Best known for their heavily influential album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco exemplifies the genre of Alt-country but also takes it to a weird place. This is all conveyed from the view of fan-girl that idolized the group during her most musically influential years. After a confusing latter chapter of the bands career (see post A Ghost is Born years), I had not paid attention to their newest release. Sky Blue Sky, featured in various car adverts, marked a decline that would culminate in a self-titled album that even Wilco super-fans didn’t really like. You really have to take a moment to reflect when you’re buying the newest album of your indie-heroes in a Starbucks, even if they have been on a major label for years. Yet, the new album The Whole Love marked a regression to what worked for the band. With a re-sparked interest and a tiny grudge against ticket prices, I headed to Spokane on February 6^th to witness a band that I had once idolized age gracefully before my eyes.

I reasonably had my reservations (no pun intended) about seeing any band at a venue with seats in it, but Wilco is one of those bands everyone has to see once in their lives. The band went so far as to mention their appreciation for the Spokanites standing throughout the show. The crowd consisted of a lot of aging-hipsters and even some children. There was also a surprising amount of young teens who seemed to be rocking out more than many of the scene vets. The show opened with a pretty elaborate light display onto hanging reeds all over the stage and each of the band members (a revolving door of pretty talented instrumentalists) seemed to occupy their own space. Tweedy stood in the middle dressed like a counter-culture farmer not a day over 43. When he began singing his voice was as good as one could have hoped for. Cigarettes will do that for you? He tweaked the cadence in his songs enough for you to appreciate the live-aspect of the show.

I have to admit, I’ll be damned if I didn’t get my money’s worth. Wilco isn’t one of those bands that just plays through their newest album release, they are there to give you a show. After all of these years the group has become seasoned in the best possible sense. Wilco played songs from every album in their Jeff Tweedy lead catalogue.  He even mentioned that they liked to give equal opportunity to every album, even if that meant including the album that isn’t everyone’s favorite. I think old and new fans alike appreciated him hanging a lantern on the self-titled debacle. I guess when one moves beyond their mistakes, they can laugh in retrospect.

A definite highlight was the amazing guitar solo performed by Nels Cline and a play through of “Jesus, Etc.” resulting from a fan poll on the bands official website (wilcoworld.net). Tweedy implied that he was really going to make the night for the 12 people in the audience that participated. Some odd aspects of the show included intermittent and ill-placed cacophonies during the otherwise sweet song “Via Chicago” and a slightly off solo during “At Least That’s What You Said” (which still managed to be a show highlight for me).

So, in 2012, Wilco’s sounding like Wilco again, I am accepting that I am no longer very out of place in a crowd of yuppies, and an audience full of people can die happy having seen Wilco play almost every great song they have produced.

Album review by KUOI DJ Lindsay, host of Constructive Interference.

Boise band Shades released their debut album Clear Motions to an excited collection of local and regional fans last Tuesday. They’ve been buzzed about by the likes of the Boise Weekly and The C.O.T. for good reason. Featuring echoey vocals, dreamy synths and gratuitous amounts of bass, Shades makes dancehall ready tunes with laser-like precision.

Layers of sound fold and frolic around your ears like waves of light. Listening closely you can spot hints of Animal Collective, Washed Out and perhaps a smidgeon of Ratatat. There’s an excellent balance between the guitar, synth and vocals such that none of the elements is overwhelming but the combination is powerful. Aptly named, you’ll need shades to listen to them with sound so bright it’ll give you cataracts. My personal favorite tracks are “Ghostlike” the perfect theme for adolescent angst in the space age (Think of a John Hughes movie if it were set in 2050) and “Soft Skin” which puts a greater focus on the reverb-laden vocals, with stunning effect.  Save that ten dollars you would’ve spent on a movie night and buy Clear Motions on iTunes instead. If your date is worthwhile, they’ll understand. They might even want to listen, too.

Here are some picks from KUOI staff and DJs for releases we’re looking forward to in the coming year.  We are quite excited.

Kentaro Murai, Program Director

Dirty Beaches – Zoo Music LP 2
Fuxa – Electric Sound of Summer
Chrome Cranks – Ain’t No Lies In Blood
Crocodiles – ?
Dirty Three – Toward the Low Sun
Black Breath – ?
Frankie Rose - Interstellar
Gallon Drunk – ?
King Elephant – ?
Plateaus – Elefant 7″
Boy Friend – Egyptian Wrinkle
Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light
Cheap Curls – 7″

Already Out

Porcelain Raft – Strange Weekend
Heavy Hawaii – Super Bowl XXIX 7″

Ethan Arave, Music Director

Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas
Georgia Anne Muldrow – Seeds
Gonjasufi – Muzzle
Caretaker – Patience
Joyful Noise Flexidisc Series – Feat. Of Montreal, Tortoise, Akron/Family, Deerhoof and other less cool people.

Tim Blood, DJ

Joyce Manor – Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired
Sonic Avenues – Television Youth
Craig Finn – Clear Hearts Full Eyes
Mind Spiders – Meltdown
John K Samson – Provincial
Cheap Girls – Giant Orange
Mean Jeans – On Mars

Click the pic yall. Hope you enjoy. Funny picture casually stolen from Hark, a vagrant, check it out as well.

-E

Here it is again, the year end-stravaganza.

As ever, right out the gate, we have some KUOI DJ lists of music. Everyone here was or is a DJ and every entrant was given as much breathing room as they desired in constructing their lists. These lists are chock-full of fantastic music from a fantastic year, hand picked by people who know and love their music. Thanks for reading, enjoy, and stay tuned for at least one more holiday gift from your awkward uncles that only show up around the holidays here at KUOI Blog.

Ethan Arave – (KUOI Music Director)

Tracks:

1.  Colin Stetson – Fear of the Unknown And The Blazing Sun
2.  Dimlite – Metal Snake
3.  Fourtet – Locked
4.  Modselektor – Blue Clouds
5.  Keith Fullerton Whitman – 101105
6.  Oneohtrix Point Never – Replica
7.  Shabazz Palaces – Free Press & Curl
8.  Siriusmo – Idiologie
9.  James Blackshaw – Holly
10.  Jai Paul – BTSTU (Edit)
11.  Daphni – Ahora (Or pretty much anything Caribou remixed this year, he killed it with his remixes and his cuts as Daphni)
12.  Colin Stetson – Clothed in the Skin of the Dead
13.  Bill Orcutt – How The Thing Sings
14.  Bill Callahan – America!
15.  Telebossa – Eu Sonhei Que Tu Estavas Tao Linda

Albums:

1.  Colin Stetson – History of War Vol.2 Judges
2.  Dimlite – My Human Wears Aceida Shreds
3.  Shabazz Palaces – Black it Up
4.  Oneohtrix Point Never – Replica
5.  Panda Bear – Tomboy
6.  Demdike Stare – Triptych
7.  Michachu and the Shapes – Chopped & Screwed
8. Machine Drum – Room(s)
9. John Fahey – Your Past Comes Back to Haunt You: The Fonotone Years [1958-1965]
10.Telebossa – Telebossa

KENTARO MURAI – KUOI Program Director

These are the things which have been affecting my temporal lobes this year:

Top Albums:

1.  Tim Blood & the Gutpanthers - Summer of Our Discontent 
Yes, these guys are local and yes, they are my pals.  Does this have anything to do with getting on this list?  Maybe.  Here’s the deal:  My friends put something out that can go toe-to-toe, nay, surpass albums that garner much attention in the mainstream indie blogosphere.  It’s simply rousing.  The rock ‘n’ roll dream is alive and well and it’s in my/our own back yard.

2.  Colours – Self-Titled FLA 12″
My Creation Records-inspiried luscious noise fix for this year, and probably next year too!  From Australia.

3.  Goddammitboyhowdy – Is Rez Punk 7″
Incendiary and inspired punk rock from the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.  These guys played at CRAFT House this Spring in Moscow and was the best local show this year.  If you were there, you had a lot of fun!  Check out Captain Ron Blow’s interview if you haven’t already. 

4.  Pink Playground – Self-Titled Downwards 10″
We all mourn the passing of My Bloody Valentine (even those of us who weren’t around for it) but it turns out that they had children.  Legitimate children.

5.  Cults – Self-Titled
The best pop-oriented album I’ve heard in a while.  (Not that I listen to pop albums, per se.  Let’s just call it poppy.  Cool?  Cool.)   Obvious throwbacks to the golden age of girl groups while dashing ahead/sideways into the dream-pop future/present.

Top Tracks:

1.  The Fall – “Greenway”
2.  Plateaus – “Beach Coma”
3.  Smith Westerns – “All Die Young”
4.  Sleep ∞ Over – “The Heavens Turn By Themselves”
5.  The Spits – “My Mess”
6.  Reading Rainbow – “Cover the Sky”
7.  Colleen Green – “Dance the Night Away”
8.  Don Gere – “Werewolves on Wheels (Main Theme)”
9.  Boy Friend – “D’Arrest”
10. Dirty Beaches – “No Fun”
11.  The Panthers – “Malkaus”
12. Pikacyu*Makato – “Birth Star”
13. Puro Instinct – “Escape Forever”
14.  Bass Drum of Death – “Velvet Itch”
15.  Dum Dum Girls – “Teardrops On My Pillow”

Top Shows:

1.  Acid Mother’s Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. @ The Badlander, Missoula, MT 04/01/11

2.  Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter, Sadies @ Showbox Downtown, Seattle, WA 08/04/11

3.  Tim Blood & the Gutpanthers @ Bloomsday Run 2011 – Government Way and “G” St., Spokane, WA 05/01/11

4.   N’Shukugawa Boys, Watutsi Zombie @ Chika-Ikkai, Osaka, JP 01/03/11

5.  Davila 666 @ East End, Portland, OR 03/29/11

For a  list that’s even more gratuitous, visit Audiodrome Radio on Facebook.

ANTHONY SAIA
  - KUOI Station Manager

Top 5 Hip Hop:

Tyler the Creator – Goblin
Immortal Technique – The Martyr
Childish Gambino – Camp
Atmosphere – The Family Sign
Prof – King Gampo

Top 5 Radio 200:

Manchester Orchestra – Simple Math
Cage The Elephant – Thank You Happy Birthday
Cold War Kids – Mine Is Yours
Blitzen Trapper – American Goldwing
Honorable Mention: David Bazan – Strange Negotiations
Honorable Mention: The Front Bottoms – S/T

Top 10 Metal/Rock:

Kvelertak – S/T
Mastodon – The Hunter
Mastodon – Live At The Aragon
Deftones – Covers
Dead Letter Circus – This Is The Warning
Red Fang – Murder The Mountains
Witch Mountain – South of Salem
Opeth – Heritage
The Devil Wears Prada – Dead Throne
White Arms of Athena – Astrodrama

CONFINEMENT LOAF

1.  Rabbits – Lower Forms
2.  Wino – Adrift
3.  Weird Al Yankovic – Alpocalypse
4.  Yob- Atma
5.  Witch mountain – South of Salem

TIM BLOOD

Top Five Albums:

1.  Joyce Manor – Self-Titled
2.  Raein – Sulla Linea D’Orizzonte Tra Questa Mia Vita E Quella Di Tutti
3.  Crusades – The Sun Is Down And The Night Is Riding In
4.  Jessica Lea Mayfield – Tell Me
5.  Flashlights – I’m Not Alone

Top Songs:

1.  Rihanna – We Found Love
2.  Army Girls – The Power
3.  King Louie’s Missing Monuments – Girl of The Night
4.  Bad Sports – Teenage Girls
5.  Joyce Manor – Leather Jacket
6.  Raein – Costellazione Secondo Le Leggi Del Caso
7.  The Riverboat Gamblers – Parasite Friend
8.  Flashlights – Choking
9.  The Hex Dispensers – Personality X-Ray
10.  Jessica Lea Mayfield – Blue Skies
11.  Bomb The Music Industry – Hurrican Waves
12.  Video – Teenage Death
13.  Vivian Girls – Dance (If You Wanna)
14.  Ghost Knife – Pixiedust
15.  Mind Spiders – Don’t Let Her Go

KEITH J. FELTIS – Co-Host of The Dingo That Ate Your Baby

I barely listened to any new music this year. My most listened to top 10 would only have the first two. These are almost the only 10 albums from 2011 I listened to. I don’t know if any toward the end of the list are essential. What is though? Nothing I guess. I noticed while putting this together that half of these were posted online with the bands permission, weird. I’ve included download links when that’s the case. I also put what country the artist was from to show how cultured I am. Sorry for getting so wordy.

1/2. Various - Luk Thung: Classic & Obscure 78s from the Thai Countryside AND Thai Dai: The Heavier Side of the Luk Thung Underground (Thailand)
These are two compilations of old Thai pop/folk music  (from what I understand of what I’ve read) from the 60′s and 70′s that I got into from the KUOI library. I don’t know, there’s lot’s of traditional instrumentation (I assume) mixed with goofy 60′s and 70′s western instrumentation but the best part is the vocals. Very interesting, catchy and beautiful but not in a fussed over way. I don’t know how to talk about these other than that I enjoyed them so much. These were my go to albums when putting on something to listen to while doing stuff around the house. You should really check them out.

3. Заводь (Zavod) - Ритуал (Ritual) (Ukraine)
This is a band I was super into at the beginning of the year but kind of forgot about later on. From the videos I’ve seen online it looks like they’re pretty young. The songs are like really driving, punk-ish black metal with an occasional, to my ear, European screamo melody. Pretty catchy actually. The sounds is kind of overwhelming. Probably the most pleasant surprise of 2011 which is why it’s so high on the list. http://r-a-b-m.blogspot.com/2011/01/ritual-2011.html

4. Looking For An Answer – Eterno Treblinka (Spain)
This is just a really solid and easy to listen to album all around. Really bad band name but whatever. This is a well done modern “throwback” grindcore album with lots of chugging parts and catchy death metal riffs. There’s something to be said for doing something very well.

5. Raein – Sulla Linea D’Orizzonte Tra Questa Mia Vita E Quella Di Tutti (Italy)
I didn’t listen to this a whole lot, which is weird cause they’re one of my favorite bands and this is a really beautiful album. It probably would have been higher on the list otherwise. I think I felt like I didn’t want to put the time into totally appreciating it. I don’t quite know how to describe it. I always like their vocals which are somewhat aggressive though mixed in very well with the instruments. It’s the guitar that is the best thing about this though. I guess it’s fairly post punk-y but mostly very pretty. This album breathes more than anything else by them. I hate when people just compare a release to another release by the same band cause that doesn’t do most people any good but it’s hard for me not to think about this album any other way cause I’m such a fan. Just download it. http://www.raein.eu/

6. Mindspiders – Mindspiders LP (USA)
I just listened to this for a couple months in the summer and then forgot about it. When I was into it I was listening to it everyday. I guess you could call it garage-y or something. In some ways the album feels, to me, like it’s moving around a lot but it’s all simple rocking pop songs so that keeps it together. Or something.

7. Robocop – Robocop II (USA)
This is another one that was an early fav. Really headbanging slow doomy parts and then really fast power violence-y parts where you can still pick out the riffs. Also the way the riffs are put together is kind of atypical in a really good way. The recording is great; really thick guitar. Towards the end there’s a lot of alternating cut up noise tracks with the faster tracks but they work well with the whole flow of the album. http://www.grindcorekaraoke.com/album/robocop-ii

8. Wormrot – Dirge (Singapore)
Kind of spazzy and unpredictable grindcore. I don’t think this will get stuck in your head but it’s really listenable, fun and intense. It’s almost like lots of really good transition parts. This band has had lots of internet hype which is cool for them. http://www.earache.com/misc/downloads/wormrot/

9. Chulo/Tumor Ganas – Third World Nightmare (Columbia/Indonesia)
This is a fun split. Chulo is like super scummy “noisegrind” I guess. I don’t know how to explain the appeal is to this stuff but I think it can be fun in the right context. The recording is totally blown out in a hard to understand way. Everything but the drums and vocals gets lost when the songs get fast. I love when the vocalist yells “CHULOOOOO!” (I think it means pimp?) at the start of the first song. Tumor Ganas is a really punk-ish grindcore band with really funny quotes. My favorite is the one from Constantine on “Victims of Conspiracy”. This is far from essential, I’ve just been listening to it a lot the last couple of weeks. http://www.grindcorekaraoke.com/album/third-world-nightmare

10. Unholy Grave – Blast Mayhem (Japan)
This band has had like 10 releases a year since the early 90′s and they’re one of my favorites. They haven’t really changed much since they began. It’s still just fast, super simple catchy grindcore recorded really raw. This release is actually a bunch of practice demos ranging from 1994 to 2011. The only real difference is some of the recordings are not as blown out as their normal releases. I only listened to this once but I listened to this band a lot and couldn’t think of anything else for number 10. If your not a fan and want to get into them I suggest “Terroraging Crisis”, “Against Terrorism” or “Grind Victim”.

Others:
Pig Noose – Ctrl Force Sessions 7-22-11 (USA)
This is kind of self serving cause I recorded it and they’re my friends so it’s not in the regular top ten. These songs have however been stuck in my head for months. This is like hardcore punk. Good simple riffs. Really good vocals. “Tough” feel. http://controlforce.bandcamp.com/album/ctrlforce-sessions-7-22-11

Art Fad – Vatos (USA)
Also friends. They played in Moscow at the last Tim Blood show. Drowned out poppy rock. Every song sounds the same in a good way. Total summertime album. http://soundcloud.com/artfad/sets/vatos
All the links are free totally legal downloads!!!!

DJ HSBND (Daniel Ryan)

Dancy:

1.    Chrome Sparks- All I Want [feat. Stefaloo]
2.    Washed out- A Dedication
3.    Radiohead [Caribour rmx] Lotus Flower
4.    Phantogram- Don’t Move
5.    Neon Indian- Polish Girl
6.    Cults- Go Outside
7.    CSS- Red Alert [feat. ratatat]
8.    Warm Ghost- Inside and Outside
9.    Colleen Green- Dance The Night Away
10.    Blood Orange- Sumthin Blvd
11.    Youth Lagooon- Cannons
12.    Panda Bear- Tomboy
13.    Monster Rally- Surf Erie
14.    Rhythm Memeory- Sworn Oaths
15.    Foster The People- Pumped Up Kicks

Rock/Folk/Indie
(whatever you want to call modern music nowadays):

1.    Flaming Lips/Neon Indian- Is David Bowie Really Dying
2.    Dum Dum  Girls- There Is A Light and it Never Goes Out
3.    Explosions In the Sky- Last Known Surroundings
4.    David Bazan- Wolves
5.    Iron and Wine- I Really Like Your Fake Name
6.     Fleet Foxes- Helplessness Blues
7.    Wilco- Art of Almost
8.    Surferblood- Drinking Problem
9.    The Appleseed Cast- Middle States
10.    Weed Science- Oh No Shark Bait!!

Top 5 Albums:

1.    Washed Out- Within and Without
2.    The Flaming Lips 2011 (3 collaborative ep’s featuring Lightning Bolt, Neon Indian, And Prefuse 73)
3.    RadioHead-King of Limbs
4.    Neon Indian-Era Extrana
5.    David Bazan- Strange Negotiations

LINDSAY STRIBLING - Host of Constructive Interference

PETER RITTER
 - Host of Raging MacGuffins 

5 top albums from this year, in no order:

AM & Shawn Lee – Celestial Electric

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr – It’s a Corporate World

tUnE-YaRdS – W H O K I L L

Phantogram – Nightlife (& Eye’s Move) (I included their awesome debut, since I heard about it in 2011 and have been playing the absolute shit out of it)

Starfucker – Reptilians

As if further proof was need that Fucked Up’s Pink Eyes is a chatty fellow and an all-around nice guy, here’s a station ID that Program Director Kentaro got at ATP NY 2010.  Enjoy!

Fucked Up’s “David Comes To Life” is on the New Music Shelf.  Request line: 208.885.6392

Program Director Kentaro went out to the coast earlier this month.  Here’s his report:

10.8.11  Olympia, WA.  NUTS! #8 Release Party.  There was a myriad of bands playing at this all-day festival held in a roofless building.  Hysterics were fierce and played an excellent cover of “Institutionalized.”  Christian Mistress (not pictured) delivered a much-needed headbanging soundtrack.

10.9.11  Seattle, WA.  Got into town just in time to catch Cults do a free in-store at Easy Street Records.  Later that night, Colleen Green and Crocodiles opened for Dum Dum Girls at Neumo’s.  Colleen didn’t have her new 12″ at the time but when we get it, we’ll play it!  Crocodiles blazed through new songs from their forthcoming new album.  Dum Dum Girls were dreamy and devastating.  Didn’t do much headbanging that day.

10.10.11  Portland, OR.  Saw Boris at the Hawthorne Theatre.  (Didn’t get any photos.  Sorry!)  The first third of the set was new material culled from the “Heavy Rocks”, “Hope” and “New Album” albums.   It was cool to seeing all the stoner-rockers’ girlfriends boogieing to dance music being played by Boris.    “Pink” and “1970″ were back catalog highlights.  My neck was really sore the next day from headbanging.

Much has happened, midterms have come and gone, College Radio day followed suite. Now it’s quiet for a bit, which means blog posts can be made! I think Ken has some interesting content in the pipes, but for now I’ll just speak to new stuff we’ve received lately.

First off, the big one for me, Bjork’s Biophilia. It is definitely a more interesting album than she’s released in years, and worth your time.

Outside of that we’ve got: The Rapture – The Grace of Your Love; Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost; Jack Ruby’s self titled album from our friends at ugEXPLODE; Derek Sherinian – Oceana; The new Misftits album everyone’s been clamoring for, Opeth – Heritage; The Extremities – The Mint Condition; we even have some new vinyl in the form of Luz De Vida’s compilation.

There’s plenty more, releases have been moving at a fever pitch, but between that Bjork, Girls, Luz De Vida and Jack Ruby for some grit, I’d say that new music shelf is looking pretty appealing.

www.collegeradioday.com/

In Cue Fall 2011