Undiluted joy.
As regular readers will know I present the weekly Sounds from beyond the Shed radio show which goes out live on www.crmk.co.uk on a Tuesday night and is then followed by a Mixcloud which is highlighted in these august pages and indeed at the bottom of this column. It’s a joy to put together and, let’s face it a sublime pleasure in hearing my own voice cueing up some great music. My incompetence on the… ahem… wheels of steel is diminishing and my followers on Mixcloud growing very slowly but in the right direction. Why do I do it? The pleasure of sourcing great music and sharing it is about the top and bottom of it but imagine my joy on walking into a coffee shop in Milton Keynes and hearing my voice accompanying the orders for flat whites and Lattes! I cannot describe what a rush it was. I do not know these people and they had somehow heard the show and taken it and run with it. I am now on episode twenty-six and they were playing episode one having listened to episode twenty-four and then deciding to not only explore the Mixcloud archive but to share it with their clientele.
Chuffed or what? It’s a small thing I know but a lovely thing and we must hang onto those.
The last shows of 2023 will be a countdown of the top 70 songs of the year and then a Christmas special on Boxing Day. Please listen in. I will try and publish the Christmas show before our shutdown. In reviewing the year’s best I have been considering many things but two recent releases fill me with great optimism for 2024. Malojian’s new band The Breeze released their first single and the ever-brilliant Delines released their Christmas tragedy but as this has been featured this week I thought a visit to there wonderful Sparklehorse cover might be in order. Both brilliant videos. The radio show is a countdown of numbers 70-46 of the best songs this year according to me! It’s a hoot. As ever take what you want or need.
