RECENT FAVES FROM THE RECORD LIBRARY - June 2001


Music/Program Director Brian Turner calls 'em as he sees 'em.



WEEZER Radio ID's (Interscope)
I've always been fascinated by the concept of bands doing prerecorded legal ID's for radio (i.e. "Hi, this is _____ and you are listening to _____") It's a personal touch, and one that record companies and music directors most certainly bond over. It makes it sound like famous rock stars are THERE in person, hanging out with the DJ. Perhaps sharing some food or something else special. One can only imagine what Fred Durst and K-rock's Cane discuss in their off-mic moments. It's a great idea for college radio, too. Hey, if record company reps aren't allowed to buy MD's strippers at CMJ conventions anymore, there's got to be SOMETHING they can do to help get "ADDS" on those sacred Mondays. Today, I cleared out the gigantic mountain of finely cut coke that came in the mail and found that Interscope (who I am NOT saying ever did these nasty things) had sent a personal WFMU Weezer ID on CD for us. But not only that, they didn't bother to edit the thing out and send it exclusively, it also includes 94 other Station ID's for everyone else as special as us, and it's indexed! It seems that we aren't indeed that special, and Weezer did not sit down just to say our name personally, but they spent several hours in a studio slapping down ID after ID. Listening to 25 nonstop moments of "Hey this is Brian, Mikey and Pat (screw you Rivers Cuomo, too good to say hello to college radio!) and you are listening to (WKNH, KXLU, WRCT, KZSC etc)" followed by a guitar strum for an entire CD length is a stark and surreal experience. It's fascinating to hear the boys keep up their chipper demeaner station after station, and a great audio document of a band in it's promotion mode. Perhaps they really enjoyed it. Maybe they lost a part of their souls and minds after this was all over. Maybe this is why Rivers stayed away that day. Kenny G's show awaits. Rock out, Binghamton!!

VARIOUS Seventies Mutation (Seventies Mutation)
Well, if you enjoyed that mutant version of "Boys of Summer" that Puff Tube put out years ago, this is for you. French performance freak Costes does Lennon's "I Found Out", and you also get completely messed up versions of "Black Magic Woman" (by Xpr.xr), "Have You Never Been Mellow" (Phigg-Newtons), "She's Always a Woman" (Slippery Fingers), "Le Freak" (His Hemmorhoids Are Gone) and many more gems not only covered but deconstructed into piles of smoldering electronic goo. I suspect most of these are the same artist under different names. An amazing hand-cut, glued, decorated booklet to boot.

MAINLINER Imaginative Plain (PSF)
Third blow-out from Asahito Nanjo (High Rise) and Kawabata Makoto (Acid Mothers Temple) with a new drummer, taking both Japanese bands' penchants for in-the-red, overmodulated distorto-freak out guitar jams and continuing the tradition quite ably. The jams are heavy, the sound is grotty, the spirits are free.

LIARS Demo (Liars)
Now that !!! are settled in New York City, they do have some new competition for the agitpop crown. The Liars take on the best elements of skronky, dance rockers of the 80s dear to the heart: APB, the Pop Group, Birthday Party, and (they'll hate me for saying it, Gang of Four) and inject some new vitality in. This is a quick slab of what they have to offer (and they offer it great live too) with more to come in the near future we hope.

DJ JESTER River Walk Riots (210 Records)
You see a lot of folks these days showing off their eclectic record collections in DJ mixes & hip-hop records, but few records are as much of a blast as this one by Jester (a turntablist from Texas). Here, he dumps together hilarious Richard Simmons bits that segue into "Apache"; Willie Nelson, Terence Trent D'Arby and Willy Wonka all make appareances, and there's even one track built around the lazy fuzz riff from Pavement's "Summer Babe"! This is truly the sound of a spunky soul funking it up in the basement with minimal means, which is what is especially charming about this disc.


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