Author: joseph

I’m still astonished how quickly this week’s show came together. And what a great show it is!

Hey, I’m like you. I’ve got a job, I’ve got a life. I’m a busy guy. But I’ve got a to-do list as long as my arm and every day I chip away at it. A quick email here, a phone call here, and slowly but surely things get done. But when I’m in this mode I don’t often see the forest for the trees. Or is it the trees for the forest? I can never remember how that goes. Anyway, my point is that sometimes I’m so caught up in the minutea of producing a show that I lose sight of the big picture.

In the last couple of weeks I learned that Karsh Kale, Tim Sköld, Ogre and HoodooEngine had released or were about to release new albums. I dig them all so I do what I do sent out the emails and made the phone calls. There were other musicians, labels and festivals I wanted to feature on the show as well but they didn’t happen due to availability and time constraints and before I knew it, this week’s show had been distilled into a gem of greatness.

I discovered Karsh Kale right about the same time I discovered the Asian Massive (or Asian Underground) scene. Over the years I watched the careers of Karsh Kale, Asian Dub Foundation and others grow over the years and it’s a wonder that I haven’t had someone like Karsh on the show earlier. Karsh has released six albums and recorded and performed with everyone from Zakir Hussain to Yoko Ono. Karsh’s latest album, Cinema, is his most ambitious album to date. It’s big, bold and melodramatic, and Karsh’s experience scoring films has had an impact on the scope of Cinema.

Tim Sköld was another surprise! Before I knew it, one night after work I found myself in front of a microphone talking to Tim about his long career, from his rock roots in bands like Kingpin and Shotgun Messiah and then later playing with the likes of KMFDM and Marilyn Manson. Tim also released a solo album back in 1996 and 15 years later he’s followed it up with Anomie, due out May 10th. Tim was great to talk with and I found that he’s as much an agent provocateur in person as he is in his music. I also had some great questions to ask him from folks like Jeremy and Royb0t from Twitter and Facebook.

Ogre’s is set to release a second album with ohGr called unDeveloped that also due to be released May 10th. Ogre and Skinny Puppy have scored the post apocalyptic soundtrack to our lives for nearly 30 years. While Skinny Puppy was my introduction into industrial music, there’s industrial music and then there’s Skinny Puppy. They’re in their own category and to call them industrial is kind of limiting. I was curious to see what directions Ogre would explore through ohGr and to be honest, I didn’t like unDeveloped at first. As Ogre mentions during our chat, people rarely give music full attention because they’re usually multitasking while they’re listening to music. I was doing the same thing with unDeveloped but one night while I was going out for a run I listened to unDeveloped and without being aware of it I found myself lost in the album and now I think it’s one of my favorite album of 2011.

Once I finally realized that Tim and Ogre were going to be guests on this week’s show I knew I had to include Hoodoo Engine. I’ve wanted to play tracks from their EgoWhore album since it was released in 2010 but it was just one of those scheduling things. Hoodoo Engine would be perfect for today’s show and to top it off, they’re gearing up to release their new album, Murder the World, and it’s more wretched and evil than EgoWhore, if such a thing is even possible. The core of Hoodoo Engine is Marz233, James Curcio and Johann Ess. Just to be above board, both James and I are on the Alterati Network, but I’ve known James long before Alterati when I interviewed him about his book, Join My Cult. While you anxiously wait for the release of Murder the World you can watch Clark, a gonzo mockumentary reality show art film surrounding the struggles of an independent artist in a capitalist world.

Oh, special thanks to tricil for providing the incidental music during my interviews with Tim and Hoodoo Engine. While I was putting together today’s show I realized that I didn’t have any instrumental music from either of them and went on Twitter and asked if anyone had some tracks I could use for music beds. tricil stepped responded in minutes and generously let me use his tracks “rcc3” and “conserve destroy.” There are links to download those two tracks below.

Enjoy the show. I’m going to shut up and go outside and get some sunshine. But I’ll still be listening to today’s show on my earbuds. Joins us again next week for a live set from the lads from Matta. Or will they be our guest DJs? See you then!

Photo Credit: ©Aqua Libra

1. Karsh Kale “Man on Fire”
2. Karsh Kale “Malika Jam”
3. Karsh Kale “Cinema”
4. Interview with Karsh Kale
5. SKOLD “Suck”
6. tricil “rcc3” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
7. Interview with Tim Sköld
8. ohGr “Collidoskope”
9. ohGr “typer”
10. Interview with Ogre
11. HoodooEngine “ControlFreak”
12. tricil “conserve destroy” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
13. Interview with HoodooEngine‘s James Curcio and Johan Ess

Whew, just barely got this week’s show out and I owe it all to Potion Factory‘s Tangerine! software. Tangerine lets you easily create playlists by analyzing the beats per minute and the beat intensity of your music.

Between work and interviewing people for next weeks big show featuring the likes of Skinny Puppy‘s Ogre, Marilyn Manson‘s Tim Skold, Hoodoo Engine and Karsh Kale I just never had time to put together a mix for today’s show. But I did have a card up my sleeve: Tangerine!

I told Tangerine! to randomly pull from a playlist I had created in iTunes of tracks that I had listened to and had given a three to five star rating. I also told Tangerine! to to choose songs that had both mid to high BPMs and beat intestity.

Tangerine! did a pretty good job. I was surprised by some of the tracks it selected, but overall I was pleased with the results. I just had to soften the edges here and there. While Tangerine! would never replace a DJ but it does a pretty damn good job. Tangerine! is $24.95 and runs only on Macs. Sorry, PC guys. Potion Factory isn’t sponsoring this week’s show, I just happen to like their product.

Before I get out of Dodge, I just have to say that I love my Apple Magic Mouse and wireless keyboard.

The keyboard may be a touch on the small side but it’s a tight little device and really well designed. The keys have a matte finish feel to them, giving them a slight sand papery feel, which pleases. The keys also make a satisfying clacking sound when you type, enough to make you feel like you’re accomplishing something, but not distracting.

It took me a few weeks to warm up to my wireless mouse but now I love it. What really helped was installing MagicPrefs, which cleared up the default settings lousy cursor tracking. MagicPrefs also gave me the options to customize my mouse clicks to perform specific functions. Very cool stuff.

Okay, I’m done geeking out on gear. Come back again next week’s big show. See you then!

Photo Credit: ©gordonsl

1. Shift “Koji” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
2. Tremor “Caracol (Chancha Via Circuito Remix)”
3. Tremor “Lombriz”
4. Lou Rhodes “One Good Thing (The Cinematic Orchestra’s New York Quartet Version)”
5. Mike Dunkley “Rap Career”
6. Mr Scruff vs Kirsty Almeida “Pickled Spider”
7. Perfect Blind “Coming Home” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
8. Stateless “Ariel (Midland’s Inflight Remix)”
9. Manathol “Iwaki”
10. Semiomime “Parade”
11. Monolyth & Cobalt “Land of Strategy Horizon” [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Today’s show is a soundtrack for an imaginary movie set in an imaginary city. Think Bladerunner‘s LA meets William Gibson‘s Sprawl meets Tron: Legacy.

Our first track is “Community” by PVT from their Church With No Magic album released by Warp Records. In my movie, PVT’s “Community” would be the music that you’d hear at the beginning of the movie when all the production companies display their logos and “Community” sets the mood immediately for the rest of the movie. Big, solemn, and mysterious.

From “Community” we make our way to Neil Milton‘s “The Broken Lines” from the Brave New World compilation album released by the FeedbackLoop Label. The “Broken Lines” is our movies’ introduction as intoned by our narrator. As our narrator speaks we dissolve to ocean waves in the night. The camera pulls back to reveal our sinister city and we segue into Kabutogani‘s track, “Ducts,” from Kabutogani’s Bektop album. The camera slowly begins to advance on the city, picking up speed until we glide over the shore and into the city streets.

I don’t know what kind of movie this is but it’s definitely got a noirish vibe to it with some scifi undertones, kind of like Dark City or The Matrix. I wonder what the big reveal will be? Will our heroes find that they are living in a digital illusion or that their city is actually a spaceship?

We’ve meet our protagonists and antagonists and the conflict and drama begins as Weiss‘ “Rezykla” weaves the plot elements together. Thorsten Soltau continues that theme with “Rezykla7.”

What soundtrack would be complete without Brian Eno and from Eno’s 2010 album, Small Craft On A Milk Sea, we’ll hear “Complex Heaven.” Come to think of it, this week’s show probably wouldn’t exist without Brian Eno’s many scores for imaginary films.

From Undermathic we’ll hear “Big City Nights” from their album, 10;10pm, out on Tympanik Audio. “Big City Nights” sounds like music that signifies that our movie is moving into it’s second act and Undermathic is moving the story right along with it. The stakes are suddenly bigger and plot twists abound.

“Shrouding” is by Perfect Blind from their Three Spires album and this to me sounds like your chase scene or fight scene music, right?

This is all leading to the big showdown.

Let’s be honest, the music is more to suggest the idea of a kind of movie than an actual plot or storyline. I’ll leave that you screenwriters out there.

In act three we listening to Subheim‘s remix of SE‘s track, “Mimikry.” Mmm, sounds introspective, pensive and full of regret. Our heroes must be doing a lot of soul searching right about now. Smoking cigarettes, walking through the rain, driving nowhere on their motorcycles through the city streets.

Before “Mimikry” we’ll hear “Concerning The Bombs” by Starting Teeth featuring Larytta from the Let’s Get Creaked compilation album. From Suicide Inside we’ll hear “Kill The Guilt” from their album, Dead Red. That’s definitely the smash cut to act three.

And how do we resolve out little movie? Well, we’re going to close with the Oneohtrix Point Never Edit of King Felix‘s “Metal Confection.” Kind of feels like resolution music where the big plot twist is revealed and with Phutureprimitive‘s new album, Kinetik, we roll credits with his track, “Disappear.”

I hope you enjoy this week’s soundtrack to an imaginary movie. Join us again next week and we’ll do it all over again. But completely different!

Photo Credit: ©amras_de

1. PVT “Community”
2. Neil Milton “The Broken Lines” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
3. Kabutogani “Ducts”
4. Weiss “Rezykla” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. Thorsten Soltau “Rezykla7” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
6. Brian Eno “Complex Heaven”
7. Undermathic “Big City Nights”
8. Perfect Blind “Shrouding” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
9. Suicide Inside “Kill The Guilt”
10. Starting Teeth “Concerning The Bombs feat. Larytta” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
11. SE “Mimikry (Subheim Remix)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
12. King Felix “Metal Confection (Oneohtrix Point Never Edit)”
13. Phutureprimitive “Disappear”

Today on solipsistic NATION we’ll showcase The Centrifuge, a UK-based electronic arts collective that runs a digital record label and organises events around Europe. The Centrifuge focuses on the expression of the experimental aesthetic in electronic music, with an emphasis on electronica, glitch, ambience and minimalism, acid, IDM and drill and bass.

When I relaunched solipsistic NATION as a podcast and later as a radio program I had a mental checklist of labels I wanted to feature on the show. In the last five years I’ve slowly checked off most the of those labels. There are still plenty of labels left on that list but I’ve decided to focus more and more on exploring the blossoming of new electronic music labels. Most of these labels are netlabels, which makes sense in this age of the internet. What curious, though, is how electronic music labels often lends itself to collectivism, and that’s a theme we’ll explore on today’s show.

The Centrifuge as a collective entity has been around since 2007 and its main purpose was to put out releases by NeuteK. The Centrifuge has grown very quickly during those last four years and has grown its roster of artists. They’ve been kind enough to send me links to downloads of the latest albums released on The Centrifuge and I’ve always been impressed with what I’ve heard. The Weather Channel‘s “Weather Channel 0” still gives me chills to this day (click here for a free download) and Roy of the Ravers still makes me want to dance. Just wonderful stuff!

Nearly all the music is available as a free download from The Centrifuge at thecentrifuge.co.uk, or, you can just click the links from the playlist below.

Next month on solipsistic NATION we’ll showcase Herb Recordings. I have no idea what I’ll be doing for next week’s show but later this month I’ll be interviewing Skinny Puppy‘s Ogre and KMFDM‘s Tim Skold. You can always follow me on Twitter at solipsistic to find out what else I’ve got planned for future shows.

See you next week!

1. Monster X “Resurrection”
2. Tudor Acid “Same Time As Before”
3. Icarus “Sparkley Bear”
4. Eutechnik “Alex Makes It Good” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. Interview with Wassim of The Centrifuge
6. Gareth Clarke “Factory Brew”
7. Roel Funcken “Ledge”
8. Roy of the Ravers “Oriental x0x-press”
9. Tom Yaxley “Ambienty (Carl Brown ’92 Cornwall Mix)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
10. Anodyne “Empire of Light”
11. Tudor Acid “Cipher9497”
12. Interview with Wassim of The Centrifuge
13. NeuteK “Epoch”
14. Rival Consoles “Vos”

I’m going to talk gear for a bit so please indulge me.

I relaunched solipsistic NATION in 2006 because I had just purchased a Mac Mini and it came with GarageBand pre-installed. GarageBand changed everything because suddenly I could create shows easily and quickly. It’s safe to say that if I hadn’t picked up my Mac Mini that solipsistic NATION would never have happened.

I loved my Mac Mini. It was a speedy little machine that got stuff done quietly. I often petted it and called it a good boy. I kid you not.

I didn’t just use GarageBand to produce solipsistic NATION. I used software like Sound Studio to record IDs and voice overs and edit interviews for years. But over time I added more tools to my toolkit like Levelator, iTunes-LAME and SoundSoap. And after a hundred shows I had accumulated a lot of audio files. I hadn’t noticed it but my Mac Mini was slowly growing old and decrepit.

In the last year I came to dread working on my machine because it was painfully slow. Just switching between applications could take anywhere form 30 to 60 seconds. Saving files took forever. It was psychically painful to even think about working on the show on my Mac Mini. The machine I was once called a “good boy” I now cursed.

Last month I had to put the old boy to pasture and I picked up a new Mac Mini from Apple. I don’t think I can adequately convey how much of a joy it is to work on it. Actually, I can. It’s exactly like when I first got my original Mac Mini. But on steroids. Now I’m eager to edit episodes of solipsistic NATION. It’s like falling in love all over again.

Take today’s show, for example. Our guest is Igorrr and we’re going to listen to a recording of his concert in Stockholm from earlier last month.

A lot of music gets sent my way but there are certain labels that I will always make a point of listening to first. Once such label is Ad Noiseam.

Ad Noiseam consistently releases such mind blowing music on regular basis that not only have I showcased the label on solipsistic NATION but I go out of my way to listen to whatever music they are kind enough to send my way.

Last year Ad Noiseam sent me an album called Nostril by Igorrr. I didn’t know what to expect but if it was released by Ad Noisem that was good enough for me. That said, I was completely surprised and utterly delighted by Igorrr’s baroque infused breakcore.

I asked Igorrr if he had recorded any concerts that I might feature on solipsistic NATION and he was kind enough to send me his Stockholm show.

I’m really excited to present Igorrr’s concert on today’s show and I was equally excited to produce the show. My new Mac Mini works like a champ and I was able to effortlessly switch back and forth between apps and edit and save large audio files in record time. So much fun!

Thanks for letting me geek out about today’s show and my new Mac Mini. I just had to get that out of my system.

Join us next week when we’ll showcase music from The Centrifuge. See you then!

1. Interview with Igorrr
2. Igorrr “Live in Stockholm (12 of March 2011)”

I’m listening to today’s show while writing up today’s show notes and I’m listening to today’s show loud.

It recently occurred to me that I no longer listen to music the way I did when I was a kid. When I was a kid I had two modes of listening to music. One mode was to listen to music on headphones cranked to 10. At that volume I could hear every nuance of David Gilmore‘s guitar on The Wall, it became obvious just how much Yoko Ono appears on the White Album and hidden samples emerged out of Meat Beat Manifesto‘s albums. At that volume I was enveloped in the music of Yes and The Orb and transported to other realms. My other mode of listening to music was blast it out over speakers. It’s a more visceral experience when you can feel the bass line throbbing in your loins and the snare drum kicking you between the eyes.

What those two modes have in common is making the experience of listening to music more vivid. Listening to music over headphones made me appreciate the richness of sound it lacked the physicality of music blaring through speakers. But both modes made the music more real.

I no longer listen to music at those levels for practical reasons. It’d be foolish to constantly bludgeon my eardrums with music piped through my little white ear buds. And it’d be rude to subject my neighbors to whatever I happen to be listening to. I certainly don’t appreciate it when they blast their music.

But sometimes as an adult when you can indulge yourself now and then and turn the music up so loud the windowpanes rattle. And this is just the shot to listen to loudly because it rocks and it’s groovy.

Lady Sovereign spits a medley of rhymes and Lady Saw makes an appearance on a track by Talen (and remixed by Stereotyp!). And you can’t go wrong with Roots Manuva and it’s great to play Santigold and Ms Dynamite on the show. If you’re able, give yourself permission to crank today’s show up on your headphones or speakers.

If you liked today’s show, why keep it to yourself? Share it with a friend. Play it at a party. I’ll make it worth your while because next week I’ve got special live set by Igorrr just for you.

Before I go, the winner of last month’s Bassweight dubstep documentary directed by Suridh Hassan is @northsideindian. Expect the DVD to arrive on your doorstep in a few weeks!

Photo Credit: © Karen Reyniers

1. Lady Sovereign “Jig-Raw (Lady Sovereign vs Jack Beats)”
2. Talen “Batgirl feat. Lady Saw (Stereotyp Version 2)”
3. Roots Manuva “It’s On”
4. Munk “Keep My Secret (Welcome Stranger Remix)”
5. Leuce Rhythms “Bad Brain (Bubu (BREAKS) Remix)”
6. Toddla T “Want U Now Featuring Ms Dynamite”
7. Larry Tee & Princess Superstar “Licky – Blogula Re-Edit feat. Santigold”
8. Les Sins “Lina”
9. Joe Galen “Persuasion (Back & Forth) (Ernest Gonzales ‘Persuaded’ Remix)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
10. Shine 2009 “New Rules”
11. D-Sisive “If… (Instrumental)”

This month’s showcase features a label that actually appeared on the Dubsonic edition of solipsistic NATION and that label is Iberian Records. That show also included music from Boka Records, Hot Flush Recordings, Immerse Records and a lot of other labels putting out fantastic dubstep EPs and LPs.

That show was just a snapshot of each label and I’ve been meaning to focus more in-depth on each label as we go along. On today’s show we’re going to hear 21 select tracks from Iberian Records.

I’ve come to love Iberian Records in the last few years because while their release may be few, each one is special and I’ve really enjoyed the horizons of bass and groove driven music they’ve been exploring.

Howie is one of the founders of Iberian Records and he returns to solipsistic NATION to talk about his label.

Join us again next week. Our guest will be my buddy, Headphone Jack!

1. 23Hz & Numaestro “Al Andalus”
2. Interview with Howie, co-founder of Iberian Records
3. Migrant “Pipe Club”
4. Migrant “Unify”
5. Migrant “Get Together”
6. Relocate “P Riddim (Deep Dub)”
7. Octa Push feat. Toni Clean “Deixa”
8. Migrant “Limbic Sistim”
9. Relocate “History (Cabbage Cut)”
10. Relocate “Desiring Machine”
11. Scimitar “Work Song”
12. Scimitar “Rooster”
13. Scimitar “Primitivo”
14. Scimitar “Family Dub”
15. Relocate “Acid Sumatra”
16. Interview with Howie, co-founder of Iberian Records
17. Relocate “Soul Survivor”
18. Relocate “Dot Dot Dash (Buraka Som Sistema Remix)”
19. Relocate “Hard Ass”
20. Octa Push feat. K-Tronik “Legos (Corsario Riddim VIP)”
21. Intrview with Howie, co-founder of Iberian Records
22. Relocate “Freeloader”
23. Relocate “Ulysses Syndrome”

Producing solipsistic NATION is a labor of love and it keeps me out of mischief but it does eat up a lot of time. Last week’s show featuring Meat Beat Manifesto‘s Jack Dangers, Bassweight dubstep documentary director Suridh Hassan, DJ Umb of Generation Bass and [tlr] of NVR-NDR took 21 hours to put together.

When I was freelancing from home producing shows like that we’re easier to do. I could carve out a few hours day here and there to work on upcoming shows. But for the last 6 months I’ve been working onsite on jobs that demand my complete attention. I come home from work with just about enough energy to exercise, cook myself some dinner, maybe watch a little TV then it’s off to bed. I pretty much only have the weekends to work on these shows.

As a consequence sometimes these shows go out late. I’m sure most of you don’t mind since podcasts are a time-shifted medium but I know it must bugs some of you. It certainly bugs me when my favorite shows are late. So… apologies.

As long as we’re on this topic, I want to thank you for listening.

There are thousands of other podcasts you could listen to. At this very moment you could be listening to an album by your favorite band or watching a movie or playing a video game or reading a book.

I’ve always know this but lately I’ve come to appreciate tyou as a listener all the more. As I mentioned, my current job demands my complete attention so the amount of music and podcasts I listen to has dropped significantly. You could be doing a million other things besides listening to this show so it means a lot to me that you do.

I do everything in my power to make listening to solipsistic NATION entertaining and worth your time to listen to. To that end, today we’ll talk with Bruno Miguel and hear :papercutz live set at Islington Metal Works recorded in 2010.

Bruno was on the show a few years back when he released his Ultravioleta EP. Since then he’s released Ultravioleta Remixes, Lylac and Do Outro Lado Do Espelho – Lyalac Ambient Reworks and he joins us today from the UK.

Join us again next week when we’ll showcase the music of Iberian Records.

1. :papercutz “Encantamento”
2. Interview with Bruno Miguel of :papercutz
3. :papercutz “The Gift of Self (Simon Scott Remix)”
4. :papercutz “Ultravioleta (Inside The Nimbus Machine Rameses III Remix)”
5. :papercutz “Broken Treasure (Jasper TX Remix)”
6. :papercutz “Live at Islington Metal Works (2 July 2010)”

Today’s show was inspired by a piece by Banksy, courtesy of Art of the State. As you can see, we have what we can safely assume is a fairly well-to-do, middle-aged white male gazing thoughtfully of some graffiti that simply reads “BORING.” Given Banksy’s meteoric rise from obscurity to a cult following art world darling it’s safe to assume that this is Banksy wry commentary on art, culture, media and fame.

Banksy’s piece also reminds me of something Elvis Costello once said: “writing about music is like dancing for architecture.” As the host of this show that comments makes me feel a little uncomfortable. While I may not be writing about music I am dangerously flirting with pomposity when I interview the guests who grace the show. There have been a few times one one of the people I am interviewing feels exasperated talking about their music. Sometimes it’s almost ineffable. It’s like asking them to write about music. Still, we’re human. I want to ask the questions and if you listen to the show, well, you want the answers.

Got quite a show for you today!

First up is a chat with Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto about his new album, Answers Comes In Dreams. If you’re a longtime listener of solipsistic NATION then you know I’m a huge fan of Meat Beat Manifesto. If you’re a fan too then be sure to check out my interview with Jack and a live set from Meat Beat Manifesto.

Up next is an interview with Suridh Hassan, the director of Bassweight, a documentary that travels from the UK to Brazil and to Japan to explore just how huge and how quickly dubstep has taken over the world and features the likes of Benga, Kode 9 and Mary Anne Hobbs. Suridh was kind enough to give me one copy of Bassweight to give to a lucky winner. Tweet me or email me for your chance to win!

We’ll continue with the dubstep theme and talk with DJ Umb of Generation Bass. Vincent Koreman is the founder of Generation Bass, which is a blog, a music label and a festival. I’ve asked DJ Umb to explain what the glue is that holds them all together as well as their wonderful compilation album, Generation Bass Presents Transnational Dubstep.

We’ll wrap today’s show up by catching up with [tlr] about his big show at The Terrace performing as NVR-NDR. Also at the show will be Ming & Ping, Kid Static, Kissing Tigers and DJ Bzzrrpp. If you can’t make the show then listen to [tlr]’s Magicore mix he did with tooth_eye and Phil for solipsistic NATION a few months back. It’s one of my favorite shows of 2010!

Okay, my shoulders are throbbing from working on this show all day and I can type another word. See you next week for a special live set from :papercutz. See you then!

Graffiti Credit: ©Banksy
Photo Credit: ©Art of the State

1. Meat Beat Manifesto “M.Y.C.”
2. Interview with Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto
3. Meat Beat Manifesto “Waterphone”
4. Tes La Rok “Uprise (Exerpt)”
5. Interview with Suridh Hassan, the director of Bassweight
6. Skream “Skwelcha”
7. Sa Bat’ Machines “Valium Gitan”
8. Interview with DJ Umb of Generation Bass
9. Jajouka Soundsystem “Salahdeen”
10. Ming & Ping “After the End”
11. Interview with [tlr] of NVR-NDR
12. NVR-NDR “Be Who You Are (IAM remix by Sheldon James)”

It’s a dark, rainy night here in San Diego and that’s providing the inspiration for today’s show. Me? I’m providing the soundtrack for tonight’s perilous precipitation.

A dark, rainy night. That could go many ways, right? A brooding, introspective mix might be appropriate. Or maybe something light and playful, suggesting the cleansing nature of rain. But no, in this case it’s a rain that might have fallen on that megatropolis that was Los Angeles in Bladerunner. Or maybe a rain that would have fallen on William Gibson‘s Chiba City in his seminal cyberpunk novel, Neuromancer.

It’s a rain that makes the asphalt slick and causes manhole covers to endlessly belch fetid steam, obscuring unknown and possibly menacing figures. It’s a rain that falls from a sky the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

And I need to go out into that wet night in a few minutes and eat some dinner before I fall over. But first, a few notes.

The album artwork for today’s show comes to us courtesy of Stu Horvath. Stu’s a former videogame critic and photo editor for the New York Daily News and his current endeavour is Unwinnable.com. If you’re part of videogame and geek culture, and really, who isn’t these days, then go check out his site.

Last week we showcased Diffrent Music, a label that blends the best elements of drum and bass and dubstep. I think the label is great but I only just got the mix a few days before last week’s show went out. I hastily mixed in my interview with Hunchbak and Dexta, the label’s founder and released the show. I was surprised and blown away with their mix as you were. And if you haven’t listened to it, go check it out after listening to this week’s show. It’s really great!

Join us again next week when our guests will be [tlr], who will tell us about the show he’ll be performing at The Terrace in Pasadena next week with DJ BZZZRP, Kissing Tigers, Kid Static and Ming and Ping. We’ll also be joined by DJ Umb of Generation Bass who’ll tell us all about their Transnational Dubstep compilation album. I’ve heard the album and it’s quite tastey! Suridh Hassan will also be on the show to talk about Bassweight, which is a really cool documentary about dubstep that he directed. We might even talk with Vincent Villuis of Aes Dana but we’ll definitely talk with Meat Beat Manifesto‘s Jack Dangers.

See you then. Hopefully it won’t be raining.

Photo Credit: ©Stu Horvath

1. Brian Eno “2 Forms Of Anger”
2. Monolith “Transmission”
3. Matta “Solar Driftwood (Ft. The Abyss)”
4. SE “Mimikry (Subheim Remix)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. Skream “Commercial SellOut” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
6. Lucidstatic “Boneyard (vs. Shad0w)”
7. Undermathic “Quantum Theory”
8. Tapage & Meander “Delicate Hydroid”
9. Niveau Zero “Law of the Universe (feat. Ben Sharpa & Ill Smith)”
10. Zeller “Zion Asteroid”
11. Sub Swara feat. Freddie (of Freddie Mills) “Future Fresh”