09.19.08 Pitfalls of CompilationsLike every able minded wit in this new century's culture wars, I have a podcast. In all humility it is a simple affair, intended to be bi-weekly, it now struggles along at almost a monthly pace. The original intent, beyond the glorious wealth and epic fame of being a podcaster, was to create a feedback loop of finding new music, making it available as a piece, and then, of course, finding more. Little did know the amount of time needed to put together one hour of music. I bete musicians feel the same, only more so.. .Part of the issue is time spent listening to music. I had seriously underestimated the amount of time and attention that this requires. The basic necessity, to listen intently to a song, compounded by the ridiculous wealth in good music that our age best exemplifies, is basically absurd. Thanks to the internet, WFMU's Antique Phonograph show is as easily available as that Moxie Fruvous bootleg I got kicking around somewhere. By which I mean; the obscure areifacts are everywhere it just listening. And once you start you realize how endless it all is.I spend more time now "culling the herd" than finding the selections. My average show starts at around three hours long - then I spend a few days listening and removing and adding on, until I've gotten to that CD-R sweet spot of 80 min. Usually another couple of days are spent juggling the order of tracks until their sequence is coherent. Another dat tweaking levels and getting the fades right, and often a last minute substitution or two. Fianlly the set list is compiled, and depending on time constraints I may link to the artists and I may write comments. In the olden days of "leisure time" I'd even record spoken bits to intro and seqway songs and sections. this is unlikely to happen now.In the interests of saying something, here are the rationalizations for track inclusion and highlights for the mix I have here:01 - Amon Tobin - Get Your Snack OnThe heavy textures and repititive moments of this are given a lighter and jazzier feel by the diverse organic sounding palatte of samples.02 - Matmos - Zealous Order of Candied KnightsFollowing on from that orgainc sound is Matmos who has made some of the most insightfult inroads of producing along thematic lines. This is from their Civil War album. 03 - People Like Us - My Son Jim (excerpt)04 - Hifana - Wamono PV05 - The Books - It Never Changes to Stop06 - Kid Koala - Fender BenderProbably on of the most skilled turntabilists of this generation. This is one of the more expansive tracks from his first album - it features a large variety of well meshed vinyl.07 - Cex - OD'd on First Base08 - Dj Food & DK - Let's Play DrumsFrom thier "Now, Listen!" album this "track" is not the best - but it has a very good beat, yes?09 - Kid606 - MP3 Killed The CD StarOne of the more accessible tracks from this laptop artist, here edited to a more managable size.10 - Mum - Abakvid Tvaer Hædir,,,,sundlau11 - Dj Vadim - Dig Yourself Baby12 - Prefuse 73 & the Books - Pagina Cuatro13 - Dj Z-Trip & Dj P - Uneasy Listening Track 4Off of their freely downloadable album of the same name.14 - Amon Tobin - Foley RoomA studio heavy music concrete with a largely IDM influenced percussion the track is a step away from his earlier jazzy sound.15 - Dj Shadow - Building Steam with a Grain of Salt (excerpt)16 - Proem - Negativ - Bolt Action A17 - Proem - Negativ - Bolt Action A17 - Skalpel - Tension18 - Plastiq Phantom - Experimentation on Foreign Light19 - Negativland - What's Music (excerpt)20 - Radio Soulwax - paul simon - ladytron - (guitarsolo)21 - Volcano The Bear - Five Hundred Boy Piano (excerpt)22 - Richard Devine - block, variation23 -Kid Koala - Basin Street Blues24 - Squarepusher & MC Twin Tub - Full Rinse25 - The Art Of Noise - How To Kill26 - Man or Astroman - A Simple Text FileA wonderful printer piece, true electronicaimage from: Nietzsche Family CircusCoincidentally this is from a music diary for the Brooklyn College cc1.3 class. The mix itself was done in the vein of finding electronic music of a certain odd caliber after a discussion of the matter with the professor. For those curious, yes, college is going well, thanks for asking. I may not be making these show too often anymore but it is a nice break from the studies - and in this case fits in well besides them.