More online emptiness, any time.
Or: What to listen to in the empty spaces betwixt Radio For Empty Spaces.
BoomBox
Brainwashed Radio [Listen]
Contour
Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project
Dehors [Listen]
Domino Radio
DR Electronica
Dub Beautiful [Listen: Radio / Listen: Sessions]
Dublab [Listen]
Eigenradio [Listen]
FatCat Radio
iD.EOLOGY [Listen]
kleverVice mixes
Kohina [Listen OGG] [Listen MP3]
Komplott Jukebox
Merck Radio [Listen]
Microradio
OEM Radio [Listen]
PostEverything [Listen]
sfSoundRadio [Listen] [Playlist]
Subsource [Listen: Releases / Listen: DJ Sets]
Warp Radio
Warp BBC Special
XStream [Listen]
What is this?
Imagine before your eyes a graph representing on one axis every individual piece of music, and on the other the number of listeners for each piece of music. And then imagine a third axis, projected towards you, representing the quality of the music (don't pretend this is subjective now—my records really are better than your records). The relation of this last axis to the first two goes something like this. The music that the greatest number of people listen to—mass market entertainment—is lowest common denominator pabulum; the music that the fewest number of people listen to—lonely guitars in bedrooms, amateur laptop programming—is also lowest common denominator pabulum, albeit of a different stripe, and blessed with the virtue of an audience in keeping with the quality of the work. Of course, there are exceptions—good music breaking through to mass markets (fill in your own blank), and works of genius languishing unheard (console itself it might be you). But by and large, somewhere between these poles lies the most interesting and diverse array of music available, masses of material interesting enough to merit distribution but far too interesting to sell in mass markets—meaning it isn't on your television, or on any radio station you've seen advertised on a billboard. So how to find it?
This is one way. The constantly evolving schedule above lists interesting broadcast sound available either online, or via radio waves in Sydney, Australia (the time zone in Sydney is Australian Eastern Standard—see here for what this means for you). What counts as interesting? The sounds here range across and between experimental, avant garde, electronic, hip-hop, downtempo, math rock, post rock, spoken word, contemporary classical, world music, ambient, dub, glitch, sound art, improv, free jazz, instrumental, alt-pop, and current affair type shows on philosophy, literature and science. The links to individual shows will tell you which is which. Or just listen. Suggestions for additions and corrections are gratefully received; just leave me a comment here.
How awful is the radio in your city?
Brad.
Last update: 30 May 2006.