Altered Freebies: Wye Oak; Fang Island; Young Galaxy

What's better than music? Free music. Producer Nick Jackson has scoured the internet to bring you the best free downloads featured on this week's Altered Fridays, 4-7 p.m.
Wye Oak, “Civilian”
It seems Baltimore's Wye Oak is getting better and better with each album. Here is the title track from their upcoming album, Civilian, due out next year. Jenn Wasner kills her solo at the end, enjoy!

Fang Island (feat. Andrew W.K. and Joe Buzzell), “Patterns On The Wall”
Fang Island released a strong album this year and followed it up with a 7", featuring this song. You can grab the single at their Bandcamp. On a related note, this trend of leaving MySpace for Bandcamp is just grand.
Young Galaxy, “Cover Your Tracks”
Here's a band out of Montreal making some chill music, bro. More on their album Shapeshifting, expected soon.

A Statement from our GM about the Trademarking of the word Hon

WTMD doesn’t often wander into commenting on news stories or sticking our nose into other people’s business, but as the outrage grows over Denise Whiting’s trademarking of the word “Hon,” some of us at the station can’t get it out of our heads.  We keep trying to figure out why we, and thousands of others, feel anger and contempt for Ms. Whiting, owner of Café Hon in Hampden.

Ms. Whiting is certainly within her right to try and grow a business, build a brand and serve her customers.  But what angers people most is she is using a concept that predates her restaurant.  Ms. Whiting didn’t invent the Baltimore Hon. The images, emotions and memories encapsulated in these three letters are the very heart and soul of our city.

For most of us, the visual image of a Hon, an old Baltimore housewife from the 50s, is encapsulated in the transformation Edna Turnblad makes in Hairspray (the comedy, not the musical).  Hons were authentic women concerned about making sure their kids grew up ok, their husbands got to the steel mill on time and they kept an eye on Baltimore’s neighborhoods making sure they were safe and clean. They always had a pot of coffee on the stove to sip while gossiping with their girlfriends. Hons are selfless and even innocent.

Behind the glasses, the hair and the accent were strong, protective women who lived in their own world and never considered the changes that could take us from the Buddy Dean Show to the Wire in just one lifetime.  Coffee was black-no-sugar, not a Grande Skinny No Whip White Mocha.  Hons remind us that life was simpler once and perhaps we long for a time when a Blackberry was something you made into a pie.

They are our mothers and grandmothers, the older lady down the street we keep an eye on; they are people we care about.  We would never think to exploit them.  And that is what Ms. Whiting has done.  She didn’t invent Hon, she found it, sculpted it, and turned into something that makes money.  Trademarking the word so that others can’t print it is the final act of theft and I think we’ve all been shocked at how Ms. Whiting has manipulated the word and perhaps us.

Sure, we all think Honfest is a blast.  Dressing up in the exaggerated costumes and pushing the essence of the Hon to the limit seemed like we were paying homage to these women. But in many ways the brand Ms. Whiting has built on this word is just plain old disrespectful to the women that it’s based upon. Ms. Whiting is not alone in this stereotyping, we’ve all had a good time dishing the leopard skin prints, the cat’s eye glasses and spending big bucks on those rubber beehives.  I think a little collective guilt is playing into our reactions to Ms. Whiting’s theft of our beloved Hon.

Yet, as the Internet outrage points out, we all feel ownership of Hon. We don’t want the right to use the word in print taken away from us. And we don’t understand how Ms. Whiting doesn’t recognize that she has violated that sense of community.  A sense of community the women of 1950s Baltimore created by just being themselves.  Not being able to print that word on a coffee mug, T-shirt or bumper sticker cuts the rest of us off from people we care about and respect. By crowning herself head Hon, Ms. Whiting has taken away a very personal connection to our past and cheapens our relationship with our City’s heritage.

Stephen Yasko

WTMD’s General Manager

Weekend on The Radio Events and Doings around Town

From the Monument Lighting tonight to The Merry Mart at the Creative Alliance, there is always something going on in and around Baltimore to keep you busy when you're not shopping.  See the list.

From the Land of LaMontagne Meet Jason Spooner

Inspired by a trip to a world-renowned music store, Portland, Maine native Jason Spooner decided to leave the comfort zone of his acoustic guitar and plug in for his third album Sea Monster.

Along with the dynamic rhythm section that rounds out his trio, Spooner's quest for sonic adventure takes listeners on a tour of folk, blues, jazz and New Orleans soul, without sounding sloppy.

This Friday at 920am, we take Morning Sessions out of the WTMD studios and into the house of a WTMD friend and supporter, where you'll meet the Jason Spooner Trio. I think you'll like them, so join us!

Top 10 Songs of the Year! Staff Picks

Here's the WTMD Staff Picks for the Top 89 Songs of 2010.  Take a gander and the vote for your top songs. We'll countdown the Top 89 based on your votes on December 17th!

Please Consider an End of the Year Additional Gift or Become a New WTMD Member as we count down the memories of 2010, your support will make 201l even more memorable!

Erik Deatherage 
The Morning Man

1. Beach House- Silver Soul
2. Spoon- The Mystery Zone 
3. Citizen Cope- Lifeline 
4. Rogue Wave- Solitary Gun
5. Fyfe Dangerfield- She Needs Me
6. The Hold Steady- The Weekenders 
7. JJ Grey and Mofro- The Sweetest Thing 
8. Victoria Vox- Oh I Wonder 
9. The Magnetic Fields- You Must Be out of Your Mind 
10. Quadron- Slippin

Matt Galler
Weekend Host

1. The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition
2. Ra Ra Riot - Boy
3. Ceelo Green - F*** You! (aka Forget You)
4. Freelance Whales - Hannah
5. Fyfe Dangerfield - She Needs Me
6. Sleigh Bells - Tell 'Em
7. Vampire Weekend - Cousins
8. Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs - Beg, Steal or Borrow
9. Broken Bells - The Ghost Inside
10. Arcade Fire - Ready to Start

Tyler Laporte
Midday Host

1. Stornoway – Zorbing
2. Delta Spirit – 9/11
3. Bad Books – You Wouldn’t Have To Ask
4. Yeasayer – O.N.E.
5. Vampire Weekend – Giving Up The Gun
6. Rostam, Bethany, & Kid Cudi – All Summer
7. Spoon – The Mystery Zone
8. Minus The Bear – My Time
9. Band of Horses – Dilly
10. Dr. Dog – Shadow People

John Mathews
Afternoons and Roadhouse

1. Spoon-Trouble Comes Running
2. Ray Lamontagne-For The Summer
3. Dean Rosenthal-Left Into Galesville
4. Yeasayer-Madder Red
5. Spoon-The Mystery Zone
6. Fistful Of Mercy-Fathers’s Son
7. Lee Ritenour, Steve Lukather, Slash-’68
8. Arcade Fire-We Used To Wait
9. Best Coast-Boyfriend
10. Brian Eno-Two Forms Of Anger

Paul Hartman
Detour

1. Great Big Sea- Long Life (Where Did You Go)
2. Ellis Paul-The Cotton's Burning
3. Johnny Clegg Manqoba (The Victorious)
4. Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars- Living Stone
5. Mollie O'Brien & Rich Moore- Saints & Sinners
6. Richard Thompson- Big Sun Falling in the River
7. Old Man Luedecke- Woe Betide the Doer of the Deed
8. Carolina Chocolate Drops- Trouble in Your Mind
9. Samy Izy- Igny Ihany
10. Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band- The Raven

Steve Yasko
General Manager

1. Adele- Rolling in the Deep
2. Grace Potter and the Nocternals- Paris (Ooh la la)
3. Janelle Monae- Tightrope
4. Jace Everett- Bad Things
5. John Legend And The Roots - Wake Up Everybody
6. Fitz and the Tantrums- Money Grabber
7. Quadron- Slippin
8. Guster - Do you Love Me
9. Julian Velard- Do It Alone
10. Gorillaz- On Melancholy Hill 

Kristin Bachran
Membership Manager

1. Spoon – The Mystery Zone 
2. Minus the Bear  - My Time  
3. Band Of Horses - Dilly 
4. Vampire Weekend  - Giving Up The Gun 
5. Local Natives – Airplanes 
6. Ok Go! – WTF? 
7. Gorillaz - Stylo 
8. LCD Soundsystem - I Can Change 
9. The Black Keys - Everlasting Light 
10. Arcade Fire –  Sprawl II
     

Crickett Herrmann

Manager of Individual Giving

1. MoneyGrabber- Fitz and the Tantrums 
2. Half a Mind- Jason Spooner
3. Avett Brothers- January Wedding
4. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals- Paris
5. Ben Folds- From Above
6. Ceelo Green- Forget You 
7. God Willing and the Creek Don't Rise- Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs
8. Matt Costa- The Season
9. Richard Thompson- Haul Me Up 
10. Los Lobos- Can't Stop the Rain

Alan Lotenberg
Underwriting Traffic Mgr

1. Fyfe Dangerfield- She Needs Me 
2. The New Pornographers - Crash Years 
3. Adele -  Rolling in the Deep 
4. Cee Lo Green -  F* You 
5. Quadron- Slippin 
6. Guster - Do you Love Me 
7. Fitz and the Tantrums -  MoneyGrabber 
8. The Avett Brothers - Head Full Of Doubt/Road Full Of Promise 
9. Codeine Velvet Club -  Hollywood  
10. Vampire Weekend -  Giving up the Gun

Nick Jackson
Producer, Baltimore Unsigned, Altered Fridays, Video 

1. “Conversation 16,” by The National  
2. “Tighten Up,” by The Black Keys 
3. “Month of May,” by Arcade Fire  
4. “Brave Man’s Death,” by J. Roddy Walston & The Business  
5. “I Want To Be Well,” by Sufjan Stevens 
6. “Giving Up The Gun,” by Vampire Weekend  
7. “In Sleep,” by Lissie
8. “Monster,” by Kanye West (featuring Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver) 
9. “Tin Man,” by Future Islands
10. “I Can Change” by LCD Soundsystem
    

Don Rogers
Weekend Host

1. Don't Get Old- J Roddy Walston and the Business
2. Burn It Down- Los Lobos
3. Laredo- Band of Horses
4. Richard Thompson- Haul Me Up
5. Matt Costa- Witchcraft
6. The Black Angels- River of Blood
7. Fitz and the Tantrums- Breakin' The Chains of Love
8. The Black Keys- Tighten Up
9. Frazy Ford- Blue Streak Mama
10. Beady Eye-Bring the Light

Scott Mullins
Program Director

1. Kings Go Forth – One Day
2. Band of Horses – Laredo
3. Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3 – Colored Lights
4. Junip – Always
5. Carolina Chocolate Drops – Hit ‘em Up Style
6. Cotton Jones – Dream On Columbia Street
7. Quadron – Slippin’
8. Superchunk – Digging For Something
9. Foals – Total Life Forever
10. Matt Costa - Witchcraft

Melissa Lauren
Weekend Host

1. Sharon Van Etten - One Day
2. Ray LaMontagne - For The Summer
3. The Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill
4. Broken Bells - The High Road
5. Arcade Fire - Ready to Start
6. Jenny & Johnny - Scissor Runner
7. The Black Keys - Everlasting Light
8. Alberta Cross - Old Man  Chicago
9. The Morning Benders - All Day Daylight
10. The New Pornographers - Crash Years

JJ Grey and Mofro: Singing Songs About the Swampland

There must be something in the water in Jacksonville, Florida besides gators.

Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi make sweet sounds together and with their respective bands in their home studio. And fellow Northern Floridian J.J. Grey re-creates a Staxx-era vibe with old amps and worn-out microphones at St. Augustine’s Resophonics- where he’s recorded since he was eighteen.

A homespun album with a native insect serving as the title inspiration gets CD of the Week honors this week.

Georgia Warhorse gives off a swamp-like funk and seductively moistens the brow on tracks like “Slow, Hot and Sweaty” and the New Orleans-flavored opener “Diyo Dayo,” while Florida land grabbers and other bad guys get Grey’s ire in “The Hottest Spot in Hell,” which features a killer kick drum and fuzzy guitar riff.

Two tracks put the latest from this talented multi-instrumentalist and his collective Mofro ahead of their country-blues class: “The Sweetest Thing” which features Grey coaxing reggae maestro Toots Hibbert into a standout vocal performance and the ecologically-themed Southern rock ballad “King Hummingbird.”

Trucks’s unmistakable melodic note bends close out the album on “Lullaby,” a pine-soaked sendoff from two musicians who make the swamp sound like the land of milk and honey.

Thanks Baltimore and a Friendly Friday Tift!

Want to share a huge thanks to the listeners and supporters of WTMD. We are grateful you turn to WTMD for musical enlightenment, entertainment and inspiration. We hope your Thanksgiving rocks!

Tune in Thanksgiving Day starting at 7am for a Baltimore Unsigned marathon. Hear insightful interviews from some of the areas top talents and check out what's new from the artists in your backyard all day long, with one notable exception: You didn't think we'd have a WTMD Thanksgiving without Alice's Restaurant, did you?

We'll spin Arlo's holiday classic at 12pm!

And, on Friday, if you need a break from the shopping, hear an encore of a Morning Sessions with the always soothing sounds of Tift Merritt at 920am.

All the best to you and yours from the staff and volunteers at WTMD.

CD of the Week: Kings of Contradictions

The Followill boys traded in thrift shop clothes and garage band sounds for Fifth Avenue threads and arena-rocking musicianship for their 2008 worldwide smash Only by the Night. And while the follow-up Come Around Sundown stops just short of outright rejecting fame, high fashion and rock hedonism, the sons and nephew of a preacher man sound like they want to go home again.


“It’s in the water, it’s where you came from,” Caleb Followill wails over an ‘amen’ gospel corner and the familiar wall of ringing guitars from cuz Matthew on “Radioactive,” while on “The Face,” the frontman croons, “If you give up New York, I’ll give up Tennessee.”

It’s an interesting benchmark for Kings of Leon whose quest for authenticity sometimes conflicts with the instantly anthemic music they, now, prolifically craft. While showing disdain for bandwagon fans live, Caleb’s made-for-rock growl and his relatives’ growing mastery of their instruments seem poised to once again to get more people to hop onboard.

Reverb and Hemmingway Inspire Matt Costa's Chateau

Matt Costa's third album Mobile Chateau shimmies with British Invasion-era reverb and ponders in minor key English folk.

It's a marked departure for the nearly pro skateboarder who found artistic inspiration for the title of his third album in a place known to stir a creative juice or two.

"My wife and I were staying in a chateau four hours outside of Paris," Costa said. "We were just walking around and she was finding things on the ground and literally made a mobile inside the chateau. Then it kind of took on A Moveable Feast idea. I also felt like all the people in the creating of this record felt like a small piece of how Hemingway might have felt in Paris at that time in having all these creative people around."

Friday, on Morning Sessions, this week from NP Recording Studios in Towson, we bring you Matt and the creative forces who make up his band. They played a decadently pshycadelic set in front of some of our frontmen and women. Hear the results at 920.

NPR HIPS AND HOPS

This video is making the rounds and celebrates the good work done in public radio. If you listen to WTMD, WYPR, WEAA and WBJC and think public radio is the bomb, then take a listen.

Weekend on the Radio Recap

Every Thursday morning at 6:20 a.m. and 8:20 a.m. Sam Gallant of the Creative Alliance shares with you all the cool happenings around town on Weekend on the Radio. In case you missed a detail about a specific event, here's the list for this week.

All Weekend Long:

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, every movie theater on earth, check website for times.

Thursday, 11/18

• Sowebo Arts Group Presents: Little Big Show, Zella's Pizzeria 6 to 8 p.m.
• Mingle at the Mill, Clipper Mill 6 to 9 p.m.
• Disgrace: An Acoustic Trio, The 8x10 8 p.m.

Friday, 11/19

• Jerry Seinfeld, The Meyerhoff 7-9 p.m.
• History of Rock Opera 2, Anne Arundel Community College 8 p.m. (Also Friday)
• Macbeth, The Arena Players 8 p.m. (Also Saturday and Sunday)

Saturday, 11/20

• Baltimore Ski Swap, Maryland National Guard Armory 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Wreath Fest, Chesapeake Arts Center, all day
• Harry Potter Day, Maryland Science Center noon to 4 p.m.
• Baltimore: Songs of Our City, Creative Alliance 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, 11/20

• The Herd of Main Street, The Ottobar 9 p.m.
• Annapolis Christmas Tree Lighting, downtown Annapolis 5:30 p.m.

ADELE 'Rolling In The Deep' (Studio Footage)

A Deceptively Sophisticated Mobile Home

A true radical in sheep’s clothing, Nellie McKay defies convention once again on her latest, Home Sweet Mobile Home.

A year after a Verve-released Doris Day covers CD, the English-born, New York-bred songwriter opens our new CD of the Week with the vulnerable “Bruise on the Sky,” which asks to be sent a “smile like Charo.”

And like the award-winning flamenco guitarist and frequent Love Boat guest star with the wide-eyed “cuchi-cuchi”- catch phrase, Mc Kay’s throwback beauty and broad grin (she looks like she should be on a chewing gum commercial) may deceive the uninitiated into thinking she’s, well, ditzy!

But, underneath the perky, ukulele strum on “Adios,” it doesn’t take long to get a sense of her Randy Newman-like biting wit, sense of irony and comedic timing.

An expert musical masher, you’ll hear reggae on Mobile Home - she recorded several tracks in Jamaica- as well as meringue, tin-pan alley, calypso, gospel, and a New Orleans brass stomp.

Self-produced by the artist and her mother, actress Robin Pappas, and with help from David Byrne, this true chameleon and social activist (she's an outspoken vegan- and hilariously sings about it on "Unkown Reggae") proves once again brains and beauty are not mutually exclusive.

 The oysters were shucked by the harbor with care,

With hopes that great music soon would be there....

You're invited to

WTMD's NOT SO SILENT NIGHT HOLIDAY PARTY!

3 Rockin' Bands-One Night of WTMD Cheer!

Jukebox the Ghost

The Meligrove Band and Dynamite Walls

Thursday December 9, 2010

Doors: 6 - First Band: 7 - Rock All Night!

Tix: $22

Proceeds Benefit WTMD's Music and Programming Fund

Ramshead Live is donating a portion of the ticket fee back to WTMD

Please bring a canned food item to be donated to Paul's Place; providing community support in the
Washington Village and Pigtown Neighborhoods of Southwest Baltimore

Band information:  Jukebox the Ghost The Meligrove Band  Dynamite Walls

Jukebox the Ghost has gone from a Baltimore Unsigned favorite to
thrilling audiences around the country!

We're proud to have them bring two of their
favorite bands with them back to where it all began! 
Get your tickets quick!

Altered Freebies: Tapes 'n Tapes; Kanye West; Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.; Smith Westerns

What's better than music? Free music. Producer Nick Jackson has scoured the internet to bring you the best free downloads featured on this week's Altered Fridays, 4-7 p.m.

Tapes 'n Tapes, “Freak Out”
There is a new album coming from Tapes 'n Tapes on January 11 (1/11/11!) and they're passing out the new single fo' free.

Kanye West, G.O.O.D. Fridays
Kanye West has been releasing a new song every Friday for the past few months. The collection can be downloaded for free at Kanye's website. There are some legendary collaborations on there so grab them while you can.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., “Vocal Chords (Diego and Dissidents Remix)”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. have been making a name for themselves and have released a remix EP, featuring their songs "Vocal Chords" and "Nothing But Our Love". It’s a great tune to get the weekend on its way.

Stream me!

Smith Westerns, “Weekends”
Over the last month, a lot of musicians have become fans of this band, for good reason. Though you won't be able to throw this on your iPod, you can enjoy it's streaminess until the record is released in January.