Why is it that radio stations play much better music late at night then they do during the daytime? Even if they play generally great music during the daylight hours, there’s always an improvement once it becomes Officially Late. And this trend continues as it becomes Officially Very Late, Officially Way the Hell Too Late, and then Officially Way the Fuck Early in the Morning.
Take my most-listened-to station, the Internet-only woxy.com, Indie Rock Wanker heaven. Of course, I only aspire to Indie Rock Wanker status. But between Woxy and Woxy Vintage, in the last not-quite-hour I’ve heard The New Pornographers (“Bleeding Heart Show”, my current favorite from that album), Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy (“Television, Drug of a Nation”), Michael Penn (“No Myth”), Lightning Seeds (“You Showed Me”), Neko Case (“Deep Red Bells”), Guided By Voices (“Sons of Apollo”; GBV being one of those “Oh, I’ve heard/read of them and wanted to hear some of their stuff” bands), and now The White Stripes (“My Doorbell”, a song that’s grown on me). And I seem to have missed Mojo Nixon (“Debbie Gibson is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Lovechild”). Tsk.
(“Now I know he’s just making these up,” thinks Lictor.)
This is not, however, a phenomenon restricted solely to Woxy. I remember listening to Live105 back in college (you know, when Live105 wasn’t a soulless, boring Clearchannel clone), and discovering that the really good stuff could be found in the wee hours of the morning. When I was finishing due-the-next-day-essays or wasting time on ICB. Or to be honest, doing more of the latter when I should have been doing more of the former.
I also have somewhat hazier memories of KROQ in LA, on those occasions when I was returning late from either a party (admittedly a very rare case) or playing cards with friends (much, much more likely). Late night = better music.
There’s got to be a good reason for this, probably having to do with late-night DJs having more leeway in what sort of music they play, and being less beholden to advertisers to play the most popular songs. Or late-night DJs need to play more interesting music in order to keep themselves from falling asleep and drooling on high voltage equipment.
And why am I listening to such a glorious Internet feed tonight? Because of a thrice-damned help set that keeps revealing new problems every time I look at it. Our cat is curled up just below my monitor, silently pointing out that sensible creatures are asleep.
Oh, yes: We adopted a cat a couple of months ago. Still a kitten, really. A friendly, extremely purry sort of cat, who has spent a few nights in closets because she’s too quiet for her own good. She also enjoys pouncing on our dog, who, although she’s getting less sleep with the cat around, certainly enjoys having a playmate.
And I’m here, about to tear out clumps of hair because I’ve found yet another critical error in this help set, an error that must be fixed by next Tuesday. Yes, the day after a holiday. Typically brilliant executive-level planning.
So it’s a damned good thing that I’ve got damned good music to listen to. Right now it’s a band I’ve never heard of, New Estate (“Don’t Like The Way”), and it’s pretty good. Short song, but I like it. Ah, and now it’s Velvet Underground (“Foggy Notion”), which just proves that someone is having fun with the playlist tonight. A nice tune to ease me past the “You’re now looking at less than six hours of sleep” mark.
Which is, I believe, Officially Stupidly Late.
I just realized: No Death Cab for Cutie! Score!
I know, I know: How can I be a true Indie Rock Wanker if I don’t worship Death Cab? Too hell with that, Critic’s Darlings or not, they only reach the level of Tolerable in their best moments.
Which probably makes me a Reactionary Indie Rock Wanker, or something.