TalentCast - Independent music podcast

Welcome back to TalentCast after such a long time. This is the 472nd edition. My regular listeners know that I couldn’t release a regular weekly podcast, because I didn't receive enough interesting independent music to play. Today it's exactly 12 years since the first podcast of TalentCast came out, and I did receive more than enough good music in the past months to make an interesting programme for today. I would love to make a weekly podcast again. If you also want TalentCast to come back every week, I will ask you for a little favour. All you have to do, is to find TalentCast on Google Maps (maps.google.com). When you scroll down a bit, you see an option to review TalentCast. You can give some stars and if you like, you can write a little review about the project too. Because this is a one-time podcast for now, you don't have to vote, just enjoy the good independent music. All the songs are new, never played on TalentCast before. Four are by artists who have just joined the project and the other eleven songs are new releases of earlier members.

Our regular listeners might have noticed that for a long time just a few new artists and bands have joined TalentCast. Although our independent music podcast attracts still quite many listeners via podcast websites, our website is hidden away in search engines, which is the main reason why many artists and bands don't discover our project. Because of this I have decided to pause the weekly podcasts for a while, until I have fixed this issue. I still have some very nice tunes in the TalentCast archive and some new tracks which were sent by our artist members. You will hear some of these today. Among them are 2 Christmas songs, because within 3 weeks it's Christmas already. 2018 has gone very fast. Because this is the last podcast for the upcoming time, there is no voting, so relax and just enjoy the music. I will start in my home town Groningen with a jazz band which joined TalentCast last autumn. TalentCast will be back in the new year. I wish you a merry Christmas and of course a happy, healthy and musical 2019.

In this week's podcast I will play downtempo, singer-songwriters, jazz, rap and some rock. One of the songs is by a newcomer to TalentCast. It's a new collaboration between a Belgian and a Dutch artist. Quite a few votes came in last week. In about 20 minutes you will hear which song is most appreciated by our listeners of last week and is our new Song of the Week. I will start with an electronic, downtempo and chill-out solo project from Barcelona, Spain.

Last week TalentCast was all about rock. This week the music genres are varied and mainly peaceful, some of the songs are new songs I have recently received, and I am happy to have a new Song of the Week winner again. I will start with a happy tune from Poland by a 4-piece rock band.

The programme will sound a bit different than usual because I will only play rock music this time. But there are very many kinds of rock, so the music is still very varied. Unfortunately too few votes came in last week, so we don’t have a new Song of the Week winner this time. If you hear a song you enjoy, please take a short moment and vote for it. The first song of today is by a 3-piece punk rock band band from the Czech Republic.

This week there are some artists in the programme whose work I enjoy a lot. The music styles vary from relaxed to pop and rock, so for sure there is something you will enjoy too. Two songs I am going to play are new songs I have recently received via our upload page, both are by bands from the United Kingdom. The podcast is a bit longer than usual this time, over 65 minutes. When we were still broadcast on Ede FM, our podcasts were limited to 57 minutes and a half, but now we have the freedom to make it as long or short as we want. Last week's voting almost gained 2 Song of the Week winners for this week, but fortunately that didn't happen in the end. In about 40 minutes you will hear who finished that close and who else entered our charts top 3 this time. If there is a song you enjoy very much, please take a short moment to cast your vote for it. There is no registration necessary to vote and it takes less than a minute. If the song gets the most votes, I will play it next week again as TalentCast's Song of the Week. I will start with one of the new songs I received. It's the first recording of a new collaboration of 3 friends from England.

Last two weeks there was no TalentCast because of website updates and because of a technical issue: listeners were experiencing difficulties tuning in. The reason was Spotify attempting to download too many podcasts at the same time, which overloaded the small TalentCast network. Now, at the time you are listening, the complete TalentCast archive with 466 podcasts is available on Spotify in addition to all the previous platforms. Perhaps because of these technical issues we do not have a new Song of the Week winner. I hope we will have one next week. If you hear a song you really enjoy, welcome to cast your vote for it on our website. The website has changed since the last two weeks. The least popular pages are gone and the charts pages are integrated with the playlists. From now on all functions of the website can be used without a mouse and it works well with screenreaders, so it is now also accessible for visitors who cannot use the mouse, and for visually impaired and blind visitors. Today's music will vary from relaxed at first to loud rock at the end. You will hear a track from a brand new album from Switzerland and another song I recently have received from a producer from the United States. I will start in the United Kingdom with a track from Gabby Young & Other Animals who has some happy news to share with us.

Because I know I have some fans of electronic music among my listeners, I will pay extra attention to that genre today, after I have played this week's Song of the Week. I will also play one newcomer to TalentCast, an acoustic duo from the Netherlands. I will start in Denmark with a soul, jazz and pop project, and end in Poland with a 4-piece instrumental music band. Many votes came in last week and it was not easy to enter this week's charts top 3. In about half an hour I will play the number 1, our new Song of the Week.

I have a lot of varied independent music from around the globe for you, from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland and Chile. The Song the Week of this week is by a very convincing winner from Finland. I start in the United Kingdom, with a 3-piece indie, alternative and dance project, formed in 2012. I shall end with a danceable song by an artist from Switzerland, who made her first home-recorded album at the age of 10 already.

This week I have a track from a just released album for you, made by the duo that also made some of our jingles, and like last week the music is relaxing and the music styles are varied. The first song of today is the track from the new album. It's by the duo of Paméla and Chris from France – Laïxa. The last track is by the dance and electronic project of Peter Lagarde from Germany - Pluxx7MusicStudio. This was the last time TalentCast was broadcast on Ede FM. They are reorganizing their programming and TalentCast doesn't fit there any more. A big thank you goes to Ede FM, and especially Martin Both, for broadcasting TalentCast for so many years.

This week I planned a programme with many different music styles and mostly relaxing music. Not so many listeners came to vote during the last voting round, but the voting gained a new winner, a jazz band from my hometown Groningen which I played for the first time last week. First song in the programme is by a singer-songwriter from Nashville. The last song is by an electronic music composer from Finland.

I have very pleasant music for you in this week's programme. I will start with some jazz (one song is by a TalentCast newcomer from my home town Groningen), followed many more relaxed tunes. Of course I will also play our our first Song of the Week winner of this new season. The first song is from Australia, a track from the latest album of a jazz singer-songwriter, it's titled "The Bridge".

After a beautiful summer in the Netherlands, our break is over. We are back and ready to serve you your weekly portion of good independent music. Of course we are very curious again to know which song in the programme you particularly enjoy, so don't forget to vote for it before next Tuesday. This week I will only play new songs which I received during the summer break, 4 are by newcomers to TalentCast (a duo from Colorado, a project from Mansfield, a band from Grimbergen in Belgium, and a band from the north west of England), the other new songs are sent by existing members.

Because this is the last programme before the summer break, I will do it a bit differently than usual. There is no voting, you will hear some artists I haven't played for a long time, and I will only play music from a country that brought TalentCast quite some good music in the past years. It's the country of kiełbasa, pierogi and votka: Poland. One song is not from Poland, but from Indonesia, our last Song of the Week winner of this season. TalentCast will be back on Friday, September the 7th on the internet, on Saturday the 8th on Ede FM, and on Sunday the 9th on Universe Radio. Thank you for tuning in, today and during this season. I hope you will have a beautiful and sunny summer!

This is the second last programme before our summer break. We won't release new editions of TalentCast during June, July and August. This week is the last time before our break that we have a voting. Last week most of the votes came in for two songs, one by an acoustic project from Austria and the other by a country musician from Nashville. In about 35 minutes I will tell who won in the end. We have received quite a few new songs this week, and one of them was sent by a newcomer to TalentCast, a 3-person indie, alternative and dance project from Birmingham. The music genres are quite varied this time, but mainly peaceful. I shall start with a brand new song from a yet unreleased EP by a roots-pop singer-songwriter from Denver, and I shall end with a country and blues musician from Florida.

It's very warm in the studio while I am preparing the programme, and maybe that's why I have selected only relaxing music for this week. Last week's voting brought us a clear winner. She is from Canada, has released two solo albums, and an album together with her family. In about 40 minutes you will hear who that is, and who else entered our top 3. This time I will start with a country singer-songwriter from Nashville, and end in the Netherlands with a popnoir, rock and gothic jazz band from the Hague, who's latest album has got some excellent reviews.

A musician from the Netherlands and a musician from the US joined TalentCast this week. You will hear them today, together with many more independent artists from around the globe. I will start the programme with uplifting music and end with some instrumental pieces. Last week we didn't receive enough votes to gain a new Song of the Week. This week the voting almost ended with two Songs of the Week, because the difference between the numbers 1 and 2 is just one vote. In about 40 minutes you will hear how the voting closed on Monday night at midnight. If you hear a song you really enjoy among the other songs in the programme, please cast your vote for it. The first uplifting song is by a 6-piece band from Chile. The last song is by the project Earthspaces of musician and composer Csaba Gulyas from Budapest.

I have made a varied programme for you, with soul, funk, folk, jazz, pop, rap, rock and more. Last week's voting didn't bring a new Song of the Week winner for this week because too few votes (just 9) came in. One artist voted 37 times for himself, of course we don't count such votes, and of course we won't play this artist any more. Until Tuesday (May 1) you can vote for 15 songs, so if you hear a song you really enjoy, feel very welcome to cast your vote for it. I will start with a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Dallas, and end with a musician who describes her genre as visual, alternative, new wave, and experimental.

This week I made the programme a bit for myself because there are quite a few songs on the playlist I especially enjoy. Most of the programme will be filled with relaxed music. Towards the end I will play some rock. Three songs gathered quite some votes during last week's voting, and a symphonic metal project from New Jersey gathered the most. In about 35 minutes your will hear which songs entered TalentCast's top 3 this week. I really enjoy the first song. It is from Los Angeles, by the duo of Scarlet and Geoff - Merlot Embargo.

This week I will play two tracks from brand new album releases, the music genres are very varied, and many of the songs are quite far away from mainstream music. No doubts about our new Song of the Week, because this song definitely gathered the most votes. In about 35 minutes I will tell you which song it is. Today's first song is by a self-taught piano and guitar player from Dallas.