1. THE STRANGE STORY OF SOVIET MUSIC ON THE BONE
In this episode on SOHO Radio: Musician Stephen Coates and photographer Paul Heartfield of the X-Ray Audio Project tell the story of the x-ray bootleggers who defied the Soviet censor for the sake of the music they loved. We hear why and how they did it with music from various x-ray records and in the words of a surviving bootlegger - and we explore what it actually takes to cut music onto x-ray film.
2. THE SELF MADE RECORD
In this episode on SOHO Radio: Stephen Coates & Paul Heartfield of the X-Ray Audio Project are joined by oral historian and broadcaster Alan Dein. They discuss the history, culture and technology of the street machines that allowed ordinary people to record themselves in the West - and create bootleg records of forbidden music in the Soviet Union - long before the advent of tape or digital recording. We hear extraordinary recordings of strange and moving sounds from Alan’s collection.
3. THE FLEXI DISC
In this episode on SOHO Radio: The Soviet records cut on x-rays in the cold war era are an unusual example of thin flexible vinyl type records that have carried all sort of audio - from advertisements through exclusive tracks by huge bands to experimental and deeply odd music. Stephen Coates and Paul Heartfield of the X-Ray Audio Project are joined by writer Barry Cain, editor of the massively influential 1980s Flexi Pop magazine, and collector DJ Food, creator of the extraordinary online Flexhibition, to explore the wonderful, wonky world of the flexi disc.
4. THE BOOTLEG RECORD
In this episode on SOHO Radio: Stephen Coates & Paul Heartfield of the X-Ray Audio Project are joined by vinyl historian, writer and broadcaster Travis Elborough to discuss the murky world of the illegal recording. We hear extraordinary examples from the 1960s - 1980s, the Golden Age of the vinyl bootleg, when record companies fought a losing battle, often against fans, to control just what of their artists output could be listened to.
5. MUSIC IN EXILE
In this episode on SOHO Radio: Much of the music cut onto the Soviet x-ray records was not Jazz and Rock ’n’ Roll but Russian music- forbidden Russian music. It was forbidden for various reasons - usually because the artists who made it lived in exile in the degenerate capitalist West. The X-Ray Audio Project’s Stephen Coates and Paul Heartfield are joined by afficionados Jason Reid and Joe Dimmot to talk about the ways musicians in exile have gone on to influence the culture of the countries that provide them shelter from persecution.