Necktie Optional

Necktie Optional: Episode 29 Recap This week’s show ran 28 songs. Five came off records released since March, and four of those albums landed in the last few weeks. Fresh Releases Queens of the Stone Age closed the show with “Phantom Limb” from Perfecth , their ninth album, out October 30 on Matador. They debuted the song live in Reykjavík just before the release. Radio Free Alice played “Kick in...

Hooky, guitar-driven indie rock carried most of the hour: Peach Fuzz, The Blurry Stars, The Albert Square, Amelia & The Housewives, Odie Leigh, The Big Moon, Thesaurus Rex, Michigander, Momma, Sjowgren, Oh He Dead, Starter Car, Liam Kazar, Grazer, The Chutes, Short Fictions, Heathers, and Sky is Alright. Caroline Rose, Winona Fighter, Kid Sistr, Playboy Manbaby, and The Dead Bolts brought the...

A Halloween-week show - we went digging around in the archive and found an old call-in show from Santa Carla in 1987! Let's take a trip back in time together. There's a few surprises with a few seasonal visitors: JP Ashkar’s “Halloween (Haunted Mix)” and Sean Hayes’ “Zombie Town” haunted the set, and Clinic’s first album in five years arrived right on cue. Guitars set the pace for most of the nigh...

more to come later!

A special spooky request line show! See who gives the studio a call during our spooky pledge drive season!

Friends, new and old. Welcome to Necktie Optional on Pirate Cat Radio. Two hours of indie rock that slips past the algorithm. Deep cuts, left turns, and songs that still have teeth. Every Thursday, noon to 2 PM. Cody’s in the driver’s seat. New set every week. Loose collar. Lo…

Let's see what's in the archives! An exploration of some tapes excavated from the bowels of the pirate cat storage unit

Cody takes over Boring Jazz FM, sorry Ruby the Robot. No Jazz for Elevators today!

Week two of The Return of the Pledge Drive was a local showcase, with about three-quarters of the hour coming from Bay Area, Santa Cruz, and Portland artists. The Bay Area carried most of it. Slow Coast’s sunny beach rock, The Umbrellas’ jangly SF pop, Tony Molina’s guitar pop, Vetiver’s psych-folk, and Jay Som’s dreamy bedroom pop sat alongside Silver Shores, Indigo Elephant, Mae Powell, swell fo...

Today's episode doubled as the launch of KPCR's fall pledge drive, "The Return of the Pledge Drive" — a loving riff on cheesy old horror and sci-fi B-movies, campy theme music and all, chasing down a $60k goal like a mob of villagers after a monster. Musically, the hour leaned fast and hooky: Hot Hot Heat, Art d'Ecco, About Yesterday, Growing Pains, The Linda Lindas, Voxtrot, Kiwi jr., and Spun Me...

The bulk of the show ran on hooky, guitar-driven indie rock — Momma, The Beths, The Royston Club, Carver Commodore, Good Flying Birds, Lucky, Michigander, Veronica Falls, and Spoon all kept that energy going. Wishy, Mini Trees, Babehoven, my life as a bird, mypilotis, and Motorcycle slowed the pulse into hazier, more atmospheric territory, while Pardoner, Yes Ma'am, Post Sex Nachos, Ma'aM, Blu Egy...

A big chunk of the set stayed in hook-driven, guitar-forward indie and alt-rock territory: Rum Jungle, Middle Kids, Hop Along, The Beths, The Clause, Carver Commodore, Michigander, The Royston Club, Starter Car, Wild Pink, Maggie Gently, The Sherlocks, We Were Promised Jetpacks, and The Amazons all sat in that lane. Angel Du$t, The Linda Lindas, Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, Gogol Bordello, Twi...

Most of the night sat in upbeat, guitar-forward indie and power-pop territory: mypilotis, Indigo Elephant, Starter Car, The Big Moon, Westside Cowboy, The Vaccines, Carver Commodore, Courtney Barnett, and The Braymores all worked that lane. Slow Coast, Minus the Bear, Twen, Dehd, Pleasure Systems, Frightened Rabbit, and Dismemberment Plan pulled things into moodier, more atmospheric territory, whi...

A heavy dose of guitar-driven indie and alt-rock tonight: Michigander, Westside Cowboy, Sterling Gavinski, Improvement Movement, Hovvdy, Twin Bloom, Fruited Planes, Other Girls, Good Flying Birds, The Big Moon, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah all worked that lane. The Velvet Teen, Minus the Bear, Pinback, The Ninth Wave, and Editors brought a moodier, more angular edge, while Waxahatchee, Ratboys, an...

Most of the night worked from a hooky, guitar-driven indie-rock palette: Swapmeet, We Are Scientists, Dayton Barry, Juliet the Band, The Brook & The Bluff, Carver Commodore, Good Flying Birds, The Beths, SWEET LEW, Ducks Ltd., The Gnomes, Brennan Wedl, and Dark Sided all sat comfortably in that lane. Kacie Jewel Hill, cup cup, E.G. Phillips, and Yeemz pushed into more eclectic corners, while K...

Twenty-eight tracks tonight, opening with The Weakerthans, Built to Spill, and Girl Scout setting a literate, guitar-driven tone. Dinosaur Jr. roughed up the edges before Embrace slotted in with "Road to Nowhere" — the band's first new material in four years, released ahead of their 30th-anniversary UK headline tour — and Ratboys brought things back to scrappier footing. Michigander, Twin Fin, Cir...

For today's episode we welcomed in Matthew Swinnerton and Natalie Sweeting of Events Santa Cruz! They came on air today to hype us up about their 100th Santa Cruz Midtown Friday Block Party tomorrow night (8/7), where local favorite Trestles will play a free show! We heard something from Trestles' latest album AND a star-studded lineup including them and Lol Tolhurst (of The Cure fame) covering Bo...

A very special DOUBLE episode of Necktie Optional today to close out July's Keep Radio Weird pledge drive strong! A wide-ranging set that stretched well past typical indie-rock borders. Girl Scout and Kiwi Jr. opened with breezy, hook-driven guitar pop, while The Afghan Whigs and Cold War Kids brought grittier, soul-inflected rock. The Beths and Francis of Delirium kept things in familiar jangly i...

We just played the hits today! Cody's favorite songs from the first trimester of Necktie Optional, as well as live training for DJ Pickles. Cody will be back again on Thursday with business as usual!

This is a very special episode where Cody gets to interview living legend Lonnie Jordan of War and discuss the band's confluence with lowrider and car culture in advance of Sunday's concert that will be a de facto homage to San Jose's cultural history as a lowrider capital. Thank you Lonnie for taking the time to talk to Pirate Cat Radio!

Fourteen tracks today, running the full spectrum of guitar-based indie. Erlend Øye opened with a breezy, continental warmth on "La Prima Estate," setting a relaxed tone before Snail Mail and diet lemon brought sharper-edged, confessional indie rock. Maggie Gently , The Beths , and Pacifica kept the melodic momentum going with hooky, guitar-forward pop-rock. Twen and acloudyskye leaned into dreamie...

Twelve tracks of guitar-forward indie rock this week, bookended by wistfulness and wit. Opened with Ben Folds Five 's "Underground - Shelved First Attempt," a rarity-flavored curveball before settling into the show's usual melodic terrain. California Wives and Yumi Zouma brought the dream-pop shimmer, while Stolen Gin and Cold War Kids leaned into moodier, hookier rock. The Brook & The Bluff a...

Episode 12 brings new music from The Mountain Goats , Dogwood Tales , Slow Runner , and Hovvdy alongside Iron & Wine , Frou Frou , Penny and Sparrow , and Wippy Bonstack . Handpicked, as always. Neckties remain optional. It's pledge drive week — keep radio weird at kpcr.org/join.

A very special episode of Necktie Optional to celebrate and reflect on 250 years of American independence, and reflecting upon the good, bad, and ugly - and embracing protest music as a desire for positive change. Setlist: The Menzingers | America (You're Freaking Me Out) Greta Van Fleet | A Change Is Gonna Come Conner Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band | Roosevelt Room Descendents | 'Merican Joh...

Episode 11 brings fresh cuts from Michigander , Kelley Stoltz , and Carver Commodore alongside The Beths , The Long Winters , Dismemberment Plan , and FIGHTMASTER . Handpicked, as always. Neckties remain optional. It's also pledge drive week — if you like what you hear, visit www.kpcr.org/join and help keep radio weird!