NME Radio's Shows

Ben Osborne

21:00 - 23:00 Sunday

Ben Osborne presents Slipped Disco, a wonky look at the dance floor with added wobble.

What can we expect from your show?
Music you can nod your head, tap a toe or bounce off the walls to.

Are you going to educate or entertain or… what?
Hopefully play interesting and enjoyable music. I’m not really qualified to teach.

What kind of music will you be playing?
The show’s called Slipped Disco because it’s a vaguely amusing pun. It’s also because early Seventies disco is an important root for most of the stuff on the show; deep house, dubstep, techno, drum n bass, punk funk, minimal, maximal, electro, techno, neo disco etc... That said, the real reason is it gives me a stupidly big remit to play whatever I want; with the lame justification that it’s all disco that’s just slipped a bit.

What guests / ideas / surprises do you have lined up?
We’ve already had a few people on the show in the first two weeks, including interviews with godfather of minimal Richie Hawtin, Justice, Josh Wink, Miss Kitten, Ellen Allien, Toby Tobias, Busy P, Guy Gerber, Anja Schneider, Headman and there’s lots more to come. There’s quirky little features, such as Justin Robertson giving us his weekly “Acidic Anecdotes”, which are amusing stories looking back over 20 years of acid house, regular exclusive mixes from people such as Fred Deakin (Lemon Jelly), Pete Herbert (Reverso 68), Danton Eeprom etc. And DJ Weather forecasts from the grandees and up and coming DJ stars and producers.

If you could only play one last track what would it be?
Obviously this will change the whole time. The last track I’d play this week would probably be The Feeling by Toby Tobias or Dousk’s Serenata Deluxe. The tracks that have stayed firmly in my record bag for the last couple of years include He Reigns, by Yass, The Whip’s Trash, Da Groove and the original single sided pressing of Claude Von Stroke’s ‘Who’s Afraid of Detroit’. If this was a “... last track ever!!!” type question, I’d be tempted to say ‘Message Over To You Now’ by Sly Stone, because it’s great and opens with the line: “If you want me to stay, I’ll be around the place...”. Other than that it would have to be one of those long Radio Slave or Prins Thomas remixes or The Message, or that long edit of Love to Love You Baby that takes up the whole side of an LP... anything that goes on for at least 15 minutes.

Who are your radio heroes?
It might be the most obvious person to pick, but for me it’s John Peel. There’s DJs I admire, but John Peel is my proper radio hero. Other people, not heroes but radio people who’ve in the past influenced me, introduced me to music or made me laugh out loud, include Humphrey Littleton, Gary Crowley, Gilles Peterson, Ricky Gervais, on a personal level Claire Kember and many, many others I could mention. And I’ve got to say it’s great being back at a station with Sammy Jacob, who is an alternative radio hero, and Claire Sturgess and working with the whole NME Radio crew.

What was the first radio show / broadcast you heard / loved?
Again that’s John Peel, listening to a radio smuggled under my pillow when I was little.

Where's the best place to be listening to your show?
The best places to be listening to my show would probably be somewhere like the beach in Barcelona, Barrio Alto Lisbon, one of the Berlin “beaches”, old town Ibiza, over an Afligem at Prune, Paris ... or short of that, anywhere you can kick back and contemplate getting your wiggle on later that night.

And the best thing to be doing while it’s on?
See above.

Have you got a face for radio?
Well, I’ve got a face, yes.