Mats mention in Sunday NY Times Arts/Leisure section.
Article aslo properly tells you to check out the Secret Machines, asap
www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/arts/music/06play.htmlCollege Radio Grows Up; Nine Inch Nails Returns
By TOM CALDERONE
Published: February 6, 2005
ACK when U2 and R.E.M. were struggling to get on the radio, Tom Calderone
was there making sure people tuned in. As a student at Buffalo State College
in the mid-1980's, Mr. Calderone was WBNY's program director at a time when
college radio was waging a rock insurgency, broadcasting artists who were
ignored by commercial stations and establishing a new radio genre:
alternative rock. He went on to program and consult for alternative rock
stations in Washington, Seattle and New York City. In 1998 Mr. Calderone
traded radio for video and joined MTV, where he is executive vice president
in charge of video programming and artist relations. In response to
questions from Joel Topcik, Mr. Calderone spoke about what he's been
listening to and why.
'Left of the Dial'
Rhino Records just put out a four-CD box set called "Left of the Dial:
Dispatches From the 80's Underground," with everyone from the Pixies, the
Replacements, Killing Joke, Husker Du and my all-time favorite, Sonic Youth.
The packaging's great - it's rich in information with original artwork and
cool posters. These are the bands that were coming out when I first got
started in college radio, and the box set shows how so many of them really
stand the test of time.
The New Alternative Rock
I think everyone needs to hear the Secret Machines record "Now Here Is
Nowhere" (Reprise) - it's that important. It came out last year and didn't
get the attention it deserved. It's sort of Pink Floyd meets the Jesus and
Mary Chain. I've also been a huge fan of Mercury Rev for a long time.
They're hard to put your arms around, but their new album, "The Secret
Migration" (V2), has some true hooks on it. It's really the first one where,
if you don't know them, you can say, "O.K., I get it." And the new album
from And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, "Worlds Apart" (Interscope)
is deep and lyrically strong. All this stuff is generally guitar-driven, but
not in the power punk or classic rock way. It's in the production - these
albums sound really big. You have a sense of swirling, almost hovering
around the sound. The drums are somewhat tribal. It's truly alternative
rock.
Nine Inch Nails
Labels present a lot of rough material to us. It's really important for us
to hear music early because it helps us decide how we're going to use bands
in our programming - we're already starting to make a list of artists to
play at the video awards later this year. I heard a rough track from the new
Nine Inch Nails album, "With Teeth" (Nothing/Interscope), which should be
out in May. It's always hard to get back into the public consciousness when
there's so many years between albums, but this is just as pounding and
passionate and lyrically strong as ever. Trent Reznor really stepped up his
vocals - I don't want to offend him by saying he's actually singing more,
but his voice sounds great.