May Day Cologne Main Station May 2015

Chill Magic – May 1, 2024

| Featured

This week on Bubble Wrap, we were grateful to bands, pr companies, and labels who sent us new music to check out. Without them, ‘twould have been a thin show indeed. As it was, we heard new tunes from Rinjin (Norwegian indie), Las Nubes (heavy Miami rock), and M. Vaughan (chill-hoppy with studio production), among others.

Another new release that we really enjoyed was Flowers and Overcoats by The Stakes Are Us. They really took us back to the cooler bands of the mid 80s, and indeed, we spent a lot of time saying things like “now where does that guitar sound come from.” This is especially true of “A Little A Lot.”

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  • Age of Lighter Days – April 24, 2024
    | Radio
    Buddha's Englightenment

    So-called Mud Season winds to a close, not that there was much mud this year due to dearth of snow. And now a dearth of tunes, causing us to have to dig into back catalog for music to play for y’all. In the process, we discovered that some artists have disappeared while others are still lurking about.

    For instance, fine. — a duo associated with Kid Chameleon, who we also like — continue to put out a song a year, as if to say, yes, we’re still here but barely. G Flip had a great tune called “About You” a few years back, and they had a new record as recently as last year. Alvvays, a Toronto group we really liked, gave us “After the Earthquake” in 2022, but nothing since.

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  • Sunny Side – April 10, 2024
    | Radio
    Azalea Sunny Side Up. Katja Schulz from Washington, D. C., USA, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    We’re rooting for the sun these days, figuratively and literally, but somehow, it keeps evading us. What day is it? Will you please tell me? Oh, that’s right, it’s Wednesday and Bubble Wrap just did their show.  This is where we tell you what we played.  Among this week’s discoveries: CZ, Will Butler, Mode, As The Flowers Fall, and Simon Groß.

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  • Rockin’ April – April 3, 2024
    | Radio
    April-Fancesco del Cossa

    Kicking off the first official month of Spring here in the northeast, nature gave us snow! Back to back snowstorms no less. And the beauty of it all? Our power stayed on, so we were able to do Bubble Wrap on Wednesday night as we do every week (join us at wvew.org).

    New music from too many artists to list unless you want to skip down to the playlist which is just a scroll down the page. We liked the latest track from Amerigo Gazaway (“We Ain’t Playin'”), The Drop Nineteens (“Nest”), and Les Amazones d’Afrique (“Flaws”) — and many more

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  • Cooler Than Cats – March 27, 2024
    | Radio
    Chill cool ooty

    Since no one heard last week’s show, we decided to play parts of it again.  But the tide of hits never stops and we couldn’t resist throwing in a few new tracks.  We were won over by Hungrytown’s new single, “Feel Like Falling,” and not just because they’re from Vermont.  The Sonitus Function’s mathematical number […]

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  • China’s Shijing Stereosystem – Propaganda
    | Records
    Chinas Shijing Stereosystem - Propaganda

    This year’s provocatively titled Propaganda album by China’s Shijing Stereosystem really does make you appreciate the sounds of Chinese music and the flavor of Chinese culture, albeit through the lens of contemporary pop music — it’s everything you could want in an indie rock album, if that album was made in an alternate universe.

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  • Cats Are Cool – March 20, 2024
    | Radio
    Chamonix Mont-Blanc Good Cats -Fred Romero from Paris, France, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    Due to storms in the Brattleboro area which knocked out power, broadcast service, and possibly streaming service (we don’t really know), it’s quite possible that no one at all heard this week’s Bubble Wrap radio show. C’est la vie! If you’re one of the many who missed it, here’s what you missed…

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  • Swinging Along – March 13, 2024
    | Radio
    Swing Scene. Photo by Hans-Joachim Engelhardt, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    A mix of old and new this week with tunes from across the decades.  In the recent category, there was La Souterraine, our favorite Souterrainian label with enjoyable dance pop from Gatien and Jaseur (separately — they are not a duo).  Also, a rather remarkable “Bolero” from Mexican Institute of Sound and some nouveau R&B […]

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  • Time Gone By – March 6, 2024
    | Radio
    Chinese Dancers

    This week’s discovery was China’s Shijing Stereosystem, a band from London, England with a decidedly Asian flavor. The new album is provocatively entitled Propaganda, and it’s terrific through and through. Big drums accompany music that can only be called Chinese, although our knowledge of traditional Chinese music comes primarily from watching movies. Here, the traditional sound is wedded to a mashup of indie rock, hip hop, and pop for an intoxicating blend. We especially enjoyed “Red Book” and “PinYin vs China Girl.”

    We’ve also been enjoying The Revenants from Boston, whose sound changes with the year. The new album I Love You Pookie embodies a contemporary pop sound with the rough edges of indie rock. Seattle-based Hello Meteor are more in the electronic pop vein with elements of ambience. We played the mesmerizing “Egression Protocol.”

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  • Genre Generator – Feb 27, 2024
    | Radio

    Sifting through the sands of time, seeking songs to fit their rhyme, whence this rush of wings we hear, interseason, drawing near. Chillhop Essentials Spring 2024 by Chillhop Music Blossom by Darkspeen Shore & Skyshard Untame the Tiger by Mary Timony Read on for the full playlist of Bubble Wrap on WVEW Brattleboro. Feb 27, […]

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  • Snow Shine – February 21, 2024
    | Radio
    Snow Shine - Daniel van Heil

    New music is back now that Valentines Day is out of the way.  Who knew such an antiquated holiday could prove to be such a distraction from the important task of releasing tunes…. Favorite records this week: The Cyrkle‘s Revival: Indeed, an album of brand new material from the mid 60s pop band that gave […]

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