Bloc Party - A Weekend In The City

Bloc Party's sophomore effort, A Weekend In The City, sees the British band become more focused and more emotional. The album is centered around life in London, and you can tell that frontman Kele Okereke thinks change is needed. On "Hunting for Witches," Okereke wails "the newscaster says the enemy's among us...now is not the time for liberal thought." This is also by far the album's stand out track, with big guitars leading up to big chorus, making it the album's catchiest and most anthemic song. The opener, "Song for Clay (Disappear Here)" talks about the status quo, and is another one of the album's top tracks, while "Uniform" attacks the influence of MTV. Bloc Party also slows things down a little too frequently on the album. Some of the slow songs, such as "Waiting For The 7:18" are great, resonant ballads, but other times, such as on "I Still Remember," you just want Bloc Party to speed things up again so you can get up and dance to London's shortcomings. All in all, this is a very good, if not great, album which could make Bloc Party the voice of today's youth - the same way that they criticize on "Uniform."

Overall: 7/10

The KWUR blog is back and ready to rock your world...watch out.

James Brown Is Dead

Reporting from Augusta, Georgia (home of James Brown)...
The "Hardest Working Man in Show Business" is now dead at 73. So we unexpectedly loose another legend. He was apparently even giving out Christmas gifts and turkeys here in Augusta the night before he died.

No word yet on a memorial service. More news to come as developments continue in the Deep South.

Steve Reich concert @ Touhill / Robertson talk @ Loop

The American minimalist composer Steve Reich is 70 this month, and celebrations of his music are going on in the US and Europe. One of them is on Wednesday 10/25 at the UMSL Touhill Performing Arts Center (TouPAC). The London vocal group Synergy is featured, along with SLSO musicians. There is a 50% off coupon for "Zone 1" tickets at this link:

http://www.bigthankyou.org/pages.asp?ID=22

With the new Cross-County MetroLink extension, it's easy to get to the TouPAC by taking MetroLink to UMSL North. The concert starts at 7:30 PM and goes to about 8:45 PM. (No word on whether Reich himself will be present.)

Also, for those who can't get enough of hearing David Robertson, the Symphony's music director, talk, he's going to be at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar, across from The Pageant, on Thursday 10/19, from 5:30 PM-7:30 PM, talking on whatever comes to mind. An announcement is at the Symphony's news page, the 10/9/06 link to the pdf:

http://www.slso.org/update/index.htm

WAVE CHARTS WEEK OF 10/1

1 JUNIOR BOYS So This Is Goodbye
2 CHIN UP CHIN UP This Harness Can't Ride Anything
3 M. WARD Post-War
4 NEW LOU REEDS Top Billin'
5 SUFJAN STEVENS The Avalanche: Outtakes And Extras From The Illinois Album
6 BLACK KEYS Magic Potion
7 TV ON THE RADIO Return To Cookie Mountain
8 KOOKS Inside In/Inside Out
9 NOUVELLE VAGUE Bande A Part
10 VARIOUS ARTISTS SLAYING SINCE 1996 Suicide Squeeze
11 BECK The Information
12 JIM NOIR Tower Of Love
13 THE KNIFE Silent Shout
14 PERSEPHONE'S BEES Notes From The Underworld
15 CURSIVE Happy Hollow
16 NEW TRAGEDIES VanityVanity
17 DECEMBERISTS The Crane Wife
18 RAPTURE Pieces Of The People We Love
19 OF MONTREAL Satanic Twins
20 STRAYS Le Futur Noir
21 EMILY HAINES Knives Don't Have Your Back
22 YO LA TENGO I'm Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
23 HOT CHIP The Warning
24 BRAZILIAN GIRLS Talk To La Bomb
25 BUFFALO KILLERS Buffalo Killers
26 SCISSOR SISTERS Ta-Dah
27 BEARS Bears
28 VERT Some Beans And An Octopus
29 LEMONHEADS The Lemonheads
30 KASABIAN Empire

Fall Programming In Full Effect

KWUR's fall 2006 schedule is now in full effect.

We're proud to announce syndicated broadcasts of Free Speech Radio News (Mon.-Thurs. 6pm, Fri. 5pm) and Off The Hook (Time TBD). Also, we've completly upgraded our computer systems so look forward to a better auto-rotation during strange hours as well as more stable live internet streaming .

New schedule posters to hit the streets before the end of the week.

Check out the full lineup and as always, stay tuned to KWUR for the very finest in underground radio...

Wave charts week of 9/24!

1 TV ON THE RADIO Return To Cookie Mountain
2 BLACK KEYS Magic Potion
3 SUFJAN STEVENS The Avalanche: Outtakes And Extras From The Illinois Album
4 JIM NOIR Tower Of Love
5 M. WARD Post-War
6 JUNIOR BOYS So This Is Goodbye
7 RAPTURE Pieces Of The People We Love
8 NOUVELLE VAGUE Bande A Part
9 CUT CHEMIST The Audience's Listening
10 CURSIVE Happy Hollow
11 VARIOUS ARTISTS SLAYING SINCE 1996 Suicide Squeeze
12 HOT CHIP The Warning
13 EMILY HAINES Knives Don't Have Your Back
14 BRAZILIAN GIRLS Talk To La Bomb
15 RATATAT Classics
16 NORTH ATLANTIC Wires In The Walls
17 BEARS Bears
18 YO LA TENGO I'm Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
19 BEN KWELLER Ben Kweller
20 LULLABY BAXTER TRIO Garden Cities Of To-morrow
21 OF MONTREAL Satanic Twins
22 THERMALS The Body, The Blood, The Machine
23 THE KNIFE Silent Shout
24 TWO TON BOA Parasiticide
25 KASABIAN Empire
26 DIRTY PRETTY THINGS Waterloo To Anywhere
27 HEADLIGHTS Kill Them With Kindness
28 PETE YORN Nightcrawler
29 GOLDENBOY Underneath The Radio
30 JAY BENNETT The Magnificent Defeat

Assembly Series, 9-20, David Robertson / free Symphony tickets

First ever KWUR Classical post (so please be kind). As part of the WU Assembly Series, David Robertson, the new conductor of the St. Louis Symphony, will be speaking on Wednesday, Sept. 20 at Graham Chapel at 4 PM.

http://assemblyseries.wustl.edu/robertson.htm

He is an excellent and very enthusiastic speaker, and a really approachable guy. So if you have time that afternoon, I highly recommend checking him out.

In addition, Wash U has some tickets to give away for the "Sound Check Preview" concert of the SLSO's opening weekend, on Thursday, Sept. 21:

"WU students: Free Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra tickets are available for a September 21, 2006 performance. Call 935-5994 for additional information."

If you can't get these free tickets, all tickets for that Thursday 9/21 concert are $10, every seat in the house. If you've never been to the Symphony, this is a great intro to them. This is the music on the program:

David Robertson, conductor
Leif Ove Andsnes, piano

SMETANA The Bartered Bride Overture
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 17 in G, K. 453
BARTÓK The Wooden Prince (only the second performance ever in St. Louis)