The Sonic Cloth

TSC has re-emerged from the normative abyss and we brought back some hard rockin' dinosaur riffs with us. I invited my good pal and brother in riffology, Clayton, over to assemble a tracklist of hard rock, heavy psych, proto metal, and heavy blues. We focus mostly on the 70's forefathers in this one. We'll be back for Riff City (The Students) where we grade riff craftsmanship over the last 20 years or so. 

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I’m joined by fellow music hysteric, Thom Wasluck of Planning For Burial, Glowing Window Recordings, and posterboy for The Flenser. We talk growing up in the 90’s, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and the vastness of excavating 90’s underground rock. We dug through our record shelves and desktop folders to arrive at eight songs for the episode’s tracklist and well, this thing came out sounding more 90’s than either of us would have thought. We even pulled it off without things getting grungy or slackery. Thom brought the deep cuts. I brought the basic bitch picks. 

Listen to Planning for Burial

Planning for Burial tracks played:

• Dull Knife Pt.I, Below the House (2017)

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We’re back from a brief hiatus and are shifting away from heavy and into the light. We are setting out in search of the dreamiest and most blissed out sounds by scouring the valleys of dream pop, shoegaze, ambient, folk, and the spaces in between. If it’s heavenly, floaty, or dreamy then we want it. Draw a hot bath, curl up into a ball, and prepare to re-enter the womb because we are doing our damnedest to lull you into an ethereal state of consciousness. #vibez

Follow @thesonicclothpodcast on Instagram to grab the tracklist

Hit a dude up @ [email protected]

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USBM...no four letters are more reviled to the global cvlt black metal goon squad (and yes, we’re very aware of NSBM). Esteemed writer (Decibel Magazine) and fellow music obsessive, Dan Lake, joins me as we make a case for this maligned and miraculous rabbit hole of American Black Metal music. We discuss his excellent new book, “USBM: A Revolution of Identity in American Black Metal”, the roots and evolution of black metal in this here United States, and we manage to painstakingly pull together an indispensable track list of false black metal americano style.

Follow Dan’s writings @ Decibel 

Pick up a copy of USBM: A Revolution of Identity in American Black Metal

Follow USBM: The Book on Facebook & Instagram

Follow @thesonicclothpodcast on Instagram to grab the tracklist

Hit a dude up @ [email protected]

Donate to The Sonic Cloth's chip fund

The second episode in a two-part series on the wizards of the synthesizer with a focus on those artists twisting knobs in the 1990’s - 2020. Analog gurus like John Carpenter, Eno, Tangerine Dream, Suzanne Ciani, and Vangelis produced plenty of copy-cat fetishists but only a few spiritual protegees. The 90’s brought with it the advent of hybrid rigs thanks to digital signal processing. But more tools in the toolbox ≠ synth slappers. And what monster would totally abandon the celestial warmth of analog gear? Here, we turn up our nose at the synthwave tag on bandcamp - opting to hear how synthesizer sounds have evolved into territories the original synth wizards may have never envisioned. 

Follow @thesonicclothpodcast on Instagram to grab the tracklist

Hit a dude up @ [email protected]

Donate to my chip fund @ https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/thesoniccloth

The first of a two-parter series on the wizards of the synthesizer. We hone in on the 70’s and 80’s and pluck out the troo nerds and flush them down the rabbit hole one by one. What are we after here? Easy. Just picture someone sitting down in front of a rack of analog synths and not emerging from that spot for three weeks. 

We get into everything from progressive electronic music to soundtrack composers to minimalists to krautrock to early breakbeat shit. All of these bleeps and bloops turned out to be insanely influential to the advent of electronic music, film scoring, cosmic jammy music, every genre that ends with the word “wave”, and much much more (maybe). 

Stay subscribed because Part II is forthcoming: Synth Wizards (The Students: 1990’s - Now). 

Donate to my chip fund @ https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/thesoniccloth

Follow @thesonicclothpodcast on Instagram to grab the tracklist

Hit a dude up @ [email protected]

For this episode, we hand over the reigns to Toronto-based experimental guitarist, improvisational artist, and DIY label owner, Chandan Narayan, of the musical project, Carrom, who released two excellent tapes and a corresponding compilation of those two releases ("Alter​-​destinies​/​Prehistories"). We discuss Chandan’s musical lineage leading up to Carrom, weird Arizona musical connections, the relevancy of cultural heritage in music, and then jump into a track-by-track playlist of sounds that inspire him and Carrom. Everything from SST punk to South Indian classical sounds to weirdo avant-rock shows up here and it’s really fun to go back and listen to the Carrom material after taking in this wide-ranging playlist, which is why you should pick up the latest Carrom tape or the “Alter-Destinies/Prehistories” LP at carronboard.bandcamp.com 

Also check out the Radio Khiyaban label who jointly put out the “Alter-Destinies” cassette at radiokhiyaban.bandcamp.com/music

Follow Chandan on Twitter at twitter.com/GutStringMore of these handing the aux episodes to come. Hit me at @[email protected] if you wanna pitch me somethin shweet.

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Free yourself up for the next three or so hours; for the time hath arrived to worship the riff. Special guest, Phil of Phil’s Breakfast Metal Podcast, joins me as we tunnel into the mind-bending vaults of the best weirdo extreme metal label in the game right now, the uncompromising I, Voidhanger Records. Together, Phil and I compiled eight tracks that should serve as a solid primer into the cult. Get all of your physical and digital swag at I, Voidhanger on bandcamp. 

Subscribe to one of the best metal podcasts out there: Phil’s Breakfast Metal Podcast.

Follow @thesonicclothpodcast on Instagram to grab the tracklist

TSC & PBM Honorable Mentions:

• XYTHLIA - Immortality Through Quantum Suicide - Ablation of Subconscious

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If beats that barely bump are what you’re looking for, I invite you to hop in the whip while we drive around the city and marinate in the quieter side of boom bap, rap, hip hop, whatever. In this rabbit hole, we’re tracking down rap music that is ignoring almost every trend in modern hip hop without devolving into pure abstraction. The early 90’s east coast influence is strong here but it’s treated as more of a launching off point than strict era worship. The most gorgeous beats are being made in this lane. The most vicious MC’s are rapping over said beats in this lane. And the freakiest freaks are exercising their funkiest selves in this lane. We are making a strong case for the quieter side of boom bap from the past 10 years. New rules are being written: it doesn’t have to bump to bump. 

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Part deux of our expedition into ecstatic music. This episode will make a lot more sense if you’ve listened to the previous episode, TSC07: Ecstatic Music (The Teachers).  Just sayin. Here, we look to the students to see if they paid attention in class. Less of a thru-line between generations and more of a continuation of ecstatic sounds into the modern era where culture, tech, and globalization have run amok. Ultimately, we’re looking for the same things: free-form expression, incantations and exorcisms, mystic jams...basically any music that seizes your attention, commands it, and makes it known that you don’t control you.