Musical Meanderings: Recent Episodes
Graham Stannard
Graham is a broadcaster based in London & Essex. He has presented a music show on Phoenix FM called Musical Meanderings where he takes a journey through a across all musical styles. Wherever possible he connects it all together and following the evolution of a particular genre or artist.
Graham features guests on the show which have included artists from various genres and backgrounds including artists such as The Divine Comedy, Chris Liberator, Brandon Boyd, Corrosion Of Conformity, Pallbearer, Oak and E.V.P. And even poets and philosophers such as Dion 'Troubadour' Power and Mark Grundland.
The listen again and playlist for the episode of Musical Meanderings on 18th April 2019.
It's been a wonderful year for me for discovering new music and new musical genres. I've been able at times to work with Andy from Oak and he's imparted a lot of his knowledge in the metal scene and history and we've been listening to many albums as we've worked.
One of them has been the new album by Bong- Thought and Existence and I haven't stopped playing it since first hearing it. It covers so much of what I've been enjoying it the instrumental music I've been discovering, a meditative overtone groove, all with an immensely heavy edge which I love in music.
It was a pleasure to be able to arrange an interview with guitarist and writer Mike Vest and learn about his journey in music and how they're able to create what they do. Our conversation then flowed in all sorts of directions, including the live music scene, how it can be difficult to categorise them and place them on a line-up at an event and the eastern influences in the music.
Continued Musical Meanderings this week.
Here is the playlist for 28th March 2019 (With links to purchase or discover more where possible)
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Eleventh Vibration - Nature (Illusions - 2016)
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John B. Wells - Western Man
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Cloud - Grim Reefer (Cloud EP - 2015)
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Deathbell - Over The Rim (With The Beyond - 2018)
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Yuri Gagarin - Za Kosmosom (Yuri Gagarin - 2014 Remix)
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I/O - South (Anyone, Anywhere - 2017)
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Stars As Lights - The Path Back To You (Constellations - 2016)
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pg.lost - Weaver (Key - 2012)
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Moby - New Dawn Fades (Heat Soundtrack - 1995)
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Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies - Sister Mercy (The Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies - 1993)
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Loudon Wainwright III - Surviving Twin (Last Man On Earth - 2001)
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The Doobie Brothers - Ordinary Man (Sibling Rivalry - 2000)
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Lévon Minassian - They Have Taken The One I Love (The Doudouk - Beyond Borders - 1998)
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Bong - Polaris (Stoner Rock - 2014)
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This week on Musical Meanderings including celebrating more recent live music, especially the pleasure of seeing Windhand live finally, at the Underworld in Camden.
Then there was new music with a new song from the upcoming album from London based doom metal band Brule who I had the pleasure of meeting at the Black Heart in Camden some months ago. Johnny from the band sent me a preview of unmastered tracks of their album and I enjoyed sharing Hour Glass during the show.
Also on the new music front was a track by Desperate Journalist - Ocean Wave, from their new In Search Of The Miraculous album. It has had a huge reception and it's wonderful to hear about their success.
On the new music front, it was also great to discover a new single by a band from Romania- Am Fost La Munte și Mi-a Plăcut who I discovered via the Where Post Rock Dwells facebook page.
I shared a song by artists whose music I've been playing for a while - Destiny Lab. Robophobia discusses the dangers of how technology is progressing, which I talked about on my recent Mental Health Matters podcast episode.
Another great conversation on Musical Meanderings this week as it was a pleasure to speak to Jason Sissoyev of Coastlands. I enjoyed their new album The Further Still since hearing about it on the WherePostRockDwells youtube channel in November last year. Their music typifies what I enjoy in post-rock and instrumental music, with the building, layered crescendoes and what can be expressed in the music, even without words.
In fact, we spoke about that, along with learning about his history in music in a nurturing, supportive environment when Jason was young. He also talked about the formation of the band, the creation of the music and playing live. Part of the conversation touched on how emotions can be expressed and worked out through the music and how they support each other and their fans. I included an extract from the conversation about this on my recent Mental Health Matters podcast here at Phoenix, which you can check out here:
https://www.phoenixfm.com/2019/02/25/mental-health-matters-chat-1st-healing-creativity-depression-february-2019/
Check out their Bandcamp page:
https://coastlands.bandcamp.com
Here is the full show page:
https://www.phoenixfm.com/2019/03/08/coastlands-jason-sissoyev-interview-musical-meanderings-7th-march-2019/
It's always wonderful to hear from artists who are finding ways of learning about and creating music in their day to day lives. Leo Vela grew up as a musician and had a background in heavier music, but found a recent love of more instrumental, atmospheric and post-rock music. He then learned how to create the music he enjoys and has a great platform with bandcamp to release it under his project name We Become to whoever is lucky enough to come across it.
I discovered his music via recent guest Chris Garr, otherwise known as The Sun Burns Bright who is very passionate about sharing the music he enjoys on his social medias. He posted a recent song by We Become- Soaring and I loved he gentle nature and atmospheric soundtrack images in evoked. I had the pleasure of getting in touch and recording a conversation with him to discover his journey in creating the music.
Also in this epsiode I celebrated the music of Wychhound, previous guests on the show, stallwarts of the UK stoner and doom scene and their recent Earth Orbiter EP was my album of the year in 2018. They recently announced that they are sadly going their separate ways. I wish them all the best, I know each of them will be successful and happy with whatever direction they choose next.
Speaking of the UK scene, there was a recent show in Cameden featuring Oak and 1968, alongside Mastiff and Possessor. It gave me another change to play their music once again, with new favourites Mammoth Grove and Neànder.