WEDNESDAY: Ian MacKaye at the CFA

We are excited to announce that WESU is co-sponsoring a talk by Ian MacKaye at the Center for the Arts Hall, located at 287 Washington Terrace in Middletown, CT. This event will take place February 27th at 8 PM. It will be free and open to the public. Be sure to show up early to make sure you can get a seat. The talk will be made up entirely of questions and answers, so please think of questions in advance!

Ian MacKaye is co-founder and owner of Dischord Records, an independent Washington D.C.-based label that has existed since 1980. He has been lead singer, songwriter, bassist and guitarist for world-changing rockbands The Teen Idles, Minor Threat, Embrace, Fugazi, and The Evens. His latest album with The Evens, The Odds was released on November 20, 2012. The Needle Drop's Anthony Fantano (past WESU lecture guest) describes the concoction, "great songwriting, strong messages, and tight playing are the main ingredients." An awe-inspiring documentary about his band Fugazi, Instrument directed by Wesleyan alum Jem Cohen was released in 1999. It shows the band playing at such locations as prisons and college gyms, and getting interviewed by an eighth-grade girl on public access TV.

TONIGHT: Get Psyched for The Stepkids/Sidewalk Dave/Featherwood Bee

 

Get psychedelically psyched, because tonight the first show in WESU's Spring Concert series is going down in Wesleyan's Memorial Chapel. The show is free and open to the public.

If you can't join us in the Chapel, located at 221 High Street in Middletown, CT, you can stream the show live beginning at 7:30.

Doors open at 7:30. Featherwood Bee will take the stage at 8:00, Sidewalk Dave will take over at 8:45 and the Stepkids will melt faces at 10:00.

Special thanks to the Wesleyan Concert Committee & TuneIn, a service which you can use to listen to the world's radio including WESU. TuneIn is available as a app on all smartphones and tablets and online at TuneIn.com.

FRIDAY: The Stepkids/Sidewalk Dave/Featherwood Bee

We unveiled our Spring Concert Series on Monday. Now we've got some updates on the first of these shows that WESU will be presenting.

Our first concert will take place Friday February 22 in the Memorial Chapel at Wesleyan University, located at 221 High St in Middletown, CT. Doors will open at 7:30 PM and the show starts at 8:00 PM.

Set Times
8:00 Featherwood Bee
8:45 Sidewalk Dave
10:00 The Stepkids

The show is free and open to the public! Brought to you by WESU, The Wesleyan Concert Committee & TuneIn, a service which you can use to listen to the world's radio including WESU. TuneIn is available as a app on all smartphones and tablets and online at TuneIn.com.

The Stepkids put on a very psychedelic live show complete with video projection. The band comes from Bridgeport, CT and is signed to the legendary Stones Throw (owned by Peanut Butter Wolf and home to Madlib and J Dilla (RIP)). They call their music "futuristic electro soul" and their guitarist was once in Alicia Keys' touring band. Their debut album, The Stepkids, was released in 2011 and they are set to release a new album, Troubador in 2013.

Sidewalk Dave is a WESU favorite and fellow CT native. Here's an interview we did with him last November. He plays rock & roll and his last album, Hard on Romance came out last year. Sometimes he wears pants!

Featherwood Bee is a self-described psychedelic merman surf rockin' band straight out of Middletown, CT.

Here's the Facebook Event. Enjoy the concerts! WESU loves you.

True Story: Aaron Neville Tops Our Chart

1    AARON NEVILLE    My True Story    Blue Note
2    FLYING LOTUS    Until The Quiet Comes    Warp
3    MY BLOODY VALENTINE    MBV    Self-Released
4    DANIEL ROMANO    Come Cry With Me    Normaltown
5    TIM MAIA    World Psychedelic Classics 4: Nobody Can Live Forever: The Existential Soul Of Tim Maia    Luaka Bop

MD Picks: Far Out, Faraway

Big week for psych-pop and desert-rock. We hope you enjoy these releases as much as we do:

Jacco Gardner - Cabinet of Curiosities

For a 24-year-old Dutchman, Jacco Gardner sounds like he learned a lot from the 1960's American scene. Cabinet of Curiosities is by turns lush and stark, and Gardner makes full use of his multi-instrumental talents. The lyrics are opaque and point up the meandering, ethereal nature of the album: on "Chameleon," he explains, "I want to float away, but all these clouds just look the same." He doesn't tell us much about himself, but the music is compelling all the same. We like "Puppets Dangling" and "Clear the Air."

The WESU Spring Concert Series

 

After the success of our Lecture Series last semester, we at WESU have organized a Spring Concert Series. This series will be free and open to the public. We hope that all our listeners both at Wesleyan and throughout the greater Middletown community will feel welcome to come and enjoy the music together. Here are brief descriptions of the concerts we have planned. More details will be posted soon so stay tuned!

February 22

The Stepkids

Sidewalk Dave

As seen in the video at the top, The Stepkids put on a very psychedelic live show complete with video projection. The band comes from Bridgeport, CT and is signed to the legendary Stones Throw (owned by Peanut Butter Wolf and home to Madlib and J Dilla (RIP)). They call their music "futuristic electro soul" and their guitarist was once in Alicia Keys' touring band. Their debut album, The Stepkids, was released in 2011 and they are set to release a new album, Troubador in 2013.

Sidewalk Dave is a WESU favorite and fellow CT native. Here's an interview we did with him last November. He plays rock & roll and his last album, Hard on Romance came out last year.

Facebook Event

March 30

Zammuto

Snowblink

Zammuto is the project of The Books' member Nick Zammuto. Like The Stepkids, Zammuto puts on a unique live show that includes video projection. Zammuto's music is experimental electronic. His debut, Zammuto came out last year.

Snowblink describes themselves as "nondenominational devotional pop from California/Canada." And their latest album, Inner Classics also came out last year.

April 12

Boldy James

Gifted Higgz 

We covered Boldy James' shows at CMJ here. He is an MC from Detroit, who has released two mixtapes, Trapper's Alley: Pros & Cons in 2011 and Consignment: Favor for a Favor The Redi-Rock Mixtape last year. A collaboration with The Alchemist is due out later this year.

Gifted Higgz is a local Middletown MC. He released his latest track "Killa" in December.

The WESU Spring Concert Series is sponsored by WESU Middletown, the Wesleyan Concert Committee, and TuneIn, a service you can use to listen to WESU on your smartphonedongles.

O Presidente & WESU Make CMJ.com Front Page

CMJ read out latest chart and "discovered" Wesleyan band O Presidente who charted at number two for us. We are the tastemakers of the college music scene! Remember to vote for WESU in the Hartford Advocate poll.