Some Assembly Required
Some Assembly Required is a weekly audio art show focused on works of audio appropriation. "Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions and turntable creations." More information, online at: www.some-assembly-required.net
the Cranial Fishers

The Cranial Fishers are actually just one person, Ohio's Craig Chambers. He's been working as the Cranial Fishers for about twenty five years, and is an active participant of the online sound collage community, Snuggles. The group got its name from a Negativland song, and its start as a Negativland fan club, and has morphed into a productive online artists community. The cooperative has produced at least three compilations of their own material, including The Droplift Project and Dictionaraoke.

Chambers studied music and composition in school, and played in a band before turning his creative attentions to sound collage. You can check out some of his work HERE. The Cranial Fisher's online compilation site, "Snuggle This!", also hosts over three dozen different tracks by sound collage artists he's met online. Check it out HERE.

Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with the Cranial Fishers...


*Name: The Cranial Fishers

*Are there any additional names used to describe this project: No

*Do you use a pseudonym? Just the Cranial Fishers, but I use CraigCo as a "corporate" name. I'm considering releasing some of my non-sample-based stuff as the CraigCo Aural Gratification Ensemble.

*Members: Craig Chambers, although I did use C. William Chambers for things I wrote in college. It sounded more "arty".

*Founding Members: I take full responsibility.

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: I consider it more digital reconstruction than deconstruction. Perhaps "media manipulation". I use a lot of samples from TV and movies.

*Another genre descriptor: When I try to explain it to normal people, I just call it audio collage.

*Is there a story behind your name? Someone told me that every time you learn something, it creates another wrinkle in your brain...cranial fissures. A bit of creative misspelling, and there it is. I never looked it up to see if it was true or not. The small "t" on "the" is a graphic choice. I just like the way it looks.

*Location: Dayton, OH, but when I started I lived near Rochester, NY.

*Original Location: Dayton, OH

*What is your creative/artistic background: High school band geek (trumpet), went on to study composition and marketing in college, dropped out, attended the Recording Workshop in Chillecothe, OH in summer of '76, spent some time as a roadie/tech/bassplayer at the lowest level of bar-banddom, now I make noise as a creative release from the real world.

*History: My first attempts at sound collage were around 1984-85. I started out with a couple cassette decks and a VCR, (you can hear me pushing the pause button on some of my earlier stuff), had a small 4-track studio for a while, but now it's all done on computer. My actual output is pretty small for 25 years, but I have lots of unfinished stuff. I don't play out or do anything live.

*Born: Dayton, OH, 1955

*Motivations: I've always had an interest in composition, and this enables me to make music/noise without dealing with other people’s opinions or egos. I got really tired of hearing "you can't do that" when I was in school or other groups.

*Philosophy: I'm not sure there is one, but I like to feel that it's entertaining, and possibly thought provoking at times.

*How would you like to be remembered: I had an answer to this, but I forgot it. (rimshot.wav). I would like to think I had some small part encouraging others who do this kind of thing, even though no one's ever heard of me. Sometime in the mid-90's, I'm not even sure when, I joined a mailing list called "Snuggles", a community of like-minded artists, and then put together a website to allow members to post a track for public consumption. It's called "Snuggle This!", and it's now up to about 40 tracks from various audio collagists, including many who have been featured on SAR. There is a track by the artist/group, a link to their website, and usually an e-mail address. Some tracks are available nowhere else, some people have since disappeared. I believe it was one of the first on-line compilation sites. There's a 10 year anniversary somewhere out there, but I didn't really note when it started (Quick shout-out to Pan at Sensory Research, who provides space for the site and moderates the list, and to all my fellow Snuggleers). I encourage anyone who is interested to join Snuggles, and to submit a track for Snuggle This! Snuggles members are also the people behind The Droplift Project and Free Speech For Sale, as well as Dictionaraoke and Deconstructing the Wall.

*Web address: http://craigco.sensoryresearch.net
Snuggles: http://lists.sensoryresearch.net/mailman/listinfo/snuggles



www.some-assembly-required.net
Category: -- posted at: 7:32pm PDT

Episode 246, Some Assembly Required

01 The Bran Flakes – “Autumnâ€
02 Douglas Kahn – “Chuck and Ronaâ€
03 E-603 – “Lights Outâ€
04 People Like Us – “Guide to broadcastingâ€
05 Greater Than One – “Learn With Pleasure, Knowledge Is Powerâ€
06 the Cranial Fishers – “Deadlineâ€
07 DJ Danger Mouse – “Moment of Clarityâ€
08 Cassetteboy – “Clever girlâ€
09 Lasso The Moon – “Religion in the windâ€
10 Bernard Parmegiani – “Du pop a l'aneâ€
11 Colatron – “Faithless Praise"


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD
Direct download: SAR246.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 8:59am PDT

Episode 155, Some Assembly Required

01 Push Button Objects – “Yamboozeâ€
02 Duran Duran Duran – “I hate the 80'sâ€
03 The Evolution Control Committee – “Spandau Filetâ€
04 Dickie Goodman – “Energy Crisis '74â€
05 Dean Gray – “Novocaine Rhapsodyâ€
06 Rob Swift - “Dope On Plasticâ€
07 Barbed - “Weddingâ€
08 Fortyone - “Life Is A Gameâ€
09 Kid Koala – “Barhopper 1â€
10 dINbOT - “Gay Paranoiaâ€
11 Kid Koala - “Barhopper 2â€
12 Doormouse – “Mathematicsâ€
13 team9 - “The Money Songâ€
14 Mediatronic Research Laboratory - “DJ Rocksâ€
15 John Oswald – “More From The Case Of Death, By Agatha Smithâ€
16 Grandmaster Flash - “Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the wheels of steelâ€


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD
Direct download: SAR155.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 4:23pm PDT

December 20, 2009

Seven of the artists in this week's show (Episode 155) have previously responded to the SAR Q&A... There are now well over 150 of these online artist features to browse at the Some Assembly Required website... Check out these seven for starters:

• SAR Q&A with Barbed
• SAR Q&A with The Evolution Control Committee
• SAR Q&A with Dickie Goodman's son, Jon Goodman
• SAR Q&A with Fortyone
• SAR Q&A with Kid Koala
• SAR Q&A with Rob Swift
• SAR Q&A with team9


Thanks for listening,
Jon Nelson


www.some-assembly-required.net
Category: -- posted at: 5:27pm PDT

December 13, 2009

This week's episode features our 2009 interview with Stock, Hausen & Walkman's Matt Wand. Check it out HERE. We ran the SAR Q&A with Wand last October... In fact, you can check out our Q&A's with the last three artists interviewed on the program, linked to below, and over 150 more at our Interviews Page HERE.

• SAR Q&A with Wayne Butane
• SAR Q&A with Greg Carr
• SAR Q&A with Stock, Hausen & Walkman's Matt Wand

Thanks for listening,
Jon Nelson


www.some-assembly-required.net
Category: -- posted at: 7:38pm PDT

Episode 245, Some Assembly Required
Featuring an interview with Stock, Hausen & Walkman

01 Stock, Hausen & Walkman – “Pop Meâ€
02 Stock, Hausen & Walkman – “Instrumentalâ€
03 Stock, Hausen & Walkman – “Tampooningâ€
04 Stock, Hausen & Walkman – “Sniffed Upâ€
05 Stock, Hausen & Walkman – “Untitled (track 7, Stop!)â€
06 Stock, Hausen & Walkman – “Untitled (track 8, Stop!)â€
07 Stock, Hausen & Walkman – “Lipglossâ€
08 Stock, Hausen & Walkman – “Flaggingâ€
09 Stock, Hausen & Walkman – “Skipperâ€
10 Small Rocks – “Stalaclooseâ€
11 Stock, Hausen & Walkman – “IKEAâ€


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD
Direct download: SAR245.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 5:34pm PDT

December 6, 2009

Seven of the artists in this week's show (Episode 154) have previously responded to our ongoing attempt to profile the sound collage artists featured on Some Assembly Required... There are well over 150 of these online features to browse at this point... Check out these seven for starters...

• SAR Q&A with Dickie Goodman's son, Jon Goodman, HERE.
• SAR Q&A with Aggro1 HERE.
• SAR Q&A with Fortyone HERE.
• SAR Q&A with Speaker Freaker HERE.
• SAR Q&A with The Tape-beatles HERE.
• SAR Q&A with The Freelance Hellraiser HERE.
• SAR Q&A with Greg Carr HERE... Be sure to also check out Episode 154 for our radio interview with Greg Carr HERE.

Thanks for listening,
Jon Nelson


www.some-assembly-required.net
Category: -- posted at: 8:18pm PDT

Episode 154, Some Assembly Required
(Featuring an interview with Greg Carr)

01 DJ Shadow – “High Noonâ€
02 Buchanan & Goodman – “Flying Saucer (Part 1)â€
03 Buchanan & Goodman - “Flying Saucer (Part 2)â€
04 Aggro1 - “Let My Baby Screamâ€
05 Fortyone - “Not Clementineâ€
06 Speaker Freaker – “Fear N Speculationâ€
07 M/A/R/R/S - “Pump Up The Volumeâ€
08 Jacknife Lee – “Get your 9lb **** onâ€
09 The Tape-beatles – “Joy and Powerâ€
10 Greg Carr – “Spaced out sound mobileâ€
11 Greg Carr – “Remote viewing in an emptying houseâ€
12 Greg Carr – “Funk dungeon dance lessonâ€
13 The Freelance Hellraiser – “Night Train '99â€


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD
Direct download: SAR154.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 7:57pm PDT

Ruth Anderson

Ruth Anderson is a pioneering electronic music composer who has also taught on the subject for many years. She is perhaps best known for the two pieces which we've played here on Some Assembly Required. Both "SUM (State of the Union Message)" and "Dump" are composed primarily of sounds found in the media environment, and were composed in the early 1970's. She's one of a very small handful of artists who were working with sounds found in the broadcast media, at the time, and she's certainly one of the first women to be working in this particular vein.

Anderson played with the Totenberg Instrumental Ensemble in the 1950's, and toured briefly with the Boston Pops Orchestra as principal flautist. In the 1960's she was an orchestrator at NBC, working on documentary films, and went on to found the electroacoustic music center at Hunter College, in 1968. She served as the organization's Director, and taught theory and composition at the College for over twenty years.

She has been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and New York State Council on the Arts as well as a Fulbright Award, to name but a few of the organizations who have recognized her formally. Her compositions have been featured in festivals, on public radio, and at new music centers around the world.

Her responses below have been augmented by her partner, composer Annea Lockwood, and include a description of Ms. Anderson's 1970 composition, "Dump," which she wrote in 1986. Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with Ruth Anderson...


*Name: Ruth Anderson

*Are there any additional names used to describe this project: Ruth Anderson is my full name.

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: It is a tape collage (analog). The media are “Dumpâ€s topic and the "dump sounds" were recorded in a studio… Here's a description of “Dump†(1970) written in 1986: "Collage of folk songs, pop tunes and electronically generated "dump sounds" to form a social commentary from World War 1 through the sixties."

*Location: New York based

*Original Location: Kalispell, MT

*What is your creative/artistic background: Composer, flautist, and orchestrator for NBC (1960-66) and Lincoln Center Theater (1966). She designed and directed the Hunter College (CUNY) Electronic Music Studio (1966 - 89) where she also taught composition and theory.

*History: Her earliest compositions date from 1950.

*Born: 3/21/28 Kalispell, MT

*Motivations: Anyone's life at any moment is a collage.

*Philosophy: To be aware in the moment.

*Web address: Here is her entry at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Anderson



www.some-assembly-required.net
Category: -- posted at: 3:44pm PDT

Episode 244, Some Assembly Required

01 Greater Than One – “I Don't Need Godâ€
02 Lenlow – “Morningâ€
03 Roc Raida – “X-Men Style Beatzâ€
04 Ruth Anderson – “DUMPâ€
05 Frenchbloke – “David Fischerâ€
06 Public Works – “Sudden impulseâ€
07 Go Home Productions – “GHP Goes Bananasâ€
08 Oval – “The Politics Of Digital Audioâ€
09 Negativland – “All Things Considered Editâ€
10 Party Ben – “Machine Gun Shelterâ€


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD
Direct download: SAR244.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 11:55am PDT

Six of the artists in this week's show (episode 153) have previously responded to our ongoing attempt to profile the sound collage artists featured weekly on Some Assembly Required... The SAR Q&A will be heading into its fifth year in January, and there are well over 150 to browse at this point, so I thought I'd start pointing to a few of them weekly, to give listeners some insight into the artists played on each week's new program.

Check out the SAR Q&A with six of the eleven artists featured in Episode 153:
  • SAR Q&A with Jeffrey Sconce HERE.
  • SAR Q&A with The Freelance Hellraiser HERE.
  • SAR Q&A with DJ Qbert HERE.
  • SAR Q&A with Wax Audio HERE.
  • SAR Q&A with Girl Talk HERE.
  • SAR Q&A with Rob Swift HERE.

Thanks for listening,
Jon Nelson


www.some-assembly-required.net
Category: -- posted at: 3:53pm PDT

Episode 153, Some Assembly Required

01 D-Styles, DJ Pone & Snayk Eyez - “First Halfâ€
02 Jeffrey Sconce - “Soul vultureâ€
03 The Freelance Hellraiser - “4 My Thrillersâ€
04 Mixmaster Mike – “Hydrolix Carpet Rideâ€
05 John Oswald - “Mirrorâ€
06 dINbOT - “I'm Watching 4 Uâ€
07 DJ QBert - “Electric Eye Beam Abductionâ€
08 Wax Audio - “A Day Of Horrorâ€
09 Girl Talk - “Bounce Thatâ€
10 Rob Swift – “All That Scratching Is Making Me Rich!â€
11 DJ Shadow - “Midnight In A Perfect Worldâ€


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD
Direct download: SAR153.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 3:32pm PDT

November 14, 2009

This week's episode features our 2009 interview with Wayne Butane. I really didn't think I'd ever get the chance to interview him, when asking him to do the Q&A last year (You can check that out HERE), but he finally relented, and the more info the better! Check out Episode 243 HERE, for our phone interview with everyone's favorite cut-up artist, Wayne Butane.

That's the big news. Aside from that, I guess I could mention that last week's episode marked our entry into the last quarter of our 11th year, but I suppose those kinds of details are really only interesting to me. We've got another phone interview coming up - that should be of general interest. I wanted to get at least these two in before the year was up, so our 2009 phone interview with Stock, Hausen & Walkman is scheduled to air in about a month. Stay tuned...

I'll leave it at that. Thanks as always for checking out the show. Please drop me a line and let me know where you're listening, and what you're thinking. My contact info can be found HERE.

Thanks for listening!
Jon Nelson


www.some-assembly-required.net
Category: -- posted at: 10:33am PDT

Episode 243, Some Assembly Required
Featuring an interview with Wayne Butane

01 team9 - “Belinda's freakin outâ€
02 Cassetteboy – “Reading Pain In The Face Of A Duckâ€
03 The Evolution Control Committee - “I Want A Cookieâ€
04 Wayne Butane – “Nut roll (segment)â€
05 Wayne Butane - “Ride The Monkey Bus (segment)â€
06 Wayne Butane - “Backwash (segment)â€
07 Wayne Butane - “Dr. Entozoan And The Pressed Ham Caper (segment)â€
08 Wayne Butane – “How Bazooka Joe Lost An Eye (segment)â€
09 Wayne Butane – “Countdown For George (segment)â€
10 Wayne Butane – “The Lup Of Laxury (segment)â€
11 Wayne Butane – “Backwash (segment)â€
12 Wayne Butane – “Country Doctor Delivering A Baby (segment)â€
13 Wayne Butane – “Gorilla Drafted Into The Marine Corps (segment)â€
14 Wayne Butane – “Nut roll (segment)â€
15 Wayne Butane – “Backwash (segment)â€
16 Wayne Butane – “Nut roll (segment)â€
17 Wayne Butane – “We Smell Sausage (segment)â€
18 Wayne Butane – “C.G. And The B.L.'s (segment)â€
19 Wayne Butane – “Super trace (segment)â€
20 Wayne Butane – “I TP'd Chick Corea's Front Yard (segment)â€


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD
Direct download: SAR243.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 9:58am PDT

The Kleptones

The Kleptones are actually a single person, with a history of releasing concept based Mashup albums, such as 2004's "A Night At The Hip Hopera" and "24 Hours" (2006). He goes by the name Eric Kleptone, which sounds an awful lot like the name of the project, which is named after something other than Eric (read on for the full story), so I'm thinking there's probably not a large extended family of Kleptones out there... Too bad, as I'm sure they'd be a talented lot.

I forget how I got a copy of A Night At the Hip Hopera, but as you can imagine, I was a fast fan. It mixes the mashup concept with other sampling techniques, which is what I personally love to hear. A mashup/cut-up extravaganza as spun on the wheels of steel... now that would be something I'd like to hear more of.

More recently, The Kleptones have released a new mashup concept album called "24 Hours" which takes the listener through an entire day, using nothing but samples to tell the story. There's a new album in the works, as well, so keep your ear to the ground, and check out his past projects, in the meantime, HERE.

He's also a live DJ, and has made a name for himself as such, putting on fantastic performances combining lap top destruction, dancers, live video mixing and music. The 2007 release, "Live'r Than You'll Ever Be," attempts to document one such performance. Check it out HERE.

Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with The Kleptones...


*Name: The Kleptones

*Are there any additional names used to describe this project: No.

*Do you use a pseudonym? Yes!

*Members: It varies – has been as many as six, and as little as one, depending on the situation. I’m the only constant member though, and usually the only musical one. We have been embellished with video and live performance art from time to time, when budgets allow. At the moment, Eric Kleptone – I’m just finishing up a new album so the band members are all in my head, getting drunk and arguing long and loud with each other about basslines and delay tempos.

*Founding Members: Eric Kleptone!

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: I wouldn’t, but if I had to, “Digital Deconstructionsâ€.

*Another genre descriptor: Not really. Call it what you want! “Mashups†is a dirty word now, as it’s slipped out of vogue, but it doesn’t matter. It’s a tag, there have been ones before, there’ll be other ones sometime.

*Is there a story behind your name? Not the descriptor, but the name “The Kleptones†- We stole it, unintentionally I hasten to add, from a photo of what we thought was a piece of stencil graffiti – it was actually the logo of a label from a few years back. Vicki Bennett from People Like Us was one of the people involved in the label, and got in contact – she gave her blessing to our appropriation of their appropriation, which was very kind! The “Earman†graphic that accompanies the text was actually originally sourced from an old RCA stereo test record sleeve also, so it’s another multi-layered appropriation. I love the concept of sampling the sampled, visually or aurally – taking a break from a 90’s hardcore or hip-hop record rather than the original 70’s funk 45 – you get a layer of digital grit that wasn’t originally there, on top of the surface noise of the original vinyl, and the hiss on the master tape etc...

*Location: Brighton, UK

*Original Location: Somewhere else in the UK!

*What is your creative/artistic background: A lifetime of playing in bands, being a sound and lighting engineer, and being a DJ and Producer in my own right. Eventually got tired of listening to everyone else and thought I could do better. Also a lifetime of collecting music and odd sounds came in handy too.

*History: The Kleptones have existed now for six or seven years. What I created prior to that isn’t important to anyone that wasn’t there at the time. With The Kleptones there is always an ear towards creating something that will stand the test of time a little more than just soundtracking the moment, up till now anyway. It seems to be working though, as people are still discovering older things we’ve done, listening to them with fresh ears and mailing us to say good things.

*Born: (no answer – see above)

*Motivations: The need to communicate. The need for an individual, personal method of expression. The need for a soapbox on which to stand. The need to differentiate myself from all others. The need to create. The need to work. Motivated by stupidity, ignorance and the “chew it up – spit it out†attitude that is prevalent in modern attitudes to art and culture.

*Philosophy: I don’t think it’s fully formed yet. We’re still on the path to enlightenment – when we get to the end, we’ll know why we took this route.

*How would you like to be remembered: A national holiday.

*Web address: www.kleptones.com


www.some-assembly-required.net
Category: -- posted at: 11:37am PDT

Episode 152, Some Assembly Required

01 DJ Tripp – “Close To Faithâ€
02 Brindle Spork – “Mommy Bombâ€
03 Escape Mechanism - “Smoke Screenâ€
04 The Kleptones – “Breakâ€
05 Steve Fisk - “Break On Thruâ€
06 John Oswald – “Case Of Death (Part One)â€
07 Ros Bobos - “Very Truly Yoursâ€
08 Invisibl Skratch Piklz – “Gimme My Goddamn Moneyâ€
09 Tristan Shout – “(Just can't get) enough musicâ€
10 John Oswald – “Case Of Death (Part Two)â€
11 Escape Mechanism - “Cyclesâ€
12 People Like Us – “Repeat To Fadeâ€
13 DJ Jay-R – “Close To Cassie's Cureâ€


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD
Direct download: SAR152.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 10:42am PDT

1