Explore every episode of the podcast Troika

Something a wee bit special for episode #60! This is the first one to feature *other* humans, because this is a crossover with two other podcasts: One Footer in the Grave (who I co-host with Marcus Lillington & Andy Clarke) and Unfinished Business (Andy Clarke & Richard Rutter). Each of us chose and introduced three 'desert island' songs, and had a lovely little chat about all our tracks. Features music by Steely Dan, Meat Loaf, The Beatles, RIDE, Fink, Electric Light Orchestra , The Besnard Lakes, Hot Chip, Genesis, Brad Paisley, Stars of the Lid and Snapped Ankles.

I couldn’t let episode #59 be anything else but a celebration of over thirty years of cult California band, Starflyer 59. 1. Tracks played are A Housewife Love song, Harmony, Do You Ever Feel That Way, Fell in Love at 22, Shedding the Mortal Coil, Your Company, Loved Ones, Good Sons, Like a Baby, 2nd Space Song, This Recliner and finally, Everyone but Me. A quadruple Troika for your earholes!

An extra slice of ho, ho, ho to you all! I've chosen three alternative festive tunes, all from bands on the Sonic Cathedral label. Featuring Deary, Pye Corner Audio and Dawn Chorus & the Infallible Sea.

So to celebrate the launch of the Stars of the Lid Forever project, to archive all their live recordings, I've chosen my three favourite performances from the eighteen shows featured on the site. These are: Requiem for Dying Mothers from St Agnes Church NYC in 2015, Even if You're Never Awake from the Los Angeles Echoplex in 2008 and December Hunting for Vegetarian Fuckface from The Barbican, London in 2016.

A second instalment of Ambient Country tunes, featuring Ry Cooder, Yo La Tengo, William Tyler, Jim Wallis, Hayden Pedigo and Yasmin Williams.

Ten songs about 'ten' for the Troika tenth anniversary. Featuring; Explosions in the Sky, Curve, Sleigh Bells, Beach House, Dusty Springfield, Big Audio Dynamite, Spielmann, Interpol, Phantogram and Nala Sinephro.

This episode is a Triple Troika of my favourite tracks from 2024. I was hoping to get this out in December, but better late than never! Features Nilüfer Yanya, Brimheim, Starflyer 59, Grandaddy, Bill Ryder Jones, Foxing, The Amazing, Natalie Holt, Cowboy Sadness

In part 4 of the shoegaze series, we look at very recent bands who have appeared since 2020. With music from Wisp, Deary, Glare and Holy Fawn.

In part 3, we look at the bands that grew up influenced by Shoegaze, and kept it alive. Music from Ringo Deathstarr, Nothing and Deafheaven.

In the last episode of Troika, we heard from the early influences, hearing where Shoegaze originated. I was too young to appreciate Cocteau Twins or The Jesus and Mary Chain at the time, but by the time Shoegaze came along, I was primed and ready. Music from Slovdive, RIDE and My Bloody Valentine

Part one of a series of five, looking at the history of Shoegaze music. This part looks at the origins of the genre, with music from The Beach Boys, Cocteau Twins and The Jesus and Mary Chain.

Music evoking big sunset skies, diners and deserts and featuring Raymond Richards, Chuck Johnson and Cowboy Sadness.

This episode is all about Tim Smith, formerly of Midlake, and his other projects. The Pills won't help you now with The Chemical Brothers, Grey Tower with Lost Horizons and Herstmonceux in his new band, Harp.

My favourite songs from 2023, featuring Lanterns on the Lake, Harp, boygenius, Molly, M83, The Clientele and more. With twenty-one tracks it will keep you busy for almost two hours!

This episode of Troika is in tribute to Brian McBride, one-half of ambient duo Stars of the Lid, who sadly died last month. His music is so important to me, that I couldn't let the opportunity pass to honour his work and memory. I didn't want to spoil this episode with my narration, so just sit back with headphones and enjoy a double-troika selection of his musical legacy. The Tracks are: Overture (for Other Halfs) - Brian McBride Dopamine Clouds Over Craven Cottage - Stars of the Lid Girl Nap - Brian McBride Darker Side of Sunshine - Bell Gardens Far From Home - Kenneth James Gibson (Brian McBride’s Diminished Stories Remix) Untitled - Brian McBride

Songs featuring, or inspired by, BBC Radio 4's Shipping Forecast. Featuring music by Ronald Binge, Tears for Fears, Solomon Grey and The Longest Johns.

To mark two years after my dad passed away, I'm dedicating a double Troika episode all to him. Featuring classical music by Elgar, Mahler, Vaughn Williams and William Walton, but also The Dave Clark Five and Sun Kil Moon. There's also a surprise pop connection with Pete Waterman. The atmosphere is a little melancholy, but not an all out tearjerker.

Episode #42 is all about The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, with music spanning the Radio and TV series and the movie from 2005. It features music from The Eagles, Paddy Kingsland, Joby Talbot, Marvin the Paranoid Android and Louis Armstrong.

In order to break the seal of the two year Troika hiatus, I've put together a quick episode, simply featuring some new music I'm listening to. Featured in this episode are Site Nonsite (a new music project from Simon Collison), Hamish Hawk and Gareth Quinn Redmond.

We had to say goodbye to our beautiful golden retriever Olive a few weeks ago. She really was the goodest of girls and the fluffiest of floofs, and as part of the Hicks family she deserves her very own episode of Troika. The tracks are: 'Olive, the other Reindeer' by Johnny Hart, 'Golden Retriever' by Super Furry Animals and 'We Watched you Disappear' by Hammock.

An episode of Troika to celebrate my son Daniel's 18th birthday, featuring music that he's chosen. A Moment Apart by *ODESZA, Freaking Out the Neighbourhood by Mac DeMarco and Taken For A Fool by The Strokes.

This special double episode is devoted to the music of one of my favourite artists, Montreal psychedelic rock band The Besnard Lakes! Featuring the tracks Like the Ocean/Like the Innocent, Chicago Train, Agent 13, Color yr Lights in, Necronomicon and The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings. Also features interview snippets and extra bonus track!

I was feeling the need for a bit of a change, so for this episode, I've chosen some of the electronic music that I've been playing in the last month or so. I feel the beats might help balance out the amount of ambient/shoegaze that I play. We've got 'Disappear' by Meg Ward, 'Sundial' by Bicep, and as a bit of a curveball, 'Next to me' by DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ.

I've called this episode Dark Mode, partly in a nod to the UI trend, but mostly because as we enter Winter, light feels in short supply. I've already themed two Troika's on ambient/drone music, and this is the third (and won't be the last). This is the music that gives me comfort and escapism in the dark times. Featuring 'Kitchen' by This Will Destroy You, 'Goldsmith' by Hammock and 'Seagull Line' by Nine is the Level. It also represents the one and only time I've ever got permission in person from the artist involved…

This double episode celebrates my daughter Samantha''s 18th Birthday! The first half looks at the strange we choices we made for our ''birthing mixtape'', that didn''t work, and the second showcases artists that she''s introduced me too. Featuring, Frank Sinatra, Ben Folds Five, Radiohead, Florence and the Machine, American Football and Cigarettes after Sex.

For this episode I wanted to look at music that just used the voice, and choose some examples that were just a small part of that huge spectrum. 'Mouth Music' has so many variations globally, that it would impossible to cover properly, so instead I've picked 6 of my favourites. 'Salve Mater Misericordie' by Trio Mediaeval, 'Sleep' by Eric Whitacre, 'Boy 1904' by Jonsi and Alex, 'Hide and Seek' by Imogen Heap, 'Song for the Siren' by This Mortal Coil and finally, 'Who is it (Carry my joy, the left, Carry my pain on the right)'* by Björk.

It's been too long since I last managed to squeeze out a Troika, but it it's still very much a project I want to continue! So, in this episode I"m looking at 'Endings', those last tracks on an album that have a particular 'End credits of a film' feel about them. This Troika features: 'Sandpit' by Curve, 'Burger Queen' by Placebo and 'Everyone but me' by Starflyer 59. As I mention in the podcast, the last track is my favourite song of all time - I love the coda at the end. It's epic!

A double-troika of the my favourite sad songs! Featuring: Anais Mitchell - 'Shepherd', Jarvis Cocker and Chilly Gonzales - 'Tearjerker', Spiritualized - 'Broken Heart', Kate Bush - 'This Womans Work', Nick Cave (featuring Else Torp) - 'Distant Sky' and finally Radiohead - 'Harry Patch (In Memory Of)'

Carrying on the theme of ambient post-rock music that featured in the first ever episode, I've chosen three tracks that I particularly think of at dusk. 'Building Clouds' by Olavi Louhivuori, 'Even if You're Never Awake' by Stars of the Lid and finishing with 'God's Teeth' by This Will Destroy You.

This Troika revisits my youth, and the years 85–87, when I was a fan of three bands, all roughly linked in a family tree. The music this time is 'Bottom Line' by Big Audio Dynamite, 'Atari Baby' by Sigue Sigue Sputnik and 'Joy Rider' by Westworld

The 10 months since the last episode! Featuring The Amazing, 65daysofstatic and Rogue Wave

This episode is all about the phenomenon of DJ Derek, and the fact that I don't really like reggae. Featuring 'Police and Thieves' by Junior Murvin, 'I Chase the Devil' by Max Romeo and the Upsetters and 'One love' by Bob Marley and the Wailers

Here are three songs all about tea! 'Cup of Brown Joy' by Professor Elemental, 'Drink tea (For the love of God)' by Kula Shaker and 'Tea in the Sahara' by The Police. Pop the kettle on!

Three songs that remind me of my time in the Lake District. 'The New Physics' by The Lost Dogs, 'Virgin and Child' by Iona, and 'Animal Nitrate' by Suede.

This Valentine's edition is either really early, or a bit late, depending on how you look at it! Love songs in general are either insincere, mawkish rubbish, cheesy, or all three. There so much chaff, but (for me at least) here's the wheat! My three favourite love songs in ascending order: 'Sick of Myself' by Matthew Sweet, 'Unravel' by Björk and 'First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' by Roberta Flack.

A bit of a delay in getting to this episode. I've hesitated over whether to do a full-on Bowie tribute as there are so many brilliant tributes already. It almost felt like jumping on the bandwagon. Instead I've bided my time, and its now evolved into a tribute to three people who've died too early in 2016: Lemmy Kilmister, David Bowie and Terry Wogan. 'Shake Your Blood' by Probot (Dave Grohl and Lemmy Kilmister), 'Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)' by David Bowie and finally 'T-WOG$ Pirate Radio' - Peter Serafinowicz.

Its an end of year list! Only shorter! This three-piece won't take long to read or listen to, but it took me a very long time to choose just three from so much wonderful music in 2015. To make it easier, I excluded any music that has already featured in Troika. So without further ado, my three most-played are: 'Satellites' by Mew, 'Repetition' by Purity Ring and 'Winter Dress' by The Amazing

Here we have another episode of Chrimbo tunes, this time with traditional songs covered by modern bands. These sound a bit more atmospheric compared last weeks more jaunty tunes! Once in Royal David's City' - Sufjan Stevens, 'Little Drummer Boy' - Low and 'The First Noel' - Over the Rhine

There's so many decent Christmas songs, that one Troika isn't going to be enough! So I've split them over two episodes - maybe more if I pull my finger out! While the first track isn't strictly 'explicit' (there's no swearing), it is a rather rum tale that minors may find disturbing. So we have: 'Oh Santa!' by Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer, 'Get behind me Santa!' by Sufjan Stevens* and 'A Snowflake Fell (and it felt like a kiss)' by Glasvegas

This time its all about taking it _slow_. Songs or pieces of music that either sound better, or take on a new form, when slowed down. 'Feel it all Around' by Washed Out Ernest Greenes' project 'Washed Out' take the backing from Gary Low's 1983 single 'I Want You' and slows it to nice laid back pace, creating this lovely slurry sound. I'm told this is also the theme to the TV Series Portlandia, but I haven't seen that yet. 'How do I make you' by The Chipmunks To record Chipmunks versions of songs, they have to be sung at a slower pace, so that when sped up, both the pitch and length is correct. So what happens when you slow the whole back down to the pace of the original vocal? Sludgepop! There's loads more on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/alvin-thechipmunkson16sp). Check out 'My Sharona in particular - I just felt it was a bit long for this episode,especially when you see how long the last track is… The Jurassic Park Theme - 1000% slower Drawn out to almost an hour, John Williams' theme to Jurassic Park is a beautiful ambient drone epic! In this episode I also mention about how Hans Zimmer's soundtrack for Inception was inspired by the slowed down version of Edith Piafs' "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien”, a musical motif used throughout the story. More on that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVkQ0C4qDvM.

In the early eighties I was really into artists like Jean Michel Jarre, Depeche Mode and Howard Jones. I loved synths! After about '86 I moved away to more guitar-based music, Metal and then a wee folky phase in the early nineties. During my last year at college in 94 I started rediscovering electronic music. As well as purveyors of ambience like Aphex Twin and The Orb, I also got into the 'dancey' end of the spectrum, even though I wasn't a fan of dancing or nightclubs. I kind of just nodded my head along, So, without interruption, here's the three tracks I've chosen from : Leftfield, Future Sound of London and The Chemical Brothers. Enjoy!

Troika number 18 is a straightforward simpler episode! The only thematic link this time is tracks that I've discovered either by shuffle or playback glitches. Random songs! (Maybe a little bit of swearing too) 'Cissy Strut' - Butch Cassidy Sound System 'Auditorium' - Mos Def feat. Slick Rick 'Babe you turn me on' - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

This Troika is a musical representation of one of my favourite foods - the mighty Scotch Egg! 'Breadcrumbs' by Deca, 'Valley of the Sausages' by Mr Scruff and 'Egg' by The Garden.

With the new series of Dr Who starting this weekend, I decided it was time for a Troika on the iconic TV theme! There's been a lot of 'official' versions over and many more covers (including a terrible disco-ified one by Mankind in 1979), but here is: the Original Theme by Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire, a Belgian Jazz version- 'Dr Qui' - from Bill Bailey and a lively EDM cover from Orbital.

Troika number fifteen is all about twins from Manchester called Andy and Jez Williams. From 90s dance act Sub Sub to Indie Rock giants Doves, and their new band, Black Rivers. We start with 'Ain't no love (ain't no use)' by Sub Sub feat. Melanie Williams, move onto 'Pounding' by Doves, and finish 'Voyager 1' by Black Rivers.

Welcome back to Troika after a lovely summer break! This Troika is about the three 'discoveries' I made at the Reading Festival last weekend - bands that I liked after seeing them live. 'Happy Song’ by Bring me the Horizon* (contains sweary swears!), ‘All the Sad Young Men’ by Spector and ‘Tryer, you’ by And So I Watch You From Afar.

Episode 13 of Troika is all about the versatile singer-songwriter and Yahama maestro John Shuttleworth! Songs featured are: 'Mutiny over the Bounty', 'Two Margarines' and 'I can’t go back to savoury now'.

I had planned a different Troika for #12, but I was so late getting it ready, I was going to miss the fact that the Tour de France starts this weekend! So that will become #13, and here is my rather hurried tribute to the annual cycling pantomime that is the Tour! First up is 'Tour de France' by Alexis Roche (apparently a bit rude, but it's in French), then 'Tour de France' by Benôit Charest (from the fantastic Belleville Rendezvous soundtrack), finishing with 'Tour de France' by Señor Coconut. As I've mentioned before, I can't abide Kraftwerks' 'Tour de France', but this is a cover version I can really get behind!

Hello peoples! This Troika is all about the bassists! We start with 'Hello Meow' by Squarepusher, 'Jerry was a race car driver' by Primus, and finish with 'By the Way' by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.