What We Play

Here are the top 10 albums our djs have been playing the past week. As you can probably tell, we have good taste.

1	SHE AND HIM	Volume One	Merge
2	BEACH HOUSE	Devotion	Carpark
3	VAMPIRE WEEKEND	Vampire Weekend	XL
4	PLANTS AND ANIMALS	Parc Avenue	Secret City
5	THESE UNITED STATES	A Picture Of The Three Of Us At The Gate To The Garden Of Eden	United Interests
6	THAO WITH THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN	We Brave Bee Stings And All	Kill Rock Stars
7	FUCK BUTTONS	Street Horrrsing	ATP
8	OAKS	Songs For Waiting	Self-Released
9	CRYSTAL CASTLES	Crystal Castles	Last Gang
10	ELF POWER	In A Cave	Rykodisc

OH EM GEE, LYKE TOTALLY DOPE SHOW APRIL 18 AT DANGER DANGER

sure, there are tons of things you could do on a friday night, but really none of them are quite so phantasmagorically exciting as what we're doing april 18.

WQHS' last show of the semester is still three weeks away, but it's not too early to start thinking about making your way over to west philly's own danger danger (5013 baltimore), where we'll be serving you some of the finest musical goods philly and brooklyn have to offer:

Mary Magdalene (may be their last show before a hiatus!)
Cinemasophia (NYC)
The Armchairs
Miking Mihrab

i'll be posting more about upcoming shows in philly soon, but in the meantime treat yourself to the links above.

Make A Rising at Pilam Tonight

While most Penn students were in Cabo over SPRING BREAK!!! taking tequila shots and roasting in the sun, I was springbroke at home listening to Make A Rising's newest album and mentally packing my bags for tonight's voyage over a sea of horns and harmonies.

West Philly's own Make A Rising is playing tonight with Pterodactyl and Off the International Radar at Pilam (3914 Spruce St., 9 p.m., $5). Don't trust me or the tour guide to your left? Check out this week's Philadelphia Weekly:

"Skeptical? Pick up their new album Infinite Ellipse and Head With Open Fontanel, and slap on a pair of headphones. See what I mean? Insane though it is, the album gels better and more quickly than their previous effort—2005’s Pitchfork-lauded Rip Through the Hawk Black Night—and is as notable for its sense of control as for its careening energy. That said, if you thought Man Man were the most puckish live band in the town, you haven’t seen Make a Rising."
- Doug Wallen, Philadelphia Weekly

Get pumped, brahs. It's going to be a sweet trip.

(Photo by WQHS's own Maria Tessa Sciarrino)

Stuff I've been listening to

Greetings, readers.

Since I'm sure everyone out there's curious, I thought I'd share some info about new stuff I've gotten lately that I'm really digging. I don't think it's at the station yet, but if we get some action on this blog I'll be happy to burn some copies and take them down to the station.

First off is the Born Ruffians- it's straight-ahead rock, mostly just a guitar, bass and drums. But they're loud and make really fun tunes. The lead singer has a pretty incredible voice: he's shrill but not obnoxious, and can really fling his voice around in some pretty interesting ways. Their new album "Red Yellow and Blue" has some great stuff on it, my favorites being "Little Garcon" and "Foxes Mate For Life." "Little Garcon" is softer than the rest of their stuff, but like most of their songs it settles into an interesting (if unsurprising) beat and allows the vocals to carry the more interesting parts. "Foxes Mate For Life" is a little faster, and features a very clever throwback use of background vocals. This stuff won't change your life, but makes for a diverting, enjoyable listen.

On the other end of the spectrum is the soundtrack for "Manda Bala," a documentary about kidnappers in Brazil. It features Brazilian music (tropicalia, bossa nova, etc.), and a couple tracks in particular really stand out. "Quero Voltar pra Bahia" (translating to "I want to go back to Bahia") is an astoundingly catchy tune by Paulo Diniz with a sound somewhere near the intersection of funk, psychedelia, and ragtime. Most of the song is in Portuguese, but his attempts to sing the chorus in English really hold it together. "You Don't Know Me" by Caetano Veloso is a cleaner sounding, more traditional ballad with a nice Brazilian lilt to it. "Dê Um Rolê," a waltz by Novos Baianos, is also worth hearing- it's got a strong flute sound and a some very nice guitar work in the background.

And with that, let's keep this blog rolling!

WELCOME

We are here to stay. Soon, we will have top 10 charts from the station, top new albums from our board, info on concerts and events we'll host, DJ of the Fortnights, and other awesome wonders. Stay tuned for all that, but why not tune into wqhs.org right now to hear what we're all about?

- Mike