Veloz on Live from the Fallout Shelter, 12/27

On Monday December 27, Veloz will be playing a set on Live from the Fallout Shelter on WUML 91.5FM! This band includes members of Furnace, who played on the show back in 2008. Like their predecessor, Veloz is fast, heavy and intense, almost as if Motorhead had a baby with Converge. Most of their songs are under two minutes long and offer a constant and steady pattern of thrash which the musicians involved have the talent to make worth listening to. This band strikes me as the type of band that would start playing a set and then finish the entire set seven minutes later. It would most likely be one of the best hardcore sets the people in the audience would have ever seen, despite the fact that they probably don't have any limbs left.

So tune in this Monday from 8 - 11pm, with Veloz playing at 930pm and the best in underground music before and after the set as well as an interview with the band. You can listen at WUML 91.5FM or online at www.wuml.org.

You can listen to Veloz and download their music for free at veloz.bandcamp.com

Dreamtigers on Live from the Fallout Shelter, 12/20

This Monday December 20, Dreamtigers will be playing a live set on Live from the Fallout Shelter on WUML 91.5FM. This will be the band's second appearance on the radio show and we are very excited to have them back! The band features current members of Defeater and past members of Ambitions, Life In Your Way and Acta Non Verba. Displaying sounds similar to that of Bon Iver or Iron and Wine but with more of a pop-rock sense added to the mix, this band is perfect for everyday indie rock and folk fans and even hardcore fans who are looking to relax for an evening. Intimate and heartfelt, yet driving and intense.

The band has just released a new 5-song 7 inch titled "Fools" through Grinding Tapes Recording Company. You can listen to a track off the album and then order it at http://www.grindingtapes.org/artists/dreamtigers/fools/

So listen this Monday night from 8 - 11pm with Dreamtigers playing a set at 930pm and the best in underground music before and after the set as well as an interview with the band. You can check the band out at http://www.myspace.com/dreamtigersmusic.

You can listen online at http://www.wuml.org

WUML Rock For Tots 2010 Re-Cap

Last night, WUML 91.5FM held it's 11th annual Rock For Tots charity event at Cumnock Hall on the North Campus of UMass Lowell. The event was a huge success and managed to raise $425 for One Lowell, a local organization that aids immigrant families in Lowell. We all see this as a huge success!

Big thanks to Hivesmasher, Los Bungalitos, Hetfield & Hetfield, The Sinbusters and Ladderlegs for all playing amazing sets as usual. Also, big thanks to One Lowell, The 119 Gallery, The Sock Hop, The Space, To Write Love On Her Arms, Coalition For A Better Acre and United Teen Equality Center for coming and being a presence at the show and helping us promote. Finally, a huge thanks for everyone who came out to the show to support the bands and donate to the charity. We couldn't have done it without everyone involved and we all look forward to Rock For Tots 2011!

Pictures and video footage from the show will be posted soon!

Darkwoods on Live from the Fallout Shelter, 12/13

This Monday December 13, local hardcore outfit Darkwoods will be performing a set on Live from the Fallout Shelter. These guys hail from the South Shore and are about as fast, heavy and angry as it gets...but in a good way. While listening to them, I can just see an image in my head of a circle pit opening up from wall to wall at your local VFW or Knights of Colombus and no one in the audience being able to resist. Their music definitely reminds me of bands like Bane, Ceremony and Verse...heavy, hard and with vocals that are right up front making sure the listener is paying attention.

You can check Darkwoods out at http://wwww.myspace.com/darkwoodshc where they have a free download of their "Road To Ruin" EP.

So tune in this Monday from 8 - 11pm for Live from the Fallout Shelter on WUML 91.5FM. Darkwoods will be playing a set at 930pm with the best in undergound music before and after the set as well as an interview with the band. You can listen to the show online at http://www.wuml.org

WUML Presents Rock For Tots 2010

Tomorrow night at Cumnock Hall on the North Campus of UMass Lowell, WUML 91.5FM will be hosting it's 11th annual Rock For Tots charity event for One Lowell, a local organization who aids immigrant fanilies in Lowell and settles them in to the community by offering services and providing social connections. Five of the best bands in Lowell will be performing throughout the night and all proceeds will be going to benefit the One Lowell organization. There will also be many informational tables set up for local non-profits, clubs, organizations and businesses. If you are interested in attending, here is the information:

WUML 91.5FM Present Rock For Tots 2010
Thursday December 9
Doors at 730pm, Event starts at 8pm
One University Ave, Cumnock Hall, North Campus, UMass Lowell
Lowell MA 01854
Bands: Hivesmasher, Los Bungalitos, Hetfield & Hetfield, The Sinbusters and Ladderlegs
18+, $5, All proceeds go to One Lowell
More info on One Lowell at http://www.onelowell.net

Please join our Facebook event and help us promote by inviting all of your friends and sharing the event on your wall. Here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=162277003809250

Empty Phrases on Live from the Fallout Shelter, 11/29

This Monday November 29, Live from the Fallout Shelter on WUML 91.5FM will be hosting local band Empty Phrases as they play a live set in our studio! This four piece indie-shoegaze group hails from the mean streets of Lowell and even includes WUML members and UML students, so we are extra excited to have them!

Going the DIY route that so many bands from the Lowell area have gone, they have released their first EP for free download at their bandcamp music page. When I first listened to these guys, their music made me feel like what I can only imagine it would feel like to fall off a cliff and never hit the ground. Soothing and relaxing, at the same time canceling out all of your other problems. Empty Phrases is definitely for fans of Rx Bandits, Pavement and Minus The Bear.

You can hear them on Live from the Fallout Shelter on WUML 91.5FM this Monday November 29 from 8 - 11pm, with their set starting at 930pm followed by an interview and the best in underground punk, indie, folk and whatever else played before and after their set.

You can listen at www.wuml.org.

You can check them out and download their EP for free at http://emptyphrases1.bandcamp.com.

Dan Blakeslee on Live from the Fallout Shelter, 11/22

On Monday November 22, Live from the Fallout Shelter on WUML 91.5FM will be hosting the one and only Dan Blakeslee as he plays a live set in our studio! Dan hails from Somerville, MA but has frequented a few venues right here in Lowell. Dan is an acoustic singer-songwriter who plays very creative folk songs and has been compared to Johnny Cash, Echo and the Bunnymen, Jeff Buckley and Tom Waits. Actually, following in the footsteps of Johnny Cash's Live at Folsom Prison recording, Dan has played and recorded a set in front of a houseful of murderers and felons at Laconia State Prison. His eerie yet enchanting songs combined with his engaging live performance make Dan a true American Renaissance man.

So tune in this Monday night from 8 - 11pm, with Dan going on at 930pm and the best in underground punk, folk and indie spun by the shows DJ's before and after the set as well as an interview with Dan Blakeslee himself.

You can check out Dan's music at http://www.myspace.com/danblakeslee

You can listen to Listen to Live from the Fallout Shelter online at http://www.wuml.org and see the whole schedule of bands at http://www.myspace.com/livefromthefalloutshelter

Review: BOX, Ten Variations on an Unknown Theme

Claudia Ulla Binder - Piano
Christian Weber - Bass
Dieter Ulrich - Drums, Bugle


BOX's Ten Variations on an Unknown Theme is a collection of improvised projects curated by Swiss bassist Jonas Tauber. With such a title the caliber of free jazz they play, set in a modern composer's back yard is no surprise.

The trio's take off point is this "theme" usually consisting of disjointed, spiky drum parts accompanied by off-kilter piano and bass melodies. With numbered variations being the groups chosen mode of presentation the album makes for a delightful listen through, as the album progresses it gets stranger and stranger.

Variations 1 through 4 are each in their own way elegant trio compositions, albeit avant-garde. Loud-quiet dynamics play into the trio's style as each one snaps in and out of the listener's attention at almost lightning speed and for short, disciplined amounts of time. 5th Variation is very wiry. Here the group is using the very outer edges of their instruments Binder's piano sounds alien while Ulrich trades his kit for undulating bugle bursts. Bassist Weber picks up all the rhythm, or what little shreds are available. After track 5 the album becomes noticeably more textured. 8th Variation explores a more solemn mood for the group and the 9th a drunken marching suite.

BOX's exploratory intermission serves to create two halves of an album, that is, one which jangles along just inside the fence of typical free piano-trio music, and another which embraces the area beyond that boundary as a home.

Review: Kyle Brenders, Ways

Kyle Brenders - Soprano Saxophone
Nicole Rampersaud - Trumpet
Johnathan Adejmian - Korg MS-20
Tilman Lewis - Cello
Aaron Lumley - Contra Bass
Brandon Valdiva - Percussion

It's no surprise that Ways may sound Braxton-esque, for Kyle Brenders, a Canadian saxophonist, has studied and appeared on numerous recordings with experimental jazz composer Anthony Braxton. Brenders' debut from March of this year melds modern electronic composition and stretched-out free jazz. For Brenders, composition is extremely sparse and off-pulsed. Creeping loud parts are so forward they seem omnipresent, but Brender's use of quiet/loud dynamics is markedly masterful.

The inaugural Section 2 serves to pace off the album from a distance. At first, the drumming marches in with distant tympani hits, but soon Brandon Valdiva's spritzing, varied fringe percussion takes hold. Stylistically reserved, it focuses more on rim clicks and cymbal rushes rather than accented hits or beats. Section 4 begins to take more shape as it evolves from off-pulse ideas into shades of humming from Brenders, trumpeter Nicole Rampersaud, and cellist Tilman Lewis. Here, Johnathan Adejman's Korg synth uses only pitches that dance between ranges of cello and contra bass of Aaron Lumley. As the sections expand and progress, they become more infused with jazz such as Section 5's episodic procedures through choppy solo sections. Each time one of the players takes the forefront, the backing four fall into a different, regimented melody. After the 13:30 mark, the track rolls into a layered, cresendoing conclusion. The album's longest track, Section 6, begins as whimsical and eerie making for some true minimalism, that is, conjuring up complete feelings and images by doing as little as possible. It moves along very slowly, with abrupt rises and slithering falling actions throughout. Album closer Section 8 is a study in the drone, providing a stark one-note procession and, for the first time, a continual, thunderous drum part.

The assembled sounds work of one another well. Brenders has directed each member of the sextet to engage in a study of ambiance, but it sounds at times like a harrowing experience. There is a noticeable loneliness in between rigid structures and timeless freedom, and Ways studies these intervals masterfully.