Ruin Radio 8: Music from CDs My Stepsister Got Me from the Bargain Bin in a Small Town in Colorado (i.e., the MFCDsMSsGMFTBBIASTIC Edition)

thanks, L!

this hodgepodge of a mishmash (a mixsmash?) is like the mel tormé compilation pictured above: it "contains 100% of the recommended daily allowance of party music." cocktail recipes forthcoming.

and hey, i made a poem using excerpts from the CDs' liner notes.

poem

RAY’S TIDAL WAVE HAS LEFT EVERYONE SOAKING WET WITH EMOTION—

you don’t know this but i used to listen to you sing. sebastian—key link in a chain of uranium-smuggling nazis in south america. 1962 albanian postage stamps from continental stamps london. a downy soft collage that created an unforgettable dream, from which no one wanted to awaken. i almost got muged [sic] last night. society has a lot of influences and their music reflects that. strain into stemmed cocktail glass. the beauty of imperfection. you don’t know this. whether you bought this, stole this, taped this or just found this album in the trash. you don't know. i used to listen to you sing.


[i'll fill out the rest of this post after the episode airs on hollow earth.]

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tracklist

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Ruin Radio 7: Lonely Xmas Edition (12/22/2014)

hey. i made this. ^

i’ve had a number of lonely holidays, whether home alone or otherwise. maybe that goes for you, too. this year i’m spending christmas with family for the first time in a few years and i’m hoping for the best. but even if all goes well, this episode's inspired by lonely parts in me. it's dedicated to anyone who feels too lonely to talk about it.

Ruin Radio 6: Night Busing (12/15/2014)

 smoking's our only friend tonight
--"sleeping city," by intelligence dept.

this episode's named after something i find myself doing often, as well as a track from burial's first album. following the clamor of recent weeks, what you'll find will be the least noisy edition of ruin radio yet -- all breathy ambiance, cold rain, warm interiors.

Poster for Underpass Show at Hollow Earth (11/21/2014)

this is a poster i drew for a show at hollow earth.

at one point that night, the promoter described it to me as a punk show, though that seemed a little reductive considering a third of the show was improvised cello music and the headlining act sounds a lot like the cure.

and when i say third, i mean subsequent pleasures didn't show up. whatever, i still got to draw a nifty synth with patch cables. 

i had fun doing this, but like just about everything i commit to, it was extremely time-intensive. this is also the first elaborate poster i've made in years (definitely the first hand-drawn one in a long time), and maybe the first i've made for a concert. i learned some things in the process, like how to remove an extra "ue" from the word "subsequent" in an image editor, and how easy it is for "filled-in" spaces to look sloppy when something's photocopied. important stuff. those are little eye-cars, by the way. they were inspired by this.

Ruin Radio 5: Music for Burning Cities (12/08/2014)

this episode has been a work in progress for me. the end result is a clanging, grinding barrage of scrap metal and churning synths. it's intended as a vehicle for anger and fear and pride and release and maybe some things a listener might feel.

Ruin Radio 4: The Sleazy Sex Dungeon Tapes (12/01/2014)

show: ruin radio

airdate: 12-01-2014 at 7-8 in the A

episode: 4

episode title: the subtle sleazy sex dungeon tapes, vol. 1

how to hear: hollowearthradio.org

why: if you're feelin morny

what: excerpts from the soundtrack for the 1971 film vampyros lesbos, chicago house moans, carnal new beat cheese, peter "sleazy" christopherson, a dirty little cover of a david bowie ditty, and more.

i thought about calling this "the basement tapes, or, dubious transmissions from the subtle sleazy sex dungeon," but honey that's just too much talk.

Ruin Radio 3: Journey Through a Body (11/24/2014)

this third episode underwent a lot of changes while i was pulling it together. it started as a kind of "dungeon" mix (that's a concept i'd revisit the following week). however, i realized a lot of songs i wanted to include focused on physical bodies -- their functions, boundaries, and statuses within medicine and other systems. physical desire also comes up in a way that felt relevant. so i cribbed the title from throbbing gristle's last studio album and fashioned this as an installment in which the listener moves through a body while they listen. it may not be a linear path from outside to in, but i felt a change here from experiencing explicitly physical manifestations of bodies to something more metaphysical and existential. there's a darkness lurking throughout this mix, and this week's show moves into some noisier territory. i think there's also a dash of real beauty here and there. simultaneously, maybe.