Banish your case of the Mondays by answering a little poll for us!
As the Spring 2009 schedule comes to a close, we’d love to know what your favorites are on the current WPRB lineup.
You can vote for as many as you like and love, but act soon — this poll closes on Friday, May 8th at midnight!
Jump into the voting booth or see the poll results right after the cut!
Got something else to say about our programming? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Vote for your favorites!
See the results!
Eeep! According to Dr. Cosmo, Canadian Invasion won’t be performing this Friday night on WPRB after all:
Due to a last-minute conflict, Philadelphia popsters Canadian Invasion will be unable to perform on Nocturnal Transmissions this Friday, April 24. I am working with the band to reschedule their appearance and will let you know as soon as this occurs.
As such, it looks like it will simply be me spinnin’ ‘n’ grinnin’ during the program. Tune in and let’s see where we go together! Avanti!
On Friday 4/24 at 10PM ET Dr. Cosmo and “Nocturnal Transmissions” welcome Philadelphia’s Canadian Invasion! (This performance has been postponed for a later date. Stay tuned!)
Take unlikely proportions of airline food, Built to Spill, and power pop sensibilities, mix, stir, electrify and bake over a copper wire, then serve chilled. This Philadelphia-based group answers your desperate musical questions with amusing and pointed lyrics and guitar whimsy. So says Magnet Magazine:
As if handed some imaginary baton from the late, great Bigger Lovers, the five-piece Canadian Invasion has inherited the title of Philadelphia’s best power-pop band. The proof is in sophomore album Three Cheers For The Invisible Hand (Transit Of Venus), a smartly written critique of—and ode to—suburbia. Three Cheers doesn’t rock the suburbs with rote teenage angst or anti-sprawl tirades, however; the voice of singer/guitarist Andy Canadian is coming from inside the ranch house, detailing the funny and sad lives of the members of an American family lost in their own bland anonymity. The clever lyrical conceit is held up by sturdy guitar-pop songwriting; Canadian Invasion sounds like Fountains Of Wayne with considerably less cheese, swapping regressive teenage fantasies and gimmicky Cars keyboards for Kinks-like character sketches and Teenage Fanclub guitar chime.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7yaK5FxVJE&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]
Listen to 103.3 fm WPRB on Wednesday, April 22nd at 8:00 pm ET as Chris Daltry of The ‘Mericans (he’s second from the left below) stops by Jon Solomon’s show to play live.
» MySpace
Chris was a founding member of Purple Ivy Shadows. Here’s a taste of what he’s up to now:
From WPRB News: a double edition of Discourse, featuring the latest in film and the future of molecular biology.
Sunday at 12:00 pm EST, join News Director Nikki Leon for a conversation with filmmaker Damien Chazelle, whose debut picture—Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench—is being featured at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. Listen to the promo here.
Then, at 12:30 pm EST Sophie Jin and Yihe Dong take a look at the latest in cell research. Jin explains how scientists are investigating “quiescence,” a specific state in the life cycle of the cell. Dong speaks with Princeton biologist Hilary Coller, a leader in the study of quiescence, about how her work may, among other things, be applied to cancer research.
If you miss the broadcast or want to hear it a second time, come back to WPRB News for both episodes.
Even though we’re ready to take a second vacation, our weekly Top 30 charts are not. The Top 30 is a tireless worker, counting down the most-loved music hear on our airwaves, week in and week out.
On Fridays you can always hear the best of the best during our Top Ten Show on at 5PM EDT! (Like the show? Become a fan on Facebook!)
WPRB 103.3 FM TOP 30 FOR THE WEEK ENDING APRIL 17, 2009
1 BAT FOR LASHES Two Suns Astralwerks
2 SWAN LAKE Enemy Mine Jagjaguwar
3 DAN DEACON Brömst Carpark
4 PETER, BJORN & JOHN Living Thing Almost Gold
5 YEAH YEAH YEAHS It’s Blitz Interscope
6 BLACK JOE LEWIS AND THE HONEYBEARS Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is Lost Highway
7 THE WHIP X Marks Destination Razor & Tie
8 THERMALS Now We Can See Kill Rock Stars
9 BLK JKS Mystery Secretly Canadian
10 SUPERCHUNK Leaves In The Gutter Merge
11 MAN IS DOOMED Escape To Europa Skeptic
12 JUNIOR BOYS Begone Dull Care Domino
13 HANDSOME FURS Face Control Sub Pop
14 CONDO FUCKS Fuckbook Matador
15 WHITEST BOY ALIVE Rules Bubbles/!K7
16 KURT VILE & THE VIOLATORS The Hunchback EP Richie Records
17 FEVER RAY Fever Ray Mute
18 DECEMBERISTS Hazards Of Love Capitol
19 BLACK LIPS 200 Million Thousand Vice
20 GLISS Devotion Implosion Rykodisc
21 WAVVES Wavvves Fat Possum
22 LOTUS PLAZA The Floodlight Collective Kranky
23 MASTODON Crack The Skye Reprise
24 MT. ST. HELENS VIETNAM BAND Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band Dead Oceans
25 CUT OFF YOUR HANDS You And I Frenchkiss
26 O PLUS S O Plus S Saddle Creek
27 METRIC Fantasies Self-Released
28 THUNDERHEIST Thunderheist Big Dada
29 DOVES Kingdom Of Rust Heavenly/Astralwerks
30 GUI BORATTO Take My Breath Away Kompakt
Over at the Chicago Reader‘s blog, there’s a great piece about the Fems and the strange-but-true story of how WPRB DJ alum Ken Katkin may have been responsible for getting this slice of 80s-era Buffalo punk reissued on Drag City:
When I was still in high school, a long, long time ago, the only radio station I listened to regularly was WPRB, operated by students at Princeton University. I first heard a lot of great bands through the station, including some that eventually became standard-bearers–R.E.M., the Violent Femmes, the Minutemen, the Feelies, Mission of Burma–but to be honest I know I’ve forgotten the great majority. I learned about groups like the Neats and the Dream Syndicate, who didn’t quite get canonized but still mean just as much to me now as they did nearly two and a half decades ago. And I remember a handful of songs that earned a special place in the station’s rotation but were by bands that nobody really knew much about, even at the time.
Read on and if that post doesn’t have you convinced by the end that Ken Katkin is one of the greatest people to have graced the planet, well then, I don’t know what to tell ya.
Listen to 103.3 fm WPRB on Wednesday, April 15th at 8:00 pm ET as live music returns to Jon Solomon’s show with a special appearance by Kiam recording artist Clint Michigan.
Here’s a video of Clint & Amy reworking a familiar pop song.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUU4OeiCXuc&hl=en&fs=1]
Finally, enjoy the duo’s cover of another popular number.
From WPRB News: a double edition of Discourse, featuring conversations on American involvement in the Middle East to cutting edge developments in “nanoimprint lithography.”
Sunday at 12:00 pm EST, join producer Sophie Jin for an interview with Jon Greenwald, Vice President of the International Crisis Group and former director of the U.S. Department of State Office of Counter-Terrorism. Greenwald discusses the state of American involvement in the Middle East and how the Obama administration is shaping perspectives on America worldwide.
Then, at 12:30 pm EST, Nikki Leon and Alfred Miller take a look at a new technology, called “nanoimprint lithography,” developed by Princeton University scientist Stephen Chou. Nanoimprint lithography allows scientists to build structures on the tiniest scale—including ever-smaller microchips and special molds used in DNA sequencing. Miller speaks with Chou about his discoveries.
If you miss the broadcast or want to hear it a second time, come back here to listen to both episodes.
We’re back with another list chock full of new music loved by our station staff!
On Fridays you can always hear the best of the best during our Top Ten Show on at 5PM EDT! (Like the show? Become a fan on Facebook!)
WPRB 103.3 FM TOP 30 FOR THE WEEK ENDING APRIL 10, 2009
1 YEAH YEAH YEAHS It’s Blitz Interscope
2 DAN DEACON Brömst Carpark
3 SUPERCHUNK Leaves In The Gutter Merge
4 BAT FOR LASHES Two Suns Astralwerks
5 SWAN LAKE Enemy Mine Jagjaguwar
6 HANDSOME FURS Face Control Sub Pop
7 CONDO FUCKS Fuckbook Matador
8 FEVER RAY If I Had a Heart 7″ Rabid
9 ISOTOPE Golden Section Cuneiform
10 DECEMBERISTS Hazards Of Love Capitol
11 PETER BJORN AND JOHN Living Thing Almost Gold
12 SEBASTIEN TELLIER Kilometer Record Makers
13 TUNE-YARDS BiRd-BrAiNs Marriage
14 THE WHIP X Marks Destination Razor & Tie
15 AUTOPILOT IS FOR LOVERS To the Wolves Bladen County
16 ILYAS AHMED Goner Root Strata
17 LOTUS PLAZA The Floodlight Collective Kranky
18 ULAAN KHOL II Soft Abuse
19 MAN IS DOOMED Escape To Europa Skeptic
20 THUNDERHEIST Thunderheist Big Dada
21 CUT OFF YOUR HANDS You And I Frenchkiss
22 GLISS Devotion Implosion Rykodisc
23 BEEP BEEP Enchanted Islands Saddle Creek
24 MASTODON Crack The Skye Reprise
25 VARIOUS ARTISTS Dark Was The Night 4AD
26 GOLDEN HOURS Spooky Eggy
27 BLACK LIPS 200 Million Thousand Vice
28 SLEEPY SUN Embrace All Tomorrow’s Parties
29 ABE VIGODA Reviver Post Present Medium
30 NEKO CASE Middle Cyclone Anti-