Radiation City - The Hands That Take You

looks like someone knows they are a cutie.

The debut full-length from this Portland, Oregon pop outfit is a mellow, lush exercise in pan-genre-pop: swirling atmospherics and chanting atop walls of guitar in one moment, prim and proper cool soul in the next. The beautiful voice of singer Lizzy Ellison goes from 60's girl-group crooning to Portishead-esque vamping, depending on the track. As a means of combining eras and elements of various pop trends, from the quietly blipping drum machine percussion to the generous application of reverb and synths, this album is remarkable. Ellison and her bandmate/beau Cameron Spies also run Apes Tapes, a DIY cassette tape label known for projects that experiment with blending pop genres.


 The Color Of Industry by Radiation City 

Band: Radiation City

Album: The Hands That Take You

Label: Tender Loving Empire/Apes Tapes

RIYL: Beach House, Portishead, Buried Beds, 1900s, a dozen other cute PDX acts.

this chord is dedicated to you.

haiku update!

Beautiful creatures, 
gliding across hard pavement.
What trace do we leave?

145
Here is my story:
a battle against myself,
with no clear victor.

Architecture tour
under relentless sunshine
renders me speechless.

Did you pick on me
knowing I would dwell on it
years later? Fuck you.

I'm always tired.
Always, all ways, I'm tired.
I tire of tired.

Alone at a show.
Implore the opening band:
Start. Please start. Please start.

150
Wheelchair-bound man laughs,
and I want to laugh like him:
a joyous cackle.

Sick, sad, tight stomach
and a wish to disappear
into the darkness.

Battered flock of geese,
aloft within a snowstorm.
Indifferent sky.

White earth and white sky.
Vast and bright, undulating.
Life hidden below.

Princeton, Illinois
has big fat lazy snowflakes
that melt against trains.

155
"I know what I mean!"
Drunk man rants about space flight.
We are rapt, captive.

Earmuffs, mittens, scarf,
sweater, jacket, boots, socks, and
jeans with gaping holes.

Full of falafel
and bored with all the people.
I am going home.

These dirty snowdrifts
look post-apocalyptic:
ruined human muck.

Hunt for easy prey
and the quality drops down.
Aim too high, and starve.

160
Girls who read Robbins
are probably smart and fun.
What to talk about?

previous installments:

ONE / TWO / THREE / FOUR / FIVE / SIX / SEVEN / EIGHT / NINE

playlist: monday 03.21.2011

I'm on CHIRP Radio every Monday afternoon:

1-4pm Pacific / 2-5pm Mountain / 3-6pm Central / 4-7pm Eastern

LISTEN TO THIS SHOW: 3pm / 4pm / 5pm

5:49PM Wilco Spiders (Kidsmoke) A Ghost Is Born (Nonesuch)

5:44PM Absinthe & The Dirty Floors Black Ice Side 1 (self-released)

5:41PM Six Organs Of Admittance Hold But Let Go Asleep On The Floodplain (Drag City)

5:39PM Acid House Kings (I'm In) A Chorus Line Music Sounds Better With You (Labrador)

5:31PM The Cure A Forest Acoustic Hits (Fiction)

5:28PM Alexander Let's Win Alexander (Community)

5:25PM Dick Prall Saline Inc. EP (self-released)

5:18PM Half Acre Day Anemones Fourteen Trips Around The Sun (Right Mind Media)

5:16PM Mike Watt hamming-castle-bird-man hyphenated-man (ClenchedWrench)

5:11PM The Second Academy Bohemian Grove Bohemian Grove (Tsurumi)

5:05PM Panda Riot Motown Glass Far And Near [EP] (self-released)

5:02PM Billy & The King Bees Bango Bango-single (Stax/Volt)

4:57PM Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Strings If I Could Have You the Way I Want You Renegades (Delmark)

4:54PM Joan As Police Woman Kiss The Specifics The Deep Field (PIAS)

4:51PM Like Pioneers Metal Oscar Piecemeal (self-released)

4:46PM A Hawk And A Handsaw Lajtha Lassú Cervantine (L.M. Duplication)

4:42PM The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart Too Tough Belong (Slumberland)

4:36PM Council Of Lions Everything's Working Out Swimmingly HEXES (Most Gross)

4:34PM The Caribbean Outskirts Discontinued Perfume (Hometapes)

4:31PM Mount Kimbie Field Crooks & Lovers (Hotflush)

4:24PM The Head And The Heart Down in the Valley The Head And The Heart (Sub Pop)

4:19PM Duran Duran Lonely In Your Nightmare Rio (Capitol)

4:14PM The Joy Formidable Whirring The Big Roar (Atlantic)

4:09PM Eddie Kirk The Hawg, Pt. 1 The Hawg, Pt. 1 - single (Stax)

4:05PM Nina Simone See Line Woman Bad Habits (Jazz Masters No. 17) (Verve)

4:02PM Graham Nash Chicago/We Can Change The World Songs For Beginners (Atlantic)

3:56PM Jeff Parker Holiday For A Despot Chicago's Avant Today (Delmark)

3:52PM tUnE-YarDs Bizness w h o k i l l (4AD)

3:47PM Julianna Barwick Vow The Magic Place (Asthmatic Kitty)

3:42PM Kreidler New Earth Tank (Bureau B)

3:37PM The Chesterfields Last Train To Yeovil Electric Guitars In Their Hearts: The Best of the Chesterfields (Cherry Red)

3:35PM The Lonely Forest (I Am The) Love Addict Arrows (Trans/Atlantic)

3:35PM The Disciplines Yours For the Taking Smoking Kills (Rock's My Ass)

3:23PM PJ Harvey All and Everyone Let England Shake (Vagrant)

3:19PM The Long Winters Seven Putting The Days To Bed (Barsuk)

3:15PM Roommate Snow Globe Guilty Rainbow (Antephonic)

3:07PM The Kills DNA Blood Pressures (Rough Trade)

3:07PM Iggy Pop feat. David Bowie Some Weird Sin Lust For Life (Virgin)

playlist: monday 03.14.2011

I'm on CHIRP Radio every Monday afternoon:

1-4pm Pacific / 2-5pm Mountain / 3-6pm Central / 4-7pm Eastern

LISTEN TO THIS SHOW: 3pm / 4pm / 5pm

5:49PM A Silver Mt. Zion Microphones in the Trees Pretty Little Lightning Paw EP (Constellation)

5:45PM Sarge Half As Far The Glass Intact (Mud)

5:43PM Loyal Divide New Years Bodice Ripper (self-released)

5:40PM Void Pedal Rainbow God Omni Colour (Fieldwerk)

5:34PM Booker T. & the MG's Behave Yourself Green Onions (Stax/Atlantic)

5:29PM The Dismemberment Plan The City Emergency & I (Barsuk)

5:25PM The Dismemberment Plan Interview with Eric Axelson Feb. 20, 2011 (CHIRP Radio)

5:18PM J Mascis Too Deep Several Shades of Why (Sub Pop)

5:16PM Rusty Willoughby Wrecker of Hearts Cobirds United (Local 638)

5:13PM Jessica Lee Mayfield Sleepless Tell Me (Nonesuch)

5:07PM The Cathy Santonies We Dance The Coldheart I'm Yr Friend! I'm Yr Revolution! (self-released)

5:03PM Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive To Death If You Believe In Blood Some Of Us Are In This Together (Don't Stop Believin')

4:55PM Kyuss Fatso Forgotso Muchas Gracias: The Best of Kyuss (Elektra)

4:51PM Ween Oh My Dear (Falling In Love) The Pod (Shimmy Disc)

4:45PM Jay-Z I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me) feat. Pharrell and The Roots Unplugged (Roc-A-Fella / Def Jam)

4:42PM Tiger Bones Kill Them Go Over Here EP (Dedd Foxx)

4:37PM Walter & Wendell Like a Cloud Adjusted Automatically (Movings)

4:32PM Architecture In Helsinki The Owls Go Fingers Crossed (Bar/None)

4:28PM The Second Academy One Of The Leonids The Ukulele EP (Tsurumi)

4:26PM R.E.M. Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I Collapse Into Now (Warner Bros.)

4:21PM Shabazz Palaces An Echo From The Hosts That Profess Infinitum Black Up (Sub Pop)

4:20PM Nina Simone Don't You Pay Them No Mind (I Am Love) High Priestess of Soul (Philips)

4:13PM Robin Pecknold I'm Losing Myself (feat. Ed Droste) Three Songs (self-released)

4:10PM Jonny Greenwood Mata Aini Juru Kara Ne Norwegian Wood (Nonesuch)

4:04PM Smoking Popes Wish We Were This Is Not A Test (Asian Man)

4:01PM The Posies So Caroline Blood/Candy (Rykodisc)

3:59PM The Yardbirds I'm Not Talking For Your Love (Epic)

3:55PM The Dodos Fools Visiter (Frenchkiss)

3:50PM Carla Thomas I'll Bring It Home To You I'll Bring It Home To You - single (Stax)

3:45PM The Curious Mystery PB&J We Creeling (K)

3:42PM The Lonely Forest Coyote Arrows (Trans/Atlantic)

3:37PM Laura Marling Devil's Spoke I Speak Because I Can (Astralwerks)

3:34PM Drive-By Truckers Dancin' Ricky Go-Go Boots (ATO)

3:31PM Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli Them There Eyes Le Quintette du Hot Club de France (ASV Living Era)

3:22PM Ernest Dawkins' New Horizons Ensemble Mesopotamia The Prairie Project (Delmark)

3:18PM Rick James Mary Jane Come Get It! (Gordy)

3:16PM The Electric You Can Try Life Is Moving (OGS)

3:04PM Tom Waits Big Joe and Phantom 309 Nighthawks At The Diner (Asylum)

3:01PM Radiohead Codex The King Of Limbs (self-released)

playlist: monday 03.07.2011

I'm on CHIRP Radio every Monday afternoon:

1-4pm Pacific / 2-5pm Mountain / 3-6pm Central / 4-7pm Eastern

LISTEN TO THIS SHOW: 3pm / 4pm / 5pm

5:53PM Fred Anderson & Hamid Drake For Brother Thompson From The River To The Ocean (Thrill Jockey)

5:47PM Thao & Mirah Eleven (ft. tUnE-YarDs) Thao & Mirah (Kill Rock Stars)

5:45PM The Swan King Eyes Like Knives Eyes Like Knives (Seventh Pule)

5:41PM Papercuts Do You Really Want To Know? Fading Parade (Sub Pop)

5:36PM The Babies Run Me Over The Babies (Shrimper)

5:32PM Menomena Tithe Daytrotter Session 02/28/2011 (daytrotter.com)

5:29PM Anna Calvi First We Kiss Anna Calvi (Domino)

5:25PM Bip Pauper Break The Night To Me Gently Oh Lord Cops Eat Flowers (Circle Into Square)

5:22PM Daedelus The Open Hand Avows Righteous Fists Of Harmony (Brainfeeder)

5:13PM iqu Aluet Chotto Matte A Moment! (K)

5:09PM Spirits Of the Red City Can't Come Home Hunter Moon (self-released)

5:08PM Arcade Fire Neon Bible Neon Bible (Merge)

5:07PM California Wives Tokyo Tokyo - single (self-released)

5:05PM Pinetop Seven Fringe The Night's Bloom (Barbary Coast)

4:53PM Fink If Only Distance and Time (Ninja Tune)

4:48PM Jay-Z Blue Magic Spekulation - Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em (self-released)

4:45PM Colin Stetson A Dream Of Water feat. Laurie Anderson New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges (Constellation)

4:39PM Lykke Li I Follow Rivers Wounded Rhymes (Atlantic)

4:36PM Nicolas Jaar I Got A Woman Space Is Only Noise (Circus Company)

4:31PM Los Chicharrons Timbuktu Roots Of Life (Tummy Touch)

4:23PM The Megaphonic Thrift Candy Sin Decay Decoy (Club AC30)

4:20PM Elvis Costello & the Attractions Beyond Belief Imperial Bedroom (Columbia)

4:18PM The Caribbean Outskirts Discontinued Perfume (Hometapes)

4:12PM DeVotchKa One Hundred Other Lovers 100 Lovers (ANTI-)

4:08PM Jeff Buckley Lilac Wine Grace (Columbia)

4:01PM Steven Drozd Rocket Man The Heart Is A Drum Machine (Twinkle Cash)

3:58PM New York Dolls Looking For A Kiss New York Dolls (Mercury)

3:52PM The Ruby Doe Papermate Getting Ahead In The Music Business (Hometown Tragedy)

3:46PM The Fiery Furnaces Navy Nurse Widow City (Thrill Jockey)

3:39PM Half Acre Day Maribelle Maribelle - single (Right Mind)

3:36PM Roommate Ghost Pigeon Guilty Rainbow (Antephonic)

3:33PM Buried Beds Telegram Tremble The Sails (Admiral Byrd)

3:28PM Sims When It Rolls In Bad Time Zoo (Doomtree)

3:20PM Eric B. & Rakim Paid In Full (Seven Minutes of Madness - DJ Coldcut remix) Paid In Full: The Remixes (4th & B'way/Island)

3:16PM M/A/R/R/S Pump Up The Volume Pump Up The Volume - single (4th & B'way/Island/PolyGram)

3:11PM Tahiti 80 Defender The Past, The Present & The Possible (Human Sounds)

3:08PM A.C. Newman On The Table The Slow Wonder (Matador)

3:02PM The Mynah Birds It's My Time It's My Time - single (Motown)