Synecdoche

I use Twitter constantly to post updates about solipsistic NATION or to keep in touch with friends and listeners of the show. Twitter has also been a great way to develop relationships with musicians which gave me the idea to put together a #twittermix. I out the word out on Twitter for musicians to send me their best track to feature solipsistic NATION. The show was such a success that I thought it was time to do it again.

Like last time, I invited artists on Twitter to send me their best track to be played on solipsistic NATION. And like last time, I was flooded with great music. Too much, in fact, to play on one show so today’s mix is just a sampling of the diversity and great music that was sent my way. In the spirit of Twitter I’ve asked each artist featured on today’s show to talk about their music in 140 characters or less.

You can follow all the artists featured on today’s show by clicking the links below (oh, and you can follow me on Twitter at @solipsistic). Also, some of their music is available for purchase and some are available as a free download!

I’d like to thank everyone on today’s show once again for sending their music my way and taking to record introductions for their tracks.

My apologies to everyone I was unable to include on today’s show. I was sent so much great music but there was no way I could get to it all in one show. No worries, I’ll release another Twitter mix in a couple of months.

Join us again next week when our special guest will be Toby Marks of Banco de Gaia! You can follow Toby on Twitter at @bancodegaia.

1. Deadmau5 “Ghosts n Stuff (Elite Force Re-Fix) (DJ Version)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
   Follow Elite Force on Twitter @eliteforce
2. Bubbles “Monkey Death March”
   Follow Bubbles on Twitter @bubblesmusic
3. lowfreq “Maps (Bookworm Remix)”
   Follow lowfreq on Twitter @lowfreq
4. The Artbreaker “Mash Homework”
   Follow The Artbreaker on Twitter @grindthieves
5. Prophetnoise “Let’s Get Bass”
   Follow Prophetnoise on Twitter @prophetnoise
6. Miro Gee pres. Angelique Cinelu “Very Very Hot”
   Follow Miro Gee on Twitter @mirogechev
7. Half-BIT “Earthquake (The G·A·P RMX)”
   Follow Kieron James on Twitter @kieronjames
8. ps “332k_080319” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
   Follow ps on Twitter @psenough
9. bllix “Duir”
   Follow bllix on Twitter @bllix
10. Synoiz “Getting Safer (Single Mix)”
    Follow Synoiz on Twitter @Synoiz
11. Labguest “Busline Bassline”
    Follow Labguest on Twitter @labguest
12. NQ “Trainyards”
    Follow NQ on Twitter @nq_music
13. Shiftless “Warm Elixer (feat. Travis Nobles)”
    Follow Travis Nobles on Twitter @hiddenplace

Once a month on solipsistic NATION I showcase a music label that is putting out amazing releases that you need to know about. Today on solipsistic NATION we’ll listen to music from the excellent PublicSpaces Lab net label.

There are netlabels for nearly every genre of music but I suspect electronic music dominates the field of netlabels. Monotonik, after all, is one of the oldest netlabels in existence. Besides, electronic music and netlabels go together like tubes and toothpase. It’s a natural fit.

A few months back I had Fernando Fonseca on the show to cover the 2009 Net Audio Festival in Berlin. Fernando is also the co-founder of PublicSpaces Lab and I invited him to come back on solipsistic NATION to share music from PublicSpaces Lab and talk about his netlabel and the state if the industry.

If you enjoy today’s show then you’ll also enjoy my all-netlabel show that featured Axel Barcelo of Discos Konfort, Sebastian Redenz of Thinner and Simon Carless of Monotonik. You’ll also enjoy Travis Nobles‘, host of the hiddenplace music blog, netlabel mixes part 1 and 2. More recently, I had Marie Craven (AKA Pixieguts), the co-producer of the Pixicast, on the show with a mix of electronic music she loves from various netlabels.

Join us again next week for yet another Twitter mix!

1. Torsion “Sundrops on the Ocean (Original Piano Mix)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
2. Interview with Fernando Fonseca of PublicSpaces Lab
3. Torsion “Sundrops on the Ocean” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
4. QuarterBit “Kyoto Protocol Letter Count” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. Heliofante “Voyageur Heliophantique (Joint release with Gorríon de Miga)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
6. Torsion “Sunrise (previously unreleased track to be included on a upcoming compilation)”
7. Esfera “Fedora (Joint release with Gorríon de Miga netlabel)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
8. ambienteer “Liquid” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
9. Interview with Fernando Fonseca of PublicSpaces Lab
10. Swaying Smoke “Tunnels II” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
11. Sómio “San Feliz” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
12. Julien Mier “The Nomad Carried Her Home” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
13. Loser “Núr” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
14. QuarterBit “Sub Existir (previously unreleased, to be included on QuarterBit’s next EP)”
15. Interview with Fernando Fonseca of PublicSpaces Lab
16. Torsion “T Minus 12V” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
17. Dustmotes “Annica” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
18. Kieron James “Cosecha Original Sound Mixed with QuarterBit – Sub existir” [FREE DOWNLOAD]

I’ve been a fan of King Cannibal since his So… Embrace The Minimum EP and became an even bigger fan when his Let the Night Roar rocked my world. You can imagine my excitement when Dylan Richards (AKA King Cannibal) was kind enough to share his live set from the Glade Festival with me!

It was also a pleasure to talk with Dylan and learn how he rocks a live set from his laptop and what performing at the Glade Festival was like. I was also intrigued how Dylan is able to so deftly shift between dancehall inspired jams to super heavy, menacing dubstep or what his approach is to remixing everyone from The Prodigy to Scorn.

I’m really happy with the live sets that have been featured on solipsistic NATION. Not only has King Cannibal been on solipsistic NATION but in recent shows have included live sets from Ezekiel Honig, Eskmo and KiloWatts. Future shows will include live sets from Somatic Responses. Mad EP, Terminal 11 and Ill.Gates!

Photo Credit: Benedetta Sodini

1. King Cannibal “Live (Overkill, Glade Festival)”
2. Interview with King Cannibal

King Cannibal – So… Embrace The Minimum (Live)

The music on today’s show comes to us by our guest DJ, Marie Craven, know to many as Pixieguts. Pixieguts is a member of the bands Cwtch and PIXSID. She is also the founder of the Palace Network and co-produces the Pixicast with Dave Almgren, also know as Voide. Pixicast is a show that focuses entirely on music that comes from indie and net labels.

Pixieguts was also kind enough to provide the show notes for today’s show.

GreenGender‘s track, “Recondite Loss” is full of delicate emotion, irony, political comment and simply good to hear.

Dementio13 has been making electronic music since the 1980s and “Disappeared (The Ballad Of Milton Friedman)” is from his 2009 EP release, The Ballad of Milton Friedman. The range of Dementio13’s music mixes up and travels around various genres like post-rock, ambient, drum and bass, trip-hop, idm and alternative.

I’ve chosen Humeka‘s “The Sound” because I just particularly love this one. It’s from the Discuss album which is available for free download from many sites like Internet Archive and Jamendo.

HipGnosis‘ “Underground Looms” is a deep instrumental, abstract, experimental, glitch-hop track and also has occult influences in his music including the conscious deployment of binaural sounds.

Ugress ( which means “weed” in Norwegian) is in Bergen, Norway and is sensationally eclectic and prolific electronic artist who has a number of side projects in various styles and genres as well as the main Ugress act. There’s a strong popular culture influence in his music and a fair bit of quotational genre references in it.

Crimson Death is a music project that Pixieguts frequently collaborates with. Crimson Death often has a death metal and goth influence in his music and he performs live as a black metal/drum and bass DJ (maybe the only artist doing this particular combo).

Gurdonark is Robert Nunnally and hails from Texas. Robert mixes experimental, ambient and minimal music and is a Creative Commons champion and all his music is available for free.

Reconsiderate is a really unusual rapper from Wisconsin. His lyrics tend to reflect a kind of 21st white guy angst expressed with a great deal of unique wit and verve and his music has a raw experimental edge unusual melodic qualities.

SK123‘s “Ankylosing Spondylitis” is a track from the 2008 album, Skizm, and is one I play over and over. I love it and so much more of SK123’s music. SK123 plays exquisite and energetic minimal music, a kind of music you’d call minimal techno if that genre term hadn’t come to be so associated so strongly with club dance music (which is often not all that minimal really).

The Incognito Traveller is an incognito artist who is listed on the label page as ‘unidentified.’ “Marguerite” is currently the top track in the large ‘Pixies Palace‘ group tag radio at Last.fm (for which over 5000 artist, albums and tracks have been tagged to date).

1. GreenGender “Recondite Loss” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
2. Dementio13 “Disappeared (The Ballad Of Milton Friedman)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
3. Interview with Pixieguts, co-producer of Pixicast
4. Humeka “The Sound” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. HipGnosis “Underground Looms”
6. Ugress “Robot Army” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
7. Crimson Death “Koka Kola”
8. Gurdonark “Hope” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
9. Reconsiderate “Hey, Thanks!” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
10. SK123 “Ankylosing Spondylitis” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
11. The Incognito Traveller “Marguerite” [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Hello, people, how are you? Me? Frankly, I’m relieved.

Why, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you.

Earlier this week I announced on Twitter that this edition of Solipsistic Nation would feature minimal techno. The only problem is mixing minimal techno is more difficult than you’d expect. Minimal techno can be surprisingly subtle and the segues just weren’t coming together.

I ditched the minimal techno mix and worked on an ambient mix but that sounded like crap, too. And so was the electro mix. And darkwave mix. You get the idea.

I was floundering but as I was pulling tracks all willy nilly a show emerged. And one that, to me, at least, captures the feel of a fall evening. I hope you like it.

Come back again next week and I’ll see if I can get that minimal techno mix together.

1. Odd Nosdam “We Bad Apples”
2. Yppah “Bobbie Joe Wilson”
3. The Gaslamp Killer “Turk Mex”
4. Telling on Trixie feat. DJ Brodii “Your Silence (Vocals Up Remix)”
5. Sketches For Albinos “Tanzen als Gabe es Kein Morgen”
6. Lymbyc Systym “Contemporary Art”
7. Small Color “Daisy”
8. Skytree “1000 Miles from Everywhere” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
9. Broken Spindles “We All Want to Fit In”
10. Jogger “Napping Captain”
11. Hol Baumann “Handwritten Notes”
12. 5-40 am “Alone In the Day My Dear Kristine” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
13. January “Careful What You Tell The Sky (Album Version)”

Once a month on solipsistic NATION I showcase a record label that is putting out amazing releases that you absolutely need to know about. On today’s show we’ll talk with Lawrence English, the founder of founder of Room40, and play select tracks from his label.

I first discovered Room40 a few years back when I relaunched solipsistic NATION as a podcast. I head head about Room40’s compilation album, On Isolation, and Lawrence was kind enough to send a copy of the CD my way as well as a copy of Airport Symphony. I was immediately taken with On Isolation because those albums transported me to different places in my imagination, On Isolation with its experimental music and Airport Symphony with it field recordings.

Since then I’ve anticipated each release from Room40 because I’ve always been surprised by each release. Some albums feature field recordings, others explore the realm of experimental music, and others features quite, beautiful music. Today’s show is a perfect example of the diversity of music offered by Room40.

I’ve wanted to have Lawrence on solipsistic NATION for a long time so it’s a pleasure to finally have him on today’s show. Not only do we get to hear some fantastic music from Room40 but we also get to learn how Lawrence launched his label. In addition, we’ll learn how Lawrence approaches making music for art installation and the many music festivals he is involved in!

1. Tujiko Noriko “Make Me Your Private Party”
2. Tenniscoats “10.rasen6.4.7”
3. Erik Griswold “Imperfect Memories”
4. DNE “Track 47”
5. Chris Abrahams “Can of Faces”
6. Interview with Lawrence English, founder of Room40
7. Steinbrüchel “Interlude 3”
8. Interview with Lawrence English, founder of Room40
9. Taylor Deupree “Untitled”
10. Leighton Craig “Circle of Thoughts”
11. Scanner “Mountain Cabin”
12. Interview with Lawrence English, founder of Room40
13. John Chantler “Slow Closure”
14. Interview with Lawrence English, founder of Room40
15. Keith Fullerton Whitman “2nd Early Monolith”
16. Robin Fox & Clayton Thomas “Direct Couriers”
17. Interview with Lawrence English, founder of Room40
18. eRikm “Fraq 424”
19. Eric La Casa “Dundee Law”
20. Interview with Lawrence English, founder of Room40
21. Sébastien Roux “Interlude”

New to solipsistic NATION? Okay, here’s how it works: the first Friday of each month I interview an electronic musician and accompany it with one of their live performances. It’s a kind of cool way to kick of each month.

This month our live set comes from Ezekiel Honig‘s performance at the 2009 MUTEK Festival.

MUTEK was founded in 200o and is an international festival organization that is dedicated to the promotion of electronic music and the digital arts. The MUTEK festival is an annual five-day event in Montreal that takes place in late May and early June. Each year, more than 100 artists, panelists, and industry professionals participate and has become a leading event of its kind in North America.

I first came across Ezekiel back when solipsistic NATION was broadcast on Free Radio San Diego when I asked Ezekiel to send some music from his label, Microcosm Music (Ezekiel is also now the label manager of Anticipate Recordings). I believe that was around the time that Ezekiel was transitioning from drum and bass to experimental electronic music. I later interviewed Ezekiel for the Small World podcast and since then I’ve wanted to Ezekiel to be a guest on solipsistic NATION. It took a while but I’m pleased to have Ezekiel on today’s show!

Incidentally, I believe it is through my Small World interview with Ezekiel that I met Macedonia, the host of the Both Sides of the Surface podcast. Just another example of the six degrees of connections that solipsistic NATION creates.

As long as I have your eyeballs the upcoming live sets on solipsistic NATION will feature King Cannibal, Mad EP, Terminal 11 and Ill.Gates!

Oh, one more thing. During the summer I was interviewed by Eric Fox and Erik Landi for their documentary about underground music and the underground music for their final project at High Tech High. You can see their video here. I’m amazed what Eric and Erik put together. They’re learning who to use the tools as teenagers that I use as an adult. What a world!

Photo Credit: ©basic_sounds

1. Ezekiel Honig “Live at MUTEK 2009, Montreal” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
2. Interview with Ezekiel Honig

When I put together the mix for last week’s show I realized that I had over two hours worth of music. I decided to break that mix up into two shows.

Last week’s show was dark and concussive and featured the likes of Hindu Pez and King Cannibal. This week’s show is dark and… atmospheric. Which makes it perfect for Halloween. In fact, you might want to play today’s show while kids come to your house to trick or treat.

Everyone has a Halloween memory so let me share one of mine.

Back when I was a kid I worked at a novelty store called Jack ‘N’ Jill’s Joke Shop in Boston. We sold your usual assortment of hand buzzers and fake dog crap but we made our nut during Halloween. All through the month of October we sold Halloween supplies ranging from fake blood to high-end items like latex masks. Each day was busier than the last and culminated in a shopping frenzy on the 31^st with customers lined up outside our door.

At the end of one Halloween shopping day our shelves were pretty bare but I grabbed some fake spiders webs, a strobe light or two and a truly frightening Frankenstein’s monster mask. I rushed home to Dorchester to meet my then girlfriend to make our house ready for the trick and treaters in our neighborhood.

There was just one problem.

We had made our house so spooky and combined with my gruesome mask kids were too terrified to come up to our doorstep for candy. They’d scream and wail and despite encouragement from their parents they refused to take a single step near us. In the end I had to take off my mask so the little boys and girls would get over their fear of me and get their candy.

What’s your Halloween memory?

Photo Credit: ©Teri Mills

1. Black Light Burns “Ribbons”
2. Cdatakill “Respirator”
3. Felix Inferious “Vashta Nerada”
4. Black Lung “The Regulator Plot”
5. Frank Riggio “Inside The Skull” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
6. Pandora’s Black Book “Wavelength”
7. Access To Arasaka “Montcalm”
8. Lukeing Forward “Lull Before the Storm That Never Comes”
9. The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation “The Sexy Midnight Torture Show”
10. Ezekiel Honig “Porchside Prologue”
11. Kalte “Shallow Approach” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
12. David Bickley and Tom Green “Possessions” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
13. BrainSt0rm “Sc0rpi0”
14. Lissom “Fallow”
15. Evan Bartholomew “Secret Entries Into Darkness”

When I was putting together this week’s edition of solipsistic NATION I realized I had over two hours worth of music. What to do? I could either pare down the mix to an hour or break the mix into two separate shows. I decided to go with the latter option.

Originally the mix began with a selection of music that would make your ears bleed and slowly become more and more darkly atmospheric. So let’s talk about the first part.

We begin with Hindu Pez‘s “The Blackest Sky” from his forthcoming abUSE EP that will be released Friday, November 13th. Hindu Pez was kind enough to send me an advance copy and “The Blackest Sky” set the tone for the rest of today’s show.

Speaking of Hindu Pez, this is the perfect opportunity for me to talk about how some editions of solipsistic NATION come together. I’m constantly reviewing tracks to play on future shows and some tracks I play immediately and some sit on my hard drive for weeks, months or, sometimes, years before they make it on to the show. I’d love to play all new music that comes my way but my priority is to present you cohesive mixes of great music. If I can work in new music so much the better but it doesn’t always work out that way.

Moving on, we’ve also got some music from The Teknoist, Enduser, Abelcain and Ad·ver·sary, all of whom have appeared on solipsistic NATION before. And for good reason: they all craft mind blowing music.

Another artist that is new to solipsistic NATION is King Cannibal. King Cannibal’s Let the Night Roar is definitely in the dubstep vein but it’s far more darker and heavier than most of the dubstep you’ve heard. Oh, King Cannibal will appear on solipsistic NATION in the next month or two with one of his live sets.

I followed King Cannibal with Somatic Responses who are just as menacing as King Cannibal. It was a no brainer to include them on this week’s show. Somatic Responses’ “Murder Thought” comes from their fantastic Reformation album.

Jega, Access To Arasaka and Pandora’s Black Book also return to solipsistic NATION but Black Mold and Datach’i are new to the show.

Datach’i is an example of what I was talking about earlier. I meant to play Datach’i when I showcased Planet Mu Records on solipsistic NATION but I couldn’t work him into the mix due to time constraints so I’ve very pleased to finally play Datach’i on today’s show.

The final newcomer to solipsistic NATION is Black Mold with the track “Smoking Rat Shit” from the Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz. I confess I know little about Black Mold but they’re on my radar.

That’s the show. Next week will feature the second half of the mix which will be appropriately spooky for Halloween.

Stay stuned!

Photo Credit: Copyright©Lydia Marano

1. Hindu Pez “The Blackest Sky”
2. The Teknoist “Have You Seen”
3. Enduser “Pushing Chaos (Bong-Ra Remix)”
4. Abelcain “Faust (Cdatakill Remix)”
5. Ad·ver·sary “Number Nine”
6. King Cannibal “The Untitled”
7. Somatic Responses “Murder Thought”
8. Jega “Kyoto”
9. Access To Arasaka “Medway”
10. Black Mold “Smoking Rat Shit”
11. Pandora’s Black Book “Black Brothel”
12. Datach’i “Intercoursing”

Today on solipsistic NATION we’ll talk with Amy Grill about her documentary, Speaking in Code. We’ll also talk to Paul Owens, the director of Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet, a documentary about the Chiptunes movement. On the night of the debut of Berlin Calling in Hollywood, director Hannes Stöhr shares his thoughts about his new movie. From the big screen to the pages of Big Up Magazine, we’ll talk to Katyá Guseva about bass driven music, art and culture and Big Up Magazine‘s one year anniversary. We’ll also talk to Graham St. John about the newly launched Dancecult journal. Finally, Fernando Fonseca, the founder of the Public Spaces Lab, shares with us his experiences at the Net Audio Festival in Berlin.

Speaking in Code Speaking in Code is an intimate account of people who are completely lost in music and is a heartbreaking and lighthearted documentary, it’s a vérité glimpse into the world of techno. Speaking in Code stars Modeselektor, Wighnomy Brothers, Monolake, Philip Sherburne, David Day and Amy Grill.

Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet is a feature length documentary which delves into the movement known as chiptunes, a vibrant underground scene based around creating new, original music using old video game hardware. Familiar devices such as the Nintendo Game Boy and Nintendo Entertainment System are pushed in new directions with startling results.Using New York as a microcosm for a larger global movement, Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet maps out the genesis of the first annual Blip Festival, a four day celebration of over 30 international artists exploring the untapped potential of low-bit video game consoles. With floor-stomping rhythms and fist-waving melodies, trailblazers of the chiptune idiom descend upon Manhattan to pen a new chapter in the history of electronic music.

Berlin Calling is about electronic music composer Martin (Paul Kalkbrenner), known as DJ Ickarus, is touring with his manager and girlfriend Mathilde (Rita Lengyel) from club to club around the globe and is about to release their biggest album to date. However, all of his plans are thrown out of kilter after Ickarus is submitted to the emergency ward of a psychiatric clinic high on drugs after a gig- A tragicomedy in Berlin of today. Berlin Calling is directed by Hannes Stöhr who has also directed One Day in Europe (Berlinale 2005 in Official Competition) and Berlin is in Germany (Berlinale 2001 Panorama Audience Award).

Big Up Magazine is a magazine dedicated to bass driven music, art, culture and people and celebrates its one year anniversary October 24th at the Paradise Lounge in San Francisco with Cyrus/Random Trio, Cluekid featuring Aurorah, Kutz, Samiyam and Darkiside of Get Darker TV.

Dancecult is a peer-reviewed, open-access e-journal for the study of electronic dance music culture and has launched the 1.1 edition 1.1 published and available at http://dj.dancecult.net.

The Net Audio Festival ’09 took place from the 8th to the 11th of October and gathered the international netaudio community for a four-day music and conference festival in Berlin, under the title “East meets West.” 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain. Net Audio Festival ’09 recalled pictures of hands reaching out to pull people from both sides up onto the Berlin wall. The event will took place at Maria, a venue situated immediately on the former Berlin ‘death strip’ once dividing the city and the world into eastern and western hemispheres.

That’s the show! Join us again next week when we’ll do it all over again. But completely different.

Photo Credit: Mitch Vega

1. The Field “Sun and Ice, Excerpt”
2. Speaking in Code Trailer
3. The Field “The Deal”
4. Interview with Amy Grill, director of Speaking in Code
5. Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet Trailer
6. Starscream “Gravity in Terms of Space-Time” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
7. Interview with Paul Owens, director of Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet
8. Paul Kalkbrenner “Gebrünn Gebrünn (Berlin Calling Edit)”
9. Interview with Hannes Stöhr, director of Berlin Calling
10. Cyrus/Random Trio “Mind Games”
11. Interview with Katyá Guseva, editor of Big Up Magazine
12. Dubatech aka Cold Form “Windless Dub (Havantepe’s Breeze)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
13. Interview with Graham St. John, editor of Dancecult
14. Zengineers “Passage to India” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
15. Interview with Fernando Fonseca, founder of Public Spaces Lab
16. Niteffect “Naked Swords” [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Speaking in Code Trailer

Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet Trailer

Berlin Calling Trailer