hanging out with audiophiles

RJD2 lives in Ohio! That was NEWS to me I often find myself there for family occasions since my in laws live in Columbus. I never knew. I mean I would NEVER have guessed but isn’t that always the best somehow?   Plus have you EVER met a man named Ramble?  So many firsts on the 52 :) Welcome! let us delve into schmod cast! ______________________________ First off I’d like to invite you to invite to take part in a competition to win a badass Radial EXTC SA. Yes the kind folks at Radial Engineering are running a giveaway to a random player so jump in and WIN this thing :) Here’s the info you need!   Click this (before September 15th 2019)   http://bit.ly/2MRRUd1   WINNNNNN!!!! ______________________________   I’d like to thanks Rob Hurd for the music you’ll find on the show. It’s all from an EP called “Digital”  Here’s the bandcamp link if you dig the mood!   https://speckofdust.bandcamp.com/album/digital ______________________________   In the nitty I try to make a digital nakamichi with plugins    do I win?   Spoiler :   We ALL win!

Hello! It’s Jamie and John in Echo Park time :) Yeah, I sat in my Air B and B and chatted with Mr Vanderslice on Feb 4th 2019. What a treat. I’d met him years before in Australia but I’d completely forgotten I was reminded of that by him during the interview which could have potentially been embarrassing … But John is not that guy. No no no He has a delightfully animated persona, running on 100 the whole time and there’s lots of honesty and enthusiasm that hits you like a vinagerette. A lot of f bombs too so those with sensitive ears get ready to panic! Who is J.V.?? Well…for one thing, he’s been at it as long as I have!  Potted history: Part of the MK Ultra a waiter at Chez Panisse owner and provider of studio magic at Tiny Telephone Studios in the Bay Area AND he is incredibly prolific.    John’s worked with Spoon, the Mountain Goats, Okkervil River, Death Cab for Cutie, Tune-Yards and hundreds (maybe thousands more!) We get into chatting about tour life a little in pod and he tells me of the living room show thing.  I’d not heard of that but was intrigued to say the least. Luckily enough, a few months after this chat I got to see him do his thing in a house just up the road from me.  He was such brilliant entertainer. He’s been through a lot and has come out of it all a generous and energized soul and it was a treat to see him holding court in a little house show.  Just rocking. Welcome to the show Mr Vanderslice!   Nitty Gritty this time sees me delving into some Raymond Scott inspired noodles.  I must say it sounds nothing like his work but the simple point of it was to explore the idea of pitting slow moving melodic motion against a faster trigger source. It’s such a simple premise and it leads to more questions like “what happens if you cluster sequencers as a big blob and transpose them all?”  That’s a very Raymond move!   TIP: On my humble dives into modular I have to shout out http://www.mylarmelodies.com and Div Kid https://www.youtube.com/user/DivKidVideo/videos So much useful stuff these 2 have shared. There’s a lot to learn. Hat’s off you guys!   Music for the show comes from Leo Appleyard aka Urchin    Lovely stuff :)   http://www.urchinband.com  https://www.instagram.com/urchinmusic/  https://open.spotify.com/artist/5YPbtEypUwxOJrt9OpbicE    Cheerio  c u in a Bi-week!!!

I’m happy to welcome grammy award winning musician/producer Adrian Quesada to the 50th Episode of the show!  Let’s just jump into the big list of collaborators he’s rocked with to get a quick taste of the caliber of this gent! How about Shawn Lee?! Yeah! as well as Ocote Soul Sounds,  Martin Perna of Antibalas… so so many more He’s performed on the Late Show with David Letterman as well as twice on PBS' historic Austin City Limits TV Show.  He has also worked with Prince, GZA (Wu-Tang Clan), Bernie Worrell, Daniel Johnston, Israel Nash, Alex Maas (The Black Angels), Larry Harlow, Quantic and many more.  As a producer Quesada has worked on albums by Daniel Johnston, The Sword, Natalia Clavier, Karl Denson, Toy Selectah, Wild Child, Graham Reynolds and Ian Moore, among others.  I mean that’s not the HALF of it!  We catch up as he’s deep in the mix at his superb Austin based studio, Electric Deluxe Recorders.  He’s coming out for an air break so we literally hear a rare sonic glimpse of the local wildlife outside the cave where he is working feverishly at all times… That smell? Yeah he’s likely cooking up amazing musical morsels like the NEW! HOT!  release from the Black Pumas which is the focus of our chat!   So yes, we’ve a Super humble badass in the hotchair  Hey Adrian! I’m 50!    Info Splash time:   web: electricdeluxerecorders.com tw: @adrianmquesada theblackpumas.com     Nitty sees me trying to “music” with filters. 6 filters and a smile :)   The music for the show comes courtesy of Kim Gaboury    Find all the info about him here:   KIM GABOURY kimgaboury.com —  aka AKIDO akidomusic.com —

  Hello !   Greetings from the SONIC RANCH in El Paso! Woe. I’m in another world right now Massive thanks to Dave Sitek for inviting me out into space. I’m blown away. The people here are so great and the studios are just absolutely bonkers. Most importantly it’s a totally secluded zone. The head expands. Almost as many cats as people and WAY more pecan trees! Ha   Welcome to Episode 49. I met this Frank (Bink Beats) when we did a show together in Amsterdam recently. I was sitting in with him on a couple of songs. Side note : one of the numbers we did is a new track that I hope finds the light of day! We had a pretty hectic day of practice in the venue followed by show but nevertheless we snuck in a quick chat.   Frank is a serious badass. A player of a million objects and a hell of a signer to boot.  Great to have him on :)   In the nitty I explore the sonic ranch’s amps a little and send all sorts of stuff into speakers. Some shall be spinning and some just spaced and weird. Check it!   Music for EP 49 comes from Evan Geesman.  Good stuff!   https://evangeesman.bandcamp.com/album/mattress-money

Hello Amȯn Tȯbin! He was Born in Brazil, but as you can hear from this interview he’s got a distinctively English twang having spent yonks in the UK. I don’t want to give away the details of the chap’s timeline just yet as we get into all of that in this FaceTime chin wag. Might I say at this point though that I feel mightily chuffed to have Amon on the show.  He’s truly one of the outstanding living talents in Electronic music and that’s really not an overstatement. He’s made a stack of cracking albums for London label 9Bar Records and of course the marvelous Ninja Tune. A relationship that kicked off way back in 1996.  The boy doesn’t stop! Now he’s busy as ever with his own label Nomark.  He’s got hard drives and aliases up the wazoo and he’s making crazy shit every day and by the sounds of things a lot of new music is coming soon.  The man has a masterful grasp of sound collage, from the wildest found sound and manipulated field recordings to the risky dark lands of additive synthesis and into modular madness. He’s always managed to present his sound to the world on the stage without falling into the usual cliched confines of the club. He’s performed at many a prestigious venue, such as the birthplace of musique concrete, the GRM in Paris. In 2011 he seriously raised the bar on audio visual combos with the dazzling ISAM show. When that footage started circulating I remember spitting out my coffee.  It’s STILL one of the most incredible things to witness on the interwebs as a realization of potent audio visual immersions. A true SHOW.  He also produced several original scores, ranging from the cult film Taxidermia to the video game blockbuster Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Constantly shifting and constantly inspiring. Please welcome the show one of the most visionary electronic artists of his generation Amȯn Tȯbin    In the nitty I get into the murky world of pitch tracking guitars and seeing if there’s any juicy noise to be had chucking the axe thro the modular. Yeah… it’s a wobbly affair!   Good to be back :) Cheers y’all _______________________ Music for the show comes from Brad Swanson aka “The Transparency” Here’s the LP from which I removed and edits some pod snips. Good stuff! It’s called aptly “It might get dark” check it out: https://thetransparency.bandcamp.com/album/it-might-get-dark  

47 brings the bonkers talent that is Ariel Rechtshaid!  He’s had an incredible run of success with artists like Adele, Usher and of course Vampire Weekend (to name but three from a list of hundreds!) This interview was conduced slightly before Vampire Weekend put out “Father of the Bride” to much critical and chart joy. We got to chatting about that process and how they’ve become very solid friends over the years. The music they make comes from a deep trust and adventurous spirit which is something of a common thread in the stories you’ll hear on this pod. Ariel’s got a strong point of view but a humble demeanor. He’s a true lover of many genres of music and can wear many hats: Playing, tracking, mixing and producing at a top level.  A seriously hard working chap, he’s the real deal and I’m really chuffed to have him on the show. He gave up a couple of hours to me to have me ramble with him at his spot in silver lake and it was a trip to hear it all from the horse’s mouth! Cheers Ariel! ______________________________________   Nitty this time sees me dipping a toe into the poly rhythmic bath thanks to the max4live handiwork of  benniy c bascom and his excellent POLYRHYTHMUS patch!   I explore 3 very simple examples. 2:3:6 with a CR78 3:4:12 with the 707 and 3:5:15 with a marimba    Find the max for live patch here: http://www.maxforlive.com/library/device/2431/polyrhythmus-a-modular-euclidean-rhythm-builder   How to here: (benniy is AWESOME!)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTgSgTGoBLc ______________________________________   Music for the show comes once again courtesy of good glued barometer aka Lee Beaumont!   Find his music here at his bandcamp page:   https://goodgluedbarometer.bandcamp.com   ______________________________________   This episode’s sponsor is winter-modular  http://winter-modular.com   Makers of the very fine sequencing machine called the “Eloquencer” A powerful and intuitive machine for use with in the eurorack domain and NOW  In the wide word of MIDI thanks to the EME expansion unit. Seriously badass machine and a great choice for anyone wanting to step away from the computer to make music. I love mine. It’s really a choice box!

So I was introduced to Emily at an Ableton event here in Nashville and we were chatting about some pretty specific protools stuff. Something insane about how she needed to have a flightcase for an old Mac Pro to do her job. It was all very unusual. I had no idea who I was talking to tbh. But I could tell she had a WAY of doing things. Turns out she’s one of the biggest vocal producers working!  No big deal. She’s recorded and produced for folks like Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Ke$ha, Miley Cyrus, Jessie J, Flo Rida, Kelly Clarkson and WAY more.  In 2010, Emily began work on Katy Perry's Teenage Dream as an engineer. She also engineered eight songs and co-wrote one song ("Gasoline") on Britney Spears' Femme Fatale (not to mention her work on Circus, Pretty Girls and Britney Jean) So it turns out she’s seen and heard a LOT of craziness at a very high level. We are talking about top tier pop recording. I’ve never chatted with someone who’s been in this particular line of work so it was ace just trying to work out how it really happens. How are those Britney and Katy Perry vocals really tracked? A modern master with the Digi scissors who has literally cut together the stories of a big slice of modern pop. Please welcome to the pod, Emily Wright!!! ______________________________________ In the nitty I get into the world of altered drones Taking on a stack of tasty tones from a rare encounter with a CS80 I try to build a little something with them ______________________________________   Sponsors for today are in duality! Hearty thanks to  https://bastl-instruments.com Makers of naughty, powerful and sometimes dark machines! And to  http://www.steadystatefate.com Who’ve made a large range of modules including the new and rather tasty STEREO DIPOLE filter I feel very lucky to have such cool companies get on board! A special shout out also to Jim at  https://modularaddict.com He’s helped me so much trying to navigate the huge world of bloops!  

Whether or not you know the full, hard history of Lee Fields, I think 50 years into his music career, 10 years since he found the Expressions, and nearly 7 decades of a life that began in Civil Rights-era North Carolina make 2019 a prime time to celebrate "the coolest motherf***er to sing words into a microphone" (Vice). Across dozens of record labels, countless periods of defeat, and stretches of near-retirement, Lee jumpstarted the legacy of Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones, laid the groove for songs by Travis Scott and J Cole, and - with April 5th album It Rains Love (Big Crown) - will affirm his position as the new, benevolent standard of soul.    On Episode 45 of HOWA, I feel very lucky to had a (rather scratchy sounding) phone chat with both Lee and producer Leon Michels (Lana Del Rey, Adele, Beyoncé & Jay Z) on how they've spent the past 20 years or so together, crossing analog and digital mediums, multiple generations of tape saturation, and six consecutive hours of vocal takes at a time to get this music to our ears. 20 years?!?!? Here’s a link to the album! https://bigcrownrecords.com/store/it-rains-love/   ______________________________________ In this show I take a hint from the Episode number hitting 45 and start cutting into some wax.  New life to old 45s in the nitty. Just rerun that runout groove! Grab a knife, sandpaper and a record or 2:) cut to reveal hidden funk. _____________________________________   Music for 45 comes from Lee Beaumont :)  I got these tracks ages ago. Sorry it took me so long to feature them. In fact since then he’s been getting busy and there’s plenty of new stuff to be found. Check this here link: https://goodgluedbarometer.bandcamp.com _____________________________________ Sponsorship for the show comes courtesy of the wondrous digital minds at Valhalla DSP!  I’m thrilled to be able to have them on board as I’m such a fan of all their stuff and the JUST released the new DELAY plugin and it’s bonkers Totally brilliant!! https://valhalladsp.com

Want to get into Endless? Here’s the link to the HOWA jam http://bit.ly/HOWAjam I met Tim Shaw aka Tim Exile in Berlin in the mid 2000s We were 2 brits roasting in the furnace of creativity that was cooking in the East It was a heady time. There were so many amazing performers around Everyone from Peaches to Kevin Blechdom, Errorsmith to Neubauten  You could inhale the punk as a gas and it fueled a lot of invention at that time Tech was on that more steady and tangible bubble up and we were all trying to see how to combine our strengths with that digital promise. Around 2000 I had decided to drop out of music making to be a builder of machines. I got completely taken by the promise of Max/Msp and indeed it allowed me a great freedom to combine my voice and my obsession with the machine in a new way I was making a living looping and Tim caught wind of those early shows and it set him off on a journey to build an absolute BEAST of a looper I had travelled the Max way, Tim took the Reaktor to the loop limit.  His flow machine was a joy to behold even in its infancy.  I remember hearing it and being completely blown away  Seem-less transitions and audio with no clicks! All things my machine struggled with. Loops with various lengths all playing off against one another, FX that would cut and carve the shit into shreds only to have new layers swoop in to fill the void and uncover new counterpoints. The Tempo could change. The Machine would time stretch and warp so beautifully. It was a marvel. The ultimate looper.  It's still is the best I’ve ever used and for a long time it wasn’t available to the public.  That is until ENDLESS I’m super proud of him for daring to explode this idea into the world as something more than an esoteric loop maker for just one user. He’s had to quit his career as a musician essentially to focus on the company and now it’s happening. Endless is beginning. Exciting times and I’m very happy to have known the evolution of all this. I see how far it can go coz I know how far the looper has already taken me. Wild rides to get this far and more to come. Please welcome the marvelous mind that is Tim Exile to the show to share his thoughts! ___________________ MUSIC for 44 comes from - The Great Turtle  https://greatturtle.bandcamp.com Michael Sayer sent me a lovely mail about this improved music and how it’s born of an obsession with music making. How cool is this ? Music made at the Birds of Prey Conservation Area in Idaho. Check it out ___________________ Sponsorship for the show comes courtesy of the wondrous digital minds at Valhalla DSP!  I’m thrilled to be able to have them on board as I’m such a fan of all their stuff and the JSUT released the new DELAY plugin The best $50 you’ll spend on a delay, lemme tell ya! Get out and get it!   Speaking of which, thanks to Devon Gilfillian The song we wrote together called “Get out and Get it”is out now as a single for him on Capitol Records! Badass! Listen here https://devongilfillian.lnk.to/ListenWE   I use snips of the original demo vocal in the nitty gritty to show off the wobbly world of dual Melodyne  Why not! More wobbles in 2019!!!   Cheers  

The sequel usually disappoints. Not this time.  Greg and I literally go into outer space and beyond the grave in this cosmic excursion. Earthly concerns addressed in good measure also. An immense pleasure to chat in such great depth with this absolutely superb chap.