Shins, Lily Allen, Others To Play KCRW Benefit

60,000 songs would fill up more than three of the biggest iPods on the market, and is probably enough tuneage to overwhelm even the world’s biggest music junkie.

But that’s just how many songs have been amassed over the years in the music library of Los Angeles-based radio station KCRW, one of the most preeminent promoters of unheard music in the US, which now faces the daunting task of digitizing all of those tracks to keep up with ever-proliferating media technology.

That’s why KCRW’s 6th annual Sounds Eclectic Evening, the live-format version of the station’s popular Morning Becomes Eclectic and Sounds Eclectic programs, will serve as a fundraiser not just for the station’s general fund, but also for the more specific task of digitally archiving their music library’s expansive contents. Those 60,000 songs include a number of classic releases on vinyl that are unlikely to be re-issued in digital format.

If contributing to the furtherance of high-quality public radio programming isn’t your bag, the set list alone for this year’s Sounds Eclectic Evening may be enough to get you out to LA’s Gibson Amphitheatre on April 14th, 2007. The Shins, Lily Allen, Cold War Kids, Bitter:Sweet, Rodrigo y Gabriella, and Pinker Tones are slated to perform.

Pictured above: Lily Allen

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