Robin Ince – Resonance FM is a gallery of possibilities on the radio dial

There are stories, some of which have been confirmed enough times that it rises them above the apocryphal, of broadcasters who meticulously edit every “um”, “errr” or slight trip or verbal pause that may dispel the myth of their perpetual pristine fluidity. Somewhere, there may be an archive, a digital warehouse of all those slips and slurs that is the equivalent of what we see at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Resonance FM would be the place to jemmy open these boxes and put together hour-long collages of these unwanted DJ noises.

Much of Resonance FM’s output lacks the expected grammar of “professional” radio. It has a naturalism and variety of voices and passions that makes it worthy of celebration and attention.

I write about Resonance FM here every few months because I keep meeting people who haven’t heard of it who should know of it and will enjoy it. That which lacks a PR budget can be doomed to invisibility.

Resonance FM has a naturalism and variety of voices and passions that makes it worthy of celebration and attention

For those who feel beleaguered by the number of podcasts available, Resonance is a gallery of possibilities.

Little Atoms has been running for 12 years, in which the perpetually informed Neil Denny discusses ideas with authors in an environment that allows for diversions and extrapolations that go way beyond the usual constrictive necessities of the book plug circuit. Most recently, Neil was interviewing Marcel Theroux about his latest novel, The Secret Books. After another perceptive question, Theroux responded: “You’ve read it very carefully which is very hard for a lonely author when you meet someone who has actually read your book.” In an environment where so many inquisitors may have skim-read, blurb-revised or had a researcher summarise, Neil’s perceptive and literate line of questioning is welcome when so much of the mainstream aspires to brevity.

Meanwhile, who wouldn’t trust a music show with a slogan of “dystopian, synthetic, sentimental”. A Colder Consciousness is an hour of dark synth music presented by Flora Pitrolo. In a recently rebroadcast interview with Daniel Miller, the pioneer of Mute Records, a former home of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Depeche Mode and Yazoo, Flora was thoroughly amused that such a musical pioneer had once been a DJ at a Swiss holiday resort where Super Trouper was at the forefront of the requests list.

You can listen to it and imagine your life is lived as a quirky character in a Wes Anderson film.

If dark synth is too dystopian, then you can venture to the past with The Late Lute Breakfast Show presented by lutenist Stephanie Feeney. You can listen to it and imagine your life is lived as a quirky character in a Wes Anderson film.

Jack Thorington’s Records Comic, Curious and Cracked delivers exactly that including some rare Fats Domino and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, it is that wonderful radio of sitting next to a music obsessive as they blow the dust flecks of their vinyl collection and put it on their turntable after an idiosyncratic and informative introduction.

And if you have been made too jolly by the comic and curious, Bermuda Triangle Test Transmission Broadcasts should help move you from sunlight into a dark and nightmarish fug with its disconcerting soundscapes that should please anyone who bought the soundtrack to Under the Skin or has watched The Blood on Satan’s Claw more than once.

Resonance FM is adventurous and informative, if you can’t find at least five programmes on their playlist that intrigue you, then you really should be broadening your horizons.