Once a month on solipsistic NATION I showcase a label that's putting out such amazing releases that I feel it's my duty as host of this show to turn you on to that label. On today's show we're going to listen to select tracks from Dope Records and talk to the label's founder, Farees Suleiman.

I wish I could tell you how I came across Dope Records. I mean, I know I came across them through Zite on my iPad. I've created a section that focuses on electronic music, so even though I came across Dope Records through Zite, Zite pulled the website from any hundred or so blogs dedicated to electronic music. So who knows?

What I do know was that once I was at their web site and started listening to some of the tracks they made available online I became a fan. I expected that a label called Dope Records would feature hip hop releases but I was confounded when I heard everything from ambient to metal to dubstep to noise. I loved it! So I reached out to Farees to join us on today's show. I've included links in the playlist below to purchase nearly all the tracks heard on today's show. Show Dope Records and the artists some love by buying a track or two that you dug, an album or two if you're feeling particularly generous.

Quick note: today's interview was actually recorded back in August but as I mentioned last week, I went on a sabbatical for a couple of months so it had to wait. I apologize to you and Farees for the delay. But trust me on this, it is worth the wait.

Join us again next week. We'll do it all over again. But completely different.

01. Tokee "Pa (2012 Remix)"
02. Interview with Farees Suleiman, founder of Dope Records
03. Tokee "Th (2012 Remix)"
04. [makina] "Kabul"
05. Tokee "Agony"
06. Paindonor "Shell Shock"
07. Tokee "Conquistador"
08. Meteo Xavier "Amenemhetopelzai"
09. Interview with Farees Suleiman, founder of Dope Records
10. Paindonor "Loneliness of the Shot Down Bomber"
11. [makina] "Fly With Me"
12. Bouquiniste "Unknown Track"
13. [makina] "Eat tha' Bass"
14. Meteo Xavier "Navi Whisperwilde"

Dope Records

Featuring the best of all genres of electronic music!

Music

Summer vacation is over and I'm back!

I've been away for the last few months recharging my batteries. It takes a lot of work producing a show like solipsistic NATION and, quite frankly, I had hit the wall. Constantly listening to new music, reading music blogs, posting on social media—I just don't think it was healthy for me to be doing that nearly every free moment of each and every day.

Let me expand on that a little bit. It's not just that I was listening to too much music, I was listening to too much bad 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's 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.

I don't mind mediocre music because at least with mediocre music is not terrible, it's just mediocre. But bad music wounds me. And it makes me angry. You might be thinking to yourself, hey, it's just music—get a grip. That's true, but music, good music, is important to me. You don't produce over 300 shows of electronic music unless it is 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?

I can't do it any more. It's just exhausting. So I'm changing my policy. I'll give the bad music 30 or 60 seconds of my time but if it's clearly not getting any better I'm just going to skip past that track like everyone else in the world does.

I've spent the last few months actively not listening to music and slowly letting my soul heal. I've kept my social media and blog reading to a bare minimum, gathering my strength. But now I'm tanned, I'm rested, and I'm ready to take on the world!

I want to thank you for listening and your continued support. I've got a lot of big plans for solipsistic NATION and I'll need your help. We'll talk about that more on next week's show but in the meantime, if you'd like to help support solipsistic NATION, tell a friend about the show. Tweet about solipsistic NATION on Twitter. Flatter us of Flattr or purchase a solipsistic NATION t-shirt.

Now let's get to what's important—great electronic music!

Today on solipsistic NATION we'll also hear a special live in-studio performance by wAgAwAgA. We also talk to wAgAwAgA about launching his own record label, Cooking Up Records; his growth as an artist from album to album; and traveling the world for the field recordings he features on those albums.

Robbie Martin from Record Label Records first turned me onto wAgAwAgA with the release of wAgAwAgA's Midnight Sampler album on Robbie's label (check out our showcase of Record Label Records here). wAgAwAgA's album was lush, dub-heavy and dense with the sounds of nature and world music. In fact, Midnight Sampler made my list of one of the top 10 albums for 2012. 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'll hear on today's live set. I think you're really going to dig it!

Join us again next week when we'll showcase Tripswitch's label, Section Records (check out Tripswitch's live set here). I think. I'm still getting my ducks in a row.

See you then!

01. wAgAwAgA "flagnag dub"
02. wAgAwAgA "floaty edit"
03. Interview with wAgAwAgA
04. wAgAwAgA "Live"

wAgAwAgA, Live

Stop me if I've said this before. Or skip ahead a few paragraphs. Whatever.

After spending the last six years or so producing edition after edition of solipsistic NATION I finally figured out one of the important reasons I love electronic music so much and that reason is surprise and delight.

I'm surprised it took me so long to work that out because it's blindingly obvious—one of the first things they teach you in art—in fact, is surprise. It's playing with your expectations and revealing something new. That element of surprise may reveal something sacred or profane and, if done deftly, causes delight.

Pop used to do this. In a way, it's what made pop music pop. But pop music has been so colonized by corporatism that it's rare that something fresh and new escapes into the wild. Hip hop used to do the same but it followed quickly in pop's footsteps at a gallop. Electronic music has relatively remained immune to the constraints of pop music and is free to play fast and loose with our expectations of music, constantly mutating and adding each genre and sub genre of electronic music's sonic distinctiveness to it's own. Yes, that's a Star Trek reference.

Major labels are once again rediscovering that there's some cool shit happening in electronic music and seems content for the moment to deliver it to the masses in the form of EDM. I don't doubt that it will soon turn it's great, lidless eye (Lord of the Rings reference) to other genres of electronic music in it's never ending quest for the next new thing to make a buck off.

Today's label showcase on solipsistic NATION features select tracks from Naboa Music. There's a lot of breakcore in Naboa Music but that's just the framework to explore it's inner weirdness. So entrenched is Naboa Music in exploring these sonic territories that I don't think it's a label that could ever be tempted to embrace the dark side (Star Wars reference, and a rather forced one at that).

But seriously...

I'm always asking for labels to feature on future editions of solipsistic NATION and [tlr] made the case for Naboa Music. [tlr] has been on solipsistic NATION a number of times and his most recent album, Homunculus, was released on Naboa Music. When he suggested I do a feature on the label I listened because I trust [tlr]'s taste in music. And I was right to do so. Just listen to today's show and see! We'll also chat with Laskfar Vortok's Naoboa Music, cofounder. He's got a unique vision for what a music label can be.

Naboa Music is weird and wonderful and will take you in some very interesting places.

Join us again next week when we'll talk with Zite CEO Mark Johnson and recording artists Grouse, The Other Guy and DJ Food.

See you then!

01. Allen, I Hate Myself "Day Break Ground Score"
02. Interview with Laskfar Vortok, cofounder of Naboa Music
03. Autofuture "Mountain Revenge"
04. Naboa "Monopolar Pulse"
05. Beytah "Burning Villages"
06. Oxygenfad "Custom Firmware"
07. Eddie B. Rock "Dungeon Quest"
08. Psychedelic.Osmo "Kenta Cho Achieves Godhood"
09. Victor Vankmen "Walkman Spaced Reverb Dopeness (Feat. GDS)"
10. [tlr] "Magic Powers"
11. Syphilis Sauna "Comfort Zone (On Addiction)"
12. Naboa "Butcher Blossom 5"
13. Interview with Laskfar Vortok, cofounder of Naboa Music
14. Arson[EYE]-K "Thirty Puzzled Five Fidge"
15. Helium Ointment "Rubber Chicken"
16. EDN "2-1 Death Peak"
17. Genus Inkasso "Hurler's Pappy"
18. Laskfar Vortok "Marshal His Being To Culture"
19. Interview with Laskfar Vortok, cofounder of Naboa Music

Naboa Music

What makes today's such a special show—aside from the music, which is great, by the way—is that today's show comes to you from Ty, who is both a listener and a friend of solipsistic NATION.

Ty emailed me a few months ago and suggested that I might consider doing shows featuring Calima Shatiday and Elastic Bond. After checking out their music on iTunes I knew Ty was absolutely right, I had to have them on the show. Calima will appear on solipsistic NATION in the next few months, but today we're going to hear Elastic Bond's live DJ Mix!

Andres and Sofy join me from their studio in Miami. We're actually did today's interview by video, which seems to be happening more and more on solipsistic NATION. Too bad you can't see it, Miami looks lovely. Elastic Bond's live DJ mix is fantastic and is chock full of their music and various remixes. Elastic Bond is a band and and electronic music is just one element they weave into their music. They're currently hard at work on their forthcoming album and you can bet I'm going to have them back on the show when their new LP drops.

The other thing that makes today's show so special is Ty himself.

solipsistic NATION has always been a communal effort. I may be at the helm of the show but a lot of people behind the scenes make the show happen. There's the bands and musicians, the music labels and promoters, the people who provide the artwork for the website and the album artwork you're looking at right now, as a matter of fact. And then there's you. None of this would be possible without you, all of you.

I've wanted more listener involvement in the show for a long time and I've decided that 2013 is the year to push and really make that happen. It helps that solipsistic NATION has more listeners then ever before, so if you have an idea like Ty for future shows on solipsistic NATION, email me and let's see if we can make it happen. I'm at solipsisticnation@gmail.com. Or you can reach me on Twitter at solipsistic.

There are a lot of exciting changes in store for solipsistic NATION this year and I'd really like you to be a part of it.

Join us again next week when we'll showcase Naboa Music. We'll listen to select tracks from Naboa Music and talk with the label's founder, Laskfar Vortok.

01. Elastic Bond "You ...Ay! (feat. Locos por Juana)"
02. Elastic Bond "Pierdo el Control"
03. Interview with Andres Ponce and Sofy Encanto of Elastic Bond
04. Elastic Bond "Live DJ Mix"

Elastic Bond, Live

If James Joyce was a DJ from America living in the 21st century then Ulysses just might have sounded like Mister Wi$E's Narrative Mixing: First Movement, Land.

That explains everything, right?

No?

Brett Wise is Mister Wi$E and Narrative Mixing: First Movement, Land is his epic, sonic, surrealistic, psychedelic tale of our protagonist, making his way in the world using a vocabulary of a staggering amount of samples, songs and found sounds.

Tell you what, why don't I just quote Brett wholesale.

"What is the fundamental task of a DJ?

"The idea for this sound project began with that question. My answer? Creating an experience tailored specifically to the context. Different contexts should equal entirely different listening experiences. More often than not DJs create mixes that are a mirror of what they've been doing in the club. That can be interesting and I've done it myself but I wanted to do something more suited to the solitary listener.

"So in exploring the extremes of what I believed a headphone listening experience demanded I created something entirely different from what I'd done in the past.

"So what is this? A mix? A mixtape? A sound collage? It's not exactly a mix because I don't actually beat match any songs together. It’s not a mixtape because it's more than just a collection of songs played one after the other. And it's not a sound collage because it's more than just a collection of sounds.

"I'm calling it a narrative mix. It's music as we find it most of the time, out in the world and thoroughly situated in a context: a hospital, in a car driving down the road with the windows down, in a bar, through an MP3 player whilst walking down the street, etc. And often it is the context that gives the music it's magical quality. That's what I've tried to do here.

"There's a story to be found in the sounds if you let your imagination go, but each section stands on it's own as a vignette designed to impress wonder, curiosity, surprise and a sense of voyeuristic beauty.

"This is the first movement of three."

Actually, Brett will explain it all in his own words during today's show. Brett will also return to solipsistic NATION once he completes movements one and two.

Quick note: on today's show we were going to celebrate 300 episodes of solipsistic NATION. I had big plans and lots of guests. But as long as I'm being completely honest about how solipsistic NATION works, then I have to tell you that producing multi-segmented shows are time consuming and take a lot out of me.

Problem was my epic show just wasn't coming together the way I wanted. I could either take another week off to get it right, like I did last week, or I could go on with the show. I didn't want to keep you or Brett waiting any longer, so I opted for the latter.

Join us again next week! By special listener request we'll hear a live DJ set from Elastic Bond!

See you then!

Narrative Mixing · First Movement · Land

A few years ago I showcased Bak$hish Music, a collective of like-minded artists modeled after Hakim Bey‘s Temporary Autonomous Zone. Bak$hish Music was also indebted to the musical stylings of Bill Laswell, although they were a thing unto themselves with a roster of artists that included the likes of Lingua Lustra and Mauxuam.

Some time afterwards I started seeing releases by a label called Spiritech Records. The label's name raised an eyebrow and when I looked further I noticed Spiritech Records predominantly featured music from Lingua Lustra. I really dug Lingua Lustra's music on Bak$hish Music and as much as I wanted to showcase Spiritech I decided to wait until they had filled out their own roster of artists.

A few weeks ago spacesfm did a feature on Spiritech Records, which prompted me to check out how their catalog had grown and I was floored to see that the label had exploded! I wasted no time inviting the label's founder, Albet Borkent, to join us on today's show. Turns out he also records and performs under the name Lingua Lustra. Who knew?!

solipsistic NATION covers all of electronic music in it's many, many forms but there's a special place in my heart for electronic music that explores the mystical and the psychedelic. That's something that Spiritech Records does very well. During my chat with Albert I told him that I believed that music from Spiritech Records can experience a heightened state of consciousness. I wasn't entirely kidding about that. There were several times today's mix that took me to some interesting places when I let go and my imagination go wild while listening to while listening to music from Spiritech Records. It can happen to you if you let it, so kick back and kiss the sky!

Special shout-out to Andrew from Apple's iTunes Store Customer Support.

Last month solipsistic NATION got over a million downloads so I thought I'd check out our page on iTunes. I admit it, I was being vain. I wanted to see if there were any new reviews of the show. But you know what? Apple was no longer displaying my podcast in iTunes. I was upset! Did I lose all my new and regular listeners just like that? And why?

I sent an email to the iTunes Store Customer Support to find out what was going on, not really expecting an answer. But I got a response right away, and that's how I met Andrew. He helped figure out my problem and within a few days solipsistic NATION was back on iTunes. Not with going into what caused the problem, I'm just glad it got resolved so quickly.

Look, I already love Apple, and this was yet another reason to love them even more, and it's just another example why they are such a phenomenon.

So, Andrew, if you're reading this, thanks!

Join us again next week. I'll be celebrating 300 episodes of solipsistic NATION. I'll talk about where we've been, how the show has exploded in the last year, and where I'll take the show in 2013. Big news! And of course, great music!

See you then!

01. Rainbow Vector "Newsflash"
02. Textural Being "+"
03. Interview with Albet Borkent, founder of Spiritech Records
04. Lingua Lustra "Journey With The Flower Mobile To The Central Temple Of Bliss"
05. Data Rebel "Rifflekt"
06. Olexa "Wanderer"
07. Enoruos "Yggdrasil"
08. Lingua Lustra "Caravan To Utopia"
09. Interview with Albet Borkent, founder of Spiritech Records
10. Snufmumriko "Rites Of December"
11. Lingua Lustra "Fluxon (excerpt)"
12. Interview with Albet Borkent, founder of Spiritech Records

Dope Records

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