solipsistic NATION No. 143: Fierce!
May 29, 2009 | Comments Off
Once a month on solipsistic NATION I feature a live set from a musician and showcase a music label that is putting out amazing releases. While this format keeps solipsistic NATION and unique amongst other shows that specialize in electronic music it really doesn’t give me the opportunity to put together mixes of my own. That said, I get very excited whenever I can put together a mix for the show.
Last week I did a mix of dubstep. I’ve heard it said many times in the past that dubstep is drum and bass slowed down and that inspired me to put together a drum and bass mix for this week’s show.
Like all other sub genres of electronic music drum and bass comes in a variety of different styles and moods. I was sorely tempted to do a mix of fluid drum and bass for a very sexy and jazzy feel but I decided to go in the opposite direction and play some incredibly fierce drum and bass. I’ll admit right here that I’ve always been attracted to the aggressive aspects of drum and bass. It’s such a visceral experience that I just can’t resist! If you’re more into fluid drum and bass, don’t worry, I’ll play some of that on the show in the next few months.
For this week’s solipsistic NATION I’ve put together some of the fiercest drum and bass tracks I’ve come across in the last few months. As an added bonus, most of the tracks can be downloaded absolutely for free! Check the playlist below to download some of the MP3s of tracks featured on today’s show.
One label that has consistently put out fantastic drum and bass is Zardonic Recordings. I first came across Zardonic Recordings after reading about the label on the Phlow Magazine website. Just about everything I’ve heard on Zardonic Recordings is fantastic and it just blows my mind that they give their music away for free. Nearly everything in their catalogue I’d be happy to spend my hard earned cash on.
Another label featured on today’s show is PlainAudio. Like Zardonic Recordings, PlainAudio is a net label that puts out mind blowing music that you can download for free. Whether it’s drum and bass, experimental or electronic music I’ve yet to hear a bad track from PlainAudio.
One of the artists that appears on this week’s show is The Angel. The Angel is a record producer, programmer, remixer, DJ and film composer and has scored music for such films and television programs as Boiler Room, KiDULTHOOD and Standoff. We’ll have The Angel on an upcoming edition of solipsistic NATION to talk about digitally scoring music for movies and television.
Another artist I wanted to mention is Kubiks. I had the pleasure of talking with Kubiks on my previous show, the Small World. I’ve always dug Kubiks music so it’s a pleasure to play one of his tracks on this week’s show.
I hope you enjoy this week’s drum and bass mix. If you’re craving more drum and bass, why not download the Drum and Bass for Your Face!, Sturm und Bass and Biotron editions of solipsistic NATION.
See you next week!
Photo Credit: Willis Lucero
- Zardonic & Malsum “Natural Born Killers” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- The Angel “Selector (On Tha Side Of Midnite) (feat. Cokni O’Dire) [E-Sassin Remix]” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Blal “Noise Control (Zardonic Edit)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Hek187 “Rockwool Vip” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Kubiks “Rendered (Kubiks Remix)”
- Panda “Monkey Island”
- Ramsey & USB “Cut Throat” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Triplet & Lehis “Nebyval’shina” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Buzz “Revelation” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Macc “Air Drumming” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
Download episode.
56:20 | 51.66 MB
Sponsors: eMusic, GoDaddy
Tags: eMusic, GoDaddy
solipsistic NATION No. 142: Colossus
May 22, 2009 | Comments Off
To keep solipsistic NATION fresh I’ve followed a few rules. For example, a rarely play music from the same artists unless they’ve released something truly phenomenal.
On of the other rules I try to adhere to is not to play music from a specific genre of electronic music to often. That’s important because otherwise I could easily play breakbeat tracks on solipsistic NATION week after week. But sometimes I follow that rule to rigidly. Take this week’s show, for example, which features a mix made up entirely of dubstep tracks.
I love dubstep. It has many moods: dubstep can be playful, spiritual or downright menacing and the bass and the drums always moves the music forward. But I have to watch myself or I’ll play dubstep on the show constantly. I followed my one of my rules so blindly that I realized that it’s been over a year since I’ve done a show dedicated to dubstep. That’s much too long!
So I present to you on this week’s solipsistic NATION a mix of dubstep tracks. Some artists, like Ebola and Cardopusher are more aggro and experimental, while other artists like Bionics and Frescoe are more traditional in their approach to dubstep ( considering that dubstep has only been around for a couple of years makes that an absurd statement - dubstep hasn’t been around long enough to have an established tradition). There’s something for everyone and I know you’ll dig this week’s show!
If you find yourself craving more dubstep then you’ll want to listen to the documentary I did about dubstep labels featuring music from the likes of Boka Records, Lodubs and more! I’ve also done a show grimestep show featuring an with Leo Olofsson of Grimestep International and the lads from The UK Connection. Finally, I’ve got a straight up dubstep mix I know you’re gonna love!
Photo Credit: Jon Cartwright
- Ebola “Teledildonics (Shitmat Remx)”
- Cardopusher “Toothsmasher”
- Atreus “Born to Kill” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Pinch “Punisher”
- 6Blocc “The End” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
- Lone Wolf “Uproot V”
- Bionics “Feist”
- Relocate “Dot Dot Dash”
- Spatial “Artcore Steppa”
- Scuba “Braille Diving”
- Bass Science “Razors”
- Frescoe “Afghanistan”
Download episode.
1:02:29 | 60.46 MB
Sponsors: eMusic, GoDaddy
Tags: eMusic, GoDaddy
solipsistic NATION No. 141: Rock the Bells!
May 15, 2009 | Comments Off
This week on solipsistic NATION our guests are Bassnectar, Kush Arora, Doubleclick of Two Fingers and Great Scott.
This show came together in an unexpected way. Originally I was just pulling together songs that I liked that I thought would work together nicely in a mix. But as I started gathering the songs I started noting all sorts of connections. For example, Nibu has MC’d on tracks for both Great Scott and Bassnectar. Also, this month Bassnectar and Kush Arora did a show together in Portland. After some consideration I decided to focus on these artist and ignore the rest of the tracks I had gathered for the mix and as I interviewed them even more connections became apparent. Funny how these things work out.
A few notes.
If you like Bassnectar’s music (and really, how can you not?) then you’ll enjoy his appearances on the The Newest In New! and Koyaanisqatsi editions of solipsistic NATION. Kush Arora has appeared on the Year One and Record Label Records editions of solipsistic NATION. While this is the first time I’ve had the pleasure of talking with Doubleclick I have had Amon Tobin, the other half of Two Fingers, for the Amon Tobin and Amon Tobin, Live editions of solipsistic NATION. This is also Great Scott’s first appearance on the show but you listen to more music from his label on the Muti Music edition of solipsistic NATION.
I hope you enjoy this week’s show as much as I did putting it together because I had a blast! Oh, and be sure to check out the related videos below.
Photo Credit: BFLV
- Bassnectar “Underground Communication (Featuring Seasunz)”
- Bassnectar “Art of Revolution (Instrumental)”
- Interview with Bassnectar
- Bassnectar “Kick It Complex (Bassnectar Remix)”
- Kush Arora “Lose Control Feat. MC Zulu”
- Kush Arora “British Sucking Desis”
- Interview with Kush Arora
- Kush Arora “Newcommers Feat. N4SA”
- Two Fingers “Jewels and Gems”
- Two Fingers “Keman Rhythm”
- Interview with Doubleclick of Two Fingers
- Two Fingers “Straw Men”
- Great Scott “Theorists feat. Raja Wilco and Nibu [Radio Vocal Edit]“
- Great Scott “Caravan”
- Interview with Great Scott
- Great Scott “Defcon”
Download episode.
1:05:56 | 60.46 MB
Sponsors: eMusic, GoDaddy
Tags: eMusic, GoDaddy
solipsistic NATION No. 140: Dragon’s Eye Recordings
May 8, 2009 | Comments Off
Once a month on solipsistic NATION I showcase a record label that releases fantastic music you should know about. Keeping with the theme of the show I focus on record labels that release music from all genres of electronic music. On this week’s solipsistic NATION we’ll showcase Dragon’s Eye Recordings.
Dragon’s Eye Recordings is an independent record label that focuses on limited edition and varied format releases from a growing roster of sound artists, composers, and producers. By showcasing the individual artists’ viewpoints, Dragon’s Eye acts as a platform for new, challenging, and provocative work. Founded by Paul Novak in 1989, as the audio/visual arm of Only Connect…Publications, the label was then relaunched by his son and Northwest-based sound artist Yann Novak to continue the family tradition of self publication. Novak has since expanded the label to publish works by artists whose voices he feels need to be heard. Dragon’s Eye Recordings also acts as a companion label to Infrequency.
Special thanks goes out to HC, the host of the Headphone Commute music blog. As always, HC, is one step ahead of me on all things cool in electronic music and turned me on to Dragon’s Eye Recordings on his review of Lissom’s Nest of Iterations album. Thanks, HC!
Next month on solipsistic NATION we’ll showcase n5MD. Next week on solipsistic NATION our guests will be Bassnectar, Kush Arora, Two Fingers and Great Scott. Stay stuned!
- Kamran Sadeghi “Euqal”
- Wyndel Hunt “3″
- Interview with Yann Novak of Dragon’s Eye Recordings
- Clinker “Provodyty - A New Terrain”
- Son of Rose “Grand Treatments”
- Interview with Yann Novak of Dragon’s Eye Recordings
- Lissom “Adrift”
- Corey Fuller “Light Along the Edge of Water”
- Tadahito Ichinoseki + Tomoyoshi Date “Gensho No Tabi”
- Tomoyoshi Date + Corey Fuller “Midnight Sanctuary”
- Interview with Yann Novak of Dragon’s Eye Recordings
- Manning / Novak “Feeling Alone All Together”
- Yann Novak “Lulluby”
- Interview with Yann Novak of Dragon’s Eye Recordings
Download episode.
1:06:01 | 60.50 MB
Sponsors: eMusic, GoDaddy
Tags: eMusic, GoDaddy
solipsistic NATION No. 139: Milieu, Live
May 1, 2009 | Comments Off
The first Friday of each month I feature a recording of a live performance from an electronic musician.
Towards the end of 2008 I found myself scrambling to find those recordings of live performances and my resolution for 2009 was not to let that happen again. I got proactive and contacted about a hundered artists to appear on the show. I figured that out of those hundred artists only a handful would respond but that would be enough to get me through 2009. What I didn’t expect was how MANY people would get back to me about being on the show! I’m not only covered for the rest of 2009 but well into 2010 as well!
Some of the live sets you can expect to hear in the next few months will come from Iambic, Terminal 11, ill.gates, Rena Jones, KiloWatts, Altus, Exillon and The Orb.
On today’s show we have a live set from Milieu.
Milieu is Brian Grainger. Brian has had releases on such labels as U-Cover, Infraction, Awkward Silence, Boltfish, Attacknine and Benbecula. Brian also runs small boutique labels Expanding Electronic Diversity, Second Sun Recordings and Install with David Tagg, in addition to maintaining his own imprint, Milieu Music. Most recently, Brian has recorded music and sound for the Seumas McNally nominated game Dyson.
- Milieu “Live At 114RKD (March 8, 2009)”
- Interview with Brian Grainger of Milieu
- Milieu “Autumn Fog Lifts (Yearbook Version)”
- Milieu “Coastline”
- Milieu “Night Ride”
Download episode.
1:00:59 | 55.93 MB













