We're only two episodes in to this new podcast, and I am certainly impressed. Host Brian Kidwell is a master curator and programmer, someone who has obviously spent a great deal of time assembling personal tapes for people. We get a well put-together blend of the obscure and the not-so-obscure - artists you may already know a little bit about, artists you may have never heard of - even artists you may think you don't like, until Brian slips you just the right song at just the right time.
Most of the podcasts I listen to are almost exclusively talk - when I want to listen to music, I tend to pick it out myself. But this is a really solid music-centric show that will broaden the horizons of all listeners. The host calmly sticks his head in now and then to run down the track information and, on occassion, share a personal anecdote or some interesting backstory for each tune. There's an excellent flow, and the music quality is uniform throughout - this isn't just some kid's hodgepodge of random rips with different bitrates. Perhaps most importantly, this show understands THEME - the sequencing moves like a well-paced story, with a nicely developed tonal consistence.
If you listen to the first two installments of MAKE ME A MIXTAPE and you don't discover at least one new artist that you dig, I'll be very surprised. Subscribe to this immediately, then turn your friends on to it. You'll be the coolest person in the room forevermore, because you knew about MMAM when it was just starting. Apparently, this is Brian's first foray into the world of podcasting, and it's A+ work right out of the gate. I can't wait for the next episode!
