Friday, January 1, 2010

The Whens & The Whys




I've always had a passionate & wide-ranging curiosity for music. From a pre-teen fascination with the Beatles & Syd-Barrett-era Pink Floyd to my high-school introduction to the politically charged scene of '90s hardcore and its endless sub-genres, every bit of excitement I've gained from musical experiences has increased itself exponentially as I sought out the precedents, contemporaries and eccentric offshoots of anything that struck me.
As someone who's never had much of a gift for keeping even the unsteadiest of beats, I've found a variety of ways to incorporate myself into the world(s) of music. I had a brief spell as a late-night (often drunk & sloppy) DJ at Free Radio Austin. As a shadow-puppet performer, I've incorporated both recorded & live soundtracks into my shows, working with such amazing musicians/groups as Don Godwin, John Eaton, Hot Tony Biele, the Dreamland Faces, Reid Books and Katt Hernandez. I've also in the past few years begun a series of improvised groupings of projected visuals and musicians, starting with my friend Jackie Beckey (currently of the amazing Mpls band Brute Heart) and most recently with such luminaries as Katt, Reid, and Charles Cohen. I've also been delighted to provide overhead-projected visuals for live shows by Philly's finest psychedelic synth-punk ensemble the Lesser Known Neutrinos (pictured below) and now their finely-honed antecedents Signals. Last year, Reid & I also began a tiny art/music/publication label Desperate Commodities to put out our collaborative project the Nothing Factory, and have since put out 2 more items, with #4 waiting in the wings.


And of course, through it all, I've always loved to make mixes. If for no other reason, it seems to offer some pale justification for all the hours spent digging in dusty crates and poring through the annals of cyberspace.
So here it comes, a month's worth of mixes, one posted every day for the month of January. It feels like a rather daunting challenge, but as I've been pondering for a while now a possible return to radio, it feels like a good way to explore that possibility and further justify my obsessive tendencies.
I hope some of you out there appreciate some of it.

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