Bob Boilen - All Songs Considered
Rita Houston - WFUV
Jim McGuinn - The Current
Bruce Warren - WXPN
Norm Winer - WXRT
Sean Coakley - Songlines (Moderator)
The format was simple, listen to a minute of a song and evaluate it for possible airplay. The audience as well as the panel had cards 1 through 10 to give each track a score. Coakley tried to pick songs that the panel had never heard, but of course that's impossible.
Here are the artists we listened to:
1. Eli Paperboy Reed – There was the general consensus that when you revive an established sound, in this case R&B/soul, you need to be prepared to do it just as well if not better than the greats. It's a big risk and they weren't sure if Eli pulled it off. Some of the comments were that he sounded forced.
2. Jesca Hoop – "Annoying and intriguing at the same time" ~ Boilen.Warren wondered if the initial novelty of this track (Four Dreams) would grate on listeners after the 3rd listen. To my ears it was the most innovative and fresh song played at the session. Jessa blends crunchy guitars and whimsical voices quite well.
3. Chief - Again the danger of comparison, Warren warned that classic singer/songwriter records from the 70s will be compared to it. Boilen felt he needed a better sense of songwriting.
4. The Black Keys – These guys are alreadycore artist for most stations, which means that they know that their listeners will want to hear it and will enjoy it in general. We heard a cut from their yet to be released album, Brothers. "Loved the top of that song, but hated the words", Boilen. Houston found it to be an authentic, proper nod to older stuff. McGuinn felt that you can hear the fact that they spend a lot of time traveling in the van
5. Steel Train – Warren gave it a 9 if it’s Modest Mouse, 1 if it's someone else, cause they need to find their own sound. Boilen loved it. McGuinn noted that his listeners have different uses our products and overall a Modest Mouse copycat could be good for PPM ratings.
6. Hayes Carll – Houston, "That wouldn’t have gotten much time played in the office". McGuinn felt that it's echoing or quoting is good, but there's no need to slavishly recreate Highway 61. "Knowing it’s Hayes I’d give it another listen cause we did really well with him in the past, " ~ Warren. "Is he good looking?" said Houston, "Oh yeah," replied the audience.
7. Nathaniel Rateliff – Houston felt this was a "gimme more kinda song".
8. Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) - The panel went absolutely crazy over this forthcoming track from the John Prine tribute album. They absolutely loved it. Warren gave it a 9. I was like, "eh".
9 . Villagers – McGuinn thought the bass sound was great. Winer liked the lyrics and the rhythms, and was impressed that it wasn't the "typical" rhyme sceme. Houston found the melody haunting.
Overall I was surprised by the lack of female artists presented. Also, I felt that there was very little straight ahead rock or innovative sounds presented, instead, a great deal of throw-back music (R&B or singer/songwriter). I called the panel the "usual suspects" because they've become the entrenched taste-makers for public radio and are defining successful music to some extent for the 30-50 somethings of the U.S. Is this a good thing? I'm not sure. Most of the people on the panel have been music directors in some form for 20 years. Will we see a changing of the guard of Adult Rock radio anytime soon? Probably not. Will we see another format or even media rise up to take it's place? I think so.
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