Hell's Kitchen Radio #572: Bringing A Rubber Duck To A Knife Fight

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I was talking with a friend of mine earlier today about what makes a good radio show and about how I prepare, week to week? 

I think a good radio show, focused on music, comes from a host that listens to a lot of music a lot of the time, and is excited to curate a show that features tunes in sets that flow from one song to the next, regardless of genre. As a matter of fact I really love pulling off cross-genre sets.

As for how I prepare for my shows? I listen to a lot of music throughout the week, and it's inevitable that I'm going to hear a few tunes that I'm itching to play for you all, so I make a note of that.

Then I literally go through my record shelves and pull music that's calling to me. I also have a strong desire to play new music each week. I prefer to start a set with something new, or something that's relevant and timely. 

I purchase music almost weekly, so there's always something new on my show. And if there's a tribute to a fallen artist or one with a birthday that I just have to call out, or a show I've been to, or one upcoming, then something is going to end up in a set.

And then in the studio I have a stack sitting in front of me that I pull from based on the song that is currently playing. Honestly, there's not much more to it than that. More often that not I pull it off. I never phone it in. 

As for tonight's show, I noticed as I was pulling music that almost every artist tonight is American. I started out the show with some rural blues, moved onto to be-bop and post-bop jazz. Then onto some soul and funk. I made my way to some west coast country and psychobilly, before getting a bit darker in the goth/post-punk vein. Then came the garage/shoegaze/psych, followed by some new dissonance post-post-punk, 60s prog-psych, new Melvins (a genre all their own), more post-post-punk, punk/metal, and finally a tribute to Brian Wilson to close it all out.

And hot damn if this show doesn't flow. Check out me trying to tie it all together!

So as for how do I prepare for my show, after being in radio for 35+ years, and a whole hell of a lot of listening? A lot of this is second nature. But I can assure you I will never rest when it comes to preparing the best in quality non-commercial radio for you, dear listener. 

You have the John Hell Seal of Approval!

Enjoy and please share.

jh

Hell's Kitchen Radio with John Hell
Mondays 8-10PM
Radio Valencia in SF
http://radiovalencia.fm

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Frankie and Albert: Taj Mahal

Meet Me In The Bottom: Pink Anderson

Just Knock On My Door: Art Blakey

Jakey: Big John Patton

Sticks and Stones: Joe Jones

Good To Me As I Am To You: Aretha Franklin

I Want You (She's So Heavy): Eddie Hazel

Walkin' The Streets of Love Alone: Mitch Polzak

Psychobilly Freakout: Reverend Horton Heat

Flyin' High: Jenny Don't and the Spurs

Boom Boom: Rube Waddell

Stagger Lee: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Killer of Peace: Crow Jane

Kill My Baby Tonight: LA Witch
Sanitarium Blues: Death Valley Girls

Bye Bye 25!: Kim Gordon

Child in Time: Deep Purple

Vomit of Clarity: Melvins 1983

Secret Agent Rat: Crystal Fairy

Smoke Ring: Chime Oblivion

Take Me To Your Leader: Zig Zags

Heroes and Villains: Beach Boys
God Only Knows: Beach Boys

Who Listens To Radio: Sarah Vaughn

Hell's Kitchen Radio #529: From The First Hello

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No guests. No training. Just you and me and a whole hell of a lotta music. Musically speaking this may be my best show of the year so far. There are some inspired sets I think you're gonna love. And these are some of my longest sets too!

In my early radio days at KFJC we had to follow the clock and break at :10, :20, :40, and :50, as well as play a legal ID at top of the hour. Each break we had business to attend to: announcing other shows , public service announcements, ticket giveaways, and other bits and bobs. This gave us a 20 minute sweep at the bottom of the hour, and one at the top (except for that pesky legal ID).

I've kept to that clock pretty much throughout the years. I like the idea of stopping often enough for you to know who I played, while also having a few longer sets where I can stretch out some. I often get a bit more dissonant during these sweeps.

I wasn't strict with the clock tonight. 

I also went shopping at Stranded Records on Sunday. New music from Goat, Melvins (best album since the Big Business days IMHO), and Meatbodies. Lots of music to drop your panties to. A brief tribute to Steve Albini (more to come on that loss). And so much more. Take a look at the playlist below. Click the link above to listen in.

Enjoy and please share.

jh   

Hell's Kitchen Radio with John Hell
Mondays 8-10PM
Radio Valencia in SF
http://radiovalencia.fm

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Fight the Power: Brownout

Louder Than A Bomb: Public Enemy

Munaye: Mulatu Astatke

Behind the Wall of Sleep: Jazz Sabbath

Timeless Awareness: Goat

30 Seconds Over Tokyo: Pere Ubu

America's Most Blunted: MF Doom and Madlib

She's Got Weird Arms: Melvins

The Pharmacy: Crow Jane

Bulldog Front: Fugazi

Heartattack and Vine: Lydia Lunch and Nels Cline

Tupelo Blues: John Lee Hooker

Golden Hair: Hope Sandoval and Warm Inventions

Mind Daze: Psychic Ills

Radio Friendly Unit Shifter: Nirvana

Pink: Boris

Anlatmam Derdimi: Altin Gün

Slip It To The Android: Chrome

Float Along - Fill Your Lungs: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

Gate: Meatbodies

Moonage Daydream: David Bowie

From the First Hello to the Last Goodbye: Jane Morgan

Hell's Kitchen Radio #482: You Had Me At Love Whip

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A very inspired show tonight. Maybe it's the great music I've been listening to that I couldn't wait to share with you? Maybe it's the fact that I had a lot of time to choose my music before my show? Maybe it was the many people who came in and out of the studio and I really wanted to play some great music for them as well? Whatever the reason, this was a great show to host.

There's some psychabilly, psychedelia, funk, soul, folk, retro, goth, prog, jazz, classic rock, and even a dirty old one man band!

Hot damn, there's a lot for everyone here. Try that, Spotify! And you know what, they can't. Even Shazam gets stumped by some of what I play. That's what's so great about non-commercial community radio! You have hosts that know the music, not some algorithm that is programmed to tell you what to like. Do you know that program directors at commercial radio stations are now using Spotify to help them program their stations? Where's the human touch? 

Radio Valencia brings the human touch in spades! 

The Radio Valencia studio is looking better each week: new paint job and soundproofing. We're getting our logo on the awning out front next week! Thanks to our engineering team (aka: JazzNazz) we have the turntables and CD players working better than ever! But we still need you. This is an out-of-pocket venture. Bringing you great programming is our mission, and we can really use your help. Please consider donating to Radio Valencia by going to our PayPal (we are financially sponsored by SF IndieFest) and throwing a few bones our way. Every dime is spent on station needs (rent and equipment mostly). I thank you in advance.

Enjoy and please share.

jh 

Hell's Kitchen Radio with John Hell
Mondays 8-10PM
Radio Valencia in SF
http://radiovalencia.fm

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Follow Radio Valencia on Twitter
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Love Whip: Reverend Horton Heat
Some Velvet Morning: Vanilla Fudge

Move Your Hand: Lonnie Smith
I Wanna Be Free: New York Underground Funk Band

Venomous Dogma: Fantastic Negrito
Only Son Of The Ladiesman: Father John Misty
Cold Pillows: Shannon Shaw

Said Goodbye To That Car: Marissa Nadler
Fever Dreams: Scott H Biram
Man's World: Crow Jane

Odd Octubree: brandUn DeShay (ft. Tyler the Creator, Casey Veggies, MF Doom)
Blue Jay Way: The Beatles
Les Vents: Population II

Friday Morning: Khruangbin
Loran's Dance: Idris Muhammad
Darkest Light: Lafayette Afro Rock Band

Madman Across The Water (Piano Demo): Elton John

The Creole Love Call: Roland Kirk
Zombie: CW Stoneking
What A Wonderful World: Louis Armstrong