Category: Blog

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Short Stories

DJ Club

 

‘The First Rule about DJ Club is you don’t talk about DJ Club’ Tim Denton said.

Tim was my best friend and we started this group together. After co-hosting our first show together we realized it was the only thing that made us feel alive, we didn’t expect it to take off like it did.

‘The Second Rule about DJ Club is you don’t talk about DJ Club’ he added. ‘Third Rule: if someone doesn’t want to do another radio break their shift is over. Fourth Rule: only two DJ’s at a time. Fifth Rule: one shift at a time fellas. Sixth Rule: no forgetting your headphones. Seventh Rule: Shifts will go on as long as they have to. And the Eight and Final Rule: if this is your first time at DJ Club, you have to DJ.’

We always started with the rules, but every week we had more members, so we knew no one followed rules one and two. This was only a smart part of what we did though; the larger operation was Project Radiostation.

__

‘No one cares about the local scene’ Tyler said to me the first time we met ‘It’s all top 40 these days, no one cares about what their music means or how it’s made, and I just want to know what it’s like to be on the other side. Pass me the mic.’

This was the first time we DJ’d together, he told me he had to experience it, that it would set us both free from the hold of popular music. Now we did it every week, and we were leaders of the pack.

__

I lived with Tim because my old place was outside of a large music venue, there was only so much Top 40 music I could listen to before deciding living in Tim’s broken down shack would be better.

I am Jack’s complete lack of tolerance.

That’s how we got here. The newest DJ Club, in Witherspoon, March 13th 2020.

‘Who’s first’ Tim said through his large smile.

-DJ Psyched 

Categories
Short Stories

A WKNC Story

Benjamin was a Daytime DJ who’d been working at the station for nearly three years, since he was a freshman. Jillian was a Chainsaw DJ who had finished her DJ training course a few weeks ago. I’ll spare you the details, the two fell in love. I can’t spare you the cliche, they’re love was deemed unacceptable.

‘Did you hear about Ben and Jill?’ Jillian heard someone whisper as she walked into the station. She didn’t understand the taboo. Where she came from, it didn’t matter what kind of music you listen to.

She brushed off the comments and headed into the station. Today was her first shift and she wanted to make sure she was ready, the last thing she needed was to be distracted during her on air break. 

She signed the operating log, logged into spinitron, hooked up her laptop and made sure everything was ready and running. The last thing was plugging in her headphones, but as she turned to plug them in she all-of-a-sudden couldn’t find them. She heard some giggling and when she looked up to the window she saw her headphones being thrown into the air.

‘What are you doing?’ she said once she walked into the DJ lounge where her headphones were being thrown around.

‘What are you doing?’ some girl she’d never met before replied ‘I heard you’re talking to a Daytime, that true?’

‘How is that any of your business? I don’t even know who you are’ Jill said as she eyed the other girl, she had short black hair and wore a torn white t-shirt with old blue jeans.

‘My names Beth and I’m a Daytime. Don’t you realize how much of a traiter you are? What kind of DJ doesn’t stand by their genre’ the girl, apparently Beth, replied.

‘Indie music is cool, I don’t see a problem being alright with both’ Jill said.

‘Well everyone else does. If you love Indie so much why don’t you just join daytime?’ Beth said, seeming genuinely confused. Her ignorance and close mindedness made Jill not like the girl.

‘Who cares what I DJ, isn’t that my choice? What kind of person only listens to one genre of music anyways?’ Jill said as she snatched her headphones from Beth.

Beth stood quickly at the motion but Jill didn’t back down. They stared at each other for a moment before Beth broke the silence, she picked up her bag and rolled her eyes as she said, ‘Whatever, I have class anyways’.

Jill stood there stunned. She knew the semester would be a long one if her relationship wasn’t accepted, but she worked too hard to get where she was just to quit. In that moment she made a promise to herself, she was going to change the way people thought of genres. She didn’t know how, but she knew she had to.

– DJ Psyched

Categories
Weekly Charts

Daytime Charts 1/7

Artist Record Label
1 BLACK SURFER Black Surfer [EP] Self-Released
2 DAYGLOW Fuzzybrain Self-Released
3 BASEMENT REVOLVER Wax And Digital [EP] Sonic Unyon
4 GEOWULF My Resignation PIAS
5 NALLO Nallo [EP] Chase Bliss
6 JUNIOR ASTRONOMERS Body Language Self-Released
7 CHASTITY BELT Chastity Belt Hardly Art
8 METZ Covers [EP] Sub Pop
9 LONG BEARD Means To Me Double Double Whammy
10 BODYWASH Comforter Luminelle
11 HOVVDY Heavy Lifter Double Double Whammy
12 KOOLEY HIGH Never Come Down Fat Beats
13 JULIA SHAPIRO Perfect Version Hardly Art
14 CEREMONY In The Spirit World Now Relapse
15 BLACK BELT EAGLE SCOUT At The Party With My Brown Friends Saddle Creek
16 LUNCH LADY Angel Danger Collective/Upset The Rhythm
17 BOY SCOUTS Free Company Anti-
18 JAY SOM Anak Ko Polyvinyl
19 PEAER A Healthy Earth Tiny Engines
20 FRANKIE COSMOS Close It Quietly Sub Pop
21 LANDON ELLIOTT Domino American Paradox
22 MEN I TRUST Oncle Jazz Self-Released
23 GUAXE Guaxe OAR
24 MARIKA HACKMAN Any Human Friend [EP] Sub Pop
25 SEAN HENRY A Jump From The High Dive Double Double Whammy
26 RUSSIAN BATHS Deepfake Good Eye
27 NIGHT SINS Portrait In Silver Funeral Party
28 ZACK MEXICO The Page The Pope and The Hanged Man Self-Released
29 LALA LALA Sleepyhead (Reissue) Hardly Art
30 PEACH PYRAMID Bright Blue Oscar St

Categories
Playlists

Top 20 songs by The Replacements

My parents are big fans of Paul Westerberg and the Replacements. My mom and her friends would go to any concert of theirs they could when the band was touring in the 1980s. Naturally, I grew up hearing about them, but it was not until about a year ago that I really began listening to the Replacements for myself. “Swingin’ Party”, their most popular song, was the first one I listened to. I played it on repeat for nearly a month. The Replacements quickly became one of my favorite bands. They were the sound I always needed. I began to wonder how this perfect band never made it big. 

The Replacements were a self-destructive band. They were one the first punk bands that had the ability to bring punk to more mainstream audiences. However, their behavior on and off stage hindered them from blowing up. They made it on SNL in 1986, but after some heavy drinking throughout the show, the performance was a catastrophe. Westerberg dropped the f-bomb on air, and Bob Stinson could barely stand. Lorne Michaels banned them from the show. In addition, they never made it big on MTV, which was a huge platform for propelling artist’s careers during the time. Bob Stinson had substance abuse problems that forced the other members to kick him out of the band.

Despite their downfalls, The Replacements were trailblazers for indie rock. They didn’t follow the mainstream path, and are legends because of it. 

Here are my top 20 songs by The Replacements:

  1. Androgynous

  2. Here Comes a Regular

  3. Unsatisfied

  4. Swingin’ Party

  5. Sixteen Blue

  6. Bastards of Young

  7. Answering Machine

  8. Talent Show

  9. Achin’ to Be

  10. Sadly Beautiful

  11. Can’t Hardly Wait

  12. Never Mind

  13. Nightclub Jitters

  14. Alex Chilton

  15. Waitress in the Sky

  16. Kiss Me on the Bus

  17. Little Mascara

  18. Left of the Dial

  19. Rock ‘N’ Roll Ghost

  20. One Wink at a Time

-DJ Lizzo 

Categories
Weekly Charts

Chainsaw Charts 1/7

Artist Record Label
1 CATTLE DECAPITATION Death Atlas Metal Blade
2 A WAKE IN PROVIDENCE The Blvck Sun || The Blood Moon Outerloop
3 THY ART IS MURDER Human Target Nuclear Blast
4 CREEPING DEATH Wretched Illusions eOne
5 FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY The Sea Of Tragic Beasts Nuclear Blast
6 GATECREEPER Deserted Relapse
7 DISTINGUISHER Hell From Here SSR
8 KUBLAI KHAN Absolute Rise
9 KNOCKED LOOSE A Different Shade Of Blue Pure Noise
10 DYING WISH “Enemies in Red” [Single] Self-Released

Categories
Concert Review

SOLD OUT: Snoop Dogg – I Wanna Thank Me Tour 2019 @ The Ritz

Welcome to the second post of the “You take a metal head to a hip-hop/rap show,” and in this edition I went to see the man himself, Snoop D O double G!!!! I have always been a fan of Uncle Snoop. Growing up, my mom and dad would play Snoop Dogg. My dad is a huge gangster rap fan, and Snoop Dogg is his favorite! He said that the first time he heard Snoop was on Dr. Dre’s The Chronic and heard him in F**k wit Dre Day when Snoop started off with “bow wow wow yippie yo yippie yay doggy dog in the m*****f****** houseeeeee” and has loved him ever since. My mom has also always been a fan of Snoop Dogg and I remember she always had his song 1800 playing.

This was my first time seeing Snoop Dogg and I was really excited!! When we got to the Ritz, there weren’t many people there (we got there at doors); we got there early so we could get a good spot to see the man himself! We were standing in front of the sound booth and we had a perfect view of the stage. There were a handful of rappers that opened up the show and they were really good! One of the acts walks by my mom and we said “hey” to them and they gave us a hug. The crowd didn’t get into the opening acts but as soon and Uncle Snoop hit the stage, people started rocking!

I was thrilled when Snoop Dogg hit the stage. He came out rapping and did his little gangster dance (my dad can do the swaying side to side dance really well). He also had dancers on stage dancing behind him. But it gets better, Snoop had two stripper poles on stage and had strippers dancing on the poles while he played. What an O.G. move. Me and my mom danced all night, and we ran into some family friends that hung out with us during the show!

Although Snoop Dogg didn’t play my favorite song, 1800, he did play some other songs that I really liked, such as Drop It Like It’s Hot, I Wanna Rock, Gin N’ Juice, and Nuthin’ but a G thang. Overall, it was a great show and a perfect way to end 2019. I would totally go see Snoop Dogg again!

Have you seen Uncle Snoop? How did you like it?

Stay Metal,

THE SAW

Categories
DJ Highlights

Top 10 Albums of the Year and Decade

Happy New Year Butcher Crew!! I hope 2020 is filled with good vibes and a bunch of metal! 2019 was filled with so many great albums, so it is going to be hard to narrow down my top 10. Since the decade is coming to an end, I decided to compile my top 10 albums of the decade, too! It has been a great year and decade for the metal scene and I can’t wait to go down memory lane collecting all of my favorites (and a bonus list of favorites)!


Albums of the Year

1.     Death Atlas – Cattle Decapitation

2.     A Different Shade of Blue – Knocked Loose

3.     Absolute – Kublai Khan

4.     The Valley – Whitechapel

5.     Wretched Illusions – Creeping Death

6.     Human Target – Thy Art Is Murder

7.     Deserted – Gatecreeper

8.     Velno – Fleshgod Apocalypse

9.     Evergreen – After The Burial

10.  Purgatory – Despised Icon


Albums of the Decade

1.     A Skeletal Domain – Cannibal Corpse (2014)

2.     Inked in Blood – Obituary (2014)

3.     Hartford County Misery – Boundaries (2017)

4.     Wrong One to Fuck With – Dying Fetus (2017)

5.     Deathless – Miss May I (2015)

6.     The World Is My Enemy Now – Upon A Burning Body (2014)

7.     Mark of the Blade – Whitechapel (2016)

8.     Blueprints – Wage War (2015)

9.     Dig Deep – After The Burial (2016)

10.  Ire – Parkway Drive (2015)

BONUS!!! I will also be doing my top 5 songs of the year and the decade!! I had too many favorites I can’t help but play these songs.


Top Songs of the Year

1.     Brimstone – Whitechapel

2.     Peeled from Reality – Creeping Death

3.     From the Ashes – Gatecreeper

4.      Behold The Crown – After The Burial

5.     High Hopes – Kublai Khan


Top Songs of the Decade

1.     Fixated on Devastation – Dying Fetus  

2.     Thanks For Nothing – Bent Life

3.     No Other Way – Boundaries

4.     Elitist Ones – Whitechapel

5.     Stitch – Wage War

What albums/songs made your top of 2019 and the decade? Are they similar to mine?

Stay Metal,

THE SAW

Categories
Music News and Interviews

DBB17: King Gino

DBB17: King Gino

DJ Beowvlf sits down with King Gino to discuss his development as an artist and participation in the collective that is Callisto Records. Independent creators and musical collaborators also participated in this interview that are similarly part of Callisto Records.

Categories
Music News and Interviews

Off The Record: DBB History

Off The Record: DBB History

In preparation for WKNC’s Double Barrel Benefit 17 on Feb. 7 and 8, DJ Beowvlf talks with station adviser Jamie Lynn Gilbert about the history of DBB and Gilbert shares some of her favorite DBB memories.

Categories
New Album Review

Album Review: Cattle Decapitation – Death Altas

Released on November 29, 2019 (Metal Blade Records), Death Atlas is Cattle Decapitation’s eighth studio album. The band has been issuing beat-downs for two decades. Whether or not subgenres are important to you, they do help describe a band’s sound; originally categorized as Grindcore or Goregrind (Deathgrind), Cattle Decapitation’s sound and song structure made a huge leap forward with 2015’s The Anthropocene Extinction, where a more musically progressive band had evolved. Death Atlas, in one sense, is a continuation of that progression. On the other hand, those old “Core" roots are still evident in many songs on this new record, in conjunction with the atmospheric structures we heard in 2015.

Death Atlas is a beautiful beating (IMO)! In just under an hour, the listener is pulverized by the patented double-base, blastbeat ass-whoopin’ one comes to expect from Cattle Decapitation, while being stretched to the point of being burst open by the harmonious Math Metal of the guitars and bass. All while experiencing the emotional agony of lyrical genius in screams, gutterals, and tortured (nearly clean) vocals. An experience is precisely what Death Atlas is! Thrown on the conveyer of slaughter, it is a fatal ride of horror through the mill of misery.

Travis Ryan masterfully delivers (as usual) the vocal onslaught, via no less than four different styles. Josh Elmore continues to amaze on lead guitar, with production and down-right power. Dave McGraw, one of the premier drummers of extreme metal, consistently beats your brains in with break-neck tempo changes, multi-count structures, and symbol combinations. Death Atlas sees the permanent addition of Belisario dimuzio (the band’s touring guitarist) as a solid rhythm guitarist with incredible talent that can’t be missed. And Olivier Pinard (Cryptopsy) is an excellent base player in his own right and is not unfamiliar with punishing the ear holes of the listener. This five-piece is a perfect storm to produce the masterpiece, Death Atlas.

The record is almost exclusively concerning the band’s perceived horrors of humanity on the environment. From the album cover, to the four “spoken word" interludes, to the lyrical content Death Atlas is an expression of this California band’s insistence that 1) humans should experience the evils that we unleash on animals and 2) Mother Nature is growing weary of the human race and will (sooner than later) eradicate its existence. And Cattle Decapitation issues images of these sentiments in vivid order. Whether or not one shares the band’s point-of-view, one definitely must respect the hell out of the way they communicate it! Even if you don’t agree with what they’re saying, you gotta love the way they say it!

Rating: 9.5/10!!

Favorite Songs: Be Still Our Bleeding Hearts; Bring Back the Plague; Death Atlas

Stay Metal, 

THE SAW