If you don’t have a Twitter, you are missing out if only for the great words and wisdom showering upon us mere mortals from one Phoenix Sun named Shaquille O’Neal, a man once referred to (by himself) as “The Big Aristotle”. Here are just a few gems from the past week. The severe spelling and grammar violations of the following tweets do not necessarily reflect the views of UCLAradio.com:

#5 “David stern said i dnt mind sounding trite, what does that word mean, any scholars out there“ 11:34 AM Feb 14th from txt

#4 “Just leavn lebrons party, i have no voice, can u hear this , ………………. C i told u , no voice, lol” 1:37 AM Feb 15th from txt

#3 “TODAY WAS MY FIRST DAY IN COURT, I WAS NERVUS, TRAFFIC COURT [for tweeding], SLOW DOWN TWEEPLE” 4:05 AM Feb 7th from web

#2 “Ok i admit it i at performance enhancing frosted flakes 2 yrs ago, lol” 3:18 AM Feb 10th from txt

…and last but most definitely not least…

#1 “Allen iverson cut off his braids, dam hes cute, lol,“ 2:07 PM Feb 14th from txt

–J

Leave your superstitions at the door and get yourself to the Shrine Expo Hall on Friday, March 13th to experience the jaw-dropping, body-wrenching, euphoria-enducing music of Boys Noize, Erol Alkan, Diplo, and others at HARD 13!

With the HARD Summer Music Festival of July ‘08 leaving me thoroughly astonished and the Haunted Mansion lineup of 2008 leaving me completely spellbound, it is only safe to say that the producers of these celebrated events won’t fail to impress yet again with their upcoming spectacle. So you’ve never had much experience with the rave scene? Don’t fear, this night of electronica love-making is far from the typical definition of a rave ; with smaller crowds and less mainstream artists creating a comfortable environment that’s still packed with the same energy as a 65,000-person venue. Tickets are running at about $40 dollars and are getting pricier as time flies.

http://www.hardfest.com/

–Christine Haroutounian

Passenger–Wicked Man’s Rest

The pop album that doesn’t sound quite sound like a pop album

1. Wicked Man’s Rest

2. Night Vision Binoculars

3. Things You’ve Never Done

4. Girl I Once Knew

5. Do What You Like

6. Needle In the Dark

7. Four Horses

8. You’re On My Mind

9. For You

10. Walk In the Rain

11. Table for One

Passenger’s freshman release, Wicked Man’s Rest, blew me away.

I stumbled across the band on thesixtyone.com and immediately I hit my itunes and bought the album. Very very rarely do I enjoy every track an artist puts out but every song appealed to me on some level.

“Wicked Man’s Rest”, the title track, is the first introduction to Passenger’s sound. If I had to categorize them, I guess I would say pop/alternative but those words feel so limiting. They encompass both genres but are defined by neither. At first listen, the songs seem to be relatively straightforward. But the more I listened to the album, the more complex and layered their sound becomes. “Do What You Like” has a frantic, aggressively up-tempo acoustic guitar. “Night Vision Binoculars” is incredibly sunny and almost simplistically upbeat. You think, “Oh, I’ve heard songs like this before”. But then you hear the hilariously creepy lyrics about a man essentially stalking his coworker. Almost all their songs have some sort of unexpected twist: either between the lyrics and the sound or in the sound itself. It is mildly inconsistent but overall a pretty amazing and attractive first attempt for Passenger.

Give them a shot if you are in the mood for some interesting, thoughtful pop/alt music.

http://www.passengerofficial.com

–Just “K“

Which cartoon?

Oh yeah, that one.

Here’s what the people are saying:

CNN’s Video – Actually a pretty good representation of the whole thing. Way to go, CNN.

Ten Masterpieces from Sean Delonas – The cartoonist’s usual offensive representations are homophobic. Apparently he’s expanding his repertoire.

The Huffington Post looks at the reaction of New York Post employees in New York Post Employees Unhappy, Ashamed of Cartoon

And of course, from our friends at The Brothel:

Screw the Washington Post and Sean Delonas from The Literary Brothel – Where Great Minds are Coming…

Screw the Washington Post, indeed. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

-DJ Octoon

According to the band’s Twitter page, Sonic Youth has confirmed their new album: The Eternal.  According to Matador Records, the new album features Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, and Lee Ranaldo sharing vocal duties on many tracks, and former Pavement/Dustdevils bassist Mark Ibold, a member of Sonic Youth’s touring band for the past few years.

And for those wondering about the awesome album art, it’s a painting by the late great John Fahey.

Track List

1. Sacred Trickster
2. Anti-Orgasm
3. Leaky Lifeboat (for Gregory Corso)
4. Antenna
5. What We Know
6. Calming The Snake
7. Poison Arrow
8. Malibu Gas Station
9. Thunderclap For Bobby Pyn
10. No Way
11. Walkin Blue
12. Massage The History

–Teeg

Clark’s third album, Body Riddle, is a wealth of richly-detailed percussive sounds and complex rhythms. Vibrant swells of bass and subtle chimes infuse a lighthearted flow into this electronic masterpiece, as can be heard especially throughout the fifth track, “Ted.” If the sonic mastery trickling from this song won’t get your body moving, its video will surely arrest your eyes with its stunning organic textures and gorgeous metallic coloring.

–Christine Haroutounian

Running on four hours of sleep, I allowed myself to be dragged to watch Cat Power & The Dirty Delta Blues Band perform at the Avalon.  She was wonderful, of course, with her trademark breathy vocals, and characteristic, fidgety stage presence as she performed her renditions of classics from her albums, “Jukebox” (January 2008) and “Dark End of The Street”  (December 2008), where you can find tracks such as “It ain’t Fair” (originally released by Aretha Franklin) and “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” (originally released by Otis Redding) among others.

But what really caught my attention was the opening band, that called themselves “Fool’s Gold”, not to be confused with the late 70s rock group “Fools Gold”.  Notice the lack of apostrophe in the latter?  Anyway, this 10+ piece band was an epic jazzy-funk island fusion of magic, opening their set with a song they led into adding each instrument as they went along.  I asked everyone around me from the crew of 16-year-old hipsters to the cluster of lesbians, who this band was and no one knew.  Even looking them up online has yielded absolutely nothing but a MySpace page dominated by palm trees.

Check them out! I personally love the song “Nadine”.  And if you like what you hear, why not go for the full visual experience and see Fool’s Gold live at the Natural History Museum on March 6th!  Free if you’re a member, pretty damn cheap if your not.

–Aurora

Check out Orange County rockers and MTV darlings Putnam Hall! Live in studio, this Sunday at 9pm on “I’m in a Band..” – The BEST in Unsigned Music only on UCLAradio.com.

But before you do, be sure to hit up Putnam Hall’s MySpace Page for all the goodies.

Is it Sunday at 9pm? If it is, then click those “Listen Live” headphones up there. Hurry!

Check out singer/songwriter Jane Lui as she performs, chats, and hangs out – live in studio this Sunday at 8pm on UCLAradio.com!

Be sure to visit her homepage and her uber-cool YouTube site! 

DJ Octoon will take on-air questions or comments for Jane via AIM (BruinRadio) during the show.

See ya Sunday!

Name: Erik Perez aka Schoolly P
Show Name & Time: Better Git Hit In YR Skull, Mondays 12-2 pm PST
Position/Time at Station (i.e. since when): Marketing Director, since Winter ‘09
Favorite album discovered in the last week: Swell Maps – A Trip to Marineville
Song that always gets stuck in your head: “Dancing In The Street” by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
Best concert experience: My Bloody Valentine @ SM/Fuck Yeah Fest ’08/PJ Harvey @ Orpheum ‘07
Song lyrics that sum up the past week of your life:
“Early in the morning to late at night/
I got a poison headache, but I feel all right.”
Bob Dylan

Name: Kevin
Show Name & Time: Crashing the Sound Boards, Wednesdays 6-8 pm, PST
Position/Time at Station (i.e. since when): Intern, since Winter ‘09
Favorite album discovered in the last week: Junior Boys – Begone Dull Care
Song that always gets stuck in your head: “Girlfriend Is Better” by Talking Heads
Best concert experience: Outside Lands this past summer
Song lyrics that sum up the past week of your life: Lyrics to “Last Time” by Paul Baribeau

Join the dynamic duo of Karthik and Josh as they bring you the fantastic finish of the UCLA basketball game against Cal. All the second half action you want from the best broadcast team in sports, uclaradio.com!

Get all the second half action from January 31st right here, along with broadcast all-stars Nate Piller and Eric McCoole.

At long last, the battle of two storied Pac-10 programs has been delivered in uclaradio.com broadcast form! Catch up on any exciting play you missed along with Nate Piller and Eric McCoole, all the way to the final buzzer of a thrilling victory.

OK, this song went (and still goes) hard as hell. I still can only understand about every fourth word, but it’s funky! Sadly, every Nikka Costa album since this one has gotten progressively worse but maybe she can make a comeback.

Remember that Tommy Hilfiger commercial it was in? Yo, that shit was on so much I saw it in my dreams.

Question, though: what’s the point of wearing loose-fitting ’60s era hoochie chic if you’re gonna put invisi-tape on your tetas? Damn you, Jennifer Lopez.

–J

I cannot fathom a better anthem for all you people who find it damn-near impossible to fall asleep before 3am.  The downtempo stylings of Puerto Rican singer/songwriter Gabriel Rios are under represented in the good ol’ US.  But Belgium loves him! And we all know great things come out of Belgium like beer and chocolate.  So there you have it, Gabriel Rios is as good as beer and chocolate.

Sweet Dreams.

–Aurora