The Joy of 6

I wouldn’t say I’ve fallen out of love with BBC 6Music because I haven’t. I must admit that I do miss Andrew Collins manning the early evening show. I enjoyed his laconic style and laid back wit. He played some cracking records too and, importantly, appeared to love what he was spinning. His enthusiasm was endemic. Steve Lamacq, Collins’ replacement, appears less confident and is, in my opinion, a tad awkward and unnatural. I don’t think the fellow has ever really inhabited ‘the real world’ and exists only for fey indy-pop. Of course he plays other stuff but not with the unbridled joy that Andrew Collins used to.

One show I do admire greatly is Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone, a rare old treat every Sunday evening. Last night he featured a prolific Italian film score composer, Paulo Piccioni and his stuff was fantastic. I dug it. Maconie also played some new Vashti Bunyan music that she has recorded with New York’s Animal Collective for an upcoming EP. It wasn’t the most immediate or catchy sound but according to the keen host, it is a grower. I shall investigate more. The voice sounded beautiful of course.

I’ve signed up to this thing called Collective on the BBC website. It is jam-packed with ‘culture’ and features too many book/CD/gig/film reviews and features to count. I’m not yet sure what my membership entails but it seems an absolute treasure trove of goodies to read and inwardly digest. I’m tempted to submit the bits I’ve penned on these pages about this year’s Go-Betweens and Gang of Four gigs for their concert review section.