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EDBZ BLOG #39

  • Oct 31

The days are getting shorter and the weather is cooling. Today was partly cloudy but warm, quite pleasant in Burbank, California. Halloween is coming at the end of the month and the Halloween Horror Nights are already happening at the Universal Studios Tour and AMC theatres are playing scary movies. I’ve added Halloween-themed songs into the daily rotation too! Big Stir Records has a lengthy Halloween album named after a famous scary sounds record I had as a kid and we’d play it at the door when kids came for candy. Chilling, Thrilling Hooks And Haunted Harmonies: The Big Stir Records Halloween Grimoire is the name of the compilation of 19 songs from big names in Power Pop. Go check it out, it’s great fun. https://bigstirrecords.bandcamp.com/album/chilling-thrilling-hooks-and-haunted-harmonies-the-big-stir-records-halloween-grimoire

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DJ Wednesday played music for three nights in Portland for Dreamgaze 2025 this past week and passed out stickers, as did 10 Million Lights in Portland and at the simultaneous Tremolo Fest in Seattle. Way too many great bands from the Pacific Northwest and West Coast, including Mumrunner, touring from Finland. I do wish I was at one of the shows. DJ Wednesday sent me a photo of the original EDBZ logo projected on the back of the stage at Dreamgaze. What an honor to be associated with all the fine people and bands that made these three-night events so memorable for music fans. I like to think I helped with my promotion of the shows on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Bluesky. Nico Beatastic also helped promote the shows and they projected his Shore Dive Records logo too!


Greg Peters and Meagan Masingill are back on Eardrum Buzz Radio, they’re both on the first Friday of the month and Greg is solo on the third Friday of the month from 8pm-10pm PT. Greg is DJ Grim and Meagan is DJ Dreams. We used to all three do a twice-monthly live show and it was fun, but now they can focus more on the songs and styles and bands they both love. I’m listening to them both now playing songs from 1992. My live show, called Friday I’m In Love is on the second and fourth Fridays at 6pm PT. There’s too much new music coming out so I try to focus on new releases once a month and have a themed show too. I’m planning on a Halloween tricks and treat show later this month.


Be sure to check the schedule below the player at www.eardrumbuzz.net for our schedule and tune in for all your favorite shows and maybe you’ll find some new favorites or be reminded of songs from the past too. Without the likes of The Outsiders Music Show or The Comforts of Madness or Your First Listen or Shore Dive Records Transmissions or Souvlaki Bass Station or Six Beats Under and London Calling and Seasons Change and Rock Never Rusts and Beyond The Beaten Tracks, this station would just be me and submissions and my musical favorites. All the hosts make Eardrum Buzz Radio that much better and I am eternally grateful for all the passionate people whose shows are featured on the station. I prefer to be eclectic and that’s a badge of honor! We have regular listeners from all over the world and I hope that even though we might not all speak the same language, we all understand the language of music.


And just today, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson announced they’re playing a few dates in June to celebrate Rush’s 50th anniversary. So we have that going for us.


Listen: eardrumbuzz.net 

Eardrum Buzz Radio Patreon page: patreon.com/eardrumbuzzradio

Follow Eardrum Buzz Radio: Instagram: @eardrumbuzzradio 

Twitter: @eardrum_buzz 

Send submissions to: bret@eardrumbuzz.net with "Submission" and your band name in the subject. Include your band name, song titles, album title, track numbers and artwork in your metadata. Please no Country, Modern Pop, Blues, Rap or Americana. Please make the song/album link easy to find in the email. Please only MP3 files, no WAV files, no Spotify links, just your awesome music!

EDBZ BLOG #38

  • Sep 2

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Summer is coming to its incredibly hot and humid end (Soon? Please?) which means Halloween is just around the corner.  Well, between now and Thankgiving I have Nitzer Ebb and Stereolab live to look forward too and I’m taking my end of summer week in San Diego the second week of September. Superman and The Fantastic Four have fed me through the last few months, along with The Naked Gun, Weapons and 28 Years Later as far as movies go. I know there’s plenty on streaming to catch up on like Aliens: Earth and some other interesting series and a few movies as well. 


But what really has excited me is the new releases I’ve been sent over the last few months. Superchunk have a new album called Songs In The Key Of Yikes and it’s a masterclass of catchiness and noisy guitars. Hunk And His Punx circle around melodious Pop, Garage Rock and nostagia on Walking Out On This World. They even have a song called Rainy Day In L.A. One can only wish! The Planet Smashers return with On The Dancefloor, thirteen tracks of Ska fun. Tremours’ new album Fragments is all texture and atmosphere designed to make you forget about the world.  INTO-NARU-MORI’s new release The Things We Lost is an interesting collection of songs that blur genres and styles, mixing Trip-Hop, Indie Rock, Electronica and so much more, for fans of Massive Attack, Bjork and Lamb. And This House is Creaking on their new album I Want To Feel At Home Here play the type of weird, wonderful music that just gives me faith that there’s still talented and intelligent and fun music still being made that isn’t interested in getting the most clicks.

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Dream Gaze and Tremolo Fest 2025 are just a few weeks away, so if you’re in Portland or Seattle be sure to get your tickets for one, two or all three nights. Most of the bands are playing both events. 


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Our latest addition to Eardrum Buzz Radio is Dave Fennessy and his Outsiders Music Show. You can hear Dave on Wednesdays at 11am & 60m Pacific time. From a seaside town in southern England, Dave has a weekly show that goes from Punk to Pop and is always a fun hour of music. His announcer lady sounds rather attractive too. 


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And I want to say farewell and bon chance to DJ Wampas, who has been doing two shows a month for several years now on Sundays and is saying farewell to creating his music shows. He will be back for our sixth anniversary though. Thank you Stephane for all the hours of underground music we wouldn’t otherwise be exposed too! 



Thanks to all who take the time to listen to Eardrum Buzz Radio. You know we’re on all day, not just during our DJ shows, right? Support the station via Patreon or Paypal, it really helps! And please continue to seek out and purchase music! Let’s keep creativity alive and not just support some business owner who is investing in murder machines. 


Listen: eardrumbuzz.net 

Eardrum Buzz Radio Patreon page: patreon.com/eardrumbuzzradio

Follow Eardrum Buzz Radio: Instagram: @eardrumbuzzradio 

Twitter: @eardrum_buzz 

Send submissions to: bret@eardrumbuzz.net with "Submission" and your band name in the subject. Include your band name, song titles, album title, track numbers and artwork in your metadata. Please no Country, Modern Pop, Blues, Rap or Americana. Please make the song/album link easy to find in the email. Please only MP3 files, no WAV files, no Spotify links, just your awesome music!

EDBZ BLOG #37

  • Jul 2

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Friday, July 4th is the beginning of Eardrum Buzz Radio’s Fifth Anniversary! We have a special Vapour Trail from Greg Peters, a show from Gunnar Malmquist, aka DJ MQT, Gretchen DeVault of The Blue Herons and shows coming in from Sean F. Schultz, aka Sonder, Goran and Ronny from Damokles, Contrarian Speaks with Goran Karlsvik, DJ Jimi C aka Jim Biggs of Black Nite Crash and DJ Knillz and a show from Meagan Masingill as well. Keep looking for updates on Facebook at facebook.com/eardrumbuzzradio and facebook.com/groups/eardrumbuzzradio.


We’ll also have our regular shows on Saturday from DJ Wednesday, Nico Beatastic, and Rob Levy and our Sunday shows with DJ Wampas, David Kasheta and Brandon Dudley, so check the schedule below the player at eardrumbuzz.net to be sure not to miss out.


I’ll be giving away items from our merch store, so head over there and maybe you’ll find something fun to wear, drink from, something to stick on your stuff or something to carry your stuff around in: eardrum-buzz-radio.printify.me


Every dollar helps keep Eardrum Buzz Radio going, from a gifted album on Bandcamp, to a few dollars via Paypal or even a yearly subscription on Patreon! You’ll hear my archived live Friday I’m In Love shows before the rest of the world along with exclusive mixes and discounts on our store.


Cruel World Fest 2025 was a blast! I got to see Daanon DeCock and Anthony Michalopoulos for the first time in a year and met Al Koehly, whom Daanon met at another show. It was cloudy and gloomy but I had hopes for a dry, if not warm day. It began to drizzle during Midge Ure's set and he and the next few acts, who all happened to be from the UK apologized or commented on the English weather.  At least it wasn't hot and sweaty!

We lunched, chatted, took the shuttle to the Bowl, enjoyed Midge Ure, who sang songs from his solo career as well as from Ultravox and Visage. Midge was in fine form belting out the lyrics to Vienna and We Fade to Grey. 


Blancmange was Neil Arthur performing for the first time in over 30 years and Tara Busch on synths, creating a danceable racket loud enough to get the attendees moving for songs like Dancing on the Ceiling, Blind Vision and Don't Tell Me, easily swinging from Industrial menace to Synthpop bliss. 


It was a real joy to see Alison Moyet for the first time. Her band performed songs ranging from her time in Yaz to the last decade or so, with highlights Situation, Love Resurrection, Nobody's Diary and Don't Go plus It Won't Be Long and When I Was Your Girl. Moyet was sexy and has a voice you remember in your bones. 


'til tuesday reunited for the first time in almost 40 years, sounding fine. They did a cover of Drive by The Cars as well as lively renditions of What About Love, Coming Up Close, Love In A Vacuum and Voices Carry. There were quite a few people singing along, including myself. Aimee Mann went on to have a successful solo career and her song Wise Up from the Magnolia soundtrack was ingeniously and emotionally used at the climax of the movie. I do wish they'd played that song, but it was fun seeing the band for the first time. As they got to the climax of Voices Carry the stage began turning to set up for the next act, leaving 'til tuesday to finish the song and thank the audience from the other side of the stage back. The crew should have let them finish!s

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Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD) were excellent. I'd heard them from afar at the Darker Waves festival but this was the first time to enjoy them up close. Andy McClusky and Paul Humphreys plus a drummer and second keyboardist performed so many great songs and even two they weren't planning on playing. McClusky played bass on a few tracks and Humphreys took over on vocals for a few songs. There is a reason they're so beloved and the fact they still sound terrific and continue to tour is a testament to their talent and catchiness. We sang along to If You Leave and Electricity and Joan of Arc and Enola Gay and So In Love and Dreaming! 


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After OMD we hoofed it to the Sad Girls stage to see a little of Clan of Xymox who did their European Darkwave thing, then we got a good spot at the Lost Boys stage for Devo. This was the second time Devo had played Cruel World, but since it was still sunny the last time, their multimedia goings on behind them wasn't as effective. With the clouds and gloom, this time they were somehow even better, louder, angrier, more angular and just simply the best band and performance of the day. Again. I asked Tony what a Devo show back in the early 80's at a small club must've been like and we could only think it would have been dangerous and full of violent energy. The band ran through Whip It, Uncontrollable Urge, Jocko Homo, That's Good, Girl U Want, Mongoloid and Gates of Steel and were just truly amazing. If you haven't yet seen Devo live, you haven't seen one of the best bands AND best live bands around. 


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The Go-Go's were another band I'd never seen live and they completely blew us away with a noisy, punky, flashy, colorful set of songs from their teen years through their pop heyday. There were pictures of them with musicians of the day, candid pics of them goofing around on tour, a travelogue of their looks and hairstyles with the visuals adding even more fun and gravitas to a band that started out as spiky punks and became icons.  It was so much fun to see the band in shiny and fluffy and glittery outfits playing distorted guitars and singing sweetly to such songs as Vacation, This Town, Tonite, Head Over Heals and closing out hard with Our Lips Are Sealed and We Got The Beat. 


Seeing The Go-Go's would have been enough for me and Tony but we went to see New Order headline the main stage. It was fun to hear songs like Temptation, The Beach and Bizarre Love Triangle, but my back and my feet were hurting and my ears were tired as well. There was still a huge crowd of thousands out under the clouds and while it did drizzle for a few hours it wasn't hot and uncomfortable, making for an easier festival to live through.  


I think this was the best year so far, at least for me. There were more female acts and musicians represented than any other year, which gives me hope for even more diversity next year. Who will play, who will headline, who will we manage to see for Cruel World 2026? The next day I recuperated, resting my feet and back and dealing with the increased ringing in my ears thanks to another great day of music and friends.


You can see photos in the Cruel World 2025 photo album HERE


Written by Bret Miller 


Listen: eardrumbuzz.net 

Eardrum Buzz Radio Patreon page: patreon.com/eardrumbuzzradio

Follow Eardrum Buzz Radio: Instagram: @eardrumbuzzradio 

Twitter: @eardrum_buzz 

Send submissions to: bret@eardrumbuzz.net with "Submission" and your band name in the subject. Include your band name, song titles, album title, track numbers and artwork in your metadata. Please no Country, Modern Pop, Blues, Rap or Americana. Please make the song/album link easy to find in the email. Please only MP3 files, no WAV files, no Spotify links, just your awesome music!

© 2025 EardrumBuzz Radio

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