Lest auld acquaintance not be forgot and all that.

So, that's the end of another year. Time to move on and time to look back. Once again, this year has thrown up some amazing music, some of it covered by magazines, radio and TV here in the UK, some of it not. A lot of it has come through my general oracle and undisputed greatest radio station in the known universe, BBC 6Music. Earlier on this year, we thought we were going to lose it, but due to an amazing public response and some good decision making by those that are in charge, 6Music was saved from the chopping block and it continues to grow and grow. I would like to thank all at 6Music for a great year, but especially Marc Riley, Gideon Coe, Tom Ravenscroft, Huey Morgan, Jarvis Cocker, Tom Robinson and Cerys Matthews who continue to inspire me week after week. Long may it continue.

The last month to 6 weeks or so have been taken up breaking this one down from the 95 tracks that have appeared previously, so I haven't really had the chance to listen to much new stuff. I'm looking forward to starting again in the New Year. I've got a whole month to catch up on. January is normally a quiet month, so I should get some respite.

It's been quite an international lineup with the UK, USA, Canada, Malaysia, Japan, Sweden, France, Finland, Holland and Australia covered this year. Australia has 4 tracks in this Best of compilation, so there's obviously a lot going on down there at the moment. Hopefully there's more to come in 2011.

So, as promised, here's my Top 25 tracks of 2010.

25 Magnetic Warrior - Archie Bronson Outfit
24 All Fall - The Chapman Family
23 From A Tower - LoveLikeFire
22 Maguro - Bo Ningen
21 (Angela)Surf City - The Walkmen
20 WOR - Django Django
19 Your Hands (Together) - The New Pornographers
18 Svalbard - I'm Kingfisher
17 It Carved Your Name Into The Ground - The Mariner's Children
16 Kipling - Magenta Skycode
15 Flickering Lights - The Strange Death Of Liberal England
14 Infinity Guitars - Sleigh Bells
13 The Answer (Featuring Big In Japan - U.N.K.L.E.
12 One By One From Dorney Reach - Wolf People
11 Say Goodbye To What - Bullion
10 Marching Off To War - Morningbell
9 Dead Nationale - Parades
8 Marina - Sleepy Sun
7 Broken Heart - Goodluck Jonathan
6 Bellringer Blues - Grinderman
5 Blood - The Middle East
4 Gold Canary - Cloud Control
3 I Can Change - LCD Soundsystem
2 This Orient - Foals
1 Woo Song - Khottal

You can either subscribe using the links at the top of the page, through the iTunes podcast directory or download it direct from here. (Right Click, Save As)

I've also made a bonus podcast that's made up of tracks that were hanging round the playlist but for whatever reason, didn't make it into any of the previous episodes. I'll have that one ready early next week along with a list of my favourite 20 albums of the year.

As usual, your comments and track recommendations are always welcome, so please keep them coming, I really do listen to everything I'm sent a link to.

Finally, if there is anything on this podcast you like, please remember to support the artist(s) by buying a track or two or even go and see them live. If you are an artist that has a track on this podcast that you would like removed, please get in touch with me and it shall be done without prejudice.

Until the next time, have a happy and peaceful New Year.

Thanks for listening.
It's good to listen.

Rob
xxx

Walking in a winter wonderland.......

So, last year I set myself a task to get four podcasts done, one for every quarter of the year and by jove, I have achieved just that a whole month ahead of schedule! In fact, I now know that there are actually going to be six as I have another playlist ready that contains tracks that for whatever reason - time or they just didn't fit in with the other podcasts - didn't make it onto previous episodes; and a final one that will be what I consider to be the best 25 tracks of the year. I should have these done in between Christmas and New Year.

This time round, I've also managed to learn something about chaptering up he podcasts so that you can skip tracks if you don't like what you are hearing. You should also get an image of the track that's playing as well. Hope it works. Thanks to Wicksy for the pointers :)I know it works OK on iPod, iPhone and iTunes, but I'd be interested to know if it doesn't work for your particular player. I've also changed the encoding from mp3 to mp4, so hope this doesn't cause a problem for you. If mp4 doesn't work for you, let me know and I'll bung up an mp3 version.

Next year, my plan is to do at least 6 hour long podcasts, with voiceover, eventually turning it into an hour long, monthly podcast by 2012.

That's the dream, anyway :)

Thanks for all the support this year, your input and feedback has been more than valuable during this learning process.

You can either subscribe using the links at the top of the page, or download it from here. (Right Click, Save As)

Tracklist

0:00:00 - 0:03.37 Strangers - The Fling
0:03.37 - 0:06.49 Surf City - The Walkmen
0:06.49 - 0:10.49 Insects - Woodsman
0:10.49 - 0:16.27 Television Father - Francisco The Man
0:16.27 - 0:20.37 Colours - Grouplove
0:20.37 - 0:25.52 Our Names - Colour Revolt
0:25.52 - 0:28.41 Wires - Cowlick
0:28.41 - 0:31.00 Make A Deal With The City - Hurricane Bells
0:31.00 - 0:33.28 Lay Down - John Vanderslice
0:33.28 - 0:36.17 Svalbard - I'm Kingfisher
0:36.17 - 0:39.08 On Trees And Birds And Fire - I Am Oak
0:39.08 - 0:43.30 Black Doe - Mary Epworth & The Jubliee Band
0:43.30 - 0:47.32 Hotel Room - Smoke Fairies
0:47.32 - 0:51.11 Into The Wild - Sparrow And The Workshop
0:51.11 - 0:56.09 It Carved Your Name Into The Ground - The Mariner's Children
0:56.09 - 0:58.50 Little Brown Haired Girls - Frankie Rose and the Outs
0:58.50 - 1:02.27 New York City Hotel Blues - Margot & The Nuclear So And Sos
1:02.27 - 1:06.11 Light Pollution - Delay Trees
1:06.11 - 1:09.10 Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh - Say Hi
1:09.10 - 1:14.18 Kipling - Magenta Skycode
1:14.18 - 1:17.36 Get Some - Lykke Li
1:17.36 - 1:20.51 Glorious Aftermath - The Lines
1:20.51 - 1:23.28 All Fall - The Chapman Family
1:23.28 - 1:25.55 Infinity Guitars - Sleigh Bells
1:25.55 - 1:29.05 Maguro - Bo Ningen


As usual, your comments and track recommendations are always welcome, so please keep them coming, I really do listen to everything I'm sent.

Finally, if there is anything on this podcast you like, please support the artists by buying a track or two. If you are an artist that has a track on this podcast that you would like removed, please get in touch with me and it shall be done.

Until the next one(s), have a peaceful and festive time.
I'm off to find more music.

Thanks for listening.
It's good to listen.

Rob
xxx

On time? Well.....nearly

To be honest, I've had this one ready since the beginning of September, but just haven't had the time to put it together. As usually happens at this time of year, the European festival circuit closes down and bands put out lots of new music in the hope you remember them and buy their records. August & September were stunners with so much brilliant new stuff coming out.

So, you can either subscribe using the links at the top of the page, or download it from here. (Right Click, Save As)

Click the links to the tracks below to be taken to the artist's website or MySpace where you can find links to either stream or listen to the tracks.

Tracklist

0:00:00 - 0:05:21 Mirrors - Crocodiles
0:05:21 - 0:10:41 Bellringer Blues - Grinderman
0:10:41 - 0:13:53 Come On - Lovers Of Modern Art
0:13:53 - 0:16:38 Paul Blart And The Death Of Art - Herzog
0:16:38 - 0:19:20 I Don't Know - The Bewitched Hands On The Top Of Your Heads
0:19:20 - 0:22:35 The Stroller - Jaill
0:22:35 - 0:24:44 Give It to You - NYC UFOs
0:24:44 - 0:27:06 In Youth Is Pleasure - The Neat
0:27:06 - 0:30:20 Permanent Record - The Golden Dogs
0:30:20 - 0:34:30 Heart Full Of Pentagons - Film School
0:34:30 - 0:38:35 Broken Heart - Goodluck Jonathan
0:38:35 - 0:42:21 Sabotage - Alex Metric vs The Beastie Boys
0:42:21 - 0:45:36 This Is My Time - Lights On
0:45:36 - 0:48:30 Heart Medley - Nice Purse
0:48:30 - 0:52:39 Bugs & Bees - A Home. A Heart. Whatever.
0:52:39 - 0:56:00 Whose Side Are you On Anyway? - Absofacto
0:56:00 - 0:58:55 Magnesium Light - Dreamend
0:58:55 - 1:02:19 A Darkness Rises Up - Broken Records
1:02:19 - 1:06:46 Flickering Lights - The Strange Death Of Liberal England
1:06:46 - 1:09:41 My Name Is Carnival - Erland & The Carnival
1:09:41 - 1:15:11 One By One From Dorney Reach - Wolf People
1:15:11 - 1:19:57 The Hammer - !!!
1:19:57 - 1:26:00 The Right Side - Orchestral Manouvers In The Dark
1:26:00 - 1:30:37 The Answer - U. N. K. L. E. feat. Big In Japan

So, there you go. I hope to have another one ready for the beginning of December, then the plan is to have a best of the year podcast for the Christmas/New Year period.

There. I said it. Christmas.

Where did the year go?

As usual, your comments and track recommendations are always welcome, so please keep them coming.

Finally, if there is anything on this podcast you like, please support the artists by buying a track or two. If you are an artist that has a track on this podcast that you would like removed, please get in touch with me.

Thanks for listening.
It's good to listen.

Rob
xxx

Summertime, and the living is easy.

Easy yes, but no time to post or make a new podcast. Sorry for the delay, it's been a rather hectic couple of months.

So, we're in the middle of the best UK Summer for ages both weather and music wise. There were a couple of quite stale weeks over the last couple of months, probably the result of bands not wanting to release stuff until they were about to start playing their festival dates, but we've got there in the end.

It's a right mish mash of styles and cultures this time, with music coming from Canada, USA, Australia and Malaysia as well as the UK. As usual, the tracks are either available through many of the online download stores or through the artists themselves. Click the links for details and your comments are always welcome.

Better late than never and here we are, the music that's been buzzinig in my ears since we last met Podcast #5, Schizophonica Sessions #2.

---- Time ---- Title - Artist -----------------------------------
00.00 - 03.49 / Windstorm - School of Seven Bells
03.43 - 09.42 / Marina - Sleepy Sun
09.42 - 13.09 / Dead Nationale - Parades
13.09 - 18.50 / BOTE - Menomena
18.50 - 21.56 / If it's good for me - Stars & Sons
21.56 - 25.39 / Centrefolds And Empty Screens - We Have Band
25.39 - 29.32 / Deer - The Pack AD
29.32 - 33.05 / Jeans Jeans Jeans - Plants & Animals
33.05 - 37.32 / WOR (Together) - Django Django
37.32 - 41.27 / Wrecking Ball - Chris Pureka
41.27 - 44.45 / Watching Birds - Stornoway
44.45 - 47.44 / Promises - The Morning Benders
47.44 - 52.11 / Bloodbuzz Ohio - The National
52.11 - 57.10 / Tiny Paws - The Robots
57.10 - 60.19 / The Dead Dog - Portugal, The Man
60.19 - 66.07 / I Can Change - LCD Soundsystem
66.07 - 69.55 / Distaccati - Clock Hands Strangle
69.55 - 73.06 / War Coward - Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire!
73.06 - 77.04 / This Orient - Foals
77.04 - 82.20 / Blood - The Middle East
82.20 - 87.12 / Woo Song - Khottal


Once again, thanks for listening.
It's good to listen

Rob
xxx

How did we get to April all of a sudden?

So, as promised way back in December, spring has sprung and with it the first podcast of the year and the first one under the Schizophonica Sessions banner.

This time last year, I had a playlist of about 15-20 tracks, some of which were a bit meh, but a couple were absolutely brilliant. This year, great tunes are much more evident, so it was a more difficult job breaking down almost 50 to a much more manageable 25 for your aural pleasure. There have also been a raft of great albums released so far this year and I'll try and get round to compiling that list by the end of the month. They say that recession leads to great art and this year certainly seems to be fruitful so far.

So, the podcast can be downloaded from here (Right Click, save as) or use the subscribe buttons at the top of the page and the tracklist is as follows. All of these tracks can either be bought at all the usual suspects (7Digital is my own particular favourite) or they are free downloads from artists websites. I have linked to the artist's website or Myspace so you can find out a bit more about them.

I hope you enjoy listening as much as I have enjoyed compiling the list and your comments are always welcome.

--------Time--------- Title - Artist----------------------------------------------
0:00.00 - 0:03.31 / Devils Spoke - Laura Marling
0:03.31 - 0:08.20 / Get Better - Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip
0:08.20 - 0:10.56 / Have Pity - IV Thieves
0:10.56 - 0:15.01 / Lucille - The Vasco Era
0:15.01 - 0:18.20 / Marching Off To War - Morning Bell
0:18.20 - 0:24.07 / Inside A Boy (Shark mix) - My Brightest Diamond
0:24.07 - 0:29.08 / Apples & Allergies - The Rest
0:29.08 - 0:31.21 / The Horse In Motion - Ha Ha Tonka
0:31.21 - 0:34.52 / Your Hands (Together) - The New Pornographers
0:34.52 - 0:37.15 / Hands & Knees - Dag For Dag
0:37.15 - 0:40.19 / I Just Love You More - Kate Nash
0:40.16 - 0:44.16 / Light It Up - Blood Red Shoes
0:44.16 - 0:47.40 / Gold Canary - Cloud Control
0:47.40 - 0:52.05 / From A Tower - LoveLikeFire
0:52.05 - 0:57.35 / Aya - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
0:57.35 - 1:01.30 / Fossils - Peggy Sue
1:01.30 - 1:04.52 / Salvation - Scanners
1:04.52 - 1:09.15 / Wide Eyes - Local Natives
1:09.15 - 1:12.30 / It Kills - The Brownies
1:12.30 - 1:19.08 / Grey Is Old - Furcast
1:19.08 - 1:22.53 / Poison Lips - Vitalic
1:22.53 - 1:25.59 / High On A Wire - The Black Box Revelation
1:25.59 - 1:30.49 / Magnetic Warrior - Archie Bronson Outfit
1:30.49 - 1:34.06 / Fire Power - These New Puritans
1:34.06 - 1:37.10 / Say Goodbye To What - Bullion

Until the next time, thanks for listening.

It's good to listen

Rob
xxx

Today, I listened to...

.....'Hadestown' by Anais Mitchell.
It's a folk opera akin to the The Decemberists stuff, is bloody excellent and features Ani Di Franco, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Ben Knox Miller (The Low Anthem) among others. Here's a link to some of the tracks. Go buy now.

There's a band being hyped to hell and back at the moment called The Drums. I was unfortunate enough last night to give them a good listen. IMO, somebody has either got a rich daddy in the record industry and/or they've managed to completely bluff the indie press. Or I'm getting old and don't get music anymore. Cool hair and clothes though.

In other news, the next podcast should be done in the next week or two. I've just got to trim the playlist down to a more manageable hour and a half - currently it clocks in at 2 hours and 50 minutes! - and it'll be there.

I'm also going to give the blog a rebrand over the next couple of weeks and it will come back as schizophonica.co.uk. Schizophonica is a word that doesn't really exist, but fits my musical spectrum perfectly. Hopefully, if/when I can get it working properly, I'll be listing all the music that I listen to. Mostly to promote it, but also so I can remind myself of what I actually put in my ears every day.

There's also the unsavoury business of the BBC Structural Review and the impending closure of the BBC 6Music station. This would be a travesty of culture and a slight on the memory of John Peel. If you feel strongly about this or would like to learn more about this review, click here.

Until the next time, thanks for listening.
It's good to listen.

Rob
xxx