The Edge

College radio stations have the opportunity and freedom to play what commercial stations won’t or can’t. It’s the chance of a lifetime for someone who likes music to play songs that are meaningful, interesting and controversial. There was a time when commercial radio DJs played records they personally liked. College stations that ape today’s commercial radio stations are a waste of time and opportunity. You can get training and learn radio basics without being a radio moron. Once college stations mimic commercial stations, they’re no longer alternative– they’re dead radio.

–Lou Reed, Sire Records Recording Artist

We can tell you just how great and important we are to the music industry ALL day long OR we can share with you what others think about this important day! There is a Keynote speech with Stewert Copeland and and Interview with Josh Eppard of Coheed and Cambria. There is also an original radio documentary by Nikki Marra as she travels across America from the East to the West coast and visits college radio stations along the way.

We would like to thank everyone that was involved with throwing and amazing 49th Birthday Party.  Last Thursday we co sponsored and event with Jitters Coffee House and The Whitewater Music Co-Op.  The Band Galant Ghosts from Madison, WI, came and played a highly energetic show. Everything from the brass, to the lyrics, to the accordion were full of excitement. The band this past summer released an EP, Wheels, which has a lot of great tunes and can be found on their Bandcamp page.  After the Taste of Jitters show, the band rushed over through the pouring rain to come on air and tell us about how the 6-piece band works.  While many of the band members have different ideas they all still enjoy cracking a beer open and making music together. Each member has contributed to song writing and thats part of what makes their music so different and exciting, you really don’t know  what you are going to hear next.  One moment sounds like the start of a Dropkick Murphy’s celtic rock song, and then the next moment it sounds like a full fledged folk ska song.  The band keeps it audience on its toes and have a great time while doing it.  If you would like to hear the interview, click on the Soundcloud link below. 

Girlpool is an anomaly. They shouldn’t work as well as they do. The band is made up of Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad, or, alternatively, their band is made up of a bass, guitar, and two looping, overlapping, powerfully strained voices. This is almost as bare a setup as a band can be, yet they find a way to cast themselves as a larger than life entity. Obviously, there have been duos before that have done the same thing, say the The White Stripes, but instead of magnifying themselves by plugging in and causing a ruckus, they conjure up an honest and vulnerable aura around themselves. They aren’t a band that is pretending that they know everything there is to know about life and where it’s heading. Instead, they craft a brand of strength and vibrancy from their almost courageousness in the face of the future, aka, the largest obstacle in a young life.
Their album, Before The World Was Big, tackles that issue of being afraid of the future, of losing that innocent childhood phase of life, before the world starts to expand and threatens to leave you lost, threatens to cause others to drift away. Two sets of lyrics that perfectly encapsulates the message is “I just miss how it felt standing next to you/wearing matching dresses before the world was big” and “my mind is almost 19/ and I still feel angry.” Anger, frustration, and trying to grasp at this seismic change are the main themes of the album. Combined with their impassioned simple sound, the album comes off as the most genuine album of the year. To strip away all the bravado that usually makes up the music scene and just say you are scared but are trying, is the most admirable quality a musician can hope to achieve.

-Carlos

Head on over to the Events page to see where 91.7 will be next! We have a couple of events coming up in the next couple of weeks including our 49th Birthday!!