This session was a milestone of sorts. When we began concocting the idea for Daytrotter and rationalizing about why we’d ever get involved with the overcrowded phalanx of online music commentary, there was a William P. Santiago moment, in a very skewed sense of the reference. Lieutenant Corporal Dawson understands his dishonorable discharge in “A Few Good Men” because they didn’t fight for those who couldn’t fight for themselves. They were supposed to fight for Willie. A similar feeling came over me when I talked myself into doing this. The various music magazines that I was attempting to break into were there to write about bands, but ultimately, there was still someone – an editor, another editor, a desk clerk – who was allowed to completely influence what went in the magazine and what stayed out. The biggest problem with any print magazines is the bottom line. What is going to sell this month and what that means is a wave of Feists and Joanna Newsoms (as great as they are) landing on multitudinous glossy covers when a release date was around the corner. This was not a nefarious plot, just good business. It did cause one great consternation in me that involved this particular band – Aloha. I was able to pitch a review of their record to Skyscraper magazine and it was predominantly a piece that gushed about how undervalued they were. It was the great underdog piece that bemoans a favorite band’s low-profile to the rest of the dumb asses out there who wouldn’t know a good record if it weed on their faces and pierced their ears. Aloha, time and time again, I pitched features and reviews about them to every magazine I had formed a working relationship with and the responses almost unanimously came back as passes. They were going to go with that easier story and try to say something new about the Bloodhound Gang or something (that’s called taking liberties – it was never between Aloha and the Bloodhound Gang, though Jimmy Pop Ali and Spanky G need to make comebacks). It’s mentioned on this very site’s biography page that Aloha was absolutely crucial to this site existing. We couldn’t be happier that they were about to spare us a few hours and hopefully we’ve begun something that can fight for all of those we’ve always wanted to fight for. They can do it by themselves, but help’s always nice. If you’re reading this, you should find a way to thank Aloha. – Sean Moeller

First song
Mountain (Aloha) [2.94MB] [2689 downloads]


– original version appears on Some Echoes
A four-on-the-floor anthem for misfits. The first of a million songs we have written that we think sound like Silver Apples, but don’t.

Second song
Ice Storming (Aloha) [3.98MB] [2582 downloads]


– original version appears on Some Echoes
Cale wrote the music for this slow jam. It’s about an ice storm in Detroit. We never played it live until the day before this session.

Third song
All The Wars (Aloha) [4.05MB] [2714 downloads]


– original version appears on Here Comes Everyone
This song has the beat, the famous beat. We must have played this song 200 times. We wanted to get this on Daytrotter because the ending is much different than on record.

Fourth song
Moonless March (Aloha) [4.00MB] [2983 downloads]


— unreleased
This is a new song that’s not finished yet.