This Year's Grammy's...

Don't waste your time watching it.
Do something constructive. Watch paint dry.

January 29, 2010 (Playlist)

January 29, 2010 (Playlist):
"Our Thirty-Fifth Show: NMTM is back in 2010!"

The Breeders – New Year
Built To Spill – Car (Live)
Eels – Gone Man
Tokyo Police Club – La Ferrassie
Dirty Projectors – Ascending Melody
LA Font – Bright Red Flame
*"Allen Reed Memorial Cover Of The Week": Iron & Wine – Waitin' For A Superman (Flaming Lips Cover)
Fionn Regan – Catacombs
Arctic Monkeys – Cornerstone
The Almighty Defenders – Bow Down And Die

Them Crooked Vultures – New Fang
*"The Mighty Mighty Boss-Tune": Bruce Springsteen – Part Man, Part Monkey
Cage The Elephant – Back Against The Wall
The Smiths – Hand In Glove
*"Punk Trunk!": Wire – Mannequin
*"Punk Trunk!": Hüsker Dü – Somewhere
Vampire Weekend – White Sky
The Avett Brothers – I And Love And You
Sleater-Kinney – Milkshake’n Honey
The Mountain Goats – Dance Music

*Background music consisted of various cult classic tunes from the 1980s. They ranged from Blondie to Van Halen, from cheesy to epic, covering multiple genres.

An epic return, to say the least. It feels so great to be back! Never Mind the Mainstream and its hosts, Mike Pop and Jim Adair, started out the new year and new semester on a hot streak. We did not miss a beat! Young America demanded fresh music and they got it. We spun new recordings from Eels, Dirty Projectors, Fionn Regan, Avett Brothers, and more. Our special segments never sounded stronger: The "Cover" went mellow, Springsteen evolved, and "The Trunk" caused an unholy ruckus. Rock 'n' roll lived on college radio this past Friday and we couldn't have had a better show right off the bat. This is it, folks. The farewell tour begins now. NMTM lives every Friday, 6-8 PM only on 88.3 FM KUR (streaming live @ kur.kutztown.edu). Thank you to all of our callers and messengers. We have the best fan community in college radio. Thanks for the overwhelming support. Tune in next week for another great set.

Tokyo Police Club - "La Ferrassie"


Them Crooked Vultures - "New Fang"


The Smiths - "Hand In Glove"

NMTM Is Back In 2010!

You've waited lone enough, and now, this Friday, Big Jim Adair and Mike Pop present to you the 35th installment of the Philadelphia AIR Award-nominated "Never Mind the Mainstream" college radio show! We're busting out the best in alternative and indie rock from yesterday, today, and tomorrow for our first live broadcast of the new year. We'll be spinning new tracks from Eels, Dirty Projectors, LA Font, Fionn Regan, Vampire Weekend, and much more. Tune in to hear your favorite segments of the show: "The Allen Reed Memorial Cover Of The Week", "The Mighty Mighty Boss-Tune" and "The Punk Trunk!". This will be the first show of our final semester together so be sure to catch the show in it's entirety, beginning at 6 PM and ending at 8 PM. It'll be a night chock-full of college rock, music news, celebrity phone calls, and so much more. Get ready to fall in love with radio all over again. Stream the show live via our web stream @ kur.kutztown.edu and call into the studio: (610)-683-4058. Catch you at the low end of the dial! We're back!

Cage The Elephant - "In One Ear"

I Bring You New Things

New stuff galore. Includes things I've gathered from other blogs since the weekend. Enjoy the links/tunes/videos while I catch up on some much needed sleep (beginning of semester, beginning of work 'til you drop). An update to come tomorrow regarding the first NMTM episode of the year coming up this Friday. Keep it here.

+ Pavement has a greatest hits compilation coming out on April 17: Quarantine The Past. Link.

+ The National has announced a new LP, tour dates in May. Link.

+ The Temper Trap will tour North America this spring. Link.

+ New Goldfrapp tune: "Rocket". Link.

+ New Joanna Newsom tune: "81". Link.

+ New Justice tune: "Beginning Of The End". Link. UPDATE: This is fake.

+ New Suzanne Vega tune: "Gypsy". Link.

+ Spoon cover The Damned: "Love Song". Link.

+ New Yeah Yeah Yeahs video: "Skeletons". Link.

+ Radiohead played a sick set for Haiti relief benefit. Link.

KUR Spring 2010 Schedule Revealed!

Current mood: Sick/sobering up/Sheetz Bros. coffee is awesome/2Pac's first posthumous album is looping in my iTunes library.

So despite my novitiate MySpace reference, there is some big news on the 88.3 FM KUR front. We've got our schedule for the spring semester! This is exciting because this all came about very quickly. Everyone on board submitted their free times to our manager and program directors so that we could work on the schedule and have it completed by the weekend. Better than the weekend - it was done Friday morning. We're seeing some significant changes to the schedule: some DJs are going solo, some are joining forces; new talk shows emerging; country coming to KUR!; and much more. Perhaps the most exciting development, in my opinion, is the power we have on Friday nights. KUR is bringing you our show, Never Mind the Mainstream, at its usual time slot of 6-8 PM ET, followed by our good friends Andy Pal. and Andy Specks. doing their alternative rock show from 8-10. You're getting double the dosage of superb college rock on Fridays, so yes, you are welcome. Here's the entire schedule. WE GO LIVE THIS WEEK! More updates to come so keep it here.

A vintage clip for your viewing pleasure.

The Gabe Does The Fire

For Peter Gabriel's upcoming all covers release Scratch My Back, he tackles many artist we play often on NMtM, one of which being Arcade Fire. Hear the Gabe's version of "My Body Is A Cage" over at Stereogum.

But while you're here, tracklist is below along with video of the original Arcade Fire version.

01 "Heroes" (David Bowie)
02 "The Boy In The Bubble" (Paul Simon)
03 "Mirrorball" (Elbow)
04 "Flume" (Bon Iver)
05 "Listening Wind" (Talking Heads)
06 "The Power Of The Heart" (Lou Reed)
07 "My Body Is A Cage" (Arcade Fire)
08 "The Book Of Love" (The Magnetic Fields)
09 "I Think It's Going To Rain Today" (Randy Newman)
10 "Après Moi" (Regina Spektor)
11 "Philadelphia" (Neil Young)
12 "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" (Radiohead)

I'm especially pumped for the ones in bold.

Arcade Fire - "My Body Is A Cage"

Vampire Weekend Are #1

Source: Pitchfork.com

Billboard reports that Vampire Weekend's Best New Music album Contra has sold 124,000 copies in its first week, making it the highest selling album in the country. Contra debuts at number one on the Billboard 200 today, beating out the likes of Susan Boyle (number two), Lady Gaga (number four), Taylor Swift (number eight), and the Black Eyed Peas (number ten).

According to Billboard, Contra, which was released by XL, is only the 12th independently distributed title to hit number one since 1991, when SoundScan started tracking sales.

VW, Spoon Rock Late Night

Earlier this week, late night TV got a dose of indie rock. Conan was treated to Spoon. Ferguson was introduced to Vampire Weekend. Both performances showcased the best bands to release the best albums of the month, in my opinion. What a start to 2010. Late night wars aside, I think we can all agree that it's awesome to see bands like these appear on late night talk shows. These videos are proof of that awesomeness.

Spoon - "Written In Reverse"

Vampire Weekend - "Horchata"

Both albums are out now. Vampire Weekend's Contra via XL and Spoon's Transference via Merge.