These Elliott Smith-esque days are coming thick and fast. There are many more reasons to detest the ubiqutous iPod than there are seasons in the sun, the least of which is the overturning of conventional punctuation which results in Steve Jobs iCon (sic) biography. The more glaring one is that, for most, for the recent past, these invariably white units have become synonymous with “music”. But what music takes place in the 20cm between one’s ears? Surely it’s natural - and just - to feel the composition of musical genius below the neck, and not from within.
Music is never private, not in its manner of production and re-production. Public play is its raison d’être, hence its very distribution. Its pre-birth, the compositional phase, takes place in silence, but this silence is not yet musical. Yet these little machines do nothing less than to challenge natural laws, and instead isolate and atomise us. Man, I’m so iRate.
Notwithstanding that, this little machine (and its various non-Apple bastard-siblings) has been a boon in one respect. The podcast has brought radio - of all things - back to life. The original phenomenon known as radio, which was ever wireless, has always remained relevant: intelligently relevant and freely relevant. Radio’s bane has been distance, until the advent of the miniature relayer and the internet.
What I love about radio is content. Long before television, that evil black box in the corner, radio, that little gadget that tells the time and also usually simultaneously lullabies you to, and jolts you out of, sleep. Usually, the stuff of radio is music; when it is not, radio survives on reasoned voices. And much of this is available on podcast thanks to the BBC.
The BBC has taken to the digital age in a big way and Radio 4 stoically chugs along with marvellous, marvellous programmes on asteriods, magnetism, and Pragmatism. Where else would you find a dissection of the finer points of Dominican history? Or bring the Cynics to life? Mark Kermode’s weekly Film Review is a gem. Listen to how passionate he becomes. Intelligent and passionate insights into moving pictures. Ironic, then, how the upstart has resuscitated the world’s first and oldest form of wireless communication.
Alas, a mellow mood prevails. Listening to these reasoned voices engaging in debate on fundamentals only brings to light what is lacking in diabolical Singapore: our most primitive needs are not met. That and a good winter.
iLike these:
KCRW’s selection of podcast programmes are found here. Not to forget
NPR and underHeard.org - small time, Big Heart.