solipsistic NATION No. 122: Causal Domain Shear
December 26, 2008 | Comments Off
Philosophy and science fiction has always been a part of solipsistic NATION. In fact, the name solipsistic NATION was taken from Greg Egan’s science fiction novel, Permutation City.
Recently I’ve been reading Neal Stephenson’s novel, Anathem. Stephenson’s books are great reads full of adventure, heady concepts and passages that have made me laugh out loud. Anathem is a very different book for Stephenson. For one, it’s written in the first person. Secondly, it takes place in the future and in an alternate universe. Stephenson thinks big and Anathem is no exception.
There are many themes in Anathem and one of the most compelling is the idea of causal domain shear. Stephenson first introduces this concept through a dialogue between two characters, one, a student, the other, his mentor. These two characters belong to a monastic-like organization who pursue mathematicians and science rather than religion. They are cut off from the world and even within their order there are orders who are cut off from each other.
In a thought experiment the mentor poses the idea that, if taken to the extreme, an order could be so cut off from the rest of the world that they become a unique culture with their own world, universe and timeline.
Anathem explores this concept and then slowly reintroduces the characters into the larger world that expands and expands until beings from alternate universes are in conflict with each other. Like I said, heady stuff.
What does causal domain shear have to do with solipsistic NATION? Thematically I hope this week’s show will subjectively slow down the clock for you while you listen. With any luck, this week’s show will prompt flights of fancy or insight gained through introspection that you can take back with you when you re-emerge with the real/imaginary materialistic world.
Photo Credit: Simon Crubellier
- Kodomo “Concept 8″
- Integral “Je Ne Trouve Pas La Sortie”
- juxta phona & offthesky “sex, flies, yellow tape”
- Spyweirdos and John Mourjopoulos with Floros Floridis “At”
- Displacer “He Could Destroy The Earth”
- Aughra “Return To The Red Room” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Blackfilm “Interference”
- Emanuele Errante “Radio Hopes”
- niteffect “blur emotions” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Lukeing Forward “Soulless”
- Tapage “Pretend Not To See”
- Mothboy “Rewind, Erase And Replace”
- Mad EP “Menuet”
- BrainSt0rm “Nightviews (Rough Edit)”
Download episode.
1:02:51:49 | 57.65 MB
Sponsors: eMusic, Budget Rent A Car
Tags: eMusic, Budget Rent A Car
solipsistic NATION No. 121: Going Native
December 19, 2008 | Comments Off
I usually release my shows Thursdays at midnight so you can kick off your weekend with the latest solipsistic NATION but the last couple of shows have gone out a day or two late. I know that since this is a podcast you can listen to it whenever you like so being late a day or two isn’t such a big deal. But if you’re like me, there are a couple of shows that I really enjoy and I get annoyed when they release their shows late. If I’ve annoyed you, I offer my sincere apologies.
This week’s show is actually three days late. I’ve been sick for the last week and I just couldn’t find the energy to get out of bed and record the show. Usually I take a few days off from work to recover from a cold but this year I’ve taken way too many sick days as it is and couldn’t afford to take any more time off so I just had to suck it up and get through the week.
Being sick the last week has really sucked but I’ve been having some amazing dreams!
Last night I dreamt I was independent contractor who drove a supply truck for the military. I was checked through security to make a delivery and while I was on the base I saw a bunch of prisoners of war on their knees with their hands clasped behind their head while soldiers had their machine guns trained on the back of their skulls in an abandoned parking garage.
On of the higher ups approached me and was threatening in a very charming way. He asked me if I’d be interested in participating in one of their studies. With dream logic I knew it would be some sort of science fiction experiment that would give me fantastic powers at a terrible price. I begged off and spent the rest of the dream trying to escape from the base without drawing attention to myself.
Meanwhile, military scientists were studying my movements on security cameras and noted how I was unconsciously warping reality to aid in my escape. They were speculating on how dangerous I might become if I ever became aware if my power and debating when to send soldiers out to contain me.
Pretty cool, huh?
Photo Credit: damndirty
- Shamanic Technology “Rites Of Passage”
- Dubosmium “7Heavens” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Mystical Sun “Incense”
- I Awake “Constellation of the Heart (Native Edit)”
- Ad·ver·sary “International Dark Skies” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Sawako “Deep Under”
- Al Margolis “Natraj”
- Koen Park “Laburnum”
- Bubblegone “Letters from Home” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- rngmnn “What Goes Around Comes Around” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Evan Bartholomew “Leaving Behind Ourselves”
Download episode.
59:49 | 54.88 MB
Sponsors: eMusic, Budget Rent A Car
Tags: eMusic, Budget Rent A Car
solipsistic NATION No. 120: Pasithea
December 12, 2008 | Comments Off
It’s a rare rainy day in San Diego and the weather goes along perfectly with today’s dreamy mix.
The second week of each month of solipsistic NATION I feature music from an electronic music label that I really like but this month I’ve been so busy that I couldn’t find the time to do that. But since last month I did two shows featuring music from the Spectraliquid and Alfa Matrix record labels that I could be forgiven for slipping up.
2008 is coming to an end and if all goes well, the next two editions of solipsistic NATION will feature HC from the Headphone Commute music blog favorite albums of the year.
I’m going to kick off 2009 with a live set from Amon Tobin, who we had on solipsistic NATION, last March. I’m going to interview Amon this week and if you have a question you’d like to ask him you can either email me your question at solipsisticnation@gmail.com or record your question on my voicemail at 1-619-717-6322.
If you want to keep up to date on future shows, just follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/solipsistic.
Photo Credit: la renata
- Alex Tomb “The Gardens of Babylon (Breger Remix)”
- Remute “Out”
- Shamanic Technology “Toy Vision”
- Bola “Waknuts”
- Tycho “Sunrise Projector”
- Detalles “Sociber”
- James Bernard “Segue 3″
- Stefano Spataro Solquest Projects “Post-Mushroom”
- Kingbastard “Bipolar”
- Desert Dwellers “Stellar Dendrites”
- OP11 “Dome”
- Mystical Sun “Dark Energy”
Download episode.
59:03 | 54.17 MB
Sponsors: eMusic, Budget Rent A Car
Tags: eMusic, Budget Rent A Car
solipsistic NATION No. 119: D.D.T., Live
December 5, 2008 | Comments Off
D.D.T. was a hardcore aggro-industrial electronic act that was together in Boston from the late 1980’s until the mid 1990’s. Noel McKenna did drum programming and vocals, Lisa Sirois did samples and some vocals, and Elaine Walker (who joined in late 1991) did synth programming. Elaine joined D.D.T. at the same time she was forming ZIA. The first ZIA lineup consisted of Noel McKenna and Lisa Sirois of D.D.T. Where are they now? Noel is now a Buddhist Monk in upstate New York and Lisa is “DJ Goldilox” in San Francisco.
Today’s live performance features industrial band, D.D.T.
Ever since I started I started this segment I’ve been looking forward to this particular show. In fact, I wanted to play D.D.T.’s performance immediatley but I wanted to hold off until October, since that seemed the appropriate time of year to put out this episode.
First, let me give you a little history.
Waaaaaay back in the 80s I was dating a girl by the name of Arni. One of her friends was named Noel McKenna and a few years later he had started an industrial act called D.D.T. Since I featured live bands on my show I invited Noel and his partner in crime, Goldilox, to come to the station and play.
At the time my soundman was an action figure of a man named Harry Wallace. I could fill up several shows with stories about his crazy life but I’ll save that for another time. The best way I can some up Harry is that he should have had the world “Go!” tattooed on his forehad in capital letters.
Anyway… Harry really, really dug the band and when they asked him to do sound for their live shows he went at it like he did every thing in life, with both guns blazing!
About a year later Elaine Walker joined D.D.T. and I think she really fleshed out the band with her microtonal influence. They came back to the station in November of 1991 and played another set, which is the recording you’re going to hear on today’s show.
Noel is currently on retreat as a Buddhist monk, Goldilocks is helping run Sleevin Records and on the road, and Elaine is brewing trouble with her band Zia and I had the pleasure of having them on solipsistic NATION back in May.
- D.D.T. “Live on WMFO 91.5 FM”
Download episode.
1:06:33 | 61.01 MB
Sponsors: eMusic, Budget Rent A Car
Tags: eMusic, Budget Rent A Car