Hello, hello, hello! My name is Jerica Bean and I am the current Music Director for WGRE. I am this year’s source for what new tunes you should be bumpin’ on the daily. I wanted to start this off with a little about myself: I am a senior, studying Communications, Film Studies, and Studio Art. Although I don’t study it, I think my real love for music started to blossom when I was a toddler dancing around my grandparents’ house while my papaw would play “Big Rock Candy Mountain” on his guitar. Overall, I am very into indie and alternative music, which has made me a perfect fit for WGRE. My passion lies in music by women and LGBTQ+ artists, which has manifested into my radio show, The Future is Female, which is live 4-5 p.m. on Fridays. Over the course of the semester, I will dedicate this section to what new jams are hitting the airwaves.
For this article, I will get you started with the freshest release we’re listening to at the station, then catch you up on what you might have missed over the summer. My main focus this week has been “Over Everything” by Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile. This track was released on Aug. 30 at approximately 10:30 a.m. and at approximately 10:35 a.m., I ran to the station to make sure we had it in our music selection as soon as possible. This collaboration is one I have been impatiently waiting for, since I have greatly admired the works of these artists separately until now. Barnett’s 2015 release, “Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit,” received nods in 2015 Top Albums of the Year rankings by six different renowned music publications and a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist in 2016. Vile’s most recent release, “b'lieve i'm goin down…”(2015), also took hold in several 2015 Top Albums of the Year lists. Both artists are known for their stony vocals, observant and humorous lyrics, and intricate guitar melodies. Filled with harmonizing twangs and droll vocals, this song is great for traveling around Putnam County on these upcoming brisk fall mornings.
Great albums from the summer: HAIM’s “Something to Tell You,” while not my favorite album by these three sisters, provides great tunes with pop and country influences that make me smile and skip a little when walking down the street. A powerful duo of releases is Marika Hackman’s “I’m Not Your Man” and Palehound’s “A Place I’ll Always Go.” They’re both filled with heavy guitar and light voices with lyrics that weigh down this girl’s heart and make it flutter at the same time. Mac DeMarco’s “This Old Dog” blends his typical acoustic style with the electronic genre; the switch to a complete synth trip on the track “On the Level” is reminiscent of Father John Misty’s electronic dream, “True Affection,” being placed between tunes with instrumentals predictable of standard indie-rock songs on his 2015 album “I Love You, Honeybear.”
Thanks for reading and be sure to tune into WGRE 91.5 anytime, day or night, to catch these sweet jams!