Last night’s show includes a couple tributes to musicians who have recently passed, including Bobby Espinosa of El Chicano and Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse. I can still remember the first time I heard El Chicano, as a sample in Kid Frost’s “La Raza.” By the time I tracked down the original I was [...]

As much as I enjoyed doing the Melting Pot Radio Hour on this blog, it is soooo very nice to be back at KCRW in a proper studio surrounded by unfamiliar, new and beautiful music. Today’s show featured new releases from Broken Bells (Dangermouse+James Mercer), The Hawk feat. Little Hannah Collins, Toro y Moi, Georgia [...]

Pretty much since I started doing these webcasts of the Melting Pot Radio Hour I’d thought about doing a show like this, a show focused on the records that I can’t live without. When you’ve listened to thousands of records, from all over the world and different time periods, choosing the most essential music you’ve [...]

For this week’s webcast I have a mix that had been in the works for several years. I’m a big fan of Quentin Tarantino’s films, particularly his use of music in film. As a tribute to him I’d worked out this mix a couple years ago with the intention of sending it to him, but [...]

It was especially nice to host this show, partially because I haven’t been on the air for almost a month (and won’t be back on until March), but most importantly to be able to do my part to help raise funds for the station (this Pledge Drive goes on until Feb. 8th, but you can [...]

This week’s Melting Pot Radio Hour was pushed back because of the start of the school year at CSU-Long Beach, and getting into new work routines. Additionally, KCRW is having it’s winter subscription drive, and since I was at the studio helping out with some behind the scenes work, I was able to record the [...]

Here’s the second edition of the Melting Pot Radio Hour, this time the show is broken up into individual sets (Right click and “Save Target As” to download each one). In addition to a set of new music (pretty mellow one at that, I guess inspired by all this rain in SoCal), I spend [...]

Here’s the full version to a recent post on KCRW’s 5 Things Blog.  Melting Pot Radio Hour this week will pay tribute to #1 on this list, the venerable Groove Merchant…
Happy hunting,
Michael
Top 5 Record Stores To Cultivate Your Complete Addiction To Vinyl
My name is Michael, and I am a (mostly) recovering vinyl junkie.  There was [...]

Here’s something new, given that I’m taking a little break from KCRW, I thought I’d do a little something here on the blog and thus…The Melting Pot Radio Hour. On this maiden webcast there are a number of records forthcoming here in 2010, including Jose James, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Broken Bells feat. James Mercer from [...]

Here’s the final post in this series, looking back at the year in the music for Melting Pot. You’d think given the 1,000s of songs heard over the course of a year that this would be the most difficult list to come up with, but for some reason there are certain songs that stick out [...]

2009 was a pretty good year for me on the digging front, got a number of records that I used to own and had been kicking myself for parting ways with and got turned on to a lot of things I’d never heard of before. Unlike past years, virtually all of my time spent in [...]

As I implied in yesterday’s post, 2009’s new releases left me wanting. There were some very good records, there always are, but as a year’s worth of music, this was the easiest time I’ve had in putting together my “Best of 2009” show on KCRW out of the last three years. No tough decisions at [...]

This first full week of 2010, I’m taking a look back at 2009. This one is the first of four lists coming your way. 2009 was one of the few years where I was as excited about reissued material as I was brand new original works. Quality music was dug up all over the place, [...]

Here it is, my rundown of my favorite records of 2009. Expect a few more posts in this breakdown category after the new year begins (Fave Songs + Fave Records Dug Up). Playlist will come in the new year as well. This one should be archived for some time, so enjoy the [...]

I had the distinct pleasure of guest hosting one of the iconic shows in radio, Morning Becomes Eclectic. Especially nice since I’m taking a hiatus away from KCRW during January and most of February. Includes some 2010 releases still upcoming including Vampire Weekend, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Laura Veirs and Numero’s Born Again Funk collection. [...]