Culture Greyhound

Hello all,

Today is my 27th birthday. If you don’t know, now you know. In lieu of this amazing, incredible, revolutionary, historical milestone, I am sharing with you a pet project of mine I’ve been working on since March. Although I’m not sure if you’ll have any interest in it after about ten minutes, just know that I enjoy it very much, and that was the intended purpose. If you also enjoy it, hooray! We should be friends.

Culture Greyhound Radio is an Internet radio station broadcasting live from my dining room table on a dusted-off, stickered Toshiba that was just sitting in my closet for about three years. For you radio nerds, I’m currently rocking the latest, licensed version of SAM Broadcaster, my hosting is provided by ViaStreaming, and I’m legally broadcasting under royalty licensing coverage via Loudcity. That’s right. It’s legit. Musicians are getting paid, yo!

I’ve got a lot of programming and production things planned for the station, but for now, it’s playing a pretty current-heavy playlist rotation structure. As far as the music goes, I’m pretty thrilled with it, and I hope you like it too. Know that suggestions and comments are accepted and considered, but most likely ignored. It’s not that I don’t love you, I do, but if I don’t dig a track, it’s not going to play. This is not KTXT reincarnated, this is not KISS FM, this is not The Llano Idea, this is not WOXY 3.0. This is Ben’s station, and likely the only person in the world who will absolutely 100% love it is Ben. That said, criticism is welcome and encouraged.

Listen here on this ugly, soon-to-be changed Loudcity page (I’m required by law to send you here, and the picture as of this point is my cat, who is cute, yes, but if anyone wants to generously design a logo for me, that would be great). Additionally, I’m working on a page for the station, which you can find at the top of this page in the menu. To use an old-school-Geocities-Internet term, it’s currently Under Construction (insert stick figure with a hard hat on here).

Birthdays are a reason to celebrate, and although I’m keeping the festivities pretty low-key this year due to some current soul-searching and whatnot, nothing lifts my spirits like music: listening to it, writing about it, talking about it, sharing it. And music goes hand-in-hand with another one of my passions: radio. So the logical conclusion here is to connect the two and share it with you, and I truly hope you enjoy it. And thanks for listening.

Yet another Fun Fun Fun Fest act I’m incredibly psyched for (it’s only 8 days away, y’all!), Araabmuzik continues to drop new tracks via the Internet to the masses. Play this one loudly.

Araabmuzik – After Hours

At long last, Local Natives are back, and with a new album. Early next year, January 29th to be exact, the follow up to the amazing Gorilla Manor will drop. It’s called Hummingbird and here’s the first leaked track from it. And it sounds spectacular. You can bet we’ll be seeing a lot of these guys in the spring, no Austin dates yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a few pop up soon.

Hey guys! Remember when I had a blog? Seems like forever ago. School has run me rampant recently, but I’m on somewhat of a fall break for the time being, and that means the oft-delayed Quarterly Review is coming soon, as well as….hopefully….regular posting. In the meantime, here’s a really old track from Purity Ring, a remix of the awesome “Belispeak” featuring my new favorite rapper Danny Brown. It’s only about a week old, but in Internet times that’s like a million years, and, hey it’s new to me! I’ve been super duper busy. Also: Fun Fun Fun Fest in two weeks! Get amped. Danny Brown will be there.

Today Green Day announced they are canceling their next scheduled public appearance, a headlining spot at the Voodoo Festival in New Orleans late this month, as Billie Joe continues to receive treatment for substance abuse. Their next appearance is late November, the beginning of their US tour. Things are pretty iffy right now in the Green Day camp, but in a nice PR move, Mike talked with Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1 shortly before the announcement, speaking somewhat candidly about Billie’s health and where the band is right now. On top of that, a new track, the first official taste of Dos!, was leaked. Take a listen, and as far as we know, the next album’s release is still scheduled for November 13th. Below you can listen to Mike’s interview as well.

In case you haven’t heard, Deftones are planning a new release – Koi No Yokan (I assume that’s the album cover above) is dropping November 13th, and we’ve already heard the very-heavy “Leathers.” This one’s a lot more atmospheric. Think Saturday Night Wrist era Deftones. It’s pretty incredible, and if previous interviews are any indication, we can expect more like this on the album.

Don’t know if you guys remember, but Born Gold rules. Their last album Bodysongs was one of my favorites of 2011, and they’ve already got another one planned for October 23 – Little Sleepwalker. Listen to the crazy electro-poppy goodness of the first single “Sky Bicycle.” You know….like E.T.

November 26th is the day! Star Slinger releases his new EP Ladies in the Back, and it’s sure to be a banger, like, well, you know, pretty much everything else he’s ever done. Listen to the first single, the title track from the new EP. Crank it.

The Queens of the Stone Age frontman drops his latest solo effort, a softer, bluesier track more akin to older QOTSA tracks than the stripper rock dirge they’re famous for. The song is for the End of Watch soundtrack.

If you’re looking for some hump day fun in the ATX tonight, Mohawk is the spot to be. Cheap Curls (that’s Katie from the Dum Dum Girls for the uninitiated) is having an EP release party (show poster above) and it’s sure to be pretty excellent. Katie is a fellow Austinite, and is receiving support from other 512-representing acts tonight: Foreign Mothers, Crooked Bangs, and Tom Grrrl. Bottom line: this show’s gonna rock. Doors at 9pm. $6. Indoors, where we can all get sweaty and enjoy the local flavor.

Listen to a new track from Cheap Curls below, courtesy of Art Fag.