Summer vacation is over and I\u2019m back!<\/p>\n\n
I\u2019ve been away for the last few months recharging my batteries. It takes a lot of work producing a show like solipsistic NATION<\/b> and, quite frankly, I had hit the wall. Constantly listening to new music, reading music blogs, posting on social media\u2014I just don\u2019t think it was healthy for me to be doing that nearly every free moment of each and every day.<\/p>\n\n
Let me expand on that a little bit. It\u2019s not just that I was listening to too much music, I was listening to too much bad<\/i> music. People send me a lot of free music to review for the show and because people were kind enough to send me their music I felt obligated to listen to it. All of it. Unfortunately, statistically speaking, a lot of it is terrible. It\u2019s just the way it is. And I have to listen to a lot of it to find the good stuff, the stuff I feature on solipsistic NATION<\/b>.<\/p>\n\n
I don\u2019t mind mediocre music because at least with mediocre music is not terrible, it\u2019s just mediocre. But bad music wounds me. And it makes me angry. You might be thinking to yourself, hey, it\u2019s just music\u2014get a grip. That\u2019s true, but music, good music, is important to me. You don\u2019t produce over 300 shows of electronic music unless it is<\/i> important to you. And so bad music infuriates me because not only is it wasting my time but it feels like a physical assault. Presumably the people who make bad music have heard good music. Why not emulate the good rather than subject us with their shit?<\/p>\n\n
I can\u2019t do it any more. It\u2019s just exhausting. So I\u2019m changing my policy. I\u2019ll give the bad music 30 or 60 seconds of my time but if it\u2019s clearly not getting any better I\u2019m just going to skip past that track like everyone else in the world does.<\/p>\n\n
I\u2019ve spent the last few months actively not<\/i> listening to music and slowly letting my soul heal. I\u2019ve kept my social media and blog reading to a bare minimum, gathering my strength. But now I\u2019m tanned, I\u2019m rested, and I\u2019m ready to take on the world!<\/p>\n\n
I want to thank you for listening and your continued support. I\u2019ve got a lot of big plans for solipsistic NATION<\/b> and I\u2019ll need your help. We\u2019ll talk about that more on next week\u2019s show but in the meantime, if you\u2019d like to help support solipsistic NATION<\/b>, tell a friend about the show. Tweet about solipsistic NATION<\/b> on Twitter<\/a>. Flatter<\/a> us of Flattr<\/a> or purchase a solipsistic NATION<\/b> t-shirt<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n Now let\u2019s get to what\u2019s important\u2014great electronic music!<\/p>\n\n Today on solipsistic NATION<\/b> we\u2019ll also hear a special live in-studio performance<\/a> by wAgAwAgA<\/a>. We also talk to wAgAwAgA about launching his own record label, Cooking Up Records<\/a>; his growth as an artist from album to album; and traveling the world for the field recordings he features on those albums.<\/p>\n\n Robbie Martin from Record Label Records<\/a> first turned me onto wAgAwAgA with the release of wAgAwAgA\u2019s Midnight Sampler<\/a><\/i> album on Robbie\u2019s label (check out our showcase<\/a> of Record Label Records here<\/a>). wAgAwAgA\u2019s album was lush, dub-heavy and dense with the sounds of nature and world music. In fact, Midnight Sampler<\/i> made my list of one of the top 10 albums for 2012<\/a>. wAgAwAgA has since moved in new directions and his music has become more restrained, kind of minimal, really. But all those elements that I love in his music is still there, which you\u2019ll hear on today\u2019s live set. I think you\u2019re really going to dig it!<\/p>\n\n Join us again next week when we\u2019ll showcase Tripswitch<\/a>\u2018s label, Section Records<\/a> (check out Tripswitch\u2019s live set here<\/a>). I think. I\u2019m still getting my ducks in a row.<\/p>\n\n See you then!<\/p>\n\n