KCRW DJ Dan Wilcox will be on the wheels of steel this Saturday, March 30 as the Greenbar Distillery opens it’s doors for a KCRW pop up party. Read on! 

I can’t recall a DJ gig that I am looking forward to more than this Saturday’s KCRW Moves event at the Greenbar Distillery.Not only am I excited about spinning with fellow KCRW DJ Aaron Byrd, …

Sped up or slowed down. Ironic or painstakingly sincere. Blown up or stripped down. Cover songs can be approached many different ways, but there one element shared by all great covers: they must be EFFECTIVE.
Here are the most effective… the Top 10 Cover Songs of 2012.
1) ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFFITI “BABY” (original: Donnie & Joe Emerson): Forget cover songs, this might top my list …

From KCRW DJ Dan Wilcox:
When I was in junior high, my favorite television program was a monthly MTV show featuring underground music called ‘I.R.S.’s The Cutting Edge’.
It was the first time I ever saw people like Iggy Pop, The Cramps, X or the Red Hot Chili Peppers (I recall at the time I was convinced they were mentally handicapped).
It was where I saw Husker …

From KCRW DJ Dan Wilcox:
Bold. Brash. Boisterous. Teeming with hooks and spilling over with attitude.  If this is how you prefer your rock n’ roll, you have a new hero for 2012.  He goes by the name Devin.
Devin Therriault was born in Brooklyn, NY (already distinguishing himself from the glut of Brooklyn artists as one who actually grew up there), where he has perfected …

Year after year, it’s easy to get excited about the SXSW Music Conference.  It’s easy to put your “real” work aside for a week of non-stop live music and good, weird times.
Just as easy as it is to over-eat pulled pork, over-drink Lone Stars, over-blow your eardrums out and over-develop corns on your feet as you wander aimlessly at dawn after heading to an …

For me, a great cover song is the exercise in the art of the unexpected.  These are my Top 10 most enjoyable & memorable covers of 2011:
(go here to see KCRW DJs Top 10 lists)
1) Hanni El Khatib “You Rascal You” (original: Louis Armstrong): Hanni El Khatib proved to be one of the most exciting new artists of 2011 and his debut “Will the …

From DJ Dan Wilcox:

As both a radio DJ and music supervisor, I have learned to live with a certain level of bombardment of new music from labels, publishers, artists, managers, etc.  It only seems to be increasing and have to admit, it can be overwhelming sometimes.  Technology has made music so accessible and any artist with a reasonable amount of hustle can promote themselves …

From KCRW DJ Dan Wilcox:
Leave it to Richard Swift to turn a broken finger into something amazing.
I’ve been an admirer of Richard Swift for years now, someone whose body of work I feel is criminally overlooked.
Although Swift is not easy to pin down, shifting easily between pop album releases to soundtracks to experimental electronic projects, at the heart of his music is a classic …

I first came across the music of Australian artist Gotye (pronounced “go-tee-yay” as in Gaultier, the French translation of his last name Wouter) a few years back with the full-length “Like Drawing Blood”… a standout album which swung wildly from dark electronic pop to 60′s soul raveups to dubby reggae to Cut Chemist-ish sample-heavy hip-hop.  Yet everything was tied together with Wouter’s voice, which …

From KCRW DJ Dan Wilcox-
As I sit here nursing my post-SXSW cold & sickness — something that happens to me every year (probably a combination of the booze, malnutrition & lack of sleep) — I realize that this annual Austin music festival takes a real toll on the body.
I’m still feeling it in my feet (from all the walking, standing and occasional stationary …