2012 - Podcast: Radio Mika Episodes

[Marilyn Mastin]

I loved the podcast. It was like the New Years Eve when we heard him on Radio 2. Mika's voice is so perfect for radio (his speaking voice, I mean, we all know his singing voice is too) I loved all the songs, although the last one wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but was okay.

I was very impressed with the song he played after he'd talked about Broadway. It was a very clever piece of work.

I wish the Radio One DJs could hear how good Mika is. He deserves his own show. His musical taste is so varied, but fascinating. I can't wait for the nest installment of his podcasts.

 

Mika you are:mikalove:

[Ellenowl]

Keeps on crashing after 3rd song. I've never heard him speak without a video as well! 3rd song ( starting with ukulele or similar) is good!

[mari62]

I've added a d/l link to the first post

[suzie]

O Superman, brilliant record and just a little bit scary. Apart from stuff like Kraftwerk and a few other electronic innovators, you just didn't get vocoded vocals back then and it was unnerving but also very cool.

 

I remember when it was #1. Along with Tubeway Army's 'Are Friends Electric?' from 1979, it was like listening to the future, back then.

 

Actually, FrYar's music reminded me of Gary Newman when I first heard him.

 

Laurie's music was experimantal and innovative, like some people pointed out, and not like today's use of distorted sounds that are there in most cases because it is simply trendy to distort voices.

 

I couldn't understand the criticism of Make You Happy - saying he was jumping on the bandwagon to try to get in the charts or that it's autotuned.

I actually found it ridiculous to call that track 'commercial' as it is totally the opposite of what you hear on the charts: it is a most unconventional pop song, actually, and that's why it is more difficult to digest despite it being melodic.

 

These vocoded vocals have been used for decades and it's different from that "Cher effect" autotuning that's been so abused the past few years. I think as long as it's used sparingly it can be very effective.

I also found it difficult to believe that people did not hear how beautifully Mika actually sang on the record (I obviously don't mean the vocoded part that was simply used as a 'sample' over the track), and were relieved to finally hear it in Celebrate, where it is actually pretty much 'wrapped' in the production so you can't hear it as clearly as in Make you Happy.

 

I undertand if people don't like electronic music but I don't when all electronic music is considered to be the same. Broadly speaking, Relax is electronic music, too.

Edited July 9, 2012 by suzie

[ce_mika]

I loved this podcast idea!!! his voicee!!! woow, I was so hooked with his voice!!! it looked like he was talking to me by phone..... I felt him so close!!!!! loved it!!! ...about his music tase...well.... don't like it so much, but it's great to know what he likes or doesn't.

[robertina]

I have to admit that Mika helped me discover a lot of artists I'd never heard of before, Fleet foxes, King's singers, Beirut...and many more.

I'm happy he decided for these podcasts, I hope I can discover more!

Thanks Mika!

[tiibet]

I really love listening to this podcast, it's fascinating to hear him talking about music

 

Thank you so much for the download link

[lollipop161]

finally something in English:naughty: love it!

[Foxxy]

This is so amazing!

I hope he makes a lot more of these!!!

[boom_kimool_boom]

I remember when this song was #1

 

wow! how this song was a hit??

 

but i think it was a revolution electronic sounds!

Edited July 9, 2012 by boom_kimool_boom

[WeAreStrong!]

It's fantastic, he's got his own radio, we can say!

I'm so curious about it, now I'll listen to the 1st episode!

[suzie]

I have to admit that Mika helped me discover a lot of artists I'd never heard of before, Fleet foxes, King's singers, Beirut...and many more.

I'm happy he decided for these podcasts, I hope I can discover more!

Thanks Mika!

 

I feel the same way. There are countless artists I never even heard of before he mentioned them and most of them a pleasant surprise with the occasional odd ones thrown in, like BOW:blink: - I even understand why he liked them though

Concerning established musicians he talks about, I funnily tend to agree with all of what he says / share the same opinion about them (positive or negative). What I like most is that he tends to judge the songs themselves or the artist's relevance as a performer rather than just focusing on the voice, the technique or 'coolness' factor like most critics would do.

Edited July 9, 2012 by suzie

[crazyaboutmika]

It's so good to hear Mika's voice

I wish I had internet on my holidays

I leave tomorrow and I'll have a lot to catch up with when I'm back...but I'll be at Gruchet Le Valasse on July 20th, so I guess I can't complain

[Fran]

I always feel so stupid when he so brilliantly talks.

 

And he mentions Beirut!! Aaaaaaaw, I love them since they were part of a Brazilian series soundtrack.

 

omg that last "song" made me insane!! ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah...

 

I remember when this song was #1

 

That's very crazy indeed, but also brilliant! I haven't heard of her before and simply loved this song.

 

She makes me think of a Brazilian singer called Rita Lee. They have quite different styles and maybe it's me, but their voices sound very similar.

 

[YOUTUBE]xPyDwTxDGmQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

 

 

I couldn't understand the criticism of Make You Happy - saying he was jumping on the bandwagon to try to get in the charts or that it's autotuned. These vocoded vocals have been used for decades and it's different from that "Cher effect" autotuning that's been so abused the past few years. I think as long as it's used sparingly it can be very effective.

 

EXACTLY.

[Christine]

i think i need a transcript,anyone?

 

Here you go:

 

I want to make a radio show. I wanted to make one for a long time and now seems like a perfect time simply because I'm about to put out an album. And by putting together something like this I could explain some of the things that I listen to and show a little bit how the record that I'm about to release came about. And also talk about things that I like, things that I listen to, things that I admire and things that I don't admire so much. It just seems like a good time and it seems like something that could be fun.

 

Soundtrackwise there's always a movie that happens every few years. Every few years there's some soundtrack that just gets all the attention. Whether it's a Wes Anderson film or I Heart Huckabees. The last one to get attention was definitely Drive. And quite right. It had quite a bold, single minded styling to the soundtrack which I really admired. But despite all the very fashionable electronic music and stuff that was in the soundtrack I think one of my favourite moments throughout was when you had this old vocal from a Katyna Ranieri song from the 50s. Using this beautiful thing that sounds like Streisand and it sounds like it's from another era with the visuals of the streets of LA and Ryan Gosling driving through. Everything's quite violent and quite muted and the only thing that you're listening to is the sound of her voice and the sound of the strings. I thought it was really stunning and it rekindled in me, actually, this love that I have for this very intelligent, taut, quick melancholy well-sung music. Just like this song.

 

About two weeks ago I went to see Sweeney Todd at the Adelphi Theatre in London. It's by Sondheim and that performance was starring Michael Ball who was pretty good. I went to see it with Anthony Van Laast who is a choreography and a friend and who's worked on my tours as well. Anthony choreographed everything from Into the Woods, the production that Sondheim was involved in in New York and also Mamma Mia he choreographed that. I mean tons of things. Sister Act.

 

I actually don't like Sweeney Todd as a musical at all and I've seen it 6 times now. That was my 6th time and every time I go and see it I'm like I'm gonna give it another shot. I'm gonna try to like this again. And sure enough I walk out and I'm like ugh I sat through that again. The funny thing about something like Sweeney Todd and Sondheim in general is that although I don't really like it I have to admit that I know every single song. I know every single melody. There's so much musicality that goes into it. Even if I don't like the end result I can still appreciate it and I guess that's what makes me want to go see it every time.

 

When I think of Sondheim I always thing of Barbra Streisand. I know that when most people think of Barbra Streisand they think of the Bee Gees records, the Barry Gibb records like Guilty and things like that. But for me her voice really shines in those records from the 60s where she's singing Sondheim or that kind of material. I guess the reason why Barbra Streisand makes Sondheim sound so good is because she has the capacity to really sing it. It's a really hard sing. She makes it subtle. She makes it tense and technically it's flawless.

 

I remember I was at college and this was the Royal College of Music like 6 years ago, 7 years ago now. And in our music history class we used to listen to whatever like the classics and everything from Handel right to Beethoven and early music and one day my music history teacher pulled out a Barbra Streisand record and she said we're going to listen to this and of course everyone rolled their eyes. Because for some reason whenever you mention anything that's remotely Broadway it becomes like you know light music. Anyway I started doing some research on it and it turns out that actually one of her biggest fans was the pianist Glenn Gould. He thought she was one of the finest singers in the world of her generation and he was right. He really was right.

 

I never really intended on talking about music theatre, especially in my first podcast. It's not very cool. Then again, who cares? I guess the thing about Broadway writing, especially when it's good and from its golden age. Like Cole Porter or Rodgers & Hammerstein is that there's so much music in it and it's music that's made by a lot of people and recorded by a lot of people. You listen to R&H you listen to West Side Story and it just sounds massive and everything's played and everything's sensitive and all the subtleties are real. You listen to Cole Porter and it sounds great when it's being sung at the piano and it makes you laugh. Even when it's being sung by Rufus Wainwright who did some Cole Porter covers and they worked brilliantly and it works almost as well as when you hear it being performed by the London Symphony Orchestra or the LA Phil(harmonic). It's nice to hear music made by a lot of people. When you hear Streisand, when you hear those records from the 60s, when you hear a Rodgers & Hammerstein track you feel like you could slice the record with a knife. It's like biting into a chunky bar of chocolate.

 

Of course there is music that is made with similar intentions nowadays. I mean Sufjan Stevens' records like the BQE and Promenade and the Esplanade. That's the kind of magnificent musicality and magnificent recording and work and you admire every part of that process. There's also a similar intention in the work of Beirut or a friend of mine Owen Pallett who also works with Beirut and also with Arcade Fire. You listen to it and you think this is the product of many players coming together creating a little bit of magic at one time with the references being everything from folk to pop to rock to classical music and it just wraps around you so effortlessly.

 

I did a festival in Belgium about a year ago I think. I was on just before the Black Eyed Peas. I'd never seen them live and they were kind of rolling on this amazing cloud of a constant stream of hits with their last record. At a certain point in the show I was watching from the side of the stage. The entire band walks off leaving Will.i.am on this platform and Will.i.am got up and he started DJing. And for about 15 minutes in the middle of a show that was only about an hour and 10 or 20 minutes long, Will.i.am is just DJing and he's playing Michael Jackson records and Justice records mixed with a little bit of Daft Punk mixed with a bit of I mean it was just a little bit all over the place. But it was really effective DJing and the crowd was going insane. They were jumping like mad and Will.i.am is standing there and he's got his hands up in the air and he's wearing this silver jacket and of course his DJ podium starts rising up and he stands there like a god. 50,000 people dancing and at first I was completely like what is going on. This is a DJ set of other people's music in the middle of their headline show. And then they came back on stage and they played their biggest hits and closed the set and of course that the crowd was so warmed up that they went even crazier. And I got it. It's like, it's okay. It's a different thing. It's more about the atmosphere and his taste and his, kind of, curated atmosphere that he created during his 10-15 minute DJ set was part of what the crowd was looking for and it was kind of a cool idea in the end.

 

I guess we don't spin records the same way anymore. Before you used to play 3 or 4 records for awhile or even more and you'd mix them together and then you'd break down and then you'd build up to a climax. And you wouldn't do that too many times otherwise it would seem ridiculous. But now it's completely different. You'll mash up 40 different samples from different records. You'll mash up 40 bits of records and every few minutes you'll go to a drop down and then you'll climax again and it'll just keep happening again and again. It's almost relentless. At the forefront of record making like that, apart from the bands like Justice, you've got Madeon. Madeon takes it to extremes. He makes tracks that are entirely knitted together from this patchwork of loads of different records. And he's so young and he's extremely talented.

 

The hardest thing with electronic music is making it feel human. In the 60s there was this very vibrant phase when electronic music was first kind of being developed and you had Steve Reich with the first ever looping piece with It's Gonna Rain. The piece was literally a magnetic tape with "it's gonna rain" on it being looped around and around so all you got was "it's gonna rain, it's gonna rain, it's gonna rain" and the effect was quite magic because it had never been experienced before.

 

Then you had someone like Laurie Anderson who managed to really put a lot of heart into electronic music. Also what's amazing with her is that she creates a tapestry of sound including rhythm and a sense of arrangement and direction but she's on her own. She made this music on her own. And when you listen to something like O Superman you've got the rhythm, you've got the pulse. But it's her looping herself and she's got a story on top and she takes you on a journey which is at the end quiet an emotional one.

 

Music is music. Electronic music shouldn't be so subdivided or divided apart from more organic music. For me there's something really satisfying when you can't tell what's real and what's fake. At the end of the day music is music. Whether it's Katyna Ranieri or however you say it. Whether it's Barbra Streisand, Cole Porter, Laurie Anderson, Madeon. That's what I'm trying to get at, fundamentally.

Edited July 12, 2012 by robertina

[BiaIchihara]

I always feel so stupid when he so brilliantly talks.

 

And he mentions Beirut!! Aaaaaaaw, I love them since they were part of a Brazilian series soundtrack.

 

 

Or write...

 

One of the best series ever made here

 

Here's Beirut + some scenes of ''Capitu'', inspired by Machado de Assis book ''Dom Casmurro''

 

[YOUTUBE]bYmaGvexazI[/YOUTUBE]

 

@Christine: thanks for transcripting

[Kumazzz]

Here you go:

 

 

Thanks a million Christine !!

 

Or write...

 

One of the best series ever made here

 

Here's Beirut + some scenes of ''Capitu'', inspired by Machado de Assis book ''Dom Casmurro''

 

[YOUTUBE]bYmaGvexazI[/YOUTUBE]

 

@Christine: thanks for transcripting

 

The CLIP is so beautiful !! Thanks a lot for sharing !

 

This is Beirut's ORIGINAL clip.

 

[Louiza]

Enjoyed listening to the podcast so much! Ever since that Radio 2 show on new year's eve I was hoping that at some point another radio station will give him the opportunity to do a show. So you can imagine how much I appreciate it that we have the podcasts now!!!

 

It's brilliant that he chose songs that are so different from each other. It's always fascinating to listen to so many different types of music/artists because all that matters isnt the style or the genre but the fact that they're good songs.

 

Really looking forward to the next podcast:biggrin2:

[mari62]

They've uploaded the frist episode on mikasounds.com

[Dreamy_Queen]

Oh Christine, thank you for the transcript!

I still can't manage to listen to it from here, so I will read firstly.

[snowli]

bad luck!i don't know why but i just can't enter mikasounds.com!!!

[mari62]

bad luck!i don't know why but i just can't enter mikasounds.com!!!

do you know that you can listen to the podcast on soundcloud?

[boom_kimool_boom]

Here you go:

 

Thaaaaank Youuuu! :huglove:

[snowli]

do you know that you can listen to the podcast on soundcloud?

 

well actually i've heard it twice,i just don't understand why i can't enter that beautiful page behind'click here to continue'.......

[mari62]

well actually i've heard it twice,i just don't understand why i can't enter that beautiful page behind'click here to continue'.......

i suggest you try a different browser