Digby offers his take on Christmas with the first of his yuletide shows featuring Billy Childish and The Lovely Eggs amongst others, expect a short sharp shot to the heart of conventional festive fuzz. None of us here at DCR we’re particularly quick to jump on the Christmas music bandwagon but once we got going there was no stopping us, well not for 13 days anyway. . . . . . . .

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‘And so this is Christmas’, as the mawkish song would have it. It’s a
time of year when we are bombarded by terrible music; in shops and
cafes, lifts and train stations. And mostly it exhorts us to have a
high old time, to be of good cheer, or to remember a homeless baby who
was born in a stable (in times before foot and mouth, swine flu and
health and safety legislation, clearly).

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But for every song that heigh-hos, there’s another that takes on a
less festive hue. In today’s Christmas podcast, James Brown languidly
lambasts us for neglecting those worse off than ourselves, The
Youngsters warn us of the pitfalls of over-indulging, the lovely El
Perro Del Mar may be sighing ‘Oh, What a Christmas’, but in a voice
that simply cries out ‘Bonjour, tristesse’. And finally, when the
quixotic Mary Margaret O’Hara sings that it’ll be a blue Christmas
without you, one knows, that for her, it truly will be.

So if you are, during this festive period, paper hat on head, feeling
like a character in a Bergman film, while all around you sit sunny
people who long to be in Friends, remember you’re not alone. This too
will pass. So buy yourself a present, unpop a cork, and have Christmas
on your own terms. And if your mood clears and your spirits cheer,
join me on 23 December for the other side of the coin in the plum
pudding, a show made up of songs that celebrate Christmas.

We’re getting truly festive here at DCR and offering you a plethora of daily yuletide shows to keep you busy over the festive season.
Our DJ’s will be airing a new mini-show every day from December 12th right up until Christmas Eve featuring their favourite Alternative seasonal tracks.

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There will be no Pogues, no Slade, no Wham and certainly no Cliff. We’re talking about The Fall, Slow Club, Das Wunderlust, The Ramones, Kellarissa, Radiohead, Mogwai, Bright Eyes and so on and so on.
All our regular DJ’s from Liam and Gem on The IF show to Adrian’s 13 show, Digby’s Debris Slide, Ladies Day, Steve from The Electronic Tonic and Adam’s Words Into Wires will all leave their regular format for this fortnight and get all festive, we’re also welcoming Richard our podcast producer for a special Christmas Eve show with guests. The fresh show will appear in this space just after midnight every day from 12th December to Chrsitmas Eve.
Ahhh, the wonder of an alternative Christmas x

Here’s some links to people and stuff we’re fond of:

Podcasts – www.turnupandtalk.com

‘Mini’s Guest List’ – The Hottest Club & Events Scene In London! Join Now – www.MinisGuestList.com

Record Labels – www.freerangerecords.co.uk

Studios – www.residentstudios.com   www.gunfactorystudios.com

Develop Confidence and Charisma – Secrets of Charisma & Personal Transformation – www.CharismaMagic.com

Venues – www.bardensboudoir.co.uk

Read – www.thestoolpigeon.co.uk

Manager – www.julietippex.com

Eating – www.mangal2.com

Online Record’s – www.junorecords.co.uk

Julian James – Amazing London Magician Exclusive Entertainment for Private & Corporate Events – www.JulianJamesMagic.com

All our mini-shows from the 13 days of Christmas will feature again here, so you can listen again whenever you like, probably best over Christmas though x

For all DCR information please contact:

liam@differentclassradio.co.uk or for the female touch gemma@differentclassradio.co.uk

We do like to hear new demo’s and mp3′s but please only send us stuff that might be suitable for our ears,  for example we’re not overly keen on music you might here on Magic, get in touch with Magic I reckon. Some details about yourself are also helpful.

All our DJ’s can be contacted via their respective pages.

If you like the DCR style and Graphics it’s all thanks to a man called James Newport he can be contacted here: jimgraphix@googlemail.com

Our Podcast Producer is Richard Elms he can be contacted here: richard@turnupandtalk.com

Crispy Ambulance were a band from Manchester that were heavily involved in the Post-Punk scene in Manchester in the late 70′s and early eighties. They are often unfairly seen as the poor relation of Joy Division, singer Alan Hempsall stood in for Ian Curtis when the singer was taken ill, in the film Control about Curtis Rob Gretton famously shouts “Go find Alan from Crispy Ambulance…and fucking hurry up” and continues to treat him in an unorthodox manner although Natalie Curtis Ian’s daughter noted that Rob wouldn’t have been like this as he was in fact fond of him, but as we know if there’s a choice between printing the truth or the legend. . . . . you print the legend.The video, but more importantly the music is them at their best, proving they are not simply a JD copy, recorded in 1981 by the legendary Martin Hannett using his signature sound, listen for the distintive sound he gets from the snare drum, it’s taken from the EP ‘Live on a hot August night’ which in fact wasn’t live and not recorded in August, this track ‘The Presence’ is in fact a shortened version with the orginal lasting over thirteen minutes. The EP’s other track is Concorde Square which must be listened to loud, the vinyl is currently selling on Discogs for about £25 if I havn’t bought it first. It came out on Factory Records sister label Factory Benelux, apparently beacause Tony Wilson wasn’t keen, all the more for us then. . . .

Sometimes I think that the current state of the nation’s radio is unavoidable. Let’s face it, radio favours immediately approachable music, instantly likeable bubblegum rubbish that the listener can hear on one occasion and get off on. It is an uphill struggle for DCR, most discernable music lovers will know that the best music is rarely immediate, it grows in time and with repeated listening eventually smacks you in the face and makes you feel that you have discovered something truly wonderful. The music speaks for itself.

I am pretty disillusioned with a lot of the popular music and journalism around at the moment. I’m getting tired of journalists telling me what I should listen too (ref. recent NME cover title “15 bands to get excited about” (but then I am using the worst music magazine of them all as an example; I mean, the Strokes, album of the decade? Bollocks)). Hype kills the music it’s hyping!

I find a lot of the current crop of bands frankly boring, and just too approachable. The XX for example, yes their album is good, but what’s it going to provide after 10 listens? I’m bored of buying albums and them sitting on my cd shelf gathering dust after the initial hit has worn thin. To me it’s bubblegum music that’s a little bit cooler than the norm, but ultimately not satisfying. Listen to this inoffensive stuff too much and you’ll never want anything else!

Of course there are always exceptions to the rule; Bon Iver’s album for example, I loved immediately and will not tire of; clubs thrive on music that you will likely hear once, by an artist you probably never have heard of but yet at that moment it means everything. Immediacy can be nice, believe me I have pop soft spots (I think Nelly Furtado’s ‘Say it Right’ is a great track, seriously have a listen on Spotify).

Inevitably I must bring the subject to electronic music and what some refer to as IDM. The music of Autechre, one of my very favourite artists, initially sounds like noise, probably the very definition of unapproachable, totally not radio friendly. But now, after many many listens, I find a lot of their music incredibly moving, almost to the point of bringing tears to my eyes. And here is the point of this blog: sharing this music with others is incredibly difficult; the music effectively provides its own barrier between it and the listener and it requires a hell of a lot of listening to get through it. It’s not bubblegum sugar-coated radio friendly music it’s the opposite and it’s all the better for it. How can radio present this? I would like to play more on the Electronic Tonic but then I doubt people would listen. In a way it is frustrating to love something so much but it being so hard to share, and in fact, commonly with IDM, people won’t even give it the time of day – declaring hatred before knowing. Even the term Intelligent Dance Music pisses people off (and rightly so!). I use IDM as my own personal example, heavy metal lovers I don’t doubt feel the same about the music they love.

I would like to add that this opinionated babble is solely mine, and not necessarily that of DCR or indeed anyone else. Nobody’s musical opinion is right or wrong and that’s one thing that makes music so great. It’s passion at the end of the day.

Electronic Steve x

stephen@differentclassradio.co.uk

By the way, if you’re unfamiliar with Autechre try LP5 an incredible piece of work. Also check out Gantz Graf but it must be watched with the video for full effect (and loud)!

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DJ Ed P brings Different Class Radio an exclusive mix. A deep, bleepy and bouncy mix from guest DJ Ed P taking in African drums, jazzy Japanese piano, Nordic screams and even an extended marimba workout (yeah!) Think house, broken beat and nu-jazz with twists, turns and trips.

1. Path – Disques Sinthomme (Disques Sinthomme)
2. Tree Bells – Arken (Sonar Kollektiv)
3. Mode Mode: Big Bang Remix – Jaz’presso (Incense)
4. Tablakone – City of Women (Sähkö)
5. Rasmus Faber Plays The Marimba – Tiger Stripes (Nite Grooves)