Fenster’s Funky Sevens

In the last episode, I inadvertently took a turn into the realm of true crime podcasting, and while I'm not intentionally planning this, it seems this episode could be filed under the heading of self help.  Back in the 80s, I heard a song, Dignity by Deacon Blue, which explored themes I hadn't come across in a song before. It's about finding meaning in the drudgery of manual labour and how the right attitude can become inspira...

I'm not exactly sure what this episode is, I guess it's a kind of audio essay based on seven "ghost songs" (songs with the word ghost in the title) and how they relate to some moments from my life. Maybe it's something of a personal memoir through song,;as pretension as that sounds.

The last 30, or so minutes are more of a documentary about a very sad and tragic event in Dublin's history, so be prepared for that if you are of a sen...

About a year ago, an Instagram account called the Jazz Dispensary shared a photo titled "Miles Davis in his New York apartment 1986". The picture was taken from a book called No Picture by Japanese photographer Shigeru Uchiyama.

It shows Miles reaching behind his bed to adjust his sound system. On the floor around the bed there are two rows of records, some CDs, a selection of belts,  magazines and v...

A history of the remix; from the avant garde tape loop experiments of the 50s, to the creative expansion of the standard three minute song in the late 60s. And the innovations in DJing and dancefloor dynamics of the 70s, through to the current situation when a remix is now more a statement of the remixer's musical expression that a reinterpretation of the original producer's work.

Featuring  interviews with many of the key cha...

The Grove was a teenage disco in the Northside of Dublin, Ireland that ran for 30 years, from 1967 to 1997.  and thanks to Cecil Nolan, who was the DJ for that entire time, and the music he played, The Grove became an essential part of the formative years of the tens of thousands of young Northsiders who attended.

In this episode, many of those who were lucky enough to have gone to the Grove share their stories and the music t...

From Motown to Boystown: A History of HI-NRG (1957-1989)

In this episode I look at the genre of electronic dance music known as Hi-NRG, and how innovators like Giorgio Moroder, Patrick Cowley, Bobby Orlando,  Ian Levine and Fiachra Trench took this form of electronic disco from the dancefloors of gay nightclubs to the pop charts around the world. 

We also trace the origins of this sound back to Hitsville. USA, the home o...

Jamaican Sound System Culture and its influence on British Music 1950 - 1991 

Using Soul II Soul's massive 1989 hit Back to Life as a starting point we trace how Sound System Culture has played a fundamental part in shaping British Music; taking in early Jamaican Sound Systems and the American RnB t hey preferred, through Ska. Reggae, Roots. Dub, Lover's Rock, and Dancehall. Northern Soul, Jazz Funk, early Electro, Rare Groove...

In this episode we explore the origins of disco music in the early 1970s, in the gay dance clubs of Boston; The Other Side and the 1270. 

The episode features excerpts from a series of interviews with first generation disco DJs conducted by Brian Halligan of Boston LGBTQ organisation, the History Project.

In particular I focus on one DJ, Jimmy Stuard, I feel Jimmy's contributions to the craft of DJing have been overlooked.&nbs...

What we're gonna do here is go back... back to first evidence of human artistic expression, back to the dawn of civilisation and back to the enduring human need to be, both physically and spiritually. free. 

As we voyage across the millennia, Let's uphold the fundamental right of all the peoples of this earth to write their own histories. 

And never forget to embrace that unquenchable desire, found in every man, woman a...

Fenster's Funky Sevens- Ep 28 - A History of House Music

Covering the time period between two UK pop chart entries;  George McCrae's number one "Rock Your Baby" in June 1974, and Farley 'Jackmaster' Funk "Love Can't Turn Around" in August 1986;  the first disco hit and the first house music hit. 

I look at how Disco developed over the 70s until its "death" in 1979.  Then how, with Funk and Post-Disco and Europea...

A continuation of Ep 24, where I retroactively created a genre called Dude Hop. Dude Hop is a particular type of indie rock influenced hop hip that was made by white dudes with hangovers in the mid 90s,

 In this episode I talk a little about the mid to late 90s US punk and ska scenes and show the connections betw...