Category: Listen

Today’s show went out late.

By listener request I was planning to showcase the Moment Sound record label, but due to scheduling conflicts and a blackout that took out half of the west coast, I was left in the lurch without a show. By happy coincidence, David Starfire was already putting together a mix for an upcoming edition of solipsistic NATION.

Presto! Instant show!

A little late, granted, but trust me, it will be so worth the wait. I’ve only just heard the first half of David’s mix and it’s pretty killer.

Bonus: having David on the show also gives me the excuse to play his cover of The Beatles‘ “Hey Jude” from David’s Bollyhood Bass album.

I love a lot of music, and I love a lot of bands but if you asked me to pick just one, I had have to say that it’s The Beatles. Hands down. And I suspect it’s the same with David.

I’ve been a fan of David’s music since his Bollyhood Bass album was released back in 2010. Feels weird saying that because I feel that some how I’ve always been listening to David. Some musicians are just that way, you know?

Come back next week. I’ve got a project I’ve been working on in the basement of the solipsistic NATION studios and it’s a beast of a mix made up of 100 tracks, with each track being about a minute or less.

See you then!

1. David Starfire “Hey Jude”
2. David Starfire “Cobra”
3. Interview with David Starfire
4. Beats Antique “Revival (David Starfire Remix)”
5. The Prototypes “Cascade (Cutline Remix)”
6. Calvertron “R U Ready”
7. Plan B “Love Goes Down (Doctor P Remix)”
8. Professor Green feat.Lily Allen “Just Be Good To Green (Camo & Krooked remix)”
9. Urban Assault “In the Groove (Drumstep Mix)”
10. The Beatles “Come Together (David Starfire Drumstep Remix)”
11. Little John “Road to Cairo (David Starfire Remix)”
12. Desert Dwellers “Moonlit Horizions (David Starfire Remix)”
13. Natacha Atlas “Batkallim (David Starfire Remix)”
14. Bass Science Ft. iCatching “Slip n Slide (David Starfire Remix)”
15. The Qemists “Take It Back (The Prototypes Remix)”
16. Jillian Ann & Love and Light “Know Us (David Starfire Remix)”
17. Roksonix “2 Bad”
18. David Starfire “Load (Love and Light Remix)”
19. Bob Marley “Get up Stand up (David Starfire Remix)”

Today’s show goes out to all you Burners out there. I was hoping to make the pilgrimage to Burning Man this year but it wasn’t meant to be, so, I’m there in spirit instead with a live set from Polyfuse recorded at Reggie’s Rock Club in Chicago, July 6th, 2011.

I’ve only just met Justin and I know precious little about him, and his website is frustratingly vague, which is just the way Justin likes it. But we’ll pull back the layers of mystery and get to know Justin a little bit.

Justin’s latest album is called The Speed Of Forever and you can listen and purchase to songs from his latest album on Bandcamp for a mere $5 bucks for 12, count ’em, 12 tracks. Can’t beat that!

Join us again next week. Normally I showcase a record label but that may not happen. But don’t worry, I’ll put together something to keep you entertained. I always do.

1. Polyfuse “We Will Make Sure You Disappear”
2. Polyfuse “Falling Failing Flying Dying”
3. Interview with Justin McGrath of Polyfuse
4. Polyfuse “Live, Chicago (July 6th 2011)”

Since I don’t have any guests on this week’s show so I guess I’ll take this opportunity to ramble.

Today my friend Sandi and I were out driving to go grab a bite to eat. While we were waiting at a stop light a SUV pulled up next to us and playing some bass thumpingly track. It’s not the sort of thing I ordinarily enjoy but I liked it. I think I said those very words to Sandi.

“Who do you think it is?” she asked.

I pulled out my phone, flicked through a few screens and activated Shazam. Just as I stuck my phone out the window the SUV sped away. I think Shazam only heard three seconds of whatever the SUV was playing and within seconds I had my answer: it was Foz Tee‘s “Shakin’ It for Daddy” featuring Nicki Minaj and Robin Thicke. I clicked the button to buy the track from iTunes and in a minute or two it was on my eager little phone.

Think about that for a moment.

I just stuck my hand out the window, heard a fragment of a song and a few minutes later we’re listening to it on our car. And we take that sort of thing for granted. That’s amazing! It’s almost magical. I can’t believe I live in a world where something like that is not only possible, but mundane.

That’s all I got.

Come back and join us again next week when we’ll have two, count ’em, two live sets by Polyfuse and NVR-NDR. Hopefully I’ll have something more coherent to say by then.

Until then, enjoy today’s show!

Photo Credit: ©Menachem Krinsky

1. Natacha Atlas “Riverman”
2. Phutureprimitive “Gary Jules – Mad World (Phutureprimitive Mix)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
3. Puracane “Summertime Rolls”
4. Thao & Mirah “How Dare You”
5. Sister Crayon “(In) Reverse”
6. Zaki “Live In The Dot”
7. Andreya Triana “Lost Where I Belong (Album Version)”
8. 120 Days “Come Out Come Down”
9. Natalie Walker “Quicksand (Original Version)”
10. Tujiko Noriko Trio “Heartga Live” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
11. Spokes “3,4,5 (Capac Remix)”
12. U.S.E. “Look At The City”

Playing the best of all genres of electronic music means exploring new labels. Just last week, for example, we heard some wonderful stuff from Ember Music.

Playing the best of all genres of electronic music also means playing recordings of live performances and in the last few months we’ve heard concerts from Zion Train, Matta and Speak Onion.

Playing the best of all genres of electronic music also means exploring the history of electronic music, and the history of electronic music is remarkably dense when you consider just how brief that history is.

Quick sidebar: my net friend Jeremy Meyers turned me on to an excellent article by NPR‘s Michaelangelo Matos about how the major labels sold ‘electronica’ to America. It covers a lot of the same ground I’ve been exploring in the last few week’s on the show as well as some excellent reportage of big beat acts like The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers.

My own history with electronic music probably began with Kraftwerk‘s Autobahn album back in 1974, but my relationship with electronic music really blossomed in the early 1990s with compilation albums like Waveform Records‘ AD series and Caroline and Astralwerks‘ Excursions in Ambience compilation albums and Beyond Records Ambient Dub compilation albums. Those albums really transformed what ambient and dub and electronic music could be and introduced me to a lot of other musicians and labels.

The last few months I’ve been exploring that period in the history of electronic music on solipsistic NATION and I’ve had the pleasure of talking with Forest from Waveform Records and Brian Long, who curated the Excursions in Ambience compilation series.

On today’s show we’re going to continue that exploration by talking with Kim Cascone about his From Here to Tranquility compilation album series from Silent Records and playing select tracks from those albums.

The From Here to Tranquility albums were particularly special to me because as much as I loved the AD and the Excursions albums, I didn’t think they were very ambient. The Tranquility albums, on the other hand, may have had a few chillroom rave type of tracks, but the thrust of the series was primarily ambient, and the ambient music that the Tranquility albums seemed to favor had a weird, science fiction vibe to it, which was a lot different from the psychedelic earthiness of Brian Eno‘s On Land album that I was used to. Nevertheless, the Tranquility albums challenged and shattered my preconceptions of what ambient music could be.

Each Tranquility album was special and each album further expanded the horizons of ambient music.

The From Here to Tranquility compilation albums are just one phase in Silent Records own history, which in turn is just a brief chapter in Kim’s life. Even so, those albums are magical and timeless and I’m really excited to share them with you, and if you’ve already heard them before, to re-introduce you to those albums.

We’ll have Kim back in a few months to dig more into the history of Silent Records.

Oh, and before I go, if you liked Tylervision‘s “The Last Human”, then you love his track ” Purdy Deyenol.”

See you next week!

1. Makyo “Devabandha”
2. Tylervision “The Last Human”
3. Interview with Kim Cascone, founder of Silent Records
4. Pelican Daughters “Aurascape”
5. Michel Redolfi “Immersion Totale”
6. Interview with Kim Cascone, founder of Silent Records
7. Dialux Rouge “Zircon”
8. Air “Wind”
9. Robert Rich “Liquid Air”
10. Interview with Kim Cascone, founder of Silent Records
11. Psychic TV “Coumpletion 4a”

One of the things that thrills me most about the label showcase on solipsistic NATION is that it gives me the opportunity to discover even more new music with a mix that is is lovingly handpicked by the labels founders. In today’s case that would be Kurt Lorenz and Bill Bendrot of Ember Music.

Ember Music is an artist-run label and I think that’s the other reason I’m excited in particular about today’s show. Not only are there more and more labels releasing great electronic music but music labels are also quickly mutating and exploring just exactly what a label is supposed to be. Clearly, the monolithic major labels that ruled the industry for so many decades is a thing of the past. Oh, they’re still there, lumbering about desperately trying to evolve to the new environment that the asteroid that is the internet has created. Now is the time for smaller, more nimble labels to flourish in their particular niche in the ecology of electronic music. In Ember Music’s case it’s distributing music through services like SoundCloud and Bandcamp on behalf of the artists on their roster and giving the talent the lion’s share of the revenue. Refreshing, huh?

I mention that because Ember Music really is a wonderful label and if you enjoy any of the music you hear on today’s show then I encourage to purchase just one track by one of the artists from today’s mix. If you’re feeling especially generous, buy a few songs. Maybe an entire album. Anything to support the artists and Ember Music. There are links below to all the artists who appeared on today’s show. The rest is up to you.

Join us again next week for a very special conversation with Silent Records‘ Kim Cascone about his seminal compilation album series, From Here to Tranquility.

See you then!

1. Known Rebel “Herz Aeon”
2. SkyFix “Make Believe Songs”
3. Interview with Kurt Lorenz and Bill Bendrot, founders of Ember Music
4. Mr. Sandbags “Like a Lonely Ghost, He Haunts”
5. Murat Esmer “Pathway to Better Dumps”
6. Nordmach “Once a Short Story”
7. Kurt Lorenz “Subcutaneous”
8. Interview with Kurt Lorenz and Bill Bendrot, founders of Ember Music
9. MobiusB “The Dream”
10. Akisma “Mountain”
11. TraisKin “Alice: Longtitude 180”
12. Savaran “Crossed Wires”
13. Interview with Kurt Lorenz and Bill Bendrot, founders of Ember Music
14. Slaphappy Mortician “Telecommunications Breakdown”
15. Nordmach “Bag Drop”

Speak Onion is Dan Abatemarco and Dan was our guest on last year’s show about music made with iPods, iPhones and iPads. Dan’s back again with a live set recorded at the Charleston in Brooklyn for Immigrant Breast Nest‘s record release party.

Dan’s music has elements of breakcore and drum and bass in it but what Dan is really about is unleashing gnarly chunks of noise at his audience. It’s rare that a recording of a performance can capture that energy but today’s show definitely does.

I want to keep you up to date on last week’s Kickstarter San Diego stop sign flower yarn bomb project. I talked to Knitting Guy and he made his goal of raising $1,200.

If you donated some cash because of last week’s interview, thanks for making San Diego even more beautiful than it already is. And if there’s a worthy Kickstarter project that you think I should promote on the show, shoot me an email at solipsisticnation@gmail.com

I also want to take this opportunity to thank for you listening to the show. Solipsistic Nation has been getting literally thousands of new listeners every month. In fact, solipsistic NATION got over 42,000 downloads in July. I know some shows have listeners in the hundreds of thousands but 42,000 downloads is pretty amazing for my humble little show. So thanks!

It’s very flattering that so many of you are enjoying the show and sharing it with your friends. I’ll try and hold up my end of the bargain by putting out as many fun and interesting shows as I can.

Join us again for next week’s label showcase with a special mix from Ember Music‘s Bill and Kurt, featuring select tracks from their label.

1. Speak Onion “Maroon Pinka”
2. Joy Through Noise “Krypton”
3. Speak Onion “Where In Winter We Slept (Icy Bliss Remix)”
4. Interview with Dan Abatemarco of Speak Onion
5. Speak Onion “Live in Brooklyn (July 9, 2011)”

Today’s show was originally going to have interviews with Amon Tobin and Dr. Toast about their new albums; an interview with the folks from the Norbergfestival, which is taking place in Sweden this weekend; and an interview with Geeta Dayal about her book about Brian Eno‘s album, Another Green World.

That would have been a great show, right?

But shows like that take a lot of time. I have to schedule the interviews, come up with some hopefully thought provoking questions, then record and edit the interviews, never mind producing the actual show. Add in a day job and suddenly flying to Indiana to say goodbye to my grandfather. I just didn’t have that kind time to wrap up the month with a show like that. I promise to deliver that show to you next month, though.

So what have I got for in store for you on today’s edition of solipsistic NATION? Glad you asked.

As of last night I had no idea what I was going to do for today’s show and then I remembered a mix I had been putting together for Macedonia for his excellent Both Sides of the Surface podcast. Macedonia had invited me to be a guest DJ on his show about a year ago and I’ve slowly been pulling tracks I thought would perfectly fit right into his show while still conveying the spirit of my own show.

That was the plan, but since I had nothing for today’s show, well, my back was against the wall. I’ll come up with another set for Macedonia. Hopefully it wont take another six months.

Speaking of Macedonia, you really need to hear his latest podcast. Macedonia’s show is always fantastic but he’s really been batting them out of the park in 2011. There’s a reason I’ve been listening to Both Sides of the Surface for the last five years. I urge you to give his show a listen and his latest podcast is an excellent place to start.

Lately there’s been a huge uptick in the number of people listening to the show. If that happens to be you, thanks for tuning in. And thanks to all you long-time listeners, too.

Just in the last six months I’ve done features on the Excursions in Ambience and Waveform compilation albums, I’ve had live performances from everyone from Atari Teenage Riot to Zion Train and segments with everyone from Bluetech to Skinny Puppy‘s Ogre.

I can’t help but think part of that is due to the number of people who listen to the show. If you’d like to help support the show then turn your friends on to solipsistic NATION if you think it’s something they’ll enjoy as much as you do.

Who knows where the show could go if there was even more of us!

And since there are so many of you listening to solipsistic NATION there’s a Kickstarter project I want to you to consider funding.

You know Kickstarter, right? It’s a website where people, mostly artists and designers, can try and crowd source funding for a project they want to produce. The most famous Kickstarter project to date has been a very stylish watch band for Apple’s iPod Nano.

My buddy, Knitting Guy, has a far humbler but no less magical idea. He wants to transform stop signs in San Diego into flowers. Even if you only kick in a buck you’d be helping him out a lot. Go here for more information.

Join us again next week for a special live set from Speak Onion. I guarantee he’ll melt your ear buds.

See you then!

1. Wagon Christ “Mr. Mukatsuku”
2. The Gaslamp Killer “Turk Mex”
3. Ras G “Desert Fairy”
4. Oh No “Heavy”
5. Prefuse 73 “The Only Way To Find (feat. Nico Turner)”
6. Funki Porcini “The 3rd Man”
7. Sole and the Skyrider Band “Hello Cruel World (SkyRider Snowglobe Remix)”
8. Shigeto “And We Gonna (Samiyam Chopsticks Remix)”
9. Yppah “Gumball Machine Weekend”
10. Coldcut “Sign”
11. Yage “The Strangest Girl On Planet Earth”
12. 2H10 “Introsand”
13. Darkhorse “Take 2”
14. Igor Boxx “Goliath”
15. Sleepover “Outside Glitter”
16. When Saints Go Machine “Whoever Made You Stand Still”
17. Zengineers “Un Taxi la Nuit (Dub One! la première fois)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
18. Zygote “Z-Zone”
19. 14KT “On Ya Mind”
20. Wallpaper. “I Got Soul, I’m So Wasted”

Today’s show is very special for me and I imagine it will be a very special show for a lot of people, because today we’ll be talking with Brian Long and showcasing music from the Excursions in Ambience compilation album series.

Back in the early 1990s when I was first falling deeply in love with electronic music, Caroline Distribution released Excursions in Ambience, which captured my imagination and expanded my horizons of what electronic music, and ambient music, could be.

Excursions in Ambience turned out to be an incredibly successful album, and was quickly followed up with Excursions in Ambience: The Second Orbit, The Third Dimension and ended, sadly, with The Fourth Frontier.

Brian was the AR & Project Manager for Caroline Distribution back in the early 90s and was the man responsible for releasing the Excursions In Ambience series as well as being instrumental in the launch of Astralwerks. Astralwerks is owned by Virgin Records/EMI and distributed by Caroline Distribution in the US and continues to release amazing electronic music.

Brian currently runs Yes Know Management and represents artists such as The Juan McLean and VHS or Beta. Brian also hosts the Infinite Eargasm show on East Village Radio every Thursday from 2PM – 4PM EST.

The Excursions in Ambience albums are no longer being pressed and are not available as digital downloads. You can still find used versions of those albums, however, and I’ve included links below where you can find them on Amazon for a fair price. You can always give sites like eBay a try. too.

If you enjoyed todays’ show, and really, how could you not, then you’ll probably dig last month’s show featuring Waveform Records. I’m going to continue the theme next month with an interview with Silent Records‘ Kim Cascone and play select tracks from his From Here to Tranquility compilation albums.

A special thanks goes out to all of you who expressed their concern and sympathies for my grandfather’s failing health. The last two weeks have been an emotional roller coaster for me and I’m grateful I was able to say goodbye to him. I’ll see you again next week. I’m not sure what I’ve got in store for you. As you can imagine, my schedule has been a bit disrupted, but I’ll think of something.

See you then!

1. Steve Fisk “Express God”
2. Mike Kandel “Slow Boat To China”
3. Interview with Brian Long, curator of the Excursions in Ambience compilation album series
4. Single Cell Orchestra “Drifting In Wire”
5. Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia “Obsidian (Deconstructure Edit)”
6. Interview with Brian Long, curator of the Excursions in Ambience compilation album series
7. Material “Mantra (Praying Mantra Mix Edit)”
8. Air “Trip #2”
9. W.F.O. “No-One In The World (Edit)”
10. Locust “Prospero”
11. Interview with Brian Long, curator of the Excursions in Ambience compilation album series
12. Tranquility Bass “Mya Yadana”

Today’s mind bendingly fantastic show is all thanks to you! Well, not you specifically, obviously, but those of you on Twitter and Facebook who suggested that I feature Katabatik Records on the next label showcase. I’ve been doing this show long enough to know that people like you who listen to this show have good taste in music so when you said give Katabatik Records a listen, well, I listened. And I loved what I heard!

That’s really fortunate because over the years the format of this segment has evolved. In the beginning it was an excuse just to talk to labels that I already knew and loved. What’s changed is that these days I’m more about exploring labels that I have not yet heard or that I am just getting acquainted with. Keep your suggestions coming.

Jynx is our guest on this week’s show and he’s prepared a mix featuring select tracks from his label for your enjoyment. Many of the tracks come from net releases that you can download by clicking the links below. Oh, and check out the Autonomous Mutant Festival (which, for some reason, I insist on calling the New Mutant Festival) taking place next weekend in Cascadia USA.

Those of you with a keen ear will note that Fluorescent Grey of Record Label Records and Exillon make an appearance on Jynx’s mix. These artists and Record Label Records have all been guests on previous editions of solipsistic NATION and I encourage you download those shows if you like what you heard on today’s solipsistic NATION. If you know someone else who also might dig what you hear, turn them on to the show!

Next month, also by popular demand, we’ll showcase Moment Sound from Chicago.

I’ll be taking next week off to visit my grand father, who is very, very ill but the following week I’ll be back with a very special interview with Brian Long, who put together the seminal Excursions in Ambience compilation albums back in the 90s. See you then!

1. Sacrificial Totem “1”
2. Identity Theft “Crossed Lines” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
3. Interview with Jynx of Katabatik Records
4. Nezzy Idy “The Flood” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. Fluorescent Grey “Coricidin” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
6. Mikronaut “Europsyche” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
7. RMS “Contact”
8. Seacrypt “Glass Eye” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
9. Dimentia “Raindrift” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
10. Interview with Jynx of Katabatik Records
11. Poison Ring “Toad” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
12. Total Accomplishment “September Song” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
13. Exillon “Shortwave” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
14. Interview with Jynx of Katabatik Records

This week’s show came together so quickly my head is still spinning!

Once a month on solipsistic NATION I feature a live performance from an electronic musician. I usually try to have a bank of live sets so I don’t have to scramble at the last minute to get a show out. I say “usually” because lately I’ve been so very busy that my bank of live sets had dwindled away and today’s show was fast approaching and I had absolutely nothing!

And then, out of the blue, I get an email from Dubmatix announcing Zion Train‘s forthcoming Dub Revolutionaries – The Very Best Of Zion Train album (check out Dubmatix’s live set on solipsistic NATION while you’re at it. I asked Dubmatix if he could put me in touch with Zion Train and within a day I was exchanging emails with Zion’s Neil Perch. Neil agreed to come on the show and was kind enough to send me their live set from Poland. I only just got off the phone with Neil a few hours ago.

I’m excited about today’s show for a couple reasons. First, it’s Zion Train, for crying out loud!

Zion Train were part of the dub explosion that came out of the 90s. They’ve released over 10 albums and their Live As One album won Zion Train the 2007 Jamaican Reggae Grammy for Best Dub Recording. It’s crazy that I’ve been listening to their music all these years and now I get to talk with one of the founding members and play one of their concerts on the show!

Another reason I’m excited about today’s show is that I got to use Apogee‘s Duet 2 to record the voice overs for the first time!

solipsistic NATION has always been a D.I.Y. cheap tech operation. I’m quite proud of that, in fact. I think it’s great we all have access to inexpensive technology that can be used for tools of creation. But I’ve reached a point where that aesthetic has stopped being a produce the best show I can with the tools at hand to a limitation. Yeah, my gear is okay, but for a reasonable investment I cam make solipsistic NATION sound so much better!

The Duet 2 is the first part of many stages that will take place behind the scenes in the next few months in the production of solipsistic NATION. I’m thrilled that I’ll be able to significantly boost the quality of the show and I’m equally thrilled in all the ways I’ll have to re-learn how I do my show.

Okay, enough of that.

Join us again next week when, by popular demand, we’ll showcase Katabatik Records.

1. Zion Train “One Inch Dub”
2. Interview with Neil Perch, founder of Zion Train
3. Zion Train “Bloodlines (Live, Poznan, Poland 2009)”
4. Zion Train “Forward Ever (Live, Poznan, Poland 2009)”
5. Zion Train “Give Me Good Sensi (Live, Poznan, Poland 2009)”
6. Zion Train “Bubblegum (Live, Poznan, Poland 2009)”
7. Zion Train “Know Bout Jah (Live, Poznan, Poland 2009)”
8. Zion Train “Edelweiss Piraten (Live, Poznan, Poland 2009)”
9. Zion Train “Beware (Live, Poznan, Poland 2009)”
10. Zion Train “No Answer (Live, Poznan, Poland 2009)”
11. Zion Train “Terror Talk (Live, Poznan, Poland 2009)”
12. Zion Train “Crisis (Live, Poznan, Poland 2009)”
13. Zion Train “Life That I Choose (Live, Poznan, Poland 2009)”
14. Zion Train “Baby Father (Live, Poznan, Poland 2009)”
15. Zion Train “War In Babylon (Live, Poznan, Poland 2009)”