Recap: Girl Powa! Interviews St. Vincent

Annie Clark a.k.a. St. Vincent called into WTBU from the road on Tuesday. Girl Powa! covered all the bases: the tour, Guitar Hero and why cats are so shady. To hear the interview, download the .wav file here:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/vl15hi

And if you missed it, check out last month's review of St. Vincent's album Marry Me and preview of her show at the Middle East: Show Preview: St. Vincent @ the Middle East

--Jessy Bartlett

Reviews! Vampire Weekend! Dead Meadow! British Sea Power!

Congrats to former WTBU music director John DiSalvo whose now writing reviews for the Weekly Dig! Check out his reviews of Vampire Weekend, Dead Meadow, and British Sea Power here!

Vampire Weekend

Dead Meadow

British Sea Power

Hey bloggers and WTBU listeners!
Here's the programming schedule for Spring 2008!
























Set it as your background on your CPU so you don't miss a beat! The Beat of Boston University that is!
I'm great...

-John (programming)

Nicole Atkins @ TT The Bear’s: Boston’s on Fire!

Nicole Atkins took the stage shortly after midnight at TT the Bear’s Place in Cambridge Friday night. Always dressed to impress, Nicole sported a shimmery black dress over black leggings with red heels to pull off the cute but dark look she wears so well. She thanked everyone for coming out on the first official night of her first headlining tour. “This is the first time we’re playing in Boston with more than five people in the crowd!” she announced to cheers from the packed room.

WTBU caught up with Nicole last week in a phone interview to talk about the album, her first headlining tour, and her plans for the future. When asked what her favorite track on the album was, Nicole said it had to be “Cool Enough,” which she described as a song about “growing up and wanting so badly to get out of the place you come from.”

Nicole and her band the Sea played a killer live version of “Cool Enough” with an extended guitar solo at the end that had everyone feeling like we were at a rock concert. She mixed up the pace with a few slower songs as well such as album standout “The Way It Is,” which she delivered with every ounce of passion from the album version and spot-on vocals. On fan favorite “Brooklyn’s on Fire,” Nicole asked the crowd to sing along on the chorus: Fourth of, July, Brooklyn’s, on fire!

After ending the show with an earnest performance of album title track “Neptune City,” also Nicole’s hometown, things went back into rock mode for the encore. Nicole and the band came back out to play a rocking cover of Patti Smith’s “Pissing in a River” and went out with a bang.

What’s next for Nicole Atkins? When asked about her next move after her cross-country tour, Nicole told WTBU that she has already begun thinking about the next album. She revealed that she would love to work with super producer Jon Brion, best known for his Grammy nominated film scores on movie soundtracks and his work with talented artists such as Fiona Apple and Rufus Wainwright.

“I hope I didn’t just jinx it by telling you!” Us too!

Check out a clip from Friday night of Nicole singing “Neptune City” here:

Visit Nicole’s Myspace at myspace.com/nicoleatkins.

--Jessy Bartlett

Feelings…on “The World’s Greatest Music Collection”

According to www.thegreatestmusiccollection.com, it was “declining health and financial concerns” that ultimately forced Paul Mahwinney, owner of the nearly 3 million records, 300,000 CDs and 6 million + song title music library, to sell out.

Now on sale on eBay for an easy 3 MILLION, this has only provided me with further incentive to continue stealing from the world’s second greatest music collection: the internet.

…and those are my feelings on “The World’s Greatest Music Collection.”

--Jen Choi

(photo courtesy of ebay search)

Recap: "On Air With Captain Awesome" interviews Bishop Lamont

Last week, rapper Bishop Lamont called into WTBU from California. The rapper, who is currently signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment label, was interviewed by "On Air With Captain Awesome". To hear the interview, download an mp3 here:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/877tnu

Music Department Update: This Week's Top Albums

Brought to you by the music directors!

Top five new adds:
1. Monade with Monstre Cosmic: Singer/lyricist Laetitia Sadier kills this album, in a good way. Most of the lyrics are in French! Monade is a side project from Stereolab and brings you enough variety to consider them a good decision on Stereolab’s part.
2. Reed KD with The Ashes Bloom: A great album with a new twist on acoustics. Reed KD mixes guitar parts with cool beats. Lyrics are friendly and enjoyable. “Empty Bottles” is one of the best tracks on the album.
3. City and Colour with Bring Me Your Love: Soft guitar with soft vocals. Great music to listen to on a rainy day. The singer has been compared to Elliott Smith and Iron and Wine. Give City and Colour a shot and see what you think.
4. Jason Choi and the Sea with Leave the Night Behind: A solid album from Planetary. Some of the guitar parts sound cliché, but the lyrics are cute and simple. Tracks 2, 3, and 4 are good to play on-air.
5. Idiot Pilot with Wolves: Two musicians with a well-produced album. The quiet vocals are delicate and sound like that of Thom Yorke’s. The louder vocals are quite the opposite—some songs on the album even include screamo! The background noise is the most pleasant.

Top five albums:
1. Hot Chip’s Made in the Dark. Excellent indie rock vocals teamed with beats hard and funky enough for the dance floor, check out the breakdown on track 2. Comes complete with a great British sense of humor.
2. Stars’ In Our Bedroom After the War. The latest from the five-member Canadian group, Stars. This album sounds similar to past albums by the band, but has an even more intimate feel. The female/male vocals continue to attract fans in songs like “Midnight Coward,” “My Favourite Book,” “Personal,” and “Barricade.”
3. VHS or Beta’s Bring Out the Comets. Noisy dance-punk with matured songwriting and melodies and a polished production. If you like Daft Punk and the 80’s you’ll love this band.
4. Louis XIV’s Slick Dogs and Ponies. The subject matter gets a little darker in this effort but still overall good fun. Frenetic, angular melodies and rhythms with eccentric vocals.
5. Sons and Daughters’ This Gift. Singer Adele Bethel gives us some of the most interesting vocal parts in music today. Backed up perfectly by the catchy guitar riffs and driving drums.

--Jenn Brown & Keith Simpson