While we'd love to give BBC Music Blog readers a delicious chocolate treat every day of advent, technology isn't quite that advanced. So, in lieu of a calendar packing tasty morsels behind cartoon packaging, we're taking a look at a different Christmassy album from today 'til the rotund red-clothed fellow comes calling on 25 December.

We'll be highlighting our favourites, bona-fide classics, an assortment of new releases and some from the piles marked weird, wonderful and just a little woeful. Do let us know what you think of our selections and also suggest your own.

First up is an attempt at Christmas cool from the mid-90s.

Various Artists - Just Say Noël (Geffen, released 1996)
You have to admire this set's intentions: "Can today's young artists create seasonal ditties that glow with all the spirit and warmth of the time-honoured classics? This album dares to say, 'Yes! Oh yes indeed!'" But despite Beck's dropping of some "Hanukkah science" on robo-funk opener The Little Drum Machine Boy (see what he did there?) not everything that follows is worthy of repeated festive revival. But with portions of the proceeds going towards human rights charity Witness its heart was in the right place, and the eclectic cast - from Elastica to Remy Zero via XTC and Aimee Mann - is sure to flick a few indie switches today. Beck's bonkers ramble is equalled in the what-the-heck? stakes by Sonic Youth's cover of Martin Mull's Santa Doesn't Cop Out on Dope - "Just leave him cookies / and save the joint" - and The Roots' Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa takes De La Soul's original and cranks the tension via sparse beats and icy production. It's not always pretty, then, and certainly not as memorable as its compilers might've hoped; but Just Say Noël might well appeal to the person in your life who typically sees their glass of eggnog half empty.

XTC's Thanks For Christmas

Tomorrow... a Christmas treat from the Pet Shop Boys.

I joined the BBC as a Studio Manager in October 1972 and in April 1974 started in the then Radio Resources Group 2 doing live music and programme work mainly for Radios 1 and 2.
I started music balancing in 1976. I have done countless sessions for both John Peel and Andy Kershaw as well as other BBC programmes that needed live music. I also did live concerts for Radio 1, including the first Live Aid in 1985 and the Nelson Mandela Concert in 1988 for which we won a Live Music Bafta.

I have been coming to Maida Vale since 1974 and in October 2002 started working with the Maida Vale Transfer Suite, helping to oversee the digitising of the BBC radio archive. We've been transferring programmes from tape and DAT to make WAV files. Quite often we came across a programme I helped record. These are 10 of the most memorable sessions I've been involved with.

Slapp Happy - Europa (25/06/1974)
I was the Tape Op at this session in June 1974, just after I joined the music recording group Group2. I really enjoyed the session and loved the songs. It is what I thought epitomised the 'idea' behind doing sessions for radio. It seems that the original was lost, but someone recorded it 'off air' and gave it back to the BBC.
> Slapp Happy - biography and discography

Viv Stanshall's - Aunt Florie (16/10/1975)
It was I think the first of the Rawlinson's End series for John Peel on 16 October 1975. This session took a long time to do. We started at about 1pm and I did not get home till 4am. I had to be in for another session at noon. It involved recording the music, some of it arranged on the day, so there was a lot of waiting about. We also had to record and edit the dialogue, made difficult, because Viv usually arrived at sessions bearing a carpetbag full of white wine and brandy and some exotic musical instruments. He was a true eccentric. I do remember him once turning up for another session wearing a kimono and flip-flops and this was in winter! It was a real treat to do this session. Some of the musicians also played with Slapp Happy. The Rawlinson's End idea, after many subsequent Peel Sessions, went on to become a record and then a film. Again for me this kind of session is what Peel Sessions were all about. Viv Stanshall was one of the most inventive and charming people I ever met. The piano is supposed to sound as if an old lady was playing it.
> Viv Stanshall - biography and discography

The Damned - Neat Neat Neat (30/11/1976)
I assisted on this session at the height of radio's punk era. Actually I don't remember too much about the actual session, but I do remember overhearing the band as they were packing up their stuff and I was putting away the mics. The band were complaining about the roadie, who had not turned up and that he was always drinking, drove too fast and that one day would kill them all. According to them the roadie "did not give a f***". This amused me as it seemed that the 'roadie' was the best punk of them all. Punk was refreshingly good as it was a break from all those prog bands like boring Van der Graff Generator. Sorry Van der Graff Generators fans!
> The Damned - biography and discography

Ivor Cutler - Gruts for Tea (20/02/1979)
It is now over 30 years ago, but I still remember Gruts for Tea. I recorded this for a John Peel session and it was the first of many times that I recorded Ivor Cutler. He was a very small courteous Scottish man, who on the day of this recording arrived at Maida Vale, armed with aphorisms printed on pieces of paper (like in crackers) and handed them out to everyone he met. Like Viv Stanshall he had a terrific imagination and could conjure up a really vivid turn of phrase. I remember another session with Ivor for Radio 1. The DJ handed over with a forceful "Take it awaaay Ivor". There was silence for about five seconds (death on Radio 1). Then Ivor says "Tek what away?". I was killing myself laughing and waving frantically at Ivor for him to start.
> Ivor Cutler - biography and discography

3 Mustaphas 3 - Introduction (21/01/1984)
3 Mustaphas 3 was a musical collective who had an alter ego of being itinerant musicians who hailed from a town called Szegerely, somewhere in the Balkans, possibly Albania. They were a sort of Middle Eastern dance band, who spoke in a sort of pigeon Serbo-Croat. They were very capable musicians who could play in almost any style. The head of the band was Ben Mandelson (Hijaz Mustapha). These sessions were always great fun, as they used a huge variety of instruments and they could also play them extremely well. They had a series of songs called Chilling Tales in which wolves seemed to figure a lot. The collective slogan was "Forward in all directions". They also acted as a backing band for African musicians when they did Maida Vale Sessions.
> 3 Mustaphas 3 - biography and discography

Bhundu Boys - Rugare (21/12/1986)
I had recorded the Bhundu Boys earlier in 1986, but I remember this particularly well. It was just a few days before Christmas and they turned up on a Sunday at Maida Vale on a very cold day, wearing clothes more suitable for a day out in Harare. They were in thin cotton shirts, trousers and light jackets. Their tour organisers had not arranged any warm clothes for them. They were really cold, even in a warm studio, so when it came to do the vocals, they had real trouble singing, so the producer and I decided to take them to the Tennis Club in Maida Vale to buy them some whiskies to warm them up. We were able to get some reasonable performances from them but they were not at their best. I also remember giving them a lift to where they were staying, which was quite near to where I live. They were very versatile musicians and could play in any idiom, being used to playing for hours on end in the beer halls and shabeens of Harare. I used to play the session at home as I really like African music, so one day as I was walking up my street, I could hear my six-year-old son and his friend Owen shouting to anyone who would listen, "We are the Bhundu Boys, we are the Bhundu Boys". This still makes me smile.
> Bhundu Boys - biography and discography

Nirvana - Drain (03/09/1991)
I used to get contacted by Nirvana fans asking about this session. My main memory is of Kurt Cobain lying on the sofa in the control room, asleep as we sound checked the rest of the band. They had come over from Europe during the night to do the Peel Session and then were to return directly after the session and were all quite exhausted. During the drum sound check Dave Grohl used just one stick, as he only had one. Someone had been sent out to get some more. The drums sounded really good using just the one stick. He used two sticks for the recording and I thought that the drums were now sounding awful. I suggested half seriously to the producer that we should get Dave to use the one stick for the session and tie the other hand behind his back, but of course this didn't happen.
> Nirvana - biography and discography

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - Bocs Angelica (19/12/1993)
They were one of the most charming and inventive bands I have recorded. They sang in Welsh, were not necessarily the greatest of musicians, but were original and their arrangements and sounds had a wonderful quirkiness. In this song you can hear Euros Childs conducting the band (distant voice picked up by the guide vocal mic). I decided to keep it in as it added to the charm.
> Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - biography and discography

Cuban Boys - Hanging on the Telephone (06/12/1998)
During the late 1980s and 1990s I recorded many 'machine bands', that is bands that only used samplers and electronic instruments. I thought that the Cuban Boys were one of the most inventive as well as being great fun to work with. This is a Blondie song. John Peel loved cover versions. I think this was a very good arrangement, especially the backwards-vocal effect that we had to do for it. It took some time to achieve it, but it was worth it
> Cuban Boys - biography and discography

The Toques - Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed (18/08/2002)
This was one of the last Peel sessions I recorded. It was a good way to 'go out' as I really enjoyed the session. They did four songs, all of them quite different. They had drums, bass, acoustic steel guitar, keyboards and a string section. It certainly was not the usual drums bass guitar thrash. They did a country style version of the Black Crowes song Jealous Again. I like the Black Crowes. Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed is an arrangement of an old Blues Gospel song, again not a bad thing to my mind.
> The Toques - biography and discography

So, that's my top ten (in chronological order). What are your favourite BBC sessions?

F*** Buttons - Tarot Sport
(ATP Recordings, released 5 October)

Writes reviewer Louis Pattison: "This band's greatest skill is in creating earworms, melodies that sneak into your head and stay put. A noise band with tunes might sound like a contradiction in terms, but F*** Buttons have carved out a sound that owes more to personal inspiration that tradition, and here it works like a dream."

Read the full review of Tarot Sport

Watch the F*** Buttons' Surf Solar on YouTube

- - -

Nancy Elizabeth - Wrought Iron
(Leaf, released 5 October)

Writes reviewer Nick Barraclough: "This is a sincere and genuine album of songs devoid of contrivance. The listener almost gets a feeling of illicitly listening in on a private performance. It's that rare collection where you feel she'd have written and sung and played them exactly that way even if they were never to be recorded, the mood a happily uncompromising one."

Read the full review of Wrought Iron

- - -

Portico Quartet - Isla
(Real World, released 19 October)

Writes reviewer Chris Parkin: "Sure, their love of the minimalists makes for the same cyclical grooves and a less-is-more attitude as Knee-Deep in the North Sea, but in Portico's Balkan-infused melancholy, thrumming textures and skronking outbursts, it's a deeper, scarier world this time. A second Mercury nomination shouldn't be out of the question."

Read the full review of Isla

- - -

Sufjan Stevens - The BQE
(Rough Trade, released 19 October)

Writes reviewer Will Dean: "Sufjan Stevens is one smart cookie. You could hear it in the arrangements of albums like Illinois and Michigan, you can tell it from his witty and idiosyncratic overlong song titles, and you can witness it via his grand ambitions. And here he's recorded a classical/techno/indie epic about a bit of tarmac. And he's done it beautifully."

Read the full review of The BQE

- - -

Mayer Hawthorne - A Strange Arrangement
(Stones Thrown, released 19 October)

Writes reviewer Sam Hesketh: "A label that has built its reputation on the back of artists such as Madlib, J Dilla, Oh No and Guilty Simpson has thrown the curve ball of the year by releasing an album that sounds so authentic of soul it could have come from the Detroit of the 60s. For those who are fed up with the new wave of soul and want the real thing, Hawthorne has stepped up with a cracker of a debut."

Read the full review of A Strange Arrangement

- - -

The Twilight Sad - Forget the Night Ahead
(Fat Cat, released 5 October)

Writes reviewer Mike Diver: "Forget the Night Ahead captures its makers at the peak of their abilities. It's an album to return to frequently, fresh nuances rising through a fog of dizzying distortion with every listen, and unequivocally one of the best rock records of 2009."

Read the full review of Forget the Night Ahead

Watch the I Became a Prostitute video on YouTube

- - -

Those with cash to spare may also want to investigate new releases from The Flaming Lips (Embryonic), A Place to Bury Strangers (Exploding Head), Shafiq Husayn (Shafiq En'a Freeka), Tony Allen and Jimi Tenor (Inspiration Information 4), Themselves (CrownsDown), Matias Aguayo (Ay Ay Ay), Rachel Grimes (Book of Leaves), Boo Hewerdine (God Bless the Pretty Things) and Converge (Axe to Fall).

Related Links
Latest BBC album reviews

"....the lights, the sound everything was great. My dress looked like a thousand diamonds, it felt like a Bassey show and I enjoyed it!".

EP09 kicked off with Robbie Williams coming back after a three year break from live performance. It was simulcast to over 200 cinemas worldwide and BBC Radio 1 live, then on BBC Two TV later that night. When a tabloid headline says 'X Factor = not good' then 'BBC Electric Proms = great, thank you, BBC!', you know you've changed something forever. The highlight for me was sneaking under the perspex stairs during Robbie's performance for a bird's eye view, then looking up and thinking "This is the coolest place to be right now." The lowlight of the night was after the gig, when The Roundhouse top bar was closed while there were still lots of thirsty-looking journalists, BBC top brass and celeb types. I growled at a few people and got it re-opened.

• Highlight track: Angels (I know, but it's a classic).

Dizzee Rascal's show was fantastic and the most ambitious. Well after midnight when The Roundhouse was empty, a whole team of riggers were already at work clearing up for the next night's show. I helped our stage manager move bits of Robbie's set as they blocked Dizzee's exit from The Roundhouse backstage in his super cool sports car. Then I shared a bag of cheesy biscuits with Dizzee's manager Nick and Event Producer Sam whilst watching the entire set again in the TV truck - complete with a running commentary of what Nick thought worked. Thankfully, all was good.

• Highlight track: Jezebel.

At the camera rehearsals and final sound check for Doves the next day, the London Bulgarian Choir leader Desi looked anxious. However, her conductor and arranger Avshalom was relaxed. Desi asked "Will we be loud enough?... Make up?... Microphones on stands or handheld?... We need to speak to your producer, where is she?". She was actually making sure that Balu, Doves' blind guest musician, could get on and off the stage safely. After the concert Jimi from Doves found me in the car park and held out his hand to say thank you: "Was it ok?". "Are you kidding, THANK YOU!" I responded. Such a generous band.

• Highlight track: There Goes The Fear.

On the same night Florence and the Machine and Metronomy played in the small Theatre Studio underneath The Roundhouse Main Space. It was packed, over 8,000 registered to get in and capacity is only 250. During the gig I got called by the venue's security to deal with a few rowdy late arrivals, who insisted they were friends of the drummer.

• Highlight moment: watching Florence do her pre-gig warm up dance seconds before running onto the stage for Dog Days.

Also on Thursday night, Dame Shirley's tour and production manager Chris came to have another look at the scissor lift. The venue had the wrong size! Thankfully Serena (TV Producer) pulled out all the stops to make the entrance and screens work for TV.

In soundchecks on Friday, Dame Shirley sang the Tom Baxter track twice. By the third time her voice filled the entire space and our jaws dropped to the floor; it was perfect. During her show we set up a glitter drop for Goldfinger. Dame Shirley wasn't told about this and her genuine surprise was caught on camera. The show got the highest ratings of the series for BBC Two, with over 1.3 million viewers.

• Highlight track: Almost There

After the show, Chris, her production stage manager, revealed why there were a few minutes delay at the start of the performance. Chris was visibly shaking as he retold how his entire computer program died as the concert was about to start with a live Radio 2 broadcast. After the show I caught up with Richard Hawley, who said "I understood what my role was as support. It was to play for the Dame." I loved every minute of it.

On the final night it was Mr Smokey Robinson and his band. Watching them rehearse with the BBC Concert Orchestra at the famous Abbey Road studios was a treat. Our arranger, Mike Townend, was anxiously waiting for the nod of approval at these rehearsals - which he got. Mike's treatment of Tracks Of My Tears got a standing ovation on the night. It wasn't all this smooth though, as a collaborator booked to make an unannounced appearance had to go into hospital the day before. Smokey also started the show twenty minutes late. I can't say why as I'm sworn to secrecy, but I had to buy the Radio 2 production team large drinks after the show to calm their nerves.

• Highlight Track: Tracks of My Tears

It was a week of high drama and emotion, and that's just the production team. Surprisingly, Dame Shirley Bassey had the booziest crowd - we had to eject a couple - while Robbie clocked up the record for the most faints.

We are already thinking about next year, someone I've been chasing for four years has said 'no' again. With Bacharach, McCartney, Oasis, Smokey, Dame Shirley, Kaisers, Estelle, Dizzee, Paul Weller with Amy Winehouse ,The Who and James Brown having played the event, surely he could be persuaded. You can't take no for an answer, that much I've learnt.

Related Links
BBC Electric Proms - catch up with year's event.

Next up it's Snow Patrol on Radio 1 with Fearne Cotton in MV4.

It's the first time I've been to the Maida Vale Studios and while it's brilliant to get to see and hear today's artists rehearse and perform, it's also a great opportunity to sneak around.

This is on the ground-floor corridor:

The picture of John Peel hangs at the heart of the building. You can't help but see it as you make your way down to the studios. Next to it there's a sign that says: "Mushroom Biryani this way" and underneath it tells the story from 1983 of how the then unsigned Billy Bragg, hearing Peel declare on radio that he was hungry picked up a mushroom biryiani and drove it to the studio along with one of his recordings.

MV1 is a huge space that's being used today for the BBC SO with Yan Pascal Tortellier this afternoon and later tonight Dame Kiri te Kanawa for Radio 2.

There's cabling all over the building. There's miles of the stuff suspended up by the ceiling along all the corridors for the permanent networks. Then there's the clever use of tape to get the cabling to the kit that's come in for a specific recording. This is the scene outside MV4 where the Craig Charles All Stars are hanging out and by the sounds of it having an excellent time.

There's also this interesting use of tape which designates something which I vaguely remember from my health and safety training. We don't have this where I'm usually to be found:

It's the little things that I keep noticing. Outside the seemingly tiny studio MV5 where Corrine Bailey Rae is on Max on 1Xtra this afternoon there's a tray with discarded bottles of water on it. Looking more closely I realise there's also a bag with fresh ginger on it and a jar of honey. Singers need to look after their voices.

Corrine Bailey Rae in MV5:

While I'm writing this I can hear Jamie Cullen's band rehearsing for tonight's Radio 2 show.

There's still more to come tonight including Apache Indian's on Bobby Friction and a live radio drama for Radio 2. I was going to say that there's two things you wouldn't expect to find going on in the same building. Having been here I'm not surprised at all.

You can see more pics of the day over here.

This means that you will need to use the new system to leave a comment on the BBC Music blog. You will be prompted to upgrade when you first try to login after the change and it should be a very straightforward process.

I will try to answer any questions you have here but I would also encourage you to read the post on the BBC Internet blog and leave any technical comments there.

Thanks, Nigel

Maida Vale has been a home to talent that remains unsurpassed in love and affection. Abbey Road may be just round the corner (almost!) but the list of artists who admire the wonderful sound these hallowed studios can lend to your craft is as big if not longer than the world's most famous recording studio. The Beatles played many Bank Holiday Shows there, The John Peel Sessions were created there, today we have Radio 1's Live Lounge, regular recordings for Radio 2 with artists of international repute, and of course it is the home of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a world of the crème de la crème of classical talent.

How can we forget the Radiophonic Workshop and the great dramas that have been created within these walls? Or indeed, the general buzz of the building as artists of all descriptions and genres come and go to hone their craft with the help of the BBC and it's production expertise.

This Friday 30 October we celebrate the 75th Birthday of Auntie owning Maida Vale with an array of talent that demonstrates the amazing diversity of the beeb's broadcasting range. Every BBC Radio network is taking part - Radio's 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1Xtra and the Asian Network - will all be there. There will be live programming across the 24 hour period to enjoy. It kicks off with The Janice Long Show on Radio 2 with special guests The Sterophonics at midnight tonight. Then throughout the rest of the day you can check out everything from Snow Patrol on Radio 1, Yusuf, Jamie Cullum, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Nell Bryden and Scouting For Girls on Radio 2, Yan Pascal Tortelier conducting an afternoon concert on Radio 3, Front Row live on Radio 4, Simon Mayo live in the afternoon on 5 Live, Corinne Bailey Rae on 1Xtra, The Craig Charles All Star Funk Band live on 6 Music, Apache Indian on the Asian Network and a huge tilt of the cap to the Radiophonic Workshop on BBC 7.

There is also a live drama on Radio 2 - Brief Encounter starring Jenny Seagrove and Nigel Havers, using a script that has been in the BBC's ownership and unused since 1947! They are accompanied by a sterling cast to recreate this classic story live to air.

Few buildings hold as many memories as the Maida Vale Studios and tomorrow we plan to make many more. You can check all programming out live or you can listen again on the iPlayer. Dame Kiri's performance on Friday Night Is Music Night is on the Red Button and you can catch Snow Patrol filmed for Live Lounge on the Radio 1 website.

It will be a great day - tune in and share it with us.

Lewis Carnie is Head of Programmes BBC Radio2/6 Music

Related Links
Maida Vale @ 75 - details of all the day's programmes

We don't just make programmes at the BBC, we make social objects - and social media is enhancing their power to affect people, as is explored by this blog post at Faster Future. It's an interesting idea, that things like Twitter and blogging create conversations around programmes, gigs and the like, increasing their resonance as a social object, so you can be affected by them even if you've never seen them. This particular blogger downloads Tubeway Army's Replicas, not because he's seen Synth Britannia, but because he's inspired by the conversations about the programme on Twitter.

There's a pleasing degree of chat about the programme on Twitter, generally positive, and it's interesting to see how the programme leads to the production of lists and suggestions, including a Spotify playlist which broadens out the original playlist to include tracks by Joe Meek, Bill Nelson and S-Express.

At the BBC we're attempting to explore the content generated by our programmes at Shownar, which has a page for Synth Britannia. The idea behind Shownar is to monitor activity around BBC shows on BBC Online and the wider web (blogs, Twitter and the like), and work out which are currently gaining the most attention. Worth a look, and definitely a way of making some interesting journeys around the web.

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Synth Britannia & JG Ballard
Reflections on making Synth Britannia & Krautrock

Faust

Once Synth Britannia was in the can the same team was lucky enough to embark on the production of a film about this German music- unsympathetically labelled 'Krautrock' by the 70s music press in Britain.

As I write, the finishing touches to Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany are being applied in post-production. The films form two halves of a larger whole and it is fascinating to follow the tracks and traces between them.

In both films the music is intimately connected to the outside world. For the German generation, older than the Brits, it's a wilful stance. Electronic music meant being a non-musician, opting out of imported Anglo-American pop culture and seeking to transcend the country's Nazi past - traces of which were still prevalent in the west-German establishment of the late 60s/early 70s. A way out.

Whilst the Germans used electronics to articulate a sonic utopia, many of the Brits saw electronic music as a way to interrogate reality. Arguably their music soundtracked great industrial cities in economic decline, rent asunder by brutal, Ballardian skyscapes.

Taken as a whole the two films are a 20 year journey condensed into two and a half hours. It is both ironic and inevitable that something that started as an anti-bourgeois idea in the German counter-culture gets co-opted by the mainstream - with spectacular results in 80s Britain. I am not offering a value judgement, I loved the whole ride and am privileged to have been on it over the last six months.

I have many postcard memories of Synth Britannia and Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany. Vince Clarke's incredible synth collection in frozen Maine; shockingly bad German cuisine - for a vegetarian; how recent urban 'development' has homogenised British cities; my suitcase happily sitting on the tarmac outside Tegel airport for a couple of hours; having to share a room with assitant producer Sam Bridger in Austria and witnessing his morning 'yogic splits'.

It all blurs into one.

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Synth Britannia & JG Ballard
My Krautrock Adventures on the Autobahn

Synth Britannia premieres on BBC Four on Friday 16 October at 9pm. Krautrock will be shown at the same time on Friday 23 October.

Heaven 17

This link between the environment and the music became very apparent on our travels around Britain to meet the pioneers of synthesizer music. All of the early synth artists found themselves making music in urban areas from the run down, empty streets of East London to industrial Sheffield under the shadow of the massive concrete Park Hill Estate. By a fortuitous coincidence just at the moment that the world started looking like this, the affordable synthesizer arrived on the market and musicians looking for a way to express their feelings of alienation in this new concrete jungle found just the thing in its strange, eerie, inhuman sounds. The cityscapes of the 70s posed a challenge to artists to write something that would fit there. Songs like John Foxx's Underpass and The Normal's Warm Leatherette are straight from the pages of Ballard and every artist we asked about their influences confessed to being a fan.

However when the 70s gave way to the 80s, synth's potential to be a shiny soundtrack to a shiny new world was noticed. Gone were long overcoats and concrete highrises and in were a besuited, pony-tailed Heaven 17 making a deal in front of a glass skyscraper. Martyn Ware seemed oddly shocked that Heaven 17 was taken up by the yuppie crowd - "Let's all make a bomb was supposed to be ironic!" he moaned. The synthesizer became a way of producing the sounds of a whole band or orchestra, and you could make something like electronic soul.

Inevitably it all got watered down and ubiquitous. And there was something cheesy about the polyphonic synths that replaced their earlier monophonic cousins... but it is interesting that today, just at the moment that Synth Britannia is being shown, that current artists like La Roux and Little Boots are turning to the early synth pioneers for those rawer synth sounds that are still fantastically futuristic even today.

• Synth Britannia - watch online when available

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Reflections on making Synth Britannia & Krautrock

Synth Britannia premieres on BBC Four on Friday 16 October at 9pm

Austria was an unconventional starting point for our German road trip but it proved to be an apt beginning, giving us a taste of the fascinating and artistically uncompromising lives this generation of "Krautrock" musicians still lead today.

In many ways Hans-Joachim Roedelius was the perfect first interview to give us a sense of the upheavals that Germans suffered in the 20th century and the challenges that artists faced. Being older than most of the other Krautrockers he lived through the war and was drafted into the Hitler Youth before ending up in East Germany after the country was carved up by the Allies. He was separated from his family, put in a forced labour camp and wandered Europe working as a masseur before finally settling in West Berlin and becoming one of the earliest pioneers of electronic music. He and Dieter Moebius, the other half of the radical experimental group, Cluster, played that night on a floating stage on the lake at Lunz am Zee, a strangely magical setting for the sounds of synthesizers. It was humbling to see their unflinching devotion to experimentation even today and to hear of their struggles... I could still hear Moebius telling us "We are not Sirs here like Sir Mick, Sir Paul in England".

Munich was our next stop after a beautiful drive through the Bavarian Alps. Here in the spiritual home of Nazism we heard about the rebellious generation of the 60s from members of the commune freak-out group Amon Duul. Between copious cigarettes and colourful swearing, Renate Knaup explained that after the war the establishment figures like judges, teachers and doctors under the Nazis just carried on the same as usual, no one talked about the war, no one mentioned the word "Jew", just silence. In Germany therefore, the global 60s rebellion took on a different resonance as young people had more reasons than their peers in other countries to take on the establishment.

By now our road trip was fully underway and as well as the best aspect of Germany; friendly people, beautiful scenery, excellent beer and Schnitzels; we were grappling with some of the less savoury aspects of the trip; wasps, still water being fizzy, the difficulty of finding vegetarian food and some dodgy menu translations... "bovine animal shred" anyone? It is often underestimated how huge Germany is, it would have been eight or ten hours to drive to Berlin so we were given a welcome rest from driving and took the plane.

Berlin was another world entirely. In Munich we had marvelled at how clean and shiny everything was... Berlin was gritty, graffitied, littered but all the more interesting for it. Driving round the city you can see the history of this beleaguered place in the buildings; the faded grand flats of Christopher Isherwood's Weimar-era Berlin, the numerous concrete monstrosities that went up in the 60s to fill the holes in the flattened city, the shiny glass of new architecture like the Potsdamer Platz and of course the sections of the Berlin Wall which turned the city into an island for 30 years. We were taken to the edge of Western civilisation during the Cold War.

"Next stop Siberia" Wolfgang Seidel, a musician in Berlin since the 60s, told us. It was hard to imagine. But this is where David Bowie and Iggy Pop came to lie low in the 70s, seduced by the past decadence of the city and the promise of anonymity in a city of artists, draft dodgers and scruffy students.

After Berlin we had a taste of more rural Germany, this time flat with pointy houses, as we set off towards Hamburg to meet with the intriguing Faust whom Julian Cope in his genre defining book "Krautrocksampler" had called the most "mythical" of the Krautrock bands. Faust were obligingly nutty, charming, inviting and funny, regaling us with stories of trying to bankrupt Virgin Records with their expensive lunches and treating us to an unforgettable piece of music played on the cement mixer.

Next was Dusseldorf, shiny corporate headquarters of the German economy and the favourite destination for German stag and hen groups. Dusseldorf at night was certainly a sight, more Magaluf than Mercedes we thought. We met with Wolfgang Flur who took us to Mintropstrasse, "a normal street to normal people" he whispered, but a place of pilgrimage to electronic music fans over the world, as this was the site of Kraftwerk's studio, Kling Klang. He also took us to a beautiful place by the Rhine and explained how the romanticism of the river had filtered into the music. And he bought me a famous Viennese chocolate cake, a personal highlight of the trip for me.

Last stop was Cologne to meet two members of the legendary group Can, Holger Czukay and Jaki Lieberzeit. Jaki told us how he came up with his minimalist drumming style and Holger explained how Can was shaped by the radical thinking of Stockhausen, a composer who helped make Cologne the most important centre for modern music in the world. As we left, now quite tired from two weeks of relentless driving and filming, we pondered again of the ingenuity and tenacity of this generation of artists who built up a new vision of Germany from a cultural wasteland. Their contribution to the development of music in subsequent years, especially electronic music, is unquantifiable and yet they remain relatively unheard of in many circles, not least in their own country. Without exception they are all still committed to pushing boundaries in music today...and this is the overall impression that will stay with me from this enlightening journey through German music.

• Krautock: The Rebirth of Germany - tracklist, exclusive clips and iPlayer

Krautrock will premiere on BBC Four on Friday 23 October at 9pm and will be available to watch online up to seven days after its last broadcast.

I've highlighted six releases below, but do also check out great new albums by Vitalic in the dance/electronica field; Japandroids, Jamie T, Girls and Le Loup in rock and indie; Q-Tip's phenomenal Kamaal the Abstract in hip hop; Topic Records' great Three Score and Ten compilation in folk; and Michael Olatuja's highly collaborative Speak album in jazz and blues. Truly, it's been a month to remember.

David Aaron Carpenter - Elgar & Schnittke Viola Concertos
(Ondine, released September 7)

Writes reviewer Andrew MacGregor: "I started this journey with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion, only to be disarmed by a remarkable debut. I wasn't expecting the breadth of the concerto's opening to be as successfully captured, not just in Carpenter's plangent, vocal sound, but with the intimate warmth of the Philharmonia, and Christoph Eschenbach's effortless accompaniment. It's a recording with an intimate focus on the soloist, enhancing Carpenter's impact. What a debut."

Read the full review of Elgar & Schhnittke Viola Concertos

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba - I Speak Fula
(Out Here Records, released September 21)

Writes reviewer Louis Pattison: "Bassekou Kouyate is something of a maverick and innovator in his homeland of Mali, and this album is pretty spectacular. Astonishingly intricate melodies dance over and across each other, long winding solos unfurl over clacking percussion, while the vocals - male harmonies and clear song from Kouyate's wife, Amy Sacko - are soft in tone, but gain in power as the tempo rises. I Speak Fula deserves to find its way out of the world music ghetto and onto the world stage."

Read the full review of I Speak Fula

Dizzee Rascal - Tongue N' Cheek
(Dirtee Stank, released September 21)

Writes reviewer John Doran: "You'll have already heard Bonkers, Dizzee's smash with Armand Van Helden, and the Calvin Harris and Chrome-starring Dance Wiv Me and Holiday. What's surprising, though, is that this is packed with further contenders for top ten hits. A monstrously successful fourth album, Tongue N' Cheek is the release to officially crown Dizzee as UK dance/hip hop royalty. The boy's some prince, you know."

Read the full review of Tongue N' Cheek

Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt II
(Ice H20, released September 7)

Writes reviewer Adam Kennedy: "It's taken the Wu-Tang Clan's slang master Raekwon the thick end of 15 years of inferior albums and market-flooding mixtapes to craft a genuinely worthy follow-up to landmark solo debut Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., and this sequel had been mooted so long its status in hip hop circles had become nearly as mythical as Dr Dre's still-unreleased Detox. But Pt II soon reminds us that nobody else, not even his Wu-Tang companions, relates street stories with his eloquence."

Read the full review of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt II

HEALTH - Get Color
(Lovepump, released September 14)

Writes reviewer Mike Diver: "The title's an entirely apt one: HEALTH truly Get Color. They understand the appeal of contrast, how an imbalance between X and Y can actually produce the most beautiful Z. Their music is alive with dissonance, but equally enthralled by elegance and experimentation. Get Color is as close as they've yet come to capturing the sounds inside their heads without actually slicing their own skulls open."

Read the full review of Get Color

A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Ashes Grammar
(Mis Ojos Discos, released September 28)

Writes reviewer Andrzej Lukowski: "If being unweighted by either scorching guitar hooks or intelligible vocals perhaps leaves ASDIG too unearthly for mainstream crossover, the band are hardly un-ambitious. Second album Ashes Grammar is a raising of their game; a seamless, symphonic 22 tracks that twist and glitter like a lake of pristine morning mist. It flows past in an ambient slipstream: intangible, but leaving the lingering impression of a pleasant dream."

Read the full review of Ashes Grammar

Related Posts
Editor's Pick of New Releases, August 2009

The first, BBC Radio Waves, is about "a prototype visualisation that takes data about music played recently on BBC Radio and creates a time profile for any individual radio network, musical genre or radio show".

The second post is a fascinating look at how people describe their musical tastes, from lengthy decriptions to personal artefacts.

Read the posts in full and leave comments on the Radio Labs blog:

• Radio Waves - exploring what we play


• What's your musical taste?

Elsewhere, I'm delighted to say that audio has returned to our album reviews (more loyal users will remember that we used to host audio clips in RealMedia until our relaunch earlier this year). The audio has actually been there for a couple of weeks, but we're especially proud of our new listen button which appeared with the recent set of changes as part of our review tracklists. Here's just one example of a fully audible review. We're surprised there aren't more online reviews offering audio, but happy to be out on this particular limb.

In other improvements to our album reviews offering, we've also reintroduced another late lamented feature in the form of "Like This? Try These..." links from some of our reviews - like this one. And with recommendations from BBC brands an increasingly key part of our approach to reviewing albums, we've started to aggregate these recommendations in pages like this. We've also made a page where you can see all our recommendations together.

Finally, we've tweaked the "Played By" section of our artist pages so that we're no longer displaying histogram-style bars next to programmes that have recently played a given artist. Since we're not actually displaying numbers of plays here (for good but complicated reasons), we thought the bars weren't adding much to the page and decided to tidy them up. For anyone who actually wants to see the raw numbers, they're still there in machine-readable feeds such as xml & rss.

All feedback welcome.

I'd like to say it has got easier, but it hasn't really, just smaller. New issues always come up, usually from the BBC itself. We simply cannot afford to keep it the same size. The music business is also suffering with marketing budgets reduced and promotional touring budgets slashed. Suddenly I'm having heated conversations with tour managers about rehearsal space prices, catering prices; "will sandwiches be Ok?" and "do you really need that many rehearsals?"

We need impact for less money said the BOSS. Focus on known headliners that the broadcast teams want on TV and Radio.

March 2009:
Have dinner with David Arnold (created the Kaiser Chiefs' show for EP in 2007). He's in the middle of producing the new album from Dame Shirley Bassey, her first in 20 years. He's very excited about the project. When he gets excited, you get excited. He's the reason I started playing music again. Anyway, she wouldn't do it would she? Mark Cooper gets on a plane to Monaco. She likes him. Alan Yentob goes to Monaco. She likes him too.

So we've announced this year's event and sent out the press release. We only had budget for four headline shows this year. We can't afford a support slot for every headliner, that would add thousands in Musicians' Union fees. We've managed to keep our film initiative though; New Music Shorts. Florence & The Machine and Metronomy inspired films commissioned from brand new film makers. The bands have agreed to play on the night in the Studio Theatre space at the Roundhouse too. This is a real coup. We book Florence in May.

July 2009:
Smokey Robinson with the BBC Concert Orchestra agreed. We go to recce the hotel suite and mail him pictures as we can't afford their actual choice. Emma persuades the hotel to throw in a complimentary steam room for him. Many, many late night transatlantic calls later...
Smokey's Team: 'Yes. No. Maybe'
Then...
Smokey: 'Definitely not as I've changed my manager and my mind... What was the event again?'.
Later on...
An American accent on the phone: 'I'm the new manager for Mr Robinson'.

Start from the top...
Me: 'Paul McCartney's done it before. And Burt Bacharach.'
Smokey's New Manager : 'OK yes, sounds good. You have permission to speak to my legal team.'
A team of lawyers! Gulp.

Tears of a Clown with at least 18 strings? Mike Townend will arrange the new music charts. Amazingly no orchestral charts exist of Smokey's music. Just agreed with Andrew Connolly, the BBC Concert Orchestra manager, and Mike Townend that we really should put the harp player back in the orchestra for Smokey's night.

We sign contracts with the other headliners in August. Dizzee Rascal's had an amazing year and launches his fourth album soon. He's consistently creative, refusing to be pigeon-holed.
Doves are one of the most thoughtful bands we've worked with, they'll be supported by fellow Mancunians Magazine (whose lead singer is flying in from the Far East to play). Doves will also be joined on stage by a massive London based Bulgarian choir.

Still trying to work out how we get all the musicians that Trevor Horn would like on the stage for the Robbie Williams show! Hopefully it'll be the second show this year with a harp.

September 2009
Ticket requests from the most unlikely places, constantly. For instance, Magazine want to see Smokey. Politely explain to all the ticket requesters they are not my tickets to give away.

More requests: Dame Shirley's dress may need a special lighting plan; Robbie currently has 38 musicians on stage ; Trevor's politely asked for no curly BBC sandwiches please, such a nice man; and a US Football ticket request for Smokey's band whilst they are here. Sorted.

The Electric Proms team are behaving a little strangely. Talking to themselves about making accurate budgets and risers for choirs.

It is a great line up, but as we always say 'until the Diva sings, its work in progress'. The Electric Proms will be here in a hot minute. Then we get Electric Proms flu. Happens every year.

Lorna

www.bbc.co.uk/electricproms