solipsistic NATION: Live Electronica

Today's show posed an unusual problem.

solipsistic NATION is an hour long program, more or less. That's usually not a problem but once a month on solipsistic NATION I feature a live set from an electronic musician and not all of their sets are an hour long. When that happens I'll either play some of their studio tracks afterwards or if their live set is around 30 minutes I'll pair them up with a live set by another artist. Problem solved.

But as I said, today's show posed an unusual problem.

Our guest on today's show is Jamie Watts, AKA KiloWatts and will listen to his performance at the Forward Festival in Washington D.C. recorded earlier this year.

I've always dug KiloWatts' music because Jamie has a knack for crafting songs that have a kind of hopeful buoyancy to them. Go listen to The Headphone Experience or Native State Records editions of solipsistic NATION to see what I mean.

Jamie's been a busy guy this year. In 2009 he released Six Silicates and Undercurrent and a third album, Focus & Flow, out later this month that is a collaboration with Vanek. I was lucky that I asked Jamie to be on the show months ago because otherwise I don't know where he'd find the time to do it now. Jamie was kind enough to send me a recording of his live set at the Forward Festival and here we get to the problem: instead of just clocking in at an hour or less Jamie's live set is an hour and 20 minutes long!

As a rule, I try to keep solipsistic NATION to an hour . I suppose I could of just chopped off 20 minutes but I really didn't want to do that because I really like his live set and I know you will to. In the end I decided to play his entire set. This is a podcast, after all, so I don't always have to adhere to a rigid length to the show. The only problem that remained is that for those of you who listen to solipsistic NATION on KYOURadio will only hear the abridged version of Jamie's performance at the Forward Festival. Happily, you can always listen to the performance in it's entirety at solipsisticnation.com.

Anyway, enjoy today's show. Come back next and we'll do it all over again. But completely different.

01. KiloWatts "Live at Forward Festival (Washington D.C., March 21, 2009)"

02. Interview with KiloWatts

Once a month on solipsistic NATION I feature a live performance from an electronic music. Recent shows have included live sets from Exillon, Rena Jones and Milieu. This week's show features a concert by Guy Andrews of Iambic recorded at the 2008 Waveform Festival.

I first discovered the music of Iambic through Travis Nobles, who runs the hiddenplace music blog. Travis has been a guest DJ on Solipsistic Nation several times (here and here) and on each show he played some beautiful tracks by Iambic. Iambic seamlessly blends Jazz, Soundscape, IDM, Post-Rock and Break Beat. I was so impressed with Iambic's music that I knew I had to have him on the show.

Speaking of which, today's show was originally planned to be released in June but due to scheduling conflicts I had to push it back until August. I mention this because during my interview with Guy he mentions some concerts he'll be performing at that have since passed.

I've listened to Iambic's live set recorded at Waveform Festival many times and it's a pleasure to be able to play if for you on today's show!

Upcoming live sets on solipsistic NATION will feature performances from KiloWatts, Terminal 11, ill.gates and Eskmo.

01. Iambic "Live (2008 Waveform Festival)"

02. Interview with Guy Andres of Iambic

03. Iambic "Break57"

04. Iambic "Terra

Once a month on solipsistic NATION I feature a live performance from an electronic musician. Recent shows have included live sets from Rena Jones, Milieu and Lokua. Today's show features Exillon's concert at Bang Face.

Jay Fields is the man behind Exillon and I first heard his music when I interviewed Nicolas Chevreux and played music from his label, Ad Noiseam. Jay, like so many electronic musicians, played traditional instruments like the drums, guitar and bass in his teens. That changed when he got his first computer and realized that he could have complete control over every aspect of his music. His love for electronic music kicked into high gear when his friends gave him the Impulse Tracker, a simple, sample based sequencer used by some in the demoscene. Exillon performs frantic IDM with an acid twist.

I was hoping to release Jay's live set last month to help promote his concert for The Sisters of Perpetual Motion that took place in San Francisco, June 27th, but was unable to due to a scheduling conflict. Sorry about that!

Bang Face is a monthly event that is held at the Electrowerkz in Islington, North London and has been running since October 2003. The next Bang Face event takes place in August and features a line-up that includes Luke Vibert, Pinch, Bong-Ra, Appleblim and much, much more!

If you liked today's show, mention it on your blog or give solipsistic NATION a quick one to five star review on iTunes so I can spread the virus that is solipsistic NATION further and wider!

01. Exillon "Live at Bang Fest (February 8, 2008)"

02. Interview with Jay Fields of Exillon

If this is your first time tuning into solipsistic NATION you should know that the first Friday of each month I feature a recording of a live performance from an electronic musician.

Recent shows have included live sets from Amon Tobin, Milieu and Lokua. This week's show features Rena Jones' concert recorded at The Triple Door for the Decibel Festival Fundraiser in Seattle recorded on May 6, 2009. The show also included performances from Gala with Helios, Lusine and the Seattle Piano Collective.

Rena is a multi-instrumentalist and sound engineer who weaves traditional instruments such as the violin and cello with digital instruments. Rena has also provided background music for the award winning video games Dance Dance Revolution and Karaoke Revolution.

Rena Jones has also released tracks with such reputable international labels as Iboga Records, Spun Records, Aleph Zero Records and Native State Records.

If memory serves, I first heard Rena Jones music on the new defunct Fake Science podcast. I was immediately struck by Rena's beautiful music. Some how she was able to weave the feeling of stillness and movement together in a spell of the eternal now. Heady stuff! I was so enchanted that I had her come on the Just Chill edition of solipsistic NATION to talk about her album, Driftwood. Rena has since launched her own label, Cartesian Binary Recordings, and her first release on her label will be her album, Indra's Web. I thought this would be the perfect time to have Rena back on solipsistic Nation to talk about her new label and album!

By the way, I highly recommend you read Fluid Motion's interview with Rena and their review of Indra's Web.

01. Rena Jones "Live at The Triple Door (May 6 2009)"

02. Interview with Rena Jones

03. Rena Jones "A Lullaby for Corvis"

04. Rena Jones "Helix"

05. Rena Jones "Helix (EVAC Remix)"

The first Friday of each month I feature a recording of a live performance from an electronic musician.

Towards the end of 2008 I found myself scrambling to find those recordings of live performances and my resolution for 2009 was not to let that happen again. I got proactive and contacted about a hundered artists to appear on the show. I figured that out of those hundred artists only a handful would respond but that would be enough to get me through 2009. What I didn't expect was how MANY people would get back to me about being on the show! I'm not only covered for the rest of 2009 but well into 2010 as well!

Some of the live sets you can expect to hear in the next few months will come from Iambic, Terminal 11, ill.gates, Rena Jones, KiloWatts, Altus, Exillon and The Orb.

On today's show we have a live set from Milieu.

Milieu is Brian Grainger. Brian has had releases on such labels as U-Cover, Infraction, Awkward Silence, Boltfish, Attacknine and Benbecula. Brian also runs small boutique labels Expanding Electronic Diversity, Second Sun Recordings and Install with David Tagg, in addition to maintaining his own imprint, Milieu Music. Most recently, Brian has recorded music and sound for the Seumas McNally nominated game Dyson.

01. Milieu "Live At 114RKD (March 8, 2009)"

02. Interview with Brian Grainger of Milieu

03. Milieu "Autumn Fog Lifts (Yearbook Version)"

04. Milieu "Coastline"

05. Milieu "Night Ride"

When I first began featuring live sets on solipsistic NATION I thought it would be a once and a while sort of thing. Kind of a treat, really. But as solipsistic NATION progressed it became a monthly segment on the show. Even so, getting live sets on solipsistic NATION is a challenge and more than once I've had to scramble to get material for the show so my resolution for 2009 is to plan the live sets well in advance.

The live sets you can expect on solipsistic NATION will come from Milieu, Iambic, ill.gates, Exillon, Rena Jones, and, hopefully, The Orb.

This month we have not one but two live sets from Lokua.

The first live set was performed at the Morseland restaurant in Chicago on March 25th. The second live set was also recorded at the Morseland restaurant on March 18th.

Lokua is Joshua Keckner and is based out of Chicago. Lokua's music is rooted in hip hop and has a ambient and atmospheric feel to his music. Lokua has a back catalog of tracks hovering in the thousands and you can download his netrelease Trails album at Moment Sound, a netlabel that is maintained and curated by a select musicians from Chicago.

On this week's show I'll also announce the winners of Gary Bredow's documentary, High Tech Soul DVD, Paul Sizer's graphic novel, BPM; and Terrance Dean's autobiography, Hiding in Hip Hop from last week's giveaway contest.

01. Lokua "Live @ Morseland (03-25-09)

02. Lokua "Live @ Morseland (03-18-09)

03. Interview with Lokua

04. Lokua "Thanks Rainbow" [FREE DOWNLOAD]

05. Lokua "C Modified" [FREE DOWNLOAD]

This week on solipsistic NATION I have not one, but two live sets!

The first live set comes to us by way of Legato in Shibuya, Japan and is part of the Made in Glitch events. Made In Glitch is the first and only glitch hop party in Japan. Born on the west coast of the States, and now becoming established all over Europe, Glitch is a fusion of hip hop, electronic music and broken beats. The set features edIT of the Glitch Mob and was recorded in November of 2008.

If you like what you hear then you'll want to download the January 30, 2009 edition of solipsistic NATION where my guests were edIT and Boreta.

The second live set was recorded by Bass Science for Sub FM. Bass Science are MattB and Steve Nalepa. Sub FM is an online radio station dedicated to broadcasting the best in Dubstep, Garage, Grime, Dub and more!

This isn't the first time I've had Bass Science on the show and you can download their first appearance on solipsistic NATION. Steve also has been on the show and you can also download his live set he recorded for the Dub Beautiful Collective.

This week's show is sponsored by AteBits, developers of Tweetie, a wonderful fast, full-featured client for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. AteBits is also generously giving away three copies of Tweetie on today's show. Email me at [email protected] and you could win a copy of Tweetie for yourself!

You can find me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/solipsistic

01. Made In Glitch "Live in Legato, Shibuya (November 8, 2008)"

02. Bass Science "Live on Syb FM (December 11, 2008)"

03. Interview with MattB of Bass Science

I've picked up a bunch of new listeners the last couple of weeks and if that happens to be you, thanks for listening!

The first Friday of each month I feature a live electronic music performance. Previous shows have included artists such as Amon Tobin, Meat Beat Manifesto and Bass Science. This week's show features a live set from Vergel Evans recorded Live at Tresor back in November.

A few months ago I put the word out on Twitter that I was looking for more live sets to feature on solipsistic NAITON and one of the people who got back to me was Vergel.

Vergel and I had been talking back and forth on Twitter for a while and had sent me a track or two in the past to listen to. Not only is Vergel influence by the Detroit techno sound but hes always had something insightful to say so I was really looking forward to having him on the show.

I wasn't wrong, either. In fact, my interview with Vergel went longer than I normally allow. While I enjoy having guests on solipsistic NAITON the thrust of the show has been, and always will be, the music. But Vergel is so passionate about music and had such interesting and witty things to say about the modern state of music that I let him go on longer then I would normally let a guest talk. I'm sure you'll agree that it was worth it.

By the way, Vergel produces a podcast of his own called Lx7 that you should check out. As long as you're clicking link, also visit his Assembler Techno Fanzine.

You can follow Vergel on Twitter at twitter.com/vveerrgg.

On, and I'm at twitter.com/solipsistic.

As long as I'm giving out Twitter addreses, I'm going to giveaway a free t shirt from Under Republic at the end of today's show and you can follow Under Republic at, you guessed it, twitter.com/UnderRepublic.

01. Vergel Evans "Live at Tresor (11/12/2008)"

02. Interview with Vergel Evans

A lot of people got MP3 players like iPods, iPhones and Zunes as gifts for the holidays and have been downloading podcasts to put on their new toys. If that happens to be you then you're in for a treat. Today's show is beat master and sonic soundsmith, Amon Tobin.

Amon has recorded some incredible albums such as Bricolage, Permutation and Supermodified. Even his earlier releases that he recorded under the name Cujo sound as fresh today as they did in 1996. His most recent release is Foley Room, and once again Amon pushed himself to explore the possibilities of sound and music.

If you're unfamiliar with Amon I encourage you to download the March 21st, 2008 edition of solipsistic NATION. That show feature an interview with Amon Tobin about his musical career and a retrospective mix of select tracks from his albums.

Once a month on solipsistic NATION I feature a live performance of electronic music and on this week's live set comes to from Amon Tobin, recorded in Brussels for his Foley Room tour.

If you'd like to hear Amon's concert without the interview, you can download his Foley Room Recorded Live In Brussels here.

01. Amon Tobin "Into The Dark"

02. Amon Tobin "Horsefish Live Mix"

03. Cardiacs "The Alphabet Business Concern (Home Of Fadeless Splendor)"

04. Two Fingers "Two Fingers (White Label)"

05. Spank Rock "Bump Switch Rmx"

06. Two Fingers "Two Fingers (White Label)"

07. Amon Tobin "Esthers"

08. Amon Tobin "Throwback Intro To SS Live 1"

09. Zilla / King Cannibal "Aragami Style"

10. Kelis "Aww Shit"

11. Two Fingers "Two Fingers (White Label)"

12. Amon Tobin "Kitchen Sink Live Mix"

13. Amon Tobin "Big Furry Head"

14. Tech Itch "Know"

15. Amon Tobin "Verbal ACC"

16. Two Fingers "Two Fingers (White Label)"

17. Boxcutter "Grub"

18. Autechre "Doctrine"

19. Amon Tobin "Foley Room"

20. Amon Tobin "White Label"

21. Dom N Roland "Ritual"

22. Amon Tobin / Noisia "Tobin/Noisia Collab Work In Progress (White Label)"

23. Konflict "Messiah (Noisia Rmx)"

24. Spank Rock "Get On The Floor (Disco D)"

25. Nice Nice "Uh-Oh"

26. Amon Tobin "Straight Psyche"

27. Autechre "Second Bad Vibel"

28. Noisia "B.R.E.E.Z.E."

29. Noisia "Concussion"

30. Kriptic Minds And Leon Switch "No Remorse"

31. Amon Tobin "Keep Your Distance"

D.D.T. was a hardcore aggro-industrial electronic act that was together in Boston from the late 1980's until the mid 1990's. Noel McKenna did drum programming and vocals, Lisa Sirois did samples and some vocals, and Elaine Walker (who joined in late 1991) did synth programming. Elaine joined D.D.T. at the same time she was forming ZIA. The first ZIA lineup consisted of Noel McKenna and Lisa Sirois of D.D.T. Where are they now? Noel is now a Buddhist Monk in upstate New York and Lisa is "DJ Goldilox" in San Francisco.

Today's live performance features industrial band, D.D.T.

Ever since I started I started this segment I've been looking forward to this particular show. In fact, I wanted to play D.D.T.'s performance immediatley but I wanted to hold off until October, since that seemed the appropriate time of year to put out this episode.

First, let me give you a little history.

Waaaaaay back in the 80s I was dating a girl by the name of Arni. One of her friends was named Noel McKenna and a few years later he had started an industrial act called D.D.T. Since I featured live bands on my show I invited Noel and his partner in crime, Goldilox, to come to the station and play.

At the time my soundman was an action figure of a man named Harry Wallace. I could fill up several shows with stories about his crazy life but I'll save that for another time. The best way I can some up Harry is that he should have had the world "Go!" tattooed on his forehad in capital letters.

Anyway... Harry really, really dug the band and when they asked him to do sound for their live shows he went at it like he did every thing in life, with both guns blazing!

About a year later Elaine Walker joined D.D.T. and I think she really fleshed out the band with her microtonal influence. They came back to the station in November of 1991 and played another set, which is the recording you're going to hear on today's show.

Noel is currently on retreat as a Buddhist monk, Goldilocks is helping run Sleevin Records and on the road, and Elaine is brewing trouble with her band Zia and I had the pleasure of having them on solipsistic NATION back in May.

01. D.D.T. "Live on WMFO 91.5 FM"