Dear friends,
If you know me, you know me as a dedicated collector of YouTube comments. I maintain a carefully curated folder of comments on my computer and keep an ongoing mental list of the best I’ve come across. I tend to find that my favorites come from videos of or about music, but there’s gold to be found everywhere. Recently, I’ve been watching old episodes of What’s My Line? to fall asleep at night, and I find myself endlessly charmed by hawkeyed viewers using the comments section to track the show’s most minute details as the series unfolds: who shakes whose hand, how often does John Daly tug his ear, etc. etc.
Online comments have, probably quite fairly, a reputation for toxicity, rudeness, vitriol, and generally unsavory behavior. But there’s something so arresting in the way that these comment sections allow people to spill their guts. There aren’t a lot of places in life we encounter this type of sincerity and idiosyncrasy. On a video of Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights,” I once found a chain of about a hundred commenters sharing their experiences with depression, grief, and loss. And on a video of Suzanne Ciani performing on The David Letterman Show, you’ll find some of the truest and funniest descriptions of the sheer power of sound, noise, and drone. One comment, by someone named Gossamyr Thorne, has stuck in my mind for years now: “@6:26 when Dave is backing up, he can't help but smile, this is the bliss of drone, Idk why but it does that to me too, sometimes I laugh, completely immersed in vibration, it's similar to being on a roller coaster, pure excitement.”
It seems like the three of us use this space to write again and again about our complicated relationships with technology and its effects on our engagement with music. I think my biggest fear isn’t that we’re all forced to listen to the same stuff, but that we all end up reacting to what we hear in the same way. It’s always good to dip into a comments section and see what weird floats to the surface. I’m always delighted to receive a screenshotted comment from a friend, so if you come across any good ones, well, you know where to find me.
Yours,
Kevin (and Hugh and Adam)
P.S. Are you interested in producing a broadcast on Real Deep Radio? If you have an idea for one-off or recurring programming that you’d like to pitch, contact us at realdeepradio@gmail.com. Let us know your concept or give us an idea of a typical broadcast. While much of our programming is based around music, we’re open to any and all aural experiences. All we ask is that it’s real deep, none of that fake deep.
SCHEDULE
all times EST, tune in at https://mixlr.com/real_deep_radio/
Sunday, 3/7
8:30-9:30PM – Toxic Dogs with Ivana Ng
An ode to Ivana's radio show in her college days, Toxic Dogs is an exploration of avant-garde jazz from around the world, with the occasional soul, funk and R&B. This is music for deep listening, introspection, and joyous movement.
Monday, 3/8
7-9PM – But I Like The Bus: Only Bad Music's Public Transit Special with DJ Trash Bag
Only Bad Music is taking you on the A train this week. All manners of sounds, celebrating one of society's greatest goods: public transit. No cars, bikes or e-scooters here. Grab your Metrocard and remember what it's like to ride the train together.
Thursday, 3/11
8-10PM – Turn It Up Mimi! with Mary Hollyman
Bringing you a base of early r&b, rock 'n' roll, and soul with other eclectic sounds sprinkled in, this show will make you want to cut a rug and shout 'Turn it up Mimi!' This week Mimi is playing a medley of mellow moods, some singer songwriters, and cheery grooves. Songs you'll want to swing in a hammock to, go for a sunny drive to, sunbathe to, and lazily exclaim "Turn It Up Mimi!" to.
Saturday, 3/13
8-10AM – Hypnopompia Morning Show with Michael Cormier
Music to soundtrack the fragile moments right before reaching for your phone and realizing the world has gone on without you while you slept.
RECOMMENDED
HUGH: My last week or so has been heavily soundtracked by warm bass and harp duets on Dezron Douglas & Brandee Younger’s Force Majeure. The album gathers recordings from their Friday morning live stream series of the same name, subtitled “Brunch in the Crib with Brandee & Dezron”, which they started in the early days of the pandemic to retain some sense of community and pass the digital tip jar. These single mic recordings capture the intimacy those early streams must have had, interspersed as they are with snippets of conversation both irreverent and profound, and it’s just a joy to hear how these two masters get inside classics from Alice and John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, The Sylistics, The Jackson 5, and Kate Bush, among others. The one original in the set, “Toilet Paper Romance,” is a fitting finale, with a languorous vibe that recalls those sweet, small moments over the last year when home felt like more than an isolation booth. Some pretty pure and honest comfort listening.
ADAM: This week, I’ve been going back to the work of Anthony Braxton. In college, I was really enamored with his solo (and very challenging) album For Alto. If you have an adventurous ear, this album is still one of the most cathartic experiences in jazz. However, this week I was recommended his album Six Monk Compositions. It’s not an easy task to breathe new life into songs that have been covered at nauseum. Monk achieved the remarkable feat of being the second most recorded jazz artist behind Duke Ellington. A feat even more mind blowing considering Monk wrote about 70 songs to Ellington’s hundreds. Still, Braxton’s emotional timbre and straight up virtuosity brings a new sense of adventure to some of my favorite Monk songs. He’s truly a unique talent.