Exec Files: Vol. V

by WRMC Middlebury College on October 23, 2014

Posted in: Eclectic, Electronic, Hip Hop, Music, Pop, Punk, Rap, Rock

The WRMC executive board presents their favorite tracks, albums, artists, and/or music videos of the week, old and new, but mostly new.

TRACK: Big Freedia – “Explode”

This video explains everything you need to know about Big Freedia. She’s not about silly things like strict gender roles or soft instrumentation, she’s about making you turn up so hard you forget a world exists outside of the turn-up. “Release your anger / release your mind / release your job / release the time / release your trade / release the stress / release your love / forget the rest,” Freedia raps over absolutely punishingly danceable beats from the forefront of the New Orleans bounce movement. If you like twerking, if you like bounce music, if you want to be a part of something as crazy as this video and release all that stress building up towards the end of the semester, come to WRMC’s annual fall concert, Grooveyard, on Nov. 7 to catch Big Freedia in all her glory. – Charlie Dulik, Concerts Committee 

TRACK: Taylor Swift – “Welcome to New York”

This song was cowritten and coproducer with one Republic’s Ryan Tedder – and you can definitely hear One Republic’s aesthetic in it. TSwift finally joins the bandwagon of artists with songs about NYC and lights. About time, right? As she says, ““The inspiration that I found in that city is kind of hard to describe and hard to compare to any other force of inspiration I’ve ever experienced in my life. It’s like an electric city. I approached moving there with such wide-eyed optimism and sort of saw it as a place of endless potential and possibilities and you can kind of hear that reflected in this music and this first song especially.” I <3 NYC.  -Aashna Aggarwal, Business Director

Preview the track here.

TRACK: El May-“Thrills”
RIYL: songs on Grey’s Anatomy soundtracks

In her understated track “Thrills,” off The Other Person Is You (2014), Australian artist Lara Meyerratken, alias El May, addresses an old friend whom she is romantically interested in. Likely this hard to read friend she talks about is the very “You” in her album title. On this track, sections with short pauses between every word contrast with moments defined by a smoother singing style, making for varied vocal performance, and a lyrical delivery that mirrors the oppositions/disconnect of their relationship. Think along the lines of a song inspired by the first half of Rubblebucket’s “Oversaturated” (minus the horns), and Cults’ “You Know What I Mean” without the intensely dramatic vocals or snapping. -Halley Lamberson, General Manager

TRACK: Ex Hex – “How You Got That Girl”

Mary Timony, of former Autoclave, Helium, and Wild Flag fame, just released a killer debut album with Ex Hex, a DC-based band comprised of Timony and two other DC power ladies. Ex Hex’s only prior release was the three-song Hot and Cold 7″ that came out this spring, but since then fans of garage punk have been anxiously awaiting their full-length… and Rips delivers. In structure, Rips is a straightforward power-pop/punk album, but Ex Hex nocks it out of the park with great riffs, playful vocals, and tight production. Check out “How You Got That Girl,” a standout track from the album. – Julia Welsh, Programming Director

ALBUM: Slurred Words – Slurred Words (2014)
Label: self-released // Best Tracks: “Never Trust No One”, “Bye Boy”, “I H8 U”, “You And Me”, “Rosalina”, “Drift Away, Fade Away”

Slurred Words is a lo-fi garage rock band from Salisbury, Maryland.  Their name is pretty apt because I can barely understand what they’re saying on their debut self-titled bandcamp release.  I suspect they spent much of their teenage years listening to Jay Reatard and Times New Viking, but I could just be projecting.  I think they are all girls but I also could just be projecting. I emailed them to check, (**UPDATE: they responded with a shirtless pic of Keanu Reeves and it turns out they are actually dudes) but it doesn’t matter because they sound like Jay Reatard anyway, and that’s great.  This album was recorded in “The Fuck Dungeon” according to their bandcamp which adds another level of intrigue for people who have never been there.  I bought it for a dollar I probably would’ve used in a vending machine but you can also get it for free on bandcamp. -Kate Leib, Creative Director

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1526844053 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=f171a2 tracklist=false artwork=small]

TRACK: Grouper – “Call Across Rooms” 

When I was a whee freshman, I spent the entire month of January in bed listening to Grouper’s “Living Room” on repeat, wondering if anyone else in this world felt as much as Liz Harris and I do. In my journal, I scrawled quippy verses just long enough to earn a passing grade in my “Structure of Poetry” class, with the intention of one day crooning them alongside a haunting guitar rift drenched in reverb. While my newfound calling as an ambient drone dream-girl was sadly short-lived, my love for Grouper was not. So when Harris announced her followup to 2013’s The Man Who Died In His Boat, I promptly readied my bed for another month-long session of pure pining. A first taste of the forthcoming album Ruins, “Call Across Rooms” sees Harris stripped of loop tracks and hazy guitars. It features only a whispering isolated vocal track and crisp piano lines. Still it is classically Harris. It is sweeping and ethereal, and packed with longing, so that when she sings “maybe we’ll figure it out”,  it’s as if Harris is not only singing to you, but for you. –Dylan Otterbein, Music Director

• Halley Lamberson rules WRMC with an iron fist and hosts a show called Punk n’ Funk 9-11 PM on Wednesday nights. 
• Dylan Otterbein is the ambient drone girl of yr dreams.
• Kate Leib was born in a mosh pit with a full head of hair and a sense of impending doom.
• Charlie Dulik is a yung weezer apologist.
• Aashna Aggarwal is not sari and she never will be.  
• Julia Welsh loves lanyards.  
• Eric Hass, Chad Clemens, and Aaron Slater are M.I.A., an all-male M.I.A. ska-cover band.  They are busy rehearsing for Grooveyard and did not prepare posts this week.

You can find these people plus the rest of the WRMC general board in the station lounge every Monday at 5 pm.