solipsistic NATION No. 5: Special Guest, DJ Eve Falcon
September 29, 2006 | 6 Comments
Last week’s Nerdcore show got a tremendous amount of responses from listeners, I’m pleased to say!
I’m really proud of that episode because first of all, it was a great show and, secondly, it is the start of the slow mutation that will occur on solipsistic NATION.
There are a lot of electronic music podcasts I enjoy but there are aspects of those shows that frustrate me. Some shows only play a few minutes of a song before moving on to the next song, often abruptly. I don’t know if the hosts of those podcasts do that because of time constraints or licensing agreements but it bugs the hell out of me! Other podcasts have a lot of inane banter. If it’s not entertaining or informative then shut the hell up so I can listen to the music, which is why I wanted to listen to their show in the first place. Still other podcasters have the never ending, obligatory shout-outs and who and where they’re representin’. I know that comes from a long tradition but it drives me crazy because after a short while it ceases to mean anything to me.
There’ll be some banter on solipsistic NATION but it will be kept to a bare minimum. There will be interviews on solipsistic NATION but they’ll be brief. There might even be the odd shout-out but again, no more than is necessary.
Speaking of which, today’s show features an interview guest DJ Eve Falcon. I interviewed Eve on the small WORLD podcast and I knew that when I relaunched solipsistic NATION that I wanted her to be a guest on the show. Eve was kind enough to oblige as well as treating us to her Fast Forward mix.
Progressive house, along with trance, has been the main source of the superstar-DJ phenomenon of late. And, to be sure, it’s been a boys’ club. Women are found on vocals, backstage, and behind industry desks, but rarely do they get the spotlight at the biggest clubs. Those who have broken through - DJ Irene, Sandra Collins, DJ Rap - seem to have worked extra hard to prove they can rock a party with the best of them. Now a newer generation of female DJs is following up, plowing through the negatory politics of the scene to get a chance to shine. Brooklyn-bred, L.A.-based Eve Falcon, a talented prog-house DJ and vocalist, has been on a mission for the last five years, taking on global gigs and getting her voice and production (on “Know It All” with Desert Sol) out front. Her momentous progressive-house and steely breakbeat sound is the pulse of now. Feel her freshen up the big room Saturday at Avalon.
-Citybeat (Los Angeles) September ‘05 - by Dennis Romero. Click here to see the article.
- DJ Eve Falcon Interview
- Jeff Belfi & Blake Potter “Agile (Breaks Remix)”
- The Project “Truth (Faskil’s Split Remix)”
- Esque “Volume”
- KiloWatts “Weird Little Creatures”
- Voyager “Someone Else (Voyager I-40 Remix)”
- Merlyn Vs. Burufunk “Two Lives”
- EK “Absolute (Sound Not Scene)”
- Deepsky & Marc Mitchell “Lost in the Moment”
- Eve Falcon & Desert Sol “Know It All (KiloWatts Critical Thinking Remix)”
Download episode.
1:01:58 | 54.95 MB
solipsistic NATION No.4: Nerdcore
September 22, 2006 | 16 Comments
When solipsistic NATION was broadcast over the air I was limited by our station’s ramshckle software and hardware. Even doing a decent segue, so essential to electronic music, was difficult to pull off. When I made the decision to relaunch solipsistic NATION as a podcast I wanted to be ambitious and pursue the projects I could never do at Free Radio San Diego.
From time to time I will release documentaries on a specific genre of electronic music and to get things started, this week’s solipsistic NATION features a documentary on Nerdcore.
Nerdcore hip hop, or geeksta rap, is a subgenre of hip hop music that is performed by nerds or geeks, and is characterized by themes and subject matter considered to be of general interest to nerds. Nerdcore has no unifying musical manifesto, and the sound of nerdcore varies wildly from artist to artist. One common theme, especially in the early days of the genre, is uncleared sampling.
MC Frontalot
MC Frontalot is the stage name of Damian Hess, a hip hop musician and self-proclaimed “world’s 579th-greatest rapper.”
Many consider Frontalot, if not the founder of nerdcore, certainly the man who shone the torch on it. Front himself though is quick to point out the many artists who came before him.
Ultraklystron
Ultraklystron is a staff writer/producer for ToonZone.net. He is also Nerdcore’s expert on all things anime and manga. Ultraklystron is currently a CS student but represents the Otaku lifestyle in his work.
Ultraklystron’s most recent release is Revision4920. Through some unexplainable twist of events, it actually did better than any of his previous individual efforts to sell my music before and resulted in some interesting media attention.
High-C
High-C is a programmer, writer, rapper, metalhead, inventor and long time nerd. There are probably 10 High-Cs, one in the same state as him. There’s even a punk band named High-C.
High-C has released the seminal nerdcore compilation CDs, Rhyme Torrents volumes 1-4. He is currewntly hard at work assembling Rhyme Torrents volume 5 which, with any luck, will be released any moment.
YTCracker
YTCracker began producing rap music in 1998 in the genre that has since become known as nerdcore hip hop. His early work mainly focused on documenting and amusing the participants of the America Online hacking scene.
YTCracker is a self-proclaimed “jack of all trades”, also making a name for himself as a professional disc jockey, computer programmer, graphics designer and webmaster.
funky49
Using two boomboxes and a Casio SK1 keyboard, funky49 came up with audio projects for school and personal use as a teenager. He also ran sound for a stage production in a drama class and made Amiga MOD tracker songs on the computer.
funky49 is the official tour DJ for Spinal Tap. As soon as a new drummer is found, tour dates will be released.
Ham-STAR
Ham-STAR is the world’s greatest hamster rapper. Accept no imitations, burdened by the limitations of spitting out lines not from their own mind. Unlike the others, Ham-STAR doesn’t do covers. He drops his own fresh rhymes, every time.
His biggest influence is Blackalicious, whose “improptu rapping about food is a hotter cut than half the shiny mass-produced (c)rap out there today.”
Beefy
If you’re a pretty lady willing to send Beefy pictures of yourself scantily clad he will do anything you ask. He’ll also do it for some duckets, cause he’s a big sellout.
Beefy geeks out by drawing comic. However, with the music becoming the biggest part of his life, comics have gone on the back burner. He still doodles and a new comic may not be too far off.
Photo Credit: Ludwig van Jaethoven
- MC Frontalot “Goth Girls”
- Ultraklystron “There’s The Beef (Ft. MCeeP)”
- Meter Versus Yard “Divided States (Kid Charlamaign Bass Remix)”
- YTCracker “Legacy”
- funky49 “Never Going Back (to Dialup)”
- Ham-STAR “Legend of Ham-STAR”
- Beefy “I Don’t Wanna Be Right”
Download episode.
1:00:00 | 54.96 MB
solipsistic NATION No. 3: Drum and Bass for Your Face!
September 15, 2006 | 5 Comments
The last show was so pretty that this week I’m going to harsh your mellow by bludgeoning you with drum and bass!
I’ve got some great shows in store for you. The next edition of solipsistic NATION will feature interviews and music from artists in the nerdcore community such as MC Frontalot and YTcracker. I’m also putting together a show where I’ll be playing music from The Agriculture as well as interviewing a few musicians from their roster of artists like David Last and, hopefully, DJ Olive. Speaking of deejays, I’m also planning on having some upcoming shows with sets by DJ Eve Falcon and Wayz.
If you’re an electronic musician and would like to have your music featured on solipsistic NATION hit me up with an email. Drum and bass, trip hop, industrial, etc. It doesn’t mattter what the genre is, as long as the music is dope!
- solipsistic NATION “Gangster Computer God”
- Koncrete Symphony “Psycho Killer”
- Skyver & D Jon “Knockout”
- Phenotype “Possession 9″
- Styles of Beyond “Subculture (Upbeats Remix)”
- Lollita “We Do Play Dice”
- Straightman “Silly Arse (Deafblind Distruxtion Remix)”
- Amanning & Dizplay “Sienna”
- Wayz “Vigilante”
- Drumsound & Bassline Smith “Skumbag”
- erb N dub “erb N weapons (Lethal & Destruction Mix)”
Download episode.
1:00:16 | 55.20 MB
solipsistic NATION No. 2: End of Summer
September 8, 2006 | 4 Comments
Ah, summer comes to an end.
I’ve been living in San Diego for the last five years and to be honest, it’s always been summer to me. Natives and long time residents of San Diego can tell the differences between seasons but I’m only vaguely aware of them. As a consequence, all the months and years I’ve live in San Diego have blurred together. There’s only an endless “now.”
While today’s show is a celebration of the passing of the summer it’s more of a salute to my summers in Boston, where the days are hot, humid and lazy and the nights are sultry. I wouldn’t trade the weather in San Diego for anything but I do on occasion miss those New England days where the heat would bake into your bones.
Another thing I do miss about living in Boston are my seasonal libations. In the fall and winter my drinks were whiskey and scotch and in the spring and summer my drinks were gin & tonic and rum & coke. As I said, it always feels like it is summer in San Diego so I have to go out of my way to drink my whiskey or scotch.
That said, I raise a gin & tonic in honor of the summer of ‘06!
Photo credit: sk8master
- Steelzawheelz “Discotron”
- Effecctive “Tulsa Riots Pt. 3″
- Vinroc “Wine Country”
- Sure Shot “Sleepy Strings”
- Shad “Last Cigarette”
- Madrid De Los Austrias “Buscando (Karuan vs. Circus Remix)”
- Mark de Clive-Lowe “State of the Mental”
- Wintermute “Chillstorm”
- Autolect & His Meltdown Movement “Open Road”
- Urbs “So Weit”
- Cj_Harder “Mothra”
- Cling “Slipping Away (Of The Darkness Remix)”
- Chimp Beams “Menina”
- Bombay Dub Orchestra “Mumtaz”
Download episode.
1:00:00 | 54.94 MB
solipsistic NATION No. 1: Relaunch!
September 1, 2006 | Leave a Comment
I had always intended to bring solipsistic NATION out of retirement but there was always some sort of technical problem that prevented me from relaunching the podcast.
Originally I was going to use Macromedia’s SoundEdit which came bundled with Director. Unfortunately, when I mixed down a set the track would be in mono and distorted. I tried doing the show using DJ-1800 and recording the set with WireTap Pro or Audio Hijack Pro but there was a touch of distortion in the recording I could never eliminate.
Last month the connection to the hard drive in my ancient G4 tower died. I didn’t have the cash to buy a new tower so I purchased a Mac Mini. The Mac Mini was much more powerful than my G4 and as an added bonus, it came pre-installed with GarageBand. Suddenly all my problems were resolved in one fell swoop.
There are some deejays who like to do everything live without a net and on the fly. I was never one of those deejays. Oh, I’m fine at improvising live sets but my preference has always been to map out my shows in advance, meticulously plotting the segues and overall flow of a mix. Given my anal retentiveness for planning shows GarageBand is perfect with how I like to work.
I hope you enjoy today’s first show in the relaunching of solipsistic NATION!
Photo credit: dro!d
- Thomas Feijk “Leak”
- Butcherd Beats “Butcherd Beats”
- DP-6 “Vital Force”
- Wade Robson “Battlewalk”
- OPGave “Hiroshima”
- Jerry Mane “Magnificent Growlla”
- African Express “Overtime & In The Zone”
- Oculus “Lo Ki”
- Chloe Day “Kingpin”
- Autolect & His Meltdown Movement “Calm”
- Acoustic Ladyland “Something Beautiful”
- Jel “WMD”
- Circuit Breaker “Left Hook”
Download episode.
1:00:00 | 54.94 MB
solipsistic NATION Relaunch!
September 1, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Subscribe to solipsistic NATION in iTunes.
solipsistic NATION was a two hour radio show that broadcast the very best of all genres of electronic music from Free Radio San Diego 96.9 FM every Sunday night from 10 PM - 12 AM.
Each weekend I would spin only the finest tunes, hopping from genre to genre. Whether it was drum and bass, industrial, hip hop, or whatever else I tossed into the mix, you could count on quality music.
Sadly, after a year of making the airwaves of San Diego throb with the sounds of solipsistic NATION I had to give the show up due to time constraints. A little over a year later and I’m back in action, only this time I’ll be good to your earhole by podcasting the show once a week! I’ve got some great things in store for the the podcast, including interviews, contest and guest DJs.
Stay stuned!
Photo credit: possum4all