“The Top 10 Songs Spinning at KCSU” is written by the KCSU music directors and describes the top artists that your local 90.5 FM DJs are playing this week. The article is updated weekly on Sundays and discussed on their show, “KCSU’s Weekly Gem Countdown,” which airs every Monday from 11 a.m.-noon. Here, you can learn more about each musician or band before tuning in to the top 10 countdown on Mondays, in which the music directors present to you the latest songs topping the charts and break down each song’s sound and feeling.
1. Empty Hollow — Rock — (Five spins on “Light Me Up” off 2021’s “Firestorm.”) With heavy guitar riffs and buzzing vocals, Empty Hollow is the garage band you’ve been missing. Its only release, 2021’s “Firestorm,” seemed inspired by the likes of alternative rock bands like Nirvana or The Smashing Pumpkins, who brought out the genre of grunge in the early 90’s.
2. Black Mushroom Cult (Local) — Alternative — (Four spins on “A Cult Following.”) Black Mushroom Cult is a mysterious band with very little information online, though we know it’s local to Fort Collins. This is a special track you’ll just have to catch listening Mondays 11 a.m. to noon and 11 p.m. to midnight on the “Weekly Gem Countdown” on 90.5 KCSU!
3. Beach House — Alt/Indie — (Four spins on “Space Song” off 2015’s “Depression Cherry”.) From Baltimore, Maryland, comes Beach House, composed of Victoria Legrand as vocalist and keyboardist and Alex Scally as guitarist, keyboardist and backup vocalist. The two met as musicians in Baltimore’s indie rock scene in 2004, and at first their music was composed with steel guitar, programmed drums and organ. They enjoy working as a pair and feel that they can “achieve things that feel exciting and new” because of the ease between the two of them.
4. Clairo — Pop — (Four spins on “Amoeba” from 2021’s “Sling.”) Claire Cottrill, also known as Clairo, released her first album, “Immunity,” in 2019, which was co-produced by former Vampire Weekend band member and KCSU favorite Rostam. An interview with Vogue explains that while “Immunity” was an exploration of the experiences she’d collected as a teenager, her latest release, 2021’s “Sling,” delves into the new chapter of her early 20s. As impressive as her first album, “Sling” was co-produced by Jack Antonoff of Bleachers, who is also a songwriter for some of today’s biggest pop acts.
5. DJ Seinfeld — Electronic — (Three spins on “U Already Know” off 2021’s “Mirrors.”) Armand Darius Anders Jakobsson, also known as DJ Seinfeld, was born in Malmö, Sweden and is now based out of Spain, according to discogs.com. He’s released two full-length albums, the most recent being 2021’s “Mirrors.” In a press release, he says of “Mirrors,” “I wanted to retain a lot of the raw emotionality that brought people to my music in the first place. It’s been an arduous process, but it’s a real statement of where I’m at as a producer and person right now.”
6. French 79 — Electronic — (Three spins on “4807” off 2019’s “Joshua.”) French 79 began performing in French territory, assuming his music reach would stay there. But he quickly became an international star. According to his Spotify, “the single ‘Between the Buttons,’ a contemplative, synth-heavy gem enhanced by a beautiful arpeggiator, excepted from his first EP, ‘Angel,’ instantly placed him on the list of today’s most important producers.” Since 2014, he’s released three full-length albums and several EPs, most recently 2021’s “The Unreal Story of Lou Reed.”
7. Hippo Campus — Alt/Indie — (Three spins on “Sex Tape” off 2021’s “Good Dog, Bad Dreams.”) Hippo Campus is an indie rock band from St. Paul, Minnesota. Of their latest release, “Good Dog, Bad Dreams,” they say it was made with “a genuine sense of freedom and enjoyment … translated here via a lot of screaming.” They sum the album up as “tragic, but it’s funny. It’s intense and honest, confident and vulnerable and strange.”
8. Joon Moon — Rock — (Two spins on “Time” off 2021’s “Chrysalis.”) In his own words, “Joon Moon is not who you think she is. Behind this fictional character, we find Julien Decoret, a French multifaceted musician, songwriter and producer. With Joon Moon, Decoret crosses the Atlantic and goes back in time.” His sound is inspired by soul music, classical orchestra and contemporary pop.
9. JUNGLE — Electronic — (Two spins on “Lifting You” off 2021’s “Loving In Stereo.”) Jungle is the combined talent of musicians Tom McFarland and Josh Lloyd-Watson of Britain. They have been creating music since 2014 when they released their self-titled debut album. Their sound is energetic, electronic and colorful, as heard on 2021’s “Loving In Stereo.”
10. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard — Rock — (Two spins on “Shanghai” off 2021’s “Butterfly 3000”.) Formed in 2010 in Melbourne, Australia, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is a rock band consisting of six members playing a variety of instruments, from your basic rock elements to things like flute, harmonica and sitar, which is part of the lute family of stringed instruments and common in Hindustani classical music. They have an abundance of albums — 2021’s “Blue Morpho” is their most recent, their second album release of 2021 and their twentieth release overall.
The music director can be reached at music@kcsufm.com.