Latent Dialectic – April 15,2026
There are two flavors of music we run into a lot on Bandcamp's new music feeds -- super chill and hardcore. Everyone seems to be either really angry (depressed, frustrated) and looking for an outlet, OR in need of relief from the constant stress of everyday life. Where the present fails us, we fill in out of the past... New releases from which we sampled: JLQ, Dada Smurf, Morgan-X, Sharon Chen, XOXO Xopher.
Fear of Trains – September 27, 2017
We took a turn toward the oldies on this week’s Bubble Wrap radio show, with Aerosmith (ably assisted by Beavis and Butthead) to start it off. Perhaps it’s that autumn spurs nostalgia, which in my case enabled me to shake off inertia and actually play some old records. This led to a respinning of Pavement’s...Continue reading→
Remember This – September 20, 2017
Here in the southern half of the northern tier of New England, we celebrated the start of autumn with a return to summer. That should surprise no one these days. Aside from the sudden bout of global warming, we aired new and nearly new tunes from Lido Pimienta, Paper Thieves, and Phoebe Bridges, along with mini-showcase of Lazy Salon.Continue reading→
It Goes On – September 13, 2017
This week on Bubble Wrap, we enjoyed the varied pleasures of Heartscore, Rainer Maria, Colaars, P.SUS, and Norma Jean, among many others. It was a veritable panoply of pop and funk. The Steely Dan tribute continued in cover form with Nik Hunt’s version of “Do It Again” and a radio edit of “Show Biz Kids”...Continue reading→
Fleeting Moments – September 6, 2017
All day Labor Day, as we paddled around an idyllic mountain lake admiring nature, I kept saying "This is the last day of summer." To which my co-paddler said, with some truth, "It is not!" But for me, Labor Day is the end of the summer season -- no more white duck shoes, pink rose, or meals al fresco. No, it's Fall. On Bubble Wrap, we kicked off the new season right with some inspirational funk and a bunch of new music from the likes of Hercules and Love Affair, Odesza, and DieAlps! Yes, that exclamation point is part of their name.Continue reading→
Independent Community Radio and Us – Rewards and Pitfalls
It’s been a while since we’ve signed in here, in part because a big part of our raison d’etre was offline for almost two weeks back in June. That provides no excuse for July but we’ve got you covered there too. At any rate, WVEW in Brattleboro, Vermont, our home station, was knocked offline by...Continue reading→
Another Life – June 7, 2017
Sometimes you just want to lose yourself in the music. Such was the case this week on Bubble Wrap Radio, moments of levity aside. It wasn’t the great depth or passion of the music itself, but the inventiveness of its authors that pulled us along. So yes, to Adriano Celetano who in 1972 released “Prisencolinensinainciusol”...Continue reading→
Twisting Flippers – May 31, 2017
As we say good-bye to rainy May and get ready to enter rainy June, Bubble Wrap Radio gets its act together and plays some new music. If you were listening, and we doubt you were, you would have heard some fresh 80s-inspired dance pop from Layla Frankel, the incredible diction of Fagelle, the gritty groove of Makola's "This Is London," and a featurette from Montreal's Fixture Records. You might have danced around, scratched your head, or gazed pensively out a window. We can't tell you -- only you know.Continue reading→
So Wavey – May 24, 2017
All over the world, new music is happening and it's up to us to catch(some of) it and bring it to y'all. This week on Bubble Wrap Radio, we played songs from Thailand, Brisbane, Pittsburgh and Croatia, among other places. Believe it or not, you can hear the difference geography makes.Continue reading→
Too Hot – May 17, 2017
Indeed, it was too hot in the 3rd floor studio of WVEW on Main Street in Brattleboro where this week's edition of Bubble Wrap beamed forth undaunted. To celebrate the heat wave (93 degrees in May!), CG played "Too Hot" by Kool and the Gang, a band that was never cool but always brought a smile. This emboldened us to follow it up with Steely Dan's "Black Friday" which dovetailed nicely with the Dow's 373 point drop earlier in the day.Continue reading→
Arabesque – May 3, 2017
Bubble Wrap radio launched into May with new music from Charly Bliss, Couleur Dessin, Cory Hanson, Blithe Field (a new favorite) and Waxahatchee, as well as a long list of runners up. Due to a hard drive failure affecting the musical fortunes of DJ CG, there is less funk on this show than usual. Blithe...Continue reading→
Insufficient Funds – April 26, 2017
On Bubble Wrap this week, we showcased two artists new to us who have purchase-worthy albums out right now: winsome punk rockers The Courtneys and the French-North African dance outfit Acid Arab. The Courtneys (of Vancouver, Canada) take me straight back to the early days of DIY indie rock and what song could better represent...Continue reading→
![Frog Haiku Memorial By Eckhard Pecher (Self-photographed) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.indiedisco.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Haiku-Garden.jpg)
The Rumors Are True – April 19, 2017
For the better part of last week, I was haunted by Tom Courtenay -- not the actor, who I don't remember, but the song by Yo La Tengo. It came out on Electr-O-Pura in 1995 and provided melodic counterpoint to what was otherwise one of the band's noisier, dronier phases. We started Bubble Wrap Radio with it, noting to ourselves that noisy guitar-driven rock is bound to come back one of these days. Oh wait! it already has....at least in places like Slovenia.Continue reading→