Category: solipsistic NATION

solipsistic NATION No. 11: Offbeat

Let me give you a little background on solipsistic NATION if you’re new to the show.

solipsistic NATION began as a show on a pirate radio station a year or so ago. Electronic music is so diverse that I didn’t want to limit myself to one particular genre. The concept of the show was that I wanted to explore all genres of electronic music, whether it was drum and bass, trip hop, techno, ambient, etc.

I stopped doing solipsistic NATION as a radio program because I simply could dedicate the time I needed to produce what I considered a high quality show. Things have settled down since then and I’ve relaunched solipsistic NATION as a weekly podcast.

Previous episodes of solipsistic NATION have included shows on house music, chill out music, drum and bass and hip hop. There have also been documentaries on nerdcore and chiptunes, a mix by guest DJ Eve Falcon and a live performance by Deru. The show has also included interviews with Rena Jones, Grouse, and Dielectric Records.

On today’s edition of solipsistic NATION we’ll focus on electronic music that feautres synchopated and offbeat rhythms. We’ll start the show with an interview with Ben Torrence, founder of Woodson Lateral Records.

  1. Woodson Lateral Records Interview
  2. Lamplighter “Purple”
  3. Splinters “Dust Collector”
  4. Hakea “Mim”
  5. Lamplighter “Test”
  6. Choncey Langford “Helium”
  7. Obelus “Big Sky Montana”
  8. Algorithms “Lo Vagrant Sound”
  9. Karsten Pflum “Impulse II”
  10. Cooler “Sorrowful Go Round”
  11. Cars & Trains “The Official Cars & Trains Theme Song”
  12. Matthew Burtner “Spectral for 0”
  13. Juan Farcik “Closed”

solipsistic NATION No. 10: House of the Rising Sun

Last week’s show featuring music from Dielectric Records was sort of a litmus test for those of you who listen to the show. I want to play the best of all genres of electornic music on this podcast and that includes the more experimental stuff. If you’re still with us after last week’s show then I know you’re the kind of person who likes music that’s a bit…different.

This week’s episode of solipsistic NATION is going to be more traditional and we’re going to focus on House music.

House began in 1977. The Warehouse on Jefferson Street in Chicago, was a key venue in the development of house music. The main DJ was Frankie Knuckles. The club staples were still the old disco tunes but the limited number of records meant that the DJ had to be a creative force, introducing more deck work to revitalize old tunes.

I’ll be honest with you, House is my least favorite form of electronic music. I think part of it has to do with working in a nightclub in the early 90s and being forced to listen to music from Manchester or House over and over and over again. That sort of repeition will really kill enjoyment of any kind of music.

A few years back I moved to Hillcrest in San Diego which is a very gay neighborhood and most of the people listened to house music. I constantly heard throbbing basslines and piano roles over and over again. And it was the worst kind of house music. It sounded irredeemably cheap, plastic and soulless.

But 99% of anything is crap. So the music you hear on today’s show may not be the kind of house music you would enjoy but it’s the kind of house music I dig.

  1. DJ Vanni “Nikita (Original Mix)”
  2. Paul Zazadze “Mood”
  3. Cheyne Christian “Up On Me”
  4. Greg Kobe “Speed”
  5. Gray “Appeal (Original Mix)”
  6. Los Brutos “Phat (Wehbba Remix)”
  7. Harshmallow “Sati’s Groove”
  8. Dorfmeister vs. Madrid de los Austrias “Boogie No More”
  9. Charles Afton “And So It Seems”
  10. Thomas Gooding “Open Your Eyes”

solipsistic NATION No. 9: Dielectric Records

When I relaunched the solipsistic NATION podcast I knew from the beginning that I wanted push the boundaries of the show from its original format. It wasn’t enough to play a mix of all genres of electronic music, although that is an ambitious effort in and of itself. I wanted the show to include interviews, documentaries and to showcase electronic music labels that I respect and enjoy.

One such music label is Dielectric Records.

Dielectric Records features experimental music for the new millennium. Crazed broken beat electronica, improvisational percussion, drone, dark ambient, situational improv, you can find all of this on Dielectric Records roster of artists.

Today’s show features an interview with Drew, founder of Dielectric Records, as well as a sampling of the musicians on his music label. The music is eerie, haunting and beautiful, which is appropriate for Halloween.

Enjoy!

  1. Dielectric Records Interview
  2. Karen Stackpole “Untitled #1”
  3. Carson Day “Musique Mort”
  4. Dielectric Drone All-Stars “Plotinian Plateau”
  5. Dielectric Minimalsit All-Stars “Forth-Reich”
  6. Pussyfinger “Pussyfinger”
  7. Die Elektrischen “Beat Takeshi”
  8. Sote “Track 08”

solipsistic NATION No. 8: Chiptunes

Chiptune is music written in sound formats where the sounds are synthesized by a computer or video game console sound chip. The so-called “golden age” of chiptunes was the mid 1980s to early 1990s, when such sound chips were the only way for creating music on computers.

The composers had a great degree of flexibility in creating music while at the same time they had to operate under the strict limitions imposed by the medium they were working within because the early computer sound chips had only simple tone generators and noise generators.

While chiptunes are closely related to video game music the term is also used for music that uses these distinct-sounding synthesizer instruments for their artistic value.

Special thanks to x|k for provinding the incidental music that appears on today’s show.

8bit movie8 Bit Movie
8 BIT is a hybrid documentary examining the influence of video games on contemporary culture directed by Marcin Ramocki and co-directed by Justin Strawhand. A melange of a rocumentary, art expose and a culture-critical investigation, 8 BIT ties together seemingly disconnected phenomena like the 80’s demo scene, chiptune music and contemporary artists using machinima and modified games.

8 BIT insists that in the 21st century Game-Boy rock, machinima and game theory belong together and share a common root: the digital heritage of Generation X.

Role Model
Role Model is Johan Kotlinski, the creator of Little Sound Disk Jockey. LSDJ enables the user to sequence and program music to run on the Game Boy’s sound processor. LSDJ is primarily used by chiptune artists, however it is also popular with many other musicians for writing songs featuring gameboy sounds.

Johan Kotlinski is a Media Engineering & Computer Science student at KTH, Stockholm, Sweden. Johan also runs Rebel Pet Set, a record label; and Microdisko, a Stockholm chip music club.

OneOne
Swedish born Tobias von Hofsten started breaking the silence in the late nineties. Music and poetry has since then been his main form of self therapy. Tobias enjoys a light case of robophilia and is spiritual from Z to A, with connections both upstairs and below. After a complete rebirth ONE was born and Tobias continues expanding self-boundaries of reality and balancing consciousness, exploring the soul of life and the music contained within. Approved by the Interplanetary Funk Federation, and given the Wisdom of Trees, ONE is a key channel for the cosmic love on planet earth, communicating organic machine soul.

LaromlabLaromlab
Laromlab is a chiptune music project created by Brandon Harrod in Bowling Green, Kentucky around 1998. Laromlab started out as Kid 8 Bit but was cemented as Laromlab around 2001 when Harrod desired a name change and was currently living on Balmoral Avenue in Chicago, IL. Laromlab has been through a whole slew of genres in electronic music inluding digital hardcore ( see 2004 release “That Blood Is For Real” on Komplott Records), gameboy pop, IDM, breakcore,drum n bass, and most recently the genre in which Harrod coined the term Crisco Disco. Laromlab has played over 50 shows in the United States and is currently putting together a solo tour of the entire country and some festival shows.

NullsleepNullsleep
Nullsleep uses Game Boys and NES consoles to create conceptually unique music that blends subversive hardware hacking with powerful melodic pop. In 1999, he cofounded the 8bitpeoples — a collective of artists interested in the audio/video aesthetics of early computers and videogames. In the time since, Nullsleep has released a number of recordings which demonstrate his constant push for new ways to force the most out of yesterday’s machines and an unparalleled romantic chiptune intensity. A very active live musician, he recently completed a 20-date world tour with chiptune compatriot Bit Shifter and is now organizing the upcoming Blip Festival in New York City.

The Mikro Orchestra ProjectThe Mikro Orchestra Project
The Mikro Orchestra Project is an experimental sound – visual project, basing on the use of game console as a music instrument. The main assumption of project’s authors is to create new sound space on the base of tones generated live from console during the performance.

They use elements from archives and current pop culture, in relation to peculiar choreography of their concerts (no move at all) create a kind of an anti-performance commenting quasi avant-garde attempts to place electronic music on the stage next to the spectacular concerts of pop stars. They are also inspired by the aesthetic of 8 bit computers and old school games. The kitschy setting of their performances is purposeful, however it would be a mistake to perceive it as a mean of any ideology.

Goto80Goto80
Towards the end of the 1980’s, together with his brother, Anders Carlsson bought a Commodore 64 homecomputer. Anders changed lifestyle from sporty to geeky and spent most of the following decade infront of either a C64 or its big brother Amiga, making music and collecting massive amounts of soft and hardware. In 2001, after numerous obscure demo recordings, he released Papaya EP on Bleepstreet Records. It was schlagerdubrockelectro made with Commodore 64 and a vocoder. Goto80’s eclectic approach to music was tied together by his experience in lo-tech sound programming, and Papaya EP was a hit.

In 2002 he released Bushrunner EP and Goto80 started appearing on compilations and internet releases, such as Philemon Arthur and the Vic, the 8 Bits of Christmas on 8bitpeoples and the mad C64 mega drum’n’bass track Monkeywarning on Monotonik. In 2003 he escaped fame and fortune by emigrating to Australia, to return to Sweden in 2004. He’s now living in Gothenburg, continuing his task to realise new ideas with old hardware.

8 Bit Weapon8 Bit Weapon
8 Bit Weapon is the brainchild of Seth Sternberger. Seth has performed across two continents with an arsenal of 8 bit weapons, which include a Commodore 64 and 128, a couple of Nintendo Gameboy classics, an Intellivision synthesizer, hybrid lo-fi acoustic-electric drums, and an assortment of other vintage and toy synthesizers.

Inspired by classic videogame soundtracks and electronic music from the 70s and 80s, 8 Bit Weapon delivers a sound that is as unique as it is original. Clever melodies, nostalgic atmosphere, and energetic beats create a decidedly modern sound while maintaining a fun, lo-tech aesthetic.

Photo Credit: small ape

  1. Role Model “Pop5”
  2. One “8-Bit Missionary”
  3. Laromlab “Wrathulon”
  4. Nullsleep “Her Lazer Light Eyes”
  5. The Mikro Orchestra Project “Autofire”
  6. Goto80 “Datahell”
  7. 8 Bit Weapon “Arcade!”

solipsistic NATION No. 7: Just Chill

Fall has come to San Diego.

Not that that means much in this corner of paradise. It’s not like the leaves of the palm trees turn to a riot of autumn colors or that the grass is rimed with frost in the early mornings. None of that for us, thank you very much. Instead, each day it gets darker in the evenings earlier and when it’s particularly cold (60°, brrrr) it might occur to you to wear a jacket or a sweat shirt. Still, I’ve lived in San Diego long enough now that I can detect the passing of the seasons, subtle as they are.

Fall often makes me contemplative and the music I listen to reflects my introspective moods. The Van Halen songs on my iPod give way to The Smiths and Fatboy Slim is replaced by Skinny Puppy.

Today’s show is a mix of ambient, trip hop, and chill out music in an attempt to capture the essence of fall. There’s the romance of the season, autumnal introspection and just a touch of saturnine wickedness.

To quote William Stanley Braithwaite from his poem, “A Lyric of Autumn,”

There is music in the meadows, in the aire
Autumn is here;
Skies are gray, but hearts are mellow

Photo Credit: Kitt Walker

  1. Studiodavoli “Kiss (CTlab Remix)”
  2. Durango “Golden One”
  3. Skult “Jazzy Sofa”
  4. Amanda Ray “Stronger”
  5. Chilli Guerrea “Dark Clouds”
  6. monkeybacon “LNY”
  7. a’spool “Organic Ocean”
  8. Halogen “Highway”
  9. Rena Jones Interview
  10. Rena Jones “Driftwood”
  11. Jash “Groovinda”
  12. The Hijiyama Project “Komorebi (Light Through Falling Leaves)”
  13. Stop Paving Roads “In the Park with Trane”
  14. Grouse Interview
  15. Grouse “Prosperous”

solipsistic NATION No. 6: Deru, Live Performance

“What the hell kind of show is solipsistic NATION?” you might be asking yourself.

One week I’m playing lazy hip hop beats, the next I’m getting aggro with a drum and bass show and then the week after that I have a guest DJ and then this week is a live performance by ambient glitch dub musician, Deru. What up with that?

There are a lot of excellent electronic music podcasts out there that specialize in one particular genre. While I enjoy and appreciate those podcasts I know that I could never focus on one kind of music because I would soon grow bored with the show. Also, in this iPod world of ours everyone listens to all sorts of music, so why shouldn’t solipsistic NATION reflect that a la carte sensibility?

Which brings us to today’s show.

Electronic music has a reputation as a genre that is performed by faceless musicians, and this is even more true for the ambient glitch dub hybrid. Or is it? The sonic landscapes of, say, Ezekiel Honig, are distinct from the sounds of Nalepa just as Deru’s audio hallucinations are uniquely his own. Deru says he loves the sonic grit of static and ambient noise but for all that his songs can be delicate and all of them are hauntingly beautiful.

solipsistic NATION will continue to feature mixes of electronic music, guest DJs and spotlighting subgenres but whenever possible, I will also release live performances on the show. And what better way to start than with a live performance by Deru?

Enjoy!

Photo Credit: PiotroN

  1. Deru Interview
  2. Deru “Live”

solipsistic NATION No. 5: Special Guest, DJ Eve Falcon

Last week’s Nerdcore show got a tremendous amount of responses from listeners, I’m pleased to say!

I’m really proud of that episode because first of all, it was a great show and, secondly, it is the start of the slow mutation that will occur on solipsistic NATION.

There are a lot of electronic music podcasts I enjoy but there are aspects of those shows that frustrate me. Some shows only play a few minutes of a song before moving on to the next song, often abruptly. I don’t know if the hosts of those podcasts do that because of time constraints or licensing agreements but it bugs the hell out of me! Other podcasts have a lot of inane banter. If it’s not entertaining or informative then shut the hell up so I can listen to the music, which is why I wanted to listen to their show in the first place. Still other podcasters have the never ending, obligatory shout-outs and who and where they’re representin’. I know that comes from a long tradition but it drives me crazy because after a short while it ceases to mean anything to me.

There’ll be some banter on solipsistic NATION but it will be kept to a bare minimum. There will be interviews on solipsistic NATION but they’ll be brief. There might even be the odd shout-out but again, no more than is necessary.

Speaking of which, today’s show features an interview guest DJ Eve Falcon. I interviewed Eve on the small WORLD podcast and I knew that when I relaunched solipsistic NATION that I wanted her to be a guest on the show. Eve was kind enough to oblige as well as treating us to her Fast Forward mix.

Progressive house, along with trance, has been the main source of the superstar-DJ phenomenon of late. And, to be sure, it’s been a boys’ club. Women are found on vocals, backstage, and behind industry desks, but rarely do they get the spotlight at the biggest clubs. Those who have broken through – DJ Irene, Sandra Collins, DJ Rap – seem to have worked extra hard to prove they can rock a party with the best of them. Now a newer generation of female DJs is following up, plowing through the negatory politics of the scene to get a chance to shine. Brooklyn-bred, L.A.-based Eve Falcon, a talented prog-house DJ and vocalist, has been on a mission for the last five years, taking on global gigs and getting her voice and production (on “Know It All” with Desert Sol) out front. Her momentous progressive-house and steely breakbeat sound is the pulse of now. Feel her freshen up the big room Saturday at Avalon.

-Citybeat (Los Angeles) September ’05 – by Dennis Romero. Click here to see the article.

  1. DJ Eve Falcon Interview
  2. Jeff Belfi & Blake Potter “Agile (Breaks Remix)”
  3. The Project “Truth (Faskil’s Split Remix)”
  4. Esque “Volume”
  5. KiloWatts “Weird Little Creatures”
  6. Voyager “Someone Else (Voyager I-40 Remix)”
  7. Merlyn Vs. Burufunk “Two Lives”
  8. EK “Absolute (Sound Not Scene)”
  9. Deepsky & Marc Mitchell “Lost in the Moment”
  10. Eve Falcon & Desert Sol “Know It All (KiloWatts Critical Thinking Remix)”

solipsistic NATION No. 4: Nerdcore

When solipsistic NATION was broadcast over the air I was limited by our station’s ramshckle software and hardware. Even doing a decent segue, so essential to electronic music, was difficult to pull off. When I made the decision to relaunch solipsistic NATION as a podcast I wanted to be ambitious and pursue the projects I could never do at Free Radio San Diego.

From time to time I will release documentaries on a specific genre of electronic music and to get things started, this week’s solipsistic NATION features a documentary on Nerdcore.

Nerdcore hip hop, or geeksta rap, is a subgenre of hip hop music that is performed by nerds or geeks, and is characterized by themes and subject matter considered to be of general interest to nerds. Nerdcore has no unifying musical manifesto, and the sound of nerdcore varies wildly from artist to artist. One common theme, especially in the early days of the genre, is uncleared sampling.

MC FrontalotMC Frontalot
MC Frontalot is the stage name of Damian Hess, a hip hop musician and self-proclaimed “world’s 579th-greatest rapper.”

Many consider Frontalot, if not the founder of nerdcore, certainly the man who shone the torch on it. Front himself though is quick to point out the many artists who came before him.

UltraklystronUltraklystron
Ultraklystron is a staff writer/producer for ToonZone.net. He is also Nerdcore’s expert on all things anime and manga. Ultraklystron is currently a CS student but represents the Otaku lifestyle in his work.

Ultraklystron’s most recent release is Revision4920. Through some unexplainable twist of events, it actually did better than any of his previous individual efforts to sell my music before and resulted in some interesting media attention.

High-CHigh-C
High-C is a programmer, writer, rapper, metalhead, inventor and long time nerd. There are probably 10 High-Cs, one in the same state as him. There’s even a punk band named High-C.

High-C has released the seminal nerdcore compilation CDs, Rhyme Torrents volumes 1-4. He is currewntly hard at work assembling Rhyme Torrents volume 5 which, with any luck, will be released any moment.

YTCrackerYTCracker
YTCracker began producing rap music in 1998 in the genre that has since become known as nerdcore hip hop. His early work mainly focused on documenting and amusing the participants of the America Online hacking scene.

YTCracker is a self-proclaimed “jack of all trades”, also making a name for himself as a professional disc jockey, computer programmer, graphics designer and webmaster.

funky49funky49
Using two boomboxes and a Casio SK1 keyboard, funky49 came up with audio projects for school and personal use as a teenager. He also ran sound for a stage production in a drama class and made Amiga MOD tracker songs on the computer.

funky49 is the official tour DJ for Spinal Tap. As soon as a new drummer is found, tour dates will be released.

Ham-STARHam-STAR
Ham-STAR is the world’s greatest hamster rapper. Accept no imitations, burdened by the limitations of spitting out lines not from their own mind. Unlike the others, Ham-STAR doesn’t do covers. He drops his own fresh rhymes, every time.

His biggest influence is Blackalicious, whose “improptu rapping about food is a hotter cut than half the shiny mass-produced (c)rap out there today.”

BeefyBeefy
If you’re a pretty lady willing to send Beefy pictures of yourself scantily clad he will do anything you ask. He’ll also do it for some duckets, cause he’s a big sellout.

Beefy geeks out by drawing comic. However, with the music becoming the biggest part of his life, comics have gone on the back burner. He still doodles and a new comic may not be too far off.

Photo Credit: Ludwig van Jaethoven

  1. MC Frontalot “Goth Girls”
  2. Ultraklystron “There’s The Beef (Ft. MCeeP)”
  3. Meter Versus Yard “Divided States (Kid Charlamaign Bass Remix)”
  4. YTCracker “Legacy”
  5. funky49 “Never Going Back (to Dialup)”
  6. Ham-STAR “Legend of Ham-STAR”
  7. Beefy “I Don’t Wanna Be Right”

solipsistic NATION No. 3: Drum and Bass for Your Face!

The last show was so pretty that this week I’m going to harsh your mellow by bludgeoning you with drum and bass!

I’ve got some great shows in store for you. The next edition of solipsistic NATION will feature interviews and music from artists in the nerdcore community such as MC Frontalot and YTcracker. I’m also putting together a show where I’ll be playing music from The Agriculture as well as interviewing a few musicians from their roster of artists like David Last and, hopefully, DJ Olive. Speaking of deejays, I’m also planning on having some upcoming shows with sets by DJ Eve Falcon and Wayz.

If you’re an electronic musician and would like to have your music featured on solipsistic NATION hit me up with an email. Drum and bass, trip hop, industrial, etc. It doesn’t mattter what the genre is, as long as the music is dope!

  1. solipsistic NATION “Gangster Computer God”
  2. Koncrete Symphony “Psycho Killer”
  3. Skyver & D Jon “Knockout”
  4. Phenotype “Possession 9”
  5. Styles of Beyond “Subculture (Upbeats Remix)”
  6. Lollita “We Do Play Dice”
  7. Straightman “Silly Arse (Deafblind Distruxtion Remix)”
  8. Amanning & Dizplay “Sienna”
  9. Wayz “Vigilante”
  10. Drumsound & Bassline Smith “Skumbag”
  11. erb N dub “erb N weapons (Lethal & Destruction Mix)”

solipsistic NATION No. 2: End of Summer

Ah, summer comes to an end.

I’ve been living in San Diego for the last five years and to be honest, it’s always been summer to me. Natives and long time residents of San Diego can tell the differences between seasons but I’m only vaguely aware of them. As a consequence, all the months and years I’ve live in San Diego have blurred together. There’s only an endless “now.”

While today’s show is a celebration of the passing of the summer it’s more of a salute to my summers in Boston, where the days are hot, humid and lazy and the nights are sultry. I wouldn’t trade the weather in San Diego for anything but I do on occasion miss those New England days where the heat would bake into your bones.

Another thing I do miss about living in Boston are my seasonal libations. In the fall and winter my drinks were whiskey and scotch and in the spring and summer my drinks were gin & tonic and rum & coke. As I said, it always feels like it is summer in San Diego so I have to go out of my way to drink my whiskey or scotch.

That said, I raise a gin & tonic in honor of the summer of ’06!

Photo credit: sk8master

  1. Steelzawheelz “Discotron”
  2. Effecctive “Tulsa Riots Pt. 3”
  3. Vinroc “Wine Country”
  4. Sure Shot “Sleepy Strings”
  5. Shad “Last Cigarette”
  6. Madrid De Los Austrias “Buscando (Karuan vs. Circus Remix)”
  7. Mark de Clive-Lowe “State of the Mental”
  8. Wintermute “Chillstorm”
  9. Autolect & His Meltdown Movement “Open Road”
  10. Urbs “So Weit”
  11. Cj_Harder “Mothra”
  12. Cling “Slipping Away (Of The Darkness Remix)”
  13. Chimp Beams “Menina”
  14. Bombay Dub Orchestra “Mumtaz”