solipsistic NATION No. 74: Electronicast
January 25, 2008 | 1 Comment
Hey, I admit it, as the host of solipsistic NATION I think the show is the coolest podcast around. You can’t expect me to be very objective about that. But on the other hand, I’ve listened to a lot of other electronic music podcasts and I’ve found the bulk of them to be terrible and, at best, mediocre. Even the electronic music podcasts that I enjoy I’ve also found wanting.
A lot of shows may play some spectacular music but the tend to play such a narrow spectrum of music over and over again on each show that there’s almost no point in downloading another show. Once I’ve heard one podcast I’ve pretty much heard all their shows. Where’s the fun in that? And other shows that play great electronic music might not have a host so I have no idea who you’re listening to unless I check the playlist. As a consequence, the show feels empty.
Then there are those few shows that play exceptionally good music and have a friendly host to guide me on my audio journey. Those are the shows that I think are worth listening to and that brings us to the Electronicast, hosted by DJ Snowy.
Snowy is passionate about the music he carefully selects for each edition of Electronicast, whether it’s breakbeat, IDM or ambient. No matter what genre of electronic music Snowy plays it’s the highest quality stuff out there. Just as important, Snowy mostly showcases independent and unsigned artists that deserve to be heard.
Snowy has only released a few episodes of Electronicast but it’s such a great show that it’s well worth the wait and I’m always excited when I find a new edition of Electronicast on my iPod.
As the host of solipsistic NATION I feel it’s not only my duty to play for you the very best electronic music but to also turn you on to electronic music podcasts that will rock your world. If after listening to this week’s show you feel you absolutely have to listen to more of Electronicast then why not subscribe to Snowy’s podcast? Life’s too short to listen to bad music.
- Snowy “Asia”
- Dementio13 “Polymath”
- Part 12 “Anon”
- SK123 “Massive Ambient Face”
- Subway “Persuasion”
- Mrs Jynx “Monkey Locked Out”
- Joycircuit “Absent Friends”
- Kouncilhouse “Rock Beat”
- Everlight “Can’t Get Enough”
- Dementio13 “Deprived of My Senses”
- Lights Out Asia “Roy”
- Dave Dark and the Sharks “Closedown”
Download episode.
1:00:11 | 55.17 MB
solipsistic NATION No. 73: Wayout
January 18, 2008 | 8 Comments
A lot of times when I’m putting together shows my imagination will run wild and I’ll create a story with the music from the podcast acting as the soundtrack. The plot line often changes as I add or remove songs from the playlist.
Take this week’s show, called Wayout.
As I selected the songs an epic unfolded with a hero, Captain Cornelius, as it’s hero.
Captain Cornelius is a multidimensional adventurer from a far-off place called Wayout, much in the tradition of Michael Moorcock or Moebius. The screenplay is by Grant Morrison and directed by, of course, the Wachowski brothers.
The story opens with Captain Cornelius enjoying the decadence of Wayout, his every need and whim responded to with utmost devotion by his nanotech servants. But such a utopia comes at a price and when not off duty Cornelius is a stalwart defender of Wayout.
The Captain is called to meet with his superiors. There is a threat not only to Wayout but the multiverse itself. Cornelius is tasked to go after a rogue captain from Wayout who plans to unravel the fabric reality, a quantum Ragnarök. Even as we learn the nature of Cornelius’s mission the rogue captian attacks and destroys the constabulary, but not before Cornelius escapes by hurling himself blindly through space and time, with the rogue captain always on his heels.
Cornelius’s adventures takes him from humanity’s neolithic past to a distant future far beyond imagining. Along the way he knows victory and defeat, love and love lost and finally, a pyrrhic triumph: total understanding of reality but with no ability to change the outcome of events, or prevent the death of his lover.
Cornelius returns home to Wayout an older and wiser man and finds that he has come to regard his utopia as false and empty. Such is the price of defending the Edenic realm of Wayout.
Well, at least that’s what I got out of this week’s show.
Photo Credit: paulpaws
- CyberChump “Anticipation”
- Aughra “The Warmth Of The Shallows”
- OP11 “Eau”
- Bola “Zoft Broiled Ed”
- H.U.V.A. Network “Symetric Lifes”
- Social Interiors “Potrat”
- Detalles “Permeate”
- Tycho “Brother”
- Solar Fields “Combinations”
- Giuseppe Ielasi “04″
- Savvas Ysatis + Taylor Deupree “Listen to the Morning Sleeping”
Download episode.
57:53 | 53.07 MB
solipsistic NATION No. 72: Ninja Tune
January 11, 2008 | 1 Comment
Ninja Tune. Man, where to begin?
I guess for me it all started when I was spinning at WMFO. Each week, an hour or two before my show, I’d go through all the new CDs and records to listen to what tracks I might want to play when I went on air. Whenever something particularly special came in I’d check out what label it was on for future reference. As the months, then years went by, I could help but notice that some amazing stuff was consistently coming out from this label called Ninja Tune.
There are certain record labels that develop a distinct personality by their roster of musical artists. A classic example would be Motown Records. Back in the 60s, Motown represented a staggering collection of mind blowing talent such as Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross & The Supremes. Motown developed a reputation for putting out such insanely great music that if a new album came out by, say, the The Jackson 5, you could virtually bank that it was going to be great. And if a record came out by someone on Motown you didn’t know you could take it on faith that it was probably going to be good.
This has happened time and time again and most relevant to me are the indie/hardcore record labels that came out in the 80s like Dischord, SST and TAANG!.
Which brings us to Ninja Tune.
NInja Tune also has a flavor all its own. The sum of all the artists on Ninja Tune makes it sexy and aggressive, gives it a wry sense of humor, and moody and menacing. Ninja Tune skips from drum and bass to abstract hip hop to nu jazz and chillout and on and on… The thing is, some how all these different artists and different artists belong together. They all feel as if they are part of the same cloth.
A few months back I had Ronnie Darko on the show and played a few tunes he mixed from the Scion CD Sampler v. 18: Ninja Tune Mix. Darko put me in touch with Jonathan Shedletzky from Ninja Tune and I asked him to come solipsistic NATION to talk and play a mix of new and classic music from the label. Think of it as my attempt to sketch out a mug shot of Ninja Tune.
- Neotropic “Ultra Freaky Orange”
- Interview with Jonathan Shedletzky of Ninja Tune
- Roots Manuva “No Love”
- Ghislain Poirier “Blazin (Featuring Face-T)”
- Wiley “50/50″
- Blockhead “Duke Of Hazzard”
- Interview with Jonathan Shedletzky of Ninja Tune
- Sixtoo “Jackals and Vipers In Envy of Man (Part 8)”
- Daedelus “Fair Weather Friends”
- Interview with Jonathan Shedletzky of Ninja Tune
- The Heavy “Colleen”
- Hexstatic “Tokyo Traffic”
- Interview with Jonathan Shedletzky of Ninja Tune
- DJ Kentaro “One Hand Blizzard”
- Amon Tobin “Kitchen Sink (Boxcutter Remix)”
- Cujo “The Light”
- Bonobo “Ketto”
- DJ Food “The Ageing Young Rebel (Featuring Ken Nordine)”
- Coldcut “Eine Kleine Hedmusik”
- Interview with Jonathan Shedletzky of Ninja Tune
- DJ Vadim “Your Revolution (Featuring Sarah Jones) [Version]“
Download episode.
1:00:49 | 55.90 MB
solipsistic NATION No. 71: Nalepa, Live
January 4, 2008 | 5 Comments
One of my goals for the second year of solipsistic NATION was to release more shows featuring live performances of electronic music. I’ve been blessed with some fantastic sets by Robert Rich, Hol Baumann and and select tracks by artists recorded by the Dub Beautiful Collective. In the next few months you can expect to hear live shows from Dr. Toast and DJ Olive.
This week’s solipsistic NATION features a live performance by Nalepa, recorded by the Dub beautiful Collective in 2005.
Despite my best efforts, Nalepa’s comes up a lot on solipsistic NATION.
Five years ago I made a resolution not play a particular artists too often and never to play one of their songs more than once on my radio program. While I could do a two hour show dedicated to Meat Beat Manifesto or playing songs by Massive Attack over and over again I wanted to force myself to be more stringent on what songs would make it to my playlists. If I were going to play “Nephatiti” by 808 State, for example, I’d better be sure it was worth it because it would be a while before I played 808 State again and “Nephatiti” was never to be played on the show again.
I wanted to keep the show lean and fresh. When I relaunched solipsistic NATION as a once a week, one hour podcast, there was even less reason to repeat artists or songs. And yet Steve’s name keeps popping up.
The reason for that is because Steve’s an amazingly great musician. His stuff is damn wonderful that as try as I might, Steve’s music keeps creeping it’s way into the shows.
I’m delighted to present to you a live performance by Nalepa as well two tracks from collaborative efforts Steve is working on with The FMs and Bass Science. And you can be sure I’ll be playing more of Nalepa’s music on the podcast in the future.
- Nalepa “Live (December 3, 2005), recorded by the Dub Beautiful Collective“
- Interview with Steve Nalepa
- The FMs “Fancy Seeing You Here”
- Bass Science “Razors”
Download episode.
1:01:37 | 56.50 MB
Somnia Records
January 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment
If you’re like me then I’m guessing that you’re pretty beat from the last few weeks. All the hustle and bustle of going to holiday parties and shopping for presents can be exhausting. You might even be a bit hung over from celebrating New Years Even. Actually, you might be a lot hung over. What you need, my friend, is some music to relax and refresh you and maybe even aid in your introspection as you reflect on 2007 and what 2008 may bring.
Evan Bartholomew, popularly known as Bluetech, has just the music you need on Somnia Records and on the Somnia Podcast.
Evan also runs Native State Records. While Native State tends to put out releases that are dance oriented, Somnia, as it states on their website, will release ambient, electronic, minimalist, modern classical, electro acoustic, and “other” recordings. I’m not quite sure why Evan chose to have two distinct record labels to release these recordings but I do plan to ask him when I have him on solipsistic NATION in February.
The first release on Somnia is Evan’s own Caverns of Time album. It’s a limited edition CD with a run of 777 copies so get yours before they run out. If not, you can always listen to the album online. Trust me, though, this is one of those releases that you’ll want to have on CD rather than on MP3.
Caverns of Time is an ambient CD that is rich in textures and sounds that owes much to Brian Eno, Steve Roach and Robert Rich. In my book that’s good company to be in because I have a rather rigid idea of what ambient music should be. Many people hold that Erik Satie’s Trois Gymnopédies suite is the first piece of ambient music but my introduction to ambient music began with Eno’s On Land album and to me that has always defined what the genre should strive for. Ambient music should be amorphous and nebulous that evokes a mood rather than a series of rhythmic patterns and Caverns of Time captures that notion perfectly. The tracks on Caverns of Time is haunting and moves at a glacial pace, slowly unfolding itself, and feels like the music will continue long after each song is done.
The CD opens with “We Set Out Into The Caverns Of Time” and is at once majestic and contemplative. “Leaving Behind Ourselves” is a quite, joyful experience while “Leaving Behind Our Memories” alternates between moments of stillness and extended durations of tension. In my imagination, when I listen to “Elusive And Effervescent Is Our Destination” I feel as if I’m drifting in a cavern lake bed lit by distant phosphorus lights. “Descending Deeper In Search Of The Timeless” is perhaps the most discordant of all the songs on Caverns of Time and has a very 70s feel to it. The album closes with “Reborn, We Fluctuate And Fade” which reminds me of Eno’s second half of Discreet Music. The song is bittersweet and a perfect way to end Caverns of Time.
Evan continues the Somnia experience with the Somnia Podcast. Where Evan’s Caverns of Time is a work of gorgeous ambient music the artists featured on the Somnia Podcast range from the atmospheric and minimal to the experimental. The first edition of the Somnia Podcast begins with Lars Danielsson’s “Melange Bleu” accompanied with Bugge Wesseltoft and Nils Peter Molvaer and immediately establishes the mood for the songs that follow.
Most music podcasts include some solid songs but they’re usually crowded out but music that is mediocre or, worse, awful. Evan has exacting standards for the quality of music he releases and the artists he selects to appear on the podcast meet his same criteria. All the music on the podcast are breath taking in their scope and beauty.
Do yourself a favor, ease yourself into the new year by getting Evan’s Caverns of Time or subscribing to the Somnia Podcast. You can thank me later.