Self Help Radio 042514: Indiepop A To Z # 44

Well, here it is, the forty-fourth installment of the never-ending series, my weird & slightly dumb attempt to catalog bands that are considered indiepop, that influenced indiepop, or that move in an orbit somewhere around what I consider "indiepop."  On the surface, it seems like a fool's errand, but the good news is, there are lots of nice tunes here!

You can listen to the whole show now at Self Help Radio's cubbyhole on the web.  Or you can simply click on these links to go directly to the show: part one &/or part two.  The alphabetical list of artists is below.

We finished the letter I!  We started the letter J!

(part one)

"Summer's Gone" Irene _Apple Bay_
"The Curious Thing About Leather" Irving _Cook Book CD: Libro De Cucina Y Musica_
"Against The Grain Of My Life" The Irregulars _The Sound Of Leamington Spa Vol. 3_

"Revolution Nr 12" Isar 12 _Casablanca: La Colección De Cludades - Módulo 2_
"Rough Gem" Islands _Return To The Sea_
"Dancing Away" The Isolation _The Isolation EP_
"Work Day" It Hugs Back _Inside Your Guitar_
"The Music Makes Me Sick" It's A Musical _The Music Makes Me Sick_

"Avenge" Ivy _Battery Point_
"I Get The Message" Ivy _Apartment Life_
"I Was Drunk In The Underworld" Jack _Wintercomesummer_

(part two)

"Cheap Tragedies" Jack Acid _Stars Kill Rock_
"Should've Told" Jack Drag _Jack Drag_
"Thought That I Was Over You" Jack Frost _Jack Frost_

"Foolish Boy" The Jack Rubies _Foolish Boy_
"You Make It So Hard" Jack The Bear _Bearfootin'_
"Real Cool Boy" Jackson _Verano Del 99_
"Steppin' Out" Joe Jackson _Night & Day_
"Country Girl" Jacobites _Hawks Get Religion_

"Love Is So Cool (That My Heart Goes Boom)" Jacqueline _Labrador 100: A Complete History of Popular Music_
"Not Seen, Not Heard" Jactars _The Sound Of Leamington Spa Vol. 6_
"Back Of My Hand (I've Got Your Number)" The Jags _D.I.Y.: Starry Eyes - UK Pop, Vol. 2_

Whither Indiepop A To Z # 44?

At this point, I don't think I have to explain anything to you.  I have done forty-three episodes of songs I consider indiepop (or which influenced indiepop or emulated some aspect of indiepop) & now I'm going to do a forty-fourth & what else is there to say?  I'm doing it for the same reason I've done the previous ones: I have a problem.  I can't help myself.  I've made a list of bands & even though I am just at the letter I, I continue.  "You'll never finish," you say, & probably not (although I have a separate list now of bands I forgot &/or are new, for an "appendix" version once I've completed the letter Z) but I have to see something through some time.  Sure, it may seem like it's a kind of achievement to have done a radio show for nearly twelve years that's been on three different radio stations in three different states (well, Kentucky & West Virginia are kind of similar, but they have different names), not to mention continuing it when it didn't have a radio station, & some romantic types may even note that I've been with the same woman for almost thirteen years, including four of them in a marriage.  & that's true, perhaps I should be proud of these things.  It's just that - I can imagine a day when I stop doing Self Help Radio.  (It may be sooner than I think!)  I can also imagine a day when my wife takes a good look at me & says, "What the fuck have I done?" & calls the divorce attorney which she has handily put on speed dial just in case.  These things are easily foreseeable - some might call them inevitable.  But I can't see this Indiepop A To Z thing ending.  Ever.  I do imagine I'll be done before it is.  & surely that is something of a problem, right?

But please, enjoy the show!

Preface To Indiepop A To Z # 44: Blah Blah Blah

I will finish the letter I!  I will begin the letter J!  It's exciting in an OCD way!

Here's something funny: after I was gathering the last few bands whose names begin with the letter I, something came over me that could best be described as a panic attack.  I suddenly couldn't remember which letter came after I, J or K.  I thought to myself, "What if I spend all this time gathering bands whose names begin with the wrong letter?  I'd be fucked!"

But I didn't consult a dictionary or ask Jeeves or anything like that.  No, I calmly recited my ABCs out loud until I was certain that the letter J followed the letter I.  Twice.  Just to be on the safe side.

Did I say "here's something funny"?  I meant to say, "Here's something I should be concerned about."

Big News!

I have big news, though the news is kind of unconfirmed.  It is about Self Help Radio, not me.  The last time I had big news about me, it was a very liberal use of the term "big."

This is the news: Self Help Radio is returning to WRFL.  What?  How?  Oh, none of that is important.  This is what I know:

I'll be doing two Self Help Radio shows on the first two Thursdays in May: the 1st & the 8th.  & then, when the new schedule starts…  Well, I hope I'm on the schedule!  I don't know yet.

So the "big news" might just be, "Self Help Radio will make a slight return to real radio the first two weeks of May!"  & then it's back to just me playing things for you from the comfort of my own head.

Or maybe the "big news" is, "I've applied to do a show again on WRFL!  But if I screw up the two before the new schedule begins, I might not be doing a show after that!"

I think I should have waited to share the big news until it was confirmed.

Rats.

1800

I have written 1800 blog entries for this blog.  The vast majority were things a roomful of monkeys would be ashamed to have written, but still, as someone who rarely gets anything done, it's quite an achievement.  You can't make me feel bad about it because I can do a fine job of such things myself.

I have "big news" in tomorrow's entry.  I put "big news" in quotes like that because it's really not big news.  I am using the quote marks correctly.  But it's something sort of new for Self Help Radio, which the subject of this blog (I think), so it deserves to be here.

Today, though, I'm all like: 1800 entries.  Wow.