Radio Review: Artrocker, Resonance FM – Pedal to the death metal | Robin Ince

I want a band called God Dethroned (above) to sound like a band called God Dethroned, and they do. They are a Dutch death metal band. I double- checked they are death metal, as otherwise the metal historian Andrew O’Neill will mock me for my inability to tell sub-genre from sub-genre. Doom metal, folk metal, black metal, grindcore… I remain almost as lost as I am amongst jazz aficionados, but this metal was definitely morbid enough for death. I consider such havoc jaunty now.

It was first on the most recent playlist of Resonance FM’s Artrocker show, presented by Paul and Lewis. It is a good double act for musical experiments. Paul, the jovial man, versus Lewis, who wishes to remain hidden in a silent corner, highly suspicious of Paul’s motives for making him explain bands or name names, as if he has been forced into the studio due to a Faustian pact.

The show is perfect for anyone who likes to pogo but prefers to do it in the comfort of their own home. I chose to damage the ceiling plaster during the playing of Blood Clots. I also heard Philipp Gorbachev and the Naked Man for the first time and realised I had foolishly forgotten post-punk outfit The Sound, led by Adrian Borland. A documentary on his creativity and too short life, Walking in the Opposite Direction, will hopefully be at a festival near you soon.

I am writing about Resonance again because I remain disappointed by how many people I meet who still don’t know about it.

Resonance reminds me of a radio version of New York public access cable TV of the 1980s, the sort of TV shows that were highlighted on late-night Channel 4 when it still flirted with notions of a counterculture.

In 2005, my basement flat was flooded by sewage, destroying my record collection: E-H and S-Z was at carpet level, so those albums were destroyed; A-D and J-R survived, so I still have my Band of Holy Joy vinyl. They curate Resonance’s Bad Punk, a mixture of ambient pieces with poetic interjections from Johny Brown.

Frequently, I turn to Resonance for a background soundtrack to writing but soon find myself drawn in and another deadline is missed due to fascination. I was particularly taken by Brown’s An Hour with Rauschenberg, thoughts on the brilliant artist who wanted his work to come from his joy rather than his sorrow, and that seems to be where much of the work on Resonance comes from.

In 2005, my basement flat was flooded by sewage, destroying my record collection

I haven’t caught up with the 15-part documentary on vegetarianism by Ian McDonald but when I finish this column I’ll be finding out about “the beginnings of western mock meats in the kitchens of John Harvey Kellogg”, and then listening to Is Black Music, the world’s longest running alternative black music show. You can also hear the highlights of this year’s Freedom of Expression awards, presented by the brilliant actor and writer Katy Brand.

I wish I’d kept my excrement-damaged vinyl now, rather than it all becoming roadfill somewhere near Acton. I think there is an hour of some form of counterculture in hearing a man weep as he listen to the destroyed grooves of his cherished music collection.