All posts by Travis Gass

Travis Gass

About Travis Gass

I'm an editor on the Digital Desk at the Bangor Daily News. I'm also the host of West Of The Fields, a college radio show that has aired continuously on UMaine's WMEB 91.9 FM since 1998.

New music including MJ Lenderman, Cannons, Crosses and Drop Nineteens on this week’s West Of The Fields podcast

I continued exploring recent releases from Jessy Lanza, Georgia, Alaska Reid, Little Dragon, Blur, Bar Italia, Feeble Little Horse, Snõõper and Lifeguard on the show this week, while the retro alternative set covered a variety of ’80s synthpop, featuring acts I’ve never played on the show before (Blancmange, The Twins, Classix Nouveaux) along with gems from Australia (Icehouse), Japan (Yellow Magic Orchestra, Rajie), Germany (Sandra), France (Desireless, F.R. David) and Canada (Martha & The Muffins).

New music including Mitski, Animal Collective, Soccer Mommy and Grimes and Illangelo on this week’s West Of The Fields podcast

I continued delving into recent releases from Local Natives, Feeble Little Horse, Bar Italia, PJ Harvey, Queens Of The Stone Age, Little Dragon, Jessy Lanza, Alaska Reid and Hannah Jadagu on the show this week, while the retro alternative set paid tribute to the legendary Sinéad O’Connor, who tragically passed away on July 26 at the age of 56, with some of the many highlights from her incredible career, from her solo hits to some of the many collaborations she participated in with other artists, including The The, Massive Attack, Peter Gabriel, U2 and more.

New music including Snooper, Haim, Molly Burch and Lifeguard on this week’s West Of The Fields podcast

I continued delving into recent releases from Little Dragon, Bar Italia, The Japanese House, Feeble Little Horse, PJ Harvey, Sigur Rós, Local Natives, Alaska Reid and Georgia on the show this week, while the retro alternative set journeyed back to 1993 for a block of classics and more obscure tracks from that year in honor of the 30th anniversary of U2’s “Zooropa” album (probably my all-time favorite record from the Irish rock gods).

New music including Yard Act, Cherry Glazerr, Billie Eilish and Interpol on this week’s West Of The Fields podcast

I continued exploring recent releases from Feeble Little Horse, Georgia, Anohni, Sigur Rós, PJ Harvey, Jenny Lewis, Alaska Reid, The Japanese House, Hannah Jadagu and Local Natives on the show this week, while the retro alternative set featured a ton of Serge Gainsbourg and ’60s French yé-yé girls in honor of the late Jane Birkin, the French music and fashion icon, partner of Serge and mother of Charlotte Gainsbourg, who passed away in July at the age of 76.

New music including Metric, SebastiAn and London Grammar, Little Dragon and Local Natives on this week’s West Of The Fields podcast

I continued exploring recent releases from Beach Fossils, The Japanese House, Sigur Rós, Mandy, Indiana, Feeble Little Horse, Queens Of The Stone Age, Bar Italia and Jenny Lewis on the show this week, while the retro alternative set featured a block of classic tunes from the year 2007, plus a mini bonus retro set of ’80s Japanese New Wave featuring Plastics, P-Model and Yellow Magic Orchestra.

New music including Peter Gabriel, Arlo Parks, Roisin Murphy and PJ Harvey on this week’s West Of The Fields podcast

We pick up with the second half of my planned July 3 show a couple days later on July 5, with the conclusion of the shoegaze and dreampop retro alternative set (inspired by Pitchfork’s recent Sunday Review of Lush’s “Spooky” album), along with new tracks from Beach Fossils, Alison Goldfrapp, Christine and the Queens, Spoon, Jenny Lewis, Bar Italia and Feeble Little Horse.

New music including The Chemical Brothers, Olivia Rodrigo, Olof Dreijer and Blur on this week’s West Of The Fields podcast

I continued exploring recent releases from Queens Of The Stone Age, The Japanese House, Sigur Rós and Blur on the show this week, while the retro alternative set delved into some classic shoegaze and dreampop from the ’90s and beyond, inspired by the recent Pitchfork Sunday Review of Lush’s 1992 debut album “Spooky.” The show had to end early due to a scheduling conflict with another program on WMEB, so consider this episode Part 1 of 2!

New music including Aphex Twin, Beck and Phoenix, The Pretenders and Faye Webster on this week’s West Of The Fields podcast

I continued delving into recent releases from Mandy, Indiana, Water From Your Eyes, Hannah Jadagu, Arlo Parks, Feeble Little Horse, Alison Goldfrapp, Christine and the Queens and Bully on the show this week, while the retro alternative set looked back to the early ’80s for a block of classic Italo-disco tunes, inspired by the recent Pitchfork Sunday Review of Savage’s “Tonight” album.

New music including Slowdive, The Smile, Peggy Gou and Be Your Own Pet on this week’s West Of The Fields podcast

I continued exploring recent releases from Christine and the Queens, Alison Goldfrapp, Bar Italia, Feeble Little Horse, Arlo Parks, The Tubs, Jenny Lewis and Bully on the show this week, while the retro alternative set focused on great tunes from the year 2000, with canon classics (Radiohead, PJ Harvey, Coldplay) alongside forgotten gems (Mansun, Black Box Recorder) and international standouts (Autour De Lucie, Faye Wong, Sheena Ringo).

New music including Glasser, Sharon Van Etten, Sigur Ros and Sparks on this week’s West Of The Fields podcast

I continued delving into recent releases from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Jenny Lewis, Hannah Jadagu, Bar Italia, Squid, Arlo Parks, Bully and Feeble Little Horse on the show this week, while the retro alternative set featured albums from 1983 marking their 30th anniversaries this year, from alt-rock classics (Tears For Fears, New Order, Cocteau Twins) to brilliant but obscure gems from overseas (Yellow Magic Orchestra, Matia Bazar, Mioko Yamaguchi) to total oddballs worth hearing (Francesco Messina, Marc and the Mambas).