For all the hype and fuss about downloads and streaming, and with HMV just calling in the receivers it feels a whole lot like the future where we put aside all the old ways of discovering, listening to, and buying music. And yet the radio still has its place doesn’t it?

I listening to the wireless last night (well OK, it was 6 Music on DAB) and heard a song that just grabbed me straight away. It was by a band I had never heard of, despite following all sorts of websites and RSS feeds and trying to keep up with new releases on Spotify. There still is a place for in this wired existence for somebody to just play records on the radio and throw in some well-chosen obscurities to introduce them to a wider audience.

On the other hand my experience afterwards was 100% 2013. I couldn’t remember the name of the band so went onto the 6 Music website to see the playlist of the show to find out – I remembered the the previous track was Genesis by Grimes (also very good BTW). Then I tried to listen to the whole album. It isn’t available on Spotify and you can’t buy a CD on Amazon, in fact it seems to only be available in physical form from one independent redord shop in Bristol. I can listen to some samples and download on iTunes or Amazon. They seem to be an unsigned band who have produced their own CD locally and yet thanks to the radio I can find out about them and then download it straight away.

For the record, the band are Goan Dogs. The track was Hotel Rooms and it sounds as much like Tinariwen as a band from Bristol could possible do.