Museradio, created by Lilly Ladjevardi, a BBC world music researcher and Olivia Koerfer, a tech expert, is an online music platform with specially created playlists that you can stream straight to your computer or download from ITunes. I was introduced to Museradio this summer (music geek I am not) and was able to go online, choose Sunny Afternoon and impress others with my perfectly appropriate BBQ mix. Their Afro-Cuban tribute to Malick Sidibé transformed me into someone who knew how to seek out good world-music. Now, for the real test: a mix of not corny Christmas music. Try ‘Mele Kalikimaka’ sung by Bing Crosby and ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ sung by Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban mixed in with songs by Mahalia Jackson, Eartha Kitt, Django Reinhardt and John Lee Hooker. We are so pleased to announce that these lovely ladies from London made a Museradio for Dossier playlist for us, featuring songs by Class Actress, Warpaint, Donovan, MGMT, Led Zeppelin and Bon Iver. We sent them a list of songs that we liked and they made us so much cooler than we really are. That’s kind of just how they roll.

Katherine Krause: How did you guys start Museradio? What was the inspiration?

Olivia Koerfer: Over a cup of tea at one of our favorite local spots, we mused over how we could spend more time together doing something we love. Originally we thought of doing a music newsletter, where you could listen directly from your email. It then evolved into online playlists. When we started researching, there didn’t seem to be a service where people could listen to pre-selected music that is curated by real people, not algorithms, that combines genres and eras of music, and that is in a super easy to use format. Most curated music sites and blogs seem to specialize in a genre of music. Another of the driving inspirations behind our idea was to share great music in the simplest way possible, to take away all of the distractions and busyness that music websites are fraught with. Basically we wanted to build something that we would love to have and use.

Lilly Ladjevardi: I’m always discovering music I love for my different clients and for the world music radio program that I do research for. We thought it would be great to build a platform where we could share these discoveries with everyone out there that’s interested.

Katherine: What are your backgrounds in? What else do you do other than this?

Lilly: Most of my work involves music- organizing concerts, making custom soundtracks for businesses, researching for the radio.

Olivia: My background is in branding, design and technology. I set up an online travel publishing business, Globalista, a few years ago and that currently takes up most of my time. I also do some consulting work for small web start-ups.

Katherine: How do you come up with the playlists? How do you come up with playlist for institutions, such as Dossier or the Museum of Everything?

Olivia: We meet once or twice a week, when I cycle down the street to Lilly’s Notting Hill flat. We always start our sessions with a big pot of delicious tea. After our half hour of catch up we’re ready. Playlists always come from inspiration. Sometimes an idea or a particular song that makes us think of other songs and connections. Gypsy music leads to waltzes, to folk, connected by violins and strings. Sometimes it’s a feeling we’re trying to capture-This City Never Sleeps was inspired by driving through the snow on a late winter’s night. It’s always a process of brainstorming, then refining, more brainstorming, a cup of tea and a roll up, more refining. We had a great time testing out Cool Like Dat, driving around our west London hood in the summer with the windows wide open and seeing if all the songs contributed to the right vibe. We only create playlists for projects we are inspired by and see it as benefiting both parties. Mostly, we try and get a sense of a project’s essence, its roots and vision, and then start brainstorming. Museum of Everything was really fun to put together as it was all about strange, powerful and raw musical concoctions from around the world but with geographical connections to certain artists from the Czech Republic, India and the American South. Sometimes we get more detailed specifications, sometimes we do it entirely ourselves for the institution.

Katherine: Did you used to make mixtapes as a kid? Is your house overflowing with Vinyl records or anything of that sort?

Lilly: I would pour my heart into mixtapes that I made for people I was really into – usually a boy. My house is overflowing with CDs, 75% of which are categorized. The rest are in piles everywhere. I have everything digitized, but nothing replaces being able to look through the actual albums for research and ideas.

Olivia: When I was a teenager I made minidisc mixes. I thought they were the coolest things ever, I wish they had caught on.

Katherine: What are some of your inspirations other than music? What is your first memory around music?

Lilly: I remember music by the fire in my living room- Jean Michel Jarre, Ella Fitzgerald, Baroque. I loved an album by Kitaro that sounded like stars and the universe to me. That was my parents music. Otherwise, I grew up in the MTV culture with records of Michael Jackson, Duran Duran and Madonna.

Olivia: I often get inspired by the places I visit when travelling; but even closer to home, by discovering something unexpected around the corner in our little corner of London. I also get inspired by people who have done incredible things, who have risked all to make a difference.

Katherine: What are some new bands you are into?

Lilly: Really loving Warpaint, made up of four American women. I love their beautiful vocal harmonies, the raw and pretty guitar. Also recently discovered Danyel Waro, a singer from Reunion Island rooted in the Maloyo tradition, which comes from its slave and Tamil roots. When he sings it’s as if he has no ego and its just coming from another place, deep and eternal. He sticks to using traditional instruments and the compositions are simple but powerful. Dying to see him live.

Olivia: My taste is a little more mainstream. I am really enjoying the XX, Kasabian, Mumford & Sons and just went to a great Arcade Fire concert.

Katherine: What are some classic favorites that you recommend?

Lilly: One of my favorite artists is Marta Topferova, a New York-based Latin singer with Czech roots. I love all of her albums. Her voice has a rich, sensuous and earthy tone and she sings mostly in spanish. Her arrangements are beautiful and based on latin folkloric music. She doesn’t have the need to embellish or experiment in the way that often ruins good music when its just for the sake of trying to be different. Its pure and direct, and unmistakeably hers, just how I like it.

Olivia: I’m still obsessed with Antony and the Johnsons after seeing them in concert a few years ago. They’re a bit too weird for some people but I love their eclectic and haunting sound.

Katherine: How did you get into music research?

Lilly: I had a world music show at liberal arts college I went to in Mass. At first it was from 6-8 on Sunday mornings, or some other ungodly hour. But I enjoyed it. Its when I first started rummaging through second-hand record shops and finding strange and wonderful music. Later in London, I started working with Charlie Gillett who became an incredible mentor and friend. He had been on the radio for 40 years and was instrumental in bringing world music to the UK. He retained the quality of being open, and had so much knowledge that he was always happy to share. Sadly, he passed away last year.

Katherine: How did the two of you meet? What is next for Museradio?

Olivia: Museradio is building a new site we are really excited about. We are going to simplify the way users access music, which will become an issue as we accumulate more playlists. We will also charge a very low monthly subscription fee to access playlists from our archive, so that it will hopefully contribute to cover our running costs. We’re also looking to develop our commercial side and create playlists for companies, to stream from their own websites as a way to enhance their brands.

Katherine: What’s your next collaboration on the rise?

Lilly: Look out for our chalet mix!

I have to admit that it took Michael Jackson dying on Thursday for me to remember that he had still been alive. Still, one doesn’t need to have been a fan of Jackson to be affected by his passing or to relate to the various discussions surrounding his untimely (?) death. Those of us born around 1980 became aware of the wider world while Michael Jackson was at the peak of his celebrity. As many of the commentaries on his life and death have maintained, this was a new type of celebrity, quantitatively and also qualitatively different from those preceded it.  Similarly, his death eclipses those of other global superstars like Elvis, John Lennon, Princess Diana or James Brown. The texts linked below – with varying degrees of personal sentiment and theoretical density – are all engagements with the life and death of Jackson. This is obviously a very partial list and suggestions for further reading would be appreciated.

Perhaps the best of the bunch, the always insightful K-punk:  “… and when the groove is dead and gone…”

Steven Shaviro (author of The Cinematic Body and most recently, Without Criteria: Kant, Whitehead, Deleuze and Aesthetics) on his blog The Pinocchio Theory.

Gary Younge in The Guardian: We span, shuffled and combed our hair up high – to be like the boy on Bandstand.

 Critic Ernest Hardy on his blog Blood Beats.

Owen Hatherley of the blog Sit Down Man, You’re a Bloody Tragedy and the recently published Militant Modernism: We are the only World.

Annalee Newitz at io9.com: Michael Jackson’s Science Fictional Life.

Charlie Brooker, also in The Guardian: Michael Jackson’s death hit Glastonbury hard -– and the news channels harder.

Various critics at Salon: Don’t stop ’til you get enough.