Low-Noise

Low Noise
  • 3.0 (1)
  • Music
  • Updated Weekly

Low Noise is a weekly podcast, which provides a (fairly) in-depth analysis of popular music and culture in (approximately) fifteen minutes. These episodes have been recorded ‘on the spot’ using the Low Noise Mobile Recording Studio (my iPad) at various locations throughout the UK. All broadcasts are recorded with passion, enthusiasm and substance. Low noise - high output. Thank you for listening!

  1. 6d ago

    Rickie Lee Jones at the Barbican | Is the Duchess of Coolsville Still Cool?

    This week I went to see Rickie Lee Jones at the Barbican in London. It wasn’t a concert in the usual sense. It felt more like being invited into somebody’s world for a couple of hours, a world built from jazz clubs, late-night conversations, drifting highways, poetry, memory and beautifully fractured songs. Jones has always occupied her own corner of American music. Too jazzy for straightforward rock, too literary for pop, too restless to stay in one place stylistically. From the extraordinary run of albums that began with Rickie Lee Jones and Pirates, through to the experimental material later in her career, she’s remained an artist who follows instinct rather than expectation. In this episode we’re discussing the Barbican performance and why Jones still feels like such a singular presence decades into her career. In this episode I am in discussion with Dr. Andrew Webber. https://www.facebook.com/share/1F15mx4ea3/ https://buymeacoffee.com/lownoise Why buy me a coffee? Low Noise is proudly ad-free. If you would like to to say thank you for any of the content you have enjoyed (and help support the continuation of creating more), the above link provides a way to make a small donation of your choice (I also function on coffee!).

    18 min

  2. May 25

    Electronic – Getting Away With It | Melancholy in Designer Clothes

    Why does Getting Away With It still sound so impossibly sophisticated? In this episode of Low Noise, we explore the debut single by Electronic, the collaboration between Bernard Sumner, Johnny Marr (and Neil Tennant) that briefly united two of the defining musical worlds of the 1980s. Released at the close of the decade, Getting Away With It feels suspended between confidence and insecurity, glamour and emptiness, sincerity and performance. With its immaculate production, layered synths and quietly devastating lyrics, the song captures a particular kind of late-night modernity: elegant on the surface, uncertain underneath. A song about confidence, alienation and possibly pretending to feel more certain than you really are. In this episode I am in discussion with Dr. Andrew Webber. https://www.facebook.com/share/1F15mx4ea3/ https://buymeacoffee.com/lownoise Why buy me a coffee? Low Noise is proudly ad-free. If you would like to to say thank you for any of the content you have enjoyed (and help support the continuation of creating more), the above link provides a way to make a small donation of your choice (I also function on coffee!).

    16 min

  3. May 18

    Baz Luhrmann – EPiC | Elvis in Hypercolour

    What keeps Elvis Presley alive in the cultural imagination decades after his death? In this episode we explore EPiC, Baz Luhrmann’s visually dense documentary meditation on Elvis Presley and the machinery of myth-making that surrounds him. Constructed from archive footage, fragmented memories and Luhrmann’s trademark sensory overload, EPiC presents Elvis not simply as a musician, but as an evolving cinematic symbol, one continuously reshaped by nostalgia, media and American culture itself. We discuss spectacle, authenticity, celebrity construction and the tension between the real Elvis and the performed Elvis. Along the way, the conversation drifts into analogue media, historical revision, cultural memory and why certain icons never seem to disappear. A documentary about Elvis — but also about the way popular culture endlessly remixes its own legends. In this episode I am in discussion with Dr. Andrew Webber. https://www.facebook.com/share/1F15mx4ea3/ https://buymeacoffee.com/lownoise Why buy me a coffee? Low Noise is proudly ad-free. If you would like to to say thank you for any of the content you have enjoyed (and help support the continuation of creating more), the above link provides a way to make a small donation of your choice (I also function on coffee!).

    26 min

  4. May 11

    The Shadows | Britain’s Most Influential Forgotten Band

    How can one of the most successful bands in British history become almost invisible? In this episode, I explore the story of The Shadows, a group whose distinctive sound helped shape British popular music long before the arrival of the Merseybeat era. For a time, their influence seemed to be everywhere: in guitar shops, on the radio, and in the playing of countless young musicians trying to recreate those precise instrumental melodies and echoing tones. In this episode, I look at the group’s sound, style and cultural significance, and consider why a band once central to British pop history now feels strangely overlooked. From instrumental hits to their close association with Cliff Richard, The Shadows occupy a fascinating place in the story of post-war British music. We also reflect on the enduring appeal of the instrumental record, and the quiet power of melody, restraint and atmosphere. In this episode I am in discussion with Keith Cheshire. https://www.facebook.com/share/1F15mx4ea3/ https://buymeacoffee.com/lownoise Why buy me a coffee? Low Noise is proudly ad-free. If you would like to to say thank you for any of the content you have enjoyed (and help support the continuation of creating more), the above link provides a way to make a small donation of your choice (I also function on coffee!).

    24 min

  5. May 4

    Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians | The Art of Casual Precision

    What does it mean for an album to sound effortless? Released in 1988, Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars by Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians arrived at a moment when polish often equalled intent. And yet, this record seems to resist that logic, drifting between folk, jazz and pop with a looseness that feels almost accidental. In this episode, we explore how that looseness is constructed. Because beneath the offhand delivery and conversational tone, there’s something far more deliberate at work. Songs stretch, hesitate, and circle back on themselves. Nothing feels forced, but nothing is entirely casual either. It’s an album that doesn’t push for attention, and perhaps that’s why it endures. A record built on instinct, restraint, and the quiet confidence of not needing to prove anything.Sometimes, precision isn’t about control, it’s about knowing when to let things be. I do hope that you enjoy this episode. Mathew Woodall https://www.facebook.com/share/1F15mx4ea3/ https://buymeacoffee.com/lownoise Why buy me a coffee? Low Noise is proudly ad-free. If you would like to to say thank you for any of the content you have enjoyed (and help support the continuation of creating more), the above link provides a way to make a small donation of your choice (I also function on coffee!).

    21 min

  6. Apr 27

    Fill Your Head with Rock | The Album That Captured Rock in Transition

    What happens when a record label tries to map the sound of a moment? Originally released in 1970, Fill Your Head With Rock is a double LP sampler that captures a shifting musical landscape, where folk, rock, jazz and experimentation begin to overlap. Featuring artists such as Santana, Chicago and The Byrds, it feels less like a compilation and more like a curated snapshot of transition. In this episode, we explore the sampler as an artefact -how it functioned as both introduction and invitation, a way of guiding listeners through a rapidly expanding catalogue of sound. I this episode I am in discussion with Keith Cheshire. Mathew Woodall https://www.facebook.com/share/1F15mx4ea3/ https://buymeacoffee.com/lownoise Why buy me a coffee? Low Noise is proudly ad-free. If you would like to to say thank you for any of the content you have enjoyed (and help support the continuation of creating more), the above link provides a way to make a small donation of your choice (I also function on coffee!). Feel free to leave a note with your donation to let me know what you enjoy about the podcast or any topics you would like me to discuss in the future.

    21 min

  7. Apr 20

    Jonathan Wilson | Sound, Space and Craft

    What does it mean to make music that feels both rooted in the past and quietly expansive at the same time? In this episode, we step into the world of Jonathan Wilson, a songwriter, producer, and sonic architect whose work draws from Laurel Canyon tradition while reaching into something more immersive and textural. This is music shaped as much in the studio as it is in the song itself, layered, detailed, and deeply attentive to sound and space. Not just compositions, but environments. I do hope that you enjoy this episode. Mathew Woodall https://www.facebook.com/share/1F15mx4ea3/ https://buymeacoffee.com/lownoise Why buy me a coffee? Low Noise is proudly ad-free. If you would like to to say thank you for any of the content you have enjoyed (and help support the continuation of creating more), the above link provides a way to make a small donation of your choice (I also function on coffee!). Feel free to leave a note with your donation to let me know what you enjoy about the podcast or any topics you would like me to discuss in the future.

    20 min

  8. Apr 13

    Jóhann Jóhannsson | Systems, Memory and Decay

    What does it mean to compose music that feels both ancient and futuristic at the same time? In this episode, we drift into the haunting, textural world of Jóhann Jóhannsson, a composer whose work dissolves the boundaries between classical form, ambient sound, and cinematic atmosphere. This is not background music. It’s a space to inhabit. Tune in, slow down, and listen closely. I do hope that you enjoy this episode. Mathew Woodall https://www.facebook.com/share/1F15mx4ea3/ https://buymeacoffee.com/lownoise Why buy me a coffee? Low Noise is proudly ad-free. If you would like to to say thank you for any of the content you have enjoyed (and help support the continuation of creating more), the above link provides a way to make a small donation of your choice (I also function on coffee!). Feel free to leave a note with your donation to let me know what you enjoy about the podcast or any topics you would like me to discuss in the future.

    23 min
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Ratings & Reviews

About

Low Noise is a weekly podcast, which provides a (fairly) in-depth analysis of popular music and culture in (approximately) fifteen minutes. These episodes have been recorded ‘on the spot’ using the Low Noise Mobile Recording Studio (my iPad) at various locations throughout the UK. All broadcasts are recorded with passion, enthusiasm and substance. Low noise - high output. Thank you for listening!

Information

  • Creator
    Low Noise
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    178
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright Low Noise
  • Show Website
    Low-Noise

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