My brothers and sisters, life is too short for stress.  So relax yo brain with some of this great great great music. Introducing K’naan hailing from the war ridden African country of Somalia. This is one of the best “how they got there” stories around.

K’naan growing up was in one of the worst areas during the Somali civil war which started in 1991, the neighborhood was referred to as the River of Blood civilians were dying left and right. K’naan’s father had left to drive taxi cabs in NY city and was wiring the money back to the family in Somalia. As the civil war worsened K’naan’s mother applied for a visa for their family, their visa was approved on the last day the US Embassy was in existance and K’naan and his family left the country on the last commercial flight leaving the country.

He arrived in Compton and then with his family reunited moved to a Somali sector of Canada in Toronto.  Speaking absolutely no English, K’naan learned how to rap by listening to artists like Mos Def and Nas copying their lyrical style and phonetic beats.  A few years later he dropped out of his high school in Toronto to travel and rap at open mic events. After returning to Toronto, he managed to secure a gig speaking in front of the United Nations Commissioner for refugees in which he rapped about the UN failing to recognize the war in Somalia.  His performance was seen by Senegalese Singer Youssou D’Nour who invited him to partake in his new album and travel on his world tour.  K’naan obliged and on tour a small Canadian producer was blown away by the K’naan’s rhymes and agreed to help the young artist produce his first album Dusty Foot Philosopher in 2005. The album somehow caught fire and K’naan, a Somali refugee who came to North America without knowing any English, worked his way to the top and released his second world recognized album earlier this year. CRAZY…. its amazing how talent finds its way to be recognized.

This is the first album from K’naan, Dusty Foot Philosopher. Some of the tracks are just simply jaw dropping. Enjoy your lives…

CLICK FOR THIS INCREDIBLE ALBUM

Nation of Ulysses ripping it live in ‘91!

Love,

Felix

Thanks to all of those who supported us in our second annual pledge drive! If you missed it and still want to help the survival of independent college radio, click the paypal link on the right hand side of the page! Go team!!

MUTEK 10

This week marks the beginning of MUTEK 10.

Over the years, the MUTEK festival has presented a considerable number of renowned artists while simultaneously providing an important showcase for up-and-coming talent.

Originally created to fight the commercialization of the electronic music, Mutek has been a place for upcoming and established electronic music artists to present their newest material and showcase the latest advancements in electronic music.

With Ricardo Villalobos and Zip due to play a “marathon DJ set” together at Mutek 2009, and with over 50 of the world’s most credible electronic music artists performing over five days, the 10th anniversary of the Montreal-based electronic music festival is set to be the perfect kick start to the summer’s festival season in North America.

UCLAradio.com is going be present and give live updates of the festival so stay tuned for information and updates form this exciting festival.

This Memorial Day weekend marks the return of the nation’s largest student-run event, the Jazz-Reggae Festval. Come by and enjoy the great music, food, and overall joyous atmosphere that makes this event such a special part of our campus experience. Headliners include Erykah Badu, De La Soul,  Mavado, plus many more. Advance tickets are $25 a day for either Jam Day or Reggae Day and $35 at the door. Two-day passes are also available. Visit the festival site for more information.

http://www.jazzreggaefest.com/

We all know YouTube is fucking awesome. You can probably waste about 3 hours watching the entire Trapped in the Closet series on there and not think twice about “well, i should be doing something more productive right about… oh what the hell, one more video won’t hurt.”

Besides for being an amazing timesink, there has been a bit of a trend lately on YouTube of users mixing other users’ videos together. Some of them to a great success. Here’s a couple mixes on YouTube you should probably check out.

First, before we get into any of the “user’s mixing other users’” videos, here are two pretty standard YouTube mixes as an appetizer, brought to you by the glory that is yooouuutuuube:

Alice in Wonderland

The Pale Blue Dot

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, you should really check out the work some dude named Kutiman, cause this shit is off the heezy: ThruYOU

And finally, my favorite of them all is definitely inbflat. They give you 16 videos that fit really well together and it’s up to you how you want them to be mixed. I played all the videos at the same time, which resulted in a clusterfuck of awesomesness. I even recorded a four and half minute song out of it! Check it out if your bored: inbflatmix

Feel free to share your own mixes or of mixes you’ve found on YouTube!

–Armand

Over the weekend, I had local band ‘Imagenetics’ come into the studio

to record a live set and interview for the Power and the Glory. An epic

recording session ensued which lasted from midnight to about 4 AM.

While it did take me a while to set up the band and figure out some

unique wiring solutions, the station proved fairly conducive to recording

a full rock band. This is definitely something we could do more often.

Anyways the band played six of their songs:

“Ahu, “Mistakes,” “Jam,” “Clinic Rush Hour,” “Fox to Hen,” and “Seven Sons”

I filmed one take of the band’s song “Mistakes” with the mastered live audio

and stuck it on this post so hopefully you’ll enjoy and tune into the Power

and the Glory to hear the rest of the recording this Friday (the 22nd) at 10 AM.

–Chris

Luciano is finally touring?!?! Sure is, so catch him live this weekend with Jamie Jones and Lee Foss at Club Avalon in Hollywood!

Top-notch techno and house for your Memorial Day weekend!

“…Luciano’s mixed Swiss & Chilean identity shows in his music, a somewhat mystical blend of deep techno & electro that integrates southern elements in rhythms and colorful patterns in sound. His collaborations with Ricardo Villalobos (Playhouse, Perlon, Warp, Force Inc etc.) as Sense Club are especially rewarding, as is his partnership with Pier Bucci and Argenix Brito as Monne Automne…”

Continue reading and find tickets on Avaland’s Website…

Check out WU-TANG’s West Coast Killa Beez, Cappadonna, The Indovizualz and The Almighty Black Knights this May 31st @ 24K Lounge.  Earlier in the day you can catch him in-store at Fatbeats LA in Hollywood for autographs and pictures!  Click the flyer thumbnails below for more details:

Tune into UCLAradio.com for your chance to win a pair of free tickets to this event!

Indovizualz on MySpace

The Almighty Black Knights on MySpace

Click on the images above for details or check out Club Avalon’s Website.

UCLAradio.com is thrilled to help promote Sanders upcoming new album.The event on Saturday night is 21+ and is being thrown by Avaland Saturdays. Pre-sale tickets are only $15 and can be purchased at WantTickets.

Instructions to get yourself on the Discount Guest List and some sound demos after the jump…

Sander Kleinenberg Location: Netherlands Website: http://www.Sanderkleinenberg.com

sound samples:

Sander Kleinenberg – Live @ MOS download

Sander Kleinenberg – Muscle Car remix download

Track List:
1. Hall of the Dead
2. Ghost Key
3. Hand of the Host
4. Wavering Radiant
5. Stone to Wake a Serpent
6. 20 Minutes/40 Years
7. Threshold of Transformation

Description: Try as you might, it’s impossible to categorize Isis into a single genre. Thinking Man’s Metal, Minimalist, Post-Rock, Post-Metal, Doom Metal, Sludge Metal, Prog, Prog Metal, Ambient, whatever, all of these labels fail when it comes to this band.  With Wavering Radiant they continue to push the boundaries of sound and musical genres, creating a magnificent soundscape, that might just be their greatest album yet.  I must admit, it’s not very headbangin’ all the way through, but it’s a great album at the outer fringes of the metal genre.

– Teeg aka DJ Unibomber
Metal Slug Wednesdays 2-4 PM

Lost Angeles Recordings CD Release Party with D:Fuse and Hiratzka

Check out Trafficevents.com for presale tickets.

According to the Myspace blog that is…

With Hella returning as a duo, and the Nick Reinhart/Zach Hill combo dropping their album next month, and now this, it looks like 2009 is suddenly going to be a good year for math rock

For you G?G! greenhornes:

Jason Damato – Floating Down a River

Background information/Description: Jason Damato left home at the age of eighteen and all he had were his clothes and his guitar. Once becoming homeless Jason claimed that he wrote songs whenever he could thus producing an album, that is reflective on the life he has come to live. So the hardships produced these tracks, which are of a “Beach Soul” genre – a genre that he has coined himself. Beach Soul it is indeed. The first track starts off with a ukuele and whistling creating a relaxed atmosphere which you would think you would feel when floating down a river. With a singing style similar to Jason Mraz, Jason Damato’s voice adds to the calm and relaxed vibe. So whenever you feel the stress getting to you, give this album a listen.

Listen to: Tracks 1 and 3

–rebecca (intern)

March 26, 2009 @ TROUBADOUR, West Hollywood, CA

When I got to the venue, Emily Wells was about to go on stage, and the room wasn’t so full at the time, the way it usually is at the Troubadour before the headliner. But boy, did those who showed up late miss out. Her sound was refreshing – she mixes classical music (she played the violin in some songs) with hip hop (and there are definitely other influences present as well) into this extremely danceable fusion that just sounds spectacular. Pick up her album Symphonies: Dreams, Memories & Parties, and you’ll know what I mean. She is definitely worth checking out. Anyway, her set ended, and of course, the crowd came pouring in around this time. The crowd at this show was significantly different from the Bishop Allen show I saw two nights ago at the same venue. Whereas the indie pop group Bishop Allen had a crowd of a mix of 16-20 year olds and 21+ as well, the crowd at this show consisted of mostly 21+. Kristian Matsson, the Tallest Man on Earth, walked down the Troubadour steps to the stage, which had just a chair, three guitars, and a microphone. The Swede, with his tiny frame, had great stage presence, walking back and forth the stage with a menacing glare, while passionately strumming his guitar, making direct eye contact with the crowd, and belting out his poetic lyrics. His sound? Think Bon Iver with grittier Tom Waits/Dylan-esque vocals. He owned the stage, and played everything the crowd wanted to hear, including “The Gardner,” and “I Won’t Be Found,” to name a few. After the show, he just chilled at the merch table, talking to fans and signing autographs. My friend and I asked him if how it felt like signing autographs and being treated like a “celebrity.” He replied that he was just happy that people came out to see him, since his debut album Shallow Graves had yet to be released in the States. Catch him when he’s in town, he’ll blow you away.

–michelle yang