The Breezeblock
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The Breezeblock was a weekly radio program on BBC Radio 1 that premiered on February 17, 1997 and focused on electronic music. The show's earliest broadcasts were unmixed and featured individual songs, some of which were recordings of live sessions from BBC's Maida Vale Studio. Soon, however, its format shifted to setlists mixed by a variety of electronic acts, both mainstream and underground. This change reflected the show's increasingly eclectic musical sensibility as it equally embraced the populist and the avant-garde.
The style of music featured on The Breezeblock was consistently wide-ranging, and included (among others) alt-country, chillout, acid jazz, hip-hop, techno, funk, and reggae--with selections coming from all eras. Still, the show's ostensible focus was on experimental (or "leftfield") electronic music. As such, it was common to hear songs from more exotic genres like IDM, drum & bass, post-rock, glitch, and turntablism on many broadcasts. The show was also influential in promoting grime and dubstep, two subgenres--then little known--that arose from the London music scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The show was hosted by Mary Anne Hobbs throughout its ten-year history, with occasional fill-ins by other BBC Radio 1 personalities. Highlights of the show's long run include ambitious sets by Jason Pierce of Spiritualized, DJ Shadow, and The Bug, and also special presentations that introduced listeners to specific topics--for example, the genre oldschool jungle or the urban music culture of Berlin. Notably, the tribute to Aphex Twin (an alias of Richard D. James) that aired on December 7th, 2005 is also well-received despite the fact that James was not personally involved with the set.
Although BBC Radio 1 has not officially made these and other old broadcasts available, sessions can be purchased from some commercial websites that have archived the entirety of The Breezeblock. Alternatively, many sets are freely available at The Mixing Bowl, a popular BitTorrent site for sharing live bootlegs and recorded radio programs.
On September 25th, 2006, the Breezeblock moniker was dropped and the show renamed to Mary Anne Hobbs: BBC Radio 1's Experimental Show. Though accompanied by a time slot change, the show's format, purpose, and breadth of genre have remained very similar. Listeners can currently tune in to the show on Thursday mornings from 2:00am to 4:00am (UTC).
[edit] Trivia
- The Breezeblock is named after the UK term for a cinder block (i.e. a breeze block) in the sense that the show was seen as a promotional foundation for emerging forms of electronic music.
