Category: Listen

I really enjoy having lots of guests on solipsistic NATION. It’s a lot of fun to play on track from each artist and then have them comment on their music or what their process is in making music. There’s something to be said about appreciating a song on its own merits but I also think it might make us appreciate a song a bit more when you hear the musician talk about their craft.

But I have to tell you, these shows are a lot of work.

Getting today’s show is the result of contacting everyone by phone or email and asking if an interview can be arranged. And then there are the follow up emails and phone calls. Not too mention coming up with a list of questions for the interviews, let alone doing the actual interview and then editing those interviews. Like I said, it’s a lot of work.

And that’s why I am so very happy how great this week’s show is when it came together!

First of all, my guests are fantastic. We’ll talk with everyone from Kraddy about mashups to Margaret Noble about her crowd funded 1984 project. And as an added bonus, a diverse as the genres of music on today’s show are, they conveniently segue together and nothing sounds incongruous.

From Kraddy’s glitch hop inspired mashup we careen off of two tracks from the Rare Grooves album (which you can download for free, by the way) Colin Steve drops some, ah, knowledge about Knowledge Magazine. Colin must cringe whenever that phrase is uttered but he was cool enough to give away a Knowledge tshirt. Email me to tweet me for your chance to win! Rare Grooves takes us to trance where we’ll talk with Benoit Allirol about this years The Hadra Trance Festival taking place in the French Alps. And somehow, I don’t know how, this takes us to Carmen Rizzo‘s gorgeous and melancholy music (if you dig Carmen’s music then you also might like Lulu Rouge, you can listen to my interview with them here). Music from Carmen’s album, Looking Through Leaves, unfolds to the dub laden strains of Eraldo Bernocchi & Blackfilm. I had Blackfilm on the show last year where he mentioned an upcoming project with Eraldo Bernocchi. The album is called Along The Corridors and it’s simply amazing. And this takes us to Margaret’s Noble’s 1984 project. I don’t know how but everything fits and makes sense.

I’d like to thank Kraddy, Colin Steven, Benoit Allirol, Carmen Rizzo, Blackfilm and Margaret once again for joining us on this week’s solipsistic NATION.

I know money is tight but if you heard anything on today’s show that you liked, show your support by purchasing one of their songs or albums. Maybe pick up a copy of All Crews drum and bass book from Knowledge. If you’re in the French Alps in July you might want to catch the Hadra Trance Festival. Or maybe give Margaret a couple bucks and help her out with her 1984 project.

Join us again next week. I think I’m going to do a mix of bitpop covers of classic rockers!

Photo Credit: ©Makbet666

1. Kraddy “Luda Sebastian Mash (Kraddy Mash)”
2. Echaskech “The Storm (Kraddy Requiem Remix)”
3. Interview with Kraddy
4. DJ Scape “Your Soul Can Rest” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. Sighnature “I Sell Death Insurance” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
6. Interview with Colin Steve of Knowledge Magazine
7. Shotu “Conception”
8. Digidep “Walking Alone”
9. Interview with Benoit Allirol of The Hadra Trance Festival
10. Carmen Rizzo “Until You Find Another (f/ Shana Halligan)”
11. Carmen Rizzo “Element of Hope”
12. Interview with Carmen Rizzo
13. Eraldo Bernocchi & Blackfilm “Bethnal Green”
14. Eraldo Bernocchi & Blackfilm “Mistakes pt.2”
15. Interview with Blackfilm
16. Margaret Noble “Watched”
17. Margaret Noble “Frakture”
18. Interview with Margaret Noble

Back in January I had Riley Warren on solipsistic NATION as a guest DJ. Riley is also one of the co founders of Zero Digital Records and we made plans so showcase her label at a later date.

Riley’s mix got a lot of love so I know you’re going to dig today’s mix featuring select tracks from artists on Zero Digital Records! This time we’re joined by fellow Zero Digital Records co founder Michael Ricca, AKA Kinetic.

Today’s mix is pretty awesome! It’s got a trance feel with some driving rhythms and beats that has a lot of textures and moods that will hit you in your gut. If you enjoy today’s show you can preview more music from Zero Digital Records at their website.

If you really like what you hear then why not buy a song or two from the label if not a couple of albums. You can find them on Beatport, Trackitdown, iTunes, Amazon MP3, Juno Download, etc. Oh, and be sure to listen to the Zero Digital Records podcast hosted by Stilwell!

You can also follow Zero Digital Records on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and on YouTube.

Join us again next week when our guests will be Margaret Noble, Kraddy, Carmen Rizzo, Colin Steven of Knowledge Magazine and much, much more!

1. Ally Porwal “Terms of Life”
2. Interview with Micheal Ricca, cofounder of Zero Digital Records
3. Jane Silence “Break Easy (o3 Remix)”
4. Ally Porwal “Look at the Stars”
5. Ana “Blue Zana (DJ Mix)”
6. o3 “Riven”
7. Interview with Micheal Ricca, cofounder of Zero Digital Records
8. Blaz Perus “Free Your Mind”
9. Tashka Swe “The Trix”
10. Jake DeSilva “Initialize (Nightshift Deep Mix)”
11. Nash Donson “Distance”
12. Verche “The Sea (Dan Freeman Remix)”
13. Interview with Micheal Ricca, cofounder of Zero Digital Records

So here’s the deal. When I first started featuring live sets on solipsistic NATION it was a segment I thought I would do from time to time. It took a while but it soon became a regular segment on the show.

I really like the live segments because on the face of it live electronic music seems like an oxymoron. Artists could easily just press play on their laptop and walk away and that would be the show. But obviously it’s more than that and each artist has a different approach to live performances. Their aesthetics are different, their gear is different and the venues are different. It’s those variables that make the live segments so engaging, not to mention it’s live! There’s so much room for improvisation and, gasp, failure!

But there’s the thing, I often found myself scrambling at last minute to get a live set and an interview with the featured artist for the next show. Worse, sometimes I’d have to skip the segment all together because I didn’t have anything for the show. So about a year ago I emailed a lot of artists I like and invited them on the show to feature recordings of their live sets. Makes sense, right? Build up a surplus of live sets and never have to worry about scrambling again.

Some of the live sets that I got were less than an hour. No problem, I just padded out the rest of the show with a few studio tracks from the featured artist. But sometimes I’d get live sets that were considerably less than an hour and my solution was to pair those set with other live sets of similar duration.

Here we are a year later and I’m down to the last handful of the shorter live sets. I could have waited another year and pair those remaining sets with other sets but I decided to release them today with an extended show. I just didn’t want to put off these live sets any longer.

So here you are: live sets from Forensics, ill.gates and Terminal 11! If you like what you hear then support them by seeing them when they tour your home town or by purchasing their music.

As I mentioned, today’s show is the last of the live sets that I accumulated a year ago. But I only needed to learn the lesson of scrambling once and I’ll have live sets from Prefuse 73, DJ Spooky, the Nortec Collective and The Bombay Dub Orchestra so stay stuned.

Join us next week when I’ll be showcasing music from Zero Digital Records!

1. Forensics “Live (Dub City, Amsterdam, May 2009)”
2. Interview with Forensics
3. ill.gates “Live (Edmonton)”
4. Interview with ill.gates
5. Terminal 11 “Live”
6. Interview with Terminal 11

On today’s show we’ll talk with artists who are creating music with Apple’s iPads, iPhones and the iPod Touch. We’ll find out why they are using these devices to make music and what are the challenges and limitations of those devices.

So why do a who featuring music created with iPads, iPhones and the iPod Touch?

I think the answer is pretty simple. There are a lot of different smart phones and MP3 players but Apple is the company that got it right. These devices are incredibly powerful but easy and intuitive to use and developers have created some wonderful applications for them. And those apps are often equally easy and intuitive to use. And that means there are a lot of people walking around with these little handheld computers with the capability to create music and that’s a wonderful thing.

Apple’s iPad is not the first tablet device to hit the market but it is the first successful tablet. Wildly successful, in fact. And once again developers are coming up with some wonderful apps.

And the iPad is one of the reasons I wanted to do today’s show because a lot of people are claiming that it’s ust a media consumption device or that it’s just a big iPhone. As today’s show proves the iPad is also a media creation device and it clearly not just a big iPhone.

Our guests will be Rana June, Jared DiDomenico and Brad Naprixas from Nuclear O’Reilly, Brian Roberts of Doctor Popular, Marshall Law and Speak Onion‘s Dan Abatemarco.

Rana June is Rana Sobhany and is the author of Mobilize! Marketing Mobile Content in an iPhone and iPad Era and is the world’s first iPad DJ. Nuclear O’Reilly released Phoning It In, the world’s first iPhone album. Doctor Popular is currently working on an album that utilizes the iPhone called Beeps and Smudges. William Marshall uses the iPhone as a DJ tool and Dan Abatemarco of Speak Onion uses the iPhone to bludgeon his audiences in his live sets.

I’ve got a lot of apps you can win on today’s show for your ipad, iPhone or iPod Touch so email me at solipsisticnation@gmail.com or Tweet me at http://twitter.com/solipsistic for your chance to win!

I’d like to thank the folks at Sound Trends LLC, Intua, Nanoloop, Smule and IK Multimedia for their generosity for letting me give away their fine apps on today’s show.

See you next week for a special live set from Terminal 11, Forensics and ill.gates!

1. Rana June “Destroy the Silence, Volume 1” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
2. Interview with Rana June
3. Nuclear O’Reilly “Leeks” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
4. Nuclear O’Reilly “Two Flumes” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. Interview with Brad Naprixas and Jared DiDomenico of Nuclear O’Reilly
6. Doctor Popular “Bedbugs (featuring ytCracker)”
7. Doctor Popular “Last Gasp Through Bended Straw”
8. Interview with Doctor Popular
9. Marshall Law “House Mix”
10. Interview with Marshall Law
11. Speak Onion “Brecht Forum (January 10, 2009)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
12. Interview with Speak Onion

Today on solipsistic NATION we’ll talk with Ellen Allien. Ellen is a musician, a DJ, a producer, a fashion designer and the founder of BPitch Control.

I’m very excited about today’s show because I have a list of music labels that I’ve wanted to feature on solipsistic NATION and I’ve wanted to do a show dedicated to BPitch Control for a very long time.

I’m not a big fan of techno because I find the genre fairly conservative and boring. Partly this is due to the constraints of the genre but mostly it is due to the lack of imagination of musicians who make techno. Not so with the artists on BPitch Control. From Modeselektor to Sasha Funke, all the music on BPitch Control is creative, fun and pushes the boundaries of what techno can be.

Ellen herself sums up all of that. She is a musician, a DJ, a producer, a fashion designer and the founder of BPitch Control. Her latest album, Dust is due for release today so the timing for today’s show is perfect! It was difficult to choose which track from Dust to choose but in the end I settled on “Huibuh” because it is a perfect example of Ellen’s ability to make techno her own by infusing “Huibuh” with Afro-Peruvian and Cuban elements without using those elements for mere exotica.

As always, whenever I have a guest on solipsistic NATION I ask people on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace to contribute to the interview and on today’s show I have questions from bubblesmusic and tony_watt. If you’d like to participate in future interviews just follow me at http://twitter.com/solipsistic.

If you enjoyed today’s show then you’ll also enjoy the A/V show from October that includes an interview with Hannes Stöhr, the director of Berlin Calling, a movie who’s soundtrack was released through BPitch Control.

Join us again next when we’ll talk with Rhana June, Doctor Popular, Nuclear O’ Reilly, Will Marshall and Speak Onion. They’re connection? They all make music with iPhones and iPads.

See you then!

1. Fuckpony “Orgasm On The Dancefloor Saturday Night”
2. Interview with Ellen Allien, founder of BPitch Control
3. AGF / Delay “Connection (Fritz Zander Remix)”
4. Moderat “A Seamonkey (Untold Remix)”
5. Chaim “A Thrill You”
6. Interview with Ellen Allien, founder of BPitch Control
7. Ellen Allien “Huibuh”
8. Zander VT “Peace Of Mind feat Chopstick”
9. Thomas Muller “Rebirth”
10. Paul Kalkbrenner “Torted”
11. Telefon Tel Aviv “Immolate Yourself (Thomas Muller Burning Man Remix)”
12. Interview with Ellen Allien, founder of BPitch Control
13. Jahcoozi “Watching You (Deadbeat Stalker Dub)”

I missed last month’s live set on solipsistic NATION because my life got pretty hectic. But I’m back this month with a live set from Mad EP recorded at the TODAYSART festival in 2008.

TODAYSART believes strongly in fresh and vigorous creativity; and in the new shapes of expression, and the rising talents who boldly explore the possibilities of the new and controversial stages where they can express their talent.

I had Mad EP on the show back in September with O’ Slick to talk about their Brimstone Bangers release and asked Mad EP if he had a recording of a live set he’d like to share on the show. Mad EP said he did and set me a rocking set and I’m psyched to share it with you on today’s show!

Mad EP will also be back on the show later this month or in June with a live set he’s putting together exclusively for solipsistic NATION.

Earlier this year Hecq came on the show with a mix that covered the gamut of Hecq’s musical styles: from ambient to breakbeat. It occurred to me that as much as I dig Mad EP’s live set it’s pretty much all hip hop and doesn’t convey the range of his musical capabilities. Mad EP felt the same way after listening to Hecq’s mix we both agreed that Mad EP should do a mix too.

Unfortunately, Mad EP broke his hand so until he heals that mix will have to wait. Until then, rock out to Mad EP’s TODAYSART 2008 live set!

1. Mad EP “Live, TODAYSART 2008”

Today’s pretty unusual for solipsistic NATION because I’m playing songs that came up on my iPhone while on shuffle.

I’m only going to do this once because I’m pretty anal retentive on how I put the shows together. Behind the scenes I lovingly and painstakingly craft the mixes you hear. To just let my iPhone randomly choose the tracks unnerves me. Oh, sure, I’ve gotten ideas for shows while listening on shuffle but sometimes my iPhone will play terrible tracks. Or great tracks that would sound terrible together in a mix. But I’ve decided to throw caution to the wind and just see what happens.

It’s kind of exciting because today’s show is just as much a surprise for me as it will be for you!

The other thing that’s different about today’s show is that I decided that as long as I’m going to let my iPhone pick the songs I might as well as record the solipsistic NATION IDs on my iPhone too. And if I’m going to record the IDs on my iPhone then why not record the IDs in various spots in San Diego and take photos of those locations with my iPhone? You can see the photos below.

One spot I recorded an ID is at the Krakatoa Cafe. The Krakatoa Cafe is in my neighborhood and I’ve met several of the guests that have appeared on solipsistic NATION at Krakatoa such as Riley Warren and Stuntdouble. I also recorded an ID on my roof deck where I often relax when I convert editions of solipsistic NATION to MP3. One ID was recorded at Luigi’s Pizzeria. I’m more of a Chicago deep dish guy but I have to admit that Luigi’s New York style pizza is pretty dope. Finally, I recorded an ID at the Cuban Cigar Factory because I was trying to find a Perdomo Lot 23 Churchill Natural at Cameron Reilly‘s, host of the G’day World podcast, recommendation. No luck finding the cigar, though.

That’s the show. Hope you like it despite the unevenness of the mix but, hey, that’s what happens when you allow randomness into your life.

Join us again next week for a special live set from Mad EP!

1. Raskolnikov’s Dream “Navarinou Dogs”
2. Ninjasonik “My Kids Cant Eat No Fame”
3. Left Spine Down “Welcome to the Future”
4. The Qemists “Your Revolution (Reso Remix)”
5. Ron Contour & Factor “I Only Know”
6. The Juan Maclean “Happy House (Will Saul & Mike Monday Remix)”
7. Mesmer “Whenever You Want Me (Line of Sight Remix)”
8. Le Le “Breakfast (Mercury Remix)”
9. Mesmer “Whenever You Want Me (Great Scott Remix)”
10. Julian Jeweil “Soda”

Back in the day blogs were considered pretty exotic. They covered everything from knitting to Star Wars and were more often than not very, very personal. A decade or so later and blogs are still pretty personal but they’re not longer quite so exotic. Seems like everyone has a blog these days and everyone reads blogs.

I myself follow 40+ blogs. Some blogs are by my friends or various people I find interesting while the rest are news blogs or blogs related to the industry I work in. And, of course, I follow quite a few blogs about electronic music so I can keep up to date.

The problem is that blogs are like music: 99% of it is crap. Either the writing is terrible or I completely disagree with what most of the blogs are covering. Not so with Headphone Commute, which is a blog I love.

I’ve been reading Headphone Commute for a couple of years now and for good reason. Headphone Commute covers the music I care about and exposes me to music I’ve never heard of before. The album reviews and label profiles are spot on. Headphone Commute does interviews are concise and to the point with everyone from Frank Riggio to Rena Jones.

If you’re looking for a quality blog to read about electronic music then I can’t recommend Headphone Commute enough and it is with great pleasure that I present to you a mix from Headphone Commute.

The mix is called DSM-IV-TR, which is short for Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which was republished in the 4th text revision back in 2000. Headphone Commute’s mix will take us from moody IDM to glitch to techno to drum and bass to dubstep and to music that defies genres. If you want to hear today’s mix without listening to me babble click here.

Before I go, I’ll be interviewing Ellen Allien, who is the founder of BPitch Control, about her label and her forthcoming album, Dust, which will be released in May, this Monday. If you have a question you’d like me to ask Ellen, email me at solipsisticnation@gmail.com.

See you next week!

1. Ametsub “Faint Dazzlings”
2. Lusine “Two Dots (Reverse Engineered)”
3. Deru “You Haunt Me”
4. Redshape “Bound (Part 1 and 2)”
5. Fuck Buttons “Surf Solar”
6. Clark “Gonk Roughage”
7. The Tuss “Last Rushup 10”
8. Jega “Aerodynamic”
9. DJ Hidden “The Traveller”
10. Broken Note “Meltdown”
11. Deru “Peanut Butter & Patience”
12. Harmonic 313 “Word Problems”
13. Reso “Onslaught”
14. Monolake “Titan”
15. KiloWatts “Everglade”
16. Roberto Rodriguez “Moonraker (Phonique Remix)”
17. Burial & Four Tet “Moth”
18. Dataworx “Control”
19. Telefon Tel Aviv “The Worst Thing In The World (Gaiser’s Possibly The Universe Remix)”
20. Telefon Tel Aviv “You Are The Worst Thing In The World”
21. The Sight Below “No Place For Us” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
22. Ben Frost “Killshot”

I’m going to keep today’s show notes short because it’s late and I really need to go to bed.

Each week I get anywhere from a dozen to 50 or so tracks to review for upcoming shows on solipsistic NATION. I will then load them on to my iPhone and play them at random throughout the week, or in some cases, months.

As I listen to the tracks I will give them a one to five star rating. Anything that gets one star I just delete because let’s face it, who wants to hear that dreck. Any track I find mildly interesting gets a two star rating. Tracks that I think are solid get three star rating and the few tracks I think are top notch get a four to five star rating. Ninety percent of the time it’s the tracks with a three to five star rating that make it on to the show.

When it comes time to put together a mix for solipsistic NATION I usually review the tracks that I gave a high rating to and see if I can form some sort of theme or narrative out of them.

Sometimes I will jot down notes on my iPhone which tracks I think would be great for a mix, which is how today’s show came together.

And what is the theme for today’s show? Bass! All the track’s you’ll hear on today’s show are guaranteed to make your sub woofer throb. In fact, you might want to crank your sub woofer up a notch or two for extra effect.

Okay, that’s enough for today. Time for me to saw some logs.

See you next week!

Photo Credit: ©art-now

1. Mochipet “Godzilla New Year”
2. David Starfire “Cobra”
3. edIT “Battling Go-Go Yubari In Downtown L.A.”
4. Eskmo “San Francisco (The Rhythm)”
5. Bassnectar feat. Cates & dpL “Backpack Rehab”
6. Ooah “Tubstomper”
7. DJ Hidden “The Dreamer”
8. Graintable “Lost Frost”
9. The Snipplers “All Around (Belzebass Remix)”
10. Nalepa “Sunflowers (FuzZ Remix)”
11. Heyoka “Fractalscape”
12. Detritus “Haunted (Remix By Niveau Zero)”
13. Vishnu “Bbombard”