Written by Sam Mondros

You Are Here, released on November 21st, 2020 is a jazz album composed by recent University of Oregon graduate, Austin Hass. Hass composed each of the seven songs on the album, giving the other musicians (also U of O students) lead sheets for them to improvise and further circulate harmonies. The album features a classic quartet: Hass on drums; recent graduate, Garrett Baxter on stand-up bass; third-year, Andrew Silva on piano; and graduate student, Ardeshir (Ardy) Pourkeramati on the tenor saxophone.

Album Review:

The album is consistent and cohesive while displaying a myriad of different moods. Its peaks are complemented by its lows. In its best moments, You Are Here, is an album that displays four great players being deeply in tune with each other. Hass’s composition is bolstered by the combos chemistry and the players’ experience in improvisation.

The first track…

Our DJ's have selected their favorite new albums and reissues of this year!

DJ Dronestream - As Lost Through Collision by Sprain

Easily one of this year’s best. They tastefully blend post-hardcore, slowcore, emo, post-rock, and piercing, wall-of-noise feedback into an incredibly focused, intelligent album. I knew they had potential after listening to their first release, but I didn’t expect them to produce something so fully realized this early on. This is only their first album. If Sprain continues along this trajectory, they’ll be slowcore legends in no time.

Lilyana Rain - For Certain album BIA

This is her first debut album. BIA has been making huge strides in the world of women in hip hop with her unique sound

Judge Rage - Getz / Gilberto (2020 Reissue) by Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto

One of the most important and satisfying albums in jazz history, “Getz/Gilberto” was the introduction to the world of…

KWVA DJ since 1998, DJ Sleeve gives shares his favorite new albums and reissues as well as his honorable mentions. You can tune in and hear DJ Sleeve every Monday from 4-6 p.m.!

NEW IN 2020

Gigi Masin - Calypso - Beach ambient bliss

Alex Dowling - Reality Rounds - Astonishing choral electronics using autotune and other tricks

Nicolas Jaar - Cenizas - Smoky late night club vibes

Rhucle - Middle/Nostalgia - More ambient bliss

75 Dollar Bill - Live At Tubby’s/Live At Cafe Oto/Live At Roulette - Tour de force band pulls out all the stops on their desert blues jams

United Bible Studies - Roses In The Voltage I-IV - Witchy weirdness and folky tunage

Horse Lords - The Common Task - Basically really loud math rock in just intonation

Powers/Rolin Duo -S/T LP - Dulcimer and 12-string ftw

Sault - Black Is - I was late to this, just a great band all around, check it

Written by Sam Mondros

No Hang-Ups is a weekly segment where you can find recommendations for jazz music of all kinds! This weeks album:

The Köln Concert took place on January 24th, 1975, and is eighty minutes in length containing two improvised pieces (the second of which is split into three parts). It has since become the stuff of legends being both the best-selling jazz solo album of all time as well as the best-selling piano album. 

What can be said about a musician like Keith Jarrett? Can words really describe the otherworldly properties that his music conveys? His album, The Köln Concert, is a piece that transcends music and what the accomplished human is capable of when stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The album carries a legend comparable to those heard from intense fans of the Grateful Dead. Ascribing little details for every reason something sounds the way it does. You know that one friend who…

Week of December 1, 2020

Written by Sam Mondros

No Hang-Ups is a weekly segment where you can find recommendations for jazz music of all kinds! This weeks album:

Share the Wealth (2020) by The Nels Cline Singers featuring guitarist and composer Nels Cline, on guitar; Skerik, saxophone; Brian Marsella, keyboard; Trevor Dunn, bass; Scott Amendola, drums; and Cyro Baptista on percussion.

Nels Cline’s (center-left below) new album Share The Wealth was released just last week on November 12th and features the guitarist exploring soundscapes that inspire and confuse. The album is eighty minutes and in that time Cline goes through a myriad of moods while maintaining a consistent style. 

Cline is most well known for his work as lead guitarist in indie-rock band Wilco starting in 2005 and first appearing on their Sky Blue Sky record. This album represented a shift in Wilco’s sound, thanks to Cline, away from the indie sound of Yankee…

Written by Sam Mondros

No Hang-ups is a weekly segment where you can find recommendations for jazz music of all kinds! This weeks album:

Concierto (1975) by guitarist Jim hall featuring Paul Desmond, alto sax; Chet Baker, trumpet; Steve Gadd, drums; Ron Carter, upright bass; and Roland Hanna on piano & electric piano.

With a heavy-hitting lineup know for attracting the most casual of jazz listeners it's easy to understand why Jim Hall's, Concierto, is deserving of a recent rerelease from CTI Records with bonus tracks and alternate takes. This album delivers a cool jazz sound with Spanish influences and steady chops from each player. The album opens with You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To (a Cole Porter tune). This track truly allows each player to shine in their own light and Jim hall is right in the center with his impeccable playing. His licks and display of dexterity are highlighted by Hanna's absolute dedication to playing…

Week of 11/1/2020

Brooklyn, New York-based singer-songwriter Frankie Rose has been keeping busy during the Covid-19 pandemic. She has been recording not one, but two new albums. One is a Frankie Rose solo project, and a follow-up to 2017's "Cage Tropical." The other is an all-electronic album. On July 2, 2020, Rose (former member of Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls, Vivian Girls, and Beverly) chatted with KWVA's Turbo Dogg about both of those projects, and why they won't be released anytime soon. She also told him what it's been like working and living in New York during the pandemic, as well as her experiences on the frontline of recent protests.

This interview was conducted by KWVA alumnus Turbo Dogg, who worked for us from 1994-1997. He came on board as Production Director and was responsible for making station promos and PSAs. In 1996, he was promoted to General Manager. All the while, he hosted various “mix shows,” bringing listeners the latest in college rock, and his own…

Week of 8/11/2020