70 years ago today....

On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air did one of the coolest things in the history of radio.

A dramatic reading of H.G. Welles' War of the Worlds done in such a way that it sounded like real radio coverage of alien invasion.

All episodes of the Mercury Theatre on the Air, including War of the Worlds, are available for free download here.

Orson Welles was a badass.

meow mix

siouxsie kitty?

heartsrevolution yes yes yes

another boy/girl electro duo, this one off iheartcomix. album drops tomorrow! it's nice to see musicians who don't take themselves too seriously (they'll sell you bubble guns and pink eyeshadow) because i'm less embarrassed to have post-crystal castles hipster beat makers on repeat, yah know what i mean?

the first time i heard them i thought they were pretty bad, but the more i heard the better they sounded. a hundred plays later i love them. and crystal castles too. and eats tapes (still my number one). and all the boy/girl duos forming at this minute, i love them too.

the best part about these groups is their remixing-potential, here's la riots' version of "switchblade"



http://www.myspace.com/heartsrevolution

i can talk all the snot i want but they're mad cute, no question. at CMJ this weekend, europe later.

xxo

PARTY presents: LADIES FIRST

On January 14th, the world smiles.

When reindeer and crème brulée join forces, The Dø is born. The French/Finnish musical duo--Dan Levy and Olivia Bouyssou Merilahti--released their album 'A Mouthful' on January 14, 2008. Now, let me remind you, January 14th is a historical day for pure miracles, and only the worlds finest amenities are brought to life on this special day. LL Cool J, Slick Rick, and Obie Trice all share January 14th birthdays. Not to mention January 14th is also a big day in American History--The Revolutionary war came to an end in 1784 and Henry ford introduced assembly-line production in 1914. More importantly, In 1998, the 100th episode of "Ellen" aired on January 14th. Europe experienced the graces of January 14th too! In 1690 the clarinet was invented in Germany, and in 1989, a set of healthy sextuplets were born in Paris, France. As you might guess, the point I've been working toward is that The Dø more than deserved to release their addictive tunes to the world on the most magical day of the year. So, listen, enjoy, and remember January 14th.

I wish they all could be California...

Coming from LA, it saddens me that the only "underground" California bands people have heard of in Northampton are people like Mickey Avalon and Mika Miko. Without further ado, allow me to introduce you to my favorite Californians you probably haven't heard of.

Knights of the New Crusade (Myspace)

I've been playing these guys on my shows ever since I got here. They're a surf garage-punk band from Emeryville, CA and they are amazing. Their shtick-- Christian punk satire. The music is guaranteed to get you on your feet and twisting the night away, just make sure to listen to the lyrics.

Album pick: My God Is Alive! Sorry About Yours! (2005)

Retarded Muppit Farm (Myspace)

More Northern California here with RMF. These boys from Sacramento, California spend their time at the crossroads of weird, weirder, absurdly funny and oddly beautiful.

Other than that, words can't really describe what this music sounds like.

Album Pick: ManSound (2008)

The Amazements (Myspace)

Yes! Some LA people! I love the Amazements. Garagey, noisy and LOUD. And they're legitimately fabulous musicians. With their rollicking Three 6 Mafia covers and simultaneously rocking and experimental original material, these guys are going places. If you ever have a chance, see them live.

Album Pick: Well, I think they only have one album out, called The Amazements, probably released in 2007 or so. I have no idea how to get it. Visit their Myspace and contact them.

nap hour

as far as i can tell, listening to LAKE is a little bit like jump-roping in heaven, or doing skip-it in the sky. it's like taking the best nap ever and rollerblading at the same time. basically it's wonderful, and lately i can't stop doing it.

LAKE is made up of a bunch of pals from Olympia, WA, including eli Moore, lindsay schief and ashley eriksson. their 2nd album, "Oh, The Places We'll Go!," is being released on K Records on october 21st. give them a listen and follow your dreams.

LAKE's daytrotter sessions .

LAKE's myspace .

ALL KINDS OF YES

In Celebration of Sweaters & Changing Leaves

I love fall!  I love seeing Smithies donning their autumn sweaters.  I love the smell of wood burning in fireplaces.  I love carving pumpkins and drinking apple cider.  I love how gorgeous New England becomes the second week of October as all the leaves turn.  And for me, Fall has a very distinct sound.  Its music has a slowly pushing tempo, a string section, sweet harmonies, passive vocals, and is usually attached to some sort of nostalgia.

So, as I know many of you will be hitting the road tomorrow or this weekend, I have gathered some of my favorite autumn-y songs and made you a mix CD for driving through New England in mid-october.  hoorah!  Here's the tracklist (with some mp3s):

01. Easier by Grizzly Bear

02. How It Ends by DeVotchKa (mediafire)

03. Thank You Mario but Our Princess is in Another Castle by The Mountain Goats (mediafire)

04. Boys of Melody by The Hidden Cameras

05. Through the Backyards by Au Revoir Simone

06. I Still Remember by Bloc Party

07. Autumn Sweater by Yo La Tengo (mediafire)

08. Chicago by Sufjan Stevens (mediafire)

09. Back to Boston by The Rosebuds (mediafire)

10. These Days by Nico

11. Will We Ever by Your Heart Breaks

12. Maple Leaves [EP Version] by Jens Lekman

13. Twilight in Boston by Jonathan Richman

14. Ghosts by Laura Marling

15. Imitosis by Andrew Bird

16. Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac

17. New York I Love You by LCD Soundsystem

18. Westfall by Okkervil River

19. The Only Living Boy in New York by Simon & Garfunkel

The full CD (in one nicely mixxxed file) is here

Phil Spector=God

Yeah, so maybe he's completely batshit. Maybe he kept his wife locked up in the basement because he was so paranoid. Maybe he held the Ramones at gunpoint while they were recording End of the Century. Maybe he killed some people. Maybe he sent his mind gangsters after Brian Wilson to drive him even crazier than he already was.

I don't care.

Phil Spector is the greatest music producer to ever live.

Listen to "Be My Baby" and tell me otherwise. I dare you.

If you want to be a real person, you should buy Back to Mono (1958-1969), a 4-disc compilation of the golden age of Spector.

And here's a little something to tide you over for now:

99 comments?

i was recently informed by bessie that she had a dream in which i posted on the blog and subsequently received 99 comments. could this be a possibility? not sure. but for now i would like to talk about this:


it is a recent pet portrait done by the lovely nicole j. georges, who will be coming to smith on nov.11th as part of Rock N' Roll camp for girls, as brought to you by WOZQ. i must say, looks a lot like the stray cat i considered chalking "WOZQ" on earlier in the year.

out

hi babies, hi buddies, hi hi
let's all get excited about the new deerhoof album which came out yesterday! "offend maggie" is one of their more (/most?) accessible yet. it's like "deerhoof for people who hate deerhoof" (remember those "opera for people who hate opera" cds your mom bought you?) but who cares when there are lovely songs like this:



charming you into a dancing frenzy soon soon, their tour stops at pearl street october 24th yes yes yes

we are the goon squad and we're coming to town

fashion week (month) has ravaged the streets of new york, london, paris and milan. as wozq's resident glamour enthusiast i decided to take a minute to share the top 5 MOST ROCK-N-ROLL looks of spring/summer 09. (maybe they're not the absolute most rock and roll but they're absolutely unbelievable, okay?)

chanel

let's picture a rock wife wearing this to her deceased lover's funeral. headpiece included.

ann demeulemeester

imagine how hot groupies would actually be if they wore ann d.?

gareth pugh

prince's costume designer needs to get in contact with gareth.

alexander wang

is that a body stocking?! do you think rihanna would wear this?

balmain

epic rock wedding dress.

all images courtesy of style.com

dinosauruxia

two cute ladies from norway who sound like cocorosie meets bellyboat. i am telling you about them so you can sign them to your label, or so you can listen to them on a cool fall day like today's, day-dreaming about your crush, drinking chaider, and smoking cigarettes with radio buddies as you scribble up the wozq programming schedule. they are mad cute and i think you'll like them. by "them" i mean dinosauruxia and my radio buddies, too.



keeep it locked, xxo

"Dear Science," you've done it.

yesterday, alex b. hit on something important: even though there's a lot of foolishness abound in the news, we can't lose sight of what's important. and for me, that's the fact that tv on the radio dropped their third album last week. i know, i know; why write about this band whose single "staring at the sun" mtv so mercilessly sank their mainstream teeth into? i have been literally unable to listen to anything but this album since yesterday when i got it, particularly a track called "Stork & Owl". while this album lacks the cohesive sound of 2004's "desperate youth, bloodthirsty babes," each track is beautiful in its own way (save for "dancing choose" and "red dress" which i found quite irritating and are coincidentally the more political tracks). the mixed format works and really, aren't we sick of albums that start strong but get slow at the end? i mean, i am. other favorites on the album include "family tree" and the more upbeat "dlz".

The spookiest month...

YES! It's October! That means Halloween.

Even though it only gets to be Halloween for one day at the very, very end of the month, we get 30 days of Halloween pre-gaming. A trip to CVS is made spookier by motion-detected novelty items in the seasonal section. Mini candies now come in orange and black wrappers. Theme parks become HAAUUUUNNNTEEDDD.

October rules.

One thing I wish, though, is that people got more into the musical spirit of Halloween all October long, kind of like they do for Xmas. There is so much cool music you could play for Halloween, from Monster Mash rip-offs to horror soundtracks.

Here are my humble suggestions for making your month more sonically spooky:




V/A- Monster Bop
This is a great compilation of horror novelty songs from the 60's. Unleash your inner go-go ghoul!

Goblin- Suspiria OST

Goblin are one of the coolest bands I've come across recently. These Italian prog-rockers scored such horror classics as Dario Argento's Suspiria and Deep Red, and George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead. Everything I've heard of theirs so far has been great, but the soundtrack to Suspiria has to be my personal favorite. Creepy, synthy, experimental and just plain awesome.

The Cramps- Songs the Lord Taught Us
Now, as it may be obvious to some of you, no month is complete without the Cramps. Their brand of post-punk proto-psychobilly (do I sound pretentious yet?) is delicious, dance-inducing, and yeah, I'll say it, sexy. But with songs like "Zombie Dance" and "I Was A Teenage Werewolf," how could you forget the Cramps on Halloween?

Bernard Herrmann- The Day the Earth Stood Still OST
Nothing gets you more in the spirit for Halloween than the score for a sci-fi movie from the 50's. It's got theremin up the wazoo. It's spooky, it's beautiful, and sure, it's dated, but it's done well enough that it doesn't matter.

THIS is what it's all about