WXPN Features Foxygen as the XPN Artist To Watch for January 2013

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Created on Wednesday, 02 January 2013 12:14

PHILADELPHIA, PA - WXPN, the nationally-recognized leader in Triple A music and non-commercial radio service of the University of Pennsylvania, names Foxygen as its January Artist To Watch. WXPN Music Director and Host Dan Reed presented the first of the month's on-air segments today, January 2, in the 4 p.m. hour.
Foxygen is the fast-rising experimental pop-rock project of Sam France and Jonathan Rado. The two grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of West Lake Village and began the band in 2005 as high school freshmen. Inspired by Anton Newcombe, the mastermind behind the Brian Jonestown Massacre, and classic artists such as the Ramones, the youths learned to play as many different instruments as possible. After collaborating on ten home-recorded, self-distributed albums in their high school days, they eventually parted ways for college -- France to Olympia and Rado to New York. In 2011, France made a brief trip to the East Coast and Foxygen began collaborating again. The product, an album called Take the Kids Off Broadway, saw release in the summer of 2012 on mega indie label Jagjaguwar. Freshly labeled, the band has gained buzz during its first cross-country headlining tour.

"Foxygen blend their love of classic rock and psychedelic music in to something fresh and new and very well crafted," says Bruce Warren, Assistant General Manager of Programming for WXPN. "There are so many classic touchstones yet they manage to spin the past into the future like magicians."

For more info on the XPN Artists To Watch series and this month's featured artist click here.

Since 2003, the XPN Artists To Watch series has been a reflection of WXPN's commitment to nurturing fresh, new talent and exposing listeners to the best new music. Each month, the XPN Artists To Watch series spotlights a different up-and-coming performer who has produced an album or body of work that demonstrates outstanding vision, creativity and songwriting ability. Month-long on-air promotion is combined with online features to help audiences discover each artist.

WXPN, the nationally recognized leader in Triple A radio and the premier guide for discovering new and significant artists in rock, blues, roots and folk, is the non-commercial, member-supported radio service of the University of Pennsylvania. WXPN produces World Cafe®, public radio’s most popular program of popular music hosted by David Dye and syndicated by NPR, and the Peabody Award winning Kids Corner hosted by Kathy O’Connell. WXPN also produces the XPN2 Singer-Songwriter Radio stream as its secondary radio channel in HD that is also available online. WXPN serves the greater Philadelphia area at 88.5 FM, the Lehigh Valley at 104.9, Worton/Baltimore at 90.5 FM, Lancaster/York at 88.7 FM, Harrisburg at 99.7 FM and the world via online streaming at XPN.org.