Tag Archives: albert freeman

Eclectic Mainline 2014 review

I was invited back for a one off show over Christmas after giving up my regular slot in April 2014. You can hear the full show, plus an extra 4 tracks I didn’t have time to fit in, here:

Here is the full track list:

Plaid – Hawkmoth (LP – Reachy Prints) (Warp)
Wildbirds & Peacedrums – The Offbeat (LP – Rhythm) (Leaf)
Panda Bear – Mr Noah (LP – Panda Bear Meet the Grim Reaper) (Domino)
The Twilight Sad – It Never Was The Same (LP – Everybody Wants To Be Here and Nobody Wants To Leave) (Fat Cat)
Grouper – Call Across Rooms (LP – Ruins) (Kranky)
Aphex Twin – CIRCLONT6A [141.98][syrobonkus mix] (LP – Syro) (Warp)
David Thomas Broughton & Juice Vocal Ensemble – Been A While (LP – Sliding the Same Way) (Song By Toad)
Mogwai – No Medicine For Regret (LP – Rave Tapes) (Rock Action)
A Winged Victory For The Sullen – Atoms X (LP – Atomos) (Erased Tapes)
Maynor – Dixie (EP – Trippin’ on Frenchcore) (GGM Digital)
Tim Hecker – Amps, Drugs, Mellotron (Adult Swim Singles Program 2014)
Bo Ningen – Dadada (single) (Stolen Recordings)
Kode9 and The Spaceape – Chasing a Beast (EP – Killing Season) (Hyperdub)
Sharon Van Etten – Afraid of Nothing (LP – Are We There) (Jagjaguwar)
Goat – Gathering Of Ancient Tribes (LP – Commune) (Rocket)
Ambassadors – Rain (single) (Ninja Tune)
Beck – Blue Moon (LP – Morning Phase) (Capitol)

I’ve written more about my favourite music of 2014 over on my personal blog.

Eclectic Mainline bonus programme – I’m not done!

If you listened to last week’s programme, the final ever episode of Eclectic Mainline, you may have heard me say there will be a bonus programme online.  You will be familiar with the rather tired idea of a bonus track at the end of an album. Well, I thought I would do a bonus radio programme at the end of my tenure on the airwaves.

Albert presenting Eclectic Mainlineropped

When I recently did a special programme celebrating my 10th anniversary on BCB, Phil Cope asked me if that programme tracked the evolution of Eclectic Mainline over the 10 years I had been doing the programme.  It didn’t really do that, but I liked the idea, and that is what I tried to go for with this extra programme.  You can listen to it at your leisure on my Mixcloud page, or simply clickety click below to listen now.

These are the tunes that featured in this extra edition of Eclectic Mainline:

Continue reading →

Final ever Eclectic Mainline – 30th April 2014

After 10 years, and approximately (maybe even exactly) 500 shows, I presented the final Eclectic Mainline live on Wednesday evening this week. Thanks to everyone who tuned in to help make this last episode feel special.  Having so many people getting in touch during the show was wonderful.

Albert presenting final Eclectic Mainline

Choosing what I was going to play in this final show was by no means easy. I decided a few weeks ago what I was going to end with. That was easy. But, apart from that, I just wanted to play as much new music as I could, knowing that it was my final chance.  And I had at least 2 shows’ worth of music in my pile of CDs as I entered the studio. I’m kicking myself for forgetting something, however. Back in February the Tweet below alerted me to something amazing.  You can actually listen to Wikipedia edits in real time – the actual sound of the internet breathing!

 

I thought that was absolutely stunning, and so very now.  Well done to the people who developed that.  I’ve wanted to play an extract if it on the radio ever since, and planned to do so in my final show. But… like a muppet, I forgot. Hey ho, there’s always next wee… Oh no, there’s no next week, is there. Continue reading →

10 years and out! Eclectic Mainline 2nd April 2014

I made it to the big one oh!Albert 10 Years on BCB
It is now 10 years since my first programme on BCB, and what a 10 years it has been.  While preparing for this week’s anniversary edition I looked back over what I have achieved, and thought to myself…

“S**t, did I really do all that?!”

Eclectic Mainline has evolved a fair bit over my decade at BCB.  From starting to get a healthy number of new releases coming my way through 2004, I then had a frequent flow of interviewees on the programme in 2005.  The December 2005 edition of The Big Issue In The North ran an article under the title of “The Spirit of John Peel lives“.  This cited my own programme as one of several on community radio stations that had a similar ethos to that of the late Peel. Discovering that article on Boxing Day was by far the best Christmas present I got that year.

2006 was a turning point for Eclectic Mainline, as I dipped my toes into the world of live sessions, and I had several session guests a year for the next 5 years.  I would say that those sessions made the years from 2006 to 2010 my purple patch on BCB.  In 2011, Laura Rawlings and myself were up against the big boys and girls of the radio world, as our live sessions won us a Radio Academy Awards nomination. Continue reading →

Eclectic Mainline 2013 review – part 2

Following on from last week’s programme, my first show of 2014 completes my two-part review of 2013.  You can listen back to the whole programme via the wonders of Mixcloud:

You will also find the full programme on the BCB Listen Again service.

Last.fm doesn’t seem to be going away, but neither does it seem particularly vital in 2014. But for what it’s worth, I’ve shared my my top 10 Last.fm artist for 2013 on Google+.

Here is the track list from tonight’s programme:

The Knife – ‘Full Of Fire’ (LP – Shaking The Habitual) (Rabid) (video)
Jeffrey Lewis and The Rain – ‘WWPRD’ (WWPRD EP) (Rough Trade)
Machinedrum – ‘Eyesdontlie’ (LP – Vapor City) (Ninja Tune) (video)
Steve Mason – ‘Come To Me’ (LP – Monkey Minds In The Devil’s Time) (Double Six)
Mogwai – ‘Special N’ (LP – Les Revenants) (Rock Action)
No Age – ‘C’mon Stimmung’ (LP – An Object) (Sub Pop) (SoundCloud)
Oneohtrix Point Never – ‘Zebra’ (LP – R Plus Seven) (Warp) (SoundCloud)
Phosphorescent – ‘Song For Zula’ (LP – Muchacho) (Dead Oceans) (SoundCloud)
Mark Pritchard – ‘Ghosts’ (EP – Ghosts) (Warp) http://youtu.be/IaUX1u1s4FQ
Raffertie – ‘One Track Mind’ (LP – Sleep Of Reason) (Ninja Tune)
These New Puritans – ‘V (Island Song)’ (LP – Field of Reeds) (infectious) (video)
Kurt Vile – ‘Never Run Away’ (LP – Wakin On A Pretty Daze) (Matador) (video)

There is one tune I forgot to include, one of my favourite singles of 2013, this by The Uncluded:

Eclectic Mainline 2013 review – part 1

This week’s programme was going to be full of festive cheer, what with it being on 25th December. But then when I started to plan next week’s look back at 2013 and I realised I had far too much good music from the past 12 months for one showt. So no Christmas tunes this week. Anyway, if you really want festive tunes, you could do no better than listen to Phil Cope’s Christmas mix, recorded live during the WIN Christmas special a couple of weeks ago.

You can listen back to my programme in full courtesy of the wonders of Mixcloud:

You will also find the full programme on the BCB Listen Again service. Here is the track list:

Bleached – ‘Dreaming Without You’ (LP – Ride Your Heart) (Dead Oceans)
Boards of Canada – ‘New Seeds’ (LP – Tomorrow’s Harvest) (Warp)
Bill Callahan – ‘Javalin Unlanding’ (LP – Dream River) (Drag City)
The Cairo Gang – ‘Tiny Rebels’ (LP – Tiny Rebels) (Emtpy Cellar) (Soundcloud)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – ‘Jubilee Street’ (LP – Push The Sky Away) (self-released) (video)
Deerhunter – ‘Neon Junkyard’ (LP – Monomania) (4AD)
Nils Frahm – ‘Says’ (LP – Spaces) (Erased Tapes) (Soundcloud)
Fuck Buttons – ‘The Red Wing’ (LP – Slow Focus) (ATP) (video)
Daughn Gibson – ‘You Don’t Fade’ (LP – Me Moan) (Sub Pop) (Soundcloud)
Kink Gong – ‘Baozoo Khen’ (LP – Voices) (Discrepant)

There is one song I would like to have played in this show, but not having a radio edit of it, I couldn’t. It’s GMF, by John Grant. One of the highlights of 2013 was seeing him have the gaul to sing this in a busy shopping centre when he did an instore performance at Jumbo Records.

Eclectic Mainline 7th August 2013

New music in tonight’s show included The Cairo Gang:

…and this Djrum remix of the new Jono McCleery single:

You will find the whole show available on today’s page of the BCB Listen Again service. Here is the full show’s track list:

Sigur Rós – ‘Stormur’ (LP – Kveikur) (XL)
Marina Rosenfeld – ‘Hard Love’ (LP – P.A. / Hard Love) (Room40)
Koreless – ‘Never’ (single) (Young Turks)
The Cairo Gang – ‘Tiny Rebels’ (EP – Tiny Rebels) (Empty Cellar)
Boards Of Canada – ‘Come To Dust’ (LP – Tomorrow’s Harvest) (Warp)
Pure Bathing Culture – ‘Pendulum’ (single) (Memphis Industries)
Delorean – ‘Destitute Time’ (single) (Matador)
Jono McCleery – ‘Ballade (Djrum Remix)’ (single) (Ninja Tune)
Dent May – ‘Born Too Late’ (LP – Warm Blankets) (Paw Tracks)
Sharon Van Etten – ‘All I Can’ (LP – Tramp) (Jagjaguwar)
Braids – ‘Fruend’ (single) (Full Time Hobby)
Flowers – ‘Until You’re Dead’ (single) (Fortuna Pop!)
Dziga Vertov – ‘Radio Pravda’ (Various Artists 3CD – ‘An Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music / Seventh and Last A – Chronology Volume #7) (Sub Rosa)
Hoofus – ‘The Loke’ (LP – Several Wolves) (Exotic Pylon)

Eclectic Mainline 17th July 2013

New tunes in tonight’s show from Tunng:

… The Ballet:

… Circle Traps:

… and Alela Diane:

You will find the whole show available on today’s page of the BCB Listen Again service.  Here is the full show’s track list:

Mark Pritchard – ‘Get Wyld’ (Ghosts EP) (Warp)
Mark Mulcahy – ‘Poison Candy Heart’ (single and LP - Dear Mark J Mulcahy I Love You) (Fire)
Tunng – ‘So Far From Here’ (single) (Full Time Hobby)
Kurt Vile – ‘Air Bud’ (LP - Wakin On A Pretty Daze) (Matador)
Emika – ‘Centuries’ (single and LP - DVA) (Ninja Tune)
The Ballet – ‘Turn You’ (single and LP - I Blame Society) (Fortuna POP!)
Füxa – ‘Sun Is Shining’ (single) (Rocket Girl)
Lightning Dust – ‘Loaded Gun’ (single and LP - Fantasy) (Jagjaguwar)
Anne-James Chaton and Andy Moor – ‘Journey On The Péquod’ (LP - Transfer) (Unsound)
Circle Traps – ‘Heatwave’ (Obelisk EP) (Five Easy Pieces)
Stephan Mathieu – ‘Deneb’ (LP - The Falling Rocket) (Dekorder)
Alela Diane – ‘The Way We Fall’ (LP - About Farewell) (Believe)
Arctic Monkeys – ‘Do I Wanna Know’ (single) (Domino)

Eclectic Mainline 10th July 2013

New music in tonight’s show included Julia Holter:

…Raffertie:

…No Age:

…and Mount Kimbie:

You’ll find the full show available on demand on today’s page of the BCB Listen Again service.  Here is the full track list:

Raffertie – ‘One Track Mind’ (LP – Sleep Of Reason) (Ninja Tune)
Dead Can Dance – ‘Children Of The Sun’ (single) (PIAS)
!!! – ‘Californiayeah’ (single) (Warp)
Marsen Jules Trio – ‘Les Trains Stortent De La Gare’ (LP – Présence Acousmatique) (OCTAF)
No Age – ‘C’mon, Stimmung’ (single) (Sub Pop)
Alela Diane – ‘Lost Land’ (LP – About Farewell) (Believe)
Pond – ‘Xanman’ (single) (Modular)
Nothankyou – ‘Know Yourself’ (single) (Moshi Moshi)
Big Deal – ‘Pristine’ (LP – June Gloom) (Mute)
Mount Kimbie – ‘Lie Near’ (LP – Cold Spring Fault Less Youth) (Warp)
Queens Of The Stone Age – ‘Fairweather Friends’ (LP – …Like Clockwork) (Matador)
Julia Holter – ‘In The Green Wild’ (single) (Domino)
Big Star – ‘I Am The Cosmos’ (LP – Columbia… Live At Missouri University) (SPV)

Eclectic Mainline 3rd July 2013

A digression…

I’m starting this blog with a break from the norm. Rather than showing you tunes I played on BCB this evening, here are some I didn’t play.

The reason I didn’t play ‘Dies Irae’ by Gonzo is because it is possibly the most scarce release I have ever heard of. It is limited to just 30 cassettes, and the Soundcloud clip below is the closest there is to a digital version:

I’ve recently seen (twice: once at the ATP Festival, and once at the 1 in 12 Club in Bradford) the excellent presentation by Eric Isaacson of Mississippi Records. I bought several of the label’s LPs and intended to play a couple of tunes in my show, but a couple of technical glitches meant I couldn’t play any vinyl in the studio tonight. So, here’s the song by the Georgia Sea Island Singers that I would have played if able tonight:

Something I saw on the ATP TV channel at the recent festival was this amazing Bollywood rendition of a few nursery rhymes:

On with the show…

Now, onto tunes that I did play tonight. This excellent new tune from Mark Pritchard:

… ‘Basin’ by Fawn Spots:

…a welcome return from Fuck Buttons:

…and ‘Everlasting’ by Grey Reverend:

You’ll find the full show on the BCB Listen Again page for 3rd July. Here’s the full playlist:

Jon Hopkins – ‘We Disappear’ (LP – Immunity) (Domino)
Kurt Vile – ‘Was All Talk’ (LP – Wakin On A Pretty Daze) (Matador)
Jamie Lidell – ‘Do Yourself A Favour’ (double a-side single with Big Love) (Warp)
Fawn Spots – ‘Basin’ (split single with Scott & Charlene’s Wedding) (Critical Heights)
Sigur Rós – ‘Stormur’ (LP – Kveikur) (XL
Grey Reverend – ‘Everlasting’ (single) (Motion Audio)
Fuck Buttons – ‘The Red Wing’ (single) (ATP)
Guided By Voices – ‘W/ Glass In Foot’ (LP – English Little League) (Fire)
Motoomi Doi – ‘Dark Night’ (LP – The Illuminated Nightingale) (Noble)
Machinedrum – ‘Eyesdontlie’ (single) (Ninja Tune)
Vampire Weekend – ‘Unbelievers’ (single and LP – Modern Vampires Of The City) (XL)
Mark Pritchard – ‘Ghosts’ (Ghosts EP) (Warp)