On my radio...

It used to be the case that the only radio I ever listened to was those precious few hours of John Peel but since the sad departure of Peel there hasn't been much on the airwaves to keep me interested...

...or so I thought. The enforced separation of me from my iPod has meant that I'm more than a little desperate to listen to music at work and what better way than internet radio. Most of the guys in this office, because we live essentially isolated lives, have their headphones on and so it's only natural here.

My usual station is Oxigénio, a Portuguese station that is more on the electro/hip-hop/soul side of things. It's great for hearing new Portuguese (as well as other lusophone) groups and also some old classics. The music is of a generally excellent standard and I rarely feeling like switching over.

If I am forced by mood or whatever but want to stay in Portugal then I check out Radar. This is your one stop shop for everything indie. They also have a good mixture of old and new stuff but my only criticism here is that, personally, I feel that Portuguese indie/rock isn't as good as their hip-hop/electro. There could be something in the language barrier (but I don't think that's it), I just feel what's going on in the, what you would euphemistically call, 'urban' scene is just a bit more innovative and original sounding. Anyway, Radar does tend to play a lot of Portuguese stuff that I don't really dig so I tend to flick from that.

This morning Oxigénio didn't appear to be working and I was in somewhat of a quandary to think what to listen to until I suddenly remembered an old friend of mine. Now I didn't listen to the radio per se but I did used to regularly download the podcasts of a wonderful American station, KCRW, who had a great show - Morning Becomes Eclectic. They've grown in popularity a great deal since I first heard of them and in fact anyone reading this probably already knows of them, they are one of the biggest and most well known names in indie radio.

What KCRW does is provide a great mix of new stuff from big and small indie bands all the while mixing it up with a genuinely eclectic mix of styles, already this morning They introduced me to a great Tropicalia influenced, London based band called Zeep (I'll put a track here but it's not the one I heard on the radio, the name of which I can't remember, which was amazing!).

KCRW has a great range of programs from news to arts and culture and politics but what they do best is music which is why I would seriously recommend heading over to their 24 hour music channel.

Listen to Oxigénio here

Listen to Radar here

Listen to KCRW here

Zeep - Super