InRadio 5: MorningWatch

Check out that amazing artists you will find on InRadio's fifth disk. To hear these and other great artists, order now.

Dolorean
Yep Roc Records
InRadio 5 leads off with a track from "Not Exotic", the debut album by Portland OR's Dolorean. The band's goal was to capture the spirit, feel, and spontaneity that exists on albums that the band has loved over the years (think The Band's "Music From The Big Pink", Neil Young's "Harvest" and Nick Drake's "Pink Moon"). Recorded in Larry Crane's Jackpot! Studio in Portland, the band laid down the vocals, acoustic guitar, piano and drum tracks live for an intimate, organic sound that perfectly complements singer/frontman Alex James' haunting compositions. "Not Exotic" manages to achieve these lofty goals and more. In addition to the classic references noted above, think early Red House Painters, Low and Mazzy Star. "Not Exotic" manages to create and sustain a mood without letting go.


Mylene Pires
Fast Horse Recordings
Mylene Pires is a Brazilian vocalist from Rio De Janeiro. Her debut album "Mylene", mixes a percolating blend of Samba, Bossa Nova and Electronica, and then spices it further with a healthy dose of Afro-Brazilian percussion, courtesy of percussionist/producer Ramiro Musotto (also featured on InRadio 5!). Her record dances and entrances and introduces us to the modern sound of Brazilian Pop. An incredible debut album from from InRadio 5's featured independent label: Fast Horse Recordings. Named after the way news and information were carried across continents in ancient times, Fast Horse releases the newest and most exciting forms of music from around the globe. From the traditional Delta Blues of the legendary CeDell Davis, or the next generation of bluesmen like James Mathus and his Knock Down Society, Fast Horse is dedicated to finding the best new artists who are pioneers in their field.


Crossing the BLVD
Earsay Sound -- Judith Sloan and Warren Lehrer, producers
InRadio 5 features a track from the companion CD to the amazing new book Crossing the BLVD: Strangers, Neighbors and Aliens in a New America. Crossing the Boulevard portrays the largely invisible lives, images, sounds, and stories of new immigrants and refugees who live in the most diverse place in the U.S. -- the borough of Queens, New York. Its major thoroughfare -- Queens Boulevard -- serves as a central metaphor for the challenges immigrants endure getting to Queens and becoming part of the fabric of American life. You can learn more about the book and pick up a copy at http://www.earsay.org or at your local book shop.


Quasi
Touch and Go Records
Portland, OR-based indie-pop duo Quasi teamed singer/guitarist/keyboardist Sam Coomes and drummer Janet Weiss, who not only previously joined forces in the band Motorgoat but also married and divorced. After a 1993 split single with Bugskull, little was heard from the duo until 1996, when they issued the Early Recordings collection. In 1997, Weiss joined Sleater-Kinney for their classic Dig Me Out album, but she also continued collaborating with Coomes, and that same year saw the release of the Quasi album R&B Transmogrification. Its 1998 follow-up Featuring "Birds" was among the year's most acclaimed independent outings. By the new millennium, Weiss and Coomes found a new label home with InRadio favorite Touch and Go Records. The band's snide sense of humor is found in full force once more on their latest: the political-heavy Hot Sh*t. Sam and Janet continue to tour heavily and are pleased with whatever successes they have achieved while maintaining a personal, anti-corporate approach.


Lucero
Tiger Style Records
InRadio 5 features a track from That Much Further West, Lucero's new release. Here's what one critic had to say about the band's new record:

"A decade removed from the fringe country 'scene' that failed to put cowpunk somewhere on the outskirts of the mainstream, Lucero can now comfortably put their own stamp on rural rock and roll without the fear of tags and comparisons to bands that ultimately fell by the way side. On its third album in as many years, Lucero's calling cards remain in place--wild, crunching bursts of guitar and frontman Ben Nichols' world-weary, raspy twang...Nichols is adept at putting over sorrow in song, and his live wire interaction with guitarist Todd Gill recall the Neil Young/ Danny Whitten pickings of yesteryear."
--HARP, Andre Dansby, October/ November 2003


Carl Hancock Rux
Giant Step Records
In contemporary hip-hop and R&B music, artists such as Cody Chestnut, India.Arie and The Roots have been dubbed as innovators who incorporate Black music styles into contemporary formats; artists who stand apart from the mainstream and deliver an original voice. Throughout his career, multi-disciplinary artist Carl Hancock Rux has also borrowed from various traditions in order to offer heartfelt and innovative art, tapping deep into his soul and psyche to bring forth works of art and beauty that are universal in their scope and startling in their intensity and originality. InRadio 5 brings listeners a track from Apothecary Rx, the sophomore release from Rux, and his full-length debut on leading NYC independent label Giant Step Records. Filled with vision, beats, majesty and memories, the CD encompasses everything from gospel to hip hop, rock to jazz and, as a result, sums up the breadth of Carl's sonic inspirations and possibilities.


The Cash Brothers
Zoe Records
Artists don't like to be pigeonholed. Although their debut album earned glowing reviews as an alt-country gem, Canadian-born brothers Andrew and Peter Cash have created an artistic montage of songs for their latest album, A Brand New Night, that heads for the wide-open terrain of uplifting pop melodies and hard-edged guitars. A Brand New Night's diversity can be traced to Andrew and Peter's contrasting musical backgrounds. While Andrew began his musical career by fronting a popular Toronto punk band, Peter spent most of the 1990's as a key member of country-rockers the Skydiggers. The result: chillingly close harmonies that come naturally to certain siblings. Those influences shine through on A Brand New Night, a melodic, uptempo rock album that further reveals the depth and range of the talent that is The Cash Brothers.


East River Pipe
Merge Records
East River Pipe is one F.M. Cornog, who wrote, performed, recorded and mixed all of the sounds you hear on this record at his home in New Jersey Tascam 388 mini-studio. But the music herein could hardly be accused of sounding "lo-fi"; it practically shimmers. Cornog is a master at his craft; an artisan of melody and emotional lyricism. A connoisseur of simple yet uplifting pop songs. A genius at gleaning a lot from a little. There's no fancy pants producer behind the glass, no six figure recording budget, and there will be no huge marketing blitz. No cross country tours. No flashy music videos. What we have here is simply some of the most enchanting music you are likely to hear this or in any other year. And once again, East River Pipe emerges as the poet laureate for a quieter America, and the often overlooked people who populate it.


Madrid
Aporia Records
To be sure, when anyone in the music industry suggests that a band cannot be generically categorized, be it a label functionary or a member of the band itself, it must be treated with suspicion. Still, in the case of Niagara Falls natives madrid, this claim may hold some water. Even in its darker moments their music is always positive, so that rather than being ominous, their dynamic crescendos and drops have an uplifting, positive vibe. From Milky Way love songs to techno rainstorms, "there is a common melody that plays in the head of every dreamer." Who, after all, does not enjoy an evening spent on the beach plumbing the depths of the cosmos with the waves gently lapping at their toes? For that is the closest approximation one might make in describing listening to the duo's new record, Warm Waters.


Brenda Weiler
Virt Records
What started as putting off college for one year to explore music, snowballed into four critically acclaimed albums, the Minnesota Music Award for Best Singer/Songwriter, Best Female Vocalist, & Best Folk/Acoustic Artist, over 100 live performances a year, and a wide following throughout the country. Now, after signing with independent label Virt Records, Portland-based (via Minneapolis via Fargo) singer/songwriter Brenda Weiler has released her latest (and InRadio deemed greatest): Cold Weather. The album's eleven tracks, all but one written by Brenda, build on the insightful pop/folk that has won over a legion of dedicated fans, while offering new sonic explorations and a delving into darker territory, both musically and lyrically.


Eyedea & Abilities
Rhymesayers
"At 22, Minneapolis MC Eyedea's trophy case sports a fair amount of ghetto chic, featuring championships at the 2000 HBO World Blaze Battle, the 2000 Rocksteady MC Battle and the 1999 Scribble MC Battle. His DJ and producer, Abilities, has done fairly well himself, scoring two Regional DMC championships. Well decorated, however, does not always spell artistic excellence-- case in point, Sinbad and Star Search. This is especially true in the world of hip-hop, where so many people generally "just don't give a fuck." But what matters most in hip-hop is whether you've got the skills to pay the bills. And in this sense, it seems that Eyedea and Abilities are worthy of their accolades."
- Brad Haywood, http://www.pitchforkmedia.com


Glossary
Undertow Music
It's rare these days for a record to come around that really digs its way inside you, one that sucks you into its world and makes you think about your own. Glossary's How We Handle Our Midnights is just such a record, the band's most mature release to date. It's driven rock and roll sound intertwines with personal, purposeful lyrics to create a record without pretension, made for music lovers who miss the substance not often found in music today. The record's core lies in its songwriting, which explores the themes of growing older, growing restless, and trying to find your purpose in a world not always suited for individual ideals. How We Handle Our Midnights screams with a youthful passion, proving that rock and roll can still unabashedly rock, and at the same time have something to say. InRadio is happy to bring listeners a track from these up-and-coming Murfreesboro, Tennessee natives.


Ramiro Musotto
Fast Horse Recordings
Ramiro Musotto is an Argentinian born, Brazilian percussion master by trade. He has worked with just about every great Argentinian and Brazilian artist you have ever heard of including: Sergio Mendes, Caetano Veloso, Gato Barbieri, Daniela Mercury, Gilberto Gil, Marisa Monte and Virginia Rodrigues. "Sudaka" is Ramiro's first solo effort and combines his field recordings of Amazon Indian chants, Candomble spirit rhythms, and everyday street sounds, all layered underneath a percolating electronic dance-groove production. It is a stunning and original debut album and one that reveals layer upon layer of subtlety with each listen. InRadio 5 brings listeners just such a track, featuring a field recording from the streets of northern Patagonia at its core.


Rachel's
Quarterstick Records
InRadio is proud to bring listeners a track from Rachel's new release -- "systems/layers". In an effort to produce a record about cities and urban life, Rachel's asked friends and fans to submit recordings of sounds meaningful to their lives and environments. CDs, mini-discs, tapes and voice mail messages arrived from all over the world: an ice cream truck from Brussels, the public art chimes of the Kendall/MIT subway station in Boston, and a musical garbage truck from Japan. Bring together a photographer and filmmaker, the Louisville Orchestra, and an experimental theater company and you have a project that goes way beyond the bounds of a mere CD. Be sure to catch these multi-disciplinary visionaries live on their next trip to your hometown.


Phaser
Emperor Norton
Taking their name from a word scrawled on a New York subway train window, Washington DC's Phaser look set, with the release of their debut album 'Sway', to establish themselves as a new force in American guitar music. The band's new record, "Sway", showcases the band's diversity while maintaining a defined and distinct style. Sweeping keyboards, string arrangements and even the occasional gospel chorus settle comfortably next to churning psychedelic guitars, numbing vocal reverbs and desolate space echoes. Early reviews have touted the strength of the songwriting and the lush production effort. Independently released by the band in 2002, the record was reissued by Emperor Norton with two new songs this year. InRadio brings listeners the title track of Phaser's record as its close.

You can also read about the artists featured on other discs by going out our Past CDs page.