Indie music in the limelight

Rock your socks off with the crew behind the Limelight Hour, SYN FM's latest new radio show that promises everything indie. Photo: Supplied

GET a taste of local independent music in Melbourne.

There’s a new radio programme called the Limelight Hour on SYN FM 90.7 every Saturday at 4pm, and it is jam packed with music reviews and songs from local independent unsigned bands and artists.

At the heart of the show are its creators, Lionel Kho of Full Valve Entertainment, and international student Giulia Tan.

Lionel started The Limelight, a monthly acoustic showcase event held at Miss Libertine, a hip little city joint on Franklin St.

Giulia is a 19-year-old psychology student at the University of Melbourne, a self-confessed “citizen of the world who has travelled everywhere and lived in eight countries growing up”.

“(SYN FM) gave me an opportunity to have my own show but I had no content. I came to The Limelight and I saw Asami (Koike) perform and I thought, ‘Hey she’s really good’ and if she had any recordings, I could put it on the show,” she said.

Joining her on air are radio personas Nigel Nobody (Lionel), Asami Koike and Kevin BrokenScar, friends Giulia has made from Full Valve Entertainment, who started The Limelight acoustic showcase more than six months ago in October 2008.

Lionel described his decision to partner with Giulia as an intuitive one.

“It’s a fairly symbiotic relationship,” he said.

“We are looking to expand our platform and Giulia is a radio presenter and she had an opportunity to put together her own show and we have content.

“When I started my own band I thought it was hard to get gigs, and I decided to start my own gig. The Limelight is an acoustic showcase of local indie music from Melbourne’s greater metro.”

Those who have missed the week’s show can tune in to the podcast online.