Guest Mix – Eldridge Rodriguez

Eldridge Rodriguez is a family affair, not just for the relatives involved, but for the Boston music scene in general. At its base, the band is made up of two pairs of brothers: Cameron and Clayton Keiber, and Dennis and David Grabowski. The roots run even deeper than that, though. Cameron and Dennis played together in Boston favorites The Beatings, the Grabowski brothers are both in Louder My Dear, and the Keibers run indie label Midriff Records, Cameron from Boston and Clayton from Brooklyn. Eldridge Rodriguez started as an outlet for Cameron’s musical aspirations outside of The Beatings, but over the years has grown like a family tree into something much bigger. (Consequence of Sound)
Cameron Keiber of Eldridge Rodriguez (incomplete list. I couldn’t stop once I got going)
REM: Good Advices
My favorite band of all time. I’ve been a huuuuuuuge REM fan since 7th grade. When I’ve been away from them for awhile this is the track I come back to. Its mood and tone is wide and open and free and somehow small, contained and constrictive at the same time. Its beautiful.
Guided By Voices: Smothered in Hugs
My favorite band of all time. I don’t know where to start with GBV. They are like the indie rock Grateful Dead. I celebrate their entire catalogue. This one has a campfire sing-along aspect to it under the clang and drone and I appreciate that. Plus, the older you get the more vital and important GBV’s success becomes to you.
Eggs- Government Administrator
My favorite band of all time. The best kind of “slacker rock”. Poignant straightforward lyrics about life’s indignities accompanied and performed as not giving a fuck about life’s indignities. I remember exactly where and when I first heard it on an Amherst radio station. A friend recently got me in touch with Andrew Beaujon who gave me the go ahead to cover it. Hopefully during this Spring’s ER recording session. Exciting.
Ministry: Stigmata
My favorite band of all time. First band to actually scare me. First band I had no business falling in love with. Still think they are the best. Still occationally scare me.
Kudgel: 15 Second Crush
My favorite band of all time. My favorite song of all time. Some times I feel like a pastor in the church of Kudgel standing on a city sidewalk preaching the gospel to whomever will listen. I started ripping off Kudgel seconds after first hearing them.
Sonic Youth: Teenage Riot
My favorite band of all time. It’s the best rock song ever. It pulls and pushes you in every direction in seven plus minutes. Another band who I can’t pick a favorite song for. But this one seems to be them doing their thing the best way they can.
Big Black
Kerosene/ Bad Penny
My favorite band of all time. Love both. Couldn’t decide. Big Black showed dark little punks that what they were hearing in their heads could be done practically if you had the discipline. You didn’t need fancy synths and expensive sequencers to get industrial. I fell for the atheistic and ideas hard.
PJ Harvey: Rid of Me
My favorite artist of all time. Destroyed me when I first heard it. It sounded old and new and familiar and strange. To be patient and wait till later in the song to bring the smashing in is brilliant. Every solo show, I do I pretend I’m PR Harvey in my head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36G15OR6jvY …
No Age: Glitter
My favorite band of all time. Favorite noise-pop noise in recent years. I like how the feedback and noise sequences are pushed to the front of the mix. Its just a really really well put together song. And so simple and so brave and so awesome.
Captain Beefheart: Ashtray Heart
My favorite band of all time. My dad would mention Beefheart from time to time and my dad got me into Tom Waits. Once you hear Waits it’s a direct line back to Beefheart. I wanted to hear more so I picked up Doc at the Radar Station because I saw a performance of this tune on SNL I think. It’s the best. Spastic and weird and wonderful. I know music nerds and academics always claim Beef heart as their own and I do as well in spite of them. Indecently, PJ Harvey’s “Rid of Me” calls back to this track…. which when I put it together blew my 22 year old mind at the time.
Lou Reed: Street Hassle
My favorite artist of all time. My favorite song of all time. The reason I put fake violins in everything. Greatest gateway artist of all time to finding everything great that’s happened in Rock and Roll.