radio is only dying in america.

conventional radio sucks, stateside. as idolator reported yesterday, some economists are proposing to axe it - not for the compelling "it sucks" reason, but to encourage consumers to buy more CDs. idolator takes stan liebowitz to task for pandering his absurd notion, thankfully, but there's no denying that a cancer has taken over our airwaves. i toiled diligently for my college radio station, and love and cherish community radio, and only listen to three radio stations in new york - wnyc, wkcr (columbia university radio), and wfuv (fordham university radio). you know the disgusting statistics about clear channel, and how they own some absurd percentage of america's airwaves, and the payola scandal that elliot spitzer rode to new york's governorship, and the mandated playlists, and how radio is dying a long and painful death, especially with soundexchange's enthusiasm for collecting ginormous royalties from mom-and-pop net radio stations.

anyway, enough of my diatribes. the point of the matter is, this is endemic primarily in america. radio THRIVES in the uk and europe, and plays new and exciting music - blogging doesn't have to be as popular in britain, because they hear the new art brut single on the radio, when it seems likely that no one at clear channel has even heard of the artistic art brut, much less the musical variety. but i'm not here today to talk about art brut. i'm here to talk about the long blondes and france. seemingly unrelated, the long blondes (someone to drive you home, their debut, is definitely WSMO) in fact took a trip to paris on december 4 of last year to play a set on France Inter radio, which often broadcasts performances live on the air (the closest we get to that is bob boilen). these performances are black sessions, and the long blondes' was made available on dime a dozen not too long ago. i've been meaning to post the whole set, but my computer died and my file hosting server is taking forever, so, sadly, i've put up all the tracks on zshare, where you'll have to open their window first. the french announcer translates kate jackson's comments from time to time, which is neither irritating nor intrusive, so they have been left in the mix.

i was also able to pick up an art brut black session, and i'll be posting that when i get my computer back.

the long blondes - maison de la radio, paris, france - december 4, 2006

1. lust in the movies
2. weekend without makeup
3. company of women
4. madame ray
5. fulwood babylon
6. giddy stratospheres
7. only lovers left alive
8. you could have both
9. once and never again
10. five ways to end it
11. separated by motorways

you can purchase the excellent someone to drive you home directly from rough trade here.


this just in: waves and wires has converted a long blondes show from june 16 into mp3 format, and is available here.