The Music Is The Message: Turn on the Radio!

When's the last time you listened to the radio?

I used to listen to it all the time. I made a throwaway comment in my last post about not having heard of Altan Urag on the radio, and it got me to thinking; I realized I hadn't turned one on in quite a long time.

It's not that I don't listen to music all the time. I do, everyday. Between my iPod on the subway and iTunes while I am at work (both in the office, quietly, and blaring over the crappy speakers in my workbox when I am on site), most of my day is spent with music on. But the radio is something I have gotten out of the habit of listening to.

So, I started listening, streaming a bunch of radio stations from all over (looking for one I liked that didn't sound like my music collection on random). My current favorite is RadioIO's Alt Country station. It's pretty great- contemporary alt-country and folk, stuff you are not likely to hear on pop country stations. You know, music that is made for the sake of making music and not for the sake of selling CDs. Not surprisingly, I heard some bands on that station that I liked so much that I ended up buying their albums. One of them was Kane Welch Kaplin, comprised of Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch, and Fats Kaplin.

Each member of this trio (sometimes quartet- Lucan Kane, Keirnan's son, joins them as percussionist with increasing regularity) is a successful solo artist in their own right, and the tracks I checked out of each of them on their own were great. This is definitely, to me at least, a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, however.

Together, they manage to sound both raw and polished, complex and simple all at the same time, without coming across as formulaic or sacrificing a wide range of style and nuance. The album I bought, titled Kane Welch Kaplin, is their third, and definitely one of the best musical purchases I made this year.

Kane Welch Kaplin :: Ain't Gonna Do It