WVKR will be holding an open house from 1 to 4 PM tomorrow on Saturday June 5th inviting both former DJs and any other interested alumni to take a look at the station and see how it has developed and grown within the past few years. Alumni will have the opportunity to talk with the students currently staffing the station and be able to relive their days as the proud independent spirits that contributed to 91.3 FM. To reach the station, simply follow the signs in the retreat indicating the location of WVKR, which is situated on the third floor of the college center.

On my first day back to Vassar this fall, I was chatting with my advisor about hip hop on the quad under a scorching August sun.  He asked me if I had heard of this cat named J. Cole who was starting to get some looks for his new mixtape.  I hadn’t (wince) but looked him up that day, downloaded The Warmup and started keeping tabs on him.  His rise from that day last summer has been meteoric–his mixtape exploded onto the blogosphere, he was featured on Jay Z’s and Wale’s 2009 releases and was tapped as one of the prestigious Freshman 10 for XXL Magazine.  Now, with his debut album set to drop, J. Cole is on a college tour which stopped at Vassar last week to perform at the annual Hip Hop 101 Throwback Jam with Big Daddy Kane.  Although rain forced the concert inside and I couldn’t see him perform in the same spot where I first heard about the young rapper months ago, my co-host Hannah Yardley and I got the chance to sit down with J and ask him a few questions before he hit the stage.

Click here or on the above image to watch J. Cole Interview video

–Connor O’Neill, WVKR Hip-Hop Genre Director

New York music blog Brooklyn Vegan spotted us selling merchandise last Saturday at the Flaming Lips show in Poughkeepsie!

Check out the photos HERE.

WVKR 2009-2010 merchandise is still available! Go to our Merch page for more info.

INSTANT SUMMER – One part heat, one part (see below):

MD PICK OF THE WEEK: COOL WORLD “Gaydream Nation” [Dœs Are] – Another JUICY and (gay)dreamy release from Dœs Are that sounds like the best summer backyard afternoon this side of the train tracks from Pete and Pete.

DARIUS’ PICK OF THE WEEK: DAVID BYRNE AND FATBOY SLIM “Here Lies Love” [Todomundo/Nonesuch] – The premise is unreal. Just a teaser: it has to do with the first lady of the Philippines and a beloved child servant. It’s conceptualized as absurdist disco theatre that sounds like the artists who composed it.

ELODIE’S PICK OF THE WEEK: WOODEN SHJIPS “Vol. 2″ [Sick Thirst] - The sound crosses the icy garage rock of early Echo and the Bunnymen with the sun bleached tremolo pun of the Scientists. This has hints of Krautrock, the trance inducing organ haze of Suicide, Velvets-style dance drone, and classic desert fried garage psych.

OTHER DREAMY ADDS TO THE PLAYLIST:

AWESOME COLOR “Massa Hypnos” [Ecstatic Peace] - You know, it’s awesome and it’s color, hence awesome color. We almost had a seizure of joy when they played in the college center MPR.

COCONUTS “CoConuts” [No Quarter] – Under “Sounds Like” on their MySpace, there was this quoted comment: “Waiting to see Austin hardcore/power violence Total Abuse at 12.15pm we’re discombobulated by the arrival of gurning, staggering, dribbling Aussies, The Coconuts. They seem to further bamboozle the crowd by tuning up for longer than they actually play their horrendously loud psychedelic horseshit. The crowd, possibly put off by their unannounced arrival and level of noise, mixed with their high level of chemical induced ineptitude, doesn’t appear too impressed. Despite this, The Coconuts are actually pretty good.”

GROWING “Pumps” [VICE Records] – Full of drum machine rhythms and layers of vocal and guitar textures. It munches on a heavy diet of scattershot and deconstructed electronic snax.

JÓNSI “Go” [XL Recordings] - Jonsi is the frontman for Sigur Ros. It is the soundtrack to a beautiful creature’s face. Just play it.