In which Bwog staffer Hillary B. unearths a trove of desperate preteen pleas. The other day, one of my fellow interns at the marketing/publicity firm where I work turned to me and asked, “Do you know what happened to all the Good Charlotte fan mail?” That band once had been among our clients, and we’ve […]

Bwog Music Critic Bryan Mochizuki catches up with former boss Will Welch, CC ’03. Settle in, it’s a long one.  Will Welch isn’t the sort of alumnus you hear about a lot—he doesn’t donate eight figures in scholarship money or own the Pats or herd sheep with Heath Ledger.  But he’s the Deputy Editor of […]

Someone calling herself Reni Laine (the suspicious name was not found on Facebook nor the Columbia Directory, her name’s there Bwog just can’t spell) sent Bwog a music video, about, of all things, Frontiers of Science. “Sexy ladies, get out your calculators…we’re gonna do a little thing called a…back of the envelope calculation.”  Though it […]

Bwogger Kate Redburn brings us good tidings of the latest goodie to add to your iTunes.   I have a date with destiny, and it’s May 30, 2007. That’s when one of my all-time favorite musicians, Manu Chao, is playing my hometown. I’ve never been more excited about a concert, but only partially because of […]

Have you gotten your letter yet? Spec reported on Friday that 20 Columbia students have recieved missives (PDF here) from the Recording Industry Association of America, which recently sent out over 400 to college students across the nation (Boston University received the most, with 50). They’re not notices, exactly, but rather warnings: settle now, or […]

Timbaland drops a new album on April 3rd but it’s already everywhere on the interwebs.  Bwog music critic Bryan Mochizuki takes a look at the producer’s approach and offers up an early pick for single of the year.  Last November, Timbaland told an interviewer, “I changed the sound of radio at least four times.”  This […]

Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible hit stores on Tuesday.  Bwog Music Critic Bryan Mochizuki looks quizzically at the hype.  NME, the UK’s equivalent to Rolling Stone, recently called Neon Bible, Arcade Fire’s new album: “A record that – as much as London Calling or What’s Going On – holds a deep, dark, truthful Black Mirror up […]

With their latest album Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? at the top of WBAR’s charts and two shows on March 9th and 10th at Irving Plaza, Of Montreal‘s been keeping busy as they’ve made their way into the hearts of many a college hipster here in New York. Bwog contributor Ashley Nin caught up with keyboardist […]

In which Bwog music critic Bryan Mochizuki programs your Friday, Sunday, and Monday nights. There are at least two really great shows in the city this weekend and two equally shiver-inducing MP3’s to share today, but first…THE OSCARS ARE THIS SUNDAY.  Among the reasons to be excited: this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Ennio […]

Bwog music metacritic Bryan Mochizuki critiques the iTunes valentines day mixes, and offers his own. The advanced minds of the iTunes Music Store have put together a collection of mixes for Valentine’s Day, and they’re…pretty crappy.  It’s bad enough that some people will actually give their dude “Rock Love Songs For Him” – so does […]

Bwog music critic Bryan Mochizuki explains the world of mixtapes, the reasons to buy them, and how to choose them well. You used to be able to walk up to 125th any time of day and there’d be half-a-dozen guys camped out between 7th and Lenox selling mixtapes – five bucks a pop, four for […]

Composer Portraits – Frank Zappa Miller Theatre February 2, 2007 I often try to think about things in terms of how I would explain them to Benjamin Franklin. On Friday night, I attended the latest in the Miller Theatre’s Composer Portrait series, in which Fireworks Ensemble and Zephyros Winds (a string quintet and a chamber […]

Bits and pieces gathered from the musical universe by Bwog music critic Bryan Mochizuki: The new Norah Jones comes out today, and her two parallel existences continue. One is the more popular Norah “always a safe bet for Mom” Jones, or Snorah for naysayers. The other is her insanely cred-garnering alter-ego, the one who covered […]

Gail Archer, associate professor, organist, and music director of the Barnard/Columbia Chorus, played a concert Sunday evening, January 21 as a way of thanking her mentor who continues to mean so much to her. Archer commissioned her onetime teacher, the avant-garde composer David Noon to write an organ piece on the Pascal plainchant, Pange Lingua. […]

Why Lee C turned the Harvard job down? Whopping salary still derided for paucity by admiring SEAS kids Free downloadable music! Just for us! No, wait, scratch that, you can only stream it. And it doesn’t work on your iPod. Student reaction: as long as it “isn’t mainstream” or “have janky strings” After Bwog commenters’ aesthetic […]