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Love is in the air, all around us, and we at NMTM are capitalizing on it. Valentine's Day is Sunday, but we're getting a head start, playing a selection of romantic tunes from some of the best alternative and indie rock artists of all time. It's going to be a great, big sweetheart fest so tune in for that ... in hour one. But when hour two hits, we're turning the holiday on it's head and playing some tunes about heartbreak, love loss, and the bitter misery of flawed relationships. We need to balance things out here! Tune in to hear newer tunes from Rilo Kiley, Pearl Jam, The Temper Trap, and Afghan Whigs. We've also got classics from Elvis Costello, The Replacements, Billy Bragg, and Joy Division in our arsenal for tonight. We'll be taking calls and IMs all show long (6-8 PM ET), so please get a hold of us: (610)-683-4058 and KURRequest. Talk to you all soon. Have a great Valentine's Day. And if you do tune in, bring a box of Kleenex tissues, because it's going to be a tearjerker. We stream live at 6 PM ET on kur.kutztown.edu.
Snow sucks.
Friday night into Saturday midday was bad enough, but on top of that snow, we folks in Kutztown received a fresh blanket Tuesday night into Wednesday midday. 28 inches total? I've seen enough snow. I'm moving to Florida. Perhaps the only thing good to come from the "Snowmageddon" was the outlandish and totally welcomed two full school days canceled. This kind of thing never happens, especially here in Pennsylvania. Whatever, no complaints from me about that. However, digging my jeep out the street sure wasn't fun earlier tonight. Sorry to the community of Kutztown for pushing my snow back out into the street. I had to get to the Student Union building to plan our show for tomorrow night. Oh, and while we were buffeted with white powder, my housemates and I built an epic snow fort and invited all our friends up to christen it. We also drank excessively and threw our empties in the woods. College kids will be college kids. Okay, onto the notes:+ Holy Spring tours!: Arctic Monkeys, Juilan Casablancas, Phoenix, and The Tallest Man On Earth.
+ New Japandroids tune: "Art Czars".+ New live She & Him track. It was played on the radio. How fun.+ Yeasayer played Jim's favorite tune of 2009 on Fallon last night. Behold "Ambling Alp".+ Thom Yorke is going to remix Major Lazer?+ Bonnaroo line-up looks great so far.+ Grizzly Bear and Arcade Fire found their way into the ears of Super Bowl viewers. Google had a sick ad, too.
As promised (about a month ago; sorry for the delay), here's my review of Vampire Weekend's latest album, Contra, which was released by XL Recordings last month. The article is featured in Kutztown University's campus newspaper, The Keystone.Also, check out the band covering California-based street punk outlet Rancid. We've known for a while now about frontman Ezra Koenig's punk infatuation, so it seemed only right for the group to take on "Ruby Soho".
February 5, 2010 (Playlist):"Our Thirty-Sixth Show!"Radiohead – The BendsThe Cribs – We Share The Same SkiesThe National – Baby, We'll Be FineKings Of Convenience – Mrs. ColdA.A. Bondy – Oh The VampyreWilco – You Never Know*"Allen Reed Memorial Cover Of The Week": Peter Gabriel – Flume (Bon Iver Cover)The xx – VCRElliott Smith – Stupidity Tries (Live)Tegan & Sara – On DirectingBlack Rebel Motorcycle Club – Promise*"Punk Trunk!": The Distillers – Beat Yr Heart Out*"Punk Trunk!": Eddie & The Hot Rods – Do Anything You Wanna DoMos Def – Umi Says*"The Mighty Mighty Boss-Tune": Bruce Springsteen – Prove It All NightTom Waits – The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)Lou Reed – Dirty Blvd.Ryan Adams – To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)Talking Heads – Road To NowhereJapandroids – Young Hearts Spark FireThe Tallest Man On Earth – King Of SpainR.E.M. – Romance (Live)*Background music consisted of various hip-hop, rap, and R&B tunes from the late 1990s and early 2000s. We busted out everything from dance club anthems to sensual slow jams. They ranged from Big Punisher to Will Smith. We had a little too much fun with these.While patiently awaiting Snow-pocalypse 2010, the men from Never Mind the Mainstream had quite the mix for their audience. Hour one consisted of plenty of new music via The Cribs, Kings Of Convenience, Wilco, The xx, and Tegan & Sara. Hour two specialized in singer/songwriters the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elliott Smith, Lou Reed, and Ryan Adams. We also threw in our usual segments for all our dedicated listeners out there. In the end, the snow did not manage to ruin our show and we both made it out of the station in one piece. Kutztown is expecting to see even more snow in the middle of this week, so we're hoping it's enough to get us out of classes, but melts in time for us to bring you our thirty-seventh installment of NMTM: 2010 Valentine's Day Edition! The first hour will feature some of the most romantic and heartfelt alternative and indie rock songs in the history of the world, while hour two will appeal to all the love cynics in Radioland, as we will spin a variety of break-up tunes. No matter who you are, you will fall in love with our show next week. Thanks again for tuning in/calling in/IMing us. Tune in next week for another great set.
Read, read, read! Now, now, now! Our good buddy David Greenwald from Rawkblog.net (a Los Angeles alternative music blog) has the scoop. Just to clarify: nothing is set in stone, but Radiohead has been known for busting out surprises as of late, so maybe we'll be in for a shocking release soon.
Coming off our stellar return show last Friday, Jim and myself (Mike Pop) are proudly presenting our 36th installment of Never Mind the Mainstream, only on 88.3 KUR. This week, you can expect some oven-fresh tunes from real up-and-comers in the genre: The Cribs, Japandroids, Kings Of Convenience, The Tallest Man On Earth, and The xx. We've also got the latest from the legendary Peter Gabriel, who will be releasing a compilation of covers titled Scratch My Back due out February 15th. We've also have plenty more modern tracks mixed in with our usual blend of classic alternative and indie rock tunes from yesteryear. Don't miss as we also spin songs to our favorite segments, including "The Allen Reed Memorial Cover Of The Week", "The Mighty, Mighty Boss-Tune", and "The Punk Trunk!". Feel free to call into our studio line: (610)-683-4058 or IM us @ KURRequest. Folks, you're all in for another huge serving of great college radio this Friday 6-8 PM on KUR (and streaming live @ kur.kutztown.edu). Do not miss this program! Shout out to New York's 101.9 RXP Sunday night DJ, Rich Russo, who had a role in this week's "Punk Trunk!" selection.
Hey all, hope everyone's week was great. Mine was. I saw really crazy things around the community. College kids get a little wild after a few drinks. I saw that first-hand. All in all, good clean fun, for most of us. Here are some quick notes as we start the week (one day late):
+ Our first show of the year was awesome, in my opinion. We had a great time. Check out the recap here.
+ Joanna Newsom. Pretty hype for a pretty chick. Check it out here (all of it).+ KUR participation, including volunteer work from veterans and newbies, is on the rise. I'm a proud President. More information on we're up to can be found at our web site: kur.kutztown.edu.
+ My review of Vampire Weekend's Contra has made it to the Kutztown campus newspaper, The Keystone. I'll have a link up here to that piece a little later this week. I favorite the record, as if you've been following the blog, you are well aware. It was my first crack at a legit music review so I hope it came out okay in my readers' eyes. You be the judge. Soon.+ I've really been getting into some Whitest Boy Alive, Kings Of Convenience, and the latest from Tycho lately. SPOILER ALERT: they'll be making their way onto the show, no doubt.+ I'm starting to become more of a morning person. Weird, I know. But I just turn on some acid jazz, lace up my running shoes and I'm out the door, ready for the day. Try it sometime, it's a great wake up.That's all for now. Talk to you soon.
2010 Grammy's in a nutshell: Lady Ga Ga is insane, Taylor Swift wins a lot, Kings Of Leon get "Record of the Year", Stephen Colbert takes sarcastic jabs at various celebrities, and MJ's kids say a few words. Stereogum had it right; there were better things on TV last night.
UPDATE: Congratulations to The Boss, for taking home a Grammy. And I will even congratulate Kings Of Leon. The boys deserve it. Plus, they're acceptance speech was pretty great: "We're all kind of drunk right now, but the good kind of drunk." Phoenix also won a Grammy for Best Alternative Album. Way to go, gentleman. Sorry you had to be interviewed by Snooki, that orange planet of gross.
