#wxpn — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #wxpn, aggregated by home.social.
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Recently, WXPN ran a 24-hour song challenge where local folks could submit a song based on a theme prompt.
The top five song submissions are all wonderful in their own way. Had to share.
https://xpn.org/meet-the-24-hour-song-challenge-philly-anthems-edition-finalists/
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Ferocious Designs submits “Nobody’s Coming to Save the Day” for 24-hour song contest
Ferocious Designs, the mostly DIY music project of Central New Jersey-based songwriter Brian Kelley, wrote and recorded “Nobody’s Coming to Save the Day” June 6-7 for this year’s WXPN 24-Hour Song Challenge, based on the prompt of “freedom.”
WXPN, the non-commercial, member-supported radio station based out of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, launched the 24-hour song challenge in 2024, and Kelley has submitted a song for each of the three contests. This year’s challenge was dubbed the “Philly Anthems Edition” as it coincides with the station’s celebration of America’s birthplace as the nation turns 250.
“When this year’s song challenge was announced as the ‘Philly Anthems Edition,’ I kind of suspected something like ‘freedom’ would be the prompt,” said Kelley. “But I tried to put that out of my head because I didn’t want to get too attached to that theme just to be blindsided by a different prompt.”
But at noon EDT on Saturday, June 6, “freedom” was indeed the prompt announced on WXPN and songwriters within the station’s terrestrial broadcast range had until 11:59 a.m. EDT the following morning to submit a performance video of a song based on that prompt.
“I’ve been working on a new album that is leaning more toward prog and art rock, and I really wanted to go that direction with my entry,” said Kelley. “But the ‘Philly Anthems’ concept won out and I went with something more upbeat with a more anthemic chorus.
“And while I hadn’t gotten around to writing a song about it before that weekend, I had been thinking a lot about how even the politicians that say they are fighting back against the current fascist regime have come out against some of the very marginalized communities they are supposed to be fighting for,” added Kelley. “And I keep thinking that end of the day, we are on our own and no political party is really coming to save us from our current hellscape.”
And that’s how Kelley came up with “Nobody’s Coming to Save the Day.”
“It’s a pretty simple song and it came together relatively quickly, but I spent a lot of time on some guitar parts that I couldn’t quite get right since I’m not really a guitarist so I ditched them,” said Kelley. “But again the ‘Philly Anthems’ concept got me thinking of ways I could infuse some sounds of the city into the song so I found a free-to-use bell sound to evoke the Liberty Bell and played a little riff on a cheap melodica I bought late last year.
“And, of course, the melodica was made popular in pop music circles by Philly’s The Hooters in the 1980s,” added Kelley.
https://youtu.be/zB1Q-PfUvN0?si=sZtSSoiQxshM5Z3o
Kelley, who lives near Trenton, N.J., wanted to also include a nod to that city’s role in the American Revolution so he wore a “Trenton Makes the World Takes” shirt for the video.
“I definitely plan on including ‘Nobody’s Coming to Save the Day’ on my next album, but its final form may be a bit different than this one I cooked up in less than 24 hours,” said Kelley.
#indie #music #NJ #Philly #wxpn #xpnsongchallenge -
It's #WXPN's Winter Drive! I am already a member of this great independent music-focused radio station. They have come a long way in their musical offerings in recent years. I am always delighted to support them.
DONATE TODAY: https://xpn.my.salesforce-sites.com/donate?c=7012M0000029ssB
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King Ossian is spending the day drinking coffee (Skeleton Brew, of course) and listening to the top 885 covers of all time on #WXPN. Good times.
$1 from every bag of Skeleton Brew coffee purchased is donated to public broadcasting. That's our way of giving back.
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Really digging Highs in the 70s tonight on #WXPN. I’m expecting Johnny Fever to break in at any moment.
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Ferocious Designs releases “A Brand New Day (48-Hour Version)” via Bandcamp
Ferocious Designs, the music project of Central New Jersey-based songwriter Brian Kelley, has released “A Brand New Day (48-Hour Version)” as a single on Bandcamp.
The song was written for WXPN’s 24-Hour Song Challenge, which took place between noon EDT Saturday, May 31, and noon EDT Sunday, June 1. The version Kelley submitted for the contest can be found here.
“A Brand New Day (48-Hour Version)” includes re-recorded vocals and a bit more mixing to better represent the song than the version Kelley submitted for the contest.
“Since I’m not really a live performer, I rehearsed quite a bit before recording the video for submission, and foolishly wrecked my voice,” said Kelley. “By the time I absolutely had to record the video, all I could muster was a monotone low end.
While my voice hadn’t fully recovered, I re-recorded the vocals — and added some backing vocals — a few hours after I submitted the video so at least the song would exist closer to the form I envisioned while writing it,” added Kelley.
Watch Kelley’s WXPN 24-Hour Song Challenge video submission for “A Brand New Day” below.
https://youtu.be/d8wpKfFsCyo?feature=shared
#Bandcamp #indie #music #NJ #pop #rock #wxpn #xpnsongchallenge
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Still listening to #WXPN on the morning commute. Today they talked about #JapaneseBreakfast lead singer #MichelleZauner, who has published a memoir called "Crying in #HMart". I think the band should be called Korean Breakfast then.
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Got in the car, tuned to WXPN, a few minutes later they where playing #DavidBowie's 🟉. #WXPN is cool, in a geeky sort of way.
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@biff Naturally, whenever I get into my car, I plug in my phone and listen to podcasts. But I keep my radio tuned to the station I always listened to before CarPlay existed.
This morning, when I turned on the car, I had to quickly unplug my phone, because in the second before CarPlay kicked in I heard something that made go, “Wait, really?”
And sure enough. XPN was playing The Ballad of the Witches' Road.
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PJ Harvey – I Inside the Old I Dying
https://wgom.org/2024/03/06/pj-harvey-i-inside-the-old-i-dying/
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I'm digging all of the 80s hip-hop on Funky Friday #WXPN tonight. Is there some anniversary?
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Modern English at today's Free at Noon concert hosted by WXPN. They played a lot of their upcoming album and it's 👍. They rocked hard.
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#WXPN is doing a decade a day for Labor Day weekend. Really enjoying the 70s today. So much great #music
Listen online - https://xpn.org/2023/08/30/wxpn-through-the-decades/
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I’m an #aerospace #mechanical #engineer specializing in #DimensionalManagement and #ModelBasedEngineering, living on #Florida’s #SpaceCoast with my wife and three-legged demon-#cat… Grew up in #SouthJersey…
I’m big into #music (#wxpn is the best), #TikiDrinks, #Phillies, #Formula1, #Kayaking, #Cycling (just started), #Gardening, #Cooking, and #Politics.
#Miata is always the answer.
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The initial lineup for the 2023 WXPN XPoNential Music Festival, taking place at Wiggins Park in Camden, NJ, September 22-24. Featured acts include Old Crow Medicine Show, Margo Price, Tegan & Sara, The Hold Steady, Bailen, Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers, Allison Russell and Low Cut Connie! #WXPN #xpnfest #xpnfest2023
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playing records today on #wxpn from now until 2pm ET. the hits and the misses.
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Reasons I love #philly: walking into #wxpn for a meeting and noticing a name I recognize is playing tonight.
Took a second to register that it's the artist behind one of my all time favorite YouTube videos: https://youtu.be/Gl9GtO_vQxw
Bought a ticket for $25 and now I get to see her live!
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Few songs stop me in my tracks. Bruce Springsteen Thunder Road is one of them. #wxpn
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I never knew that Naked Eyes Always Something There to Remind Me was a Burt Bacharach cover. #wxpn
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