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solipsistic NATION No. 29: Sexy Beast

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, House is one of my least favorite genres of electronic music. This week’s solipsistic NATION, however, features some of the sexiest House music you’ll ever likely to hear.

You may be wondering that if don’t like House why do I play it on solipsistic NATION. The answer is simple: I play the best of all genres of electronic music on solipsistic NATION. Even House.

Why I don’t like House is difficult to define. My initial answer is that House often sounds cheap. The cheesey synths, the lame drum tracks and boring bass lines just put me to sleep. Sounding cheap isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. There are many artists who can craft great music out of those same elements but I think most musicians who create House music simply fall into the most overused clichés of the genre. It’s artists like Dorfmeister and Chuck Love who appear on today’s show who keep House fresh, exciting and oh so sexy!

Photo Credit: mr_max_mercury

  1. Richard Dorfmeister/Madrid De Los Austrias “Valldemossa (Parov Stelar & Raul Irie Remix)”
  2. Novalima “Candela”
  3. Quasimode “Ipe Amarelo (Spiritual South Skitzophremix)”
  4. Spiritual South & Sleeptalker Sleepwalker “Hullabaloo”
  5. Funk Harmony Park “Silence Me”
  6. BangGuru “I Wanna Dance”
  7. Isla Deejay “New York Mood”
  8. Chris Wilson “House In The Dark”
  9. Onionz “Woman Of The Sun (Hipp-E’s Stripped Out Mix Ft. El Feco)”
  10. Chuck Love “Beat Down”
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solipsistic NATION No. 28: MindTrix

This week on solipsistic NATION I’m going to give away some schwag. Hit me up with an email at solipsisticnation@gmail.com and you could be a lucky winner of a MindTrix tshirt. Check out which shirts are available at solipsisticnation.com.

MindTrix is a fusion of eastern wisdom and western fashion. The clothing’s unique design is ruled by MindTrix’s passion for the environment, eastern philosophy and fashion. MindTrix is devoted to opening the eyes and enlightening the minds of the masses. I figure why not rock one of their cool shirts as you rock out to solipsistic Nation.

  1. My Robot Friend “Problems”
  2. Walter Meego “Wanna Be A Star (Protman and Dangergirl Remix)”
  3. Pink Punk “Yapolitical”
  4. MSTRKRFT “Work On You”
  5. In Flagranti “Business Acumen”
  6. Momentum & Delicious Groove “Old Nasty”
  7. Royal Sapien “Triple Nine (Royal Sapien Body Shot Remix)”
  8. Ryan Crane “Just Like That”
  9. Los Brutos “Mr. Nice (Original Mix)”
  10. The Octopus Project + Black Moth Super Rainbow “Lollipopsichord”
  11. Trans Mania “Boing Boom Jack (Pulsinger Remix)”
  12. Plankton Man “Me Voy”
  13. Urban Delights “Revolution Number 1”
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solipsistic NATION No. 27: Industrial Strength

Industrial music’s roots go back to the Futurims movement with works like Luigi Russolo‘s The Art of Noises and later in composer Edgard Varèse‘s Poème Électronique.

In the 1970s bands like Throbbing Gristle and NON utilized tape editing, stark percussion, and loops to create their dark and distorted music. Bands like Cabaret Voltaire and SPK adopted these elements into their own work, often mixing repeating samples of speeches and dialogue from movies and speeches into their music.

What most people now consider industrial music came from Ministry. For better or worse, Ministry left their stamp on the genre with a sonic barrage of distorted drum machines and bludgeoning guitars. While I love Skinny Puppy and their nightmarish soundscapes it’s easy to understand why so many bands followed Ministry’s lead. Not only is the music dark and aggressive but you can also thrash about in a mosh pit. It is this subgenre of industrial music that inspired today’s show.

Photo Credit: N3CR0N0M1C0N

  1. DieselKopf “Carcrash”
  2. Die Warzau “Insect”
  3. Sister Machine Gun “Influence”
  4. eulogy XL “SpeedBall”
  5. 2FB “Unknow Enemy”
  6. Spôr “Dilate”
  7. 5 Factor Model “Can’t Wait”
  8. Pig Hut “Uber”
  9. Uranium 235 “Uranium 235”
  10. Aeon “Starve”
  11. 3-Hole Face “Hands of God”
  12. Scanalyzer “Anywhere But Here”
  13. Zombie Girl “Creepy Crawler”
  14. Caffeine Kill “Sonic”
  15. I:Scintilla “Scin”
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solipsistic NATION No. 26: Through A Glass Darkly

In 1 Corinthians 13:12 the Apostle Paul says “Now we see through a glass darkly.” The glass is a mirror which and to see through that mirror “darkly” is to have an obscure or imperfect vision of reality.

But what is reality?

The Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English says that reality is “the state of things as they actually exist.” But all we know of reality is perceived through our senses, which are imperfect. Further, the way we interpret what we perceive is a subjective experience. In a sense, there is no way to see reality but through a mirror darkly.

There are some who hold that since our sense are imperfect and since everything is a subjective experience the only thing we can truly know is ourselves. While reality is a consensual experience we are all of us living in a solipsistic nation.

Music is another subjective experience and trip hop, with its noir-ish lense, offers us yet another glimpse into a world seen through a glass darkly. Trip hop was a term coined by British dance magazine Mixmag, to describe DJ Shadow‘s hip hop instrumentals that changed-up the beat and mid-cuts, taking the listener on a dark musical journey.

I hope you enjoy today’s flight through the glass.

Photo Credit: Sy Parrysh

  1. Kalahari Surfers “Versatile Flying Objects”
  2. Chillerstadt “Heat”
  3. Scanlan “Son”
  4. Audiomoe “57 Spring”
  5. DigiT aLL LoVe “You Keep It”
  6. Monkeybacon “Roller”
  7. Unorganized Crime “Alessandra”
  8. Da Smee “Jahmin001”
  9. Verbal Kint “The Temple (Smooth Trip Mix ft. Judie Jay)”
  10. Anji Bee with Bitstream Dream “Love Me, Leave Me”
  11. The Neybuzz “Dark Days”
  12. Behavior “Anywhere But Here”
  13. Collide “Razor Sharp”
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solipsistic NATION No. 25: Exquisite Corpse

Exquisite corpse is based on a parlor game. The game was played by several people, each of whom would write a phrase on a sheet of paper, fold the paper to conceal their part of it, and pass it on to the next player for her contribution. Each collaborator adds to the composition in sequence, either by following a rule (e.g. “The adjective noun adverb verb the adjective noun”) or by being allowed to see the end of what the previous person contributed.

What made this game so charming was the collaborative efforts in creating a piece of artwork and the unexpected results when the whole was revealed to all the particpants.

Years ago I adapted exquisite corpse for radio when I was spinning at WMFO. I would invite several DJs to the show and begin the set with a song. The next particpants had exactly the length of the song to choose a track that he thought should be played next. The DJ could stay within the same genre or mood or segue into an entirely different direction and the next DJ would do the same. It was a lot fun and made for some amazingly diverse mixes of music.

Today’s episode of solipsistic NATION is an exquisite corpse mix.

I invited the hosts of some of some of the best electronic music podcasts to participate in the exquisite corpse mix. As above, each podcaster was sent a MP3 of the song most recently added to the mix and were asked to select a song to play next. None of them has any idea what the final exquisite corps emix will sound like until the release of today’s show. The mix will be just as much a surprise for them as it will be for you!

Photo Credit: raindog

  1. Stop Paving Roads “Spanish Evil”
    Selected by Bazooka Joe, solipsistic NATION
  2. Halou “Everything Is OK (Different)”
    Selected by Anji Bee, The Chillcast
  3. Pale Beneath the Blue “Inside”
    Selected by Jim Nye, Idyllic Music
  4. Hexes & Ohs “Alive Until Saturday Night”
    Selected by Julien Smith, In Over Your Head
  5. Christian Walt “Sooner Or Later (Once Again)”
    Selected by Jason Smith, Both Sides of the Surface
  6. La Caution “Je Te Hais”
    Selected by Thomas, Yo La La!
  7. Aegis “Computer Chips”
    Selected by Guy David, Advanced Electronica
  8. I Am Dog Biscuit “Yakuza VS The Robots”
    Selected by Neil, Well Made Music
  9. :brownstudy “Do Gets Done”
    Selected by .8bliss, Omnipresent Podcast
  10. Ewun “Screw Up”
    Selected by Mr. E, The DJ Class
  11. Blue Hand “Novokaine”
    Selected by Patric Bakkenist, Electron-X
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solipsistic NATION No. 24: Jahtari

Each weekend on the Small World podcast I put out a mix of fantastic podsafe music. I really wanted to put a dub mix but I was finding it difficult to find podsafe dub music. Dr. Puff, host of the Puffcast, suggested I check out Jahtari.org‘s roster of dub artists. I’ve been hooked on their music ever since!

Today’s solipsistic NATION features music from the net label Jahtari as well as an interview with Jan Gleichmar, founder of Jahtari.

Jan got into dub after experimenting with the most different equipment and
styles (from gabba to digital hardcore to electronica). Due to lack of money Jan decided to create dub music on his laptop. Shortly afterwards Jahtari was born.

  1. Blue Vitriol “Re-Entry Dub”
  2. Volfoniq vs Trema “Recreadub”
  3. Krystoff “Holy Mount”
  4. Blaze Dem “Dubness Of This Creation”
  5. Normaa “Give Thanks To Be Part”
  6. Noisebeyondsilence “Sound Dimension”
  7. Disrupt “Bauhelm Dub”
  8. Disrupt “Gateless Barrier”
  9. Disrupt “Tubby ROM Module”
  10. Jahtari Riddim Force “Loose In Space”
  11. Parmon “Kimension Drums”
  12. Lingam Cutter “Kickermorphose”
  13. Ovr Thrustr “Half”
  14. Normaa “International Calling”
  15. Roots Ista Posse “8Bit Battle Dub”
  16. Mikey Murka “Sensi Addict”
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solipsistic NATION No. 23: Schismatrix

Mind the Glitch!

While some consider Glitch a sub-genre of intelligent dance music, Glitch does away with traditional instrumentation, and instead focuses on the use of mechanized and non-natural sounds. While rhythm is a central focal point of Glitch, the style’s various sub-genres range from the ambient to the dance-oriented.

While putting together today’s episode of solipsistic NATION I wondered what my attraction to Glitch is. In the hands of, say, Throbbing Gristle or Ministry, Glitch would be a sonic barrage of static that would reduce a cinder block to a pile of dust. While some artists do use that approach with Glitch there are many more who prefer to use the elements of Glitch with a more ambient approach. The unnatural sounds of static, hisses, bleeps and pops become soothing and hypnotic. At the same time, the broken beats and fractured rhythms of Glitch can also for listeners to pay more attention to the music than other genres of electronic music.

In any case, Glitch captures the zeitgeist of the world we live in. The whir of harddrives, the jerky sounds of printers, the beeps of our mobile phones take on a new significance against the backdrop of Glitch.

  1. Zephyr Nova “Iota”
  2. Parts & Labor “Processional”
  3. DJ Slip “Utopia Revealed (She’s A Time Traveller)”
  4. Rik Rue “My Life With Speed”
  5. Nalepa “Durian”
  6. krill.minima “Holzwurm”
  7. Shen “Causation”
  8. Land Shark “Dangerous”
  9. Drop The Lime “Try Harder”
  10. Mouse On Mars “Inocular – A”
  11. Deru “Tapah”
  12. Socks and Sandals “Lover (OG Edit)”
  13. Aerostatic “Drone Mix2 limNORM”
  14. Miskate “Ditty Dumdum”
  15. Ultre “Being Invincible”
  16. Balún “Opening The Box”
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solipsistic NATION No. 22: Quietus

I’ve touched on ambient music on solipsistic NATION in the past but I thought it was time to have an entire episode dedicated to this genre.

Ambient music is ambiguous and open-ended in scope, including everything from Erik Satie‘s Trois Gymnopédies suite to Brian Eno‘s atmospheric On Land album. My own definition of ambient music is a bit narrower in that I don’t think of pieces like Satie’s Gymnopédies as ambient music. While Gymnopédies is certainly a work of quiet genius I consider it more of an instrumental piece.

I think of ambient music as music that is near formless, something that is amorphous and nebulous. It’s more about sounds that evoke a mood than a series of rhythmic patterns.

  1. Mel “Framed Moon”
  2. Insideamind “Right This Way”
  3. Poolbath “Auto-Exit2″
  4. Cinema Volta “2005-09-04″
  5. Janek Schaefer “All Bombing is Terrorism”
  6. Chris Herbert “Chlorophyll”
  7. Dave from Chub Creek “7777777″
  8. Muslimgauze “Fazisi”
  9. Dysphor “Self-Aware Pulsations”
  10. Spainful Films Soundtrack Dept. “Church Outing 20060312″
  11. Ezekiel Honig & Morgan Packard “A Long Time Ago”
  12. Irokez “Dark Blue”
  13. If Thousands “Radio Is Fine”
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solipsistic NATION No. 21: Droppin’ & Poppin’ Beats

It’s funny how some of these shows come together.

I didn’t set out to do an all hip hop show for this week’s edition of solipsistic NATION. I just picked songs I’ve been grooving to. As I started flowing the songs together for the mix I realized that they were all hip hop tunes.

What’s remarkable about that is that I’m not a fan of most hip hop that comes out these days. I’m one of those people who thinks that some of the best hip hop came out of the 80′s and early 90′s. Oh, sure, there has been some great hip hop since then but I really feel that rap was hamstrung when it became next to impossible to secure the rights for sampling or the bits that come from the deejay. Laying down the most rudimentary beats backed by a cheap keyboard rarely makes for a good song. I miss the sonic brilliance that came from Hank Shocklee and Pete Rock. I celebrate turntablists like Mix Master Mike and DJ Q-bert who defied the restrictions layed down by entertainment lawyers so they could create the best music possible. And yet here I am putting out an all hip hop show. I guess it’s time for me to set my prejudices about my feelings about today’s hip hop aside.

Photo Credit: © Guilhem Reinaud

  1. DJ Jay C 3 “Hey Mr. DJ”
  2. DJ Uff Da & DJ Jay C 3 “I’m In Control”
  3. Malente “Open Secret (Radio Edit)”
  4. Four Tet “A Joy (Percee P Version)”
  5. Craig De Maio “The Circus Tent Experiment”
  6. Zion I & The Grouch “Trigger”
  7. Roscoe “Mr. Peanut Vender”
  8. Stereotyp “Big Flows”
  9. Hi-Tek “March”
  10. The Visionaries “Talkin’ HandJive (Ft. Shorkut)”
  11. Acid Reign “Word Em Up”
  12. Jern Eye “Power Animal”
  13. Chief Kamachi “Jim Kelly”
  14. Motion Man “Professional Experts (Ft. Kool Keith & KutMasta Kurt)”
  15. Edan “Beautiful Food”
  16. Society of Invisibles “Down”
  17. Agallah “The Don Bishop” “Ride Out (O.G.G.G.) (Featuring The Alchemist)”
  18. Mikial “I’m Honest”
  19. Hairdoo “Freedom”
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solipsistic NATION No. 20: King Dub Champion Sound System

Today’s show, all dub.

Back when I was a DJ at WMFO I sometimes used to fill in on some shows under the guise of King Dub. I’d speak with a slight Jamaican patois and pitch shift my voice and add some echo so I would sound like some interdimensional sound selector from the deepest realms of dub.

Dub, for those of you who don’t know, began as instrumentals of songs that appeared on the flipside of 45 rpms. In time, producers like Lee “Scratch” Perry and King Tubby began processing the instruments and vocals with effects such as echo and reverb, often with the instruments and vocals dropping in and out of the mix. But almost always with a massive low bass.

Dub later made it’s presence felt in electronic music and influenced techno, jungle, dubstep, drum and bass, house music, trip hop, ambient music, and hip hop.

  1. Dubmatix “War, Peace & Dub”
  2. Spiral Soundsystem vs Jerry Mane “Sizzled Dub”
  3. Nalepa “Pomme Granite Dub”
  4. Bluetech “AD”
  5. RaNDom “Crystal Dub”
  6. Subtronix “Bushwhacked”
  7. Ladyman “Infomercia”
  8. DJ Olive “Sub Bass Commandante”
  9. Once11 “My Real Face”
  10. Disrupt “Jah Red Gold And Green”
  11. Power Steppers “Gates of Dub”
  12. Volfoniq “Heroina Dub”
  13. Roots Ista Posse “Hooked Mi Up Dub”