Music That Matters: KEXP in NYC '06

So this is not the cult worship of KEXP, but after five years on the other end of the radio waves, I gotta say that finally getting to see how it all goes down inside the hallowed studios of the much beloved Seattle radio station has given me renewed faith in people and yes, an even greater appreciation of this indie airwaves fav. John Richards, Cheryl Waters, Kevin Cole and the up-all-day, up-all-night crew of volunteer staffers (who, by the way, pay their own way to get to NYC and stay here) put on another fantastic show: Hot Chip, The Shins, The Archie Bronson Outfit, Fields, Low Frequency in Stereo and more than a dozen other great acts from all around the world stopped by KEXP's makeshift headquarters inside the intimate Gigantic Studio in Tribeca for live, in-studio performances.

The four bands I caught were: Fields, Low Frequency in Stereo, The Shackeltons and the bearded trio, the Archie Bronson Outfit (pictured right, and from whom I snookered a free import CD of their new Domino release "Derdang Derdang"). As expected, the bands did not disappoint. On Thursday afternoon, the Fields released their blissed-out drones on a mesmerized crowd, only to followed up (and maybe outdone?) by Norway's latest "It" bandLow Frequency in Stereo. Having amassed a mountain of hype, LFS lived up to the bill; the small group of us writhed in the cramped room while John, Cheryl and Kevin almost suffered whiplash jamming out in the studio.

On Friday morning, I rolled up to the studio just before 10 to catch the Shackeltons, (at left, in a terrible photograph, but what's a brother to do? The lighting sucked!) a Chambersberg, PA band that caught John R.'s attention after they sent him a couple of songs in the mail. He began playing them, championing them, and, as it turns out, booking them for a live in-studio during CMJ and adding them to the station's showcase Friday night. And to this point, they appear to deserve the attention. Tight tunes with some jangly guitars and interesting vocals bellowed from the lead singer.

What you don't see in the picture is the lead singer, an excessively chatty dude named Mark that had some serious man-love for John R. (even sang a song to him, gazing, as Cheryl noticed, "longingly into his eyes") but whose antics onstage, or, in this case, in the studio, were the real story. Was it autism? Tourette's? Maybe a combo of both? In any case, he sings his songs in a spastic convulsion that is part flailing and part cabaret act. His little trick of covering his eyes with one hand while cooing into the mic made me think of a more confused Mick Jagger with less confidence.

However, as good as the bands were, simply hanging out and chatting with the djs that I have listened to now for more than five years and feel like I know so well was the best part of the shows. All three djs I met -– John (pictured above), Cheryl and Kevin - were personable, interesting and completely unpretentious. It seems funny that we can put people who simply speak to us through (in my case) a computer on such a high pedestal. But it was a relief to talk to Kevin about his massive record and CD collection, which takes up three huge rooms in his basement (he said he has upwards of 30,000 cds. Fuck, I thought I had a big collection...) or Cheryl about how she approaches interviews.

It is funny, too, to see them pay so much attention and respect to the bands themselves. They are, after all, bigger music fans than any of us. Cheryl was jumping out of seat for the Archie Bronson Outfit, which she fawned over (And they were great. As spastic as the lead singer of the Shackeltons was, I thought the drummer for the Archie Bronson Outfit was going to put his right foot through the floor. He had to duct tape his headphones to his head, and had a strange resemblancece to Lars Ulrich, the drummer for Metallica). There are some great shots at the KEXP site here.

And all of it was free! Four bands, great conversations about music with people who know what they are talking about and watching the best radio station on the planet operate had to be the best deal of CMJ.