Transmissions from Echo Beach with Derek Westerholm and DJ Babs | WFMU

Ocean Therapy - "Rosy Sea" - Along The Coast [It's that most wonderful time of year again, where you can help WFMU greatly [& us]. This has a great positive impact on the station, the Nation, the world! Hit the pledge button, or use this one directly!!! ---->) http://pledge.wfmu.org/donate/ECHO-BEACH ] [0:00:00] Carombalage - "Fußgängerzone" - Carombalage [WIN THIS CD WITH A 20$ OR MORE DONATION TO WFMU!!! http://pledge.wfmu.org/donate/ECHO-BEACH ] [0:02:47] Pink Lady Monster - "Stretch" - Ponk [Ponk is Pink Lady Monster’s third offering, following 2020’s L0_0k Up Demos and the 2024 EP Psychic Antennae and a Tinsel Heart. Released on July 4, Ponk marks a shift from Pink Lady Monster’s earlier spacey atmospheric sound to a set of work that is uniquely energetic, surreal and playful. With bizarre lyrics like “tyrannical terrestrial lizard on Zoom call” and saxophone flourishes reminiscent of a honking clown nose, Ponk breaks free of genre expectations and becomes a soundtrack for an alternate dimension of its own.The band’s musical playground is the basement of a house near City Park where some of the members live. Smith says that the group would go down there, drink a few Cutwaters and just have fun jamming together. Almost immediately, Ponk began to emerge. “The last record was very conceptual, but this one was just born on improvisation and jamming together,” Simone says of Ponk. “It was very free from the beginning, and we didn’t have any idea of what it would end up being. We noticed after the fact, like, ‘Oh shit, this is cohesive, it fits together.'”] [0:06:35] Hawaiian T-Shirt - "Emancipation" - This Shit Does Not Concern You [In true punk rock fashion, Hawaiian T-Shirt is a high-quality band that is relatively unknown to the outside world. But within the confines of Echo Park in Los Angeles, they are known as one of the most popular live acts in the neighborhood’s vibrant indie-rock scene. Music from Hawaiian T-Shirt is reminiscent of the classic album by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs called Fever to Tell (released in 2003). Together, Ana Ayon, Tara Edwards, Shelina Lousie and Mike Morales have written songs about chaotic romance, sarcastic odes to feminism and in-your-face tales of impoverished living. The four piece band released their debut album, This Shit Does Not Concern You, in June. This LP is a gritty blend of art-punk, garage-punk, post punk, gothic rock and indie rock.] [0:09:46] IRKED - "Settle Down" - The Grievance [Lyrically covering personal politics, inner-circle politics, work politics, and class politics and set to the backdrop of thee finest Saints / Stiff Richards / Wipers-inspired rippers, IRKED's debut album The Grievance is FINALLY here, releasing May 1....The Grievance is born out of this excitement for playing live and the noble desire to rip it up. However, as with all the best party music there's a mission statement too. Dancing to Betty Davis or Syl Johnson or Bikini Kill or Public Enemy is all well and good in the clubs, but when you really dig into it, you are taught and inspired as well as entertained. As the title suggests, there is spleen being vented here, just as when Huggy Bear vented, or Dead Kennedys vented, or X-Ray Spex vented. IRKED’s rage might be tempered by wit and killer hooks but it’s still laser focused. The Grievance is genuinely righteous music made by people embedded in their local community and rightly enraged at the world around them. We’re not here to tell you how to file this record or what type of music it might be. We’re here to tell you that IRKED belong alongside anyone who wants to bring a zest to a room, who wants to question what's going on, and who wants music played by folks who aren't cosplaying. We're done with that. We can spot it. The Grievance is inspiring, raging, uplifting, sometimes-hilarious/sometimes-brutally honest, catchy-as-f*ck punk rock and you’re going to love it.] [0:13:32] Carambolage - "Lampenfieber" - Carambolage (RE) ["Listening to...

Ocean Therapy - "Rosy Sea" - Along The Coast [It's that most wonderful time of year again, where you can help WFMU greatly [& us]. This has a great positive impact on the station, the Nation, the world! Hit the pledge button, or use this one directly!!! ---->) http://pledge.wfmu.org/donate/ECHO-BEACH ] [0:00:00] Metdog - "Radio" - One For The Kids [some of the tracks are straight up jokes/piss takes others aren't its a deliberately blurry line of irony if that makes sense? and so the marketing is also blurry like cute kids vibes but also its not a kids album at all if that makes sense? like life is really funny and fun but also serious and not fun aswell, its blurry and so so is this? Metdog are from MELBOURNE!!!!] [0:02:05] Crying Loser - "Do The Jerk" - Do The Jerk [Originating from noisy improvisations in a basement in Cork, Crying Loser is a raw byproduct of abrasive, frenzied and hypnotic energy, looking to scratch the miserable itch of life at the bottom of the barrel. There is skronk, there is bombast, there is noise, there is chaos and WE LOVE IT!] [0:04:16] JuJu Rogers, Pink Siifu - "Build N Destroy" - Build N Destroy [Rapper JuJu Rogers, born to an American G.I. from New Orleans and a German mother with Austrian roots, grew up in between two worlds in the working class city of Schweinfurt, Germany. Back then more than 10,000 American soldiers were stationed on the U.S. Army Base of his hometown, forming the cultural identity of the city and young JuJu. Listening to his father’s collection of Jazz and Soul records and playing the trumpet from an early age on JuJu Rogers developed a deep understanding of music and the various cultures behind it. But only as a teenager he fell for hip-hop starting to write his own songs. Ever since he has developed outstanding skills in lyricism and continuously proves his versatility as a rapper, having toured all over Europe. I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS.] [0:07:02] Good News - "Tanzivat" - Big Shapes [Good News are a band from Sheffield. Beth, Dan and Erin play in this band. They say "that is all" but it's not. Their music features feisty clarinet, bass, and cowbell-propelled rhythms have bounced around the North & London supporting The Bug Club, Kid Congo & The Pink Monkeybirds, Wesley Gonzalez & Wild Garlic and Acid Klaus.] [0:10:09] Zona Utopica Garantita - "Arbeiter II" - Non Stop [Zona Utopica Garantita (abbr. ZUG) is 2019 musical project born from Frasco (Bloodygrave & Die Lust, SPO) forming a Punk Electronic collective, that springs a vital live playing over electronic sequences. The joining of Danilo Fatur (CCCP Fedeli alla Linea) with his charisma, experience and poetry and Mystic Valley on synthesizers stabilize the band with a solid musical estethic, direct and radical. ZUG’s music is a marriage between the machine-gunned punk of CCCP and the Body Music of the teutonic DAF, with his own poetry and experimental attitude. It's quirky, it's fun, it's dark...yet playful. We love bubbly synths....do we not?!?!?!] [0:13:39] Telehealth - "Cool Job" - Telehealth [The Kalshi app is a “prediction market for trading the future,” a platform allowing users to gamble on the outcome of almost any real-world event — from the accuracy of the weather forecast, to whether or not famine will officially be declared in Gaza. Joining CNN as the network’s official betting partner in late 2025, platform co-founder Tarek Mansour was quoted after the deal saying, “The long-term vision is to financialize everything and create a tradeable asset out of any difference in opinion.” Telehealth was forged in the opportunity-rich environment of post-COVID Seattle as a scalable music startup with similar goals. Co-founded in 2022 by married couple and fellow gambling enthusiasts Alexander Attitude (synths/vox/guitar) and Kendra Cox (synths/vox), and joined by longtime collaborators Ian McCutcheon (drums), John O’Connor (bass), and Dillon Sturtevant (guitar), the group aims to financialize...

Music behind DJ: Cartilage Vipers - "A Sacroiliac Nightmare" - Reckoning Beckoning [0:00:00] The Raspberries - "Back Pain" - The Raspberries [Mystery unfindable band!!! No bandcamp page...possibly from Sweden but who knows? Fun fact: Ancient Origins: The earliest recorded references date back to around 200 BCE in the Huangdi Neijing (The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon), but it was practiced in Eurasia during the Stone Age. Bone and Bamboo needles were used then. There are over 300 traditional acupuncture points on the body, with many specialized points located in the ear] [0:03:18] Grady Chapman - "Sacroiliac Swing" - Let's Talk About Us! [Born in Greenville, South Carolina, Chapman joined The Robins in 1952, singing alongside Bobby Nunn, Billy Richards, Roy Richards, Ty Terrell, and later Carl Gardner. During that time, the Robins recorded for RCA, and later Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's Los Angeles–based "Spark" label. In 1958, he wrote "Sweet Pea" (Class Records #232) for Bob and Earl. He started a solo career recording Rock & Roll and Rhythm & Blues for various label. Chapman would later become a member of one of the Coasters" many spin-off groups. Chapman would also substitute for Carl Gardner a few times in the 1990s and 2000s with The Coasters. He still performed as Grady Chapman & The Robins with various back-up musicians, until his death, from congestive heart failure, on January 4, 2011.] [0:04:55] Pere Ubu - "Non Alignment Pact" - The Modern Dance [The Modern Dance was released in January 1978 amidst one of the most significant turning points in modern music. With the golden age of New Wave just around the corner, Pere Ubu’s feature-length gambit – unveiled alongside Wire’s Chairs Missing, Adventure by Television and Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! by fellow Ohioans Devo – marked the advent of what would soon, largely thanks to the staff at Sounds, be widely known as post punk. Informing the world that the new avant-garde revolution would not be coming from New York, but Cleveland, it was a record that, perhaps more than all of the genre-warping masterstrokes to be released in 1978, was a conscious rejection of the heady, wilful artlessness of punk rock. Though he wasn’t around to see it come to pass, when Peter Laughner told Jane Scott of The Plain Dealer back in December 1975, “We’re pointing toward the music of the ’80s” - The Quietus] [0:07:10] The B-52's - "There's a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)" - The B-52's [In this case..the moon we speak of...is my ass. Key Historical Points on Mooning: Ancient & Medieval Roots: Known as a form of contempt or protest, it was documented as used by soldiers in the Roman Empire (in 66AD!) and in 1346 at the Battle of Crécy. 18th Century Terminology: The term "moon" to describe buttocks existed as early as 1756. 1960s Revival: The specific term "mooning" and the modern, popular trend began in Southern California in the early 1960s, heavily adopted by American college students. "Show Us Pink" Era: By the 1970s and 80s, the act became a common, albeit often ticketed,, prank among youth...] [0:10:31] James Chance & the Contortions - "Snap It Back, Strip It Down" - The Flesh Is Weak ["A few splayed organ stabs into Melt Yourself Down and it’s like being back in New York City when it was a foetid danger zone of unfettered lust, heavy drugs and rampant excess, tuxedo-clad James Chance presiding like a crowd-baiting super-cockroach. His Contortions were at the forefront of 1978’s no wave movement, flowering on ZE Records before burning out as trends and his city got too slick....Happily, age hasn’t dulled Chance. He still plays sax like he’s teetering over the abyss, yelping and screaming like enraged bees are gorging on the stash in his pants. It's true, definitely more slick than the early output but still prettty goddamn dank...] [0:15:26] Glaxo Babies - "Flesh" - Put Me On The Guest List [Glaxo Babies were formed in the winter of 1977 in Bristol, UK. The line...

Ocean Therapy - "Rosy Sea" - Along The Coast [0:00:00] Les Robots - "I Am Electro '25" - Electro Returns [Netherlands LES ROBOTS are back with a brand-new 7”, paving the way for their upcoming album. It’s a wild tribute to the chain-smoking Moto-Man from 1938 — a character with so much hubris, he makes HAL 9000 look like a bundle of anxious circuits. On the A-side, ‘Elektro Returns’ blasts off as a Clavioline-driven stomper with a bouncy beat and feverish chord changes. Think Jean Jacques Perrey on a bad LSD trip.On the other side, ‘I Am Elektro ’25’, reinvents their 2019 track of the same name. This fuzz-drenched pounder could’ve make The Ventures’ Nokie Edwards wish he’d been built as a robot!] [0:01:15] KABOUTERTJE PUTLUCHT - "Lokomotief" - Hoe Diep Is Een Put? [The gnome makes music like a highway toilet in the South of France. Lyrics straight from the shower drain. Are you ready to stink? Little Gnome Drain Air is the antidote to all those freshly washed sounds. Dirty riffs, a bit of wave, a touch of rave, and above all, great dancing. Arms in the air and sniff those armpits! They are from the Netherlands. Their band name translates to "LITTLE GNOME PIT AIR" They fucking look like gnomes! HOW DEEP IS A WELL? is the title of the album. The Dutch are so fucking weird.] [0:03:51] Manuela - "Hyena" [This is a song about a girl who doesn't want to go to a party so her friend the hyena eats off her face and goes in her stead. And then there's some more face eating. Listen, I promised some weird in this set and you're getting it. Manuela is the London/Munich-based art-pop project of Austrian vocalist, songwriter and visual artist Manuela Gernedel. Blending off-kilter pop songwriting with lush arrangements, sly humour and a taste for the surreal, her music exists in a richly imagined space where synth funk, chanson, soul and cinematic orchestration collide. Originally raised in Bavaria, Manuela later moved to Glasgow to study painting at Glasgow School of Art, embedding herself in the city’s fertile DIY music scene before eventually relocating to Munich in 2019. Alongside music, she has continued to work extensively as a visual artist and educator, with both disciplines feeding into one another. Rooted in collaboration, patience and curiosity, Manuela’s work is defined by what she calls “radical tenderness and optimism” — music that invites listeners into a strange, generous and emotionally vivid world.] [0:06:08] April March, Aquaserge - "Sparklers" - April March & Aquaserge [It's a slow kiss amid the hustle and bustle of a Belleville patisserie, the final chapters of a Didion novel read crisping in the sun on the banks of the Seine, a wine-soaked night chasing shadows down the streets of Place de la Bastille. And, as the locals might say, c'est fantastique. And why wouldn't it be, with two such remarkable talents at the helm. Take one brigade of psychedelic rock specialists, cult favourites Aquaserge, who feature Tame Impala drummer Julien Barbagallo and recent Melody's Echo Chamber collaborator Benjamin Glibert, add one beguiling Californian songwriter, April March (real name Elinor Blake), whose candid yé-yé pop met international acclaim when her song ‘Chick Habit’ featured in gritty Quentin Tarantino Grindhouse thriller Death Proof, and the sparks are going to fly – let alone with one of the most creative and romantic of settings as their inspiration....] [0:09:28] Ekko Astral - "lil xan goes to washington" - lil xan goes to washington [Ekko Astral is a self-described “dystopiacore” band from Washington, D.C. Rolling Stone says they’re “one of the most vital political punk bands in the world,” whatever that means. "(Holzman) I was a long-time journalist in Congress and thought that being a reporter has certain ways of impacting the world positively, but I saw that music could be far more powerful. So for me, that’s where that fundraising comes from, and that focus on direct action. (Tyler) I am no stranger to...

Music behind DJ: Ocean Therapy - "Splashing Swell" - Along The Coast [Waves for your beach, if you will...] [0:00:00] XX Teens - "The Way We Were" - Welcome To Goon Island ["We had love..." ------ Opening track from their first (and last?) full-length album. "XX Teens were an English five piece post-punk band, originally formed of graduates from the Byam Shaw School of Art in North London. They began performing as Xerox Teens, but with a growing fan base, an eponymous club night, and airplay from Zane Lowe, Marc Riley, Jon Kennedy and Steve Lamacq, the band came to the attention of the Xerox Corporation. After some discussion they decided to change the name to XX Teens. .......................... They made four videos with the Sheffield filmmaker Simon Green, a creative relationship that has continued with Anthony Silvester writing the soundtrack to the 2012 short film Albatross: A Love Story. Videos for their songs were also created by the artist Juliette Blightman and the BBC New Music Shorts competition winner Kirk Hendry. ..................... The band's live shows included contemporary dancers, a uniformed brass section and special guests. Such performances, combined with their distinctive videos and comically recalcitrant radio and press interviews, were hallmarks of the band's early years and gained them a following in the art world. They collaborated with Cerith Wyn Evans to mark Modern Art Oxford's 40th anniversary, were photographed by Hedi Slimane and performed for Martin Creed at Tate Britain. Other notable performances included the Royal Festival Hall for Jarvis Cocker's Meltdown and a landmark show at Studio Voltaire where they performed with dancing dogs. The show featured Richard Curtis and his dog dancing display team dancing to a special set on the evening of a lunar eclipse."] [0:20:00] Voka Gentle - "Cheddar Man" - Domestic Bliss [Released February 06, 2026. "ondon trio Voka Gentle have been playing music together in some form “since the womb”, their guitarist, William J. Stokes tells me. Which might be why their latest album, Domestic Bliss, works so well. Composed of identical twin sisters Ellie and Imogen Mason, and William, Imogen’s husband, the band craft left-field, mercurial pop that’s as hard to box into a genre as it is easy to enjoy. ............. Recorded at London City University, where the band taught sound workshops in exchange for studio time, their latest LP is a tour-de-force in this synergistic mode of music-making, which yields some sporadically fun results. Domestic Bliss darts from fluid avant-psych to immersive field recordings and glitzy 80s pop, delivered with artfully melodic instincts. Perhaps most notable, though, is that it was nearly all recorded on a binaural head. ............ “We kind of became obsessed with it. A lot of the album was recorded with it, after Ollie, our drummer, managed to borrow one and it just sounded so good. A lot of them have faces on, but this didn’t. It was just a ball, annoyingly.” She says there aren’t too many of them still in existence: “No one knew how much it was actually worth. We just knew we couldn’t break it!” .............. Within minutes of hearing Voka Gentle’s music, or talking to them, there’s a sense that they’re a group organically committed to learning about and pushing the boundaries of recording and sound design. The band was formed in London after both Ellie and Imogen’s old band and William’s earlier project ended. Although they originally considered themselves a folk-trio, the group’s sound has changed a lot since then. “Our first stuff was quite layered and dense, but the instrumentation has changed throughout the projects. This album’s quite beat driven, quite repetitive and uses a lot of loops.” Ellie tells me. But they insist that resisting categorisation is key to Voka Gentle, which is less a band and more a “mindset” focused on being “intensely collaborative”, sharing creative authority and following “paths of...