Eighties Friday on Altrok Radio - The Big List O' Bands

Today and every Friday, you'll hear a big pile of the music we had available in the 80's, all day and through the night, in CD Quality MP3 Pro, on Altrok's Eighties Friday at Altrok Radio.

Got a slow connection? We've put it up for you in glorious mono as well - check the "slower connections" link on the right of the page.

We do it every Friday, and we do it with a lot of tracks you won't necessarily hear on your average "Eighties Rewind" special...and that's 'cause we were there, and we know the stuff that sold well wasn't necessarily the stuff that we keep going back to. "I Ran" and "I Melt With You" have been shoved out of the way to make room for some really good stuff (often including the good stuff A Flock Of Seagulls and Modern English made that got completely overshadowed by their "one hit wonders".)

Want specifics? How about:

---

A Flock Of Seagulls, ABC, APB, Adam Ant

The B-52's, Bad Brains, Bauhaus, The Beastie Boys, Big Audio Dynamite, Big Country, Blancmange, Blondie, The Bolshoi, The Bongos, Buzzcocks

Cabaret Voltaire, Camouflage, Jim Band Carroll, The Chameleons, The Charlatans UK, China Crisis, The Church, The Clash, The Comsat Angels, Julian Cope, Elvis Costello, Cult Hero, The Cure

The Danse Society, Department S, Depeche Mode, Devo, The Dickies, Dramarama, Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy, Ian Dury And The Blockheads

Easterhouse, Echo & The Bunnymen, Eddie & The Hot Rods, The English Beat

Faith No More, Fishbone, Front 242, Fugazi, Fun Boy Three

Gang Of Four, Gene Loves Jezebel, Go-Gos, The Godfathers, Peter Godwin

Heaven 17, The Hoodoo Gurus, The Human League, Hunters & Collectors

Icehouse, Intaferon, Inxs

Joe Jackson, The Jam, JoBoxers

Killing Joke

The La's, Liquid Liquid, Love & Rockets, Lene Lovich

Madness, Ministry, Morrissey, Peter Murphy

The Nails, New Order, Nine Inch Nails, Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper, November Group

OMD, Oingo Boingo, Orbital, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

Robert Palmer, Plastic Bertrand, Plimsouls, Pop Will Eat Itself, Iggy Pop, The Pretenders, Psychedelic Furs, Psychic TV

R.E.M., The Ramones, Red Box, Lou Reed, Stan Ridgeway, Romeo Void

Fred Schneider, Pete Shelley, Simple Minds, Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Sisters of Mercy, The Smiths, Soft Cell, Spandau Ballet, Sparks, The Specials, Split Enz, Squeeze, Sting, The Stranglers, Sugarcubes

Talking Heads, The Teardrop Explodes, That Petrol Emotion, The The, They Might Be Giants, Tones On Tail, Frank Tovey, Tv21

U2, Ultravox!

The Vapors, Violent Femmes

Wah!, Was (Not Was), Way Of The West, Wire, The Wonder Stuff, Wreckless Eric

XTC

---

Sound appealing? Then hop aboard!

Melody People, Your Time Is...February.

Go ahead, mark your calendar...February 16. New Brunswick. More as it becomes available. (And perhaps the third time's the charm...)

Altrok Radio Music Update #183

Folks,

Firstly, the important stuff:

Altrok Radio is at http://www.altrokradio.com

Please remember to tune in whenever you can - every hour you listen turns into more visibility for the station; we show up higher in search listings, and such like that. And if you'd like to help us keep the stream running, check out the advertisers if they appeal to you; your interest actually helps fund us.

Of course, you can't help us if you find that listening is either annoying or difficult, and there are lots of ways you can smooth that process out. Here's a few:

1. Use an MP3 player to listen. Live365, our provider, starts off with a web-based player that uses Windows Media to play the station. Unfortunately, that creates two problems: the station's being translated from its native MP3 format, which deteriorates the sound quality, and the player window itself may open other ad windows that degrade your system's performance.

Thankfully, they provide an option to use your own MP3 player. You can make this change by logging into the Live365 website, then choosing "My Live365" and clicking "listen Settings" - under "MP3 Player", choose the option that enables your own default MP3 player.

Then, when you start the station, just close all the other web-based windows. (If you like having the songs display, you can go to http://www.altrok.com/streams.shtml to see what's playing.)

2. Once you've done that, you might consider using Jet Audio (www.jetaudio.com) to listen. It comes with MP3Pro decoding, meaning you get to listen in fully CD quality. You can also get an MP3Pro plugin for WinAmp; search for MP3Pro among the Input plugins at http://www.winamp.com

Now that you've done all that, you might want to know what you're listening to...

This week, our Grinders (the stuff we play heavily) include music from:

- Voxhaul Broadcast
- Moving Units
- Motel Creeps
- Hot Chip
- Young Galaxy
- The Maple State

Plus we've got newly-added music:

- Kyle Andrews - Get Mad
- Carbon-Silicon - What The F--k (radio edit)
- Mitch Easter - Time Warping
- Elle s'appelle - She Sells Sea Shells
- Frightened Rabbit - The Greys
- Calvin Harris - Colours
- Kaiser Chiefs - Flowers In The Rain
- The Killers - Tranquilize (feat. Lou Reed)
- Lima Research Society - Android Boy (Reboot)
- Love Ends Disaster! - Suzanne
- The Raveonettes - Aly, Walk With Me
- James Severy - Do The Circus Circus
- The Steers - Rewind Repeat
- Wire - No Warning Given
- Yeasayer - 2080

Our Newly-Added Classics:

- Julian Cope - Pulsar
- The Cure - In Between Days
- Joe Jackson - Sunday Papers
- The Lords Of The New Church - Open Your Eyes
- The Pressure Boys - Policeman (In My Neighbor's Yard)
- The Replacements - I Will Dare
- The Smiths - Barbarism Begins at Home
- The Stranglers - Straighten Out
- The Wonder Stuff - The Size Of A Cow

As always, thanks for listening!

- Sean Carolan
Altrok Radio
On your computer right now at http://www.altrokradio.com

On the radio Fridays at 10pm, at 90.5 The Night

Altrok Radio Music Update #182

Firstly, the important stuff:

Altrok Radio is at http://www.altrokradio.com

Please remember to tune in whenever you can - every hour you listen turns into more visibility for the station; we show up higher in search listings, and such like that. And if you'd like to help us keep the stream running, check out the advertisers if they appeal to you; your interest actually helps fund us.

Now then, in addition to the outstanding Altrok Radio music mix that got us an Editor's Pick nod at Live365 and at About.com, we've added features we know you'll like...

New! - Wednesdays at 11:30am Eastern, DJ Iron Mike, a partner-in-crime on our Running W/Scissors night at The Court Tavern this coming Thursday, pulls in a compelling series of beats on "Aural Pleasures" - two hours of the throbbing stuff for your pulse-quickening pleasure.

Thursdays at 11:30am Eastern (and repeated at 9:00pm), you get to hear Sean Carolan (often referred to in these dispatches as "me") showcase the new music we've added this week on the Altrok Radio FM Showcase. New stuff, classic stuff, and Jeff Raspe with his Altrok Radio Underground Pick Of The Week...

And on Friday, it's Altrok's Eighties Friday: music from the eighties that mattered then AND now. An eight hour playlist that features some of the best that decade had to offer, drawing from all the music that was available at the time (yes, even from the seventies.)

But for now - we've got songs to let you know about.

This week, our Grinders (the stuff we play heavily) include music from:

- Radiohead
- Editors
- Milburn
- Electric Six
- The Whitest Boy Alive
- The Chiara L's

Plus we've got newly-added music:

- Cobra Dukes - Airtight
- The Futureheads - Broke Up The Time
- The Killers - Shadowplay
- Kotki Dwa - Pad
- The Loyal Trooper - Nothing To Say
- The Maple State - We Swear By The Light Life
- The Mary Onettes - Explosions
- Roadside Graves - No One Will Know Where You've Been
- Stars - Take Me to the Riot
- These New Puritans - Numbers
- The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name
- Twisted Wheel - You Stole The Sun
- Uh Huh Her - Say So
- The Wombats - Moving To New York
- Young Galaxy - Outside The City

Our Featured Classics:

- Blondie - Sunday Girl
- The Church - Already Yesterday
- The Clash - Should I Stay Or Should I Go
- The Creatures - Right Now
- Faith No More - We Care A Lot
- Killing Joke - Follow the Leaders
- The Lyres - I Want To Help You Ann
- The Pixies - Dig For Fire
- Posies, The - Dream All Day
- Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The UK

As always, thanks for listening!

- Sean Carolan
Altrok Radio
On your computer right now at http://www.altrokradio.com

On the radio Fridays at 10pm, at 90.5 The Night

What's That On Your Head? (Sex Dwarf Wig Party!)

Here's a bit o' fun happening in Philly tonight:

(click the pic for more info)

The thing is, when people wear wigs, they aren't ever themselves. Which, at a club, is the same as it ever was - but tonight, they'll all be different different people. (Right?)

Eh, get a wig and go...

No, You Can't Have The Rumble Strips. Not Yours.

Altrok faves The Rumble Strips have hit the customary "whoops, didn't get the paperwork done in time" snag just before what would have been an American tour - they'll try and bring their horn-section-augmented sound back to the US again next year. (If you've got tix, get a refund.)

Altrok Radio Music Update #181

Firstly, the important stuff:

Altrok Radio is at http://www.altrokradio.com

Please remember to tune in whenever you can - every hour you listen turns into more visibility for the station; we show up higher in search listings, and such like that. And if you'd like to help us keep the stream running, check out the advertisers if they appeal to you; your interest actually helps fund us.

Now then, in addition to the outstanding Altrok Radio music mix that got us an Editor's Pick nod at Live365 and at About.com, we've added features we know you'll like...

Thursdays at 11:30am Eastern (and repeated at 9:00pm), you get to hear Sean Carolan (often referred to in these dispatches as "me") showcase the new music we've added this week on the Altrok Radio FM Showcase. New stuff, classic stuff, and Jeff Raspe with his Altrok Radio Underground Pick Of The Week...

And on Friday, it's Altrok's Eighties Friday: music from the eighties that mattered then AND now. An eight hour playlist that features some of the best that decade had to offer, drawing from all the music that was available at the time (yes, even from the seventies.)

But for now - we've got songs to let you know about.

This week, our Grinders (the stuff we play heavily) include music from:

- Jakobinarina
- Lowlife
- kaputt
- The Glad Hearts
- Bombay Bicycle Club
- Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong

Plus we've got newly-added music:

- AM Syndicate - All The People Under The Sun
- Black Francis - Lolita
- Carbon-Silicon - Prophet
- Electric Six - Down At McDonaldz
- Future Of The Left - The Lord Hates A Coward
- Inina Gap - Kama
- Moving Units - Crash 'N' Burn Victims
- Okkervil River - John Allyn Smith Sails
- Prinzhorn Dance School - You Are The Space Invader (Optimo Espacio Remix)
- Soft - Droppin
- To My Boy - Model
- Tokyo Police Club - Cut Cut Paste
- Voxhaul Broadcast - Rotten Apples
- The Whitest Boy Alive - Burning
- Wire - 23 Years Too Late

Our Newly-Added Classics:

- Bauhaus - Kick In The Eye
- Bjork - I Miss You
- Echo & The Bunnymen - Bedbugs And Ballyhoo
- Game Theory - Erica's Word
- The Jam - Move On Up
- New Musik - Straight Lines
- Matthew Sweet - Sick Of Myself
- The Trashcan Sinatras - Only Tongue Can Tell

As always, thanks for listening!

- Sean Carolan
Altrok Radio
On your computer right now at http://www.altrokradio.com

On the radio Fridays at 10pm, at 90.5 The Night

Hey, Radiohead - You've Made Millions Bucking The System! What'll You Do Next?

Start doing covers, apparently. Here's The Smiths' "The Headmaster Ritual".



...and New Order's "Ceremony" (sung, if you ask me, in Ian Curtis' style)



And some of their own songs, too...Stereogum seems to be keeping a nice archive of whatever they can get their hands on.

Strange things apparently keep happening at Radiohead.tv (which may or may not be on air when you click in - but when it is, I particularly like the BBC1-circa-1970 style continuity.)

And then, perhaps maybe, they'll go to Disneyland.

"Running W/Scissors" At The Court Tavern

DJs Iron Mike, Drew and myself have decided on the name "Running W/Scissors" as a banner for what we're doing tonight, and which we're planning to do again December 13, at The Court Tavern.

But what we're really trying to do is resurrect something.

Let's be clear, though. People think the word "resurrect" means that you're bringing something back exactly as it was, without change, without any consideration of what's happened since its untimely demise.

That's not resurrection, that's playing with a zombie. And it's fun for a while, at least until its limbs start disconnecting themselves. Embarrassing. (But, as I said, fun. In fact, a whole new vista of educational play.)

The thing that really worries me is nostalgia, which Bill-Dale Marcinko once called "America's favorite mood!" using every ounce of sarcasm he could muster (and he had a ready reserve.)

So we're not trying for nostalgia tonight.

We're trying for a resurrection. A life that continues to grow from this day forward. One that learns new things. One that remembers old things. One that isn't warmed over, but generates its own heat.

Think that's possible? If you drop by tonight, you'll make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Will we play old tracks? You betcha, because they're what every new nouveau indie/nouveau punk/nouveau new wave/nouveau alternative band is looking at to spark their next big idea.

But there'll be new music there, and after five years of finding new tracks worthy of play on Altrok Radio, I can tell you that's only as scary as new music was when we first started listening to it - which is to say, not at all. And besides, we're brave souls, and always have been. Klaxons, Hadouken! and Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip shouldn't ever scare you.

There'll be new cuts from classic bands, too. Just wait 'til you get a load of the new Wire. (It cam in the mail yesterday, and I'm lobbying to close the night with it. It's that good.)

So come on by tonight and join the party. We're Running W/ Scissors, and you know it's no fun 'til someone puts an eye out.

TONIGHT (Thursday, November 8) at 9PM
DJ's Drew, IronMike and Sean Carolan
are Running W/Scissors
with special guest DJ TM5

at The Court Tavern
124 Church St.
New Brunswick, NJ

Drink Specials
Giveaways from Metropolis Records
$3 To Enter

Wednesday: DJ IronMike's Aural Pleasures...Beats And Beyond!

Today 11:30am & 9pm Eastern

"Aural Pleasures" with DJ IronMike

Two hours of beat-driven throb with an ear to the dance floor and an eye toward the future. DJ IronMike delivers the best and newest electronica and remixed indie/alternative, today on Altrok Radio.

Some selections:

• Klaxons
• Chemical Bros.
• Duran Duran
• Depeche Mode
• Primal Scream
• She Wants Revenge

Prepare yourself for tomorrow's Running W/ Scissors party at The Court Tavern (or whatever party you're headed to) and let the pulse take over.

Tune in!

Altrok Radio Music Update #180

Firstly, the important stuff:

Altrok Radio is at http://www.altrokradio.com

Please remember to tune in whenever you can - every hour you listen turns into more visibility for the station; we show up higher in search listings, and such like that. And if you'd like to help us keep the stream running, check out the advertisers if they appeal to you; your interest actually helps fund us.

Now then, in addition to the outstanding Altrok Radio music mix that got us an Editor's Pick nod at Live365 and at About.com, we've added features we know you'll like...

This Wednesday at 11:30am Eastern (and repeated at 9:00pm), DJ Iron Mike, a partner-in-crime on our Running W/Scissors night at the Court Tavern this coming Thursday, pulls in a compelling series of beats on "Aural Pleasures" - two hours of the throbbing stuff for your pulse-quickening pleasure.

Thursdays at 11:30am Eastern (and repeated at 9:00pm), you get to hear Sean Carolan (often referred to in these dispatches as "me") showcase the new music we've added this week on the Altrok Radio FM Showcase. New stuff, classic stuff, and Jeff Raspe with his Altrok Radio Underground Pick Of The Week...

And on Friday, it's Altrok's Eighties Friday: music from the eighties that mattered then AND now. An eight hour playlist that features some of the best that decade had to offer, drawing from all the music that was available at the time (yes, even from the seventies.)

But for now - we've got songs to let you know about.

This week, our Grinders (the stuff we play heavily) include music from:

- Cut Off Your Hands
- The Go! Team
- The Charlatans UK
- Emma Pollock
- Shy Child
- Radiohead

Plus we've got newly-added music:

- The Chiara L's - Kate's Kid
- The Hives - Tick Tick Boom
- Hot Chip - Shake A Fist
- Jakobinarina - This Is An Advertisement
- Lowlife - Monitors
- Milburn - What Will You Do (When The Money Goes)
- Motel Creeps - Restless
- Mum - They Made Frogs Smoke Til They Exploded
- The Never - Cavity
- Operator Please - Crash-Tragic
- Pinback - From Nothing To Nowhere
- Carolyn Selheim - Quite Like Me
- They Came From The Stars (I Saw Them) - It's Always Boomtime (Part One)
- The World Record - We're Number One

Our Featured Classics:

- Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love
- The Chemical Brothers - Setting Sons
- Dramarama - Work For Food
- Happy Mondays - Hallelujah (Andrew Weatherall Club Mix)
- The Invisible Cities - Instaglo
- Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch
- Nada Surf - Popular
- The Smithereens - Much Too Much
- Ultravox - Vienna

As always, thanks for listening!

- Sean Carolan
Altrok Radio
On your computer right now at http://www.altrokradio.com

On the radio Fridays at 10pm, at 90.5 The Night

Eighties Friday Video: Kid Creole & The Coconuts, "Annie, I'm Not Your Daddy"

Not your typical pop band, and not your typical pop song, but here they are, on Top Of The Pops...



...and they're just one of the 126 bands you'll hear when you tune in to Eighties Friday on Altrok Radio this week. How 'zat?

Congress Resolves To Fight Recording Royalties ... For Broadcast Radio.

So, as I stare down the barrel of a whithering increase of the fees I have to pay to keep the radio station running - the ones I pay that regular over-the-air radio doesn't have to - comes this love letter from Congress to the broadcast industry...

Supporting the Local Radio Freedom Act.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas (for himself and Mr. CONAWAY) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Supporting the Local Radio Freedom Act.

Whereas the United States enjoys broadcasting and sound recording industries that are the envy of the world, due to the symbiotic relationship that has existed among these industries for many decades;

Whereas for more than 80 years, Congress has rejected repeated calls by the recording industry to impose a performance fee on local radio stations for simply playing music on the radio and upsetting the mutually beneficial relationship between local radio and the recording industry;

Whereas local radio stations provide free publicity and promotion to the recording industry and performers of music in the form of radio air play, interviews with performers, introduction of new performers, concert promotions, and publicity that promotes the sale of music, concert tickets, ring tones, music videos and associated merchandise;

Whereas Congress found that ‘‘the sale of many sound recordings and the careers of many performers benefited considerably from airplay and other promotional activities provided by both noncommercial and advertiser-supported, free over-the-air broadcasting’’;

Whereas local radio broadcasters provide tens of thousands of hours of essential local news and weather information during times of national emergencies and natural disasters, such as September 11th, and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as public affairs programming, sports, and hundreds of millions of dollars of time for public service announcements and local fund raising efforts for worthy charitable causes, all of which are jeopardized if local radio stations are forced to divert revenues to pay for a new performance fee;

Whereas there are many thousands of local radio stations that will suffer severe economic hardship if any new performance fee is imposed, as will many other small businesses that play music including bars, restaurants, retail establishments, sports and other entertainment venues, shopping centers and transportation facilities; and

Whereas the hardship that would result from a new performance fee would hurt American businesses, and ultimately the American consumers who rely on local radio for news, weather, and entertainment; and such a performance fee is not justified when the current system has produced the most prolific and innovative broadcasting, music, and sound recording industries in the world: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress should not impose any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge relating to the public performance of sound recordings on a local radio station for broadcasting sound recordings over-the-air, or on any business for such public performance of sound recordings.

...all of which applies to Internet Radio. (Yes, even the "during disasters" thing.) But I still have to pay the fees this whole document comes out against. (Yes, ones imposed as a result of an act of the same Congress that opposes them here.)

But I don't have an effective lobby, so my bill's due again...