Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone

Stuart Maconie introduces you to some lesser known krautrock coming out of Germany from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Featuring tracks from Ash Ra Temple, Birth Control and Brainticket.

Jonny Trunk, founder of Trunk Records joins Stuart with American home-made records. Starting with a hip and swinging jazzy number from The Silhouettes it all goes downhill from there. Getting progressively worse but increasingly intriguing Jonny finishes with a deadpan, completely out-of-tune and totally brilliant song called I Can’t Hide My Feelings From You.

Barry Hogan the founder of All Tomorrow's Parties joins Stuart with music by his favourite artists performing at ATP events this summer. Featuring tracks from singer-songwriter Anika and film director Jim Jarmusch's new noise project SQURL.

Folk artist Sam Lee is Stuart's guest this week presenting his take on the power ballad. Don't be holding out for a hero as Sam offers a new meaning for the term with some of the oldest ballads in English history performed with a modern twist by key figures in contemporary folk.

Stuart discovers the freaky side of Todd Rundgren with regular Freakier Zone guest musician and producer Graham Massey. Todd is best known for producing hits such as Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell. Here Graham recalls how Todd inspired him to become a studio boffin and run his own studio instead of using corporates. He also plays his favourite tracks from Todd's more out-there albums 'A Wizard, A True Star' and 'Initiation'; a showcase for Todd's expensive synths collection.

John Doran, editor of The Quietus talks Stuart through the music that has been influenced by black metal, a sonically assaulting genre originating from Norway. Featuring Nordic paganism from Wardruna, eco-friendly extreme metal from Botanist and blast beat drums from Anaal Nathrakh.

Radio 3's Fiona Talkington joins Stuart with a selection of Icelandic records following her recent trip to the Dark Days Festival in Reykjavik. Featuring tracks from guitarist and composer Hafdis Bjarndottir and Valgeir Sigurdsson founding member of the Bedroom Community.

Music journalist Marcus O'Dair joins Stuart to look beyond the makeup and the costumes to Bowie as a songwriter with a selection of suitably freaky cover versions of Bowie originals. From William Shatner's bonkers version of Space Oddity to Leo Minor's complete re-interpretation of Ashes To Ashes, Bowie's classic hits are the gift that keeps on giving.

Rob Young, author of Electric Eden, tells the story of Might Baby. A quietly influential group who played raucous live sets at Glastonbury performing their unique brand of heavily improvised visceral folk-rock. From their beginnings in mod rock to an unexpected conversion to Sufism, Rob explains how their musical and spiritual journeys combined.

Anne Hilde-Neset, music writer for Wire magazine joins Stuart from Oslo with a selection of records under the header 'cut-ups and collaborations'. Featuring tracks from cut and splice pioneers William Burroughs and John Oswald plus some more modern mash-ups to delight and discover.

Stuart presents a selection of records by artists who use pseudonyms, masks and diversions to conceal their true identity. Featuring tracks from artistic alias' Aphex Twin, The Residents, Jandek, MF Doom and Buckethead.

Regular guest Andy Votel joins Stuart with music from films starring actor Donald Pleasance, best know for his role in The Great Escape. Here Andy showcases his B-movie side with Basil Kirchin's soundtrack to Mutations, Serg Gainsbourg's soundtrack to Mister Freedom and Kryzsztof Komeda's soundtrack to Cul-De-Sac.

Jonny Trunk, of Trunk Records, joins Stuart with his favourite records by the French soundtrack and library music composer Vladimir Cosma. From his sample-able funk beats to retro children's songs and Eric Satie emulators, Vladimir has composed over 300 soundtracks in the last 50 years.

Stuart presents music from the Canterbury Scene featuring characteristically pastoral, jazzy and whimsical tracks from The Wilde Flowers, Kevin Ayres and of course Soft Machine.

6 Music's Henrietta Rowlatt joins Stuart to talk influential math-rock from Louisville, Kentucky in the early 1990s. Featuring tracks from Slint, Rodan and June Of 44.