Author: joseph

These days I get all my news from the internet. I follow nearly a hundred blogs on various topics that fascinate. Instead of watching television I watch YouTube videos of video podcasts. And I never listen to the radio. I listen to podcasts. Nearly all the media I consume don’t come down from on high from multi-billion dollars corporations but folks just like you and me.

solipsistic NATION is part of the new media movement and I thought we’d spend this week’s show exploring how people like yourself are participating and changing the way media works, which in turn changes the way we see ourselves, our community and our world.

Half my life I’ve been a DJ at college and community radio stations, pirate and internet radio stations, and, for nearly four years I’ve been a podcaster.

I’ve always been evangelical about being a DJ. I constantly encourage people to be a DJ and I’m always amazed how many people turn down the opportunity to get on the mic and be heard. In fact, I’m amazed everyone isn’t a DJ.

Especially now when it’s so easy. All you need is a computer, a microphone and a place to host your files and, boom!, you’re a podcaster. Granted, there’s some skill involved and spending some extra cash on some decent hardware and software doesn’t hurt but the most important thing is the content. People will forgive most anything if you’ve got something worth hearing.

When I started podcasting I hosted a show called Small World where I’d talk to people from all walks of life from all over the planet. I’ve interviewed everyone from sandwich makers to filmmakers. I started off recording all my interview into a crappy cassette recorder and then transfer it to the computer. Later on I got savvy and ran a microphone directly into my computer and did my interviews on Skype. I made mistakes, sure. The audio sounded pretty bad, too. But as I went a long I learned and improved and had people from all over the world listening to my little show that I recorded in my apartment. I didn’t need to spend countless dollars on a radio station to be heard.

When I launched solipsistic NATION as a podcast I knew it was going to be much more than a show where I would spin music. And I knew I wasn’t going to stick to just one genre of electronic music. There are enough shows that do just that and while they may be good, after you heard two or three shows you’ve pretty much heard all their shows. If that kind of show bores me then I know it’s going to bore you.

But I also wanted to take what I had learned from the Small World and talk to people who were part of the electronic music community, whether they were drum and bass heads or glitch addicts. I wanted to talk to the people who made the music, the people who put out the music and the people who love the music.

I’ve always tried to keep the interviews on solipsistic NATION brief because despite what I just said, the show really is about the music. And it’s a tricky balancing act, trying to keep things interesting with the music but not detracting from the music. I don’t always succeed but looking back on the last 100 shows I’m proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish.

On today’s show I’m going to pretty much just going to play excerpts of interviews from previous shows. from people who are part of the electronic music community. Hey, it’s the 100th show. Indulge me.

1. Killfish “Scape From Pilar (Excerpt)”
2. Richard Metzger “Disinfo.Con, Opening Remarks”
3. Interview with Pete Cooper, host of bleepshow (Excerpt)
   solipsistic NATION No. 95: Bleep!
4. Interview with Snowy, host of Electronicast (Excerpt)
   solipsistic NATION No. 74: Electronicast
5. Interview with Mikel OD, host of Most People Are DJs (Excerpt)
   solipsistic NATION No. 59: Synthpop
6. Interview with Anji Bee, host of the Chillcast (Excerpt)
   solipsistic NATION No. 76: Lovespirals
7. Mr Flash “Disco Dynamite”
8. Interview with Travis Nobles, host of hiddenplace music (Excerpt)
   solipsistic NATION No. 79: HiddenPlace Music, Part 1
9. Interview with Pietro Da Sacco, managing editor of Igloo Magazine (Excerpt)
   solipsistic NATION No. 90: Left of Dissonance
10. Niteffect “Lights Off (Excerpt)”
11. Interview with Vivian Host, editor of XLR8R Magazine (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 51: Accelerate
12. OP11 “Naissance (Excerpt)”
13. Interview with Stephen Page, station manager of KYOURadio (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 87: Glitterdämmerung
14. Robberriff “Lifebreath (Excerpt)”
15. Interview with Brian, founder of the Oscillation Electronic Music Festival (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 58: Oscillation
16. Interview with J. Anthony Allen, Director of Programming of the Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Art (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 78: Spark
17. Omid “Beat From My Mouth (Excerpt)”
18. Interview with Simon Carless of Monotonik (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 66: NetLabels
19. Interview with Nicolas Chevreux of Ad Noiseam (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 81: Ad Noiseam
20. Interview with Evan Marc of Native State Records (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 77: Native State Records
21. Interview with Sunny of Ultimae Records (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 61: Ultimae Records
22. Detalles “Cilantro (Excerpt)”
23. Interview with Cheb i Sabbah (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 56: Cheb i Sabbah
24. Interview with Martin Rev and Alan Vega of Suicide (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 87: Glitterdämmerung
25. Interview with Amon Tobin (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 82: Amon Tobin
26. Sebastian “Greel (Excerpt)”
27. Interview with Robert Rich (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 50: Robert Rich, Live
28. Interview with Hol Baumann (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 67: Hol Baumann, Live
29. Interview with Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 88: Meat Beat Manifesto, Live
30. DJ Internet & Kid Kool A.K.A. Pella “Hit (Excerpt)”
31. Interviews from the Dubstep documentary (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 83: Dubsonic
32. Interview with MC Frontalot (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No.4: Nerdcore
33. Interview with Johan Kotlinski (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 8: Chiptunes
34. Suhov “Moonhill”

I try not too talk too much on solipsistic NATION because I’ve only got an hour to cram as much music and interviews into each edition of the show. I don’t want to waste your time with my banter. Besides, anything I can’t fit in the show I can always say in the show notes.

We’re just months away from a presidential election here in the U.S. and after the longest political campaign in our country’s history things are really heating up. It’s been said that politics are a full contact sport and this campaign has been particularly ugly and for good reason: one of the former candidates, Hillary Clinton, is a woman and Barack Obama, is a black man. Despite the changing face of America our country has yet to fully come to terms with the much needed equality of women and race in our nation. Simply by being in the campaign Clinton and Obama has forced America to think about the issues of sex and race.

While that is a good thing it also means that a lot of people can express their bigotry. Sometimes it came across in an obscure manner such as when pundits observed Clinton’s tactics as being a form of “muscular” politics (none of the other male candidates politics were identified as “muscular”). Sometimes it was more egregious. For example, there were many times when Clinto was told that her place was in the kitchen, often by other women.

The campaign has narrowed down to McCain and Obama so now America’s discomfort with the possibility of having a black man as a president has become more pronounced. Recently there were a batch of pins that read “If Obama is President…will we still call it The White House?” When Obama gently banged fists with his wife, Michelle, a FOXNews anchor asked if the fist-bump might actually be “a terrorist fist jab.” It goes on and on.

When I’m optimistic I see all this as a good thing because it means my country is addressing it’s collective fears and hopefully we can move on. If Obama is elected president racism will still exist in our country but it’s a step in the right direction. Even if Obama is not elected president it still is a victory. The U.S. is finally moving past an antiquated mindset. When I’m not so optimistic I get really pissed off. Can we please move into the fucking 21^st century. But rather than rant about all this on solipsistic NATION I figure it would be more productive and just play some music that kicks ass and today’s show does just that. Turn it up and get your rage on!

Photo Credit: Chad Davis

1. The Prodigy “Smack My Bitch Up”
2. DJ Danger Mouse “99 Problems”
3. Rob Sonic “Brand New Vandals”
4. Aesop Rock Feat. Rob Sonic “Dark Heart News”
5. Dark Machines “Rituals”
6. Klaxons “Interzone To Golden Skans So Me (Remix)”
7. Neon Stereo vs Marcie “F*ck Me Baby” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
8. Cornelius “Gum” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
9. Justice “Stress”
10. Time Promises Power “Rope of Gloves” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
11. Rabbit Junk “Vote Bolshevik Lite”
12. CTRLer “Flesh” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
13. Bong-Ra “Suicide Speed Machine Girl”
14. Sabrepulse “Dot Matrix Hero”
15. Räuberhöhle “My Heart Bleeps Noisy Beeps”

It amazes me just how many music labels are out there that are putting out some of the most phenomenal music I’ve ever heard. What’s wonderful about electronic music is that these labels can focus on a specific genre and mine the very best music that that genre has to offer. Ultimae Records, for example, focuses and ambient/trance music while Native State Records specializes in the glitchier and dubbier stuff.Today on solipsistic NATION we’re joined by Taylor Deupree, the founder of the 12k music label.

12k is an independent boutique label that showcases artists who specialize in experimental electronic music. To date, 12k has released over 50 CDs since the label’s inception in 1997 and 40 CDs on LINE. Due to the caliber of music Taylor offers 12k has become one of the most respected experimental electronic labels in the world. Each album from 12k is a special and made even more unique by Taylor’s insistence that he only releases 1000 copies of each CD.

I think that 12k puts out some of the most beautiful electronic music I’ve ever heard. Since most of the albums on 12k are quiet things I’ve come to enjoy how the sounds of the environment I’m in when I listen to 12k releases become part of the music while the music colors my perceptions of the environment I’m in. It’s a sublime experience. See if that happens to you when you listen to this week’s show.

1. Savvas Ysatis + Taylor Deupree “Under Your Breath”
2. Interview with Taylor Deupree of 12k
3. Solo Andata – Seaworthy – Taylor Deupree “Solo Andata”
4. Interview with Taylor Deupree of 12k
5. Giuseppe Ielasi “01”
6. Sawako “Wind Shower Particle”
7. William Basinski + Richard Chartier “untitled 2”
8. Interview with Taylor Deupree of 12k
9. Richard Chartier “Archival1992”

For those of you who live in the U.S., Happy 4^th of July!

Today is a special day for me because July 4^th of 2004 is when solipsistic NATION was first broadcast on Free Radio San Diego (FRSD). Back then, studio of FRSD was located in a toolshed. We had an air conditioner but that only brought down the temperature down a few degrees and I had to turn it off whenever I went on the mic for on-air announcements to avoid the air conditioner’s hum.

Another challenge of doing an electronic music show on FRSD was that our station used Ots Labs radio software. Ots Labs has come a long way but when I first began solipsistic NATION their app was great for programing the schedules for shows but lousy for doing the seamless segues you expect from an electronic music show. Despite the software and our air conditioner I managed to put out a decent show each week and built up an audience in San Diego for people who were starved for just such a program.

In addition to solipsistic NATION‘s four year anniversary I’ll have released 100 editions of the show as a podcast in three weeks and in September solipsistic NATION will celebrate two years of weekly podcasts. 2008 is a banner year for solipsistic NATION!

This week’s show is special for another reason because I’ve released one show featuring a live performance by an electronic artists for nearly a year. When I began the live segment I thought it would be something that I would do occasionally on the show and never expected that it would become a monthly segment. In the last year I’ve has live sets from the likes of Robert Rich, Hol Baumann and Meat Beat Manifesto and in the next few months you can expect to hear concerts by The Orb, Bass Science and Aes Dana.

To celebrate solipsistic NATION‘s four year anniversary we have a live performance from Bubblegone and Verzerren. Play it when the fireworks begin!

One more thing: Travis Nobles of the hidenplace music blog, who I had as a guest DJ on the show back in February, has put out his first mix. Beautiful stuff and you can download it here.

Photo Credit: chromedecay

1. Bubblegone vs. Verzerren “Live at the Darkroom (Chicago, IL 2004)”
2. Interview with Jason Engling of Bubblegone and Joe Bauer of Verzerren
3. Bubblegone “Live at the Dreamland Theater (Ypsilanti, MI 2007)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
4. Interview with Jason Engling of Bubblegone and Joe Bauer of Verzerren

This week on solipsistic NATION I’ve got a great show for you!

Last year I interviewed JP of Rabbit Junk for a documentary on digital hardcore that I’m working on. He’s since released his latest album, Life Is Where You Get Fucked, and was kind enough to send me a copy of his CD. On his new album JP has combined metal, punk, hip hop and electronica. It’s an exciting venture and I wanted to have JP on today’s show to talk about his CD.

I’ve also been kicking around the idea of doing a regular feature on artists and bands who played a major role in the early days of electronic music. While this notion has been bouncing around my skull I came across Hula‘s web site. Hula was an electronic based band I was into during the 80s and so I contacted Nort to have him on the show to talk about the band.

A few weeks ago I was perusing XLR8R and read their review of Lulu Rouge‘s Bless You album. I was intrigued and went to Lulu Rouge’s MySpace page. After hearing their song, “Melankoli,” I instantly fell in love with their music. As you might have guessed, I invited them to come on today’s show.

Our last guest is Cheb I Sabbah. I had Cheb on solipsistic NATION for a retrospective mix of his musical career so far. Cheb released his latest album, Devotion back in January. I’ve been meaning to have Cheb back on solipsistic NATION for quite a while and this week’s show seemed like it would be a perfect fit.

So there you have it: a great show with great guest and great music. Enjoy!

Photo Credit: JohnKit

1. Rabbit Junk “Black”
2. Interview with JP of Rabbit Junk
3. Rabbit Junk “Ghetto Blasphemer”
4. Hula “Poison”
5. Hula “Big Car”
6. Interview with Nort of Hula
7. Hula “Invisible”
8. Lulu Rouge “Bless You”
9. Lulu Rouge “Slow Pigeon”
10. Interview with DJ T.O.M & DJ Buda of Lulu Rouge
11. Lulu Rouge “Melankoli”
12. Cheb I Sabbah “Qalanderi” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
13. Cheb I Sabbah “Devotion”
14. Interview with Cheb I Sabbah
15. Cheb I Sabbah “Haun Vaari Haun Varaney”

I hate Pete Cooper!

Each week I face the same dilemma: what do I feature on solipsistic NATION? My priority is to play the best of all genres of electronic music but I’ve only got an hour to work with. Add to that the interviews, the live sets and the spotlighting of music labels of note and the question becomes what do I take out? Those are the kind of decisions that I agonize over.

The obvious solution is to release solipsistic NATION as a daily podcast. That would give me the opportunity to do everything I want to do with the show as well as giving me the chance to be an actual DJ and play more mixes. But honestly, I spend so much time putting out one show a week that doing a daily podcast would most likely kill me and given my obsessive compulsive tendencies that would happen pretty quickly.

Back in January I had Snowy who hosts Electronicast on solipsistic NATION as a guest DJ and he told me about his favorite podcast called bleepshow, hosted by Pete Cooper. Since I’m always on the lookout for new shows to listen I gave it a try and became a regular listener.

Pete does a daily one hour podcast where he plays the best electronic music that netlabels like Monotonik and Thinner have to offer. bleeppshow is fun, informative and eclectic. Pete does the kind of show I only wish I had the time and energy to do.

I hate Pete Cooper!

Photo Credit: Ultra (No videos on Flickr)

1. Stark Effect “Bunnyrabbits, Satan, Cheese And Milk” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
2. Braces Tower “Eleven Twelve” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
3. DQ “Psychosis” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
4. Interview with Pete Cooper, host of bleepshow
5. Seksu Roba “Telstar” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
6. Interview with Pete Cooper, host of bleepshow
7. Pocka “Cutty Ranks Mashup” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
8. Glomag “Cherie Amour” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
9. Interview with Pete Cooper, host of bleepshow
10. Orange Dust “Chillin With The Villin” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
11. Mossa “Town Hall – Take One” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
12. Interview with Pete Cooper, host of bleepshow
13. Gary Beck “Face of the Day” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
14. Troy Pierce “Louderbach” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
15. Ronin “Ferox”
16. Interview with Pete Cooper, host of bleepshow

The last couple of months I’ve been thinking about the electronic music community. Electronic music has been around for decades but to me it has always seemed underground, even more so than punk. What’s weird about that is that electronic music is a presence in almost all genres of music today. Almost every artist or band employs samples or drum loops, from your local bar band to Madonna. And yet if you asked your average person on the street they’d be hard pressed to think of an electronic music artist or band they know.

But if you’re listening to solipsistic NATION then you’re obviously a fan of electronic music and may be part of the electronic music community.

Today’s guest is Dave Heckman, the founder of Metropolis Records. Dave’s label specializes in electro, industrial, synthpop, futurepop, darkwave, and goth and his roster of artists include the likes of KMFDM, Front 242 and Snog. While it was a pleasure to talk to Dave about Metropolis Records what I really enjoyed was the history of the label and the community that grew around the label.

As Dave points out, genres like industrial came out of the post-punk scene and that scene has always had a strong community. Electronic music in general may still be underground, and maybe that’s for the best, but there has always been people who have kept the scene fresh and exciting.

1. Snog “License”
2. IAMX “The Alternative”
3. IAMX “Nightlife”
4. Interview with Chris Corner of IAMX
5. KMFDM “Godlike (Original 12″ Mix)”
6. Front 242 “Headhunter (Front Line Assembly Mix)”
7. Front Line Assembly “Unleashed (Mindless Mix By Sebastian R. Komor)”
8. Combichrist “Electrohead”
9. Ken Marshall & (Cevin) Key “Maniac Shuffle”
10. Interview with Dave Heckman of Metropolis Records
11. PIG “Suck Shit Spit (Album Version)”
12. Velvet Acid Christ “Discolored Eyes”
13. Interview with Dave Heckman of Metropolis Records
14. Vnv Nation “Descent”
15. Juno Reactor “Tanta Pena”
16. Wumpscut “Hard to Bear”
17. Interview with Dave Heckman of Metropolis Records
18. Meat Beat Manifesto “Children of Earth”

When I relaunched solipsistic NATION as a podcast my only plan was to play for you the best of all genres of electronic music. But after a few weeks I realized that I could pursue the things I wanted to do but couldn’t do at the radio station I used to spin at. At first it was just doing interviews but that quickly grew to include documentaries about electronic music, showcasing artists and record labels, guest DJs and featuring recordings of live performances.

The live shows have been a lot of fun because it gives me the opportunity to focus on a specific artist and hear music by them I might otherwise not know about.

When I began the live shows I thought it was just something I’d do every once in a while but it has become a regular segment of solipsistic NATION. The only problem is that very few live sets are an hour long. Originally I’d pad out the show by adding a few studio recordings by the featured artist but then I got the brilliant idea (okay, the obvious idea) of featuring two live performances back-to-back!

Today’s show features Jason Chung, AKA Nosaj Thing, and Robin Rimbaud, AKA Scanner.

I first found out about Nosaj Thing through Nalepa. Nalepa was singing praises to Jason and Nalepa had never steered me wrong so I downloaded a few tracks by Jason, which were absolutely beautiful. I highly recommend Jason’s Views/Octopus EP. Jason’s set comes from his performance he gave for dublab.

I’ve been a fan of Robin’s music for years, maybe decades at this point. Recently Robin made some songs from his many albums available to podcaster, which gave me the excuse to have him on the show back in April. Afterwards I asked Robin if he had any live recordings I could play in the show and he was kind enough to give me a copy of his concert at The Rhiz.

In the near future you can expect to hear concerts by The Orb and Bubblegone. You can also expect to gear more sets back-to-back!

1. Nosaj Thing “Live from dublab“
2. Interview with Nosaj Thing
3. Scanner “Live at The Rhiz”
4. Interview with Scanner

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

1. Big Catholic Guilt “Crank”
2. Big Catholic Guilt “Silence (Remix)”
3. Interview with Big Catholic Guilt
4. Big Catholic Guilt “Descent”
5. You Shriek “Grim”
6. You Shriek “Untitled #4”
7. Interview with You Shriek
8. You Shriek “New Romantic Circuitry”
9. D.D.T. “H2O (Remix)”
10. D.D.T. “AID, Live”
11. Interview with D.D.T.
12. D.D.T. “Unknown, Live”
13. D.D.T. “Unknown, Live”
14. D.D.T. “Vogue”
15. Think Tree “Hire A Bird”
16. Think Tree “Mampther”
17. Interview with Think Tree
18. Think Tree “Holy Cow”

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

1. Stephane Pompougnac “Better Days” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
2. Monkeybacon “Roller” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
3. Braces Tower “Spelling Bee” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
4. Nils Krogh “Things We Do” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. Genji Siraisi “Space Monkey” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
6. Jette-Ives feat. Jette Kelly and Holmes Ives “In the Presence of… (D-Fault Remix)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
7. Belleruche “Northern Girls”
8. DJ Genesis “Hush” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
9. A’Merika Vera “Goduria” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
10. Spiral System “Elephant” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
11. Govinda “Delicate Poison” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
12. The Shanghai Restoration Project & Di Johnston “Jade Buddha Temple” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
13. Mysteria “In My Soul” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
14. Head Surfers “Blaise – Le Mans” [FREE DOWNLOAD]