Rings Around The Super Furry Animals

In the spring of 2001 I was looking to do a radio show at college that was more Indie Rock/Alternative/Modern Rock.  I wanted to play not the "classic" cool alternative, but the b-side that most of that genre were famous for.  Here is an example what I wanted to do.  I wanted to play a band like Radiohead and instead of playing "Fake Plastic Trees" I wanted "India Rubber."  I wanted to play bands too that did not get the normal airplay on these radio stations.  Bands like Pavement, Sonic Youth, Husker Du, Modest Mouse, and one band that I just started renewing my listening with Super Furry Animals.  All these and more I told the person in charge of programming.  If I play a band I'm not going to play their signature song or hit.  I want them to hear a deep track or a b-side.

I put together a small playlist to show the program director what my idea was.  He liked the idea and would tell me if any of these bands put something new out, that I get first crack at it.  I had to dig through my pile of CD's and the station's CD to get this show up and moving.  When I was home for summer break I went used and new CD shopping to get ready for the show.  One point I asked my friend at the local book and CD store to help me out.  After the explanation to him he told me to come  back at the end of the week and either give me a pile of CD's or what to look for at the local used stores.

I came back at the end of the week and he had a list and a few CD's.  He also handed me a Super Furry Animals CD.  It's the newest one he pointed out.  We got like four promos and I took one and you can have one too.  The CD was called Rings Around The World. In the pile that he gave me was Blur, Mudhoney, Built To Spill, My Bloody Valentine, The Replacements, Dinosaur JR, Stone Roses, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and others.  I knew these bands well and I could easily dig deep on these bands and play this on the air.  I also myself had about 200 CD's of my own personal collection to use as well.  The best part was that I had the radio stations music library to dig through as well.  This was beginning to look like I had hours of music with no repeats.  The show was two hours so lots of time to mix and match songs.

When I grabbed the Super Furry Animals disc from the pile I kind of forgot that they are unique.  One unique part is where they are from.  They are Welsh and not many bands are from there.  The other part of them is the way they mix so many genres of music into one.  There is Electronic, Psychedelic, Noise, Power Pop, and other interesting mix of ideas.  They even have two albums that they sing entirety in Welsh.  What was even better was beside the albums they had a ton of B-sides, extra tracks and other tunes that I could use on the show.

I had to listen to their music again to get reacquainted of their music and I listened to the newest one my friend gave me to pick a few tunes for show ideas.  After listening to Rings Around The World more then once I realized with all the odd genres and styles of music Super Furry Animals were not your average Indie Rock/Alternative/Modern Rock band.  They mixed everything in a blender and made it come out unique and their own.  Songs like "(Drawing) Rings Around The World," "Alternate "Route To Vulcan Street," "Gypsy Space Muffin," "Sidewalk Surfer Girl," "Happiness Is A Warm Pun," and the rest of the songs on the album are so different from each other that they can fit into any radio show that I do and fit comfortably with any oddness that the playlist has.  The music on Rings Around The World is like putting it in a blender to see the outcome.  This is not new to the Super Furry Animals, they have been doing it for years.

When I started my show I decided to open a radio show with a Super Furry Animals song the show took many twists and turns and the song that kept it all together was the Super Furry Animals song I chose.  It fit right in with everything I was playing and more.  It was odd, unique, different, and super cool to play the song all over again.  Rings Around The World is very guilty of that.  With Super Furry Animals you can't listen to a bad album they make, but this album is a great place to start.  Enjoy!!