Streaming To Bits

There was a moment yesterday morning while riding the train to work, brief but fierce, when I was bummed to realize I had forgotten my iPod. That sleek and delicious little white block of sonic generosity has thoroughly imprinted itself on me. I was experiencing the trepidations of separation anxiety.

Thankfully my concerns were quickly cast aside not long after I arrived to work and began streaming UC Berkeley’s KALX Radio, 90.7 FM. How fantastic! In the span of 8 hours 3 different students took shifts and each played the kind of heterogeneous mix I was hoping for- Albert Ayler tracks followed by Cab Calloway or Marcos Valle mixed into Sisters of Mercy. My only complaint would be the lack of any electronic music dropped into otherwise supremely eclectic mixes- an unfortunate habit of compartmentalizing such things to late night DJ shifts, I suppose. Why not The Incredible String Band followed up by Ricardo Villalobos?

A couple tracks bonked me over the head. I loved Queen Jane’s Nduraga Ngwetereire from The Rough Guide to the Music of Kenya compilation and Keren Ann’s languorous Spanish Song Bird from her album Not Going Anywhere.