Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Episode 126, Some Assembly Required

Episode 126, Some Assembly Required

01 Lecture on Nothing – “The custom apocalypse”
02 The Verve – “Bittersweet Symphony”
03 Osymyso – “The Not Quite Fool”
04 CCC - “Puppet rock”
05 Unknown – “Arnie calls gateway”
06 The Tape-beatles – “From The Tide Or The Wind”
07 Sucking Chest Wound – “War On Drugs”
08 Negativland – “Then”
09 Tom Recchion - “Free Of Ice”
10 Twink – “Alphabent’
11 Edward Flynn – “The light is dim”
12 Party Ben – “Never Feel Good”
13 The Bran Flakes – “You Can Be My Monkey”
14 Jason Forrest – “Nightclothes and headphones”


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD

More information about Some Assembly Required online, at:
www.some-assembly-required.net

December 25, 2006: Party Ben

December 25, 2006: Party Ben

The SAR Podcast is one year old this week!

It was just last xmas that I tested out what I'd been told was a reasonably safe bet, as far as reliable podcasting channels were concerned, by posting a specially themed mix of sound collage. It went up a few days before xmas with the holiday as it's theme. The word quickly got out... and crashed our original server. I remember spending a long afternoon at Rosalux one day not long after the first podcast had gone up, frantically trying to figure out how to get things transferred quickly to another server, so that what seemed like thousands (actually, the final count went well beyond 7,000 unique downloads) of requests would not be disappointed. We quickly found another server and have uploaded at least one new podcast every week since then. No small accomplishment for someone who understands the internet as rudimentarily as I do (is that a word?) We started uploading actual episodes first thing in January, 2006.

So anyway - Merry Xmas, and thanks for listening. I hope you've been enjoying all this hard work!

Our featured artist this week is Party Ben - read on for the SAR Q&A with him. His is just one of 14 sound collages this week. Get ready to download episode 126 in just a few. Then stay tuned as we shift the order of the episodes being podcast (yet again) in the next week or two... or three. At some point in January the plan is to start podcasting brand new episodes - the same ones scheduled to air on radio stations across the US and Canada. My grand plan is to get the podcast schedule and the broadcast schedule to sync up at some point THIS MONTH (January, that is - so, technically next month). It all depends on where the majority of the stations are in the current broacast schedule. Stay tuned.

For now, we're still podcasting reruns - good shows which recently aired on over two dozen college, community and public radio stations across the US and Canada. This week's podcast is expecially striking - as I'm sure I've said many times, things have gotten a lot more interesting lately, as I've broadened the perspective of the show just a bit. I've always been happy with my work here on Some Assembly Required, but if you'll allow me to say so, I'm especially pleased with how things have developed within the last couple of years. Stay tuned - there's much more to come.

***

Party Ben

Party Ben is part of the next generation of bastard pop - perhaps the first generation of the American mashup? If I'm wrong about that, for god's sake please don't hesitate to tell me - write a scathing review of how little I know here in the comments section if you must. I'm just sharing what I do know and trying as best I can to editorialize as little as possible (that's very hard). But Party Ben IS one of my favorites. See, I told you it was hard...

He's from San Francisco. He works at one of those all too familiar commercial yet somehow alternative radio stations (they do exist, and some of them are actually quite good). He's been active in the mashups scene out there for quite some time and has a very developed website detailing most, if not all, of said details for all to read. Check it out HERE. He's a DJ and a producer with mixes aired on XFM and countless programs on American radio (including, of course, Some Assembly Required) and he's a long-standing resident DJ at Club Bootie, a mashup club in San Francisco which appears to be ALL the rage. Check out the full story at his website...

It's very, very late in the evening, xmas day, and I've been up since very early, hanging out with family and then working for nine hours (yes, still waiting tables) so I've probably already rambled on long enough. Very tired. Please forgive me if I haven't said enough! I meant to. Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with Party Ben...


*Name: Party Ben

*Are there any additional names used to describe this project: No

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: Actually I'd rather not say (just) "mashups" since I've done a lot of different things that aren't necessarily just putting two songs together. Most of the stuff I've done that's popular falls under the category of mashups though so I guess it comes as close as anything. I wouldn't say in general "I'm Party Ben and I make mashups" though.

*Another genre descriptor: As far as classifying what I do, that's a bit tough. On the one hand some of my work is totally cheesy shock-value medley-style kitsch for a mainstream radio audience; on the other hand, I've always enjoyed sneaking in psychedelic distortion and freaked-out looping when I can, so I'm not sure whether I'm a real "artist" or not. Maybe sometimes. I wish I was cool enough to come up with a name like "plunderphonics!"
*Location: San Francisco, California

*Original Location: I live in SF now but grew up in a little town in Nebraska.

*What is your creative/artistic background: When the other, normal kids were playing sports, I was holed up in my room making pause-control "remixes" of New Order songs. I don't have much formal artistic background other than piano lessons and marching band, although much of my family is involved in music so it's always been around me.

*History: I've been altering and manipulating music since I was a kid, for instance I made proto-mashups by plugging two different inputs into the left and right channels of my Sears stereo system. My first computer-assisted multi-track software mix was in 1998 when I added some DJ Shadow beats to a Beck song ("Lonesome"), and then did a version of Fatboy Slim's "Satisfaction Skank."

*Born: I was born in 1970 making me a decrepit 36 years old. Omaha, Nebraska is the place of birth.

*Philosophy: As far as a "philosopy" behind what I do, I have no idea. I guess I've always felt that rearrangement, parody, recombination, and collage are just natural parts of the listening process, and it continually shocks me that not everyone is making their own versions of their favorite songs to listen to. I always have.

*How would you like to be remembered: I think if I'm remembered for making a couple people laugh, at least, that would be fine.

*Web address: www.partyben.com

***

Thanks to Party Ben for being our featured artist this week at the SAR Blog. Be sure to check out His Website, while listening to this week's podcast (episode 126).

Tune in next week for a feature length phone interview with Jason Forrest (aka Donna Summer). We'll be podcasting episode 127 which features our converation with Forrest, and since we've already run his SAR Q&A we'll have to come up with something else to run in it's place next week at the blog. Check back and see what I come up with...

Until then - thanks for listening!!
Jon Nelson

www.some-assembly-required.net

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Episode 125, Some Assembly Required

Episode 125, Some Assembly Required

01 Lecture On Nothing – “Get A Job”
02 CCC – “Stand by me”
03 DJ VU – “Strength and wisdom”
04 DJ Ruthless – “Flat Chested”
05 Doug Michael – “Before Sundown”
06 DJ Shadow – “What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4)”
07 Twink – “Yippee Skippee”
08 DJ Cal (Calle Hansson) – “Nona Drove All Night”
09 Jukebaritone – “What are you scared of”
10 Public Works – “Mortal mind”
11 Mag Wheels – “Kill noise”
12 Steve Fisk – “Ragged Old Flag”
13 The Bran Flakes – “Poncherello”
14 Negativland – “Bite Back”


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD

More information about Some Assembly Required online, at:
www.some-assembly-required.net

December 16, 2006

December 16, 2006

Wow, no featured Q&A this week. I believe that's only the second time this year, so I hope you'll forgive me! I sent out several requests for interviews but there have been no timely responses. If you're one of the artists I contacted, please do send your answers anyway and we'll work them in at a later date.

So, I'll try to think of something else to talk about here...

The featured Q&A next week is with mashup artist Party Ben. So, that's something to look forward to! We've been doing a lot of features on mashup artists here lately, which is fine of course but I do like to keep things more ballanced than that usually, so you can look forward to a bit more diversity in the coming months (meaning more features on other types of collage artists). I have Q&A's planned with Janek Schaefer, Ros Bobos, Rob Swift, Wax Audio and The Freelance Hellraiser, to name just a few. Keep coming back every week for new insights into the artists I play on the show. I promise to try and keep it interesting!

Also in January (probably late January), I'm planning on making the shift to podcasting brand new episodes of Some Assembly Required. If you're a regular listener, you probably know that the podcast has so far consisted of previously aired episodes of the program. This was an attempt to archive the shows online, while learning how to podcast. I feel pretty steady now, and ready to make the move to keeping the podcast schedule in sync with the broadcast schedule. I should probably put a page up somewhere listing all of the episodes, too. Another project to get to.

Finally, my show with Ruben Nusz (Create, Destroy, Repeat) is coming down on Monday, so if you're in the Twin Cities get down to see it today and tomorrow (at Rosalux Gallery). The last day of the exhibition is December 17th. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to go see it and to let me know! Ruben and I were very proud of the show and are kind of sad to have to take it down after this weekend. You can see two of the videos featured in the exhibition online. I've uploaded them to the Videos Page at the Escape Mechanism website. You can also read some of the press the show got at the News Page. The two videos online so far are "Let's Talk (Q&A)" by Fantastic Five (Carrie Shannahan and Sarah Petersen) and "Cycles" by John Richardson (R Room). The third video, by Coleman Miller, will go up just as soon as I get the file converted to something I know how to work with. Stay tuned!

Well, I do plan to return to posting the Q&A's next week. Tune in. We'll get back on the horse with our feature on Party Ben. This week's podcast is episode 125 - uploading as I finish up this post. Download it in just a couple of minutes!

Thanks for listening,
Jon Nelson

www.some-assembly-required.net

Friday, December 08, 2006

Episode 124, Some Assembly Required

Episode 124, Some Assembly Required

01 2 Many DJs – “(Untitled)”
02 Sucking Chest Wound – “Isn't That A Beauty?”
03 The Tape-beatles – “Do You Think It's An Accident”
04 Double Dee & Steinski – “Lesson 1 - The Payoff Mix”
05 Chris Burke – “Domestic enemy”
06 The Tape-beatles – “The changing world”
07 Aggro 1 – “Behind these immigrant eyes”
08 Mumbles – “At the mountains of madness”
09 Jeff Sconce - “Satan's beamer”
10 Dept. of Corrections – “Bandscan of Terror”
11 Donna Summer – “Bleak Prometheus”
12 Negativland - “Yellow Black and Rectangular”
13 DJ Shadow – “The Numbers Song”


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD

More information about Some Assembly Required online, at:
www.some-assembly-required.net

December 8, 2006: Aggro1

December 8, 2006: Aggro1

The featured artist this week is Aggro1, so read on for his answers to the SAR Q&A and check out this week's podcast (episode 124) to hear one of his mashups, along with a dozen additional sound collages!

Thanks to everyone who came to our art opening at Rosalux Gallery on the 1st. Create, Destroy, Repeat will be on display through Sunday, December 17th, so you have this weekend and next to check it out! Rosalux Gallery is located at 1011 Washington Avenue South (the Open Book building), just off 35W in Minneapolis, MN. More info at: www.rosaluxgallery.com

***

Aggro1

Aggro1 is the rare example of a mashup artist who strays a bit from the usual (sampled) suspects, and manages to do it both consistently AND well. There are an awful lot of mashups to be downloaded at his website, and the clunker is quite rare. I got ahold of him a few months ago, looking for answers for this feature and found a friendly, down to earth artist, to boot. Although, he might just fall into that category of artist who gets squeamish when referred to as an artist... Sorry!

Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with Aggro1...


*Name: Aggro1

*Members: Tim Blore

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: Most definitely "digital deconstructions." Adobe Audition 1.5 is the only tool I use to create my sonic-offspring. I know lots of mash-up artists are DJ's, but not me. I haven't even owned any vinyl since I was a wee lad in the early 80s. I think it was Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" record (did I just say that out loud?)

*Location: I hail from the Buckeye state, Ohio, in a little town called Dayton. It's blue-collar, kinda boring and definitely lacking any knowledge about the mash scene. In fact, besides the people who I play my tunes for, I don't think anyone I know even has a clue about mash-ups. Unless you count that Linkin Park/Jay-Z thing ...I don't.

*What is your creative/artistic background: ????

*History: After listening to mash-ups since 2001, I finally decided to get my hands dirty about a year and half ago. In that time, I've made somewhere around 250 mashes. It's almost time to retire and cruise America in a Winnebago, I think.

*Born: 9 months after my parents did their own "mash-up," I joined the world at the end of February, 1973 in Topeka, Kansas. Yee-haw!

*Motivations: Well, originally I picked this up because I wasn't hearing any of the aggressive music (namely metal) I mainly listened to being used in mash-ups. So I decided to do it for myself. But I've branched out a bit more and now only occasionally do those types of mashes. But that's still my main love. Plus, I've always wanted to create music. I play a little guitar, keyboards and drums but not well enough to put something together worth listening to. So this is what the world gets musically from me.

*Philosophy: Keep practicing at this, and someday, hopefully, I'll get paid to do what I love to do.

*How would you like to be remembered: As still alive. And as someone who was pretty prolific yet still retained quality material.

*Web address: http://www.aggro1.com/

***

Thanks to Aggro1's Tim Blore for being our featured artist this week. Be sure to check out the Aggro1 website and download this week's podcast (episode 124) to find out even more.

Tune in next week for our feature on... uh oh, my notes say that I don't have anyone lined up for the rest of the year! Well, that's only two weeks. Oh my god, only two weeks... I better get back to work - I've got to get a bunch of new episodes produced by the beginning of the year. The plan is to start podcasting the new episodes as they air in syndication. So, beginning sometime in early-to-mid January 2007, there will finally be just ONE schedule for all the playlists. I'm very excited.

Anyway, tune in next week to see what I come up with for a feature. I'll figure something out!
Thanks for listening,
Jon Nelson

www.some-assembly-required.net

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Episode 123, Some Assembly Required

Episode 123, Some Assembly Required

01 The Kleptones – “See”
02 Laso Halo – “Will Kathleen dance to that jukebox tonight?”
03 People Like Us – “A Crossed Line”
04 Bonzo Goes to Washington – “(We Begin Bombing In) 5 Minutes”
05 Scratch Perverts – “Adventures on the wheels of steel”
06 Anarchoice – “War President”
07 Wayne Butane – “How Bazooka Joe Lost An Eye”
08 Go Home Productions – “Return Of The Weather Episode”
09 Invisibl Skratch Piklz – “Ah Come On”
10 Twink – “Let Me See How You Do It”
11 Jason Forrest – “Walls of the city shake”
12 RX Music – “White lines”


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD

More information about Some Assembly Required online, at:
www.some-assembly-required.net

December 2, 2006: Twink

December 2, 2006: Twink

Thanks to everyone who came to see Ruben Nusz and I at our art opening last night at Rosalux! We felt a lot of love and really enjoyed ourselves. Thanks for coming down! The show is called Create, Destroy, Repeat and will stay up through December 17th at Rosalux Gallery, in Minneapolis, MN. There's more information to be found at www.rosaluxgallery.com

This week's featured artist is Twink! Stay tuned for the SAR Q&A and get ready to download this week's podcast (episode 123) which will probably be finished uploading by the time I finish typing... If you've been enjoying our weekly artist feature, I hope you'll drop me a line and let me know! It's always nice to hear from people who are reading, not to mention listening. You can find my contact info at the SAR Contact Page. Hope to hear from you!

***

Twink

Twink is Mike Langlie's "Cutetronica" project which up until recently had been primarily concerned with recycling children's pianos, recording music played on the toys/instruments. His latest record though is composed of fragments of sounds from dozens of the children's records which had inspired that work.

It's silly, often danceable, sample-based music featuring lots of recognizable (and just as many unrecognizable) sounds from all the children's records we grew up with. So, it's definitely a bit nostalgic as well. There really aren't an awful lot of experimental projects which are also intentionally FUN, so Twink is filling an underserved niche!

Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with TWINK...


*Name: Twink, aka "Twink, the Toy Piano Band!" I've been trying to use the longer, descriptive version when possible, to prevent confusion between me and the other Twinks of the world.

*Members: It's basically my solo project, but I often work with musicians I like, who I consider part of the "extended" group. Something unexpected comes out of every collaboration. I've got a limited bag of tricks so it's nice to have people push me in different directions.

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: Twink was started to focus on my toy piano collection, but over time I wanted to try other things with a similar fun and whimsical feel. The songs typically take happy, simple melodies and subvert them somehow. I've been collecting lots of vintage kiddie records for inspiration, and finally wanted to try doing something with it all. It's all such great stuff that's unfortunately overlooked by most adults that don't really consider it real music. Over a few years I recorded the vinyl to my Mac and sliced it all up into bits and pieces. The album "The Broken Record" was put together almost entirely in Propellerhead's Reason program, so definitely digitally constructed (with some poor attempts at scratching on rickety school house turntables!). The concept was trying to re-contextualize the older material into something that average listeners today would find palatable, and also dig new meaning out of. I've been doing taped audio collages since I was a kid, so it was just a matter of time before I made a real project out of it.

*Another genre descriptor: I didn't make it up, but I like the term "Cutetronica."

*Location: Originally from upstate New York, now living near Boston, MA. I'm a graphic designer, and have dabbled in comics, zines, video, sculpture, etc.

*History: Twink was officially born in 1999. I've been in a bunch of more relatively normal bands before that, but got fed up with the "scene" and limitations of the genres. After a long break from music I decided to just do something for my own amusement. Luckily other people seem to like it.

*Motivations: It boils down to having a fun project to explore. I certainly don't make money from it, but it's a nice outlet for my music and design experiments.

*Philosophy: It's okay for a grown man to play silly music with toys? I guess I've always been interested in breaking expectations. And justifying my Hello Kitty side.

*How would you like to be remembered: Fun-loving, hard-working rabbit-man.

*Web address: www.twink.net

***

Thanks to Twink for being our featured artist this week - download this week's podcast (episode 123) to hear an example off of his album, "The Broken Record," along with 11 other exellent sound collages. Check out Twink's website while you're at it!

Enjoy this week's podcast - and don't forget to drop me a line. My contact info can be found HERE. Tune in next week for our feature on Aggro1...

Thanks for listening!
Jon Nelson

www.some-assembly-required.net

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Episode 122, Some Assembly Required

Episode 122, Some Assembly Required

01 Mr Dibbs – “1000 Drumps”
02 John Oswald - “1001”
03 DJ Frenchbloke – “Whitneytron”
04 People Like Us – “I'm 89”
05 Audio Consortium – “Andre's Voyage”
06 Rush Limbaugh Hater – “Rush Sings I'm A Nazi”
07 Negativland – “Freedom's Waiting”
08 Jason Forrest – “My 36 favorite punk songs”
09 Kid Koala and Dynamite O – “Third World Lover”
10 Wobbly - “Dance floor”
11 DJ Zebra – “Come Closer”
12 DJ Z-Trip & Radar – “Untitled”
13 Soundshaker – “Four More F***ing Years (Blood For Oil)”
14 Wobbly – “Uh What, Uh Huh. Two.”
15 Think Tank – “Anticipatory Retaliation”


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD

More information about Some Assembly Required online, at:
www.some-assembly-required.net

November 26, 2006: DJ Zebra

November 26, 2006: DJ Zebra

If you're reading this and plan to be in the Twin Cities on December 1st, I hope you'll join Ruben Nusz and I at Rosalux Gallery for Create.Destroy.Repeat, our first show together and my first major art exhibition since showing there with Amy Rice nearly two years ago. I'll be showing a brand new series of collage, along with some video collage collaborations and two brand new additions to the Marquee Series. Please join us the evening of Friday, December 1st at Rosalux Gallery, from 7-11 pm. Rosalux is located at 1011 Washington Avenue South, in Minneapolis and you can find more info online at rosaluxgallery.com

Our featured artist this week is DJ Zebra! Stay tuned for episode 122 in just a few, and read on to learn all about DJ Zebra. Thanks for checking us out!


***

DJ Zebra

DJ Zebra is a member of an exclusive new club of mashup artists who've taken that natural next step with their work, forming bands to perform their mashup compositions live. I'm sure there are at least a few "bastard pop bands" doing this by now, but the first artists I'm aware of to do this were DJ Zebra and a group called Smash Up Derby (featuring members of a mashup team called A plus D, out of California).

DJ Zebra is a musician and radio producer from Paris, France. He produces a daily radio mix for OÃœI FM (a rock 'n roll radio station in France) and also does a mash-up program on FRANCE INTER. He's also a remix artist, and spins around Europe as a rock DJ.

Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with DJ Zebra...


*Name: DJ Zebra

*Do you use a pseudonym? I am Antoine MINNE, a.k.a. DJ ZEBRA. I have this name since 1993, when I started DJing in a funky-latino style in France.

*Members: I also play in the BOOTLEGS LIVE BAND with DJ Moule, playing live our own mash-ups with guitar, bass and loops.

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: I don’t use technical definitions to describe my work. I'm rather like a "metteur en scène" (in french), it's like a movie director or a master of puppets. I create musical scenes or stories with singers and musicians that never met in real life. It's not just a mix. If it was, mash-ups wouldn't be so interesting.

*Location: Paris, France.

*Original Location: Ham, France

*What is your creative/artistic background: I started playing guitar at the age of 9, in 1980. It was in Ham (the city where I was born, in the north of France). Then I created my first rock band in 1990. We played my instrumental compositions, which were a sort of mix between The Smiths and Jimi Hendrix (can you imagine that?). I was a student in an art school at this time, and I always knew that my life would be nothing without a creative job. Then I went to Rennes in 1991, to work in a radio station, and since that I played music and produced radio programs. So being a DJ was the best way to do both.

*History: I'm living in Paris, France, but I started playing music in a professional way in Rennes (west of France), which is a city that had a serious new-wave background. I joined Billy Ze Kick in 1993, a pop band who did songs over loops (from The Doors, Them, Dave Brubeck, lots of reggae hits...), which was new at this time. This experience made me want to work with a sampler, then I never gave up this kind of work. It was already bootlegs, but I didn't know it because this happened before the "bastard pop" movement came.

*Born: 1971

*Motivations/Philosophy: I like to be free. I like every kind of music, and I have an offensive attitude. The art of provocation! So bootlegs/mash-ups are the best way to do music with all those elements. It's also a way to open people's minds, to have a sort of political dimension without anything else that music. Some people think that "we shouldn't have the right" to do that kind of mix between artists without demanding. So it's like a "f*** off" style, and I like that.

*Web address: My website is http://www.dj-zebra.com

***

Thanks to DJ Zebra for submitting his responses to our Q&A this week. Check out his website and download this week's podcast (episode 122) to learn even more and hear some of his work!

In a rush this week, so I'll wrap this up quickly. I still have a couple of pieces to finish up for my exhibition with Ruben Nusz this Friday! Please join us at the opening - again, it's Friday, December 1st, from 7-11 pm at Rosalux Gallery. More info at rosaluxgallery.com

Tune in next week for our feature on TWINK. Until then, thanks for listening!
Jon Nelson

www.some-assembly-required.net

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Episode 121, Some Assembly Required

Episode 121, Some Assembly Required

01 Avalanches – “Since I left you”
02 Christian Marclay - "John Cage"
03 Dsico – “Block rockin’ woman”
04 Silica Gel –“Personal dream”
05 Cast of Thousands w/ Escape Mechanism – “Lets talk (Q and A)”
06 John Schnall – “God”
07 DJ Cal – “Wicked whatever”
08 Myeck Waters – “The strangest story”
09 DJ Jester & the Gellm – “Filipinofist”
10 DJ Talkback – “The return of scratching”
11 John Oswald – “Open”
12 Osymyso – “Girls and boys”
13 Splatt – “Caution: rafall”
14 Twink – “Three blind mice”
15 Steinski – “Relax”


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD

More information about Some Assembly Required online, at:
www.some-assembly-required.net

November 19, 2006: Dsico

November 19, 2006: Dsico

For those of you who are staying on top of the podcast via iTunes, I apologize for whatever technical issue we were having this past week. A few emails between myself and a couple of (highly educated) friends later, and I was able to add some code in somewhere and make the problem magically disappear. Glad to report it was something that we could fix. Stay tuned for episode 121, to be posted next - and it should be available at iTunes shortly therafter!

***

Dsico

Dsico was one of the first mashup artists I came across. I got a disc in the mail shortly after someone else had sent me the Best Bootlegs in the World Ever compilation, and I listened to them both for quite awhile, as I slowly warmed up to the idea. Believe it or not, I wasn't too sure I liked it, at first! When we had The ECC out to play at Theatre de la Jeune Lune a few years ago, I DJ'd for about an hour, warming up the crowd, and spun mashups (in homage to Mark Gunderson's title as "Godfather of Mashup"), and it was the aformentioned CDs which made up the bulk of my offering that night. The crowd was quite appreciative.

Dsico is another mashup artist who has since gone on to produce more traditional music, choosing to move beyond his role as mashup artist. Although of course we'll focus on his work as a sample-based musician here, Dsico has become a band with a live line-up featuring Luke Collison on Guitar & Vocals, Michaela Davies on Bass and Reef Gaha on drums. Collison continues to do remixes as well, though based on his answers to the SAR Q&A (below), I doubt he'll be doing any more mashups...

Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with Dsico!


*Name: Dsico

*Members: 1-3

*Founding Member: Luke Collison

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: These days it’s just a "band.” I suppose I’m more a singer/songwriter for lack of a better term. I don't do that mashup rubbish anymore. Thats all just plagiarism anyway.

*Location: Sydney, Australia

*What is your creative/artistic background: Well, I'm living in Sydney, Australia at the moment and have been here for the last 10 years or so. I played a bit of guitar in high school, as I imagine a lot of people did. But it wasn’t until I was at Uni that I got into electronic music and started playing with synthesizers and that stuff.

*History: Dsico, has been going for a few years. Initially it was just a Pseudonym I was using for doing Mash-Ups and Plunderphonic type work. This was all around 2002/2003 I suppose, DJing and "net-releasing" unofficial remixes etc. These days I don't do any of that though. And Dsico has now become the name for my original music output. I have a couple of albums out on my own little vanity label "Spasticated Records." I've also now put together a 3-Piece Band for live gigs, with Vox/Guitar + Bass + Drums & Electronics. We've been doing a few gigs around Sydney this year.

*Born: I've been working under the pseudonym Dsico since around late 2002 or so, and I'm old enough...

*Motivations/Philosophy: I just write songs. Its amusing. Oh and I like the mixing/ production side of it a lot too. It’s always interesting learning how to get a better or smoother, fuller sound. Lately I've been trying to get into producing other bands more as I think I have writers block with my music. My recent songs have been a little lacking. But the production side has been coming along. Although you always want more gear. More preamps / microphones, fancy synths... It’s terrible.

*Web address: http://www.dsico.org

***

Thanks to Luke Collison of Dsico for being the focus of our feature this week at the SAR Blog. Check out episode 121 to hear one of his mashups - or "rubbish," as he calls it! Check out the Dsico website when you get a chance as well.

Hopefully this new episode uploads to iTunes this week and we won't have any further problems getting the show out. If you have any problems, please feel free to get in contact. You can post a comment here at the blog, or drop me a line at my email address (listed at our Contact Page). Also, if you have any ideas on how we could better promote the podcast, I'm all ears. Still quite new to this and, as you can probably tell, much more interested in the production and musical direction of the show, as opposed to learning all the ins and outs of the technical side of podcasting, but I'd love to find the show more exposure so if you have any ideas on where I should be listing the program, or promoting it in other ways, please don't hesitate to make your suggestions...

Tune in next week for our feature on DJ Zebra. Until then - thanks for listening!
Jon Nelson

www.some-assembly-required.net

Friday, November 10, 2006

Episode 120, Some Assembly Required

Episode 120, Some Assembly Required

01 Tedshred – “Rastars vs Patsy Cline”
02 People Like Us – “Millenium Dome”
03 The Evolution Control Committee - “Music for Selling”
04 Glockenspiel – “When The Record Goes Around”
05 The Bran Flakes – “They're Laughing At Me”
06 DJ Format - “Vinyl Overdose”
07 The Tape-beatles – “Call of the carpenter”
08 Jeff Sconce - “Good times!”
09 Negativland – “Quiet Please”
10 Splatt – “Laughterstruck”
11 DJ QBert – “Sneak Attack”
12 People Like Us – “Ski Heil”
13 Realistic – “Oops out of space”
14 Negativland – “Pip Digs Pep”
15 Myeck Waters – “I love that thing!”
16 RX Music – “My generation”
17 King of Pants – “Badd To Me”


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD

More information about Some Assembly Required online, at:
www.some-assembly-required.net

November 10, 2006: Glockenspiel

November 10, 2006: Glockenspiel

I first played Glockenspiel on the 6th episode of Some Assembly Required (in February, 1999). I played them again on the 29th show, and then waited almost two years to play them again in episode 120 (which is this week's podcast). We'll get into all the nitty gritty about why, along with the who, what, where and when, below...

***

Glockenspiel

This week's feature is on an artist with only two tracks in the SAR library! Read on for the SAR Q&A with Glockenspiel's David Jordan, who of course has done much more than just those two tracks as Glockenspiel. Jordan is a musician who's been in a number of bands including Beatless, Polycarp and Micro-East Collective. He is currently involved with a rock trio called Cantwell Gomez & Jordan.

He's also a founding member of the North Carolina collective known as Wifflefist. That group is known for lots of experimental projects, including the three he was involved with, Glockenspiel, Beatless and Polycarp, not to mention Silica Gel, Laso Halo, Magwheels, Buttfinger and plenty of others like Catnip, Friend Side Monkey, Banana Twins, Renelvis and A/V Geeks.

When I say I only have two tracks by Glockenspiel, what I mean is that for the first three years of the show I only had one! When contacting him to do this feature, I asked him if he had anything else I could play, and he sent me the 2nd track - which should be featured at some point this coming year. So that's something to look forward to! In the meantime, here's the SAR Q&A with David Jordan of Glockenspiel...


*Name: Glockenspiel

*Are there any additional names used to describe this project: No, except I got miscredited as "Glock 2" on the RRR 500 lock groove compilation.

*Members: solo (side) project of David Jordan

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: I'd classify Glockenspiel broadly as "experimental" with a lower case e. My earlier stuff definitely fits the tape manipulation / turntable creations mold, depending more on which piece you're looking at. Lately I've turned more to live improv using electrified percussion and controlled electronic feedback. Some digital deconstruction is certainly in Glockenspiel's future, but I haven't really had the right toys to pursue that much. I suppose what ties it all together in my head is a sense that it's solo as opposed to whatever else I've got going on at the moment playing with other people, and that it's textural as opposed to structural music. Appropriation certainly plays a part in what I do to make the textures, but it's not as critical for defining what I do as Glockenspiel.

*Location: I've spent most of the last 20+ years in the Raleigh / Durham / Chapel Hill area of NC, where I've been making noise in any number of bands for about as long.

*What is your creative/artistic background: Founding member of Wifflefist, was in Beatless and Polycarp, Micro-East Collective (large improv orchestra), current rock trio is called Cantwell Gomez & Jordan.

*History: Been around as Glockenspiel since early 1990s. Been around as myself since 1968, born in Detroit if that helps plot my astrology chart, but grew up mainly in Lubbock, TX before moving east.

*Born: Detroit, 1968

*Motivations/Philosophy: I seem to have a compulsion to make this stuff, although it's a compulsion I only rarely have spare time to indulge in. In general, I think that to make and engage in and try to appreciate the difficult and unfamiliar stuff (music, art, whatever), makes us smarter and better and occasionally happier people.

*Web address: Perhaps coming to myspace very soon. There's an incomplete discography at: http://www.cantwellgomezandjordan.com/jordan.html where you can see other things I've been up to as well.

***

Thanks to David Jordan of Glockenspiel for being our featured artist this week. Check out this week's podcast to hear the infamous Glockenspiel track, "When the record goes around."

If you find out about our weekly podcast at mnartists.org, then you may have seen their recent feature, with MN Stories' Chuck Olsen. I was the focus of that feature, and instead of being all shy about it, I'm going to tell you to go take a look! I'll be having an art exhibition with Ruben Nusz in December, at Rosalux Gallery, and the video touches just a bit on my work as a visual artist, so... check it out and see what you think. You can also see my and Ruben's work at Rosalux Gallery's website, or at our individual pages at mnartists.org:
Ruben Nusz at mnartists.org
Jonathan Nelson at mnartists.org

Thanks for checking it out. Until next week, thanks for listening!
Jon Nelson

www.some-assembly-required.net

Monday, November 06, 2006

Episode 119, Some Assembly Required

Episode 119, Some Assembly Required

01 DJ Jimmie Jam – “Jimmie's Jam”
02 Brian Eno & David Byrne – “Help Me Somebody”
03 Emergency Broadcast Network – “3:7:8”
04 Freelance Hellraiser – “I Feel Kylie”
05 Lecture On Nothing – “Strap It On”
06 Laso Halo – “And I was a play horse you pull with a string”
07 Corporal Blossom – “The Christmas song (chestnuts)”
08 Myeck Waters – “Perhaps you are living”
09 Escape Mechanism – “The Recap”
10 The Tape-beatles – “The law of repetition”
11 Greg Carr – “Remote viewing in an emptying house”
12 IDC - “Hey Mug”
13 Kid Koala – “Music for Morning People”
14 John Oswald – “WX (track one)”
15 DJ Food – “Turtle soup (wagon christ mix)”


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD

More information about Some Assembly Required online, at:
www.some-assembly-required.net

Sunday, November 05, 2006

November 5, 2006: IDC

November 5, 2006: IDC

The featured artist this week is British Mashup artist, IDC! Read on for the SAR Q&A with IDC, and check out episode 119 (uploading now), to hear 13 sound collages by artists from around the world, including a mashup by IDC.

Well, I can tell you that I'm pretty proud to have stuck to my goal of featuring a new artist every week this year. Only two months left to go, and with very few exceptions we've featured a different sound collage artist each and every week, here at the Some Assembly Required blog. If you haven't been keeping up, scroll back through the archives to read all about a few dozen of the hundreds of artists we feature here on the show. Check out the links page at the SAR website for hundreds of additional references as well!

Can't say I've been too prolific though, blog-wise. Aside from these weekly features, I haven't had too much else to say! Maybe I'm kidding myself, actually. I'm sure it's the SAR Q&A's with featured artists which brings you here, if you're in the habit of visiting us weekly.

However, if you would like to learn more about me... Chuck Olsen at MN Stories has teamed up with mnartists.org to do a monthly video feature on Minnesota artists and I was his first subject! Check out the short video feature HERE. I'm quite flattered to have been the subject of his first venture with mnartists.org. Special thanks to Chuck Olsen for being such a gracious videographer and editing out (almost) all of the dumb things I said and did on camera!

***

IDC

Thank god for the internet. I'd say 99% of the mashups which get aired on Some Assembly Required are either sent via email or downloaded directly from the artist's websites. IDC is one of the many artists I've found during random searches for new sound collage on the web. His mashups have been featured on the radio and in nightclubs everywhere, as well as online.

IDC
has been producing mashups since around 2002, along with official remixes and mix singles. IDC routinely plays out in the clubs and has been featured on MTV, and on radio programs such as Pete Tong's Essential Selection Buzz Chart, Lamacq Live, Rob Da Bank's Blue Room, John Peel's BBC Radio One program, XFM shows The Remix, The Rinse and X-posure, Scotland's Beatscene and Ministry Of Sound, and of course... Some Assembly Required.

The IDC track featured in this week's episode (episode 119) was personally selected by Outkast's Andre 3000, who insisted that the mix up of "Hey Ya" and The Streets "Don't Mug Yourself" be cleared for MTV broadcast. That particular track had the most repeat broadcasts on the program MTV Mash and was the tune chosen to end the series. Check out this week's podcast to hear it! Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with IDC...


*Name: IDC

*Are there any additional names used to describe this project: No

*Members: Myself and my self-built computer and for "on the road" dates I'm joined by my band of CDRs.

*Founding Member: David IDC

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: Of those three "digital manipulation creations."

*Another genre descriptor: I like "21st Century Rock'n'roll", believing that the ancient spirit of rock'n'roll manifests best through the most contemporary means of production and creation that are available to it.

*Location: London, UK

*Original Location: same

*What is your creative/artistic background: writing about music for a national music weekly whilst at school, playing guitar and touring with a band straight after, having a couple of books on music history published, becoming a DJ/club promoter for a few years, then mixing the lot up in a new thing for a new century with IDC.

*History: IDC tentatively surfaced in mid 2002 when a bootleg/mashup track I made was featured on "MTV Select" in the UK. Shortly after a couple of remixes for labels followed and then the whole bootleg / mash-up side of things I was doing picked up a lot of interest. A white label original tune appeared on vinyl the following year and things really started kicking off from then on.

*Born: London, in the 20th Century.

*Motivations: I think everybody should have some outlet for their creative desires, whatever form it takes and however good the results are. I do the things I do and make the things I make because I want to do them and they make me feel good, purely and simply.

*Philosophy: Do what you want to do, then if you can earn a living and pay the bills from doing what you would gladly be doing for free, things are going nicely.
*How would you like to be remembered: Too much yet to do to be thinking in those terms.

*Web address: www.idcmusic.com

***

Thanks to David of IDC for being the featured artist this week at the blog! Be sure to check out episode 119 to hear his mashup along with 12 other sound collages - and check out IDC's website, while you're at it. Now go download episode 119!

Tune in next week for our feature on Glockenspiel...
Until then - thanks for listening!
Jon Nelson

www.some-assembly-required.net

Friday, October 27, 2006

Episode 118, Some Assembly Required

Episode 118, Some Assembly Required

01 DJ Faust – “Return Of The DJ”
02 Idiom Creek – “What Is Mind?”
03 DJ Ming – “Madhattan Bound”
04 Mr Dibbs – “Omega Prophecy”
05 David Shea – “Trio For Samplers”
06 Futuro – “She Tracks My Tears”
07 Jason Forrest – “Stepping Off”
08 Sucking Chest Wound – “Satan'n'Hippies'n'Drugs'n'Rock'n'Roll”
09 Osymyso – “Won't Lovers Revolt Now?”
10 Klarc Qent – “Erroneous data (track 14)”
11 Anon – “t-l-c(lunk click)”


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD

More information about Some Assembly Required online, at:
www.some-assembly-required.net

October 27 2006: Futuro

October 27 2006: Futuro
Thanks to everyone who came out to see Negativland perform at First Avenue last night! I had a great time and from the sound of things, I'd say the band felt very appreciated. A good time was had by all. This week's featured artist is Futuro - check it out below! Download this week's podcast (episode 118) to hear a mashup by Futuro, along with ten additional sound collages by artists from around the world...

***

Futuro

Futuro is Steve Lima, a producer and musician from London. He released his first dance record in 1990, on the Factory Records label, and has worked with artists such as Christine Collister, The Essence, Espirito, Dana Gillespie, Rolf Harris and Shakatak. He also used to play in a punk band called The Members. He produces mashups, using the project name Futuro, and that's the project we're focusing on here...

Futuro is defined, at his website, as: mashup, a combination of classic cuts, RE-groove-Re-cut-REcyle, good clean fUn...

Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with Steve Lima of FUTURO...


*Name: Futuro

*Are there any additional names used to describe this project: erm...mashup?

*Members: Just me and the many fabulous people that I get to remix but sadly will probably never meet.

*Founding Member: Steve Osgood Lima

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: More like Digital re-contstructions I would say.

*Another genre descriptor: Someone once wrote to me describing my non-mashup mixes as refreshes... I rather like that.

*Location: London UK

*What is your creative/artistic background: Always been a musician who then learnt engineering and eventually moved into production.

*History: I have been making bootleg remixes for many years but have never released them until just over a year ago. Having survived a very close brush with Dr.Death I just thought f**k it and started uploading.

*Born: I was born on the terraces at Stamford Bridge in 1905 but getting younger by the day.

*Motivations: I love to make the old new again and to also work with GREAT vocalists who would probably never wander in to my little studio accidentally. I only ever work with sources that I LOVE otherwise I would be spending my time listening, over and over again to voices or tracks that I wouldn't normally do and as it is for free it has to please ME firstly. The fact that so many people like the stuff is a massive bonus and shows that I either have remarkably good taste or I am extremely common. Both of these may be true.

*Philosophy: To to use the same production values that I would on any other commercial release. Keep it simple and don't forget what made the sources hit records in the first place.

*How would you like to be remembered: As somebody who was competent and entertaining.

*Web address: www.stevelima.com/futuro.html

***

Thanks to Futuro for answering our questions this week! Be sure to check out his website - and don't forget to download this week's podcast (episode 118) to hear a good example of a mashup by Futuro - along with ten other sound collage tracks!

Thanks again to everyone who came out to the First Avenue Mainroom last night. Negativland's "It's all in your head FM" was a great live radio show, even if it wasn't being broadcast as it was performed. I did hear rumblings that the show was recorded for future broadcast, though - so of course if I hear more about that, I'll be sure to make a note of it here at the blog. Stay tuned.

Next week's feature, coincidentally: another mashup artist from London - IDC!

Until then, thanks for listening,
Jon Nelson

www.some-assembly-required.net

Monday, October 23, 2006

Episode 117, Some Assembly Required

Episode 117, Some Assembly Required
(featuring an interview with DJ Food)

01 DJ Food – “Break”
02 DJ Food – “The Riff”
03 DJ Food – “Cookin'”
04 DJ Food – “The Ageing Young Rebel”
05 DJ Food – “Raiding the 20th Century - Words & Music Expansion (Part 3)”
06 DJ Food – “Raiding the 20th Century - Words & Music Expansion (Part 4)”
07 DJ Food – “Sunvibes”


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD

More information about Some Assembly Required online, at:
www.some-assembly-required.net

Sunday, October 22, 2006

October 22, 2006: Raiding the 20th Century

October 22, 2006: Raiding the 20th Century

This week's Blog feature is not on a person, but a project. This week's podcast (episode 117) features a phone interview with Strictly Kev of DJ Food, and since I've already run the SAR Q&A with DJ Food, I had to think creatively about what to feature this week at the blog - and I've decided to do a little bit about his Raiding the 20th Century project.

Maybe I should start with a timeline...
January 18, 2004: Original Raiding the 20th Century released.
January 18, 2005: Release of the updated Raiding the 20th Century (Words and Music Expansion).

Okay, short timeline. I could add the dates when the mix was taken offline, when it was threatened with legal action (more about that later), but I'm not real sure of the exact dates. So, a little bit of background instead...

The original version was released via the world wide web in January of 2004, and was immensely popular as a download, and of course was played on XFM as well. It was Strictly Kev's attempt to document the history of appropriation in music, or "cut-up music." Everything from avant garde collage to bastard pop, basically. I think that goes a long way towards explaining why I'm so taken with it, if you're wondering why I'm so obsessed with this mix. Raiding the 20th Century concerns itself with exactly the same thing, more or less, that my radio show is concerned with. There are now over 150 produced hours of radio which are slowly being uploaded via the Some Assembly Required podcast, and in all of that time, were you to listen to it all, the focus is always the same: creatively recycled music and sound, with occasional interviews with the primary artists behind it all.

The original version of Raiding the 20th Century was about forty minutes, and I first heard it in summer of 2004. As much as I'd like to say that I knew about it from the minute it aired and went online, the fact is I might never have heard about it had Strictly Kev not sent me a copy in the mail. I'm not always as tuned in as I should be, basically. Keep that in mind, if you're ever wondering why I haven't contacted you yet about your latest opus! I think I mentioned in a previous post that the first time I listened to the CD, it was on repeat all afternoon, while I painted a friend's dining room. I was absolutely intent on absorbing every last detail. I suppose it may also have had something to do with all the paint fumes!

I got in touch with Strictly (What's the short hand? Strictly, or Kev?) and arranged to do an interview, and learned that he was planning to do an update. The remix turned out a bit longer, a lot more comprehensive and now also includes recordings he made of a reading by Paul Morley, from his book titled "Words and Music." Artists I've been able to recognize so far include (see the SAR links page for links to all these artist's websites): Negativland, Big City Orchestra, Wayne Butane, Osymyso, The Evolution Control Committee, Wobbly, People Like Us, James Tenney, The Art of Noise, Steinski, Think Tank, Buchanan and Goodman, DJ Shadow, Mr. Dibbs, Cut Chemist, The Invisibl Skratch Piklz, Cassetteboy, John Oswald, Christian Marclay, The Tape-beatles, The KLF and the Emergency Broadcast Network; not to mention all the mashup artists (and even a bit from the Some Assembly Required interview with Steinski, which originally aired in 2001). If you're at all familiar with SAR, then you may recognize that all of those artists get played regularly on the program, and quite a few of them have been interviewed here as part of features on their work as well.

So, it's a bit personal, my attachment to this mix. My big plan with Some Assembly Required, obviously, being to document as much as I can about this little movement - or genre, or whatever you want to call it - of artists who take sampling to its limits. It was very interesting to hear someone else's approach to the same idea! And it didn't take him 150 hours to do it, either... Plus, it really is a great listen.

Some Assembly Required had the World Radio Premier of "Raiding the 20th Century - Words & Music Expansion" on February 5th, 2005. We only feature bits of the final mix in this week's podcast (episode 117) however. There obviously wasn't enough time to play the whole thing, as we spent a lot of time talking about the project, and featuring some other tracks by DJ Food as well.

Unfortunately, the final mix had to eventually be taken offline. It turns out someone got territorial about some of the hundreds (if not thousands) of samples in the mix, and since it had been up on the web for nearly a year (and Kev figured it had been downloaded by everyone who wanted to hear it by now anyway), he chose not to fight about it. Can't say I really blame him, although this is another example of a work of audio art which could easily by argued for with the Fair Use claim. In addition to being an entertaining and enlightening mix of sounds, it's also an educational piece, which is one of the more obvious reasons why Fair Use was introduced as an aspect of copyright law. I'm still no expert, but of course there is a comment section here at the blog, so feel free to comment, if you are!

Here's what Strictly Kev had to say about the mix being pulled from the web: "Basically EMI contacted Ninja Tune and issued a cease and desist order on the mix that claimed that it infringed multiple artist copyrights, so I had to pull it." The blog at his Myspace page went on to say, "Fair enough, it did, what can I say? It did it with style though and enough people have heard it, blogged it and passed it around for it to have done it's job. Wherever I travel I get people telling me they've heard it, they can't always remember the title but the fact that they remember it at all is enough. The letter was pretty hardcore and they followed it up 3 days later stating they would take action if I didn't comply... The Ninja legal department were pretty worried as they have to deal with EMI on a regular basis for licensing and sample clearance and I didn't want them to get stick for it. Ultimately the mix was free so no one was making money out of it and thank god for the web as a distribution network, not nearly as many people would have heard it a decade ago."

I also learned that the October/November issue of Wax Poetics Magazine (Issue 19) includes a three-page feature on Strictly Kev's favorite "cut-and-paste platters." So, be on the lookout for that as well.

Click HERE to read my previous post about Strictly Kev and DJ Food. It was posted to coincide with the podcast featuring his original mix, this past summer (July 16, 2006), and goes into a bit more detail about the history of the DJ Food project. Of course, you could just download this week's podcast (episode 117) and hear it straight from the horse's mouth as well. In fact, I recommend you do that - of course!

And with that, I guess I'll wrap up this, my first proper blog-post in months. Proper, in the sense that it wasn't all streamlined and formatted, etc. Just me writing about something I'm interested in, somewhat casually. I have to say, it was fun. I should do this more often!

Stay tuned for episode 117, ready to download in just a few. The podcast is available, as you probably know, from the front page of the Some Assembly Required website, this blog, the SAR Myspace page AND from mnartists.org, where it's shared from their front page, starting every Monday afternoon. So, go find it somewhere and check it out. Drop me a line if you feel like saying hello.

Don't forget - I almost forgot to mention! - the big Negativland show is this Thursday, here in Minneapolis. Check out their website for more info on other dates/venues on this leg of the tour. But for now, for those of you within driving distance, the show to be aware of is this Thursday in Minneapolis, at The First Avenue Mainroom. Doors are at 7PM. Some Assembly Required is sponsoring the event, and I hope to see every single one of you down at the club this Thursday! Check out First Avenue's website, for up to date info. See you there!

Until then, thanks for listening,
Jon Nelson

www.some-assembly-required.net

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Episode 116, Some Assembly Required

Episode 116, Some Assembly Required

01 The Avalanches – “Frontier Psychiatrist”
02 John Oswald – “Way”
03 Invisible Scratch Pickles – “Invasion of the Octopus People”
04 DJ Tripp – “She wants animals”
05 Steinski and Mass Media – “Xen to one ratio”
06 Antediluvian Rocking Horse – “Leunig”
07 Lecture on Nothing – “Opinions”
08 Silica Gel – “Beauty Bugaboo”
09 Public Works - “Noise”
10 Realistic – “Looking for a handout”
11 Steve Fisk – “Kennedy Saga (Chapter VII)”
12 RIAA – “The Joy of Noise”
13 IDC – “Frankiesays”


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD

More information about Some Assembly Required online, at:
www.some-assembly-required.net

October 15, RIAA

October 15, RIAA

This week's feature is on a mashup outfit by the name of RIAA. Even more tongue in cheek than Big City Orchestra, this group wins the prize for being the first to respond as Beavis and Butt-head... Stay tuned for episode 116, featuring a track by RIAA and a dozen other sound collage artists!

***

RIAA

As their website says, RIAA raids "the sonic junkyards of the world to create highly danceable collages." This is a solo project pertaining to not only mashups, but also some straight-up sound collage and even another project in the same vein as a band called Culturcide, who were the first project I was aware of anyway, to accompany recordings... and for all I know RIAA did it first - it's not really my area of expertise. Not always a good idea to compare artists anyway...

To clarify what I mean by "accompany recordings:" What I remember of Culturcide is that they would sing new lyrics to popular songs, over effected recordings of those songs. So they weren't mashups, nor were they really parodies, as the lyrics were often more political than send-ups of the original songs. RIAA refers to this manifestation of their project as "grafitti music," as they are "spraying" their own output over the top of previously recorded work - and this is different from the more "pure" sound collage which gets played around here, in that their output in this case is more "traditional" music (in some sense, anyway), which they are recording themselves and then layering over the existing recordings.

Does any of this make sense? The track we play by RIAA in this week's podcast is not an example of this anyway; It's a mashup - quite a good one, in fact, titled The Joy of Noise, recorded in 2004. It mashes up Public Enemy's Bring The Noise with an instrumental track by Apollo 100 called Joy. (Personally, I'd have titled it Bring the Joy, but that's just me). Anyway, without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with RIAA...


*Name: RIAA

*Are there any additional names used to describe this project: (Recording Industries Are Archaic, Really Interesting Audio Adventures, Rendevous Internationale Action Album, Rockin' Internet Art Alternatives, probably more...) Mr Fab, Mr Fab & his Bag of Heads, Mr Fab & His Bargain Slacks

*Do you use a pseudonym? No

*Members: Huh huh, you said "member."

*Founding Member: Heh heh! Yeah! He said "member!" My death-metal band Mandatory Bowel Evacuation broke up, and some of us became a noise band called Projectile Diarrhea, named after our favorite tropical disease symptom. I got thrown out because I refused to play banjo, and went solo.

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: digital de/constructions

*Another genre descriptor: Some of my stuff is "graffiti" music - like a graffiti artist spray-paints his own art over someone else's property, I play original music over instrumental mixes, karaoke tapes, etc.

*Location: North Hollywood, CA

*Original Location: My mommy's tummy.

*What is your creative/artistic background: Er...I don't think I have one...just been making music at home for my own amusement since - oh, I see that's the next question.

*History: Right, as I was saying, been making music at home since, well, since I was a kid - still have a tape from the '80s I made placing an acapella version of Nico singing "All Tomorrow's Parties" over an instrumental passage from one of my little brothers' Iron Maiden records. No, I won't post it. But I do have a track on my website called "Everybody Breakdance With Me!!" that I recorded around '92.

*Born: Hollywood! Or, should I say H!O!L!L!Y!W!O!O!D!

*Motivations: Someone told me this would be a good way to meet Pam Dawber.

*Philosophy: Gee, I dunno...I do it 'cause I enjoy it...it's kinda like asking me what's the philosophy behind my masturbating.

*Web address: www.m-1.us

***

Thanks to RIAA for being the focus of this week's Q&A! Be sure to visit their website to learn even more about the project. Stay tuned for this week's podcast (episode 116) to hear 13 sound collages, including a mashup by RIAA.

Stay tuned, because in just about ten days, here in Minneapolis, we'll be welcoming Negativland back to town. The last time I saw them perform was in 2000, at The First Avenue Mainroom. Minneapolis was one of their stops on the True False tour, which was excellent of course. This time out, they're doing a live performance variation on their weekly radio program, Over The Edge. I've been listening to the CD of the material they've been performing, and I have to say I'm really looking forward to seeing them perform "It's All In Your Head" at First Avenue, again in the mainroom, on Thursday, October 26 (7PM). Some Assembly Required is a proud sponsor, and if you're anywhere near the Twin Cities, I hope you'll make it out to see this show!

Tune in next week for our update on DJ Food's Raiding the 2oth Century. We'll be podcasting the episode featuring our phone interview with Strictly Kev, and since we've already run the SAR Q&A with him, I'll have to do an update on his project instead of another Q&A. Stay tuned!

Until next week - thanks for listening,
Jon Nelson

www.some-assembly-required.net

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Episode 115, Some Assembly Required

Episode 115, Some Assembly Required

01 Girls on Top – “I wanna dance with numbers”
02 Evolution Control Committee – “I Want A Cookie”
03 V/VM – “You Want Some More?”
04 Otis Fodder – “Gay bar (re:mix) (with R. Stevie Moore)”
05 DJ BC – “Whatcha Want, Lady?”
06 Pimpdaddysupreme – “I Wanna Be Sedated”
07 The Kleptones - “Play”
08 V/Vm – “Do You Want To Know A Sick-Rat?”
09 Dsico - “I want boys”
10 The Tape-beatles – “Desire”
11 Phil n' Dog – “Gay muppet bar”
12 Big City Orchestra – “Do What I Want”
13 DJ Frenchbloke – “You want me bad”
14 Wobbly – “I Want Your Back”
15 Girl Talk – “I Want You Back”
16 Go Home Productions – “I wanna dance with some Bono”


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http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD

More information about Some Assembly Required online, at:
www.some-assembly-required.net