Ah, the Tea Bazaar- it’s such an odd shop on the Downtown Mall of Charlottesville. Mostly, the place books local aging hippies playing Bob Dylan covers, but sometimes (and more often lately) the little teashop upstairs attracts some talented rising bands. I remember seeing Calvin Johnson (front man of Beat Happening and founder of K records) play a solo set there to an audience in the single digits. But the Washed Out show was quite different from what I’ve seen there before. The Tea Bazaar is …

I know I just recently covered the Netherlands, but I’ve decided to make a return visit to highlight up-and-coming rap duo La Melodia. I saw them live at a global hip-hop showcase this past week at CMJ in New York City and loved their blend of old-school hip-hop, bossa nova, and soul. It was especially nice to see such a self-assured and spunky rapper in the form of MC Melodee since there seems to be a dearth of female rappers in the mainstream American rap scene.

There comes a time in every band’s career when for whatever reason the members realize that the economy is shit and they need to get rid of some less-than-essential members. For a lot of bands, this leads to battles to the death between bassists, guitarists and those guys that push buttons on the computer (I still don’t really know what they’re doing, but that seems to be where the music comes from). Now, in certain cases, bands will just find someone who will do it for cheaper (or better yet, pay the band to be a member) or even start selling non-essential organs to cover tour costs.
In the case of Golden Triangle, I think they’ve just been pointing fingers…

A few things set commercial radio and non-profit radio apart and one of those things is CMJ. The College Music Journal is the College Radio equivalent of Billboard, where stations like WCWM report their plays for the week. More importantly, every fall, the CMJ Marathon hits New York City with thousands of bands, panel discussions on radio and the music industry, and the general debauchery you would expect from a bunch of College Radio kids in Manhattan. It’s like MTV’s Spring Break for hipsters.
This year WCWM is sending some of its most professional student representatives to learn more about the radio and music industries, see new and upcoming independent musicians, wander around in the shadiest parts of Brooklyn, and hang out in dive bars. Check our style out: