Long Waves Goodbye

The CBC Radio changes take effect soon, which means there's only a few weeks left of Brave New Waves, or what's left of it. If you can't stay up past 1am to hear the archived shows that ex-host/producer Patti Schmidt has been curating since September, then be sure to check out this page with links to streamed interviews from the archives, though mostly focused on the years 2001-2005.

There you'll find one element that absolutely does not have any place in the new CBC schedule: in-depth, up-to-an-hour-long interviews. No one else on the network does them regularly anymore, other than the incomparable Eleanor Wachtel, and it's something that Brave New Waves and Ms. Schmidt, never, ever got credit for in recent years--no doubt because they always started at 1am. But what better time to immerse yourself in a deep, fascinating conversation with the counter-culture? These chats were the antidote to everything else in mainstream media today, and not just for their content--they're a slap in the face to 30-second soundbites and a media world where a 15-minute conversation is an eternity. When it was part of my job to book these interviews and explain to publicists and/or artists what we needed to happen, it was often hard to convince people that yes, we really needed them for a full hour, and that the conversation would air relatively unedited.

Admittedly, some of them are too long. But many aren't long enough, like the one with Matmos, which remains one of my favourite interviews ever: both the subject and the interviewer are completely simpatico, able to communicate avant-garde ideas with offhand dry wit and a delicious sense of discovery.

Who knows how long the BNW website will be up after the show is kaput, so I'd highly advise you to schedule some quality web radio time in the next week and a half.

Here's a partial list of interviews on the site:
Aesop Rock
Ellen Allien
Anticon (Dose One and Sole, I think)
Jello Biafra (right before the FTAA summit in Quebec)
The Books (who sampled Schmidt on one of their albums)
Boom Bip
Coil
Rhys Chatham
Billy Childish
Deadbeat
Matthew Dear
Jim DeRogatis (talking about his Lester Bangs biography)
Jason Forrest/Donna Summer
Warren Ellis (Dirty Three)
El-P
Evolution Control Committee
The Ex
Frog Eyes
G7 Welcoming Committee
Diamanda Galas
Bruce Gilbert (of Wire)
Michael Gira
John S. Hall (King Missile—this one’s hilarious)
Hrvatski
Kid606
Kid Koala (circa his graphic novel)
Felix Kubin (very funny)
Mike Ladd (Infesticons, etc)
The Locust
Ian MacKaye (Dischord anniversary compilation)
Manitoba (very early)
Matmos (one of my favourite interviews ever)
Ben McOsker (Load Records)
Mountain Goats (he plays a few songs)
Mr. Lif
The Need
Alexis O’Hara
Old Time Relijun
Prince Paul
Pole
Polmo Polpo
Sage Francis (great one)
Solvent and Lowfish (Suction Records)
Chris Ware (graphic novelist)
Wolf Eyes (pre-Sub Pop)
Xiu Xiu