Veteran Radio Host Alan Cross Launches Music Discovery Project ExploreMusic On-Air And Online

If you’re a music fan, you know the feeling. You hear a particular song for the first time and it grabs you, to such an extent that you have to stop whatever it is you’re doing and just listen.

Longtime radio host and self-proclaimed professional music geek Alan Cross has experienced that thrill of discovering a great track, and it’s a driving force behind his new project ExploreMusic.

Consisting of a website and a daily half-hour radio program, ExploreMusic officially launched this week with the goal of discovering, discussing and sharing music that hasn’t yet hit mainstream airwaves, as well as reintroducing some oldies-but-goodies into the mix. Cross feels so strongly about the endeavour he gave up his job as Program Director at 102.1 The Edge to pursue it, a risky move given the state of the global economy.

In an interview with CityNews.ca, Cross explains that websites such as Pandora and Last.fm, which employ software to recommend music to users based on their preferences, helped inspire the concept.

“The problem with things like Pandora and Last.fm is that you’re dealing with predicted algorithms, you’re dealing with software, robots, and the human element is missing,” he says. “So we thought, ‘Well wouldn’t it be cool if we assembled a situation where real people, real passionate music fans, could recommend music to other real passionate music fans, without any sort of mechanical or electronic filters?’ We’re trying to be a human Pandora.”

Browse the ExploreMusic site and you’ll find artist interviews, music news, the Music Geek Blog, and The List, which is actually two Top 17 lists, one with recommendations from the ExploreMusic editorial team, the other filled with fan choices. There’s also You Gotta Hear This, which is a daily top five. A recent list included the songs ‘Death’ by White Lies, ‘Doves’ by The Black Angels, ‘Look At Me’ by Black Kids, ‘Tyrants’ by Black Mountain, and ‘Angels On The Moon’ by Thriving Ivory. Never heard of them? That’s precisely the point.

“There’s so much music out there, in fact there’s more music out there than there’s ever been before. The problem is, there’s so much music out there, more than there’s ever been before, and you never really know where to start. We don’t pretend to be the be-all-and-end-all, but we want to be a friendly place where you can come and at least use us as a jumping-off point for finding new sounds,” Cross notes, adding that every song featured on the site includes a link to either a 30-second sample or in some cases the full track.

“One of the difficult things we have today with technology is a lot of people are walking around on the street, sealing themselves off from the world with headphones. Sometimes when you seal yourself off that way you miss opportunities to hear new and different concepts, new and different music, new and different art. We’re trying to break down the headphone barrier a bit.”

Cross invited CityNews.ca to sit in on the ExploreMusic team’s weekly song meeting, in which each person brings in five songs, two brand new and three a year or more older. From there they listen to the tracks and decide which to use on the show and the web. Not surprisingly, they don’t always agree, and the staffers seem to delight in poking fun at each other’s picks.

“We try to treat our music meetings like we would if a bunch of friends were sitting around on a Friday night arguing about music. We take shots at each other, we take shots at the music but at the same time we’re appreciative of everybody’s diverse tastes,” the veteran radio host says.

“The whole idea is to introduce people to music that is new and new to them.  Which is a very important distinction because let’s say you’re a 17-year-old kid and you keep hearing about this band called ACDC. The last time ACDC released an album, if you’re 17 now you were 9 when the last record came out. So you may feel a little funny about asking, ‘Now who is this ACDC and why should I care?’ What we want to do is be welcoming and not threatening. You want to know about ACDC? We’ll gladly post it for you and you can sample it.”

The project, nearly a year in the making, is still in its early stages and Cross says the most important thing at the outset was to make sure everything worked and that the site was easy to use. But he and his team have big plans for it including, potentially, Music 101 pages, and a glossary – a music education of sorts.

Though Cross gave up his job at The Edge to create ExploreMusic he’s still producing his critically acclaimed program The Ongoing History of New Music, which has now been on the air for 15 years.

So what’s the last song that made the rock aficionado sit up and take notice? The aforementioned ‘Death’, by London band White Lies.

“It sounds like they’re channeling the music from 1983, the smooth British synth-pop we had back then – this song out-Killers The Killers. The first time I heard it I went, ‘Wow,'” he enthuses. “Those moments you live for when you put on a song and within the first ten seconds you stop and you stare at the speakers. Those are the greatest moments ever because you know that something spectacular’s about to happen.”

 

ExploreMusic can be heard weekdays at 7pm from Monday to Thursday and at 8pm (ET) on Sunday on 102.1 the Edge (Toronto), and Monday to Friday on Y108 (Hamilton) at 1pm (ET), FM96 (London) at 6:30pm (ET), Power 97 (Winnipeg) at 6:30pm (MT) and 99.3 The FOX (Vancouver) at 8:30pm (PT).

Five Songs That Made Alan Cross Freak Out (In A Good Way) From The First Few Seconds:

“Probably the strongest that I ever can remember is ‘She Bangs The Drums’ by the Stone Roses . You had to be there at the time but I remember actually stopping and looking at the turntable, going ‘Oh my God. What is this?'”

‘Head Like A Hole’ by Nine Inch Nails. First time I heard that I thought, ‘This is different.  This is unusual. Give me more.'”

“I remember running into I Will Follow’ by U2. I was doing my homework, and it came on the radio for the first time. DJ in Winnipeg said, ‘Hey, want you to listen to this, see what you think.’ So I was listening with half an ear, then the guitar comes on. I’d never heard a guitar like that before, then the drums started bashing, and I stopped what I was doing and again I looked at the radio and thought, ‘Oh my God. What is this?'”

“I remember listening to the second Elvis Costello album, This Year’s Model, and I’d bought it because I’d seen the ad for the record in Rolling Stone magazine. This geeky guy with the camera and the glasses, I don’t understand – all right, I’ll buy it. So I bought the cassette at a K-Mart, put it into the cassette player of my mom’s Pinto, and Elvis Costello started singing (The first track is ‘No Action’ ), this angry young man-thing, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, what is this?'”

“The first time I heard ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Star’ from Oasis , from the Definitely, Maybe album. It was so snotty, and arrogant, and swaggering, and loud, and joyous that I just couldn’t believe it.”

Honourable Mentions: “There are two songs I can always listen to, over and over again, and for whatever reason I get that hit again and again. I think one of the greatest, if not the greatest rock song ever recorded, is ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ by The Who . It has all the elements of a rock song that I’m looking for. The dynamics, the point of view, the blood-curdling scream, the drums, the interesting arrangements. I will turn that song up every time I hear it. Peter Gabriel does a song called ‘Secret World. There’s an okay studio version of it, but he does a live version that runs almost 10 minutes. If I’m ever feeling crappy I put that on at high volume and it doesn’t matter what kind of day I’m having, I just smile.”

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today