Monday, 11 September 2023

Welcome To ArtsLab

Hello dear visitor! It is now September the 11th 2023 and I'm writing a blog post about ArtsLab. ArtsLab began when I joined the wonderful RedShift Radio in Nantwich in 2015. The people there and the whole experience was wonderful, life-changing in many ways. We community radio producers and presenters were given the freedom to craft a show as we saw fit. For the first year I showcased strange and arty music, and added various anarchic or surrealistic features. Most episodes featured special guests. For series 2 and 3, in a bid to boost listenership and audience engagement, I adopted a bold new format where all of the content (or at least, as much as possible) was created by listeners, artists, or anyone else, and sent to me each week for broadcast.

This blog is an archive of the programme episodes. All of the episodes were originally uploaded onto the RedShift Radio MixCloud account for streaming, but at some point in 2024 or 2025 all episodes were deleted when the radio station ceased to be. I have an archive of all episodes in mp3 quality, and at the time of this edit in March 2025, a small number remain as free content on my personal MixCloud account, but most of the programme archive is currently offline. Like any radio show, most of the musical content requries the correct licencing to be made public.

This blog is an attempt to preserve the culturally important record of this unique show. Many of the audio artworks are unique, created by a small band of artists and poets specifically for the programme and never performed or broadcast since. A number of the artists interviewed on ArtsLab have subsequently died, and for many special guests these interviews represent their only broadcast interviews. The shows are also a record of community broadcasting of the time, when internet streamed radio and FM/DAB were more important than podcasts. The advertisements, news, and jingles give us a glimpse of South Cheshire in the mid 2010s.

Enjoy browsing this blog, and if you can find any episodes online, enjoy listening. Tags here are used for the artists or poets who contributed works in series 2 and/or 3, and only present when the contributor has appeared on more than one show.

ArtsLab Episode Guide

ArtsLab Episode Guide:

Series 1 (53 episodes, numbered 0 to 52)

Ep. 0: Two Hour Launch Special (23 September 2015, 14:00, programme lost/not recorded)
Ep. 18: A Curious Feeling Special
Ep. 30: Star Wars Day Special
Ep. 33: Journey To The Centre Of The Earth Special
Ep. 46: Eldorado Special

Series 2 (52 episodes, numbered 0 to 51)

Ep. 0: Experimentation (26 October 2016)
Ep. 1: New
Ep. 2: Old
Ep. 3: Leaves
Ep. 4: Zodiac
Ep. 5: Lines
Ep. 6: The Sun
Ep. 7: Cycles of Time
Ep. 8: Birth
Ep. 9: Blue
Ep. 10: Mountains
Ep. 11: Words
Ep. 12: Dinosaurs
Ep. 13: Love
Ep. 14: Gateways
Ep. 15: Ancestors
Ep. 16: The Moon
Ep. 17: Sweden
Ep. 18: Mystery
Ep. 19: Furniture
Ep. 20: Chemistry
Ep. 21: Descendants
Ep. 22: Tuesday
Ep. 23: Space
Ep. 24: Insects
Ep. 25: The Letter D
Ep. 26: Borders
Ep. 27: Trees
Ep. 28: Crystals
Ep. 29: Cars
Ep. 30: God
Ep. 31: Computers
Ep. 32: Birds
Ep. 33: The Dark Ages
Ep. 34: Medicine
Ep. 35: Africa
Ep. 36: Codes
Ep. 37: Mirrors
Ep. 38: Film Noir
Ep. 39: Tokyo
Ep. 40: Underground
Ep. 41: Fruit
Ep. 42: Modern Philosophers
Ep. 43: Memory
Ep. 44: Chess
Ep. 45: Money
Ep. 46: Snow
Ep. 47: Carpets
Ep. 48: Time
Ep. 49: Police
Ep. 50: ArtsLab: The Opera: I, Leviathan Part 1
Ep. 51: ArtsLab: The Opera: I, Leviathan Part 2

Series 3 (12 episodes, numbered 1 to 12)

Ep. 1: Open Theme (8 January 2018)
Ep. 2: War
Ep. 3: Soil
Ep. 4: Dawn
Ep. 5: Spirals
Ep. 6: The Planet Mars
Ep. 7: Fish
Ep. 8: Hunger
Ep. 9: Australia
Ep. 10: Pink
Ep. 11: The Number Six
Ep. 12: Endings & Beginnings (26 March 2018, simultaneous broadcast with the first ArtSwarm)

Open Week Special (1 episode)

Open Week 2019 Special (7 February 2019)

Thursday, 7 February 2019

ArtsLab: Open Week 2019 Special

ArtsLab produced and presented by Mark Sheeky
Open Week 2019 Special
Broadcast Thursday 7 February 2019, 4pm to 5pm GMT.
A special one-off ArtsLab programme to celebrate a new-look RedShift Radio.

ArtsLab content is typically original, created by artists and poets for each episode.

Jimmy Spaceman, I Like It When It Rains (2018)
Ian Parr, Angels In The Hedgerows (2019)
Duplicate, Plaster (2019)
Deborah Edgeley/Matt Hassall, Fifty Words For Sun (2016)
Fall In Green, Time Falling (2018)
Deborah Edgeley, It's A Mystery Blubbers (2019)
Mark Sheeky, Let's Take A Walk In The Desert, Wouldn't That Be Fun (2018)
Ian Parr, Tony Wilson (2018)
John Salmon, Ragtime Blues (2018)
Andrew Williams, Raw Chicken (2018)
Andrew Williams, Furious Bells (2019)
Ian Parr, Turquoise (2019)
Mark Sheeky, The Lost Princess (2019)
Duplicate, Send Me Off (2019)
Brian Eno, In Dark Trees (1975)

Monday, 26 March 2018

ArtsLab S3 Ep.12: Endings & Beginnings

ArtsLab produced and presented by Mark Sheeky
Series 3 Episode 12: Endings & Beginnings
Broadcast Monday 26 March 2018, 2pm to 3pm GMT.
This was the final ArtsLab programme.

ArtsLab content is typically original, created by artists and poets for each episode.

Mark Sheeky, Beginnings (2018)
Deborah Edgeley, Glimpse (2018)
Claire Bassi, Winter Campaign/Speak and Spell (2018)
Lavinia Murray, Leviathanarama (2018)
Steven Goodwin, Great Beginnings (2018)
Andrew Williams, Ouroborus (2018)
Michael Murray, John Paston Writes Home (2018)
Mark Sheeky, Trees Die To Become Pencils (2018)
Andrew Williams, Endings and Beginnings (2018)
Trixi Field, The Meres: Night Hunters (2017)
Scott Walker, Light (1999)
Rebecca Cherrington, New Year (2018)
The Shaggs, That Little Sports Car (1969)
Peggy Zeitlin, Spin Spider Spin (1973)
Mark Sheeky, Endings (2018)
Richard Strauss, Also Sprach Zarathustra (1896)

Monday, 19 March 2018

ArtsLab S3 Ep.11: The Number Six

ArtsLab produced and presented by Mark Sheeky
Series 3 Episode 11: The Number Six
Broadcast Monday 19 March 2018, 2pm to 3pm GMT.
Special guest Deborah Edgeley.

ArtsLab content is typically original, created by artists and poets for each episode.

Andrew Williams, Things That Are Six (2018)
Michael Murray, 6 Is A Tadpole's Comma (2018)
Mark Sheeky, Six (2018)
The Piggleswick Folk, The Teddy Bear's Picnic (2018)
Andrew Williams, Six Times Six (2018)
Deborah Edgeley, Quick Get Your Lows Before They Run Out (2018)
Lavinia Murray, Xis (2018)
Deborah Edgeley, Black Duchess (2018)
Mark Sheeky, Variations Of The Prisoner (2018)
Rebecca Cherrington, Six (2018)
Lavinia Murray, SIX OF THE BEAST (2018)
Andrew Williams, Number Of The Beast (2018)
Ken Dodd, Happiness (Sad Version) (2018)

Monday, 12 March 2018

ArtsLab S3 Ep.10: Pink

ArtsLab produced and presented by Mark Sheeky
Series 3 Episode 10: Pink
Broadcast Monday 12 March 2018, 2pm to 3pm GMT.

ArtsLab content is typically original, created by artists and poets for each episode.

Lavinia Murray, In The Pink (2018)
Deborah Edgeley, Pink-R-Us (2018)
Andrew Williams, Raw Chicken (2018)
Lavinia Murray, Pinky Goes Awol (2018)
Mark Sheeky, My Pinkness (2018)
Andrew Williams, Bubblegum Pop (2018)
Lavinia Murray, Pinkoscope (2018)
Mark Sheeky, Space Beeps (2018)
Mark Sheeky, Anthem For Pink Noise (2018)
Andrew Williams, Pig Floyd (2018)
Rebecca Cherrington, Pink (2018)
Mark Sheeky, Pinkendrome (2018)
Lavinia Murray, Pink Passed Over (2018)

Monday, 5 March 2018

ArtsLab S3 Ep.9: Australia

ArtsLab produced and presented by Mark Sheeky
Series 3 Episode 9: Australia
Broadcast Monday 5 March 2018, 2pm to 3pm GMT.

ArtsLab content is typically original, created by artists and poets for each episode.

Lavinia Murray, InterAliaAustRalia (2018)
Andrew Williams, Didgeridoodah (2018)
Deborah Edgeley, Dreamtime (2018)
Lavinia Murray, Australia Unvisited (2018)
Mark Sheeky, Sonus (2018)
Andrew Williams, Antipodean Vibrations (2018)
Claire Bassi, Change of Heart (2018)
Lavinia Murray, Teaching Matilda to Waltz (2018)
Andrew Williams, Waltzing Matilda (2018)
Mark Sheeky, The Darker Matilda (2018)
Rebecca Cherrington, Australia (2018)
Mark Sheeky, Let's Take A Walk In The Desert, Wouldn't That Be Fun (2018)
Lavinia Murray, Echolocating Australia (2018)