Why I Love the 80s, pt. 3: Prince

That's all.


*swoon*

(P.S. - You're going to the 80s Dance this Saturday. If you're lucky, you'll see ^this guy^ there.)

Why I Love the 80s, pt. 2: 4AD

Alright so this doesn’t have a significant amount of relevance to the dance aspect of the 80s Dance (which you will be attending). The only significant dance single they put out was Pump Up the Volume, which, don’t be mistaken, is actually a great, influential song. Otherwise, 4AD was a haven for brooding stargazing art kids who, as you might imagine, may not place as much emphasis on big beats and the club scene.

So if you don’t know, 4AD in a nutshell is a record label founded pretty much in 1980 and spearheaded pretty much by one Mr. Ivo Watts-Russell. The label was responsible for a good amount of British “alternative” classics in the 80s (The Birthday Party, Bauhaus, Cocteau Twins, personal favorites of mine Dead Can Dance, etc.), and American “alternative” classics in the 90s (Pixies, Red House Painters, The Breeders). These days they bring you “alternative” classics from The National, tUnE-yArDs, St. Vincent, Gang Gang Dance, et al.

But what was special about 4AD in the 80s, at least to me, is that there’s a unique, nebulous bleakness and majesty in 4AD records that resonates with the closet goth in me. It’s not just the music, but the visual artwork and sleeves provided by the team of Vaughn Oliver and Nigel Grierson (collectively known as 23 Envelope) were always perfect representations of the music therein and perfect mood pieces to an era. Personally, I’m partial to the sleeve design for Cocteau Twins’ Treasure if only because it strangely reminds me of a video game I played growing up (Chrono Cross for you wondering minds). Nevertheless, it’s a great design for a great album. Coincidentally, there’s a song titled “Ivo” on Treasure. Check it.

In any case, even if I may not be dancing to a good amount of 4AD stuff, I’ll just as gladly spend a night bawling myself dry (replenishing those tears only with a faithful companion box of wine) with a This Mortal Coil record on.

Thank you, Ivo Watts-Russell.

Thank you.

Why I Love the 80s, pt. 1: Hip Hop

Look folks, the WXYC 80s Dance is coming up (Saturday, December 3^rd 9PM Cat’s Cradle GO!), and I will unabashedly say that my favourite decade is the 80s for a plethora of reasons. “What are those reasons?” I can hear your collective shrill voices ask. Well, counting down the days ‘til the 80s dance, my ambition and I will post something each day that I love about this ~*~*\_magical_/*~*~ decade.

Why I love the 80s, pt1: Hip Hop

No, hip hop didn’t magically start in the 80s, but the decade did see hip hop gain all sorts of traction, becoming a huge cultural phenomenon. This you already knew. Many books could be and have been written Basically, this post is for me to say one thing:

Hip Hop is beautiful.

Here’s why!

Personally, I’m a junkie for all things of cultural relevance (which essentially means everything), and the Hip Hop movement was fundamentally revolutionary in cultural terms. It gave “urban youth” (this mainly means black kids in The Bronx & Harlem, at least at the time) a voice and a presence in society at large, exposing a whole other side of America that had never really seen the light of day.

From how I see it, black popular music was born from a rigid business-oriented model, namely Motown/Tamla, and while Motown was very much necessary as a means to get a black foot in the door, its exploited artists and assimilated style had no way of connecting with “urban youth”. Finally, Hip-Hop came along. There was no business here, no tricks, no flamboyent hair, no awkward choreographed dance routines, no pining for the love of someone who for whatever reason isn’t yours. Nah man, that’s weak. This was, as I gather, for the people by the people. It was a sort of self-nourishment for alienated communities. The b-boys, MCs, DJs, and graffiti artists it inspired were driven away from the destructive alternatives of gangs and such, and in turn, their products drove others from street corners and into clubs. Counteracting the stagnant, self-defeating nature of ghetto neighborhoods, there was finally something creative that the people could call their own.

Mention Kurtis Blow, Doug E Fresh, Run-DMC, Slick Rick, Eric B. & Rakim, The Jungle Brothers, Boogie Down, etc. to any 80s urbanite, and watch their face light up. This isn’t nostalgia. It was a revolution that _obviously_ is still driving a big part of America.

All of this, but I’ve yet to say that Hip Hop is a bunch of ass-shaking FUN.

Come check some FRESH BEATZZZZ at the 80s Dance.

P.S. I have no beef with Smokey Robinson or The Temptations...

Better Know a DJ: Grant Bisher

“Look at this loser,” I thought when I first met Grant Bisher.

He was sitting across from me at a table in Lenoir while his (cooler, funnier, and frankly better looking) older brother was live DJing to Lenoir’s hungry masses, each consumer occasionally taking time away from demolishing their chicken fajitas and sushi to nod in approval when Rihanna started playing. I, however, could neither eat nor feel like the only girl (in the world), not with this guy in my vicinity. Apparently, the feeling was mutual. I caught a few stink eyes that night. I was hoping he had just caught a reflection of himself in the window behind me.

Later, I learned that Grant was hired as a new DJ this Fall, and ever since I had been wondering how we could let this lanky plebeian spin for us.

In my curiosity, I arranged a chat with Grant. Maybe we could bond over the Better Know a DJ series. Perhaps, there was an interesting mind behind the off-putting demeanor. We found some time at our old meeting/stomping/battlegrounds – the Top of Lenoir. Between our snarls I threw around some softball questions.

Hey so, what’s your favourite band?

Foster the People!

[I’m judging you so hard right now]. Well, that’s interesting, but I suppose also expected. Next question: Considering we’re in Lenoir right now, what’s your favourite food?

Pasta the people!

Um…how about your favourite Disney character?

Mufasa the People!

[This guy must be deranged] Actress?

Jodie Foster the People!

[Or is this a joke?…It better be a joke. I wonder how far he can take this.] Do you have a religion?

Rasta the People!

What do you do in your spare time?

Foster the peephole!

I had had enough of trying to deal with this backwards nobody. Still curious as to why Grant was the horrible person he was, I visited Grant’s better half, his dog Kipper. I had learned from Grant’s associates that he had an intensely close, almost spiritual relationship with Kipper. I followed Grant home (from a distance – Grant is too repulsive to be followed closely), and met his pet. Admittedly, this dog was quite amicable, serene, and supercute. I knelt down and couldn't help but ask, “How could a bumpkin be the owner of such a majestic creature?”

mmrrgkg

“What’s that? You’re the real Grant Bisher, and the one walking around in the human body is actually Kipper the dog? How’d that happen?

…[squeal]

So let me get this straight: You were walking your dog through the woods, getting in touch with your German roots and re-enacting the story of Hansel and Gretel (you were Hansel, Kip was Gretel) when you ran into a witch. The witch was pissed over the inaccurate, offensive portrayal of witches in that old children’s tale that you seemed to glorify, and in an act of retribution, she exchanged your and Kipper’s souls so that you may more positively reevaluate how you judge humans by making you an incarnate of ‘man’s best friend’? But how does that explain the Foster the People fixation?

Grarwwoof[mumble]

You went on a road trip once with Kipper and “Pumped Up Kicks” was all that was playing on the radio the whole time? Kipper seemed to enjoy it, and now Foster the People is his favourite band largely because it’s the only band he knows, and now he thinks that radio is synonymous with “Pumped Up Kicks”? Well, I can’t blame him, it’s such a damn catchy song; I hate it.

Hhhmbf

So have you learned your lesson? Do you hold witches in kind regard these days?

…

Wow! You want to burn the witch who did this to you? So harsh! I suppose you haven’t learned anything. I guess that’s why there’s still a hideous dog-boy parading about…Well, good luck.

-------------------

Catch all the Pumped Up Kicks you could ever want between 10 AM and 12 PM on Tuesdays.

Tonight's TNF and Big Freedia

'ello,

Since I'm the one using the blog most these days, I might as well plug my Thursday Night Feature happening TONIGHT (11/10/11) from 9-midnight. The show's going to highlight LGBTQ music...Yes, this is a really broad topic for a TNF which concerns me a little. I'm not going to get the nooks and crannies of queer history, but I'll at least try.

Speaking of queer, there's this somewhat new (at least outside of New Orleans) phenomenon called Sissy Bounce. It's essentially Bounce music (chanting, booty-hopping, dance music) behind the context of queer performers. One such performer who has been hitting WXYC hard as of late is New Orleans's very own Queen Diva and rotation alum Big Freedia. She'll be rocking The Casbah in Durham tomorrow (11/11/11). I know a good number of DJs, me included, who will be in attendance, so if youre down for some friction, I recommend you come with us.

And yeah, I'll be bringing that jam out tonight and probably bouncing my skinny ass on the turntables while it's playing.


Recap:

• Queer music TNF tonight (9-midnight) followed coincidentally by my normal show (midnight-3 AM). Essentially, I'll be doing six ours of LGBT music.
• BIG FREEDIA tomorrow. Casbah. GO!
  

Better Know a DJ: Billy Marinello

Welcome to the first in a series of posts in my Better Know a DJ series. I have a feeling many listeners (and a good number of DJs) don’t know who the people spinning throughout the day are. In this series, I aim to explore the lives behind your favourite self-confident disembodied voices. These are all based on interviews. Trust me.

First up, our business manager and regular DJ, Billy Marinello:

Billy Marinello was prancing along the brick walkways of campus in the direction of the Student Union carelessly pondering life’s big questions. How much popcorn should I buy at the grocery for the next episode of Doctor Who? How does my hair look? Whatever happened to plug-in love? In his careless wandering, he bumped into something and soon realize he’d gone far off-course. He had ended up in the middle of the woods. He’d bumped into things before. He’d been in forests. However, these trees seemed almost omnipresent, shivering with an intensity he’d never seen before. The mirage of woods seemed to give way to a shadowy figure directly in front of him. Billy unfortunately did not run into a tree. Billy had crossed paths with a witch.

She was a standard image of a witch – dull skin, flowing black shadowy clothes, etc. She had been out in the woods, picking herbs for her next magical concoction, when she had sensed an especially misanthropic aura nearby. This aura was Billy’s. Billy had spent a good chunk of his young life under a policy hating everyone. No one really knows why. Spastic declarations “I hate everyone” or “I hate everything” would escape him regularly like taglines. No one ever really took him seriously, but that probably only made him more strangely vengeful. Anyway, the witch was disturbed by Billy’s bubbling evil, and decided to coax a change in Billy’s demeanor. To learn to accept and integrate himself with the world, he would need to first be closer to nature. This intimacy is lost on most human beings, so she turned Billy into an antelope.

A hazy sequence of what seemed like stage pyrotechnics accompanied the awkward morphing of his bones accommodating his new lithe, quadrupedal body. Billy was rightfully confused. “This strange lady is probably going to be added to my hate-list,” he thought. Eventually, the billows of fog cleared and Billy found himself inhabiting the body of an antelope on a savannah underneath an ominous grey and furiously storming sky. He wanted shelter.

Billy pranced among the slippery grasses of this savannah until he found a cave which he then dashed towards. Inside, he was relieved for only a moment. Viscous, muddy runoff that had accumulated on the edge of the terrace overlooking the cave had decided that it needed a change of scenery. The thick clay fell over the entrance, and Billy had found himself trapped by the mudslide. Billy turned from the former exit and saw in the dimming light an large furry figure rising groggily, likely disturbed by the events happening outside the cave. Their eyes met, and Billy could sense within the pair a violent, carnal desire. Billy was trapped in a cave with a steadily approaching hungry bear.

Without many options, Billy pranced to the edge of the cave and cowered in fear. In a less pressing situation, he would have pondered the logic of a bear living in a savannah, but these are times when one reflects back on one’s life, so that’s what Billy did.
Billy recalled his youth. He grew up in a Navy family and dabbled his childish feet in many parts of the world. He had experienced many cultures and met many people until he had settled in Charlotte some five or six years ago. It suddenly hit him that all the people he had met and all of the scenes he had been privy to, in some strangely mechanical way were all beautiful.

Billy recalled his times as a DJ for WXYC. He was hired in Fall 2010, and had enjoyed it on multiple levels. When asked why being a DJ was so appealing to him, his response was, “It feels great to be in the control room and to assert your reign of music, imposing your will on the unsuspecting masses.” In the cave, the dominating bear was inching closer. Was I doing this for the wrong reasons?

Through his ambition, he became the business manager of XYC, managing the budget and pocketing a few bucks on the side to feed his concert, electronics, and effects pedal addictions. These toys and these experience seemed to make his now rapidly shortening life worth living.

He then reevaluated his love of and taste for music. No doubt, it was a great, fond foundation in his life, but why?
When asked what he looks for in music, he would have said, “I want to feel pain”
“No, take that back,” antelope Billy rejected. He could see now see through his misguided thoughts. “No, I look for integrity and sincerity and people who actually care and put some amount of life and emotion in their music.” Artists such as
Ben Frost, Jónsi, James Brown, William Basinski, Swans, Flipper and Diamanda Galas came to mind

Care, emotion, life…these seemed like ingredients to something, something greater than its parts, the force behind everything. Words came to him. Albert’s words. He too wanted to join the army with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi. He wanted to fight for love.

The ravenous bear was just a few inches away, and as he was cowering still, for some reason, the only song that came to mind was Barbara Streisand's Papa, Can You Hear Me?

Papa, can you hear me?

Papa, can you see me?

Papa can you find me in the night…?

And as the jaws of death were descending upon his limp frame, a revelation came to him. He exclaimed in his own antelope language,

“I DON'T hate everyone.”

The bear and the dubious night dissolved into a cold mist lifting itself towards a clear sky. Billy looked up and watched his fears fly aimlessly away. Then, he looked down. His two feet were were planted solidly on the floor of the Student Union. He had a show to do.

Catch Billy M. 5-7 PM every Saturday this semester.

The End of Days

What it looks like to DJ at WXYC these days, beyond the white walls.