Case Western Reserve radio station WRUW-FM 91.1 has announced that Mission of Burma will headline its annual, free all-day concert Studio-A-Rama, whose 28th edition takes place on Saturday, September 5, in the courtyard behind the Mather Building (11220 Bellflower Rd.), where the station’s studios are located. Guided by Voices, Enon, the Sadies and Naked Raygun have headlined in previous years. The lineup will also include eight local and regional bands to be announced soon.
It’s quite a coup for the radio station. The Boston-based post-punk pioneers were together for less than four years (1979-1983) and released a single album, 1982’s Vs., before amicably disbanding. But their use of sound manipulation and unusual chording and time signatures, as well as literate if often opaque lyrics, captured the ear of bands like Sonic Youth, Fugazi, Nirvana and R.E.M., who claimed them as an influence. Moby recorded their track “That’s When I Reach for my Revolver” on his 1996 album, Animal Rights, and R.E.M. has covered “Academy Fight Song” in concert.
Burma regrouped in 2002 with three of the four original members — guitarist Roger Miller, bassist Clint Conley and drummer Peter Prescott — with producer Bob Weston replacing Martin Swope as tape manipulator/sound engineer. Since then, they’ve released two more albums, both produced by Weston; a third, The Sound, the Speed, the Light, is due out in October.
If you can’t make it down to the show, the entire event, starting around 2 p.m., will be simulcast on the station. —Anastasia Pantsios
