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I’m a testy, old, grey whistler in a quest for Peelite eclecticism

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I was chatting at a party last weekend to a friend who organises gigs in Northampton. He was reeling off the names of all sorts of interesting artists that I’d never heard of. Like the Kings of the South Seas, whose modern take on sea shanties is right up my street.

It struck how much excellent music there is out there that is just under the radar or known only to those who are into a particular genre. Everything is so very compartmentalised these days. It made me nostalgic for the days of TOTP, the OGWT and the John Peel Show where there was a whole range of different styles and I could surprise myself by liking something that was far from my normal comfort zone.

I’m a died-in-in-the-wool Peelite. The great man taught me that you can have a radio show (or a playlist) where the likes of Can, Laura Cantrell, the Inkspots, HMHB, Fela Kuti, Sandy Denny, Hildegard Von Bingen, Belle & Sebastian, Slayer, Billie Holliday, They Might Be Giants, Tangerine Dream etc etc can happily co-exist.

Where can I find that musical eclecticism today? NPR’s wonderful Tiny Desk concerts perhaps? And here on the AW of course.

So here’s a thread to celebrate all those Under the Radar artists, up and coming or long forgotten, who might have found their way onto a Peel playlist.

Hit me with your eclectic rhythm stick!

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Comments

  4. Listen to Late Junction on Radio 3, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday nights. In a typical show you might hear some post-punk, some ambient techno, some Hebridean folk music, weird experimental gubbins, freeform jazz, and post-rock. Not only is each show staggeringly eclectic, but it has a regularly rotating roster of presenters, each with their own flavour of inquisitiveness. Give it a try – can’t guarantee you’ll like much of it, but I CAN guarantee it’ll surprise you!

  7. Here in Kärrtorp, Mr Saucecraft, there are ambient Norwegian accordionists on every street corner. They are about as unusual as a packet of cornflakes.

    Now if anyone can find a Colombian reggae Morris dancer who plays the hurdy gurdy….

  8. All Brand wants is a bit of accountability. His frustrations are similar to those expressed in A Very British Coup (bet that ages me as a reference point!) and for that reason I have a lot of time for him.

    Well done Ed for engaging with him, says me.

  12. There is just nowhere for singing actors to get airplay these days. Keith Harris & Orville would never get on TOTP if it still existed. Sad days indeed. I blame Rupert Murdoch.

  15. Next think I know, you’ll be telling me you’ve never heard of Finnish Accordion Wrestling!

    Kimmo Pohjonen is a sensational player and also very entertaining in a dry Finnish way.

    His live show with the Kronos Quartet was not of this earth. Gob-smacking!

  17. Some of us, such as @duco01, seem to know about every interesting record released. Well almost!

    How did I miss out on the fact that the wonderful Laura Cantrell has a newish album I haven’t listened to?

  19. Two good places for post-peel electicism:

    Dandelion Radio – explicit Peel mission statement

    Late Junction on Radio 3 – classical leanings but there is some astonishing stuff

  21. You could see BBC Radio 6 Music as the nearest equivalent of Peelism available today. Freak/ier Zone, Cerys, Introducing, Jarvis, Iggy and Garvey probably covers most of the bases Mr Ravenscroft handled. And not forgetting John’s son Tom who still carries the flame.

  23. Not as far out but still eclectic enough is Huey Morgan’s middle-of-the-night show on Radio 2 on Friday night/Saturday morning. Way better than his 6Music show and he hardly says “back in the day” at all.

  24. KFD – you say that you’ve been influenced by Peel’s eclectic taste and all things under the radar … but has it not occurred to you that there might’ve been some reciprocal effect as well? I know that you spent a day with Peelie at work at the BBC in London some time in the early1970s (late 60s?), after you’d written to him on behalf of your school magazine or something, and he’d invited you. I can imagine that the good Mr Peel would’ve been well impressed by your voracious appetite for a whole gamut of wonderful musics. Maybe you tipped him off about a few artists? Maybe he only started playing the Incredible String Band or the Jimi Hendrix Exprerience after you’d put him on the right path? Maybe the lad from Pinner played a greater part in steering Peelie’s tastes that anyone realises…?

  25. For a long time John Peel was the only place those of us outside the big cities with commercial radio stations could hear anything non mainstream. It was punk, reggae and what is now called indie that I remember him most fondly for, but it was also on his show that I first heard Grandmaster Flash. It was the strong possibility that he would play something great that I had never heard before that made his show essential listening.

    Here are three Rough Trade releases covering genres that they never get credit for in histories of the label and almost certainly played by JP.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBIkQIsIPuw

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_5iuyygjnQ

    • Good point Alias. In these days of Spotify, let’s remember how we used to tape shows by DJs like Peel and Charlie Gillett to listen through again and again and then share with friends.

      And as always, Alias, you have some musical aces up your sleeve. Certainly not your predictable Rough Trade releases. The number of genres that Peel was first to play on the radio is gob-smacking. There’s probably a uni somewhere where you can do a degree in Peelite Studies.

      When did radio stations start publishing their playlists on line? That has made an enormous difference. Today I hope to check through some of those shows mentioned here.

      • Did you spot that the second of the three was a Jazzman upload (yes that Jazzman, and their other Youtube uploads are worth checking)? Gilles Peterson used to have a show immediately before JP on Radio 1 and he and his assistants used to leap around the studio in delight if they got a message from JP asking for details of a record he had played, it was such an achievement. So Jazzman and Gilles Peterson, who’d have thought it? His influence was enormous and certainly not limited to indie kids..

  26. 6 Music, especially Marc Riley and Gid Coe play a great mix of stuff. I listened to Peel years and years and loved the show, but I think I like the Riley show better.

  28. What a kind thought @duco01!

    Would that it were true. For me it was rather meeting the Dalai Lama or the Pope.

    I managed to get the interview with my school pal Ian Webb but were mere acolytes in the presence of greatness.

    I have done my best though to keep the flame of Peelian eclecticism burning brightly.

    We all owe him a lot. Even if he did make us listen to some unspeakable bollocks at times.

  29. My favourite source of variety and eccentricity in recent years has been the Mark Lamarr Infinite Jukebox playlist on Spotify. There’s a lot of old-time music that I’d never have discovered otherwise and a smattering of more modern often eccentric stuff. Works for me.

    • Yes indeed Fin. That’s right up my street and just the kind of thing that Peel would suddenly play after a track by HMHB.

      And while we’re into Sufi mysticism let’s revisit this wonderful and unexpected meeting of mighty talents.

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