Erik Moe: Critic at Large

I’ve been listening off and on to MPR’s new new-music station, KCMP “The Current” online during it’s inaugural day. So far I’m liking this inauguration better than the (presidential) one in the news last week. My fears of a wimpy station heavy on folk or new-agey music have thankfully not come to pass. I’m actually impressed so far (aside from the odd Ani DiFranco track). They took a bold first step by playing Atmosphere’s “Shh…..” as a first track fresh out of the blocks after Classical WCAL signed off at 9AM. If you don’t know the track, it features the Minneapolis Hip-Hop maestro Slug rhyming about how amazing The Minny is (even Slug doesn’t call it “The Minny,” though). Some of the song’s lyrics sort of make me cringe because they are a bit sappy, but he is so earnest and it’s all true more or less, so I say it was a good pick. Other tracks have been very eclectic, but still mixing together well. Replacements, Frank Sinatra, Iron & Wine, plenty of Minny bands, and plenty of good-sounding stuff that I’ll be happy to get to know better.

The New York Times Magazine yesterday wrote about how powerful Santa Monica’s KCRW has become with the music industry due to the number of people who listen to it’s eclectic programming in their offices on the internet all day. In fact, much like Seattle’s KEXP, they host parties and concerts on this side of the continent for the large contingent of members they have in New York. MPR is surely eyeing that big money with this new new-music station. If you’re reading this Bill Kling, I’ll take a job as your East Coast concert planner…

Free Tech Tip: Mac people should listen to KCMP with the free VLC Media Player, since iTunes doesn’t yet support the great-sounding aacPlus stream. You can use WinAmp on Windows to access that stream. KCMP also has a less good mono Windows Media Player stream that you can use on either platform.