solipsistic NATION No. 92: Boston Massacre
May 30, 2008 | 5 Comments
Back in the mid 80s I fell in love with hardcore punk. The rage, the belligerence, the do-it-yourself ethic; I loved all of it.
But while I was thrashing out to the likes of Minor Threat, Bad Brains and Agnostic Front I was also listening to electronic based bands like Skinny Puppy, Wire and Clock DVA and this caused a problem with my hardcore ideology. I was supposed to despise the latter bands for their “pretense” and “artiness.” They were, after all, the antithesis of hardcore. Hell, you’d actually have to learn to play your instrument beyond furiously bashing out bar chords.
My hardcore punk phase didn’t last long, though. I had always loved all kinds of music and I found most of punk terribly boring, never mind the conservative mindset of most people in the punk community. Leaving hardcore punk behind (but not the music), I started listening to more and more of these electronic based bands.
The mid 80s were an interesting time for electronic music because while electronic music had been around for many decades it was always in the domain of composers like Edgard Varèse and Iannis Xenakis. Suddenly anyone could go to their local music and purchase some synths and sequencers for very little money. Well, it was still expensive but not insanely so. And so music started going into some weird places.
I lived in Boston while all of this was happening and while Boston’s galaxies of colleges and universities ensured a incredibly rich and vibrant music scene there was very little in the way of electronic based bands. But there were a few like D.D.T., Big Catholic Guilt, Think Tree and You Shriek and they were all great and they were all very unique.
A couple of months ago I thought it would be cool to have D.D.T. come on the show and play some of their songs but then it occurred to me, why not have some of the other bands that I loved so much on the show as well? I contacted them all and to my delight, everyone wanted to participate. It was great talking to them and the conversations brought back a lot of memories of my days in Boston that I had completely forgotten about. If you’re fans of any of these bands then I’m sure you’ll experience the same thing. If you’re new to D.D.T., Big Catholic Guilt, Think Tree and You Shriek then you’re in for a very special treat!
Photo Credit: Boston Pozivivor
- Big Catholic Guilt “Crank”
- Big Catholic Guilt “Silence (Remix)”
- Interview with Big Catholic Guilt
- Big Catholic Guilt “Descent”
- You Shriek “Grim”
- You Shriek “Untitled #4″
- Interview with You Shriek
- You Shriek “New Romantic Circuitry”
- D.D.T. “H2O (Remix)”
- D.D.T. “AID, Live”
- Interview with D.D.T.
- D.D.T. “Unknown, Live”
- D.D.T. “Unknown, Live”
- D.D.T. “Vogue”
- Think Tree “Hire A Bird”
- Think Tree “Mampther”
- Interview with Think Tree
- Think Tree “Holy Cow”
Download episode.
1:19:04 | 72.48 MB
Boston Massacre: 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.
58:10 | 53.30 MB
solipsistic NATION No. 91: O Rose, Thou Art Sick
May 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I had originally planned to release this mix during the week of Valentine’s Day but I decided against it because I had meaning to have Lovespirals on solipsistic NATION for quite a while so I shelved the mix for a later date. Speaking of Lovespirals, if you dig this week’s show then you’ll want to listen to the Chillcast, which is hosted by Lovespirals chanteuse Anji Bee.
Today’s show is a mix of acid jazz and trip hop and is very romantic and very sexy. In fact, you might use it to woo that special someone or, better yet, use it during lovemaking. Trust me on this. I’ve actually used a couple of my shows for that exact purpose. It is a bit disconcerting to hear my voice over the speakers during pillow talk.
If you want more sexy music may I direct you to the Just Chill edition of solipsistic NATION? I think you’ll find it very sensuous. I also recommend the Through A Glass Darkly. Either one or both of those shows will set the mood for trysts.
Photo Credit: DrJoanne
- Stephane Pompougnac “Better Days” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Monkeybacon “Roller” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Braces Tower “Spelling Bee” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Nils Krogh “Things We Do” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Genji Siraisi “Space Monkey” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Jette-Ives feat. Jette Kelly and Holmes Ives “In the Presence of… (D-Fault Remix)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Belleruche “Northern Girls”
- DJ Genesis “Hush” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- A’Merika Vera “Goduria” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Spiral System “Elephant” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Govinda “Delicate Poison” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- The Shanghai Restoration Project & Di Johnston “Jade Buddha Temple” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Mysteria “In My Soul” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Head Surfers “Blaise - Le Mans” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
Download episode.
1:01:59 | 56.83 MB
Tags: Digital Nimbus, Igloo Magazine, eMusic, GoDaddy
solipsistic NATION No. 90: Left of Dissonance
May 16, 2008 | 7 Comments
As long as I’ve been a DJ my shows have been two to three hours long. I couldn’t imagine doing a show in less than two hours. I saw my shows as a journey that I took the listener on and those journeys took time, ideally three hours so there would be a first act, a second act and a third act. But when I relaunched solipsistic NATION as a podcast I had to do away with that structure.
If you listen to podcasts then I’m sure you’ve noticed that shows usually clock in anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and there’s a reason for that. Your average radio listener will tune into a station for seven to 15 minutes and then spin the dial or turn off the radio. Podcasts are different in that most people will listen to a show from start to finish and asking them to sit for two to three hour show is asking a lot. So an hour is the most you can expect a person to listen to a show.
At first that seemed a tremendous compromise after doing years of two to three hours radio programs. How I could condense that journey to a mere hour? I felt like I was cheating you, the listeners and myself.
But after a few months of doing one hour editions of solipsistic NATION I came to accept that limitation. After that I began to think of it as a challenge. How much great music and engaging interviews could I pack into an hour? Pretty soon I came to think of any show longer than an hour as being excessive. When I think of doing a three hour show now I see it as wilderness that I would quickly get lost in. I’m afraid my shows would meander aimlessly.
Today’s guest DJ is Pietrobot, who we had on the show just a few weeks ago. Pietro is the co-host of Digital Nimbus, an electronic music program on KUCI 88.9FM in Irvine, California. Pietro is also the managing editor of Igloo Magazine. Pietrobot, alongside his fellow DJ and wife, Freakquency Modulator, blaze a trail into the wild frontier of electronic music. Each week they lead their listeners through unknown sonic landscape, introducing the listeners to natives along the way in the form of interviews and live performances.
Despite everything I said before, I envy Pietrobot and Freakquency Modulator and their leisurely safaris through sound. We have the good fortune of having Pietro with us to navigate through through this week’s mix. Don’t be afraid to lose yourself in the music.
Photo Credit: nana_cindy42
- Port-Royal “Putin vs Valery”
- Interview with Pietro, co-host of Digital Nimbus and managing editor of Igloo Magazine
- Worriedaboutsatan “Morwenna, Pt 2″
- Hammock “The Silence”
- Bitcrush “A False Movement, True”
- Aaron Spectre “The Wrong Fuel”
- Ben Frost “Theory of Machines”
- Interview with Pietro, co-host of Digital Nimbus and managing editor of Igloo Magazine
- SubtractiveLAD “Spoiled Honey”
- Syntaks “In The Wake”
- Fabio Fonda “Re-Seed”
- Interview with Pietro, co-host of Digital Nimbus and managing editor of Igloo Magazine
- Disinterested “Dissonance”
Download episode.
55:56 | 51.31 MB
Tags: Digital Nimbus, Igloo Magazine, eMusic, GoDaddy
GoDaddy Promotion
May 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Hey, citizens, now you can support solipsistic NATION while you shop. Just make use of one of my new promo codes:
- Nation : save 10% on any order at GoDaddy
- Nation2 : save $5 on any order of $30 or more at GoDaddy
- Nation3 : get a new .com domain name for $6.95 at GoDaddy
Simply enter the code of your choice at the time of check out or click your choice above to have the discount automatically applied to your order at GoDaddy.com!
solipsistic NATION No. 89: Record Label Records
May 9, 2008 | 2 Comments
I’ve got a great show for you today! Well, actually, Robbie Martin from Record Label Records has got a great show for you. I’m just the host for this week’s shin dig.
I first met Robbie about four months ago when he was kind enough to send me his latest album Gaseous Opal Orbs. I enjoyed his CD so much that I had him on the show as a guest. I twas only then I found out that Robbie is the founder of Record Label Records. That’s one of the joys of producing solipsistic NATION, the show constantly surprises me with the people it puts me in contact with.
Record Label Records is a cool indie label that features such artists as Scorn, Kush Arora ( who I’ve also had on the show as a guest, by the way) and Sote. I like Robbie’s label because he features music by artists who fall on the experimental side of electronic music but lacks the pretension of your more artier musicians. There seems to be an element of playfulness and adventurousness than your typical soundsmiths who are usually over serious.
- Fluorescent Grey w/Laurie AK “Pea Leery”
- Kush Arora “Surya Dub”
- Scorn “Pin Down”
- Fluorescent Grey “Blue Glue”
- Interview with Robbie Martin of Record Label Records
- Nommo Ogo “Induction (Excerpt)”
- Fluorescent Grey “Hold Down + HK + START to Play as Kintaro”
- Lich “Shadow Men”
- Tomoroh Hidari “Shranzhall”
- Contagious Orgasm w/ Jiver Dicker “A1″
- Fluorescent Grey “EBM Nightmare”
- Dalglish “16b”
- Interview with Robbie Martin of Record Label Records
- Scuzi “Vanishing Twin Syndrome”
- Kush Arora “Garage Riddim”
- Sote “Trip”
- Nommo Ogo “Aisha”
- Interview with Robbie Martin of Record Label Records
Download episode.
1:03:44 | 58.43 MB
Sponsor: eMusic
Tags: eMusic, Record Label Records
solipsistic NATION No. 88: Meat Beat Manifesto, Live
May 2, 2008 | 6 Comments
Let me tell you my favorite Meat Beat Manifesto concert story.
I had become a fan of Meat Beat Manifesto during the 99% tour and was psyched to see them again on their Satyricon tour. I went to the nightclub they were going to perform at with my buddy in hopes of catching their soundcheck. No such luck, but we did get to meet the members of Consolidated. Nice guys but I don’t think they were to impressed to see me eating a Whopper from Burger King.
Later that night, Harry, my soundman from WMFO, and I went to the nightclub for the show. Consolidated put on an incredible multimedia show and as much as I loved Meat Beat Manifesto I didn’t know how they could possibly top their opening act. I needn’t have worried because Meat Beat Manifesto put on a show that I’ll never forget.
That’s saying quite a lot for two reasons. One, I’ve seen some top notch show and, two, I was out of my head that night. I’m amazed I can remember anything for all the beer and whiskey I was drinking, and I’m not much of a drinker in the first place.
Meat Beat Manifesto were phenomenal. The music was unrelenting and their multimedia stage show was a paranoid hallucination. The beats were pounding and the bass was throbbing and despite my tendency to be one of those guys who stands against the wall tapping his feet to the music I couldn’t but help hitting the dance floor.
I met a lot of cool people that night. None that I can remember after all these years but cool all the same. That’s another thing I like about Meat Beat Manifesto, they’ve built up a community of smart and wonderful people around them. To this day if I meet someone who is also into Meat Beat manifesto we almost always instantly bond.
Anyway, the night came to a close and Harry managed to herd me into his truck and drive me home. I don’t remember anything after that. What I do remember is that Heidi, my girlfriend at the time, had spent the night working at a club and was covered in cigarette smoke, sweat and beer scum came home from work to find my passed out in a puddle of my own vomit. Not my proudest moment. Angel that she was, she undressed me, got me in the tub and washed me down and put me to bed. She’s a far better man than I because if I came home to that, I would have just left me on the floor and went to bed.
Writing this all down I realize that this doesn’t sound like such a great story but somehow I’m very fond of that night. If you have a favorite Meat Beat Manifesto concert story, email me and I’ll read it on the show.
All the songs that appear on this week’s solipsistic Nation come from Meat Beat Manifesto’s Live ‘05 album, courtesy of Jack Dangers.
- Meat Beat Manifesto “I Am Electro”
- Meat Beat Manifesto “Spinning Round”
- Interview with Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto
- Meat Beat Manifesto “Hello Teenage America”
- Interview with Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto
- Meat Beat Manifesto “Radio Babylon”
- Interview with Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto
- Meat Beat Manifesto “God O.D.”
- Meat Beat Manifesto “No Purpose, No Design”
- Meat Beat Manifesto “It’s the Music”
- Meat Beat Manifesto “Nuclear Bomb”
- Meat Beat Manifesto “Helter Skelter”
- Interview with Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto
- Meat Beat Manifesto “Edge of No Control”
- Meat Beat Manifesto “Prime Audio Soup”
- Interview with Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto
- Meat Beat Manifesto “Do It with Soul”
- Interview with Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto
Download episode.
1:14:49 | 68.60 MB
eMusic is currently sponsoring solipsistic NATION and if you eMusicsign up you’ll get 35 MP3s from a selection of over three million songs during their 14 day trial membership. You can cancel at any time during the 14 day trial and keep the 35 free MP3s just for trying eMusic. I thought I’d sweeten the pot by listing all of Meat Beat Manifesto’s albums available through eMusic.
99%
Satyricon
Subliminal Sandwich
Actual Sounds + Voices
Storm The Studio RMXS
At The Center
Sponsor: eMusic
Tags: Meat Beat Manifesto, eMusic