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I stopped listening to broadcast radio sometime back in the mid-2000s and have primarily listened to internet radio stations. For this first entry into my “Music Thoughts” series, I wanted to share some really great places for listening to music that some of you may not be familiar with.
(I’m acutely aware that my writing skills are a bit rusty these days. One reason for this series of posts is to get back into the practice of writing, so I hope that my excitement for these listening experiences makes up for any lack of writing finesse or style.)
I’ve been listening to Radio Paradise since around 2005 and love its range of music and attention to human curated song selection. On the morning that I am writing these words, and within just a half-hour span, William Goldsmith, the founder and DJ of the station, played songs from Spoon, Split Enz, Mark Pritchard and Thom Yorke, Warhaus, David Bowie, the Beatles, Annabouboula, and Hang Massive. That was on the “Main Mix,” but Radio Paradise has a variety of mixes, including Mellow, Global, Rock, and an Ambient station, as well as a fascinating program of interviews and music on their Radio 2050 station, which is hosted and produced by William’s daughter, Alanna Jane Goldsmith.
Not only is their music human curated and with an incredibly eclectic selection, their app and web player allows you to skip a song if you really don’t like it. This is incredibly rare for internet radio stations. Additionally, the mobile app will also allow you to download programming from their channels, which is also rare and means you can load up on music for when you might be beyond wifi or out of cell range or just don’t want to be using cell data when you are out and about. Another nice thing is that you can stream lossless ALAC files or downgrade to lower bit-rate streams if that works better for your situation.
I still remember very clearly two super impactful songs that I heard first on Radio Paradise. The first, was Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt”…which led to me immediately leaving my Brooklyn apartment and going to the nearest music store to buy that cd. The second was a significantly lesser known song by Jim White with Aimee Mann on backing vocals called “Static on the Radio” that is, to this day, one of my favorite songs. Without Radio Paradise I may never have heard it and discovered how much I enjoy that song in particular along with the work of Jim White in general. I can’t really imagine what my listening landscape would be without this radio station that is so obviously created out of love and a passion for music.
SomaFM…my faithful morning companion (after my time with Spa described below) with their Groove Salad channel. It’s a perfect balance of a certain kind of electronic music that is energetic without be too energetic for the mornings. However, even if you aren’t a fan of electronic music, SomaFM probably has a channel that caters to you: from electronic music to Celtic folk to lounge to rock to a killer 1980s channel to acoustic and more, you will absolutely find something that strikes your fancy on their site. In addition, they run the best Christmas music channels around, even if you, like me, are not particularly fond of the genre. During that holiday season, if I have to listen to Christmas music, I definitely want it coming from SomaFM.
Throughout the rest of the year, I primarily listen to their electronic channels like Groove Salad, Deep Space One, and Space Station Soma, but their Underground 80s channel is also great and I will also semi-regularly listen to one of these channels: Folk Forward, Left Coast 70s, The In-Sound, Secret Agent, or Illinois Street Lounge. And there are plenty of other channels that I’ve not mentioned here. I don’t know what else to say but that if you love music, you will find something valuable and joyful at SomaFM. Just as with Radio Paradise, I can’t imagine my daily listening environment without SomaFM.
One of the first things I do in the morning, along with lighting a candle, opening the blinds to get light into my living room, and making coffee, is turn on this channel. I have a Denon Home 150 in my living room and one of the reasons I like this particular wifi speaker is that it has three programable buttons that let me select a station without looking at my phone or any other device with a screen which I try not to do first thing in the morning. So I tap “1” and Spa begins to play (the other two are set up for Groove Salad and Radio Paradise). This station plays throughout my morning coffee and cat-on-my-lap time and then into my morning yoga/stretching routine and it gives just the right vibe for this early morning quiet time. I never really used Sirius until I bought my current car in 2017 and it came with a trial subscription. Since then I have gone to quit a number of times and they keep giving me deals on the monthly rates and so I haven’t yet. I don’t stay for Spa necessarily, but I do like its vibe for my mornings.
Primarily I have stayed with SiriusXM for this channel. I love this channel for its range of rock music but also for the knowledge about the history of the genre that the djs share on their shows. You learn so much about producers, writers, obscure bands, and the interconnections between people in the music biz. This is the most dj heavy station I listen to. And while all of them have a bit of a “I’m-A-Radio-DJ” thing going, they have their own styles and voices and don’t sound like every corporate pop station out there in terrestrial radio land. The music is also hand-picked, and they are passionate about the music and the artists they spin. Generally the dj time and music time is well balanced and without an annoying amount of talk between sets. I generally only listen to this in the car but I listen to it in the car a lot. Even if you don’t have SiriusXM, I would recommend checking out Little Stephen’s show itself, which you can find an archive of at UndergroundGarage.com
Finally, this one is a little different as it’s primarily a discreet music program that broadcasts on WNYC. Currently it airs at 11pm Eastern, but they do have an internet presence as well as a 24-hour radio station. Hosted by John Schaefer, the live programs focus on contemporary classical, new music, traditional world music, and experimental composers. Recent examples include:
#4751, A Deep Dive: Music For the Bottom of the Ocean: Hear an hour of music that dives deep - with work by Lithuanian composer Ziboukle Martinaityte, French harpist Laura Peruddin, and Berlin-based audio technologist Floating Spectrum.
and
#4864, Women’s Voices: There’s music by vocalist, looper, and multimedia artist Pamela Z; Berlin-based Holly Herndon and A.I. voices; Haitian-American flutist and vocalist Nathalie Joachim; and others.
Sometimes challenging, but always interesting, New Sounds is an exciting program for anyone who likes to stretch their musical boundaries and encounter works that would be difficult to stumble upon anywhere else. Honestly, I don’t listen as much as I’d like because this is not meant to be background music but an experience that deserves attention and some amount of focus. But whenever I do listen, I feel deeply rewarded and delighted at the range of creativity and musical experimentation that humans engage in, as well as truly appreciative of the obvious passion and deep knowledge of music and various traditions that John Shaefer exhibits and shares with New Sounds listeners. If you don’t mind a musical challenge or getting beyond your comfort zone, I urge you to give this a listen.
To those of you who have read this far: thank you. I know that these days a 1200+ word essay of any kind or by anyone is a tough sell. I just hope that these descriptions and my excitement for these listening experiences is enough to get you to give them a try. While I don’t currently have comments on this site, you can drop me a line on Bluesky (@theseliminaldays.bsky.social) or Mastodon (@theseliminaldays.musician.social) and let me know what you think. I will also look at adding a contact page to the site soon.
Thanks again!