The Jig is Up, 2007 ...

The dwindling days of December are no laughing matter for the music geek. It's time to cut the bullshit, roll up the sleeves and get down to business sculpting an unnecessarily obsessive "Best of ---- List" for no reason in particular, other than a self-affirming display of "how I spent my spare time this year." So here's a compilation of my 100 favorite albums from '07 (give or take one or two), starting with a numerically ranked Top 20, followed by an arbitrarily-ordered list of 80 other records well-deserving of recognition. I already wrote out a more descriptive list over at Dusted; you can check that out here. Of course, I had to add several releases that previously slipped my mind or just arrived in the mail, so here's a more comprehensive, "final" version. Most of these filtered through the playbox at WXYC, and we were thrilled to broadcast such goodness over our frequency. We've got big plans for '08 at our station, so keep listening and thanks for reading. Onward!

1. Ohsees - Sucks Blood (Castle Face)
2. Devin the Dude - Waitin To Inhale (Rap-A-Lot)
3. Pumice - Pebbles (Soft ABuse)
4. David Watson - Fingering An Idea (XI) / Throats (Ecstatic Peace)
5. Group Inerane/Group Doueh (Sublime Frequencies)
6. Pole - Steingarten (~scape)
7. Las Malas Amistades - Patio Bonito (Honest Jon's)
8. Burning Star Core - Operator Dead, Post Abandoned (No Quarter)
9. DJ Jazzy Jeff - Return of the Magnificent (Rapster)
10. Uncle Woody Sullender and Kevin Davis - The Tempest is Over (Dead CEO)
11. Dielectric Field Recording All-Stars - RE: Record (Dielectric)
12. Authenticite: The Syliphone Years (Stern's Africa)
13. Panda Bear - Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)
14. Psychedelic Horseshit - Magic Flowers Droned (Siltbreeze)
15. Voice of the Seven Woods - s/t (Twisted Nerve/B-Music)
16. Stephen Vitiello - Listening to Donald Judd (Sub Rosa)
17. Phosphorescent - Pride (Dead Oceans)
18. Shackleton/Applebim - Soundboy Punishments (Skull Disco)
19. Susan Howe and David Grubbs - The Souls of the Labadie Tract (Blue Chopsticks)
20. Art of Field Recording Vol. 1 (Dust-to-Digital)

I get tired of ranking after 20, so these probably aren't in any particular order:

MF Grimm - The Hunt For the Gingerbread Man (Class A)
No Age - Weirdo Rippers (Fat Cat)
People Like Us/Ergo Phizmiz - Perpetuum Mobile (Soleilmoon)
Theo Angell - Auraplinth (Digitalis)
DJ Elephant Power - Scratch the Hulu (Sonig)
La Drivers Union Por Por Group - Por Por: Honk Horn Music of Ghana (Smithsonian Folkways)
Brian Harnetty - American Winter (Atavistic)
UGK - Underground Kingz (Jive)
Oren Ambarchi - In the Pendulum's Warm Embrace (Touch)
Noah Creshevsky - To Know and Not to Know (Tzadik)
Wooden Shjips - s/t (Holy Mountain)
Kemialliset Ystavat - untitled (Fonal)
Ricardo Villalobos - Fabric 36 (Fabric)
Toby Dammit - The Legend of Apple Jack (Hit Thing)
Pan Sonic - Katadiviohe (Blast First)
Army of the Pharaohs - Ritual Battle (Babygrande)
Vibracathedral Orchestra - Wisdom Thunderbolt (VHF)
American Band - American Band's First Album (Blossoming Noise)
Dalek - Abandoned Language (Ipecac)
Disrupt - Foundation Bit (Werk)
Omar Souleyman - Highway To Hassake (Sublime Frequencies)
Tinariwen - Aman Iman (World Village)
Ov - Noctilucent Valleys (Soft Abuse)
Boxcutter - Glyphic (Planet Mu)
Demons - Evocation (No Fun)
Raccoo-oo-oon - Behold the Secret Kingdom (Release the Bats)
Robert Wyatt - Comicopera (Domino)
Spiritualaires of Hurtsboro Alabama - Singing Songs of Praise (Casequarter)
Flaming Fire - When the High Bell Rings (Silly Bird)
Von Sudenfed - Tromatic Reflexxions (Domino)
Circle - Katapult (No Quarter)
Akron/Family - Love Is Simple (Young Gods)
Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings (Carpark)
M.I.A. - Kala (XL)
Deerhunter - Cryptograms (Kranky)
Keith Rowe - The Room (Erstwhile)
Mohammed "Jimmy" Mohammed - Hulgizey (Terp)
Mudboy - Hungry Ghosts! These Songs Are Doors (Digitalis)
Axolotl - Memory Theatre (Important)
Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores - The Blind Spot (Cuneiform)
Tujiko Noriko - Solo (Editions Mego)
High on Fire - Death Is This Communion (Relapse)
Ginaluca Becuzzi and Fabio Orsi - The Stones Know Everything (Digitalis)
Wzt Hearts - Threads Rope Spell Making Your Bones (Carpark)
Henry Flynt and Nova’Billy - s/t (Locust)
Jeru the Damaja - Still Rising (Ashenafi)
Michael Hurley - Ancestral Swamp (Gnomonsong)
Carl Stone - Al-Noor (In Tone)
Sir Richard Bishop - While My Guitar Violently Bleeds (Locust)
Samara Lubelski - Parallel Suns (Social Registry)
Turf Talk - West Coast Vaccine (Sick Wid It)
Infinite Livez vs. Stade - Art Brut Fe De Yoot (Big Dada)
Wiley - Playtime Is Over (Big Dada)
Magik Markers - Boss (Ecstatic Peace)
Black Milk - Popular Demand (Fatbeats)
Area C - Haunt (Last Visible Dog)
Richard Youngs - Autumn Response (Jagjaguwar)
Standing Nudes - Ghost Story (True Panther)
Pig Destroyer - Phantomb Limb (Relapse)
Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon (XL)
Uke of Spaces Corners County -So Far on the Way (Corleone)
Flat Earth Society - Psycho Scout (Crammed)
Jazzkammer/Howard Stelzer - Tomorrow No One is Safe (Troniks/PacRec)
Yellow Swans - At All Ends (Load)
Burial - Untrue (Hyperdub)
Eats Tapes - Dos Mutantes (Tigerbeat6)
Babils - The Joint Between (Stilll)
V/A - I Belong To This Band (Dust to Digital)
Cadaver in Drag - Raw Child (Animal Disguise)
Jeff Rehnlund - Our Thin Mercy of Error (Hymns)
Exploding Customer - At Your Service (Ayler)
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (Domino)
Lubos Fiser - Valerie and Her Week of Wonders OST (Finders Keepers)
Tom Recchion - Sweetly Doing Nothing (Schoolmap)
Megafaun - Bury the Square (Burly Time)
Religious Knives - Remains (No Fun)
MV & EE with the Bummer Road - Green Blues (Ecstatic Peace)
Shape of Broad Minds - Craft of the Lost Art (Lex)
DJ Scotch Egg - Scotchhausen (ADAADAT)

And since I already had these mapped out:

Compilations:
-Dust to Digital records in general
-Authenticite: The Syliphone Years (Stern's Africa)
-The Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru (Barbes)
-Carolina Funk (Jazzman)
-Songs of the African Coast: Cafe Music of Liberia (Yarngo)
-Everything Is a Theory (Cephia's Treat)
-La Kodi Ya City Council (Mississippi)
-Cult Cargo: Grand Bahama Goombay (Numero Group)
-Box of Dub: Dubstep and Future Dub (Soul Jazz)
-Awon Ojise Olorun: Popular Music of Yorubaland 1931-1952 (Savannaphone)

Reissues:
-Prince Jammy - Prince Jammy Destroy
-Ju Suk Reet Meate - Solo 78/79 or Do Unseen Hands Keep You Dumb? (De Stijl)
-Orlando Julius - Super Afro Soul (VampiSoul)
-Don Cherry/Jon Appleton - Human Music (Water)
-Tim Hecker - Radio Amor (Alien8/Mille Plateaux)
-Lee Rockey - Lee Rockey Music (De Stijl)
-Terry Riley - Music For the Gift (Ellison Fields)
-Noah Howard - Black Ark (Bo'Weavil)
-Dorothy Ashby - The Rubiyat of Dorothy Ashby (Dusty Groove America/Cadet)
-Annea Lockwood - Early Works 1967-82 (EM)

7", 12", Singles, EPs:
-The Bug feat. Killa P and Flow Dan - "Skeng"/"Skeng (Kode9 Remix)" (Hyperdub)
-Yikes - Whoa Comas/Blood Bombs (Kill Shaman)
-El Jesus De Magico 7" (Columbus Discount)
-Cloudland Canyon - Silver-Tongued Sisyphus (Kranky)
-Parts and Labor - Escapers One 12" (Broklyn Beats)
-Ariel Pink - My Molly (Tiny Creatures)
-Bass Invadurrz (frequeNC)
-Duran Duran Duran - Face Blast 12" (Planet Mu)
-Gorge Trio/Uske Orchestra - Divorce6 split 7" (Ache)
-Gaybomb/Ironing split LP (Hymns)

I feel much better now, thanks for your time. I hope you all have a very happy New Year ...

yrs,

-Cole-
cole@wxyc.org

The Simpsons! Radiohead!

There, that should just about cover all my bases, audiencewise. But yes, they are related! How does he do it?

Check out Making the Case for Fanboyism, a music-nerdy op-ed by me (an WXYC alum) in The Morning News (a Brooklyn-based online magazine). It's an essay about music criticism that somehow includes Radiohead, R. Kelly, Jens Lekman, and The Simpsons. Also, maybe you, and this guy:

Cheers.

A Comedy of Errors

The Feedback Farm has disappointed yet again. After promising that they were organized and ready to put on a great show, in their most recent episode the Farmers came across as unprepared and unprofessional as the show was seemingly plagued by technical difficulties and short tempers. After 60 minutes they still hadn't explored--or revealed!--the topic they came "prepared" to discuss!

How much longer will WXYC management continue to allow this sort of absurdity to occupy prime listening hours?

If you didn't hear what I am describing above, I recommend you download the programme here (29MB MP3), listen to it, take notes, and lodge your complaints with the Feedback Farmers to see if they will mend their ways. Email them at wxycfeedbackfarm at gmail dot com.

Bonus MP3

Happy Turkey Day

'Twas the night before Thanksgiving, so what else could the boys talk about? The Feedback Farmers sat down at the table and had a good old-fashioned Thanksgiving show last time out. You can hear it for yourself here (30MB MP3).

Word on the street is that the Farmers are more organized than ever for their next programme. Usually the show is haphazardly patched together, and even then things work out OK 15% of the time. There's no telling what heights they can reach when they actually prepare, and this might be the week we all find out.

You won't want to miss the next exciting episode of the Feedback Farm! Tune in Wednesday at 9pm WXYC time (North Carolina, USA) at 89.3FM in the Chapel Hill area or wxyc.org!

My Semi-Scathing Review

On my trip to California, which occured in early October, I was in attendance at a Magik Markers show at the Hemlock in San Francisco. It was through the wonder of coincidence and the magic of traveler's bones that I ran into David Harper and Nicole Bogas inside the stinky poo-poo Hemlock, which I left feeling rather doody. For a full account, see my snarky and jaded appraisal of the whole affair at Tiny Mix Tapes.

Love Ya-

CHI$$

Pet Sounds Remixed

I just stumbled upon a great remix album of The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. It's crafted by a British artist by the name of Bullion, who really appears to be just a bedroom producer. Anyway, the album is entitled 'Pet Sounds: In the Key of Dee' because it emulates, and pays tribute to, the late J Dilla. Initially I was under the impression that the whole thing was a mash-up but according to Bullion "NO DILLA DRUMS USED." I'm a tad suspect because it really does sound like something that Dilla produced himself- it's uncanny.

Bullion provides the whole thing (mp3s at 320 kb/s!) for free. Download it here.



ps. Couldn't make it out friday night. To those who went, how was the Carolina Funk release party at Hell?

Daedelus and Busdriver

I caught the Daedelus/Busdriver show this past friday at the local 506 and it was amazing. Daedulus was decked out in almost full conductor's attire (except for his jungle spotted new balances) and he prefaced his set by saying that he wanted to keep things more "up tempo" and that we (the audience) should let him know if we didn't like his direction. Daedelus kept his word; and I thoroughly enjoyed his performance despite the fact he ventured close to heavy-techno territory. Here's a very short clip of the show that I captured with my outdated Canon:



it looked and sounded much better live. Also, that box that he's playing is a version of this cool little contraption:



Busdriver went on last and was intense as usual. He was backed by Anti-mc (who provided the beats for Busdriver earlier in the year when he opened for RJD2 at the cradle) and another dj named Desert Eagle. Their standout song was a remix of Kill Your Employer, which had one of the hottest beats that I have ever heard (sorry, no vid for that). And to top things off, as soon as Busdriver left the stage there was an impromptu dance party which was still going on when I left at 2am.

good times.

Must Don't Whip 'Um

Hey folks! WXYC is cosponsoring a performance of Cynthia Hopkins and the Gloria Deluxe's Must Don't Whip 'Um tomorrow night at 8:00 pm in Memorial Hall. Hopkins stopped by the studio yesterday evening for an interview and in studio session with our very own Maxwell Supercool. Check out the media.

Robot Attack!

Robots took over the WXYC airwaves last night on the Feedback Farm. Are robots benevolent helpers of humanity or sinister machines plotting to overthrow their creators? There was a little of each on last night's programme, which, in terms of the Feedback Farm oeuvre, wasn't half bad.

Two ways in which the show have been better:
-Kevin* could have remembered to bring the vocoder, or
-Kevin could have given an on-air apology in a robot voice for not remembering to bring the vocoder.

If you want to hear about robot exoskeletons, ethical issues surrounding robot technology, underwater robot seals, and a debate over the relative merits of two robot songs ("Mr Roboto" and "Iron Man"), download the programme here (25MB MP3).

Oh, coincidentally, Captured! By Robots plays tonight at the Local 506.

============

*Kevin being Kevin Clark, wanted in both Arizona and North Carolina for unspecified crimes not involving robots.

Feedback Farm: Fun For The Entire Family

The Feedback Farmers visited the North Carolina State Fair with stolen press passes and filed this report (25MB MP3).

Tune in tonight (9pm WXYC time) for another episode of the Feedback Farm!

NEW MUSIC SHOW PLAYLISTS

The WXYC Music Dept has been flooded with great new stuff lately, making our bi-weekly program dedicated to fantastic & fresh releases radiate with aural goodness. The past two installments have been especially exciting, with a nice mish mash of genre and style. I was even decked out in my Johnny Ca$h costume for last week's show (black suit and thick gold chain with dollar sign). Check out the playlists!

New Music Show: Oct. 17, 2007

New Music Show: Oct. 31, 2007

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

Sorry it's taken me so long to post this--I've had SO MUCH WORK that I didn't have time to upload this recording.

Last time on the Feedback Farm, the Farmers dedicated the night to the working class. Isn't it touching that they thought of us? Well, give it a listen by clicking here (29MB MP3).

And then be sure to tune in TONIGHT (89.3FM in the Chapel Hill area or wxyc.org, don'cha know) at 9pm WXYC time for an exciting new episode of THE FEEDBACK FARM!

Desert Blues - The Sounds of Tuareg Rebellion

Two exciting additions to WXYC playbox feature releases focusing on guitar music from the Western Sahara, each representing opposite ends of the recording spectrum and providing a window into the volatile political climate of the area. They both embody the sound of Tuareg unrest that is once again intensifying in the region, since rebel Tuaregs began another uprising against the Nigerian government earlier this year. You can read about the conflict on the following links taken from Tinariwen's Web site (they're in French though, so get Google to translate 'em):

www.tamtaminfo.com
www.agadez-niger.com
www.republicain-niger.com

Group Inerane is the newer of the two releases, presented in the lo-fi Sublime Frequencies style and recorded live in Algeria. Tinariwen's record was released in March, and showcases the group's efforts in the studio after evolving their sound for over two decades and two prior full-lengths. Individual reviews with more details below:

Artist: Group Inerane
Album: Guitars From Agadez (Music of Niger)
Label: Sublime Frequencies

The second vinyl release from Sublime Frequencies continues to document Western Saharan guitar music (the first LP was Group Doueh, released earlier in the year), this time showcasing Bibi Ahmed and his Group Inerane.

Hailing from the currently tumultuous city of Agadez, Niger, the group exhibits a sound steeped in snaking, blues-rock influences and infused with Saharan folk, involving two electric guitars, a small drum kit and a chorus of vocalists. Recorded live by SF workhouse Hisham Mayet, the quality varies from track to track, but maintains a certain gritty charm that adds to the ecstasy of the group's performance.

The tracks range from psychedelic burnouts to plodding claps and soaring voices, bobbing rhythmically like a camel ride and inducing states of sandy trance. Their music is encompassed in the revolutionary rock of the Tuareg people, a sound that developed in the 1980s and 90s during the First Tuareg Rebellion as a political weapon for the rebels and an outlet of communication from Libyan refugee camps. The Nigerian government's failure to concede more political representation and economic compensation from the country's uranium deposits to the Tuareg since 1995 has led to a second uprising initiated by rebel Tuaregs earlier in the year, and is currently raging strong.

With music as captivating as this, Sublime Frequencies deserves applause once again for highlighting a region currently torn by conflict and deserving of attention from the outside world.

Artist: Tinariwen
Album: Aman Iman: Water is Life
Label: World Village

This group of nomads/soldiers/musicians from Mali has quite a backstory. The founding members of Tinariwen first met each other in the 1980s after being recruited to military camps in Libya, where they began fighting for the autonomy of their Tuareg people against the Malian and Nigerian government.

They began writing songs with their electric guitars, singing of their exile and struggle among the war-torn desert, drawing influence from the likes of Led Zeppelin and Hendrix. They've since given up their guns for guitars (though they once carried the two together), enjoying a fair amount of exposure since the late 90s from the likes of Robert Plant and Carlos Santanta, two of the musicians that originally inspired their desert trance-blues sound.

This is their third album proper, recorded in Bamako, Mali, and produced by Plant's guitarist Justin Adams to a finish that's a bit slick, but goes just far enough not to completely strip the music of its rustic mystique. Fronted by lead songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, the group usually contains around six guitarists and an equivalent amount of male and female vocalists and percussionists, delivering an entrancing brand of slippery guitar riffs and passionate campfire ballads in their native Tamashek tongue.

The group's droning desert sound might get a little too familiar after sitting through the album's entirety, but the music itself is performed with enough conviction to make this a compelling record, highlighted by the voice it gives to the hardships of the Tuareg and their fight for independence.

NEW MUSIC SHOW PLAYLIST: OCT. 3. 2007

After a several weeks of lonely hosting, the New Music Show finally featured two of two WXYC Music Directors on last week's show, sharing the mic, collaborating on the picks of the week, and geeking over the piano work of Michael Harrison. The mail bins have been quite full lately, so there was a lot to choose from. Those curious in what was featured on last week's NMS can find a playlist here.

In case you didn't know, the New Music Show happens every other Wednesday at 9pm on WXYC. Did you know you can listen live at wxyc.org?

This week's 9-10pm Wednesday slot is occupied by the Feedback Farm though, who are offering their salute to the working class! Tune in and detune...

SEPTEMBER PLAYBOX HIGHLIGHTS

The playbox at WXYC is currently bursting with quality new stuff, making the slow descent into Fall just a bit more tolerable. Little Howlin' Wolf made it all the way to #1 on our charts last week, how about that? Here's some highlights from the latest batch of rotation cuts, complete with short DJ-friendly reviews I wrote for the station. Stay tuned, October is coming.

Artist: Little Howlin' Wolf
Album: Cool Truth
Label: Heresee
South-Chicago street musician and outsider blues deconstructionist Little Howlin' Wolf (aka James Pobiega) released quite a few 7" singles back in the '70s and '80s, leaving behind an obscure trail of records just waiting to be re-released by some hip label. Leave it to Nautical Almanac owned and operated Heresee records to do the deed, reissuing Cool Truth - his first full-length record originally put out in 1985 and available here for the first time on CD. Recorded solo between 1979 and 1983, the tracks here resemble something like ragtime ran through a blender, garbled into junkyard blues and bouncing down the street like an over-packed cargo truck. His gravelly voice conjures Beefheart broken in half, spilled on the floor amongst a multi-tracked mix of sax, drums, guitar and harmonica. Pobiega's pained growls and shambling free-blues style are a perfect fit for the Heresee catalog - distorted lullabies from the deranged uncle you never knew.

Artist: Voice of the Seven Woods
Album: s/t
Label: Twisted Nerve / B-Music
The ever-reliable Finders Keepers/B-Music label/collective keeps the timeless tunes coming with some newly recorded jams by British psych-folk enthusiast Rick Tomlinson and his solo project, Voice of the Seven Woods. Tomlinson has been touring around the European underground for several years, self-releasing an array of CD-Rs, 7"s and cassettes that have long been out of print. Since Finders Keepers get their kicks from re-releasing criminally unavailable gems from music's mystical underbelly, it seems fitting for them to issue Tomlinson's first widely-distributed full-length - a splendid amalgamation of acoustic psych and Middle Eastern funk. He exhibits some damn fine chops on his acoustic guitar, weaving riffs that revolve on rollicking themes, picking up the oud and sitar to give the tracks more depth. A couple tunes even showcase Turkish funk breakdowns, livening up the lilt with trembling guitar and booty-shaking grooves. Despite the obvious care that was put into the records, an ancient haze lingers throughout; it sounds like it could be right out of 1972, but delivered with a fresh new smell. One of the most compelling releases steeped in the acoustic guitar to come along in some time, and with the bevy of finger-picking revivalists and folks-drone aficionados that currently clutter the music underground, that's saying something.

Artist: Shape of Broad Minds
Album: Craft of the Lost Art
Label: Lex
In true Madlib style, emcee/prodcucer Jneiro Jarel unveils his Shape of Broad Minds project, boasting contributions from four alter egos that reflect the various cities he's called home over the past 15 years: Brooklyn, Georgia, and his current residence in Philly. Jarel emphasizes the jazz kick like the aformentioned producer, paying homage to his blue note faves with recontexualized rhythms and space-station liftoff. His abstract hooks, inventive production and forward-thinking bumps shine, collapsing Jarel's various side projects into an impressive meld of hip hop for the new millennium (be-bop of the future past?). The personalities incorporated in the SOBM ensemble include: Jawaad (raps), Roque Wun (singing), Panama Black (raps), and Dr. Who Dat (production). A few guest MC spots are sprinkled in, most notably MF Doom's contribution to the "Let's Go" single. The concept may not be particularly new to the hip hop formula, but Craft of the Lost Art has enough unique cool to pull off inventive, even if gets a little too nostalgic for its own good at times. Still, Jarel's style is intelligent, bizarre, and a breath of fresh air from most of today's hip hop underground.

Artist: V/A
Album: Box of Dub: Dubstep and Future Dub
Label: Soul Jazz
For a label that's made its name with a massive catalog of dub, reggae and a variety of other danceable musics, it makes sense for London-based Soul Jazz to dip their hands into the dubstep sound that's been brewing in the southern part of the city for several years. This compilation basically sums up the heavy hitters in the scene, showcasing its bassy brand of club-ready dub. All these tracks are freshly produced for this release, with cuts by all the big boys; Digital Mystikz, Burial, Skream, Kode9 - along with some stand-up tracks by other producers like Scuba, Sub Version and King Midas Sound. The artists here display several different variations on dubstep's framework, skulking though delay-drenched soul samples, wobbly kneed low-end, and the cold sweat of urbanized London wasteland. Some of the samples and effects treatment come off a bit cheezy, but these fellows know what they're doing - delivering a head-nodding blend of throbbing bass caked in digital warmth. Whether it be a steady, dance-ready thump or a sparse buildup with subsequent explosion, the tracks here can get addictive. Hopefully, this won't be the last dubstep effort from Soul Jazz - with any luck, they'll keep up with the scene as it continues to evolve.

Artist: People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz
Album: Perpetuum Mobile
Label: Soleilmoon
Through a self-proclaimed "schizophrenic open source compositional process," like-minded plunderphonic all-stars and UK residents People Like Us (aka Vicki Bennett) and Ergo Phizmiz team up in a vortex of zany audio snippets, looped jingle jangle and ridiculous recontextualizations. Over the course of a year, the two used a shared server to upload and download files to and from one another, editing and amalgamating the stolen sources with frequent regurgitation. The album isn't completely lifted however, as both Phizmiz and Bennett dubbed in vocal accompaniments here and there to augment their loony concoctions. Everything seems rosy on the surface, but the layering and sampling depth are quite disorienting and clinically deranged, as is most of their work. You can download the dubplates that they made for the record on PLU's site, so why not try your luck at a remix?

The Feedback Farm Travels Abroad

On a "normal" day it's hard to understand what those Feedback Farmers are saying and doing, but this past week they were definitely speaking a foreign language.

In celebration of the European Day of Languages--September 26th every year--the Farmers explored language, European Languages in particular. The goals of the European Day of Languages are three-fold:

1) Alert the public to the importance of language learning and diversify the range of languages learned in order to increase plurilingualism and intercultural understanding.
2) Promote the rich linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe.
3) Encourage lifelong language learning in and out of school.

It's debatable whether the Farmers furthered any of these lofty aims. You can decide for yourself by clicking here (25MB MP3).

Interview w/ DJ C

Boston's DJ C has been steady killin it for years now. As the head of the Mashit imprint, he's put out some of the most noteworthy ragga jungle tunes in recent memory, earning praises from the late great John Peel and countless others. As of late, DJ C has been busy developing a new club sound termed Boston Bounce, along with releasing two albums of forward thinking beats. The most recent of these lps - Sonic Weapons - is in heavy rotation right now, so should be coming through your stereo in the very near future. DJ C was good enough to chat it up with me from his new base camp in Chicago.

As part of the Toneburst Collective, you helped put together numerous events that fell outside the boundaries of rock, hip- hop or rave scenes of late '90s Boston. How did that come about?

I was attending the Massachusetts College of Art at the time and was producing music in the Studio for Interrelated Media (SIM) department. My professors there got me thinking about what context I'd like to see/hear my music in.

SIM is the department you go into if you feel too restricted by, or don't fit into the other departments at MassArt, so people are presenting works in many media; performance, film/video, sound, photography, sculpture etc. on any given week. We students were responsible for producing the studio class each week, where other students would present their work for critique. So event production was a big part of what we learned. Producing a class might involve setting up sound-systems, video projection, hanging art, stage management, lighting etc.

Meanwhile, the fact of the matter is that I wanted my music to be seen/heard at parties and in clubs. Unfortunately I didn't have connections in the clubs, and my music was kind of left-field-dub, jungle, instrumental-hip-hop-as opposed to the house and techno that was big in Boston clubs at the time.

The obvious decision: produce my own parties. I began producing small parties at MassArt for and with students, after-hours. I also got involved in some events that one of the SIM grad-students was doing at her loft in South Boston. She had been a student at Harvard and had a network of folks from there, some of whom became founding members of Toneburst with me.

DJ /rupture was doing a radio show at the MIT station at the time and I was introduced to him by some of these Harvard folks. Eventually I threw my first party in Glochester, MA with /rupture, Embryo(Splice and Raffi from Harvard), some video/instalation peeps from MassArt, and some DJs from the Boston College radio station. The party went well. /rupture, Splice and I decided we should try to do it monthly. The next month we did it again under the name Toneburst and that was the first of many Toneburst parties in locations that ranged from out-doors on the street, to the Boston Childrens Museum.

Your production seems to reflect a similar heedlessness for sticking to one genre of electronic music. How does this impact your approach to live performance? Put another way, are there restrictions to being "DJ" C?

Heedlessness is a great word! One of the nuns in the Montessori pre- school I went to told my mom I was heedless. So you can see it goes way back.

I don't have many restrictions. I just play what I like. I don't ignore the audience though. I work together with them to achieve the feedback loop that occurs when things work right. If I can craft a good mix, and the crowd is responsive then the mix gets better and the response gets better and so on.

One common thread through most of your tunes (regardless of tempo or genre) is polyrhythmic - and what I can only describe as 'dirty' - drumkits. What led you to develop that sort of sound?

That's very observant. I don't know that I would have put my finger on that myself. I just happen to like polyrhythms, or at least syncopation. There's a kind of tension that's created when rhythms stray outside a strict/simple frame. That's the tension that makes me move. Some people prefer the strict frame, I like my beats outside the lines. Same goes for the dirtyness. Music needs imperfection, and rawness for me to truly enjoy it. Not too much though. My favorite music stratals the line between formulaic pop and experimental, underground sound.

Jungle(and now to some degree dubstep) artists have developed a sort of canon for the way tracks are produced. This often influences the arrangement of the track in order to cater to DJs, and also narrows the range of samples used in otherwise instrumental tunes. As a producer, how do you view these sort of conventions?

I think you've touched on the reason why I always feel like an outsider from every scene. I'm never willing to conform to the rules that become established once the scene emerges. I think those frameworks can be valuable, and inspiring at times. I just can't stick to them. I also think they are the inevitable downfall of a scene. Unless rules are broken and changed movements become stale. All new and exciting genres come out of combining other genres.

You've recently produced a number of tracks with (vocalists) Zulu & Quality Diamond, some of which have seen numerous voicings over the same riddim. Can we expect more of this sort of collaboration? Do you foresee more American producers using what has traditionally been a Jamaican approach to releasing multiple vocalists on a track?

I do plan to do more of that. Now that I'm in Chicago, in close proximity to Zulu, he and I will certainly do more work together. I like the various vocalists on a riddim thing, and I'm also a fan of the mashup, so sometimes I just lay acapellas over beats I've made. I don't really understand why more american producers don't do the riddim thing. It's so jamaican.

What can we expect from Mashit and Beat Research in the future?

Beat Research continues as weekly party in Cambridge, MA with residents Wayne&Wax and DJ Flack. Mashit.com recently launched a blog/podcast and will be launching a download store soon. Lots of good free downloads are already available: http://Mashit.com

When are we gonna hear more melodica?

Good point! I'll get on that.

Audio archive of DJ C's live performance at Local 506 in April 2006 is available here. In addition to Sonic Weapons being in the WXYC playbox right now, you can hear plenty of DJ C's tunes Sunday evenings 10-midnite(or anytime) on WXYC's New Science Experience mix show.

Shameless, Shameless, Self, Promotion

Another one of my pieces got published by Mr P and the fine folx at Tiny Mix Tapes. Thanks to the editor. Its an interview with Pterodactyl. ENJOY.

??????

In the interest of nothing in particular, I share with you readers a review I did for Tiny Mix Tapes of a Dark Meat show from the 506 that happened about a month ago. Help yourselves. It was published today.

Be good, y'all

Blows Or Blows Away?

At the height of Hurricane Season the Feedback Farmers hit an all-time low. Or did they? You be the judge. Download the hurricane party here (28 MB MP3).

Listen as the Farmers struggle to stay on topic, then blow off-course. Experience the stormy temperaments that could only be born of disorganization, a lack of communication, and surface water temperatures exceeding 27 degrees Celsius. Bring children and animals inside! Take shelter, the Feedback Farm is coming!

Oral Hygiene / Aural Hi-Jinks

In case you didn't hear the most recent Feedback Farm programme, you can download it here (32MB MP3). In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first dentist, the topic was TEETH. Two out of four Feedback Farmers recommend that you listen to this show to put you on the path to excellent dental hygiene. The other two recommend against it. The choice is yours.

Be sure to tune in to the Feedback Farm this Wednesday (9/12) at 9pm EDT, and prepare to be blown away!

PS You can email the Feedback Farm! The email address is wxycfeedbackfarm at gmail dot com.

--------XX Cross Posting XX---------

This image is a link to my first article ever published at Tiny Mix Tapes dot com. It is an interview with the band No Doctors of the Bay Area in California. We talk about their new album, chaos, clarity, food, song, and many other universally appreciated topics of mental import. Just click on the picture.

The Feedback Farm Makes Contact

30 years to the day since the receipt of the Wow! Signal the Feedback Farmers took on the topic of Making Contact, with a heavy focus on UFOs.

Are we alone in the universe? Are the aliens already among us? Controversial but compelling, listen as the Farmers investigate. Many many thanks to the gracious and eloquent Terrell Copeland who joined the program by telephone to talk about his UFO sightings and theories.

If you missed the show, download it here (28MB MP3).

Oh, there's a ton of stuff out there on the Web, but Terrell suggested you can learn more from Dr Steven Greer.

The End

The seventh part of the Feedback Farm's Life Cycle Trilogy took place last Wednesday. The topic was a serious one--one nobody likes to think about--death. Why is death such a dicey subject? What happens after you die? Do you know any famous people who died on August 5th? Listen as the Farmers broach the taboo topic and answer all of these questions and more by downloading the programme here (31MB MP3).

Ah, Youth!

Although the Feedback Farmers themselves will probably never grow up, that is precisely the topic they tackled in Part II of their "life cycle" series.

To hear what they had to say on the topic, click here (32MB MP3).

To hear what they have to say on the topic of death (Part III of III in the series), tune in to WXYC (89.3FM in the Chapel Hill area, wxyc.org on the Internet) at 9pm EDT on Wednesday, August 1st.

Review: Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores

I'm always excited for some new Eyesores output. Providence mainstay Alec K. Redfearn and his ever-growing ensemble recently released The Blind Spot - their sixth full-length overall and second for Cuneiform records. We've been spinning it quite a bit at WXYC lately, and the album reached #5 on our charts last week. Check out Dusted today for a full-length review, which can be read here.

Blog Renewal Project

To spare the blog an untimely demise, at some point we must envision a turn of fate, a delirium of keyboard strokes to no end other than a self-serving smattering of tapping shittering letter storm. To that end, perhaps this blog shall mutate itself into something utterly transitory - perhaps a repository for pictures of nude men, or a collection of poetry. What say you, faithful readers? Should you exist, the time is nigh for participation, illumination. Sitting on your hands yields naught but empty electronic space, an absence of electricity, neither ones nor zeros. And so it goes that dis blog is a children's blog.

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

• ass (1x)

Does my Three Musketeers style speech bother you? It sure as hell bothers me, but somehow, in the course of meta-blog discussin' a lot of cussin gets lost and instead we're left with bloo-ba and poo-poo. Fer shame.
All I'm saying is BRING ON THE X-RATED CONTENT!!

WXYC'S NEW MUSIC SHOW! NOW WITH PLAYLISTS!

Every other Wednesday from 9pm-10pm, the WXYC Music Dept takes the time to dump out the mail bin, sift through our personal purchases and play the highlights from the pile. Just as our station's free-format implies, there is no particular genre or style that is emphasized - just a new music grab bag of things that we're enjoying at the moment. Last week's show was a good one, view the Playlist here.

The Feedback Farm will be on the air this Wednesday though, continuing their three-part series on the life cycle with part two - YOUTH.

Last time's Farm topic dealt with "Birth." Check out an mp3 of my favorite segment here:
Feedback Farm: BIRTH - June 20, 2007
*Edited for maximum tolerance.

Or you can download the whole friggin show a couple posts down.

Wednesdays, 9pm-10pm. You probably have something better to do, but the radio loves you more.

Review: Thee Ohsees

San Francisco outfit Thee Ohsees have been getting lots of play on WXYC lately, charting within our top 5 two weeks in a row and generally kicking ass with their new album on Castle Face, Sucks Blood. The release is already on my best of '07 list, simply addictive with its oh-so-cool garage clatter and charming little pop tunes. I wrote a full-on review that was published in Dusted today, read it here.

Ubu: Web King of the Weird

If you're not familiar with the true Internet treasure that is UbuWeb, you should really go spend a couple hours browsing the vast collection of poetry, experimental video, text and music that are housed within. Since 1996, the site has been a constantly growing resource for all walks of avant-garde art, offering everything up for free download, completely devoid of advertising and operating without commercial motivations.

WFMU Blog alerted me to an awesome interview that Archinect conducted with UbuWeb founder Kenneth Goldsmith, which you can read here.

Much thanks to Ubu for providing such an amazing resource for the obscure and otherwise inaccessible art forms that are available in convenient abundance within the site's pages. This is what the Internet is all about.

Rebirth of the Feedback Farm

The Feedback Farm is back in full effect. Or something. The Farmers actually had an organizational meeting prior to their show this week, and that meeting gave birth to new ideas. They talked about all things babies last night. To hear their delivery, click here (30MB MP3).

PS The Feedback Farmers have asked me to pass along their new email address. If you'd like to contact them, write to wxycfeedbackfarm at gmail dot com.

The Heat Is On

The Feedback Farmers welcomed Al Gore to the programme on June 6th to talk about Global Warming. Yes, that Al Gore. Yes, Global Warming is for real. Hear it for yourself--download the show (30MB MP3). Thanks for dropping by, Mr Gore!

Review: Rameses III

via.


Artist: Ramses III
Album: Matanuska/Honey Rose EP
Label: Music Fellowship/Important

Dr. Leary may have originally introduced the concept of "set and setting" in regards to psychoactive indulgence, but the advice holds relevance far past its psychedelic roots. For the highest level of personal reward in any given situation, both the individual's specific mindframe (the "set") and the surrounding physical environment ("setting") must operate in a certain state of harmony. Such a successful marriage takes precedent in the elegant folk drones of London-based trio Rameses III. The groups glistening soundscapes of guitar and keyboard splendor work to fuse the individual pleasantly within the natural environment, away from big city bustle and floating somewhere between sun-drenched fields and shaded habitations.

The recent output of Spencer Grady (also a regular Dusted contributor), Steve Lewis and Daniel Freeman focuses on squeezing as much beauty out of a given setting as possible. Matanuska, their first proper full-length (released in 2006 along with their acclaimed collaboration with the North Sea), is dominated by images of a towering forest densely populated with ancient trees - inspired by the beams of sunlight that managed to penetrate the overgrowth. The first chords of the album's opener, "Before the Rains Fall (For Ed Cooke)," creep out of rumbling thunder, incorporating the natural sound into a tug-of-war of light and darkness, reconciling the two with grace. Each guitar pluck, each keyboard addition, each ghostly vocal is approached with a contemplated gentility, restraining the swells and constructing a musical pillow of shifting harmony. The drones come in deep pulses, augmented by ever-present bird-calls that place the listener in the cultivated sylvan scene. Fragile harmonies grow steadily into malleable matter and sink slowly into the background as the tones take shape, simply existing as a meaningful and meaningless part of everything.

The setting for the groups latest EP is a film set, appropriately enough. Honey Rose serves as the soundtrack to Jon Spiras short film "Suityman," images from which don the albums cover, placing the music in a golden field of tall weeds and slow-motion breezes. A repeating guitar theme unifies the album's six tracks, popping in and out through three different incarnations over the course of a fleeting 23-minutes. The overall brevity of the pieces is the major downside to Honey Rose, which would benefit from some time to expand and settle into the sonic introductions. But given its function as a short film soundtrack, the more concise approach taken here can be forgiven. The sparkling tones within provide a fitting backdrop for peaceful isolation and a glimpse of lazy nirvana achieved among swaying cattails.

It is the groups emphasis on allowing the music to weave itself into the surrounding atmosphere that succeeds the most. Set and setting combine, guitar resonance blends with thoughts, and, for a moment, the seam between physical and non-physical becomes too small to see. Or even matter at all. I'm sure Leary would approve.

Blag

It's the Feedback Farm blog now. I guess our DJs are not nearly nerdy enough. I'm proud.

Lost and Found Sound

Lost Feedback Farm Episode Recovered!

You may recall a few months ago I posted this.

The lost episode is now found thanks to a listener in Paraguay who recorded the show and provided this MP3 of the programme. Just in time for the Christmas 2007 shopping season, because, really, you can't start your holiday shopping too early.

Download here (28MB MP3).

Mercury Rising

Either the days are getting longer or Feedback Farm is just getting more tedious.

The Feedback Farmers got a jumpstart on the summer season last night with an homage to the hot months ahead. Interested in the latest fashions and vacation destinations?--Look elsewhere. If you want to hear a remix of the summer that hasn't even happened yet or to win tickets to Summer Jam 2004, click here (32 MB MP3).

Also, we're tracking visits to this website. To make things easy on you, if you download this week's Feedback Farm episode, DON'T leave a comment. That way we'll know you were here and you won't have to do anything. Easy, right?

World's Greatest Rock-and-Roll Band Featured on World's Greatest Radio Programme

The Rolling Stones, arguably the last surviving great rock-and-roll band, were feted on the WXYC's Feedback Farm tonight. It would be impossible to adequately salute their 40+ year career (and still going) in 60 minutes, but true to their style, the Farmers tried their best. It helps when you play 5 recordings at once.

Hear the Farm treatment of Mick, Keith, and the boys for yourself. Download the programme here (30 MB MP3). Excuse the Audioslave.

Transcendental Blues

After first being exposed to Vibracathedral Orchestra in 2005 through their fantastic album Tuning to the Rooster, I was totally hooked on the UK group's wild excursions into clamorous psychedelia. Much to my excitement, they just released their latest full-length album, Wisdom Thunderbolt, on VHF records and it is as spectacular as their output usually is. I've started writing reviews for Dusted magazine, and this is one of the first album's I've reviewed for them, published today. You can read it here. I'll post more reviews as I get them done, so stay tuned if you're interested.

Live @ WXYC with Raymond Felton

Look who heated up the phone lines yesterday...

"The Pride" of Latta, South Carolina, former UNC point guard of the 2005 UNC National Championship team, and current Charlotte Bobcat, Raymond "The Truth" Felton was interviewed by Bret Dougherty on a "Special Edition SportsRap" session yesterday.

Check out the interview here.

Special kudos goes out to Neil, the 6-9AM DJ, on Thursday. Very impressive set that precluded the interview...The freshman phenom kept it "local" with cuts by Little Brother, Edgar Allen Floe, and the classic 'Criminal Minded' of Boogie Down Productions.

The solid piece of the interview is that Bret Dougherty asked Felton if he would guarantee a playoff appearance for next year. The answer...Same guarantee rests for Felton next season, he's guaranteeing a playoff appearance. Bold call from the young gunna'!

Check back in to SportsRap on Sundays between 9-10PM.

Special thanks to Raymond for joining us on the show. Now, if we can get Raymond to rock a WXYC 'T' with the number 2 emblazoned on the back. That would be Chapel Hill love.

P.S. Felton swears he's not wolfing Chick-Fill-A Chicken sandwiches on gamedays anymore. What a shame...His pre-game meals placed him as a Honorable Mention Selection on the "All-Lenoir" team.

I-95 South,
IronDog

ROCK VINYL, GIANT METAL COILS, MEN IN THEIR UNDERWEAR = BOYZONE AT WXYC

In preparation for their set at Chapel Hill's beloved noize extravaganza, "No Future Fest" at Nightlight, local weirdos Boyzone took over our studio and delivered a full-on performance on the floor of our rock vinyl room on 4/20. It was a sight to behold, and a sonic assault of electronics, clattering cymbals, looped flutes and writhing bodies. How can you say no?

Relive the magic by downloading the mp3 here

And since you, the radio listener, didn't get to see what went down in the station, there are pics posted on flickr here.

NO FUTURE for you.

Presenting LAMINAE

LAVABUSTER -- LAMINAE

A glistening, gland-stimulating excursion into electronically tinged rock and roll, hittin' doze green discs in May 2007. All your favorite primitive waveforms are here: square, sine, saw. Noise, in small doses. They here. Also: bit reduction.

http://www.unc.edu/~twboyd/LAMINAE.html

No Escape from Noise

The Feedback Farmers triumphantly rebounded from the season's nadir (never to be posted on the blog) by tackling a subject they know a lot about: Noise. It was, of course, the second time this semester they talked about noise, so it shouldn't come as any surprise that they managed to put on a decent show. Plus they only had to be on the air for 50 minutes because the WXYC transmitter was down for the first 10 minutes of their allotted time.

In any case, this week's show was a review of sorts of the 3rd annual No Future Fest held last weekend at Chapel Hill's own Nightlight. Hear all about what you missed by downloading the show here (23MB MP3).

Also be sure to check out the videos posted on YouTube by the wonderful and talented Tom Grimley. Incidentally, Tom Grimley was PJ's favorite part of No Future Fest III.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

The Revolution will be on the Feedback Farm!

The Feedback Farmers have had it up to here with the situation, and last night they had an on-air protest to tell how they felt.

If you, too, are angry, fed up, exasperated, frustrated, or otherwise in a tizzy about what's going on, then chant while you click: DOWNLOAD NOW! DOWNLOAD NOW! DOWNLOAD NOW! DOWNLOAD NOW! DOWNLOAD NOW! DOWNLOAD NOW! DOWNLOAD NOW! DOWNLOAD NOW! DOWNLOAD NOW! DOWNLOAD NOW! DOWNLOAD NOW! DOWNLOAD NOW! DOWNLOAD NOW! DOWNLOAD NOW! DOWNLOAD NOW! DOWNLOAD NOW! DOWNLOAD NOW! (28MB MP3)

i don't know if it has been mentioned before, so my apologies if it has, but I think
Warhol was pretty self-obsessed and this film just shows how much he wants others to think he's...evocative and intimidating. in my eyes, the film is more concerned with it's attack on the audience and the art in taking people's emotions and comfort levels to the extremes, and he did that, right? it is even more of an attack especially since cinema is usually seen by many people together, instead of alone by one. but yeah i won't lie, it was interesting to see human nature at it's rawest and most vulnerable state, especially when the angle coming horizontally from below made me feel like the viewer was on top of him.

Can Machines Make Love?

Artist: Pole
Album: Steingarten
Label: ~scape

Berlin producer Stefan Betke kicks the dub dancefloor up a notch with his latest full-length, emerging after a four-year hiatus since he released his self-titled album in 2003. This is his second long-player for his own ~scape label (R was released in 2001) and his welcome back after a year-long run on Mute records. Those of you bored by the dubstep and minimal dub scenes take note. Here, Betke departs further from the sparse crackles and dark thumps of his earlier work and the hip hop flirtation on his last album, now focusing more on sonic saturation and deep beat techniques. Distortion, hollow clicks, and static flashes are inter-woven among the booty-moving low end, transcending the typical minimal dub landscapes in a building wash of meticulous electronic tweaks, breaking through to something higher entirely. The mood is gentle and soothing, but still showcases enough awe-worthy bomb-drops to inspire entrancing dances. Down and dirty robot slow jams for love-making in the digital future, machine easy listening that still manages to warm even the coldest of cyborg hearts. The arrangements are pristine, brimming with bleeps and tinkles that float downstream on euphoric fuzz undercurrents and fluorescent pulses. Even Terminator’s showing off his new dance moves, and he’s looking to get laid.

-Cole-

The Feedback Farmers Hope You Had a Happy Pi Day

3.1415926535897932384626433
832795028841971693993751058
209749445923078164062862089
986280348253421170679821480
865132823066470938446095505
822317253594081284811174502
841027019385211055596446229
489549303819644288109756659
334461284756482337867831652
712019091456485669234603486
104543266482133936072602491
412737245870066063155881748
815209209628292540917153643
678925903600113...(28MB MP3)

Bands Confuse Me

I originally wrote this post to be something that was to appear on the Nightlight News, but for some reason, a bolt of ganja dust changed my mind and spurred me on to share these thoughts on this forum. I figured I might get more of a response, which is what I am hoping for, because as the title of the post suggests, I am confused and could use some help. Nevertheless, as the text may suggest, the post was written under my guise as Nightlight booking dude, not as XYC dude. I am a dude, fur the record.
Hoorah!

Ambient Music is a term that was essentially coined by Brian Eno, which he defined in the liner notes of Music for Airports as "able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting". Well said Mr. Eno. And as the founder of ambient music, then I must defer to your intent when evaluating the claims of bands that play said "ambient" music. Cuz so many seem to want to attach that term to their genre/genre/genre/genre self-description.
When I look at their myspace page, I wonder, have they ever listened to Eno? Ever listened to Fripp and Eno? Cuz their drums and guitar pop rocks for radio play and shooting up the charts has no scrape of ambient to it at all. Or that scrape of ambient is so fleeting and cursory that it seems to ignore the explicit intent behind making ambient music. Rather than functioning as ignorable, interesting, and contemplative, their music is engaging, explicit in its message, and designed, perhaps deliberately, to take the listeners attention from what they were doing back into the music.
Take for instance some of these bands and their claims/entreaties:
Plea - "Ambient Indie Rock Help!!! - Mouth Movements play not one iota of ignorable music.
Claim - "We're a indie/ambient/rock band from Boston." - 28 Degrees Taurus tread a line between sweet and engaging, perhaps justifying a descriptor such as calm-inducing. But they stray often from the format with catchy vocals and lyrics, breaking any efforts on the part of the listener (me) to desist any engaged brain pattern and devolve into nothingness and meditation.
Claim - "creates sounds that could be called electronic, metal, prog, and ambient all at once." - Ok so it's slow and kinda boring, but Souvenir's Young America also builds to soloing and noodling crescendos so quickly that by the time I started developing some deep contemplation they burst into the bridge, shattering my time-peace. And then the next song is all hard and riffy.

My words may seem like needless nit-picking or "bitching" to some, but to me, these issues of band self-description hit home at a larger phenomenon of lack of genuine uunderstanding and artistic intent in music. I definitely prefer bands whose self-decriptions relate more feeling and instinct, and invoke less of a slashslashslash kind of tag. If a slash-genre-slash can be flippantly thrown around without real regard for or commitment to the style, in this case ambient music, then what does this say about the recording artist's bearing, persona, or band attitude?
The meat of the matter for me is in the decision to book the band or not, cuz after all, that's what I doos. SEE: For a club like Nightlight that has actively cultivated an enigmatic aura that eschews the norm in favor of experimentation and art, to support a band that misrepresents itself could cause an subterranean ghostly crisis of identity that sends ripples through our collective audience. Similarly, WXYC seeks to educate its listener on little known but highly respectable forms of music. If one's mission is to expose the community to forms of art that are unseen, unheard, and golden, then one ought to be working hard to preserve the meaning and substance of those mediums one supports. Like Ambient Music.

Feedback Farmers Harvest the Forbidden Fruit

Last night the Feedback Farmers took to the airwaves once again and took a bite out of the many tricky legal issues swirling around Apple, Inc. Underneath all the noise there was a moderately interesting discussion about Digital Rights Management, Free Culture, and the recent settlement of the long-running lawsuit with the Beatles' company Apple Corps Ltd.



The Farmers want to thank Erin Watson for stopping by and discussing the work of the local chapter of Free Culture, which she co-founded here at UNC.

Did you miss the show? You can legally download the programme here (30 MB MP3).

Hissing Fauna is NOT the Destroyer

Last Monday, I conducted a brief interview with Of Montreal frontman and rising indie-pop darling Kevin Barnes via telephone, as he was then in Oklahoma at a stop in the band's current tour. I was told that I had ten minutes to conduct the on-air interview. I totally took fifteen. BOO-YAH! Over the course of those minutes, a largely uninterested/uninteresting Barnes and I chatted about Prince and his phallic guitar, the recent success of the band, the new album, and of course, the Outback Steakhouse commerical (much to Kevin's chagrin). Anyways, for those of you that missed it, you can download it here.

If you're interested, check out the new album, "Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?" out now on Polyvinyl (and in XYC's playbox), and don't forget the band's stop in Chapel Hill on Monday, March 5 at the Cat's Cradle.

Feedback Farm Loves You, Part II of II (or, In Which the Feedback Farmers Ruin that Romantic Valentine's Day Mood)

Here we see what happens when four maladjusted males try to give advice and share anecdotes about a topic best reserved for discussion by mature, sociable adults.

Download the Valentine's Day Feedback Farm Programme here (31MB MP3). The MP3s from the last post are in there somewhere.

xo

Feedback Farm Loves You, Part I of II (or, Lovin' Music Men Ain't Always What It's S'posed To Be)

x
o
<3

On "Carolina Breakdown," Irish fiddlin'... Carrboro's "Workclothes"

This week on "Carolina Breakdown," the show we do in concert (literally) with the Arts Center in Carrboro and the Curriculum in Folklore, we feature music from near and far.

Near, as in "Carrboro," as Jennie and Lee Waters bring their band Work Clothes to the show, and talk with us the texture of the Southern indie rock scene. It's great music and much introspective thought behind it.

Then it's "far" as in "far and away," as in County Galway, Ireland, as the Gavin Brothers -- Irish fiddle and accordion virtuosos -- stop in along with UNC graduate Pat Sky. It is, as Sean says, "grand, just grand," and if you've ever played air guitar, let alone air fiddle, the sounds these guys get from their instruments will blow you away.

So celebrate St. Patrick's Day early, Friday at 4 p.m., when we bring you another "Carolina Breakdown," another hour of Southern music, the people who make it and, uh, this week, the people who like it. And in two weeks, DJ and folklorist Jessica Klinke hosts a rousing show with Durham-based folk singer Alice Gerard. You can get the Breakdown on iTunes as a podcast as it spreads the WXYC gospel to places near and far. We've got listeners in Italy and Central America, even -- and this week, we're thinking we'll pick up a few in Ireland. Be well... John H.

FEEDBACK FARM SUSPECTED OF DELETING WXYC BLOG POSTS

Although details are a litle hazy at this point, members of the Feedback Farm have been suspected of practicing "web terrorism" on this very blog by deleting posts that they deemed "not fit to live ." The action was self-righteous at best, and just downright diabolical at its dark core. They already hijacked the WXYC Best of 2006 show last Wednesday, providing their own fake countdown filled with obscure field recordings, Joanna Newsom manipulations, and a double-tracked White Album in order to clutter up the airwaves with a bunch of crap that no one cared about. But this new charge finds the Farmers stooping to new depths, and begs us to ask the question, "How low can these bastards go?"

Unfortunatley, someone was dense enough to let these terrorists have a new season of their show this semester, which airs on every other Wednesday at 9pm on WXYC. Hopefully, they will clear up some of these accusations on their show next week, and address these unholy acts. When will the fear end? When?!?!?

Chapel Hill's punk rock trio Hazerai played three songs from their recent The Castle EP live on WXYC's news show yesterday. Thanks to them, to XYC jock Matt Berginski, and to Edith from the Daily Tar Heel for taking some pictures while they cranked out "Photo shoot." [g/v] [b] [d]

192k mp3s:
1. Reel ghosts break in
2. Black-eyed Susan
3. The ribbon
4. Photo shoot

Expect another strong musical guest or interview when WXYC News airs again on Sunday, February 18 at 5pm.

I Am Not Making Any Accusations

However, for the record, I did this and this last fall.

Then someone else did this.

Like I said, I'm not making any accusation, but you can judge for yourself. I guess it's just another episode in Dave Eggers' vendetta against me. What can you do?

WXYC's Official Best of 2006

Last night, the charming and hilarious Feedback Farmers returned to the airwaves for the first time this semester. They were back to their old antics as they duped us all with their Best of 2006 Hoax Programme. A perplexed and disappointed public were treated to the following countdown, "as selected by 75 WXYC DJs."

10 Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolet (Kranky)
09 Le Volume Courbe - I Killed my Best Friend (Honest Jon's)
08 Folke Rabe / Jan Bark - Argh! (Tjaft)
07 Geir Jenssen - Cho Oyu 8201m: Field Recordings from Tibet (Ash International)
06 Luc Ferrari - Son Memorise (Sub Rosa) and Far-West News (Blue Chopsticks)
05 Various Artists, Compiled by Jacob Smigel - Eavesdrop: A Wealth of Found Sound (jacobsmigel.com)
04 Lionel Marchetti - Red Dust (Crouton)
03 Anla Courtis - Tape Works (Pogus)
02 HB - Weird CD that some guy named HB sent to WXYC (self-released)
.
.
.
And at #1, the best album of 2006 was from 1968...
.
.
.
01 The Beatles - The Beatles (Capitol/EMI)

Of course it was all a hoax. The real countdown is happening right now, in fact, and is being hosted by David and P@. The Feedback Farmers apologize to P@ who did a lot of work compiling the real WXYC list and hope they didn't step on his toes too hard.

Download last night's Feedback Farm programme here (30MB MP3). More happened than just the countdown, so even though you've read the list above you should still download the file!

"Carolina Breakdown" features Chris Hillman this Friday

This week's "Carolina Breakdown" (Friday at 4 p.m.) features music and talk with Chris Hillman, original member of The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers and other rock fame. He spoke with DJ Brendan Greaves, who hosts this week's show. Should be great, and the type of original stuff you only hear at our little radio operation.

All prior "Carolina Breakdown" shows are available via iTunes -- just go to the podcast page and type "Carolina Breakdown." Join our myspace page, also uniquely titled "Carolina Breakdown." The show now has more than 1,500 listeners worldwide, from Europe to Latin America to... Greensboro, spreading the WXYC gospel far and wide.

Meantime, enjoy this week's show. I'll host the next one, Feb. 14, featuring The Gavin Brothers, Irish fiddle virtuosos, as they team up with North Carolina fiddler Pat Skye, and also Carrboro's Workclothes joins us.

And stay tuned for details about the first live taping of the show, at the ArtsCenter, in April.

~john

cue this up

The common thread that ties this organization is the simple fact that we have at one time DJ'd over the air of this area, and out onto the world wide web.
Here is another sort of DJing. Of course, this is nothing new to us. To modern music history however, it is a relatively new development. This half human/ half machine manipulation of music had such appeal that a Master of Ceremonies had to be added, and the rest is what we know of since our akward middle school (grind?) dances. The foundation for this music wasn't laid at a Bar-mitzvah however, but on the streets of South Bronx (which also happens to be home to Yankee Stadium-yeah the baseball hat thing). In this day in age it is my beleif that this craft has been trivialized and very under-appreciated. DJs in music videos might as well have be replaced by a paint spill on the green screen, as they were added quite literally as a prop (take the time to actually watch what they do). Anyways, when I cyber-stumbled upon this video on the information superhighway, I was pretty blown away. There are a kazillion videos like this, and thanks to what Time refers to as the year of 'You,' us can see this in it's true fashion. this is a 'prestigous ' dj competition from sometime before now. Enjoy.

much adulation,
Bryan

Please Reconsider, Shania

Dear Shania,

I have received your message loud and clear, and I am sorry that you remain unimpressed by the positive qualities I have developed, as well as a full lifetime of substantial accomplishment. However, perhaps I have not stated my case clearly and explicitly enough, and for that I am sorry. If you are willing to listen, however, I would like to address each of your concerns, point by point. I think it will be a valuable exercise and that it is worth your time to read and consider my points closely.

While you may not be impressed by the fact that I am, in fact, a rocket scientist, I would remind you of all the hard work and dedication that it took me to get to this point. I labored for many years in school, straining under the weight of my expansive dissertation which eventually revolutionized many of the prevailing thought on next-generation propulsion systems. While the fact that I am a rocket scientist doesn't impress you, I would urge you to consider the positive implications about my character that one may arrive at by considering this accomplishment: it points to not only a keen intelligence, but also to a strong work ethic and acute ability to get things done. These abilities have seen me gainfully employed by NASA but also by a number of private sector companies whose names I can't tell you due to restrictive non-disclosure agreements. However, I assure you that I am well-compensated for my activities,and would be an excellent provider for the both of us.

Further, I would like to address your claims that I am vain, and despite my care for personal appearance, you are unimpressed by my all-American-yet-roguish good looks. I apologize for what you perceive as an emasculating attention to my appearance and my hair. Shania, I am no slob. I feel that an acute awareness of how I present myself is a positive quality that reflects my professionalism and that my attention to working out denotes my deep commitment to a healthy lifestyle. In an America that is growing increasingly obese, I would think that these qualities would be better received. And though you mention Brad Pitt as a byword for attractiveness, I would like to remind you who has achieved People's Sexiest Man Alive the most (Three times!).

Next, you attack me for my devotion to my car. I apologize for what you perceive as preening obsessiveness. I would like to remind you that my car is in fact one of a kind. As a rocket scientist, and one-time McLaren racing team consultant, I can assure that my car is the fastest one in existence as well as being quite stylish. Excuse me for having a little pride, Shania, in perhaps the most impressive achievement in automotives in many, many years. That you aren't impressed by it, seems to speak more to your continual lack of interest in MY hobbies than any failing on my part. Once again I would ask you to pause and reflect on the many positive traits and abilities I harnessed to develop this car, and consider all their positive applications for our soon-to-be rekindled relationship.

Shania, I know that in the past I have failed to impress you,primarily because of your doubt that I have "the touch." I'm not sure what you are explicitly referencing here, but you do seem to be questioning my abilities to keep you warm in the middle of the night. This reference to my alleged sexual inadequacies seems a little misplaced, and dare I say bitter. You know that in bed, I am a tiger, and unmatched paragon of virility and I dare say that you know it well. However, I am always ready for improvement, and with your suggestions, I know I will be able to fulfill you in every sense of the word. I will develop this touch that you describe. Considering my past accomplishments, I don't think you will doubt that I can succeed.

Shania please reconsider these things you have broadcasted to the whole world. I think that the evidence that I have brought to your attention will impress you, finally. I hope things will work out with us and the future and you will give me my second chance.

Sincerely,
Kellen