A fresh mixtape has arrived on the KJHK scene!!! This installment brought to you by Dilation, its a 20min mix of fresh dance bangers finished with a serious dubstep remix of a Bassnectar tune. Thanks to Ross (Tue. Beatlovers 9-12) for airing the joint. If you missed the broadcast check the link for a free download. 

I'm Live (From the Dining Room)

1. Basement Jaxx - My Turn
2. Chromeo - Night By Night (Redial Remix)
3. Daft Punk - Technologic (Kids At The Bar Remix)
4. Duck Sauce - Anyway
5. Fake Blood - I Think I Like it
6. Calvin Harris - The Rain
7. Ghost Town DJs - My Boo (American Dream Team Remix)
8. French Horn Rebellion - Up All Night (John Bourke Remix)
9. Fuzeta-Papelotes (BEATpUNKS Remix)
10. Bassnectar - Cozza Frenzy (Mega Bass Mix)

Just submitted electronic charts and Murderbot's new album earns the #1 spot once again. Be sure to check this joint out. Or just tune in, at this rate you liable to here a track at any moment!!  

Tonight, Across The Pond pays tribute to the music of Madchester and Manchester in general.  It was 20 years ago this month that the Madchester movement (which was featured in the sounds of such bands as The Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays and immortalized in the film "24 Hour Party People") began to take hold and anything that was from Manchester, was seen as chic.  In addition to paying tribute to Madchester, Across The Pond will also be playing other artists from Manchester including A Certain Ratio, The Smiths, Morrissey, The Buzzcocks, Joy Division, New Order and much more.  Listen tonight from 8-10 pm on your sound alternative 90.7 fm, or www.kjhk.org

This is no small undertaking. From Chicago by way of his KC roots, Chrissy Murderbot has a side project underway to release a new mixtape, in a different genre, every week for an entire year. He is truly a high scholar of dance music and its history, as reflected in the interesting liner notes he presents with each mix set on his blog, as though he was right there in those clubs to see the creation and demise of various genres, sub-genres and sub-sub-only-seven-guys-made-these-records-genres. Oh wait, he probably was there in those clubs. This is dance music aligned with its historic substance as only he could do.

Find his tracks and notes at:

 yearofmixtapes.blogspot.com

People aren't celebrating the man's criminal history they are celebrating his music and his skills. Countless artists have been accused of sex crimes yet not too many have had the talent that Michael Jackson possessed. People do seem to be taking his death a little hard considering he hasn't released a decent track (that i've heard) in over twenty years, but that doesn't negate the exceptional body of work he put out during his lifetime. Homie had issues, true, but he also lived a completely different life and i don't see how we can judge him on his life decisions. Judge him on his music. Sit by yourself, put on "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" and  just try to not get down with it.

Alright People,

I know that Michael Jackson was an important part of your lives, but seriously you've got to stop praising a man who was accused of being a child molester and supposedly drugging kids with "Jesus Juice" in order to fondle them.  Seriously, if Gary Glitter (who is also an accused, actually, convicted child molester) were to die tomorrow, I highly doubt that the radio stations (including this beloved one) would be playing "Rock N' Roll pts. 1 & 2", in fact many of them would be praising his demise.....anyway, if you do play the Michael Jackson just remember the accusations and all that other stuff........anyway, in the spirit of "Across The Pond" here is a clip of Jarvis Cocker (formerly of the band Pulp) invading  Michael Jackson's performance of "Earth Song" at the Brit Awards....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upbbz_Eyq4Q

P.S. Be sure to listen to "Across The Pond"!!!! The Best in British and Irish Music and the Commonwealth Nations of Australia and New Zealand, every wednesday 8-10 pm

P.P.S. Let's also face it, this is all a hoax that Jackson is doing to drum up interest in his concerts at Wimbley, and come on would you really hold it past Michael Jackson for faking his own death....

P.P.P.S. I know that alot of you are going to be angry with my comments, but that's just how I feel......

Cali-MC Paulie Rhyme is coming to Lawrence on his Industrial Arts Tour. He's got old school sensibilities with new school flavor, and has gotten several spins on our station with his last album with Deedot titled "Public Radio." Come see him perform tonight with locals Spence and Greg Enemy, along with Arkansas' own Listener. It'll be a night to remember! Come do your Stop Day right and party with us!

It's 3 AM and I decide to turn on the TV. I get kind of excited because I know MTV and MTV 2 now play music videos after 2 and despite the fact that almost all of it is awful, there's still something I like about flipping between music video channels. MTV has Ludacris singing about exercising in the bedroom when exercising means having sex with a shorty. MTV 2 has Asher Roth, who I am convinced is the absolute nadir of all music that has ever been made, singing about having sex with sorority girls without getting in a relationship. VH1 has a generic band with maybe the most generic band ever. I don't know who it is, other than they sound vaguely more 15-year-old indie rock demographic than most of the bands that have those generic videos shot on a soundstage with shots of the bands, their hands on the instruments and about a million shots of the singer's face. Maybe that's why the video felt like it went on for five minutes.  I was in the situation where I was curious about who the band was, because it sounded like something a major label might send to KJHK that would probably end up being discarded and lead me to consider writing the label and telling us not to send us crap they knew we wouldn't play. So the video goes on...and on...and on...and I can't turn it because I want to know who the band is. It's the same thing over and over, the video, that is. And I realize the song is the same thing over and over, and it became clear that this is the new trend in modern rock. And then I find out the band is Silversun Pickups and I have heard about them and I know we got their CD and I know it got discarded.</br>

Kids, take note: If you want to write a song that gets your band's video played on VH1, here is the formula you must use: Verse-Chorus (about ten times). Then, instrumental breakdown, or one where the vocals do something like "ooOOOOoo ahhhHHHHhhh." Then verse-chorus (about two more times). Then instrumental outro. I realized this a few months ago when I saw a video by a band called OneRepublic. I realized that whoever wrote the song realized they had a hook in the chorus, and decided the best way to utilize that hook in song form was to exploit the hell out of it. The problem is, for anyone with any appreciation of music, that gets boring. It gets so boring. Sure, it's catchy and I admit, the hook in that song was OK, but really by the end I wanted everyone in that band to end up broke in five years because they didn't deserve that much attention. It's just lazy songwriting. Maybe this is it, the generation of the lazy songwriter. Come up with a hook that's slightly catchy and repeat it because we all know those who listen to the Clear Channel radio stations need to hear it about ten times before it sticks in their head and they go home and download your album (on iTunes, hey, at least you are reaching the demographic that still pays for music). </br>

It's a telltale sign when a band doesn't have that much to work with. Maybe it's that I come from the school that believes the perfect length of a song (with exceptions i.e. "Like a Rolling Stone") is two-minutes-and-forty-two seconds. This is a scientifically proven fact that I read about somewhere, but my evidence is "Divine Hammer" by the Breeders. Listen to that song. It has all the elements of a traditional pop (granted, it plays with that formula by extending the choruses), but it doesn't beat the ever living hell out of it's best elements (which is pretty much everything about that song). The "one divine hammer" chorus is great, but when the song is over that song is exactly as long as it needs to be. Most importantly, when the song is over I want to listen to it again immediately. Same goes for all of Guided By Voices' best jams, which are often shorter than two minutes. Bob Pollard doesn't have the patience to make the greatest song of all time, "Game of Pricks," any longer than a minute and a half because it has no business being any longer than that even though it's a hundred times catchier than any of this bullshit you see on VH1 or MTV late at night or hear on your mainstream tuned radio at any hour of the day. Pop songs really needen't be longer than three minutes, and most of the time it just makes bands look embarassing.

<br>And then I saw it start to effect indie rock with the band Black Kids. Granted, Black Kids are a terrible band who put out a much hyped demo and instead of working their way up like any band that wants to get better, they immediately accepted a contract from Columbia and made the absolutely awful Partie Traumatic and rode to some very minimal success with their single "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You." The biggest problem I have with this song is that, on a record with a bunch of songs aping the Cure, this one is really, really fucking catchy. Really, this would be a great song...if it were two and a half minutes long. Instead, they know the chorus has a monster hook (better than pretty much anything in mainstream modern rock today) and they exploit it. Instead of leaving me wanting more and making the song as compact as possible, which is usually essential (it's all about editing and making the purest statement one can), they decide they need to repeat the chorus for another minute. There is no sense in this, other than their playing into modern rock standards. The song is still pretty good, but it is too frustrating for me to listen to because it's a minute too long.

Oh damn, that Strokes video where they play Family Feud with Guided by Voices just came on MTV 2. And do you know how long that song is? THREE MINUTES. And you know what, that song is awesome. I never really liked the Strokes that much in their heyday, but I realize that should have illustrated some hope for pop music that could achieve mainstream success and still be totally great. AND THEY GOT GUIDED BY VOICES TO BE IN THEIR VIDEO. Why aren't bands awesome like this anymore? Welcome to the decline of mainstream pop. Good riddance.

Watch that totally awesome Strokes video here if you haven't seen it, it's so good.