The Rodent Hour

We’ve been living through some interesting times lately and I’d be lying to you if I said that it wasn’t having some sort of negative effect on me. So when my friend Stephen Artemis reached out to me last week and said that he had a new album out I thought to myself: “You know, this is exactly what I need, an opportunity to step back a little bit.”

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So take my advice, or at least the advice that was shared in an article from the LA Times back in March, and commit to fully listening to this show and allow the music to wash over you.

Major fuckery is afoot! Of this there is no doubt. What’s also not in doubt is the awesome music that independent artists from Brooklyn and beyond continue to create during these extremely troubling times.

The Rodent Hour is an homage to the friends that I made during my misspent youth, those lifelong friends who joined me on those weekend nights so many years ago and whose eclectic tastes still influence the selection of artists and music that is featured on the show.

When not dealing with the restrictions of Covid-19 The Rodent Hour features interviews with independent musicians along with a curated playlist of music from Brooklyn and beyond the borough. I've conducted interviews with over 240 unique artists from places such as Detroit (MI), Durham (NC), Nashville (TN), Scranton (PA), Philadelphia (PA), Atlanta (GA), Denver (CO), Petersburg (IN), Portland (OR), London (UK), Pamplona (ES), Toronto (ON), Halifax (NS), Stockholm (SE), Dublin, (IE), Glasgow (SCT), Perth (AU) and, of course, New York City.

First show of the new year and I had a few things on my mind, one of which was Georgia.

I decided to put together a playlist of music by independent artists from Georgia and beyond that leans heavily on artists from Atlanta including former guest Joe Smith & The Going Concern, long-time favorites Verge of Bliss, 68-75, All Night Drug Prowling Wolves and Andrea & Mud plus new music by The Atom Age, Benjamin McConnell, Terry "Buffalo" Ware and Casual Tiger. I also had some exciting news to share regarding our friends in Judex, cool tunes by Paul Mex and we'll celebrate a great event in NYC with our friends in The Normal Living.

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As if 2020 wasn't weird enough already it also happens to be a year with 53 weeks.

Independent artists from Brooklyn and beyond continue to release an exceptional amount of amazing music.

Here's to having fun in 2021.

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Happy Holidays! This episode of The Rodent Hour features for an hour of music by independent artists from Brooklyn and beyond including "seasonal tunes" by The Red Fuze, former guests from Stockholm, Cloud Taste Satanic, former guests from Brooklyn, and Alejandro Escovedo with his cover of an iconic song by The Gun Club. We also be featured new music by X-Ray Love (New York City), The Bullseyes (Poland), The Fabricators (London) and King Kong Blues (France) and our friends in The Gentlemens (Italy).

Episode #188 of The Rodent Hour kicked off with some fuzz from Sweden before moving on to retro boogie from Brooklyn and then on to some psychedelic, classic rock, garage rock, postpunk, grunge and then riot grrrl before wrapping up with some garage psych from Cleveland.

How do we do it? It's all in the curation

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Spend some time with 2-3 members of The Rodents and you're bound to hear the "heinous facade" story (R.I.P. Café Select). Turns out that I've now got my own mispronunciation in a public forum to hang my hat on. Enjoy!

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A forecast of gale force winds in Brooklyn wasn't going to stop us from bringing you an hour of incredible garage/psych/rock music.

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On this show we celebrate four years of The Rodent Hour at Radio Free Brooklyn with a playlist of music by independent artists from Brooklyn and beyond. During the "before time" we shared the studio with over 120 unique guests and one day we'll do that again but in the meantime please wear a mask, take care of yourself and social distance whenever possible.

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Probably due to my incredibly poor sleeping habits these days (Gee, I wonder why?) I've been spending a lot of time thinking about late night radio and how that used to be a place for discovery, at least it used to be for me. Tonight's playlist has a number of different themes, the first is songs about sleep, the second is the idea of discovery and the independent artists that I think could make the jump from internet radio and podcasts, etc.. to being part of someone's late night radio rotation and how that would help them reach a wider audience and the last is about the importance of community at a time like this. Oh yeah, I've also got a good story to tell you.