EK's Blog

SMR - Season 2 - Episode 3

2011-01-06T02:57:00Z

Here it is... Episode 3. Nick will be henceforth known as Nick Nameless. This week we talked about the new year, some dead birds, and as usual... EJ talks trash and F-Ron throws a boulder.

Enjoy.

SMR - Season 2 - Episode 2

2010-12-29T05:14:00Z

This weeks episode kicks off with an update on our Nickname Nick contest. Win a date with Nick catered by the rest of the team. If you're a dude, we'll figure out what to do later.

This episode also touches on Christmas, Sports Updates, Gallup's top 5 most admired men and women, Heff's love life, the wikileaks guy, and Teena Marie's recent departure.

Enjoy and we'll catch you next week.

SMR - Season 2 - Episode 1

2010-12-21T19:50:00Z

Welcome back listers to ShockMonkeyRadio. This episode kicks off our new season. Join us for conversations on Phillip Greaves, something in the water, total eclipse of the moon, our upcoming multicultural shockmonkey dinner, and our new contest: Nickname Nick!

Thanks for listening.

A necessary update.

2010-12-17T09:26:00Z

Followers of the blog:

I apologize for the lack of content recently. I find myself out on gigs more recently, and in front of the computer less. This post isn't here to say that things have come to an end; It is here to say we're taking a seasonal break while looking for new talented volunteer engineers to edit podcasts. In the meantime,"Happy Holidays".

EKtheDJ

Erik Myers: An Interview

2010-04-03T13:55:00Z

We recently caught up with Erik Myers after recording his comedy CD for this interview and a sample of things to come. Check him out on Facebook if you want to grab the whole CD.

Goldfrapp

2010-03-29T23:04:00Z

Goldfrapp’s “Rocket” FindsWarmth in the Machine

I find myself first listening to Rocket in the nonplace of my cardriving back and forth desperate to find my cellphone. I’m experiencing what withdrawal from thetechnological singularity feels like because I haven’t actually texted anyonethe irrelevant information that I bought an overpriced CD from Borders. I do in fact have friends who are Goldfrappfans and need to know the new CD’s out, though they’ll probably just downloadit for free. I’m such a traditionalist.

The overall sonic quality is irresistibly stylish and retro chicbut it never borders on a parody of 70s disco pop - the sound maintains itsrelevance and currency likely thanks to help from producer Richard X who takesan almost fanatical stance about quality-structured pop. Let’s riff across decades for a moment for ananalogy- it’s like a Pointer Sister revival where they’re musing cougars ratherthan an ABC Prime Time pop cash-in joke.

With respect to quality control in pop music, this seems to bethe latest installment in a recent trend towards integrity. Though electronic and synthetic in it’sinstrumentation, Alicia Key’s “Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart,” Passion Pit’s“Little Secrets,” Gorillaz’s “Stylo”, and now Goldfrapp’s whole “Rocket” albumall seem to be reaching for a sense of human dignity in the music throughemotionally evocative chord structuring. “Stylo” and “Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart” handle the sadder end ofthe spectrum, but Goldfrapp’s album opens up space for pop to be disco-funagain, specifically the title track “Rocket”. Perhaps we’re finally putting 35years of hate toward the whole disco genre on the back burner. Considering rock and hip hop have become aneccentric joke, maybe its time to cycle around the pop lexicon for a differentdirection.

A word to the wise for the career spiraling, errr rather, I’mjust addressing Madonna. AlisonGoldfrapp is nearly ten years younger, but twice as sensible and ages a lotmore gracefully. Her songs, while notneglecting the excellent arranging contributions by Will Gregory, are lush,sensual, livening, with a pop. AndAlison has never graced her album cover in absurd bondage gear sleeving analbum full of ridiculous overproduced Timbaland tracks. Madonna, save yourself, for the your nextalbum consider an aesthetic direction similar to Goldfrapp’s previous album,“Seventh Tree.” Flirt with electronic folk and simpler pop rather than tackyclub tracks. Act like the cougar you could be, rather than that preposterousclueless ‘cool mom’ from “Mean Girls.”

Perhaps the most interesting track of the album from an artisticpoint of view is the final track, “Voicething.” In this, Goldfrapp experiments with phase shiftings and syllabic voiceintonations that function more as percussive stabs than singing. The track, again retro, sounds pulledstraight from the New York Minimalist School of the mid to late 20thcentury. It’s like Steve Reich andMeredith Monk worked together for a pop venture. It’s sweet of Alison to pay homage to hermore cerebral aesthetic leanings. And it sounds beautiful.

Overall, the album is thrilling, retro-fresh, and smart. Thiscollege girl sitting down in front of me in the coffee shop in the form fittingwhite short shorts has nice light blue underwear.

To Whom It May Concern

2010-03-24T03:41:00Z

To Whom It May Concern,

a). Do I tell you howto do your job? To the bald mexicanbandit who won’t quit telling me about awesome songs on his ipod, you continueto make striking out and falling short look as suave as ever. Even when we play songs that explicitly tellyou what to do on the dance floor, you’re still a wretched person. Before you unnecessarily criticize a JayZdeep track and adamantly insist on Pit Bull, look around to observe 2/3rds ofthe venue smiling, nodding, and singing along.They haven’t heard this song in a very long time and retro deep tracksusually excite them and take them psychologically to a different moment intime. It’s a fun experience for theparty goers. If you see and recognizethis you are not entitled to make the overarching claim, ‘no one’sdancing.’ I’m sorry it’s 10:15 and yourcocaine buzz is wearing off, but bandit, please allocate your drugsappropriately next time. I am not responsiblefor your inability to ration your narcotics over four hours. When you buy them their next drink, rememberyou’re nothing more than the pussyless puppet of the Busted CougarsBrigade. I don’t listen to yourcriticism, I look beyond you.

b). To the ex-producerformer employee dinosaurs of BMI andColumbia - what the fuck? If you stillare or were ever someone of any importance or EVER worked for a major label asyou so claim, you wouldn’t be giving pointers to a sports bar DJ in centralVirginia. I’m not looking for your talent scouting advice, as in reality, I’m asports bar DJ in central Virginia. Idon’t care if you don’t like mp3s because they don’t sound as good as vinyl, Idon’t like your pirate ear ring or your ugly wife. Analog has had it’s day. Try very hard to accept that digital isn’tgoing anywhere for a while.

No, despite whatyou claim, you did NOT book Tiesto, you payed $30 for one of his mix tapes andplayed it in your basement for you and your friends while you drank neon bluetequila and thought for a moment you were living a more glamorous life. Thenyou wake up face down in your backyard in a pile of dog shit.

If you weresmart, you’d know that glitch in the middle of an illegal mp3 makes andexcellent sampled hit or a rim shot on the back beat of your own interestingelectronic music creations. (Read theKim Cascone article about the post-digital aesthetic if you’re confused). Dinosaurs are extinct for a reason - who letyou out of the tar pits?

Sincerely and Hatefully,

F-Ron GhenghisKhan

On DJ-ing

2009-10-15T05:21:00Z

There is a lesser known history for the art of the DJ. Despite any negative stereotypes, not all DJsare dull and dimwitted drunken apes patrolling proms and weddings looking totake your drugs and/or girlfriend. And not all DJs necessarily have their rootsgrounded in inner city block parties. It’s not a hidden history - more often than not it’s just nestled in thehalls of academia waiting to be exposed. Some of us DJs are working to fix this - attempting to express thisalternative take. Some of us DJs areworking hard to process what it means to be an art maker and curator in thesepostmodern times from a perspective contrary to popular notions of what a DJshould be.

Alternative histories reside in the turntable experimentalism ofJohn Cage and Christian MarClay, the former working in the 50s and the latterworking most pronouncedly in the 70s and 80s, going as far as to turn the vinylrecord and its sleeve into found and recontextualized art objects. The plunderphonic sound experimentations andcollages of Chris Cutler both opened upand claustrophobically shut down the time parameter of sound: turning a snarehit into a one minute soundscape and truncating an entire metal riff into ahalf second blip. The avant gardeintellectualism of DJ Spooky keeps us thinking and keeps us in touch with ourModernist roots.

A DJ’s musical power ought not be neglected. As appropriators of music: We steal it. Wesample it. We extend it. We destroy it. We rebuild it. Whether you’re a Rock n Roller or anotherproducer/DJ, we take your beat from you and make it a hit. A perfect cue, a perfect beatmatch, and aperfect fade can grow into the worst kind of popular bore. The excitement liesin the soundscape - the pops, the glitches, hisses, and buzzes of a badconnection and the thud of a busted speaker, cheers and jeers, and evensometimes, total system failure yields interesting and incendiary results. When things fall apart, reconstruct.

I’ve spun Wu-Tang while having explosives shot at me and I’vespun Guns N’ Roses through law enforcement and emergency response sirens andlights. It wasn’t a matter of safety -it was duty. DJs are supposed to spinthrough the riots that they start. Theact is political.

DJs - the most clever of the breed - are always in the peripherylistening....

--DJ Postrock

Where Do We Go

2009-10-15T05:14:00Z

I’d like totheorize for a moment about where the future ‘scene’ is and what’s around thecorner for music if we let go of outdated models of what it means to be in themusic business. In an interview from the Nine Inch Nails Hotline in 2007,former NIN/Icarus Line guitarist and now member of Jubilee states, “The realityis, there IS no money in rock n roll anymore....Then, in a perfect world, thepeople left making music will be doing it for the sake of creating art.” So what does this mean for young artists’aspirations?

The era of thesuperstar has come and gone. You willwitness the renaissance of local music culture and a truly independentscene. Niche genres will be the mostinteresting and most creative. With thedeath of the major labels, there will never be another Bono or Springsteen - asif we need another one. I remain suspicious of ‘working class heroes’ thatcharge $100+ for less than average concert seats. Bruce was on the cover of AARP; I remain doublysuspicious of his rock credibility. Bonothinks he’s the messiah; watch out for that one or you’ll be drinking kool aidwith him so you guys can catch a spaceship hiding behind a meteor.

Do you realizemost songs end up only 2,3, or 4 minutes because the time span fits thesong-to-commercial ratio per-hour profit model concocted by an advertiser? Doyou realize the sounds of productions are becoming homogenized because artistsare increasingly only using digital programs like Pro Tools, GarageBand, andReason? The freedom offered by the deathof the major label opens the door for a wildly interesting opportunity toexplore different timbres and different time parameters with any tools you canfind. Things don’t always have to beverse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus. Make music that challenges notions of time. Don’t fear music that is maybe a bitdissonant and disorganized. Withtechnological proliferation, you truly can now DIY and survive on a local/regionalcircuit.

Thechoice ultimately falls on you, the artist. Either run to LA or NY to chase the false idols of fame and fortune, orstack your speakers here at home and have an effect on the local. If you’re angry and no one’s listening, playlouder. If you can’t rattleFredericksburg, you think anything you do in LA or NY is going to matter? Iggy Pop never sat back and whined. He broke things and people heard it. I personally would be thrilled if OliverAckermann (Fred native) from A Place to Bury Strangers would come back tonoise-violate the Fred for us one more time - that band’s got some intensitythat this town could use. Until then I’mgoing to stay bitter and angry and continue to hide in my mother’s basement.

--DJ Postrock

The Beginning

2009-09-19T00:19:00Z

Hey Everybody,

EKtheDJ here. The website was launched, and will be updated regularly from here forward. I'm really excited about the new things we've got lined up. The construction of the recording studio is going very smoothly, and I can't wait to get some artists in here to lay some stuff down. Keep checking back for updates.

Welcome

2009-09-17T19:19:13Z

Welcome to my blog. Please check back soon for new entries.