From Inside The Pod Revisited #2

So here's another old Podcast from my previous blog. This one dates from November 2011 (hence its title) and the artwork features a view of Newport in the rain. Apparently. Nothing has been re-written, it is exactly as it originally appeared.


pod 21: Eleven/Eleven
(first published 18 November 2011)

After a flurry of themed pods, it's back to the randomness of normality. The long dark nights have drawn in, it's cold and wet outside, and to make it worse, it's nearly Christmas!

I've pieced together an assortment of tunes to put some colour into your November drabness (for half-hour, at least). 

A double-bill for December is being lined up, featuring some of my fave records of the year. In the meantime, feast on this little beauty, which contains a sample of the delights I've been feeding my head in recent weeks.

1. Stereolab Lo Boob Oscillator (part 1) [1993, single]

JC over at The Vinyl Villain recently posted an old TV clip of Stereolab performing their best-known track 'French Disko'. I was never a big fan, but this made me go back and re-evaluate their work. In doing so I discovered the magnificent European-retro sound of 'Lo Boob Oscillator' and liked it very muchly.

2. Bruce Springsteen Born In The USA [Nebraska demo] [1982, Lost Masters 1: Alone in Colts Neck (bootleg)]

Bit of a surprise inclusion? Possibly, but it can't be much of a shock to learn that my favourite Springsteen album by far is Nebraska, with its stripped-down, back-to-basics maudlin folk sound. 'Born In The USA', his biting critique on the isolation and poor treatment Vietnam vets faced on their return home, was originally written for Nebraska. It was passed over and ended up, in a completely different form, becoming the title track for The Boss' next album. Here though, you can hear the anguish and the desolation.

3. Cambodian Space Project Mean Visa Kmean Bai [2011, 2011: A Space Odyssey]

I've featured music from all over the world on this blog, but this is the first from Cambodia. It has taken a little while for the country to rediscover its culture since the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge which murdered its musicians and artists. During the 60s, it had a thriving rock & roll scene. Last year, the Cambodian Space Project became the first Cambodian act to release a single since 1975 (the year Pol Pot came to power). Having toured the world this year to rave reviews, expect to hear a lot more from them in the future.  The title of the song translates as 'Have Visa, No Have Rice'.

4. Sheepdogs Hang On To Yourself [2007, Trying To Grow]

I have our friend Sean in Thunder Bay, Ontario to thank for this. He recently sent me a mammoth playlist (that I still haven't got through) which included a track by the Sheepdogs. I'm a sucker for some good old country-tinged rock 'n' roll so naturally I loved it. Like the Kings of Leon did in their early days, the Sheepdogs sound as if they should have been around in the early 70s mixing it with the likes of Gram Parsons, Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Band. Actually, they've only been around a few years, this track featuring on their debut album.

5. U-Roy Chalice In The Palace [1975, Dread In A Babylon]

I said last time out that there was a distinct lack of reggae here at FItP, so this is the first step towards fixing that. I should perhaps have left this for the Queen's diamond jubilee next year. I can't think of many better sights than Her Maj sharing a fat reefer with The Originator (aka: toasting legend U-Roy).

"One is totally wasted, mon...", she slurred to her favourite corgi as she took a final puff of the enormous spliff and handed it to an equally stoned Duke of Edinburgh...

6. Dead Can Dance Fortune Presents Gifts Not According to The Book [1990, Aion]

I didn't get Dead Can Dance at first, but then being a mere 20 years old just as grunge was exploding, that's perhaps understandable. But late one night (or more likely early one morning), in a dimly lit room at the end of a house party, someone put 'Aion' on the turntable and it suddenly made complete sense. This track in particular continues to stand out, its lyrics having been penned by Spanish Renaissance poet Luis De Góngora. I suppose in less poetic language, it's all about 'sod's law'!

7. Throwing Muses Shark [1996, Limbo]

The utter genius that is Kristin Hersh recently came to Cardiff with Throwing Muses, their first tour in too many years. And I missed it! Couldn't go. Gutted! Have to make do with the wonderful memories I have of the classic Muses line-up supporting R.E.M. in London in 1989, blowing the several hundred people there present into the middle of the following week! *sob* Life can be so cruel. While nothing can quite make up for this terrible injustice, I'm including this amazing track which was strangely omitted from the band's recent self-compiled 'Anthology' (out now!)

8.Leadbelly Birmingham Jail [1948, Leadbelly's Last Sessions]

Why can't people tell stories anymore? Or at least, why can't anyone tell a story like Leadbelly? His songs have endured for 60, 70, 80 years or more, and this one, his variation of the traditional American folk song 'Down In The Valley', is one of my favourites. It was one of his last ever recordings, sadly passing away the following year.

9. Helen Love So Hot [1994, Summer Pop Punk Pop EP]

Perhaps only Shonen Knife can rival Swansea's Helen Love as the band that most worships, and wants to be, the Ramones. 'Da Brudders' influence is so great, they are frequently referred to in the Welsh combo's song titles and lyrics, and the trademark catchy, often very short blasts of punk-pop are uncanny. Joey Ramone even guested on one of their early singles! Sadly, "Hey ho, gadewch i ni fynd" doesn't have quite the same ring to it...

10. Jeffrey Lewis Gas Man [2007, 12 Crass Songs]

It's been kind of cool to like Jeffrey Lewis for a while. Hugely prolific (16 albums/EPs in 14 years, many of them lo-budget, self-released affairs), he's beginning to become more and more popular with every new release. Which most likely means he's no longer cool, of course... He has also written and illustrated his own series' of comic books. This song is possibly one of his most angry, but eerily poignant still.

November spawned a podcast - download it here!

Radio Nowhere

  “I just want to hear some rhythm
  I want a thousand guitars
  I want pounding drums
  I want a million different voices speaking in tongues”
- ‘Radio Nowhere’, Bruce Springsteen

People get very nostalgic about radio. It’s a common topic for pop songs; most of them romanticise it, holding it up as something precious and wonderful; something that should be celebrated, cherished. But I’ve never really had that connection. There was no love affair with the wireless for TheRobster.

When I was growing up, I would spend Sunday evenings in my bedroom listening to the chart show on BBC Radio 1. I did this for years. I was informed by radio, as were an awful lot of people, as to what was going on in the world of popular music. And then one day, sometime during the late 80s or early 90s, I realised something: I was being lied to; the radio was shit. I was learning about terrible music day after day from idiotic DJs whose knowledge and love of music was clearly dwarfed by the size of their egos. So I turned it off and didn't turned it back on for the best part of 20 years.

Well, OK, in fairness it would get an airing now and again, but it was rare. I tried to get on with John Peel, but getting through an entire Peel show was hard work. I wasn’t open-minded enough at the time to really appreciate what he was doing. Sure, I would have heard plenty of the Smiths, the Fall, Half Man Half Biscuit and the Wedding Present, but they were all intermingled with the likes of Misty in Roots, Extreme Noise Terror, the Four Brothers and Ivor Cutler. Reggae, grindcore, Zimbabwean jit and whimsical Scottish poetry were not really on my radar, and I didn’t have the patience to sit through any of that in order to hear the next guitar band.

I did, however, get a few gems from radio during the early 90s. For instance, I remember hearing Endless Art by A House played by Janice Long one night as I ran a bath. I still love love love that song.

Over the years, the only time I listened to music radio was in the car. If I was the passenger, it was the driver’s choice. If I was the driver, it was only because the cassette or CD player had packed up. I listened to Radio One and regularly cringed at the naffness of it all – Chris Moyles, Scott Mills, Edith Bowman – all as irritating as each other. Radio Two was no better; they had Steve Wright and Chris Evans, people who had served their time on Radio One, but were now considered too old. I could never stand either of them anyway! Things haven't changed that much since these guys...

  “The world is collapsing around our ears” – ‘Radio Song’, R.E.M.

And then, there is the horrifying world of commercial radio. There are few things in life as fundamentally evil and wrong as commercial radio: horseradish sauce, right-wing politics, ITV[1] and banks are among those I would align with commercial radio in terms of “things I would abolish forever if I ran the world”. The thing with commercial radio is that music is considered to be the least important factor. Every single commercial station I’ve ever had to endure is generic, formulaic and sterile. Every presenter sounds exactly the same (never any regional accents, ever noticed that?) and presents to the exact same standard, like as if they’ve been cloned. Whatever station you choose, you’re actually listening to the same thing. This is probably because the vast majority of commercial stations are owned by a very small group of companies. Unlike the BBC, these companies have one aim and one aim only – to make as much profit as possible. Income comes from advertisers, and as per usual in order to keep the advertisers happy you have to appeal to the broadest spectrum of listener available. Therefore you play the music that appeals to the broadest spectrum of potential listener. As most listeners don’t know their Elvis from their Elbow - or in fact even care – then there’s no room for anything out of the ordinary or even remotely interesting. If it ain’t ultra mainstream, it ain’t gettin’ played.

Add to this the fact that stations pay for the music they play on a per-song per-listener basis and it is little wonder you hear the same records played over and over again, day after day, punctuated only by the repeated airing of excruciatingly cheesy adverts for the local car showroom and ambulance-chasing claims companies.

When I moved from North Devon (where the local commercial station was Lantern FM) to South Wales (Red Dragon FM)[2], I honestly noticed no difference; the same records, the same presenters’ voices, the same format, over and over again. Radio by numbers. I mean, what does any of it have to do with music?

  “It’s just the same old show on my radio.” – ‘On My Radio’, The Selecter

So thank god for the good old Beeb, and especially 6Music. Launched a decade ago, 6Music is a station for music fans. You know, ‘proper’ music fans, like me and you. People who give a shit and actually don’t want to hear the same record several times a day every day. People who want to engage with music rather than just have it on as background noise. People who love music. I'm unashamedly pro-Beeb because, in spite of all their faults (and there have been plenty), I still firmly believe only the BBC care about our arts in this country. Commercial channels don't - end of! The best shows on 6Music are those whose presenters exude the same love, passion and knowledge, who don’t see what they are doing as ‘just a job’ (unlike their commercial radio counterparts). The humble, understated Gideon Coe for instance, who mixes the newest underground music that no one has heard yet with hoary old prog and punk classics; the infectiously exhuberant Craig Charles with his Funk and Soul Show, which I really enjoy despite not being a big fan of those genres (or at least, I didn’t think I was); and of course, the lovely, the wonderful, the divine Cerys Matthews who soundtracks post lie-in Sunday mornings with the finest array of reggae, folk and world music you’ve never heard.

You will probably NEVER hear the music played by these presenters on any commercial radio station EVER! But that’s the appeal, and it’s the only reason I have digital radios in my house. That, and the reception on 5 Live is better, and what’s a weekend without Alan Green’s Premier League commentary, eh?


Soundtrack (courtesy of Radio Robster 66.6 FM[3]):

• Radio Nowhere – Bruce Springsteen (from ‘Magic’)
• Radio Song [demo] – R.E.M. (unreleased; funky 'Out Of Time' demo) link expired, will re-up on request. Here's the video for the album version instead.
• On My Radio [live] – The Selecter (hi-energy TV appearance)

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[1] For my non-UK readers: ITV was the first commercial TV channel in the UK. It specialises in the lowest common denominator of TV. It has usurped Channel 5 in terms of awfulness and never ceases to amaze me as to the new depths it continues to plunge. And now they have three or four ITV channels. How much shit do they think we actually need?
[2] Both Lantern and Red Dragon have been swallowed up by major commercial broadcasters now. Not that it’s made any difference.
[3] That’s FM as in ‘Fucking Mental!’