REVIEW: Various, KCRW Presents Morning Becomes Eclectic (Mammoth)
- Andrew Duncan
Living in Indiana, radio is something that is nothing to be desired. Like most metropolitan areas, National Public Radio reigns with a stiff-upper lip when it comes to escaping a conglomerate of Top 40, alternative rock or country stations. However, world news and classical music is the price one usually has to pay. Thank God there is KCRW, a Santa Monica, California radio station located at 89.9 FM.
Santa Monica may be thousands of miles from the Midwest region, but it is only a click away via the Internet. At www.kcrw.org, one can access this NPR affiliate station (yes it is an NPR station) and listen online. The thing that sets this station apart from other NPR stations is their brilliant use of local programming. Shows with crafty titles like "Metropolis" and "Chocolate City" showcase intelligent music that is innovative and resourceful for the modern world.
But the program that has set the standard for modernizing music radio is called "Morning Becomes Eclectic." The show plays artists like Tom Waits, Elvis Costello and Tricky on the airwaves, when other stations would not even dare. Throughout the week, a band will occasionally stop by the KCRW studio to either unplug or rev things up on air.
Now, KCRW and Mammoth are bringing these on-air performances to digital technology with Morning Becomes Eclectic, the CD.
The goal of any compilation should be to attract the person with a sense of familiarity, but lure and tempt the person to check out other artists as well. This compilation does a great job at that, offering a collective of both well-known and obscure artists with a variety of musical styles involved.
Singer/songwriters like Joe Henry, Beth Orton, and Sixpence None the Richer offer their acoustical talents. Air brings a softer approach to their '70s-space electronica with "All I Need." The Freestylers juice things up with a dancehall number, and Buffalo Daughter gives their two cents of satirical viewpoints with "Socks, Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll." Other artists, from Lyle Lovett to Mercury Rev, offer their talents to the CD as well. Even Semisonic and Cake, both radio-friendly artists, earn some respect.
