obsessing over them? I mean, nothing against them, but the people that always talked about Vampire Weekend seemed to be people that had different tastes than I do. So I always figured it was something I wouldn’t be into. I was kind of impressed though.

Alright, that’s all I have to blabber about this week so I’ll just give you the playlist, but remember, if you’re reading on Facebook, you’ll have to click the link to the original or it will just be a jumbled mess.

Source: 90.3 The Core

This week’s edition of The Playlist was probably the worst show that I’ve done in the last year. Probably longer, actually. I don’t know, I just felt incredibly off. I had nothing to say, I couldn’t really focus. I was just all kinds of uninterested. It’s weird too because I had a lot of new music to play this week for the first time in about a month. Maybe it was just because of the rough day that I had at work prior? Let’s say that.

I still need to check a lot of this music out, but I’m very excited about the Thomas Function and Dawn Landes records. I don’t really know anything about either of them, but the songs I played last night were awesome. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Just like last week, I brought my camera with me to take some pictures around the studio. I turned the lights up a little brighter this time which helped a lot. I took a few shots that I liked a lot so I figured that I’d share them with you. The one of the console is probably my favorite. It’s nothing special, but I like how the focus and lighting came out a lot.

Source: 90.3 The Core

As we get into the slow time of year for new records, it gets harder to do a show of all new music. Last night will probably be the last show for a few weeks that doesn’t feel aged…at least relative to what I try to put together. Last night was great though, definitely a good feel to the show. I felt completely on with my mic breaks and the music I was playing. There were also a few callers and requests (that I couldn’t honor).

I’m always conflicted about playing reissues on the show. It’s not technically new music, but it is kind of a new release in a way. When it’s a band that I really like or that was really important to the music scene, I tend to side with playing it. So being able to throw some Sunny Day Real Estate on was nice…even though the reissue came out about three months ago, it just finally made it into rotation at the station. That’s old for The Playlist, but I couldn’t resist playing something from it.

The new Spoon single is great! I’m seriously looking forward to the new album next year. For a while before Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, it felt like they had dropped off, but that album brought them back in a big way for me. It was one of my top albums of 2007 so I’m interested to see what they do now.

Next week will by my Top 10 of 2009 countdown show. I’ve got my list all decided and ready to go. I just need to pick out the songs that I want to play from each one.

Source: 90.3 The Core