Wednesday, May 5, 2010

sound advice


Are you one of those people who will listen to the same songs over and over again when you first discover them, until you're almost sick of them? I am. I'm a terrible repeater, which is part of why I love finding (and being led to) new music so much. A few of my friends are super reliable in this department, just about everything they recommend, 'like' on facebook, link to on twitter, or put on mixes for other friends, eventually makes it onto my over-played list.

I work in an office, at a desk, and have about seven hours of potential headphone listening in a day, not including the more social listening that goes on at home in the company of others. I reached a dillema this morning when I realised that my iPod had died, my work itunes doesn't have enough music on it, and I've already listened to waaaayy too much of the Savage Love podcast this week (seriously; bdsm, ggg, and vanilla in reference to anything besides the flavour should not be coming up in my daily vocab).

Here are some things to listen to should you ever be faced with a similar dillemma:

Podcasts
I'm a sucker for talky podcasts, I've listened to hundred of episodes of This American Life and recommend it to everyone. Their entire archives are available to listen to free online, if you can't wait a week between podcasts. I recently discovered Savage Love, sex and relationship advice from Dan Savage. He also writes a column and a blog and is hillarious and informative. Kris recommended the BBC's From Our Own Correspondent, which is also informative, though less hillarious. NPR music's All Songs Considered is an excellent resource for new music from emerging and well-known artists. They also do specials like the SXSW preview, or episodes hosted by celebrity guests (if you'd call Jonsi a celebrity?), as well as ASC, they do Tiny Desk Concerts (live concerts filmed in their studio), First Listen (exactly what it sounds like, exclusive previews of new albums) and Second Stage (just one song from emerging artists/bands). I also subscribe to a bunch of Radio NZ podcasts which I don't actually listen to so much, Kim Hill! Mostly because I remember listening to her with mum on Saturdays. Their This Way Up is kind of like a little, kiwi version of This American Life and recently had an episode about the history of Ice Cream! Cognac Jay was probably the first podcast I ever subscribed to and is pretty good getting ready to go out listening. I actually forgot about it entirely until I started writing this so have no idea what it's like now, but might be worth re-subscribing to find out. Stone's Throw is another old favourite, they do some pretty awesome specials and are definitely the best regular hip hop mixes I know of...

Do you have any favourite podcasts? There must be some more good music shows out there!

Okay so this post is getting a wee bit too long for my liking, BUT I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY. Installments are the answer. Part two tomorrow, Online Mixetapes!
Update: crap I totally forgot to mention, the photos above are by the incredible Alex de Mora, he takes pictures of lots of lovely things, and punk shows. We Love You So loves him too. And he started Cat Party!!!
edit: cat party link updated oopsy.

3 comments:

  1. you mean this cat party http://miaowmix.blogspot.com (far superior)

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  2. Oh BUM you're right! That'll show me for typing in hyperlinks from (obviously useless) memory/google. That other website isn't much of a cat party at all.... No offence but.

    (thanks anonymous)

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  3. CBC radio 3 podcast with Grant Lawrence.
    Very very good.

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