Simon Reynolds to Appear on KDHX: With over 20 years experience as a programmer on KDHX 88.1 FM, as well as club DJing and occasional writing stints, Rob Levy’s invested no small amount of time bringing new music to St. Louis rock fans. So it’s never a complete surprise when he lines up a heavy-hitter for his Wednesday night show Juxtaposition.
On the 25th of this month, he’ll have the writer Simon Reynolds on as a guest, a nice “get” for Levy. We asked the veteran community radio DJ to write up a sentence or two on the appearance and he ran with it, showing his customary passion for the topic of Juxtaposition-friendly music:
Music blogger Simon Reynolds will once again be a very special guest on KDHX's Juxtaposition on Wednesday, January 25 at 7:30 p.m. Reynolds last appeared on the show in 2005 when he was interviewed about his book Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984.
Born in England and now a resident of Los Angeles, Reynolds, a former music writer for Melody Maker and a contributing writer for Spin, Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, The Guardian and The Wire also speaks his mind via his blog, Blissout. He is the author of several critically acclaimed books including Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture, Bring The Noise: 20 Years of Writing about Hip Rock and Hip-Hop, Totally Wired: Post-Punk Interviews and Overviews and Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past.
Regardless of the type of music he is focusing on, Reynold's knowledge passionately leaps off the page with a clarity, focus and agility seldom used with such precision in music criticism.
Reynolds will discuss his latest work, Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy, from the Seventies to the Twenty-First Century which takes a look at how glam rock clawed out of the muck of the 1960s with a bold tenacity that was 'radical and reactionary,' combining fashion and rebellion with sex and music. Using David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Alice Cooper, Queen, Roxy Music, Ultravox, Slade and others as guides, Reynolds next carefully places glam in its proper context among the contemporary antics of pop stars like Lady Gaga, and Nicki Manaj.
FarFetched Releases Revealed: This Friday evening past, the local music collective FarFetched offered up a live show accompanying Prologue VI, which itself previews upcoming releases from the artist-driven label. While a technical issue hobbled the set of CaveofswordS, the acts able to perform put up solid performances, in front of what was likely the most-progressive, -interesting and -diverse blend of music-goers inside a St. Louis club on that evening.
Several bands have since been posting up tracks on social media since. Here’s a small selection of those tracks, with all of the album found here:
Centipede, “extragemstones”
Mathias and the Pirates, “Altered Beast”
Super Hero Killer, “And Then You Came Along”
Video Proof: How about some videos to bring visual and audio delights to your day?
American Wrestlers: One of the best rock groups to crop up in St. Louis in recent years, American Wrestlers have just begun a major US tour, sending them through the southeast, Texas and the west coast. (If you know folks in New Orleans, the band’s there tonight, at the Hi-Ho Lounge; they’ll be in Houston, at The Raven Tower, tomorrow.) Their newest single is “Give Up,” a straight-forward, faux-performance clip, if ever there was one:
The Woodshed Episode 4: The Old Salt Union vs. The Mighty Pines: With several accomplished principles involved -- including emcee Laren Loveless, musical director Sean Allen Canan (and his Voodoo Players) and video wiz Bill Streeter—The Woodshed has been a little more of a real thing with each new episode. The show, which playfully pits two local acts against one another in musical challenges, has recently uploaded the first half of an episode featuring two sympatico acts, the Old Salt Union and the Mighty Pines, recorded at Off Broadway. We’ll feature more words on this web program soon, but here’s a look at the current version (with a reminder that there’s a small-but-growing catalog of these shows at Lo-Fi St. Louis):
Delay Tactics: On a regular basis, we’ll try to highlight St. Louis musical artists of the past tense and the Delay Tactics video attached here is a perfect way to begin that process. The onsite intro to the video does a good job of summing up what you’ll see, though the video, itself, is what’ll take you right back to 1985. Sayeth YouTube channel Guitarosphere: “Delay Tactics is profiled on the PBS television arts magazine St. Louis Skyline. The trio (Carl Weingarten slide guitar, David Udell guitar, and Walter Whitney synthesizers) are seen in the recording studio during the release of their second album, Any Questions? Dancer Suzanne Grace is also interviewed. Originally broadcast on KETC-TV Channel 9 in 1985.” Summary of this one: wow.
The Symphony is Telling Stories: True of many major arts institutions, the St. Louis Symphony is ever-moving into the world of humanizing their institution, notably with the arrival of Stories from Backstage. The effort is described by the SLSO like so:
The online project offers narrative-driven content told from the perspective of a former television reporter. Symphony Public Relations Manager Anthony Kiekow creates the content. Before joining the Symphony, Kiekow was a television reporter at KMOV and FOX 2 in St. Louis, MO.
“Stories from Backstage isn’t about music, it’s about people,” Kiekow said. “The stories originate from the world of the Symphony, but they are really about the variety of amazing ways people connect. My job is to find the human element in the work we do on stage and in the community and tell a story about it.”
Stories from Backstage is an interactive project that allows everyone to participate in the storytelling by submitting ideas online. The stories will focus on a range of topics that help audiences connect with the Symphony’s musicians, staff, and community partners.
