Odd Girl Out on Summer Club Radio

Sorry for the gap in posting. Have been busy.

I am pleased to report that Odd Girl Out will return for a one-off live broadcast next Thursday, 28 June at 19:00 BST on Summer Club Radio. This is a short-term installation in Bermondsey, with loads of artistic components.

Presently, I am assembling the show, which will have the theme Queer and feature loads of archive interviews, plus music.

The player is a bit fiddly, so am giving you loads of notice to get it up and running. The shows go out live Thursday-Sunday, and then it loops, as I understand it.

3 July
Sorry I have been slow to put up the playlist. Will do very soon! 

Odd Girl Out podcast 6

In which I visit CRiSAP's Sound::Gender::Feminism::Activism conference to meet the organization's boss Cathy Lane and speakers Annie Goh, Helena Lopes Braga and Laura Seddon. Plus, I find myself overcome with the urge to rap upon meeting Toronto's Abstract Random.

Band of the Week: 2:54

Very reminiscent of early '90s shoegazing, 2:54, formed by two sisters, apparently likes hanging out in misty forests and gazing moodily into the middle distance. Works for me. New album out soon.

Band of the Week: abstract random

Saw this group last Tuesday in London and was really impressed. Part of a larger scene in Toronto (some of whom they'd brought with them), the trio combine hard beats, fierce lyrics and a bit of ramshackle stagecraft in an intriguing way. They also make their own videos.

Odd Girl Out podcast 5

Odd Girl Out podcast 5 has a punk protest feel and features interviews with Patty Schemel, Riot Grrrl Berlin speaking about Pussy Riot, and Susan of Factory Acts, plus a visit to the Wood Street Pop-up Picture Palace.

Band of the Week: ZZZ's

Something different. This noisy band from Japan is currently on tour in New York, having wowed SXSW.

Odd Girl Out podcast 4

Hot out of the editing suite comes podcast 4, featuring on-location interviews with Gabriella and Karen at Storytails, Plaided at the Lexington, Debs Henry-Pollard at the WOW Tweetmeet and Pratibha Parmar at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.

Band of the Week: She Makes War

A one-woman operation, She Makes War makes lush, moody pop music and is a mistress of multi-tasking, juggling guitar, loop pedal and uke. Her second album, Little Battles, is released on 9 April.

This video comes from her first album, Disarm, and was shot in sunny East London. Not enough vids on bicycles, IMHO.

Band of the Week: Pussy Riot

Some weeks after their performance in a Moscow church led to arrests and detention, Pussy Riot have made it into such unlikely media outlets as the BBC and FT, making them the most visible opposition forces to Vladimir Putin and all he represents.

The group's actions have also led to a revived discussion about the power of punk in modern society, which is to be applauded, though some of us have been having this conversation for more than 20 years. Oh, and Riot Grrrl never actually went away, chaps.

Here is the punk prayer that got alleged members arrested.

Band of the Week: Plaided

So, while we're waiting, here's some groovy music. Plaided are a duo who hail from Vienna. I saw this band on Friday and keenly await their debut in summer. This was the first single.

Repeats suspended

There won't be any more repeats on Optical, as the playout was too erratic. Will look at getting the shows streamed, but for now, do check out the monthly podcasts. And, of course, I hope to be back on air at some point.

This week: show 11

Show 11 features interviews with members of two bands who've broken up: Ilsebill and sts of The Haggard.

Today's show is early

Don't know why, but today's repeat of show 10 seems to have started two hours early, so is already 35 minutes in. Sigh. Listen now!

Podcast 3

It's the last Friday of the shortest month of the year, which means it's time for another Odd Girl Out podcast, hurriedly edited in curtailed fashion, owing to technical difficulties. Hence, a couple of clunky edits. (Sorry, Ladies of the Press*.)

But, here it is, featuring an array of clever and innovative DIY artists and musicians, all plying their wares on the night I met them in the People's Republic of Hackney. How about that?

There is also a digital/analogue theme running through it.

The interviewees are: She Makes War, Ruth Solomons, Ana of Ladies of the Press*, and Pigeon.

This week's repeat: show ten

Show ten, from 2010, features interviews with guitarist Debbie Smith and goth-industrial singer Mona Mur.

Here's a Japanese promo clip from one of Debbie's bands, Echobelly. Check out the bra shot!

This week's repeat: show nine

Where was I? Assuming everything's OK technically, this week's repeat should be show nine, featuring interviews with Chicks on Speed and Joyce Raskin of Scarce. If the show doesn't show up in the Optical player, click on one of the play options below it.

Show eight rescheduled

9 Feb edit: The Listen Live function is not working directly. You have to choose one of the player options below in order to listen.

Technical problems knocked Optical off air both days show eight should have aired, and so it will go out this upcoming week instead. It features interviews with Anja Huwe and Viv Albertine.

Here is a film I shot when I visited Anja Huwe's studio in 2009.

Anja Huwe: in her studio from Val Phoenix on Vimeo.

Show eight disruption

A power outage has knocked Optical off air, so show eight is not on. Not sure when it'll be fixed. Fingers crossed for Sunday's replay, then.

This week's repeat: show eight

This week's repeat show, show eight, features interviews with two veterans of independent music, Anja Huwe, singer for Xmal Deutschland, and Viv Albertine, guitarist for The Slits. The interviews were conducted in 2009, after both women had left the music scene for other creative and life pursuits. Huwe is now an artist, and I visited her in her studio in Hamburg, while Albertine has returned to music as a solo performer.

Here is Xmal Deutschland back in the day.

Odd Girl Out podcast 2

Freshly uploaded, here is podcast 2, featuring Dee Rees (director of Pariah), electronic music whiz Caro Snatch, polymath Miranda July and Shooting People's Helen Jack.