New Music Discovery: Getting Back in Shape

By Esmail Hamidi

All the CDs in my car skip now.

I bought earbuds so I could listen to music on my walks home, but I maxed out the data on my phone. Dead hard drive in my old iPod Photo, dead batteries on my old iPod Nano, dead batteries on my cassette Walkman. YouTube blocked at work. Mouse chewed through the cable on my kitchen speaker. No time. Obligations. Bad radio. Wack DJs. The rat race.

All these forces seek to destroy my relationship with new music. I’m feeling closer to 33 every day. Especially deep in the dusty record bins on Toilet Radio.

But no! At WKDU, I am still capable of falling in love with new music of all kinds.  This list is proof. Enjoy.

  1. Girlpool – Ideal World

This cut off of Girlpool’s debut really impresses me. Minimal production, rock-solid guitar tone, and their growing aptitude for harmonies make this song an ear-perking jam. Heroin, anyone?

  1. Blacksage – Basement Vows

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Soulful triplet feel on Baltimore’s Friends Records. Cool.

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Movement Detroit 2015 – Day 2 Photo Recap

Josh Wink and FriendsPhotos: Peter Liu, Words: Chris Burrell

Movement Day 2 was a ton of fun and was filled with so many amazing musical moments. The fun for us began when we met up with our Philly buddy Josh Wink at the main stage at 6 pm. Above, we’ve got DJ friends Jackie Gallagher and Tommy Hogunz posing “215” with Josh – always gotta represent!

Josh WinkJosh had the eager Detroit crowd in an afternoon fit, working through a feverish medley of songs from his catalog, including “Don’t Laugh”, “Are You There” (Ben Klock’s Remix), his newest track “Denial” (which Dixon played the day before, also on the main stage), a different (perhaps forthcoming!?) mix of “Talking To You”, then closed out with a heavy remix of “Higher State of Consciousness”.

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LEVITATION (AUSTIN PSYCH FEST): A REVIEW

by Kirsten Becker

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This past weekend I had an incredibly awesome time at Austin Psych Fest (now called Levitation) on Carson Creek Ranch in Austin, TX. This particular festival has been one I have tried to go to for a while, but funds/time/commitments have gotten in the way. Fortunately, this year worked out perfectly and I hopped on a plane by myself to Texas for this unforgettable festival experience.

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Notes from the Underground: Thursday May 7th – Saturday May 9th

goodie warehouse
The goodie crew providing the laser fullness at their warehouse.

Soooo many good DJs are rolling through Philly this weekend. This is a list of what’s going on to help keep you up to date and up all night.

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Pre-Record Store Day chat with Icebird (RJD2 & Aaron Livingston)

RJD2 & Aaron Livingston
RJD2 & Aaron Livingston in our record library. Photos by Gabe Coffey (lostalgian.tumblr.com)

Everyday is Record Store Day for a lot of us, including RJD2 and Aaron Livingston, who recorded a brilliant album together in 2011 as Icebird. I had the privilege to sit down with them in our studio last week to chat and play some records ahead of the Record Store Day vinyl release of their album The Abandoned Lullaby.

“I feel weird saying I have a lot of records when I’m sitting next to RJ. I have a few records,” said Aaron.

RJ responded, “But I don’t have a lot of records, I don’t have records like Rich Medina. I have a modest record collection when I consider the heavy duty record collectors. I don’t have a storage unit -there’s a defining line and I’m a non-storage unit guy.”

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An obscure Israeli mixtape from Juval Haring (of Vaadat Charigim)!

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Juval Haring– from shoegaze-psych Israeli band Vaadat Charigim– was nice enough to create a super awesome playlist of obscure Israeli music for us! The Tel-Aviv band will release their new album, Sinking as a Stone, May 5th on Burger RecordsListen to a new track from the album and Juval’s playlist below.

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