WFMU's Beware of the Blog

WFMU's 2014 Record Fair Kicks off tomorrow in NYC!

Join us for a weekend of vinyl worship: WFMU's 2014 Record Fair throws down at the Armory at Lexington and 26th St (68 Lexington Ave) in Manhattan THIS Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!

HOURS & ADMISSION

Friday, May 30th
- Early Admission 4-7pm ($25, with unlimited re-entry all weekend)
- Regular Admission 7-10pm ($7)

Saturday, May 31st: 10am - 7pm ($7)

Sunday, June 1st: 10am - 7pm ($7)

Just print or show this coupon at the door to get $2 off admission.

LIVE PERFORMANCES
- Dan Melchior (Sat 3:30pm)
- The Flatmates (Sat 4:30pm)
- Laura Cantrell (Sun 2pm)
- Ubu Sings Ubu Band (Sun 5pm)

LIVE BROADCASTS
- Michael Shelley (Sat 11am-1pm)
- Fool's Paradise with Rex (Sat 1-3pm)
- Cherry Blossom Clinic with Terre T (Sat 3-6pm)

LIVE VIDEO (watch Record Fair madness on our Ustream feed)
- Clay Pigeon of the Dusty Show interviews revelers at the Fair (Sat 1pm & 6pm, Sun 1pm & 6pm)
- Dan Melchior and The Flatmates perform live (Sat 3:30pm)
- Live set by Laura Cantrell (Sun 2pm)
- Ubu Sings Ubu Band performance (Sun 5pm)

FOOD & DRINK (all beer sales benefit WFMU)
- Two Boots Pizza
- Dub Pies
- Sierra Nevada
- Brooklyn Brewery

 

See you at the Fair!

WFMU's 2014 fundraising Marathon is on and runs through March 9th! Make a pledge now!

 

Check out our new 2014 swag, featuring our new Mighty Goldfinch T-shirt (left), a truckload of new DJ Premiums, and more! All new and current Swag for Life members are eligible to receive our exclusive, limited-edition black Woof-Moo T-shirt, and early pledgers get first dibs on adopting a WFMU DJ or fixture!

Yo La Tengo will be playing cover song requests in exchange for pledges on Wednesday, February 26th (9pm-midnight) on the Evan "Funk" Davies show with co-host Gaylord Fields, and WFMU's Hoof & Mouth Sinfonia close out the Marathon on Sunday March 9th with drunken live band karaoke.

Don't miss out on our biggest on-air bash of the year!

Liz Berg's Top Picks of 2013

Presenting some of my favorite releases from 2013, in no particular order:

Zola Jesus & J.G. Thrilwell - Versions (Sacred Bones) | Listen

La Femme - Psycho Tropical Berlin (Born Bad) | Listen

Spray Paint - S/T (S-S Records) | Listen

Dan Friel - Total Folklore (Thrill Jockey) | Listen

Woolen Men - S/T (Woodsist) | Listen

Klaus Dinger & Japandorf - S/T (Gronland) | Listen

Matias Aguayo - The Visitor (Comeme) | Listen

Nymph - New Millenium Prayer (Northern Spy) | Listen

Julianna Barwick - Nepenthe (Dead Oceans) | Listen

Mueran Humanos - Culpable 7" (Louder Than War) | Listen

Gelbart - World War I Hamster Diorama 7" (Defekt) | Listen

 

Here's my short list of favorites that were added to the Free Music Archive in 2013, and here's a 99-song extended mix of FMA faves.

Holiday shopping at the WFMU store

Get your retail on at WFMU's online store! Find the perfect gift for that special record nerd or freeform radio fan in your life.

New items have been added, including WFMU's global domination bag, our lovely LP slipmat, Chris Ware's classic "Learn Radio at Home" t-shirt, and more!

All orders placed by Dec 13th will arrive in time for Chrimbus. Consume!

WFMU's 2013 Record Fair - Nov 22-24!

Don't miss out on the best record shopping weekend of the year! Luxuriate in the presence of hundreds of thousands of records and CDs, great films and live music, plus tons of live WFMU broadcasts!

WFMU Record Fair
Nov 22nd - 24th (Fri - Sun)

Metropolitan Pavilion
125 W. 18th St, Manhattan

Early admission ($25): Fri 4-7pm (includes unlimited re-entry all weekend)
Regular admission ($7): Fri 7-10pm, Sat/Sun 10am-7pm

Bring in your Record Fair postcard or this coupon for $2 off admission!

Live Music:
- Shannon & the Clams: Sat 3-6pm
- Liquor Store: Sat 3-6pm
- Blowfly: Sun 1pm
- Jeffrey Lewis & the Rain: Sun 3pm

Films:
- The Mystery in Old Bathbath - a puppet movie by Quintron and Miss Pussycat, Sat 10am
- MeanEnsemble: Raymond Scott's Perfect Musical World, Sat 2pm
- Everything's Coming Up Profits: The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals, Sat 4pm
- Andrew Bird: Fever Year, Sun 4:15pm
and more!

Live WFMU Broadcasts from the Record Fair include Miniature Minotaurs with Kurt Gottschalk (Fri 3-6pm), Put the Needle on the Record with Billy Jam (Fri 7-8pm), Downtown Soulville with Mr. Fine Wine (Fri 8-9pm), Michael Shelley (Sat 11am-1pm), Fool's Paradise with Rex (Sat 1-3pm), and The Cherry Blossom Clinic with Terre T (Sat 3-6pm).

Full schedule of events here.

See you at the Fair!

 

WFMU's Radiovision Festival hits NYC THIS Saturday!

Don't miss out on WFMU's 3rd annual Radiovision Festival this Saturday, October 19th, at the Scholastic Auditorium (557 Broadway) in NYC! Tickets here.

Radiovision celebrates radio's future as it takes on new forms in the digital age for the medium's fans, tinkerers, and future thinkers.

This year's guests include:

FIlmmaker Adam Curtis (keynote speaker)

Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit)

Julie Klausner (comedian)

Bob Garfield (On the Media)

James Del (Gawker Media)

Tom Scharpling (WFMU)

and more!

Check out the full schedule here, and we'll see you on Saturday!

 

Help WFMU Open our Performance Space to the Public!

WFMU's Studio of Tomorrow silent campaign to raise enough money to open our 100-seat radio theater to the public is gaining steam! Help us make our goal by October 31st by making a pledge below!

Earlier this year, WFMU reclaimed the ground floor space of our building* and renovated it on a shoestring. But right now the space is just an empty room with a stage, and we now need to bring it up to code and purchase some basic audio equipment so that we can open our doors to the public and start hosting events.

*(previously, we rented it out to a business that closed shop)

Station Manager Ken explains it all in the video below:

 

And if that didn't convince you to pledge, perhaps we can entice you with our fantastic new Junk Food T-shirt ($50) or Knit Hat ($100). More swag on view here.

 

WFMU Broadcasts Live from Primavera Sound Fest, May 24-25

WFMU returns to Barcelona's amazing Primavera Sound Festival on Friday, May 24 and Saturday, May 25th! This year's broadcasts happen from 3pm to Midnight both days, artist schedule below. Don't miss it!

WFMU Broadcast schedule (ET, acts/times subject to change - updated 5/24)

Friday, May 24
3:00 Hot Snakes
4:00 White Fence
5:00 Woods
6:00 Fuck Buttons
6:45 Merchandise
7:35 Killer Mike
8:10 Daniel Johnston
9:00 Om
10:00 Neurosis
11:00 Josef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch
11:30 Fourtet

Saturday, May 25
3:00 Swans
4:20 Orchestra Poly Rhythmo de Cotonou
4:50 Guardian Alien
5:30 Goat
6:00 Tinariwen
6:20 Mulatu Astatke
6:45 Death Grips
7:10 Thee Oh Sees
7:40 Meat Puppets
8:15 Dan Deacon
9:00 Jesus and Mary Chain
9:30 Dead Can Dance
10:00 Nurse With Wound
11:00 Omar Souleyman
11:30 Wu-Tang Clan

 

As the festival's official USA radio partner, WFMU has been carrying sets live from sunny Spain five years in a row, and artists we've broadcast in the past included Glenn Branca, Grinderman, Sonic Youth, Codeine, The Pop Group, Demdike Stare, The Monochrome Set, Marianne Faithfull, Einsturzende Neubauten, Pavement, Pere Ubu, Wire, and many more, with archives available online and the FMA!

WFMU Marathon Happenings

 

This is the second and final week of WFMU's fundraising Marathon and we are still less than halfway to our goal, which must be met by Sunday, March 17th! Make a pledge now!

 

Special highlights this week:

TONIGHT - Tuesday, March 12 (9pm-mid)

A.C. Newman and John Hodgman join Tom Scharpling on the Best Show on WFMU for 3 hours of mirth, music, and mayhem! Tune in to win killer prizes, and watch it all go down on our live video feed at wfmu.org. Pledge to the Best Show using this link.

 

 

 

 

Thursday, March 14 (9am-noon)

Yo La Tengo play your cover song requests in exchange for pledges of $100 or more on Hello Children with Faye and co-host Gaylord Fields! Pledge to the Yo La Tengo request-a-thon NOW from this page, or tune in to pledge live.

 

WFMU's 2013 Marathon is coming your way!

WFMU's 2013 Marathon is approaching! Our annual on-air fundraising party hits your ears March 4th - 17th. Make a pledge now!

Check out our new 2013 swag, featuring two new t-shirts ("Alley Cat" design by Gary Panter, and "Radio Zombies" design by Mayuko Fujino), a truckload of new DJ Premiums, and more!

All new and current Swag for Life members are eligible to receive our new messenger bag, and early pledgers get first dibs on adopting a WFMU DJ or fixture!

Yo La Tengo will be playing cover song requests in exchange for pledges on Thursday, March 14th (9am-noon) on Hello Children with Faye and co-host Gaylord Fields, and WFMU's Hoof & Mouth Sinfonia close out the Marathon on Sunday March 17th with drunken live band karaoke.

Don't miss out on our biggest on-air bash of the year!

Liz Berg's Top Picks of 2012

Here are some of my favorite releases from the past year, in no particular order, plus a big-ass mix of my favorite songs from the Free Music Archive that I discovered in 2012:

Stacian  Songs for Cadets  (Moniker) - perfect soundtrack for a robot dance party | listen
Eric Copeland  Limbo  (Underwater Peoples) - sounds from the ghettos of outer space | listen
Jonathan Kane’s February  Live at Issue Project Room  (Issue Project Room) - rocking at a steady pace | listen
Household  Items  (Dull Knife)* - fans of Rough Trade lady groups of the '70s take note | listen
Moonmen On the Moon, Man  Maan  (Cape Shock) - bratty bedroom punk | listen
XRay Pop  The Dream Machine  (Dark Entries, reissue) - minimal synth pop | listen
9th Ward Marching Band  Sneakin Up the Street  (Rhinestone) - giant marching band plays the hits | listen
Mazes  Mazes Blazes  (Parasol) - melodic pop gems | listen
Laurie Spiegel  The Expanding Universe  (Unseen Worlds, reissue) - epic, spacey synth journeys | listen
Mark Sultan  War on Rock and Roll  (In the Red) - multi-song meltdown | listen

*technically this came out in 2011, but it didn’t hit my eardrums until 2012, so I'm counting it here, dammit.

 

WFMU Benefit in New Orleans tonight!

Calling all WFMU fans in the Crescent City and environs! WFMU pals Euclid Records, WWOZ, WTUL, and a bunch of fabulous bands are hosting a benefit event on our behalf at Siberia (2227 Claude St, New Orleans) TONIGHT!

Quintron & Miss Pussycat
Die Rotzz
Guitar Lightnin' Lee
and more!

Hurricane Sandy caused tons of electrical damage to our equipment, and proceeds from this show will fund WFMU's efforts to prevent future electrical problems. We hope to purchase generators, power conditioners, etc.

Huge thanks to our supportive friends in New Orleans!

 

Check out this video of Quintron and Miss Pussycat to get pumped:

 

Survey Says...

WFMU is plotting out the next move in our quest for total online domination, and we need to know about YOUR needs.

Help us out by completing this online survey about how you use online music services.

Thanks!

WFMU's 31 Days of October is getting scary!

October is getting really scary for us here at WFMU... The month is nearly over and we have yet to hit the 50% mark for our silent fundraising goal! Help save the station from insolvency with your pledge.

Snag our new turntable t-shirt (designed by Nick Dewar) for a pledge of $50 or more.

Better yet, grab the shirt AND our incredible holiday music compilation, "WFMU's War on Christmas" for a pledge of $100. The holiday comp has an exclusive, unreleased version of "Jesus Christ" by Big Star, plus tracks by James Pants, Klaus Nomi, the Reigning Sound, and more!

 

 

WFMU's 31 Days of October Going Strong

This week, WFMU launched into silent fundraiser mode with our 31 Days of October campaign, and it is going strong! In an effort to pay our bills without resorting to a second pledge drive, we decided it was better to come up with a month of incredible on-air specials, listener meet-ups, and events (while taking pledges online and through the mail).

Pledge right here!

This fall, we are offering some great new swag: our Turntable T-shirt designed by Nick Dewar, and a compilation of holiday music called "WFMU's War on Christmas" (CD + MP3 disc) with cover artwork by Mayuko Fujino.

Do not miss out on the holiday compilation, it contains an exclusive unreleased mix of "Jesus Christ" by Big Star, plus tracks by James Pants, Klaus Nomi, the Reigning Sound, and more!

MP3 - A Crash Course, guest post by Jonathan Sterne

Today, there are more mp3s in circulation than all other recording formats combined. This alone would be cause to write a book about them, but I became fascinated with mp3s because of how they are made. An mp3 encoder uses a mathematical model of the gaps and absences in human hearing to remove some of the data in an audio file, in order to make it smaller. If the encoder “thinks” you won’t hear part of a sound recording, it yanks it out on the encoding end, so that the resulting mp3 file is smaller, and therefore easier to transmit over data lines or to stockpile on hard drives and flash memories.

I wanted to know where this model of human hearing came from and what it could tell us about our contemporary sonic culture. The result is my new book, MP3:The Meaning of a Format.

The technology behind the mp3 is called “perceptual coding,” and I quickly discovered it has deep connections to the development of hearing science and telecommunications over the last hundred years. Everything we think we know about hearing in the state of nature is a result of the interactions between ears and media in the 20th century.

MP3s also point to the importance of compression in the development of communication technologies. Each generation of new media is usually sold to consumers as being of higher definition and greater verisimilitude than its predecessor (think of how DVDs and Blu-Ray have been marketed, for instance). But developments in compression and lower-definition transmission are equally important for everything from telegraphs, to telephones, to color television, to satellite transmission to the internet. This other history is less apparent because it is manifest inside our hard drives, and inside the massive infrastructures that allow us to move data around. It is not as shiny or sexy as the latest consumer gadget, but it could well be more important for everything from aesthetics to policy.

WFMU auctions off original Max Tundra album art and more!

Thanks to a generous donation from glitch-pop superstar Max Tundra, WFMU has the original album artwork for his fantastic 2002 release "Mastered by Guy at the Exchange"... and we're auctioning it off on eBay!

The painting is by Dando Moore, and measures a little bit larger than 12" square.

We're also selling off a few rare records:

The Wozard of Iz LP- 1968 hippie parody of the Wizard of Oz, by Mort Garson & Jacques Wilson.

Arto / Neto "Pini, Pini" 12" single - no wave from Arto Lindsay and Seth Tillet, released on Ze Records in 1978.

Get on over to WFMU's eBay page and start bidding!

 

 

Off-Mic DJ News, April 2012

Many WFMU DJs, including Kenny G, Rob Weisberg, Pseu Braun, Kevin Nutt, Tony Coulter, Scott Williams, Kenzo, and volunteer Cheese Snob Wendy participated in the AV Festival's Radio Boredcast stream which ran all March and will be repeated in April. It was curated and programmed by Vicki Bennett aka People Like Us. Archives available here.

WFMU's Music Director Brian Turner (right) hits the Europe circuit in April: Julie Tippex booking has BT spinning and lecturing April 19-28, including several days participation at Nantes' excellent Le Lieu Unique festival. He promises Budgie, Billy Bond, and Blah Blah Blah for all, dates here.

The National Association of Community Broadcasters honors Station Manager Ken with an award for leadership and innovation.

Wed Apr 4th, 8pm: Sergei Tcherepnin and WFMU's Woody Sullender will turn ISSUE Project Room into a site for listening and touching music, with sonic tables and other unconventional sound-producers channeling their electronic improvisations. RSVP (free, $10 suggested donation).

Thurs Apr 5th, 9pm: Inspired by the Miami Bass theme of his recent Marathon premium, WFMU DJ Billy Jam has teamed up with three Bay Area DJs (DJ Quest, DJ Stef, and Marc Stretch of Foreign Legion) to present a one-off night of all Miami Bass booty shaking dance music at SOM Bar in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Thurs Apr 5th, 12pm-1pm Australian time (Wednesday April 4, 10pm New Jersey Time) DJ Keili will be the guest on Sydney's FBI Radio's "Out of The Box" radio show, sharing ten songs that have influenced or affected her life and her show.

Henry Lowengard's band Mamalama's latest CD "The World of Color and Light"  will be out In April and they're having a release show at the Bearsville Theatre in Woodstock, NY on Sat Apr 7th, 8PM door with opening act Marc Sloan on guitar. 

Noah Uman was interviewed in Flea Market Funk about record collecting, DJing & producing re-issues. See it here. His Marshall McLuhan & Profile Records re-issues were recently featured on NPR. The show on McLuhan is here and the one on Profile Records is here. Noah also was interviewed on DJ Eclipe's Halftime Show on WNYU March 14th, you can see that on ustream here.

Thursday April 12th at 7pm, Scott McDowell will be one of the featured panelists at a free roundtable dialogue called Aether: Is the Medium Still the Message? in Bryant Park. For more information and to register go here and here.

Saturday April 28th, Kevin Nutt as DJ Casequarter will be spinning vinyl with Tuscaloosa's DJ Tom Cat Kitten at Egan's Bar in Tuscaloosa  Rockabilly, Soul, Gospel, Garage, Country & Cajun 45s and 78s, 9 until it's over.

Nathaniel Roe is playing a lot of shows in April. On Saturday, April 5th he will be at Secret Project Robot for the Birthday show with DJ Dylan Going (also of wfmu).. On Saturday April 14 Roe will beat Death By Audio for the White Suns record release with Pop. 1280 and C. Spencer Yeh. April 21, Roe will be at Spirit Bar with Rat Bastard, Mark Morgan (from Sightings), Mr.Matthews + Bob Bellerue (member of Telecult Powers)

Here's a Brooklyn Rail piece on post-Megaupload blog scene with quotes by Doug Schulkind.

El Pais had a great article (in Spanish) on the Free Music Archive and you can see it here.

Julie from Dark Night of the Soul was interviewed in a podcast by the Musicnbandsndan blog. Scroll down to see it here.

Every Sunday, Dave the Spazz spins rock & roll records at Union Pool starting at 10 pm (484 Union Ave at Meeker in Williamsburg, Brooklyn), free.

Mr. Fine Wine spins at Botanica (47 East Houston St.) every Wednesday, 10 pm till late, free.

Yo La Tengo Play Requests in Exchange for Pledges Tonight!

It's an annual WFMU Marathon tradition! Yo La Tengo plays requests in exchange for pledges live on WFMU TONIGHT, Friday March 2nd, (9pm - midnight, EST) on Pseu's Thing with a Hook, hosted by Pseu Braun and Gaylord Fields.

Pledge $100 and have your request ready to fire! You can use this link to submit your pledge and song request in advance.

We'll be hosting a live video stream of the performance at wfmu.org, but the show won't be archived, so don't miss out!

WFMU's 2012 Fundraising Marathon continues through March 4th!

Pledge Page | Swag | DJ Premiums | Marathon Map | Co-Host Schedule |
Marathon Info | Pledge Banner Code | Employer Matching Donations | Marathon Tumblr

WFMU's 2012 Marathon begins next week!

WFMU's 2012 Marathon is approaching! Our annual on-air party throws down Feb 20th - Mar 4th.

Check out the new 2012 swag, featuring our Biker T-shirt designed by Lightning Bolt's Brian Chippendale (left), a truckload of new DJ Premiums, and more!

Pledge early to get our Vintage WFMU Pack or a Prize Account. Early pledgers also get first dibs on adopting a WFMU DJ or fixture!

Yo La Tengo will be playing cover song requests in exchange for pledges on Friday, March 2nd (9pm-mid) on Pseu Braun's show with co-host Gaylord Fields, and WFMU's Hoof & Mouth Sinfonia close out the Marathon on Sunday March 4th with drunken live band karaoke. Don't miss out on our biggest on-air bash of the year!