WWRM hosts WORMSTOCK, and outdoor concert featuring

Hot Lava

Wild Nothing

Lost in the Trees

FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC 

4pm :: April 10, 2010

The Dell @ Randolph College :: 2500 Rivermont Ave, Lynchburg, VA

 Limited FREE Parking in BELL and PER lots.

Glenn Beck, host of The Glenn Beck Program, cries for GQ

I was nearly stunned into cardiac arrest when I overheared the Glenn Beck Program the other morning.  After a commercial break the intro music was none other than Tokyo Police Club’s “Graves.”  However, my elation was cut short by Glenn Beck’s barking voice a couple of seconds later.  He didn’t mention the band of course, and he probably had nothing to do with the choice to air it.  The contrast between the programming and the music was almost too much.

Afterward, I dug around the internet trying to find “Graves.”  Instead I found some important news.  Tokyo Police Club is working on their new album named Masterworks In The Key Of Mastery, Feat. Baron von Fantastic and the Even More Simon Express.   The guys are finishing recording their record in LA right now.  So far there isn’t an official release date but their blog allows adoring fans to follow their every move.  They’ve even posted a video of a hockey game with some of their fellow rockers.  Tokyo Police Club can skate.  They certainly aren’t putting Canada to shame.

Who knows, next time you listen to an obnoxious talk show you just might hear some of your favorite music.  If you want to listen to radio that has nothing to do with Glenn Beck but has everything to do with awesome bands like Tokyo Police Club, listen to Your Mom on Sundays from 3-5pm starting January 24th.

~itchy

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January also means many many of our favorite bands are unleashing new records.  Your Mom has waited years for some of these CDs.  We’ve cried over tantalizingly delicious singles.  Beyond January, there’s a slew of Your Mom’s favorite bands who are looking to release new albums in 2010.

On January 12th, both OK Go’s CD, Of the Blue Color of the Sky, and Vampire Weekend’s Contra will be in stores.  OK Go’s last release, Oh No, came out in 2006 so it’s been a pretty hearty wait.  Ok Go were also one of the bands that pulled the creative geniuses of Itchy and Kreig together, so they have some history with Your Mom.  This CD was produced by Dave Fridmann, the same guy that produced MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular.  Frontman Damian Kulash says of the album, “I think it sounds more like us than anything else we’ve done.”

Vampire Weekend’s wild crazy popularity meant that they churned out Contra in better time than OK Go.  Their first CD, Vampire Weekend came out January of 2008 and went gold.  After their adoption by MTV, they became relatively popular in the US.  In the UK they became even more popular and broke through the top 100 on the UK singles chart with A-Punk and Oxford Comma.  Rolling Stone review of Contra gave it four stars, if their opinion matters anymore.  If that doesn’t win you over, listen to this remix of their single “Cousins”.

Of Montreal, among the most fantastic of the Georgian rockers, are planning to release their next album either titled False Priest or The Controller Sphere in August or September.  Kevin Barnes, of Montreal front man and David Bowie’s spiritual son, says that he worked on this record alone and drunk in the studio.  The result?  “Some of the stuff is wild and bizarre and terrible.  And some of it is wild and bizarre and kind of good,” said Barnes to stereogum this January.

Speaking of MGMT, their sophomore album Congratulations is coming out this Spring.  Los Campesinos!, soulful  Brit rockers, will release their Romance is Boring  on January 26th.  Adding to the list: Hot Chip, Sleigh Bells, Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, The Thermals, Free Energy, Gorillaz and even The Strokes are releasing albums in 2010.

Will this be the best year of your life?  It just might.

~itchy

 That being said, I present to you some of the best beards on some of the best musicians.

Ben Bridwell, Band of Horses’s vocalist and guitarist, full out commits to facial hair.  Not only is his beard expertly sculpted, but he also combines flawlessly groomed mane with some awesome tats.  Just conditioning his beard must be enough of a power up to fuel an entire night of musical awesomeness. 

OK, so the beard of Weezer’s River Cuomo didn’t last for long, and arguably it’s more of a goatee.  As if to mark his middle age-ness, Rivers has experimented with all types of face fleece in the past year or so.  But it wasn’t only recently that Rivers has taken to facial hair.  Reportedly when Rivers went to Harvard after Weezer’s initial success, he sported a pretty thick beard.  Even the fans at the university didn’t recognize him.  From Rivers we learn that beards create both the roughly aged aesthetic and become a James Bond style disguise.

Talk about putting Santa to shame.  Sam Beam of Iron and Wine does the beard thing so well, it’s hard to imagine anyone who does it better.  If this doesn’t say folk to you, well I’m sorry because you’re missing out an a full sensory experience.

Nathaniel Followill (second from the right), Kings of Leon’s mighty drummer, grows his dedication to the band’s aesthetic.  Early in their career, KOL sported some wily 70s porn inspired facial hair because no one else was doing it and they wanted to stand out.  What better way to make a musical statement than with a Followill-style long hair and beard combo?

 L Magazine warns readers, “Trend Alert: Some People in Some Bands Have Beards.”  Beards aren’t only a trend, they are a lifestyle.  From whily to well-groomed, they help musicians go under cover, or stand out.  They are the cheese on top of the pizza, inseparably melted to the subtleties of a musician’s sound.  They can give a rocker that signiture style that sets him loose upon the music industry.

Just remember, not everyone can pull a beard off.  Use your razor judiciously.

~itchy

They’ve also shown their dedication to pattern when they wallpapered themselves for their Grammy appearance in 2007.

 OK Go’s sound has changed a little.  Of the Blue Color of the Sky, combines the 80’s pop radio that the band has listened to- from Jackson and Prince, Talking Heads to the B-52s.  Tim Nordwind, Ok Go’s bassist, describes the album as having a “lonely robot sound.”   The band has also described this album as having their “most heartbroken and honest songs.”  I’m feeling lucky already. 

We’ve had to wait four long years since their last CD, Oh No, and we’ll have to wait almost two more months for their newest album, Of the Blue Color of the Sky, which drops on January 12, 2010.  Thanks to the album’s first single, we know it’s worth the wait.  The name of the single?  “WTF?” Seriously.  “WTF?”s video looks like Easter’s pastel-colored toxic waste in a wonderful way, and it sounds, well, it just sounds really sexy. 

What are you waiting for?  Watch the video for “WTF?” right now.  No excuses.

 ~itchy

And the weirdness continues.  Weezer’s newest album, Raditude, comes out November 3rd.  Mercifully Rivers shaved the ’stache, but don’t let that lure you into the Weezer-inspired happy place that you so desire.  Lil Wayne contributes a baby rap to “I Can’t Stop Partying,” Raditude’s fourth track. 

Why Lil Wayne?  Rivers described it well to MTV when he said that Lil Wayne ”gave it the edge I was looking for. You can hear in his voice, it sounds so dark, like he was gonna get shot or something when he walks out of the studio.”  So there you go, this may possibly push the world off into the first musical apocalypse. 

Don’t forget to listen to the track here.  That beat’s pretty stunna’ right?

Peace.
~itchy