Morning Becomes Eclectic

I was playing some music for my daughters over the weekend and settled upon my collection of CDs from the "Morning Becomes Eclectic" radio show from KCRW in Santa Monice, CA. If you haven't stumbled upon the MBE radio show or any of the CDs generated by the radio station over the years, I suggest poking your head around their internet cite. A handy link to that page is here: http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb Here is a link to all of the CDs the show has generated over the years: http://www.kcrw.com/music/kcrw-cds

The Morning Becomes Eclectic show is a music show from the KCRW radio station based out of Santa Monica College in California. For the past decade the show was hosted by Nic Harcourt and became known for his introduction/finding of several up and coming artists. Some bands he has been given credit for helping to launch their careers are Coldplay, Norah Jones, Dido, Damien Rice, etc. The show is technically categorized as an adult alternative radio show. Aside from playing the typical tracks from an album, the show also has some of the artists stop in the studio and record one or two of their songs while on the air (and to be later released in CD format if deemed worthy). The songs are not edited after they are played on the air. As a comparison, think of Paul's Daytrotter find only with a radio station/music show tied into it. Recently Nic Harcourt stepped down and handed the show over to Jason Bentley. The show is still pulling in great "in-studio" talent. In October of 2009 they had Monsters of Folk record a couple tunes.

I can't remember how I stumbled upon one of the "Sounds Eclectic" CDs generated from the show. But when I did, I couldn't stop playing it. I have subsequently picked up most of the albums (skipping the "Sounds Eclectico" CD). Dig around the albums on the website and you'll see some great tracks from Nick Cave, R.E.M., Radiohead, The Swell Season, The Flaming Lips, My Morning Jacket, Fran Ferdinand, Zero 7, Spoon...just a ton of great artists.