Week of 7/28/2020

Written by Rob Schenk

I'm standing in my friend Jack's basement (former KWVA DJ Red Rocket.) There's chalk provided by the house to draw on the basement walls, which are covered in profanity, doodles, and messages. Friends and friends of friends are smoking, drinking, and having a good time. 

Punisher takes the stage, really just the back corner of the basement. Two guys, a piano, a mic, an amp, and a drum kit. They start playing. Eric Endsley introduces a funky drum line: kick, cowbell, lots of cymbals. The keys come in, muddy, bright, and cheerful. Daniel Bromfield starts to sing about three little pigs. 15 minutes later his shirt is off, sweat streaming down his face. The basement is now a pit, people careening off the walls, beer splashing everywhere. Friends hit friends and foes alike. Everyone is dancing, screaming, and laughing. Later that night we threw our empty bottles at the basement walls, shattering the glass and delighting in the willful…

Otakusuite Eggs (2020) Review by Leo Phillips

Eggs, the debut album from up-and-coming Italian trio Otakusuite, is a delicious stew of prog rock, psychedelia, and jazz. What more could you want in an indie band? With only 7 tracks, Eggs may appear to be an easy listen on the surface, but the full listening time totals up to a solid 48 minutes of genre-blending instrumental jams.

Chicken Caravan Deluxe opens up the album to introduce you to the band's signature sound, which can only be described as jazz fusion meets jam band. The funky riffs, extended chords, and fuzzed-out guitars on this track would not feel out of place at a Eugene house show. What follows is an epic, almost 10-minute long psychedelic experience in the form of Manannan Mac Lir, my personal favorite. Killer Monk, the shortest track at 2:24 showcases the band's prowess in the stoner rock sphere, not wasting any time to melt your face. Country Cousins Meets the…

C.H.E.W. In Due Time (2020) Review by Ben Goldstein

Following their 2018 LP Feeding Frenzy, Chicago hardcore band C.H.E.W. is back with their new EP, In Due Time, and it may be their strongest release yet.

When I first started listening to punk, I didn’t care as much about the musical skill of the musicians as I did their ability to play loud and aggressively; I wanted to feel a certain way. I still have a soft spot for the untamed, DIY sloppiness of bands like the Mentally Ill and the Germs, but I’ve learned to appreciate technical skill over the years. C.H.E.W. stands out to me in the realm of modern punk because they bring the noise with unparalleled musicianship. Their approach to hardcore sits in the threshold between conventional and unconventional. They do their own thing and also stay true to that which makes the genre great. While I hear traces of traditional hardcore acts like Negative Approach and Die Kreuzen (and…

Everyday Jo talks with Salvatore Maicki about his experience working in the music industry as an intern at NPR's Tiny Desk and now as a writer at The FADER

Byre Here in Dead Lights Byre (2018) Review by Ben Goldstein 

Byre, an indie collaboration between veterans in their respective genres, features Aaron Tanner (Off-Ox), Zach Zint (Thunder Dreamer), Ryan Grisham (Mock Orange), the prolific Rob Crow (Pinback), and Spencer Seim (Hella) — who actually plays drums on Byre’s debut EP, “Here in Dead Lights,” and in doing so demonstrates that his musical genius isn’t limited to guitar.

This review is long overdue considering “Here in Dead Lights” dropped in 2018, but having recently stumbled upon the band, I thought I’d share my thoughts. The instrumentation on this EP is mesmerizing. Crow’s vocals cascade over the sonic textures offered on Object Permanence, while synthesized melodies sweep beneath the instrumentals on Gallagher III in the most beautiful way. With a Hammer starts off simple and unfolds into an enigmatic, immersive soundscape that’s easy…

Black Marble It’s Immaterial (2016) Review by: Jonathan Roensch 

I chose to review It’s Immaterial by Black Marble because it’s something I’m listening to during this quarantine. I’ve really enjoyed rediscovering Black Marble, I had known a few songs from this album but I hadn’t heard the album in entirety. The album is a fantastic, dream pop, nostalgic, time capsule with 80s synthwave undertones. It has eleven tracks that encapsulate a range of emotions and sounds that I’ve really come to adore. The album begins with a bizarre introduction song filled with different noises and sounds. After that, a fast tempo fades into a more mellow, relaxed track. Each song paints a picture in its own way and strikes a different emotion in every chord change. The songs have an overall mellow, nostalgic tone with glimpses of joy hidden in the keys. It’s Immaterial is a melodic echo chamber of an album, each track within the album holds…

This is an exclusive interview with DJ Zombie Zeth. His show, Songs for the Dead, is noon to 2 PM on Sundays

How long have you been a DJ at KWVA and why’d you start?

I’ve had a show since Fall term of 2019 but my friend had a show last year and they’d always invite me to come and be a guest so I had a good sense of the studio when I officially started. I feel like I have a pretty unusual taste in music and think its fun to share with people. I really like finding old cuts of music that are harder to find or might not be at the forefront of what people want to listen to. Being able to expose the deep cuts, the remixes, and the cool covers keeps being a DJ interesting.

Do you stick to a particular genre? 

I play a lot of different stuff on my show but it’s usually pretty heavy. For a while, it was fairly eclectic but mostly consisted of rock music I liked. I only played vinyl records from my…

Written by Sam Mondros - photos by Jeff Jacobus (IG: @lostversesphotography)

I talked with Geordie Greep (center), frontman for London's most exciting new art rock quartet, Black Midi, at The Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, Oregon.

“Please stop all of this strange fantasy”

These are the words that open up Black Midi’s debut album “Schlagenheim”. An Ironic omen of what's to come? Or just tongue in cheek? Black Midi are a four-piece from London, England who have gained popularity on the underground scene in the UK since 2017. All the band members are between the ages of 20-21 and have thus far released one album back in June prefaced by five singles. They gained most of their foreign popularity in the last 10 months after Seattle based radio station, KEXP, released a 26-minute video of them playing a hostel in Reykjavik, Iceland. To try and categorize Black Midi is not an easy task, and would seemingly go…

This week's DJ Spotlight highlights Karl, AKA The Kranky Kowboy! He hosts "Blood On the Saddle," Mondays, 8-10 pm.

KWVA: When did you get involved with KWVA and why?

K: Around 2000, my friend who was already a DJ talked me into becoming one, too. I started doing a show called "Radio Unfriendly" from 3-7 am Saturday mornings. After a year, I had enough of an interest in Country music (the "insurgent country" thing was going into full swing at that time) that I decided to take the leap and apply for a "Specialty Show," which was a distinction we had then for shows with specific themes, usually genre-based. That show became "Blood on the Saddle." It started as a 7-9 pm show on Mondays, then when the news hour blocks became a thing, it settled in its forever home: 8-10 pm Monday nights.

Soon after, I also started engineering for John…