Happy Thursday! It’s time for another installment of Review Revue. One thing that often surprises me when researching and writing this blog is how many of the bands covered here — usually bands whose heyday (if they had one at all) was in the 80s or early 90s — are still active, still touring, still recording albums. For the most part these aren’t cash-in reunions (who even knows if they’re making any money?); these are people who still love what they do, continuing to do it. And I, for one, applaud them.

Blue Aeroplanes, for instance, have been a band - with maybe a hiatus here or there — since 1981. Their longest gap between albums was between 2000 and 2006 (which, granted, is longer than many of the bands you hear on KEXP have existed), and they’re working on a new one now. For me, Blue Aeroplanes were another in the long line of bands I had heard about throughout my life but never really heard. I am remedying that now, listening to Spitting Out Miracles, and wishing I’d paid more attention at the time. Between my humble recommendation and those of the KCMU staff 20 years ago, maybe you should do the same? Hey, any band that quotes Mark E. Smith on their home page saying “not my cup of tea” must be all right.

Well, you can’t please everybody, I guess.