pop – Page 4 – Synecdoche

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!

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

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!

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

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.

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

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!

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

Weekly Mix 4: January 29, 2017

Every day I post a song to Twitter and Facebook (#songoftheday) that I think is so amazing and so great that I am compelled to share them with you. Some of the songs are new, some of the songs are old, but you really, really need to hear them.

At the end of the week I gather those songs into The Weekly Mix. When possible, I accompany each song with a brief introduction by the featured band or musician. Previous shows have included introductions from hip hop recording artist Tall Can, UK country singer Yola Carter, gospel singer Phyliss McKoy Joubert and Dick Valentine from Electric Six.

This week, I’m sad to say, will feature no introductions. I’m not suprised. This is only the fourth episode of The Weekly Mix and I’m still growing my audience and the show’s reputation. Frankly, I’m surprised I got as many people to participate in the show as I have and I’m thankful for their generosity.

If you enjoy the show and you would like to have more bands and musicians joins us each week on The Weekly Mix, you can help. And it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. Just tell a friend or co-worker, or anyone, really, to give The Weekly Mix a listen. The more people who listen to the show the more clout The Weekly Mix will have, which will attract more musical guests.

I’ve done it before. When I was producing my small WORKD talk show I was getting something like 40,000 listeners a month, and when I was producing solipsistic NATION, my electronic music show, I was getting 14 million listeners a month. All I need is your help. So please tell anyone you know who loves music about The Weekly Mix.

See you next week!

Kweku Collins “Ego Killed Romance (feat. Jamila Woods)”
Moses Sumney “Incantation”
Pavel Dovgal “Nibiru”
Max Cooper “Seed”
Call Super “Puppet Scene”
The Bad Plus “The Beautiful Ones”
Cymande “Bra”

Weekly Mix 3: January 22, 2017

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.

Interview with illustrator Geneva Bee
Tall Can & Generik “Bridge ft. Generik & 12Gage The Poet”
OKBADLANDS “Dust & Gold”
PNL “Le monde ou rien”
Lil Uzi Vert “Scott and Ramona”
Anderson.Paak “Come Down”
Chairlift “Ch-Ching”
Yola Carter “Home”

Weekly Mix 1: January 8, 2017

Hello, I’m Joseph Aleo and welcome to the Weekly Mix!

What is the Weekly Mix? It’s a show that features seven tracks from the last week that I’ve posted to Facebook and Twitter for my #songoftheday series. The songs are old and new, but with an emphasis on the new and are from many different genres. What unites all the tracks you’ll hear on today’s show and every show going forward is that they are fantastic and deserved to be heard.

The mixes often won’t be seamless and smooth because that’s not what I’m going for on this show. Again, I’m just delivering a week’s worth of the songs of the day in one place. That pains me as a deejay because as a deejay I’m all about the segue, but so be it.

The Weekly Mix will also include an introduction from the featured band or musician whenever possible. For example, on today’s show, you’ll hear from Preacher vs Choir and HypeMan Sage.

I only have a couple introductions on today’s episode because the Weekly Mix doesn’t have an audience yet, so if you like what you hear, please feel free to introduce your friends to the Weekly Mix. The more people who listen, the more talent I can get to participate on future shows.

Another reason should you listen to the Weekly Mix is because I’ve been a deejay and podcast producer for nearly 30 years. I have great taste in music and I want to share that music with you. Some of the music you’ll hear might not be your cup of tea but I think you’ll recognize that it’s good stuff. The music that is your cup of tea I hope will become your new favorite song. In fact, if you hear a song on today’s show that you like, I encourage you to go out and buy it to help support the artist.

The album art for each Weekly Mix features an illustration by the wonderful Geneva B. My girlfriend discovered Geneva on Instagram and I quickly became a fan. When I decided to launch the Weekly Mix I immediately contacted her for permission to use one of her illustrations for the show. You can find her on Instagram or find her online at her website . I hope to talk with Geneva on the Weekly Mix in the near future.

You can find me on Twitter at @josephaleo. Feel free to email me at joseph@josephaleo.com.

See you next week for another Weekly Mix!

Preacher vs. Choir “Better than Ever”
Subculture Sage “Childhood”
Aaron Fontwell “Crystal Coated”
Irene Schweizer Trio “Yaad”
CRX “Broken Bones”
Asadi “Throne”
ADR “Severance”

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

Dean Martin “Jingle Bells (Dan The Automator Remix)”
Sismo “Pueblo”
Dolce Stil Nuovo “Hawaiin Song”
D.J. Waht “Shopping Cart Ride Reprise”
Skink “The Ages of Carbon Dating MkIII”
Kaká Werá Jecupé “Ibi-Cy”
Neikka Rpm “Kill All Machines (Ft. Kenji Siratori)”
Mel “Sheltered Life”
Tanya Pea “Handcut Ice Cubes (Thieves Mix)”
Cars & Trains “Broken Streetlamp Serenade”
Infantjoy “Without”
Ultre “Scissors and Intervals”
BEe “Our Blood”
Michael Bross “Oscuro”
Beckett & Taylor “Where There You Been Gone Find It”
Spandex “What’s Wrong With You”