STACK SESSIONS: BAND OF SKULLS

UK rockers Band Of Skulls dropped by the station to play a couple of acoustic tunes on Monday. If you've heard their new album, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey, then you're in for a surprise - their set was a far cry from its stompin' rock n' roll (ala early Yeah Yeah Yeahs or White Stripes). Grab the lushly arranged "Impossible" and "Fires" below, as well as my favorite, "Honest." As always, many thanks to the band for stopping by!









Fires
Impossible
Honest

Or just listen to the whole damn thing here (interview text coming soon)

ANNOUNCEMENT/ADDENDUM:

Lots of bands have/are being confirmed for more Stack Sessions - check the twitter/blog in the coming days for more info!

STACK SESSIONS: MATT AND KIM

Hellooooooooo Broooooooklyyyyynnn
Photo courtesy RFT and Egan O'Keefe

Sat down with Matt and Kim before last night's sold out show at Off Broadway (Stack Sessions alumni Gentleman Auction House opened) and chatted about their VMA nominated video, what it's like to be huge now, and life on the tour bus. For as much fun as it was (and believe me, it was a lot of fun), the duo also offered an interesting and well-spoken take on their fame and appearances in various commercials. Oh, also, it looks like Ben Allen will be producing their next album (he produced "Merriweather Post Pavilion" and Gnarls Barkley's last). Exciting!

Download the interview HERE.

And check out the RFT's coverage of the show HERE. If you missed it, you might have missed one of this year's best concerts.

Also, I think we're going to start publishing interviews in text form. Thoughts on this?

STACK SESSIONS: (partial) FALL LINE-UP

Summer is drawing to a close, and it's been a busy one around here... BUT NO REST FOR THE WICKED. Without further ado, the Fall (September, basically) line-up:

8/24 - Band Of Skulls
8/26 - Hermit Thrushes
9/1 - The New Familiars
9/5 - Casiotone For The Painfully Alone (guest DJ set)
9/6 - Capybara
9/15 - Dear And The Headlights
9/17 - Pomegranates
9/23 - Miniature Tigers
10/16 - Tom Russell

As always, there's more to come; October and November will be fleshed out as time goes on. And who knows, there might be some last minute, exciting announcements too. Exact times will be announced as the dates draw closer - check our twitter (www.twitter.com/KWUR) for more info.

OKAY LET'S DO THIS

STACK SESSIONS: CASPER AND THE COOKIES

Athens pop veterans Casper and the Cookies played a couple of tunes and chatted for a bit last week before their show at the Firebird. They sounded great in the studio and put on a hell of a show on stage - next time they roll into town I'd recommend catching them live. Anyway, we discussed their new album, Modern Silence, the convoluted story behind the 15-minute-long song on said album, and the value of Schnuck brand whiskey, among other things. Check the interview HERE, and snag a song from the performance, in crystal clear stereo, below.

You Love Me (live at KWUR)

(Oh yeah, if you are or know someone who is interested in being our in-house in-studio photographer, drop me a line at music one at kwur dot com. My shitty Canon PowerShot and even shittier photography skills aren't doing these performances any justice.)

STACK SESSIONS - THOSE DARLINS

PICTURE COURTESY NICK SCHNELLE

a couple weeks back me and Ms. Tara Audio Service headed over to Off Broadway for some lively chit chat with those super cool gals, Those Darlins. We talked about country music and female empowerment and getting mooned and also other important things. LISTEN HERE!!!
and If you have not checked out their album you really ought to
and also for all you folks listening at home, let it be known that I won the dance competition
this song is great:

R.I.P. John Hughes, 1950-2009

In addition to directing many classic 1980s films, John Hughes was also a brilliant writer.

A scene (set in St. Louis) from the 1983 National Lampoon's Vacation, which he single-handedly wrote:

STACK SESSIONS: JEFF THE BROTHERHOOD

Nashville's JEFF The Brotherhood dominated Open Lot last Tuesday, alongside St. Louis' very own Spelling Bee and Radical Sons. It was one of the best shows I've seen all summer, and I'm hoping they roll through town again soon (seriously, check out their myspace - I can't quite place their sound but I'm pretty sure my co-MD would dig it. Thoughts, Dan?) Anyway, I sat down with bros Jake and Jamin after their set for a very entertaining, fairly drunken conversation about the Nashville scene, running a record label, and things we love and hate.

Check the interview HERE. Also, check out their label, Infinity Cat, for a taste of the Nashville sound.

STACK SESSIONS: LANGHORNE SLIM

Aaaand we're back. Langhorne Slim played a sold-out show with Josh Ritter at Off Broadway this week, but before he took the stage he dropped by our humble station to lay down a few tracks. They're all cuts from his new album "Be Set Free" - out September 29th on Kemado - and they're acoustic. This, in itself, is pretty cool; Mr. Slim has filled out his sound with more instrumentation throughout the past few releases, and when you hear these songs on the album, they won't sound quite like this (as is, they sound great). So whether you're a fan of the newer stuff or the older stuff, you'll probably dig these. Thanks again to Langhorne and crew for hanging out!


CHECK IT OUT:

The whole thing
Back To The Wild (new!)
I Love You, But Goodbye (new!)
Land Of Dreams (new!)

Steve Shelley Interview

Steve Shelley, who drums for Sonic Youth, answers all of my questions, save one dumb one.

Hear

ZOMBIE DISCO SQUAD

If you're into dance music, you're aware that the sounds of disco and electro are starting to get over-saturated with too many artists and remixers all treading over the same ground, and that rhythmic traditions like Dubstep and Kuduro are taking over a share of the dance floor real estate (big acts like Major Lazer and Buraka Som Sistema for example.)

Enter Zombie Disco Squad, two London DJs breaking out of the mold with a fresh sound that just has to be heard to appreciate - house, african rhythms, and haunting melodies combine to create something I can't quite put my finger on. At first glance, these guys would appear to be a couple of electro hipsters with big neon sunglasses, a funny band name, and who cite "808 kickdrums and disco hand claps" as influences on their myspace page. But on the same page, they say they're not into people jumping onto the disco "bandwagon" and say they are against the bloghouse and new-rave phenomena associated with the world of electro/disco. Let's have a listen, shall we?

Here's their track Straight Boy, and make sure to wait until the synth horns come in halfway through. This is some tribal King Arthur house music shit right here.

For another solid track try Eurovision (Mowgli remix).

http://hypem.com/track/763921/Zombie+Disco+Squad+-+

eurovision+mowgli+remix.

It's immensely mix-able, and shows up in this set by the Sick

Girls, for example:

http://www.thefastlife.org/2009/07/17/post/

They have a few singles out and will be touring the US in

October, so watch for big things from these guys.

Sonic Youth At The Arch

A post by M. Thomas Stevens

In an attempt to describe the Sonic Youth concert under the arch last Friday, I flatly told a friend that Sonic Youth made international news by destroying the national monument with acoustic resonance. Now, I doubt that the massive metal catenary would show the slightest perturbation, even when pummeled by the most acute feedback burst, but it’s a fantasy straight from my 9th grade school bus ride. I thought then, as I ecstatically piped in “Daydream Nation” day after day, that this was music I would never hear performed. But what vaults Sonic Youth above other bands is their potential to draw from their catalogue of almost thirty years of music. Moreover, while different epochs of their work are fairly dissimilar, they don’t negate their evolution as a band by refusing to play earlier tunes, rather they dust them off with gusto that would probably rival that of their original performance.



It pains me to say that I missed the opening of the concert because I was scarfing my friend’s animal crackers that security, for whatever important reason, would not allow in the vicinity. Sauntering down the amphitheatre steps full of crusty giraffes, I was immediately struck by my first glimpse of the band. They all appeared as effortlessly hip as ever, typified by the towering Thurston with dark glasses and swishable mop, joined now by Mark Ibold (former bassist of late Pavement, Dustdevils). As I understand it, Ibold is a fixture in the group who had a role in developing much of the latest release, “The Eternal”. On stage, he mainly octaved or doubled Kim’s bass, which may have allowed her to focus on her vocals, which I thought were markedly improved from the last performance I saw in Chicago two years ago. On the whole, the musicians seemed like they had just come from a stint of rigorous rehearsals, playing almost all of the material on “The Eternal” with a distinguished precision for a band to which some critics append the word “jam”. Notably, there were several cuts on which Thurston, Lee, and Kim shared and harmonized vocal parts, an arrangement tactic I had never heard them employ before.



Punctuating all of the songs from “The Eternal” were a few well-placed surprises, namely “Stereo Sanctity” from 1987’s “Sister”, which has some of the group’s most cochlea-scraping riffing in the chorus, closed by powerful falling glissandos that pound the body. To me, it is one of their most thematically memorable songs, with echoes of cyberpunkish/post-apocalyptic assignment of divinity, soul, or life to the machine, or even to their own overdriven amps. Then, with an ethereal, arpeggiated intro began “Malibu Gas Station”, one of the picks from “The Eternal” that really shined live. The layers of instrumentation on the album translated perfectly to the stage, from the surf-y modal warp of Lee’s guitars coupled with Thurston’s dense chording in the verses, to Kim’s harrowing vocals at the apex, to the shimmering denouement. And all this set against the last rays of sunset crossing over into twilight. The closed the set out with the apt choice of their album closer, “Massage the History”, with Thurston on an acoustic guitar accompanied by Lee on a warbling slide. To me, it feels like a merger of the American folk tradition, Eastern traditional, and ambient electronics, like an expansion of the textures on “Trees Outside the Academy”.



It was at this point where I was unsure of the audience’s level of interest. In this quiet piece I was surrounded by vapid chatter and choice concert sound bytes like “Hey, man, roll that one fat, this is, like, Sonic Youth!” Much to my relief, the final cheers were enough to garner two more encores. The first consisted of two favorites from “Daydream Nation”: “The Sprawl” and “’Cross the Breeze”, which to me exemplify the versatility and uniqueness of their sound. From the driving haze of “The Sprawl”, with its chorus of cro-magnon percussion from Shelley, to hypertempo dissonant polka in “’Cross the Breeze”, to both of their expansive feedback-laden melodic codas, they bring to mind everything I enjoy about listening to Sonic Youth.



The second encore was absolutely thrilling, but was capped by the ultimate anti-orgasm. It began with the somber “Shadow of a Doubt” from “EVOL”, which sees a whispery, distracted Kim mutate into a banshee in a sinister guitar forest. Though I am not as well-acquainted with this record, as I understand this song is an epic fave out of their whole discog. My doubts about the crowd were quashed when there were rampant lyric shouts during “Death Valley ‘69” from “Bad Moon Rising”, which is heralded as one of their first “hits”, and whose Richard Kern-directed video is a masterful gore-filled recounting of the Manson murders. It was a chilling, macabre timbre to bring the evening to the close, but the sensation was almost trounced by the blatant display of disrespect that followed. At the end of the final song, when Thurston and Lee proceeded to launch into the ritual guitar abuse and feedback finale, the stage speakers were mysteriously faded out and replaced by Top 40 while a spray of fireworks went off behind the band. I was confused beyond belief, and the most mortifying part was that their earpiece monitors still gave them the illusion of being heard. It was a bizarre spectacle of performance art, perhaps like watching Jackson Pollack fling invisible paint on a canvas from all four sides whilst blasting Beyonce or comparable fare on a nearby boombox. After it was clear to them that they had been cut off, the band went around to the back of the stage to watch the pyrotechnic display. I could only hope that this didn’t mar their perception of the city for all time.



But honestly, what was the sound brigade thinking? If the crowd begged for dual encores, it’s clear they wouldn’t be averse to ending the show with waves of obliviating noise pricked by the occasional firework burst. In fact, I think it would have been unanimously awesome. I walked away with a bad taste, but it was soon refreshed by the more savory moments the rest of the evening brought. Besides, Sonic Youth’s quality output and commitment to touring seems to show no signs of coming to a head anytime soon.


(Video thanks to Sensored Media)

Sirenfest

So folks, yesterday, as promised, I tweeted my entire Sirenfest experience, complete with inanities of all sorts, and if you caught that, you know that I found out that I bit my tongue the night before and only figured it out that morning. Today, I deliver a narrative assessment of the shows and the experience, and I hope it'll have a little bit more substance, and will edify you, the ignorant reader. Or I might tell you about the time that I threw up at Coney Island (only amusement park related vomit incident I've ever had, proud to say).

First, a short description of the setting. Coney Island is a really, really odd place. It is the southernmost part of Brooklyn, home to some of NYC's beaches. The beach itself is hopelessly filthy; I stopped swimming in Coney Island when I once found a used tampon in the water. Next to the beach is a boardwalk and a bunch of barely safe, incredibly dirty and sleazy carnival games and rides. Coney Island is also home to several freak shows, the original Nathan's Hot Dogs (where the 4th of July hot dog eating contest is held every year) and the oldest wooden roller coaster still in operation, The Cyclone, which is also barely safe. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the area has become increasingly dominated by Russian immigrants, and as a result, increasingly controlled by the Russian mob. It is also home to some of the roughest projects in the city. Nearby Abraham Lincoln High School (Stephon Marbury's alma mater) is virtually a war zone, with students submitting to random weapons searches by the police. As is, it makes for an interesting place to have an indie rock festival. Main stage is located right next to the Cyclone, and every five minutes or so, the band is drowned out by the rumblings of the coaster and the screams of the passengers. I also love to see locals and beachgoers stumble into the festival and wonder what the fuck they've come across.

Sirenfest itself is an odd festival in an odd place. Started in 2001 on one stage, you rarely hear good things about the festival, although some past shows (particularly the Liars' set in 2002) have gained a legendary reputation. First, Siren suffers because it tends to be the weekend of or the weekend after Pitchfork, and inevitably loses out when it comes to both booking and buzz. Second of all, I'm quite convinced that the festival is a death trap. The asphalt magnifies the summer heat (which is usually at its worst around Siren time) to an unbearable, dangerous degree. People are shoved into two fairly narrow streets, and there aren't many exits out; if a fire or a riot or something broke out, there would be a significant risk of trampling. Finally, sound is consistently shitty, most likely because the festival takes place in a public, municipal setting and they can't pump the volume up to the point where you wouldn't lose it in the neighboring amusement parks. But I kind of like Sirenfest, or at least, I have a long tradition of going. My first year there (I'm pretty sure) was 2004, and I have good memories of shows there. Despite its limitations, Sirenfest brings in some fun acts, usually the ones who are just on the cusp of hitting it big. Also, it's the only true summer festival that NYC has, and I like the fact that I can take the train out and get a day's worth of a festival (which is about as much as I want anyway) without having to deal with a drive and grass and mud and hippies and smell. Also, I like the fact that I can get a ride on the log flume in between sets.

My personal setting this year was that I had just done an epic pub crawl the night before. I wasn't hungover exactly, but I definitely had this head-not-where-it-should-be feeling. I also was getting over a bad cold I had (eh, still have) this week, so I was talking like a frog and phlegmmy as all hell. YEAH ROCK.

So, with that in mind, the acts! I got to Siren on time for the first time ever - usually I make plans to catch an early set but then get up late and have a lengthy breakfast and get there late. This time, I actually managed to get there on time, and I was glad I did, since this first show was probably one of the best I saw all day, a band called Micachu and The Shapes. Micachu makes one of my favorite kinds of music: no-wave, experimental tinged reimaginations of what pop means. This kind of stuff presents a fun cognitive challenge. You're teased and engaged with what you've always identified with pop, clear, identifiable rhythms, the inklings of melody, singalong vocals. But while the outlines look like pop, the music is filled in with elements that push the brain; in Micachu's case, you've got melodies played on an out of tune toy guitar and sung by a child and rhythms produced by the blats of a programmed keyboard and what looked like some sort of drum device fashioned out of plastic bottle. It was damn original, damn fun, and hell, a little bit dance-y. I find these kind of shows inherently watchable. It's fun just to play the "how are they making this weird sound" game. In any case, keep an ear out for these guys, I bet they're going somewhere. Also, what is with the new trend in child-like voices (see: Ponytail)? Is it some sort of artistic regression? Or is it just that we find the voice of a child unsettling on some deep level?

After Micachu, I caught about fifteen minutes of Japandroids, who've been getting a lot of buzz lately. While they performed a hell of a show, pounding drums and roaring guitar, and they had a charming stage presence (thrown off both by the crowd and the occasional pass of the roller coaster next door), I was relatively unimpressed. In general, I'm not a big fan of twosomes, since there's just such a limit on the complexity that can be added to the music. There are some exceptions, of course - Matt and Kim and Mates Of State come to mind - but there are very few twosomes that I think wouldn't be better off with a bassist. Also, c'mon, guys, what's wrong? Do you have no other friends? This was definitely the case with Japandroids. They can rock out and deliver some pretty fun pop songs, but when it's just drums and guitar, it all kind of sounds the same.

I left about fifteen minutes into their set and went to catch Thee Oh Sees. In general, I'm a fan of Thee Oh Sees's hustle. Their music sounds like an old reel-to-reel recording of a long lost 60s garage act that has been purposely tampered with, a retro sound that has been stretched and warped until it becomes something new. Plus it has honest-to-goodness tambourine. And they're a fun show to watch. John Dwyer, the frontman/lead guitarist, holds his beat-up guitar (which has his initials pasted on in big silver letters) in the crook of his elbow and plays it right under his chin, which is something I've never seen before. During solos (and most other times, actually), he has an endearing habit of treating his guitar with a casual disrespect, sometimes leaning on it during a keyboard part. Thee Oh Sees have a very strange stage energy. On Saturday. they looked like they had been beaten in prison, with a nicotine filled, vaguely felonious air about them. Dwyer, in particular, has a stage manner that suggests "I am now doing, or have done in the past, a large quantity of drugs". One thing that disappointed me was the set length - Thee Oh Sees were terrific until they ended, about twenty minutes in. I really can't abide by that kind of thing. If Ted Leo can do an hour and a half performing his songs at full speed with only the shortest pauses, you've got no excuse doing less than a half hour. Do some covers or some shit, just make it to a half hour.

I waited forty minutes at that stage for a fairly disappointing set from Future of The Left. I ought to balance that by saying that it was mostly disappointing just because I saw them last weekend at a small bar, and it was probably the best show I've seen all summer. Future of The Left delivers some brutal yet melodic political punk, at high speed and high volume, and sometimes with keyboard. It feels like the perfect political music for this time, appropriately cynical, recalcitrant, smart, not heavy-handed, mostly just tired of the old bullshit. It definitely helps that these guys do not fuck around. Insane drumming, wailing guitars and surprisingly, a rarity: a terrific bassist. Plus, they do the best stage banter. At the show I saw last weekend, they repeatedly excoriated the venue for smelling like fish and the crowd for "fruity dancing" and dedicated a song to Michael Jackson, "because he's fucking dead". At one point during the Sirenfest set, the bassist threw out a handful of candy to the crowd, and said, "I hope you enjoy that, especially once you realize it's sweaty from sitting in my ass pocket for forty-five minutes". But something about Sirenfest didn't really work for them. Part of it might have been that they were flagging under the oppressive heat, which was at its worst during their set, but mostly, I think it was the bad sound system that did them in. When their roar was blowing out eardrums in the club, it just clicked a lot better then when their sound was loosely dispersing over the crowd. Eh, oh well.

Having seen them before, I did not give a shit about A Place To Bury Strangers, but wanted to stay on Stillwell Stage to get into position for Monotonix. A Place To Bury Strangers actually isn't a terrible live show, but they're just not particularly interesting: My Bloody Valentine redux, and not much else to it. So I went off stage to buy an Italian Sausage from a street side vendor and a Blue Rasberry Slushie. That sausage was a revelation; it reintroduced to me not only what a street sausage is but also what it could be. It was like listening to the Beatles for the first time. Ladies and gentlemen, I have seen the future of food and it is that sausage, or was until I ate it. Solid A plus.

And then, the best show of the night, Monotonix. I've seen (and written up for the blog) Monotonix's garage rock insanity a few times before: the band in the crowd, the drums in the air, the lead singer in his underwear. But I thought that they'd tamp it down just a little bit for Sirenfest, because that kind of show would be, um, stupidly dangerous with a crowd the size of Sirenfest. Fat chance, they set up the drums in the crowd and blew the place up. It's hard to say where the pit ends and the crowd begins in a Monotonix show. You're kind of just one solid mass, pushed around and getting covered with water and beer and throwing your body around to the most insane (in multiple senses of the word) drummer on the planet. The crowd went absolutely nuts. I can't count how many people I carried over my head, or how many times my feet got stepped on by the bouncing crowd. During a Monotonix show, the whole crowd becomes a sweaty, throbbing mess of sex and rock and the best part is seeing the corporate stiffs on stage watch in horror. Some particularly memorable moments of this show: there was a parking meter up front near where they were set up that presented a danger to the crowd surfers, which of course included the band themselves. The frontman acknowledged it in a break between songs, saying, "I think you should know, don't park here on Saturday". And at one point, the band accomplished the insane feat of getting a huge chunk of the crowd to sit down while he explained how they should respond to the next song. When that show ended, once again, I had no clear idea what hit me. I was sweaty, dirty, tired and pretty much satisfied. After the show, I got my program signed by them, and I was really charmed, they're very nice, down-to-earth guys. Which goes to show that what they do ultimately is about democracy. They perform as one of the people, and that's one of the most rock and roll things you can do.

I caught just a couple of songs from the Stillwell headliner, Spank Rock. Sorry, DB, my experience has been that it's pointless to switch stages at Siren after the second act, so I didn't even try to catch Built To Spill. Spank Rock's brand of vulgar booty bass is pretty fun, but it's not particularly unique or intelligent. I also can't bear to see hip-hop with a non-hip-hop crowd. Hip-hop lives or dies on the response of the crowd, and when the crowd doesn't get into it, the show tends to just fall apart. Plus, I was tired. So I took off at that point, after a full day of music.

Overall, good experience, maybe one of my best at Siren. Even though it was hot and I got sunburned pretty bad, it wasn't as unbearably hot as it usually is. The bill was solid, and there wasn't a band I saw that I absolutely hated. Here are my rankings on the day, from best to worst:

1. Monotonix
2. Micachu and The Shapes
3. Thee Oh Sees
4. Future Of The Left
5. Japandroids
6. Spank Rock
7. A Place To Bury Strangers

Oh, and the time I threw up at Coney Island: I was about 10 or 12, there with my summer camp for a day trip, and I was riding in one of those metal things that spin around. But it got so hot that immediately upon exiting, I puked all the fried food I ate into a trash can. I still say it was the heat that did it, I'm not a ride puker. And that's the way it is.

STACK SESSIONS: BAD VEINS

Ben and Seb stopped by to play a few tunes and chat for a bit - check the interview for tidbits on their new album, what they've been up to in the mean time, and them stealing my ideas (you'll be hearing from my lawyers, guys). Anyway, it was a great, if short, session as well - they acousticized the single from their self-titled debut, "Gold And Warm," as well as what will probably be the next single, "Falling Tide." Both are of the utmost sound quality, and as always, you can download everything right here.

The whole thing
Bad Veins - Gold And Warm (live)
Bad Veins - Falling Tide (live)

Did you hear this? Album from the last five years.

Tom Ewing got me thinking about some really good probably unheard of albums from this past decade. Because this list was already so long, I’m only doing the past five years. Here is a list I have come up with. Some of these probably won't be news to you if you follow KWUR, but I would say these are albums that aren't that known.

The Mae Shi - HILLYH: If you ever need something fast-paced or upbeat, you have to check out this album. Full of fun and speed, my favorites include “The Melody” and “Run to Your Grave”. Bonus points for watching this cover of “See You Again.” Yes that song.

Olafur Arnalds - anything this guy has made. From his Found Songs toVariations of Static anything this guy has made so far amazes me. I remember putting on headphones in Luna Music to listen to Variations. Within seconds I knew that I had to have this album. He is currently working on a new album.

The Long Winter - Putting The Days To Bed: This album is great from start to finish. “Honest” is a song about loving a singer. “Hindsight” might be my favorite. Bonus for checking out “The Commander Thinks Aloud” off the Ultimatum EP.

Corey Dargel - Other People’s Love Songs: Corey Dargel spent some time by having people commission love songs for their loved ones. He’d go interview the person and ask them about their relationship. He would then create some very amazing songs based off of what they told him. You can just feel the love n this one.

Tullycraft - Every Scene Needs It’s Center: I remember the day I saw this in our station with the review “and with the kind of wit and irony that a Pitchfork writer wished they had.” I don’t know who wrote that, but they hit it dead on. It’s Twee-pop, but who can fault that. Check out “Dracula Screams of Tiger Style.”

Ryan Bingham - Mescalito: This is a country album that I would recommend for anyone who doesn’t like country. Pure and twangy. “Other Side” is worth a first look.

Narrator - All That To The Wall: It’s energetic and punk and you’ve never heard it. They have some fun with songs like “Surfjew” and “Son of the Son of the Kiss of Death.”

Elvis Perkins - Ash Wednesday: When I first heard “While You Were Sleeping” which is the first track off this album, I was entranced. I in fact wake up to this song everyday during the school year. A deeply personal album that I heard deals partially with his mothers death on one of the 9/11 planes.

White Flight - White Flight: This album was made after the artist spent some time in the rainforest doing local drugs. Weird yet entrancing and slightly folkish. “The Condition” is my favorite.

13 & God - 13 & God: Bizarre yet peaceful. Somewhat unsettling at points at high volumes. This one has been a personal night favorite for a while. “Afterclap” is my recomendation.

The Gunshy - There’s No Love In This War: This is an amazing album that is based off of letters written by the singers grandfather to his grandmother during the war. “May 14th, 1943” is my favorite.

Pitchfork Music Festival

As you probably know, KWUR gave away tickets to the Pitchfork Music Festival. Well if you didn't win, and you're not going, we wanted to let you know that we have you covered. I personally will be doing a daily write up, and I know other DJs will be there and might just let you know how it goes.

Schedule:

FRIDAY, JULY 17

8:40 (A) Built to Spill
7:20 (C) The Jesus Lizard
6:10 (A) Yo La Tengo
5:00 (C) Tortoise

SATURDAY, JULY 18
8:40 (A) The National
8:30 (B) The Black Lips
7:30 (B) Matt and Kim
7:25 (C) Beirut
6:30 (B) Lindstrøm
6:15 (A) Doom
5:30 (B) Wavves
5:15 (C) Yeasayer
4:30 (B) Ponytail
4:15 (A) Final Fantasy
3:35 (B) Bowerbirds
3:20 (C) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
2:40 (B) The Antlers
2:30 (A) Fucked Up
1:45 (C) Plants and Animals
1:45 (B) The Dutchess & The Duke
1:00 (A) Cymbals Eat Guitars
1:00 (B) Disappears

SUNDAY, JULY 19
8:40 (A) The Flaming Lips
8:30 (B) The Very Best
7:30 (B) Mew
7:25 (C) Grizzly Bear
6:30 (B) Vivian Girls
6:15 (A) M83
5:30 (B) Japandroids
5:15 (C) The Walkmen
4:30 (B) DJ/Rupture
4:15 (A) The Thermals
3:35 (B) Women
3:20 (C) Pharoahe Monch
2:40 (B) The Killer Whales
2:30 (A) Blitzen Trapper
1:45 (C) Frightened Rabbit
1:45 (B) Dianogah
1:00 (A) The Mae Shi
1:00 (B) Michael Columbia

Anyone that we absolutely must go see?

notes from the road

reporting from minneapolis-- the deep blues festival is gonna start in about an hour..

en route I listened to the grand ole opry on wsm nashville 540 am, and got stuck in an "extreme storm" - as the radio announcers phrased in

since my arrival I've gotten in a car accident (not my fault), eaten some bad falafel, bought some comic books and saw the awesome george grosz hand-colored lithos at the weisman art museum.

stay tuned for exciting updates - first band of the night is finland's own Black River Bluesman and The Croaking Lizard, followed by australian kirk special one man band. needless to say, excited.

STACK SESSIONS: GENTLEMAN AUCTION HOUSE

In case you missed it, last Sunday St. Louis' very own Gentleman Auction House performed a set on the air in the KWUR stacks. The band braved a torrential downpour, cramped into our tiny studio, and busted out five songs, including a brand new track! Full disclosure: the session was controlled chaos at best, but I had a hell of a lot of fun, GAH were amazing to work with, and the recording is one of our best yet.

The interview is here.





BONUS ::: Check out this incredibly amazing picture from the in-studio (taken by Stephen Tomko). Sorry for all of the megaupload links (I know it blows) - we'll be switching over to WordPress soon and they'll be gone forever! But seriously, snatch that photo, it rules.

STACK SESSIONS: THESE UNITED STATES

First up, schedule changes. Exercise was not able to make it into the studio today due to work scheduling conflicts, so we're in the process of figuring out when they'll be able to drop by next - hopefully soon. Our apologies if you tuned in! HOWEVER, my favorite Cincinnati band, Bad Veins, have agreed to stop by and play an acoustic set right after Dead Confederate on Wednesday. Both bands will be playing the Firebird that night, so you should listen and then go, as it will undoubtedly be an excellent show. Check out an earlier interview with Bad Veins here - if that's any indication, the in-studio should be a lot of fun.


~~~

KWUR Audio Service extraordinaire Tara and I trooped over to the Luminary Center for the Arts to catch DC/Louisville quintet These United States on Saturday. We hung out with the guys pre-show and had a nice conversation, which included talk of their new album (titled "Everything Touches Everything"), their thoughts on these United States (the country, not themselves) and pool parties with 13-year-olds (as featured in a music video from said forthcoming album). Also, Jesse became very upset and yelled at me when I did not know what "crazy bread" was. Sorry dude.

Here's the interview.

Also, here are a few MP3s:

I Want You To Keep Everything (via A-To-Z, and brand new)
West Won (via the TUS website, and from 2008's "Crimes")

STACK SESSIONS: KID SCIENTIST

The (relatively) new local act Kid Scientist dropped by the station to lay down some tracks for Stack Sessions, as well as to help us work out the finer details of in-studio recording (with a lot of help from sound engineer and all around good guy Dan Ruder). They played roughly a billion songs, but we don't want to give away everything, so here are three instead:

Kid Scientist - Micro Boy (live at KWUR)
Kid Scientist - Sea Orphan (live at KWUR)
Kid Scientist - Twenty Two (new!)

These are probably the finest live recordings we've cut yet, so enjoy 'em! And many, many thanks to Kid Scientist and Dan for hanging around all day (on Andrea's birthday, no less!) to help us out.

Sirenfest

First, before I even start yammering, if you haven't read the post below this one, read it now. Kenny and Thomas and the rest of the madmen in St. Louis have an insane week of Stack Sessions and interviews lined up for you guys, including some NY rock combo called Sonic Youth. Checkitout!

I'm writing to tell you about some stuff I've got planned for the blog next weekend. Now, as some of you might know, I'm originally from NYC, and I'm in NYC for the summer. Obviously, that means I lead the typical NYC lifestyle, cosmos with my three sex crazed girl friends at night, hanging around with my partner in a digi-folk duo during the day. It also means a shitload of free shows. I always mean to write them up for the blog, but then Samantha Ronson calls me to get me to come out to Bungalow and hang with Woody Allen and Soon-Yi, or Grandmaster Flash and I have to go fight a giant Stay-Puft marshmallow man, you know, the hectic NYC life gets in the way.

UNTIL NOW! OR RATHER, NEXT WEEKEND! Next weekend, while every blogger in the world heads to Chicago to clog bandwidth while covering Pitchfork, Pitchfork's younger, slightly lamer cousin, Village Voice's Sirenfest, comes to Coney Island here in my home borough of Brooklyn. And I hereby pledge to blog Sirenfest, and not only to blog Sirenfest, but to provide a live blow-by-blow account on my twitter, which can be found here. So next Saturday, on the off chance that you might not be heading to Pitchfork, checkitout! Here's the schedule:

Main Stage:
1 PM - Tiny Masters of Today
2 PM - Micachu and The Shapes
3 PM - Japandroids
4 PM - Frightened Rabbit
5 PM - Grand Duchy
6 PM - The Raveonettes
7:30 PM - Built To Spill

Stillwell Stage:
1:30 PM - The Blue Van
2:30 PM - Bear Hands
3:30 PM - Thee Oh Sees
4:30 PM - Future Of The Left
5:30 PM - A Place To Bury Strangers
6:30 PM - Monotonix
8:00 PM - Spank Rock

So why, the bored, demanding reader asks, should I care? There are Degrassi reruns on, after all. First of all, you will have an entertaining play-by-play of a cranky guy who loves rock but hates festivals, and finds Siren to be especially miserable. Look, I find myself going to Siren every year since, Christ, sophomore year of high school, but it's a poorly designed festival: people crammed, death trap like, into two city blocks, where the asphalt makes the heat insanely unbearable, and it's either hot or raining. But on the other hand, it's a weird, miserable tradition, linked to my adolescence, and it's at Coney Island, a bizarre place full of corn dogs and log flumes and the beach and my childhood. Plus, rock music, which we all agree is awesome. So tune in, and I promise you a barrage of tweets concerning nonstop whining, weird comments about my teenage years, and uh, I guess music. What's not to like?

But then there's the second thing, which is what's really exciting. Aware that in this internet age, the fickle reader, their minds addled by video games and the YouTube, insipidly demands to have a say in the making of their own soporific entertainment-cud, I offer YOU (yes, YOU), THE READER, the chance to dictate my schedule. What bands do I see? It's up to YOU (yes, YOU). Leave comments to this post saying, "Dylan, you have to see or do blank", and if it is a reasonable request, I will try my utmost. So do me a favor and help me shape my schedule. I wasn't planning to get there before 2 at the earliest to see Micachu and The Shapes, but maybe it's absolutely necessary for me to go see Tiny Masters of Today or The Blue Van. Probably the firmest part of my schedule is that I have my heart set on seeing the one-two punch of Thee Oh Sees and Future Of The Left, but I'll try and catch a little Japandroids, and I am tempted by Frightened Rabbit: if you can give me an impassioned speech (think some Lincoln-Douglas type shit), I might be so moved. And then the headliners: do I go with the conventional choice of Raveonettes and Built To Spill, or do I dare to go see Monotonix rip the fucking stage up and then grind up on hipster booty during Spank Rock's set? I'm really up in the air on that one, so be sure to put in your two cents. It'll be like YOU'RE ACTUALLY THERE! Except you're not. I'm there.

STACK SESSIONS: THIS WEEK

SO - just confirmed two more Stack Sessions - Dead Confederate (the lower picture) on Wednesday and Sonic Youth (the upper picture) on Friday. Those, on top of everything else going on this week, should keep us fairly busy. Here's the rundown in full, lest we forget:

Saturday: These United States (interview)
Sunday (2:30PM): Gentleman Auction House (in-studio)
Monday (6:30PM): Exercise (in-studio)
Wednesday (6PM): Dead Confederate (in-studio)
Friday: Sonic Youth (interview)

You can listen in online at www.kwur.com and on the radio at 90.3 FM.

OKAY COOL

STACK SESSIONS: CJ CHENIER INTERVIEW/INSTUDIO

Zydeco legend CJ Chenier stopped by to play a few songs and chat with Zak before his show at Pop's a few weeks ago. He brought along his ballin' accordion and a washboard player, and jammed out a few tunes on air. Check the whole interview here, and download/listen to the songs below.

Louisiana Two-Step (live)
You Don't Need To Cry (live)
Got My Eyes On You (live)

oh ps we're in the process of switching over to a new blog client, hopefully something that will take megaupload out of the equation and let us host audio in-house. stay tuned for details as they unfold!

Happy 4th of July

Best government-sponsored film ever...

STACK SESSIONS: BENYARO

Ben and Bobby of the NYC outfit Benyaro hung out at the station last Wednesday, played some tunes and shot the shit about their new album, making music in New York City, and why I wasn't wearing pants during the interview (I think I was, but Bobby might disagree). The interview was excellent, and they also played a few rad new songs, which you can grab below!

Interview

Bullet Like Belief (off their self-titled first release)
Cutting Words (new!)
Dog (new!)

Pictures (hopefully) coming soon.

Oh, and a quick shout-out/thanks to the RFT music blog, A To Z, for mentioning us. We appreciate it!

STACK SESSIONS: TELEKINESIS + ANNOUNCEMENTS

First up, new sessions to announce:

July 12 - Gentleman Auction House
July 13 - Exercise
July 28 - Langhorne Slim

Very excited to have all of the above in the studio to perform, although fitting all of Gentleman Auction House in the lounge is gonna be interesting. There are more sessions being confirmed as I write this, so keep yr eyes on the blog.

-----



I sat down with Michael Lerner, the creative force and drummer behind Telekinesis, for a chat about the process of making the new record and St. Louis summers, among other things. I believe you can hear the Smashing Pumpkins in the background throughout - Billy Corgan, please don't sue us.

Interview

We All Mourn In, Um, Our Own Way

No comment.

Some 2009 Favorites Thus Far

Well, it seems as if 2009 is suddenly half-way over. Here's some of what I've enjoyed thus far:

Thee Oh Sees - Help [In The Red] / Zork's Tape Bruise [Kill Shaman] / Tidal Wave 7" [Woodist] / The Drag 7" [Castle-Face]: It's already been a productive year for John Dwyer and company. I can't get enough of their reverb-heavy psyched-out garage goodness and it seems as of recent, they've had no problem being productive. John Dwyer even claims he already has "the whole new LP worked out already." Expect it to have "a glazed summer feel." Possibly another LP by the end of the year!? We can hope for it.

Ty Segall - Ty Segall [Castle-Face]: Released on John Dwyer's label, Castle-Face, this is probably my favourite somewhat recent release (did it technically come out in 2008?). His one-man-band noisy blown-out garage-rock can't be beat. Look for his follow-up, "Lemons", coming out in July on the Memphis-based Goner records.

Magik Markers - Balf Quarry [Drag City]: "Boss" was my favorite album of 2007. This pretty much sounds like a sequel to that album -- more focused (for them) noise songs that recall the work of the fabulous 1980s pre-Mazzy Star band Opal. [guitarist/vocalist Elisa Ambrogio pictured above - thanks ThisRecording]

Amen Dunes - DIA [Locust]: Apparently this mysterious "loner psych grit" release was the result of a single man's retreat into the Catskill mountains armed only with a 12-track, some magnetic tape, and a variety of instruments.

Condo Fucks - Fuckbook [Matador]: I expected to listen to this haphazardly recorded Yo La Tengo garage session once or twice. It ended up being a drive time commute favourite.

Sonic Youth - The Eternal [Matador]: They're back again with no apparent signs of letting up. 'Nuff said.

Black Lips - 200 Million Thousand [Vice]: Fuck the hipster backlash, Atlanta knows how to rawk.

Wooden Shjips - Dos [Holy Mountain]: krautrock-esque repetitive jams for the masses

Douglas Rushkoff - The Media Squat [WFMU]: Media theorist Douglas Rushkoff's new radio talk show, The Media Squat, is something you should start tuning into frequently. Talk ranges from the benefits of using local currencies, to views on the current economic crisis (and why it is actually an opportunity), to why regulation of the toy industry hurts old-fashioned toy-makers. It airs on WFMU Monday nights 6pm EST. Stream and podcast here. While you're at it, check out his new book, "Life Inc."

Science is Fiction: 23 Films by Jean Painleve [Criterion]: Finally this comes to DVD in the states. These are really fabulous avant-garde aquatic documentaries from the 1920s-1960s. The 3 disc collection has everything you need, including alternate soundtracks by Yo La Tengo, just in case you missed seeing them perform it live for the Webster Film Series back in 2005.

"Observe and Report", Jody Hill: I had no desire to see Seth Rogen play a mall cop but a friend dragged me to this movie. I expected another lame attempt to cash in on the recent successes of Judd Apatow. Surprisingly, I left the theatre having seen the best film of 2009 (so far). Sure, it's basically "Taxi Driver" set in a shitty mall, but it's one of the best dark (and I mean dark) comedies I've seen in quite some time. Trust me, this movie is destined to be a certified Cult Classic. You'll understand when you finally catch it on video five years from now.

Re-Releases/Not New

The Vaselines - Enter The Vaselines [Sub Pop]: It's nice get everything the Vaselines ever did on vinyl (3 LP too!). I hope this is among the first of many nicely compiled Sub Pop Deluxe Editions.

Various Artists - Electronium: A Complete Guide to Audio Composition [unknown]: I have no idea where this release came from and apparently no one else does either. The LP came in a nice box with room for two more LPs which are to be released at a later date. It features a bunch of classic Raymond Scott analog synth bits as well as a couple of tracks from Dick Hyman and an LSD public service announcement. Let's hope those 2 additional LPs actually happen. I don't know how I'll even find them if they do.

Peter Walker - Long Lost Tapes 1970 [Tompkins Square]: Peter Walker studied with both Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar and was Timothy Leary's music director. He was an important figure of the American folk underground, but unfortunately, he only released two albums, including the wonderful "Rainy Day Raga." Walker finally dug up the tapes from this Woodstock, NY recording session for another full-length release -- 39 years delayed.

Mississippi Records: If you ever come across any release by Mississippi, snatch it up. Their small-run vinyl-only releases are always reasonably priced (~$10) and excellently packaged. I can guarantee you'll then find them spinning on your turntable constantly. This year, I've enjoyed another installment of pre-war blues, "I Woke Up One Morning in May", and the guitar-based gospel of Bishop Perry Tillis, compiled from hours of cassette tapes and released as "In Times Like These...." I also finally found a copy of their 2008 vinyl release of "Compilation" by The Clean. They don't have a website, but a librarian at the University of North Carolina Asheville as lovingly compiled an Illustrated Discography here.

Galactic Zoo Disk: Psychedelica archivist Steve Krakow (aka Plastic Crimewave) has teamed up with Drag City to reissue several long lost psych gems this year on limited edition vinyl. I had never heard of either J.T. IV ("Cosmic Lightning") or The George Edwards Group ("38:38"), but that what makes this stuff so interesting. Krakow will continue to deliver the goods later this year with Michael Yonker's never-issued "Lovely Good". Also expect the always informative "Galactic Zoo Dossier" #8 in July.

Not that I'm bragging or anything...

...but I am very proud of owning this:



Prince, "When Doves Cry" 7". On purple wax, for chrissakes!

STACK SESSIONS: SO MANY DYNAMOS INTERVIEW

(poster by John Vogel)

So Many Dynamos are playing a CD release show/party for their new album "The Loud Wars" at The Firebird tomorrow (more info here), and to getchaself ready, you can download and listen to an interview we did with them this past Wednesday. We spoke about the process of making the album, the St. Louis music scene, and what happens when Dave Matthews Band records are sent to the station.

Check it here!

STACK SESSIONS: CROCODILES

The Crocodiles show at The Firebird on Wednesday has had a lot of coverage in the last couple of days, mostly because it didn't happen. You can read more about it on the RFT's blog A To Z, which posted an initial report here and followed up with Crocodiles' response here. Listening to the interview post-show kind of reinforces my understanding that it was a shitty situation, and that neither party is to blame (The Firebird handled the situation phenomenally and it's certainly not going to stop me from seeing shows there).

The band says right off the bat that they love playing shows in St. Louis, and they came across as approachable and interesting guys, at least to me. Anyway, if nothing else, it adds another dimension to the scenario (the interview took place 2 hours before the show started).

Crocodiles interview

INTERVIEWS TODAY

THE WIYOS - ANY MINUTE NOW


SPLITLIP RAYFIELD - 2:00pm
only on KWUR 90.3 FM

Thoughts on MJ

What struck me most about MJ passing was how quickly I knew about it. I was in a supermarket and suddenly, a breaking news thing about someone going to the hospital, I didn't catch who it was. As I walked down the street, I heard people whispering about how Michael Jackson was dead. I walked into a bodega and they were playing "Rock With You" on the radio. I asked the clerk - and it's gotta be big to make small talk with a clerk you don't know in NYC - whether it was true that he was dead, and the clerk said not yet, but basically. And so that's how I found out, literally from the street.

I'm not as sad about it as I was when, say, James Brown died. I think it's because Michael Jackson was so huge that I didn't feel like I had a personal connection to him. He was larger than life. To the extent that I'm sad, I'm sad because Michael himself had such an awful life. His childhood was unimaginably miserable, he was mercilessly beaten almost constantly and possibly sexually abused by his father. I never really held MJ's later weirdness against him because his childhood was so disturbed and strange. Before the Jackson 5 hit it big, they performed on the chitlin' circuit, and that meant a lot of shows where they were the warm-up and sometimes even the backing music for strippers. That's got to warp a kid. And I think his story is one of epic tragedy: a man who had all the wealth and fame in the world and would have given it all away (hell, tried to give it all away) to get his childhood back.

The thing about Michael Jackson's career is that the sheer success of his career was really unprecedented and unimaginable. My dad mentioned the fact that some people were huge for ten or twenty years, but Michael made hits for just about thirty years. Thriller is just an inconceivably amazing album, where virtually every cut is a hit known around the world; you might not think you know every song on Thriller, but trust me, you probably do. Bad, which is not as good an album imho, had FIVE number one hits, the only album to ever do that. And the thing about Michael's solo career is that unlike a lot of pop stars, he wrote most of his best material. Considering his track record, that's an insane feat.

Being a soul guy, I tend to prefer the older Jackson 5 stuff. Usually, when I talk about the Jackson 5, I talk about the incredible songwriting and arrangements. The bass line for "I Want You Back" is one of my favorite things ever, it's how I learned to love bass. But Michael was no slouch either. I love the young Michael's voice, it has this great, clear, bell-like timbre that I just always associate with happiness. He also had an amazing talent, rare among most kids, to really sing like a soul singer, really put his voice into overdrive. I love the J5 cover of "Who's Lovin' You", if you want a showcase of the young Michael's voice, you can't do much better than that. Tonight, I've been listening to "Never Can Say Goodbye", just listening to how Michael slowly lets his voice build until the climax of the ending, a bubbly, joyful explosion of pure soul. Other great things to check out are the amazing covers of J5 songs, like Isaac Hayes' always great cover of Never Can Say Goodbye and David Ruffin's cover of I Want You Back.


You know, writing this post and thinking about it, I may not feel a deep personal connection to Michael Jackson, but he's been the background music for some great times. I have this one picture sleeve 45 single of Smooth Criminal that I just freakin' love. It's scratched up beyond repair and almost always skips, but I have to resist the temptation to put it on during parties, because people always just go nuts when they hear it and it always builds the party up (until it skips, that is). All that shit is still as fresh as it ever was, and that's an amazing thing.

I have one last great MJ experience. This last semester, as some of you might know, I was in the People's Republic of China. One day, I visited a high school English class in Lijiang, high up in the mountains of northern Yunnan. I opened the floor up to questions and the very first question was actually a request: would you sing an American pop song? This is actually a more common request than you think. Chinese people love to sing their pop songs together (think Karaoke), and everyone tend to know every word of all the hot pop song, just because their pop music is not as fragmented as ours is (there isn't a big indie movement). But it's difficult for Americans, or at least for me. So I asked, uh, what would you like to hear? And they shouted out, your favorite and then, Michael Jackson. Oh, Michael Jackson, I said, that's easy. And I promptly belted out the chorus to Billie Jean, complete with woohs. Which the students, of course, also knew the words to.

For me, that's MJs legacy. He brings people together: now, and probably forever.

Michael Jackson is Dead

STACK SESSIONS PREVIEW: SO MANY DYNAMOS

UPDATE: due to technical issues (dead keyboard), the in-studio has been post-poned BUT the band will still be in the studio at 4:30 for an interview. We'll be rescheduling the in-studio for some later date, don't worry man!


River Front Times darlins So Many Dynamos will be stopping by the station tomorrow at 4:30 PM to chat about their newly released album, The Loud Wars (full disclosure: it's totally fucking rad go buy it right now). They were originally slated to perform live for your aural pleasure BUT it looks like tragedy has struck in the form of a busted keyboard, so the performance is unconfirmed at the moment. It hasn't been ruled out entirely yet, but things aren't looking good - which is a real bummer for the guys, as they're about to kick off a tour and have a bunch of shows coming up in the next few days. You can follow updates on the situation (whether there'll be a live performance or not, basically) in REAL TIME on our Twitter (so lame). In any case, be sure to turn yr radio dial to 90.3 tomorrow!

WORD

TOMORROW - 6/24/09 - C.J. CHENIER

THE ZYDECO LEGEND WILL BE AT THE STATION - 12PM CENTRAL

CATCH HIM ON THE AIR AT 90.3 FM -- or live at POP'S
hear some stuff

STACK SESSIONS: LINEUP

Here's the line-up for Stack Sessions OH NINE, as promised:

June:
21 - Telekinesis!
24 - CJ Chenier // So Many Dynamos
25 - Benyaro
26 - The Features

July:
5 - The Paper Chase
11 - These United States
24 - Those Darlins

August:
3 - Casper & The Cookies

Okay so that seems a bit sparse, BUT, it's pretty fluid - new shows are announced all the time, and we're working on getting a lot of local acts in as well. Needless to say, this is just the beginning - stay tuned for more announcements in the coming days and weeks (it's like a big 3 month long music festival!). Also, keep your eye out for postings of interviews and instudios past.

STACK SESSIONS: JON HARDY

Awhile ago, Jon Hardy (of Jon Hardy + The Public) was in the station to discuss the band's new EP "Little Criminals" (available for free download from the RFT and KDHX) and how they made this totally fucking awesome music video, among other things. You can download the interview HERE, and as an added bonus, there are a few songs from the EP sprinkled throughout. Hoping to have these guys back in for a full-on in-studio, but right now it looks like that won't happen for another couple of months. Keep your ears and eyes peeled, though.


(photo courtesy of JH+TP myspace)

OKAY COOL

STACK SESSIONS: CUT OFF YOUR HANDS

(excellent poster design courtesy of Bob Hartzell)

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of speaking with Phil and Elroy from Cut Off Your Hands about the New Zealand music scene, departed band members, how their sound is progressing, and what it really means to stand around the water cooler at work. They played the Firebird with Viva Voce, and all bands involved put on a killer show. The interview was a lot of fun and you can check it HERE. ((sorry about the sound quality at the beginning, I was still getting a hang on how to use the Marantz)).

KWUR PRESENTS: STACK SESSIONS – SUMMER OH NINE

Okay kids, listen up. Summer’s here and you know what that means: cold beer, hot pavement, and even hotter live band action in KWUR’s very own CD/vinyl stacks. We’ll be covering concerts around town, interviewing bands, and hosting them in the KWUR lounge/recording studio for live, in-studio performances. You can always listen live (you really should), but in case you miss it we’ll be posting the interviews and some of the in-studios right here on the KWUR blog (for the time being, at least until we find someplace better). An ongoing Stack Sessions line-up will be available soon, but for now, bask in the glory of the inaugural edition: RED COLLAR + MEAT PUPPETS, live from May 28th, 2009.

Red Collar









Interview

~~~~~~

Meat Puppets






all photographs courtesy of Lane Goodman

Interview (the first few minutes are missing but it is a fascinating listen nonetheless - don't worry about context, trust me)

That's it for now, but there's much more to come so stay tuned......

R.I.P. Bob Bogle, 1934-2009

"Pioneering guitarist Bob Bogle, whose rock-instrumental band the Ventures scored a pair of hits in the 1960s with "Walk, Don't Run" and "Hawaii Five-O," has died, the group said on Tuesday. He was 75."



Obituary

Looking Back: Eulogies + Bad Veins Interviews

A couple of months ago, then-promotions director Amanda and I sat down and had a conversation with Eulogies and Bad Veins when they came through town. We recorded both interviews and, like many interviews with KWUR (coughNirvanacough), they sat on a dusty hard drive (mine) for months before someone (me) even thought about letting them see the light of day. My laziness aside, I finally got around to editing the audio and now present them to you, faithful readers, for your listening pleasure:

Eulogies Interview

We and guitarist/vocalist Peter Walker discuss their new record "Here Anonymous," the Twitter phenomenon, and Scrabble. Also he tells us we are great, and we return the compliment.

Bad Veins Interview

Ben, Sebastien, Amanda and I discuss just about everything. Highlights include: how they're going to name the new record, crazy shows, and their invention company.

(both interviews took place at an Imo's, hence the background noise).

((oh yeah, I'm sitting on a bunch of other interviews - Vivian Girls, Cut Off Your Hands, Meat Puppets - which I want to get out soon. I won't promise anything because if I do it'll probably never get done. But keep your eyes peeled))

Sonic Adult

Sonic Youth's 16th studio album, The Eternal, drops on Tuesday.

Not including the wonderful SYR series, it'll be their first full-length indie label release since 1988's now classic Daydream Nation (as recognized by the Library of Congress National Recording Registry).

If you were lucky enough (or really just had the disposable cash-money) to pre-order from Matador, you'll get a nifty bonus LP from their free/WFMU sponsored July 4th NYC concert from last summer. It's a good one.

And finally, I'll be the first to admit this is pretty great:


Even better: Letterman on 6/10:

Jon Hardy & The Public

So we'll be going live with JH&TP pretty soon (6PM CST), and in the process of getting ready for the interview, I stumbled upon this:

Little Criminals from Jon Hardy & The Public on Vimeo.

The song is a cover of Randy Newman's Little Criminals, and the video is one of the most visually arresting things I have seen in quite some time. Be sure we'll be talking about that, among other things. So..... tune in!