Sean is the host of Metal Postcard Records, an independent record label based out of Sydney. I met Sean nearly a decade ago when I interviewed him and showcased his label for solipsistic NATION. He releases great music through Metal Postcard Records, so I invited Sean to be our guest deejay last summer. It was a wonderful mix, so naturally, I asked Sean to delight us with another set.
A casual listen of Sean’s mix will leave you with the impression that it’s wonderful and whimsical. Its certainly that but a closer listen reveals depth and speaks to the human condition. It works on both levels, which is a neat trick. It’s also a bit of an Australia travelogue, so enjoy the ride!
If you want to hear more music from Sean, he also hosts Bottom of the Pops, which you can find on Spotify. It’s the Nuggets of internet radio. Sean also hosts shows on Dandelion Radio, FSK Radio out of Germany, and 8K in New Zealand.
Sean Hocking
Tuesday California officially opened up and eased pandemic restrictions.
I still wear a mask and socially distance in some situations but it’s nice to mingle with people and dine at restaurants. And it’s nice not wearing a mask at the gym, especially when I’m on the stair machine.
I’ll be listening to Sean’s mix on Fathers Day and hopefully hoping to go out for brunch with my family. If you’re a dad or have one, I hope you can do the same.
A lot of new listeners tuned in to last week’s show and one of them was Jon Fine, who played with David Grubbs in the band Bitch Magnet. Jon was really excited to hear Loving Six on last week’s mix. He had heard about Loving Six and had been waiting to hear their music for almost 30 years. We got to talking and it turns out that Jon has also written a book called Your Band Sucks: What I Saw at Indie Rock’s Failed Revolution (But Can No Longer Hear), which has been described as a cult favorite musician’s memoir. Jon said his book touches on some of the things Chip and I talked about on last weeks show. You should go buy it because I’m going to read the Your Band Sucksand have Jon on the show in a couple of weeks to talk about his book.
On last week’s show I also played a song that was a collaboration between The Bug and Earth. I’ve known about Earth for at least 20 years but had never listened to their music before. I went on Twitter and asked what songs or albums I should listen to and I got a lot of excellent suggestions. Ben Burnham said I should start off with Earth’s album, Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method.Corey Brewer suggested I listen to their songs ”Ouroboros is Broken” or “Old Black” and Holly Carson said I should listen to their Pentastar: In the Style of Demons album. Thanks for the suggestions! I’ll be listening to Earth for the next few weeks and will play them on a future Weekly Mix.
Okay, let’s get to today’s show. See you next week!
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.
Queen “Bohemian Rhapsody (Played by 100+ year old fairground organ)”
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’sLayout 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!
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!
I’ve got quite a show for you today. Not only do I have a fantastic mix of eclectic music for you to groove to, but we’ll also chat with Geneva Bee, who provides the illustration of the headphone wearing beauty who graces the album art for each show.
I first discovered Geneva Bee through my girlfriend, who follows Geneva on Instagram. Through her illustrations Geneva creates a world of whimsy and color that’s decidedly very girly. Seeing Geneva’s artwork in my Instagram feed always delivers a hit of dopamine. When I launched The Weekly Mix I asked Geneva if she’d allow me to use one of her illustrations for the album art for each show and she was generous enough to let me.
See you next week with another weekly mix. I’m out of here.
On today’s show we’re going to listen to a mix I put together with my friends two years ago. That’s a long time, I know, but there’s a reason for that and to explain myself I have to tell you a little bit about myself.
First off, I’ve been deejaying and producing shows for more than half my life. I’ve been on the air for hundreds of hours and I’ve spent hundreds of more hours producing shows. People often ask me where I find the time to work on so many shows. The answer was simple: I wasn’t married and I didn’t have kids.
When I began working on today’s show that was still true. But two years ago I met the love of my life. And the love of my life also has three kids. I was having too much fun and was too busy to spend time on anything that didn’t revolve around them. But the itch to deejay never goes away and now that things have settled down a bit in my life it’s time to get back into it. Kicking off 2017 seems the best way to do it.
So let me tell you about today’s show.
I got my start at WMFO, a college/community radio station in Boston. WMFO broadcasts under a freeform format so it wouldn’t sound incongrous to hear disco, jazz, opera and hip hop on one of my shows.
From time to time I would throw a deejay party at the station. They were a lot of fun and very intense because it was a test of our abilities as a deejay. While one deejay was spinning a song you had the length of that track to choose the next song and cue it up on the turntable or CD player. And not just any song, it had to be a song that would segue nicely out the track that was being played at the moment. The results were unpredictable but those shows always sounded fantastic, and that’s what I’m hoping to capture on today’s show.
I’ve invited my friends to particpate on today’s mix by having them select a song to play based solely on the track that preceeded their song. They had no idea of what was played any further than that. They could stay within the same genre or veer off into an entirely different direction as long as their selection made sense, if only just to them. I also asked each of my friends to record an introduction for the songs they chose.
On today’s show you’ll hear “Acid” by Stu Mitchell, which was chosen by Steve Howard, who I’ve know almost as long as I’ve been deejaying. We met at WMFO and Steve currently spins at Asheville FM.
We’ll also hear “Kolyskova” by DakhaBrakha. “Kolyskova” was selected by Darek Mazzone, who is also a WMFO alumn and currently hosts the wildly popular Wo’ Pop show on KEXP in Seattle.
From Kidkanevil we’ll hear the track “Butterfly / Satellite,” which was selected by Macedonia, who hosts the Both Sides of the Surface podcast. You can also find him spinning on Bondfire Radio out of New York City. In fact, as I write this I’m listening to his 50th broadcast on Bondfire!
Alan Ranta chose Tipper’s “Homage Sliders” for today’s show. Alan writes for the likes of Exclaim!, CBC Music and PopMatters so it was a no-brainer to include him on today’s show.
Ned Raggett selected Grouper’s “Living Room.” I connected with Ned through Steve Howard. Ned writes for Pitchfork, The Quietus, and many other fine publications. Go Google him!
Blank Realm’s “Cleaning Up My Mess” was chosen by Sean Hocking, who runs Metal Postcard Records. I met Sean when I featured his label on my show, solipsistic NATION, and I’ve been meaning to get him involved in one of my hairbrained schemes ever since, so I’m happy he joins us on today’s mix.
Anji Bee picked the Stwo Remix of JMSN’s “The One.” Anji Bee has been producing podcasts for just as long as I have and I urge you to listen to her show, The Chillcast.
Mikel OD is another podcaster who I’ve known for ages and he selected “Pressure” by My Brightest Diamond. I was a big fan of Mikel’s Most People are DJs podcast but these days he’s up to no good with his latest project, Digital Racket.
Another guest I had on solipsistic NATION was Strictly Kev (AKA DJ Food). I’ve been a fan of his music for a long time and I was thrilled when he added Heliocentrics & Melvin Van Peebles’ “The Cavern” to today’s mix.
Deejay Om picked “And I Love You” by The Darling Dears for his contribution to the Friends mix. I met Deejay Om through solipsistic NATION and had the pleasure of meeting him in person a few years agon in San Francisco. He’s a classy guy with exquisite taste in music.
My buddy Craig Ruiz chose Dr. John’s “Getaway.” Craig and I bonded over our love for Amon Tobin’s music and we’ve been friends ever since.
Mahiane d’Ultimate is yet another person I met through solipsistic NATION when I featured her label, Ultimae Records, on my show. Mahiane is one of the sweetest people I know so I was honored when she graced today’s mix with Apparat’s “Arcadia.”
Sativa Mariposa is the love of my life so she had to be on today’s show. Her taste in music is fantastic and it’s one of the very many things I love about her. And I also love that she selected James Browns’ “Please, Please, Please” for the mix your about to hear.
We’re going to wrap up today’s show with Jhené Aiko’s “Eternal Sunshine.”
See you next week when I launch my Weekly Mix series.
On today’s show we chat with TLR and Jack Squires about L.A. Zinefests PlayDate 2016 and their indie video game, Tonight You Die. Steve Howard interviews Mike Andersen and we hear a song from Mike’s peroemance on Asheville FM’s The Lost Cause. Emil Brown explains yo-yo culture. Alan Ranta prasies Prince Rama’s new album, XTREME NOW. Ryk McIntye reads us a poem about his experience with OKCupid. Brent plays us a Vaporwave mix.
Ryk McIntye’s “OkCupid is To Dating, as Salmon is To…”
I posted a new profile on OkCupid recently,
figuring it’s like playing cash lottery, but
more “It’s just so crazy it might work!”
as opposed to odds of lightning strikes. “It’s all in how you play the algorithms”,
friends offer, the same way Math teachers
explain things to people who have allowed
themselves to be born as Poetry students:
ar-tic-u-late-ing “al-go-rih-thim” as if
it might better take root, the knowledge
sinking deeper into my hopeful imagination.
I expected personal questions, and receive
questions better suited to astronomers- “Which is bigger- the Sun or the Earth?”
it asks, then asks me what is acceptable
for a possible match to answer, and to rate
that importance, using the three-finger metric: “A Little”,”Somewhat” or “Very”. So, I answer,
“the Sun”, make it clear I’d want my match
to also answer “the Sun”, stress it is “Very”
in its importance, explaining “I need to know
that you come from the same Galaxy as me.
Long-distance relationships suck.” Satisfied
I am being as specific as possible, I go on.
OkCupid asks, “When it comes to pubic hair,
do you make a regular effort to maintaining
its appearance?” Well, I’ve stopped picking
out the grey ones… does that count? I have
no particular opinion on how or if a match
needs to answer that one, assume it’s the same
sort of thing as “What noises would she make?”–
things I’d find out if a match is found; the first
date gone so well, that she asks me to drop her
off, circle the block, and ask her out again, but
this time, she says, “Park the car… lose the keys…”
…and this fantasy is interrupted by the next
question, which asks me to describe my life
by what stage of Salmon I would describe me
as being at? The metaphors are not even subtle:
a.) Fry (youth), b.) Smolt (young adult), c.) Adult
fully developed) and d.) Spawner (has kids/dead).
My Life in Dating as sad coda to nature documentaries.
This is where my perfect match would say “e.) Sushi-
now shut down the computer. Let’s get to eating.“
I would mumble glad praise to algorithms, and join her.
On today’s show we chat with Lisa Ronson about her new album, Emperors of Medieval Japan. Brent talks about his affection for the 90s revival sound and Vaporwave. TLR talks about creating a Choose Your Own Adventure audio drama.
Vaporwave, a musical micro-genre characterized by a nostalgic fascination with retro (typically that of the 1980s, 1990s, and early-mid 2000s) cultural aesthetic, video games, technology and advertising, and often involves the fusion of modern popular music with lounge, smooth jazz and elevator music
On this week’s Pop Culture Intelligentsia we shoot the shit about Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly release and what makes and album great. Venetian Snares’ Traditional Synthesizer Music LP baffles us with its brilliance. Lisa Ronson’s Emperors of Medieval Japan album predictably has us giggling about bukkake. Kitten’s “Fall On Me” single has a gushing with joy. Finally, OK Go’s “Upside Down & Inside Out” one-shot gravity defying video has us scratching our heads in wonder.
