WKNC 88.1 FM - North Carolina State University Student RadioGen Ed 6: PM Hesham Qandil
Notable Alumni is a series of short profiles on interesting, powerful, or otherwise unusual NC State graduates. The first installation focuses on irrigation engineer Hashem Qandil, who went on to become Prime Minister of Morsi’s Egypt.
No interviews this week, but a quick run-through of some local events worth your time.
DJ Whatsherface is solo this week, but the studio is jampacked! Raleigh stalwarts GHOSTT BLLONDE, surf punkers THE DEAD BEDROOMS, and the easy, breezy, beautiful SEABREEZE DINER are all interviewed about just about everything you can imagine.
The Local Beat: Gabriel David
Sparrow and Whatsherface return with crooner Gabriel David, who plays a beautiful set.
Colin Stetson’s All This I Do For Glory
Odd, chilling, and trance-like, this album gives additional height to the distinguished instrumentalist Colin Stetson. I like this album because its theme is clear, yet riddled with questions. Each track has a looped melody, but the listener gets to hear all of the intricacies and imperfections of a wind player in what would normally be pre-programmed. The heavily distorted, slow sounds of the baritone saxophone are integrated with melodic jumps, making the slightest change hardly noticeable.
Stetson tries to answer where the saxophone belongs in the age of electronic music. The saxophone, for the most part, has struggled to coexist with the synthesizer, electric guitar, and keyboard, and has yet to find a solidified part amongst the biggest players. Though electronic ensembles such as Syrinx, GRiZ, and Moon Hooch have made their contributions to incorporating the saxophone into electronic music, Colin Stetson seems to bridge the sonic barrier between the fundamental differences between the synthesizer and the saxophone. With his creative use of extended technique, he transforms his sound into something that could be played alongside the computer musicians of today.
The Local Beat: Vacant Company
The always heavy VACANT COMPANY grace the studios to talk shop and play some cuts from their upcoming LP BLOK.
Now that half the year is over people are looking forward to the end of it. But, as important it is to look forward, it’s also important to reflect. So with that idea in mind here are (in my opinion) the best albums of 2017 thus far…
1. Ctrl by SZA
2. PEAK by Choker
3. Saturation by BROCKHAMPTON
4. Process by Sampha
5. Drunk by Thundercat
6. Faye Webster by Faye Webster
7. This Old Dog by Mac DeMarco
8. Ecosystem by Courtney John
9. DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar
10. Steve Lacy’s Demo EP – Steve Lacy
Honorable Mentions:
Oak City Move 14: Polarity Showcase
Sarah and Jenaye sit down with the organizers of the Polarity Showcase. The showcase will explore the dichotomy between the synthetic and organic, and will be open July 7-9 at the Assembly Downtown.
Sparrow and Whatsherface get into it with Paper Dolls.
Life Will See You Now by Jens Lekman
I was waiting for this release for a long time. I was first introduced to Lekman with the album I Know What Love Isn’t in 2012. There’s something very novel and special about living the hype of a new release along with more experienced fans, but I wasn’t particularly enthralled by this album. In sneaking through his back catalog, I found my heart swept away by Night Falls Over Kortedala, released in 2007. Lekman himself acknowledges his departure from his more pop-minded sounds between Kortedala and I Know What Love Isn’t, and it feels like he’s brought it all back with Life Will See You Now. I kept this album on rotation for a solid two months. Soon enough I knew every word and could hum along to every horn and strum in the most obnoxious onomatopoetic way possible.
I’m not a music writer, just a homely DJ, so, I give Life Will See You Now a “This Is A Perfect Album” out of 10.
Favorite tracks: “Evening Prayer”, “Wedding in Finistère", & “How We Met, The Long Version”
Dust by Laurel Halo
This album literally came out less than a week ago and is exactly what I needed to guide me through this particularly melancholy summer. I’ve just moved back home with my mother and am less than inclined to involve myself with the humidity outside. That being said, I have been cramming new music down my throat day in and day out alongside allergy-and-Benadryl-fueled MST3K marathons. So, there I was, on Twitter, not expecting any new music to be released on a TUESDAY (WHAT IS THIS, 2014?) but lo and behold Halo dropped her entire album on Soundcloud, free of charge—a streamer’s paradise! I blew through the whole thing in one sitting, sweating my ass off in my childhood bedroom with no AC, and traveled to a place I hadn’t been since Halo’s Quarantine. What I adore about her, and this album, is she never confines herself to a particular style and is always evolving and expanding. It’s sexy and squishy and sweet. Like me!
FKA Angel gives Dust a “This Is A Good Album To Sweat To” out of 10!
Favorite tracks: “Jelly”, “Koinos”, and “Syzygy”
Lake by Blois
Remember orange sherbet Push-Ups®? They were disgusting. Lake is an album that encompasses spring-to-summer transitory emotions and nostalgia in a way that Push-Ups® never could. I want to reach my fist into cold mud every time I listen to this album. It is quiet and sweetly slow, almost saccharine, but never too much that you can’t listen to it four or five times through in one sitting. Slide through this entire album on a drive to the pool and then revisit some old Blois hits, like “Henry” and “Kidneys”. Listen to it all! The Blois are back in town!
I give this album an Icee® out of Push-Up®!
Favorite tracks: All of them!