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.

Strange Ranger In-Studio

Stranger Ranger joined WCDB for an in-studio and interview a few weeks back. DJ Ronnie had the pleasure of hosting them and below is her take on the event:

I’ve been a huge fan of Strange Ranger since their last year’s release “Rot Forever”. It was such a pleasure to host them at our station. As they walked in, they immediately noticed the massive Bruce Springsteen record on the wall they made note of how all college radio stations are pretty similar but in the end, unique in their own ways. They enjoy playing DIY shows and having them at WCDB felt like a real “do it for the culture” moment. They could have ignored our request to stop by but they went out of their way because supporting the scene is what they love. When they began to set up I recognized two familiar faces in the band and 3 new ones. They got a new drummer named Asher and had Fiona on the keyboard. Isaac and Fred were the 2 members apart of the original line up. The last was Nathan, a member that had played drums for them on Rot Forever but just began touring with them as the second guitarist this Summer/Fall. As they set up the equipment, a casual jam session broke out. These guys love to jam, there are intense jam breakdowns all over Rot Forever. It was something that obviously came very naturally to them. Isaac fumbled around with headphones and snapped one of the earpieces off, and as the band collectively roasted him for being a klutz, we began to jump into some questions about their upcoming album. I’m sure they get asked about the name change a lot but they wanted us to know not only did the name Strange Ranger come out of respect and accountability of Sioux falls but what also joined it was a shift in their sound. They played a couple songs off their upcoming album and recently released singles. It was a nice mixed bag of old and new stuff from their older EPs, Rot Forever and Daymoon. I begged them to play Dom as they tried to decide what to play next. It must have been a song that wasn’t rehearsed in a while, and as they laughed through the small sloppy mistakes and rocky start, debris from the ceiling began to fall. Dom shook the entire station in a great way. As we got into more questions about their influence everything began to make sense as to why I loved these guys so much. Songs: Ohia, The Microphones, Elliott Smith and Alex G were all listed as influences of their upcoming album being released October 6^th on Tiny Engines. After the show, we chatted about the Albany DIY scene and our local bands. They knew quite a few people involved in it and seemed excited to return back to Albany.

A live recording of the performance can be heard below:

Stay tuned for more planned in-studios, including a performance by Jouska and Hate Club on Oct. 6th as they join us for College Radio Day!

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.

Upcoming shows in the capital district!

Believe it or not, there are some great shows coming up in the capital district. A few high-profile acts felt like they should come to Albany for some reason. Whatever that reason may be, we are reaping the benefits as music lovers.

St. Vincent at Upstate Concert Hall

Saturday March 7

Annie Clark of St. Vincent recently won the Best Alternative Album Grammy for her excellent 2014 effort, St. Vincent. Tickets are still available for her show at Upstate Concert Hall in Clifton Park.

http://upstateconcerthall.com/calendar/st-vincent/

Taking Back Sunday and The Menzingers at Upstate Concert Hall

Sunday March 15

For fans of pop punk singalongs, both of these bands will not disappoint. Thankfully, the show is on a Sunday, which by now I would assume has been taken back.

http://upstateconcerthall.com/calendar/taking-back-sunday/

Sufjan Stevens at the Palace Theater

Wednesday April 15

With beautiful orchestral pop arrangements, and poignant, expressive songwriting, Sufjan Stevens is finally coming out with his first official non-Christmas album since 2010’s The Age of Adz. You can see him in April at what is arguably the nicest venue in Albany.

http://palacealbany.com/EventsandTickets/EventTickets/event.aspx?eid=e4cf1112-0927-4937-9d18-3cd0c5120691

Slowshine, Rustle Crow, and Playboy Manbaby 11/23 at The Low Beat

There’s a cool show happening this Sunday at The Low Beat on Central Ave here in Albany, featuring multiple bands with members actively involved in the radio station. Check out the event page and support local music!

https://www.facebook.com/events/965425670138139/

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WCDB PRESENTS:

CROCODILES AND SKI LODGE

AT VALENTINE’S MUSIC HALL, MONDAY NOVEMBER 18^TH

 

On Monday, November 18^th 2013 at 7 pm, Valentine’s Music Hall  will host Californian indie noise-pop band Crocodiles and the up-and-coming Ski Lodge for WCDB’s fall show. Opening will be Albany based Slowshine and Party Boat from Saratoga Springs.

Crocodiles’ fourth and latest LP, Crimes of Passion, is full of sentimental lyrics accompanied by fuzzy reverb and plenty of guitars.  Produced by Sune Rose Wagner of The Raveonnettes, this Crocodiles LP has kept to the sound they’re well known for, described by CMJ as “… Sonic Youth and The Velvet Underground swirl with a cocky come-ons and inspired sadness.”

“Tracks like ‘She Splits Me Up’ hit that mark just about on the bullseye, managing to convey emotion through shimmering guitar tones and a swift drum beat.” – Consequence of Sound

“Despite Crocodiles’ unabashed lyrical rawness, ‘Crimes of Passion’ is absolutely artistic, though, and at times they are beautifully poetic.” – DIY 

Big Heart, the first album from Brooklyn-based Ski Lodge, was produced by Lewis Pesacov, the producer of Best Coast’s debut, and contains the same instantly catchy, summer poppy hits. 2013 has seen Ski Lodge gaining lots of buzz, with KCRW naming them an ‘Artist You Should Know’ and Paste Magazine loving their CMJ set. 

“…anyone with a predilection for catchy guitar pop songs that make you want to dance and cry at the same time might find that spinning through Big Heart is a quite satisfying experience” – All Music 

Party Boat has continued to be a favorite local band of WCDB, opening countless shows on an energetic and upbeat surf pop/rock note. These Saratoga Springs natives will be debuting songs from what is sure to be a great new release. Comprised of UAlbany students, Slowshine is a brand new post-punk/emo band including WCDB’s very own general manager, Noah Bondy.

Tickets are $11 in advance, $13 day of show and are already on sale via Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/495348

New York Comic Con – A General Feedback

A lot of apologies for the lateness of this post, I’ve done a pretty poor job of checking my email lately and I missed a link to a fantastic Comic Con Review done by WCDB Alum Herbert Shaw. We got him a pass for the convention and he came back with a full report of what went down!

Oh, so many lines!

Lines to enter the building. Lines to pick up your badge. Lines to tap your badge on the entrance tablet. Lines to get into the expo center. Lines to meet your favorite artist or celebrity for an autograph. Lines to sit for a panel. Lines to demo that new video game. Lines to buy your memorabilia.

It must be New York Comic Con weekend, formerly known as Columbus Day weekend. A time when stores and restaurants have special deals and offers, hotel rates are a little higher, and events like Tough Mudder and the Ridiculous Obstacle Challenge Race descend upon the tri-state region.

However, for a special limited group of people who all bought or otherwise obtained their tickets well in advance of the sold out expo at the Jacob K. Javits Center, this was the weekend they had been waiting for all year. Artists, authors, publishers, and illustrators came to promote their current, future, and past projects as well as those of the companies with and for whom they have worked. Exhibitors and vendors paid an exorbitant fee to get floor space to sell their products, market their brands, and expand their reach whether they be printing companies, movie companies, toy retailers, technology firms, cosmetics, or food and beverage enterprises. With members of the press free to roam and explore our own interests and those of our outlets.

And at the heart of it all, the fans. Men, women, and children who eagerly anticipate this weekend bonanza of fun-filled activities and money-grubbing impulse buys. Some came to see the latest and greatest in technology, like the Bionic Man recently featured on NBC’s Today Show. Some came for their first shot at the new games hitting stores this winter, like Wii U’s Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, or the recently released Pokemon X and Y for the Nintendo 3DS. Some came to meet their heroes, like Sylvester Stallone who offered a picture and autograph session at a mere $445 a pop, tax-free of course, or like me came to admire the people who gave them nightmares as children (covered in my next article which includes a panel on Chucky’s 25th anniversary).

As fandom does take many forms, a vast majority of fans attended while cosplaying as their favorite comic, TV, movie, anime, or video game character. No matter if they were showing off for other fellow enthusiasts or showing off for their 15 minutes in front of the news cameras to be forgotten just as quickly, most NYCC attendees were completely in their element.

The overall experience of this year’s New York Comic Con, and mind you I have been to eight including this year, was much more relaxed than previous years. The general organization of the event by ReedPOP Expo was incredibly more efficient compared to recent years that have included multiple fights, threats, and even an evacuation.

New York’s finest (that’s metro jargon for NYPD aka the cops) were on hand and seemed to be enjoying themselves, too. I happened to be giving out homemade blue rock candy dressed as Walter White, and three boys in blue were more than happy to pose for a staged “busted” picture for the “#heisenherb at Comic Con” album soon to be featured on my Facebook.

But all in all, the convention was fun without being overwhelming. Early years of NYCC left some feelings of doubt whether there could have been more to do, whereas recently the reverse was felt; not having enough time to do everything. But this year felt like a perfect balance of both worlds. There was not a whole lot to do that couldn’t be repeated over the course of four days, but that also means that there wasn’t too much to take in at the same time. The expo hall experience was terrific. Artist Alley performed its purpose to a T. And the general response was a positive and invigorating one. Along with many other fans, I happily look forward to New York Comic Con 2014!

original article here: http://theshawreport.wordpress.com/2013/10/18/new-york-comic-con-a-general-feedback/

Show Review: Arcade Fire in Brooklyn

Arcade Fire is set to release their fourth studio album Reflektor on October 28, and they’ve taken an interesting approach to advertising themselves. What they’ve essentially done is abandon the Arcade Fire name temporarily so they could be re-labeled as The Reflektors, a band whose rise to fame was assured once fans realized it was the same band. One really nice part about this strategy is that The Reflektors didn’t start by playing in gigantic venues, their first gigs were intimate and often unannounced events where they would usually play nearly entirely new material. It was a rare chance to see such a widely successful band in a small club and it gained them a lot of notoriety from music publications. When Arcade Fire announced last week that they would be playing two gigs in Brooklyn on Friday and Saturday, I decided to pre-order their album so that I could get myself into the pre-sale. The shows were at a seldom used venue and only had one requirement: formal attire or costume required. I was extremely excited about the possibility of the show as their previous gigs seemed like the coolest concerts I had ever heard of, but some of my expectations were misled while others were exceeded.

For starters, the ticket situation was handled in a completely fair and understandable way, but it could have been done better. Nearly 80% of the tickets that were sold were sold in the pre-sale so that scalpers couldn’t dictate the price to much, a good idea which was probably suggested by James Murphy after the fiasco of trying to sell tickets to his final show in Madison Square Garden, but it had the fallback of making the affair almost entirely white middle aged couples who wanted to attend in their formal wear. It wasn’t a dancing crowd for sure, and this could have been easily fixed by opening up an allotment of tickets to CMJ badges, or the college radio kids that helped them rise to fame. They would have gotten students to camp out at the venue in their costumes and bring energy to the front of the crowd,but  instead they filled the room with statues holding iPhones.

One thing that was noticed once the line began to move was that this wasn’t an intimate venue, but rather one gigantic room (similar to an Armory show for Albany perspective). New York was the Reflektors first big gig and where they wanted to take the city by storm with thousands of people present for the show. The ratio of formal attire wearers to costume was about 3.5:1 with many choosing to wear masks and some being clever and showing up in group costumes (unfortunately I can’t recall any of the more clever ones). The show had no opener but had what I suspect was a James Murphy DJ set occurring before hand as it was awesomely curated and Murphy himself came out from behind the main curtain to introduce the crowd to tonight’s band, The Reflektors. Three members came out wearing the large heads that we’ve seen in the SNL video and music video for “Reflektor”, and these three played some jarbled noise for two minutes before setting their instruments down and running off the stage.

At this point I should state that within this gigantic room, I was pushed nearly entirely to the side wall with a not-so-great view of the stage but the intention of working my way to the middle once the music started. The large headed musicians ran off the stage in our general direction and went behind the curtain wall on the side of the venue, leaving audience members confused about what was currently happening as everybody began to turn their attention away from the stage. It’s at this point that all of a sudden, the side wall’s curtain was lifted to reveal a second stage, where Arcade Fire was standing and immediately began playing the album opener “Reflektor”. This was an event that nearly blew my mind as I went from being stuck in a pretty poor position to being about eight rows back and only slightly off center in a single moment. They apologized to the fans who were close to the other stage, who chose to watch the performance from the fake stage and seemed to have a great time there. Frontman Win Butler insinuated that the band would find a way to make it worth their while and I believe the band went over there afterwards in order to sign autographs to make up for it.

In terms of the actual music, all of the Reflektor tracks sound amazing with the highlight being “Here Comes the Night Time”. They played two older songs which were referred to as ‘Arcade Fire covers’ in “Sprawl II” and “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)” and on the last song of the night Win jumped into the crowd and seemingly disappeared as he never returned to the stage until the set had ended to inform the crowd that there would be no encore, but a disco set where he wanted everybody to stay and dance. All in all it was an awesome show to be a part of and probably the coolest event I’ve ever gone to, I was only disappointed by how gigantic of an event it was and how un-energetic the crowd seemed to be. I’d still highly suggest trying to see them on their upcoming world tour though for sure, bring a costume if you go and dance!

CMJ 2013: A Preview

It’s the most glorious week of the year. CMJ is finally here! Most CMJ-newbies and even some seasoned veterans will find the abundance of shows, unofficial parties, day-showcases, RSVP-only parties, and things to do during CMJ week a bit overwhelming. As a WCDB alumni (key word: alumni) I have the added challenge this year of doing it all without a badge, that wonderful golden ticket that lets you in to (almost) any show during the week. However, over the years I’ve found that most of the smaller shows are free, some of the medium sized shows are free w/rsvp, and a lot of the cool stuff to go to aren’t in traditional music venues or are even shows at all. The only shows that definitely require a CMJ badge to enter are the big ones: shows at Bowery Ballroom, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Terminal 5, and Webster Hall. And who wants to go to those? Because really, CMJ isn’t about seeing Savages play at Terminal 5 (capacity: 3,000) during CMJ 2013, it’s about seeing their first live shows in the U.S. before their debut album came out, at Glasslands (capacity: 275) and Public Assembly (capacity: 400) during CMJ 2012.

Every year I try to find a nice balance between bands I love and bands I’ve never heard of before. It’s my own opinion that the quality of the festival and number of bands that I’m excited to see decreases slightly every year, but I’m trying to stay optimistic. Here are the showcases I’m most excited about, some “bands to watch”, and other things I’m looking forward to during CMJ next week. See you there?

Bands to Watch

the bold CMJ dates below are free, even if you don’t have a badge!

Joanna Gruesome

SO GOOD SO GOOD SO GOOD. Seriously, look past the name. Their debut album Weird Sister came out September 2013 on Slumberland Records (swoon) and it’s surely one of my favorites of 2013. It’s amazing. I’m in love. Go see them.
~ RIYL: Riot Grrrl, noisepop, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart


Where to catch them:
Tuesday 10/15 @ Ran Tea House (Force Field PR showcase) 12:10am | $5 without badge
Wednesday 10/16 @ Pianos (Kanine Records/SESAC party) – 3:30pm
Wednesday 10/16 @ Pianos (Old Flame Party) 7:45pm
Thursday 10/17 @ Cakeshop (Capeshok Presents) midnight
Friday 10/18 @ Shea Stadium (Portals Music) 9:00pm
Friday 10/18 @ 285 Kent (Pitchfork showcase) 11:15pm | unofficial show, $10 with or without badge
Saturday 10/19 @ The Rock Shop (Lost Colony party)
Saturday 10/19 @ Death By Audio (Agency Group showcase)

Perfect Pussy

debut cassette demo I HAVE LOST ALL DESIRE FOR FEELING is incredible.

thumbs down for no free shows:
Wednesday 10/16 @ The Flat (SHOT! Presents) | $8 or free w/CMJ badge
Friday 10/18 @ 285 Kent (Pitchfork showcase) | unofficial show, $10 with or without badge

Drowners

~s/t debut album comes January 2014 via Frenchkiss Records

playing:
Thursday 10/17 @ Pianos showroom (Frenchkiss Records showcase)
Saturday 10/19 @ Pianos showroom (Bowery Presents CMJ show)

the band in Heaven

dreampop shoegaze from West Palm Beach, FL
debut album Caught in a Summer Swell out September 2013 on Decades Records

thumbs down for no free shows:
Thursday 10/17 @ Parkside Lounge (S/T Management)
Thursday 10/17 @ Pianos (Frenchkiss Records / Label Group)
Friday 10/18 @ (Decades & Timberwolf Showcase)