solipsistic NATION No. 87: Glitterdämmerung
April 25, 2008 | 2 Comments
Damn, this week’s show is packed with great stuff!
When I relaunched solipsistic NATION as a podcast one of the first shows I did was a documentary about Nerdcore. Shortly afterwards I learned that Negin Farsad was also working on a documentary about the genre called Nerdcore Rising. The documentary was recently released and I knew I had to get Negin on the show to talk about her documentary.
Another person I’ve wanted to get on solipsistic NATION is drum and bass artist Panda. As luck would have it, Panda has put out a new album called Retake Manhattan that simply rocks! Panda and I have been exchanging emails during the last year and I nailed a date to get hm on the line to talk about his new CD. It’s rare to hear an electronic music concept album and Panda sails around the globe in a mere hour and ten minutes.
Speaking of new releases, Meat Beat Manifesto has released a new album titled Autoimmune that is so bass heavy that it could move a freight truck across a parking lot. Just imagine what it can do to your ears! I had the pleasure of seeing Meat Beat Manifesto last week and they put on an awesome show. They’re on the last leg of their U.S. tour so visit their website to see if they’re playing in your area. If you’ve missed them, no worries, Jack will be on next week’s show with a live recording of one of Meat Beat Manifesto’s performances.
I’ve mentioned previously that one of the blogs I frequently read is Igloo Magazine. I’ve been talking with Pietro Da Sacco, Igloo’s managing editor, and I asked him to come on this week’s show to talk about his ‘zine. Pietro will be back on solipsistic NATION next month with a beautiful mix of electronic music that’s going to make you weak at the knees.
A few months back solipsistic NATION was picked up by KYOURadio 1550 AM in San Francisco. KYOURadio plays an eclectic program of talk and music shows but what make the station truly unique that all the content comes from user generate content. That is to say, podcasts. I invited KYOURadio’s station manager, Stephen Page, to come on today’s show to talk about the station and the dramatic changes radio is currently going through.
Last, and by no stretch of the imagination, least, is an interview with Martin Rev and Alan Vega of Suicide. Alan and Martin are old school and began Suicide way back in the 70s. Often imitated but never duplicated, Suicide is one of the original proto-electronic music bands who have influenced genres such as techno, industrial and electroclash. Suicide was never ahead of their time, just that everyone else was behind the times and desperately trying to catch up to the path that Suicide was blazing.
Photo Credit: pausetivespace
- Baddd Spellah (feat. MC Frontalot) “Rhyme of the Nibelung” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Interview with Negin Farsad, director of Nerdcore Rising
- Nerdcore Rising Trailer
- Panda “Quebec”
- Panda “Casablanca”
- Interview with Panda
- Meat Beat Manifesto “Hellfire”
- Meat Beat Manifesto “62 Dub”
- Interview with Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto
- Scorn “Enough To Hold Bottom”
- Interview with Pietro Da Sacco, managing editor of Igloo Magazine
- Ambivalent “Lowlights”
- Interview with Stephen Page, station manager of KYOURadio
- Dark Machines “Inferno”
- Suicide “Rocket USA”
- Suicide “Frankie Teardrop”
- Interview with Martin Rev and Alan Vega of Suicide
Download episode.
1:06:30 | 60.99 MB
Sponsor: eMusic
Tags: eMusic
Glitterdämmerung: Unedited Interviews
I had a great time talking to everyone who participated in the show but there was simply no way to fit it all in one podcast so I decided to make all the interviews available as a supplemental podcast. Think of it as bonus material you would find on a DVD.
Download episode.
1:18:55 | 72.31 MB
Record Store Day
April 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment
On Saturday, April 19, 2008, hundreds of independently owned music stores across the country will celebrate “Record Store Day.”
On this day, many stores will simultaneously link and act as one with the purpose of celebrating the culture and unique place that they occupy both in their local communities and nationally.
Browse participating stores for a party near you.
For information:
Contact information@recordstoreday.com.
solipsistic NATION No. 86: Scanner
April 18, 2008 | 4 Comments
I’ve been trying to remember when I first came across Scanner (the stage name of Robin Rimbaud). I’m quite sure it was a compilation CD but I can’t recall which one. No matter. What I do recall, however, was that the track featured recordings of phone conversations that he had snatched from the ether. At first I regarded it as a cheap gimmick. But I kept coming back to the track, listening to it over and over again as I wrestled with the complications of what the song meant.
The conversation was compelling because of it’s intimacy. It was simply two people talking, gossiping and joking, completely unaware that they were being recorded and, as far as I know, unaware that their conversation would be incorporated into a song. Despite Robin’s unsettling soundscape the conversation had a warmth to it. It lent humanity to Robin’s bleak music. Was this his commentary that we all can make the simplest connections with each other despite the alienating effects of the very technology that makes that connection possible?
But the question also sparked some anger. What right had Robin to steal their conversation? It rankled that he would intrude on their privacy and then compound the intrusion by using it in his art. But that provoked the question of my role as a listener. How could I point an accusing finger when I was just as complicit by being drawn into the song. True, I’m not the one who made the recording but if I was truly outraged I could have pressed stop on my CD player as soon as I realized what was going on. But I kept listening. Again and again.
And all of this raises the question of our governments who are more and more eavesdropping on our phone calls and reading our email and text messages. It’s one thing for an artists to do it but quite another for the government to do it. The common explanation these days is that the government is doing it to monitor for terrorists but it also acts as yet another panopticon to keep people under control. As Foucault observed, if you think you are constantly being monitored you will begin policing yourself which is very unsettling.
Robin has since moved away from using recorded phone conversations in his music but he’s always had a unique of making me questioning and reevaluating the world I live in and always shifting the context. Robin is a perfect example of one of the reasons I love electronic music so much because it has the capacity to go far beyond a dance track with cool sounds.
- Scanner “140 Acid” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Interview with Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner
- Scanner “Pearl Necklace” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Scanner “Reason by Heart, Sleep by Twilight, Excerpt” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Interview with Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner
- Scanner “915.675″ [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Scanner “394″ [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner “Experience” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Scanner “Radio Entry” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Scanner “Passage De Recherche” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Interview with Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner
- Scanner “Unknown” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Interview with Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner
Download episode.
1:00:00 | 55.01 MB
Sponsor: eMusic
Tags: Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner, eMusic
solipsistic NATION No. 85: Compost Records
April 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment
When I think of Germany and electronic music I often think of the robotic sounds of Kraftwerk or the pummeling tracks of techno of the 90s. When I think of Germany I don’t think of electronic music that blends jazz elements with house and r&b that will either shake your ass or seduce you. I admit it’s a stereotype but there you have it. Well, I believed that until I came across Compost Records.
Compost Records was founded in 1994 by Michael Reinboth and in the last 14 years Michael has released music from some of the most talented artists around. Beanfield, Trüby Trio, Jazzanova; these are just some of the dynamic talent that Compost records represents.
On today’s show we’ll talk with Michael and find out where his love affair with r&b, jazz, funk and soul began and how his career as a music journalist led to launching Compost Records. And, of course, will accompany our conversation with Michael with select tracks from the roster of artists on his label.
What better way to get your groove on?
- Eddy Meets Yannah “Shamed (Domu Remix)”
- Interview with Michael Reinboth of Compost Records
- Studio R Feat Capitol “A&R (Llorca Remix)”
- Shahrokh SoundOfK “Chicago”
- Lorenz Rhode “Shake It (Extended)”
- Tj Kong & Nuno Dos Santos “Circus Bells (Technucada Mix)”
- Interview with Michael Reinboth of Compost Records
- Nova Dream Sequence “Dream 4″
- Interview with Michael Reinboth of Compost Records
- Alif Tree “Forgotten Places (Moodymann Remix)”
- Koop “I See A Different You”
- Marsmobil “Mangia Amore”
- Kyoto Jazz Massive “Between the Lights”
- Marbert Rocel “Blue Days”
Download episode.
1:04:35 | 59.20 MB
solipsistic NATION No. 84: Planet Boelex, Live
April 4, 2008 | 2 Comments
There is so much electronic music coming out these days that more and more I’ve come to rely on blogs. Just as solipsistic NATION acts as a filter to what is the best of all genres of electronic music so to do the blogs I frequent. And what blogs do I read?
Pitchfork is a great source for music news but Pitchfork’s reporting is broad in scope and I find myself having to sift through a lot of articles to find information useful to me. XLR8R is more in line with the kind of music I’m interested in but I don’t rely on XLR8R alone. Neural.it is a fantastic site for reviews of experimental electronic music. Igloo Magazine is a great site for reviews of electronic music, although I wish they would have more in-depth articles and reviews. More recently I’ve begun following the Headphone Commute and Phlow Magazine. Headphone Commute posts articles featuring music that I really enjoy as well as interesting and concise interviews with electronic musicians. Phlow Magazine extensively covers free MP3 music culture, which is great because you can download the music they review as you read their articles.
I’m a big fan of Travis Nobles hiddenplace music blog. I respect Travis’s thoughts on music so much that I had him on solipsistic NATION as a guest DJ back in February. One of the artists he featured in his mix was Planet Boelex. I was so taken with Planet Boelex that I contacted Ossi, the man who is Planet Boelex, to arrange an interview and to feature his release, Live At Virus Festival 2007, Lithuania, on today’s show.
The music of Planet Boelex is a sonic soundscape that envelopes you like gossamer but is rooted in driving beats and an emotionally complex structure, giving his music a depth and force that belies it’s tenuous first impressions. Just as Ossi’s music metamorphasizes so to does his performances. Live At Virus Festival 2007, Lithuania is a document of Ossi’s development as an artist at a specific time in his life. Ossi is constantly honing his craft and his next live release will significantly different from his previous release. Today’s show represents a snapshot of where Planet Boelex was in 2007. I can’t even begin to imagine where he is now.
- Planet Boelex “Forever and Always”
- Interview with Planet Boelex
- Planet Boelex “Untitled”
- Interview with Planet Boelex
- Planet Boelex “Shower Curtain”
- Interview with Planet Boelex
- Planet Boelex “Seagull Scene”
- Interview with Planet Boelex
- Planet Boelex “Untitled”
- Planet Boelex “Suunta”
- Interview with Planet Boelex
- Planet Boelex “Blinded Of You”
- Interview with Planet Boelex
- Planet Boelex “Sim Ten”
- Planet Boelex “Direction Backwards”
- Planet Boelex “100kn”
- Interview with Planet Boelex
Download episode.
1:04:45 | 59.36 MB