Free music. (It's late. I can't think of a title.)

August 8, 2004 10:15 PM

KVRX, University of Texas' radio station, has an archive of tracks recorded live in their studio. Artists include The Magnetic Fields, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Broken Social Scene, Devendra Banhart, Explosions in the Sky, Sebadoh, Mojave 3, Okkervil River, Japancakes, Call and Response, Super Furry Animals, Cat Power, I Am The World Trade Center and the sublime Paul Burch, among others.
posted by dobbs (24 comments total)

Not all of the tracks are great recordings but there are certainly some gems in there.
posted by dobbs at 10:18 PM on August 8, 2004

Hey, thanks. It's hard to find live Sebadoh that doesn't sound like shit. I just wish all the tracks listed were actually available.
posted by interrobang at 10:50 PM on August 8, 2004

wow, cool.
I listen to kvrx alot.
They've even played my music.

But I never knew they had this.
Thanks.
posted by Espoo2 at 10:52 PM on August 8, 2004

berry nice.
posted by Quartermass at 12:08 AM on August 9, 2004

I reccomend KEXP for an excellent online archive as well
posted by roboto at 3:51 AM on August 9, 2004

Huh, and I thought KUT was UT's station. And it seems to be. How'd UT get two FM licenses?

But great link!
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 3:55 AM on August 9, 2004

I second the recommendatoin for KEXP. Their in-studio performance archive is second to none, the Air interview and performance is my favorite. Check out their in-studio performance schedule for future shows as well as the full two-week streaming archive.
posted by yonderboy at 5:17 AM on August 9, 2004

What Ethereal Bligh said...

I guess the students finally launched a second station who programming was oriented toward themselves. At the time I left Austin in '86 KUT was yer basic NPR affiliate, albeit with an Austin flavor, but it sounded more like something that aging baby-boomer UT faculty would listen to than the average undergraduate. I have very fond memories of the KAZI Radio Orchestra, though.
posted by alumshubby at 6:02 AM on August 9, 2004

jonmc attacks indie rock in 4...3...2...
posted by jalexei at 6:39 AM on August 9, 2004

ooh i cant wait to check out the magnetic fields one. thanks!

yeah for KEXP, the Shins and the Spiritualized shows are rad...

also on KCRW (morning becomes eclectic), the recent Gomez show is fantastic!
posted by rollerball at 8:01 AM on August 9, 2004

My first choice was "all the umbrellas in london" by Magnetic Fields, and it is beautifully spare. Great way to start the week. dobbs, thank you.
posted by whatnot at 8:16 AM on August 9, 2004

omg i love that song! i cant wait to listen to this. i have work tho ew
posted by rollerball at 8:24 AM on August 9, 2004

Wow. My Monday morning just got WAY better. Thanks Dobbs! (whatnot, there is a live MF performance from WFMU that is great too, if you can track it down.)
posted by shoepal at 8:32 AM on August 9, 2004

i'll second KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. excellent live performances from indie rocksters and some artists you've never heard before. it's all .ram, but that's what real alternative is for.

please keep more recommendations coming ...
posted by mrgrimm at 8:58 AM on August 9, 2004

KEXP loses points for lame streaming audio. Boo.
posted by punishinglemur at 8:58 AM on August 9, 2004

Don't know what else to say but thanks, and great find, dobbs. I hadn't heard any live Magnetic Fields prior to this.

This has probably been mentioned a million times before, but: does anyone else think it would be cool to have a music.metafilter.com subsite?
posted by dhoyt at 10:50 AM on August 9, 2004

does anyone else think it would be cool to have a music.metafilter.com subsite?

You mean like this one, or something different?
posted by Jart at 10:53 AM on August 9, 2004

I mean a site just like Metafilter where the music geeks could discuss just music and make recommendations and talk about new releases and so on....
posted by dhoyt at 11:11 AM on August 9, 2004

Something like a Musicfilter? Yeah, Musicfilter might be a good idea. I wonder if anyone would use it, though.
posted by Jart at 12:55 PM on August 9, 2004

I've checked out MusicFilter, but noticed no one commented. Plus, I like the Metafilter format better, and the members. I wonder if it be worth proposing this in MetaTalk?
posted by dhoyt at 1:07 PM on August 9, 2004

Ethereal - KUT is Austin's NPR radio station, with adult DJs and an adult-alternative format to the music they play (with great jazz and blues in the evening, though) If student's participate it's behind the scenes. It's called KUT because it's housed at the University.

KVRX is the student station. KOOP (pronounced Co-op) and KVRX share frequency space, with kvrx (student run, UT radio) in the evening and koop in the daytime. But you can listen to both (i believe) 24 hours, on the web.

Other than, possibly WFMU in NY, I've been hard pressed to find three radio stations for music better than KUT, KVRX and KOOP. Hard to find fault with Koop's Saturday lineup of the Lounge Show, Ear Candy, MY PERSONAL FAVORITE - Graveside Service and then later, Stronger Than Dirt. (but the entire schedule is awesome, particularly the weekday Soul Sauce, The Swinger, country swing (no link) and Country Roots shows) KUT has great jazz and blues on at night, too, while the college programming for KVRX at night often makes it unneccessary to buy music, with shit as ear-bleeding as Japan noise to great hiphop, punk, arty shit, etc. I love it all, truly. It's one of the reasons I stay here, I think. Best of all guilty pleasures is 91.7 plays dirty words (ie un-bleeped hiphop) after 10pm, a true cultural oddity, especially in these FCC times. Also highly recommended is Commercial Suicide and for the Sunday hangover, Jamaican Gold.

GO SMALL TOWN AUSTIN RADIO!
posted by Peter H at 2:51 PM on August 9, 2004

I recorded a filler segment for them back when they were KTSB.

I'm cool.
posted by swift at 5:08 PM on August 9, 2004

Espoo2: KVRX didn't let me know either, I found the MP3s on my own through egosurfing a few weeks ago. Interesting how it appears they never asked the artists how we'd feel about it... in my case they used tracks that I'd previously declined to let them use for a compilation they did a few years back. At the time I thought they sounded horrible, now... oh, whatever, I give up.
posted by edith at 9:31 PM on August 9, 2004

Oops. Sorry espoo, the urge to bitch was so strong I didn't even hover yer links. I shut up now!! :-)
posted by edith at 9:36 PM on August 9, 2004