A Miniature World with Binnie Klein

About A Miniature World with Binnie Klein

My musical tastes swerve through Euro-pop, trip-hop, electronica, indie-rock, singer-songwriters. You might hear Icelandic rock, World music, Radiohead, Bjork, Tricky, Kate Bush, Cocteau Twins, The Books, Caroline Polachek, weird cover tunes, Milosh, Stevie Nicks, PJ Harvey, Cat Power, Owen Pallett, Hot Chip, Dandy Warhols, Kae Tempest, In These Trees and Tartie, Perfume Genius, Brian Eno, Karsh Kale, War on Drugs, Moby, Patti Smith, Juana Molina, Peter Gabriel, to name a few. And poetry. And words. My interviews have included Chris Frantz, Jeff Pevar, Dick Cavett, David Denby, Harry Shearer, Katha Pollitt, Bert Randolph Sugar, Abigail Thomas, Carl Safina, Matthew Klam, Gretchen Rubin, Tig Notaro, Ophelia Eisenberg, and many more! Many will be available on my Interview podcast, coming soon.....

Publisher

Binnie Klein, WPKN

Category

music · music

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

16 Oct 2025

Latest episode

15 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

25 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   15 Oct 2026

   A Miniature World with Binnie Klein October 15, 2026 Fragile and Ferocious

   Welcome to A Miniature World with Binnie Klein; this episode is the fragile and ferocious edition. My intro is by French composer Gabriel Yared, from the film "Betty Blue." Michelle Gurevich -she’s got Russian heritage – lives in Toronto…had been a filmmaker and performed under the name Chinawoman. "Party Girl" inspired the 2014 French film Party Girl – there’s been a lot of remixes of this song…from Late Night Tales album……..put out by  Agnes Obel, who invited some remarkable artists to delve deep into their music collections to create the ultimate "late night" selection. It is a fantastic album, with a great range of music and artists, and certainly not limited to playing only at night!!!   Nico/All Tomorrow's Parties continued an instant theme!  Bauhaus/ She's in Parties  ((Remix by The Cemetery Lovers), Modest Mouse/The Good Times Are Killing Me/Good news for people who love bad news - 2004- and we leave the partying theme for - Ray Davies/I Go To Sleep – a song later recorded by Peggy Lee and Cher, and a version you might not find anywhere else. Life Without Buildings/Sorrow - formed by students and ex-students of the Glasgow School of Art. This short-lived Scottish band was named the band after a B-side track by the English new wave band Japan (or The Durutti Column), Greek composer Lena Platonos/ Bloody Shadows From A Distance ---  first came out in 1985, then 2018 (okay it’s already a fine show, no? we’ve til noon together – with some features later on and more cool music), Elephant & Castle/Altered Scones/Transitions..Elephant & Castle is Bay area beat maker David Reep, Death Cab for Cutie/Transatlanticism/2003, PJ Harvey/We Float/Stories from the City; Stories from the Sea, 2000, The Reds, Pinks & Purples/Houses /Acknowledge Kindness, 2026, Agnes Obel/Poem About Death/ late night album, Elephant and Castle/En Memoria/Transitions (feat. tUne-YaRds), The Postal Service/Such Great Heights, Kristin Hersh, 101 Run/Sugar on the Blackstone/a darker album than previous ones, the album's title references places in Providence, Rhode Island, where Hersh is living. She's had more than her share of trauma. Her sound is so unique, and she can sound both fragile and ferocious! Maria Chiara Argiro/Closer, Nilufer Yanya (London-based singer/songwriter)/Just a Western/My Method Actor, CAN/Sing Swan Song - 1972 experimental German krautrock album Ege Bamyası oKRAScHOTEN I love that song and I particularly enjoy saying the album title Penguin Cafe/At the Top of the Hill, They Stood/handfuls of night, 2019 Ian Cooke/Monkey and Bear (Joanna Newsom) I love when men cover Joanna Newsom songs, don't you? Sometimes Joanna Newsom sounds like she's covering her own songs!! The Books/Classy Penguin/ Playall 2007 (an American Dutch experimental indie electronic duo formed in NYC in 1999 by Nick Zammuto (guitarist/Vocalist) and Paul de Jong (cellist/archivist)/they split up in 2012; each going on to solo projects, P.P. Rebel/Sanctuary/ Devotee 2017,  rooted in her embrace of the spiritual path of Kriya Yoga and an acquisition of a harmonium at an Indian furniture store, the new album from Paris Rebel Richens (Parsnip, Hierophants) blends chant, drones, and a spare vision of ‘60s rock. The first single from Richens’ new album opens with the fermented hum of harmonium and chants that befit an album titled Devotee. The song evolves, underpinned by a shaggy beat and a subdued sway that toes the line between the art house regulars at the edge of the ‘60s / ‘70s and deep meditative zones. Under the name P.P. Rebel, Richens channels a dose of cosmic calm on the album Devotee (from a blog called “raven sings the blues”)/ Ahmoudou Madassane/Akaline Akaline/an instrumental track by Tuareg guitarist and composer Ahmoudou Madassane, featured on his 2018 album Zerzura (Original Soundtrack Recording) described as the first Saharan acid Western, which follows a nomad's quest for a mythical city of gold. The Books/Fralite/a dot in time (2012),  Zammuto/Great Equator (one half of the talented duo the Books), Waxahatchee/Right Back to It, Vicky Sometani/Keep Coming Back To You, WONDER OF BIRDS - this segment discusses a special ability of the Woodpecker, GaiaGram (climate change news contributed by Kevin Gallagher), Patti Smith/ Peaceable Kingdom, Midori Jaeger/“see” acoustic Live at the poet’s studio, Arms/Kids Aflame, The Brian Jonestown Massacre/Fingertips, and that's a wrap!!!! Next show is November 5! Get in touch......binniek (at) comcast.net  Stay fragile and ferocious!!!

2. 

   1 Oct 2026

   A Miniature World with Binnie Klein, October 1, 2026 Autumn Sweater

   Autumn is here and the struggle is real. Leaves, chilly, darker. BUT on A Miniature World you will hear the poignant, the imaginative, the reliable, and the unique way the host mixes it all together. "Superior show," said a listener recently. Music from The Dandy Warhols, Death Cab for Cutie, Yo La Tengo, Coldcut, Edgar Winter, Charlie Parker, The Flaming Lips, Modest Mouse, The Neighborhood, Caamp, Future Islands, Joanna Newsom, (all those just cited have something to do with Autumn, and we need seasonal transitions to be noted when so much else is chaotic and unpredictable! )French Police, Prewn (touring now), Robert Wyatt, Perfume Genius, Iam6teen, Holly Munro, Unmoored --poem written and read by Doug Ramspeck (appeared In The Sun magazine, September 2026 issue), Agnes Obel, Imogen Heap, Matt Berninger, Robyn Hitchcock, one year later re-broadcast of Binnie on the deck watering plants, made exclusively (heh-heh) for WPKN, Lotte Kestner, Gia Margaret, Lowenzahn honig, STATION ID with Johnny (Loudboy) Andrews from touring with the B-52s, Sam Wilkes, Craig Weinrib and Dylan Day, Gia Margaret, Big Thief, Binnie & Scott (who met at WPKN) have a discussion in the car (premiere of a series?), Futurebirds, Iggy Pop, Godzooki, DEHD, Mini-feature: The Wonder of Birds! (intro by Innocence Mission), tales of the bird that flies backwards (hummingbird), and I haven't hooked up with a crow yet but I may settle for a bluejay, Boy With a Fish, GaiaGram #333 (Kevin Gallagher feature on the effect of climate change), SIPHAMANDLA ARTS GROUP - UBUNTUMadassane – ‘Zerzura Theme II’ Original soundtrack recording to the film “Zerzura”, the first ever Saharan acid Western, telling the story of a nomad’s search for a magic city of gold. Evoking the desert journey with free form guitar improvisations, the soundtrack is a meditation on the mysteries of the Sahara. Composed by writer and actor Ahmoudou Madassane, the instrumental score takes the familiar Tuareg guitar tradition into new directions, transforming desert blues into ambient soundscapes. released November 23, 2018 Les Filles de Illighadad – ‘Erilegh Ifanata’ Sublime recordings from rural Niger. Two very different sides of Tuareg music - dreamy ishumar acoustic guitar sessions, and the hypnotic polyphonic tende that inspires it. Guitarist Fatou Seidi Ghali and vocalist Alamnou Akrouni lead the troupe, named after the village. Recorded in the open air studio of the desert. released February 24, 2016 Yup, got all intellectual on ya at the end!  My next show is October 15, 2026!!! Stay warm; put on your Autumn Sweaters. Love, Binnie

3. 

   17 Sept 2026

   A Miniature World with Binnie Klein September 17, 2026 Arms Outstretched

   This episode is lovable pop songs and lyricists. Of A Miniature World, listeners write in: "It's the way she puts it together." "World weary but with hope for the future." Gabriel Yared kicks us off with music from the French film Betty Blue, Birdsongs of the Mezazoic (with an ENO cover of Somber Reptiles), Githead, Patti Smith ("oh when we'll be as one/oh but until that day/oh we will just await/in our snow white shrouds/waiting underground/waiting underground"), Teddybears feat. Iggy Pop, Moaa, ANNOUNCE, Kae Tempest feat. Kevin Abstract), Rosa Damask (post-punk from Russia!), LP (phenomenal songwriter became a performer), The War on Drugs, Tricky & Lita Lores, Bonobo, ANNOUNCE, Human Tetris, Lowman, The Participant (experimental collective from Australia), Merci Raines, Lykke Li (new!), Bjork, soft siren, SOREN, Morgana (says "her song I'm Not Going Anywhere" became a North Star for her solo project), ANNOUNCE, Saint Sister (Morgana's early project with a school friend), Kate Bush, Miyaxx, Two Lanes & Sohn (Live), "Cereus," poem by Henri Cole, from Aug 17 issue of The New Yorker, Sternpost, Iniko, First-Ever Chapman Stick Trio, Nature vs. Nurture feat. the Ebinum Brothers, Laura Misch, Johnny Loudboy Andrews on tour with B-52s announces third hour of Binnie's show, Explosions in the Sky, Erik Blood, pearl, The United States of America, the Wonder of Birds segment: The Kildeer fakes a limp to draw attention away from her babies, Joy Oladokun/I'd Miss the Birds, LP (new one), London Grammar, Tori Amos, GaiaGram (Kevin Gallagher's segment on the threats to our planet from climate change), Slowdive, Widowspeak, the Dandy Warhols....... Bye! Next show October 1, 2026 - Please like, subscribe and share!!!!

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.