Matthew Sweet's "Sick of Myself" / Ticket Giveaway

This is my weekly reminder to tune in to Sinking with Sylvia and Todd (and Matt Dwyer) Friday from Noon to 2:00 PM on Little Radio. Tomorrow their guests will be Spider Problem. I'm not super familiar with the band, but I know Jax is a big supporter.

Each week on the show, they feature an official You Set the Scene pick and I write about it here. My pick for tomorrow's show is Matthew Sweet's "Sick of Myself." I picked Sweet because I like him, but also because he has a new album coming out next week. Plus I have three pairs of tickets to give away for his show Thursday night at the Echo. Greg Laswell will open the show. To enter the contest email me [dukeufo at hotmail] with the name of your favorite Matthew Sweet song. The contest closes Wednesday at Noon. Put Matthew Sweet in the subject line or it might get buried with the thousands of other unopened emails.

I first heard Sweet back in the early 1990s when his Girlfriend album came out. I was still into R.E.M. at the time (but also listening to a disturbing amount of grunge), so I related to it on an R.E.M. level. Thanks to my old college roommate, I finally saw Sweet live in 1995. My roommate booked shows at KU, and chose Sweet as the headliner for Day on the Hill. Day on the Hill was a pretty cool tradition at the University of Kansas. Basically a big, end of the year, outdoor concert on the hill that overlooked the football stadium.

Side note: Day on the Hill got massive attention in 1992 (I was in high school, but still showed up), when Pearl Jam played. After that, there was a lot of pressure from the students to try to out-do the Pearl Jam show, and there was a lot of pressure from the administration to never repeat the Pearl Jam show. Budget constraints generally ensured that the administrators won.

The publicist assures me that the new Sweet record is on its way, but since I haven't received it I had to pick an oldie but a goodie. "Sick of Myself" comes from my favorite Sweet album, 1995's 100% Fun. The record still has Sweet's characteristic power pop vibe, but does the best job of successfully incorporating heavier guitar work from Richard Lloyd of Television (the fifth time Lloyd appeared on a Sweet record). To put it succinctly, I've always been a sucker for upbeat songs with dark lyrics.

Tune in to Little Radio tomorrow to hear it (then if you want to hear it again, stream it on Sweet's Myspace page).