What a beautiful day to be sitting in the garden with the Melodic Randomiser by my side, ready to provide a trio of tunes for today’s Isolation Radio show, easing you into your Saturday evening with…
…Belly and without doubt their most famous song, the single “Feed the Tree” from 1993’s Baby Silvertooth album.
Then we turn to Thomas Dolby for an ’80s pop classic, “Hyperactive”, from his 1984 The Flat Earth album
And we finish today with a 2001 track by Sum-41; “In Too Deep” from the All Killer No Filler album
That’s your lot for this sunny Saturday, I’ll be back for your musical Sunday sermon tomorrow.
All the fours, 44, as they probably say in bingo, but here on the Isolation Radio show we only take three suggestions a day from the Melodic Randomiser and today’s first cut out of the box is…
…Hawkwind again, (the law of averages alone means they should pop up at least once a week) with a fantastic, shiny, chrome-plated space rock beast of a song from Sonic Attack, here’s “Living on a Knife Edge” from 1981
We follow them with a song from Tunng‘s 2010 folktronica album, …And Then We Saw Land; this is the official video for their rather lovely, hippity-hoppity, plinkity-plonkity, “Hustle”
And if they weren’t different enough from each other, how about rounding off this eclectic selection with some La Roux and Major Lazer‘s dancehall reworking of her “Bulletproof” single, from their 2010 collaboration, LazerProof
Nice mix, huh?
Yeah, I thought so, too.
Anyway, back with more tomorrow, now I think there’s a photo prompt for me to come up with.
Have a wonderful weekend, stay safe and be patient, we’ll get through this.
Good day to you, wherever you may be and welcome to another session with the Melodic Randomiser, surfing the waves of the ether via the Isolation Radioshow for the forty third day running.
I have cheated slightly today, in that I have picked the first track myself as a tribute to Florian Schneider, co-founder of Kraftwerk, who sadly passed away yesterday at the age of 73. This is “Antenna” from their 1975 Radioactivity album
Then a band who I suspect don’t find themselves listed next to German techno pioneers very often; Blue Öyster Cult, with a song from their excellent 1980 album Cultösaurus Erectus, here’s “The Marshall Plan”
Taking us to the end of this listicle is a lady with a unique sound called Zsuzsanna Eva Ward. She goes simply by ZZ Wardand this is the title song from her 2017 Storm album
I hope you have a good evening, I’ll see you tomorrow for another wander through the memory banks.
Yes, the rain has returned and the Isolation Radio show has moved back indoors for the day, accompanied by the dulcet tones of the Melodic Randomiser‘s first choice.
Which is almost another great tune…
I’m sorry, I’ll read that again.
Which is “Almost”, another great tune by OMD, from their 1980 debut album, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Then we jump ahead 14 years, to an album from Hootie and the Blowfish called Cracked Rear View and the song “Hannah Jane”
Before fast forwarding to Lunar Lane, the 2015 album from French electro-popsters Jabberwocky and the track “Dizzy Youth”, which features Irish contemporaries Young Wonder
And that’s your lot for today, hopefully tomorrow’s selection will be from the sunnier climes of the back garden.
What a beautiful day to still be alive! And what better excuse do we need than that on the Isolation Radio show, to play a few more unexpectedly selected tunes from the Melodic Randomiser?
Excuses, we don’t need no stinking excuses.
So let’s get on with it; starting with Underworld and a very early song from their 1988 album, Underneath the Radar, here’s the very ’80s “Call Me No.1”
Going back two years to ’86 now, for Talking Heads‘ True Stories album and a typically upbeat, afrobeat-tinged “Hey Now”
Then we head even further down the time tunnel, to 1980 and “The Spy in the Cab”, from Bauhaus‘ In the Flat Field album.
Not the cheeriest note to end on, but variety is the spice of life, as Mr Heinz noted, 57 times.
Good to have you with me again today, join me in 24 hours for another spin on the virtual turntables and stay safe out there.
It’s time once again to take a walk down memory lane with the Isolation Radio show, using the always reliable Melodic Randomiser as our map and compass.
Today’s first stop on the musical mystery tour is from an album by a band from Switzerland whose singer used to be their national golf champion. The band is Yello, the album is Stella and the song is the mighty “Domingo”
About as far as you can get from Swiss golfers, the next act is a rocking monster of a band; from Jacksonville, Florida, this is Molly Hatchet and a blistering live version of “Beating the Odds”, from their 1985 album Double Trouble Live.
Another track from New Order now, from the Brotherhood record, here’s the sublime “As It Is When It Was”
That’s it for now, but I’ll be back on the morrow for more random tunage for your ears to devour.
Keep being excellent to each other and stay safe. One day at a time, we’ll get there.
Opening today’s Isolation Radio show is a song the Melodic Randomiser plucked from a 2002 album by Canadian pop-punk delinquents, Sum 41. From the aptly titled Does This Look Infected?, this is “Hyper-Insomnia-Para-Condrioid”.
A noisy start which contrasts completely with this pleasantly ethereal number from Natalie Marchant‘s 1998 release, “Ophelia”,so lay back anddrift away to “Break Your Heart”.
And we end on a similarly laid back note, with one of the biggest artists of all time, from one of the best selling albums of all time; here’s “Oh Daddy” by Fleetwood Mac, from 1977’s mega-selling masterpiece, Rumours.
That should soothe your worries away quite nicely, allowing you to enjoy a relaxed and, above all, indoor Saturday night.
So, keep the faith, look for the positives in life and do what good you can for your fellow humans by staying safe and healthy and, until I join y’all again tomorrow…
Sweet sixteen and full of joie de vivre, the Isolation Radio show returns with another musical microcosm of mp3 magnificence, ably aided and abetted by the marvellous, mechanical Melodic Randomiser.
Starting today’s trawl through the archives is a band who I owe my interest in to my friend, Chris; a electronic-tinged goth act from Leeds that soundtracked much of my 20s, The March Violets.
Here’s a song from arguably their best album, Natural History, this is 1984’s “Crow Baby”
Now we travel south to London and come comparatively up to date with 2017’s African influenced Uyai album by Ibibio Sound Machine, from which we take the persuasively percussive funk soul tune, “The Pot is on Fire”.
And since I’m feeling generous, I’m giving you the extended live version, recorded at the Norwegian Oya Festival, two years before being included on the album.
Tell me that didn’t get your foot tapping and your body bopping, I dare you.
For our last offering today, we arrive back up north just in time to catch another of my all time favourite bands, New Order; shuffling up a track from their Low-life album, about which frontman Bernard Sumner once said (regarding the band’s herculean drug intake at the time):
“Listen to ‘Love Vigilantes.’ Listen to that chordal guitar solo. Listen to how fast it is. Impossible to recreate under normal circumstances.”
Anyway, you can judge for yourselves as you watch the original promo video for the single, here’s the chemically enhanced “Love Vigilantes”.
Which brings us to the end of today’s miniature rundown and all that remains is for me to wish you the happiest of weekends and remind you to keep safe and stay positive.
And remember, to paraphrase the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers; Music will get you through times of no money, better than money will get you through times of no music.
13 – Unlucky for some, but lucky for you, because you’ve come to the right place at the right time for another edition of the Isolation Radio show!
Yes, once more I’m coming to you live, in every timezone on the planet at the exact same time, and at every time on the planet at the exact same time, all at once, all at the exact time you read this.
And now.
And now.
And now, too.
Isn’t technology wonderful?
Anyway, the Melodic Randomiser is burbling gently away at my side, cooling fans working hard in the afternoon sunshine, so let’s see what pops out of its aural interface first…
Well what do you know, it’s one of the many Twin Peaks related tracks in my collection, the dreamy “Audrey’s Dance” by Angelo Badalamenti, from the Twin Peaks Season One Original Soundtrack album
You might not be able to get to the beach to enjoy the beautiful weather at the moment, but you can close your eyes and listen to the sunny sound of Beth Orton blowing away the grey skies with “How far” from her 1996 Trailer Park album.
And if that doesn’t float your musical boat, how about some Anglo/Spanish indie dance folktronica, with the always joyful and upbeat Crystal Fighters and a song from 2010’s wonderful Star of Love album, here’s “At Home”.
Go on, tell me that didn’t put a smile on your face and a spring in your step. But on the off chance that you’re still not satisfied, we’ll do it all again tomorrow, so don’t touch that dial.
In the meantime be good to each other and be grateful for what you have, because remember; When it comes to life, you can’t have everything. I mean, where would you put it?
Another thankfully hot and sunny day in the Melodic Randomiser garden studios, from whence a triple track treat of tremendously tempting tempos and rambunctiously writhing rhythms is coming to you, courtesy of the Isolation Radio show.
Getting the ball rolling is an apt tune (from an album with a…possibly inspirational title) by veteran, perma-angry punk rockers, Green Day.
So do a spot of channel hopping and come back here after you tune in to “Troubled Times”, from 2016’s Revolution Radio.
Welcome back. You’re just in time to inch cautiously along a totally different branch of the American musical family tree, with a slow bluesy number from Texan beard enthusiasts, ZZ Top. We’re going all the way back to 1973 and their Tres Hombres album for “Have You Heard?”
After which we have to slide down a rope and swing perilously across to the opposite side of the tree altogether, for the syncopated, jazzy drum and bass electronica of Photek and the laid-back “Pyramid”, from his 2012 release, KU:PALM.
A nice selection to break the monotony of quarantine, I hope you’ll agree.
And if you don’t, well never fear, I’ll be back again tomorrow to enthuse about more auditory objects of desire and maybe you’ll find something to tickle your fancy there instead.
Whatever your musical tastes, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing; stay safe, be sensible, be kind to each other and, as the leather-faced, grumpy granddaddy of country rock wisely once said, “Keep on rocking in the free world”
RETURN OF THE INTERNET NOBODY 