05.29.09 show

Yes, these blog updates are coming later and later in the week. I intended to update last night, but I was tired after an 80 mile training ride, and then had to wait and wait and wait for a neighbor to finish their laundry, and found myself folding tee shirts at 1:30 am. Not happy.

So, I won't bother re-capping last week's show, but you can check the playlist here.

I'm excited to play some big, new tunes on tomorrow's show including a few grime tracks off the compilation Vocals and Versions Vol 2 out on Senseless Records. I played a track from Sarantis last week, and found the comp while searching his other releases. I'm liking the sound of lablemate Sasquatch too.


If you're into minimal techno and the Berghain sound, you're going to love the collaboration with Marcell Dettman and Rene Pawlowitz aka Shed aka STP. Calling themselves Deuce, their EP on Ostgut Ton records is killer. I'm tempted to play all three tracks in one show, but probably should spread the wealth over the coming weeks.



The a latest from 12th Planet is a two sided monster. Skream played one track on his latest rinse.fm broadcast. Good to see some local cats (and by local I mean American) making good with the dubstep and getting some recognition.

05.22.09 show

This week’s play list contained more mp3s than vinyl. If I really dig a song, my preference is to own the vinyl, but if its just an okay track, I’m cool having a digital copy. These days, some of the dubstep/techno producers release songs only on mp3 (or wav or flac). And mp3s don’t cost $$ to ship. Buying new records every week starts to add up, kids. 99 cents for a digital track, or 13 dollars for a twelve inch. You do the math.

Lick the Wrap is one mp3 only label I recently came across while browsing on juno download. There are only four artist on the label (Rare Dynamic, Intention, Derelict, Eleven8) at the moment, and the website reads they will be releasing vinyl soon. I'm going to delve deeper into their catalog, and most likely will be playing more tunes from this Bristol based label in near future.


Redvolume records in Sweden (not to be confused with Norwary as I did on air) posted a few digital exclusive releases on boomkat last week, including the banger 8 Bit Lover from Vesicle. They focus on releasing records from Scandanavian producers, and have put out stuff from the likes of Tes La Rok and L-Wiz. Although the online pics of their releases are small, I'm liking their design and photography, as well as thier music output.



OQTO is yet another recently discoverd (by me anyway) digital-only-producer (ok, he has released a cd, but no vinyl that I find). And just now, as I googled his name to find the link to his myspace page did I learn the dude's Japanese!


Without even realizing it, I played a bunch of tracks (mp3s again) from the minimal techo Lordag label. They are based in Norway, not to be confused with Sweden.

If everything goes according to plan, I'll be doing three hours on the 29th. I'm not training the next morning, and have an itch to drop some acid. Records that is. Took my last trip years ago. I found it really messed with my knowledge of geography.

05.15.09 show

Leila and Her Weird Friend dropped some serious bass weight this week. If you missed the show, or want to listen again, run don't walk to zbconline.com to download the stream. There were a few technical difficulties, so there will be a minute or so of silence at the start of the show. We hope to have them back again soon.

05.08.11 show

Wow, this blogging thing is a lot more work than work than I anticipated. I don't know how Bike Snob NYC does three or more a week.

So yeah, I don't feel up to posting too much for this week's show. But do tune in to next week's show to hear special guests Leila and Her Weird Friend spin some dub reggae and dubstep. It should be a great show. I'd suggested that those guys do a WZBC summer fill-in show, but unfortunately their talents are in high demand they can't commit to a weekly show on a low wattage college radio station.

I will suggest to prick up your ears for two upcoming releases that I started of the program with (thank you Mary Anne Hobbbs); "Vultures" by Gravious due out 05.11, on Highpoint Lowlife Records, and "Bullet A' Go Fly" by DVA featuring Badness, Riko, Flowdan, and Killa P out soon in Dusk and Blackdown's label, Keysound. M.A.H. gave a dirty wurds disclaimer before playing that track, but I didn't hear anything offensive (but then again I couldn't understand anything because of their accents and slang), and hopefully neither did the FCC, but their flow is great.


When I saw D&B play with Loefah a while back at Love (Appleblim and Scuba there on .05.15), they dropped a few great grime tracks. And played it LOUD. But in a good way. Some of the loudest sounds I've heard; actually felt the bass vibrate my clothing. Although I'll probably never experience anything louder than Judas Priest at the Worcester Centrum, 1982. And I hope I never do.

05.01.09 show

If I do a top ten list at the end of the year, "In tha Place to Be" by Jakes is sure to be in the top five. Its just so...loud. I can't recommend it enough. You can find the vinyl on The Jakes Project Vol. 4, or the mp3 on iTunes. He did a mix for the latest Mary Anne Hobbs show, which should be available until Wednesday.


I'm not too familiar with the work of Rob Sparx, but I did like his remake of the Bar 9 track "Shoalin Style." He just released a new heavy, heavy track on the Audio Freaks label which is coming in the mail, and will hit the ZBC airwaves next show.


Also in store for next week's show is a spotlight of sorts on the Sandwell District label. They just re-relesed a few of 12"s, as well as a new split from Marcel Dettman and Regis. In the tradition of underground techno, the label is "anti-image" and does not have a website or email or much online prescence, but you can read an interview with Dave Sumner, aka Function, on residentadvisor.net here. I hoped to play all the re-releases, but the Female record was sold out as of today. Drats.


As I mentioned on air, I feel my show has been a bit confusing and schizophrenic lately. I'm doing two hours rather than three, dropped playing dub reggae, started playing house, and it just got to be like a pizza with too many toppings served cold.

I'm thinking about how to fit in all the music I like to play and listen to while having a point of view to the show. The main focus is bass. For you face. I don't want to be one of "those" deejays who needs to play his/her entire record collection each show to demonstrate how diverse are their musical taste. Ugh. Who can listen to that?

04.24.09 show

Hatcha and N-Type put together a really good compilation featuring new tracks from Croydon producers Benga, Coki and N-Type, Crazy D, Kutz, Chefal, and some dude I've never heard of named Lost, who produced one of the more interesting tracks. I'll be playing more tracks from this in the coming weeks.


The Australian record label Aquatic Lab put out another great release from Seven. I played Seven's "Drop" for a month straight, and looks like I'll also be playing "Conspiracy/Dark Passenger" to death as well. You can find the wax on boomkat.com or juno.co.uk, and the mp3 on iTunes.


Spinitron.com, the website that hosts the playlists and programming schedule for WZBC and other radio stations, now has a Buy It! link. I'm not sure I feel about this new feature.

I think its great if someone who listens to my show and hears a song they like, can easily find someplace to purchase the song through my playlist and wzbc.org. But I don't do the show to sell product, and don't want FTB or WZBC to be thought of as a home shopping network for underground music. And I definitely don't want artists or label owners "suggesting" I play their records more to help increase their sales. When I was a summer fill-in music director at another radio station, I had to put up with marketing/promotional types who would call me weekly to track their record's play count, and "suggest" that I put their record in heavy rotation. F*** that. And f*** Camper Van Beethoven to this day.

04.17.09 show

As I wrote in the previous post, I'm delving deeper into the Detroit Techno/Chicago House sound, albeit twenty fives years later. While kids were jacking at the Music Box in Chi-town, I was slamming at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel in Providence. I just received this cd compilation in the mail, so look forward to hearing Phuture's 12 minute Acid opus "Acid Tracks" next show.

A few years back, I happened upon hearing Japanese Telecom. A few months after that, I first heard Dopplereffekt. Yet only last week did I discover both groups were the work of Gerald Donald. The man is extremely prolific, so I won't list all his aliases or groups here, but if you're interested in learning and hearing more, a lot more, check out the Drexciya Research Lab.



Cloaks bring proper darkness on their lastest release on 3BY3 records. The kind of music you hear in your nightmares, but that you can dance to. I'll be playing the flip next show, fo' sure.


Acid Swagger by Fused Forces is my fav song of the moment. I like the off-kilter bass over the funk-style drumming. Loud and weird, good stuff.


And don't miss the premiere of "Speaking in Code", a documentary about electronic music playing April 23 at the Somerville Theater.