hanging out with audiophiles – Details, episodes & analysis

Kazim Rashid is an artist, manager, and creative director based in Berlin and London. 

I found out about him through my good friend David Okumu who is our magical, mutual connection.

Aside from his work as a manager, Kazim is chief creative officer at Resident Advisor, the world's largest and most influential electronic music platform. 

His work often focuses on collaborating with artists, record labels, and brands to help them achieve their goals in the music industry.

We get into the current state of things for artists navigating the changing tides of music commerce.

Strap in!

Music for this episode comes from a chap I met in Berlin thanks to Hainbach.

Mr Ayjay Nils plays Viola in the Berlin Phil and is a great improviser :)

A rare combo! He’s also super into weird and wonderful electronic music which is featured in this show. It’s all from an upcoming album

Here’s his Bandcamp to check the action!

https://ayjaynils.bandcamp.com

Im going to read from the press release this time coz its a good’n

The simpatico sophomore album by the unstoppably prolific Alex Paterson and fellow Orb original Andy Falconer is an epic sail through the sky at night. Helmed by gentle spirits with warmth in their hearts, ‘SETI’ feels cold and dark, yet also glowing and welcoming. Aboard a cosy candlelit spacecraft, the duo experience the cosmos as somewhere overwhelmingly infinite, yet reassuring and friendly. A sort of ‘ambient unplugged’, it’s full of acoustic instruments and nostalgic samples, folding space between the old world, and places where no man has gone before.

Dr Paterson speaks

“The first LP had a great reception and sold so well I couldn’t even get a copy myself. Andy is brilliant at making ambient music, and working with him is always rewarding. We understand each other’s brains – it’s easy and organic - so doing another made total sense.” He adds, “SETI stands for Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence, but it’s also something you sit on, to chill out, which is why the album contains a Three Piece Suite. This record is musical ambience, which is what we like to make, rather than drone ambience, which there’s a lot of these days.”

That last point struck me as it describes the sensations I associate with the music of the Orb which is a sort of maximal ambient rush.

It’s a sound that whizzes me right back to my dreamy youth tbh when these guys were so responsible for making the soundtrack that accompanied me through my last years at school. It was a time when I needed music to blow my mind.

When I was told I could speak to an original member of the orb I was so curious to ask Andy how it was all made back in those days. We get into that right at the end of this chat as well as a walk down memory lane and up the present. 

It was great to catch up with Andy in Portugal. He’s had quite the life!

Let’s get into it

Merriment abound ! It's that time again when sonic stockings are stuffed. This time with a fireside ramble twixt myself and the legend that is Dj Shadow as we celebrate his new LP "Action Adventure"

Welcome. 

I hope this finds you in good health and merry mood as the season sheds it's joy upon you. If joy is in short supply and the period feels claustrophobic and the family is doing your head in then I trust yule be able to duck out for a spell and use this as an escape pod.

Who am I rambling with on the sonic sleigh?

Dj Shadow really needs no Endroducing but in case you’re not hip to his MPC60 masterpiece from 1996 you MUST inhale that now.

What a record. I recall having both of my Christmas stockings blown off by this LP and it’s humbling to be sat on a zoom with the chap now. 

Such is the mystery of the digital time ghosts. 

Twas a mighty pleasure to chew the cud with such a master of the chops.

I hope this offers you some sonic solace this holiday 

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I wish to alert you to a new way to give to this show, should you find it appealing :) 

https://www.patreon.com/howa/membership

It's the new $1.50 tier on Patreon, a wonderful idea that came from Hainbach. 

A way to chip in and directly support the show as a kind of digital high five :) I really do pour my heart Into the HOWA podcast. As you can imagine, it all takes loads of effort. From finding the guests and organizing the chats, to trying to find new areas of sonic joy to explore and share in the episodes. Then there's all the time editing, uploading, promoting and all that. If you enjoy the show and feel you can spare a little over a dollar a month to help me carry on, that would be rather ace! thanks!!

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Sponsorship comes from Distrokid

Did you know that there's a new iOS and android app that lets you

- Upload

- Find out when money hits your bank 

- Check streaming stats and loads more

Take advantage of the savings HOWA offers ya!

Use this 30% off code

http://distrokid.com/vip/lidell

Welcome to another remote LA pod!

It’s a REAL treat to have had a sit down and chin wag with the fabulous gent and badass musical mind that is Si Bonobo!

We’ve orbited in the same musical lands since the early 2000’s and yet this is the first substantial convo we’ve had.

Bring it on I say :) he welcomed me into his home, we killed the AC and sweated it out for your listening pleasures.

Twas a top chat. We get into the come up and the evolution of Si’s styles and touch on his amazing live show setup and philosophy.

Couple of Brits at the end of the rainbow as it were. Chatting in the hills of LA. Must be doing something right!

Feeling very lucky. 

In the nitty gritty I get into a tricky gritty trying to tame the forces of feedback once again. This time feeding an eq into it’s own mind.

Does it work??

Av a listen!  

Thank yee 

Thank yee

The Funk Lordz have boarded the pod.

we go waaaaay back and yet we've rarely had a chance for a proper chin wag. They were rolling thro Nashville so I HAD to hang with these  2 legends!

We talk about surviving and evolving, keeping it fresh, staying power, LA, New York, Prince and what not.

Freestyle rambles of funk. Enjoy!

In today's nitty I'm discovering what sonic salt might be. 

Go easy. Remember they add more at restaurants. 

Jake Aron on the metaphor. Too true.

I'm happy to say that I'm also sponsored today by plugin alliance. The place to get some MAJOR sonic power tools. chuffed! thanks dudes :) check them here.  https://www.plugin-alliance.com

Welcome to 27.
I’m in the distance pod this time chatting to the man like Chrome Sparks in Australia of all places…
Not in person but over the magic Skype ping pong. It was a top treat to pick the brains of this intellectual craftsman.
He’s a trained percussionist with a very good ear and bold song writing moves. Since 2010 he’s just not stopped
Much inspiration as we talk about his past, the rise and the current set up both in the studio and live.
We brave the eternal question… how does an electronic artist play live??? HOW??!?!

HOWA??!?!?

I dig into the multi tracking and phasing of effects to see if there are any simple pleasures hiding.

Also I demo sounds from my NEW splice.com sound pack “TIME MODULATOR”

Happy days

Hello I'm chuffed! Why?? This episode marks one year in the land of pod! Hard to fathom but tis true. I wanted to thank everyone for listening and for all your stupendous feedback. It's highly motivating to know you're out there enjoying the show and I'll keep em coming! biweekly massive. Today's guest is a serious heavyweight with a far reaching understanding of the facets of the music world and a considered and egoless manner to boot. Perhaps it's the Scandinavian in him? Let me put it this way, he's not the kind of alpha that struts in the room fanning his accolades. He remains open and curious. Something to strive for! We had a tip top time making music for a day and I was very unhappy I'd not managed to sit him down for a chat after. He was kind enough to come back to sit in the hot chair. He got a car to the house with his bags on the way to airport. Mightily generous and definitely above and beyond considering his workload in Nashville and the long-haul that was imminent. Martin's list of accolades is long. A 2 time grammy winning producer . A potent writer across genres. An owner of multiple studios in London and New York. A developer of artists. He's worked with Jason Mraz, Train, Cat Stevens (Yusuf), Jamie Cullum, James Morrison, and KT Tunstall, with many more. Welcome some wisdom to the pod! Today's nitty is all about DI guitar fuzz. I run multiple preamps into one another, introduced some curves and let it burn. Somethings got to represent the candle on this pod cake! Thanks for making with me to my first birthday J

Hello and welcome an American hero. Larry Crane! The man deserves a standing ovation. Just imagine interviewing peoples for 22 years. Giving a platform to the unsung experts that make all this amazing art alongside fascinating portraits of the household names. Larry has been producing one the most beloved audio publications around. TapeOp! Wiki tells me that the first issues were published by photocopying, hand-stapling and spray painting the covers. Look how far it's come! Larry came by the house and interviewed me for the tapeop podcast and mag (major honour) https://tapeop.com/podcasts/ After our chat we let the tapes continue to roll and I had a good ole fashioned ramble with the man. He's got anecdotes for years. 22 years. It's surreal doing this show. I feel mighty lucky to get to hang with such distinguished folk. Thank you Larry! Thank you also to Audeze for their sponsorship of todays show. Damn those LCD headphones are rather amazing. Even if you have a decent room with treatment these headphones can reveal hidden details. The transient response alone is hard to match in speaker land. I love tech that is new AND incredible. These headphones might allow you to leave the conventional studio behind. Yep! in a Biweek dudes.

It's about time I had him on the pod! He's the man that came along and blew the bloody doors off for me around 2003-2004. We wrote and produced my album Multiply together and then went on to do Jim in much the same way. Nothing would be the same for me. He showed me the 2,5,1 the cycle of 4s. The minor 9... all that jazz. He was always the guy that would have a crew of musicians over and jamming at his place in Berlin. Music is communication and community with him. Something I miss a lot about those days. Just jumping on an instrument and playing for hours. It's good for the soul. He always evolves his craft. These days making more magical sounds than ever. Check his solo work for the range of humanity. From the light and playful to heavy and woeful he uses music to talk. This time we used words. Great to have ya man Welcome my friend MOCKY ! I get into a topic the two of us discussed back in the day. Sampling at high sample rates. What are the advantages when making sampled instruments? Turns out they are pretty significant. Hello! Almost a year of the show. Thanks to all for listening :)

Francisca Valenzuela and her partner Vicente Sanfuentes are a superb example of how couples can turn their deep connection into great art. The alchemy of love! OH yes!!! They have both been making big waves. Francisca Valenzuela for example has had Gold and Platinum records. No big deal. She remains extremely down to earth but make no mistake, she's a huge star in the latin music community and remains very committed to expanding awareness of women in the scene. Her festival Ruidosa is so important. It's an all female series of events that not only highlights a host of incredible music but also brings together speakers and topics that have long been neglected, relating to women working in music and art in the Latin world. Vicente ? Oh yes, he's a force. He's got such a positive outlook on life and art and it's contagious! I love hearing his perspectives on making music and his ability to grow and evolve his craft is mighty inspiring. I love these guys! Hope you all enjoy our chat. Nitty gritty is all about making randomness work toward intrigue and (hopefully)beauty :) Dice are nice! Hello!