Electric Eclectic is proud to announce that rapper Shawn Lov will be coming on the program April 3rd at 11AM!

Shawn Lov’s grew up in the Trenton rap scene in the early nineties when Poor Righteous Teachers, Crusaders for Real Hip Hop, Almighty & KD Ranks, and more launching their careers. Shawn Lov’s been in the industry for over 15 years, recording ten albums, and working with some of the best in the business including Trenton producer Tony D, Rahzii HiPowa, Brand Nubian’s Sadat X, and many, many more.

Shawn will be down hanging with the Electric Eclectic crew talking about growing up around the great Trenton rap icons, his upcoming EP The S.O.N. and upcoming LP Future Left Behind, and talking with us about the industry. Course Shawn’s a big gamer so Ryan & Jeff will also be talking everything gaming!

Electric Eclectic is proud to host Shawn Lov on April 3rd! You can catch us every Saturday morning from 9AM-Noon only on 91.3 WTSR.

Electric Eclectic is SO SO SO excited to announce that Kevin Stewart & Jordan Downey, the directors of ThanksKilling, will be on the show Saturday March 27th at 11AM!

We on the show can’t say enough about this film.  It’s the story of a 500 year old killer turkey who decides to hunt down a group of college kids off for Thanksgiving break.  ThanksKilling is called ‘The Ultimate Low Budget Experience’ and we call it the best bad low-budget z-movie about a fowl-mouthed homicidal turkey EVER created!!!

Kevin and Jordan will be on to talk about filming ThanksKilling while in college,  about casting, budget, and just how the film so amazingly kicks ass!!!  If you haven’t seen it – do yourselves a favor and watch this low-budget MASTERPIECE!  Then tune in to Electric Eclectic on March 27th for the interview with the filmmakers!

Learn more about the movie at http://thankskillingmovie.com

Listen to Electric Eclectic every Saturday morning from 9AM till noon only on 91.3 WTSR!

Zeus
“Say Us”
3.5 Stars

Fans of indie music, in particular Canadian indie music, know that it’s an unwritten rule that many successful indie bands from Canada are interconnected in some way or another. Zeus is connected to Jason Collet of Broken Social Scene, the 19-member Canadian supergroup, via members Mike O’Brian and Carlin Nicholson, who served as Collet’s backing band, Paso Mino. Zeus’ latest release, “Say Us,” shares a producer with Leslie Feist, also Canadian.

No two songs sound alike though, as songwriters O’Brien, Nicholson and Neil Quinn are constantly switching roles along with instruments. Their influences are wide, from British Invasion-style tracks to southern rock and twang. Just the right amount of 21st century indie vocal harmonies add a fun and light sound to all of their songs.

Tracks like “Marching Through Your Head” and “Kindergarten,” while differentiated by style, sound and who’s playing what, somehow retain a cohesive sound.

Key Tracks: “Marching Through Your Head” & “Kindergarten”
-Melissa Virzi
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Gorillaz
“Plastic Beach”
3.5 Stars

The new Gorillaz album offers a little something for everyone — Damon Albarn appearances, electronic beats, ex-Clash members and hip-hop guest spots from Mos Def and De La Soul. So there’s no doubt “Plastic Beach” caters to a wide variety of audiences, but does its scatterbrained persona make it too eclectic for any one listener to latch onto?

Ever since Blur’s Damon Albarn (a legitimate U.K. rock icon) conceived the conceptual, animated foursome in the late 90s, Gorillaz have been all about reinvention, dexterously denying the tags “rock” and “hip-hop” with singles like “Clint Eastwood” and “Feel Good, Inc.” On “Plastic Beach,” Albarn and his cohorts indulge in the collective’s most ambitious opus to date. There is no shortage of extra baggage across the record’s 16 songs and 56 minutes, but there is also a wealth of genre-bending innovation that recalls Danger Mouse’s production and Beck at his most experimental states.

The listener is treated to a little bit of Albarn, some rapping from Mos Def, De La Soul and others, and vocals, both sung and spoken, from former Clash members Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, The Fall’s Mark E. Smith and the legendary Velvet Underground leader Lou Reed.

Key Tracks: “Stylo” and “Rhinestone Eyes”
-Chris Payne
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Dum Dum Girls
“I Will Be”
4 out of 5 stars

Dum Dum Girls started out as the solo project of L.A. hipster-chick Kristen Gundred, who recruited a rotating backing band and released a four-song EP last year. Since then, she’s been snatched up by Sub Pop Records and has rounded out her band with a set lineup in preparation for her debut full length, “I Will Be.”

Decked out in tights and short skirts, the Dum Dums play up the ’60s girl group aesthetic to the max while merging their bubblegum harmonies with sludgy, lo-fi garage rock. Buried beneath the reverb of “Jail La La” is a blissful pop harmony and within the two minutes of opener “It Only Takes One Night” is an urgent guitar-driven hook. The record’s first four tracks are especially strong, bombarding the listener with more infectious hooks than are typically heard within a ten-minute span. Predictably, the foursome can’t sustain the entire record at this pace (the dull “Rest of Our Lives” at track five being the biggest culprit) but does manage to pack enough of “I Will Be”’s 29 minutes with delightfully buzzed-out pop.

In a scene populated with like-minded, all-female acts like Vivian Girls and Those Darlins, this quartet will certainly face plenty of stiff competition, as well as damning “flavor of the week” allegations from the music world. With this in mind, it will be interesting to see if the Dum Dum Girls will sustain any success behind this debut or merely be tossed into a heap of other lo-fi acts populating “South by Southwest” and CMJ lineups these days. “I Will Be” at least proves that their songwriting chops are head-and-shoulders above most of the competition.

Key Tracks: “Jail La La” and “It Only Takes One Night”
-Chris Payne
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Peter Gabriel
“Scratch My Back”
3 out of 5 stars

Peter Gabriel, most famous as the songwriter and singer of classic rock band Genesis, is releasing his first solo album in eight years, and it’s entirely composed of covers. This is not surprising considering the latest recording outside of this was his cover of Vampire Weekend’s “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,” in which he sang “Oh it feels so unnatural, Peter Gabriel too/Oh it feels so unnatural to sing your own name.”

Gabriel’s taste is ecletic and evident in his choices of songs to cover, ranging from classic artists such as Paul Simon and Lou Reed to indie bands like Arcade Fire and Bon Iver. Each track is covered with Gabriel’s smooth vocals backed by a full orchestra. Everything comes off with generally the same sound though, slowing down each track into a blissful, gentle song, with the violins coming in on the bridge, of course.

Each cover is interesting, if not in its arrangement, then in its performance.

Key Tracks: “Listening Wind,” “My Body is a Cage,” and “Philadelphia”
-Melissa Virzi

Dinosaur Feathers
“Fantasy Memorial”
3.5 out of 5

Dinosaur Feathers are self-described as “the only wedding band in Brooklyn, specializing in elopements.” They’ve been busy playing everything from nuptials to bar-mitzvahs since their formations in early 2009, but were recently featured as a Paste Magazine Artist of the Day and are lined up to play South by Southwest, an influential music festival in Austin, TX in a few months, as well.

With all the enthusiasm you would expect of a brand new band, Dino Feathers are a perfect combination of folk and indie pop to quench your musical thirst. Their debut album is self-released, so the band is super psyched to hear feedback from fans. Quick and responsive, it’s suggested you contact them if you’re interested in “Booking/Couches/Ginger Cake Recipes.”

Obvious comparisons to Fleet Foxes or Beach House are apparent, but tracks like “Family Waves” contain all the unconventional instruments you might expect with folk and all the vocal harmonies and catchy hooks from a good pop song. “History Lessons” and “Know Your Own Strength” offer up the same harmonies and fun Vampire Weekend style drum beats are added to the equation, but relax a little to provide for a relaxing moment.

Their EP is available for free download on their website, so there’s really no reason not to check them out!

Key Tracks: “Family Waves,” “History Lessons”
-Melissa Virzi
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Freeway and Jake One
“The Stimulus Package”
3 Stars

Almost a year after Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka, the stimulus package), rapper Freeway was inspired by similar ambitions. The Rhymesayers MC recently released what he calls the Hip-Hop Recovery and Reinvestment Act in the form of his third studio album. On “The Stimulus Package,” he teams with venerable G-Unit producer Jake One for perhaps the finest hip-hop release of the young year.

Freeway has been dubbed “Your Favorite Rapper’s Favorite Rapper,” a reference to the amount of well-known rappers (most notably Jay-Z) who have supported him. As a member of Jay-Z’s crew, the Philadelphia MC enlists a number of strong guest spots, including former Jay-Z sidekick Beanie Sigel, Wu Tang’s Raekwon and Lil Wayne’s mentor of sorts, Birdman, who brings his A-game on one of the record’s most vibrant tracks, “Follow My Moves.” However, the record’s biggest standout is “Throw Your Hands Up,” a fittingly uplifting number at track two that serves as the lyrical introduction to Freeway’s stimulus package concept.

Overall, the record does a fantastic job of straddling the barrier between alternative and mainstream hip-hop. For a rapper who began his career with Mariah Carey and Nelly guestspots, it seems Freeway has finally settled into a groove away from the spotlight of a major label. Also worth noting is the extravagant packaging, as the CD case comes wrapped in lyric sheets mimicking dollar bills and sealed with an oversized paper money clip.

Key Tracks: “Throw Your Hands Up”
-Chris Payne
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Donora
“Donora”
3 Stars

Donora, a little band based out of Pittsburgh and named after another city in Pennsylvania, has been creating pure indie pop since they competed on “Calling All Bands,” a 2006 contest sponsored by Myspace and Verizon. Since then they’ve had tracks featured on various guilty pleasure MTV shows such as “Engaged and Underage” and “Cribs.”

After all that, they’re finally releasing their debut album and the trio has come back with some solid pop tracks. Jake and Casey Hanner are the children of the country musician Dave Hanner of the duo Corbin/Hanner. Casey Hanner’s vocals move all along the spectrum of influences, sounding like Taylor Swift one moment and Karen O in another.

The twinkling pianos that start off “Shh” and “I Think I Like You” only solidify the band as members of the adorable indie pop genre. Casey Hanner’s vocals change yet again on the chorus of “Shh,” where she sounds like the epitome of innocence with a whispering, child-like sound. For adorable, post-Valentine’s romantic pop, give Donora a listen.

Key Tracks: “Shh” and “Shout”
-Melissa Virzi

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