Scott Carrier's Home Of The Brave

From https://www.facebook.com/homebravepodcast

If you've spent much time listening to This American Life, the wonderful weekly radio show and podcast from Chicago Public Media, then there is a good chance you have heard a story by Peabody award winner, Scott Carrier.

For me, what sets Carrier's stories apart form the other segment producers, writers and reporters on This American Life is his strangeness. His slow, careful way of talking and his high pitched voice make his segments on the show seem somewhat tense. Enhancing that feeling is the fact that his pieces are often quite personal in nature and punctuated with details of what seems like a uneasy life. For example, his latest appearance on the show, in the episode "Good Guys", he talks about his wife leaving him after an episode where he tore the walls out of the house with out warning.

But it's exactly this intensity and personal detail in his work that I find so compelling. Along with the slight uncomfortable feeling of hearing such details broadcast publicly, Carrier's humanity is really what shines through in all of his work, albeit in a slightly strange, other-worldly way. You feel that he really cares about the subjects he's talking about and the people he's talking too. There's a dry humor to his work as well. Often I feel, listening to his stories and his delivery, that I get some of the jokes in the work but not all of them. That some of the jokes are maybe just for Scott. Part of what keeps me listening is the hope that I maybe, later, understand a few more of them.

That's why his new podcast, and the first show dedicated solely to Carrier's work, Home Of The Brave is so interesting to listen to. Carrier is a man who at various stages in his life has always carried a tape recorder with him and each episode contains some of those recordings together with some narrative context. Whether it's a conversation with an old friend, interviews with people about the end of the world or a compilation of various fascinating recordings from around his neighborhood, the show invariably makes for compelling listening. Carrier has a great skill for capturing people on tape. His recordings are so evocative and well assembled that you get an almost complete sense of who the people he's talking to are. People seem compelled to talk to him and open up in a way they wouldn't to most men with a microphone.

The website for the show is almost a perfect visual representation of the show. Simple and spare on details, but containing all you need to get a perfect sense of what's going on. Carrier's, frankly brilliant, photographs accompany a simple audio player for each episode of the show. A perfect example of the dry humor I mentioned earlier is the promotional video on the "about" page. It's one minute and nineteen seconds of Carrier and his dog in the car, listening and occasionally barking along to "Television Man" by Talking Heads. That's it.

Augi Bear from Scott Carrier on Vimeo.

Home Of The Brave is the work of a man who has very thoughtfully and skillfully recorded and presented his interest in the world and people around him. The show is full of quirks and idiosyncrasies, but so is the world and so are people, so in that way, it's a perfect representation.

Podcast: Jeff Middleton

As a British person, Country music is pretty much a mystery to me. I know what it is, I know where it comes from and I have a rough idea of what it sounds like. I enjoy classic country music, I listen to artists like Caitlin Rose and Steve Earle but I know that a lot of the Country I love is either considered alternative or from a by-gone era. From what I can tell, that's only the tip of the iceberg. What about the country music that dominates radio stations in the southern United States? I know so little about that side of Country music, yet it is it's own, separate, multi-billion dollar industry.

I was lucky enough to get to talk to Nashville songwriter and guitarist for The Dirt Drifters, Jeff Middleton. In between songwriting sessions on a recent UK trip Jeff, very graciously and with great patience answered my questions about Country music, Nashville and his own adventures in songwriting.

You can download the podcast for free on iTunes and you can follow Jeff on twitter.

Pitch, A Podcast For Music Nerds & Non-Music Nerds

I've found recently that my time spent with headphones on, has become increasingly spent listening to podcasts instead of music. I have a job where music and listening to music, sometimes the same track several times in a row, is a big part of what I do. At my desk I am constantly listening to music of all kinds on many different formats for many different reasons.

But I've found that when I'm heading off for my day in the office or I'm finished and going home, I prefer not to listen to music. My ears won't appreciate the subtitles of jazz or withstand the volume of hard rock or navigate the new textures of electronica. I need something identifiable, relatable but engaging enough so that I don't fall asleep on my 1 hour commute. So I turn to podcasts.

Like all aspects of media, the internet has thrown the doors wide open for unsupervised and unregulated production of audio programming. One of the top rated podcasts available and a personal favourite of mine, Marc Maron's WTF, is produced independently in his garage. Podcasts also allow you to listen to great, professionally made radio shows from far flung lands. American public radio productions like this American Life and the audible delight that is Radiolab have found huge new global audiences as podcasts. There are podcasts on almost every subject you can think of and probably a few on subjects you would rather not think about. Of course there are plenty on music.

One of my favourites is the independently produced Pitch. No other podcast out there captures my enjoyment of the geeky minutia that surrounds music as well as Pitch does. It's a podcast for music lovers who like stories and story lovers who enjoy music. Presented and created by Alex Kapelman and Whitney Jones, Pitch is different from other music shows in that it's not an interview show (like some podcasts) or a new music programme as much as it is a series of short audio documentaries.

Each episode takes on a small but interesting aspect of music. Whether it's the rise of Karaoke, the story of a song about a drummer in a 60's band or the strange laws around dancing in New York, Kapelman and Jones tell each tale with a level of interest that is usually only reserved for the obsessed, but in a way that even those with just a casual interest in these subjects will find enjoyable. My personal favourite is episode 3, “Rock The Longbox”. Not just because it goes into detail about the most (justifiably) maligned type of record packaging there is but because it's a story about how music, specifically R.E.M's “Out Of Time”, can make big changes in the world at large.


The podcast also has a wonderful newsletter too, discussing the most talked about music stories of each week and shining a light on some of the more important and perhaps not as widely covered stories that affect music listeners and the industry itself.

As someone who is often ridiculed, in a  good-natured way, for his music nerd tendencies, I have to say that I find Pitch's tone and content comforting. It's nice to know that small, sometimes almost unnoticeable parts of music lore and knowledge can be used to create relatable and interesting stories. That the minutia of it all can be used to do what music essentially does, build a strong, meaningful connection to the outside world.

You can get Pitch here on iTunes and follow them on twitter here.

Podcast: Dan Carey

Dan's Studio (via Speedy Wunderground's Facebook page)

A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to spend a morning in Dan Carey's studio in London. A veritable Aladdin's cave of music making, the main room is filled with guitars, synthesisers and recording gear, a big neon sign advertising his Speedy Wunderground record label hangs on one wall. Although the room is somewhat chaotic, you get the sense that it's perfectly set up for Dan to work in and that he knows where everything is. He's in his element amongst all the cables and switches

Dan Carey has written for or produced (or both) big, chart topping acts like Kylie Minogue, Franz Ferdinand, Lilly Allen and Sia as well as less well known, but equally as lauded artists such as Kate Tempest (with whom he is currently working on a new album), Emiliana Torrini, Toy and Chairlift. The Chairlift album (2012's "Something") was a record I was particularly interested in talking about as it's one of my favourite albums of the last few years and a potential candidate for a later entry on Some Call It Noise.

You can download the podcast for free from iTunes or stream it via soundcloud.

Podcast: An Interview With Luke Fitton

My final podcast of the year is a chat with Luke Fitton. Whilst he's not quite yet a household name, Luke has had a hand in music that will have made itself audible to even the most oblivious of people. 

As part of the Xenomania songwriting and production team, Luke has worked with big selling pop acts like Girls Aloud, Little Mix and The Gossip, honing his skills as a songwriter and producer in one of the most successful pop production houses of the last 20 years.

But Luke's work is not all confined to the studio, he's also a working musician. We discuss the life of a gigging guitarist and all that comes with life on the road, comparing his earlier jobs to his current position as guitarist for Kylie Minogue's touring band.  

Download the podcast free from iTunes.

Podcast: An Interview With Emily Phillips

Emily Phillips is a songwriter who has written with artists like John Newman ("Cheating"), Rizzle Kicks (multiple tracks on both albums) and Jazz singer Kate Dimbleby. She got her start in music when Damon Albarn, who was her flat mate at the time, gave her a guitar and told her to write a song. Years later she has toured the world with her band Transcargo, built herself a successful career as a songwriter and started a family with husband/bandmate Ant Whiting.

Emily very kindly invited me down to the studio she and Ant work in to talk about music, creativity, Russian echo units and a rather unpleasant event involving a spider, an audience of 50 people and the man who wrote "Delilah". 

Click here to get the podcast on iTunes.

Podcast: My Conversation With Marika Hackman

I've been a fan of Marika Hackman's for a while. Ever since I was introduced to her particular blend of smart, literate folk and electronica, I've been interested in hearing her where she goes next. The thing that always intrigued me most about her was the dark, violent content of her lyrics and imagery which contrasted so well with her almost fragile voice. The tone of her music is complex and brooding but there is always melody and subtlety enough to to keep it from becoming a hard listen. 

Royal Blood, In Conversation

Photo by Ben Thatcher (@BenjiTalent)

Around this time last year, I heard Royal blood for the first time. “Out Of The Black” sounded at once violent, forceful and almost brutal yet it was very melodic and at times catchy. “Figure It Out” had the same force behind it but was more complex and had an undeniable swing to it. They had that incredible sound too. Big, thunderous drums and a guitar sound that seemed so meaty and sonically diverse that it was hard to distinguish between bass and guitar parts. But the overpowering thing about it was the tightness of the playing. These were guys who had played together for a long time and knew their material back to front, obviously. Imagine my surprise then as I found out that there was only two of them, there was no guitar and they had only been together for a matter of months before recording the songs. I was impressed before, now I was amazed. 

Speaks Louder Than Words - Tim From Transgressive

Speaks Louder Than Words is the podcast I produce and edit. Strangely, I've never really felt the need to mention it on Some Call It Noise before as, in my head at least, the two have always been very separate. The podcast is part of my work life. It's produced for Warner/Chappell Music and deals solely with Warner/Chappell artists and writers. The blog on the other hand is a personal thing, about music that is important to me regardless of where it comes from. The reason that I'm sharing the podcast on Some Call It Noise now is because this latest episode (which includes one of my rare appearances in front of the microphone) is one of the closest the subject matter has come to crossing over.