Big Update + Virgin Fest

After a year of dropping the ball on the website you see here, I have taken the executive decision as Co-Music Director to inform you of the developments in the works. The non-activity you have seen has in reality been full of prep for this coming semester. WVAU has a brand-new professionally designed website on the way that will allow for all of the DJs to have their own space to use how they wish, our top music charts, and more! All of this will be coordinated through our brand new web programmer, the amazing Matt Rumsey. RJ Petterson and Farley Miller are hard at work converting our library to digital. Farley's also setting up the brand new Automator, which will make WVAU 24/7 this semester.

In other news, you all should check out the Virgin Festival this year. It's the only major festival in the DC area and this is the 3rd year of what I hope will be a long run for the fest. Last year I had the honor of shaking Richard Branson's hand, billionaire owner of Virgin, after a set by Gnarls Barkley. I also had Jack White's pick bounce off my palm and into the abyss of the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. This year's lineup is fairly great. It includes: Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry!!, Wilco, The Black Keys, Andrew Bird, Iggy and the Stooges, Bloc Party, Cat Power, Lupe Fiasco, Kanye, The Go! Team, and Lil' Wayne. Click the banner link to Virgin Fest and go!

Stay Out Super Late Tonight Picking Apples

Hey, this is Ethan Meick here. I'll also be posting here sporadically/probably more over the summer since I have nothing else to do. Starting July 1st, I will be posting from the People's Republic of China and giving my insights on the music scene there. Some DJs and Music Directors will be doing this as well, which should be super cool.

The National - Fake Empire
The National - Abel

The National's Myspace Page

For the past three months, The National has been on repeat in my headphones. The first track is the opening song on their new album, Boxer, which comes out May 22nd. Next is a song off their last album, Alligator. A little advice for listening to these two tracks...turn up your volume to 11.

Ethan Meick was an Assistant Music Director and DJ at WVAU. Next spring he will be back at WVAU, but for now he will work on infiltrating the Chinese punk scene.

A Brief Introduction and/or The Greatest Song Ever Written

City of Caterpillar - A Little Change Could Go A Long Way


Hello there. My name is Matt Rumsey and I will be attempting to post here occasionally. I don't have much to say. Just know that the above is, in my opinion, the greatest piece of music ever put to tape. EVER.

Nobody will die while I've got money in my hand.

Wolf Parade - Secret Knives

What if there was a band that sounded like it was fronted by not even the real Harry Caray, but Will Ferrell doing an impression of Harry Caray in that skit on Saturday Night Live when he asked Jeff Goldblume if he'd eat the moon if it was made of barbeque spare ribs? Also, what if the music they were making sounded like plutonium, like ten years from now your children will probably be born with extra weird body parts because you are listening to it now? Well, believe it or not, Wolf Parade's first EP sounded like this. When I was seventeen I put it on a cassette tape and listened to it exclusively in my car for an entire summer. I have not been stricken with radiation sickness yet, but I will certainly pull this song from the blog if I start to show symptoms.

This isn't me, as much as it may seem

The Get Up Kids - Second Place

If the awesomeness of The Get Up Kids could be calculated mathematically and plotted on a coordinate plane (in which the x axis represents chronological time and the y axis represents awesomeness, in incriments of ten), the highest point on the graph would be the part at the end of the first chorus of "Second Place", when the guitars hush for a moment and Matt Pryor unhinges his jaw to let out the line, "THEN YOU'VE GOT BIGGER PROBLEMS THAN ME." Go dig out your copy of the Woodson EP. It is better than you remember.

Buy it from Amazon if you had an incomplete teenage experience and somehow do not own this album.

Lindsay Zoladz is a DJ at WVAU. She promises never to mention math again on this blog. Listen to her show on Tuesdays from 4:00 - 6:00 at wvau.org.

Rack Spins 4.4.07

Patrick Wolf – The Magic Position
Sweeping violins, orchestral instrumentation, and quirky electronics swirl joyously around Wolf’s energized baritone. Hooky and very theatrical.

Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position
Patrick Wolf - Accident & Emergency

[Buy]

Thee More Shallows – Book of Bad Breaks
Fuzzy, atmospheric synths envelop minimal yet accessible pop arrangements. Does away with the verse-chorus verse format without losing any fluidity.

Thee More Shallows - Night at the Knight School
Thee More Shallows - Eagle Rock

[Buy]

RJ Pettersen is an Assistant Music Director at WVAU. He is in the midst of a sneezing fit. RJ's radio show airs each Wednesday from 4:00 to 6:00 PM at www.wvau.org.

Rack Spins 3.29.07

Peggy Honeywell - Green Mountain
Honeywell's captivating rasp is the highlight here, but her sparse and eloquent folk arrangements, touched with country and blues, take a close second.

Peggy Honeywell - Green Mountain
Peggy Honeywell - Thief

[Buy]

The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters
Glaswegian group applies Mogwai's huge crescendos to shoegaze's layered soundscapes, building gradually toward an anthemic and overpowering sound.

The Twilight Sad - Cold Days From The Birdhouse
The Twilight Sad - And She Would Darken The Memory

[Buy]

RJ Pettersen is an Assistant Music Director at WVAU. Music is his favorite waitress. RJ's radio show airs each Wednesday from 4:00 to 6:00 PM at www.wvau.org.