If you were to take the past quarter-century's pop culture and reduce it to 70 minutes, it would sound something like
Radio Fryer. Creating an alternate universe where the Beastie Boys pass the mike to John Lennon, the Peanuts gang throws down to Cypress Hill and Michael Jackson joins the White Stripes'
Seven Nation Army,
Mike Relm's danceable time capsule is as warm and fuzzy as a VH1
We Love the '80s marathon. Turntable naturalists might snicker at his use of both CD and vinyl formats, but this West Coast up-and-comer's suburban mix of guilty pleasures delivers with tricks and transitions so manicured, you'd swear he was a cut-and-paste artist.
Radio Fryer coincides with
Suit Yourself, a documentary following of Relm's opening slot on last year's Gift of Gab tour. Bouncing between interview segments and show-stealing footage (with no sign of the Granada), the DVD's highlight is an ass-dropping rendition of Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence" that's truly worthy of the last-night-a-DJ-saved-my-life exclamation. Both CD and DVD are available from Relm's Web site,
www.mikerelm.com
