Don't knock TSOYA. It has a sure niche there that Thorne works well to exploit -- driving home a keen focus on a sort of chit chat that us youngies (& I'm 58) appreciate -- even all the way to here in Australia. I get my kultur from TSOYA more often than I do from The New York Times Review of Books or Vanity Fair.
But the knack that works the most is Jesse's interviewing style -- it's very good and so many tired old farts in media could learn a lot from his command of the genres he engages.and the questioning very much to the point.
My guess is that he knows his audience. -- even the Peter Pan types like me who refuse to grow up.
It's a simple setup -- radio plus telephone -- but then that goes to show how poorly other programs utilise such a core resource. and how they don't always do their homeowork.
TSOYA has also been my gateway into US public radio -- and from my delight in its audio I've gone on to other stuff that's so wonderful -- like This American Life and Walker's TOE.
This is an approach taht doesn't exist on public raido here in Australia.
The other key feature of TSOYA is that it so keenly straddles the media -- public radio AND podcasting. TSOYA is an important pioneer in that regard because TSOYA is aggressivley orienting to podcasting while continuing with its radio adherents.
In fact TSOYA is taking its listeners and subscribers on a journey that I'm sure Thorne himself hasn't got a map for. It also shows up a key element in this sort of process that is so often missed by strict audiophiles: passion. TSOYA isn''t about the add ons and production values that seem to distract so many reviewers on PRX. It's primarily about content -- the words -- and the exchange.
I had to come back to this and listen again because the story was pitched just so. In fact this is the most evocative piece of audio I've heard in a long time. Intimate and engaging, Four Seconds nonetheless has a point to make which doesn't loose itself in the actual loss and grieving. If you want to consider suicide and the part it plays in our lives --- and our deaths -- then this narrative will enrich your comprehension because in the telling it reaches beyond mere sterility and the seeming confusion to the warped logic of self destruction that we can so often be prone to.
But then, like some backdrop laid out as a highlight aspects of our collective social lives, the functional role of the Golden Gate Bridge is a marker of how much our society can house such absolute despair despite the massive creations some of us may use as tools to help kill ourselves.
Comment for
"Hip Deep #01 - Tarab: The Art Of Ecstasy In Arabic Music" (deleted)
Review of Hip Deep #01 - Tarab: The Art Of Ecstasy In Arabic Music (deleted)
If you are into the core essence of traditional Arabic music this a wonderful feast of samples and commentary. Would have appreciated some discussion about regional differences and the Islamic links, such as to Sufism --and the theory of ecstasy as a religious experience. But hey! the music rocks. I love this stuff.
Comments by Dave Riley
Comment
Dave Riley
Posted on June 01, 2006 at 07:03 PM
Review of The Sound of Young America (deleted)
Don't knock TSOYA. It has a sure niche there that Thorne works well to exploit -- driving home a keen focus on a sort of chit chat that us youngies (& I'm 58) appreciate -- even all the way to here in Australia. I get my kultur from TSOYA more often than I do from The New York Times Review of Books or Vanity Fair.
But the knack that works the most is Jesse's interviewing style -- it's very good and so many tired old farts in media could learn a lot from his command of the genres he engages.and the questioning very much to the point.
My guess is that he knows his audience. -- even the Peter Pan types like me who refuse to grow up.
It's a simple setup -- radio plus telephone -- but then that goes to show how poorly other programs utilise such a core resource. and how they don't always do their homeowork.
TSOYA has also been my gateway into US public radio -- and from my delight in its audio I've gone on to other stuff that's so wonderful -- like This American Life and Walker's TOE.
This is an approach taht doesn't exist on public raido here in Australia.
The other key feature of TSOYA is that it so keenly straddles the media -- public radio AND podcasting. TSOYA is an important pioneer in that regard because TSOYA is aggressivley orienting to podcasting while continuing with its radio adherents.
In fact TSOYA is taking its listeners and subscribers on a journey that I'm sure Thorne himself hasn't got a map for. It also shows up a key element in this sort of process that is so often missed by strict audiophiles: passion. TSOYA isn''t about the add ons and production values that seem to distract so many reviewers on PRX. It's primarily about content -- the words -- and the exchange.
Keep up the good work TSOYA.
Comment for "Four Seconds: Suicide off the Golden Gate Bridge"
Dave Riley
Posted on May 21, 2006 at 01:13 AM | Permalink
Review of Four Seconds: Suicide off the Golden Gate Bridge
I had to come back to this and listen again because the story was pitched just so. In fact this is the most evocative piece of audio I've heard in a long time. Intimate and engaging, Four Seconds nonetheless has a point to make which doesn't loose itself in the actual loss and grieving. If you want to consider suicide and the part it plays in our lives --- and our deaths -- then this narrative will enrich your comprehension because in the telling it reaches beyond mere sterility and the seeming confusion to the warped logic of self destruction that we can so often be prone to.
But then, like some backdrop laid out as a highlight aspects of our collective social lives, the functional role of the Golden Gate Bridge is a marker of how much our society can house such absolute despair despite the massive creations some of us may use as tools to help kill ourselves.
Comment for "Hip Deep #01 - Tarab: The Art Of Ecstasy In Arabic Music" (deleted)
Dave Riley
Posted on April 15, 2006 at 05:57 AM
Review of Hip Deep #01 - Tarab: The Art Of Ecstasy In Arabic Music (deleted)
If you are into the core essence of traditional Arabic music this a wonderful feast of samples and commentary. Would have appreciated some discussion about regional differences and the Islamic links, such as to Sufism --and the theory of ecstasy as a religious experience. But hey! the music rocks. I love this stuff.
Once finished listening, I'm playing it again.