What is it about New Year's? Signaled by a day? I picture an enormous hourglass--a yearly one-- turned over by a giant force. Another next chance--your seemingly endless chunk of time will too soon dissolve like the grains of sand dripping through the glass. But we are pleased for more, always wanting more! We may or may not meet the resolves we set -- I say forgive yourself ahead of time! Here are some artists I've loved; some discovered in 2025. C'est le vent, Bettye/Gabriel Yared, Adrian Jodorowsky/Dancing to the Radio, Ben Sollee/A Change is Gonna Come, Mr. Pauer/Dare, Onra/Come Closer, Debruit & Alsarah/Alhalim, Sara Tavares/Ponto de Luz, Camper Van Beethoven/Come Down the Coast, Jane Weaver/Love in Constant Spectacle, Bill Ryder-Jones/This Can't Go On, Emily Wells/Passenger, Daniel Ash/Me and My Shadow, Fleetwood Mac/The Chain, Peter Gabriel/The Man Who Loved the Earth-The Hand That Sold Shadows/Ovo, and Here are some pics from music critic Eric Danton, who edits the newsletter Freak Scene: Raeann Fetcho/Girl of the Year, Rosalia/Porcelana, Ciarra Fragate, iamamiwhoami/Fountain, Hannah Cohen/Summer Sweat. Los Macuanos/Mar Negro, Year's End Edition of GaiaGram, produced by WPKN's Kevin Gallagher, highlighting improvements in climate change, Adrian Belew/Peaceable Kingdom, Joanna Newsom/Sapokanikan, Daisy Rickman/Omlesa, Crosy, Stills & Nash/Long Time Gone, Casey Dienel/Seventeen, Iniko/The King's Return, Annahstasia/Be Kind, Sevdaliza/On My Own, Sudan Archives/Come and Find You, Caroline Polachek/'Tell me I never knew that", Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith/Urges, Dry Cleaning/Hit My Head all Day, and Let Me Grow and You'll see the Truth, Cate Le Bon/About Time, Ponybird/Fire & Stars, Hot Chip/Hand Me Down Your Love.....AND....Drum roll, please....my favorite song of 2025: "I Will Wonder" by Christopher Mir....Have a peaceful and healthy New Year! You can reach me binnie@wpkn.org
Are you shivering in your boots? Huddled around a fire? Ordering flannel sheets on sale? We love seasonal continuity and repetition, don't we? Cuz, as they say, what's the alternative? Well, here are 3 hours of seriously and carefully curated new and older music and some words; among them John Glacier, London Grammar, Thylacine, Christian Loffler, Jay Som, james K, Ula, Smerz, Lizzie Weber, Kate Bush, Milkweed, Rattle, Mei Semones, Kinski, Iniko, Half Japanese, Elijah Minnelli, Nalead, SEVN, So, The "Gaia-Gram," a short segment by Kevin Gallagher about threats to our environment, MONG, Robyn & Jamie xx, Hannes Bieger, Blue Man Group...Wanna hear a spooky cover of Abba's "SOS?" by Portishead...James and Brian Eno, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Ladybug Transistor, Throwing Shapes, The Notwist, Enji, The Weather Station, Thievery Corporation, Rosa Anschutz, Djrum, "We go through life. We shed our skins. We become ourselves." (Patti Smith) Oklou, Ikonika.....Next Miniature World is broadcasting on New Year's Day, January 1, 26 and available HERE! Here's to a better year... You can reach me binniek(at)wpkn.org
Cold Supermoon but Warm-hearted host, exploring interstitial spaces. Can be literal, like gaps between yr teeth, spaces between cells, or figurative; can be in-between states, identities. Exists in art--going outside the mainstream. Join me for 3 hours of curated goodness with a film recommendation. The gorgeousness of Elder Island, Nena, Art School Girlfriend, FJ McMahon, May Zoean, Sarah Fimm, Tony Levin, David Baron, Blood Orange, In These Trees and Tartie, Bob Dylan, Asgeir, and many more! RIP Jimmy Cliff. Questions/comments? binnie@wpkn.org. Next show is December 18, 2025. Thanks to all the great musicians and attentive listeners!
"Authenticity sweet spot: when the music resonates with you"
-- Susan Rogers, This is What it Sounds Like
Here on A Miniature World it's indie music, outie, inner, outer, sideways, byways, all the ways. Something old, something new, something blue, impressionistic, spoken words, shared emotions, happy/sad, glorious/remarkable...terrestrial...streaming...beaming...podcasting and dreaming...Sevadliza, Alec Benjamin, brux XTN, Yukimi, MILCK, Regina Spektor, Radiohead, Quilt, Pyeng Threadgill, Yo La Tengo, Hauschka, Nits, Pumuky, The Pogues, Altered Images, Donovan, Makk, Brian Kelly, Camper Van Beethoven, The Cavemen, A Silent Film, Nation of Language, Will Swinton, Marisa Anderson, Julia Holter, Lael Neale, Hannah Cohen, Juana Molina, Lo-Fang AND MORE! Next episode December 4, 2025! Be happy to hear from you: binnie(at)wpkn.org
A Miniature World (words and music) expands today to 3 hours, with poems by Binnie Klein, Tristan Tzara (I always like to be paired with a surrealist!), and a tidbit from Paul Lisicky's memoir about Joni Mitchell. And the most exquisitely curated trip through the work of artists like Banks, Tame Impala, Lolli Wren, Future Islands, Blood Orange, David Bowie, Elbow, with some cool psychedelia, folk, and world music sprinkled throughout. If you'd like to reach Binnie for questions or comments: binnie@wpkn.org.
Next episode premieres November 20, 2025! Binnie's songwriting project is In These Trees and Tartie.
"Only connect" (E.M. Forster) For what else can be done in these times? I can reach you with this curated show of sound and words. Will you open your heart like a flower and be receptive? Music from Beach House, Ivy, Yellow House, Daphne's Demise, Hibou, Peter Gabriel, poem M.C. Escher by Binnie Klein, Basia Bulat, Futurebirds, etc.
There is nothing more glorious than the sight and sound of a dog jumping into a pile of leaves. I recorded this episode out on my deck on one of the few remaining glorious autumn days. Amidst gorgeous music by, among others, MILCK, Bastille, New Order, Kae Tempest, Phish, Perfume Genius, Cold War Kids, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti's 1958 poem "I Am Waiting," (read by Abu B. Rafique), I water the plants and bug spray gives me a coughing fit.
I walk in the woods with my small dog. I talk about a new hybrid bird species. Music includes Ladytron, Not for Radio, Ponybird, Automatic, Antelope, SAULT, The Marias, Winona Oak, In These Trees and Tartie, Christopher Mir, Kate Bush, Lord Huron, etc...