“Freeform in Feed Form”

Anyone who has had the misfortune of talking music or popular culture with me the past few years has undoubtedly been subjected to my WFMU rant… This legendary freeform radio station, which I remember reading about with yearning growing up in Saskatchewan in my dogeared copy of Radiotext(e), not only streams in multiple formats 24/7, it also archives every show, which means you can summon up the groove of any of their astonishing DJs covering a range of genres and moods in glorious three hour chunks any time you want it… It’s my favorite way to listen to music, and one show or other plays constantly at our place.

So imagine my delight to learn that the station is now maintaining WFMU’s Beware of the Blog, a predictably unpredictable and eclectic collection of postings and sounds. A cursory spin through the first few weeks of activity has already turned up the following nuggets:

* Two dozen John Bonham drum fills, not only a motherlode for the mashup artist, but undoubtedly of tremendous educational value to any aspiring drummer (if only I had tracks like these during the countless hours I spent with headphones duct-taped to my skull trying to play along to “In My Time of Dying”) or bassist. The posting also links to the tremendous Mad Bunny Sad Bunny Led Zep Re-Mix.
* The scariest album cover in DJ Mike Lupica’s collection.
* MP3s of German versions of ‘Pet Clark’s’ Downtown and the Beach Boys’ Ganz Allein (In My Room).
* A link to the awe-inspiring Other Minds Archive.
* A whack of MP3s from 50s/60s singing science records.

On another front, the station — in addition to hosting its monthly collection of sonic stimulants unique to WFMU — has also moved into podcasting in a big way. Though copyright issues prevent them from casting most of their music shows, there’s some tasty stuff being pushed out: Audio Kitchen with the Professor (reality radio, homemade and amateur recordings), The Speakeasy with Dorian (guests from the arts, sciences, the media, and more), Thomas Edison’s Attic (artifacts dating from 1888 through 1929) and Downtown Soulville with Mr. Fine Wine (1 hour; 23 or 24 soul 45’s).

If I harboured doubts about the coolness cache of weblogs and podcasting…