New website - Squawkin' Good Tunes!

I have a new website and blog that I've started up to go with the launch of the new version of my show on WRUV, called Squawkin' Good Radio. The new website is www.squawkingood.com - in addition to being the official page of my radio show, I will also be posting my favorite songs and a bunch more music related posts. Plus there will be a new version of Squawkatiel Madness next month and www.squawkingood.com will have all the info on that. If you are a follower of this blog, you should follow Squawkin' Good Tunes or follow me on Facebook or Twitter as I will no longer be using this blog. But I will still be on 90.1 WRUV from 8-10 pm on Wednesdays! Thanks to everyone who has listened to my show and followed this blog, and I hope you will stick with me as I begin with this new show and website!

Flight of the Squawkatiel's final show!

The day has come...January 27, 2016 will be the final edition of Flight of the Squawkatiel. It has been awesome doing this show for the past 4 years but it is time to try something new. Tune in tonight from 8-10 pm on 90.1 WRUV or listen online at wruv.org - I have one more hour of great new music plus an hour of some of the best songs you've heard on the show in the past four years. But fear not - I will be back at the same time next week with a brand new show called Squawkin' Good Radio! This show will air every Wednesday night from 8-10 pm and instead of an hour new music + an hour themed set, I will mix in the new music and older stuff together over the course of two hours (about 2/3 of it will be new music). I will be featuring more artists I discover on Soundcloud/Spotify, as well as old favorites from my collection. You'll still hear the same kind of music you've enjoyed on Flight of the Squawkatiel over the past few years. There may be a new, revamped edition of Squawkatiel Madness this spring as well! This new show will coincide with a new blog/Facebook/Twitter/Soundcloud profile called Squawkin' Good Tunes. If you are already following me on Facebook, Twitter or Soundcloud, those will change over to the new one. I will be using this to share all my favorite new musical discoveries with you in addition to my weekly show. This is meant to be a unique music blog for those of you who are tired of the music Pitchfork/Stereogum/etc have been pushing lately and want something a little different yet familiar. I don't know how much longer I will be doing a show at WRUV, but I plan to be there through the spring and most likely the summer as well. I will be leaving Burlington in the near future for work/life reasons but I do plan on keeping the music blog throughout, and this new show is meant to ease that transition. I do hope you continue listening because I have some great stuff to share with you this year! -McSquawk

Flight of the Squawkatiel's Top 20 Songs of 2015

2015 has come to an end, and as always, it's time to look back at all the great music came out this year. It seemed a lot of big names came back and released new albums in 2015, yet a whole bunch of new (or just new to me) artists put out a lot of good stuff.

If you missed this week's show, you can listen online here (until 10 pm on Wednesday, January 6th.

Here are Flight of the Squawkatiel's 20 favorite songs of 2015:

#20: Jamie xx feat. Romy - Loud Places

You may have seen Jamie xx's album In Colour on a lot of year end lists, and for good reason.



#19: Blur - Ong Ong

The Magic Whip, Blur's first album in 12 years doesn't disappoint, and if that wasn't enough, they added another classic tune to their catalog with "Ong Ong".



#18: The Mountain Goats - The Legend of Chavo Guerrero

A song about a sports hero you'll enjoy even if you're not into sports.


#17: Grimes - Flesh Without Blood

Claire Boucher aka Grimes got off to a good start early this year with a demo version of her song "RealiTi", and topped it with her critically acclaimed album Art Angels featuring this song.


#16: Wild Nothing - TV Queen

My favorite of the two singles released from Wild Nothing's forthcoming album Life of Pause, the album I'm looking forward to most in 2016.

#15: Chadwick Stokes - Prison Blue Eyes

My favorite whistling song that came out in 2015, from an artist my girlfriend Althea and I agree on.


#14: Chromatics - In Films

From an album that is yet to come out, we were treated with a few Chromatics singles in 2015, this being the best one of the bunch.


#13: Mt. Wolf feat. Alexa Harley - VII

This song seemingly came out of nowhere, but for sure one of the most haunting songs I heard in 2015.



#12: My Morning Jacket - In Its Infancy (The Waterfall)

My Morning Jacket returned with a very strong album The Waterfall, including this song which captures the glory of my favorite My Morning Jacket song "One Big Holiday".


#11: Craft Spells - Our Park By Night

Craft Spells followed up last year's album Nausea with this single where he experiments with a fresh new sound.


#10: Hibou - Dissolve

If this band has a familiar sound to you - that's the former drummer of Craft Spells, bringing a distinctively Captured Tracks sound to Barsuk Records.


#9: Warehouse Eyes - The Same Dream

Another Soundcloud discovery that went on to become one of my favorite songs this year. Amazing production on this song as well as Warehouse Eyes' Prisms EP.


#8: San Fermin - Jackrabbit

I saw San Fermin live at Signal Kitchen this summer, the title track off their great sophomore album was one of my early favorites of 2015 and remained through the rest of the year.



#7: Little Children - We're Falling

While this song basically sounds like a combination of The War on Drugs' "Red Eyes", Real Estate's "It's Real" and Wild Nothing's "Golden Haze", it's an addicting song that's just as good and arguably better than any of those.


#6: DTCV - Miley Cyrus Wins the Race

DTCV are a duo including a former member of Guided By Voices, with my favorite noise-pop song of the year. Definitely check this out if you liked that Alvvays album from last year.

#5: The Velvet Teen - GTRA

The Velvet Teen's 2015 album All Is Illusory was one of my favorites of this year. They have been around for over 15 years, but this album was my introduction to them after I reviewed it for WRUV. Lots of good songs but my favorite was the final track "GTRA" - the best way to describe this song is to imagine you're hearing "Hey Sandy" by Polaris (you know, the theme song from The Adventures of Pete & Pete) for the first time again.


#4: Waterstrider - Calliope

Waterstrider were one of my favorite new discoveries of 2015. Their debut full length Nowhere Now was one of my favorite albums of this year, with many great songs, but "Calliope" especially stands out.


#3: Mew - My Complications

Mew came back with a great new album in 2015 + -, but this song, which adds Bloc Party guitarist Russell Lissack to the mix, puts it over the edge.


#2: Pocket Panda - Riptide (Album Version)

Seattle band Pocket Panda was another of my favorite new artists of 2015. They bring a fresh take on folk-pop with a wide variety of instruments. I discovered them reviewing their album This Arrangement of Molecules for WRUV. This is a reworking of a song that appeared on their Find Yourself a Stranger EP.


#1: Darlingside - Go Back

This is the second time an artist I first discovered at Radio Bean claimed the #1 spot on one of my year end lists - Darlingside had a great year in which their sophomore album Birds Say (my favorite album of the year) garnered critical acclaim. Album highlight "Go Back" is my favorite song of the year. Those vocal harmonies!

Fall 2015 Update

Sorry it's been such a long time since I've last posted here. Life has been really busy and I haven't had time to keep up a blog. But I have some important news for you!

First, Flight of the Squawkatiel is back on WRUV for the fall semester at the usual time - Wednesday nights from 8-10 pm.

Now the big news: This will be Flight of the Squawkatiel's final semester at WRUV.

Don't worry, I'm not leaving WRUV. I still plan on doing a show into 2016 and beyond, at my usual time. I just felt it was time to mix things up and bring some more excitement and new ideas to my show. I don't want this to be the show that goes "here's the latest brand new music from the artists you already know" - I want it to be more unique and personalized. Since I have been at WRUV for over 4 years, I have a clearer idea of the kind of show I want to have.

The show will have a new name that I haven't chosen yet, but I still will go by DJ McSquawk since that's how I'm known at WRUV. I would still like the name of the new show to have "Squawk" or "Squawkatiel" in it. If you have any name suggestions, feel free to leave them here!

The new show will take over from Flight of the Squawkatiel once WRUV's Spring 2016 schedule begins. Here's what you can expect from the new show:

• The format will be more freeform, no longer 1 hour of new music + 1 hour from my collection. About 2/3rds new music, and the rest will be some old favorites from my collection and listener requests. The new music will be a rotating mix of about 15 different artists, with 5-8 new ones debuting each week.
• The music will be similar to what I already play on my show - a blend of indie rock, dream pop, electronica, acoustic/folk rock, energetic pop rock, and anything else that sounds good in between. Your soundtrack to Wednesday nights in Burlington!
• I will be incorporating more of my favorite discoveries of unsigned/independent artists on Soundcloud and Spotify and giving them more exposure. I'm also interested in doing interviews with some of these artists, and playing them on the show.
• I will interact more with listeners on this show rather than just playing music. In today's world where you can easily stream any music at any time, I want to use the radio to offer something unique you can't find anywhere else.

This will be a very exciting time for me. Thanks to everyone who has listened to my show the past 4 years, and thanks to all the artists who provided the great music I've played on my show. Keep tuned in to Flight of the Squawkatiel the next few months on 90.1 WRUV, and check back here or on Facebook or Twitter for more updates on the new show.

Squawkatiel Madness 2015: Grand Final

After 5 rounds of voting, you have selected Jenny Lewis and Rubblebucket as the final two artists competing for the title of Squawkatiel Madness Champion!

The winner will get a special show dedicated to their music on April 30th, including selections from their side projects, remixes and covers of their songs by other artists, and other cool stuff. But now is the time to decide who that will be!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

If you vote above, not only do you get to decide who you want to win Squawkatiel Madness 2015, but you can also request a song you want to hear on their victory show next week!

Voting ends April 30th at 9 pm. You will be able to call in your vote as well during the first hour of that night's show.

Squawkatiel Madness 2015 Round 5 - Get your votes in!

We're down to the Feathered Four of Squawkatiel Madness 2015! After 5 weeks of voting, we are left with just four artists remaining in the tournament: tUnE-yArDs, Jenny Lewis, The Decemberists, and Rubblebucket.

We need your votes! So far no one has voted (besides myself) so if you want to have a say in which of these four will get a special show dedicated to their music the night of April 30th, vote below:

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

This is your chance to decide whether it will be tUnE-yArDs or Jenny Lewis taking on The Decemberists or Rubblebucket in the final match of Squawkatiel Madness 2015! You have until Thursday, April 23rd at 6 pm to get your votes in. That night, I will announce who your final two remaining artists are in Squawkatiel Madness who will compete for your vote this coming week.

If you're unsure of who to vote for, here is a playlist of videos from all 4 artists to help you decide:

Squawkatiel Madness 2015: The Feathered Four - voting has opened!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

We are down to just 4 bands left in Squawkatiel Madness 2015 - the Feathered Four! One of these four artists will get a special show dedicated to their music on April 30th, and you get to decide who it will be!

But right now, you need to decide which two artists will battle it out in the Grand Finale next week! The matches for this round are:

(4) tUnE-yArDs vs. (5) Jenny Lewis

(2) The Decemberists vs. (2) Rubblebucket

If you're not sure who to vote for, check out these music videos from all four artists below:


Voting for this round ends Thursday, April 23rd at 6 pm. Tune into that night's show to find out who made it to the final match of Squawkatiel Madness 2015!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!