Tag: downtempo

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Weekly Mix 24: June 18, 2017

I’m going to keep the introduction to today’s show short because I only have a little time to record this before we head out to see The LEGO Batman Movie at the nearby park. The kids and I have already seen it but my girl hasn’t. She’s not the comic book nerd that I am but she likes those kinds things well enough and indulges me in my nerdy. We’re also going to meet up with my new friend Blanca, and her family. So let’s get to today’s show before I have to leave.

  1. ANIMA! “Blood”
  2. Trapo “Hello”
  3. The Beta Band “Dry The Rain”
  4. Elohim “Hallucinating (Mariachi Version)”
  5. Mondo Cozmo “Automatic”
  6. Boyfriend “Fun Shit (feat. Cindy Wilson)”
  7. Swell “I’m Sorry (feat. Shiloh)”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 6: February 12, 2017

So here’s how we play the game: everday I post a song to Twitter and Facebook (#songoftheday) that I think is so marvelous and so spectacular that I have to share them with you. At the end of the week I gather those songs into The Weekly Mix for your listening pleasure. When possible, I accompany each song with a brief intro by the featured band or musician.

For example, on today’s show we’re going to hear from Eightch and one of the members of Ersatz. Nice, right?

Speaking of Erstaz, we’re going to kick off today’s show with their song, “Regret,” from their album, Hints of… “Regret” comes from their fourth album, which feels like it was recorded in some snowy vale, and I couldn’t imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter listening to this song.

After “Regret” we’ll hear “Midnight” by Monster Rally. I’m not sure how to describe this song, but it’s what I imagine what would be played in someone’s Space-Age bachelor pad during some long midnight of the soul. “Midnight” comes from Monster Rally’s 2016 Pelicans album, available on Gold Robot Records.

From Islam Chipsy we’ll hear “Trinity 2” featuring EEK from Chipsy’s album, The Bullet. Special thanks to Sean Hockings from Metal Postcard Records for tuning me on to this gem.

Following Islam Chipsy we’ll hear “Acceptance, Side 1” from Eightch. James Watson is the man behind Eightch and when I invited him to join us on today’s show we ended up talking for nearly an hour about music, the industry, technology, and about intergity and life and art. Good guy and I’m looking forward to meeting James in person some day in the near future. Anyway, I first heard this track on a rainy drive to work and it was the perfect soundtrack for that morning’s commute.

From Deodato well hear his funky disco cover of Franz Listz’s “Also Sprach Zarathustra.” Deodato’s a prolific guy and has produced or arranged music for more than 500 albums. That’s just crazy. “Also Sprach Zarathustra” comes from Deodato’s 1973 Prelude album on CTI Records.

We’ll also hear “My Hood” by Ray BLK. Ray is recognized as a new and exciting voice in grime and garage but you’d never know it from this soulful tune about her hood. I’m looking forward to hearing more songs from Ray’s 2016 album, Durt.

We’ll close today’ show with “Star Roving” by Slowdive. I was never really a fan of this band back in the 90s. I thought if you wanted to listen to shoegaze the only band worth listening to were My Bloody Valentine. Boy, was I wrong. I’ve spent the last couple months catching up on all the great shoegaze bands I missed. “Star Roving” comes from Slowdive’s forthcoming album, their first in over 20 years, in fact, which will be released later in 2017.

You can listen to The Weekly Mix every Sunday on KAOS Radio Austin at 6PM Central, and every Friday on Bondfire Radio at 11:30 AM Eastern.

You can find me online on Twitter @josephaleo.

See you next week!

  1. Ersatz “Regret”
  2. Monster Rally “Midnight”
  3. Islam Chipsy “Trinity (feat. Eek)”
  4. Eightch “Acceptance Side 1”
  5. Deodato “Also Sprach Zarathustra”
  6. RAY BLK “My Hood”
  7. Slowdive “Star Roving”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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solipsistic NATION No. 311: Head Cold

I’m keeping today’s show mellow. I’ve got a cold and I wanted to convey to you sonically what I’m feeling. I’m also not going to talk too much on today’s show because my throat is still alittle sore and I never know when I might cough and you don’t want to hear that.

You can find me on Twitter at @solipsistic or at @josephaleo.

Want to hear more great music? Go check out my brothers and sisters at futuremusic.fm!

Okay, time for me drink some syrzup. See you in two weeks with a show from the archives. Peace.

  1. Letherette “Blad”
  2. J Dilla “So Far to Go”
  3. Lemon Jelly “’68 aka Only Time”
  4. Shigeto “Pulse”
  5. Gold Panda “You”
  6. Onra “Ms. Ho”
  7. Flying Lotus “Zodiac Shit”
  8. Tycho “Coastal Break”
  9. Four Tet “Moma”
  10. Hidden Orchestra “Spoken”
  11. Lapalux “There Are Monsters In This Bed”
  12. Prefuse 73 “Storm Returns (A Prefuse/Tommy Guerrero Interlude)”
  13. Clams Casino “Treetop”
  14. Balam Acab “Motion”
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solipsistic NATION No. 310: Mutamassik, Live

Today on solipsistic NATION we’ll hear a live set from Giulia Loli from Mutamassik, which was originally recorded for Fari Bradley‘s Six Pillars radio show on Resonance FM to promote Giulia’s 2012 release, Rekkez, out on Ini.itu Records. In fact, there are quite a few tracks from Rekkez on today’s live set.

We’ll also talk to Giulia about balancing artistry with industry, and her growth as an artist, musician and as a DJ.

Today’s show is eight years in the making.

When I launched solipsistic NATION podcasts were a new thing and most people didn’t know what a podcast actually was, which made it difficult when I would email labels and ask for them to send me promotional CDs for the show. And even if a label knew what a podcast was I didn’t have the audience that I do now, so why mail out music to show that only had a few hundred listeners? I can’t blame them, really.

But one label I did approach was generous enough to send a CD. I had read a review about Mutamassik’s album, Masri Mokkassar: Definitive Works in XLR8R, back when it was still a print magazine. Definitive Works had been released by Sound-Ink Records and they sent me Mutamassik’s LP without questions or hassle.

Like I said, podcasts were an unknown quantity back then, so it meant a lot to me that Sound-Ink took me seriously enough to send me Mutamassik’s album. And it was a great album! I played it on the show and I played it on my iPod constantly. Someday, I told myself, I’m going to have Mutamassik on the show as a guest so I could get to know the person behind all this fantastic music!

That day is today. It took months of planning and aligning our schedules but it finally happened.

Join us again next week. I’m still getting my ducks in a row but I think our guests will be Known Rebel‘s Germán Escandell and Jaime Irles.

See you then!

  1. Mutamassik “Babomb”
  2. Interview with Giulia Loli of Mutamassik
  3. Mutamassik “Live”
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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. 17: Saturnalia

Happy holidays, citizens!

However you celebrate the holidays, I hope you have a good one.

I’m calling this episode of solipsistic NATION Saturnalia for no particular reason. It just sounds cool is all.

From Wikipedia…

The Saturnalia was a large and important public festival in Rome. It involved the conventional sacrifices, a couch (lectisternium) set out in front of the temple of Saturn and the untying of the ropes that bound the statue of Saturn during the rest of the year. Besides the public rites there were a series of holidays and customs celebrated privately. The celebrations included a school holiday, the making and giving of small presents (saturnalia et sigillaricia) and a special market (sigillaria). Gambling was allowed for all, even slaves; however, although it was officially condoned only during this period, one should not assume that it was rare or much remarked upon during the rest of the year. It was a time to eat, drink, and be merry. The toga was not worn, but rather the synthesis, i.e. colorful, informal “dinner clothes”; and the pileus (freedman’s hat) was worn by everyone. Slaves were exempt from punishment, and treated their masters with disrespect. The slaves celebrated a banquet: before, with, or served by the masters. A Saturnalicius princeps was elected master of ceremonies for the proceedings. Saturnalia became one of the most popular Roman festivals which led to more tomfoolery, marked chiefly by having masters and slaves ostensibly switch places. The banquet, for example, would often be prepared by the slaves, and they would prepare their masters’ dinner as well. It was license within careful boundaries; it reversed the social order without subverting it.

Photo Credit: Ray-of-Sun

  1. Dean Martin “Jingle Bells (Dan The Automator Remix)”
  2. Sismo “Pueblo”
  3. Dolce Stil Nuovo “Hawaiin Song”
  4. D.J. Waht “Shopping Cart Ride Reprise”
  5. Skink “The Ages of Carbon Dating MkIII”
  6. Kaká Werá Jecupé “Ibi-Cy”
  7. Neikka Rpm “Kill All Machines (Ft. Kenji Siratori)”
  8. Mel “Sheltered Life”
  9. Tanya Pea “Handcut Ice Cubes (Thieves Mix)”
  10. Cars & Trains “Broken Streetlamp Serenade”
  11. Infantjoy “Without”
  12. Ultre “Scissors and Intervals”
  13. BEe “Our Blood”
  14. Michael Bross “Oscuro”
  15. Beckett & Taylor “Where There You Been Gone Find It”
  16. Spandex “What’s Wrong With You”
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solipsistic NATION No. 16: Acid Jazz and Nu-Jazz

Today’s show focuses on acid jazz and nu-jazz. Acid jazz combines elements of soul music, funk, disco and modal harmonies while nu-jazz lend jazz textures and sometimes jazz instrumentation, funk, electronic dance music, and free improvisation.

As a former punk I originally hated electronic music like acid jazz. I was into hardcore and the only music that mattered to me was the kind that was raw, abrassive and in your face. If it wan’t punk, hip hop or indutrial I couldn’t be bothered with it. Acid jazz was just to dainty of a thing for me to care about.

But that was soon to change.

At the time I was a DJ at WMFO and each weekend I would have live bands perform on my show. As you might imagine, they were all punk, industrial or hip hop acts. My engineer was a guy named Harry and prior and after a band’s set he would blast the speakers of his studio with all sorts electronic music I had never heard before. And it grooved!

I think the big turning point for me was one night after my radio show I headed over to a nightclub I worked at. The DJ was spinning acid jazz and house. It was very sexy watching people dance to the music, always slighty off beat but always riding the rhythm. Kind of like a jazz solo. For the first time I really started digging the music. The tab of acid I had just taken might have helped.

Photo Credit: ^riza^

  1. Dolce Stil Nuovo “12 Times”
  2. Craig De Maio “Intro To Reality”
  3. Tstewart “A World Generated Every Answer Ever For All to Know”
  4. So Percussion “Work Slow Life”
  5. Spacehoppa “Alone”
  6. Soular Sound “Things We Do”
  7. The Messenger “Colorized”
  8. The Other Guy “Rockin Chairs”
  9. Fonkmasters “Once I Get Up”
  10. Heliotrope “Flute Flight”
  11. Nikita Warren “I Need You (MLK’s Dream Version)”
  12. Nettle “Mehmet Irdel (ft. Aziz Arradi)”
  13. DJ Olive “Coonymus”
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solipsistic NATION No. 15: Fake Science

Each week on solipsistic NATION I play the best of all genres of electronic music. On today’s show we talk to James Polanco of Fake Science, the digital online music store. We’ll also hear select tracks from artists who are featured Fake Science.

Fake Science is an internet based distributor of downloadable music. Fake Science provides a unique service catering to fans of indie labels and artists frustrated by a world ruled by large corporate download services, where the true independents are afforded little chance to stand out from the crowd.

Fake Science is dedicated to making independent music available digitally and affordably. Fake Science wants to enable musicians to sell their music and to make more by offering direct payment and an opportunity to reach a larger audience without being limited by the number of CDs they could afford to print.

What if people buying music were treated with respect rather than suspicion? Charged a reasonable amount of money for the music they were getting? What if they were allowed to share their favorite music with their friends without being considered a criminal?

As listeners, Fake Science is sick of being considered as consumers of art, rather than patrons. Fake Science decided to do something about it.

If you enjoy today’s edition of solipsitic NATION then you’ll sure to dig the Fake Science Lab Report podcast.

  1. Fake Science Interview
  2. Nano “Mosaic II”
  3. Qpe “Devil May Care”
  4. Eddie Mis “Acrobat Bilder”
  5. Hol Baumann “Radio Bombay”
  6. Cell Culture “Revelation”
  7. Dr. Toast “Introspective Transmission”
  8. Alchemy “Alchemy”
  9. Carbon Based Lifeforms “MOS 6581 (Album Version)”
  10. Adham Shaikh “Shiraz (Evolution Mix)”
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solipsistic NATION No. 2: End of Summer

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”
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solipsistic NATION No. 1: Relaunch!

I had always intended to bring solipsistic NATION out of retirement but there was always some sort of technical problem that prevented me from relaunching the podcast.

Originally I was going to use Macromedia‘s SoundEdit which came bundled with Director. Unfortunately, when I mixed down a set the track would be in mono and distorted. I tried doing the show using DJ-1800 and recording the set with WireTap Pro or Audio Hijack Pro but there was a touch of distortion in the recording I could never eliminate.

Last month the connection to the hard drive in my ancient G4 tower died. I didn’t have the cash to buy a new tower so I purchased a Mac Mini. The Mac Mini was much more powerful than my G4 and as an added bonus, it came pre-installed with GarageBand. Suddenly all my problems were resolved in one fell swoop.

There are some deejays who like to do everything live without a net and on the fly. I was never one of those deejays. Oh, I’m fine at improvising live sets but my preference has always been to map out my shows in advance, meticulously plotting the segues and overall flow of a mix. Given my anal retentiveness for planning shows GarageBand is perfect with how I like to work.

I hope you enjoy today’s first show in the relaunching of solipsistic NATION!

Photo credit: dro!d

  1. Thomas Feijk “Leak”
  2. Butcherd Beats “Butcherd Beats”
  3. DP-6 “Vital Force”
  4. Wade Robson “Battlewalk”
  5. OPGave “Hiroshima”
  6. Jerry Mane “Magnificent Growlla”
  7. African Express “Overtime & In The Zone”
  8. Oculus “Lo Ki”
  9. Chloe Day “Kingpin”
  10. Autolect & His Meltdown Movement “Calm”
  11. Acoustic Ladyland “Something Beautiful”
  12. Jel “WMD”
  13. Circuit Breaker “Left Hook”