WZBC 90.3 FM Newton
Boston College Radio, Chestnut Hill, MA
Student-run radio station at Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Mass. USA
Gulls Window Circus
- Every week on Tue at 5:00 PM
Specialty
With Carl Thien
In the same way that a seagull locates the one good piece of food inside of a crumpled up brown bag blown underneath a car after a worker’s lunch break, Carl finds the one good
song hidden at the end of side 2 on a dusty record in a forgotten corner of a record store,
and brings new finds to you every week on Gulls Window Circus, weaving a story that
never repeats itself as it ebbs and flows through time, geography and genre.
Oct 4, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#539
Doubled returns on Gulls Window Circus, the series which premiered with show #537 – a rock show with two side-by-side LP tracks from each artist, all LP tracks played on a real turntable in real time. Amsterdam [De Cylinders], Florida [The Comets], Los Angeles [Joneses, Madlib], Paris [Dirty Sound System], England [Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Brian Eno, Buzzcocks (live)], Boston [Lemonheads], NYC [Linda Hoover], Cologne [Can], Canada [Neil Young], Zambia [The Witch] and Wales [Super Furry Animals] are all strongly represented.
Sep 27, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#538
Carl’s living room means vinyl LP tracks played on a real turntable in real time. A well put together rock show awaits you. With lots of unusual pairings that work well. Ed Gein’s Car paired with Jefferson Airplane? Yup. Christie McVie paired with Dream Syndicate? Yes again – many such pairings… You get a double dose of Bob Mould. The show ends with an unknown 1979 7″ out of Maine (The Bumstead’s) sent by a Gulls Window Circus listener.
Sep 20, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#537
A new Gulls Window Circus series ‘Doubled’ – two side-by-side LP tracks from each artist, all LP tracks played on a real turntable in real time. I have professed a desire to play 2 tracks from artists in the past. 1988 seems to be ground zero for many of the tracks that get doubled today – Band Of Outsiders, The Jazz Butcher, The Godfathers, The Buck Pets, Close Lobsters, The Wonder Stuff, The Railway Children, The Ophelias. I think you will either wonder how they passed you by, or revel in sounds you used to love.
Sep 13, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#536
Today we spend some time in Africa [Rob, William Onyeabor, Orchestre Massako, Rim And Kasa], and with artists from other countries that have strong connections to Africa [Plunky And Oneness Of Juju, Gaston, Tony Allen], the Northern Ireland [Andwella], France [David Keaton], UK [Róisín Murphy] and finally with a bunch of USA artists [Orange Krush, Quincy Jones, Yvonne Fair, Bobbi Humphrey, Sly & The Family Stone, Fay Hill, Reanna Coleman]. A soul/funk delight.
Sep 6, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#535
Vinyl LP tracks rock show. NYC bands Steel Tips and Band Of Outsiders, Australians Tropical F*ck Storm, New Zealander Robert, West Coast artists Chuck Prophet, Love, Alan Munson, The Dream Syndicate, L7 and Melvins are all featured alongside a bunch of UK artists.
Aug 30, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#534
A rock show that features all vinyl LP tracks. Spread among the decades that separate many of the tracks are 4 covers: tracks by MOB, Kinks, Stones and Hendrix are covered by Anti-Flag, The Raincoats, Fanny and Dead Moon. Stone cold classic artists like Scott Walker, John Prine, Los Lobos, T.Rex and Neil Young sit with lesser-known artists like The Martha’s Vineyard Ferries, Dalis Car, Sportique, The Halo Benders and Phantom Limbs.
Aug 23, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#533
An electronic show by plan, but it spread its wings to reggae, deep house, disco and experimental/electronic. Artists from all corners of the world are featured, and the joy is how these different sounds blend together into a show that simply makes sense.
Aug 16, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#532
Today’s show is all vinyl LP and 12″ single tracks played on a real turntable in real time. Experimental/electronic sounds start the show with 33.10.3402, then we travel to prog-influenced cinematic tracks, instrumental funk, Italian soundtracks, then spend the rest of the show doing vector searches to the outer limits of musics new and old, suggested by the core focus of the show. Many good finds are surfaced along the way – take the ride.
Aug 9, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#531
Carl’s living room series in an electronic show that covers several eras and locales. All vinyl played in real time. Several tracks from the early 00’s (AIR, Zoot Woman, Yoko Mono, Rick Wade) mix with current re-edits (A.L-T., Loose Joints, Dionne Warwick, Marc Roberts), re-discoveries from the past (Angel’o , Carol Williams, Saâda Bonaire, Monoton, Ultravox, Ambient Warrior), and finally a brand new track from A Certain Ratio. All woven together comfortably.
Aug 2, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#530
Summertime = surf time on Gulls Window Circus in the Carl’s living room vinyl LP tracks played in real time series. The show starts with some funky instrumentals and soul then moves to 50s, including some more recent practitioners of the sound, before settling on surf bands, with many awesome tracks to love.
Jul 26, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#529
Carl’s living room series plays with ambient and prog sounds, mixing in some library, rock, African-tinged funk, disco not disco, and svante garde. I think the pieces slip into sync where it seems they shouldn’t, and I think this show has a flow that works really well.
Jul 19, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#528
Fourth and final week of the reggae series on Gulls Window Circus breathes deep and expands into a sunny spot. A highlight is Freddie McGregor ‘Children Listen To Wise Words’ which uses the melody of Cat Stevens ‘Wild World.’ The Charmaine Burnett cover of Barbara Acklin’s ‘Am I the Same Girl’ is pretty great. The two dubs from Studio One Dub that close out the first hour are nice – all tracks rightfully earn their place and should bring you joy.
Jul 12, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#527
The third week of ‘reggae’ brings us deep once again. I loved discovering Dambala ‘Lorraine (Lexx Dub)’ one of the six 7″ singles we hear today from the one off collaboration between the Emotional Rescue label and the Japanese store HMV. Directly following the Dambala track is the totally classic Peter Tosh/Mick Jagger collaboration ‘(You Got To Walk And) Don’t Look Back’ – wow. Be sure to hear Hortense Ellis ‘Sitting In The Park’.
Jul 5, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#526
The second week of the Reggae series brings a lot of yummy disco reggae and memorable songs, spun on vinyl on a real turntable in real time. My personal fave is Bunny Clarke’s cover of ‘Be Thankful’ (William DeVaughn’s 1972 amazing out-of-nowhere hit). Also love the dub of the 73 Spinners track ‘I’ll Be Around’ by Sound Dimension. Two Boney M alumni appear here (by coincidence!): Sylvia Tella and Toyin Adekale, each with great tracks. If I squint, I could hear Debsey Wykes of Dolly Mixture singing the Toyin track ‘Smile’. During the first hour there are 4 punk bands doing reggae, then we hear the artist that originally recorded Armagideon Time, Willie Williams.
Jun 28, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#525
The start of a 4 week Gulls Window Circus series with the self-describing name ‘reggae’. All tracks are being played on vinyl, spun on a real turntable in real time. Lots of Soul Jazz compilations, some classic Bob Marley, a few Emotional Rescue 7″s, and a dub of a Sheila Rickards track. The song that keeps running though my head is the first song in the second hour, Ken Boothe ‘When I Fall In Love’ – like a reggae Johnny Mathis. Blundetto & Grand Magneto’s version of a song popularized by Nilsson ‘Everybody’s Talkin’ also keeps sticking – outside of that, every track should please.
Jun 21, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#524
Carl's living room series brings a bunch of treats. Karate is going on tour soon to support their Numero Group reissues, so this show belongs to them, but I do want to draw your attention to John Du Cann, who has had recent reissues by the label Just Add Water, and Flying Norwegians, who have 2 LPs that have recently been reissued. The first ever Everything But The Girl single, a cover of the Cole Porter track 'Night And Day' has a RSD reissue, as did the 2nd Kid Creole And The Coconuts LP. Muffs fans have much to love in the vinyl release of 'New Improved Kim Shattuck Demos', and Alan Vega fans have Real Gone Music's reissue of the 'Saturn Drive' LP. A lot of great stuff I'm not mentioning...
Jun 14, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#523
Carl’s living room (vinyl LP tracks played in real time on a turntable) returns to rock and gives a bunch – all songs are paired and announced after 2 songs. Some of my favorite pairings today are ALRN and KRGA, and Mink Deville and Chick Prophet. But no track made it into the show by sneaking in – all shine bright and any one could be your new fave.
Jun 7, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#522
Carl’s living room series goes way back to late 60s/early 70s with maybe a few other times thrown in as the spirit moved me (Hamburger All-Stars, Brian Wilson, and Linda McCartney come to mind in that regard). Was glad to see in issue 128 of Shindig (with Blondie on the cover) they called out Dana Gillespie ‘Dead’ as what is hot on their turntable. This show was recorded before that tip. If any of you read Andrew Vachss he frequently mentioned Judy Henske, and the nytimes even mentioned that when she passed away not too long ago.
May 31, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#521
Carl’s living room means we listen to vinyl LP tracks played in real time on a turntable. There is a mix of older and new tracks, and even new artists covering old tracks, such as show opener Helado Negro covering Bowie. Then there are old artists doing songs they wrote that were covered to greater acclaim by other artists, such as The Nerves, who were covered by Blondie. A few Boston bands appear: Vitamin and November Group. Names popular from other groups would be Robert Wyatt (Soft Machine), Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees), Wilko Johnson (Dr Feelgood), Dave Davies (The Kinks), Luke Haines (Autuers) and Peter Buck (REM).
May 24, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
With Carl Thien
#520
Far away lands hits warmer climes, visiting vinyl LP tracks from Brazil, Jamaica, Guadaloupe, Thailand, Zambia, Angola and Nigeria. The long track that starts off the second hour is from the grandmaster: Fela Kuti.