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).

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.

Jon Langford of The Mekons

I have been meaning to post this fifteen minute clip for a little while (it was broadcast in early summer). This American Life isn’t really our stock and trade, but as this clip has a musical theme I thought it deserves a mention here.

The feature is taken from one of The American Life’s Classified specials, where all of the content from the show is harvested from one day’s classified ads in the local Chicago papers. Here Jon Langford of The Mekons puts together a band of never met before musicians for a rendition of a classic tune.

There are lots of things I really like about this clip: the narrator’s amazing Dawson’s-Creek-meets-Juno delivery, the theremin player that likes to amaze people and then spurn their fawning adoration, but the cherry on top is reserved for the violin player who is in anger management. Have a listen.

The American Life—Band For One Day

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.

A missive from subscriber Terence Dackombe;

Ever since our earliest ancestors told the first joke, “A man walks into a cave…”, commentators have debated on why there is a difference between what an American, and a Brit, finds funny.

There are immediate and obvious disparities. UK comedians want to be your mate; for them, life is an ordeal and fundamentally grim. Comics from the USA perform, they are not one of the crowd, and they don’t want you to buy them a beer. They have hope, and they believe the sun will come out tomorrow. The British anticipate a cloudy day ahead.

As Matt commented recently, from the perspective of this side of the Atlantic, we don’t really know how NPR works. What we do know is that it provides a seemingly endless supply of quality programming, which, thanks to the free podcasts, can make even the most frustrating commute considerably more bearable.

Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! is, loosely, a quiz, based on the weekly news, recorded on Thursday nights at Chicago’s Chase Auditorium, and broadcast across NPR affiliate stations in America, on Saturday mornings.

It would be tempting to draw comparisons with Radio Four’s  News Quiz, or even its televised cousin  Have I Got News For You, but here we return to the theme of two nations divided by a common language, or more accurately, divided by comedy.
Both of these British shows are supposed to be based on a bedrock of satire and irony, lampooning the foolish and the pompous. However, over the years (the News Quiz was first heard in 1977) the humour seems to have filtered away, to be replaced by a rather childish, immature reliance on sniggery-pokery about undergarments, toilets, and sexual preferences. Increasing numbers of potential guests return the ‘thanks but no thanks’ slip to ‘Have I Got News For You’.

‘Wait, Wait’ manages to avoid these traps, and regularly provides a mature, but still ‘laugh out loud’, review of the week’s political news stories, draped over the theme of a quiz.

Hosted by the quick-off-the-mark Peter Sagal, and featuring veteran newscaster, Carl Kassel as judge and scorer, the show has a panel of three guests, drawn from a set of about ten regular contributors. With the exception of P.J. O’Rourke, these people are not widely known outside the USA, but listeners from elsewhere will soon pick up that if it is a week when any of Paul Provenza, Mo Rocca, or Paula Poundstone, is on the panel, then it’s a ‘not to be missed’ edition.

Although, as with the best shows, the whole thing feels effortless, the team of up to ten writers contribute about a hundred gags each week, of which maybe ten will beat the cut and make the programme.

The show has a regular set of ‘rounds’ which vary a little week to week, but are always set up to provide the host and guests the opportunity to riff on the hot issues of the week. It helps if the radio audience has some knowledge of world affairs, and perhaps a little understanding of American politics, but the casual listener will still enjoy the lightning fast repartee and razor sharp humour.

Don’t err… wait for ‘Wait, Wait’. The podcast can be downloaded from everywhere you would expect, including  iTunes

The original cheetah enjoying his retirement

This American Life is one of the most celebrated speech radio shows to be found on any network anywhere. If you are a subscriber you will know that there is something about the perfectly paced stories, the use of first person narration (emphatically feeling like storytime for grown-ups) and the excellent use of music (often from America’s best alternative bands) that feels right. Unlike other radio documentaries found elsewhere the stories never feel too dense, and the conversational tone set by presenter Ira Glass means that his world feels warmly familiar. 

A couple of weeks ago was #350. The theme was human resources exploring the uneasy interactions between humans and their institutions. This show is separated into three different acts telling different stories: the prologue has Ira talking to a human resources specialist about how to fire people; act one examines ‘The Rubber Room’, where US teachers go when they are suspended; act two looks at the conspiracy behind American real estate (TAL often appeals to the Trot inside us all), but the real magic comes in act 3.

The final act sees reporter reporter Charles Siebert talk to Ira about retirement homes for chimps. Apparently there are thousands of retired entertainment and medical industry monkeys in sipping cocktails and playing crazy golf all over the States. I was very pleased to hear that those previously engaged in the medical industry love endless reruns of E.R. and House on the telly. That factling, and much more chimp retirement trivia, means that I will be dining out on this item for WEEKS. 

Listen to this episode here or, if you haven’t done so already subscribe here.

I still haven’t quite figured out how NPR works. I know there are a bunch of stations around the US, each operating on a real shoestring budget. They’re called ‘affiliates’. And as well as their own output, they also take shows made centrally by the NPR organisation. As anyone who’s ever listened to any NPR stations in real time can tell, there’s a world of difference between the stuff made locally and that brought in from the centre.

All Songs Considered is one of NPR’s hidden gems, and possibly the best music radio show currently broadcasting. Presented by Bob Boilen, a man who never lets his obvious love of the music he plays prevent him from sounding anything other than lugubrious, the programme is usually a round up of current releases. The writer Barney Hoskyns recently mentioned a genre called ‘NPR Artists’ and I guess those are the acts All Songs Considered champions. Majoring in the kind of songwriters operating in the field that used to be called ‘Americana’, they avoid the US mainstream, and are all the more interesting for that – everyone from Bob Dylan to Fleet Foxes, Amadou & Miriam to Neko Case, Anthony & The Johnsons to Franz Ferdinand have all been recently featured.

There are a number of great things about the show. Firstly, it’s podcast without any edits – which means you get the tracks featured in full, rather than just the intro & fade out. Secondly, they have an irregular series of guest DJ shows, where an artist comes into the studio to talk about influences and current favourites. These are entertainingly shambolic, and usually accompanied by the sound of Boilen shuffling through a pile of CD’s as he attempts to find the track being discussed. Recently Bonnie Prince Billy showed up and talked about how much he loved The Monster Mash, Randy Newman raved about Ray Charles and Portishead revealed a hitherto unsuspected Hendrix influence.

However, the best thing about All Songs Considered is their series of podcast concerts. Full length and unedited, they’ve given me some of my favourite listening of the last twelve months. Tom Waits, Orchestra Baboab and Spiritualised have all featured. And I’ve listened to the show featuring Leonard Cohen at the Beacon Theatre in New York least once a week since it was first posted.

There are drawbacks with the show. Black music is mostly noticeable by its’ absence. But given that you can find hip hop, reggae, house and any number of other Black styles all over the internet, it’s carping to berate the show for a single failing. Instead, celebrate and enjoy a unique show – not only in the American broadcasting landscape, but across the interweb as a whole.

It’s not often I listen to a radio programme more than once. Actually I never do. But I have with this one. Three whole times. Even more mysterious, this programme involves a significant amount of Phil Collins. I know, trust me on this. Anything that can make you view the Collins in a new light must be packing some powerful voodoo.

This is a package from This American Life on the theme of Break Ups. The programme wasn’t particularly memorable apart from this one story, a first hand account of the reporter’s quest to write a song about the end of her relationship. So far so contrived. But brilliantly, along the way, she manages to enlist the help of Phil Collins. What makes this so great is the interview she manages to get with him. Now if this was a British programme it would inevitably have gone down the slightly snide ‘Louis Theroux’ route but happily it’s more generous than that. Even to the reporter’s surprise, it turns out to be quite a moving and revealing encounter. By the end, you’re left quite touched. with an insight into what drives someone to write a love song.

So, a perfect bit of bedtime listening, download here.

For some reason UK music radio doesn’t seem to be bothered with Sunday mornings. Whether it’s a pumping goonfest, or the Nation’s Tackiest Love Songs (TM) the opportunity to provide a soundtrack to what a large part of the audience are actually doing at the time has never been taken. Which means we have to look a bit further afield for suitable listening…

KCRW is part of Santa Monica college, and best known for Nic Harcourt’s mid Atlantic Steve Lamacq-alike ‘Morning Becomes Eclectic’ show. But elsewhere in the station’s music schedules are some interesting little gems.

Dan Wilcox broadcasts between midnight and 3am PST, and his wee small hours demeanor somehow works perfectly for a UK Sunday morning, whether it’s soundtracking a mammoth Sunday roast preparation, or the shaky hangover from the night before. This Sunday’s show included Joe Strummer, Peter Tosh, Lil Wayne, Madness and a bonkers psycho disco cut up of Dolly Parton’s ‘9 to 5′. Give it a go – you’ll never need listen to Chappers & Dave again.