For the second time this week, we bring you Wilmington, Delaware’s pride and joy – The Spinto Band – being who they are. First, it was an epic reading excerpts from a Gremlins novelization and today’s it’s these five men kicking out the pop gems that they always seen to have up their sleeves. All four of these songs can be found on their 2012 album, “Shy Pursuit.” Below, Nick Krill takes the great challenge of the Daytrotter Dream Interview, whereby he asks himself and answers the three questions he’s been hoping to answer for days now.
The Daytrotter Dream Interview:
Q: What are your favorite and least favorite NPR radio show theme songs? A: In Wilmington DE, our main NPR station is WHYY in Philadelphia, so my answers are mostly based off of the programs on WHYY…..and as a well trained NPR listener, I’ll take this moment to say, “I am a listener…AND a member.”
My favorite opening theme of a current show is probably the start of. “Tell Me More” The theme has a great lead synth line that reminds me of 1990s hip-hop or R&B. The show comes on at 1:00pm here, and that theme is a great way to end a lunch break….going back smooth to the rest of your day. A close second might be this little piece of music they play half way through “Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane.” It is not the main theme, but something they play as they go to and from a break in the show. The song is an acoustic piece with a bowed instrument playing a great little line…maybe it is a cello. Every time I hear it I imagine I am hearing it from either side of a river bank…maybe the animals on the shore are playing it as I float down….it seems like a song that would be good for floating.
My least favorite is probably the “Talk of The Nation” theme. Over all it is a fine song (I mean who doesn’t love a good bass guitar chug?)…..but I can’t stand when they play the version with the lonely trumpet playing that single last note….yuck, It kind of sums up everything that is annoying about NPR in one long, lonely trumpet note.
The all time best NPR theme ever is the synthesizer based 1976 “All Things Considered” opening. It is an amazing tune that sounds like something from Wendy Carlos or Raymond Scott. You can hear it here: http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/LB/Winter09/ATC_Theme_-_1976_Part_1_and_2.mp3
Q: Why did you start your sound blog http://make-a-sound.tumblr.com/? A: It started as a reason for me to listen extra close to my daily life. I wanted to take note of what sounds pulled me out of a normal day and made me listen closer. My hope was that if I kept track of what sounds made me stop in my tracks when I was specifically not trying to think of sound, then when I was in a situation where I needed to create something with sounds I would be able to reference what qualities of sound were really exciting and attention grabbing to me.
Q: Is Taylor Swift cool? A: No, not really. I will say there is a background vocal on the new single “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” that is great, and I’ll defend it to the grave. It is a weird little descending “we” lyric in the background that kind of sounds like a sigh or something. The rest of the song is the pits though.