Accordion punk-rock and classical-folk stuff from around the world, with jazz and occasional token polkas. Broadcast live on CFRO Co-Op Radio from the heart of the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Earth. We welcome concertina, bandoneon, squeezebox, squashbox, button-box, bayan, melodeon, trikitixa (Basque buttonbox), and flutina (primitive accordion). We play norteño, zydeco, forro, tango, klezmer, and little kids messing with toy accordions. We like vallenato from Colombia, muzette from France, punk rock from Russia, and anything from Finland or Belgium. It's eclectic, showing the sometimes dark, unfamiliar depths of the various squeezebox traditions, while having a good time.
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2024-01-31: Imperfect Palestine Solidarity Episode
Ordinarily this would be our monthly Bandcamp special, but something has come up that is even bigger than that. Please read on for Bruce’s statement on Palestine solidarity. If your Apple or Android (or plain old RSS) podcast subscriptions (strongly recommended!) haven’t alerted you to the episode’s availability yet, you can listen to it as digital audio courtesy of the […]
2/2/2024 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2024-01-24: Another Squeeze Around the World (1913-2024)
This week’s episode of Accordion Noir is out, featuring our trademark melange of free reed musics from different musical traditions representing far-flung and disparate cultures across the planet! It’s an excellent recipe and we see no reason to deviate from it. If your Apple or Android (or plain old RSS) podcast subscriptions (strongly recommended!) haven’t alerted you to the episode’s availability yet, […]
1/25/2024 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2024-01-10: New Ears in the New Year
Here you go, a fresh playlist of hugely stylistically varied squeezebox music, from all over the place and across a wide range of time periods! That’s right, it’s your regular Accordion Noir playlist. If your Apple or Android (or plain old RSS) podcast subscriptions (strongly recommended!) haven’t alerted you to the episode’s availability yet, you can enjoy listening to it as digital […]
1/11/2024 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2024-01-03: Public Domain Day 1928–2024!
Happy New Year! Last night’s episode of our weekly, hour-long Accordion Noir broadcast took a look at some of the latest accordion music to enter the Public Domain in the United States, hot squeezebox tunes from nearly a hundred years ago — which was a good era for accordions! If your Apple or Android (or plain old RSS) podcast subscriptions (strongly recommended!) haven’t […]
1/4/2024 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-12-27: Brief Respite in Midwinter
Sometimes you run out of accordion playlists before you run out of weeks in the year. In a pinch during holiday activities Bruce had to quickly produce some tunes for last night’s episode of our weekly program, so he reached into his “long, contemplative improvised works” file that has served him so well in his “drone” […]
12/28/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-12-20: Solstice Solstice Everywhere (on Earth)
In all the holiday excitement, Bruce failed to notice that he hadn’t sent me the playlist for this week’s episode of Accordion Noir, and I had failed to notice that I hadn’t posted the epiode yet!  But no worries, we caught it in the nick of time. If your Apple or Android (or plain old RSS) podcast subscriptions (strongly recommended!) haven’t […]
12/22/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-12-13: December the 13th!
It’s December! There are many occasions to celebrate at this time of year (and the always-festive lucky number 13), but for purposes of last night’s episode of our weekly alt-accordion radio broadcast, we jumped on a few recent birthday observances in the accordion world. If your Apple or Android (or plain old RSS) podcast subscriptions (strongly recommended!) haven’t alerted you to […]
12/14/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir 2023-12-06: The Death of Shane MacGowan, and we’ve got 19 days until the New Ukrainian Christmas
We’re inexorably inching our way toward the winter holiday season, one best characterised not only by what it offers but also what it takes away, so this week’s broadcast of Accordion Noir radio also observes the death of Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan. If your Apple or Android (or plain old RSS) podcast subscriptions (strongly recommended!) haven’t alerted you to the […]
12/7/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-11-29: Last Bandcamp Friday of the Year
This week’s hour-long episode of our weekly Accordion Noir broadcast doesn’t just look ahead to this Friday’s “Bandcamp Friday” sale (you pay the same, but a higher proportion of the purchase price makes its way to the artist), it also marks the occasion of the 17th anniversary of our first time on the air! Seventeen […]
11/30/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-11-22: Sailing on that Lonesome Seasoning
Bruce is by himself in his apartment as the season turns, preparing to make a new run of accordion-themed buttons for his Etsy shop for squeezy fans to send (and receive) as gifts in a bit over a month from now. These circumstances undoubtedly played into his curatorial decisions when determing the specific programming content […]
11/23/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-11-15: Back in Accordion Action
October’s “Rise of the Long Tones” special borrowed a couple of hours from adjacent programs on our station schedule, so for the past couple of weeks we’ve been paying those hours back by allowing our neighbour shows to use our hour for their own extended CFRO member drive special purposes. Consequently, you haven’t heard much […]
11/16/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-10-25: Drone Show III 𝄐 the Rise of the Long Tones
For the third year in a row, we have celebrated Hallowe’en by devoting our weekly alt-accordion radio program to the theme of droning, with hypnotic long-form compositions in the vein of Pauline Oliveros’ “Deep Listening” compositions. Longer tracks demand a longer airtime, so here we are offering up three and a quarter hours (!) of […]
10/26/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir 2023-10-11 radio playlist: Not Quite Fund Drivin’
Like clockwork, here’s another new episode of CFRO Co-Op Community Radio’s weekly hour-long Accordion Noir program, first aired just under 12 hours ago last night. Every week we share some of the greatest squeezebox music in any style representing traditions from all around the planet, and last night was no exception! If your Apple or Android (or plain old RSS) […]
10/12/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-10-04: Bandcamp Fridays Keep the Union Strong
In anticipation of the first Friday of every month, we’ve gotten into the habit of promoting regular “Bandcamp Friday” sales, granting recording artists nigh unprecedented cuts of online music sales for one day a month. Bandcamp was just sold by Epic Games to Songtradr, and … we have concerns that the center cannot hold. But […]
10/5/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-09-27: Making it Up as We Limp Along
Bruce is still sick, but the show must go on! Fortunately, through the medium of radio he can avoid exposing you to any risk worse than infectious tunes. This week’s episode of our program was kind of spontaneously whipped up at the last minute, but the benefit of having a substantial accordion music collection is […]
9/28/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-09-20: Hey, Don’t Get Covid
The world finally caught up with us! Despite being borderline paranoid in our precautions, Rowan finally caught whatever Covid-19 had since evolved into back in February, and your hermit-like host Bruce somehow picked it up this past week. It’s not a walk in the park, so even though our broadcast went out over the airwaves […]
9/24/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir 2023-09-13: September is a Rollin’ In
Last night’s episode of CFRO Co-Op Community Radio’s weekly hour-long Accordion Noir broadcast is up online and ready for your listening enjoyment, offering our trademark survey of all the different ways free-reed aerophones are used in different styles of music from all over the planet! If your Apple or Android (or plain old RSS) podcast subscriptions (strongly recommended!) haven’t alerted […]
9/14/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-09-06: Canadiana-dana-doo!
Here is last night’s Very Canadian For No Particular Reason episode of CFRO Co-Op Community Radio’s weekly hour-long Accordion Noir broadcast, including some of the greatest squeezebox music in all styles from all over the planet (or in the case of this week’s program, all over Canada.) If your Apple or Android (or plain old RSS) podcast subscriptions (strongly recommended!) […]
9/7/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-08-30: August Matrons — a Bandcamp Friday Women’s Music Preview
Many episodes of our weekly, hour-long Accordion Noir program have no theme beyond that of our sharing the greatest accordion music across all stylistic and regional boundaries. Other episodes have an additional sub-theme. This week’s episode has two! Last night’s program is not only a promo for this week’s Bandcamp Friday — a chance for […]
8/31/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-08-23: Breathbox in the Smoke
This week’s episode of CFRO Co-Op Community Radio’s weekly Accordion Noir radio broadcast is stumbling, coughing, out of the start gates. If our mascot for this program was our friend Boston-area busker Sophie’s Smokin’ Squeezebox, we would ask her if, for this week at least, the squeezebox could be smokin’ a little less. Ash and […]
8/23/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-08-16: Clean Air Festival, Flogging Molly, Robbie Robertson, and Kimmo Pohjonen’s birthday
Last night’s episode of CFRO Co-Op Community Radio’s weekly Accordion Noir broadcast is now up online and available for your listening enjoyment. In addition to our baseline theme of “accordion music”, there are a number of sub-themes as this episode’s title suggests — Robbie Robertson’s death, Flogging Molly’s imminent visit to town, the birthday of […]
8/17/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-08-09: Is August Well Upon You?
Here we are, it’s last night’s episode of CFRO Co-Op Community Radio’s weekly Accordion Noir broadcast, the squeezin’-est 60 minutes on the radio dial anywhere in the world! We play accordion music of every size, shape and style, modern and classic, from every corner of the globe, and if you don’t believe us… just tune […]
8/11/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-08-02: August’s BandcampFriday Preview Wednesday
Bandcamp Friday is back in effect this month (indeed, on this Friday!) That is a day when one of our many music e-storefronts waives their cut of money spent there buying music — resulting in more of your music-buying money actually reaching your music-composing and music-performing and music-recording favorites. This applies to accordionists as much […]
8/3/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-07-26: Sinéad O’Connor, Jason Webley’s Circus Down the Mississippi, & Geoff Berner’s new Covid record
Always a lot going on in the accordion world, including often-surprising connections to current events. Sometimes it takes us a while to reflect the news in our broadcasts, other times you get same-day service! Either way, here’s another hour of alt-accordion audio streaming at you out of CFRO Co-Op Community Radio. If your Apple or Android (or plain old RSS) […]
7/27/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-07-19: Summertime and the Breathing is Squeezy
Last night’s episode of CFRO Co-Op Community Radio’s weekly hour-long Accordion Noir broadcast has arrived online, a heady melange of squeezy tunes your host Bruce describes as a mixture of music he bought at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival merch tent last weekend and generally upbeat songs. If your Apple or Android (or plain old RSS) podcast subscriptions (strongly recommended!) haven’t […]
7/20/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir 2023-07-12: Me Mother Won’t Let Me Marry (a song Minnie White recorded when she was 78)
Last night’s episode of CFRO Co-Op Community Radio’s weekly hour-long Accordion Noir radio broadcast is now up online! On the face of things it doesn’t have any particular theme beyond our typical, traditional melange of squeezebox tunes representing a wide variety of musical styles from cultures all over the planet! It’s a solid default theme, […]
7/13/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-07-05: A Few Days After Canada Day Day
This week’s episode of CFRO Co-Op Community Radio’s weekly Accordion Noir broadcast is up online and available for your listening enjoyment! Your host Bruce has improvised a suite of accordionic tunes exploring a squeezy summertime mood. If your Apple or Android (or plain old RSS) podcast subscriptions (strongly recommended!) haven’t alerted you to the episode’s availability yet, you can enjoy […]
7/6/2023 • 0
Accordion Noir radio playlist 2023-06-28: The Last Show in June (Not the first show in July like Bruce thought it was)
Bruce was a little confused in all the excitement recently and so I found some imagery to suit his mood. (I was feeling a little uneasy about just lifting it from the ol’ Google Image Search without crediting its original context, but then I determined in its filename that the picture was generated by the […]
