Thanks! For about a year, I've been entertaining the idea of having mixes based on various Wire magazine issues, but I'm not so sure now. There's always some elaborate idea for mixes that comes to mind, but there's no interest in most of the mixes already posted and so I'll just work more on other stuff unless I can convince myself otherwise. Apparently, unless you want to rock nothing but dance music or some kind of boring predictable stuff (or you're already some kind of superstar), mixes are pretty much ignored. There is one guy who feels the need to "favorite" nearly every one, but this is after not even listening to them - which kinda shows the shallowness of systems like that. Anyway, I have other projects that I'm in the middle of that I enjoy doing, so I'll just continue with those.
Well, I'll confess that I haven't got around to playing podcasts, but I did download 042 when you made it available. Enjoyed the listen but found it hard to remember who was playing. However, I can't tell you how many hours I've spent going through your playlists copying and pasting artists names into searches. I still have years of searching to do so a big Thanks for all the work you've done so far. Ps -I'm not that guy, btw.
I have considered the idea of podcasts - at one time, thinking of asking bremble about his connections with iTunes (or is it “Apple” these days?). The closest I came to that was for over a dozen years I would “rodcast” from my desktop anything that I was currently listening to so there was no theme, but just a random shuffle thru, at that time, hundreds of thousands of tracks. It was always easy to tell what was currently playing in whatever audio software you chose to use. Nicecast decided to close down in 2018, so that was that. I’ve even thought of just having no-theme mixes and just calling them “Random Radio” in the purest sense whereby I just pick a random sample of 2 hours of tracks from my collection and just upload that. It sure would be less of an undertaking.
Yes, there are paid subscription styled apps that would make it easy for me to do this again, but, today’s freeform “radio” listener is no longer dependent on personal individuals feeding them unusual or cutting-edge or creative programming like we had to rely on back in the 60s and 70s.
Concerning your comment about remembering who’s playing: my take has always been that when I’m listening on shuffle, if something comes up that grabs my attention so strongly that I have to stop what I’m doing to really listen, then I gotta figure that it has really hit me hard enough to find out more. It happens under differing circumstances too. While driving, I may find myself repeating a track many times, because I’m thinking, “Damn, this is really great! Who is this?” LOL! (then I check my notes later). I’m suggesting that you do this with the mixes. I guess you’re kinda there with the searching for more when it comes to the artists. That’s great! During my early days of radio broadcasting, I was frequently chided by professional capitalists who said that radio wasn’t there to inform or teach, but just to entertain the masses. Sorry, but the rewarding part IS the discovery aspect.
I know the fellow who “favorites” my stuff ... and he has a damn good page of mixes from his radio show in Seattle, so it’s not really a disparaging comment on him. It’s just an understanding of the general emptiness of “grading” and getting points (so to speak) that’s so pervasive in social media. That’s one of the things I like about being here is that there isn’t a tally next to every post showing how much you post - as if it’s a contest of some sort (like on most other forums).
Thanks for the kind words and putting up with all of this text.
Another 10 cents from a quiet corner: for myself, I almost never listen to mixes and rarely find time for podcasts. That's not a knock on those genres, I just have deeply ingrained album-centric habits, a large collection of stuff I already have that I want to listen to, a close friend with whom I coordinate some time-consuming listening, and a lot of tiredness from being overextended in various areas that makes me less gung-ho about exploration than I once was. So the reality has been that despite some interest in theory, I have most often done no more than cast my eye over your RR lists. BUT, on the small number of occasions when I actually found time to listen in I found things that I then bought, so it's been fruitful for me and a couple of artists, if only in a modest way. Thanks for that. If the archive sticks around I aim to continue to take the occasional dive.
I completely understand. My excitement about all of this comes from the glorious days of freeform radio when I pretty much built up my physical and mental collections by listening to what we would now call "mixes" from adventurous radio DJs. When I'm here and I see releases that are mentioned in posts, it's a "mix" to me as well - it's just coming from multiple sources and not just the one that you'd get from a freeform radio DJ or a single Mixcloud compiler - a mix from the differing personalities here.
Pretty much the only difference between listening to a single tune and a set of tunes from a single release is the length of time immersed in an emotion. I generally don't have the emotion first, and then pick the sound to match it because I find that I don't learn anything from that process. It's quite the opposite for me where the sound magically creates the emotion of the moment. That music can do that is what delights me to no end.
BTW: all 100 mixes are available as single files if anyone ever wants one. Just drop me a line and it's extremely easy to drop it into a folder, upload it, and then give you the address to download - less than 5 minutes time.
Taking a cue from bremble, I’m offering up again a Halloween/Dia de los Muertos mix. Yes, it’s from a broadcast I did 4 years ago and I probably should update it, but I think it still works. Maybe after I decide what I’m doing with broadcasting in the future, I may update it, but I’m in Las Cruces right now and I’m getting ready to go to a Day of the Dead festival and so am not at home. Anyway, enjoy if you’re inclined to listen:
Glad to see that you decided to leap back into the fray. Will you have full track lists easy to hand at some point? In any event an intriguing start! [Hadn't realised you were doing this as a real radio show with back announcements - track list would still be nice if it's no work for you.]
Well, the existence of this returning to Mixcloud was mostly brought on by the fact that the new management at the radio station got rid of their previous online playlist service called Spinitron (you could see all kinds of info on what was currently playing as well as an archive of a few weeks). When I asked about that and some “404”s you get when you click on shows on their website, I was assured that they were working on that for the new year. Anyway, the manager stated that people will have to listen the “old school” way 😄 which I thought was simultaneously funny and touching in its actual nod to radio’s past.
So, in light of this … and in light of my complaint for leaving Mixcloud a couple years back … putting a track list would be no problem, but I feel that it just plays into the hands of the people whom I had complained about: namely, people who never actually listened to the shows, but felt the need to “favorite” them - possibly after looking at a playlist … or maybe just out of duty? Don’t know … but I do know that it’s definitely not real feedback of any sort - sort of empty feedback. Also, when someone listens, the artists and titles appear automagically. Best to not have a preconceived notion about what’s ready to be played: thus, the beautiful excitement of discovery in real time.
This is the beauty of freeform radio that I grew up with: to hear a mix - especially with a memorable segue - jump out at you in such a way that you stop, momentarily, what you’re doing to really listen. I’m not saying that this necessarily happens in any playlist of mine, but I do hope that there’s something there that a listener snags as something memorable. I had those experiences 50 years ago - one of which I even reproduced in this latest mix - so that’s an aspect that’s dear to my heart. Numbers? Bah. Someone putting into words their experience? Oh, yes!
Hmm I didn't see the currently playing feature yesterday I'll give it another spin. You got 1.5 listens out of me thanks to my remembering I could play it through the living room hi-fi and not just my office laptop set up. Bonus!
Quote "Also, when someone listens, the artists and titles appear automagically."
Looked again just now - not happeneing for me on the Mixcloud feed as far as I can tell, all I get is a suggested queue of another of your mixes to play next.
Mixcloud has been desperately trying to make things "better" for a few months now. Even if you weren't a member, you could, at least, see the playlist unfurl as you listened to each song - as well as see the tune playing at the bottom of the page right above the timeline. These days, I don't know what they've done. I wrote them to ask about this. They *have* made some positive changes if you sign up with their service: you get to download any mix and you get to move back and forth within any mix at will and listen as many times as you want, get special "personal" mixes, etc., but I guess they removed the non-member aspects? It should appear like this in your window:
Thanks for the reply. Although varied I thought the show hung together very well. I'm not sure if I've ever had to log into Mixcloud before, but it's something for me to look out for.
”Thanks for getting in touch about this problem with tracklists not loading on show page. Our team are currently looking into this so that it can be fixed as soon as possible.”
You had me searching for the Montparnasse Musique album before the track had finished. Tracks on YouTube - naturally, and the whole album on Bandcamp for not a lot. Thanks. I can't imagine any of the 20 y.o. around here having much of a clue about King Gizzard
Yup, Archeology seems to be getting some attention since it came out about 6 weeks ago. I think they’ve begun worldwide touring, if not, very soon.
Silver City and its environs often surprise me - more so, since I don’t spend a whole lot of time there, but, this time, I was out at a Dia de los Muertos festival and I ran into this guy with a Gizzard t-shirt standing with friends on the street and the 4 of us were talking about the band with one guy especially who was super excited about them. He said that he thought the latest live album was their best one yet, and so on. I’ll probably relate another incident that happened just down the street from the radio station on another visit out there on an upcoming show.
Happy that you found some joy in listening to the show!
^^^Happy that you found some joy in listening to the show!^^^
Well I even tapped a foot to Traffic, despite owning several of their albums they are a group I've always been on the fence about. Oh and you reminded me that Ray's Blues and Roots (basement of the main Ray's Jazz a legendary London shop) used to stock a more or less complete selection of Document cds.
The last three were part of a memorable era of radio that I thought would go well together to end the night out (plus the connection to the recent death of Danny Kalb).
The store in Munich was "Ludwig Beck" which is shown in this video. I also got to meet Evan Parker in that store.
The discs were something like €6 each - and I kept my haul to about a couple dozen discs.
I think I'd have been walking out with a few more albums than the presenter. All that new vinyl though... I can't say I like all that future landfil, I find it hard to believe there will be much of a second hand market in 10 - 20 years time. I do understand physical object greater than streaming though.
All of those things he picked up are things I've had, in some cases, for decades. I didn't pay nearly that amount he paid for that Kraftwerk vinyl tho.
Still, between those stores and a place called "Saturn", shopping for music in Germany was always a fun experience for me.
Also, I gotta say that after nearly 60 years of having vinyl, I really have cut back tremendously. It just overtakes the physical space - takes too long to mess with anymore - and has become prohibitively expensive. Listening has always been of the utmost importance to me. I used to dream of having that setup that. I think, I saw in that Bowie movie, "The Man Who Fell to Earth"(?) where he has access to the world's music in the form of some kind of ball-shaped object that he'd place on a mechanism to listen. I may be getting the story/source wrong, but it was an early dream that we've moved very close to these days.
I should clarify that it isn't vinyl I object to, its the vinyl resurgence as a fashion item with problematic resource waste / pollution. Just got rid of my deck in the move but my wife convinced me to keep what was left of my vinyl, presumably so I could hold them and dribble over them in my dotage when being 16 again wll feel like yesterday.
Nothing like holding close your worn and scratched copy of The Doors first album secured in 1967, the year it first came out! Not to forget Carmen's 1973 "Fandangos in Space"!
Yeah...I just can't. Something signed or in incredible packaging - or something that's not been re-released or was re-released, but messed up in its "new" form where I have the original, then...yes.
> @rostasi said: > Yeah...I just can't. Something signed or in incredible packaging - or something that's not been re-released or was re-released, but messed up in its "new" form where I have the original, then...yes.
There was a glitch on the radio station computer and the show wasn't broadcast Wednesday night, so it's gonna be on July 5 instead. Kinda unexpectedly, within hours of it being uploaded to Mixcloud, it went to #93 on its charts - then to #55 the next day and now it's at #11 after the third day. Wasn't intending that, but there must be some kind of interest I guess.
Comments
Ps -I'm not that guy, btw.
Yes, there are paid subscription styled apps that would make it easy for me to do this again,
but, today’s freeform “radio” listener is no longer dependent on personal individuals feeding them unusual or cutting-edge or creative programming like we had to rely on back in the 60s and 70s.
Concerning your comment about remembering who’s playing: my take has always been that when I’m listening on shuffle, if something comes up that grabs my attention so strongly that I have to stop what I’m doing to really listen, then I gotta figure that it has really hit me hard enough to find out more. It happens under differing circumstances too. While driving, I may find myself repeating a track many times, because I’m thinking, “Damn, this is really great! Who is this?” LOL! (then I check my notes later). I’m suggesting that you do this with the mixes. I guess you’re kinda there with the searching for more when it comes to the artists. That’s great! During my early days of radio broadcasting, I was frequently chided by professional capitalists who said that radio wasn’t there to inform or teach, but just to entertain the masses. Sorry, but the rewarding part IS the discovery aspect.
I know the fellow who “favorites” my stuff ... and he has a damn good page of mixes from his radio show in Seattle, so it’s not really a disparaging comment on him. It’s just an understanding of the general emptiness of “grading” and getting points (so to speak) that’s so pervasive in social media. That’s one of the things I like about being here is that there isn’t a tally next to every post showing how much you post - as if it’s a contest of some sort (like on most other forums).
Thanks for the kind words and putting up with all of this text.
Pretty much the only difference between listening to a single tune and a set of tunes from a single release is the length of time immersed in an emotion. I generally don't have the emotion first, and then pick the sound to match it because I find that I don't learn anything from that process. It's quite the opposite for me where the sound magically creates the emotion of the moment. That music can do that is what delights me to no end.
BTW: all 100 mixes are available as single files if anyone ever wants one.
Just drop me a line and it's extremely easy to drop it into a folder, upload it,
and then give you the address to download - less than 5 minutes time.
Yes, it’s from a broadcast I did 4 years ago and I probably should update it, but I think it still works.
Maybe after I decide what I’m doing with broadcasting in the future, I may update it,
but I’m in Las Cruces right now and I’m getting ready to go to a Day of the Dead festival
and so am not at home. Anyway, enjoy if you’re inclined to listen:
https://www.mixcloud.com/rostasi/random-radio-016-halloweend%C3%ADa-de-muertos-the-silver-city-broadcast-002/
Random Radio 333: 221116
So, in light of this … and in light of my complaint for leaving Mixcloud a couple years back … putting a track list would be no problem, but I feel that it just plays into the hands of the people whom I had complained about: namely, people who never actually listened to the shows, but felt the need to “favorite” them - possibly after looking at a playlist … or maybe just out of duty? Don’t know … but I do know that it’s definitely not real feedback of any sort - sort of empty feedback. Also, when someone listens, the artists and titles appear automagically. Best to not have a preconceived notion about what’s ready to be played: thus, the beautiful excitement of discovery in real time.
This is the beauty of freeform radio that I grew up with: to hear a mix - especially with a memorable segue - jump out at you in such a way that you stop, momentarily, what you’re doing to really listen. I’m not saying that this necessarily happens in any playlist of mine, but I do hope that there’s something there that a listener snags as something memorable. I had those experiences 50 years ago - one of which I even reproduced in this latest mix - so that’s an aspect that’s dear to my heart. Numbers? Bah. Someone putting into words their experience? Oh, yes!
”Thanks for getting in touch about this problem with tracklists not loading on show page.
Our team are currently looking into this so that it can be fixed as soon as possible.”
We’ll see if that makes any difference.
Random Radio 334: 221123
Random Radio 335: 221130
I think they’ve begun worldwide touring, if not, very soon.
Silver City and its environs often surprise me - more so, since I don’t spend a whole lot of time there,
but, this time, I was out at a Dia de los Muertos festival and I ran into this guy with a Gizzard t-shirt
standing with friends on the street and the 4 of us were talking about the band with one guy especially
who was super excited about them. He said that he thought the latest live album was their best one yet,
and so on. I’ll probably relate another incident that happened just down the street from the radio station
on another visit out there on an upcoming show.
Happy that you found some joy in listening to the show!
The store in Munich was "Ludwig Beck" which is shown in this video.
I also got to meet Evan Parker in that store.
The discs were something like €6 each - and I kept my haul to about a couple dozen discs.
I didn't pay nearly that amount he paid for that Kraftwerk vinyl tho.
Still, between those stores and a place called "Saturn", shopping for music in
Germany was always a fun experience for me.
Also, I gotta say that after nearly 60 years of having vinyl, I really have cut back tremendously.
It just overtakes the physical space - takes too long to mess with anymore - and has become
prohibitively expensive. Listening has always been of the utmost importance to me. I used to
dream of having that setup that. I think, I saw in that Bowie movie, "The Man Who Fell to Earth"(?)
where he has access to the world's music in the form of some kind of ball-shaped object that
he'd place on a mechanism to listen. I may be getting the story/source wrong, but it was an
early dream that we've moved very close to these days.
> Yeah...I just can't. Something signed or in incredible packaging - or something that's not been re-released or was re-released, but messed up in its "new" form where I have the original, then...yes.
@rostasi couldn't agree more!
Random Radio 336: 221207
Special, mostly 70s, lesser known, Prog version:
Random Radio 364: 230621
so it's gonna be on July 5 instead. Kinda unexpectedly, within hours of it being uploaded to Mixcloud, it went to #93 on its charts - then to #55 the next day and now it's at #11 after the third day. Wasn't intending that, but there must be some kind of interest I guess.