Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture

Love is the Message podcast
  • 4.9 (47)
  • MUSIC HISTORY
  • UPDATED MONTHLY

Love is the Message: Music, Dance & Counterculture is a new show from Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert, both of them authors, academics, DJs and dance party organisers. Tune in, Turn on and Get Down to in-depth discussion of the sonic, social and political legacies of radical movements from the 1960s to today. Starting with David Mancuso's NYC Loft parties, we’ll explore the countercultural sounds, scenes and ideas of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. ”There’s one big party going on all the time. Sometimes we get to tune into it.” The rest of the time there’s Love Is The Message.

  1. 6D AGO

    The Music of North East England with Alex Niven [7" Edition]

    To hear the extended, 12", almost-2-hour version of this conversation, including discussion on Maximo Park, Kenickie and Bob Davenport, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod and become a patron from just £3 a month. In this episode of LITM Jeremy is joined by writer and editor of Tribune magazine Alex Niven to talk about the musical history of England’s North East. Our interest in this subject was piqued by Sam Fender’s victory in last year’s Mercury Music Prize. Fender is himself an artist indebted to our recent subject, Bruce Springsteen. Alex talks us through the particulars of the region, one of Britain’s main post-industrial heartlands, exploring through music various expressions of white working class identity and a particular form of masculinity that artists have variously embodied or pushed against. Jeremy and Alex discuss blues rock, ‘sophsti-pop’ and Sting, the folk club legacy of the North East, Richard Dawson, the smallpipes and the Sultans of Swing. Alex Niven is the author of Folk Opposition, Definitely Maybe for 33 1/3, New Model Island: How to Build a Radical Culture Beyond the Idea of England and The North Will Rise Again: In Search of the Future in Northern Heartlands. Tracklist: Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under The Animals - House of the Rising Sun The Animals - We Gotta Get Outta This Place Eric Burdon and War - Spill the Wine Lindisfarne - Clear White Light Alan Hull - I Hate to See You Cry Lindisfarne - Fog on the Tyne Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing Pet Shop Boys - Being Boring Sting - All This Time Richard Dawson - The Vile Stuff Sam Fender - People Watching Kathryn Tickell - Bone Music

    1h 21m

  2. 12/18/2025 · BONUS

    LITM Extra - Bruce Springsteen [excerpt]

    This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the full thing, and dozens more like it, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod to sign up. In our final episode of 2025, Jeremy and Tim spend some time exploring the life and times of Bruce Springsteen. Tracing his life from his early career up to 1984, they unpack specificities of the Boss’s politics, his particular aesthetic, and the often confused reception of his repertoire. We hear about the sense of place in his music, the influence of Dylan on his writing, the iconography of the small town and the big car, and his various attempts to express a white vernacular working class experience. Jeremy describes how Springsteen’s songs of New Jersey post-industrialisation were heard in the cities of North West England, Tim interrogates his endorsement of Obama, and both try to understand his unique mass appeal in the USA, with callbacks to Zohran and our recent Dylanology episode. This is our last show of the year - thank you everyone for coming with us on this long strange trip. We return in early 2026 for more music, dance floors, sound systems and counter culture.  www.LoveistheMessagePod.co.uk You can read Tom Williams’ article on Springsteen, ‘The Only Boss We Listen To’, on Tribune at: https://tribunemag.co.uk/2022/11/the-only-boss-we-listen-to Tracklist:Bruce Springsteen - Blinded by the Light Bruce Springsteen - 4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road Patti Smith - Because the Night Bruce Springsteen - Badlands Bruce Springsteen - The River Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City

    11 min

  3. 12/04/2025

    Zohran Mamdani

    It’s Mamdani time! On this episode of the show we’re bringing things right up to the here and now to celebrate New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani. Tim and Jeremy recount the emergence of Zohran as a political figure, his background and parents, his democratic socialist politics and what his election means for the Left and anti-imperialism more broadly. We also hear a potted history of the DSA, consider the particularities of Left Populism as a contemporary political tendency, spend time with Bernie and de Blassio, and appraise a couple of the incoming mayor’s early rap tracks. Edited by Matt Huxley. Become a Patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/ Tracklist: Sunidhi Chauhan - Dhoom Machale Young Cardamom, HAB - #1 Spice Mr. Cardamom - Nani  Lil Wayne - Right Above It Das Racist - Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell The Temptations - Smiling Faces Sometimes Books: David Harvey - A Brief History of NeoliberalismBarbara Ehrenreich - Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy

    1h 42m

  4. 11/20/2025

    Soundtrack for a Coup D'Etat pt.3: DRC Today

    In this episode we conclude our look at the Democratic Republic of Congo with an exploration of the music and politics of the country from 1960 to the present day. Beginning with the overthrow of Patrice Lumumba, Jeremy and Tim discuss the colonial and imperialist dynamics that have buffeted the country for the last half century, the cycles of violence this engenders and the role of nations like the US, China and Rwanda have played in destabilising the country. They also unpack the ‘resource curse’ of the DRC’s mineral stocks, the activities of companies like Apple and Tesla, and finish with a reflection from the great Franz Fanon.On the music side of things, we hear a potted history of the conga drum, some drum and bass, electric thumb pianos, handmade amplifiers and an African cousin to footwork. Edited by Matt Huxley. Become a Patron at patreon.com/LoveMessagePod. www.LoveistheMessagePod.com Tracklist: Zaiko Langa Langa - Femme Ne Pleure Pas Papa Wemba - La Vie Comme Elle Va Bola Grooverider - Rivers of Congo Konono No.1 - Lufuala Ndonga  Khalab - Chitita Kokoko! - Malembe Jupiter & Okwess - Na Kozonga Fulu Kolektiv - Lualaba Fulu Kolektiv - Nfuka

    1h 28m

  5. 11/06/2025 · BONUS

    LITM Extra - What We're Listening To, Nov '25 [excerpt]

    This is an excerpt from a patrons episode. To hear the full thing, and dozens more like it, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod and become a patron from £3 a month. In this patrons-only episode Jeremy and Tim revive the long-dormant ‘What We’re Listening To’ format for an exploration of what’s been on their turntables recently. Tim pulls extensively from the bag he packed for a recent Lucky Cloud party, including selections from SAULT and Cotontete, while Jeremy shares a modern slice of Bukem-esque DnB and an end-of-the-night dreamy deep cut. Elsewhere in the show we hear a post-punk Fela cover, a classic piece of Sharon Jones funk soul, Highlife guitar, a shoutout for the humble 7”, Afrofuturist mythology and… Alan Partridge. Tracklist:  Miguel ‘Anga’ Dias - A Love Supreme Evolução Africa - Liberdade  SAULT - Let Me Go Cotonete feat. Leron Thomas - Day In Day Out  Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - What If We All Stopped Playing Taxes  Vital Disorders - Zombie Underground System - 95 South The Earons - Land of Hunger Big Bud - Lucky7 Rubies feat. Feist - I Feel Electric (TieDye Remix)

    11 min

  6. 10/23/2025

    Soundtrack to a Coup D'Etat pt.2: The Jazz Ambassadors

    We’re continuing our series of episodes inspired by the 2024 documentary Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat with an examination of some of the film’s key characters: the so-called ‘Jazz Ambassadors’, a group of mostly black US musicians sent around the world to (unwittingly) promote American soft power during the Cold War. Tim and Jeremy give a brief history of the emergence of the CIA in the post-war USA, explain the role of NATO, and detail a few of the great many instances of US interference in newly decolonised states around the globe. We hear about Louis Armstrong in Ghana, Dizzy Gillespie’s tours to West Asia and revisit Max Roach from our previous show, alongside Brubeck, Stravinsky and… Bing Crosby. The guys discuss these various attempts to portray America as a haven of free self expression at home while it repeatedly violated sovereignty and democracy abroad. Also included in this show: Fantasia, the Military Industrial Complex, the Kennedy assassination and some speculative White House tripping.  Edited by Matt Huxley. Become a Patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod. www.LoveistheMessagePod.com Tracklist: Aaron Copeland - Fanfare for the Common Man Bing Crosby - The Isle of Innisfree Igor Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring Louis Armstrong - (What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue Louis Armstrong - Spooks Dizzy Gillespie - Tour de Force Dave Brubeck - Take Five Max Roach - Triptych: Prayer / Protest / Peace The Byrds - He Was a Friend of Mine Books: William Blum - Killing Hope Susan Williams - White Malice

    1h 29m

  7. 10/09/2025 · BONUS

    LITM Extra - Music in the Cold War pt.1 [excerpt]

    This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the full thing, and dozens more like it, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod and become a patron from £3 a month. In this patrons episode we’re taking some time to explore some of the background to our recent main feed show about colonialism, jazz diplomacy and the documentary Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat with a bitesize primer on the origins of the Cold War. Jeremy and Tim run it all the way back to 1917 to unpack the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, the subsequent years of communist rule leading into WW2, and the musical expressions of this historic period. Along the way they discuss Soviet Realism, Modernism, formal experimentation in the arts, Stalin, the Monro Doctrine and the CIA. Elsewhere in the episode we hear about George Formby, Peter and the Wolf, the Red Army Choir, and ask whether any of us really like orchestral music.  Tracklist:The Red Army Choir - The Internationale Billy Bragg - The Internationale Shostakovich - Symphony No.2 (October) Books:William Blum - Killing Hope

    10 min

  8. 09/25/2025

    Soundtrack to a Coup D'Etat pt.1

    Love is the Message is back! After last series’ mammoth 18-month excavation of the year 1977 we’re switching things up a bit. While we’ll continue to chart our rough way through the history explored in our work to date, for the moment we’re going to focus on a few smaller, more bite-size topics, starting with the 2024 film Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat. A natural partner piece to our beloved Summer of Soul, Johan Grimonprez’s documentary tracks in vivid and exhilarating style the Cold War episode that led American musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach to crash the UN Security Council in protest against the murder of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba. On this show Tim and Jeremy discuss mid-Twentieth Century decolonialism, resistance and the activities of black jazz activists in America. We hear the history of the colonisation of Congo by Belgium, introduce Lumumba as a unique historical figure, and spend some time reflecting on how these imperial legacies resonate today. On the music front, we hear listen to Roach behind the kit, cue up a series of Congolese rhumbas and boleros, and close with seminal civil rights singer Nina Simone. Elsewhere in the episode we stop by Malcom X, Khrushchev, and Joseph Conrad. The horror, the horror…Edited by Matt Huxley. Tracklist:Max Roach - Freedom Day Ata Ndele - Adou Elenga Joseph Kabasele - Independence Cha-Cha O.K. Jazz - Pas Un Pas Sans… Nina Simone - Wild is the Wind Books:Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness

    1h 12m
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Love is the Message: Music, Dance & Counterculture is a new show from Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert, both of them authors, academics, DJs and dance party organisers. Tune in, Turn on and Get Down to in-depth discussion of the sonic, social and political legacies of radical movements from the 1960s to today. Starting with David Mancuso's NYC Loft parties, we’ll explore the countercultural sounds, scenes and ideas of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. ”There’s one big party going on all the time. Sometimes we get to tune into it.” The rest of the time there’s Love Is The Message.

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