Nervous Nellies

01/05/2022

The end of April marks the very end of Nervous Nellies! I've aged out of the range for volunteering at the station so this will be the last episode post on here and the show page on the SYN website.

Every playlist and podcast will stay up as an archive of the show's on and off year-long run. So if you want over two dozen segments of artist and song analysis each + more in my bid to spin my hyper-specific interests into a microgenre, you know where to go!

And as always, thanks for following along, and a big thanks to SYN for having me on.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Matmos - Supreme Balloon (Excerpt)
2: Atlas Sound - Walkabout (ft. Panda Bear)
3: Tujiko Noriko - Bikini
4: Nobukazu Takemura - Finale
5: Ball Park Music - What's on Your Mind?

30/04/2022

After some minor delays over the Easter break, the penultimate episode of Nervous Nellies played while I was interstate -- and the finale aired this week!

The episode 5 setlist is here, and you can check out the podcast and song embeds at any time via the show page on the SYN website. And watch this space for the final post coming shortly...!
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Yo La Tengo - Saturday
2: Dan Deacon - When I Was Done Dying
3: Candy Claws - Alp Sway Snow Team (Switzerland)
4: Tame Impala - Sun's Coming Up
5: Can - Bel Air
6: Sweet Trip - To All the Dancers of the World

20/04/2022

All singing, all dancing! Episode 4 of the final season of Nervous Nellies is all songs with lyrics to toy with the idea of all ambience being instrumental.

Check out the full playlist, listen to the podcast via the show page on the SYN website and tune into SYN Wednesdays from 10-11pm for the week's songs as they get played live.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Deerhunter - Earthquake
2: Mouse on Mars - Schnick-schnack / Schnick Schnack Meltmade
3: Pipe-Eye - The Way She Walks (On the Moon)
4: David Grubbs - The Coxcomb
5: Stereolab - Moodles

17/04/2022

In episode 3 of the final season of Nervous Nellies, we finally make Oval the Nervous Nelly of the week! Things really are getting conclusive -- I've been airing this guy for almost a year now...

Check out the full playlist, listen to the podcast via the show page on the SYN website and tune into SYN Wednesdays from 10-11pm for the week's songs as they get played live.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Oval - Dormant / Kreak
2: Disco Inferno - Can't See Through It
3: Up Up Away - Swells
4: Aki Tsuyuko - Through Six Rooms
5: Modest Mouse - The Stars Are Projectors

16/04/2022

Did you know that for the final season of Nervous Nellies I've started podcasting individual episodes instead of compiling them in a "Nervous Nellies Rewind" after the fact?

Episode 2 features lengthy breakdowns of songs 1, 2 and 4 from the setlist, so check it out on the show page on the SYN website! And don't forget to tune into SYN Wednesdays from 10-11pm for the week's songs as they get played live.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Architecture in Helsinki - Vanishing
2: The Dylan Group - If I Had Been Able
3: Tujiko Noriko - Fly
4: Jansen / Barbieri / Takemura - Empty Orchestra
5: Deerhunter - Calvary Scars II / Aux. Out

22/03/2022

Episode 1 of Nervous Nellies' third and final season debuts a new segment -- Negative Nancies -- and dubs Broadcast with the title! Just in time for their slew of reissues of formerly tour-only EPs.

Check out the full playlist, listen back to the podcast (via the show page on the SYN website) to learn more about the new segment, and tune into SYN Wednesdays from 10-11pm for the week's songs as they get played live.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Talking Heads - I'm Not In Love
2: Broadcast - Pendulum / Minus Two
3: The Murlocs - Far From Fine
4: Yo La Tengo - The Fireside / And The Glitter Is Gone

08/03/2022

Three announcements in one for Nervous Nellies on SYN because I don't pace out my posts evenly enough!

1) Setlist for the finale of Nervous Nellies season 4 2021! As an indulgence I played 25 minutes of the 35 minute track Souvenir in Chicago in 2 parts.

2) Nervous Nellies Rewind 2 is out! A 5-part podcast miniseries with clips from the whole of the October-December 2021 radio season of Nervous Nellies, which can be found on the show page on the SYN website: http://syn.org.au/show/nervous-nellies/

And 3) -- the biggest surprise of all (even to me until the other week) -- Nervous Nellies is back for one more season! Catch me on Wednesdays 10-11pm from now until Easter.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Tortoise ft. Georgia Hubley - Yonder Blue
2: Nobukazu Takemura - Souvenir in Chicago (Excerpt 1)
3: Mildlife - The Magnificent Moon
4: Candy Claws - The Deep Time
5: Nobukazu Takemura - Souvenir in Chicago (Excerpt 2)

22/02/2022

Episode 10 of Nervous Nellies on SYN features another "where are they now" segment, this time on Seefeel, after I covered their 90s output on the previous season finale. Also, I cram a lot of the Belfi / Grubbs / Pilia album Onrushing Cloud onto the playlist!
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Seefeel - Rip-Run
2: Belfi / Grubbs / Pilia - City Rats on a Mountain Pass / Onrushing Cloud
3: Playwrite - Rivers
4: Floor Baba - Shades of Blue
5: Martin Courtney - The Zoo
6: Belfi / Grubbs / Pilia - Lightning Vault

21/02/2022

Episode 9 of Nervous Nellies on SYN is the first in the season to have no representatives from my CD collection. But moreover the digital-first nature of the Mega Flare and Aki Tsuyuko tracks is the point of discussion! So keep an eye out for when those segments are podcasted via Nervous Nellies Rewind.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Mega Flare - It's Alright
2: Hiatus Kaiyote - Mobius Strip
3: Sweet Trip - Fruitcake and Cookies
4: LTJ - Cubs / Lions
5: Aki Tsuyuko - We Are Sharing
6: Ryuichi Sakamoto - Thousand Knives

20/02/2022

Episode 8 of Nervous Nellies on SYN finally discusses show favourites Mice Parade in a contemporary context rather than focusing on their 90s output, as singles to their first album in almost a decade start dropping! Looking at where "nervous" artists are now will become a trend as the season wraps up.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Mice Parade - Eye See Stars
2: Jan Jelinek - Morphing Leadgitarre Rückwärts
3: Avey Tare - Coral Lords (ft. Angel Deradoorian)
4: Dan Kelly & The Alpha Males - Mail Order Bride
5: Squarepusher - Eviscerate (Version)
6: Seefeel - Crowded
7: Dendy Crew - Put Up Roistering (人生相談 INFINITE Remix)

19/02/2022

On top of your regular song selection, episode 7 of the latest season of Nervous Nellies on SYN features a review of the movie Sisters with Transistors, a documentary about the history of women in electronic music! To commemorate it the review has been podcasted/transcribed via a standalone Nervous Nellies Rewind episode, and can be found on the show page on the SYN website (link below) ~ Photo of Maryanne Amacher by Peggy Weil, used for the Sisters with Transistors movie poster
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: David Grubbs - Third Salutation
2: Aki Tsuyuko - Aquilo
3: Delia Derbyshire - Pot au Feu
4: Sense - My World
5: Stereolab - Speck Voice
6: C2C - F.U.Y.A.
http://syn.org.au/nervous-nellies-rewind-sisters-transistors-review/

18/11/2021

The Lo-NRG midpoint of Nervous Nellies ep 6 (tracks 4 and 5) are a throwback to 2015, when I was trying to keep up with new releases but hadn't committed to buying physical where possible yet. But if I hadn't, what would I put in the background of my social media posts???

Peep the full playlist and tune into SYN every Monday from 11pm to midnight for the week's songs as they get played live.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Animal Collective - #1
2: Cocteau Twins - Essence
3: Mice Parade - My Workday in May
4: Art vs Science - When It's All Over
5: Caravan Palace - Lay Down
6: Acreil - Newdrum7
7: Múm - K/Half Noise

16/11/2021

Nervous Nellies features a mix of pressed and digital-only music (represented here by the printouts of tracks 5 and 6), and episode 5 of the new season is no exception! Personally I love bringing both rarities and easy to access music to people's ears, especially now when often the only barrier to obscure releases is knowing what keywords to search for.

Check out the full playlist, and tune into SYN every Monday from 11pm to midnight for the week's songs as they get played live.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Cate Le Bon - What's Not Mine
2: So - Track 3
3: Yu Su - Little Birds, Moonbath ft. Michelle Helene Mackenzie
4: Malediwy - Czylałcik
5: Atlas Sound - Heatwave
6: Jim Nopédie - Trois Mouvements Perpétuels (Switched On Mix)
7: Panda Bear - Good Girl / Carrots

01/11/2021

Episode 4 of the new season of Nervous Nellies features an electronics-heavy set that only shifts gears for indie/instrumentals twice! The genres may stay the same across episodes but the balance is always changing -- what will the focus be next time?

Tune into SYN every Monday from 11pm to midnight to find out, and peep the full setlists here.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Múm - Sunday Night Just Keeps on Rolling
2: Sound of Ceres - Eden V (& Demonstration version)
3: Lotus Plaza - Antoine
4: Ball Park Music - High Court
5: Dendy Crew - Noonday Devil / Boomer Land (Instrumental)
6: Tortoise - De Chelly / Charteroak Foundation

24/10/2021

It's not a Nervous Network or Nervous Nelly of the Week, but a quick shout out to this album that song 4 of Nervous Nellies episode 3 is from...

One of the last CDs I got from a gig before lockdowns started! Mine had blu tack on it which I guess means it was one of the display copies. Recent international and local delivery holdups are making me miss the merch table all the more.

Peep the full playlist, and tune into SYN every Monday from 11pm to midnight for the week's songs as they get played live.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Mouse on Mars - Owai
2: Floor Baba - Explosion / Implosion
3: Pretty Boy Crossover - Inventor vs Invention
4: Cate Le Bon - Here It Comes Again
5: Zonotope - Excellent Realms
6: μ-ziq - Twangle Frent

16/10/2021

(The struggles of photographing a green on green embossed album cover...)

This week of the latest season of Nervous Nellies comes with a "promo code": play these songs in order and you'll have listened to the music of episode 2 for free!

Tune into SYN every Monday from 11pm to midnight for the week's songs as they get played live, and follow along for more "codes".
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Sound of Ceres - Hand of Winter
2: Sam Prekop - Smaller Rivers / So Shy
3: Cavern of Anti-Matter - Phantom Melodies
4: Mice Parade - Here Today
5: Nobukazu Takemura - Passeggiata Dalla Pensione Sul Lago Alla Cascata
6: WVR BVBY - And Another Thing

09/10/2021

In Nervous Nellies' first week back on air, we reintroduce the Nervous Nelly of the week, replace Nervous tic of the week with the Nervous Network segment, and play our second ever Drone Zone! Episode 1 also has the bonus of its playlist being a selection of tracks from Nervous Nellies Rewind's further listening playlists, elevated from being podcast footnotes to a bona fide radio mix.

Check out the full playlist, and tune into SYN every Monday from 11pm to midnight for the week's songs as they get played live.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Squarepusher - Sarcacid Part 1
2: Stereolab - Puncture in the Radax Permutation
3: Eric Copeland - Alien in a Garbage Dump
4: Broadcast & The Focus Group - The Be Colony
5: Zackery Wilson - A Rash Decision
6: The Orb - Towers of Dub
7: Floor Baba - Whirlwind

29/09/2021

With the 5th and final part of Nervous Nellies Rewind going online comes both a farewell and a surprise... Although NNR is wrapping up alongside the last week of SYN radio season 3, Nervous Nellies is returning to radio -next week- for season 4 (October-December)!

This time, tune in each Monday from 11pm til the witching hour for a bespoke selection of nervy tunes to get you through the night. And thanks again for following along, be it live on air, through checking out the compilation podcasts, or just by peeping the episode playlists!

http://syn.org.au/nervous-nellies-rewind-part-5/

22/09/2021

The playlists on the SYN website articles for Nervous Nellies Rewind can't always be embedded as literal playlists, but I don't let platform availability get in the way of bringing song selections to your ears! Part 4 out now, compiling episodes 8-9 from the April-July 2021 radio season of Nervous Nellies.

http://syn.org.au/nervous-nellies-rewind-part-4/

15/09/2021

A quick shoutout to the 'further listening' playlist found in the SYN website article for every instalment of Nervous Nellies Rewind now that Part 3 has dropped...

Each article contains said playlist, plus another with all songs referenced in the podcast instalment. And in Part 3 (covering episodes 6-7 from the radio season) for the first time the further listening playlist is the longer of the two! So check that out for a healthy heaping of music on top of the songs and segments compiled from the original episodes.

http://syn.org.au/nervous-nellies-rewind-part-3/

Nervous Nellies Rewind Part 3 includes the Nervous Nelly and tic of the week from episodes 6-7 of the April-July 2021 radio …

08/09/2021

What do these albums have in common? They all have songs featured in the SYN website article for Nervous Nellies Rewind Part 2! While the podcast compiles the Nervous Nelly and Nervous tic of the week from episodes 4-5, the article also contains a playlist with all songs referenced in the segments, plus a further listening playlist. Listen for yourself!

http://syn.org.au/nervous-nellies-rewind-part-2/

01/09/2021

And we're back! Nervous Nellies Rewind is a SYN podcast miniseries that compiles clips from the April-July 2021 radio season of Nervous Nellies. Part 1 covers the 'Nervous Nelly of the week' and 'Nervous tic of the week' segments from episodes 1-3. Check out this article for the podcast and a playlist with all songs referenced in these segments, plus a further listening playlist!

http://syn.org.au/nervous-nellies-rewind-part-1/

Nervous Nellies Rewind is a compilation podcast of clips from the April-July 2021 radio season of Nervous Nellies. Part 1 includes the …

18/07/2021

In case you missed it, here's the setlist from the finale of Nervous Nellies for SYN season 2 2021!

The show will use the next few weeks to get clips of the more interesting segments (eg each Nervous Nelly/Tic of the week) up online as a series of compilation podcasts, so keep your eyes peeled for 'Nervous Nellies Rewind' in the near future, and thanks for tuning in last season!
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Disco Inferno - Summer's Last Sound
2: Seefeel - Time to Find Me / CH-Vox
3: Candy Claws - Sun Arrow
4: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Work This Time
5: Nobukazu Takemura - Rill / Be Vertical
6: Supertramp - Just Another Nervous Wreck

05/07/2021

The penultimate episode of Nervous Nellies ( #11) debuts a would-be segment of the show: the drone zone (track 7), dedicated to 15-minute+ ambient songs! It would have taken up too much of the show to have on regularly but I wanted to try it at least once.

Peep the full playlist and tune into SYN Monday 10-11pm (tonight!!) for the final episode's songs as they get played live, and see pic 2 for the original background image ~ Artwork: Albert Oehlen
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Jerry Paper - Fuzzy Logic
2: Gastr del Sol - Dry Bones in the Valley
3: Cocteau Twins - My Truth
4: Albert Salt - June
5: Deakin - Country Report
6: Hiatus Kaiyote - Rainbow Rhodes
7: David Grubbs & Noël Akchoté - Aux Noctambules

27/06/2021

The album that episode 10's Nervous Nelly of the week (track 1) comes from was one of the first CDs I got in 2017 after committing myself to buying physical wherever possible. Amazing cover art -- would have got a shirt of it if overseas shipping permitted!

Check out the full playlist and tune into SYN each Monday 10-11pm for the week's songs as they get played live.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Dan Deacon - Take It to the Max
2: The Avalanches - Tonight May Have to Last Me All My Life
3: Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan - Opís Helpus
4: Phoenix - Bankrupt
5: Architecture in Helsinki - B4 3D
6: Múm - Hufeland
7: kfaraday - Jintake Turbo III: Temptation of Jintake
8: Oneohtrix Point Never - Mutant Standard

20/06/2021

Nervous Nellies episode 9's access spotlight (track 6) comes from a physical-only import, meaning when I embedded the episode's songs on the SYN show page, I had to sub it out for the only track on the album with a promo video...which really just means that people who tuned in live got a unique playlist!

Peep both versions of the set list and tune into SYN each Monday from 10-11pm to not miss a thing.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: The Dylan Group - Division Long
2: Badbadnotgood - Lavender (ft. Kaytranada)
3: Eric Copeland - Grapes
4: Atlas Sound - Quick Canal (ft. Laetitia Sadier)
5: Cavern of Anti-Matter - Lament for Cement
6a (on air): Aki Tsuyuko - I Think in a Hollow
6b (online playlist): Aki Tsuyuko - Rain and Dew
7: Oval - Credit Line (ft. Hana Kobayashi)
8: Tropical F Storm - Maria 63

08/06/2021

Made a CD sleeve for the album that episode 8's Nervous Tic of the week (track 3) comes from. See pic 2 for the comparison -- yeah or nah?

Check out the full playlist and tune into SYN each Monday for the week's songs as they get played live.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Broadcast - Chord Simple
2: Dead Can Dance - Mother Tongue
3: Tortoise - In Sarah, Mencken, Christ, and Beethoven There Were Women and Men
4: Chet Faker - Lesson in Patience
5: Animal Collective - Cobwebs
6: Modest Mouse - Night on the Sun
7: Seefeel - Filter Dub (1-01 Mix)

05/06/2021

You might be able to guess I'm a fan of episode 7's Nervous Nelly of the week (artist 1)...

Peep the full playlist, and tune into SYN every Monday from 10-11pm for the week's songs as they get played live.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Stereolab - Retrograde Mirror Form
2: Cocteau Twins - Cherry Coloured Funk (Mark Clifford Remix)
3: Nelward - Toy World
4: Albert Salt - Unoit
5: Weyes Blood - Movies
6: Mice Parade - Mystery Brethren Vironment (Jim O'Rourke Remix)
7: Zonotope™ - Busted Animatronics on Gliese 581d
8: Oingo Boingo - Private Life

28/05/2021

Episode 6's mix is the first to have no representatives from my CD collection, so I'm honouring that with a (gasp) digital playlist!**

Tune into SYN each Monday from 10-11 pm for the week's songs as they get played live.

**One is represented on vinyl, but you can't burn a playlist onto a record, so the format may as well not exist as far as Nervous Nellies is concerned.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Atlas Sound - Sunday Evening We Relaxed in Our Rooms and Called Each Other on the Phone
2: Didjitalis - The Abyss
3: Talking Heads - The Overload
4: Schema - We Think We're Sane
5: Cate Le Bon & Group Listening - Sad Nudes
6: Yo La Tengo - Autumn Sweater (Tortoise Remix)
7: June LaLonde - Through Mountains

23/05/2021

Nervous energy is like the precarity of a traffic cone on top of a pole: static, but intensified by outside forces...much like tape loops, next episode's nervous tic of the week! Tune in Monday at 10-11pm on SYN for more terrible segues and nervy tunes.
Image: A traffic cone atop a metal sign post

19/05/2021

Somehow it's taken almost half a season to cover the CD skip as our Nervous Tic of the week, despite broken discs being the centrepiece of this show's imagery. So without further ado, I've bandaged up episode 5's mix CD with the full playlist included!

Tune into SYN each Monday from 10-11pm for each week's tracks as they get played live.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: KungFuFurby - Null and Void
2: Architecture in Helsinki - Imaginary Ordinary
3: Oval - Cross Selling / Metallic
4: Aki Tsuyuko - Rainbow Train
5: Hiatus Kaiyote - Sphinx Gate
6: Candy Claws - Sun River
7: Múm - Random Summer
8: Animal Collective - I Think I Can

12/05/2021

Here's a selection of (non-mockup) CDs that feature on the (mockup) mix CD for Nervous Nellies episode 4! I'd say to match the tracks to the album art for a cookie, but it's very easy to look up.

Tune into SYN each Monday from 10-11pm for the week's tracks as they get played live.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Nobukazu Takemura - Wandering
2: Stereolab - Ulan Bator
3: Mice Parade - The Lonely Lounge Piano Player's Lost in His Little World
4: Courtney Barnett - Anonymous Club
5: Triosk & Jan Jelinek - Munmorah
6: Pram - Carnival of Souls
7: Zavoloka - Rankova (Midnight Edit)
8: Dan Deacon - Bumble Bee Crown King

05/05/2021

This week's offering is the mix for episode 3 of Nervous Nellies ft. a tour poster for our Nervous Nelly of the week! See pic 2 for a zoom in ~ Artwork: B. Montero

Tune into SYN each Monday from 10-11pm for the week's tracks as they get played live.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Black Dice - Smiling Off
2: Plug - Military Jazz
3: Broadcast - Poem of Dead Song
4: Sense - View from the Other Place
5: Seefeel - As One
6: Candy Claws - Miracle Spring (Sound Idea)
7: Schema - Far from Where We Began / Getting Smart

28/04/2021

Here's the playlist for Nervous Nellies episode 2, ft. the album our Nervous Tic of the week (track 3) comes from!**

Tune into SYN each Monday from 10-11pm for that week's songs as they get played live.

**Sadly just a mock-up :(
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Aki Tsuyuko - Moriji
2:Tujiko Noriko & Nobukazu Takemura - Outside of the Picture
3: Jerry Paper - Synthesized Mind
4: Cloud Control - Tombstone
5: Chet Faker - Ci******es & Chocolate
6: Oval - Container
7: Zoomlight - Detonation
8: Naruto, Aya Futatsuki & BouKiChi - AI Bomb on Vocal

26/04/2021

Inside the envelope (not really), next episode's mix CD crowns Aki Tsuyuko as Nervous Nelly of the week and puts synthesised instruments under the microscope. Tune in tonight at 10-11pm on SYN for that and more nervy tunes!
Image: An envelope with the text "Open me" on the front

22/04/2021

What's on this week's mix CD? It's the playlist from episode 1 of Nervous Nellies! Tune into SYN each Monday from 10-11pm for each week's tracks as they get played live.
Image: A playlist of the following artists and tracks:
1: Cocteau Twins - Lazy Calm
2: Mary Hansen - Marching Music
3: Flume & Toro y Moi - The Difference (slowboi version)
4: Yo La Tengo - Nowhere Near
5: Cate Le Bon & Group Listening - Miami
6: Kazumichi Grime - Rounded
7: Ros Bandt - From Under the Sacred Oak
8: Dendy Crew - Umwelt / Break Your Parts