Yup, it’s back. This month features interviews with No Age and The Breeders.

Pop Recon airs at 7-8PM ET on WPRB. If you miss it, the podcast version will go online in a week or so.

I’ve kidnapped WPRB. You cannot have it back. Well, maybe you can if you ask nicely. Anyway, here’s when I’ll be on this summer:

» Her Jazz, Thursdays 6-8 PM ET: The prodigal daughter returns.

» Top Ten Show, Fridays 6 PM ET: Running through our weekly charts, and trying not to swear at the sight of all that motherfucking blog rock.

» Pop Recon, Fridays 7PM ET (Last Fridays ONLY): Music interviews and more. BTW, Pop Recon is now in podcast form. Do it up.

I’m also temporarily covering for Jon Solomon (Wednesdays, 7PM ET) for a couple weeks. Let us hope this does not become a regular occurrence.

For those of you who want to pitch me stuff for Pop Recon, there’s contact info on the WPRB archive page.

Today I got my eight billionth email from someone hawking yet another female singer-songwriter with an acoustic guitar. BAAARF. I feel like such a dick with this post, but something’s gotta give, man. And you benefit from knowing what’s useful for me:

1. Please take a look at this blog and my radio show playlists. If your music doesn’t fit, don’t submit. It’s a waste of time (yours and mine) to send something that will never appeal to me.

2. I prefer vinyl and mp3’s, in that order. Don’t send me CD’s — I haven’t owned a CD player in over a year.

3. I have never bought the line about how “your friend” told you about some amazing band. I get it — you’re a marketing rep/intern/publicist/whatever. In fact, I prefer full disclosure of this stuff.

» Make sure to report voting problems to the Committee of Seventy’s voter-assistance hotline (1-866-OUR-VOTE). There is a TON of useful information on that website, so please check it out before you hit the polls!

Ever since I became a voter in PA, I have to say I am a little bummed that my polling place is, well, a little tame. The only difference between my PA and NJ voting locations is that my second grade teacher doesn’t sign me in and ask me if I’m still ice skating.

WPRB is covering the PA primaries tonight, beginning at 8PM EST. Can’t wait to check it out.

» The Constantines played Johnny Brenda’s on Sunday night and it was pretty fantastic. Sunday is a tough night for bands in this city, but there was a big crowd for the guys. Performance is the foundation of the Cons, so there wasn’t a dull moment on stage. I know a lot of folks aren’t crazy about Steve’s songs w/r/t the records, but they — and in this particular instance, thunderous and sprawling “Shower of Stones” — are perfectly tailored for live performance, appropriately linking the bands hardcore past with their current tastes. I was pretty psyched to hear stuff from the first album (”Arizona”, “Young Offenders,” “Steal This Sound” [? i think ?]), as well as their cover of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck.”

» And in other news: I am in the process of moving out of my old apartment, dealing with the end of the school semester, and leaving my current job — all at once. (I believe these are what they call “Life Changes.”) Chances of me updating HJ in the next few weeks is pretty unlikely, but I’ll try.

My new series for WPRB, Pop Recon, debuts tomorrow (Friday) night at 7PM EST. Pop Recon is an hour-long arts & culture interview series that airs on the last Friday of the month, featuring new interviews and rare archive material from WPRB’s vaults.

The first episode features an interview with Marc Masters, whose new book “No Wave” was recently published by Black Dog Publishing.

Pop Recon is a step in a new direction for me — I’ve been learning how to record/produce pieces that are more “broadcast journalism” instead of “playing a bunch of records and praying that I don’t swear on-air” (not that I don’t love the latter!) — and I hope you’ll dig it. This project wouldn’t exist without the support of WPRB (best station in the world!) and the Department of Broadcasting, Telecommunications & Mass Media at Temple (which is actually giving me course credit to learn this! School is awesome!).

WPRB is accessible via terrestrial radio or the internet! You can tune to 103.3 FM in NJ/Eastern PA, or log onto wprb.com.

If you miss out on the show, I have good news: Pop Recon is WPRB’s first podcast series. Archives go up after the show is broadcast, and you can listen along at home/work/the road on your handy mp3 player of choice. (Note: archives will probably begin next week?)

If you happen to be on Facebook, I’ve set up a small page for announcements, etc.

Anyway, tell your friends and tell them to tell their friends, and I hope you can tune in.

Well, it looks like the good times at the Her Jazz Tree Fort must come to end, and so I’m looking for a 1BR in West Philly. Recommendations for landlords, want to rent to me, etc — please contact me ASAP.

Looking for May 1st/June 1st move-in!

Oh, Calc-U-Phone, where can you be? If I knew the answer to that, we wouldn’t be apart. I will miss our good times together, your pink rubber case, your ample-sized keypad, and all the Word documents/Twitter entries/text messages/etc I typed up thanks to you.

And now I must move on, and find a new one. But I’ll never forget our good times.

Those that know, know. Ahem.

Anyway. I’m Texas-bound quite soon and I have only one important, pressing thing on my mind: how many day parties and showcases will it take for me to go from loving No Age to totally hating them? ‘Cause they’re playing, like, all of them.

While I’m officially at SXSW on behalf of WPRB, please stay tuned to here for all your much needed insider info, photos, sound bites and whatnot.

(Photo Credit: Molly Hude)

Typically, I’m the DJ who goes great with your citywide special while you’re sitting at a table with friends in some poorly lit bar. I’m actually OK with this scenario. This past Thursday night at Pilam, I was paid the highest compliment any DJ could possibly receive: a crowd dancing to anything I threw down. Superchunk’s “Punch Me Harder,” German TV show theme songs from the 60’s, Cardigans’ “Love Fool,” and onwards — everything was fair game. Days later, I’m still riding the high attached to this extremely generous gesture of appreciation.

Thanks Pilam, you’re pretty much the best thing in this godforsaken town.

I am taking the rest of this school break to do… nothing. Well, nothing that doesn’t involve my job, personal administrative miscellany, getting a ton of exercise, or making stock for soups (which I am totally obsessed with right now). I know, I should be a bit more chatty here now that I’ve got downtime, but this prime time to get some ducks in a row. I have a really amazing project in the works, which you’ll hear about soon enough.

Speaking of “Soon Enough,” looks like Dallas Green (of Canadian post-hardcore dudes Alexisonfire) covered this tune. The vid’s crappy quality, but it sounds alright. I guess at this point I should remind you that the Cons have a new record coming out this year, which I can put on the short list of new releases I’m looking forward to: Breeders, Blood On the Wall, The Long Blondes, Oxford Collapse, and of course, the Constantines.