Resonance FM

My regular Internet radio source has pretty much been Soma FM‘s Secret Agent feed, but occasionally I need to listen to something different. Gair Dunlop is back on this side of the ocean for a while and he mentioned a London radio station called Resonance FM that has a feed available. I tuned in and the first thing I heard was a program that was all…backwards… the next time that I listened it was more of a disco and dance mix with some entertaining banter in between the songs, and then a music and spoken word program. Now I’m listening to a program about fruit machines, which I’ve learned is what slot machines are called in England. Definitely eclectic and interesting. It’s a radio station in London that broadcasts at 104.4 FM is operated by the London Musician’s Collective. Resonance FM was 1 year old on May Day.

Reading about and listening to the station it reminded me of my days in (on) radio in New Brunswick when I worked on a comedy show and then returned to do a news and public affairs show. The station was CHSR-FM, based at UNB in Fredericton. They have a feed as well.

Resonance FM broadcasts live at noon (GMT I suppose) every day for 12 hours (a bit longer on the weekend), but they also have a recorded loop that runs during other times. One of the neat things about the station is that it is live and commercial free… there is something that I love about live radio… the knowledge that there are people on either side of the microphone and speaker who are connected either through the radio waves over the air or the signals flying through the Internet. A great combination of the human and technological.

May 7, 2003 , , , , , , , , , ,

Square

One of the things that I love about living in Nova Scotia is that I keep discovering lots of talent all around…it’s not that there hasn’t been talent in other places where I’ve lived and grown up… there is, but being a little bit “from away” gives you a bit of a different perspective. The latest NS musical discovery that I’ve made is a guy originally from Mount Uniacke called Buck 65 (with his secret identity being Richard Tefry). He’s got a Tom Waitsian sense of language, but combined with a great hip hop sense that is based in his reality, which is closer to my own reality which has it’s own rural elements.
Every now and then you realize what a small place this part of Canada can be. I drive a lot and listen to the radio or music a lot as well. In the lead up to the East Coast Music Awards there was a lot of coverage on CBC Radio of the musicians nominated for awards and Tefry was on the radio with a great interview and an intriguing song. A day later a guest I had brought in to my class at work turned out to also be Buck’s manager, so then I figured when I had a chance I should pick up the latest CD, which is called Square. The cover looked familiar and I realized that it was drawn by James Paterson of Presstube fame. Jeez… he studied in NS too…and used his Flash skills for the site supporting the CD (where you can listen and decide to buy it for yourself). The CD is great (which is probably why it won “Best Urban Recording”) and is divided into 4 tracks. Definitely not a collection of singles, but a series of long-form explorations of different ideas, beats and sounds… I really like it and will be a regular consumer of his work.

May 4, 2003 , , , , , , , , , , ,

Elephant

A CD that I bought a couple of weeks ago is “Elephant” by The White Stripes. I had heard a few of their songs and seen the amazing Lego video for “Fell in Love With a Girl”, but I decided to take the plunge and buy the new CD without hearing any of the tracks. I really like it and I listen to it a lot as I drive home from work and in iTunes. It’s a neat blend of styles that all link together with Jack and Meg White playing pretty much all of the limited range of instruments. A great sense of humour runs through the CD which has elements of NY punk, Blues, Led Zeppelin, and Folk… with strange echoes of The Rocky Horror Picture Show… it’s hard to explain, but I think that I’ll pick up some other CDs from The White Stripes.

May 2, 2003 , , , , , ,

Two New Tom Waits CDs!

I’m the proud owner of not one, but two new CDs from Tom Waits. Alice and Blood Money are more great additions to the library of one of the most unique and talented artists around. The packaging and photography of the CDs are gorgeous as well. But you shouldn’t judge a book by the cover and the lyrics by Tom and Kathleen Brennan crawl into your soul, settle down and spend some time in there. As Tom says about Blood Money on the Anti label’s site:
I like a beautiful song that tells you terrible things.

May 10, 2002 , ,

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