Author: joseph

Once a month on solipsistic NATION I showcase a record label that is putting out amazing releases that you need to know about.

But here’s the thing, I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now and have featured at least 50 labels. Just off the top of my head I can name Ninja Tune, Ultimae Records and Digital Hardcore Recordings as labels that felt like I was counting coup by having on the show. I’ve pretty much exhausted the list of labels I wanted to showcase. Oh, there are still a handful of labels I’d like to feature on the show like Warp Records, Astralwerks and Wax Trax Records but by necessity the label showcase has eveloved into a segment of exploration.

Think about it for a moment.

It’s astonishing how many people are out there who believe that as a label they have something unique to offer that no other musician or label is doing. Sometimes it’s not even that. Sometimes the music is so great they just feel compelled to share it with the world by starting a label to get the word out. It almost seems like a Sisyphean task: so many labels, so much music, so many people. How do you connect them all together?

One label that believes they have a different take on things is Diffrent Music.

They’re a relatively new label that I discovered through Colin Steve’s Knowledge Magazine website. If Colin likes them then I figured I should give them a listen. Sure enough, Colin was spot on.

In the spirit of exploration I extended an invitation to Hunchbak and Dexta, Diffrent Music’s founders, to come on the show and get us acquainted with their label and hear select tracks from Diffrent.

Enjoy the show. Next week’s show is still up in the air but I believe I’m going to end February with a show featuring an interviews with Meat Beat Manifesto‘s Jack Dangers; Suridh Hassan, the director of Bassweight, a documentary about dubstep; Aes Dana and DJ Umb of Generation Bass.

See you next week!

1. Hunchbak “50 Hurts” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
2. Interview with Hunchbak and Dexta, founders of Diffrent Music
3. Hunchbak & Jekyll “The Cure”
4. Arkaik “Turncoat”
5. Chills “Everyones Mad”
6. Sabre “100 Teeth (Hunchbak Edit)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
7. Hunchbak “Hide and Go Seek”
8. Hunchbak “Strange Behaviour”
9. Arkaik “Stress Relief”
10. Interview with Hunchbak and Dexta, founders of Diffrent Music
11. Whu “No Future”
12. Shaded “Obliterate”
13. Hunchbak & Arkaik “Cliche”
14. Fathom Audio “Promises”
15. Shaded “Sandworm”
16. Hunchbak “Second to None”
17. Atmospherix & Overlook “Silhouette”
18. Whu “Undercover”
19. 8bit “Tic Tac Toc”
20. Hunchbak & Jekyll “End of the World”
21. Jekyll “Garrison Dogs”
22. Stray & Halogenix “Rude industry”
23. Dakosa “Blood Moon”
24. Interview with Hunchbak and Dexta, founders of Diffrent Music

Let me tell you something in confidence. Despite many years of interviewing everyone from sandwich makers to filmmakers, there are still people the show affords me the opportunity to talk to who reduce me to a gibbering fanboy.

Today’s guest is Alec Empire so as you might have guessed, he’s one of those guys that it takes, on my part, a sheer act of will not to be reduced to uttering Chris Farley-like lines like “Uh, you’re so cool.”

But, c’mon, this is Alec Empire we’re talking about! This is the guy who, alongside with Hanin Elias and MC Carl Crack formed Atari Teenage Riot. This is the guy who co-founded Digital Hardcore Recordings. This guy has recorded with and remixed the likes of Björk, Justin Broadrick and Coil. I think I can be forgiven any fanboy tendencies. I just have to keep telling myself what Dan Le Sac always says “…just a band.”

Fortunately, Alec makes things very easy for me. He’s got the gift of the gab and has such great stories to tell. The plan was to have a quick chat with Alec and then play Atari Teenage Riot’s “final” Brixton Academy show, but Alec was very generous with his time and the interview went long, so we’ll only hear it in the background. But Alec was also kind enough to send a bootleg recording of Atari Teenage Riot at the Hultsfred Festival from earlier in 1999 and we’ll hear that later on today’s show.

Before you leap into today’s show you should know that I had to edit down my interview with Alec. It pained me to do so and it was especially painful because three of the questions came from @s_w_u and @Spartz on Twitter. Rather than leave those segments on the virtual cutting room floor I’ve decided to make it available as bonus material, which you can download here.

If you enjoy this week’s show then why not dig into the archives and listen to my interview with Alec about Digital Hardcore Recordings and hear some classics from his label.

Speaking of label, join us again next week when we’ll showcase Diffrent Music.

See you then!

Photo Credit: ©Kmeron

1. Atari Teenage Riot “Live At Brixton Academy 1999”
2. Interview with Alec Empire
3. Atari Teenage Riot “Intro (Live in Hultsfred Festival Bootleg 18-06)”
4. Atari Teenage Riot “Digital Hardcore (Live in Hultsfred Festival Bootleg 18-06)”
5. Atari Teenage Riot “Destroy 2000 Years of Culture (Live in Hultsfred Festival Bootleg 18-06)”
6. Atari Teenage Riot “Deutschland Has Gotta Die (Live in Hultsfred Festival Bootleg 18-06)”
7. Atari Teenage Riot “Revolution Action (Live in Hultsfred Festival Bootleg 18-06)”
8. Atari Teenage Riot “Revolution Action / Not Your Buisness (Live in Hultsfred Festival Bootleg 18-06)”
9. Atari Teenage Riot “Atari Teenage Riot 2 (Live in Hultsfred Festival Bootleg 18-06)”
10. Atari Teenage Riot “Too Dead for Me (Live in Hultsfred Festival Bootleg 18-06)”
11. Atari Teenage Riot “Western Decay (Live in Hultsfred Festival Bootleg 18-06)”
12. Atari Teenage Riot “Into the Death (Live in Hultsfred Festival Bootleg 18-06)”
13. Atari Teenage Riot “Ghost Chase (Live in Hultsfred Festival Bootleg 18-06)”
14. Atari Teenage Riot “The Future of War / Death of A President (Live in Hultsfred Festival Bootleg 18-06)”
15. Atari Teenage Riot “No Remorse (Live in Hultsfred Festival Bootleg 18-06)”
16. Atari Teenage Riot “No Remorse (Reprise) (Live in Hultsfred Festival Bootleg 18-06)”
17. Atari Teenage Riot “Start the Riot (Live in Hultsfred Festival Bootleg 18-06)”
18. Atari Teenage Riot “Outro (Live in Hultsfred Festival Bootleg 18-06)”

As long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to put together one of those year’s top 10 songs or top 10 artists or albums. I’ve done nearly every conceivable thing that encourages that sort of behavior: record stores, radio stations. podcasts, blogs, etc. I’ve been given just about every platform that would allow me put the music I love on a shrine.

But I’ve never done it.

One of the reasons is that there’s only so many hours in a day and attempting to look back over the year and draw some sort of meaning or theme out of it while presenting what you think is the best that year had to offer in electronic music-well, it gets a bit daunting and induces fits of narcolepsy. But despite those obstacles, I have, on numerous occasions, attempted to arrange in a neat and concise list and have failed at every turn.

Why just this year my attempt at putting together just such a list was botched when my iPod died. I salvaged the thing but all that carefully ordered data containing what songs I had listened to, by who, and how many times was gone!

But it occurred to me today that the show is actually what I consider to the best releases in a given year because my tag line is my mission statement: I’m hear to play for you the very best of all genres of electronic music.

Take today’s show.

I was recently turned on to Weiss and he has already become one of my favorite recording artists. I love “04.22.38” but I would have been just as happy to play “Rezykla.” Keep your ears open for this guys because he’s very good. Upside Down Umbrella appears courtesy of Record Label Records excellent compilation album, Drinking the Goats Blood, which I’ve been meaning to play on the show for months (go check out my label showcase featuring Record label Records to hear more of their weird and wonderful music). If I had a list of top 10 releases in 2010 Geometry would definitely be on it. Tripswitch has a lush sound with an emotional core that I can’t help but fall in love with. And then there’s Signal Path. Their Imaginary Lines would also be on my imaginary list of top 10 releases in 2010. Imaginary Lines was fun and inventive and had a perfect mix of traditional instruments and electronics. I could go on but you get the point.

What was your favorite releases for 2010 that you want to share with the world?

Join us next week for a special live set by Atari Teenage Riot!

Photo Credit: ©SalaBoli

1. Weiss “04.22.38” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
2. Sql “Border Dot”
3. Autechre “Nth Dafuseder.b”
4. Upside Down Umbrella “Egg In The Head (Excerpt)”
5. Flying Lotus “Recoiled”
6. Lali Puna “Future Tense”
7. Max Cooper “Chaotisch Serie (Echaskech Strange Attractor Remix)”
8. Signal Path “Mystery of the Yeti”
9. Shlohmo “Post Atmosphere (Baths Remix)”
10. Matthew Dear “Honey”
11. Tripswitch “Harmonic Mean”
12. Funki Porcini “Moog River”

A few years ago I posted on Twitter that Twitter would eventually be no more exotic than email or instant messaging. Twitter hasn’t reached that point just yet, but the novelty is wearing off.

I take it for granted that I can casually keep up with my Net friends on Twitter.

I take it for granted that I get most of my news from Twitter or through Flipboard, which is an application that displays Tweets in a magazine format on my iPad.

And I expect my questions to receive near instantaneous answers from folks on Twitter. But if I take a moment to think about it, I realize just how much Twitter has had an impact on my life.

Take this week’s show, for example.

About a month ago I announced on Twitter that I was putting together another Twitter mix, and I asked for tracks to be considered for the show. In an unbelievably short amount of time I had all the music I needed for the mix… and more! Not one track was a dud. Rather than agonize over which track to discard I decided to go long and include every track that was sent my way.

I admit that’s a very simple way to use Twitter, but it still amazes how easy it was to put together a great mix from musicians from all over the world! Some of them are friends, and some of them are acquaintances, and some I’ve never met, but they were all generous enough to share their music.

As always, to keep with the theme of Twitter I’ve asked all the musicians to record a 140 character or less message to accompany each track on today’s show. Cute, right?

I’ve also got links to their pages if you want to follow them on Twitter on today’s show notes at solipsisticnation.com. You can also follow me at @solipsistic).

1. royb0t “Soundb0t”
   Follow royb0t on Twitter @royb0t
2. 8 Bit Weapon “Miami Dub Bounce”
   Follow 8 Bit Weapon on Twitter @8bitweapon
3. HipGnosis “Antipodes”
   Follow HipGnosis on Twitter @HipGnosis
4. MGee “Rough”
   Follow MGee on Twitter @mGeeInThePlace
5. Opir “A Graveyard Of Elephants”
   Follow Opir on Twitter @Opir
6. High School Clicks “Luv U Gave”
   Follow High School Clicks on Twitter @morningteam
7. Somió “Deva”
   Follow Somió on Twitter @kieronjames
8. EshOne “Mineral Water”
   Follow EshOne on Twitter @EshOne
9. Phylum Sinter “The First Law (Re-Twittermix)”
   Follow Phylum Sinter on Twitter @phylum_sinter
10. emorej “Satellites”
    Follow emorej on Twitter @emorej
11. Guitorb “Quintessence”
    Follow Guitorb on Twitter @Guitorb
12. Summer of Glaciers “Sleepwalker”
    Follow Summer of Glaciers on Twitter @summerofglacier
13. Leave Trace “Quintessence”
    Follow Leave Trace on Twitter @SplendidBeats
14. Opaque Glitter “Amidst the Crowd a Love Story”
    Follow Opaque Glitter on Twitter @sbtrmnl

Last month I featured a live set from Masmöd. I’ve been a fan of Masmöd’s for a couple of years now so it was a pleasure to finally have him on solipsistic NATION. Masmöd, who’s “secret identity” is Michael John, is also one of the co-founders of Nueva Forma, and after our interview I asked if he’d be interested in appearing on one of our label showcases. As you can tell by the title of today’s show, he agreed.

One of the reasons why I’m such a fan of Michael’s music is because it is rich both emotionally and sonically. All the artists on Nueva Forma are distinct from each other but they all plumb the same depths making each track more than just a casual listening experience. That’s exactly the kind of music I enjoy and exactly the kind of music I endeavor to showcase on solipsistic NATION.

Furthermore, Nueva Forma is something of a boutique label so each artist and each album has been carefully selected. As a DJ and a producer of solipsistic NATION I’m inundated with new music each week and most of it is terrible. I often scratch my head wondering who gave the go-ahead to release such dreck on their labels. Clearly this is not the case with Nueva Forma where each album and each song is required listening.

If you enjoy today’s show and happen to be in Portland, Oregon next February 4th then you’ll definitely want to attend Nueva Forma’s Kontrast which is a curated, audio/visual electronic music event. Kontrast will be featured at Ziba who’s sole purpose is to provide a venue for beautiful experiences and is perfect environment for Nueva Forma. Michael and his crew are concerned that there has been a downward trend in the once ubiquitous nature of electronic music in Portland. With Kontrast they hope to make the genre once again more accessible by hosting (potentially) bi-annual events throughout the city, the first being the event at Ziba. Check it out.

Next month on solipsistic NATION we’ll showcase Diffrent Music. If you like drum and bass then you’re going to love their label. Also in February we’ll talk with Alec Empire and hear a special live set from his band, Atari Teenage Riot. I’m pretty excited about that and I hope you are, too.

See you next week!

1. A Gap Between “Bonfire”
2. cloudburst “i say”
3. Interview with Michael John, co-founder of Nueva Forma
4. Hello Square “Office Jargon (A Gap Between Remix)”
5. The Bear & The Sea “Platypus, Yo”
6. Del Dot “Shedd View”
7. Creta “Arc”
8. Interview with Michael John, co-founder of Nueva Forma
9. Masmöd “Map Of The Stars”
10. Pinscape “Sueme”
11. iameb 57 “GrainCookie”
12. Masmöd “Cascading Lights”
13. Miori “Different Countries”
14. Lapse “We’ve Been Rowing For So Long”
15. Interview with Michael John, co-founder of Nueva Forma

A few years back I had Nicolas Chevreux of Ad Noiseam on the show to talk about his label. Ad Noiseam is one of those labels that puts out consistently great music so it was a real chore to try and shoe horn only an hour’s worth of music into the show. I think I did a fairly decent job although it pained me not to include the other great music from Ad Noiseam.

One of the artists on Ad Noiseam that took me by surprise was Chevron. His track, “Burn Down The Jungle!,” was so mindblowingly awesome that when I showcased Planet Mu Records there was no question that I was going to play another track by Chevron.

Since then Chevron has remained on my radar and when he sent me a copy of his live set a few months ago I knew I had to play it on solipsistic NATION. Hence, today’s show.

A little background on Chevron: Chevron is Jonathan Valentine and hails from the UK. Jonathan began making rave and techno from an early age. In 2003 Planet Mu released his first 7″ Swimmin’ Lessons. Further short releases on Planet Mu followed in 2004 as well as a European tour with Ceephax Acid Crew. He has also played many shows, including the legendary Kraked Squat Party, with artists such as Venetian Snares and Shitmat. Since 2003, he has lived in Brighton with Shitmat, who is also the founder of Wrong Music Records.

Hope you enjoy Chevron’s live set. Join us again next week when we’ll showcase the music of Nueva Forma. See you then!

1. Chevron “Live”
2. Interview with Jonathan Valentine of Chevron

Welcome to 2011!

I’ve got lots of plans for the show this year but for today I thought we’d spend the hour listening to some beautiful music that’s lush in it’s minimalism. Sometimes more really is more and to demonstrate I’m only going to play four songs on today’s show. Somtimes you need to give a song all the time it needs to bloom and unfold. Sometimes it’s worth the wait to see what journey a song will take you.

I think of the music on today’s show as being ambient psychedelic because the sounds of today’s show will blend into your world and vice versa. You’ll oten wonder if what your hearing is part of the show or your environment. For maximum effect I suggest putting on your headphones and listen to today’s show as you walk about your neighborhood. Trust me, it’ll be trippy.

So let me tell you who is providing the soundtrack to today’s audio hallucination.

“Floating World Part 3” by Annea Lockwood.

Annea Lockwood is a composer who has taught music at Vassar College. Her music has spanned the breadth of microtonal music to electro-acoustic soundscapes to recording Fluxus-inspired pieces that included burned and drowning pianos. “Floating World” comes from her album, Thousand Year Dream/Floating World, in which Annea invited friends who are soundscape artists themselves to make recordings for her in places of personal and spiritual significance to them. The soundscapes are collaborative and while they have been edited they have not been processed.

Richard Chartier continues the theme with “A Desk For Mixing” which comes from his album, A Field for Mixing.

In A Field For Mixing Chartier recorded in a variety of small and large spaces in countries from Australia through Japan and the USA. Chartier took the unique properties of these spaces and created a completely new acoustic space. “A Desk For Mixing” is dedicated to William Basinski, another artists who works with soundscapes. “A Desk For Mixing” is based on Richard’s site-specific installation work Mixing Desk, which was presented at the Montalvo Art Centre in 2006.

From Francisco Lopez we’ll hear his track, “Untitled #203,” which appeared in the Room40 Airport Symphony compilation album.

Airport Symphony was commissioned by the Queensland Music Festival and Brisbane Airport Corporation to document and synthesize the experiences of travel. Each piece represented a personal meditation on the aspects of travel in the modern age and ways in which we might control, augment and ultimately exists in a time where almost no part of the face of the planet is inaccessible.

Last but not least, we’ll end the show with “Mass Observation” by Scanner.

Robin Rimbaud is Scanner but Robin will always be Scanner to me and part of being Scanner means listening to telephone chatter. It’s funny how back in the day Robin’s recordings inspired conversation about the nature of communication, intimacy, alienation and ideas about privacy. Here in 2011 those ideas are just as relevant but what’s changed is how freely we share things about ourselves that we once kept to ourselves.

Join us next week when we’ll kick out the jams with a live set from Chevron.

Until then, for solipsistic NATION, I’m Bazooka Joe. Thanks for listening and Happy New Year!

Photo Credit: ©dev deploy

1. Annea Lockwood “floating world Part 3”
2. Richard Chartier “A Desk For Mixing”
3. Francisco Lopez “Untitled #203”
4. Scanner “Mass Observation”

Each week on solipsistic NATION I play for you what I consider the very best of all genres of electronic music. However, there’s only so much I can cover in one hour. Each week I try to capture just a fragment of the tapestry that makes up electronic music. It’s a work in progress. In any case, I do have a great show for you today.

Years ago I fell in love with i am jen‘s “At The Same Time.” Shortly after relaunching solipsistic NATION as a podcast I asked her permission to play “At The Same Time” on the show. She said go ahead and I’ve been waiting patiently for just the right songs to coalesce around “At the Same Time.” Some might think it obsessive to wait that long (and I would agree with them), and I think I nailed it with today’s show and it was well worth the wait.

I mean, c’mon, today’s show has everyone from Bonobo to Trentemøller on it! I’d have to be a spectacularly bad DJ to put together a show feature music by the likes of them that bombed. And trust me, today’s show is pretty awesome.

Before I go, Tomaxxamot mentioned on Twitter that he listened to a couple episodes of solipsistic NATION during his drive last weekend and that he liked the Ensorcelled episode the best. Glad we could keep you company on your winter drive, Tom 🙂

I also got an email from Mike and he let me know that he’s listened to every episode of solipsistic NATION in 2010 and his favorite was the show featuring Hecq. I gotta agree with you, Mike, that was a pretty awesome show.

Mike also said he’s going to send me a copy of his favorite 2010 electronic-music albums as a Christmas gift. Thanks, Mike, that’s really sweet of you. Can’t wait to hear it!

Got some fun stuff planned for 2011 like a new #twittermix, a live set from Atari Teenage Riot and showcasing music from the Nueva Froma label. Until then, join us again next week for the final episode of solipsistic NATION for 2010!

Photo Credit: ©Kessan

1. i am jen “At The Same Time”
2. Bonobo “Ketto”
3. Sascha Funke vs Nina Kraviz “Moses”
4. Tripswitch “When Only Sand Remains (Tripswich Remix)”
5. Diplo “Summer’s Gonna Hurt You (Diplo 2010 Remix)”
6. Sub Swara “Nectar (feat. Kendra Foster)”
7. Sleepover “Peace Buds”
8. The Phenomenal Handclap Band “Baby (Virgil Howe Remix)”
9. Trentemøller “…Even Though You’re With Another Girl (Album Version)”
10. Funki Porcini “Belisha Beacon”
11. Rotodrone “Skeleton Junction (Prima Mater Unmix)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
12. :papercutz “Intro (Kreng Remix)”

I’ve been showcasing labels on solipsistic NATION for four years. There are still a few labels I’d like to feature on the show like Warp Records and Astralwerks but I’m pretty close to checking off every label on my wish list. More and more I’ve been relying on you tell me which labels to feature on future shows.

A few months back Pixieguts‘ Marie Craven suggested that I give spontanMusik a listen. Marie has excellent taste in music so I went to the spontanMusik website without a moment’s hesitation. I loved every track I heard and I invited Tobias Lorsbach, the label’s founder, to come on the show and play select tracks from spontanMusik.

I think what I enjoy most about spontanMusik is that the music is not just great, it also deftly spans and blends many different genres of music. Indeed, there’s also an infusion if jazz to many of the tracks from spontanMusik, as you shall hear on today’s show.

Nearly all the music on today’s show can be downloaded for free (see the links below). If you like what you hear, why not purchase the music you like to support the artists as well as spontanMusik.

2011 is just around the corner and my New Year’s resolution is to check off the rest of the labels on my wish list. That still leaves a lot of open slots left for me fill so if there’s a label that you feel deserves to be showcased, please do let me know.

See you next week and we’ll do it all over again. But, of course, completely different.

1. Solid-M “Indetermination2” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
2. Interview with Tobias Lorsbach, founder of spontanMusik
3. Supralist “Fluttering” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
4. Keinzweiter “Opus” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. Keinzweiter “Goldbrick” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
6. Just Two Ordinary People “Lucky Times (Paul Frick Remix)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
7. Tom Ellis “A Day In The Life”
8. Paradroid “Gyroscopic Robo Funk” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
9. Interview with Tobias Lorsbach, founder of spontanMusik
10. Elco Park “Kaleidoscopic Flower Patterns” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
11. Woodnote “Mac Avity” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
12. Lavajaz “The Weird Wire”
13. Interview with Tobias Lorsbach, founder of spontanMusik
14. Lavajaz “Contour”

Whoa, today’s show is really, really late. I feel bad about that. On the other hand, this is a podcast so you’re listening to this show on your schedule. Still, there’s something to be said about hearing a show just as it’s released. Anyway, today’s show is a worth waiting for because I have not one, but two, live sets from two great musicians: Masmöd and Solipsism!

I’ll let you in on a secret. Today’s show had a one year gestation period.

I usually have six to 12 months of live sets waiting in a queue (it’s a little anal retentive but I prefer to have those live sets on hand than having to scramble each month to find the next live set). One of the live sets was from Masmöd that he recorded at the Someday Lounge in Portland, Oregon that he had sent me some time ago. I really like the Portland music scene and I really like Masmöd’s music (I’m also a fan of Nueva Forma, a label and collective he co-founded) but his set clocked in just over 30 minutes and solipsistic NATION is an hour long show. Usually in these situations I pair of shorter live sets with other shorter live sets. I had a couple but they just didn’t fit with Masmöd’s music until last month Solipsism sent me his live set recorded at Nice n Sleazy in Glasgow. Solipsism is another musician I really like and I’ve been digging his It Could Be Clouds album (I also really like Solipsism’s label, Herb Recordings) so I’m thrilled to be able to present to you their live sets.

Told you today’s show was worth waiting for.

Oh, and my queue is now empty as of today’s show. I’ve sent out some feelers so we’ll just have to see what next months live show will feature. Hopefully it will be on time!

1. Masmöd “Live, Someday Lounge (PDX)”
2. Interview with Masmöd
3. Solipsism “Live, Nice n Sleazy (Oct. 10th 2010)”
4. Interview with Solipsism