Podcasting
Just in time for the weekend, here’s Brumcast 73.
[audio:http://ipodnetworks.com/podcast/363/1975_hifi.mp3]
Here’s Brumcast 72, as usual featuring an hour of music by some bands you know and and a whole bunch you don’t. Which is, of course, the point.
[audio:http://ipodnetworks.com/podcast/363/1962_hifi.mp3]
Here’s Brumcast 71:
[audio:http://ipodnetworks.com/podcast/363/1941_hifi.mp3]
Brumcast 70 is up with an hour of music from Birmingham musicians, all collated and curated by Little Chris.
[audio:http://ipodnetworks.com/podcast/363/1932_hifi.mp3]
Robin Valk’s latest Radio To Go podcast is a Gigbeth special featuring music from some of the many bands involved and an interview with co-ordinator Clare Edwards explaining what it’s all about. Here’s the mp3, here’s the feed or just press play on the widget below.
[audio:http://www.radiotogo.com/library/user/RadioToGoGigbethSpecial.mp3]
Brumcast number 68 is up. Download, subscribe or click to listen.
[audio:http://ipodnetworks.com/podcast/363/1913_hifi.mp3]
Radio Heads – a nice 4Talent feature on the practical aspects of podcasting that looks at Brumcast and specifically a one off special that featured music from Iron Man Records who report making a couple of hundred pounds worth of sales from that show. via the Iron Man blog which has a slightly different edit of the piece.
If you’re not already aware of it, Brumcast is a regular podcast that features music from local bands and artists. Check it out.
I’ve been chatting online-style with Little Chris, the chap behind Brumcast, and the inevitable came up. “So” said Chris, “I hear you actually get paid to run your Created in Birmingham blog. How they hell did that happen?” I’m paraphrasing slightly. But yeah, I do. And I think others who do stuff like I do stuff should get paid too.
The thing is, the financial situation behind this blog came about somewhat randomly. Stef at 3form reckoned he could get some money for me to write some articles and I said, hell, for that I’ll blog for you every day. So I did. I don’t really know where the money comes from – Stef deals with that and I prefer it that way. Keeps me independent.
Chris does the same sort of thing with Brumcast, putting out a podcast every week or so. He’s up to number 65 and has gotten into a pretty professional grove. Using a rag-bag of free services his overheads are zero except for time, and time is becoming a rare commodity thanks to his having to earn a wage.
I don’t know Chris’ exact circumstances but he’s definitely in the position where he’s created something that could be very useful for the city’s music industry, something that with a bit of spit and polish on the web front, a small bit of marketing and some cash to free up his time would be a valuable asset to the city.
I’ve no idea how this might work. It could come under Digital Central’s remit maybe or perhaps someone might like to sponsor him. It’d be nice if, say, Birminghamusic.com could give him a lump of cash each month and let him get on with it but that project is winding up soon, I think. I dunno the exact answer but he’s ready and willing to take this to the next level.
Contact Chris via MySpace or at brumcast [at] hotmail.co.uk.
Here’s a video interview with Chris from July to give you an idea of where he’s coming from:
As if by magic, Rich Batsford writes about Brumcast today.
Neat video interview with Little Chris, the power behind Brumcast, now on its 61st episode.
Interesting how he fell into doing what he does through sheer enthusiasm rather than any global domination plans. I can relate.
- Recordings of the last two Pub Conversations (previously blogged here) have been added to their podcast, being a chat between Ryan Gander and Bedwyr Williams and another between Becky Shaw and Steven Eastwood. I attended the latter and found it to be very good brain food so I recommend giving them a listen.
- Gary Dring is a comedy writer who’s been using his podcast, Clever Little Pod, to distribute and promote his wares since 2005. I’ll hopefully be having a chat with Gary about his experiences with the medium soon.
There’s a new New Media 4cast online from Antonio Gould, this time looking at Online Music. As with his previous podcasts he offers a clear overview of what’s going on rather than trying to dazzle you with jargon. To do this starts off with our friend Andrew Dubber to explain what’s changed, what hasn’t changed and what it means, and goes on to talk to the bands to find out how they’re using all this stuff. Quite possibly essential listening if you’re in a band.
To subscribe to the podcasts drag this link into iTunes (or similar), or if you’re just curious you can play the episode right here:
[audio:http://www.channel4.com/4talent/media/midlands/new_media/audio/4CastEpisode4.mp3]
Pub Conversations is a rather cool thing I just found out about. The next one is tonight but they crop up regularly.
The deal is fairly simple. The talks are curated by Self Service, a “constantly evolving” group of 14 Birmingham-based artists, one of whom selects another artist who inspires them to talk about their work in a pub. These take place in the Lamp Tavern in Digbeth (map) and they then podcast the recordings which is nice to see. I like it when these sorts of events live on past the actual occasion. Here’s the feed.
Like I say, the next one is tonight. While it’s free they’d like you to book in advance as space is limited by emailing selfservice@hotmail.co.uk, though I’m sure if you turn up and they’re not full they won’t turn you away. Maybe. Here’s who’s talking:
Becky Shaw has been making work that explores the relationship between individual and social since 1993. Projects often involve humorous and sometimes critical contributions to public and private contexts including hospitals, universities, business parks, factories and shops. The resulting works combine live elements, photography, made elements, writing and speaking, and may reverse or misuse existing processes. New works have been commissioned by organisations including Grizedale Arts, New Art Gallery Walsall and Kunstprijs Amstelveen, Netherlands. Becky spent three years making work in response to Liverpool Marie Curie Centre, for PhD research. Current projects include a response to Firstsite’s new building in Colchester, an exploration of retail and regeneration in Preston, and a collaboration with Joanna Spitzner, USA,that explores the American and British car industries. Becky is Research Fellow at ICIA, University of Bath, attempting to follow one object all the way back through its manufacturing process as a way to understand contemporary objectivity and subjectivity. Between 2000 and 2006 Becky was co-director of Static, Liverpool.
Her guest, Steven Eastwood, is a filmmaker whose practice spans experimental fiction, documentary and essay film, artists’ moving image and live art. His films collapse the vernacular of the cinema and the documentary, appropriating and then misusing many of the conventions of a dominant cultural media, and taking the form into unusual contexts. Some of the films are performances; others are interventions or drifts that involve strangers, others still are unsettling in their willful lack of direction (literally) or conclusion. Steven has exhibited at the ICA, BAFTA, EMAF, Brief Encounters, the Lux Centre and Anthology Film Archives, amongst others. Recent installations include The Film, The Film, The Film at MM Luka Gallery Croatia (2006). Steven has been the recipient of a number of grants and awards, has written conference papers and chapters on filmmaking as a social situation and regularly programmes screenings of artists’ film and video. He recently curated two symposia, Interval (1) and (2), based on the film philosophy of Gilles Deleuze. He has lectured widely, and is currently on leave from his position as Assistant Professor in Film, SUNY Buffalo. Steven is about to complete a Ph.D through UCL The Slade, titled ‘Cinema into the Real’. In 1997 he formed the production company Paradogs; in 1996 he co-founded the Volcano! Underground film festival (1996-2000); and in1995 he formed OMSK, a platform (now a collective) for emerging artists with diverse practices.
There’s a lot of information about the collective on the Pub Conversations website. I may well pop along tomorrow as this is the kind of thing I think is essential for Birmingham. Any other events like this going on, do let me know.
As well as the headline and, dare I say it, traditional events in the Fierce diary there are a number of ancillary projects floating around the edges of the festival. One of these, Noise Forecast, starts tomorrow.
Based on research involving interviews with local residents, ambient sound recordings and the measurement of environmental sound levels Birgit Binder and Duncan Speakman are creating an online audio show which aims to help you find the ideal time and location to experience either a few moments of tranquility or to immerse yourself in the aural rush of urban activity.
The forecast is being delivered as a podcast (here’s the RSS feed) though you can of course get the mp3 through a variety of ways including direct from the site. To introduce the project the artists have uploaded a brief first episode which you can hear here:
[audio:http://noiseforecast.com/shows/science.mp3]
[mp3]
Duncan Speakman also has a blog.
