We're Not Offended If You'd Rather Watch The Inauguration Than Read This...
2009.01.19
Hi! How you doing? Been a long time since we did an update… we kinda took an extended leave of absence for the holidays, but we’re back and we have a LOT of stuff coming down the pike.
The absolute first thing that we want to do is introduce the newest member of the crew, Cyrus Uible. Cy is a wizard at figuring out how to make the impossible possible, and we’re fans of doing three impossible things before breakfast so he’s a welcome addition. We’ve worked with him on some projects in the past, so we know what a great asset he can be. As we add new and better capabilities to the site, you can be sure Cy will have been a driving force in their development.
Guess what else—we have SWAG! Hellz yeah we do! We know you’ve always figuratively worn your love for us on your sleeves, and now you can do it literally. We got T-shirts, we got hoodies, we got mugs, and we’re gonna be adding more and more and more. Show your love and support by patronizing our gear store—not only do your purchases help us to offset our production costs, they let you become stylish ambassadors for the only radio station in the world for unsigned bands from all around the globe.
In other news, legendary NJ rockers the Smithereens came to town recently, and we went to check out the show. They still sound amazing, and when they come to your town, you need to go see them. We were there in style, too—Chris was rockin’ the standard black GroundWaves T-shirt and I was keeping warm in the "Indier-Than-Thou" hoodie, both from the above-mentioned GroundWaves gear store. We got to hang out with the band for a bit, and lead singer Pat Dinizio was kind enough to do a station ID for us—listen for it in the broadcast. Here’s Chris with lead guitarist Jimmy Babjak. Nice guys.
On to the music! We’re going to start off with two Connecticut-based bands that, while wildly different from each other, have two things in common—the brother-and-sister team of Joe and Jill O’Brien. They share vocal duties in their own project, Metacomet, where Jill’s unbelievably clear soprano and Joe’s warm tenor blend perfectly. Both vocals and instrumentals follow interesting scales and harmonies, occasionally venturing into musical theater or rock opera territory. Their other project, Mawwal, is actually the brain child of their collaborator Jim Matus. The band takes its name from a traditional Arabic form of preamble to a folk song, and indeed the music is heavily influenced by Middle Eastern and Central Asian sounds. Joe’s bass playing is more subtle here than in Metacomet but is still strong, and Jill’s voice provides an excellent foil to Matus’ baritone.
The Venables are a good old fashioned alt-rock band from DC, and they do what they do so well that we’d have their disc in rotation in our iTunes if we didn’t have a radio station to put them on. From their first track “All These Reasons” we were instantly reminded of “Ice Cold Ice” by Hüsker Dü, and as it turns out they list that same band among their influences. Other bands we hear in their sound include the Clash, the Young Fresh Fellows, and the Velvet Underground—their track “In The Shadows” almost sounds like Lou Reed is doing guest vocals.
The final addition to the broadcast today is the tight, sometimes funky and occasionally jazzy upbeat pop of storied DC band, Lloyd Dobler Effect. If we’re going to say anything about them, it’s that they manage to maintain a consistent sound without falling into the common trap of having each song sound like the last.
