RTE Radio One Killin' it
Now that's a title I never thought id find myself writing.
I commented about the irony of (essentially) conservative and traditional radio stations being the main outlet of radical and extreme music on the Irish airwaves some time back. Other than Irish language station Raidió Na Life, the FM dial here is populated pretty much by rubbish MOR gash of various varieties with commercial monstrosities Spin and Phantom emerging like stinking rats from the sewer as the only survivors of the great pirate meltdown near the start of the decade - a meltdown which wiped my old Alta mater Power FM off the map when they went off the air in a doomed attempt to gain a license... Strange as it is that state run organisations are taking over musical territories once inhabitated by pirates its good to know that there is still some decent stuff to listen to whilst cleaning up the kitchen in the evening, and three shows have caught my ears recently:
Sound Stories
Presented by Luke Clancy, this is a fantastic show exploring the outer realms of recording, featuring everything from 'the unsettling effect of the disembodied voice' and 'the infrasonic rumbles of the African elephant' to the 'strangely sped-up temporal world of our avian cousins'. I cant recommend this show enough to fans of field recordings, electro acoustics, ambient and all round sonic strangeness. Thursdays at 8.30 - though the current series is now over.
Nigel Wood's Wide World
Excellent 'World' music show which I stumbled across a few months back. All kinds of traditional sounds but mainly contemporary pop and folk from around the globe. Nigel seems to have an impressive wealth of knowledge about the music, so you get some intelligent commentary too. Fridays at 9.
Rebel Music: Reggae Story
This 5 part documentary type show finished last week, and yes, it had an obligatory Bob Marely episode, yes they skimped over dub and dancehall, and yes I have many issues with the formatting, the presenters and the selection of tunes, but all said, it was a noteworthy attempt by RTE to break some new ground...
All of these shows can be listened to on the links provided above - big up Neilo for the heads up on some of this stuff.
I commented about the irony of (essentially) conservative and traditional radio stations being the main outlet of radical and extreme music on the Irish airwaves some time back. Other than Irish language station Raidió Na Life, the FM dial here is populated pretty much by rubbish MOR gash of various varieties with commercial monstrosities Spin and Phantom emerging like stinking rats from the sewer as the only survivors of the great pirate meltdown near the start of the decade - a meltdown which wiped my old Alta mater Power FM off the map when they went off the air in a doomed attempt to gain a license... Strange as it is that state run organisations are taking over musical territories once inhabitated by pirates its good to know that there is still some decent stuff to listen to whilst cleaning up the kitchen in the evening, and three shows have caught my ears recently:
Sound Stories
Presented by Luke Clancy, this is a fantastic show exploring the outer realms of recording, featuring everything from 'the unsettling effect of the disembodied voice' and 'the infrasonic rumbles of the African elephant' to the 'strangely sped-up temporal world of our avian cousins'. I cant recommend this show enough to fans of field recordings, electro acoustics, ambient and all round sonic strangeness. Thursdays at 8.30 - though the current series is now over.
Nigel Wood's Wide World
Excellent 'World' music show which I stumbled across a few months back. All kinds of traditional sounds but mainly contemporary pop and folk from around the globe. Nigel seems to have an impressive wealth of knowledge about the music, so you get some intelligent commentary too. Fridays at 9.
Rebel Music: Reggae Story
This 5 part documentary type show finished last week, and yes, it had an obligatory Bob Marely episode, yes they skimped over dub and dancehall, and yes I have many issues with the formatting, the presenters and the selection of tunes, but all said, it was a noteworthy attempt by RTE to break some new ground...
All of these shows can be listened to on the links provided above - big up Neilo for the heads up on some of this stuff.
posted by droid at 4:45 PM
4 Comments:
Cheers for lettin me know bout these lads. I reckon mainstream radio has never been healthier. I live in the midlands so thats just as well ;)
Surely ye know of these week night broadcasts:-
Small Hours with Donal Dineen
http://www.todayfm.com/sectional.asp?id=905
An Taobh Tuathail
http://www.rte.ie/rnag/antaobhtuathail.html
They've been on air for in one form or another for the last 10 years or so. They both mainly feature quality electronica including dubstep. The former leans towards folk/soul/rockier stuff, the latter gets more dancefloor orientated from Wednesday onward.
Then theres 2fm's The Late Night Sessions:-
http://www.rte.ie/2fm/dancesessions/
mainly house and techno though the live stuff (usually recorded at the Electric Picnic)tends to pop up round 4-last week featured the Silver Apples
Oh yeah weekdays & nights:-The JK Ensemble
http://www.rte.ie/lyricfm/jk/
Slainte :)
Thanks for the heads up. And I should mention that there are of course good shows on some of the other stations - I didnt mean to imply otherwise.
Its the overarching ethos/music policy that I'm not too keen on.
Droidicus. What about Bernards show on Lyric.
http://www.rte.ie/lyricfm/apex/
He was lashing out the autechre boys back in the 70s.
Radical
Yeah - bigged him up ages ago and linked to it above... here it is again:
http://www.weareie.com/2007/05/supernova.html
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