Radio BSOTS
Hosted by Macedonia, Radio BSOTS (Both Sides Of The Surface) is a music podcast dedicated to independent and podsafe rhythms and sounds from around the way to around the world, with a renewed focus on Creative Commons licensed works. Genres covered include hip-hop, soul, jazz, funk, and electronic music.

All comments, questions, and general feedback can be sent to radiobsots@gmail.com.  Record a voice message and send it my way or leave one at the Speakpipe page!

You can subscribe to Radio BSOTS via the following options:
RSS feed ||| Apple Podcasts ||| Spotify ||| Google Podcasts
Amazon Music ||| Stitcher ||| TuneIn ||| iHeartRadio

Connect with Camp Lo-Fi via social media: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

this episode's track list (title / artist / source / license):

1.  "Way Back When (Featuring Chuck D)" by Just Plain Ant [blocSonic] (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
2.  "30​:​5 / moonshine ft. chadah​-​hadassah" by Yashiyah [Bandcamp] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
3.  "Larger Than Life" by Jazz One Beats [Dusted Wax Kingdom] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
4.  "Jazzweek" by Arze Kareem [Jamendo] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
5.  "Ignition" by Mute Speaker [Bandcamp] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
6.  "91 NITES" by Tha Silent Partner [blocSonic] (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
7.  "Road Warriors" by The Impossebulls [blocSonic] (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
8.  "LoveSigns" by Makaih Beats [Free Music Archive]  (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

For the past two decades, "pause" merely existed as long-form commentary on the BSOTS website.  Roughly a week after Jam Master Jay's murder, the bile in my belly fueled a rant in my brain and it all came spilling out onto my computer keyboard.  More emotional than logical, it wears my sarcasm and cynicism like spike-studded armor.  I'm definitely in my "I said what I said" bag here, back when I had no problems taking an either/or approach when dividing music into rigid yet subjective categories like "commercial" vs. "alternative" and viewing hip-hop as if it were a sonic civil war with only two sides:  "conscious" vs. "gangsta."  I had one foot out the door of the culture and the music when I wrote this and it shows.

Creative Commons licensed tunes break up the commentary, featuring selections from netlabels like blocSonic and Dusted Wax Kingdom as well as cuts scattered across Bandcamp, Jamendo, and the Free Music Archive.  The blocSonic cuts include guest verses from Chuck D of Public Enemy and Darryl "DMC" McDaniels of Run-DMC.  The sound of dusty vinyl underneath certain parts of the commentary comes directly from a project entitled This Is The End, Beautiful Friend by File Under Toner.  The description of this project on the Free Music Archive begins with the following question:  "Are the hiss, crackles, and pops on records protected by copyrights?"  All of the featured sounds are from the locked grooves at the end of various records, which get messed with using delay, reverb and other audio techniques.  I thought that these works added just the right amount of tension at certain times, more than traditional background music would.  The locked grooves running into themselves in this circumstance just sound so stark, like it's occupying the space where Jam Master Jay's cutting and scratching used to reside.

I live with me all the time, enough to know that the longer I hold on to this episode, the more that my own doubts and anxieties will keep me from releasing it into the podosphere, so I have to let it go.  It's going to do whatever it does.  Here's hoping that you will give this one a shot and consider it time well spent.

ID drop courtesy of Kahlief Adams. Theme music by Cy Tru (edited by Macedonia). 

Background music:
Charlie Dreaming - Soft Hypnotic
qpe - milk
Ezekiel Honig - Plastic Rumblings
Vanity (Instrumental) by BADLUCK (CC BY 4.0).

Other key info:
Macedonia on Mixcloud
BSOTS on Bondfire Radio
Queue Points Episodes 77 and 78
Hip-Hop Can Save America:  Parents Just Don't Understand

Direct download: radiobsots2022-12-11.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

All comments, questions, and general feedback can be sent to radiobsots@gmail.com.  Record a voice message and send it my way or leave one at the Speakpipe page!

You can subscribe to Radio BSOTS via the following options:
RSS feed ||| Apple Podcasts ||| Spotify ||| Google Podcasts
Amazon Music ||| Stitcher ||| TuneIn ||| iHeartRadio

Connect with Camp Lo-Fi via social media: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

This episode's track list:

1.  Sir Tumes - Amiri
2.  Phresoul - Institutional Violence
3.  DJ Spooky - Check Your Math (CC BY 3.0)
4.  4TUNE - Ain't About That
5.  Big La Vs. Todd - Just Leaving This Here (Outro)
6.  J.Lang - The King Alford Plan (The Reality Remix) (CC BY 3.0)
7.  Rashad thaPoet x The BeatHead - Remain Awake (CC BY 3.0)
8.  V-RAM - Peripherie (CC BY 4.0)
9.  Talons' - Dead Elm (CC BY 3.0)
10. Rabbi Darkside x Isak Gaines - White Lies (CC BY 3.0)
11. A.Moss - NOBADMON (CC BY 4.0)

A few months ago, I came to the conclusion that I use my podcast feed like a pop-up shop, disappearing for indefinite periods of time until I have something to share with the public and then returning to the podosphere without so much as an alert or hardly an announcement.  Parts of my being remain 100% unapologetic about that.  For someone who's been podcasting since August of 2005 with the initial hopes that this show would reach as many listeners as possible, one would think that I wouldn't have such a disdain for online public interaction.  Then again, I can't remember the last time I've attended a podcasting conference.  Maybe it's a sign of getting older, maybe it's just a result of me doubling down on my hardcore introverted tendencies ever since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

Late in the month of June, I got this burst of inspiration and recorded some voiceovers, which sat untouched on a SD card for almost two months before I started editing them.  Seeing as how the month of August is an anniversary month for Radio BSOTS, I suppose it makes sense that the final push to get this episode out is happening now.  The songs featured on this one were released between 2013 and 2021, the majority of which came out in 2020.  Seeing as how America and the world is still in the midst of the aftereffects of that catastrophic year, that's probably not a coincidence, either.  A number of these selections reflect the racial strife that came to a head two summers ago along with a lyrically critical eye on Trump's presidential agenda (never mind the perpetual state of the  pandemic that we're still not out of, but a large section of humanity pretends isn't really a thing anymore).

So this is my summer offering from Camp Lo-Fi.  Eleven songs plus a 17 year-old blog entry equals 49 minutes of your time, served up in a BSOTS GONE (buck)WILD style.  (Admittedly, the music does the heavy lifting.)  Hopefully, you will consider it time well spent.  Thank you for listening.

ID drop courtesy of Kahlief Adams. Theme music by Cy Tru featuring Jonny Sonic. 

Background music:

MUTE - Eeekin Days (CC BY 4.0)
BADLUCK - Vanity (instrumental) (CC BY 4.0)

Other key info:
Macedonia on Mixcloud
BSOTS on Bondfire Radio
Rhythms In Black Satin
Chillcast Lovespirals Guest DJ Special Feature
BSOTS 173 - BUCKWILD:  how i spent my summer staycation...
BSOTS 175 - Does Music Belong In Podcasting?

Direct download: radiobsots2022-08-30.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:10am EDT