For Your Listening Pleasure: The Wrens on KEXP

One of the bands that I saw for the first time at SXSW was The Wrens. I'd never heard of them but I had heard about them-one of my SX travel mates has raved about these guys for years now. They've had a bit of a storied past but let me put it to you this way: I see a lot of shows and the show I caught them at in Austin was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Hands down. And it was noon on a friggin Friday.

I'll be posting more about that show here shortly but in the meantime, I wanted to share a treat I was just given, a podcast of acoustic Wrens from roughly 2007 2003 on KEXP.

Great wordplay, killer hooks, and a bombastic surge of power with underlying melody. Fuck The Shins man, it's The Wrens who will change your life.



Oh, and here's video from the radio session one of their KEXP visits as well...

Three Podcasts For Your Listening Pleasure: Airborne Toxic Event, Morning Benders, and Radars to the Sky

Sorry for the radio silence this week kids. I’ve been in the midst of editing a group of interviews that were supposed to go live this week until the subjects suddenly decided they wanted to be part of the editing process days in the 11th hour...grrr

So to make up for it, I’m sending you over to Web in Front for three really great show podcasts. They were each recorded 8-7-08 at the El Ray in Los Angeles.



I’ve only listened to The Airborne Toxic Event's set of the three thus far but you can totally hear what everyone who saw the show said about both Airborne's set and the entire night, this it was amped and incredible and something special. Those return readers of Between Love and Like know that we are big supporters of Airborne from way back, and have long raved about the power and intensity of their live show. This show at the El Ray is a prime example of what we've been yammering on about all this time. Plus, you get to hear the lovely addition of the Calder Quartet on the Airborne fan-favorites "Sometime Around Midnight" and "Innocence," the latter containing the only-played-at-LA-shows (it seems) intro piece called "Heaven."



The Morning Benders sound is an upbeat trio of Brit pop (tell me if lead singer Chris Chu doesn’t make you think of VGPS-era Ray Davies) and Beach Boys-California sunshine, with a dash of Elliot Smith. Their new record, Talking Through Tin Cans is great, as is their recent record of covers, The Bedroom Covers. (Looking forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks at the Monolith Festival boys!)



Then there’s Radars to the Sky. Everyone reading should absolutely download their podcast twice and give a copy to a friend, then immediately go get their latest EP, "Big Bang," that’s how great they are. Out of the Silver Lake area of LA like Airborne, Radars to the Sky’s music has this lofty, lovely front paired with a great rock back, and I’m keeping fingers and toes crossed that Radars and baby Spitzer show up at SXSW 2009. If all is right in the world, these guys should be the next big thing out of Silver Lake.

What an incredible lineup right?? All three podcasts can be snagged here.