For reasons far too dull and footling for even me to remember, this week’s Selection Box was recorded in Studio 4 of BCB instead of it’s regular home two doors away in Studio 2. Much like its Thunderbird of the same numeral, Studio 4 is something of a minor player in the BCB cannon compared to the all-important live broadcast hypersonic variable-sweep wing rocket plane of Studio 1, the heavy supersonic VTOL carrier lifting body aircraft that is Studio 2 and the re-usable, vertically-launched single-stage-to-orbit spacecraft we affectionately know as Studio 3. It’d be a stretch of an already tenuous metaphor to suggest it is a small utility submersible for underwater rescue, but, to flick to a barely more relevant simile, using Studio 4 instead of one of the other recording holes is like suddenly trying to use a Commodore 64 joystick to play Fifa when you’re used to the Duashock 3 controller.
In basic terms, the controls are different. In basic terms, it’s basic. Whilst to a novice the myriad of fiddly knobs, light-emitting diodes and push-me-pull-you faders may look more daunting than a desk with an abacus and a twisty crank, when you are used to the former you know how it works and, more to the point, how to correct something if it goes wrong. If you have nothing more than an on / off switch and a big red button that says, “DO NOT PRESS” on it then finding a way of piloting the vessel away from the big broadcasting black hole you’re about to get sucked into is more problematic. And thus it was that I fully expected disaster to befall the programme this week with every given push of a button or slide of a fader. Save for an odd moment a few records in, where my voice seems to appear mid-sentence for reasons I’m still not entirely clear of, I seem to have come out of my Studio 4 journey unscathed, which makes me blase for next week when I am in there again and will, therefore, no doubt end up die screaming as I plough the ruddy thing at full pelt into the hot burning sun.
Anyway, a quick bit of housekeeping is required on here before I get onto the weighty subject of the playlist, namely that the show this week began with Local Natives and you can still hear the interview I conducted with them at Leeds Festival on this ‘ere Soundcloud wotsit here. You can even download it should you be so very inclined – simply click on the arrow on the player and save it as you feel appropriate.
Patrick Thornton speaks to Andy & Kelsey from Local Natives by PatrickSelectionBox
Selection Box Show 252 (listen again HERE)
Transmitted 20/02/2013
1. Local Natives – Heavy Feet
from: Hummingbird
2. Junior Electronics – Mike McConnell
from: Musostics
3. Harlem River Drive – Seeds Of Love
from: Harlem River Drive
4. Mikhail – Cerberus
from: Xenophonia
5. Ray Noble & His Orchestra – Oh You Nasty Man
from: Risque Blues, Vol. 1 (various artists)
6. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Higgs Bosun Blues
from: Push The Sky Away
7. Natacha Atlas – Marifnaash
from: Halim
8. Chris Barber Skiffle Group feat Dickie Bishop – Gypsy Davy
from: Chris Barber 1956
9. John Grant – Pale Green Ghosts
from: Pale Green Ghosts
10. Freaks – 80s Throwback
from: The Man Who Lived Underground
11. Melody’s Echo Chamber – Crystallized
from: Melody’s Echo Chamber
Patrick Thornton presents Selection Box every Wednesday at 9pm.