Monday, March 19, 2012

The countdown begins

Melbourne's phenomenally good community radio station - 3 PBS FM (106.7 on the local FM dial, or you can also always listen on-line, either live or later to the archives, no matter where you are) - provides a unique means for people everywhere to listen to music that none of the commercial stations take an interest in. It's music presented entirely by volunteers who love what they do, for audiences who love to listen to it.

So naturally I have been thrilled to have been offered the opportunity to present a new regular show on PBS, commencing 9 April 2012, focussing on new and experimental music. The show will be called The Sound Barrier and it will go live to air fortnightly on Monday mornings, 2 AM - 6 AM Melbourne time. It will follow immediately on from The Art of Bleep, a program that focusses particularly on electronic and experimental music, presented midnight - 2 AM, every Monday morning on PBS.

My idea at this stage is to present music over four different, but obviously overlapping, categories:
  • The icons of innovation: music of the great musical experimenters, such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Edgard Varèse and Iannis Xenakis
  • Melbourne's musical underbelly: works from contemporary musicians and sound artists who are part of the rich, fertile experimental music scene in Melbourne - Paul Kidney Experience, Monolith, Undecisive God, Ernie Althoff are just some of the wealth of artists you can expect to hear
  • Music deconstructed and reconstructed: musicians everywhere who do interesting and innovative things in redefining how we understand and listen to music. William Basinski to Merzbow, and everything in between.
  • Genre benders: musicians who grab a genre and take it to new places, bending its boundaries and creating something new. Expect to hear anything from John Zorn to Dissecting Table.

It would be more than just a little ironic if, in presenting a show of music that breaks conventional sound barriers, I was to create new ones by even beginning to pretend that new and experimental music can fit neatly into any of these categories. They will merge and expand and contract all the time. But hopefully this list gives you a bit of an idea of the enormous range of music you can expect to hear on The Sound Barrier.

Where possible, the show may even include, from time to time, the occasional live performance in the studio.

I will be presenting a special sampler of The Sound Barrier on PBS's regular slot for new program ideas, New Noise, this coming Sunday morning, 25 March 2012, from 2AM - 6AM (Melbourne time). If you have a chance to listen in, it will give you a bit of an idea of what I have in mind for the new show and what you can expect to hear when it commences on 9 April.

This blog is a place where I - and hopefully you, too - will discuss the music that is presented on The Sound Barrier. It will provide information about the music, the artists, the composers. Importantly, it will provide you with an opportunity to be involved in the shaping of the show, through providing comments and feedback and ideas here on the blog.

I hope you will follow the blog, listen to The Sound Barrier and join in!

1 comment:

  1. Sounds a fantastic show - lots of luck with expanding the sound waves.

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