Hardware choices: Octatrack and samplers

PLEDGE DRIVE 2025 - all new subscribers to the Musicality tier on Patreon will get a Not A Diving Club t-shirt in your size of choice, delivered to your door completely free of charge!

Full details.

Music Not Diving is supported by Acid Nation (formerly AC55ID)... head over to www.acidnation.com to check out the fastest growing electronic music marketplace, a central hub for music discovery, streaming and purchasing!

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Watch the video episodes of Music Not Diving over at youtube.com/@WeNotDiving

Guy Brewer, aka Shifted, aka half of Commix, aka Carrier, made an appearance on our previous incarnation, the Not A Diving Podcast, a couple of years ago that was very popular. He returns with a new alias but a similar selection of wise takes on the electronic music scene and the challenges facing everyone trying to operate in it.

We discuss the new Carrier album, Rhythm Immortal, the challenge of genre expectations, the disappearing middle class of musicians, the (ir)relevance of record labels, and much more besides.

This is a good one!

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If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.

You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.

Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.

Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlist

Chapters:

00:00 Brought to you by Acid Nation

02:48 Transition from Shifted to Carrier

04:48 Creative burnout

07:03 Creative Cycles & Starting Over

09:31 Musical Influences Behind Carrier

12:01 Genre ambiguity

15:04 Creative Rebirth

18:01 Industry vs. scene

21:01 The middle class of music has gone

24:02 Tech and lower barriers to entry

27:07 Does personality still matter?

31:13 Hard Techno is lifestyle branding

34:32 Aesthetics, label identity and scenes

38:20 Big tech, democratisation and gatekeeping

42:02 Self-release or label chase?

48:00 Art and intent

53:58 Production philosophy

01:00:02 Tools, workflow & sampling vs. modular

01:03:10 Creative ruts, flow states & longevity

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