New Music online radio stations

(Photo by Carl Palmer Hull, from flickr, some rights reserved.)

So, to compliment some of my other big resource posts, how about a list of online radio stations playing, mostly or totally, New Music?

Resonance FM

The daddy, at least here in the UK. The London Musicians’ Collective started broadcasting Resonance back in 2002 and it has since become a watchword for smart, community, experimental, adventurous broadcasting that, frankly, beats the crap out of anything the BBC bothers with these days. Broadcasting across London on 104.4FM, everyone else can listen online.

Radio Wandelweiser

Probably my favourite radio station at the moment, and definitely my go-to channel when I’m between CDs at my desk, Radio Wandelweiser broadcasts a continual loop of tracks from the Wandelweiser catalogue, plus lots of as-yet unreleased material by the group of composers associated with the label, and recordings of works by likes of Cage, Feldman and Lucier. Quiet, compelling, beautiful, uncompromising, essential.

Postclassic Radio

Kyle Gann’s own radio station. Again, this runs a continual loop of music, rather than a strict radio schedule, but the playlist is long enough that you’re not going to come across repeats too often, and Gann refreshes the list pretty regularly. Anyone who knows Gann’s music or writing might think they know what to expect from his selections, but the station still throws up plenty of surprising (and rare) music.

WPS1 Art Radio

Supported by MoMA, WPS1 is basically the US equivalent of Resonance. Their schedule is huge and various, but Elliott Sharp’s Sonorama is probably the place to start (occasionally podcast too).

Counterstream

A project of the American Music Center, Counterstream broadcasts new and exploratory music from the AMC archives. As well as a regular schedule, they also broadcast ‘Spotlight Sessions‘ focusing on the music of a particular composer or performer (the most recent was on John Morton, whose latest CD I reviewed here).

Iridian Radio

Another Postclassic-ish station, hosted on Live365 (although this one came first), Iridian Radio plays “Music that’s smart, but still warm to the ears – John Adams, Kronos Quartet, Bang on a Can, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson”.

Innova.mu

Rambler-favourites, Innova run a collection of radio stations on Live365 broadcasting tracks from the label’s catalogue: Innova Classical, Innova Experimental, Innova World, Innova Avant Jazz and Innova Sonic Circuits.

Touch Radio

Not strictly internet radio as such, more like a streaming podcast, TouchRadio is an offshoot of ambient/experimental/drone label Touch, showcasing recent releases and related work.

Radio Molecule

In their own words: “Rotated Selections of Independent Music; Label Collections; Women’s Work; New American Composers, New Music you won’t find anywhere else. Works by Sofia Gubaidulina, Lesli Dalaba, Unsuk Chin, John Zorn, John Cage, Terry Riley.” Listen here.

Bentstrings Radio

Bentstrings Radio plays “alternative experimental genre bending music”, such as Nick Didkovsky, Meredith Monk and Frank Zappa.

The Pounding System with Clay / WFMU

Not currently running, this is just archives for this beats, electronica, dub and soundtrack show from WFMU. Worth exploring.

Many more online radio stations for classical music listed here.