KCSU Music

"KCSU’s Weekly Gems Countdown” is hosted by the KCSU Music Directors and describes the top artists that your local 90.5 FM DJs are playing this week! This article is posted weekly on Sundays and discussed on their show “KCSU Weekly Gem Countdown” which airs every Monday from 12-1. During the show, you can learn more about each musician or band before tuning in to the top 10 countdowns on Monday from 12-1, in which the music directors present to you the latest songs topping the charts and breaking down each song’s sound and feel. Follow along with our article on KCSUFM.com as well!

KCSU's Baily Liverman and  Brighid Bandel talk shop on music news in October with a guest appearance of Podcast Director Ben Haney! Album reviews, TikTok songs, and much more are covered in this episode of the music podcast!

KCSU Deejay Riley Hilbert sits down with San Diego band Creature Canyon for an exclusive interview following the release of their debut album "Remarks". 

Welcome to KCSU's new monthly segment of our Music Podcast the Monthly Wrap up! In this episode our music director's Bailey and Brigid go over their favorite singles, albums, music news, and much more!  

KCSU's Music Directors sit down with the four Battle of the Bands competitors to ask them questions about the performance, their bands start, and more!

This week on the "KCSU Music" podcast, the KCSU music director interviews Bryan Bielanski, an up-and-coming folk Americana artist from North Carolina defying genre standards. They discuss his current tour and his crazy National Park tour over the pandemic. They also hit on what it means to be an artist in an ever-changing industry and his goals for the future. 

Brighid Bandel creates the best summer playlist this year because, let's face it, the mood of the music will always reflect your actual mood. Summer 2022 will be the best one yet! Since the weather has been getting so nice and we are almost to summer, she wanted to share the songs that always seem to be on her spring and summer playlist so you can discover new tunes. 

Did you miss the Houndmouth with Buffalo Nichols show? Well, you’re in luck because this week on the semester’s first episode of the KCSU music podcast, music director Brighid Bandel is bringing the concert to you. In this episode, Brighid breaks down the concert into tiers and categories so you can get a full look into the bands, their sound and the sets. You'll feel like you were there complete with the smoke machine smell in your hair.

We also want to thank the Aggie Theatre for letting us review this cool show!

In this episode of the "KCSU Music Podcast," music director Lindsay Johnson talks with Alex, Ransom and Jack of Coastless Creatives. The LLC began as Alex's senior project at Metropolitan State University and has since become a live label serving a variety of musicians, artists and venue owners in Denver and beyond. 

Their vision for Denver's music scene is ambitious and exciting. Tune in to hear them discuss the gap in the community that Coastless Creatives fills, what (not) to do when you sell out a venue a little too well and who wants to have dinner with the Dalai Lama. Keep an eye out for this name as you go to your favorite local shows in the future — Coastless Creatives intends to go far, and they're only just getting started.

Songs used, courtesy of Coastless Creatives:
"Hot Vodka" by Tonguebyte
"Goodbye" by People In General
"Westcliff" by blankslate 

 Join KCSU's assistant music director, Stevie, as she gets an inside look at a modern monster's music taste. Interviewed audience members include the Headless Horsemen, a long-dead vampire and more! Tune in to see who likes to listen to Grimes and who wants the Grim Reaper to produce their own album. Which Halloween creature's music taste best matches your own? 

Welcome back to the "KCSU Music" podcast by KCSUFM! Join music director Lindsay Johnson in an interview with musician Shelley Thomas. 

Thomas has a rich musical background that incorporates elements from Balkan, Arab, Hindustani, African, classical and pop styles to create her own unique genre: world chamber pop. She's a talented vocalist and oud player and recently took her craft a step further by not only composing but performing, producing, mixing and mastering her own work. The result is her most recent release, Free: a pop and R&B-style EP that captures her moving vocals and powerful musical ability. 

Thomas has a winding and dedicated back story that's sure to inspire you to stay close to your own creative endeavors. She can be found at shelleythomasmusic.com. 

 On this episode of the "KCSU Music Podcast," music director Lindsay Johnson brings you out to a night at The Aggie Theater, with reviews of performances by local indie rock bands Slow Caves and Wildermiss, as well as Denver-based Latin pop artist, Miguel Aviña. She gives you behind the scenes details like which snacks are in Wildermiss's green room, what annoys a sound engineer working a show and why you should give your local bands some love. Make sure you've got Spotify open nearby so you can jam out to these great bands after you tune in to this episode of the "KCSU Music Podcast"! 

In this episode, Marie Tanksley interviews Texas music artist, Dustin Massey. 

Known for her work with bands like Panic! at the Disco, Dua Lipa and Fall Out Boy, Suzy Shinn is an established talent in the world of pop- and alt-rock song production. Her most recent project has been producing Weezer’s latest metal-inspired album, "Van Weezer." She discusses her favorite parts of working in music, what’s in the room for a great recording session and her own influences and inspiration. She also talks about being a woman in the industry and how she recently joined legendary mastering engineer Emily Lazar’s new nonprofit, We Are Moving The Needle, an organization designed to increase the number of women in the audio producing and engineering fields — which is currently about 2% of those professionals. Shinn is genuine, hard-working and a creative powerhouse, and we’re so fortunate to hear what she has to say about what it takes to be a successful producer. 

Do you want to incorporate music into your career, despite being unable to sing or play any instruments like a one-in-a-million rock star? Music director Lindsay Johnson is bringing you some ideas so that you can be a part of the scene anyway. 

You could be a jack-of-all-trades roadie, a tech-savvy studio songwriter, a music therapist and more. There are tons of ways to surround yourself with this powerful force and hopefully pay some bills too. There is so much more that goes into the expression of music beyond singing and instrumentals — but hey, if all else fails, don't forget to check out the job postings for your local radio station!

Join music director Lindsay Johnson as she discusses tricks on how to write songs and create music, taking advice from some of the most popular songwriters out there, like Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift. In this episode, Johnson covers how artists build off of their ideas to carry out a vision for a new project, what it means to write a pop song and how the mundane moments in life can hit the hardest — it could be as simple as a scarf in a drawer. If you want to know how to turn your daily life experiences into music, make sure you tune in!