Soma - Secret Agent

The Soma series of radio stations were really responsible for my interest in internet radio. A friend had their Christmas station playing and I loved the idea of a channel popping up for a season then disappearing once the holidays are done. So yes, expect me to review their Xmas stations as soon as they're up!

But on to one of their permanent channels, Secret Agent. Soma describe it as "The soundtrack for your stylish, mysterious, dangerous life. For Spies and PIs too!" Does that help you any? Me neither, but I can understand why they haven't tried to pigeon hole it into a genre, it doesn't really fit neatly into any category. Bizarrely Reciva classifies it as Easy and Talk? I'm not certain how they come to these conclusions sometimes...

The music mix is at times sublime, blending from an upbeat modern rock number to some laid back 60's lounge via a Sean Connery soundbite. Similar to many Soma channels Secret Agent plays a LOT of instrumental music, but unlike with Illinois Street Lounge here I don't feel it limiting the mix at all. After all this is supposed to the soundtrack of the film, IE music to support the onscreen action of your life... Most of the tracks hover on the edge of recognition, but most of them draw me in and provide interest in the music.

Soma's stations are ad and DJ free, but you do get the very occasional plea for donations, but even these are quick and unobtrusive. Connections either via the PC or Wi-Fi radio is rock solid and other than the occasional rebuffer on the Wi-Fi, trouble free.

Having looked at a number of stations now, I have to say that the front end to Soma.FM's web presence is simple, bordering on the plain. They give you the music and little else. No forum, no music background, no hints about schedules. Their enhanced content in Windows Media Player is good though with links from the 'now playing' tracks and performers to Amazon.

Overall? I love it... It's just listenable too, put it on, leave it on, loud and out there, or quiet and in the background it does the job. The lack of an obvious genre makes it hard to recommend to people, but I say, give it a go if you've ever put on a Dinner Jacket (or tuxedo) and looked in the mirror at yourself with 1 eyebrow raised... Secret Agent gets a very deserved TUNE-IN rating for good music from a good theme.

Planet Rock

For those of you who keep up with radio news, this one will need no introduction. Planet Rock has caused a huge uproar in the DAB market, as despite growing listener figures, awards and list of famous DJ's, their parent company (GCAP) is getting rid of them as they aren't profitable. There is a potential saviour though, as Brian May has taken an interest.

Putting all the publicity to one side, what's the station like for us Wi-Fi users? 2 words:-

ROCK ON!

Ok for those who like things a little less succinctly, Planet Rock is good. To be fair it's a niche station, but it's a pretty big niche you could easily include bands from The Beatles to the Darkness and still have room for ZZ Top and Alice Cooper (who as it happens presents the breakfast show). I do like my rock, and this station gave me a big fat load of it, mostly from classic bands, but not always there best known work. Some early Hendrix, a bit of Clapton, then back to earth with a large slice of Meatloaf. All good rock.

The technical side is as smooth as you'd expect from a profesisional station, although it does seem to take an AGE to buffer to the Revo, no worries though as once it's buffered, it's a solid connection. The site is... a little dissapointing, it has a forum, it has features on some rock stars, it's ok, its standard. It's dissapointing as the station seems to exist on it's passion for the music, so this basic site just seems so vanilla...

At the moment a commercial DAB station, with the obligatory online / wifi side, the station has DJ's, news and ads (although these seem to be relatively sparse and repetative, which is, as someone pointed out to me, possibly the reason they're not making money?). Even here though they're pushing the music. As mentioned Alice Cooper presents the breaky show, what he lacks in a sense of humour and vocal flow he makes up for in his huge knowledge of the people making the music. He seems to have a bit of a back story for almost every track he plays, and I love it, other presenters are also (if not equally) part of the Rock scene.

So without a shadow of a doubt Planet Rock gets a TUNE IN rating, seems a little 'small potatoes', as they won the Sony Digital station of the year award a week or so back, but there you go. Good luck to Brian May with keeping the station open, Planet Rock is so good, I've retuned my only DAB radio to it (although that was partially an objection to how bad Virgin / Christian O'Connell have become)

Brisbanes Best Mix 97.3fm

This one came up in the 80's genre again, and I have to admit that I choose it based upon a little twinge of nostalgia for the the 2 months I spent in the Queensland city of Brisbane.

The first time I listened to this station was a bit like listening to a 'Best of the 80's soft rock' compilation, and I loved every minute of it. The Australians to seem to like a bit of the rock and this station delivers it. Over time there is a bit more of a balance in the tracks but still heavily 80's orientated. The closest to current music I heard was an interview with James Blunt, based on the fact he was touring out there. I'd add one small note on this station, much as I liked it, there's only so much classic 80's a person can take. I can't see this station being one for day after day listening, there's GOT to be a lot of repeats (I've not heard it yet, but they've got to play Khe Sanh at least once a day surely...)

97.3fm is a local commercial radio station and as such has all the normal features such as news, DJ's, traffic etc. This in itself is quite an oddity, as I was getting ready for my commute to work I was listening to problems on the roads in Brisbane... One thing I haven't noticed is the adverts, maybe I'm just not tuned in to them like the UK ones, but if they're there they blend into the general DJ chatter. Again it could be the change from the norm, but I quite liked the Australian accent to the voices and the list of unusual place names.

The stream is pretty low quality, but one advantage to this is very few drops in the connection,in fact I can't recall one pause while it rebuffers the stream.

The 97.3fm website is a fairly typical commercial station site but really focuses on the lifestyle of it's listener rather than its choosen music. The site doesn't really add anything to the listening experience, unlike something like the UK's XFM station which realy trys to dig behind the music. But there are plenty of links to listen to the station, request songs and access podcasts /mp3's of the stations popular shows, all paid for by a number of banner adverts across the site.

A hard one to rate, I really enjoy the music they play but I can see it getting tired all too quickly (like a great song overplayed until it becomes irritating). All the same, I give this a TUNE-IN rating.

Lounge-Radio.com

It must be my favourite type of music at the moment (either that or I didn't want my second review to be about a 'normal' radio station), as Lounge-Radio.com also plays a fair selection of swing and gentle jazzy tunes. They describe themselves as offering "light summer-plate consisting of downtempo and fresh beats of nujazz - dipped into the warmth of brazil electro and finely served with a breath of ambient". Like overblown dishes on a pub menu where goujons of cod with hand made pommes-frite disguises a perfectly acceptable helping of fish and chips, I'm not sure these trendified lables for the radio stations actually help people understand what the station will be playing.


I'm happy to report that Lounge-Radio.com plays a good mix of swing, chillout music, often with a slight latin beat. All good stuff if rarely recognisable as a classic reading through the playlist on their site confirms that they stay away from "mainstream" artists, but in this case it's no bad thing. This is definitely not floor filler high energy stuff, but it's good music for the tale end of a party or a chilled out BBQ.

Lounge-Radio.com is another listener sponsored station, so is low on adverts. I've also not heard a plea for cash during the broadcst, but there is an occasional "you're listening too.." in the now standard deep voiced american accent. I've not noticed any gaps in the service and have no problem getting a connection or the connection dropping.

The site is nicely laid out with easy access to the current playlist, it even tells you what's coming next. There's a forum discussing the music and station and links for musicians and DJ's to send in their work.

My current favourite station for everyday listening, Lounge-Radio.com gets a TUNE-IN rating.