Well-Rounded Radio

By far, my favorite music magazine...the only thing that's bad about it is that it can be so dense with articles and information that I want to read that they pile up after a while, but I do my best to stay on top of it! Mojo runs the gamut of *quality music* (yes, I know that's subjective, but...) with a focus on rock, reggae, punk, blues, soul, etc. Covers music from all over the world, but the bulk is from US and UK. Perfect for work-outs at the gym, I have to say. Published out of the of UK, I believe Mojo magazine has been around about 15 years now and I'm constantly suprised when I talk to music fanatics who don't know about it or haven't read it. Their web site is not terribly robust, but go to your local music store or newsstand (that carries imports) and ask them for Mojo!

I have to say, Boston's commercial radio is better than a lot of other cities, but, that said, it still sucks. I listen mostly to WBUR (our NPR station which Boston University runs) and a number of college music stations WERS (Emerson College), WUMB (UMass Boston), and WMBR (MIT). My favorite, though, is WZBC, Boston College's radio station that focuses on indie, experimental, and such. I love that one of their main shows is titled, "No Commercial Potential." Have discovered a lot of great artists through them over the years (Sigor Rus comes to mind, some six years ago). Unfortunately, they do not stream the station due to costs.

I'm consistently impressed by the quality of the music coverage in the Boston Globe. The writing from Joan Anderman, Steve Morse, and Renee Graham are all first-rate and I'm always learning about new music from the Globe. Not surprisingly, the Boston Phoenix is also a great source of info about new and upcoming artists, especially local Boston acts. Ted Drozdowski and Matt Ashare both are well worth reading. Last, but not least, is the Boston Weekly Dig, another arts and music weekly that covers both local and national acts and is a great source of new music.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Brad Powell of Calabash Music a few weeks back for Episode 021 of Well-Rounded Radio. Before and since, I've been impressed by the offerings in the catalog that Calabash Music maintains. Music from around the world that consistently impresses.

Yup, an obvious one, but there are still a lot of people out there who haven't heard the station so I figured I'd put it on there. Still wish it was a little bit less predictable, a little bit more free-form (not Jack or Mike kind of free-form, but simply open-ended enough that listeners will be a bit more surprised when each song begins!)

As loathe as I am to admit it (cuz Starbucks just isn't as cool to like as it was five years ago), I have been turned on to a good number of musical acts from Hear Music's various CD compilations, including their Playlist and Artist's Choice. For a few years there, whoever was selecting the tracks did an impressive job, adding all kinds of unexpected music to the discs. Hear Music, though, has gone all corporate and shit in the last year or so and now play to the Jason Mraz and Dave Matthews set. Yuk! What happened? Money, I'm guessing.

Nic Harcourt's Morning Becomes Eclectic has become an important touchstone for today's music fan because it's often the first place you get to hear things that make a buzz later on...and, much like KEXP, it's become a necessary stop on any band or artists media visits, so lot of great live performance and interviews come from the show.

Another great music publication, which started out about four years ago in Atlanta, GA with a focus on singer/songwriters, but now covers a wider variety of music and has opened up it's editorial to film, books, and more. Each issue of Paste includes a sampler CD featuring artists in the pages and a DVD with music videos, short films, feature previews, etc. The Paste folks are quite industrious, too, as they have an online music store (which is how I believe it all began) and recently started its own film festival in Atlanta.

Growing up in New York City, I had several radio heroes, includin Vin Scelsa, Jeff Foss, Meg Griffin, and just about all the DJs on WNYU's New Afternoon Show. In retrospect, they were all huge influences on having an interest in a wide-variety of music and being open to punk, rock, indie, jazz, soul, and lots more.

Meg Griffin is now programming sevearal of Sirius Radio's channels and I'm not sure where Jeff Foss has landed, but Vin Scelsa is still doing his weekly Sunday night radio show from WFUV, Fordham University's station as well as a version of his show going onto Sirius Radio (as he and Griffin are friends).

If you're able to catch his show in New York on Sundays, it's at 90.7 (cuz I'm afraid they don't stream the show on the web) or give a listen to it on Sirius if you're a subscriber.

A great web site for indie rock music news, tour info, record reviews, etc. Produced out of Chicago, but I understand their writers are all over. Wish they had fewer flashing banner and buttons ads, but hey, at least they have figured out a way to do this for a living!

I don't use epitonic nearly as much as I used to, but it's a great source to be turned on to new music. Love their radio feature, where you can select various genres of music you want to listen to and it will self-select. Wish they had a better way of identifying who/what it is you're listening to, though! Site has a ton of information on a wide variety of music and I'm always impressed by what I discover here.