Pop Songs Your New Boyfriend's Too Stupid to Know About

About this program

Each week Liz & Sean share their favorite – yet somewhat obscure or yet-to-be-discovered – indie-pop gems. Some are lo-fi DIY ballads, others are glittery pop hits, and still others are songs that were simply ahead of their time.

Most episodes feature a special guest musician who shares one of their favorite under-appreciated or obscure songs. Some of the show’s past guests have included: David Gedge (of the Wedding Present), Amelia Fletcher (of Heavenly, Tallulah Gosh, Swansea Sound), Lisa Marr (of Cub), Manda Rin (of Bis), Mark Robinson (of Unrest, Teen-Beat Records), David Fair (of Half Japanese), and Hutch Harris (of the Thermals) – just to name a few.

About the DJ

Liz & Sean discovered SPACE 101 while scrolling around the radio dial and they heard a couple of songs that they knew no other local radio station would ever play. The set included the songs, “The Unguarded Moment” by The Church, and “Schizophrenia” by Sonic Youth. At that moment they thought, “What is this cool station, and how can we be a part of it?”

The first episode of “Pop Songs Your New Boyfriend’s Too Stupid to Know About” aired in the summer of 2020.

Sean’s love of making the perfect mixtape began in high school with a deep adoration of the Cure and New Order. He immersed himself in the Bellingham and Olympia music scenes in the mid-90s, and in 1995 he formed the band, Tullycraft. The band’s debut album was included on Pitchfork’s list of “The 25 Best Indie Pop Albums of the ‘90s” and Tullycraft has been name-checked in (most) articles about the twee subgenre. Tullycraft songs have been featured in the British dark comedy “The End of the F***ing World” and the popular American drama “The Good Wife.” The band has played countless shows throughout the U.S. and Europe and are known to put out a new album now and again.

Liz’s love of radio was cemented the moment she hosted her first college radio show – a 3am-6am overnight slot – named “Gardening at Night.” By college graduation, she had a drive-time “Cutting Edge” show and was program director of the station (WVUD, nee WXDR). In the mid-90s, she went on to DJ at KUKQ in Arizona where she hosted drive-time slots as well as creating and curating a weekly specialty show focused on rare import tracks.

Liz is a co-founder of Three Imaginary Girls — a Seattle-based website that showcases the great music of the Northwest to a worldwide audience. The site launched in June 2002 to document the show-going escapades of Liz and her friends with boundless enthusiasm for the burgeoning music scene around them. Since that time, the site has grown beyond just the two founders to include several of her (very talented) friends who share reviews of albums, live music, film, interviews and more, to those in Seattle and beyond. Although Liz’s recent focus has shifted to the Pop Songs radio show (and her family and day job), she is known to leave the house now and again to see a live show, and sometimes she writes about it.