As a onetime smoker, and an avid drunk smoker, I’m appalled by the new cigarette tax. The new tax, set to take effect on Wednesday, will increase the tax on a pack of cigarettes from 39 cents to $1.01! One can assume that the government is attempting to make cigarettes so unaffordable that people will be forced to quit. If this happens to booze I’m moving to Canada. According to my brief and most likely inadequate research, about 250,000 people die from heart attacks every year. Why don’t we tax the crap out of McDonalds? Because McDonalds is delicious that’s why. The point is, I am outraged, you are outraged, and UCLA is outraged. This country was built on tobacco and I’ll be damned if they’re going to take that away. If Octo-Mom is allowed to have 14 kids on welfare, then why can’t I smoke a pack a day for thirty years and eventually go on Medicaid? Where’s the liberty? Where’s the justice? Where my friends is America?

The High Life with Fast Eddie
Friday 2-4

Regular programming will return March 30th…

Meanwhile, click “Listen Live” and dig the eclectic mix put together by our Music Department!

As most of you out there probably know, Prince is one strange dude.  In recent news, he’s been caught in the Proposition 8 mess; announced 3 albums he plans to release this year; and then there was the whole crashing a Q-Tip concert and vanishing thing.

Anyways, in another attempt to affirm his status as the greatest rock star ever, Prince is performing three concerts in one night in LA. Yes, 3 full length concerts in one night.  And then he’s inviting all attendees to his house for pancakes, bitches.  Okay, okay, I know, that was just too easy.

For those interested in ticket information, check out his Ticketmaster page. (more…)

So, maybe a little bit too much Paper Route Gangstaz, but can you really blame me? I’m hooked. The most captivating character of the bunch has to be Jackie Chain aka Mr. V.I.P. Born John Fitzgerald, Chain may be the only half-white, half-korean to sell 15,000 copies of his mixtape. Hailing from Hunstville, Alabama and the Co-CEO of Pleazure House Productions, Jackie Chain is comin’ up so watch out.

myspace him - http://www.myspace.com/jackiechain

Jackie Chain Freestyle

- Andrew aka DJ Bongo

The new mixtape from the infamous Huntsville, Alabama crew behind Paper Route Recordz has finally dropped. Paper Route Recordz is the definition of “grass roots” touring throughout the south surrounded by their crew of misfits. I don’t know how, but there’ something about their delivery that makes the subject matter of pills, money, kush, and women sound unbelievably fresh. Perhaps it’s all of the mid-90’s club/dance samples. So stale, yet so incredibly fresh at the same time.

Cop the album - http://maddecent.com/paperroute/

Rollin’ rollin’ rollin’ I ain’t slept in weeks.

–Andrew aka DJ Bongo

Don’t you just love it when you find a remix that involves two artists you thought would never cross paths? Magical.

http://pmatunes.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/mars_volta_-_the_widow_el-p_remix.mp3

Here’s El-P, co-creator, owner and CEO of alternative hip-hop label, Definitive Jux, home to such aritsts as Aesop Rock and Mr. Lif, giving the remix treatment to The Mars Volta’s epic, “The Widow”.

courtesy of http://prettymuchamazing.com/

http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=audio&file=Ratatat___Mirando__Animal_Collective_remix_.mp3

Here we have quite a rare specimen, I’ve never heard Animal Collective remixing anyone before and I think Ratatat’s “Mirando” form their new album ,LP3, is a good start.

courtesy of http://broogo.blogspot.com/

Ahhh! more refreshing than Sierra Mist.

–Andrew aka DJ Bongo

Recently, I came across an interview with world iconic singer Morrissey wherein he was asked by an interviewer what new bands have gotten his attention or which ones would he consider to have something special.  Morrissey held a short pause for a second, looked up for a second, then slightly tilted his head for a second, then touched his chin for a second and finally melodramatically uttered … “Doll and The Kicks.”  So, I figured I’d check this band out, if Morrissey likes them … well.  After doing a quick search, I learned that Morrissey was so taken by this band’s unique sound, that he offered them a spot to open-up for his European 2009 tour which starts in May.   I also learned that they are a four piece band and hail from the UK, Brighton & Liverpool.  I finally came across their music videos on youtube.  The first tune that I listened to was called “Role Up The Red Carpet.”  Apparantly this track was their single that came out in Janurary of 09. The band only has a few other single releases, and are working towards a full lengh album release.

While I heard “Role Up The Red Carpet,” I immediately thought Debbie Harry from the 70’s band Blondie, meets Terri Nunn from the 80’s band Berlin, meets Gwen Stefani from the 90’s band No Doubt.  However, I soon reconsidered and thought wow they do have a unique sound.  The vocalist is unlike those other well known singers mentioned above.  I listened to the song a couple of more times and after every pass of the tune, I thought to myself that I’m picking up on little nuances of the range and pitch and tonality of the vocalist and recognizing the interesting dynamic changes in tempo and the song’s acute opening ska riff, and the track’s deep rolling chug’in bassline, and finally the tight high-hat disco infused percussion.  I became astonished at the over all quality and it’s catchy hook.  The name of vocalist is Hannah Scanlon, a.k.a Doll.  Doll describes the sound of the band as “Indie Disco Punk … sortive.”  According to Doll, the inception of the band’s name was greatly influenced by the Foo Fighter’s tune entitled ‘Doll’ and the group draws on inspiration from various music genres old and new, and they freely admit that they enjoy playing and listening to feel good poppy music from the 80s.

I just figured that I’d high-light their work as having the potential to be Big not just in the UK, but in the US as well, so I urge you to check them out.  Later when Doll and The Kicks have blown-up, you could snidely brag to your friends in proclaiming,  “Dude … I knew about them years ago!”

Here is the link to their myspace. Doll and The Kicks

–DJ Meta

The small island known as Iceland has been generous with sharing its musical gems for quite some time.  We have longsince dubbed Bjork our “Icelandic, fairy princess of whimsicle and experimental music”;  and we have bestowed upon Sigur Ros the title “Icelandic prince of post-rock, mingled with minimalist elements”.  Now the little country has birthed another precious trinket that calls itself Amiina.  Comprised of four lovely ladies, the group began as a string quartet, but soon branched out to include a vast number of insturments – synth, piano, electric and baroque guitar, celtic harp, harmonium, melodica, celesta, glockenspiel, gideon harp, call bells, glass harp, kalimba and the mandoli among others.  Interestingly enough, no one member of the quartet has a specific assignment to an insturment and they are known to move from one instrument to another mid-song whilst performing.  Thus their first album Kurr, released in 2007, produced beautiful contemporary-classical/ambient tracks backed by electronic loops.  I recommend the songs “Rugla”, “Glámur”, and “Sexfaldur“, but the entire album is brilliant so go get it!

Also check out Múm. Love live Iceland!

-Aurora Fisher

Artist: Geoff Berner
Album: Klezmer Mongrels (2009)
Genre: folk, klezmer
Sounds like: Moishe’s Bagel, Jason Webley

(strongly recommended***)

1. Shut In ***
2. Luck In Exile
3. The Whiskey ***
4. Half German Girlfriend ***
5. King Of The Gangsters
6. No Tabacco
7. Play, Gypsy, Play ***
8. Authentic Klezmer Wedding Band
9. One Shoe ***
10. High Ground
11. Fukher ***

There is something so enticingly warped about this canadian songwriter.  With his crude sexual references, politically incorrect humor, and bitter social commentary, Geoff Berner is anything but subtle.  Klezmer Mongrels is (sadly) Berner’s last in his trilogy of klezmer themed albums, for which he traveled all the way to Romania to study.

This album is entertaining on so many levels. Not only are Berner’s cynicism and bad puns hilarious (”Fukher” will make you laugh out loud regardless of whether or not you know Yiddish), but the sounds that man can conjure forth from an accordion are downright ungodly, (you know, in the orgasmic kind of way).  He sings like he’s singing to you personally, commenting on his own lyrics within his lyrics with refreshing frankness.  His accordion is accompanied by the violin of Diona Davies, formally of Po’ Girl, and Wayne Adams on drums, the paradigm menage-a-trois.

Grade: A

—Alice

Name: Whiskey Pete

Position/time with the station: Head of Marketing

Favorite album discovered in the last week: Arlo Guthrie- “Hobo’s Lullaby”

Song that always gets stuck in my head: “Another Day In Paradise” by Phil Collins

Best concert experience: I once heard the Rolling Stones from outside the Staples Center, they were so loud. I could barely sleep.

Song lyrics that sum up the past week of your life: “On the road again!”

The High Life with Fast Eddie
Fridays 2-4

Join us this Sunday 4pm-6pm for some seriously wicked metal!

As overheard in the UCLARadio.com station at 11:40 Saturday the 14th of March (transcribed by DJ TechnicalDifficulties):

DJ2: The movie was not horrible, but the book is great!
JokerPace: It’s too long, I don’t mind long movies if it’s engaging.
DJ2: The comic book is freaking amazing.
JokerPace: That doctor Manhattan was friggin’ boring.
DJ2: The opening was tight. But they didn’t tell you what was going on. The don’t explain why or what happens, they just show you these people. To me Rorschach carried the whole book. But in the movie he was just some cat with issues.

So there you have it: Read.

This PSA brought to you by UrbanRootsRadio every Saturday 10 to noon pst.

Are you in a band and have no idea how to get college radio play?

Do you live in LA, want to get played on UCLA Radio, but don’t want your CD to get mixed in with the rest of the submissions?

Then just catch me (DJ Octoon) when I’m out, hand me your demo and I GUARANTEE I’ll play it on my Sunday night show.

How? Use Twitter…
http://twitter.com/djoctoon

When DJ Octoon (me) isn’t promoting his friends’ websites, he’s going out to shows, venues, bars, etc. When he does, he’ll tweet about it. Find him, hand him your CD, and he’ll play your stuff Sunday night!

That’s it. Try it.

Seriously.

-DJ Octoon
“I’m in a Band..” – The BEST in Unsigned Music
Sundays 8-10pm
Only on UCLAradio.com

During our last installment of Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow we went over some of the quieter, prettier members of post-rock’s extended family, so I thought it was only fitting to jump into the ugly heavy side that is Post-Metal for this installment. If minimalist classical is the delicate beauty in the family, you can kind of think of post-metal as the overgrown brute cousin who looks dumb as an ox and twice as ugly, but the more you get acquainted to the two, you can’t help but notice how much they’re actually related.

Post-Metal is not your traditional metal. The musical masturbation known as guitar solos is nowhere to be found. The instrumentation only knows two paces to follow: slow and slower. The sound is thick like molasses. Slow and brooding like Chinese water torture. It follows the school of thought that fast does not imply heavy.

Leave your dragons and Lord of the Rings fodder at the door please. You are now about to enter the realm of the “thinking man’s metal.” Yes, here we write songs about astronauts and Euclidean geometry while coming up with titles of the long-winded variety like “The Sixth Extinction Crept Up Slowly Like The Sunlight Through The Shutters, As We Looked Back In Regret” and the cryptic one-worders like “Deneb.” We marvel at our depth while fingering our beards.

There are two sides to post-metal: post-rock influenced metal and metal influenced post-rock. Generally, you can tell one from the other by the presence or lack thereof vocals. Vocals that pummel you in their burly growls. This is a bearded man genre folks. Be prepared to be punched in the gut by an overweight flannel-wearing beardo.

To check out some awesome fucking music, take a listen to the links below.

(more…)

Get a taste of IAMX’s new album, Kingdom of Welcome Addiction by downloading their latest single, “Think of England” off of http://www.iamx.eu/think.html. Lead singer, Chris Corner, former member of Sneaker Pimps, announced that the album is to be released on May 19, 2009. The Berlin-based project features Grammy-nominated Imogen Heap on the track “My Secret Friend,” and is available to be pre-purchased off their myspace page. 

Fans should expect nothing less from their intoxicating, politically charged, sexually wrought music, as Kingdom of Welcome Addiction gets an organic and more intimate makeover from previous styles. More than ever, Corner feels that he is “completely free to experiment in every aspect-with humour, with sincerity, with sex, with anger, with fragility.” According to the lead singer, “IAMX does have two sides: the rabid animal and the bleeding heart,” and fans should expect to see a warmer, more concerned side with the newest album.

Catch them at their best on Friday, June 12th at the El Rey Theater. Tickets are already on sale.  

-Christine Haroutounian