The Big 52 – Frankie Cosmos’ Vessel

Frankie Cosmos have announced the release of the 18-track Vessel, marking an astonishing 52 releases as a project (including early Bandcamp releases). Vessel is their first release under the Sub Pop label, and is set to drop March 30th. You can listen to the first three released singles, “Jesse,” “Being Alive,” and “Apathy” wherever you stream your music.

Frankie Cosmos is also hitting the road in April, with openers Lomelda, Ian Sweet, and SOAR. Unfortunately these shows all fall on the West Coast, so let’s hope for added show dates once the album comes out!

Steam the most recent single “Apathy” here:

 

WCDB’s 40th Anniversary Reunion Weekend

Schedule of Events

Join us in welcoming back WCDB alumni for a weekend full of events and fun! 

THURSDAY, MARCH 1

All day
Station Open House and Birthday Party
Campus Center West Great Hall
Help celebrate the radio station’s birthday with a cake at 3:00 p.m., followed by a 4:00 p.m. airing of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” to commemorate the beginnings of the station WCDB on March 1, 1978, and a sing along shortly after. Join other alumni for the live on-air round table. Registration required. Cost: Free. Complimentary food and beverages.

FRIDAY, MARCH 2

All day
Station Open House
WCDB Radio Station, Campus Center 316
Alumni live on-air round table/spinning throughout the day with bagels, doughnuts and coffee available in the morning and munchies and beverages in the afternoon. Cost: Free.

7:00 p.m.
Multi-Genre Music Night
Campus Center Fireside Lounge and Assembly Hall
Featuring multiple live alumni bands including jazz and rock, and who knows, a professional comedy act by an alumnus or two? Registration required. Cost: $10. Cash bar only.

SATURDAY, MARCH 3

All day
Station Open House and Hospitality Reception
WCDB Radio Station, Campus Center 316
Alumni live on-air round table/ spinning throughout the day with bagels, doughnuts and coffee available in the morning and munchies and beverages in the afternoon. Cost: Free.

7:00 p.m.
Reunion Dinner
Campus Center Fireside Lounge and Assembly Hall
Join fellow alumni and students for an informal buffet and a night of music with alumni and student DJs spinning throughout the night. Grab your friends and have fun in the complimentary photo booth. Registration required. Cost: $75 with beer, wine and soda included. Cash bar.

SUNDAY, MARCH 4

9:00 a.m.-Noon
Remote Broadcast from Brubacher — “Back Where It All Began”
Brubacher Hall, The College of St. Rose, 750 State St.
WCDB will broadcast live from Brubacher Hall just outside the room that served as WSUA’s main studio for the first 15 years of the station’s operation. Reminisce with your hosts, John Kienzle ’67, John Michalke ’70 and Bill McCann ’86, ’87 while they play hit songs and news bits from the WSUA era. Coffee and doughnuts available.

Noon-4:00 p.m.
Station Open House
WCDB Radio Station, Campus Center 116
Alumni live on-air round table/ spinning throughout the afternoon.

Stream Hovvdy’s new single “Late”

Hovvdy, a two-part duo from Texas, have released “Late”, a new single from their upcoming album Cranberry, set to be released February 9th, 2018. The release of “Late” follows their earlier release of “Petal”, which debuted back in October. Both tracks are melodic and slow, with introspective lyrics, reflecting on past situations.

In addition to their two releases, they are currently finishing up a fall West Coast Tour, leaving fans excited in anticipation for Cranberry‘s full release. You can preorder the album here.

Stream “Late” below:

 

Upcoming WCDB Events

Join us for our upcoming events!

More information below:

JazzFest

LarkFest Info

Tickets to The Linda

Looking Back

As the semester draws to a close, we look back at what made this year special.

Starting off the year with a daunting challenge, WCDB took its first-ever stab at helping plan the 35th annual Larkfest celebration, accompanied by Lark Street BID. WCDB’S choice headliner Lower Dens rocked the Madison Avenue stage, while local smaller-name acts dominated our own Trinity Lot stage. The 8 hour festival featured live music, vendors, and art for all. The Times Union estimated that nearly 80,000 guests were in attendance this year, the highest recorded numbers so far.

Some exciting news from one of our own made us proud this last month. Alumni DJ and Jazz Host Bill McCann celebrated his 32nd year with us this April, fittingly during Jazz Appreciation Month. His story was featured on Time Warner Cable Spectrum News, and can be viewed in the link below. His contributions to the station are innumerable, and we’re flattered to have him with us. You can hear his show Saturday mornings 8am-12pm, featuring a soothing mix of both classic and new mainstream jazz. (Bill McCann)

Earlier in April, we celebrated our 39th anniversary as a station with a commemorative show at The Low Beat (for traditions sake). Openers included Hospital Corners, Another Michael, and The Parlor, followed by headliner Palehound. A great turn out and awesome show has us all itching for next year’s 40th anniversary show, which is bound to pack out the house with fans and alumni DJs alike.

Headliner Palehound, via @SuperVintageParty

As many of us head home for the summer and others head out to start the next stage of their lives, we look back fondly on the past year. We also look ahead, excited for what’s to come next semester and beyond. Stay tuned for more updates on music news, album reviews, and input from our fellow DJs.

The Lull Period for Music

This is a great time of the year for any music lover, but it’s not because of the new material that’s coming out. In a lot of ways December is the start of a lull period in music, as most music publications turn their attention away from the new releases and start to focus their attention upon re-visiting the ‘Bests’ and ‘Worsts’ of the year because A) it’s fun to do and B) people like to view lists. By the time December rolls around there isn’t enough time to fully absorb an album and place it correctly, and artists and labels have recognized this by now and know that this isn’t an ideal time to release an album. If the artist has devoted that much time to a product then you want to make sure that it gets viewed fairly, and that’s why there’s usually a lull in new music for December followed by an awesome January (hopefully!).

We’re going to hold off on doing album reviews for about a month so that we can focus our attention on other post ideas and make sure we don’t get caught  covering albums that don’t interest many people. The good news is that we will re-visit the interesting December releases once we pick up the project again in January, and by the time we’re doing that there should be a stockpile of intriguing albums to choose from. Thanks for hanging with us!

Most Viewed Year in Airwaves’ History

Our blog is still eyeing progression, but one of the primary goals of the year has just been accomplished. 2013 is officially the most viewed year that Airwaves, WCDB Albany’s official blog, has ever had, and we haven’t even entered December yet! Stay tuned in the upcoming months in order to see

• The finale of Kyle’s Favorite 100 songs countdown. Expected Arrival: Sunday
• The End-of-the-Year lists our DJs come up with. Expected Arrival: Early-Mid December
• WCDB’s congregate Album of the Year list. Expected Arrival: Late December
• A special, and eagerly awaited ‘Top 100 Alternative Songs’ from a more historical perspective, provided by my dad Thomas Ryan (author of American Hit Radio and host of radio show “American Hit Network”). Expected Arrival: January

There will also likely be the addition of more ‘Essential Albums’ posts under different parameters, more DJ surveys, more album reviews, and possibly a new segment to cover artist’s discographies from album to album. Thank you to all the readers for helping make this our best year so far, we’ll continue working hard to improve our product.

RIP Lou Reed

Lou Reed, lead singer and guitarist of the iconic and influential Velvet Underground and successful solo artist passed away today. Reed was a living legend who actually attended school in upstate New York at the University at Syracuse before he became the coolest man in music, and he was 71 years old. If you have any good Lou Reed stories feel free to share, for now we’ll just collect people paying their respects.

"The world has lost a fine songwriter and poet…I’ve lost my ‘school-yard buddy’ – john cale" http://t.co/8MZMNhkzvf

— John Cale (@therealjohncale) October 27, 2013

My friend Lou Reed came to the end of his song. So very sad.But hey, Lou, you'll always take a walk on the wild side. Always a perfect day.

— Salman Rushdie (@SalmanRushdie) October 27, 2013

Your music changed my life, Lou. Thank you.

— The Mountain Goats (@mountain_goats) October 27, 2013

Doubt I'd have gotten into music at all if it wasn't for Velvet Underground. peace Lou. I'll play your records for my grandkids someday.

— The Antlers (@theantlers) October 27, 2013

Lou Reed might have been the single biggest influence on my music & his encouragement changed my life. I'm devastated.

— Okkervil River (@okkervilriver) October 27, 2013

Pearl Palooza: Come out to Albany’s 4th Annual Street Music Fest

WEQX is taking over Pearl Street and bringing free live music to you with the fourth annual Pearl Palooza music festival on Saturday, Sept. 28-featuring two stages and nine bands.

Headlining this year will be Portugal. the Man, the soulful indie rockers from Portland, along with a lineup of local and out-of-town acts.

So come out for some fun, dancing and hopefully no rain, because what’s better than a weekend of awesome live music?

Main Stage

Portugal. The Man-Portland, OR

Groovy soulful rock

8:00-9:15 p.m.

Are You Generally Interested in WCDB?

WCDB is holding a General Interest Meeting to find new DJs today, Wednesday, September 25, at 7:15 PM. The meeting will take place at EDU 021 which is in the basement of the Education building at SUNY Albany, and after a short meeting there we will relocate to our studio on the third floor of the campus center. Join us if you’ve got a love for sports, news, or alternative music within any genre, and you should be able to find your home at WCDB Albany, The Capital District’s Best Radio Station.

If you’re interested in joining, and can’t come to our General Interest Meeting email our training directors Luuk Visser and Ted Cost at training@wcdbfm.com.