The term "podcast" has seen some rough road over the last decade. I'm no tech-head, and the amateurish design stylings of this blog certainly don't give me any license to kvetch, but a proper podcast implies automatic delivery at regularly scheduled intervals. Sort of like a magazine subscription, in that you sign up for it, and get a new issue at around the same time every week or month. As such, MP3 blogs that haphazardly post 40MB Audacity mixdowns and call them 'podcasts' might be exposing people to a lot of interesting sounds, but they are doing so while severely agitating the RSS nerds in their collective midst.
While I appreciate the plight of said nerds, I don't actually know very much about syndicating content or RSS feeds myself. So in a feeble effort to distance myself from this conundrum of syntax, I'd now like to announce the Read:My:Back... Mixtape!
Same concept, slightly different method: The R:M:B Mixtape will occur on no set schedule and will hop genres with reckless abandon—pretty much like the last three years of my terrestrial radio shows on WFMU, but minus the James Gang deepcuts and rambling mic breaks. (Though I am considering rectifying that last detail... Can anyone recommend a reasonably-priced condenser mic to me?) Furthermore, downloading the entire show is more than likely to just scatter the songs into your iTunes library according to whichever filing protocols get you hot and bothered. So much for my meticulous and thoughtful segues, eh? But never mind about that -- As always, it's the music that matters.
The source material for this project is WFMU's Free Music Archive. With more than 30,000 free and legal MP3s now residing in their stable, the FMA has been my first and best connection to new sounds as my life transitioned from that of weekly radio host on WFMU (with regular access to the station's fabled new bin) to stay-at-home dad, where daily engagement with the art that I love is now limited to around 45 minutes during naptime. Not to say that the 180 degree lifestyle changeup hasn't delivered amazing rewards.... I just didn't come here to tell you about them.
So for whatever it's worth, here's the first of what will hopefully be many editions of these musical diversions. Observing the metamorphosis of my music sharing habits across the years from obsessive mixtape-maker to radio show host to harried blogger fills me with a kind of weird anxiety -- where or what will the next leap forward will be?
Really nice mix!
Posted by: Holly | May 09, 2011 at 03:16 PM
Thanks Holly! Glad to know you are still around! -mike
Posted by: r:m:b | May 09, 2011 at 04:34 PM
Great--thanks! Excellent stuff in here, and it reminded me how much I liked your radio shows when you were posting them on here.
Posted by: Zora | May 11, 2011 at 01:34 PM
Thanks Zora! When I get back to doing regular radio again, I will be sure to resume re-posting everything here. In the meantime, there's always my WFMU archive page, which has about a billion old shows up for listening whenever. -mike
Posted by: r:m:b | May 11, 2011 at 04:01 PM
Excellent mix, Mike. Thanks for sharing. Hope you're heading back to the airwaves soon. The liberal media just ain't the same without you...
Posted by: jeff | May 14, 2011 at 05:39 PM