Buffer (#128)

Source file found here. Originally broadcast on October 1st, 1998.

"Buffer" because the number 128 reminded me of old computer systems? An aural dumping ground, the shows built up around whatever got picked up, following patterns and relationships not discernible to the distant listener. Some pieces are wholly random and unrelated, lying clumsily against each other like discarded cutouts and leftovers. This could be some run-up-to-Halloween material resting awkwardly between editing experiments, random loops, and effects overloading. Tape manipulations, reversals, and forced-skipping records figure largely in this episode.

1. Water drips on piano keys
2. Pressure release valve
3. Mob scene, Haunted Village, 1952
4. Hot cats and wobbly bolero
5. Lecture and gunfire in drainpipe
6. Yule fawn
7. DO NOT CONCERN YOURSELF
8. Atari Teenage Blabbermouth
9. Jody is losing reality
10. Self-destroying suspicion
11. Windy city loop
12. Out-of-range 80s electro
13. Windchimes & PVC bass

Panic Movement (#122)

Source file found here. Originally broadcast on August, 20, 1998.

I'm not sure how we came up with this variant on the "scored" shows, but I think the idea was build slowly from a calm passage with more and more "panicked" outbursts at opportune times. Kind of the sonic equivalent of climbing an inclined plane of intensity for the length of the show. This resulting show feels like a creepier, dirtier Halloween show imitation. We peak early, but it does end with a large quantity of loud banging. Some of the sources--e.g. Naked City's Absinthe, F.M. Einheit & Caspar Brotzmann's Merry Christmas--also fit well in a playlist of psychological horror and violence soundtracks. Maybe not gradual panic so much as gradual alienation!

1. Whispers and heartbeats
2. Soothing sounds of nature
3. Down in the speech lab
4. Horrible, nameless dread emerges
5. Tension strings and children amok
6. Ask them to be quiet sir
7. A promise of cannibalism
8. Hall running, analysis and static
9. Various sirens, but a balmy ambience
10. Irradiating the beachgoers
11. Oh God it's eating my EYES
12. We've gotten good at "bludgeoning", haven't we?
13. That city-sized vacuum cleaner is back

Ob-strats (#118)

Source file here. Originally broadcast on July 23rd, 1998.

Being music geeks—not music nerds, who hold their special knowledge over others to feel powerful—we here at TKDF want everyone who doesn't already know about Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's Oblique Strategies to hear the good word.

Traditionally the Strategies take the form of a deck of cards, and they are intended as tools for when one gets stuck while doing creative work. They are used to challenge preconceptions and allow one to see things suddenly from a perspective where the problem doesn't exist or doesn't matter. Being fans of Eno in general, we decided to approach the problem of the show with the Strategies in hand. This tells you two things: 1, we sometimes felt doing the show was a "problem", and 2, we like using tools.

If we didn't tell you what Oblique Strategies were, could you tell that this show was produced in a different way? Probably not. It has an appealing, shuddering shimmer of a heartbeat for much of its length, but the component sounds and overall show-shape are within the usual range of loopitude, non-sequiturism, uneasicity, dynamicision, and intentional cruftage. Which is not to still wholeheartedly recommend the Strategies for any and all problems that may arise. As one of my favorite cards exclaims, "Try faking it!"

1. Responding to pulses
2. Crackly backward-chanting doctors
3. Tense, endless Italian New-Wave
4. Metallic abrasions
5. Whistling from behind the curtain
6. Almost-dub The Letter
7. Frothing and boiling over onto the mixing console
8. Cavernous, sappy, soulful, pouncing
9. Boomerang yodel
10. Endless-er 'cause it's slower
11. Toads and diseases while channel-surfing
12. An existential question
13. The strategies call for an Ambient 4 coda

OUIJATKDF (#98)

Source file is here. Originally broadcast on March 5, 1998.

This was my favorite show score we came up with. Supposedly, the idea came to us that we could give up decision-making during show's performance. Who would decide for us? The spirit world, of course.

There are two production studios involved and each one has its own "map". When an active Ouija board at the station points to the letter "E", for example, TKDF staffer #1 cuts out everything they are doing and plays the first track on turntable one repeatedly, and TKDF staffer #2 turns all active channels up all the way and turns on the FX module. Each letter and number on the board is accounted for this way, and the collage show progresses smoothly and without hiccup or over-thinking.

Actually, in practice this show's plan created unexpected problems as well as some pretty great moments of sound. There was not room in the cramped station to have the Ouija operators in easy "reach" of the Staff, and so there had to be a relay team who took turns running the messages upstairs to the studios. Occasionally this creates awkward pauses and sometimes letters pile up and staff execute commands in quick succession or all at once. Despite making the show difficult in new and interesting ways, the great thing the Ouija board did was create some dynamic events or accidents that we never would have done if left to ourselves.

1. Modems, oscillators, and Einstein, oh my
2. Sudden counting
3. Do you think the spirit likes prog?
4. Indigestion Robot
5. Disco Irv and balky outboard motor
6. All largely propaganda
7. Let me just weld this door shut
8. Theatrical entrances
9. Breakbeat Chinese dog party
10. Push it into the red, don't stop
11. A robot is running the show now
12. And the robot likes Negativland
13. Drums, samples, and quit followin me

Note from Ian F-R: Actually, the tape ends with some personal recordings that were not broadcast. The robot voice, the Negativland tracks, and the drum patterns are my recordings, added after the show. Whoops.

Mysterious Beeping and Static (#105)

Source here. Originally recorded on April 23rd, 1998.

One of the more minimalist versions of the show, this one features an almost ethereal avoidance of anything resembling music. The 10 second delay is looped into the main feed, giving a deep deep deep layered background of the previous few minutes.

1. Morse code test
2. Frequency sweep
3. Most people prefer touch-tone
4. Sonar Tube
5. A murmur of voices is barely distinguishable
6. Whispers in the plenum
7. Ping pong ping pong ping pong
8. Telegrammatic Feedback
9. Very low background radiation
10. Radar dish singing bowl
11. A chorus of chaos
12. A little light grinding
13. Finally, a stringed instrument
    

Microphone/Macronoise (#93)

Source here. Originally recorded January 29th, 1998.

I spent the last two weekends going to live shows, one of which was Moogfest. I beg your forgiveness.

More than once we had an actual theme, the theme being a limitation on the usual kind of no-holds-barred, free-form mayhem that often took place. This particular show was a show where we started everything with microphones and handheld recording equipment. A genuine din captured live. There are toilet noises, which might be all you need to know.

1. A Pennywhistle for your thoughts.
2. I Fail at Sitar Hero
3. We finally shut off the alarm
4. Background Murmurs and an Organ Recital
5. We built a hurdy gurdy in the junkyard
6. A trek in the parking lot
7. Stuck in the feedback closet
   
8. Distant Weather Report
9. Aetheric Carpentry
10. A slight relenting/recording
11. More Static et.al.
12. Toys and more toys
13. Steel Pot Cathedral

Acoustic Sound (#92)

Source here. Originally recorded on January 22, 1998.

This one is mislabeled as (#22). Since I pulled these off of tapes in more or less random order, the inconsistencies didn't stick out as much as they do when I'm parsing through them in chronological order. I make changes where I can, but I haven't re-uploaded the changes, so you'll have to suffer through the occasional misstep. If you're reading this in the year 4000, I've probably made the changes before I died, or left instructions in my will about doing so.

My coffeemaker broke this morning, which isn't an issue for me so much as it is for my partner (who as near as I can tell simply doesn't exist before the first cup). I could link this to the show, which always served to perk me up, but the truth of the matter lies in the previous phrase. Collage is made of everything, and can be made into anything.

This anything features long long long stretches of record manipulation, medium to spare record layering, and nice looping. This compressed astonishingly well.

1. Psychedelic Punk Hayride
2. Queasy Hippie Merry Go Round
3. Metropolis Dub
4. Polyrhythmic Bhangra Dub
5. Squishy Analog Sound Effect Storytime
6. Transit Station for Headless Horsemen
7. Kitchen Tantrums of Distinction
8. Endless Disco Break
9. Not a Banjo Solo at All
10. I Meant Something Different When I Asked For "Electronic Music"
11. Let's Have Some Dope Beats
12. Ok, More Dope Beats
13. Sudden Silence
    

A Review (#45)

Source here. Originally broadcast on March 6th, 1997.

Next week will happen on a Sunday. I'll not make you wait this long again.

This is a saucy, sparkley number, bright, balanced with order and chaos and well mixed of intent and content. I think the idea behind this one was an overview of the best of the previous shows gone before, without actually playing recordings of those shows but rather taking the best ideas had in the past and going over them again for the benefit of the busy listener.

There's a lot of 60's and 70's groove and samples in here with snippets of electronic, salsa, jazz, and rock. Something fun for everyone, guaranteed.

1. Large, Magnificent, Mammals
2. Sanding the Strings
3. The Minutemen appeared in a 60's SciFi Movie
4. Medieval Robots
5. Soft Rock Incursion
   
6. That Strange British Cadence
7. An Interlude
8. This Majestic Fanfare!
9. Secret Jazz Corner
10. Brave As You Are, Beautiful As You Are
11. That's What It's All About
12. "Network" can't be made more spooky
13. All In The Hips
    

Added by IanF-R:
This show's flowsheet. I forgot about Kapotte Muziek until I heard this show again (the quiet bits that sound like mousetraps being stepped on).