Category: music and radio

How handy! How confusing! Guaranteed to leave you with no idea what type of music it is that you are listening to, but written in such a way that you’ll have a good laugh finding out.
On IDM (a.k.a. Intelligent Dance Music):

Excuse me whilst I go and turn up my Amon Tobin album.

The funniest aspect of today’s news that Brian has left WestLife was listening to Denis Murray’s brilliant "Kerry was crying, so I gave her my hanky. And it was clean!" comments on tonight’s PM.

Though Letter From America is now, sadly, gone from the airwaves, that other gem of British broadcasting remains. From Our Own Correspondent allows BBC journalists the chance to inform and entertain on subjects that we either do not normally hear about or, more usually, on a more human level than general news reporting allows.
Justin Webb, perhaps with an eye to the Letter From America seat, gave this insightful and amusing piece at the weekend, which I commend to you.

Definitely the end of an era, and certainly something that broadcasting will never see the likes of again.

I’ve just listened to Starlings. Mad. Mad, I tell you.

Following a tip-off from Charlie, I’ve been listening to FIP FM. It’s French, you know. And mostly quite good.

Yay, yay and thrice yay! Absolute Power returns for a new series, with or without censorship, and is big enough to take mightily satisfying swipes at both HMG and the Beeb. And it’s bloody funny too.
Listen to tonight’s episode here whilst you can.
Interestingly, at the beginning of the recording, you can hear the last few seconds of the 6 o’clock News, with Andrew Marr making the following statement about the Government and the persistent problems with the 45 minute thing:

Let’s hope that there aren’t as many that are witless as they think.

Last of the Sun. Thora Hird’s last performance – a gently amusing monologue, introduced by its author, Alan Bennett. Catch it while you can, as the Beeb tend to only keep these things online for a few days. And be warned – there’ll not be a dry eye.

I forgot to say thank you to my Secret Santa for Amber by Autechre – it’s brilliant, the best Autechre album I’ve heard yet. I may have to add the others to my wishlist.
Related: Warp Records.