Episode 87, Some Assembly Required

Episode 87, Some Assembly Required

01 Antediluvian Rocking Horse - “Avoids colour monotony”
02 Dsico - “Blue eyed freak”
03 Splatt - “White rhino AK-47”
04 Ground Zero - “Red Mao book by Sony”
05 John Oswald - “Black”
06 Ground Zero - “Grand pink junction ballad”
07 V/VM - “Blue thighs (baby’s got)”
08 The Tape-beatles - “Is the night blue?”
09 Sucking Chest Wound - “The white tornado”
10 Osymyso- “God, A Red Nugget! A Fat Egg U”
11 Soundhog - “Bluemusic”
12 Colorform – “Sequentia Absentia Rmx”
13 Hot Troche - “Blue sky”
14 John Oswald - “Rainbow”


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

May 28, 2006: V/VM

May 28, 2006: V/VM

Its been a pleasant week here in Lake Wobegon... er, I mean the increasingly warm attic offices of Post Consumer Productions, here in Minneapolis. Summer is definitely here and the wood paneling up here is starting to suffocate. I was gushing about it a few weeks ago (the warm weather, that is) and now I find myself looking forward to Fall. Ah well, such is life...

So, the featured artist this week? When I first heard V/VM I had them pigeonholed right away, and I'm not afraid to say that I did not like it. However, one or two of the artist's tracks were on a mix CD which I was listening to a lot, and so I was forced to sit through a couple of songs enough times to start appreciating the madness behind the method. I know - its "method behind the madness," but in this case... Well, I think you'll see what I mean. Stay tuned for this week's podcast of Some Assembly Required (episode 87) to hear over a dozen tracks by sound collage artists from across genres, including one by V/VM.

V/VM started out as a duo in England, in the 1990's. The recording project now has over a dozen albums, and looking it over I'm suddenly reminded of how I was first introduced: Illegal Art sent me a copy of "Sick Love," which just happens to be one of the fine recordings featured on this week's podcast. They have their own label (V/VM Test Records) which was founded in 1996 and has issued over 80 releases! I haven't heard much of those 80, but what I've heard of V/VM I've learned to like - I hold V/VM in high regard for the simple fact that they are a noise band that somehow won me over. There's only a few artists like that in this world.

OK, there's probably a lot more to say, but I'm not going to embarrass these guys any more than I already have. V/VM is definitely that breed of artist who would hate for you to call them "artist." You know the type - some of the most talented people in the world (not to say that...) are also the ones most loathe to tell you anything about what they have to offer. So, without further ado, here's what V/VM had to say, via the SAR Q&A...

***

*Name: V/Vm

*Are there any additional names used to describe this project: People certainly call V/Vm names, not sure I record as anyone else though. My part time work is to collate memories which appear as Caretaker audio.

*Do you use a pseudonym? Yes, I record as Aphex Twin, Kid606, U2 and rather bizarrely, Divine.

*Members: If you ever made a noise you are part of the group because I am free to use your work thanks to my copyright loophole system of abuse.

*Founding Member: I refer to myself as James Leyland Kirby. I started V/Vm with Animal Macgregor back in 1996. I am still in contact with the Animal who is now living the high life in Madrid where he can be found fishing in the Spanish backwaters. These days, I run it all alone but have the support from many glorious women around the globe, so life is good.

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: Definitely digital, ever since I saw a friend’s calculator watch back in about 1984, at my junior school, I knew that digital was here to stay and offered a way forward for sure.

*Another genre descriptor: I often refer to the things I do as being "the best of the worst of the worst of the best.” That makes little sense, but for some reason V/Vm output really does divide people into making the choice of either loving what is done or hating it. It's always been like that fortunately. I try to force that opinion rather than being nice and having a lot of fence sitting people. It's great to be loved and great to be hated, to not be noticed is like being a roll of wallpaper.

*Location: Stockport which is about ten minutes away from Manchester in England.

*Original Location: Stockport which is about ten minutes away from Manchester in England.

*What is your creative/artistic background: I don't have one. I failed art at school, miserably, because the teacher was shocking.

*History: The ten year point passed just recently. The label was set up early in 1996. We were working before that date on a few unreleased projects so we probably started back in 1990.

*Born: I am a 1974 boy. Animal was 1973. We were both delivered in Stockport, I think.

*Motivations: Boredom of an insipid scene is an inspiration these days. There are too many yes men about who lick a*** to just try and make some cash. It's nice to be opposed to such people sometimes and can give you some energy. Also, the label exists to break rules and try new things. Years ago, I was really abusing copyright and now everyone does it, so it's not that important to do it. Nowadays, the challenge is in making music free for everyone, rather than putting a price on it, which too many people do. It's important for more people to say "F*** Off to iTunes, MySpace and all these other so called “cool providers of music” and just go it alone and make up their own rules. Times are changing for sure and only the brave will not buckle to these big services and to the lure of the musical dollar. You know things are f***** when you see old warhorses like Throbbing Gristle selling their old tunes on iTunes. I mean, they wouldn't have done it when those tunes were fresh, as they were against this style of system and this also goes against the ideal they sold; so the only reason they are now on there is to make money, so really they are f****** over all the people who bought into their work. It all stinks because you owe it to yourself to be true to your ideals. Let’s rip up the rule books and create a new one. It sure as hell isn't gonna come from one of the majors, so people need to think more about ripping up the blueprint and creating a new one.

*Philosophy: Mainly to try new things and to get the response from people "you can't do that!" when it's already been done and is available. There are too many restrictions out there, but only if you think about them. More people should push audio and themselves more and push themselves out of their comfort zones.

*How would you like to be remembered: As being deadly serious about what I do, despite outer appearance and the fact that the press dress it all up as being some kind of f***** prank. I'm in debt here for my years (of) service and it's no laughing matter. They cannot work it out, so it's a prank you can't make it up.

*Web address: www.brainwashed.com/vvm

***

Thanks to V/VM for participating in this week's SAR Q&A - be sure to download episode 87 of the podcast to hear their track. Its just one of 14 sound collages presented in this week's podcast of Some Assembly Required. Be sure to visit V/VM at their website, but do not visit their myspace page, or ours for that matter...
:)

Check back in next week for a blog feature on DJ BC. Until then, enjoy episode 87, which is being uploaded as we speak. It features a color theme - Part One, of which we heard Part Two a month or so ago (episode 91)...

ALSO - if you're in the Twin Cities - be sure to check out a CD release party we're sponsoring this Friday, June 2nd at the Kitty Cat Klub in Dinkytown. Some Assembly Required is pleased to announce the release of "I Love You Talk Bird" -- the debut CD release by Minneapolis based (sonic lovebird duo) Beatrix*Jar! Their CD Release Party will feature performances by ELECTRONIC ARM and FITZGERALD. The event will be MC'd by LOLLY POP and is sponsored in part by Some Assembly Required. Hope to see you there!

Until then - thanks for listening,
Jon Nelson

www.some-assembly-required.net

Episode 88, Some Assembly Required

Episode 88, Some Assembly Required

01 Sucking Chest Wound - “That’s wrong”
02 Girl Talk - “I want you back”
03 DJ Abilities - “Two men and a lady”
04 DJ Brokenwindow - “Mr. Schmidtt’s guiro”
05 The East Village Other – “Lucy’s Wedding (segment)”
06 The East Village Other – “Lucy’s Wedding (segment)”
07 Lecture on Nothing – “Fresh makeup”
08 Negativland – “Asphalt remix”
09 Steve Fisk – “One more valley”
10 Dum Dum Tv – “Recycle scratch up”
11 Cassetteboy - “Well now”
12 Cassetteboy - “You always seemed so brave before”
13 Cassetteboy - “What happened to you, eh?”
14 Cassetteboy - “Herron?”
15 Christian Marclay, Elliot Sharp - “The noon train”
16 Dan Serkland – (Track two, Lounge Music)


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

May 21, 2006: Girl Talk

May 21, 2006: Girl Talk

Back to the regular routine, then. After having to repost episode 89 a couple of weeks ago and then breaking from our schedule to podcast the live interview with Mark Hosler last week, getting back to the focus of this blog/podcast will feel good. For those of you who are new to this (and really, we're just getting started here), the goal of this project has been to get the 2nd year of Some Assembly Required online, and to do a blog focus on one artist each week, from that week's episode. We're still airing new episodes around the country (and Canada!), so stay tuned to your radio for new episodes of the show - while checking out the podcast every week, for past episodes from our 2nd year in syndication, along with blog features on the many sound collage artists we feature on the program.

This week's featured artist is Girl Talk! A glitch oriented super-fan of pop music, Girl Talk is most often reviewed as party music, and I'm sure that is just fine with Gregg Gillis - the man behind Girl Talk. Stay tuned for episode 88 of Some Assembly Required - among the 16 sound collage tracks is one called I want you back by Girl Talk, off of his 2002 release, Secret Diary.

Another feature in this week's podcast is a look at a record called The East Village Other - Electric Newspaper - Hiroshima Day. Dolores Dewberry did a couple of little features for the show our second year, and this is one of them (stay tuned for another one on sampling and The Beatles). The track we focus on, from The East Village Other... is Lucy's Wedding, as it samples an interview with Lyndon Johnson's daughter, Lucy Byrd, on the day of her wedding - with The Velvet Underground providing background instrumentation. The record was released in 1966, and included contributions from Steve Weber, The Velvet Underground, Marion Brown, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlowsky, Tuli Kupferberg, Viki Pollon, Peter Rawson and many others. Andy Warhol even took part. His contribution was silence - according to the liner notes.
...but back to Girl Talk - He's got three records currently: Secret Diary (2002), Unstoppable (2004) and Nightripper (2006), all on the Illegal Art label. There are some vinyl releases, as well, on 12 Apostles and 333 Recordings. I've not yet had the pleasure of seeing Girl Talk live, but every review seems to agree that its something not to be missed. If stories of drunken debauchery, reckless abandon and general glee-inspired mayhem sound like a good time to you, then be sure to check out Girl Talk, the next time you see him on the bill. For now, I'll just have to settle for my records, and anxiously await my copy of Nightripper...

Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with Gregg Gillis of Girl Talk!

***

*Name: Girl Talk

*Members: Gregg Gillis

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: I don’t use tapes or turntables for making music, so if I had to pick one of the above, I guess it’d be “digital deconstructions.” I really don’t know how “deconstructive” my stuff is these days though.

*Do you have a different descriptor you like to use? My music is pretty much pop music.

*Location: Pittsburgh, PA. Steel City, USA.

*Original Location: Pittsburgh

*What is your creative/artistic background: I played saxophone in 3rd grade. I was in some rock bands that never practiced in middle school. I was in a noise band that smashed a lot of stuff in high school.

*History: I started Girl Talk in the summer of 2000.

*Born: October 26, 1981 in Pittsburgh, PA.

*Motivations: I like to make music that my friends will dance to.

*Philosophy: It’s fun to mix up a ton of pop songs.

*How would you like to be remembered: Our generation’s Kurt Cobain.

*Web address:
www.girl-talk.net
www.myspace.com/girltalkmusic

***

Thanks to Gregg Gillis of Girl Talk. As you can see, there's a page for Girl Talk at Myspace. Check out the SAR Myspace page, while you're there. And come back next week, for a special feature on V/VM...

Until then - thanks for listening!
Jon Nelson

www.some-assembly-required.net

Mark Hosler (Negativland) live on SAR

Mark Hosler (Negativland) live on SAR

A live radio interview with Mark Hosler, of Negativland, recorded 5/6/06, on Some Assembly Required, at KUOM in Minneapolis (tracklisting below).

01 Negativland – “Happy Hero: The Remedia Megamix”
02 Negativland – “Escape From Noise”
03 Negativland – “Favorite Things”
04 Negativland – “Smelly Water”
05 Negativland – “Prologue”
06 Negativland – “Helter Stupid (segment)”
07 The 180-G’s – “Helter Stupid”


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

Negativlandland Exhibit

May 14, 2006
Well, its been a big week here in Minneapolis. Starting last week at the Rogue Buddha Gallery where I had the honor of DJing at the opening for "4 (four)." At one point, someone came up and said they'd just overheard someone saying that I was the best DJ they had ever heard! Of course, I didn't take credit for the mashups I was playing that night. If one person could mix live what several dozen individuals took countless hours to first dream up and then actualize, well then - that would be the best DJ ever. It was just fun to get people dancing!

The real fun though, was helping to hang the Negativlandland show, with Mark Hosler and the gang at Creative Electric Studios. I just started a new day job, so had my evenings free - and spent about every other night there this week, helping to get everything hung exactly right. Here's a picture of the opening, where you can see some of the work (which by the way, hang exactly two inches from eachother), right behind Mr. Hosler there in the foreground.

Earlier this week, I was pleased to invite Mark Hosler, along with Dave Salmela of Creative Electric Studios, down to Radio K for a rare live episode of Some Assembly Required. I'm getting ready to upload that to the podcast this week, so stay tuned for a recording of a LIVE interview with Mark Hosler of Negativland, talking about their art show, and their recent work. We even play a bit from an as yet unreleased CD of recordings done by Negativland fans - a group (the 180-G's) doing covers of Negativland songs. Its a lot better than it sounds - believe me - and the track we play isn't even (in my opinion) the best example on the disc (though it is Mark's favorite).

Here's a blurry photo of Mark, live in the studios at KUOM...

Chuck Olsen conducted his own video interview with Hosler, one afternoon this week at Creative Electric Studios. Its split into two parts at the mnstories website. The first section shares a bit about the art exhibition, and then briefly explores how (in the 1980's) Negativland heard about a news story which took place in Rochester, Minnesota, and used it to make a point about the fallibility of the news media. A trick they would of course repeat in different ways, again and again. The second section provides some insight into the band's connection with Creative Commons and their collaboration with that organization, in creating a new sampling license. Very nice work!

You can hear more about these subjects and more in my previous interview with Hosler, if you go back and download episode 90 of Some Assembly Required (it was podcast April 23, 2006). And stay tuned for the live interview with Mark Hosler (and Dave Salmela) - recorded last Saturday, April 6, on Radio K - which will be uploaded as this week's podcast, in just a few. And after that, I promise to focus on something else! As much as I admire the group's work, and as fun as it was getting to know Mark this week, I think even he would agree that we've focused enough on Negativland for awhile, and it would be good to move on...

So stay tuned for this week's podcast, and check out the Creative Electric website for more info about the show (which runs through June 10, by the way - gallery hours are Saturdays, 11-4PM).

Here's a photo taken at Psycho Suzi's after the opening on Friday. Pictured are (L-R) Jenny Adams and Dave Salmela (Creative Electric), Mark Hosler (Negativland), myself and Phil Harder (Harder/Fuller Films). Photo courtesy of Simon Peter Groebner - thanks Simon! And thanks to Creative Electric and Mark Hosler for a great time on the 12th...

Thanks for listening,
Jon Nelson

www.some-assembly-required.net

Reposting Episode 89

This is a re-posting of the episode I tried to upload last week, because somehow the wrong episode was uploaded. Not sure what the problem was, but here's Episode 89, as promised (just a week late) - Sorry about the confusion!

Episode 89, Some Assembly Required
featuring over 100 very short sound collages...

01 The Bran Flakes - “Top”
02 The Tape-beatles - “Remain quiet and passive”
03 Steve Fisk - “Preamble”
04 Wobbly - “Harmony argue”
05 Kid Koala - “Strat hear”
06 Klarc Qent - “Angry red planet instrumental track one”
07 The Tape-beatles - “Dashed against the rock”
08 The Bran Flakes - “Hey won’t somebody come and play”
09 People Like Us - “Nobody loves you”
10 The Tape-beatles - “Different tool”
11 Invisibl Skratch Piklz - “Damn you scratchy”
12 Unknown - “Martha Stewart Collage”
13 Cassetteboy - “Blood and pus”
14 Jim Allenspach - “Not normal”
15 Tom Brokaw - “Dope party”
16 The Bran Flakes - “Buttermilk”
17 Girl Talk - “Pump it up”
18 The Tape-beatles - “The ads become the news”
19 Wobbly - “All day long song”
20 Evolution Control Committee - “Bush speech (corrected – part one)”
21 Silica Gel - “Deanie”
22 The Tape-beatles - “Deeper”
23 Klarc Qent - “Erroneous Data – track 06”
24 Donna Summer - “Why I love Styx”
25 People Like Us - “Good joke”
26 Silica Gel - “You weird”
27 Evolution Control Committee - “Isn’t it grand to be a christian”
28 Stark Effect - “Armour hot kids”
29 Otomo Yoshihide - “Ntt”
30 The Avalanches - “Avalanche rock”
31 Lecture on Nothing - “Facts”
32 The Tape-beatles - “Frog story”
33 Soulwax - “(track four)”
34 The Bran Flakes - “Brain Flakes (edit no. 7)
35 The Button - “No zone”
36 Klarc Qent - “Erroneous data (track 02)”
37 Wobbly - “He sees something”
38 Jim Allenspach - “Friends”
39 Wobbly - “Die peeps”
40 Myeck Waters - “Hey Mr. Storyteller”
41 Mag Wheels - “Monieblurg”
42 Cassetteboy - “Pilly the bigs”
43 Osymyso - “Hidden track”
44 Buttfinger - “House of slacks”
45 DJ Shadow - “Best food forward”
46 Wobbly - “It Burn With It Burn, Burn, Take It, Wild Need More,”
47 Emergency Broadcast Network - “Search”
48 The Bran Flakes - “Oh don ho”
49 Wobbly - “Matching wallpaper”
50 People Like Us -“Sing with melodious inarticulate sound”
51 Buttfinger - “Mystery hole”
52 Experts of Legitimaziation - “Breathe”
53 The Bran Flakes - “Marcy and Joey”
54 Cassetteboy - “My dad knows your brother”
55 The Tape-beatles - “I can’t help you at all; sorry”
56 Cassetteboy - “Billy bonds loop”
57 Big City Orchestra - “(track 49, Consumer CD)”
58 Cassetteboy - “Dancing with manatees”
59 Phil Milstein - “Window chimes (rooster)”
60 People Like Us - “Mmm perfect”
61 Wobbly - “Marriage primer”
62 Buttfinger - “Machine five”
63 Otomo Yoshihide - “Toshiba”
64 Wobbly - “I quote your help”
65 The Tape-beatles - “Message”
66 Buttfinger - “Type and return”
67 John Oswald - “Cuss”
68 People Like Us - “Guide to broadcasting (expert)”
69 DJ Pantshead - “Untitled (track one)”
70 Emergency Broadcast Network - “Go to”
71 Wobbly - “I love guy”
72 John Oswald - “Sonic euthanasia”
73 DJ Qbert - “A word from fresh breath mouthwash”
74 Felix Kubin - “Broken lady symphony – no fish”
75 People Like Us - “People like modern clothing”
76 The Tape-beatles - “Number one cheese spread”
77 Evolution Control Committee - “Arrhythmia’s gonna get you”
78 Cassetteboy - “Melbourne Parker intro”
79 Omer Fast - “CNN concatenated part “ (Im American…)
80 John Oswald - “Z”
81 DJ Shadow - “Autre Introduction”
82 Jim Allenspach - “Garbage can”
83 Cassetteboy - “Fist up mother brown”
84 Evolution Control Committee - “Hello”
85 Klarc Qent - “Angry red planet (track two)”
86 Dsico - “Booty of choice”
87 The Button - “Intro”
88 Kid Koala - “Grandmaphone speaks”
89 Big City Orchestra - “(track 47, Consumer CD)”
90 Freddy Fresh & The MPC Genius - “Track two”
91 People Like Us - “Next record”
92 Wobbly - “Never never die”
93 The Bran Flakes - “Now you can play along with us (segue I)”
94 Kid Koala - “Radio Nuphonia”
95 Tim Maloney - “Shatner”
96 Silica Gel - “Punishment”
97 Wobbly - “Scary umbrella”
98 People Like Us - “Uh dear”
99 Steinski - “B-Beat Classic (Airwave Interlude Mix)”
100 Evolution Control Committee - “Toot”
101 Cassetteboy - “Sabbaba”
102 The Tape-beatles - “Rah rah up and down”
103 Wobbly - “Wedder witnid”104 DJ Pantshead - “Untitled track 11”
105 David Shea/DJ Grazhoppa - “Hum hum hum”
106 Evolution Control Committee - “Happening”
107 People Like Us - “Music of your own”


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