Pirate radio is one of the reasons i moved to London almost 9 years ago. There's something so utterly vital and compelling about it. Whether it's the sound of MCs' rapidfire clashing or the premier of a killer new dubplate, it's something that commands your attention.
So i'm sat here recording Marcus Nasty on Rinse FM. A situation very familiar to me from 3-4 years ago when i was recording early dubstep sets pretty much religiously. The music excited me enough to do it. I lived in close proximity to the transmitter in East London and had a crystal clear signal. Now i'm in Peckham and listening via the internet but once more there's something about the current UK Funky movement exciting me enough to record and archive.
Tonight Marcus was running late and didn't bother with the usual obligation of running the between show adverts. A shame as i was looking forward to a dose. There's something equally special about the pirate radio advert, with its hyper intensity up in your face. Literally the audio equivalent of being smacked around the face with an oversized, loud and garishly designed flyer: a intense infoburst and often a decidedly quirky one at that.
This reminds me of a blog project idea i really regret not doing. It was to record, archive and blog as many pirate radio ads as i could. It would have made for excellent retrospective listening. I almost got a cd copy of a few from rinse once but it never materialised. It would have included an ad for a rave called Shenanigans and it was voiced by Jammer. It was serious. Those who heard it will surely remember it. I would kill to hear it again. Although maybe sometimes these things are better left in the memory. A thought i have often considered over the years recording pirate radio sets.
In 2005 Rinse wasn't broadcasting online, so the only way people could hear the shows was if someone recorded and shared an mp3. Things are different now. But if i'm listening, knowing that other people will want to too, I figure why not? Not to mention the unreliable Rinse FM podcast system.
Tonight's show wasn't vintage Marcus but there are some choice cuts nonetheless and Marcus makes an effort to ID some of them which is always quite useful. There might be some buffering and digital glitches - sorry about that. You just can't beat FM hiss and static really.
Marcus Nasty - Rinse Fm - 19.00-21.00 - 10 Decemeber 2008
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1 comment:
djsl and irational were streaming london pirate since 1999 or something
was quite fun to tune into rinse in late 2001, and hear the MCs call pulse X "grimey". but the time the music was called grime they'd moved onto another buzzword to describe the tracks anwyays
donno who DJSL is but he deserves some props for tohse of us outside london
actually we got tons of pirate stations here in Boston but theyre all carribean music -
tho the soca stations play some house which verges on funky late at night..
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