I think we've only had one Jon Ronson programme on Speechification before. That can't be right. So here's another. A perfectly balanced 30 minutes of stories about flying, fear and eternal life. Very funny and actually shocking. MP3 here.
I can't believe no one has put up the traditional Christmas bling around here. So I'm going to do it, while suggesting you listen to this very amusing short story by Anthony Horovitz, part of the rather good "Scene of the Crime" series by leading mystery writers currently playing out in the Afternoon Readings slot. [MP3]
A Very Merry Christmas from all at Speechification Towers.
Yes. It's a documentary about ivy. So you'll learn more than you've been planning to learn about ivy lately. But it's also a gorgeous trip through the soundworld of mid-Wales. Put your headphones on: sheep, birdsong, all the intimate and incidental sounds of a walk in the Autumn countryside. Also the relaxed, unconscious, almost hypnotic ease of a seasoned broadcaster - Lionel Kellaway. Musical and quite intoxicating (MP3).
This programme - with all the other Radio 4 nature programmes - is available to listen to permanently on the web site (no seven-day expiry here). There's also an excellent, year-round podcast. I mentioned this one on my Listen with Bowbrick Twitter feed the other day too.
The picture is green/red ivy by Alex Pears and it's used under licence.
Surprised to see I haven't posted anything before from Kenneth Goldsmith's extraordinary podcast for the Poetry Foundation, Avant-Garde All The Time, which features sound works from the UbuWeb archives.
UbuWeb is an incredible resource for avant-garde material available on the internet, opened in 1996. It offers visual, concrete and sound poetry, and has expanded to include film and sound art mp3 archives. Every six weeks or so, Goldsmith (the founder) picks through the mp3s and builds a twenty minute themed collection that is always worth a listen.
I was prompted to post by the latest episode - The Women of the Avant-Garde (part 2) - as it's a particularly fine example of the strange sounds emanating from the UbuWeb vaults, as well as a revelatory mining of a rich seam of little-known, women-led art practice. But it also contains a lot of profanity and one particular segment where visual artist Lauren Lesko puts a microphone where only a woman can.
So, for our more sensitive listeners, an older episode - a wide-ranging survey of British sound poets and artists from the 1960s to the present, featuring Bob Cobbing, Neil Mills, Liliy Greenham, Chirstopher Logue, Ann Laplantine, and more [MP3]. But I urge you to have a listen, and subscribe, to all of Avant-Garde All The Time - which can be found at the Poetry Foundation website.
Robert Brook suggested we might like this. He's right we did. MP3 here. Production company page here.
Deep beneath the earth, in mines and under mountains, are James Bond-esque lairs filled with scientists... Sue Nelson explores the world of dark matter researchers, a great piece on the geography of scientific investigation and the excitement and politics of small teams competing for a common goal. Don't miss the links from the programme page either. [MP3]
Atlantic Public Media curates a weekly podcast of nature programmes from all around North American public radio - a pretty rich source, it turns out. Here's a lovely short feature from the 1980s about snakes, produced by Public Radio veteran Jay Allison.
Wouldn't it be great to add the BBC's radio nature programmes to the mix? I wonder if anyone's thought about that. Especially since most of them are already available in perpetuity online. Here's the MP3 and here's how to support Atlantic Public Media.
The picture, Southern Copperhead, is by Reader Walker. Used under licence.
There aren't enough Midlands accents on the radio. That's just true. These lovely programmes help to rectify that and add all sorts of splendid talk about Thatcher teapots, dog chews and the relative competitiveness of Stoke and China. MP3 here. And here are programmes 2, 3, 4, and 5.
The Curious Ear is Ronan Kelly's feature strand for RTE Radio 1 in Ireland. Kelly wins awards all over the place for this stuff. It's always playful, often very moving (maybe sometimes a bit too arch). This one's lovely. It's about the people you'll find under the stands at Dublin's legendary GAA venue Croke Park while there's a game on (some of them praying).
The Curious Ear goes out in the Doc on 1 slot on RTE Radio 1 and there's an excellent podcast. Here's the programme's web page and the MP3.
Andrew McGibbon is a speechification favourite. An original voice, an even more original perspective, and he always make programmes about unexpected and delightful topics. This one, as you might have guessed, is about cymbals - a history and exploration taking us from before the Bible to after Spandau Ballet, including the 32nd oldest company in the world. Excellent, funny, informative - full of facts you'll want to repeat to people in the pub. MP3 here.
A blog of Radio 4. Not about Radio 4 but of it. We point to the bits we like, the bits you might have missed, the bits that someone might have sneakily recorded. Other speech radio from around the world will no doubt find its way here too.
Of course, one day this might turn into something else, maybe a new way of curating speech radio, or maybe it won’t.
Your hosts on this not very wild ride are Steve Bowbrick, Russell Davies, Dan Hill, Bobbie Johnson and James Bridle. Drop us a line with your thoughts, unless you wish to complain about continuity announcers and their accents.
You might also enjoy the square-eyed sister site, Watchification.
Huffduffer audio: ’speechification’ Delicious bookmarks: ’speechification’
