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Radiooooo . . . a global musical time machine for your ears

Screencapture from the Radiooooo.com site

One of the depressing things about the internet is the lack of surprise and spontaneity. Everything is on demand for a time when it best suits us to listen. You specifically search for the things that interest you, and in turn, you’ll have things suggested back to you based on these interests (and sometimes that can be a rude shock!)

But how often do we not know what might be coming up next?

Just like the good old days of radio, when DJs would get to pick some of the music (and not just the record companies) and we would get to hear something that was genuinely new.

Now, we live in a time when having a love of music is not a prerequisite for getting a job on air, and so the worst kind of crap is foisted upon us with no one acting as a decent gate-keeper.

Anyway, knocking this problem on the head is Radiooooo. It’s a musical database concealed behind a hand drawn map of the world, and a couple of simple filters, that lets you listen to any decade of the last hundred years (the life-span of recording technology) from any country in the world.

You can genuinely learn about other countries — what their music really sounds like, but how odd and offbeat some of it can be too.

When I hit my home country, Australia, I get a lot of AC/DC. But also some unknowns rise to the surface like new wave Melbourne group The Metronomes.

There is also a few secret locations on the map that you have to search around for, like Lazy Island and Fornication Island. (Let me give you a clue about the latter . . . it’s surrounded by half a halo of fish — but of course, when you find it, save it for late at night with a glass of red!)

Anyway, dive in and have a listen. You can sign up as a member and upload your own cherished favourites. Just make sure you keep an eye on your clock and calendar: whole weeks might disappear!

Thanks to Troy Wadsworth, the head honcho of Medical Records for posting about this nice project. It is one of those rare birds of the internet — a site that is genuinely interesting AND useful.