Thirty years after the spinning my last record as a college radio DJ, I still hear music in terms of what songs go well together. That sort of segue, based either on a musical or thematic link, is what made commercial radio great at progressive rock stations in the 70s — and something that’s mostly disappeared in today’s tightly formatted radio where the DJ has little role in picking music.
Oh, well.
Anyway, I found this song by Lorde, Royals, quite striking — and much more compelling than most of the crap on mainstream radio. And it’s a nice match with The Imagined Village’s take on Hard Times in Old England, featuring Billy Bragg.
Listen to WEQX 102.7 — no clear channel stuff! Or Alt Nation on XM Sirius. I have Royals on my iPod, so we are in agreement there. The other song, ew.
My favorite station is WRSI in Northampton — but that’ s only an option when I have an internet connection. http://wrsi.com/