fun while it lasted...
Just in: Westword is reporting that INDIE 101.5 FM won’t broadcast on the radio anymore, instead moving its broadcasts to indie303.com. So I guess it’s back to burning CDs for the car.
3OH!3 are definitely geniuses deliberately and skillfully hoodwinking the music-buying youth of America, right? Right? Whew. ‘Cause for a moment there, I thought they were total tools.
— Westword (in two Twitter posts)
INDIE 101.5 FM: a review
I’ve been thinking about writing this for days, but as time went by, the radio station grew on me more and more. So what started out as a scathing critique is now more of a lukewarm shrug. Though radio might be outdated/completely dead, I’ll nonetheless take you through my thought process.
My first impressions were formed by the moronic cliches the station plays between songs (one is, roughly: “Obey little. Resist much. INDIE 101.5”). That’s quite the bill to live up to, and the music the station plays is not that mindblowingly different from everyone’s fomer begrudged favorite, 93.3. (In fact, all I heard that sounded remotely different was a three-song repertoire from indie darlings MGMT—you can probably guess which three songs—interspersed with post-punk rock shit.) Adding insult to injury was DJ Lynne Ryan, whose nonsensical babbling was worse than that I’ve heard from a lot of college DJs. Speculating on MGMT’s chances of working with Paul McCartney (yeah, lots of MGMT), Ryan said (again, roughly quoted), “I don’t think they’ll do it. I don’t have any proof, but I just don’t think they will.” Uh, okay, Lynne. (Cue “Kids.”)
Then I kept listening, and listening, and listening (primarily due to a drought in my music purchases—soon to change with my purchase of Sunset Rubdown’s phenomenal new LP, Dragonslayer), and I started being a little more sympathetic to INDIE’s cause. After all, when else has a Denver radio station been bold enough as to try to play anything close to 24/7 ”indie music? A change in the DJ on duty also helped my taste for the station. I had an entire trip in the car listening to ex-93.3 DJ Ralphie without wondering why I was listening to the radio in the first place; in twenty minutes, I heard good music, interesting banter about upcoming shows, and a tolerably short commercial break.
So in sum, I’d say listen to INDIE—at least in brief breaks between Dragonslayer listenings. Request music—here, or at (303) 597-1015—to show them exactly “WTF you want to hear.” At least they’re trying, right?
Check out this sweet collection of photos from the Colfax Love Society. Information on the July 4 opening of the show at the Neopolitan Gallery can be found here.
Above: “Humble Humboldt” by Lon Nestrud. Click on the image to enlarge it.
