Anyone listen to DemoListen (LA radio?)

[SpockPicasso]

Radio Station KXLU in the LA area does a program on Friday nights called DemoListen, where they play "demo" tapes by unsigned bands. Some of it's kinda cool, some of it's pretty bad. They also broadcast over the internet at www.kxlu.com

Back in September, one of the guys from my band (2/3 of us are in LA) submitted a 2-song cd. Nobody was around to listen, though, so it wasn't until 2 weeks later that one of us pulled down the archived webstream, and there we were! Woo-hoo!

Anyway, a couple weeks ago, the same guy calls me up to tell me he's hearing our band on the radio! Really wish I could have been there to here it. I keep thinking of the part in that Tom Hanks movie with Liv Tyler running down the street with a transistor radio when her boyfriend's band gets his record played. I also can't help imagining that we've been in rotation for the last six months because some hipster kids called up and asked them to play that cool band they heard last week.

So yeah, I'm bragging about being on the radio, even if it was on amateur hour on some way-left-of-the-dial station. But I'm thinly disguising it as a public service announcement about a program that may be worth checking out or submitting your stuff to.


-sp

[schnozzle]

Yep, I listen to Demolisten almost every week. Fred and Devin (the dj's) are really cool people, and there's sure to be at least one song they play on the show that I'll really like.

What's your band's name? I might have heard ya.

[joeysimms]

Yes, I listen. Fun stuff.

[bobbydj]

But I'm thinly disguising it as a public service announcement about a program that may be worth checking out or submitting your stuff to.


-sp

Yeah - but it's not washing. I'm teasin. Nice one.

[SpockPicasso]

Yep, I listen to Demolisten almost every week. Fred and Devin (the dj's) are really cool people, and there's sure to be at least one song they play on the show that I'll really like.

What's your band's name? I might have heard ya.

Well... since you asked...

We're called Turncoat 5. The song is "Hit City."

It's funny, we spent a weekend really working on a good recording of another song. We had a couple hours left over and banged that one out in a really quick'n'dirty recording. We sent both to DemoListen, that's the one they chose.

-sp

[schnozzle]

Do you have it online? I will listen!

[SpockPicasso]

Do you have it online? I will listen!

OK, I guess I got myself into this. Put up or shut up...

At the moment I don't have the song heard on DemoListen (If you are really adventurous, or bored, you could get the April 23 stream from kxlu and go about 3/4 of the way in. Or I can just put it up tonight.)

Here is a link to the other, better-recorded, song from the same session. I've been meaning to put this up on the mp3 page for a long time, but I wanted to do a better mix of it, which just hasn't happened yet. (It's a geocities page, so check back later if it's unavailable.)

As a band, and as recordists, we are well aware of our limitations, but do the best we can with what we've got. Enjoy.

-sp

[schnozzle]

I actually think it sounds fine! It doesn't suffer from the dreaded "flatness" that I find myself battling against. Okay, to me it doesn't sound any more underproduced than a lot of indie records that I've heard.

Nice tune and feedbacky solo. Go on and post the other one...

[madpie]

KXLU rocks! Demolisten played my stuff too, allegedly. I've never actually bothered to download the particular episode where this is supposed to have happened. But I'm sure it was a shining moment.

Their morning DJs sometimes tire me out with various combinations of 1)impenetrable irony/sarcasm (hello, International Voice of Reason! ... I liked you better when you were depressed and mumbling almost inaudibly) and 2)Beavis and Butthead-esque intra-DJ chuckling over inane inside jokes, but, you know, it's college radio, so I guess that comes with the territory. And when they get around to playing music, they generally play great shit. Or weird shit. Or shit that's so excruciatingly awful that it actually turns the corner and becomes really marvelous. I've heard KXLU play some death metal on the way to work that was so frickin wretched/fantastic that you just couldn't help but smile.

Are there any other good college stations out there that have similar programs? Seems like KPFA must having something, no? And I think I've heard some kind of demo program on KPFK here in LA during the wee hours.

[SpockPicasso]

Dunno - I don't listen to radio that often. I have heard some pretty cool things on some of the Bay Area stations, but it's really hit-and-miss, and I never pay attention to what station I'm listening to or what time it is.

College radio had a big impact on me at age 15 - up all night every Wednesday with headphones on in the dark litening to "Rock Nouveau" on KUNM in Albuquerque. I wish I still had the tapes I made from that show. "Cruiser's Creek" and "Killing Moon" in one hour... that opened up my head to a whole other world....

Anyway, I put up our DemoListen track, same link as above.

-sp