Vinyl Maelstrom

Tim Sommer in LA Weekly sums up the debate:  “It is not just that Kraftwerk invented the future of music; it is that a startling amount of the music you hear today, from the most obscure indie rock to the most mainstream pop to literally everything in between, bears the impression of their invention. Until the moment “Autobahn” hit the airwaves in the autumn of 1974, nothing like it had ever exist...

Film aficionado James Hillhouse takes us through his choice of the ten maverick soundtracks which changed the movie rules for good. Here are some clips from them: 1. King Kong ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMNICLfHE3M ) 2. Alexander Nevsky ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcPixaWL2Pg ) 3. The Adventures of Robin Hood ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UJ6g2Zhwgg ) 4. Citizen Kane ( https://ww...

Spotify. All the music, all of the time. That's got to be a good thing, right? Not everyone agrees. In this episode, we'll take a look at: - Does Spotify pay artists fairly? - Does it provide access to bands that didn't exist before? - Has it encouraged disposability in music listening? - Has it created a musical echo chamber for listeners? - Has it created a new world of haves and...

Back in 1985 Band Aid and Live Aid raised over 100 million pounds for famine relief in Ethiopia. Few question that it saved many thousands of lives. So, job done, case closed? The reality is more nuanced. In this episode we ask the questions: - What are the problems with the song "Do they know it's Christmas?" (the clue is in the title) - Where were the African artists at Live Aid?...

Curious about jazz and blues but don't know where to begin? Join aficionado Tony Bishop, legendary jazz and blues singer and harmonica player on the London circuit, who will give you a whirlwind expert briefing to hold down your end of the coffee machine conversation with the annoying boffin from accounts. Tony glides effortlessly through a short history of the genres as they emerged from the...

What did The Kinks ever do for us? The Beatles invented pop music as we know it and The Stones were the bad boys. But, like a middle child in the family struggling to fill a role, where does that leave The Kinks? Arguably with the richest legacy of all. Go with us on the journey and start to discover  that The Kinks might have an equal stake in inventing pop music as we know it alongside The Beatl...

Comments under Youtube videos of songs from the 70s and 80s have a grim consistency. "Back when music was music" is the gist. But I can remember older people saying the same about those songs when they first came out. Why do many - not all - of us - come to be so distrustful of new music? Neophobes, if you like. Join Ian Forth on Vinyl Maelstrom for this week's provocative discussio...

Walk down any high street in the world and you'll see someone wearing that t-shirt. The one with the wavy lines. Yet many people wearing it may never have listened to the album whose cover hosts the artwork. Cool design, but why does it resonate? And if you wear the t-shirt, should you bother listening to an album that's almost half a century old? Join Ian Forth for a discussion on the e...

50 years ago the NME ran a Best Albums Of All Time poll. There were 3 female artists on it and zero female-only bands. Glance through any poll from the last few years and it's essentially a 50:50 male:female split. So, what exactly happened? Join Ian Forth on this week's podcast to trace the evolution of women's role in modern music - and discover that everything is not quite as div...

If you want to be expertly briefed next time you're chatting away round the famous water cooler, Vinyl Maelstrom is here to help.  Why not join Ian Forth, host of the internationally successful podcast Sombrero Fallout, and his guests to listen in on a wide variety of intriguing musical topics.  Be expertly briefed each week on a wide variety of intriguing musical topics.