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