Speechification

Some more Radio 3, and quite music-heavy this one, but justified by the voices:

Musician and writer Banning Eyre heads to the American state of Georgia, gateway to the Deep South, and southern end of the Appalachian Mountains, to record some of the unique vocal music that has been preserved in the area, and meet the personalities who have kept the traditions alive. [MP3]

Thanks to, um, someone, for the tip. Sorry. Remind me. Andy! It was Andy! Andy gave me the tip! Thanks/sorry Andy.

A brief little series of 15 minute episodes about music's power to move people geographically as well as emotionally, Musical Migrants ran in 2008 and again in 2009.

Here's the fourth programme from Series 1: Belgian bandoneon player Eva Wolff describes her arrival in Buenos Aires, and her introduction to Tango, in the context of Argentina's catastrophic economic meltdown. [MP3]

We proudly present another episode of The London Ear, from, er, sometime in the past. Partly because if we don't stick them up here then they won't be anywhere. This one features the songs, stylings and thoughts of Mr Bonnie 'Prince'  Billy. Otherwise known as Will Oldham etc. The initial ramshackle microphone techniques add to the charm and intimacy - but, don't worry, fairly soon you can actually hear what they're saying. And it's worth listening to. A must for Will Oldham fans, and a probably should for everyone else. MP3 here.

We're big fans of Andrew McGibbon here at Speechification, we've posted his 'I Was Douglas Adams' Flat Mate' and I was sure we'd put I Was Morrisey's Drummer up as well, but now I can't find it. Anyway, you can probably work out what this one's about. It's top radio. MP3 here.

For Radio 2, Stephen Fry looks at how Hitler's Germany pioneered many - if not most - of the recording techniques that made later music possible. This, the second episode, covers the Rock'n'Roll years and tells how the multi-track recording process changed the face of music production forever. [MP3]

Maybe the best thing about this programme is the way the continuty announcers really enjoyed trailing it all week. Clearly delighted to be asked to do something silly. But there's a lot else that's good about this overview of scores and soundtracks for comedy films and TV. It takes in the influences of silent cinema, the genius of Scott Bradley and his scores for Tom And Jerry and the modern tendency to make the music play it straight. Fantastic stuff. The programme page tells you almost nothing about it, but there's some additional info in a press release buried somewhere down this page. (MP3 here.)

Well, it looks like Woolworths has finally gone. Damn. This splendid documentary from Radio 2 reminds us how great Woolworths once was, in its pomp. Specifically the brilliant contribution they made to popular music by making cheap but decent covers available to everyone. Lovely. MP3 here.

I was slightly dreading this. Paul Morley dances frequently on the line between smart and arch, and in contact with Mr Forsyth it could all have been a bit horrible. But this is actually lovely stuff. Mr Morley's enthusiasm defeats (or enhances) his pretension, he asks all sorts of questions that no-one ever asks someone like Brucie and the interview is just deconstructed enough to let you catch some original glimpses. Fantastic stuff. MP3 here.

Here's a further bid for timeliness from Speechification. It's another of Ben Thompson's interviews for Resonance - this time with Alex Ross, who's just won the Guardian First Book prize with The Rest Is Noise, which is magnificent. You see? Topical! You can hear Mr Thompson straying outside his comfort zone with all this classical stuff, and you can hear Mr Ross glancing around the Resonance studio feeling that he's a long way from NPR and The New Yorker, but it all works rather splendidly. Encore. MP3 here.

I've always liked the sound of jazz, but never really liked the music. The soundscapes, the tones are perfect and inviting and lovely. And then, after the first go round with the tune it dissolves into tedious improvisatory wibbling. So when I was alerted to this programme about Miles Davis and So What by a helpful twitter I wasn't hopeful. But, but, this almost got to me. It's not so much the stories about why people like it, it's the stories of what went into it, what was going on in the world. Anyway, whatever, you don't care about that, if you think I'm a horrible philistine you're going to like this stuff anyway. And if you're sort of with me, and even if you don't like the track, this is still a magnificent programme. (There's a slight silent pause in the audio right at the beginning. Sorry.) MP3 here.