Cory Graves
George Gimarc Reminisces, St. Vincent Bewilders, And Sarah Jaffe Teases Her New Album.
For fourteen years beginning in the late '70s, pioneering DJ and local radio legend George Gimarc presided over one of the first — if not the first — radio programs in the country playing New Wave and punk music, “The Rock & Roll Alternative“.
This past Sunday, on the 34th anniversary of the program's commercial radio debut on KZEW-FM The Zoo, Gimarc posted the audio from that initial broadcast to his Soundcloud page.
It's a nice peek back at radio's golden age, when jocks were still quite deft a mixing records — often vinyl ones at that — and when every station in the country wasn't playing the same 40 songs on repeat.
It's been an interesting past few days for few other semi-local artists as well.
First, there's the Denton ex-pats in Parquet Courts, who were just given the feature treatment by the folks over at Grantland. In advance of the snack-obsessed, Andrew Savage-led band's release of its newest LP, Sunbathing Animal, on June 3, that ESPN site decided it was time once again to deem the band one of New York's greats. “The Last Great New York Band?” the article teases with its headline, even if that “very 'New York'” sound is one designation Savage has never quite understood.
Then there was Parquet Courts' fellow North Texas transplant in New York City, St. Vincent. It's safe to say: Her pair of performances during Saturday's season finale of Saturday Night Live blew a lot of minds — and not necessarily in a positive way. Seems the combination of strobe lights and minimal choreography is just TMTH for Middle America these days. Sure, we loved it, but it still confused the hell out of SNL viewers on Twitter, as this confused tweet catalog shows.
On Sunday, meanwhile, Eminem took home a pair of Billboard Music Awards, including Top Rap Artist and Top Rap Album for last year's The Marshall Mathers LP 2. That album, you no doubt remember, featured production work and a vocal help courtesy of Dallas' own The Dividends.
Speaking of The Dividends: That outfit's vocalist, Sarah Jaffe also announced earlier this week that her new LP Don't Disconnect will be released on August 19.
Much nearer on the horizon, though, is the debut solo release of longtime Eleven Hundred Springs frontman Matt “the Cat” Hillyer. That one will come next Wednesday with a release show at the Plano location of Love and War in Texas, which will be carried live on KHYI-FM The Range.
Elsewhere, the lineups to a pair of upcoming festivals were released in just the last few hours. And that's especially cool news for locals This Will Destroy You, Kind Diamond, and Blue, the Misfit, who will each appear alongside headliners Judas Priest, Nas, Neutral Milk Hotel, Guided by Voices and more at this fall's Fun Fun Fun Fest.
Blue, The Misfit, it turns out, will also take part in this fall's second annual Oaktopia Fest, which also announced its lineup today. With headliners like Baths, Immortal Technique, xxyyxx and Aesop Rock w/ Rob Sonic — plus a Neon Indian DJ set — included among the now two-day fest's lineup, it's safe to say that this year's offering is a significant step up over last year's impressive debut run. Other acts, such as A.Dd+ and -topic, are just a couple of the dozens of other locals set to perform during Oaktopia's September 19 and 20 run. The complete list of performers can be found here.
Meanwhile, two weeks removed from Erykah Badu's Swaziland controversy, the singer has managed to generate a bit of positive PR from that country as well. Per the Dallas Morning News' Robert Wilonsky, Badu is the latest focus of Okayafrica's The Roots of … short documentary series. Watch Badu's quest to determine the origins of her African ancestry below.
Elsewhere, the Old 97's released a new lyric video for its tune “Longer Than You've Been Alive” and that Air Review video we posted about a few weeks back showed up on Esquire's music blog this week, where it was called “the best little movie you'll see this month.”
Got a tip for White Noise? Email us!
