After ten years at a National Public Radio station in Chicago, Mike Lidskin returned to California in 1997 and created Twirl Radio, a weekly two hour radio program which features the finest independent music and artists from the rock era. Mike’s on a mission to not “just spin rock music, but to educate listeners about this vital art form.” Indeed, he doesn’t just announce the songs, but gives histories about some of the artists, the albums, and the songs themselves.
You can catch Twirl live each Saturday afternoon, from 4:00 to 6:00 PM PST on Sacramento’s Voice, KUBU 96.5 FM, and archived right here, as well as at http://www.twirlradio.com. If you haven’t headed into your Saturday night with an earful of Twirl, you’re doing it wrong!
Artist | Track | Album
The Bookends | A Girl Like Me | Single release
Plasticsoul | Keeping A Light On | Therapy
Chandler Travis Philharmonic | Going Back To Work Tomorrow | Waving Kissyhead Vol. 2 & 1
Cirrone | Everything’s Fine Now | Kings For A Night
The Feelies | Pass The Time | In Between
Maxi Dunn | Dragonfly | Edmund & Leo
Banjo Bones | Your Medicine Is Bad | Cowboy Dreams
Richard X. Heyman interview
Richard X. Heyman | Incognito | Incognito
Richard X. Heyman | Gleam | Incognito
Yolanda Cazessus | Colors | Single release
Ruby Free | Why Won’t You Sleep In Our Bed | Shades
The Welcome Matt | Come Alive | More Empire Days
Allyson Seconds | Ono Waltz | Little World
The JAC | Persistent Man | Faux Pas
The Taters | Goodbye Girl | Taters Party
R. Stevie Moore & Jason Falkner | Stamps | Make It Be
Hannah Judson | Here We Are | I Wanna Know
Edward Rogers | The Player | TV Generation
Gretchen’s Wheel | Better In The Dark | Sad Scientist
Matt North | Badgering The Witness | Above Ground Fools
Duncan Faure | All At Once | Pronounced “Four-Uh”
Walker Brigade | DIsEASE | Therapy Animal
Blake Jones & The Trike Shop | Forestiere Gardens | The Underground Garden
THIS WEEK’S GUEST:
Up until a few years ago, Richard X. Heyman was one of those artists whom I’d always heard OF, but never actually HEARD, his music. That changed with his album “X”–a magnificent record, and we talked about it on the radio back then. Fast forward to 2017, his new album “Incognito” is just as good. Lyrically, it’s very current and topical, with some subtle nuances that let you kind of “figure it out yourself”. Musically, it’s chock full of ear candy–the zoomy, atmospheric guitars that I love so well. Instead of jangly, his Rickenbacker tends to ring and soar. He’d taught himself to play slide guitar for “X” by using the cap from a lipstick tube! Now, there’s more slide guitar in the mix on this album, and surprisingly, acoustic plays a strong role on some of the songs as well. The sequencing and pacing of the songs are perfect.
In today’s episode, we explored some of the key tracks from Incognito, and we learned where that title came from. It was fascinating to learn about his recording process, where he builds each song starting from the ground up with the drums (his self-professed “main” instrument), and then paints each musical layer on top, one at a time. He’s the original DIY indie artist–he started working this way decades before it became common practice. For more information, and to purchase this great record, go to www.richardxheyman.com.
