Cashmere Cat Rips & Tears @ Higher Ground

Cashmere Cat, the moniker of electronic producer and artist Magnus August Høiberg, presented himself on stage at Higher Ground, casually placed a potted plant beside his soundboard, and began.
Cat set his scene with cascading melodic lines and layered walls of low-frequency sound reminiscent of his early, simple production style.
He quickly grabbed the undeterred attention of the room, moving from songs heavy with features from top names in music to songs from the Mirror Maru EP, the sounds that encouraged his most devoted fans to see him live.
Cashmere Cat seemed out of tune with the energy of his audience, but would be visibly and pleasantly surprised when the reception was positive.
It was almost as if Cat was not performing but rather was presenting his art in its purest form and merely observing its effects.
As the show progressed, he pendulated between musical space and white noise, occasionally dwelling in either extreme just long enough to make the audience noticeably uncomfortable.
Then the power died. Cat’s equipment shut off just as the bass was about to drop and the audience held a collective breath.
At least ten seconds passed before it became apparent that this was not part of the plan. It took personnel about five minutes to fix the problem.
But no one left.
He came back with a remix of “Be My Baby” by Ariana Grande that slapped.
The mood of the room shifted to that of pure delight and admiration and remained as such until the very end.

Reviewed by Rachel O’Neill & Will Cottiss – SM/MD respectively. Both experienced music critics.

Source: WRUV News

WEEKLY MUSIC NEWS from ISA

April 4, 2017
by: DJ ISA

A trailer for a documentary about jazz music legend John Coltrane called “Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Story” has been released. The documentary is narrated by actor Denzel Washington and features archived performances and discussions with famous fans about his life and impact, including jazz musician Kamasi Washington, rapper Common, former President Bill Clinton, and more. John Coltrane died at the age of 40 and gave few interviews during his life. The documentary will be premiering April 14th. (Source: Pitchfork)

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Wu-Tang Clan member RZA collaborated on a song with Italian duo Parisi called “No Refuge”, which condemns immigration bans. All proceeds from digital sales and streams of the song are being donated to the UN Refugee Agency. (Source: Rolling Stone)

Michael Angelakos, leader of indie pop band Passion Pit, gave away free digital copies of Passion Pit’s latest album, “Tremendous Sea”, to those who retweet his tweet supporting Michael F. Wells. Michael F. Wells is a neuroscientist who took over Passion Pit’s Twitter account recently to answer questions about mental and physical health. Angelakos is an advocate for mental health issues. He recently founded Wishart Group, a company that provides musicians with health services. (Source: Pitchfork)

Source: WRUV News

TOP TEN TUESDAY

1. Tennis – Yours Conditionally [Mutually Detrimental]
2. Minus the Bear – VOIDS [Suicide Squeeze Records]
3. Foxygen – Hang [Jagjaguwar]
4. Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears – Backlash [INgrooves]
5. Spoon – Hot Thoughts [Matador Records]
6. Khalid – American Teen [RCA Records]
7. Jay Som – Everybody Works [Polyvinyl Record Company]
8. Sampha – Process [Young Turks]
9. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Flying Microtonal Banana [ATO Records]
10. Mac DeMarco – This Old Dog [Captured Tracks]

Source: WRUV News

TOP TEN TUESDAY

1. Chuck Berry- various albums
2. Tennis – “Yours Conditionally”
3. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard- “Flying Microtonal Banana”
4. Jay Som – “Everybody Works”
5. The xx – “I See You”
6. Mac DeMarco – “This Old Dog [Advanced Tracks]”
7. Real Estate – “In Mind”
8. The Shins – “Heartworms”
9. Allah-Las – “Calico Review”
10. Vagabon – “Infinite Worlds”

Source: WRUV News

MUSIC NEWS from DJ ISA

March 27th, 2017
by: ISA

Chuck Berry, one of rock music’s pioneers and greatest guitar players, passed away at the age of 90.

Berry was brought to the blues label Chess with the help of Muddy Waters. His first hit song “Maybellene”, recorded in 1955, was inspired by a 1938 country hit “Ida Red” by Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. Berry covers of country songs in a blues and R&B style played a part in developing and popularizing rock and roll music. Maybelline was one the first songs with all of the elements of rock and roll music.

The lineup for 2017’s Lollapalooza, the annual music festival in Chicago, has been announced. Some of the performers include The xx, Lorde, Run The Jewels, Spoon, The Shins, Arcade Fire, Chance The Rapper, Migos, Mac Demarco, Tegan and Sara, The Killers, Kaytranada, and Sylvan Esso. Lollapalooza will kick of August 3rd.

Legendary punk and new wave band Blondie have collaborated with electronic R&B performer Blood Orange on a new song called “Long Time”. It will appear on Blondie’s upcoming album “Pollinator”, which features collaborations with musicians both new and old.

Record Store Day 2017 will be happening on April 22nd. Record Store Day is an international annual event celebrating vinyl releases that started in 2007. Artists release special vinyl albums on that day. There are over 500 planned releases for this years Record Store Day. This includes a post-humorous David Bowie release Cracked Actor, a 3-disc set of a 1974 Los Angeles concert during his Diamond Dogs tour.
Seven 12” singles by another recently deceased legend, Prince, will also be released.

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Source: WRUV News

DJ big dog Leads “Friends For A_Dog” DJ Camp!

March 21, 2017
by: Emma Sorenson
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Recently our very own DJ big dog gave back to the community at the “Friends For A_Dog DJ Camp. The program was completely free of price, and big dog acted as the lead counselor. The first day, children learned all the ins and outs of DJ-ing. The second day producers Es-K and Loupo were featured to teach the children about making beats, and were even able to make their own! Finally, Zach Crawford AKA “Skysplitter” showed the campers post production recording, Lyric and S.i.n Sizzle. The kids then learned about rapping and recorded over the previously made beats. Overall bigdog describes it as a “great success”— both the kids and teachers had loads of fun!
Friends For A_Dog is a local non-profit foundation formed in honor of the late & legendary Andy “A_Dog” Williams, whose devotion to music, skateboarding, and other forms of art will live on in the hearts of the people of Burlington.

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Source: WRUV News