I’ve heard some interesting things from this. For fans of serendipity.
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Went down a rabbit hole looking for what other things Morgan Fitcher (Jonathan Segel’s replacement in Camper Van Beethoven, right before they called quits) might have done. This is really cool, from before she went to CVB. Nice variety that avoids easily defined genres.
Also nice find:
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I pulled these out after a very long absence, reloading my cellphone for my treadmill music. How could I have forgotten these?! Samples here from the albums… all great:
“New Jersey” — Red House Painters
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Offbeat is the first hip hop/rap singer I’ve liked.
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Also posting in Motors:
Translated lyrics in description!
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Thanks! Bookmarked. 
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I’m listening now to the one that broadcasts from a shipping container on an empty lot in NYC. Cool indded!
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I’m listening to the Dublin Digital Radio, and it’s a classic blues show…
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If you’re looking for more radio stations from around the world to listen to:
(Sorry, UK-based people, there’s a legal issue with letting you hear non-UK based stations. But that’s nothing a VPN can’t fix)
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I ahem highly recco The Alpha Boys’ School station in Jamaica. Many great musicians have passed thru their hallowed halls - Dirty Harry Hall, Horsemouth, and Dave and Ansel Collins among them!
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Last night I dug into my home-made (eons ago) six-volume CD compilations stack–about 240 songs–of album onesies and twosies I saved before selling/trading off the CD albums. Saving them last night en masse to my cellphone for my treadmill entertainment, I came across this in Volume 2, a jaunty tune of the hope and frustration of a Pakistani cab driver in (I assume) NYC, sharing his story with a passenger. Two-thirds of the way through things morph into a rendition (not jaunty) of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, perhaps to reflect the cab driver’s situation, displaying resilience in the hope of some victorious outcome----I think. (Speaking of hope, I hope the link sticks.)
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… Desmond Dekker, he came first
And The Techniques, they came third
Clancy Eccles, he runs fourth
And Derrick Harriot, he came fifth
So I came second…mmmmm mmm mmm…
in the competition …
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Trojan Records - what a catalog! Their dub box set is like half of my music soul:
(the other half being Detroit techno)
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New Shed mix!
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Trojan box sets are a ma-a-a-assive musical rabbit hole.
Christmas songs. Dirty songs. Songs about ganja. Women singers. Rude boys. Roots music. Rarities. Dancehall. Lovers Rock. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, ad delectationem.
They are, however, uneven. Some are all killa, no filla, but others…ha’f di tracks dem a-disappoint, mon. Your mileage may vary of course, my opinion being entirely subjective.
Mento is a less well-known Jamaican genre. It’s old school as far as recording music on The Island goes. The best way I can describe it is it’s the J’can species of calypso. Ska and rock steady are its offspring, as reggae is ska’s and rock steady’s.
The much-loved and -missed great performer, cultural historian, “Mother of the Nation,” and cultural icon herself Miss Lou(ise Bennett-Coverley) once asked either her father or grandfather, “Wheere di mento come from?” She got the most wonderful and true answer:
“We grew it!”
Some mento songs are based on the white people music performed by slaves at plantation parties in the 18th C.
Some are rural tunes, some were written & performed by hotel bands. If there’s a piano, it’s city mento. If there’s a sax made of bamboo, it’s rural 
Mi drink white rum an’ mi tumble down
Mi no wan’ duppy gal come finger mi
I went upstairs and the door was locked
and I pick up de hammer an’ I bust de lock
Iron bar, iron bar (3x)
Mi no wan’ duppy gal come finger mi
The waist come way up to him neck
Di middle part is a total wreck
The bottom at the feet it give-an’-tek [take]
Manassa with the tight foot pants
The jacket come way down pass him knee
it swallow him up like the deep blue sea
Him look like a one-man comedy
Manassa with the tight foot pants
Him necktie is a flashy t’ing
So loud it make you wan’ fi sing
[unintelligible] shake that thing
Manassa with the tight foot pants
Mento Madness is my favorite mento compilation, and I have four of them. I honestly needn’t’ve bothered with the others. MM’s got the best production of all of ‘em, and I love all but 3 tracks; the sound’s uneven on the others, and I found their compilers’ choice of songs left much to be desired. One had nothing worthwhile on it, and the other two each had maybe 3 OK tracks.
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