WGTB » Emma Forster

WGTBoard in “Combination Pizza Hut & Taco Bell”

Catherine — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 07:52:59 +0000

WGTB Board & Friends take a field trip to the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in Hoya Court in anticipation of DAS RACIST’s arrival in Bulldog Alley for the fall concert this Saturday, November 19th with Millionyoung and Paperhaus. You won’t want to miss out. Ticket information after the jump!

Tickets go on sale this week at a variety of times and places (listed below), so you have no excuse not to get one. Pre-sale tickets go for the low low price of $3. We’ll forgive you if you’re too busy to track us down, though, and let you snag a ticket at the door Saturday night (if the show doesn’t sell out pre-sale) for $5.

TICKET SALE SCHEDULE:

Tuesday, Nov. 15th: 9pm – 11pm outside Midnight Mug
Wednesday, Nov. 16th: 11-3 am in Red Square, and 9pm-11pm outside Midnight Mug
Thursday, Nov. 17th: 11-3 am in Red Square
Friday, Nov. 18th: 11-3 am in Red Square

Keep an eye on our twitter and facebook pages for your chance to score free tickets!

camera + editing: Catherine DeGennaro
creative braintrust: Emma Forster, Mike McClain, Catherine DeGennaro
the talent: WGTB Executive Board + Friends

Rolling: Alessi’s Ark atop LXR

Hamster — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 05:00:04 +0000

If it rains one more day, I am seriously considering building a huge ark, loading up two members of every varsity sports team on campus (and perhaps a few Leo’s staff members), and setting sail for Bermuda until global warming decides to chill out. Unfortunately, I don’t have nearly enough lumber to make this a realizable dream (and I think cutting down all those trees would actually worsen the whole climate change thing), so instead I’ve had to resort to seeking out the highest ground on campus possible to escape from puddle season.

“Time Travel”

So last week, when 20-year-old Londoner Alessi Laurent-Marke, dba Alessi’s Ark, came to campus for a Rolling takeaway show, there was really only one spot worth visiting. Perched high atop the roof of LXR, Alessi braved the impending elements and serenaded us with some gorgeous tunes as the clouds rolled in.

“Stalemate”

“The Bird Song”

After enjoying these videos, make sure to check out Time Travel, now available everywhere for purchase or download!

Camera + Crew: Emma Forster + Catherine DeGennaro

SAC Fair Mix Tape Track List

Hamster — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 17:51:16 +0000

Thanks to everyone who stopped by our table at SAC Fair today! If you’re lucky you may have picked up one of our SWEET MIX TAPES (if you’re extra lucky you got the one that Andre 3000 personally burned for you). In any case, we hope you enjoy it, and check out a complete track listing after the jump!

1. Titus Andronicus, “Theme from ‘Cheers’”

2. Gardens & Villa, “Orange Blossom”

3. The Allah-Las, “Catamaran”

4. St. Vincent, “Cruel”

5. Yellow Ostrich, “Hold On (Live @ WGTB)”

6. SBTRKT, “Wildfire”

7. Dead Boys, “All This and More”

8. Reptar, “Stuck in my Id”

9. Cloud Nothings, “Water Turns Back”

10. Tinariwen feat. Tunde Abedimpe & Kyp Malone, “Tenere Taqqim Tossam”

11. The Choir, “It’s Cold Outside (Vol.3)”

12. Jamie Lidell, “Completely Exposed”

Thanks again for checking us out, and remember our General Interest meeting Tuesday, Sept. 6 at 9:15pm in White Gravenor 201A. SEE YOU THERE!

Rolling: The Ascetic Junkies on the Exorcist Stairs

Caroline — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 04:23:46 +0000

More like exercist stairs, am I right?

We proposed another Music From Big Chair session to the Portland-based punky-folk rockers The Ascetic Junkies, but the band had another locale in mind: Georgetown’s famed exorcist stairs, so-called because of the scene in the 1973 horror flick The Exorcist. If you’re from the area, you’ve definitely seen it, 70′s film effects and all; Georgetown hosts a showing every Halloween in Gaston Hall. But in recent years the stairs have been better known for the quad-burning workout they offer (we caught some of these dedicated athletes in the video – thanks folks!)The charming Ascetic Junkies wooed runners and passerby alike with two jangly tunes, which you can check out below. And they were quite impressed with the DC contingency, many of whom actually understood the band’s name. Real nerdy, Georgetown!

Early Spin: Grand Child

Hamster — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 19:32:03 +0000

As college students, living in a city like D.C. during the summer is great: we have constant access to incredible restaurants, concerts, art galleries, rooftop pool parties and, aside from our obligatory unpaid internships, very little holding us back from constantly indulging in any and all of these opportunities. It’s easy to get wrapped up in this world of $2 PBR happy hours and mirage-producing city streets and forget that there is a world out there where nature extends beyond the manmade realms of Roosevelt Island and the National Zoo.

Every once in a while though, when I can’t stand the thought of watching another tourist stuff a Georgetown Cupcake in her sweaty toddler’s mouth after they both waited three hours in the 100-degree-plus-humidity line of equally fat, sweaty tourists, I can’t help but think, you know what DC? I love you, but you’re bringing me down. On days like this, with the weekend so close yet so far, I’ve started looking for songs that allow me to transcend the confines of the city without having to use up any valuable vacation days.

Former Music Board Director and Overall Good Guy Igor German (of Abditum fame) recently turned me onto Grand Child, an Austin-based folk music project who have been around for a few years but are as of yet unsigned, and who totally get my need to live vicariously through people sitting around with their friends in the woods, jamming on mandolins and painting each others’ faces. After accidentally wandering into a venue in Texas where the scheduled headliner bailed and Grand Child stepped in to fill the spot, Igor fell in star-crossed love. Good Guy that he is, Igor came back from the dead (shout out Georgetown University Class of 2011!) to share his find with us and we’ve been spinning them ever since.

Grand Child’s strength lies in that they manage to be nostalgic without being trite, hip without being obnoxious, and sunny without being saccharine. When I’m straight flippin’ copies or I feel particularly oppressed by The Man, I can close my eyes, let the melody from whatever obscure string instrument they’ve got going on wash over me and for the moment I can smell the s’mores, feel the flora-filtered light, and return from my four-minute sojourn refreshed and ready to take on the City again.

Listen to: “I Know” and “A Song to Die To” both off My Head Is In The Clouds (all of which is available for download on Bandcamp)

– Emma Forster

Music Directors’ Best Of 2011 So Far: Emma

Hamster — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 11:15:10 +0000

Another half of an arbitrary 365 day cycle has come and gone, sunrise by sunset, offering a friendly occasion to recap how many gems we’ve seen in 2011.5 already. Click through for five of Music Director Emma Forster’s favorite albums so far, the last in our installment of Best Music On The Planet As Dictated By WGTB Music Board Dictat…Directors (make sure you check out Catherine and Mikey’s picks).

Lykke Li: Wounded Rhymes

There is something about Lykke. Maybe it’s her cool, eclectic, Swedish charm. Maybe it’s that instead of slumping, her sophomore album surpassed Youth Novels and solidified her place as an indie icon. It’s actually probably just the adorably weird dance moves. Whatever it is, keep it up Ms. Li: I love this album.

♫ Listen to “I Know Places,” and even better, check out the video, which really makes the song for me.

frank ocean: nostalgia/ultra

I was tempted to put Tyler the Creator’s Goblin on this list, just because I feel like despite its unbridled obscenity it’s worth noting as a breakthrough album this year. I remember where I was whenGoblin dropped (Lauinger Library, 4^th floor cubicle, Japanese Art final looming), and I remember sloughing through it thinking “I want this to be so good. This is pretty good. Please stop saying the eff word.” The album was long and intense, but pleasantly broken up with some interesting add-ins featuring Hodgy Beats and the—somewhat out of place in this crowd—frank ocean.

Two months later, I’ve found that full-on OFWGKTA has outworn their welcome, but frank ocean’s tracks on Goblin as well as his own nostalgia/ultra still hold a place in the playlist of my heart. ocean has it all: unapologetically sweet love songs, e e cummingsesque typography, and just the right combination of perfect poppy hip hop and smooth RMB. For 2011.5, honorable mention shout out to Goblin, but frank ocean’s plan to get at me through his music worked.

♫ Listen to “songs for women”

Smith Westerns: Dye it Blonde

It seems like forever ago that I sent Catherine this photo and asked her to go with me to see Smith Westerns play at the Rock ‘N Roll Hotel back in March. In the end, I couldn’t go but she went with Rotation writer Ani Zotti, who wrote a great review of the record, and I have been jealous ever since. Full of whimsy, pep, and optimism, Dye it Blonde is a huge step for Smith Westerns’s career which will, I’m sure, hold its own when all this .5 business is through.

♫ Listen to “Weekend”

Shabazz Palaces: Black Up

And the Longest, Most Non-Sequitor Track Titles Award goes to Shabazz Palaces. Seriously though, SB is basically doing what I hoped OFWGKTA would eventually do by eschewing all the blatant obscenity and letting the music speak for itself.

♫ Listen to “Swerve…The reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding)”

Jessica Lea Mayfield: Tell Me

Country gets a bad rap. Despite her double name and doleful twang, WGTB fave JLM has managed to transcend the stereotype and come out with the perfectly poignant (without being melodramatic) Tell Me. While I could listen to every song on here on repeat (and unashamedly have), I recommend that you start here:

♫ Listen to “Our Hearts Are Wrong”

See you in 2012: WE GOT THE BEAT

Cinematic Recap: WGTB’s Spring Open Mic

Caroline — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:29:05 +0000

A little while ago we had our annual Open Mic night (if you missed last year’s, you can catch up here) in Bulldog Alley. As always it was a really enjoyable evening of music, slam poetry, and a whole lot of acoustic guitars, and the house was packed. We recorded all of it and have posted it here for you.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what is a video? I don’t do math, as a policy, but it seems like that would be a ton of words, so here, then, are a lot of words. Never mind that these are a bit belated; memories fade but videos are forever! Enjoy this footage of our variously talented student body and let us know what you enjoyed best in the comments.(Want any videos added or taken down? Shoot us an email at rotation@georgetownradio.com and we’re happy to do so.)

Rolling: Jeremy Messersmith on a Comically Large Chair

Caroline — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 04:00:33 +0000

The giant green Adriondack chair on the lawn of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts has provided endless hours of amusement and climbing activity for Georgetown students late at night, but this is probably the first time a full-fledged band has graced its wooden slats. Jeremy Messersmith, a Minneapolis-based indie-folk singer with an enthusiastic and gregarious band, stopped by The Big Chair last Sunday before the group’s show at DC9 that night (playing with Keegan DeWitt.) Despite the rain and bugs, the band played a few songs on the chair, including a lovely Magnetic Fields cover that fits perfectly with Messersmith’s golden-warm yet slightly haunting aesthetic. Check them out after the jump.

Early Spin: Labyrinth Ear

Hamster — Thu, 26 May 2011 01:51:33 +0000

It takes something special to stand out in the ever-deepening sea of mashups, remixes, and revampings that seem to have taken over the airwaves and internet-streams. It isn’t enough anymore just to play a few songs simultaneously—reworking a track is an art that should subtly enhance the original, while also bringing something new to the table, resulting in a unique, superior hybrid. A couple weeks ago when I first heard Labyrinth Ear’s souped-up rendition of Arthur Russell’s “This Is How We Walk on the Moon,” I felt like they accomplished just that.

The retooled version is more upbeat than Russell’s— the addition of swirling synths and a subby four-to-the-floor 808 beat result in something more versatile, more exciting. If you didn’t get a chance to check the track out then, you’re in luck: today Labyrinth Ear released the accompanying video, complete with enough mermaids, puffer fish, and submarines to keep us hooked line and sinker.

Listen/download fo’ free below:

Walk on the Moon (Arthur Russell) by Labyrinth Ear

Hoppy Easter from WGTB

MikeM — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 13:04:28 +0000

The only thing rising faster than Jesus these days is that beautiful spring temperature, and with that every man, woman, child, and bunny can shake off cooped up agitation and let out the love. At times bordering on irreverent, desiring but not desperate for attention, and on the eternal quest for dance partners, snacks, and a place to shake his fluffy tail, Mike McClain took campus by storm to share WGTB’s love for spring at Georgetown. It doesn’t get much better. Where Georgetown Trains Bunnies? White Guy Tryna Bustamove? Whatever it is, we got the beat. Check out the Easter playlist after the jump paw-picked by the rabbit. Enjoy!