Category Archives: 01 – January

JO PIE WHYLD

Enjoy this live performance in the WCBN-FM studio by Jo Pie Whyld!

Based in Ypsilanti, Jo Pie Whyld recently released an album, “Songs for Noah”, with Vyne Records. Jo Pie shared the stage with Lise at METAL in January.

You don’t need to take my word for it–

(18 minutes)
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but I want to tell you that her voice is a dream.

LISE

Enjoy this live performance in the WCBN-FM studio by Lise!

She was visiting Ann Arbor from France, and favored us with a performance at METAL, a metal workshop-cum-music venue, replete with industrial plasma cutter and art pieces.

Lise has been described as a singer and pianist who combines haunting ethereal vocals with an extended piano technique, which includes tapping and bowing the strings with horsehair.

(15 minutes)
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An extra-extra bonus is the WCBN premiere of a demo track by Gauche Kids, a duo consisting of Lise and Detroit musician Octored. Lise talks a bit about who they are and what they do in the clip below–

(4 minutes)
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Lise, you’ve got to send a Gauche Kids record to the station…!

January 25

Happy Birthday, WCBN! Perhaps I shoulda mentioned that our official 40th birthday was this week: Monday, January 23, 1972. anyway, you get the idea. and anyway, we’re gonna celebrate all the live-long year.

There were a couple significant deaths last week–Etta James and Johnny Otis. R.I.P. They are honored in this show.

In that first Johnny Otis tune, is that a mouthtrumpet?? What if that guy and Yma Sumac and Bobby McFerrin got together? transcendence is the answer.

Sex and hamburgers!

You’re familiar with the potential for alien invasion to divert humans from their self-centered trajectories and unite in a common cause. I’m here to remind you of that. and to play alienny music.

Speaking of non sequiturs, one of my favorite things about Lionel Hampton is that he is expressive both with his hands (those mallets swift and bouncing) and his mouth (he constantly verbally affirms his skills at the vibraphone). Listen for the “yyeeeahh. uugh. heaagh.” throughout. And check out a video of him playing the vibes. Watch him grunt as he bends over that instrument. He’s pretty damn good at what he does. which might mean that he began playing as a small child in order to attain such skill. which elicits an image in the old imagination of a tiny child hopping around a vibraphone, striking it with glee, muttering sounds of appreciation to himself. I want to meet that kid. that little Lionel Hampton. If he’d been born later than 1908, perhaps I could have–he spent his childhood in Wisconsin!

anyhoo, have a hear, huh?

(1 hour)
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This one’s listener-approved.

Puhleez do let me know if you can come up with a better function for the dangling lapels pictured on the Brothers Johnson album cover.

January 18

How do you feel about the Beatles?

Like em? You should listen to this show. The beginning’s all Beatles, in one form or another.

Don’t like em? You probably should listen to this show. Perhaps it’ll serve as evidence indicating that anyone can play Beatles music as good or better than the Beatles…? Offering their renditions are Earth, Wind & Fire, Mrs. Miller, and more.

The string of Beatles covers was an accident–what are the odds of randomly stumbling across numerous cross-genre Beatles covers in our broad musical library? Hum, perhaps pretty damn high…? apparently so, though it’s never happened before.

I ask of you: does the 2-way larry of I Am The Walrus make John Lennon turn in his grave or dance in it?

old-school BATMAN + bowling + Sun Ra + WFMU = jknbmancguarie,!

Not only all of the above, but have you ever heard Bing Crosby SCAT?
You can:

(1 hour)
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Allow me to highlight the fantastic promos that lead into this show. Not only are they well-crafted and “hotter than lava”, respectively, but they also give you a taste of how eventful this year is going to be. Throughout 2012, WCBN’s fortieth year of terrestrial broadcasting power, our events crew will serve the community with a multitude of activities. FYI.

January 11

My general feelings of ambivalence of late may explain the zig-zagging between lively and subdued tracks at the top of the show. and perhaps the rowdy punks thrown in throughout.

Stay tuned all the way through to hear excerpts from The Complete Cockatiel Training Album (which, amazingly, still is being sold). To me, this album begs multiple questions. Why would anyone want to standardize their cockatiel by teaching it canned phrases that can be found on an album sold in pet stores? Furthermore, why would anyone choose the particular phrases that can be found on that album? I can sort of understand “Hey, good lookin”, but surely cockatiel owners across the nation are tired of a bird asking if they want to play…

anyway.

(1 hour)
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January 8, 2012: Expletives

oohhh, here is a special show.

in which I present a full 3 hours of music to your ears and revel in the magic of late-night radio, when the FCC doesn’t punish people who want to publicly appreciate art that refers to sex and drugs and naughty words! There. You’ve been warned. This show contains a decent amount of “indecent” content.

Between academic semesters, our student-run community radio station grows even more anarchic during a period called “open signup”. For open signup, DJs grab whatever slots they want until the new semester’s programming schedule is set in stone. I snagged a Sunday morning 3-6am slot and loved every second of it. I hope you do, too. You can listen to it here.

This is some serious (listener-approved!) freeform, as it contains everything from Tom Waits to Lenny Bruce to Queen Latifah to Nine Inch Nails to Hot Hot Heat to Hot Chip to the artist formerly known as Prince (nice ‘stache!!) to Frank Zappa to a handful of local artists.

Don’t you ever wonder how the hell does Stevie Wonder see things?

(3 hours)
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HAPPY NEW YEAR!