Podcasts

He loves his Beatles, but of course has the excuse that they are objectively very significant ;-)

The biographical stuff about Leon Theremin / Lev Termen leading (for like 30 minutes) into the Good Vibrations episode was fascinating and I laughed at the payoff when he finally gets around to the song.

After initially jumping around to my favorite songs/artists, I'm forcing myself to listen to all the 500 Songs episodes chronologically and it's fantastic. Some of my favorite revelations were how the degradation of 78 rpm records led to them being trashed by radio stations in the late 40s when 33s and 45s came about and how that in turn erased the cultural memory of so much music created pre-1950. Was also fascinated to learn about the musician strike of the early 40s that led to only vocalists being able to record on majors and how that in turn reset expectations of the general audience to expect music featuring vocalists vs. lead trumpet players or whoever. Also, the story of "Sh-Boom" and The Chords was just infuriating/heart-breaking.

Chronological is the way to go, imho. There are SO MANY threads that tie together throughout the series. And the 78 thing reminded me of the account of Carl Perkins seeing a copy of his first release. "That's not a record! That thing's tiny! No one's gonna buy that!" It was the first time he'd seen a 45.

It's turned me on to so much music that I kept meaning to catch up with but that I never seriously investigated. I recently got compilations by Johnny Ace (which has a CD of his work as a sideman, with incredible early sides by B.B. King and Bobby "Blue" Bland), Johnny Otis, and Roy Orbison, and so far his recommendations as to which CDs to check out (in his show notes) have been stellar.

More than a few times he's said something where I thought, "No, I think you're wrong there"...and then he backs it up. I'm mainly thinking of his (accurate) assertion that rock 'n' roll did not come from the blues.

I am enjoying this 500 songs podcast, thanks all of you for the recommendation. Following TTEG’s post I’m slightly disappointed that (as of the Ruth Brown episode at least) he hasn’t asserted that rock ‘n’ roll did not come from the blues, instead pointing out a lot of direct and indirect ways rnr did come from the blues. Perhaps I have a challop along those lines awaiting me in the future, I hope do, I do love a challop.

Haven't heard his theory yet but I do know taht the Hillbilly Boogie I've heard sounds like a less amped r'n'r 10 years early. & that comes from country and boogie woogie and other jazz. I also hear roots in other forms of folk music. Think I hear echoes in some of the Irish stuff I have from the 20s the material that was recorded by Police and Fire Brigade bands in New England since recording technology was there before Ireland.

I think that’s all true, just that blues is in there too (directly and indirectly, I think the dude’s point is it’s more indirectly than is sometimes imagined). This isn’t a problem, or (as far as I can tell) wrong, as I say I was perversely hoping for a stronger challop.

does he just mean the 12-bar genre bc blues tonality basically defines all of pop/rock. I'll listen to it later

A few contentions in this thread. No idea who this Tracer Hand is with the embarrassing posting style. Who invented rock and roll?

The argument isn't that there is no blues in rock & roll music, it's that rock & roll evolved from jump blues (and to a lesser extent western swing) rather than the delta blues, which wouldn't have any real influence until picked up by the blues revivalists in the early 60s.

of course there is a larger question about "what is the blues?" but don't think we are going to resolve that one here.

OK this podcast sounds good, subscribed & queued

(I think of blues as a bunch of harmonic things I don't have the vocab for which make pop/rock/jazz tonality distinct from e.g. mozart but that's a whole other thing)

(delta blues as the real blues was a 50s/60s folk/rock scenes effort i think? - nothing against delta blues but they made everyone think blues was no fun ever since)

Yeah I’m reading the new Bob Stanley book about pre-rock pop music and he points out the fact - which is obvious but I hadn’t quite put it together before - that the original style 1920s blues was largely led by headstrong, funny, sometimes outrageous female singers, and that the “lone man with an acoustic guitar” type of blues came afterwards (mostly 1930s).

some of that "pop" stuff was pretty queer & sometimes filthy even for today. some insufficiently acknowledged rock roots there surely

I had to discover bessie smith through jazz since the blues fans I knew only cared about the bleakest tape hiss guitar dues (who can be great but far less fun or danceable)

dudes not dues

really enjoying 500 songs, thanks thread

Same here

otm

erstwhile ilxor Arthur Tabren is on the Sam Pancake podcast this week!

I just started listening to "Forever is a Long Time," a five-part series in which the host interviews various members of his family (parents, grandmother, aunts, uncles), all of whom are divorced, about their marriages and divorces. Very thought-provoking.

Very interested to hear Andrew Hickey talking about the category of birds in terms of central to category and fuzzy edge . It's an understanding I remember reading about in George lakoff's book on category Women, Fire and Dangerous Things and one I liked. I think its ascribed to Lotfi Zadeh and I've wondered if it was something that many o00ther people understood. Certainly shapes my understanding of things in terms of category. Though I think in that book he talks about archetype to fuzzy edge.
So did wonder is it something that other people have come across before. Since Hickey seemed to refer to it without thinking he needed to give it much explanation.

sorry should have said that was in the current Q&A edition of the podcast A History of Rock Music in 500 songs

Mike Stax just launched a podcast branch of the Ugly THings magazine with an episode dedicated to the Troggs

!

presumably done aty the time of teh previous magazine editions cover feature. Gave a history of teh band in an interview with a central member. I need to find my copy of teh magazine which disappeared into a pile of things when i got it and i've been too busy reading other books etc to retrieve since.
& there's a new edition out at the moment.
NOt sure how frequent the podcast is going to be but that first episode was quite good.

There has been a stink kicked up this week after Ben Shapiro turned up unannounced at the Podcast Movement industry event, the event apologised, then one of the organisers tweeted his disagreement with the apology. There's a summary here:

https://thisisthesqueeze.substack.com/p/podcast-movements-identity-crisis

What pisses me off about events like PM is that they are so nakedly sales/ad-focused that any coverage of art/craft/culture/criticism is apparently absent. Here is the start of their blog post on Shapiro Day for example

The first full day of PM22 has been packed with insights – more below. In-person attendees, be sure to join us at Lit Lounge for this evening's party sponsored by Wondery. We’ve got free specialty cocktails, custom-printed podcast merch, and a DJ until 11:00.

“Live, host-read ads perform the best,” according to After These Messages, a new Sounds Profitable study presented yesterday by Tom Webster. Quality scripted or programmatic ads work almost as well, and Webster recommends mixing host and announcer-read ads in a campaign. The important thing is that the ad fits the show – do not “violate the listeners’ earballs.” The research is free to download.

Put a bit of your content on TikTok as soon as possible, suggested Gabriel Soto in this morning’s Edison Research keynote. A third of Americans have used the app at this point. Another key takeaway, louder (quieter?) for those in the back: We need to take care of the podcast ad experience to avoid driving audiences away. Eardrum-rupturing ad volume has got to go.

i love that there's a blog where i can get my sick fix of podcast drama in between updates to the Literary Clusterfucks thread!

2nd episode of Ugly Things came out a couple of days back. This time on the band Thus formerly assumed to be called All of Thus which is actually the lp title.
Hadn't heard of them but Guerssen just reissued the lp.

Well looks like they've taken a side, what a surprise.

As we stated, we’re continuing to evaluate our policies guiding social media & events with inclusivity, diversity & respect for all. We have to start by sincerely apologizing to Mr. Shapiro for our reaction when he visited a booth we sold his company. That wasn’t right. https://t.co/McxG9Ay0LT

— Podcast Movement (@PodcastMovement) September 8, 2022

Ben Shapiro wishes he were Darth Vader.

In brighter news, been listening to and enjoying Sam Fragoso's Talk Easy for the first time, though it looks like it's been around since 2016. The usual suspects as guests (Ethan Hawke, Lena Dunham), but especially good interviews.

Jeremy Corbyn on Martyn Ware's normally Electronic music show
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2nauoGJpFKYjbFcZttwmm2?si=01bd9681668548f0

Only part of the way through it but it is pretty interesting so far. Haven't been aware of what Corbyn's taste was like before.
& I think the political stuff he's talking about is more art/personal maybe that was what he was about as much anyway.

i’ve fallen into a Podcast: The Ride rabbithole since their “Pinocchio” crossover w Blank Check last weekend

i’ve been listening to the Downtown Disney Ordeal & i have never been so simultaneously bored & entertained … with the Sector Keeper it’s strangely feeling like a corporate version of the Adventure Zone

anyway i am enjoying immensely & have binged enough episodes that i can now almost tell the difference btw Mike and Scott’s voices

This week's podcast industry shitshow has arrived

NEW: podcast companies are buying millions of listens through auto-playing episodes populated in free mobile games. iHeart, the top podcast publisher on Podtrac, has bought around 6 million unique downloads per month since 2018 https://t.co/5P4xldUvdI

— Ashley Carman (@ashleyrcarman) September 27, 2022

man iHeart can’t stop gaming the system huh?

they are the fucking worst in every way possible

bleh

am becoming a big fan of Jamie Loftus. she has a podcast about spiritualism and one about Mensa.. i think she's brilliant.

she read every Cathy strip ever published and then did a podcast about it with actors re-enacting selecting strips, interviews w Cathy Guisewite etc

i love her spiritualism podcast, it’s great

Anyway we're still chugging along...

https://www.megaphonic.fm/bythebywater/43

I've been listening to "Lonesome Jack" for years. He puts together solid mixes, although he has a bizarre and unfortunate affection for truly shitty modern country music. Example: this week's episode features "John Deere Green" by Joe Diffie.

When your podcast is just a little TOO timely...

https://art19.com/shows/truss-issues

TIL that the producer of the 5-4 pod (thumbs-uppd a couple of times upthread) is a former ilxor :o

Ha, small world

New year, new episode from us...

https://www.megaphonic.fm/bythebywater/46

Idea for a podcast talking about monetization strategies for your podcast for entrepreneurs thinking of starting productivity podcasts to suggest the best marketing strategies for your entrepreneurship podcast

Or instead here's my new thing, it's a field recording soundscape of my commute.

https://centuriesofsound.com/podcast/1-2-a-life-in-a-day/

Meantime, our latest:

https://www.megaphonic.fm/bythebywater/47

Opening Arguments/Cleanup on Aisle 45 imploded over the last few weeks. Looks like the latter is picking itself up with new co-presenter.
OA has appeared in the feed with new co-presenter too but old one complaining on short message on his other show's feed. Looks like he lost the co-presenter of that to main scandal. So he's changing direction with that in near future.

Are these resistance podcasts?

one was MSW I think OA had just gone iundependent.