Gideon Defoe is the author of a hilarious series of pirate books that are already becoming cult classics. It turns out that success and fame actually sought Defoe out; he never intended to publish his first book, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists. Now, with the ever-growing popularity of The Pirates! series, Aardman Films (Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run) recently optioned to make an animated film about Defoe’s pirate tales. Christine S. Blystone recently talked to Mr. Defoe about things like pirates, chinchillas, animal sex, and cowboys. And as you’re about to find out, Defoe is just as witty and charming as his books.

The search for those jerky, funky, punky roots continues into week four. Although last week we’d reached 1981, this week Dave steps back a whole decade to play music from Can, Captain Beefheart, Bob Marley and Brian Eno.

Listen to the sweetest bass line by Aston “Family Man” Barrett on Bob Marley’s Small Axe and check out Brian Eno’s No One Receiving to see how his production techniques worked perfectly for Talking Heads. And for those interested, there’s a deeper meaning to the lyrics to Small Axe than you might expect. Here’s a link to an explanation.

It’s Thursday, so that means another episode of Mercury music editor Adam Gnade’s podcast, Best Show/Worst Show. This week he talks about PDX Pop Now! and plays tracks by Shaky Hands, Copy, Blitzen Trapper, and Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head (pictured below).

Ooooh! It’s that time of the week to watch a new video from this year’s One-minute Film Festival. So today check out the experimental art film “Spheres” by Jeremy Bird. WARNING: Do not watch this video if you have severe globophobia.

Click here to watch the film!

This week on the Rock Report, Christine S. Blystone takes you on a journey through the music genre plunderphonics, where artists use instrument tracks, sound clips, and whatever other audio tracks they can find to create music. From poppy rap to surreal noise projects, the sky’s the limit with plunderphonics. Take a listen for yourself and see!

Humpy gets down and dirty in episode six of Humpy’s Soul Show. The theme? FUNK. And as examples, Humpy digs deeper than ever into his expansive soul collection to bring you hot rare hits from JAMES BROWN, KOOL & THE GANG, and EDWIN STARR. If you like it funky, you’re gonna LOVE this.

Don’t forget! A brand new episode of Humpy’s Soul Show can be heard every Monday at noon!