Quietly posted online on Wednesday each week by members of Los Angeles band Allah-Las and friends, Reverberation Radio has grown into a much-loved, internet institution. A regular in the Q office, the podcast serves up an illuminative, heart-warming and enchanting selection of lost gems tracks that become instant favourites – to the point where it’s hard to understand how these songs were ever overlooked. This week not only has Miles Michaud, Allah-Las’ vocalist/guitarist and one of the team behind Reverberation, written us a guest column explaining how it all came about, but they’ve given Q a 24 hour exclusive preview of this week’s edition, Reverberation 118, which you can listen to below. Tune in!
During one of the weekly Reverberation shows that I used to have on KXLU 88.9 FM in Los Angeles – one for which, as per usual, Pedrum was present – the phone rang. It was Patrick Campbell-Lyons – a name we did not immediately recognize, but with whose band Nirvana UK (or The Original Nirvana, as Patrick would readily suggest) we were somewhat familiar. He was in Los Angeles promoting his book, Psychedelic Days, and he had heard the music we were playing on the radio and decided to call in.
The following week, Patrick came to visit the studio for our 9am to noon show, and we interviewed him and talked about his book and, in turn, the actual psychedelic days of his youth.
Over the course of the interview, Patrick spoke about what the term psychedelic meant to him, having lived through those notoriously psychedelic 60s. He caught me off guard when he said that to him, the internet was psychedelic. Being a child of the 90s nostalgic for my pre-internet, pre-cellphone, “idyllic” upbringing – in addition to having a critical view of what the internet was “doing” to the music industry, the film industry, social interactions, et al – I was surprised that someone who came from such a lauded era of peace, love, freedom and psychedelia would regard the Matrix-esque modern internet as psychedelic.
However, he went on to explain that the term psychedelic does not necessarily need to refer to lollipops and moonbeams, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, reefer cigarettes, or the effects of various intoxicants. To him, the term had a broader, more simple, and more profound meaning. Psychedelic, he explained, refers to a thing’s ability to expand one’s mind, to grow one’s understanding through proffering alternative perspective and, if effective, to expand or shift one’s paradigm. LSD can be effective at this, to a certain extent, but so can a good book, a great band, a new experience, or, as it were, the internet.
It is this perspective that has grown within me since meeting Patrick. Through the internet, we are able to share information nearly instantly the world over with almost anyone. We can delve deep into history, discover the past, learn about what the future may hold. We can grow our minds if we choose.
With Reverberation Radio, that is what we strive to do for our listeners around the globe. We are able to share with everyone the music and the art that inspires us. We aim to expand the understanding of those who listen to our weekly podcasts, who then in turn are able to discover new artists and expand their own understanding of how music from every decade is intertwined, revolving, and relative. We have spent years, collectively and individually, in record shops, learning about music; old music, new music, timeless music – and have developed sharp ears for what makes a recording interesting, appealing, and in the end, what we feel is “good.” And by the grace of this double-edged sword the internet, we are able to share these insights with anyone who cares to partake.
The internet allows alternative perspectives to be shared and grown based on their aesthetic value rather than their consumptive value, and Reverberation is but one of many incarnations of this phenomenon. Buy old and new records, discover the past, and understand the roots of the things you see around you in your daily life. Let the past inform the way you develop your future and we might have a chance at reverberating on this earth for thousands of generations to come.
Miles Michaud@milesmichaud
Reverberation Radio 118 – exclusive preview
Listen to this week’s transmission 24 hours early exclusively via Q
1. Billy Changer – Sweet Time
2. Savants – Us
3. John Maus – Do Your Best
4. Allah-Las – 501-415
5. Tracy Bryant – Want
6. Sérgio Mendes & Brasil 66 – Promise of a Fisherman
7. Shin Joong Hyun – I Don’t Like
8. Juan Wauters – Sanity Or Not
9. The Frowning Clouds – All Night Long
10. Slushy – Reverberations
For more, and to listen to Reverberation every Wednesday, head to Reverberationradio.com.
