The view from the studio
Post categories: Radio
| 16:48 UK time, Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Every week I'm going to draw back the curtain on the inner workings of my ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Wales new music show. Okay, not exactly the same as getting the lowdown on the making of Apolcalypse Now, or a firsthand account of what's going on as Future Of The Left haul themselves around Europe, America and Australasia, but it might interest some of you.
It's the radio equivalent of the Wizard of Oz: all the mysteries are the responsibility of a mundane, slightly overweight man hidden behind a curtain.
It's the radio equivalent of the Wizard of Oz: all the mysteries are the responsibility of a mundane, slightly overweight man hidden behind a curtain.
But the magic -- and there is plenty of it -- comes courtesy of the rich population of musical visionaries we have in Wales.
The challenge is to find them.
Mostly that involves listening to the .mp3s and CDs I'm lucky enough to receive. Although it doesn't feel like luck when my brain is trying to seal my ears shut as the 72nd Funeral For A Friend identikit in-a-row blights my speakers.
Apart from the music that gets sent to me, unsolicited, I trawl MySpace listening out for interesting stuff; visit music forums to see what people are excited about; listen to Bethan on Radio 1 Introducing in Wales and Huw Stephens; check out C2, Bandit. Tom Robinson and Mark Riley on 6Music.
Then there are people scattered throughout the country who are kind enough to turn me on to bands I wouldn't otherwise have heard.
For example, on this week's show: The Joy Formidable's track came via a blog posted on their ; I heard Pete Lawrie and Speech Debelle's track on Bethan's show; I bought the Dangermouse and Sparklehorse album on vinyl, then discovered Gruff Rhys had collaborated on it; the rest came via the bands themselves, or radio pluggers... people whose job it is to cajole the nation's music shows into playing their bands.
I get anything from 50 - 200 tracks a week. A surprising percentage ofÌý these sound like the progenitors haven't taken the trouble to listen to their own music, yet expect other people to, and take it seriously enough to foist it on others via the airwaves.
But it's the dull and the uninspired that makes the elusive gems shine all the more brightly.
What makes a piece of music shine is something we will cover many times in future outpourings, no doubt.
In short, it's about quality, conviction and freshness. They're entirely subjective qualities, I know, but they're the qualities I'm looking for.
And it's really really important, I feel, to note that my only agenda is to find and share the best of your music regardless of its genre, the language it is sung in, or its location in Wales. I just love (good) music. It'd be a cliche and an exaggeration to say that it's the air that I breathe, or the blood pumping through my veins, but it is my sunshine. A day without hearing something fascinating to share on the show is a miserable, grey affair. A day when I'm blessed with a Ìý
couple of pieces of near-genius fills me with joy and enthusiasm.
Hunting the music is just one facet of the programme-making experience.
But it is the most important.
If you'd like to fill me with joy, please post links in the Comments section below, or hit me with your best song (singular) as a high quality .mp3 at:
themysterytour@gmail.com
With a contact number and short biography.
Thank you / diolch yn fawr.
Adam
The challenge is to find them.
Mostly that involves listening to the .mp3s and CDs I'm lucky enough to receive. Although it doesn't feel like luck when my brain is trying to seal my ears shut as the 72nd Funeral For A Friend identikit in-a-row blights my speakers.
Apart from the music that gets sent to me, unsolicited, I trawl MySpace listening out for interesting stuff; visit music forums to see what people are excited about; listen to Bethan on Radio 1 Introducing in Wales and Huw Stephens; check out C2, Bandit. Tom Robinson and Mark Riley on 6Music.
Then there are people scattered throughout the country who are kind enough to turn me on to bands I wouldn't otherwise have heard.
For example, on this week's show: The Joy Formidable's track came via a blog posted on their ; I heard Pete Lawrie and Speech Debelle's track on Bethan's show; I bought the Dangermouse and Sparklehorse album on vinyl, then discovered Gruff Rhys had collaborated on it; the rest came via the bands themselves, or radio pluggers... people whose job it is to cajole the nation's music shows into playing their bands.
I get anything from 50 - 200 tracks a week. A surprising percentage ofÌý these sound like the progenitors haven't taken the trouble to listen to their own music, yet expect other people to, and take it seriously enough to foist it on others via the airwaves.
But it's the dull and the uninspired that makes the elusive gems shine all the more brightly.
What makes a piece of music shine is something we will cover many times in future outpourings, no doubt.
In short, it's about quality, conviction and freshness. They're entirely subjective qualities, I know, but they're the qualities I'm looking for.
And it's really really important, I feel, to note that my only agenda is to find and share the best of your music regardless of its genre, the language it is sung in, or its location in Wales. I just love (good) music. It'd be a cliche and an exaggeration to say that it's the air that I breathe, or the blood pumping through my veins, but it is my sunshine. A day without hearing something fascinating to share on the show is a miserable, grey affair. A day when I'm blessed with a Ìý
couple of pieces of near-genius fills me with joy and enthusiasm.
Hunting the music is just one facet of the programme-making experience.
But it is the most important.
If you'd like to fill me with joy, please post links in the Comments section below, or hit me with your best song (singular) as a high quality .mp3 at:
themysterytour@gmail.com
With a contact number and short biography.
Thank you / diolch yn fawr.
Adam
Adam Walton
Bethan Elfyn
James McLaren
Laura Sinnerton
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