October 2020 Challenge Thread: Let’s Get Weird

Bonus Simpsons Saturday

Didn't think of this till today, but one of the amazing things about being able to go to San Diego Comic Con is the little things you come across. Like this picture - you have a group of Marge Simpsons posing for pictures on the show floor, and who happens to come up from behind? Matt Groening. I definitely was at the right place at the right time for this one.

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Day 18: 120 Minutes

Arcade Fire - Funeral

Also being Canadian I had no idea what 120 Minutes was either, so I'll play something I probably first heard on a similar show we had up here. On Friday nights, MuchMusic had a show called the Wedge devoted mostly to indie rock music. (At the time I wasn't really interested in it, but sometimes I'd catch either the end or the start of it while waiting for The Punk Show or Much Loud, their metal show.)

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Day 17: The Simpson’s Saturday
Spin an album by an artist featured on TV’s longest running animated sitcom (bonus points if you include a video clip of their appearance)

Green Day - Insomniac

Since Disney+ has become a thing, my kids have really gotten into the Simpsons, and they've chosen the Simpsons Movie 4-5 times for movie night this year, so Green Day playing a concert, then dying as the toxic sludge of Springfield eats their float away, was the second thing that came to mind (I was going to do Elvis Costello first).



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Day 18: 120 Minutes
Spin something that would make Matt Pinfield proud
Pavement - Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
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MTV was a gigantic part of my musical education growing up. I was the eldest meaning I didn’t have any older siblings to introduce me to cool music and growing up in a small Midwestern town there wasn’t much culture to be had. My main outlets for finding good music was MTV, Rolling Stone and Spin magazine. I really started getting into music in 92/93 which thankfully coincided with the short period of time when the mainstream had co-opted the Alternative/Underground/Indie music. This meant that for the first half of the 90’s you could see videos from the likes The Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr., and Sonic Youth in regular rotation on MTV. Unfortunately that moment was fleeting, with the rise of Pop music and Nu Metal, Alternative music was cast back into the underground meaning if I wanted to discover new or interesting rock music, I would either have to stay up late on a Sunday night or set up a VCR to record MTVs 120 Minutes. I didn’t watch every week but when I did it usually lead to a trip to Best Buy (35 minutes away, 3 towns over) to pick up a new CD.

 
Day 18: 120 Minutes
Spin Something That Would Make Dave Kendall Proud

There were so many bands that I discovered through that show that giving thanks would just not be enough. However this band always sticks out the most whenever I think about the show. And I know that Pinfield seems to be the most recognizable host but I remember how much I disliked him when he took over. There was something about him that I didn’t trust. Maybe I felt that he wasn’t authentic. I realized later that I was wrong, but for me Dave Kendall is who I think of first. Anyway.....

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Day 18: 120 Minutes
Spin Something That Would Make Dave Kendall Proud

There were so many bands that I discovered through that show that giving thanks would just not be enough. However this band always sticks out the most whenever I think about the show. And I know that Pinfield seems to be the most recognizable host but I remember how much I disliked him when he took over. There was something about him that I didn’t trust. Maybe I felt that he wasn’t authentic. I realized later that I was wrong, but for me Dave Kendall is who I think of first. Anyway.....

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I missed most of Dave Kendall’s run but as an adult I have gone back and watched older Kendall hosted eps I definitely get the appeal Kendall was cool. Pinfield was more of a music nerd with almost encyclopedic knowledge of music which was informative but much less hip. Like I could relate more with Pinfield as a music nerd but I would wanna hang out with Kendall. I think Jim Shearer and Jancee Dunn were pretty great hosts too, they were the VJs that hosted it when I was in college in the the early 2000s after it had moved over to M2 and during the coinciding Indie rock revival.
 
I missed most of Dave Kendall’s run but as an adult I have gone back and watched older Kendall hosted eps I definitely get the appeal Kendall was cool. Pinfield was more of a music nerd with almost encyclopedic knowledge of music which was informative but much less hip. Like I could relate more with Pinfield as a music nerd but I would wanna hang out with Kendall. I think Jim Shearer and Jancee Dunn were pretty great hosts too, they were the VJs that hosted it when I was in college in the the early 2000s after it had moved over to M2 and during the coinciding Indie rock revival.
At the time I didn’t know how informative Pinfield was. It wasn’t until a couple of years of him hosting that I finally adjusted.
I more or less stopped watching once he left but I do remember Jancee and enjoyed her.
 
Day 18: 120 Minutes
Spin something that would make Matt Pinfield proud

Ride - Going Blank Again

MTV was completely verboten in my house (along with any music that wasn't religious or the adult contemporary stuff that my stepmom liked... in fact, I once got grounded because I had the radio on and when she came into my room a Matchbox 20 song was on, which was "too psychedelic"). I definitely snuck in some MTV time when no adults were home, but I don't think I ever saw 120 Minutes. Googling who was on it, I'm sure I would have loved it, once I was old enough. I found an episode online from when I was 9 (the commercials are included, and WOW they are so very 90s), so I definitely wasn't listening to any of this stuff yet, but it features a video of Ride's "Leave Them All Behind," so I'm spinning the album it's the opening track of... even though I wouldn't hear the album until a couple decades later...

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Day 19: I Miss Concerts - Spin an album from an artist you’ve seen and enjoyed live (bonus points if you include photos from the live show)

Childish Gambino - Awaken, My Love!

This was an amazing show and I was lucky enough to have some great seats for it!




Fantastic pick. I have mentioned this before but I have been lucky enough to see Childish Gambino a couple of times, once at Lovebox festival and another at his London 02 Gig. The 02 is a huge 20,000 person venue which was sold out. We had aisle seats a few down from the doorway at the side, looking down at the standing area and stage. At one point in the gig, Gambino walks off back stage while the camera follows him and the music looped. As he was walking I started recognising the corridor and quickly turned to the doorway, tugging on my girlfriend's sleeve just as he walks through. He looks around, sees me looking at him (mouth probably on the floor) and fist bumps me and my girlfriend before walking down the steps and breaking into song. After seeing him on tv for years (Community etc) and listening to his music, it was a real surreal moment.

Its an absolutely awful screenshot from a video my girlfriend filmed, but this was just after he fist bumped us and pulled the microphone to his mouth to sing.

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Day 19: I Miss Concerts
Spin an album from an artist you’ve seen and enjoyed live

Radiohead - Kid A/Amnesiac
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This was a fantastic show at The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, WA back in June 2001. If you ever get a chance to see one of your favorite bands play at this beautiful venue, I highly recommend it.

 
Day 19: I Miss Concerts

Daniel Norgren - Wooh Dang (Superpuma Records, 2019 VMP Exclusive Pressing)


Im a massive fan of live concerts and its one of the biggest things I miss about pre-COVID life. Last year I went to 16 gigs (not including festivals) so I had quite a good selection to choose from. I have mentioned the great night I had seeing Kishi Bashi a few times before (I will quote it below for anyone that is interested) but one that I haven't mentioned that often is Daniel Norgren. As annoying and shady as VMP can be at times, I cant fault them for opening my eyes to new music, and Daniel Norgren is a great example. When they announced Wooh Dang I gave it a listen and was hooked, bingeing his whole discography. I then saw he was performing at a tiny venue in London and having already sent a link of his music to a couple of mates, we decided to go. While me and 1 of my mates was waiting for the other mate to arrive we popped into a restaurant to have a drink at the bar. Turns out that Daniel was there with his group having a meal before the show, and he came over and chatted to us after we (maybe not so subtly) kept glancing over to him. Really nice guy, very chatty. The gig was just amazing, a proper stand-out performance and at the end as we were leaving I picked up a copy of Skogens Frukter (the only album I was missing) and as they passed it over to me, the person at the stall saw my copy of the VMP Wooh Dang which I had brought for him to sign. She called the manager over and he took both the records backstage and Daniel signed them. Superb night.

On a side note I THOROUGHLY recommend buying from Superpuma Records direct. Even with shipping from Sweden it was cheaper than everywhere else AND they included a nice message thanking me for the order.

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I saw Kishi Bashi last night at Omeara in London. What an eventful night! Firstly I was one of the first in the queue and managed to get to the very front. Tall Tall Trees was the warm up (and later part of Kishi's trio) and just superb, I had never heard of him before but was blown away but the sounds he was able to make with just 1 instrument! The main gig started and it was one just a perfect example of live shows done right. Got a high five from Kishi as he ran around the tiny stage and as he left to get ready for the acoustic encore (in the middle of the crowd) he told me to jump up on the stage to get a better view. So there I was standing on the stage overlooking all the crowd watching Kishi Bashi...unreal. Then at the end rather than push to get out I let the bulk of the crowd leave, and next thing Kishi pops out and gives me the set list, which he signs and calls the other 2 performers (Tall Tall Trees and Emily Hope Price) to get them to sign it. Brilliant night, im definitely going to see him again if he comes back to London next year!

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Fantastic pick. I have mentioned this before but I have been lucky enough to see Childish Gambino a couple of times, once at Lovebox festival and another at his London 02 Gig. The 02 is a huge 20,000 person venue which was sold out. We had aisle seats a few down from the doorway at the side, looking down at the standing area and stage. At one point in the gig, Gambino walks off back stage while the camera follows him and the music looped. As he was walking I started recognising the corridor and quickly turned to the doorway, tugging on my girlfriend's sleeve just as he walks through. He looks around, sees me looking at him (mouth probably on the floor) and fist bumps me and my girlfriend before walking down the steps and breaking into song. After seeing him on tv for years (Community etc) and listening to his music, it was a real surreal moment.

Its an absolutely awful screenshot from a video my girlfriend filmed, but this was just after he fist bumped us and pulled the microphone to his mouth to sing.

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That's so awesome! I remember that part of the show when he kind of disappears and reappears in the stands. Must be the coolest live show moment you've experienced and one you'll never forget. One of my closest friends worked this tour and got me some tickets to it. We had no idea where they were so we showed the first worker we saw the tickets and they pointed the floor and we asked the person on the floor and they pointed towards the stage. So we kept walking and realized we were three rows from the front of the stage. We couldn't believe it haha Even my buddy was like holy shit they gave you awesome seats. We fully expected to be up high and were just pumped to be able to go to the show at all, so as we kept walking closer and closer to the stage we just kept laughing at how unreal it was. One of my favorite live shows!
 
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