Nothing against our own lovable public broadcasters, KXCI, but one of my favorite things about the broadband internet era is the opportunity to listen to radio stations from around the world. In my previous stint here at the Weekly, I mentioned my love of Montgomery, Ala.’s Yo 107.1 (still a great station, especially now that they have a largely shouted ad from an establishment featuring “The Bad Boys of Used Car Sales”), but sometimes I want to hear new music that fits within the general “aging-hipster-determined-to-feign-relevancy” aesthetic I tend to enjoy and when I do, lately I’ve turned to Australia’s Triple J (I think their style is to present their station name in all lowercase, but that looks dumb typed out, so there you go).
Three things I find quite enjoyable regarding Triple J:
1. The mix of music is really interesting, featuring music you might be familiar with (they play Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop” quite a bit these days, as well as acts you might recognize, like Ben Folds Five, the xx and Hot Chip) and a ton of surprising Aussie acts like Cub Scouts (charming indie pop), Urthboy (politically charged hip hop that will please people who miss the 90’s) and Flume (RJD2-ish electronic production with some rapping).
2. When a song including profanity is about to be played, there’s a brief introduction warning people that they might hear “rude words” and if that sort of thing offends them, they should cover their ears or change the station. It’s a charming turn-of-phrase, plus I still get to hear the swears in the new Kendrick Lamar single. Double win!
3. Based on hearing the weather reports, it appears that Australians refer to “partly cloudy” as being “under the cloud.” I’m not sure why I find this so amusing, but I giggle every time it comes up.
3b. Really, if you enjoy alternative music (or whatever they call it now), you should check Triple J, either via their website or through the Tunein app for iPhones and the like. Maybe just try it during tomorrow’s Democracy Now episode on KXCI or something. We’re not having to still pretend we care about that show, right?
This article appears in Nov 22-28, 2012.
Urthboy (politically charged hip hop that will please people who miss the 90’s[sic])
Turnabout is fair play Dan. If you’re actually reading this I can hear the “touche” you are currently uttering.
Anyways, this is a great promotion for a great music station! They do play a wide variety of acts & they seem to ignore those awful things that we can all benefit from not having to listen to or hear about. Please write about more stuff like this when you decide to write about music in the future.
You got me there, AZ/DC.
For your edification, you can look through my Tucson Weekly work here (http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/Article…). There’s music content on the first page about indie rock act Divine Fits, some of the extensive writing I’ve done about music you might actually enjoy.
Awesome! Thanks for the information.