Every now and again, I make the attempt to listen to KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. Every single time I listen, I drift into the sort of light slumber that feels like an allergy pill side-effect.
I do not understand how Nic Harcourt accomplishes this, but I imagine that in his hands even "Ace of Spades" could be soporific. This morning, I listened for about an hour as my head consistently dropped into my textbook. I had to pry my eyes open. When I rose from a half-sleep, I could only remember two songs-- the latest alt. hit from the White Stripes and a new track from Catherine Wheel-frontman Rob Dickinson. The rest was a blur of background music culled from the Starbucks catalogue.
Maybe it's not Harcourt's fault. After all, the show was a snooze fest when Chris Douridas was the host. It isn't that the music is bad. On the contrary, I might actually write down the names of a few artists if I could remember what was what by the time he does his airbreak. Overall, though, MBE seems to be this long winding road of sound geared towards yuppies who shop at American Apparel and actually read the editorials in the LA Weekly. Maybe the tepid sounds are compiled to create a non-offensive environment in the office, but shouldn't that be the job of KOST, KBIG and STAR?
To an extent, I like MBE, if only for the reason that some of the live guests are interesting (take Royksopp a few weeks ago). And, I really do appreciate KCRW. I just do not understand why, when I listen to a show like Metropolis I have to sit upright and listen intently as Jason Bentley consistently turns me on to great new music while MBE leaves me feeling lethargic.