So let's talk about today's show.

First off, most of the tracks featured on today's show come from Ad Noiseam and Tympanik Audio.

First up from Ad Noiseam is The Teknoist from his wonderfully titled first full-length album, ...Like A Hurricane Made Of Zombies. Definitely stuff to make your ears bleed! Also from Ad Noiseam is Enduser, an artists I've been meaning to feature on solipsistic NATION for a very long time. I'm thrilled to finally be able to play a track from his Pushing Back album. The we've got a track from Sickboy's Time To Play CD. From Omelette Records we've got the weird and wonderful Frank Riggio who crafts songs that often remind me of Amon Tobin's Out From Out Where album (by the way, you can download Riggio's Noise Thinking EP absolutely for free here). Going back to Ad Noiseam, we also have tow tracks from Abelcain and Cdatakill from their Passage album. From there we move on to a track from Meat Beat Manifesto's Autoimmune album available on Metropolis Records. From Tympanik Audio we've got a track from Ad·ver·sary and then we bounce back to Ad Noiseam with from Larvae and then back to Tympanik with Pandora's Black Book and Integral. We'll close this week's show with a track from Blackfilm's self titled album on Spectraliquid.

If I'm going to stay true to form then next week I guess I'll have to play a set of soothing and relaxing music. Maybe I'll do a mix of industrial music just to keep you on your toes.

If you're craving more music featured on today's show then I suggest listening to the Ad Noiseam, Tympanik Audio, Spectraliquid and Metropolis Records record label showcases on solipsistic NATION. You also might want to listen to the mix Blackfilm put together for solipsistic NATION or Meat Beat Manifesto's live set.

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!

Photo Credit: BFLV

1. The Teknoist "No Such Luck"
2. Enduser "The Maker"
3. Sickboy "Spartan Gabba"
4. Frank Riggio "Mini Cum Shot" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. Abelcain "Musca Domestica (Cdatakill Remix)"
6. Cdatakill "Tornado Sirens (Abelcain Remix)"
7. Meat Beat Manifesto "Less"
8. Ad·ver·sary "Waiting For Gira (Phylr Remix)"
9. Larvae "Gigan And The Mysterians"
10. Pandora's Black Book "The Wait"
11. Displacer "The Witching Hour"
12. Integral "Moonwalk"
13. Blackfilm "Five Years"

Since re-launching solipsistic NATION as a podcast I've done over 25 episodes showcasing records labels that you absolutely need to know about. There are so many labels putting out such amazing releases that it some times take months, if not years, to get get to. One such label is n5MD.

n5MD was unique from the start. Founder Mike Cadoo launched n5MD as a MiniDisc-only label (hence the name, an acronym for "No Fives, Minidiscs!"). n5MD eventually transitioned to CDs when they Sony stopped manufacturing pre-recorded MiniDiscs. Whatever the platform, almost from the very beginning Mike was putting out releases that he defines as "emotional experiments in music."

What I've always found so charming is that the releases on n5MD don't just provide musics that establishes a mood, the releases on n5MD take you on an emotional journey, which I find far more compelling and interesting. Anyone can play a chord in E minor that will evoke an emotional response but it's much more difficult to build a song is emotionally complex and takes you places in your imagination. Let me take that back. There are plenty of people who can do that, there are just few people who do it well and do it with sincerity and I think that's what n5MD is all about.

If that isn't enough for you, n5MD also has launched sister labels Enpeg Digital and Nonresponse. Enpeg Digital is the digital only division of n5MD while Nonresponse is a label run by Clay Emerson and Ian Pullman of Loess.

I know you're going to love today's show and if you'd like to hear more music from n5MD I suggest you download the n5md Label Sampler with Bitcrush from XLR8R's podcast.

Speaking of podcasts, two weeks ago I put together a mix of experimental and psychedelic music for the always excellent Spartacus Roosevelt podcast which you can download here.

As much as I love electronic music I also love many different genres of music. The format of solipsistic NATION doesn't allow me to explore those other kinds of music n the show so I made a deal with Spartacus: he can host an episode of solipsistic NATION and play electronic music he digs if I can host an episode of Spartacus Roosevelt. Fortunately he agreed and you can expect a mix from him on an upcoming show. In the meantime, check you out the mix I did for his show. It's got everything from the Butthole Surfers to Zoviet France and it will melt your brain!

Finally, if you're digging solipsistic NATION why not mention us on your blog or on Twitter. Maybe even give solipsistic NATION a one to five star rating iTunes. Thanks!

1. Funckarma "The Other Dredge"
2. Ruxpin "A Sunrise (and They Turned into Stones)"
3. Another Electronic Musician "Congee"
4. Interview with Mike Cadoo, founder of n5MD
5. Phylum Sinter "What Once Was One Now Adds Two"
6. Fell "Bulgaria"
7. SubtractiveLAD "Through The Trees"
8. Interview with Mike Cadoo, founder of n5MD
9. Loess "Nomon"
10. Proem "Sputterly"
11. Interview with Mike Cadoo, founder of n5MD
12. Plastik Joy "Hands"
13. Lights Out Asia "Radars Over the Ghost Of Chernobyl"
14. Near The Parenthesis "Departing Gate"
15. Interview with Mike Cadoo, founder of n5MD
16. Last Days "Blue And White Flowers"

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.

1. Rena Jones "Live at The Triple Door (May 6 2009)"
2. Interview with Rena Jones
3. Rena Jones "A Lullaby for Corvis"
4. Rena Jones "Helix"
5. Rena Jones "Helix (EVAC Remix)"

Rena Jones - Open Me Slowly

Rena Jones Live @ Someday Lounge

Once a month on solipsistic NATION I feature a live set from a musician and showcase a music label that is putting out amazing releases. While this format keeps solipsistic NATION and unique amongst other shows that specialize in electronic music it really doesn't give me the opportunity to put together mixes of my own. That said, I get very excited whenever I can put together a mix for the show.

Last week I did a mix of dubstep. I've heard it said many times in the past that dubstep is drum and bass slowed down and that inspired me to put together a drum and bass mix for this week's show.

Like all other sub genres of electronic music drum and bass comes in a variety of different styles and moods. I was sorely tempted to do a mix of fluid drum and bass for a very sexy and jazzy feel but I decided to go in the opposite direction and play some incredibly fierce drum and bass. I'll admit right here that I've always been attracted to the aggressive aspects of drum and bass. It's such a visceral experience that I just can't resist! If you're more into fluid drum and bass, don't worry, I'll play some of that on the show in the next few months.

For this week's solipsistic NATION I've put together some of the fiercest drum and bass tracks I've come across in the last few months. As an added bonus, most of the tracks can be downloaded absolutely for free! Check the playlist below to download some of the MP3s of tracks featured on today's show.

One label that has consistently put out fantastic drum and bass is Zardonic Recordings. I first came across Zardonic Recordings after reading about the label on the Phlow Magazine website. Just about everything I've heard on Zardonic Recordings is fantastic and it just blows my mind that they give their music away for free. Nearly everything in their catalogue I'd be happy to spend my hard earned cash on.

Another label featured on today's show is PlainAudio. Like Zardonic Recordings, PlainAudio is a net label that puts out mind blowing music that you can download for free. Whether it's drum and bass, experimental or electronic music I've yet to hear a bad track from PlainAudio.

One of the artists that appears on this week's show is The Angel. The Angel is a record producer, programmer, remixer, DJ and film composer and has scored music for such films and television programs as Boiler Room, KiDULTHOOD and Standoff. We'll have The Angel on an upcoming edition of solipsistic NATION to talk about digitally scoring music for movies and television.

Another artist I wanted to mention is Kubiks. I had the pleasure of talking with Kubiks on my previous show, the Small World. I've always dug Kubiks music so it's a pleasure to play one of his tracks on this week's show.

I hope you enjoy this week's drum and bass mix. If you're craving more drum and bass, why not download the Drum and Bass for Your Face!, Sturm und Bass and Biotron editions of solipsistic NATION.

See you next week!

Photo Credit: Willis Lucero

1. Zardonic & Malsum "Natural Born Killers" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
2. The Angel "Selector (On Tha Side Of Midnite) (feat. Cokni O'Dire) [E-Sassin Remix]" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
3. Blal "Noise Control (Zardonic Edit)" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
4. Hek187 "Rockwool Vip" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. Kubiks "Rendered (Kubiks Remix)"
6. Panda "Monkey Island"
7. Ramsey & USB "Cut Throat" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
8. Triplet & Lehis "Nebyval'shina" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
9. Buzz "Revelation" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
10. Macc "Air Drumming" [FREE DOWNLOAD]

To keep solipsistic NATION fresh I've followed a few rules. For example, a rarely play music from the same artists unless they've released something truly phenomenal.

On of the other rules I try to adhere to is not to play music from a specific genre of electronic music to often. That's important because otherwise I could easily play breakbeat tracks on solipsistic NATION week after week. But sometimes I follow that rule to rigidly. Take this week's show, for example, which features a mix made up entirely of dubstep tracks.

I love dubstep. It has many moods: dubstep can be playful, spiritual or downright menacing and the bass and the drums always moves the music forward. But I have to watch myself or I'll play dubstep on the show constantly. I followed my one of my rules so blindly that I realized that it's been over a year since I've done a show dedicated to dubstep. That's much too long!

So I present to you on this week's solipsistic NATION a mix of dubstep tracks. Some artists, like Ebola and Cardopusher are more aggro and experimental, while other artists like Bionics and Frescoe are more traditional in their approach to dubstep ( considering that dubstep has only been around for a couple of years makes that an absurd statement - dubstep hasn't been around long enough to have an established tradition). There's something for everyone and I know you'll dig this week's show!

If you find yourself craving more dubstep then you'll want to listen to the documentary I did about dubstep labels featuring music from the likes of Boka Records, Lodubs and more! I've also done a show grimestep show featuring an with Leo Olofsson of Grimestep International and the lads from The UK Connection. Finally, I've got a straight up dubstep mix I know you're gonna love!

Photo Credit: Jon Cartwright

1. Ebola "Teledildonics (Shitmat Remx)"
2. Cardopusher "Toothsmasher"
3. Atreus "Born to Kill" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
4. Pinch "Punisher"
5. 6Blocc "The End" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
6. Lone Wolf "Uproot V"
7. Bionics "Feist"
8. Relocate "Dot Dot Dash"
9. Spatial "Artcore Steppa"
10. Scuba "Braille Diving"
11. Bass Science "Razors"
12. Frescoe "Afghanistan"

This show came together in an unexpected way. Originally I was just pulling together songs that I liked that I thought would work together nicely in a mix. But as I started gathering the songs I started noting all sorts of connections. For example, Nibu has MC'd on tracks for both Great Scott and Bassnectar. Also, this month Bassnectar and Kush Arora did a show together in Portland. After some consideration I decided to focus on these artist and ignore the rest of the tracks I had gathered for the mix and as I interviewed them even more connections became apparent. Funny how these things work out.

A few notes.

If you like Bassnectar's music (and really, how can you not?) then you'll enjoy his appearances on the The Newest In New! and Koyaanisqatsi editions of solipsistic NATION. Kush Arora has appeared on the Year One and Record Label Records editions of solipsistic NATION. While this is the first time I've had the pleasure of talking with Doubleclick I have had Amon Tobin, the other half of Two Fingers, for the Amon Tobin and Amon Tobin, Live editions of solipsistic NATION. This is also Great Scott's first appearance on the show but you listen to more music from his label on the Muti Music edition of solipsistic NATION.

I hope you enjoy this week's show as much as I did putting it together because I had a blast! Oh, and be sure to check out the related videos below.

Photo Credit: BFLV

1. Bassnectar "Underground Communication (Featuring Seasunz)"
2. Bassnectar "Art of Revolution (Instrumental)"
3. Interview with Bassnectar
4. Bassnectar "Kick It Complex (Bassnectar Remix)"
5. Kush Arora "Lose Control Feat. MC Zulu"
6. Kush Arora "British Sucking Desis"
7. Interview with Kush Arora
8. Kush Arora "Newcommers Feat. N4SA"
9. Two Fingers "Jewels and Gems"
10. Two Fingers "Keman Rhythm"
11. Interview with Doubleclick of Two Fingers
12. Two Fingers "Straw Men"
13. Great Scott "Theorists feat. Raja Wilco and Nibu [Radio Vocal Edit]"
14. Great Scott "Caravan"
15. Interview with Great Scott
16. Great Scott "Defcon"

Bassnectar Video

Kush Arora Video

Two Fingers Video

Once a month on solipsistic NATION I showcase a record label that releases fantastic music you should know about. Keeping with the theme of the show I focus on record labels that release music from all genres of electronic music. On this week's solipsistic NATION we'll showcase Dragon's Eye Recordings.

Dragon's Eye Recordings is an independent record label that focuses on limited edition and varied format releases from a growing roster of sound artists, composers, and producers. By showcasing the individual artists' viewpoints, Dragon's Eye acts as a platform for new, challenging, and provocative work. Founded by Paul Novak in 1989, as the audio/visual arm of Only Connect...Publications, the label was then relaunched by his son and Northwest-based sound artist Yann Novak to continue the family tradition of self publication. Novak has since expanded the label to publish works by artists whose voices he feels need to be heard. Dragon's Eye Recordings also acts as a companion label to Infrequency.

Special thanks goes out to HC, the host of the Headphone Commute music blog. As always, HC, is one step ahead of me on all things cool in electronic music and turned me on to Dragon's Eye Recordings on his review of Lissom's Nest of Iterations album. Thanks, HC!

Next month on solipsistic NATION we'll showcase n5MD. Next week on solipsistic NATION our guests will be Bassnectar, Kush Arora, Two Fingers and Great Scott. Stay stuned!

1. Kamran Sadeghi "Euqal"
2. Wyndel Hunt "3"
3. Interview with Yann Novak of Dragon's Eye Recordings
4. Clinker "Provodyty - A New Terrain"
5. Son of Rose "Grand Treatments"
6. Interview with Yann Novak of Dragon's Eye Recordings
7. Lissom "Adrift"
8. Corey Fuller "Light Along the Edge of Water"
9. Tadahito Ichinoseki + Tomoyoshi Date "Gensho No Tabi"
10. Tomoyoshi Date + Corey Fuller "Midnight Sanctuary"
11. Interview with Yann Novak of Dragon's Eye Recordings
12. Manning / Novak "Feeling Alone All Together"
13. Yann Novak "Lulluby"
14. Interview with Yann Novak of Dragon's Eye Recordings

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.

1. Milieu "Live At 114RKD (March 8, 2009)"
2. Interview with Brian Grainger of Milieu
3. Milieu "Autumn Fog Lifts (Yearbook Version)"
4. Milieu "Coastline"
5. Milieu "Night Ride"

Ever play exquisite corpse when you were a kid?

Let me refresh your memory.

Here's how it works: you get a sheet of paper and on the top of that piece of paper you draw something. For this example, let's say you draw the helmet of an astronaut.

You then pass the sheet of paper to the person sitting next to you and that person draws the torso. Let's say they draw the torso of a sherrif from a western movie: a white button up shirt, a leather vest with a tin star-badge pinned to it, and in the sheriff's hands are two revolvers, waiting to be fired.

That person then passes the sheet of paper to the person sitting next to them. But this time they've covered the top of the paper: the drawing you did of the astronaut's helmet. The new player on the game of exquisite corpse can only continue the drawing based on what they can see: the sheriff's torso.

That person decides to draw the legs of a ballerina, complete with tights and a tutu. And then they pass the sheet of paper to the person sitting next to them, but this time both the astronaut's helmet and the sherrif's torso are covered. Only the ballerina's legs are showing.

That person decides to complete the drawing by adding enormous clown shoes to the legs of the ballerina.

At the end of the game the drawing in it's entirety: an astronaut's helmet on the torso of a western sheriff with the legs of a ballerina wearing huge clown shoes. Everyone has a good laugh at their group effort.

There are all sorts of variations of Exquisite Corpse. Writers will adopt this technique to tell a story. Composers will use the Exquisite Corpse method to create a piece of song.

And that's what we're going to do on today's solipsistic NATION, but with music and the players are people who blog about electronic music.

I started out the Exquisite Corpse mix by choosing a song, which I then sent to a blogger who then had to choose a track that they thought should go next. The criteria is up to them: they can choose a song that would seguely nicely from the track I selected. Maybe they want to stay in the same genre. mood or key. Maybe they decide to veer off into a different direction. It's entirely up to them.

The track they selected is sent off to the next blogger, each person choosing a song for the mix based only on the track they have just heard until the mix is complete. Today's show will be just as much a surprise for them as it is for you.

At the end of today's Exquisite Corpse mix we'll hear from each of the players: who they are, what song they chose and why they chose that song.

If you enjoy today's show you'll want to listen to the previous Exquisite Corpse mix on solipsistic NATION.

Photo Credit: Patricia Bravo

1. Bubblegone "Thank You" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
   Selected by Bazooka Joe, solipsistic NATION
2. Flexor81 "Myriapoda" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
   Selected by Pietrobot, Igloo Magazine
3. Jason Corder "Twilight Sleep" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
   Selected by Travis Nobles, hiddenplace music
4. Skeetaz "Dirty Dobbers"
   Selected by HC, Headphone Commute
5. Bufi "Homeless Hero" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
   Selected by Mike Gregoire, blocSonic
6. Machine Drum "Stevie Bam Jackson Remix (Kettel)"
   Selected by Jacob Arnold, Gridface
7. New Look "Everything" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
   Selected by Warren Casey, The Music Lobby
8. Tolera Storm "Revelation"
   Selected by Daysha Taylor, Earthbird Music/a>
9. Mint "Dead Pixel"
   Selected by Bruno Lasnier, The Milk Factory
10. Sci Fi Industries "Questions and Ansewers"
    Selected by Miguel de Sousa, Connexion Bizarre
11. Halogen "Redux"
    Selected by Daniel Crossley, Fluid Radio

This week on solipsistic NATION we have a special mix from Spectraliquid recording artist, Blackfilm!

As usual I first heard about Blackfim through HC's Headphone Commute blog. HC and I have similiar taste in music but HC always seems to be one step ahead of me in finding albums that are spectacular. HC praised Blackfilm's self-titled CD on Spectraliquid. My curiosity was already aroused but when HC said that Blackfilm defibrillates Amon Tobin's pioneering sound I knew I had to hear Blackfilm's album.

Like Amon Tobin, Blackfilm is haunting, menacing and beautiful. But Blackfilm's music is also unique. He has an arcane sound that I don't know exactly how to describe. It's spooky, eldritch, almost as if Blackfilm had set out to score music for the Kafkaesque stop-motion animated films of the Brothers Quay. Let me quote HC quoting from Emmanuel Top's Turkish Bazaar single: "The music was new, black, polished chrome and came over the summer like liquid night." Once Blackfilm's music is inside your head it will infect you like a virus and you will never want to be cured.

If you enjoy today's show you'll also want to listen to my show featuring music from Spectraliquid any my show featuring music from Tympanik Audio. If you're also a fan of Amon Tobin you also might enjoy my interview with Amon and a retrospective mix of his career so far or Amon Tobin's live set.

For now, close your eyes, kick back and create your own imaginary soundtrack to accompany Blackfim's devastatingly beautiful mix!

Photo Credit: James G. Mundie

1. Blackfilm "Come & See"
2. Blackfilm & Eraldo Bernocchi "Untitled"
3. Interview with Blackfilm
4. Ekaros "Sad Moon (Blackfilm Remix)"
5. Blackfilm "SE5"
6. Blackfilm & Ekaros "Nowhere"
7. Blackfilm "Mahabharata"
8. Interview with Blackfilm
9. Blackfilm "Stalingrad"
10. Blackfilm "Midnight to 4am"
11. Interview with Blackfilm
12. Blackfilm "Interference"
13. Blackfilm & Bridget Insinna "Burning Sun"
14. Blackfilm "Eastern"
15. Hecq "Steeltongued (Blackfilm Remix)"

Okay, here's the deal: once a month on solipsistic NATION I showcase a record label that is putting out some amazing music that you should know about. Whether it's house or industrial or experimental, if it's great I'm going to shine a light on labels who have great releases from their roster of artists.

Recently I have featured music from Tympanik Audio, Spectraliquid, Alfa Matrix and 12k. This week we're going to hear beautiful music from Summer Rain Recordings.

I first heard about Summer Rain Recordings one day while reading one of HC from Headphone Commute's review of artists on the label. I've been reading HC's blog for a while now and I've come to trust and respect his opinions on the music he discusses so I kept it in mind to do a show on Summer Rain Recordings. Then out of the blue David Holmes from Summer Rain Recordings contacted me about playing artists from Summer Rain Recordings on solipsistic NATION and I thought that was the perfect opportunity to have him come on the program and talk about his label.

Summer Rain Recordings is pretty eclectic but the music that David has chosen for this week's show is very soft, beautiful and full of complext emotions expressing everything from quiet happiness to longing and regret. I think you're going to love what you hear.

Aside from the talent on Summer Rain Recordings one of the things that makes the label unique is that every artist signed to the label donates a minimum of 5% of their royalties for every release to NextAid, or a charity of their choice, and Summer Rain Recordings match their percentage donation from the label profits from the release. Ioda, Summer Rain Recordings distributor and one of my favorite music vendor, also donates 25% of their fees for each of Summer Rain Recordings releases to NextAid.

Every purchase of Summer Rain Recordings music helps NextAid to raise funds for their pilot project, the building of an ecological community center and children’s residential village in Dennilton, South Africa. Now complete are 10 structures of the 25 slated for construction by summer 2010. The center will serve as a safe home for 50 children orphaned by AIDS, a multi-purpose center for the larger community, a hub for economic enterprise, and an example of innovative solutions for future projects throughout Africa.

1. Toby Benson "La Mere de Ma Mere"
2. Proof of Concept "Object of Desire"
3. Auditory Canvas "Desert Sun"
4. Interview with David Holmes, founder of Summer Rain Recordings
5. About 9 "Keep Walking"
6. riccicomoto "Double Zero Theme"
7. Interview with David Holmes, founder of Summer Rain Recordings
8. Melorman "The Small King"
9. Pondermonkey "Cycle"
10. Mr. Squirrel "Nothing But Pebbles"
11. David Kira "Gia"
12. Tepui "Caribu"
13. Interview with David Holmes, founder of Summer Rain Recordings
14. Elysian Piers "Music Box"
15. Fabrizio Cacciamali "Close Curtains on a Sunny Day"
16. Manic "Spring"
17. Interview with David Holmes, founder of Summer Rain Recordings

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 25^th. The second live set was also recorded at the Morseland restaurant on March 18^th.

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.

1. Lokua "Live @ Morseland (03-25-09)
2. Lokua "Live @ Morseland (03-18-09)
3. Interview with Lokua
4. Lokua "Thanks Rainbow" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. Lokua "C Modified" [FREE DOWNLOAD]

One of the challenges producing solipsistic NATION is balancing the music I feature on the show with the interviews. solipsistic NATION is all about the music and the interviews are used to enhance the show so I try and keep the interviews to a minimum. Too much talk detracts from the mix. But on today's show I'm going to toss that rule out the window and focus on the interviews because my guests have a lot of interesting things to say!

First, we'll talk with Gary Bredow, the director of High Tech Soul, a documentary about Detroit techno. High Tech Soul is the first documentary to tackle the deep roots of techno music alongside the cultural history of it's Detroit birthplace. High Tech Soul features interview with legends such as Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson.

High Tech Soul is distributed by Plexifilm, who produce original films, release films theatrically, and produce, distribute and markets DVDs. Plexifilm is generously giving away one copy of High Tech Soul on today's show. Send me an email at solipsisticnation@gmail.com and you could win a DVD of High Tech Soul!

We'll also talk with Paul Sizer, the author and illustrator of the BPM graphic novel.

The hero of the story is Roxy, a young DJ in New York City who spins in dark clubs and small bars with dreams of making it big. As Roxy becomes more and more successful she finds she has to make a choice: should she follow the music she loves or the love of her life?

Paul is giving away a signed copy of BPM on this week's show. Send me an email at solipsisticnation@gmail.com and it could be yours!

Finally, we'll talk with Terrance Dean, the author of Hiding in Hip Hop, about what it's like to be a gay man in hip hop culture and the entertainment industry. Terrance worked his way up for more than ten years in the entertainment industry from an intern to an executive, and has lived the life of glitz and bling along with Hollywood and the Hip Hop's elite. Full of startling anecdotes and incredible true stories, Hiding in Hip Hop is not a tell-all book but an honest look at stardom and sexuality.

If you would like a copy of Terrance Dean's Hiding in Hip Hop, shoot me an email at solipsisticnation@gmail.com and you could be a lucky winner of his autobiography!

1. K-HAND "Security" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
2. K-HAND "Mystery" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
3. Interview with Gary Bredow, director of the High Tech Soul documentary
4. K-HAND aka Messenger "Wanderer (Ritzi Lee Remix)" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. K-HAND "Wanderer (Original Mix)"
6. Focus3d "Inclusive Mindset (DJ Aura Minimal Techno Mix)"
7. Interview with Paul Sizer, author and illustrator of the BPM graphic novel
8. Phenomen "Made In Wishland (Zambino Tech House Dub)"
9. Dubacid "What Happens After (1394-4212 Acid House Dub)"
10. Relate4ever "Open Minded (Platona Deep Tech House Mix)"
11. Onelord "Sharing Cooperation (John Dare & Oscar Gonzalez Minimal Techno Mix)"
12. Interview with Terrance Dean, author of Hiding in Hip Hop
13. Ability "Sharing Transparently (Kevin Call aka DJ Nojz Techno Mix)"
14. Because "Sharing Cooperation (Charly Shawllporn Minimal Mix)"
15. Balanced "Universal Interpretation (Danny Lilwall Tech House Mix)"

High Tech Soul Trailer

One of the aspects of producing solipsistic NATION that I really enjoy is that it gives me the opportunity to talk to people in the electronic music community that in other circumstances I would never get the chance to talk to. I've gotten to talk with folks like Amon Tobin, Jack Dangers and Cheb i Sabbah, for example. How cool is that? I have to admit that with some of these people I do get kind of starstruck but once I get past that it's interesting to have a conversation with these artists about how they approach their craft.

On today's show were going to talk with Terre Thaemlitz. Terre is an award-winning multi-media producer, writer, public speaker, educator, audio remixer, DJ and founder of Comatonse Recordings.

Terre works in many different styles: electroacoustic computer music, club-oriented deep house, digital jazz, ambient, and computer-composed neo-expressionist piano solos. His work also explores the themes of identity politics such as gender, sexuality, class, linguistics, ethnicity and race, and the socio-economics of commercial media production.

Terre recently released his Dead Stock Archive, a collection of every audio release he has made under his real name or under his many aliases. Originally I planned was to play selected tracks from his archive but Terre pointed out that the archive has over 60 hours of music and that maybe I should play his ambient/jazz piece, "Superbonus." While "Superbonus" does not convey the scope and breadth of Terre's career it is a beautiful piece of music and provides an example of his many styles he is capable of. What's remarkable is that while "Superbonus" may, in some ways, evoke Miles Davis's classic album, In A Silent Way, "Superbonus" was composed entirely n a computer.

Terre's a very thoughtful person had many insightful things to say. Unfortunately I had to edit our conversation considerably to fit the time constraints of the show. Fortunately, however, I'm making the unedited version of that interview as a separate download. Think of it as a bonus feature that you might find on a movie DVD.

1. Funk Shui with Terre Thaemlitz "Superbonus"
2. Interview with Terre Thaemlitz

I first came across Dov through Cyberset Music. Cyberset Music is a music and media company based in San Francisco. Our growing family of artists blend musical elements of world, ambient, dance, vocal, and urban genres into fresh sounds that share the positive intentions and global reach of evolving contemporary culture.

Little did I know that Dov is also the founder of Muti Music. Since 2002 Muti Music has been one of the stateside labels pioneering the breaks sound with lots of flavour. Muti Music aims to provide quality funk-filled beats and to promote the domestic and international talent featured on the label and reflect human creative response to the urban futurist environment. Flavors of Breaks, Electro, Techno, IDM, Dubstep and experimental bass music are all present in Muti Music. They also aim to forge relationships between like minded producers. Muti Music has already proven to be a pusher of dynamic sound and talent, having released Kemek, Kraddy, EVAC, An-ten-nae, Atomic Hooligan, Future Funk Squad, Rhoca, Suff-x and more recently, Dov, Audiovoid and LayerZ!

This week's show has been sponsored by AteBits, developers of Tweetie, a fast, full featured Twitter application for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Tweetie is already a great application and with AteBits 1.3 release Tweetie is even better.

Not only can you post to Twitter with Tweetie and send direct messages you can also view trends on Twitter, search Twitter and view posts from your local area. With the 1.3 release of Tweetie there's a new "Link" button to add web pages to Instapaper faster. There's also Tweeitie's new Ping.fm integration and much, much more!

AteBits is not only solipsistic NATION's newest sponsor but they are generously giving away three copies of Tweetie. Email me at solipsisticnation@gmail.com and you could win a copy of Tweetie for yourself!

As always, you can find me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/solipsistic.

1. Seventh Swami "Forever You Forever Me"
2. Mimosa "Another Day"
3. Timonkey "Wobblesauce"
4. Knowa Knowone "Wildness"
5. Nanda "Cosmik Dance"
6. An-ten-nae
7. Klone "Can't Remember"
8. An-ten-nae "Citoyen Dub"
9. Siren "7th Level Controller"
10. Subvert "Speaker Humping"
11. Knowsleep "Autumn Kaskade"
12. Interview with Dov of Muti Music
13. LayerZ "God Particle"
14. ill.gates &l Adam Duke "Lizard Skin Loincloth"
15. LayerZ "Spit Wods Part 2"
16. Subhuman "Bottom Feeder"
17. Interview with Dov of Muti Music
18. ill.gates & Meesha "Irma Vep (Wookie Remix)"
19. Kether "Graffiti"
20. An-ten-nae "Griot"
21. Heyoka "Flying Dub Sauce"

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 solipsisticnation@gmail.com and you could win a copy of Tweetie for yourself!

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

1. Made In Glitch "Live in Legato, Shibuya (November 8, 2008)"
2. Bass Science "Live on Syb FM (December 11, 2008)"
3. Interview with MattB of Bass Science

Made in Glitch Video

From time to time I have guest DJs come on solipsistic NATION. Previous guests have included Travis Nobles from the hiddenplace music blog, Pete Cooper of bleepshow and Pietrobot, the co-host of Digital Nimbus and managing editor of Igloo Magazine. Today's guest is Denard Henry of Sonic Warriors United.

A few months I asked the folks I follow on Twitter if anyone would like to be a guest DJ on solipsistic NATION and Deanrd was one of the people who responded to my invitation.

Sonic Warriors United's members include Sprawl, Floppy, Marita Schreck, C-Dex, Betrisbsdruck, Jana Clemen, Reade Truth, Sneaker and Macoma.

In 2007 Denard and Jana came up launched Sonic Warriors United. They reactivated something that has almost been forgotten: the fusion of Techno, EBM, Electro and Industrial Dance Music. They are now filling dates in Germany, U.S.A and all of Europe. They plan a tour once a year to bring this concept to points of interest and are looking for clubs, bars and open air venues to host some events. For all Sonic Warriors United Events they plan 2-3 S.W.U. DJ's, plus 1-2 S.W.U. live act's along with local support: a DJ and/or a live act.

For more information on Denard Henry, tour dates and their street team missions, click here.

You can follow Denard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/denardhenry or follow me at http://www.twitter.com/solipsistic.

By the way, AteBits is generously giving away three copies of Tweetie on today's show. Tweetieis a wonderful fast, full-featured client for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Email me at solipsisticnation@gmail.com and you could win a copy of Tweetie for yourself!

Photo Credit: Jana Clemen

1. Sprawl "Sonic Warriors United"
2. WB Loops "Vinyl Wunderwaffe Vol. 1"
3. Interview with Denard Henry of Sonic Warriors United
4. Ancient Methods "First Method"
5. Marita Schreck "Pfirsichblut"
6. Datacide "The Ritual of Transparency"
7. Kosmik Kommando "Remember the Feeling"
8. Denard Henry "Vibe"
9. Lady Venom "Bass Me"
10. Crunch-Ø-Matic "Cøm Theme (Cøm 1)"
11. Erik the Viking "Flip2daStation"
12. Simon Owen "re-Evolution"
13. Virtual Terrorist "Search And Destroy Initiative"
14. Crunch-Ø-Matic "Earthquake.2"
15. Exit-12 "Earthquake.2"
16. Interview with Denard Henry of Sonic Warriors United

Getting this week's edition of solipsistic NATION was a bit of a chore.

Last week my iPod had a glitch and requires that I connect it to iTunes on my Mac to do a restore. The problem is that I use my iPod as an external drive to store all my music and also where I build playlists for solipsistic NATION. If I do a restore it will wipe out everything! I haven't found a way around this (email me if you have a solution) so I'm patiently waiting for the battery in my iPod to die and then I'll connect it to iTunes. Hopefully this will resolve the reconnect issue.

Fortunately, I have thousands of MP3 on my Mac to choose from (check the links below, nearly half the tracks that appear on this week's are available as free downloads!), not to mention the stack of new CDs that I'm constantly trying to work my way through. Still, it's unsettling that I might lose everything on my iPod. I've got a bunch of rare tracks that would cause me great pain if they end up unsalvagable.

On a brighter note, AteBits is the newest sponsor solipsistic NATION. AteBits has developed Tweetie, a fast, full-featured client for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. For a while I was using Twitterific, Twitterlator and Twinkle on my iPhone but after trying Tweetie for just a few days I deleted all those other apps. Tweetie beats them hands down. You can handle multiple twitter accounts, view your timeline, replies, direct messages and favorites, view Tweets in your local area, and much, much more.

AteBits is also generously giving away three copies of Tweetie on today's show. Email me at solipsisticnation@gmail.com and you could win a copy of Tweetie for yourself!

In the meantime, go listen to this week's show!

1. Spoonbill "Gumtree (Respoon)" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
2. Transient "Everyone Still Isn't Listening To The Lorax (Screw The Stupid Thneeds)" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
3. Ill.Gates "Sweatshop"
4. S.I.M.O. "Smut!"
5. Luxurious "Light Up The Sun"
6. Kodomo "Concept 3"
7. Slomo "Was Für Eine Welt (Remix by Zengineers feat. Backwater Planet)" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
8. Skipless "Lo-Moments" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
9. Authist & Dub One! "Ferry to Punjab (Remix by Backwater Planet feat. Zengineers)" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
10. General Fuzz "Mellow Drama" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
11. Darkhorse "Take 2"
12. Maco "%" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
13. Laura Palmer "Borderline" [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Each month on solipsistic NATION I spotlight an electornic music label that I think you should know about. What constantly amazes me is just how many electronic music labels there are!

Take Tympanik Audio.

Tympanik Audio has been around since 2007 and has quickly established a reputation for releasing high quality, dark, electronic music featuring the likes of Ad·ver·sary, Totakeke and Integral. The music is stunning and breath taking and the CD artwork is beautiful and provocative. It's a winning combination that can't help but get you excited about the label.

There's a very good reason why Tympanik Audio shines. The label's founder, Paul Nielsen, is also one of the DJs on the Hidden Forms radio program on WNUR 89.3 FM. As a DJ Paul has a special love for albums, both the music and the packaging.

If you're looking for music that is hauntingly beautiful then I think you'll find that Tympanik Audio is just the boutique label for you.

Enjoy today's show!

1. DJ Hidden "Things To Come"
2. Autoclav 1.1 "This Stranger Hope"
3. Interview with Paul Nielsen, founder of Tympanik Audio
4. Blackfilm "Walk With Me"
5. Stendeck "Blind Army Parade"
6. Interview with Paul Nielsen, founder of Tympanik Audio
7. Totakeke "Patient HM (Response To Conditioning Mix)"
8. Displacer "The Witching Hour"
9. Interview with Paul Nielsen, founder of Tympanik Audio
10. Tapage "Transatlantic Headroom"
11. Flint Glass "Al-Azif"
12. Interview with Paul Nielsen, founder of Tympanik Audio
13. Access To Arasaka "400 Bloc Overground"
14. Integral "Digital Drops"
15. Interview with Paul Nielsen, founder of Tympanik Audio
16. Subheim "Take Me Back"

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.

1. Vergel Evans "Live at Tresor (11/12/2008)"
2. Interview with Vergel Evans

On today's show were going to talk with Boreta and edIT of The Glitch Mob, DJ Hardware and Sin Quirin who are audio aggitators in both Ministry and Revolting Cocks and are currently on the road for their Revamp Tour, Ninah Pixie and Dos from the Big City Orchestra and DJ and soundsmith Margaret Noble who is currently in San Francisco with Lux Boreal and the Little Know Dance Company in San Francisco performing Incidental Fear Numbers.

The Glitch Mob are Ooah, Kraddy, edIT and Boreta and for the last couple of years they've been putting out some incredibly funky that are guaranteed to move your ass. Their motto is "We Slay Crowds!" I've had both Ooah and Kraddy on the show in the past and do it's a pleausre to finally have Boreta and Edit on solipsistic NATION.

Sin has co-writing credits for the Ministry's "The Last Sucker" record and played guitar on Ministry's "Cover Up" album as well as Co-writing credits on the Revolting Cocks album "Sex-O Olympic-O" due out in February. DJ Hardware has been in the indistry for the last tw decades and is a definitive DJ and producer, combining brilliant remixed Classic Rock, Hip-Hop, and Top 40 Hits into dance floor destroyers.

Big City Orchestra is a long running art/anti-art group based generally in California. They were formed in 1979 and have released about 130 hour-long releases on over 100 labels.

Margaret was a DJ in the underground club community of Chicago from 2002 to 2005. Since then she has chosen to work in music concrete, taking her sounds from computers and the world.

I'd like to thank Melissa Mac Tavish for putting me in touch with DJ Hardware. You can find Melissa on Twitter at twitter.com/713punky.

I'd also like to thank Chris Gondek from Twitterhood for having me on his show to talk about solipsistic NATION a few weeks ago. You can listen to the interview here. You can find Chris at twitter.com/booktalk.

1. EProm "64 Bytes (Boreta Remix)"
2. Ooah "Bleeding Mirrors (Remix)"
3. Interview with Boreta and edIT of The Glitch Mob
4. edIT "The Game is Not Over (feat. J Dilla, Phat Kat & Dabrye)"
5. Revolting Cocks "Cousins (DJ Hardware Remix)"
6. Revolting Cocks "Wizard Of Sextown (Redlight District Revamp Mix)"
7. Interview with DJ Hardware and Sin Quirin
8. Big City Orchestra "Jumpingbean"
9. Big City Orchestra "Periwinkle"
10. Interview with Ninah Pixie and Dos of Big City Orchestra
11. Margaret Noble "Track 01"
12. Margaret Noble "Track 02"
13. Intrview withMargaret Noble
14. Margaret Noble "Track 03"
15. Margaret Noble "Track 04"
16. Margaret Noble "Track 06"

If you've started listening to solipsistic NATION because of last week's soundtrack to an imaginary movie by Guy Ritchie or Amon Tobin's live set the week before, welcome.

If you're the kind of person who is easily bored by the same kind of music then solipsistic NATION is for you. Each week I explore a theme or genres of electronic music so each week is different.

This week out guest is Travis Nobles from the hiddenplace music blog who has prepaared a beautiful mix of music of tracks he considers the best Net Releases of 2008.

I'm grateful for Travis for putting this mix together because I've never been very good at putting together the obligatory best of lists at the end of the year. With any luck, I'll also have a HC from Headphone Commute's best 2008 releases as well.

You can follow Travis on Twitter at http://twitter.com/hiddenplace and HC at http://twitter.com/h_c.

1. Trills "Embryo" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
2. Kiorda Daekin "Median" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
3. Michael Hoffmann "The Pilot" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
4. Interview with Travis Nobles of hiddenplace music
5. Solar Fields "Feelings (album mix) radio edit" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
6. iqtu "aiken" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
7. Track53 "We Were Warm (Sun Showers)" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
8. Iambic² "December's Shadows" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
9. Lokua "Crystal Coupe" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
10. The Dandelion Council "Exploring Woods in Pyjamas Circa 1982" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
11. Interview with Travis Nobles of hiddenplace music
12. Ólafur Arnalds "Fok" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
13. Prologue "Legend" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
14. Planet Boelex & Lisa's antenna "Angels" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
15. general fuzz "go inward" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
16. Interview with Travis Nobles of hiddenplace music

Earlier this week I set my iPhone to randomly play tracks queued up in my playlist for songs to review for solipsistic NATION, eager to hear what would emerge. As I started adding tracks to my On-The_Go playlist I found myself picking songs that seemed like they would be perfect for a soundtrack for an imaginary movie by Guy Ritchie. Think Snatch. Or Jonathan Glazer's Sexy Beast. The mix on this week's solipsistic NATION feature songs that are gritty and trashy, sexy and fun, maybe even a little dangerous.
As long as I've got your eyeballs let me tell you about some upcoming shows on solipsistic NATION.

This weekend I'll be interviewing Boreta and edIT of the Glitch Mob. I've already had Ooah and Kraddy on the show in the past and this will serve as a bookend to the Glitch Mob interviews. If you'd like to be part of the interview, just call my voice mail at 1-619-717-6322 and record your question. I'll play both your question and their response on the show.

I'll also interview J. Anthony Allen and Douglas Geers who are running the Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Art taking place at the University of Minnesota, February 17 - 22.

Too wrap up the weekend I'll interview Travis Nobles hiddenplace music blog about the tracks he's lovingly selected for next week's show featuring his best of 2008 net releases.

Next month will feature a live set from Vergel E and March will feature a live set by Matt B of the Made In Glitch project and Bass Science.

If you'd like to keep up to date on upcoming shows or participate in future interviews just follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/solipsistic.

Photo Credit: Raul Flores H.

1. Tricky "C'Mon Baby"
2. Boys Noize "Let's Buy Happiness (Proxy Remix)"
3. Alice In Videoland "Who's That Boy"
4. Justice "Phantom"
5. Sébastien Tellier "Sexual Sportswear (Sébastien Mix)"
6. Kavin Sky "Testarossa Sébastien Remix"
7. Sex In Dallas & Biladoll "The Freaks"
8. Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip "Thou Shalt Always Kill"
9. Andrew Weatherall "Feathers"
10. S.I.M.O. "Peaches"
11. The Streets "Never Give In"
12. Spank Rock "Sweet Talk"
13. Télépathique "Sex Drugs And Funk 'n' Roll"
14. Larytta "The Money"

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.

1. Amon Tobin "Into The Dark"
2. Amon Tobin "Horsefish Live Mix"
3. Cardiacs "The Alphabet Business Concern (Home Of Fadeless Splendor)"
4. Two Fingers "Two Fingers (White Label)"
5. Spank Rock "Bump Switch Rmx"
6. Two Fingers "Two Fingers (White Label)"
7. Amon Tobin "Esthers"
8. Amon Tobin "Throwback Intro To SS Live 1"
9. 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"

Philosophy and science fiction has always been a part of solipsistic NATION. In fact, the name solipsistic NATION was taken from Greg Egan's science fiction novel, Permutation City.

Recently I've been reading Neal Stephenson's novel, Anathem. Stephenson's books are great reads full of adventure, heady concepts and passages that have made me laugh out loud. Anathem is a very different book for Stephenson. For one, it's written in the first person. Secondly, it takes place in the future and in an alternate universe. Stephenson thinks big and Anathem is no exception.

There are many themes in Anathem and one of the most compelling is the idea of causal domain shear. Stephenson first introduces this concept through a dialogue between two characters, one, a student, the other, his mentor. These two characters belong to a monastic-like organization who pursue mathematicians and science rather than religion. They are cut off from the world and even within their order there are orders who are cut off from each other.

In a thought experiment the mentor poses the idea that, if taken to the extreme, an order could be so cut off from the rest of the world that they become a unique culture with their own world, universe and timeline.

Anathem explores this concept and then slowly reintroduces the characters into the larger world that expands and expands until beings from alternate universes are in conflict with each other. Like I said, heady stuff.

What does causal domain shear have to do with solipsistic NATION? Thematically I hope this week's show will subjectively slow down the clock for you while you listen. With any luck, this week's show will prompt flights of fancy or insight gained through introspection that you can take back with you when you re-emerge with the real/imaginary materialistic world.

Photo Credit: Simon Crubellier

1. Kodomo "Concept 8"
2. Integral "Je Ne Trouve Pas La Sortie"
3. juxta phona & offthesky "sex, flies, yellow tape"
4. Spyweirdos and John Mourjopoulos with Floros Floridis "At"
5. Displacer "He Could Destroy The Earth"
6. Aughra "Return To The Red Room" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
7. Blackfilm "Interference"
8. Emanuele Errante "Radio Hopes"
9. niteffect "blur emotions" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
10. Lukeing Forward "Soulless"
11. Tapage "Pretend Not To See"
12. Mothboy "Rewind, Erase And Replace"
13. Mad EP "Menuet"
14. BrainSt0rm "Nightviews (Rough Edit)"

I usually release my shows Thursdays at midnight so you can kick off your weekend with the latest solipsistic NATION but the last couple of shows have gone out a day or two late. I know that since this is a podcast you can listen to it whenever you like so being late a day or two isn't such a big deal. But if you're like me, there are a couple of shows that I really enjoy and I get annoyed when they release their shows late. If I've annoyed you, I offer my sincere apologies.>

This week's show is actually three days late. I've been sick for the last week and I just couldn't find the energy to get out of bed and record the show. Usually I take a few days off from work to recover from a cold but this year I've taken way too many sick days as it is and couldn't afford to take any more time off so I just had to suck it up and get through the week.

Being sick the last week has really sucked but I've been having some amazing dreams!

Last night I dreamt I was independent contractor who drove a supply truck for the military. I was checked through security to make a delivery and while I was on the base I saw a bunch of prisoners of war on their knees with their hands clasped behind their head while soldiers had their machine guns trained on the back of their skulls in an abandoned parking garage.

On of the higher ups approached me and was threatening in a very charming way. He asked me if I'd be interested in partipating in one of their studies. With dream logic I knew it would be some sort of science fiction experiment that would give me fantastic powers at a terrible price. I begged off and spent the rest of the dream trying to escape from the base without drawing attention to myself.

Meanwhile, military scientists were studying my movements on security cameras and noted how I was unconsciously warping reality to aid in my escape. They were speculating on how dangerous I might become if I ever became aware if my power and debating when to send soldiers out to contain me.

Pretty cool, huh?

Photo Credit: damndirty

1. Shamanic Technology "Rites Of Passage"
2. Dubosmium "7Heavens" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
3. Mystical Sun "Incense"
4. I Awake "Constellation of the Heart (Native Edit)"
5. Ad·ver·sary "International Dark Skies" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
6. Sawako "Deep Under"
7. Al Margolis "Natraj"
8. Koen Park "Laburnum"
9. Bubblegone "Letters from Home" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
10. rngmnn "What Goes Around Comes Around" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
11. Evan Bartholomew "Leaving Behind Ourselves"

It's a rare rainy day in San Diego and the weather goes along perfectly with today's dreamy mix.

The second week of each month of solipsistic NATION I feature music from an electronic music label that I really like but this month I've been so busy that I couldn't find the time to do that. But since last month I did two shows featuring music from the Spectraliquid and Alfa Matrix record labels that I could be forgiven for slipping up.

2008 is coming to an end and if all goes well, the next two editions of solipsistic NATION will feature HC from the Headphone Commute music blog favorite albums of the year.

I'm going to kick off 2009 with a live set from Amon Tobin, who we had on solipsistic NATION, last March. I'm going to interview Amon this week and if you have a question you'd like to ask him you can either email me your question at solipsisticnation@gmail.com or record your question on my voicemail at 1-619-717-6322.

If you want to keep up to date on future shows, just follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/solipsistic.

1. Alex Tomb "The Gardens of Babylon (Breger Remix)"
2. Remute "Out"
3. Shamanic Technology "Toy Vision"
4. Bola "Waknuts"
5. Tycho "Sunrise Projector"
6. Detalles "Sociber"
7. James Bernard "Segue 3"
8. Stefano Spataro Solquest Projects "Post-Mushroom"
9. Kingbastard "Bipolar"
10. Desert Dwellers "Stellar Dendrites"
11. OP11 "Dome"
12. Mystical Sun "Dark Energy"

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.

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

Today's show came about from an email from HC of Headphone Commute. HC suggested that I have Kostas K come on the show to play music from his label, Spectraliquid. There are only a handful of releases on Spectraliquid, not nearly enough to qualify for my monthly feature on electronic music labels. Still, HC was right. The music on Kostas' label was mind blowingly great so I decided to split the show with a segment on Spectraliquid and the rest would be a mix of music that would compliment Spectraliquid. By the tile I had selected the least track I realized that the only way to do Spectraliquid justice was by dedicating an entire show to music from the label.

By the way, HC posted his top 10 mixes of 2008 on his blog. It's pretty eclectic and features everything from the Glitch Mob to Pinch's mix on Rob's Electronic Explorations podcast. HC included my interview with Amon Tobin and my retrospective mix of his musical career so far. I'm honored to be included in HC's list but let's be honest, if it's a mix of music from Amon Tobin, how can you go wrong?

I'd also like to thank Denard Henry for participating on today's interview with Kostas through his post on Twitter. You can follow Denard on Twitter at http://twitter.com/denardhenry. If you want to keep in the loop on upcoming shows on solipsistic NATION follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/solipsistic.

1. Cardopusher "Toothsmasher (Innasekt Remix)"
2. Interview with Kostas K of Spectraliquid
3. Cardopusher "Cockpit"
4. Ebola "Painkillers"
5. Interview with Kostas K of Spectraliquid
6. Ebola "Teledildonics"
7. Cardopusher "Collapsible Shelter"
8. Blackfilm "Come & See"
9. Interview with Kostas K of Spectraliquid
10. Blackfilm "Atlantikend"
11. Subheim "Hollow (Remix by Mobthrow)"
12. Interview with Kostas K of Spectraliquid
13. Subheim "Howl"
14. Blackfilm "Stalingrad"
15. Interview with Kostas K of Spectraliquid

Richard Wagner coined the term gesamtkunstwerk in his 1849 essay, Art and Revolution, to express his concept of a complete artwork. By this he meant an operatic performance that integrated music, theater and the visual arts. Today we call that multimedia.

But as usual with Wagner, gesamtkunstwerk had a multifaceted meaning for him. Gesamtkunstwerk meant more than incorporating various forms of artistic expression. Wagner, like his peer, Friedrich Nietzsche, saw that humanity was becoming a specialized creature. Wagner believed we compartmentalized our capacity for art, religion, philosophy and science and sought to return humanity to a so-called golden age where all those things were unified. The only way Wagner could possibly express this in the framework of opera was through music, theater and the visual arts.

Since Wagner you could argue that even though we now consume and produce vast quantities of media we have become even more specialized. Today we take multimedia for granted. It's like air. We can watch a music video on our iPhone on the way to work that's crammed with dancing, singing and special effects. Entertaining for sure, but nothing that combines all that to express and invoke the gestalt Wagner was striving for.

William Morrison and Justin Bennett are currently touring the U.S. with American Memory, an ambitions multimedia project. American Memory tells the story of artists in a far flung future who discover the American Memory Archive on the net. Intrigued but with no historical context to understand what they have found they broadcast their surrealistic impressions back through time.

Justin and William's gesamtkunstwerk approach of merge and recontextualize music, text, interviews, speeches, photography and film may be the best way to explore the multilayered history of America.

1. American Memory "American Memory Trailer"
2. American Memory "Artifacts"
3. American Memory "Dear Mr President"
4. American Memory "Backwards Song"
5. American Memory "Ghost Dance"
6. American Memory "Time Don't Steal"
7. Interview with William Morrison and Justin Bennett of American Memory
8. Stephan Mathieu "Lux-Scn"
9. Al Margolis "Frog Field"

When I listen to aggrotech, dark elektro or synthpop I sometimes flashback on my days as a young punk in Boston. Like a lot of punks, I was an angry lad full of venom and punk and hardcore perfectly expressed the intensity of my feelings.

The problem was that I wasn't full of rage 24 hours a day.

I had other emotions that punk simply couldn't express. A gloomy, overcast day went perfect with The Smiths (and there are a lot of gloomy, overcast days in Boston. When I was up for a night of debauchery James Brown was my kick start for the evening. When I was falling in love Coltrane's "Naima" would evoke the sublime and if I was heartbroken I could commiserate with Hank Williams "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." And if I was in the mood for some dark, trashy fun I'd throw in some Front 242 or Sleep Chamber.

To admit this to any of the punks I hung out with inevitably led to being labeled a poseur, which is about the worst thing you can call a punk. After a while I started to chafe under all the conservative restrictions of punk: the modes of dress, the limited selection of music, the enforced social punk norms, etc. And like most people who pass through this phase I realized that it was the spirit of punk that's to be celebrated, not the ridiculous "laws."

Anyway, it was right about this time that I started hanging out at Manray's, which was the place to be if you were into stuff like goth and aggrotech. The music was great and I dug watching the crowd. Goths had their own attires and modes of expression but there seemed to be an sense of playful irony while the punks were so dogmatic about everything.

Since then I've always had a love for aggrotech, dark elektro and synthpop Alfa Matrix is one label that releases some of the best aggrotech, dark elektro and synthpop you'll likely to hear. Alfa Matrix is a Belgian record label the was founded in 2001 by Séba Dolimont, Bernard Van Isacker and Benoî t Blanchart. I first became aware of Alfa Matrix when I relaunched solipsistic NATION as a podcast when I came across a release by Zombie Girl on IODA and I've been a fan of Zombie Girl and Alfa Matrix ever since!

1. Krystal System "I Love My Chains"
2. I:Scintilla "The Bells"
3. Ayria "The Gun Song"
4. Zombie Girl "Go Zombie"
5. Mentallo & the Fixer "Opening The Bandwidth For The Cosmic Signal (Fine-Tuning And Frequency)"
6. Interview with Séba Dolimont, co-founder of Alfa Matrix
7. Implant "Spanish Fury (Out Out Mix)"
8. Monolith "Transmission"
9. Komor Kommando "Love Your Neighbour"
10. Front 242 "Operating Tracks"
11. Plastic Noise Experience "Monoton Synchron (Remix)"
12. Plastic Noise Experience "Schlafmodus 3"
13. Interview with Séba Dolimont, co-founder of Alfa Matrix

About six months ago the folks at Areal Records were kind enough to send me a couple of promotional CDs. One of them was a live set in Berlin by Basteroid. I'm always on the lookout for new concerts to play on solipsistic NATION so I contacted Sebastian Riedl (aka Basteroid) and asked him to join me on the show.

It took a while to arrange an interview due to our conflicting schedules and the time differences between our countries. After a couple of weeks we finally nailed a date and I found myself up at 4:30 in the morning ready to interview Sebastian. Despite being sleepy I thought it went pretty well. Except for one small thing. In my grogginess I had failed to check the settings on the software I use to record the interviews. When I went to edit the interview there was just a recording of me talking to no one.

Fortunately, Sebastian was a good sport and recorded an intro for today's show. If you listen carefully you can hear his daughter in the background.

Enjoy today's show featuring Sebastian's live set in Berlin and be sure to check out his new project, IRR (International Recordings Records).

Photo Credit: ©dayvidday

1. Basteroid "Live Set (Areal/Berlin, DE)"

Originally I was going to do a Halloween themed show this week but after putting the playlist together I realized that it just sounded cheesy. Now I appreciate a certain amount of cheese in a postmodern ironic way but the mix I had put together was ridiculous. You'll just have to trust me on this.

I had to put together the show quickly so I was flailing about for ideas for mixes when I decided what playlists I had created for my iPod. I've got a couple of smart playlists that contain all the songs in the solipsistic NATION library sorted by year, in current rotation and previously played on the show. I've also got a dozen or so playlists grouping songs by genres or labels or themes. One playlist called "Acid Jazz/Trip Hop/Swing/Lounge" had a bunch of dope tracks that I had been accumulating over the last year. All I had to do was pull an hour's worth of songs for today's show and bang! Instant show.

Acid Jazz/Trip Hop/Swing/Lounge pretty much sums it up, too.

Mr. Scruff encompasses all those genres and his collaboration with Alice Russell absolutely swings. Paul Malmstrom in the guise of Monkeybacon has got this wonderful 60s retro exotica thing going on in his music and it's always torture choosing which song to play on solipsistic NATION. And as much as I try and keep things fresh on the show by rarely ever playing more than one track by an artists Suhov and Mothboy have been making their way into my mixes with alarming frequency. They're that good!

As I'm writing this week's show notes I'm listening to the mix and it just occurred to me that what would complete the show is a martini. Shaken. Not stirred. Of course.

Photo Credit: ©drjoanne

1. Mr. Scruff "Music Takes Me Up Featuring Alice Russell (Radio Edit)"
2. Parov Stelar "Wanna Get (Dublex Inc. mix)"
3. Robberriff "Stringing Away Revisited"
4. Riovolt "Rakki Deshita"
5. Ed Solo & Skool Of Thought "Rakki Deshita"
6. Monkeybacon "Meatball" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
7. Don Shtone "Drunkable"
8. Luxurious "Chilled"
9. Suhov "Funny" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
10. Pinker Tones "Beyond Nostalgia"
11. CX Kidtronik "Whoopsi Daisy Featuring Ricky Ray"
12. Modaji "Bar Blues" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
13. Coleman "No Strings Attached"
14. Mothboy "Second Spin R.I.P."
15. Tosca "Chocolate Elvis (Boozoo Bajou Soul Sufferer Version)" [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Sometimes it sure feels like everything is going to hell.

We're simultaneously dealing with an economic meltdown, water shortages, the rising cost of food, peak oil, global warming, the sixth wave of mass extinction, dead zones in the ocean, islands of trash the size of Manhattan floating in the sea, terrorism, sanctioned torture, increased government surveillance and much more. It makes me reel to think of it!

I don't think about that stuff all the time. I'd go crazy if I did. This is what goes through my head on the odd day when it's two in morning and I can't get to sleep. I take all that stuff seriously but at the same time I'm somewhat cynical. Just last century we were all concerned that the world would end by the atom bomb, then later ICBMs and then overpopulation, killer bees from South America, AIDs, crack, holes in the ozone, etc. Seems like there's always something to be afraid about but in the end we're still here and most of that stuff we didn't have to be afraid about in the first place. But in our society it's difficult to maintain that kind of insight because we're constantly bombarded by the media with horrific stories and images.

Bruce Sterling once said that we're all on the Titanic. The ship is sinking but hey, the music's great! I put together this week's show in that spirit. Maybe everything we're hearing in the news is overblown, maybe we really are at the end of the world, but I got some tunes to kick out the jams!

Photo Credit: ©greenwood100

1. Sebastian "Dog"
2. Black Light Burns "Forkboy"
3. Saul Williams "List of Demands (Reparations)"
4. Tricky "Council Estate"
5. CX Kidtronik "Council Estate"
6. Mothboy "Moth F.M."
7. Mothboy "Given Away"
8. Bassnectar "Amorphous Form (Featuring Souleye & E Note)"
9. The Bug "Warning (featuring Flowdan)"
10. Roots Manuva "Witness (1 Hope)"
11. Meat Beat Manifesto "Young Cassius"
12. Scorn "The Palomar"
13. Enduser "An Apology"
14. Burial "Ghost Hardware" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
15. Bass Science "Transmission from Planet Dub"
16. OP11 "Feu"

Here some useless trivia you didn't need to know about me.

I use the iTunes-LAME encoder to convert each edition of solipsistic NATION to MP3. I could use the iTunes built-in MP3 encoder but I want to give your ears the best sounding show possible. Compressing a track to MP3 means sacrificing quite a bit of fidelity for the convenience of listening to the show on your computer, iPhone, Zune or whatever you use to listen to tunes. If I'm going to convert music to MP3 then I might as well use the best encoder available. The downside of getting the best sounding MP3 I can that means twirling my thumbs for 25 minutes or so while I encode each podcast to MP3.

So what do I do during those 25 minutes?

I usually catch up with people on Twitter or checking email. Maybe read.

Today I blew the dust off my PlayStation and played Street Fighter Alpha 3 for 30 minutes. Because I haven't played in so long my super combos were pretty rusty (I play Rolento, by the way) and I overcompensated by mashing the buttons on my controller. By the time this week's show was converted to a MP3 my left thumb and forearm were throbbing.

Anyway...

This week's show goes out to Sean, who wants less interviews and more music, and Michael, who is my own personal Ganesh.

Got some cool tunes on today's show.

Can you believe it?! Ninja Tune's Hip Hop London imprint, Big Dada, has been putting out great music for over 10 years. Their recently released double CD, Well Deep, Ten Years Of Big Dada Recordings has so much great stuff on it that it was difficult to choose which artists I would feature on this week's show. More and more music from netlabels have been working their way into solipsistic NATION and this week is no exception. Natalie Walker makes two appearances on this weeks show. Once as a solo artist and once with her new project, Dive Index.

Enjoy the show!

Photo Credit: Liberoliber

1. Diplo "Diplo Rhythm"
2. Goldfrapp "Train"
3. Tiny Stikz "Watching You (Vocal Mix)" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
4. Lokua "Coupe Deville" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. Suhov "Clear" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
6. DJ Internet & Kid Kool A.K.A.Pella "Games" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
7. Nobody Presents Blank Blue "All The Shallow Deep"
8. Cornelius "Music"
9. Dive Index "Between Sky and Sea"
10. susumu yokota "My Energy"
11. Aunt Jessica "Thin Air"
12. Bitstream Dream (featuring Jenna Ferone) "Rising Sun"
13. Tricky "Past Mistake"
14. Natalie Walker "Quicksand (Thievery Corporation Remix)"

I have a love/hate relationship with House and Psytrance.

See, House is kind of like the glam rock of electronic music and Psytrance is the electronic equivalent of prog rock. House, glam rock, Psytrance and prog rock are all over dramatic genres of music. House and glam for its melodrama and Psytrance and prog rock for its pomposity, which I really have to be in the mood to listen to because I usually find that kind of stuff a little overbearing.

PsyBooty Records pulls off the neat trick of combining what I love most about House and PsyTrance.

Continuing with the whole House/glam rock analogy, what I love about those two genres is that they're incredibly sexy. And what I love in Psytrance and prog rock is their ability to sonically transport you to other realms. PsyBooty Records has the knack of picking artists who craft music that is at once very sensual and psychedelic.

I first found out about PsyBooty Records while listening to their music on the Fake Science podcast and instantly became a fan of the label. I've wanted to do a show all about PsyBooty since launching solipsistic NATION and I'm amazed that it's taken this long to finally get David Justin, the label's manager, on the show. On the other hand, it's a perfect example of how many music labels are putting out such great music that it's taken me this long to have David as a guest on solipsistic NATION.

This week's show is longer than usual because David gave me two CDs of music he wanted me to play. He knows that solipsistic NATION typically runs an hour, plus or minus a few minutes, and told me to feel free to delete tracks from his mix. But in the end, I said to hell with it. I figured that since David went through all that trouble and since all the music is fantastic it would be worth it to go long this week. Besides, since solipsistic NATION is a podcast I don't always have to be locked in to clocking the shows in at around 60 minutes. Enjoy!

1. Biotone "The Rhythm"
2. Psytrip "d3skoh"
3. Interview with David Justin of PsyBooty Records
4. Bluetech "Cerulean Funk"
5. Equisol "Mokoko"
6. Interview with David Justin of PsyBooty Records
7. Prosect "In Styled"
8. Sound Field "Passion Session"
9. Interview with David Justin of PsyBooty Records
10. Evan Marc "Silver"
11. Evan Marc "Ekoshok"
12. M-Field "Foundation"
13. Interview with David Justin of PsyBooty Records
14. M-Field "Progressive Evolution"
15. M-Field "Worldsoul"
16. Init String "Watching The Rain"
17. Init String "Bacon Shake"

On today's show I'm going to follow up on last week's all dub set by playing live tracks from Dubmatix and talk to the man behind Dubmatix, Jesse King.

Dub is a tricky genre. While the basic elements of dub are understood, but it's difficult to do good dub well. I've wasted hours that must surely equal to weeks of sifting through some truly uninspired dub to find the true gems. The sort of stuff that's flat, unimaginative and, worse, ungroovable. And Dubmatix's Jesse makes some great dub.

Dubmatix has charted both in Canada and internationally and tours domestically and abroad. Jess has also collaborated with reggae greats like Sugar Minott, Michael Rose and Alton Ellis.

I've been a fan of Dubmatix since first playing "War, Peace & Dub" on one of dub sets. When I recently realized for all the live shows on solipsistic NATION and with all the different genres of electronic music those shows offered I hadn't gotten around to featuring dub. I immediately thought of Jesse and asked him if he'd come on solipsistic NATION and share some music from some of Dubmatix concerts.

Oh, and I have a retraction from Bruno Natal, the director of the Dub Echoes documentary, who was my guest on last week's show. When Bruno was talking about Joe Gibbs he really meant Errol Thompson.

1. Dubmatix feat. Kulcha Ites "Burn Out The Rich"
2. Dubmatix Soundsystem "My Selecta"
3. Interview with Jesse King of Dubmatix
4. Dubmatix Soundsystem "War, Peace & Dub"
5. Dubmatix Soundsystem "Sensi"
6. Dubmatix Soundsystem "Dub Phanatique"
7. Interview with Jesse King of Dubmatix
8. Dubmatix "Soul Dread Dub"
9. Dubmatix Soundsystem "Pirate Dub"
10. Interview with Jesse King of Dubmatix
11. Dubmatix & Howie Smart "Heavy Living"
12. Dubmatix feat. Treson "Praise Jah"
13. Dubmatix Soundsystem feat. Ranking Joe "Tornado"
14. Dubmatix Soundsystem "Jump & Twist"
15. Dubmatix Soundsystem "Champion Sound"
16. Interview with Jesse King of Dubmatix

Take music made with synths and a drum machine. That's clearly electronic music. But what happens when you add vocals? Is it still electronic music? See? Things immediately become murky. Take Depeche Mode. They used a lot of electronic gear so did they make electronic music? I would say no. They were a pop band that happened to make songs with electronic instruments. The Normal, on the other hand, were clearly an electronic music band.

What happens when you start adding guitars, bass and drums into the mix? Again, it depends. Kid Rock is a rock act that utilizes electronic equipment while Ministry is an electronic band that plays rock.

Ah, you say, but all music these days is played with instruments that are electronically amplified, and recorded digitally. And you are right. But I ultimately take the position that electronic music is whatever I point to and say "That's electronic music." It's my show, after all, and I can make my own rules. I just ry and make the rules consistent.

And that brings us to today's show, which is all about dub.

Dub is one of those grey areas because even in the earliest days of dub all the instruments were traditional instruments like guitars, bass and drums. And being reggae influenced that hardly qualifies as dub, right? But the difference is how a dub producer manipulates those instruments in a recording studio by dropping track in and out and adding reverb and echo. The studio itself becomes an instrument and, to my mind, makes it electronic music.

On this week's show we're joined by Bruno Natal, the director of the Dub Echoes. Dub Echoes is a documentary on the history of dub and its effect on music, from pop to punk and, of course, electronic music. Dub Echoes is full of great interviews and features legendary greats such as Lee "Scratch" Perry, Mad Professor and Sly & Robbie and many, many, many more!

If Dub Echoes is screening in your area, I highly recommend that you see it. If not, no worries, you soon will be able to purchase it on DVD from Soul Jazz Records.

Photo Credit: Federico Bebber

1. Dub Echoes (Trailer)
2. Dubmatix "Ain't Got No Love Dub" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
3. Interview with Bruno Natal, director of Dub Echoes
4. Nucleus Roots "Meditation Dub" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. Bloik "Lazy Dub" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
6. Interview with Bruno Natal, director of Dub Echoes
7. Random "Dubmage"
8. Spiral System "Different Light" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
9. Bluetech "Diaspora Dub"
10. Interview with Bruno Natal, director of Dub Echoes
11. Suns of Arqa "All You Need is Dub" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
12. Sympath "Zero Sum"
13. Interview with Bruno Natal, director of Dub Echoes
14. Dubosmium "All You Need is Dub" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
15. Adham Shaikh "Micro Dreams"

Have you heard of Bruce Sterling's Spime concept? No? Let me quote Cory Doctorow, one of Sterling's peers, who can sum up the idea of Spime better than I can.

"A Spime is a location-aware, environment-aware, self-logging, self-documenting, uniquely identified object that flings off data about itself and its environment in great quantities. A universe of Spimes is an informational universe, and it is the use of this information that informs the most exciting part of Sterling's argument."

As the web becomes ever more interconnected and self-referential I've been thinking Spime more and more. But where, I think, Sterling refers to Spime as a physical object that, from cradle to grave, generates all sorts of tagged meta data, I think of Spime in terms of a podcasts.

Take solipsistic NATION, for example.

Nearly all the songs featured on solipsistic NATION were either emailed to me or I downloaded from various web sites and many of those songs were collaborations between many people done across the internet. Each show I select which songs to feature on solipsistic NATION and then release it as a podcast and at a later date, as a radio program.

The podcast is encoded as a MP3 and is tagged with various meta data. There's the show's artwork (often generously provided by folks who diplay their photography at Flickr). The MP3 also tells you the name of the show, when it was released, how large the file size is and how long the show is. In addition to the MP3, I also update my RSS feed which notifies various blogs, vendors, services and search engines whenever I release a new show.

Spime doesn't actually exist. Yet. But if it did, I find myself wondering what a Pime-like show might be like? I imagine it would be a lot like solipsistic NATION, only more so.

Today's show is kind of Spime-like. Here's the data:

We'll be talking with Bioradio about this year's Oscillation Electronic Music Festival taking place in Albuquerque, New Mexico in Ocotber. Next, we'll jump to Portugal to talk with Bruno Miguel to talk about his band, :papercutz. We'll also talk with Ian White of Blip.fm, a new social media music service you really need to try. Finally, we'll travel to San Diego and talk to Miller Puckette, author of The Theory and Technique of Electronic Music.

Speaking of social media, you can find me online on some of these social media services.

1. Distraub "Article 73"
2. Bioradio "Enter End" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
3. Interview with Brian Botkiller of the Oscillation Electronic Music Festival
4. Vertigo Venus "Vampire Hunter C"
5. :papercutz "Ultravioleta (Signer Remix)"
6. Interview with Bruno Miguel of :papercutz
7. :papercutz "Ultravioleta"
8. Roland M. Dill "The 8th Day"
9. Interview with Ian White of the Blip.fm
10. Demons "Grey Lady"
11. Interview with Miller Puckette, author of the The Theory and Technique of Electronic Music
12. Yimino "Miagranov"

As a former Bostonian, living in San Diego can be difficult. Especially during the fall.

When I lived in New England, for example, the seasons served as cue as to what I be drinking for the next several months. When summer came to Boston I would begin drinking rum and cokes or gin and tonics. They were light and effervescent. Just the sort of thing to keep you cool during the hot and humid summer months. When fall crept in I would switch over to Guinness, whiskey and scotch. They were comfort drinks to get you through the endless winter months.

In San Diego I lack those clues. On, there is a change in the seasons but it's subtle and to my New England blood it might as well be spring all year round. So what to drink?

I also have a similar problem with music. In the spring and summer it makes perfect sense to listen to The Ramones but once fall kicks in The Ramones seem kind of dumb. In the winter months I can listen for hours on end to someone like Nick Drake but in the summer Nick Drake seems kind of melodramatic. Bit if it's perpetually spring, what the hell do you listen to?

I don't have that problem with the music from !K7 Records.

The driving music of, say, The Herbaliser is perfect for sunny days by the beach and I can wind down with their moodier songs in the evening. I find that almost all of the music !K7 Records can be played regardless of the season. All of it is wonderfully inventive, sexy and playful!

1. The Herbaliser "On Your Knees (featuring Jessica Darling)"
2. Boozoo Bajou "Killer (Featuring Top Cat)"
3. Trüby Trio "High Jazz"
4. Bomb the Bass "So Special (Radio Edit)"
5. Erlend Øye "Every Party (Has a Winner and a Loser)"
6. Tosca "John Lee Huber"
7. Stateless featuring Lateef the Truthspeaker "Bloodstream"
8. Swayzak "Quiet Life"
9. Kruder & Dorfmeister "Black Baby"
10. Interview with Stephen Bowles of !K7 Records
11. Carl Craig "Sandstorms"
12. Interview with Stephen Bowles of !K7 Records
13. Cobblestone Jazz "Change Your Apesuit"
14. Interview with Stephen Bowles of !K7 Records

Back in January I featured a recording of Steve Nalepa's Dub Beautiful Collective concert on solipsistic NATION. At the end of the show I played some studio projects from Steve's side projects with The FMs and Bass Science. I asked Steve if he had any more live material he's like to be heard on the show and he was kind enough to send me a recording of a Bass Science concert in Tokyo.

Steve has been singing the praises of Matt B (otherwise known as RaNDom and RND) and after playing Matt's "Crystal Dub" on one of my dub mixes I understood why. I love dub and Matt has created some of the most beautiful electronic dub tracks I've ever heard. That Steve and Matt would collaborate together on Bass Science was no surprise. That they took Bass Science in the direction of dubstep, however, was a surprise.

Seems like everyone loves dubstep these days. Hell, I love dubstep and listen to quite a few dubstep podcasts. Unfortunately, dubstep is one of those genres of music that is difficult to well. All to often artists will make dubstep tracks that just plod along while others will will create songs that are mired in the conventions of the genre. Not so with Bass Science. Matt and Steve are consummate soundsmiths and are able to craft exquisite dub and glitch tracks. When they combine their musical talent they create dubstep tracks that are subliminal. Or dubliminal, in this case. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

So crank up your subwoofer and prepare to have the top of your skull blasted off by the low-end frequencies of Bass Science!

1. Bass Science "Bass Science Live in Tokyo"
2. Interview with Steve Nalepa and Matt B of Bass Science

There was a time in my life where I'd start off each day by saying "hoka hey," which means "it is a good day to die."

I know that sounds morbid but for me it was actually a life affirming experience. I felt that in order for me to be able to say hoka hey each morning, that if I might actually die that day, that I needed to know that I was at peace with the world and that the affairs in my life were in order. Did I have a good relationship with my family and friends? If not, I better make sure they were. Had I accomplished the goals I had set out for myself? And were those goals important enough that it would not be a good day if they were not accomplished? And what goals would I not lose sleep over if they were left undone by my sudden death? It really put things in perspective on what was important and what was not important in my life by acknowledging my possible death each morning. And it also made me appreciate my life that much more.

I've felt my mortality more this year more than any other year in my life. I've had that unpleasant feeling that there are so many things in my life that I've left undone and so many things that will be unattainable. I've felt out of balance. But then the words hoka hey came to mind and gave me succor.

"Et in Arcadia ego" is a Latin phrase that acts as another touchstone with my death. Translated it means "Even in Arcadia I exist." It's an ambiguous phrase that some people interpret to mean that I, the person who is now dead, enjoyed the pleasures of life. It's an ironic statement contrasts the grim spectre of death with the blithe joys of the living. But I choose to interpret "Et in Arcadia ego" the same way I use "hoka hey."

I selected tracks for today's show in that spirit. It's a celebration of the seasons and life but with the knowledge that some day we all will die.

1. I Awake "Complete Garden (Eternal Forest Edit)"
2. Dubosmium "Tuvadelic Odyssey (7Heavens rmx by Rafiralfiro)" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
3. Aes Dana "Shouting Valley"
4. bubblegone "sometimes i lay in fields at night" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. Taylor Deupree "6 A.M."
6. Krill.Minima "Submarine Poetry"
7. Annea Lockwood "floating World: Part 1"
8. Janek Schaefer "Alone At Last"
9. Akira Kosemura "A Park"
10. Keiichi Sugimoto "Tum"
11. OTI "Large Open Spaces"
12. Maju "Achromatic" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
13. Mathieu Ruhlmann "Rest"
14. Brakhage "Early Morning Frost" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
15. Unit 21 "October, 16th" [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Another consequence is that all the new music that comes my way piles up because I can only play so much of it each month. That's frustrating because while I like the interview aspect of the show I feel like I'm doing you a disservice by not keeping you up to date on what's new in the electronic music scene. I've decided to try and strike a balance and get back to being a DJ more than I have in the last year.

This August is pretty cool because there are five Friday's in the month, giving me even more opportunities to spin you some new tunes.

On today's show I've got some...hell, I don't what to call it. Is it Bitpop? Electro? House? Disco? All of the above? Whatever the case, it's a genre I don't listen to or play a lot of. But I don't know why not because it's a lot of fun and makes me want to dance. And I'm one of those guy's who doesn't dance.

Anyway, I'm glad I'm making an effort to actively be more of a DJ on the show because there's a lot of genres of electronic music I haven't even got around to yet. So enjoy this week's show!

Photo Credit: Roberto Rizzato

1. Boys Noize "1 & Down (Siriusmo Vs. Boys Noize Mix)"
2. Headman "Running Into Time (LeLe Remix)"
3. Rouge Element "Dead Drummers"
4. Feadz "Edwrecker"
5. Justice "New Jack"
6. DJ DLG "XESS"
7. LeRon, Yves Eaux & Luke Star "Whatever This May Be (Jalebee Cartel Remix)"
8. Busy P "Rainbow Man"
9. Stargroove "Rise Up"
10. Toy Boy "Belle & Sebastian" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
11. 2MB vs Dr Bit "8 bit Music" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
12. edIT "If You Crump Stand Up"
13. Dark Machines "Organus"

On this week's solipsistic NATION I've got some mind blowing drum and bass that'll be good to your ear hole.

A few things you should know about today's show:

First, I love drum and bass and I love drum and bass that's really hard, the kind that bludgeons you senseless with it's unrelenting beats and that's what I wanted to play for you today. But try as I might, I kept selecting tracks that were more atmospheric and jazzier so I figured, why fight it.

Secondly, most of the music you'll hear on today's show comes from the Zardonic Recordings and Plain Audio netlabels, which means that if you like what you hear, you can download nearly all the tracks on today's edition of solipsistic NATION.

Zardonic Recordings is a netlabel that releases top notch quality drum 'n' bas dancefloor smashers.

Plain Audio was founded in 2001 and featured vinyl-releases and quickly evolved to one of Germany's most break-dominant drum 'n' bass labels. Plain Audio has since expanded it's horizons to techno, experimental music and other styles of electronic music.

1. Hek187 "Blue Haze" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
2. Kubiks & Lomax "Systematic"
3. Soul Delay "Float" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
4. Hek187 "Twizter" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
5. Alpha Omega "Shades Of The Past" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
6. Panda "Baghdad"
7. Soulie "Walking Home" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
8. Fushara "Irrational Act" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
9. Ijo "Frequa Gembh" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
10. Cartridge "No Data" [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Back in February I had Evan Bartholomew, otherwise known as Evan Marc and Bluetech, on the show to talk about his label, Native State Records.

Native State is a label the features artists who specialize in mixed genres such as dub, ambient and glitch. I've played many artists from Native State on the show in the past such as Nalepa, Rena Jones as well as Bluetech.

At the time Evan had just launched a new label called Somnia. The first album released on Somnia was Caverns of Time by Evan and I was immediately struck by it's emotional depth. I was impressed. If Caverns of Time represented the direction that Evan wanted to explore through Somnia, then I was along for the ride. Since then, Somnia has released music from Emanuele Errante, juxta phona & offthesky and a album by both Evan Marc and Steve Hillage. Each album is different from the last and each album is astonishingly great. Or maybe not so astonishing if you know anything about Evan.

I've invited Evan to join us again on today's show to talk about his new venture and to play select tracks from artists on Somnia. Kick back and kiss the sky.

1. Evan Marc + Steve Hillage "Hypnagogue"
2. Interview with Evan Bartholomew of Somnia
3. juxta phona & offthesky "escape kit..."
4. Interview with Evan Bartholomew of Somnia
5. juxta phona & offthesky "low spark of high squealed toys"
6. Emanuele Errante "Humi"
7. Interview with Evan Bartholomew of Somnia
8. Emanuele Errante "Fecunda"
9. Evan Bartholomew "We Set Out Into The Caverns Of Time"
10. Interview with Evan Bartholomew of Somnia
11. Evan Bartholomew "Cracks In The Fabric Of The Known"

The Gaian Mind is a psytrance collective has been producing Goa-styled events in nightclubs and at outdoor locations throughout North America since 1996.

Aes Dana is an ambient trance project who's two members are Vince Villuis and Sunbeam who also run Ultimae Records.

Ultimae puts out some of the most breathtaking music you'll find and Vince and Sunny are wonderful people. Every time I talk to them they put a smile on my face.

Sunny has been on the show twice so far. Once back in October when she played select tracks by artists on Ultimae and once in December when she acted as translator for my interview with Hol Baumann. If you enjoy this week's show then you'll definitely want to go to download those shows as well.

I'm pleased to have both Sunny and Vince on this week's solipsistic NATION.

1. Aes Dana "Live at the Gaian Mind Summer Festival (Four Quarters, PA 2008)"
2. Interview with Vincent Villuis and Sunny of Aes Dana
3. Aes Dana "O Adonaï, Live at at Les Dominicains de Guebwiller (France, 2008)"

solipsistic NATION is part of the new media movement and I thought we'd spend this week's show exploring how people like yourself are participating and changing the way media works, which in turn changes the way we see ourselves, our community and our world.

Half my life I've been a DJ at college and community radio stations, pirate and internet radio stations, and, for nearly four years I've been a podcaster.

I've always been evangelical about being a DJ. I constantly encourage people to be a DJ and I'm always amazed how many people turn down the opportunity to get on the mic and be heard. In fact, I'm amazed everyone isn't a DJ.

Especially now when it's so easy. All you need is a computer, a microphone and a place to host your files and, boom!, you're a podcaster. Granted, there's some skill involved and spending some extra cash on some decent hardware and software doesn't hurt but the most important thing is the content. People will forgive most anything if you've got something worth hearing.

When I started podcasting I hosted a show called Small World where I'd talk to people from all walks of life from all over the planet. I've interviewed everyone from sandwich makers to filmmakers. I started off recording all my interview into a crappy cassette recorder and then transfer it to the computer. Later on I got savvy and ran a microphone directly into my computer and did my interviews on Skype. I made mistakes, sure. The audio sounded pretty bad, too. But as I went a long I learned and improved and had people from all over the world listening to my little show that I recorded in my apartment. I didn't need to spend countless dollars on a radio station to be heard.

When I launched solipsistic NATION as a podcast I knew it was going to be much more than a show where I would spin music. And I knew I wasn't going to stick to just one genre of electronic music. There are enough shows that do just that and while they may be good, after you heard two or three shows you've pretty much heard all their shows. If that kind of show bores me then I know it's going to bore you.

But I also wanted to take what I had learned from the Small World and talk to people who were part of the electronic music community, whether they were drum and bass heads or glitch addicts. I wanted to talk to the people who made the music, the people who put out the music and the people who love the music.

I've always tried to keep the interviews on solipsistic NATION brief because despite what I just said, the show really is about the music. And it's a tricky balancing act, trying to keep things interesting with the music but not detracting from the music. I don't always succeed but looking back on the last 100 shows I'm proud of what I've been able to accomplish.

On today's show I'm going to pretty much just going to play excerpts of interviews from previous shows. from people who are part of the electronic music community. Hey, it's the 100th show. Indulge me.

1. Killfish "Scape From Pilar (Excerpt)"
2. Richard Metzger "Disinfo.Con, Opening Remarks"
3. Interview with Pete Cooper, host of bleepshow (Excerpt)
   solipsistic NATION No. 95: Bleep!
4. Interview with Snowy, host of Electronicast (Excerpt)
   solipsistic NATION No. 74: Electronicast
5. Interview with Mikel OD, host of Most People Are DJs (Excerpt)
   solipsistic NATION No. 59: Synthpop
6. Interview with Anji Bee, host of the Chillcast (Excerpt)
   solipsistic NATION No. 76: Lovespirals
7. Mr Flash "Disco Dynamite"
8. Interview with Travis Nobles, host of hiddenplace music (Excerpt)
   solipsistic NATION No. 79: HiddenPlace Music, Part 1
9. Interview with Pietro Da Sacco, managing editor of Igloo Magazine (Excerpt)
   solipsistic NATION No. 90: Left of Dissonance
10. Niteffect "Lights Off (Excerpt)"
11. Interview with Vivian Host, editor of XLR8R Magazine (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 51: Accelerate
12. OP11 "Naissance (Excerpt)"
13. Interview with Stephen Page, station manager of KYOURadio (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 87: Glitterdämmerung
14. Robberriff "Lifebreath (Excerpt)"
15. Interview with Brian, founder of the Oscillation Electronic Music Festival (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 58: Oscillation
16. Interview with J. Anthony Allen, Director of Programming of the Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Art (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 78: Spark
17. Omid "Beat From My Mouth (Excerpt)"
18. Interview with Simon Carless of Monotonik (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 66: NetLabels
19. Interview with Nicolas Chevreux of Ad Noiseam (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 81: Ad Noiseam
20. Interview with Evan Marc of Native State Records (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 77: Native State Records
21. Interview with Sunny of Ultimae Records (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 61: Ultimae Records
22. Detalles "Cilantro (Excerpt)"
23. Interview with Cheb i Sabbah (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 56: Cheb i Sabbah
24. Interview with Martin Rev and Alan Vega of Suicide (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 87: Glitterdämmerung
25. Interview with Amon Tobin (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 82: Amon Tobin
26. Sebastian "Greel (Excerpt)"
27. Interview with Robert Rich (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 50: Robert Rich, Live
28. Interview with Hol Baumann (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 67: Hol Baumann, Live
29. Interview with Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 88: Meat Beat Manifesto, Live
30. DJ Internet & Kid Kool A.K.A. Pella "Hit (Excerpt)"
31. Interviews from the Dubstep documentary (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 83: Dubsonic
32. Interview with MC Frontalot (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No.4: Nerdcore
33. Interview with Johan Kotlinski (Excerpt)
    solipsistic NATION No. 8: Chiptunes
34. Suhov "Moonhill"

I try not too talk too much on solipsistic NATION because I've only got an hour to cram as much music and interviews into each edition of the show. I don't want to waste your time with my banter. Besides, anything I can't fit in the show I can always say in the show notes.

We're just months away from a presidential election here in the U.S. and after the longest political campaign in our country's history things are really heating up. It's been said that politics are a full contact sport and this campaign has been particularly ugly and for good reason: one of the former candidates, Hillary Clinton, is a woman and Barack Obama, is a black man. Despite the changing face of America our country has yet to fully come to terms with the much needed equality of women and race in our nation. Simply by being in the campaign Clinton and Obama has forced America to think about the issues of sex and race.

While that is a good thing it also means that a lot of people can express their bigotry. Sometimes it came across in an obscure manner such as when pundits observed Clinton's tactics as being a form of "muscular" politics (none of the other male candidates politics were identified as "muscular"). Sometimes it was more egregious. For example, there were many times when Clinto was told that her place was in the kitchen, often by other women.

The campaign has narrowed down to McCain and Obama so now America's discomfort with the possibility of having a black man as a president has become more pronounced. Recently there were a batch of pins that read "If Obama is President...will we still call it The White House?" When Obama gently banged fists with his wife, Michelle, a FOXNews anchor asked if the fist-bump might actually be "a terrorist fist jab." It goes on and on.

When I'm optimistic I see all this as a good thing because it means my country is addressing it's collective fears and hopefully we can move on. If Obama is elected president racism will still exist in our country but it's a step in the right direction. Even if Obama is not elected president it still is a victory. The U.S. is finally moving past an antiquated mindset. When I'm not so optimistic I get really pissed off. Can we please move into the fucking 21^st century. But rather than rant about all this on solipsistic NATION I figure it would be more productive and just play some music that kicks ass and today's show does just that. Turn it up and get your rage on!

Photo Credit: Chad Davis

1. The Prodigy "Smack My Bitch Up"
2. DJ Danger Mouse "99 Problems"
3. Rob Sonic "Brand New Vandals"
4. Aesop Rock Feat. Rob Sonic "Dark Heart News"
5. Dark Machines "Rituals"
6. Klaxons "Interzone To Golden Skans So Me (Remix)"
7. Neon Stereo vs Marcie "F*ck Me Baby" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
8. Cornelius "Gum" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
9. Justice "Stress"
10. Time Promises Power "Rope of Gloves" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
11. Rabbit Junk "Vote Bolshevik Lite"
12. CTRLer "Vote Bolshevik Lite" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
13. Bong-Ra "Suicide Speed Machine Girl"
14. Sabrepulse "Dot Matrix Hero"
15. Raüberhöhle "My Heart Bleeps Noisy Beeps"

It amazes me just how many music labels are out there that are putting out some of the most phenomenal music I've ever heard. What's wonderful about electronic music is that these labels can focus on a specific genre and mine the very best music that that genre has to offer. Ultimae Records, for example, focuses and ambient/trance music while Native State Records specializes in the glitchier and dubbier stuff.

Today on solipsistic NATION we're joined by Taylor Deupree, the founder of the 12k music label.

12k an independent boutique label that showcases artists who specialize in experimental electronic music. To date, 12k has released over 40 CDs since the label's inception in 1971. Due to the caliber of music Taylor offers 12k has become one of the most respected experimental electronic labels in the world. Each album from 12k is a special and made even more unique by Taylor's insistence that he only releases 500 copies of each CD.

I think that 12k puts out some of the most beautiful electronic music I've ever heard. Since most of the albums on 12k are quiet things I've come to enjoy how the sounds of the environment I'm in when I listen to 12k releases become part of the music while the music colors my perceptions of the environment I'm in. It's a sublime experience. See if that happens to you when you listen to this week's show.

1. Savvas Ysatis + Taylor Deupree "Under Your Breath"
2. Interview with Taylor Deupree of 12k
3. Solo Andata - Seaworthy - Taylor Deupree "Solo Andata"
4. Interview with Taylor Deupree of 12k
5. Giuseppe Ielasi "01"
6. Sawako "Wind Shower Particle"
7. William Basinski + Richard Chartier "untitled 2"
8. Interview with Taylor Deupree of 12k
9. Richard Chartier "Archival1992"

For those of you who live in the U.S., Happy 4^th of July!

Today is a special day for me because July 4^th of 2004 is when solipsistic NATION was first broadcast on Free Radio San Diego (FRSD). Back then, studio of FRSD was located in a toolshed. We had an air conditioner but that only brought down the temperature down a few degrees and I had to turn it off whenever I went on the mic for on-air announcements to avoid the air conditioner's hum.

Another challenge of doing an electronic music show on FRSD was that our station used Ots Labs radio software. Ots Labs has come a long way but when I first began solipsistic NATION their app was great for programing the schedules for shows but lousy for doing the seamless segues you expect from an electronic music show. Despite the software and our air conditioner I managed to put out a decent show each week and built up an audience in San Diego for people who were starved for just such a program.

In addition to solipsistic NATION's four year anniversary I'll have released 100 editions of the show as a podcast in three weeks and in September solipsistic NATION will celebrate two years of weekly podcasts. 2008 is a banner year for solipsistic NATION!

This week's show is special for another reason because I've released one show featuring a live performance by an electronic artists for nearly a year. When I began the live segment I thought it would be something that I would do occasionally on the show and never expected that it would become a monthly segment. In the last year I've has live sets from the likes of Robert Rich, Hol Baumann and Meat Beat Manifesto and in the next few months you can expect to hear concerts by The Orb, Bass Science and Aes Dana.

To celebrate solipsistic NATION's four year anniversary we have a live performance from Bubblegone and Verzerren. Play it when the fireworks begin!

Photo Credit: chromedecay

1. Bubblegone vs. Verzerren "Live at the Darkroom (Chicago, IL 2004)"
2. Interview with Jason Engling of Bubblegone and Joe Pauer of Verzerren
3. Bubblegone "Live at the Dreamland Theater (Ypsilanti, MI 2007)" [FREE DOWNLOAD]
4. Interview with Jason Engling of Bubblegone and Joe Pauer of Verzerren