DJ of the Week: KMFD

Friday, February 8th, 2013 // Blogs,DJ of the Week

Each week, we feature a short interview with one of our DJs who recently put on a particularly great show. This week, KMFD takes the cake. On Monday’s edition of “The Singularity”, KMFD played two hours of 45s slowed down to 33 rpm. Neat stuff.

LEAN OVER THE BOWL AND TAKE A DIVE. ALL OF YOU ARE DEAD, BUT I AM ALIVE. TUNE INTO THE SINGULARITY. MONDAY FROM 10am to NOON with KMFD.

Missed KMFD’s award-winning show on Monday? No worries. You can listen here.

What is the concept behind your show, “The Singularity”?
The Singularity is hard to put a finger on. Free format allows for a lot of liberty in programming, so I want to make each show as singular as possible, like a lost treasured object. It’s not just a playlist, but a concatenation of my last week conveyed in sound; it’s the moment when past and present become one, when the noise becomes a song. It plays with notions of connectivity, time, growth, and infinity.

Essentially my Singularity is about etching new ideas of the melded past, present, and future, and broadcasting them to everyone. It’s about being able to play The Gerogerigegege after Don Covay and make it work.

I have deep, specific memories of amazing radio shows I’ve heard both in Pittsburgh and on the road, and I want to be able to relay that feeling for other people. AM 860 (WAMO’s adult contemporary/classic R+B station)’s closing down was a big loss to me. WRCT has a legacy of great freeform and experiemental programming, and I was really bummed out when JB/The Underwater Culprit stopped doing Does Your Hometown Really Care, so maybe that inspired me to try filling part of that void.

But The Singularity is the void.

What is your favorite song that you played last week? Which one sounded the coolest slowed down to 33 rpm?
I can never pick favorites. I love Bo Diddley, and I think “Ooh Baby” sounded coolest slowed down. But the verse of “Intimate Friends”, the tune E. Badu samples on “Fall In Love (Your Funeral)”, sounds really pushed at 33. It’s cool to hear Tina Turner’s voice sound deeper than Robert Plant on “Whole Lotta Love”, and Run-DMC “You Talk Too Much” is key. “AK-47” sounded extra dark and sardonic, and White Lung plays so fast that when you slow them down, it’s an entirely different song.

Describe your dream date.
Sitting in a booth at the Double R Diner with bottomless coffee and change for the jukebox.

What is your favorite food?
I operate exclusively on a diet of swedish fish. The mercury scare is too real, man. For real, my favorite foods are on the menu at Thai Gourmet, or they’re some hearty American/American Fusion peasant food from my kitchen

What is the best thing about Pittsburgh?
The colors.

Here’s the man himself: