Episode 134, Some Assembly Required

Episode 134, Some Assembly Required

01 DJ Broken Window – “This synth here”
02 Buttfinger – “Walking Bible”
03 Steve Fisk – “Government Figures”
04 Stunt Rock – “Someday you are going to have a party, and I will make a point to come poop all over it so you can know how it feels”
05 Lecture On Nothing – “The Heimlich Maneuver”
06 Tom Recchion – “A Complex Shape In The Sky”
07 The Tape-beatles – “Grave Implications”
08 T.D. – “Feelin' James”
09 Unknown – “Shame on you Mr. Bush”
10 Idiom Creak – “Obviously Trippy Ego”
11 Doormouse – “Swimming with the fishes”
12 RX Music – “KGBtv”
13 Jeff Sconce - “Lonely people”
14 The Tape-beatles – “Beautiful State”
15 CCC – “Go go go”


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

notv

notv

New Zealand's James Robinson has been working as notv since the late 1980's. He's worked with groups such as The Aesthetics, The Iceman's Equipment, Kerosene, Mig-21 and The Strap-ons. Lately he's been focused on work in the studio, creating music and video.

His website is a bit short on information, or it might have just been down when I went to look at it (he mentioned it's been under construction), so this Q&A might be the best source of information about notv, currently. I'm sure that will change, over time! Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with notv...


*Name: notv

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

*Do you use a pseudonym? I have in the past used different spellings of my forename; Jaemz, J-mz, Jmz.

*Members: James Edward Robinson

*Founding Members: Me.

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: If anything of the three it would be digital deconstructions as everything I do these days is mainly created within the confines of a PC. The occasional external sound is used here and there, but on the whole it is made from samples found on the net, sampled from streaming radio, or sound fx cds. These are combined with freeware drum machines and other freeware noise generators. They then go through the stretching, delaying, distorting, reverbing process. Then layered with other sounds. Then tweaked, moved in relation to the others, tweaked some more, a copy of a sound might be made, this might be stretched, maybe condensed, then put back into the piece. Then put aside for some time, while other pieces are begun. Then, it might be brought out again, listened to, tweaked, put aside. Finally I will say; this is enough.

*Another genre descriptor: I tend to like Noise Generator. I guess I like it because I have never learnt how to play any instrument properly, except maybe the kazoo, and so don't think of myself as in the same league as musicians. - Although it has been pointed out to me recently that, of course, noise is non-deterministic...

*Is there a story behind your name? The name notv came about as an acronym of a sign I used to see on trucks when I was cycling round Shepparton, Australia; No Overtaking Turning Vehicle.

*Location: I'm from Christchurch, New Zealand.

*Original Location: Before coming back to New Zealand I lived in Australia for eleven years - just over the eighties.

*What is your creative/artistic background: I guess I've always liked making stuff, and I've always like weird noises, so this is a good combination. Musically it all began back in the late eighties when, in a bedroom in a flat in Shepparton, where, drinking gin and listening Emerson, Lake and Palmer, we went to a local cafe and did a noisy gig as Brain Salad Surgery. Then, with another friend, the name notv was first used, I programmed loops into a z-80-based computer's speech synthesizer, he played guitar – a cover of PWEI's Can You Dig It. A couple of years later, in Christchurch, I met some people and played bass in a Goth covers-band, but it wasn't until Peter Wright, Richard Calder and I formed TMA-1 that I really got into playing with sounds. Peter had a Fostex four-track and TMA-1 recordings were full of samples and experiments and this is where I had the opportunity to start recording as notv. Also live music experimentation, especially with TMA-1, where we would go all out with feedback, sample loops, analogue synthesizer, drum-machine. During this period I played my synthesizer, a Roland Juno 60, for a band called C.O.D., synthesizer and guitar for Spastic Crunch, Bass in Placenta Cookbook, and in punk-industrial covers band, Brainlego. Also in this time the krkrkrk label was formed, to release material for most of these bands, and others. Moving to Dunedin for a year mid-nineties, I was involved with many projects; The Aesthetics, The Iceman's Equipment, Kerosene, etc. That was where I had my, first, successful, notv live performance. I 'perfected' a process where I would spend the time leading up to a gig programming my drum machine, writing lyrics, working out the various noises I could get out of guitars, keyboards, tape based samples, kazoo, etc. The day of the gig I would determine which sounds, which drum programs and which lyrics were to go together to form the songs. Back in Christchurch I was involved with krkrkrk 'super-group', Mig-21 and was a member of the ever revolving line up of The Strap-ons. Since about 2001 I have moved away from being in bands, playing live gigs and have just concentrated on notv; creating music and video-clips for the music, in my PC.

*History: I've been creating work as a recording, and sometimes live, group for about seventeen years now.

*Born: I was born in Dunedin, New Zealand. 23/06/1969.

*Motivations: I do it because I like making stuff; I like throwing sounds together and seeing what I get.

*Philosophy: My philosophy has always been; look, I can do it, you can do it too...

*How would you like to be remembered: "He made some alright stuff there..."

*Web address: My rather in-construction address is:
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~jaenz/


www.some-assembly-required.net

Episode 221, Some Assembly Required

Episode 221, Some Assembly Required
(Featuring an interview with DJ Qbert)

01 DJ Broken Window - “Hair, nails, percolator”
02 notv - “And Who Are You”
03 Evolution Control Committee - “Ritalin Ruckus (Track 13)”
04 DJ Qbert - “Scroll Of The Wrist Beam”
05 DJ Qbert - “Track Fourteen (Demolition Pumpkin Squeeze Musik)”
06 DJ Qbert - “Track Three (Demolition Pumpkin Squeeze Musik)”
07 DJ Qbert - “Movement 1: Quadraphonic Element Download”
08 DJ Qbert - “Movement 2: 6 Fingered Fury”
09 DJ Qbert - “Movement 3: Inside-Out Body Warp”
10 Christian Marclay - “One Thousand Cycles”
11 DJ Qbert - “Untitled (live)”
12 Invisibl Skratch Piklz - " Invisibl Skratch Piklz vs. Da Klamz Uv Deth"


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

DJ Riko

DJ Riko

DJ Riko is a Californian mashup artist, with more than just a healthy interest in Christmas, which I only mention as it's December and I don't have a Christmas mix planned for this year. DJ Riko, on the other hand, has at least a couple at his website HERE.

He's known for his single, "Whistler's Delight," which has enjoyed not one, but two re-pressings in the UK, not to mention a host of placement on radio playlists worldwide, including here at Some Assembly Required. You can download that and many more of his mashups at his official website, along with longer mixes composed for The Bootie To Go Podcast, Solid Steel Radio, and XFM (both The Remix and The Rinse). Check it out!

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


*Name: DJ Riko

*Are there any additional names used to describe this project: Not really.

*Do you use a pseudonym? Yes. About 12 years ago, some friends were organizing a show with a bunch of bands and asked if I'd DJ between bands. They wanted me to give a DJ name for the flier and I didn't have one. I'd just left a gig writing for an alternative weekly to take a corporate job that paid a lot more, so I thought it would be funny to embrace my being a sellout and use "rico" which is Spanish for "rich." But I spelled it with a "k" because my real name is Erik. If I'd known the name would be used more than once, I might have tried to come up with something better.

*Members: It's just me, though I have worked with a few vocalists, including Gerald A., Marcie, and Katie Enlow.

*Founding Members: Just me.

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: Digital deconstructions would be closest, as I make mashups using software. I do a little bit of turntable work as well, but almost all of the productions available on my Web site were made with software.

*Another genre descriptor: Bootlegs, mashups, cutups, re-edits, whistledelia and mishaps.

*Why you use this descriptor: Whistledelia is what I called the genre for "Whistler's Delight," which features samples from dozens of songs that feature whistling in them. It was released on vinyl in the U.K. and played on the BBC among other radio stations.

*Location: I live in San Diego.

*Original Location: Columbus, Ohio.

*What is your creative/artistic background: My father is a professional musician and bandleader, so there was always a lot of music around the house as well as a lot of instruments to fool around with.

*History: When I was in junior high I had a tape deck with a very precise pause button. I used that to make re-edits of songs like Asia's "Heat of the Moment." The first production I ever shared with a larger audience was "No One Can Match Me," which sampled Mike Tyson's comments about wanting to eat Lennox Lewis's children. I made that about 10 years ago using a Roland SP808 Groovesampler and it took forever.

*Born: I was born in Columbus, Ohio.

*Motivations: I started out making sample-based collages strictly for my own amusement. It's fun to put things together that don't make sense on paper but end up working pretty well. Like combining Malcolm McLaren with Simon & Garfunkel. When I put some of my mixes on the Internet and got very nice feedback from people around the world, that motivated me to do more.

*Philosophy: I try to make things that are clever, unusual, offbeat and/or fun, and sometimes you can dance to them.

*How would you like to be remembered: Vaguely

*Web address: www.djriko.com


www.some-assembly-required.net

Episode 133, Some Assembly Required

Episode 133, Some Assembly Required

01 DJ Riko – “Buffalo Cecilia 2005”
02 People Like Us – “Yodel Bomber”
03 Lecture On Nothing – “Grab And Pull”
04 DJ Godfather – “On Da Flex”
05 Jabberwocky – “Unlisted”
06 Laso Halo – “Sleepy Time Jazz”
07 DJ Cal – “Seven Nation Es Foutu”
08 The Tape-beatles – “Really fine yoke of bondage”
09 Kid Koala – “Space Cadet 2”
10 Silica Gel – “Master Of The Game”
11 Otis Fodder – “My valentine (with Lee Edwards)”
12 Tim Maloney – “Thunderclock”
13 Sucking Chest Wound – “Mary Dear”
14 Pheugoo – “50 cent popcorn”


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