Genre Research Project 83/1362: Anti-Folk

Anti-folk (sometimes antifolk or unfolk) is a music genre that takes the earnestness of politically charged 1960s folk music and subverts it. The defining characteristics of this anti-folk are difficult to identify, as they vary from one artist to the next. Nonetheless, the music tends to sound raw or experimental; it also generally mocks seriousness and pretension in the established mainstream music scene

Anti-folk was introduced by artists who were unable to gain gigs at established folk venues in Greenwich Village, including Folk City and The Speakeasy. Soon after, singer-songwriter Lach started The Fort, an after-hours club, on the Lower East Side. The Fort's opening coincided with the New York Folk Festival, so Lach dubbed his own event the New York Antifolk Festival.

Sickened by the fact that immortality is not mine to have

Meshuggah - "I" (I)

This is the first time I have ever listened to Meshuggah. And I'm not sure if this EP is representative of their sound, or where it stands in their release rankings, but after a minute and a half of a punishing, technically perfect riff, and their lead singer breaks into a scream over a wall of white noise, I was 100% on board for the next 20 minutes. I am as surprised as anyone.

I don't want to know if she floats or drowns

Hefner - "The Sad Witch" (Breaking God's Heart)

For as many black metal band shirts I have, I'm always going to be a sucker for romantic, witty indie pop.

Educate myself til it hurts

Bark Psychosis - "Absent Friend" (Hex)

It's like....if late-period Talk Talk did an emo album, right? (In a good way)

Playlist for 11-20-14

Hey! Guess what I'm about to go eat for lunch! You're right. That cat.

Here are things I played on the show last night. Good hustle, team.

Things that Are Square 11-20-14

(*) = New release

Blaze Foley - If I Could Only Fly - Live at the Austin Outhouse

Eef Barzelay - I Wasn't Really Drunk - Bitter Honey

Sun Kil Moon - Glenn Tipton - Ghosts of the Great Highway

Spacemen 3 - Walkin' With Jesus - The Perfect Prescription

Pink Mountaintops - Cold Criminals - Axis of Evol

Swans - Screen Shot - To Be Kind

(*) Cult of Youth - Empty Faction - Final Days

Municipal Waste - The Thing - Hazardous Waste

Puig Destroyer - Destroyer of Baseballs - Puig Destroyer

The Jesus Lizard - Monkey Trick - Goat

(*) Shellac - The People's Microphone - Dude Incredible

A Silver Mt. Zion - The Triumph of Our Tired Eyes - Born Into Trouble As Sparks Fly Upward

Momus - The Charm of Innocence - Tender Pervert

BARR - Untitled - Summary

(*) Grouper - Lighthouse - Ruins

(*) Allo Darlin' - Another Year - We Come From the Same Place

The Lucksmiths - I Started a Joke - Spring a Leak

Ballboy - They'll Hang Flags From Cranes Upon My Wedding Day - Club Anthems

Alt-J - Breezeblocks - An Awesome Wave (For Gena in Irvine, CA)

(*) David Rees - You Belong with Avril - AphexSwift

Tricky - Hell Is Round the Corner - Maxinquaye

Purity Ring - Fineshrine - Shrines

(*) Caribou - Our Love - Our Love

(*) Torn Hawk - She Happens - Let's Cry and Do Pushups at the Same Time

Playlist for 11-13-14

Hey! I played all these songs! You loved it!

Things that Are Square 11-13-14

(*) = New release

John Coltrane - My Favorite Things - My Favorite Things

Sonny Rollins - St. Thomas - Saxophone Colossus

Magma - K.A. I - K.A.

DJ Shadow - Midnight in a Perfect World - Endtroducing.....

(*) Milo - You Are Go(o)d to Me (Editorial Length) - A Toothpaste Suburb

Bat for Lashes - Daniel - Two Suns

(*) 18+ - All the Time - Trust

(*) David Rees - We Are Never Getting Girl/Boygether - AphexSwift

(*) Wrekmeister Harmonies - Then It All Came Down - Then It All Came Down

(*) Cult of Youth - Roses - Final Days

(*) Hookworms - On Leaving - The Hum

(*) R.L. Kelly - The Great Big World - Brown Horse

Tullycraft - They're Not Trying on the Dance Floor - The Singles

(*) Caribou - Can't Do Without You - Our Love

Genre Research Project 82/1362: House

House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized circa 1984 in Chicago, but, beginning in 1985, it fanned out to other major cities across North and South America, as well as Europe and later Australia. Early house music commercial success in Europe saw songs such as "Pump Up The Volume" by MARRS (1987), "House Nation" by House Master Boyz and the Rude Boy of House (1987), "Theme from S'Express" by S'Express (1988) and "Doctorin' the House" by Coldcut (1988) in the pop charts. Since the early to mid-1990s, house music has been infused in mainstream pop and dance music worldwide.

Early house music was generally dance-based music characterized by repetitive 4/4 beats, rhythms mainly provided by drum machines, off-beat hi-hat cymbals, and synthesized basslines. While house displayed several characteristics similar to disco music, it was more electronic and minimalistic, and the repetitive rhythm of house was more important than the song itself. House music today, while keeping several of these core elements, notably the prominent kick drum on every beat, varies a lot in style and influence, ranging from the soulful and atmospheric deep house to the more minimalistic microhouse. House music has also fused with several other genres creating fusion subgenres, such as euro house, tech house, electro house and jump house.

Genre Research Project 81/1362: Portuguese Folk Music

Folk music from Portugal. Portuguese Folk Music includes genres like Fado and Trás-os-Montes Folk Music, utilizing a characteristic regional bagpipe called gaita transmontana.

Playlist for 11-6-14

Hey! Thanks to everyone who donated to KUCI during our Fall fund drive. You are better than people who did not (but were able to) and if you see one of those people, you're allowed to take whatever they're eating or drinking and eat or drink it yourself. Thems the rules.

You helped keep music like this on-air:

Things that Are Square 11-6-14

(*) = New release

John Moreland - Blacklist - In the Throes

Elizabeth Cotten - Going Down the Road Feeling Bad - Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes

Faron Young - Alone With You - All-Time Greatest Hits

Low - Fearless - A Lifetime of Temporary Relief

(*) Grouper - Lighthouse - Ruins

(*) Perfume Genius - No Good - Too Bright

Kreng - Le Bateleur - Grimoire

Om - At Giza - Conference of the Birds

(*) Ought - New Calm, Pt. 2 - Once More With Feeling

The Jesus and Mary Chain - My Little Underground - Psychocandy

The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner - The Modern Lovers

(*) Shellac - The People's Microphone - Dude Incredible

(*) Cut Hands - The Claw - Festival of the Dead

(*) Caribou - Your Love Will Set You Free - Our Love

Four Tet - As Serious As Your Life - Rounds

(*) Aphex Twin - Circlont14 (Shrymoming Mix) - Syro

(*) Shabazz Palaces - #Cake - Lese Majesty

Genre Research Project 80/1362: Experimental Hip Hop

Experimental hip hop or abstract hip hop is a style of hip-hop that refers to the use of structural elements outside of hip-hop considered unconventional within the larger hip hop music genre. Experimental Hip Hop is an umbrella term for Hip Hop music that embodies elements of the genre that fall outside the constraints of convention. Definitive Jux, Anticon, Big Dada and Ninja Tune are notable experimental hip hop and acid jazz labels. Experimental hip hop is usually electronically produced and incorporates turntablism. There are many artists that introduce acoustic elements to the genre to enhance the ability of being played live.

Experimental hip hop is thought to have first originated during hip hop's "golden age", which is usually cited as between the mid 1980s and the mid 1990s and said to be characterized by its diversity, quality, innovation and influence. This was a time during which everything was experimental and new. Strong themes of Afrocentricity and political militancy coupled with experimental music and sampling led to a huge of number of stylistic innovations.

I would never waste a daydream on seven cars

Milo - "In Gaol (Feat. Kool AD)" (A Toothpaste Suburb)

Playlist for 10-30-14 (Halloween/Fund Drive edition!)

Hey you guys!

Thanks to everyone who donated last week during the radio show. I think KUCI is a little behind on it's fundraising goals, so please tune in tonight 6-8pm PST and call 949-824-5824 with a donation for ANY AMOUNT. Seriously. $5? I will recite a litany of praise for you on the air for $5. That's $0.0073/day for a year of commercial-free radio bringing you things you will not hear anywhere else. That's worth it, right? And if you donate $100, you can sit in and do a radio show with me. We'll play all your favorite songs and try to get you dates and stuff. It'll be great. Find out more about the fund drive here.


And fund a station that plays more songs like these:

Things that Are Square 10-30-14

(*) = New release

Disneyland - The Haunted Mansion - The Haunted Mansion 30th Anniversary

Liars - We Fenced Other Gardens with the Bones of Our Own - They Were Wrong So We Drowned

Chain and the Gang - Cemetery Map - Down with Liberty....Up with Chains!

Beat Happening - Hangman - Jamboree

The Cramps - Human Fly - Psychedelic Jungle/Gravest Hits

Ministry - Every Day Is Halloween - Early Tracks (For Ivy in Costa Mesa, CA)

RJD2 - The Horror - Deadringer

Perturbator - I Am the Night - I Am the Night

Gatekeeper - Chains - Giza (For Michael in Oakland, CA)

Tom Waits - Murder In the Red Barn - Bone Machine

Old Time Relijun - Vampire Victim - Lost Light

The Angels of Light - All Souls' Rising - Everything Is Good Here/Please Come Home

Suicide - Ghost Rider - Suicide

(*) Pharmakon - Body Betrays Itself - Bestial Burden

(*) Cut Hands - Parataxic Distortion - Festival of the Dead

The Vaselines - The Devil's Inside Me - Sex With an X

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Up Jumped the Devil - Tender Prey

Jonathan Richman - Vampire Girl - You Must Ask the Heart

Misfits - Skulls - Walk Among Us

Blood on the Wall - Dead Edge of Town - Awesomer

Kay Starr - The Headless Horseman - Hipster Halloween

The Deep River Boys - Swingin' at the Seance - Hipster Halloweeen

The Unicorns - Tuff Ghost - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?

Final Fantasy - The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead - Has a Good Home

Grimoire

Kreng - "Le Bateleur" (Grimoire)

Genre Research Project 79/1362: Eurobeat

Eurodance (sometimes known as Euro-NRG or Euro) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s primarily in Europe. It combines many elements of techno, hi-NRG and Euro disco. Eurodance production continues to evolve with a more modernized style that incorporates elements from electro music.

This genre of music is heavily influenced by the use of rich melodic vocals, either exclusively by itself or inclusively with rapped verses. This, combined with cutting-edge synthesizer, strong bass rhythm and melodic hooks, establishes the core foundation of Eurodance music.