Looking at WFMU DJ Scott Williams’ tribute to the ultimate in sour expressions, the Guitar Face, rocking out isn’t always the ecstatic experience non-axe-wielders imagine it to be. Young and old, black and white, men and women, none are spared the pain of creation. For us, looking at Williams’ photo collection is a way to while away an afternoon, but in these shots of guitarists caught in sometimes-orgiastic but mostly clenched facial expressions while playing, we see face after face of eyes squeezed shut, cheeks deformed from sheer effort, mouths caught hanging agape during cries of soul-shredding intensity. And most of the time you just know they were playing “Smoke on the Water.” (http://blog.wfmu.org/photos/guitar_face/)

NPR COMES CLEAN
Public radio the world over is seen as impossibly safe both in Canada and the US. The likes of CBC Radio 3 and NPR’s indie-friendly programming — such as Carrie Brownstein’s excellent Monitor Mix blog and well-curated live concerts — are helping change that perception. You know what won’t help? Choice intros like Bob Boilen’s address to All Songs Considered’s listeners for their presentation of Black Mountain’s otherwise-excellent Feb. 19 show, available as a stream or a podcast: “Put on the headphones, or you’ll wake the baby.” Right, because the idea that someone under 30 listening to public radio is still kinda batshit insane. Or were they going after that coveted post-Juno demographic? (http://tinyurl.com/yrhxvr)

MP3 OF THE WEEK
Matthew Dear, “Don’t Go This Way”: RCRDLBL is a new online label who mostly host MP3s by artists who clearly have their own labels already (Dear is Ghostly International’s marquee artist) so it’s not entirely clear what being a “RCRDLBL artist” actually means. They gave us this exclusive, percolating track that drips with sex yet seems to take its vocal cues (“Devil inside me / I will fall”) from Daniel Miller’s deadpanning on “Warm Leatherette.” Clarity is overrated. (http://tinyurl.com/yr2eha)

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