Velapene Screen, Live

Can I share something with you that is simultaneously mind blowing and utterly mundane?

I get anywhere from 50 to 250 tracks emailed my way every week. Let me repeat that: every week. And I've made a pact with myself that if musicians or music labels are generous enough to send music my way to play on the show then I feel obligated to every single song.

As you can imagine, that takes a lot of time.

My strategy to deal with this constant geyser of music is to listen to a couple hours of hours a day of music on my phone that has been sent my way in the last week on random. Listening to music on random gives me an approximation what an album sounds like. I realize it's not fair to the artists but it would take me forever to listen to each and every album from start to finish. Random's just faster.

Anyway, whenever a really good track comes on that I flag it for consideration to play on the show. And tracks from Velapene Screen's album, What If They Can't Trust You?, just kept popping up again and again, demanding my attention. Who the hell was this guy? Whoever he was, his music is slamming! I wasn't surprised, What If They Can't Trust You? is a Centrifuge release, and The Centrifuge puts out quality music. Check out my interview with The Centrifuge's Wassim if you don't believe me.

And as I was listening to yet another killer track from Velapene Screen I suddenly saw him post something to Twitter. I wondered if he'd be interested on coming on the show with a live set and sent him a Tweet. Minutes later he Tweeted back that he was interested. We talked further and the results is today's show.

On the surface that's not such an amazing story but if you think about it, it's almost magical.

Musicians and music labels send me music to download which I might later play on my show, which is available as a podcast or streaming from an internet radio station. And I'm deluged in music. All. The. Time. And I listen to this stuff, anywhere I go, on my phone. And I can reach out and contact the musicians I'd like to come on the show by posting message in the aether. Can you fucking believe that shit?

Like I said: utterly mundane but completely magical.

Anyway, listen to today's show featuring a chat with Chris Ghiraldi, the man behind Velapene Screen, and Chris' in-studio performance! His whole life is magical. Became a touring musician at a young age, won the Philly Laptop Battle in 2004 and the New York City Laptop Battle in 2006, received attention from Rolling Stone, remixed artists including Interpol, Meat Beat Manifesto, Radiohead and Regina Spektor, etc.

Before I get out of Dodge, keep your fingers crossed because next month's Live show may feature a set from the Stereo MCs! I hope I didn't jinx it.

See you next week!

01. Velapene Screen "Breaks The Habit" [FREE DOWNLOAD]

02. Velapene Screen "Breathe Again (Sense's In, Out and Around Mix)" [FREE DOWNLOAD]

03. Interview with Chris Ghiraldi of Velapene Screen

04. Velapene Screen "Live"