A Miniature World with Binnie Klein

Shake it up. Get out of the house. Live in the in-between. We could all use a good scream. Get underway with Gabriel Yared, Future Islands, swelt, Band of Horses, REM, Juana Molina, Lemoncello, Emma Ruth Rundle, Tori Amos, Five Green Moons, Camille Camille, Rosenau & Sanborn, Elisapie, Erika Angell, Tara Clerkin Trio, Snail Mail, Black Dog, Wu-Lu, Simon & Garfunkel, Gregory Alan Isakov, Wendy Eisenberg, Martha Skye Murphy, "Reservoir," by Tova Gannanna, The New Yorker, March 23, 2026, Steen Jorgensen, D'En Haut, the FVL, Liva Lumpe, Heilung, Lettie, Anna Calvi & Laurie Anderson, Hi! CAPABARAS, Elori Saxl, Yor, Devision Redux, GaiaGram from Kevin...

Snow has melted and we see what was under the snow. A world teetering with tension, and now we're out of the house, talking too fast, all jagged and breathing and laughing too loud. Here's 3 hours of the beauty and peace that I wish was underneath the snow. Gabriel Yared, Big Thief, Suzanne Vega, Aldous Harding, Idaho, The Reflection Box, Widowspeak, The Walker Brothers, Nelly Furtado, Ela Minus, Vicky Sometani, The Caretaker, Swelt, tuna tres belle, Diza, Cate Le Bon, Shabaka, Supreme Beings of Leisure, Nailah Hunter, Christian Loffler, Joanna Newsom, Crosby, Stills & Nash (RIP Stephan Stills), Jessi Robertson...

When I was starting to write poetry in earlier years, especially the 1970s, I had more conviction than I have now. Sounds strange, I know! I was convinced of how to shape images, tell small stories,  or at least there was passion and confidence guiding me.

       Creativity hasn’t stopped, thank goodness – it’s a vital nutrient….but to be able to “sum anything” up about the wider world and what we’re going through in these times…..I know I don’t have to, but it’s a powerful impulse….to pull something together! BUT – what I’ve got is this: we are batt...

Heavy Storms (and the storms are stronger now).
Heavy World (and Atlas can't shrug at all).
We take Heavy Steps...
Try to answer the call...

In this episode I'm juggling amazing artists and hope I do them justice: Gabriel Yared, Wax Tailor, Kate Bush, Yin Yin, Third World, Flea w/Thom Yorke, Christine and the Queens, Daughter, Nation of Language, Asgeir, Manchester Orchestra, Amason, Xiu Xiu, Sister Irene O'Connor, Picky Picnic, They Might Be Giants, Lamb, The Cure, Lana Del Rey, GaiaGram (environmental news from Kevin Gallagher), Jherek Bischoff and Amanda Palmer, Ada Lea...

I want what I can't handle/I want what I can't see/I want a second ending/where you envelope me.. A Miniature World - Shrinking it down and mixing it up for Gabriel Yared, Jeff Beck, Dot Allison, Monomome, Boards of Canada, Nightmares on Wax, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Lucinda Williams, Ferron, David Bowie, Walter Verdin, Kula Shaker, V/Z, Alien Cowboy, Bill Callahan, Absent Music & Jan Van Den Broeke, Daniel Lanois, RIP Bob Weir, Robert Wyatt, Lana del Rey, Juana Molina, Stella Donnelly, GaiaGram (Environmental news from Kevin Gallagher), Winona Oak, Melody's Echo Chamber, Arnold Dreyblatt & Horse...

What is it about New Year's? Signaled by a day? I picture an enormous hourglass--a yearly one-- turned over by a giant force. Another next chance--your seemingly endless chunk of time will too soon dissolve like the grains of sand dripping through the glass. But we are pleased for more, always wanting more! We may or may not meet the resolves we set -- I say forgive yourself ahead of time! Here are some artists I've loved; some discovered in 2025. C'est le vent, Bettye/Gabriel Yared, Adrian Jodorowsky/Dancing to the Radio, Ben Sollee/A Change is Gonna Come...

Are you shivering in your boots? Huddled around a fire? Ordering flannel sheets on sale? We love seasonal continuity and repetition, don't we? Cuz, as they say, what's the alternative? Well, here are 3 hours of seriously and carefully curated new and older music and some words; among them John Glacier, London Grammar, Thylacine, Christian Loffler, Jay Som, james K, Ula, Smerz, Lizzie Weber, Kate Bush, Milkweed, Rattle, Mei Semones, Kinski, Iniko, Half Japanese, Elijah Minnelli, Nalead, SEVN, So, The "Gaia-Gram," a short segment by Kevin Gallagher about threats to our environment, MONG, Robyn & Jamie xx, Hannes Bieger, Blue Man...

Cold Supermoon but Warm-hearted host, exploring interstitial spaces. Can be literal, like gaps between yr teeth, spaces between cells, or figurative; can be in-between states, identities. Exists in art--going outside the mainstream. Join me for 3 hours of curated goodness with a film recommendation. The gorgeousness of Elder Island, Nena, Art School Girlfriend, FJ McMahon, May Zoean, Sarah Fimm, Tony Levin, David Baron, Blood Orange, In These Trees and Tartie, Bob Dylan, Asgeir, and many more! RIP Jimmy Cliff. Questions/comments? binnie@wpkn.org.  Next show is December 18, 2025. Thanks to all the great musicians and attentive listeners!

"Authenticity sweet spot: when the music resonates with you"
                                 -- Susan Rogers, This is What it Sounds Like
Here on A Miniature World it's indie music, outie, inner, outer, sideways, byways, all the ways. Something old, something new, something blue, impressionistic, spoken words, shared emotions, happy/sad, glorious/remarkable...terrestrial...streaming...beaming...podcasting and dreaming...Sevadliza, Alec Benjamin, brux XTN, Yukimi, MILCK, Regina Spektor, Radiohead, Quilt, Pyeng Threadgill, Yo La Tengo, Hauschka, Nits, Pumuky, The Pogues, Altered Images, Donovan, Makk, Brian Kelly, Camper Van Beethoven, The Cavemen, A Silent Film, Nation of Language, Will Swinton, Marisa Anderson, Julia Holter, Lae...

A Miniature World (words and music) expands today to 3 hours, with poems by Binnie Klein, Tristan Tzara (I always like to be paired with a surrealist!), and a tidbit from Paul Lisicky's memoir about Joni Mitchell. And the most exquisitely curated trip through the work of artists like Banks, Tame Impala, Lolli Wren, Future Islands, Blood Orange, David Bowie, Elbow, with some cool psychedelia, folk, and world music sprinkled throughout. If you'd like to reach Binnie for questions or comments: binnie@wpkn.org.
Next episode premieres November 20, 2025! Binnie's songwriting project is In These Trees and Tartie.

"Only connect" (E.M. Forster) For what else can be done in these times? I can reach you with this curated show of sound and words. Will you open your heart like a flower and be receptive? Music from Beach House, Ivy, Yellow House, Daphne's Demise, Hibou, Peter Gabriel, poem M.C. Escher by Binnie Klein, Basia Bulat, Futurebirds, etc. 

There is nothing more glorious than the sight and sound of a dog jumping into a pile of leaves. I recorded this episode out on my deck on one of the few remaining glorious autumn days. Amidst gorgeous music by, among others, MILCK, Bastille, New Order, Kae Tempest, Phish, Perfume Genius, Cold War Kids, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti's 1958 poem "I Am Waiting," (read by Abu B. Rafique), I water the plants and bug spray gives me a coughing fit. 

I walk in the woods with my small dog. I talk about a new hybrid bird species. Music includes Ladytron, Not for Radio, Ponybird, Automatic, Antelope, SAULT, The Marias, Winona Oak, In These Trees and Tartie, Christopher Mir, Kate Bush, Lord Huron, etc...