Now it can be told! Methods and agendas disclosed in this week's blurb. It's all here.
To begin we have to go back to the very early days of this program, when I decided (a) my library was not enough and (b) I had to chase the ghosts of my past and prove that I could follow the "rules" of my old radio station from undergrad days, which I was never good at doing. There's a lot to unpack there but I'm sure somewhere along the way I have referred to what I often do as LARPing and that is basically the jist of it.
We used to have this rule about "currency," according to which your playlist was supposed to be 30% "current" records. This meant playing discs from the "current" bin, and what was in there had been added by the station (NB: not necessarily "released," just acquired) within the last 3 months. To the extent that I was ever successful at this, it was only just: early on I had a lot to learn from the past and somewhere along the way I decided that the present (at that moment) wasn't up to my standards and apparently I wasn't open to many new experiences. I look back on this as a failure that I have to correct. For whom? The voice in my head of course.
So, anyway, in 2013 or so, when this show was less than ten programs old, I was auditioning lots of new releases on Spotify and building my playlists that way. I would often call this "radio magic" or whatever, but it was a kind of fraud. It helped, but didn't help, that at some point we got this software at the station called DeejayPro that could incorporate Spotify into your broadcast (controversially, I guess).
This created a couple of messes: one was the general fakeness of many programs, even though I was sharing music that I genuinely liked--not to mention the use of that awful, unethical app--and the technical issue of playing those supercompressed mp3s (evident in last week's disaster).
Apparently it took a global pandemic to force me to reconsider, but on this broadcast I said goodbye to the old ways. I would only use actual sound files in my possession, currency be damned--this meant using what I owned and what I was buying, which also meant a deeper commitment, which I consider a good thing. It also meant the return of dynamics and crazy levels, which I guess is also a good thing because it's teaching me to embrace imperfection even though I hate it.
So this particular show features a lot of material I picked up on the very first "Bandcamp Friday," five days prior, as well as things I'd bought recently. But, I have to say--it also included a lot of promotional freebies (including yet another cringeworthy Membranes track--what is it with them?), plenty of channeling 1985 and 1986 (so what else is new), and, let's face it, a big focus on the white past and not the black future. I don't know how it's possible to do a show that's "honest" and at the same time "in bad faith" but I manage.
That said, I really miss old R.E.M. and I did love the then-recent viral video of Michael Stipe singing along to "Underneath the Bunker."
I also miss Richenel and I miss the days when that This Mortal Coil cd blew my little mind; now it's all wrapped up in guilt and regret. Here's hoping someday it will sound fresh again.
Since this program was broadcast, 410 days ago now, I've gone "on the air" 55 times. I have delivered 54 pre-recorded episodes on account of the pandemic. That gives us a lot of time to work through my issues, and there are many of them.
BOMBAST playlist, 2020 March 25, 2100-2300:
Didn't know it was a song you hated to sing
https://www.facebook.com/radiobombast?ref=hl
https://twitter.com/KidCatharsis
To Those Who Offend You, Show Mercy: Transmission 381, 2017 November 29
You've Made Me Suspicious of People Who Are Kind: Transmission 380, 2017 November 19
Asterisks in My Eyelids: Transmission 379, 2017 November 15
From Luxury to Landfill: Transmission 378, 2017 November 8
Catharsis Family Values: Transmission 377, 2017 November 1
Join the Queue of Future Has-Beens: Transmission 376, 2017 October 25
Where People Feel No Anguish and Need No Hate: Transmission 375, 2017 October 18
In Fact This Is Very Serious; I Have Nothing To Regret: Transmission 374, 2017 October 11
Question Sessions over Cakes and Coffee: Transmission 373, 2017 October 4
Noodle and Man Are Separated by a Comma: Transmission 372, 2017 September 27
One of the Perks of Being a Radio Personality: Transmission 371, 2017 September 23
Mundane by Day, Inane at Night: Transmission 370, 2017 September 20
Send Flowers, Please: Transmission 369, 2017 September 16
My Skin Is Deeper Than Is Thought: Transmission 368, 2017 September 13
Deep Into the Empire's Ear: Transmission 367, 2017 September 6
For Reasons That Are Not Going To Be Disclosed: Transmission 366, 2017 September 2
Are You Patient and Kind with People: Transmission 365, 2017 August 30
You Think It's Over Now, But We've Only Just Begun: Transmission 364, 2017 August 25
We Smoked in Heaven and We Laughed Off Hell: Transmission 363, 2017 August 23
Everybody Tests the Membrane, But No One Pushes Through: Transmission 362, 2017 August 16
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
Immediately Kinfolk
Turned On
Resident by Hernan Cattaneo
Markus Schulz presents Global DJ Broadcast