Tag: electronic

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Weekly Mix 27: July 9, 2017

Last night my girlfriend watched I T2 Trainspotting. I haven’t seen Trainspotting since it was released back in 1996 and I thought it’d be fun to revisit those lovable junkies and hooligans from the first movie. And it was fun. The dialogue was whip-smart and the cinematography was was breathtaking and the actors were fantastic. But it was fun in a Trainspotting sort of way because it you remember the first movie it was about a bunch of Gen X kids who use heroin because they’re lives have been hallowed out by Thatcherism, consumerism and boredom. In T2 Trainspotting we get to revisit those characters except this time they’re older, a little thicker in the middle and they’re nostalgic while at the same time they’re considering they’re mortality.

I’m a Gen X kid. I’m older. I’m a little thicker in the middle. I think about my mortality. But I’m not nostalgic. The 90s were just another decade for me and then I moved on. Each decade had it’s peaks and valleys and some friends dropped out of my life but they were replaced by new friends. But the 90s were special, special to me, anyway, because I was a young man with a bright future ahead of me and my life was so vivid because I was experiencing everything for the first time. I got to fall in love as an adult for the first time. I also got to experience my first heartbreak as an adult. I got to meet friends for the first time that I’ll probably know until the day I die. Or until they die. Hopefully they go first.

And I was always listening to music and the first five songs you’ll hear on today’s show were part of the soundtrack to my life at that time. The stuff is heavy. As usual, I listened to a lot of different kinds of music back in the 90s, everything from hip hop to avant-garde jazz, but hardcore and industrial was the music that I really responded to. Can you blame me? America was fighting in the first Gulf War and it was clear that it was going to come back and bite us in the ass further down the road. The Republican and Democratic parties were just starting to become recalcitrant and hyper-consumerism was becoming a cultural value.

I’ll see you again next week. I promise it won’t be as heavy as today’s show. See you then!

  1. Godflesh “Love Is A Dog From Hell”
  2. Bastro “(I’ve) Ben Brown”
  3. Loving Six “U.S. World”
  4. Gore “Mean Man’s Dream”
  5. Head of David “Dog Day Sunrise”
  6. The Bug & Earth “Dog (feat. JK Flesh)”
  7. Pale Sketcher “Plans That Fade (Faded Dub)”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 26: July 2, 2017

I subscribe to several newsletters but I usually delete them as soon as they hit my inbox because they’re uninteresting or sharing links to other articles. The only newsletter I read from start to finish is Bob Lefsetz‘s newsletter. Lefsetz is a music industry analyst and critic and the reason I read his newsletter while I delete the rest is because he always has a fresh take on things, whether it’s music, politic or sports or just talking about his life.

Recently Lefsetz wrote a response to an article on the Washington Post about the decline of electric guitar sales. In short, rock is dead. Or on life support. As Lefsetz pointed out, rock is still around but it has all the relevancy of jazz or folk music. Why? Because rock has been so thoroughly corporatized that rock has been de-fanged. It’s no longer dangerous. Songs are no longer crafted, they’re manufactured on spreadsheets and ProTools and and any spontaneity left over is autotuned out. Not only that, rock has nothing new to say. It’s an exhausted genre. Furthermore, rock is reductive. It simplifies more complex music like blues or folk or Cajun music, etc. But now rock is reductive of rock music. It’s become pablum.

The only thing fresh and exciting happening in music today is hip hop and electronic music. It’s taking chances. It’s experimenting. Even the stuff you hear on the radio (who even listens to radio these days?) is more inventive than what passes for rock these days.

The electric guitar is dead. I mourn it’s passing. But to put things in perspective, there was a time when the accordion was huge. Now it’s an instrument regarded as hokey and old-timey.

  1. Oumou Sangaré “Kamelemba”
  2. Gordi “Heaven I Know”
  3. Crooked Man “Coming Up for Air”
  4. John Moreland “Sallisaw Blue”
  5. Amelia Payne “Down”
  6. Army of Lovers “Crucified”
  7. DJ Cummerbund “Earth, Wind & Ozzys”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 25: June 25, 2017

Before we get to today’s show I wanted to tell you about a game I just started playing called Vampire: The Masquerade. It’s a role playing game like Dungeons & Dragons but instead of warriors and wizards it’s based on vampires. And we’re playing the game with dice and paper and not on a laptop.

I confess, vampires aren’t really my thing but I’ve been having a blast. It’s been ages since I’ve been part of a role playing game and usually I’m the person running the game, so it’s fun to be a player character. I’m also tickled that my girlfriend is playing, too. When I tell her that she is my dream girl I don’t think she understands how much I mean that.

I won’t go into the game too much because I don’t know too much about it myself aside from what I’ve read on Wikipedia. But I’m really digging how the game incorporates the mythology of vampires and also how morality and humanity is also a very important part of the game. What I can tell you is that there are a bunch of clans of vampires and each clan has their strengths and weaknesses. There’s been a murder within the clans that could possibly throw everything into turmoil and me and my fellow players have been tasked to get to the bottom of things. Pretty dramatic, huh?

There are four of us. My girlfriend is playing a Nosferatu-like vampire who is also a hacker. Our friend Becky is playing a corporate-raider type on vampire and our friend Glenn is a biker vampire. Me? I’m playing an effete, club-footed vampire from the 19th century who is a cross between Oscar Wilde and Percy Bysshe Shelley.

I’ll tell you more about the game as we go along. And if you’re listening to today’s show and you also play role playing games I’d love to hear about your own experiences.

  1. Queen “Bohemian Rhapsody (Played by 100+ year old fairground organ)”
  2. Golden Vessel “Shoulders (ft. Elkkle & Mallrat)”
  3. Wolf Alice “Yuk Foo”
  4. Ex Eye “Opposition/Perihelion; the Coil”
  5. Be the Bear “Erupt”
  6. Terror Jr “Come First”
  7. Mary J. Blige “Strength Of A Woman”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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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 14: April 9, 2017

I’m really excited about today’s show because it’s a great way wind down after a busy week. As I mentioned on the last show, last week my girl friend and I drove up to Los Angeles from San Diego to catch a rare performance by The Firesign Theater. A few days later I drove back up to Los Angeles to get fitted for a tailor made suit from Indochino for my brother’s wedding next month. There’s a good chance you heard about Indohchino on another podcast. At least that’s how I heard about them. I could have given Indohchino my measurements online but I wanted to be measured by an actual human being. I have to admit, I was impressed by Indohchino and now that they have my measurements I’ll order more clothing from them in the future. I’ll post a photo of the suit in a couple of weeks on my blog.

Last night my girl friend and my boy drove back up to Los Angeles again for the opening of a friend Mark Casillas’ new office. The name of his studio is Warm & Fuzzy and he and his partners do visual effects and animation for commericals, TV shows and movies like The Avengers and Star Wars. The party was great! There were food trucks, a bouncy castle, a deejay and lot of fun and interesting people to meet. You know, I used to hate Los Angeles but the more I go there the more I love. Except the traffic. I hate the traffic.

And today we took the kids to the Fleet Science Center in San Diego and then I took the kids and our dog to the beach. So, yeah, a busy weekend.

Click the links below to purchase and download the songs you liked from today’s show. You can spare a few dollars and you’ll be helping out the bands and musicians who are pouring out their hearts to touch you.

If you enjoy The Weekly Mix, share it with a friend. I’m looking at you, Ben. I know you like last week’s show.

Okay, time for me to amscray. Enjoy the show. I’ll see you next week!

  1. Swet Shop Boys “T5”
  2. Futuro Pelo “Swamp”
  3. Frankie Reyes “Noche de Ronda”
  4. Sampha “Plastic 100°C”
  5. Yoni & Geti “Lunchline”
  6. Little Scream “Love as a Weapon”
  7. Hite “Light”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017mix

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Weekly Mix 13: April 2, 2017

Before we got to today’s show I want to welcome Blumenkraft from the pnut social media platform to the show. I actually know Blumenkraft from App.Net, which was a great social media platform that was ad free but unforutnately shut down last month. Anyway, I promoted my recent show on Pnut and Blumenkraft really enjoyed it and went back to download prevous episodes of The Weekly Mix. Blumenkraft, if you’re listening, welcome aboard and I hope you dig today’s show.

The other thing I wanted to chat about is the trip my girlfriend and I made to Los Angeles last Thursday to see The Firesign Theatre. You probably don’t know who they are but they are extremely important to me. The Firesign Theatre was a comedy group from the 60s who recorded these really complex concept albums. When I was a boy, about four years old, my dad would play them all the time. The Firesign Theatre had a lot of TV and radio commercial skits that confused me because at that age I was still struggling to distinguish reality from fantasy. They sounded like commercials but I knew something was not quite right. The Firesign Theatre shaped my own sense of humor and when I got into radio I would insert bits from their albums into my shows.

Last Wednesday I was talking to my friend Taylor about working on another show I produce called Pop Culture Intelligentsia. We were catching up with each other when he mentioned that he was going to provide sound effect for a life performance from The Firesign Theatre. Taylor only had a vague idea who they were and cetainly had no idea how important those guys are to me. I asked Taylor if he could get me into the show because those guys are senior citizens now, in fact, there are only two members still alive. I’d regret it if I didn’t see them. Taylor was kind enough to get me into the show and I even got to ask Phil Proctor, one of the founding members a question!

Okay, enough out of me. Enjoy today’s show.

  1. Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweat “I Need Never Get Old”
  2. Shirley Bassey “Spinning Wheel”
  3. Portugal. The Man “Feel It Still”
  4. Lauren Sanderson “Alotta Me”
  5. Yaeji “New York 93”
  6. Naadei “Not Nice”
  7. o k h o “Hey The House Is On Fire”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017mix

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Weekly Mix 12: March 26, 2017

A couple of weeks ago I nerded out about the social bookmarking service Pinboard, which I use to help produce each episode of The Weekly Mix. I hope you’ll contirnue to indulge me becasue today I’m going to rap with you about how I create the album art that accompanies each show.

One of the things that tickles me about producing The Weekly Mix is how much work I am able to do just using my iPhone. To build the album art that I insert into each podcast and to each blog post I start with the illustraiton of the headphone wearing girl that Geneva B has so graciously let me use for the show. I also use a graphic for the number of the show that I’ve created in Adobe Illustrator (I hope to some day build this graphic on my phone as well). To gather the album art from the bands and musicians that are featured on any episode that I add to my own album art I use workflow from my Workflow app that saves the album art from whatever song I’m listening to on Apple Music to my photos folder. From there I’ll use Instagram’s Layout app to organize all the graphics just the way I want. And that’s how I build the album art for each show.

To build the videos of the album art that I share on Instagram I import the album art I just created in my Glitch Wizard app. Once I’ve glitched the hell out of it I’ll take the video I’ve created and import it into Hyperspektiv to modify further. Once that’s done I’ll take the video and import it Apple’s iMovie app and add audio clips from the show I’m currently promoting.

I hope you got a kick out of all that. I sure do have a lot of fun creating the album art for each show.

Okay, enough out of me. Go listen to today’s show. It’s pretty awesome!

  1. Ibibio Sound System “Give Me a Reason”
  2. Dele Sosimi “E Go Betta”
  3. Topaz Jones “Powerball (feat. Leven Kali)”
  4. Superorganism “Something for Your M.I.N.D.”
  5. Hamilton Original Broadway Cast Recording “Satisfied”
  6. Grover Washington, Jr. “Just the Two of Us (feat. Bill Withers)”
  7. DeVotchKa “Dearly Departed”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 11: March 19, 2017

This week my girl friend and I started a 30-day juice fast. That’s right, 30 days of drinking vegetable and fruit juice instead of eating meals. I’ve done something like this before when I drank Soylent for a month. But this is different. It’s definitely more of a challenge. For some reason, when I was drinking Soylent for a month I barely missed food. But when I’m drinking juice all I can think about is food. Not that I’m hungry. I just want something with texture in my mouth. Crunchy things like popcorn or potato chips are always on my mind. Or barbeque. Or a wad of hot, gooey cheese. And when I go into a supermarket or a restaurant, I smell everything.

But I like challenges like this because anything that breaks you out of your routine makes you see the world and your life in a different light. For example, until I started this juice fast I didn’t realize how many little rituals I have about food. For example, on Friday nights I’ll usually eat somethingthat’s a little saltier and a little fattier than I normally eat as a reward for making it though the week. I’m sure we all do that, right? Maybe treat ourselves to an ice cream or something? I’m hyperaware about all that stuff now.

And I’ll be honest with you, I’m never excited about drinking a glass of vegetable and fruit juice. It tastes okay but I don’t crave it like I’m currently craving some rolled tacos.

And then there are the side effects: the headaches, the hunger pains, I’m tired, and my tongue is emitting a layer of white gunk. All this stuff is supposed to pass in the first few days and then I’ll start feeling energized and my cravings will change from my normal diet to a healthier, green diet. But I have to get past these first few days. On the plus side, I’ve lost almost six pounds in the first two days, so it’s not all bad.

I’m happy to chat with you about this if you’re interested. Just hit me up on Twitter. But if you want to see the documentary that inspired us to take the plunge to do this 30-day juice fast ,then I suggest going to Netflix or Amazon or whatever and watch Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. The doc follows this guy Joe Cross on his 60-day juice fast and his trip across America. I’m not being evangelical about this, because believe me, I can’t wait to eat a cheeseburger. But if you’re interested, go watch the flick.

Okay, let’s get to today’s show. I’m sure me talking about my 30-day juice fast is not the most exciting thing in the world.

You can find me online on Twitter at josephaleo or at my website at josephaleo.com While you’re there, click the links to purchase and download any of the songs you like from today’s show. It’s a simple way to show them your love and support. And if you want to support The Weekly Mix, tell a friend about the show. No need to keep The Weekly Mix to yourself, there’s plenty to go around.

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

Time for me to bug out. See you next week!

  1. Walter Martin “Sing to Me”
  2. The Exquisites “Count on Me”
  3. Mateo Katsu “Nag Hammadi 1276”
  4. Pleasurekraft “Rigel (Orginal Mix)”
  5. Kid Cudi “Kitchen”
  6. Lily Allen “Smile”
  7. Keith Hudson “Depth Charge”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 10: March 12, 2017

I tend to ramble a bit at the beginning of each show but not today. I’ve got too much to do. I have to take my puppy, Blossom, to a manners class first thing in the morning. In the afternoon I have to take my boy to Little League practice and then in the evening I’m taking Blossom to yet another class. She’s a little crazy so we’re training her as much as possible so she doesn’t grow up to be an unmanageable dog. If there’s time, I hope to take my kids to see the The Lego Batman Movie. If I’m being honest, I’m going to see The Lego Batman Movie and bringing the kids along for the ride. Fortunately for all of us, I know they’re going to love the movie.

If you like today’s show, share it with a friend. Don’t keep it to yourself. Oh, and as of last week, The Weekly Mix is now available as a podcast. Click the here to subscribe to The Weekly Mix or go to iTunes to subscribe.

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

You can find me online on Twitter at @josephaleo. If you happen to like any of the songs on today’s show, click on the links on today’s show notes to purchase and download the songs you dug. Show the bands and musicians some love with a little bit of your hard earned cash.

Okay, time for me to make like a tree and leave. See you next week!

  1. The Incredible Moses Leroy “Fuzzy”
  2. D.R.A.M. “Cute”
  3. Siya “Lil Baby”
  4. Kidswaste “Wild (feat. Khai)”
  5. Animal Collective “Kinda Bonkers”
  6. Dungen “Andarnas Krig”
  7. Baast “Teleportation”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 9: March 5, 2017

There’s a lot of tools I use to put these shows together and I thought I’d share one of them with you today. It’s called Pinboard. It’s a social bookmarking service that’s a lot like Delicious, if you happen to remember Delicious. It’s okay if you don’t because Yahoo pretty much killed Delicious when they purchased the service. Killing services is something that Yahoo seems to excel at.

Anyway, the way Pinboard works is that when you come across a website or article or blog post that you want to go back to later, you can bookmark it on Pinboard. You can also tag your bookmarks, include a summary of what your bookmarking and search all your bookmarks or any of the bookmarks others have saved to Pinboard.

Some people use Pocket or Instapaper or Evernote for bookmarking and I use those, too, but Pinboard is pretty much where I save everything.

So why am I talking about Pinboard on today’s show? Because I bookmark everything that I might want to reference on each episode of The Weekly Mix. If there’s anything that comes up on The Weekly Mix that you’re even remotely curious about, you can find it there. Bands, labels, interviews, videos, all of it is on Pinboard. You can click the link to my Pinboard account on today’s show notes or go directly to bit.ly/WEEKLYMIXPINBOARD

Thanks for indulging me in my nerdery.

  1. Jim’s Big Ego “Feelin’ Groovy”
  2. Francis and the Lights “It’s Alright to Cry”
  3. Erik Blood “The Attic System”
  4. El Michels Affair “Tearz (feat. Lee Fields & The Shacks)”
  5. Bishop Briggs “River”
  6. Kojey Radical “Gallons (feat. PW)”
  7. Dawn of Midi “Io”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017