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Intergalactic FM: Analogue Sounds from Other Planets

I have a good friend I don’t see as much as I should. Dan is a wonderful cook, has a magnificent brain and is one of the UK’s leading experts on the reproductive cycles of wasps, but his real passion is for beats.

Dan knows everyone there is to know in Motor City, collects nerdy DJ gear and has an astonishing vinyl collection that rivals that of any Radio 1 DJ I have ever worked with. When I first started this recommendation blog I know Dan would be a good person to speak to… He had only one recommendation – the awesome Intergalactic FM.

The universe of Intergalactic FM is an incredible powerhouse of electronic sounds coming from the Netherlands. Not for Hed Kandi crowd (I’m not being snotty, it’s just not your thing), it has four different stations inspired by different vintage eras of dance music.

#1 plays out three generations of electro (think Planet Rock not electrohouse), #2 is ‘disco fetish non-stop’ with Intergalactic Classix (italodisco & Horsemeat Disco-esque 4/4 winners) and #4 plays music for ‘freaks, faggots, punks & junkies’ with a scuzzy rock’n'roll rave slop.

The cherry on top is station #3. ‘The Dream Machine’ is a truly astonishing mix of analogue soundtrack music (for the uninitiated, think Vangelis or Carpenter) and dubbed out, acid-drenched eccentricities. It does what only great music radio can do by transporting you to an unknowable place that is full of drama and inexpressible emotions. It really is the best machine music mix I have ever heard.

Check them all out by clicking on the arrow at the bottom left of this page, or go to the Intergalactic site.

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22
Dec 09

Texas knows what time it is: KVRX 91.7FM

Ok so I’m extraordinarily late to meet my girlfriend so this is very much a flying visit. I have spent 6 hours today listening to a station I have never heard before.

KVRX is the station for Austin, Texas. I picked it because I thought, y’know, Austin is so painfully wonderful that I thought the station security wouldn’t let you within 200 metres of the mixing desk unless you had the most immaculate record collection ever to grace human ears. And, true to form, it has been 6 hours of bliss.

Perhaps I am missing something (does everyone go home in the holidays?) but no one seems to speak on this station, even though it says the names of the DJ’s on the website that are spinning. No talking suited me just fine today, and every single record was absolutely incredible, from blinding garage rock to chanson, the right hip bands to Lata Mangeshkar… everything was juuuussst right.

Whilst having a nose around their site it seems they do a whole bunch of other stuff like live filmed sessions, and regular spots for Austin bands. So yep, well played Texas. Give it a go the next time you want a bit of ambient brain food (you can listen here or on iTunes).

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25
Sep 09

Under The Covers

The cover version has always been a strange Marmite moment for music fans. Tending to come down on either one side of the fence or the other, your average aficionado loves or hates them in principle, and refuses to deviate from their opinion.

coverville

I have to confess, I’m a sucker for a good CV, as long as they obey a few obvious rules. Number one, they need to deviate as widely as possible from the original. This is why St Etienne’s version of Neil Young’s ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’ is sublime, and everything on Robbie Williams; ‘Sing While Your Swinging’ is tosh of the first water. Rule number two; there are some songs that should never be attempted, as the original nailed it so completely that there’s no further room. Exhibit #1, Mick Hucknall’s take on Ella Fitzgerald’s ‘Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye’. Actually, I could write a whole book on why every attempt to try and equal the heights so effortlessly scaled by Ella should be erased from the mo=emory of mankind, but now is neither the time or the place. So…

I mentioned I was reviewing this show to a friend, and how it was an interesting concept, a prime example of the kind of format you would never get on terrestrial UK radio. His response?

‘What if you hate cover versions?’

If you subscribe to that side of the argument, then I apologise for wasting your time so far. Because you’re really not going to like ‘Coverville’ at all.

The format is simple. Every show takes a different artist, and plays a load of covers of their tracks, both known and obscure. The presenter, Brian Ibbott, puts the podcast together three times a week from his home in Colorado. It broadcasts on KYCY 1550AM in San Francisco. Although at first a bit gratingly nerdy, obvious love of the music and a warm, relaxed and engaging style wins the listener over. His determination to cram every last morsel of information into each link is a little wearing at times, but it’s so much better than the usual info-desert that makes up most radio presenters’ blather.

But it’s the music that’s the point of these podcasts. Whether it’s looking at an artist like The Kinks, or occasionally giving a whole album the treatment – as in recent shows where Ibbott takes ‘Abbey Road’ and ‘London Calling’, and plays a cover of each track in the sequence of the original record – it’s the change in the reading of the songs that makes the show work

It’s why Simple Minds manage to remove all trace of thuggish menace from The Stranglers ‘Get A Grip’, while Nouvelle Vague’s version works fantastically. And why the bizarre, auto phoned version of ‘You Really Got Me’ – featuring the sliced up syllables of Tom Baker, no less – is possibly the best cover version, in the world, ever.

Go on, dive under the covers. You don’t know what you’ll find.

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8
Sep 09

Small Show, Big Smashes

I’ve been a big fan of Wreckless Eric since fairly near the start of what is now a long career. ‘Big Smash’, in fact. It’s funny how you remember these things, but it was the first double album I ever bought. Probably on the strength of a VFM special offer from the local record shop in Keynsham – don’t listen to the music, look at how many songs you‘re getting! I don’t actually think I’ve purchased more than five other double albums in my record buying career, and certainly none that contained so many joyously catchy pop songs, but there you go. Ever since then I’ve been a sucker for his love of loud guitars, ear for a well turned phrase, and latterly a well honed appreciation for the absurdities of the music business.

All of which come together in his delightful series of podcasts, ‘The Wreckless Eric Radio Show’. Each lasting (approximately) a zippy half hour and recorded at his base in rural France, they contain a fantastic collection of well picked music, some very entertaining opinions on everything from space travel to the Rolling Stones, and the occasional reading from his (very funny) autobiography ‘A Dysfunctional Success’.

Kevin Coyne, The Velvet Underground, Tony Christie, and Parliament/Funkadelic all make appearances, as do more surprising artists such as Donna Summer and Hot Chocolate. Some shows are themed – the Space Travel one is a fantastic listen – while others just freewheel through the man’s rather fine record collection. Eric’s got an excellent, understated presentation style, and some hilariously dead pan stories about on stage power cuts and appalling promoters, along with a wide range of bizarre spoken word antique radio jingles and ‘How to set up your stereogramme’ records which are judiciously sprinkled throughout.

He would probably run a mile from any such offer, but this is really what a station like 6Music should be doing, providing a platform for a truly original and talented voice. But they’d rather have George Lamb and Craig Charles. It really does make you weep.

Internet / Music — 1 Comment
29
Aug 09

A Reason for DAB (In London): NME Radio

I read a review in The Guardian of NME Radio a few months ago when the station launched. the precis went something like this – ‘kinda nice, but why do you need that when you have the internet (Spotify / Hype Machine / etc)?’ My experience of the station is the exact opposite. I have an unhealthy love of music on the internet and I am also a horrendous music snob. Which should mean that I hate NME radio. But actually it’s dead good.

Avoiding the internet Vs radio debate, let’s set the scene. It is very difficult to recommend anything from UK morning radio (pirates aside). If you actually like music, commercial radio is almost unbearable (Ricky & Melvin would be aaaight were it not for the blow-your-brains-out-Soulja Boy selections, but Dr Fox? Jamie Theakston? They make me want to slice off my ears). The BBC on the other hand is obviously grrrreat in the mornings, but the shows are 100% F.U.L.L. Jammed with listeners on-air, superfluous content, endless features, trails for other nonsense, every minute sounds like it is their last. Even the occasionally charming 6 Music breakfast (NME’s closest rival) has four features an hour, a flabby music news, a cosmologist and an increasingly bizarre constellation of guests. It’s all TOO MUCH.

NME Radio obviously has no cash. Which means no big production teams, no whimsical features, no window dressing. It sounds like this is because no one is really advertising on it yet, which for the listener is an unexpected boon. The presenters are great but only really expected to deliver the essentials – you get the weather, music news headlines and tonight’s gigs (like XFM did back in the day).

There are some pretty good tunes. While they do lean a bit heavy on the lobotomizing sounds of The Enemy and Oasis, this week I heard the new Radiohead download only single, The Horrors and some Ride without interruption. While the DJ’s can be a bit hospital radio, I would rather listen to enthusiastic amateurism than oil-slick professionalism any morning of the week. And some of the talent – especially indie queen Samanthi – are actually dead good (the worst are the ones that they have nicked off other stations).

Perversely the very reason DAB is a bit pony is why NME works. I have a DAB in my kitchen; it beats my Internet radio hands down for two reasons: because it turns straight on and because it has less choice… sometimes you just want to turn a dial through a few options and pick something. NME on DAB (only in London I’m afraid) means that it is the best of a very wordy bunch. It is musical wallpaper that does the essentials really well and for that it’s my new breakfast station. Listen here.

One note. There is also an iPhone app for the station. I have absolutely no idea how they can charge 59p for this heavily branded, ad-heavy thing that essentially connects you to the internet, but I admire their balls.

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6
Aug 09

World Party Jams: Mad Decent & Diplo

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I work in an office with loud music on all the time. Today I thought I would rush the communal stereo which, when you are surrounded by serious musos can be tricksy. I slayed it with this show; #51 from Mad Decent.

I love a bit of Diplo me. When he poked his head up a few years ago his take on world music was long before its time, it borrowed little from the Worldwide of Gilles Peterson (although that has its place) and instead took from a different kind of underground; the raw MPC of US strip joints; the thump of the favelas, some vocalists from all over the shop and some cheap r’n'b and the result was something for everyone to lively up the dance. Now we have a bunch of different producers and DJs spinning worldwide party music, getting their drunk on and making crossing continents sound fun and raw. But for some reason I think the self-effacing Diplo did it first (and best.)

This edition is a good one to start with if you are new to the oeuvre. Its the Diplo chunk of a Major Lazer mix on The Essential Mix. Check Mad Decent for a bit more information. Its got a bit of Blood And Fire reggae, some dancehall, reggaeton and some killer edits (also a classy Gorrilaz or Albarn vocal track in there somewhere.)

Other shows vary quite a lot in style… last week was all dirty south autotuned hip hop and crunk, and I remember hearing a slo-jam show once upon a time. Whatever your poison, make sure you click up for a subscription. This is Captain Morgan and coke party music by a man on a bit of a run of form.

Internet / Music — 2 Comments
23
Jul 09

The Most Spiritual Show on the Dial – 5050

Dennis Brown

This week we are two contributors to BDAW down with the dreaded parmageddon that is swine-flu. I’ve personally got man-flu, but I can sense through the glands that things could turn nasty. My imminent demise however did have a silver lining in that it led me to be around on a Wednesday night to check out one of my favourite radio shows—the 50 50 Soundsystem on Resonance FM.

I have very few appointments to listen in my life, but if I’m in, this show is always on. I know little about 50 50 other that the music that they play is so spiritual it makes the two hours of broadcast involuntarily propel me into a communion with my maker. Dusty roots 45’s sit next to a cappella chants, sirens and moans to make a collage of sounds that when I close my eyes feels like my idea of a perfect church. This is mystery and wonder timed to perfection.

50 50 don’t podcast or archive their shows, but I’ve got a feeling that I might start doing it myself right here (…if you are already on it let me know!) This is, besides the joy that is Jonny Trunk, the best show on Resonance and one of the best listens anywhere on the dial. Milo Lapis, Jah Beef and crew are the most humble, understated of DJ’s, but their selections and craft are top drawer.

Cheeky bootlegs coming soon, but if—like me—you are owned by Google, you can sync the Resonance running order to Google calenders here to remind yourself when to stay home and tune in.

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8
Jul 09

Its London, but not as you know it….

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Digital Mystikz’ ‘B’ is the first dubstep record I ever bought and the first dubstep record I fell in love with. Mala was the man who made it, the man who was and still is utterly instrumental within the genre and, arguably, without him dubstep would lack much of its musical soul. He’s a big thinker, a quiet talker, a genuine gem; I had high hopes for this hour-long journey with the legend himself through his streets and sights and sounds of his London via Red Bull Radio.

The programme kicks off with Mala back in his childhood ends of Norwood and runs through some of his earlier musical memories & local hang outs. He rattles around a couple of record shops and south London markets and winds up in Forest Hill, where he gets technical about cutting dubplates. He plays us a few of his favourite tunes, old and new, we meet some of his collaborators, he tells us how cool Red Bull Academy is etc. etc. etc.……Ok, so I’m a huge fan and I know a fair bit about Mala already, but given that he’s such a central figure in such an urban scene, even my Nan could’ve guessed that he probably used to listen to pirate radio in his room, that he hung out in Croydon at Big Apple Records and that Blackmarket is something of a spiritual home to him. Quite frankly, Wikipedia could’ve done the job.

Look, there are bits of this programme I loved- Mala on the phone to Coki and the subsequent chat with his long time friend and label mate, the nods to fellow Londoners Jehst & Roots Manuva, the bits about him using every penny of his overtime money on that precious first cut of a track. I get that it has to be about Mala’s connection with London, but I just felt that this programme didn’t entirely do him justice. A lot of the time, there’s little link with what he’s talking about and the music in the background. Who were his favourite artists growing up? Which nights did he go to? Where in London did he meet his fellow dubsteppers? Where did he work before he made it? There’s not even a mention of Brixton, the home of his DMZ night- the biggest dubstep event in the capital, which is rammed to capacity every month.

You very much get the impression that London is something of a disappointment to him, not somewhere he feels totally at home. At one point he says that he in no way feels patriotic to its cityscape and grey concrete, but that it probably has shaped him. And maybe that’s the problem. Get him on the topic of music and he’s away, talk to him about his current locale and he has less to say. However, for the tracks played along the way, for Mala’s insights into dubstep’s evolution and to get a beginner’s guide to where it all began, you still need to tune into this. Personally, I’d just like to skip to the sequel.

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1
Jul 09

Tea + Techno?

rob-booth

Say you’d decided that for your staycation this year you were off to the Lake District, Ambleside to be precise. You’d packed your picnic rug, put the dog in the car & landed up there at some point on a Friday evening. You check into your b&b and it’s all really green and countrified and you’re really starting to feel like you’re getting away from the grind. You wake up the next morning and the birds are singing and you think that obviously what you need is a fat fry up to start the day. You spot the delightful looking Daisy’s Café just over the road, it’s got really pretty net curtains and hanging baskets outside and so you drag the fam over there, walk in the door and WHAM….you’re surrounded by beardy weirdos ravin it up in white gloves to a futuristic soundtrack of Aphex proportions.

This is how I imagine Rob Booth- originally of the West Country via London and now proprietor of said Daisy Café- gets down on a daily basis. In his spare time away from baking scones & serving Earl Grey to the rambling fraternity of the Lake District, Rob is an underground soldier of a rare variety. At the last count he’s on the 75th edition of Electronic Explorations (the latest featuring Kid 606), his show that explores some of the most experimental electronic beats & artists that don’t get enough love elsewhere.

Clocking in at two hours, it’s an absolute labour of love on his part- I mean how do you keep in touch with the latest grime techno while chatting to grannies about their dead cats? The BPM’s rarely drop below 140 and you can expect everything from acid to ragga to minimal tinted tech from the likes of Planet Mu, Rag & Bone and Surface Tension, plus he puts together mini podcasts for the shows and you can either stream them or download the file. Yeah, ok, his presenting style is more West Country train announcer than hyped up youth vibes, but he loves what he plays and that counts. His guests (Akira Kiteshi, Optika Technika & Syntheme) represent via mixes throughout the show and this is where it gets really clever. Not only do they mash together some mad beats- Lee Perry, Girls Aloud & sounds from bearded seals a mile underneath the Arctic, in the latest case- but they also intro all the tracks as they’re coming in, giving us an insight into why they’re there. Annoying? You might think so, but it actually works.

There are shows out there that could do this, should do this, but none that succeed in quite the same wonky way and that’s why Electronic Explorations is a winner. Maybe it’s all that fresh air. Whatever. If you too would like to witness Rob frantically whipping cream to a mental Milanese-style soundtrack, you can find him here-

Daisy’s Cafe
Ambleside
CUMBRIA
LA22 9BS

Otherwise, just tune into the show and I’m sure you’ll get the picture.

Newbit.

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26
Jun 09

Mudd Up! With DJ Rupture

The Breezeblock was a radio show on BBC Radio 1 a few years ago, a mix show for freaks late at night hungry for electronic music. The show featured a bunch of different DJs and producers from Matmos to Bjork, but Jace Clayton AKA DJ Rupture always occupied a very special place in the show’s pantheon of pornographically good knob-twiddlers. A firm favourite of John Peel, he was The Breezeblock’s daddy.

What Rupture has always done exceptionally well is play stupid music for clever people, and mix it up with clever sounds for those who want it stupid. Sure, a lot of it is electronic with beeps and bass, but he manages to keep a live, analogue, human feel to proceedings that is all his own.

DJ Rupture’s radio show, Mudd Up is available on WFMU and on iTunes as a podcast. If one week’s isn’t enough you can go to his show page where every single show is archived complete with guest information and playlists. Fellow BDAW’s blogger Matt put me on to the show and I can safely say it is the most surprising and rewarding music podcast I currently subscribe to.

Mudd Up! is made with a lot of love. Guests frequently pop up from all continents and disciplines (musicians, poets and more) and the show is full of genuine exclusives. Jace describes his musical sweep as ‘Cumbia. Dubstep. Gangsta synthetics. Sound-art. Maghrebi’, but in reality this is a DJ without respect for fashion, with a thorough disdain of musical genre, audience demographics or conventional broadcasting norms.

Rupture creates sound collages of mystery and drama that consistantly challenge every synapse in my brain. Subscribe immediately.

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1
Jun 09

Lively Up The Town

mobtown ska records

Ska and classic reggae are fairly well represented on t’internet. It seems that every graduate with a Trojan box set and a bong has at some point thought ‘I know, a podcast showcasing old school music from Jamaica – there’s not enough of those out there!’

However, recently, as the weather has got warmer I’ve been digging around for something to satisfy the desire for some skanking sounds. And the itch has been well and truly scratched by DJ Bobby Babylon and his Mobtown Ska Sounds podcast. Like all the best music selections, BB has a record collection to die for, a burning desire to show it off, and a lightly worn expertise.

The shows are generally themed. Recent episodes include ‘Reggae Court’, which gathered together loads of tunes which feature rudeboys being sentenced by ‘Judge 100 Years’, ‘Judge Roughneck’ and the fantastic ‘Judge Black Sulphuric Acid’. . Then there’s the excellent Beatles tribute show, which not only rocked a bunch of Fab Four reggae versions, but also paid tribute to ska’s US heritage by dropping a number of obscure R’n’B covers as well.

It’s not all reggae – the Bo Diddly tribute is well worth an hour of anybody’s time – but mainly that’s the fare. As well as the classic stuff, BB covers the modern ska scene as well, tucking in a number of current or recent tunes in to podcasts as the mood demands.

Babylon has recently moved his host from podmatic to Music Is Our Occupation, so there might be a bit of a hiatus while he gets things up and running on the new platform. But there’s over fifty shows in the archive, available on iTunes, and each one’s a delight. I’m saving the ‘early Wailers’ and ‘vinyl reggae selection’ specials up, but if they’re anything like the dozen or so I’ve already sampled, they’ll be crackers. Enjoy.

Music / Uncategorized — 1 Comment
6
May 09

Every Cloud’s Silver Lining

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Something a little different for you today. Mixcloud is a new audio streaming site, currently in beta, which is hosting a nice variety of DJ mixes, podcasts and radio programmes. It says it’s ‘rethinking radio’, which is a nice line, but not quite true. However, it is a really good place to listen to interesting mixes and radio shows. It’s nice and clear to use – you can search on a variety of tags underneath each mix, by style, location, popularity and also date or DJ if you’re looking for something specific. And there’s a good playlist and comments facility, which might well lead to a good community swapping comments on each other’s output.

The quality can be variable – I’ve been checking out some really good reggae and jungle sets that are better for the content rather than the execution, while the mixes posted by Clash The Disko Kids, a Singaporean DJ team that push the button marked ‘acid’ until it breaks, are fantastically put together. On top of that there’s also death metal and punk, rock and random tracks thrown together by people who like playing and talking about music, including ThisKID, who puts up his Italian radio show, the excellently named Electric Underwear

And, although it’s in beta and is currently members only, they’ve sorted out an invite only log in for the Between Dogs & Wolves. If you point your browser here
And use the invite code ‘dogsandwolves’, you can explore the site and all it has to offer. And, if the mood takes you, post up some stuff yourself.

Music / Radio France / Uncategorized — No Comments
4
May 09

The Old Ooh La Lah

logo2005

Back again with another station Francais – and this one might not be such a secret, at least if you live on the South Coast of England.

FIP is one of the stations run by Radio France. Founded at the start of the seventies, it’s a very simple, yet very unusual, format. Mixing up jazz, world music, reggae, classical and the occasional bit of hip hop and seventies rock, it keeps presentation to a minimum and threads music together like one of your mates’ mix tapes (remember them?) It follows themes and moods through in a manner most radio stations would never, ever dare.

So this morning we had Blossom Dearie’s spikely twee jazz, then David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ , followed by Flight Of The Conchords ode to the Dame himself, with Tom Jones and Santogold snuggling up beside each other shortly after. Not to mention half a dozen tracks from Africa, France, Jamaica and further afield that I’ve never heard of before. All within the space of half an hour.

It’s music radio like you wish it could always be. Inventive, entertaining, exciting, always giving your ears a treat. And more often than not it’s music you either haven’t heard before, or something you know really well but which is framed in a way that makes you look at it afresh. Earlier I heard Elbow’s ‘Days Like These’ followed by some Puccini, and I had to stop what I was doing to catch my breath at the brilliant simplicity of the juxtaposition.

It’s a glorious listen, and David Hepworth explains some of the reasons why (much more eloquently than I’m able to) here. The station’s fame has spread far and wide, and specifically to Brighton where, apparently, it was relayed by a not for profit pirate and developed quite a following. The Man (a/k/a OFCOM) took the pirate off air, but hey, now we’ve got the internet no one can tell you what to listen to, right?

Freeform / Music / Podcasts — 1 Comment
23
Apr 09

Saturday Night, Sunday Morning

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Saturday Night…
I’ve got a new favourite radio station. It’s called WFMU FM, it broadcasts from East Orange, NJ across the river into NYC. It describes itself as ‘freeform radio’, which means it lets the presenters choose the music they play. Of course, this sometimes results in a load of self indulgent tosh (by which I mean stuff I’m not interested in). However, it also results in some fantastically exciting radio made by obsessed, enthusiastic experts.

Prime among these is the tremendously monikered Mr. Fine Wine. He presents Downtown Soulville, a Friday night sweatbox session of some of the most joyous, uptempo, obscure soul 45’s I’ve (n)ever heard before. Often played off really crackly vinyl, and always chosen with love, the show (and an hour long podcast, in which form it’s become required Saturday evening cookalong soundtrack music chez Hall) just bursts with fantastic stomping instrumentals, unheard of artists crying soulful entreaties, and back catalogue obscurities from artists like Tina Turner and Little Milton. Mr Fine Wine is obviously a soul nut, but not blinkered – one show sees him playing Chuck Berry and reminding listeners afterwards ‘Remember the rule – if I say it’s soul, it’s soul.” To judge by the unlabelled acetate played recently, given to him by his Uncle Maurice, it runs in the family.

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If you’ve got even the slightest interest in soul music, you need to hear this show. But before you do, please make sure you’ve got room to move before you start, as rugs will most definitely be cut, moneymakers will be shaken, and midnight oil will be burnt. Terrific.

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…and Sunday Morning
And after the late night sinning, comes the early morning redemption. The same station also host a Thursday evening gospel show, Sinner’s Crossroads, hosted by Kevin Nutt. If ever there was a podcast that would make a churchaphobic non-believer feel a little bit sanctified on Sunday morning it’s this (and not the happy clappy inclusive live from a soulless concrete tepee somewhere in the home counties they insist on clogging up Radio 4 with on a Sunday morning).

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Beautiful acapella quartets, ranting down home preachers from the earliest days of broadcasting (including brazenly naked instructions for the faithful to send in cold hard cash) and joyous high octane gospel choirs are all pulled out of the archives. They all go to show that, while the devil might have all the best tunes, a bunch of flat topped true believers channelling the holy spirit through the medium of intricate bass parts and call and response harmonies runs him mighty close. Hallelujah!

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Internet / Music / Pirate / Podcasts — 1 Comment
16
Apr 09

Skank Around The Kitchen

"Start Your Day With A Nice White Pearly Smile"

DJ Scratcha: The Grimey Breakfast on Rinse FM

This is still work in progress, but Scratcha makes me laugh A LOT. Scratcha does ‘The Grimey Breakfast’ on the absolutely incredible Rinse FM. A lot has been written about Rinse all over the web—it is the home of so many of the best black music heads in the UK at the moment including Roll Deep, Skream / Zinc and Benga, Boy Better Know and Plastician—but not enough people have been shouting about the weekday 8-11 slot.

Some things work, and some things go on way too long, but when it’s right it’s very right. Often in a very wrong way. Recent features include a summer special where listeners split up with their girlfriends / boyfriends on air (because you don’t want to have a girlfriend in the summer right?), and this morning was a phone in about the perils of ‘going down’ for both girls and boys. Eat that Terry.

The music is amazing (kinda like a really upfront 1Xtra breakfast minus lame R’n'b plus some killer underground hits), and—without getting all grown up on it—it’s really good to hear a show that hasn’t been neutered in the age of compliance and censorship where young people can talk how they talk.

As he says ‘it’s breakfast—start your day with a nice white pearly smile’. Wow.

Check Rinse on their website, or listen to the podcasts here (Scratcha comes round pretty regularly).

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