Fenster’s Funky Sevens

If your Instagram algorithm is tuned to serve you wholesome musical moments, you might have seen a video recently of an Alaskan bluegrass band (The Heists with Josh Fortenbery) playing the song "East Virginia Blues" with vocals from a Mongolian throat singer (Bataa Jambaldorj of Nomads). It's a joyous meeting of musical styles and cultures.    This episode tells the story of how that wonderfully s...

In the last episode, I inadvertently took a turn into the realm of true crime podcasting, and while I'm not intentionally planning this, it seems this episode could be filed under the heading of self help.  Back in the 80s, I heard a song, Dignity by Deacon Blue, which explored themes I hadn't come across in a song before. It's about finding meaning in the drudgery of manual labour and how the rig...

I'm not exactly sure what this episode is, I guess it's a kind of audio essay based on seven "ghost songs" (songs with the word ghost in the title) and how they relate to some moments from my life. Maybe it's something of a personal memoir through song,;as pretension as that sounds. The last 30, or so minutes are more of a documentary about a very sad and tragic event in Dublin's history, so be pr...

About a year ago, an Instagram account called the Jazz Dispensary shared a photo titled "Miles Davis in his New York apartment 1986". The picture was taken from a book called No Picture by Japanese photographer Shigeru Uchiyama. It shows Miles reaching behind his bed to adjust his sound system. On the floor around the bed there are two rows of records, some CDs, a selection of belts,  magazines an...

A history of the remix; from the avant garde tape loop experiments of the 50s, to the creative expansion of the standard three minute song in the late 60s. And the innovations in DJing and dancefloor dynamics of the 70s, through to the current situation when a remix is now more a statement of the remixer's musical expression that a reinterpretation of the original producer's work. Featuring  inter...

An update of episodes 24 and 26, where I introduced the genre of Dude Hop, mid 90s alternative rock infused hip hop made by white dudes with hangovers, with some more dude hop songs I've discovered over the last year or so    The Dude Hop Timeline playlist on Spotify   https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4dNXabIDPDFwQ00UwK06Gr?si=TKt2fWXTQmOkkGSgdsHo3A&pi=idkD9sKhTGeYH   The Dude Hop sub Reddit...

A selection of sometimes cringe, sometimes cool comedy rap tunes from the early to mid 80s, featuring tunes from England, Scotland, Ireland and The Netherlands

The Grove was a teenage disco in the Northside of Dublin, Ireland that ran for 30 years, from 1967 to 1997.  and thanks to Cecil Nolan, who was the DJ for that entire time, and the music he played, The Grove became an essential part of the formative years of the tens of thousands of young Northsiders who attended. In this episode, many of those who were lucky enough to have gone to the Grove share...

Just in time for Halloween, I cover a dark subject in this episode; the stories of seven plane crashes and the famous musicians who lost their lives in them.

Seven songs thar feature spelling in the lyrics

From Motown to Boystown: A History of HI-NRG (1957-1989)   In this episode I look at the genre of electronic dance music known as Hi-NRG, and how innovators like Giorgio Moroder, Patrick Cowley, Bobby Orlando,  Ian Levine and Fiachra Trench took this form of electronic disco from the dancefloors of gay nightclubs to the pop charts around the world.  We also trace the origins of this sound back to...

Jamaican Sound System Culture and its influence on British Music 1950 - 1991  Using Soul II Soul's massive 1989 hit Back to Life as a starting point we trace how Sound System Culture has played a fundamental part in shaping British Music; taking in early Jamaican Sound Systems and the American RnB t hey preferred, through Ska. Reggae, Roots. Dub, Lover's Rock, and Dancehall. Northern Soul, Jazz Fu...

The story of how dubstep developed; from US Garage to UK Garage, through speed garage, two step, break step and on into grime and dark garage until the underground dubstep sound went overground around 2005 and how it continued to develop into the 2010s.   The podcast features tonnes of music, and interviews with the people who created the sound .

In this episode we explore the origins of disco music in the early 1970s, in the gay dance clubs of Boston; The Other Side and the 1270.  The episode features excerpts from a series of interviews with first generation disco DJs conducted by Brian Halligan of Boston LGBTQ organisation, the History Project. In particular I focus on one DJ, Jimmy Stuard, I feel Jimmy's contributions to the craft of D...

What we're gonna do here is go back... back to first evidence of human artistic expression, back to the dawn of civilisation and back to the enduring human need to be, both physically and spiritually. free.    As we voyage across the millennia, Let's uphold the fundamental right of all the peoples of this earth to write their own histories.    And never forget to embrace that unquenchable desire,...

Fenster's Funky Sevens- Ep 28 - A History of House Music Covering the time period between two UK pop chart entries;  George McCrae's number one "Rock Your Baby" in June 1974, and Farley 'Jackmaster' Funk "Love Can't Turn Around" in August 1986;  the first disco hit and the first house music hit.  I look at how Disco developed over the 70s until its "death" in 1979.  Then how, with Funk and Post-Di...

An update to episode 19 - Irish Hip Hop - 1979 to 1999   Some exciting revelations about Ireland's first ever rap record and an overlooked vibes man supreme

A continuation of Ep 24, where I retroactively created a genre called Dude Hop. Dude Hop is a particular type of indie rock influenced hop hip that was made by white dudes with hangovers in the mid 90s,  In this episode I talk a little about the mid to late 90s US punk and ska scenes and show the connections between these scenes and how the sound of Dude Hop evol also introduce a cousin of Dude Ho...

The history of the Californian Punk Scene from 1976 to 1994; covering the early LA punk scene, the beginnings of hardcore, the influence of hardcore on metal, ska and funk, Westbeach Recorders, Epitaph Records, Gilman Street, Lookout Records and the rise of punk to mainstream pop culture

A introductory guide to a particular type of alt-rock infused hop hip made by white dudes with hangovers in the mid 90s, a genre I have decided to call Dude Hop. 

A look at how Jamaican music influenced British culture from the early 60s until the late 70s Ska Revival period/2nd Wave Ska.  Taking in; Mento, RnB, Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae, Dub and Roots. And travelling through; Soho mod clubs, Island records, Trojan records, rude boys, skinheads, smokey bears, punks and 2 Tone. and connecting the dots along the way 

A history of breakbeat music from Bronx DJs in the 70s, to Electro, tape cut ups, Chicago hip house, early hardcore, big beat, the California desert raves, Florida Breaks, UK Garage and through to the hotbed of breakbeat creativity that was London in the late 90s; showing the development of the New School Breaks sound over seven foundational DJ mixes  

Third and final part of Irish Hip Hop history, with a focus on MCs, from 2000 to the early 2010s ,taking the form of a road trip around Ireland;  stopping off in Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Norn Iron.

A look at the Irish hip hop scene from the year 2000 to 2010 with a focus on DJs and the MCs they worked with, including:  Collie, DJ Flip, Tuki, MJEX, The Gudmen, Rob Kelly, Urban Intelligence, Ri Ra,  Captain Moonlight, White Noise, All City Records and plenty more 

The Irish hip hop scene from 1979 to 1999, taking in breakdancing, the first Irish rap records, early MCs, DJs and producers the music they made.   DJ Laz-E's story of his life in hip hop https://www.mixcloud.com/djlaze/plastic-attack-radio-show-last-orders/