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WXDU, as a member of the Duke University Union, exists to inform, educate, and entertain both the students of Duke University and the surrounding community of Durham through quality progressive alternative radio programming. WXDU seeks to give its staff the freedom to pursue their personal aesthetic within the framework of a cohesive format. WXDU aims to provide the listener with an alternative viewpoint untainted by commercial interests. WXDU resolves to maintain good relations with the music industry without compromising its integrity and nationally recognized commitment to quality programming. WXDU resolves to remain a laboratory where all members are free to make and learn from their mistakes.
 
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Blogs

Chino XL squeezes North Carolina into his 90 bars.

"Claiming you thorough, but don't want no drama/but say you wanna fight but then the first in flight like North Carolina"

http://www.sicksymphonies.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/chinoxl_90...

Orville and Wilbur Wright probably aren't head-nodding in their caskets right now, but if they were it'd be to this track by Chino XL.  Go 'head and count how count how many metaphors and similies and punchlines that Chino lets off in this 90 bar display.  Don't worry . . . I'll wait. 

Listen to "The Fresh Factory" this Sunday night from 12am - 2am to hear this and more from other generals of hip hop's literati.

 

We Still Refuse To Call Them "The Lo".

A while back, some genius at Camp Lo's new record label (SRC/Universal) made the cruddy desicion to rename the group to The Lo.  The idea failed and was probably what jinxed them and led to their first single, "Lumdi", being virtually ignored by Top 40 radio and club deejays.  It was strange because, at the time that the song was released, it easily trumped any party/dance record that was out at the time.   

Here's the new video for their most recent single "On Smash/89 Of Crime feat. Styles P".  The version of "On Smash" you'll be hearing for the next several weeks on my Sun. night show,  "The Fresh Factory" (here on 88.7FM) also features Pete Rock, who you won't find in the video.  But you will find Chapel Hill's very own beat king and one of Camp Lo's resident producers, Apple Juice Kid, who makes a pretty creepy appearance in the video.  He wouldn't have looked so out of place if he would have at least bobbed his head a little bit harder and not smiled so goofily.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHvE2DSul3c

 

Things are getting ugly.

I like my music old and crusty.  Layers of dirt over scratched black vinyl only makes me want to play it more.  Small obscure labels with unknown bands etched into that vinyl makes me excited.  What does it sound like, how was it recorded.  Sometimes the sounds coming off the vinyl makes me cringe but sometimes this atheist finds heaven.

Regular listeners to my show (Tuesday 09:00 - 12:00 am) will know the section I play thrift store finds.  The sound quality may not be crisp and clean but the emotion expressed is the thing for me.  The sound of some spotty youth crying their heart out whether in anger or love, I don't care.  Raw, nasty and ugly is beauty to me.

So the day I found the huge boxes of 60's soul 45's was a good day for me.  Hidden amongst the Motown and Stax I picked up all the small independent labels releases.

- The Falcons (with The Ohio Untouchables) made me cry... seriously, tears fell.  Little did I know the voice was a very young Wilson Pickett doing one of the earliest soul releases in a gospel style.  "I Found Out" & "Swim" on Lu Pine records out of Detroit was a ground breaker.

And yikes the rest of the pile was great too.....  listen for more.

 

Willie Nelson representing at wxdu...

I dj'd yesterday morning, and i have to say that Willie Nelson has returned to my personal listening rotation in a big way.  His new album, teaming up with Asleep at the Wheel, is really excellent.  Classic western swing songs.  My toe is still tapping.

As if this wasn't enough to get you listening to Willie again, then there is also the new Phosphorescent release, To Willie.  In the image of the classic To Lefty, From Willie,  Matthew Houck does his darndest and turns out a really good collection of Willie songs.  I always thought that Phosphorescent was like a really really good Palace Brothers / Will Oldham cover band (and I mean that in the best way possible), but its nice to see them branch out a bit more by covering Willie (I know that sounds weird).  Anyway, Phosphorescent is a good band and this album follows suit.  By the way, you can see Phosphorescent at the Duke Coffeehouse on March 26th.

More Willie please.

 

Kanye saves

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/node/148662

The divisiveness of 808s & Heartbreak is amazing... (so amazing... it's amazing...)  I'd like to hear from other people who've heard this record.  How many times have you heard it?  Is it a "grower"?  Do you find it therapeutic?  Most importantly, do you think 808s & Heartbreak can SAVE LIVES?  William Bowers' article has me thinking... with your emotional well-being in the balance, which way do you tip on Kanye's new album? 

 

Robby's Top 10 (or so...)

 

Below are my top 10 (or so) released this year, in no particular order. It's been a pretty good year for music. I've especially enjoyed the reverby vocals of Blitzen Trapper, and the fun vocal mishmosh of Fleet Foxes. Seems that there have been all these bands with "woodsy" themed names in the past few years, just recently reaching a fevered pitch. To wit: Grisly Bear, Fleet Foxes, Department of Eagles, Silver Antlers, The Mountain Goats, Donkeys, Gregory + The Hawk. Many bearded men.

 

I dug these records this last year:

 

Fleet Foxes - S/T (Sub Pop): Amazing orchestration of vocals. Melody structures are evolved from the voice. I love their rhythmic structures. Kind of other-worldly. Great mix of folk and pop, reminds me of 70s soft rock in a weird way (but a good one.. I think). They really experiment with vocals, it's a very different approach than most bands would take.

 

 

Faves from 2008

Thirteen of my favorite songs from last year.

1. "strange overtones" :: Brian Eno & David Byrne (Everything That Happens Will Happen Today)

2. "killa soundboy" :: Fort Knox Five (Radio Free D.C.)

3. "bob" :: Otto (What's Happening in Pernambuco)

4. "the whistling song" :: the Pinker Tones (Wild Animals)

5. "policia" :: Pistolera (En Este Camino)

6. "nouveau americain" :: Brazilian Girls (New York City)

7. "i hold the mic" :: Meat Beat Manifesto (Autoimmune)

8. "vampires" :: Thievery Corporation w/ Femi Kuti (Radio Retaliation)

9. "the house of games" :: Adrian Sherwood (Becoming a Cliché)

10. "harampa rija" :: Cankisou (Le La)

11. "here sat i (off jumps the don) :: Don Cavalli (Cryland)

12. "move" :: Q-Tip (the Renaissance)

13. "this will never end" :: All Girl Summer Fun Band (Looking Into It

 

Loud Rock Tops for 2008

1. Maurizio Bianchi...Symphony for a Genocide...Hospital - Created as a testimony to the atrocities of the Holocaust. Bianchi's abrasive electronics comprised of synthesizers and tape loops are incredibly black and devastating, with wailing alarm sounds, mechanized and annihilating beats, and a few broken vocal samples. As disturbing as it is amazing.

2. Dino Felipe...No Fun Demo...No Fun - Miami-based musician dabbles in experimental mind-melting noise-rock. Jaded, damaged and surprisingly danceable!

3. Circle...Panic ...Ektro - Thank the Gods for more NWOFHM !!! Warning: apocalyptic hardcore hatred and defiance lies inside this high speed album of piss and mayhem! More, more, more.

4. Digital Leather...Sorcerer...Goner – Any friends of the Urinals, is a friend of mine. A grinding 80s synth-punk album mixed with some industrial clamor makes for a raucous finish!

5. Uptight...Early Years...Archive - Restless guitar, acerbic feedback, and floor-shaking low-end bass are the meat of this Tokyo psychedelic rock group. Similar in style to like-minded Les Rallizes Denudes, Uptight's dark psyche sound is packed with echo and feedback with a bit of melancholy bliss.

6. Marzuraan...Five Years Worth of Fuck All...At War With False Noise - Recently released and nicely packaged retrospective of Newcastle's Marzuraan is a batch of inventively flowing, noisy and ever-morphing sludgy metal and heavy drone; a collection of demos, live cuts, and out of print releases.

 

Almost 30 New Releases of 08 that Brian liked (in no particular order)

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend                    Portastatic - Some Small History
Explorers Club - Freedom Wind                   All Girl Summer Fun Band - Looking Into It
Robert Pollard - Is Off to Business                    Boston Spaceships - Brown Submarine
Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster               Oxford Collapse - Bits
Love Is All - A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night              Dr. Dog - Fate
Her Space Holiday - Sleepy Tigers [EP]                               Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Her Space Holiday - XOXO Panda and the New Kid            Blitzen Trapper - Furr
Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow And Blue                         The Magnetic Fields - Distortion
Noah And The Whale - Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down

 

Faves of the year...

1. Arthur Russell - Love is Overtaking Me (Audika, 2008)

2. Iron Curtain - Desertion 1982-1988 / Artifact (Pylon, 2007/8)

3. Das Kabinette - Spy Thriller (Minimal Wave, 2008)

4. VA - BIPPP:  French Synth-Wave 1979/85 (Born Bad, 2006/7/8)

5. Betty Botox - Mmm, Betty! (Endless Flight, 2008)

6. The Lines - Flood Bank / Memory Span (Acute, 2008)

7. Hercules & Love Affair - s/t (DFA, 2008)

8. Portishead - Third (Island, 2008)

9. Gang Gang Dance - St. Dymphna (the Social Registry, 2008)

10. Alex Moulton - Exodus (Expansion Team, 2008)