Joseph Matheny in conversation with D.R. “Duke” Haney, raconteur extraordinaire and  the author of the novel Banned for Life . Also a new  In Your Ear, Psuke reviews the  Brain Science Podcast.
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BANNED FOR LIFE is a novel about punk rock written over the course of nine years, both in the U.S. and abroad. It was recently (5/09) published by And/Or Press in Vancouver.

http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/author/drhaney/
http://subversia.net/
http://www.myspace.com/bannedbook

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Today’s guest on the Small World is singer/songwriter Michael Hayes.

I met Michael back when we both worked in the design team producing presentations for an investment company. Looking back, that team was the best group of people I’ve ever worked with. We were a tight knit group not only because each person’s strengths made up for another person’s weaknesses but because we all really liked each other and hung out with each other outside of work.

As you might imagine, because we were the design team we were all very creative people. Some of us were DJs, some of us were actors and some of us, like Michael, were musicians. Since then we’ve gone different directions with our lives and careers and moved to different locations around the country and around the globe.

Michael has been in several bands such as the Vinyl Skyway and Lemonpeeler and released several albums and recently put out a 22 song retrospective album called Diamonds Down the Drain.

When I found out about Michael’s retrospective album I wanted to have him on the show not just as an excuse to catch up with him but also because the idea of a retrospective album intrigued me. A retrospective album by its very nature means looking back on his career as a musician and acts as a kind of summation of who he is as an artist today. And, of course, Michael’s past is going to inform his future in many different ways.

Like most musicians Michael has a day job. He’s also a husband and a father of two children. How does that influence how he sees the world and by extension, the songs he writes? And on a personal note I wanted to talk to Michael about his experiences because as I get older I can’t help but reflect on my own life. What have I done? Where am I going? What is the meaning of my life? These are universal questions we all ask ourselves at various points in our lives. Neither of us have any answers but it’s good to talk about these things.

It was great to talk with Michael and I know you will enjoy his music. See you in two weeks!

Songs featured on today’s show are:

1. “Hangin’ On”
2. “Rich Blood”
3. “Symphony”

Cup of TNB host Joseph Matheny talks to TNB contributor, poet and author Rich Ferguson.

For more information about The Nervous Breakdown check out TNB in the LA Times.

Listen below or at http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/podcasts/

Joseph Matheny in conversation with P. Emerson Williams and a new episode of In Your Ear, in which Psuke reviews Transpondency.

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P. Emerson Williams is a visionary artist and illustrator, whose work has been displayed in galleries and events in Norway, Scotland, Boston, New Orleans, Salt Lake City, Florida and London. His illustrations have also appeared in countless publications, as the artist in residence at Ghastly magazine and as the illustrator for many other Goth and occult publications from California to Virginia, and Lithuania, England and Finland to Colombia, as well as covers for sevel titles from Original Falcon and Leilah Wendell’s book «Necromance». His art can be seen on the front cover of SLEEPCHAMBER’S return to action release “Socery, Spellls, and Serpent Charms”, as well as the Zewizz tribute releases “That’s Romance” (both part 1 and 2). He is a core member of FoolishPeople starting from London productions of Cirxus and The Abattoir Pages and continuing with the forthcoming A Red Threatening Sky on other projects in the works.

Williams’ experimental Gothic.Industrial act VEIL OF THORNS is approaching the twenty year mark in their career, and they continue to build on an ever expanding palette with «salon Apocalypse» and «Necrofuturist». Veil Of Thorns began as a Goth band in the early 90’s club scene in Boston but steadily moved toward a more eclectic sound. Not afraid to use any influence – you will hear styling’s of goth, hip hop, industrial, classical, and just about the whole kitchen sink. In 2009, VEIL OF THORNS formed a creative alliance with Inner-X-Musick, the label and music distributor run by the infamous John Zewizz of SLEEPCHAMBER fame.

Coming to fruition in 2010 are two releases from CHORONZON, P. Emerson Williams’ chaotic project whose twin roots lie in industrial and black metal music. CHORONZON, began as two separate and entirely unrelated projects with the same name: the eastern half was a Boston/Florida based black metal-styled band formed in 1986 by P. Emerson Williams, while its western counterpart was the San Francisco old school industrial project of Demimonde Mesila Thraam. In 2002, the two respective CHORONZONs became aware of each other via the internet, and agreed to share use of the name, before going still further and collaborating musically.

Prior to the merging of CHORONZONs, the East Coast CHORONZON released of a series of self produced cassettes before being signed to the record label Nocturnal Art Productions in 1998, and released the album «Magog Agog». Three more albums followed, in which the sound moved further away from conventional black metal into industrial and experimental territories. The first release from the conjoined CHORONZON was the double album New World Chaos, produced in 2005.

If that is not enough, P. Emerson Williams has more bubbling under the surface. Keep an eye out for renewed and exponential activity from kkoagulaa and Mythos Media in the coming year and the move of Necrofuturist {TRANS}_Mission, his radio show on Radio Nightbreed from web streaming to Sirius/XM sattelite radio.

Links:

Choronzon.org
Veilofthorns.com
FoolishPeople.com
Mythosmedia.net
kkoagulaa.wordpress.com
Innerxmusick.com
praysilence.org/page/radio-nightbreed
discogs.com/artist/P.+Emerson+Williams

Listen to or download show below

A tale of a weird encounter with a strange old man. [From the story by H.P. Lovecraft]

Steampunk combines science fiction elements from the Victoria era with the edginess of Cyberpunk of the 19980s. So why is Steampunk exploding in popular culture in the 21st century?

To find out, today on the Small World, we’ll talk with Bruce Sterling who, along with William Gibson, wrote The Difference Engine, the book that first pushed Steampunk into mainstream culture.

We’ll also talk with David Simkins, a writer and executive producer for Syfy’s Warehouse 13 has been described as “part The X-Files, part Raiders of the Lost Ark and part Moonlighting.”

Finally, we’ll talk with Steampunk Tales Evelyn Kriete, a penny dreadful you can read on your iPhone.

Steampunk was originally a blend of 19th century science fiction from writers like H.G. Wells and Jules Verne and the 20th century Cyberpunk themes of rebellion and dystopianism.

Steampunk has steadily been growing in popularity. Some people modify their laptops or cellphone with polished brass, iron, and wood while some musicians are incorporating Steampunk elements into their music. There are even Steampunk conventions where people can gather and display their wares or dress in pseudo Victorian fashions.

My introduction to Steampunk was The Difference Engine, a novel by Bruce Sterling and William Gibson, back in the early 1990s. The Difference Engine explored an alternate history where computers existed in the 19th century and the impact they had on that world.

What better place to begin today’s show than talking with Bruce Sterling?

Bruce not only co-wrote The Difference Engine with William Gibson, but he also put Cyberpunk on the map with the Mirrorshades anthology. Bruce has also written Zeitgeist, which is one of my favorite novels, as well as The Zenith Angle, and his most recent book, The Caryatids.

Warehouse 13 is a mashup of the The X-Files and Indiana Jones with our heroes Peter Lattimer and Myka Bering hunting supernatural objects.

I really enjoy the bickering and bantering on Warehouse 13 but what first got me interested in the show were the artifacts and devices that appeared on the show. There are gadgets like Tesla guns and archaic looking communication devices and supernatural objects like Lewis Carroll’s mirror Harry Houdini’s wallet. All of which is steeped of Steampunk.

You know, I almost hate to admit this, but I love my iPhone.

I listen to music and podcasts on my iPhone, I play games on my iPhone, I read blogs and books on my iPhone and sometimes I even call people on my iPhone.

The iPhone is such a 21st century device that I was surprised and charmed to find an application for the iPhone called Steampunk Tales.

Steampunk Tales describes itself as a penny dreadful for the iPhone and features Steampunk stories that you can read on Apple’s nearly ubiquitous device.

Evelyn has been kind enough to give away a copy of the latest Steampunk Tales. Send me an email at smallworldpodcast@gmail.com for your chance to win a copy of Steampunk Tales for your iPhone.

The music heard on today’s show is “Mr. Soot’s Little Black Book” by the Unextraordinary Gentlemen and Hannah Fury’s “No Man Alive.”

The incidental music heard on today’s show was “Sûrement” by Ez3kiel, “Cold Fuzzies” by Skerror, “Landlost” by In the Nursery, “Arcanum” by Ben Houge and “Yeesha’s Joyride” by Jack Wall.

Join us next time on the Small World when we’ll talk with singer/song writer Michael Hayes about his retrospective album, Diamonds Down the Drain.

Cup of TNB is a podcast hosted by Joseph Matheny. Every few weeks, Matheny interviews authors who contribute to The Nervous Breakdown. In this episode, he talks to Lenore Zion, about writing that first novel and what comes next once you have it written.

For more information about The Nervous Breakdown check out TNB in the LA Times.

Listen below or at http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/podcasts/

Robert Anton Wilson: The Lost Studio Session
By Robert Anton Wilson
and Joseph Matheny

First recorded in Chicago in 1994, this previously unreleased audio session with the renowned Robert Anton Wilson has been stored away for fifteen years…and almost lost entirely. If Bob knew how many synchronicities surround the rediscovery and release of this “lost” studio session, he would be chuckling in that half jolly, half mischievous way of his. If you believe in any kind of afterlife, maybe you can imagine him laughing right now. I like that image: Bob the laughing Buddha, still having one over on us from the great beyond. -Joseph Matheny (from the liner notes)

For all you remixers out there: The RAW track “Namu Amida Buddha” is licensed to allow remixes, distribution, etc: http://tinyurl.com/2zpg8y. You may download this track below.

Complete album currently available for digital download from Amazon here, Napster here rand eMusic here.  Will be available from iTunes,  and Myspace very soon.

The “Lost Studio Session” liner notes

T.A.Z. liner notes

New: You can win one of three copies of The Lost Studio Session by writing your most inspired homage to R.A.W. in the comments section at Reality Sandwich. (Contest ends February 8th.)

CD Available from Original Falcon

Also a special offer Get More “Bang For Your Buck”…

Download your free track below!

In Victorian England, cults and secret organizations abound…  but only for the rich and powerful.  Less fortunates were more often victims.

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James Curcio takes over for an episode and brings you into the studio with MTW for 30 minutes of hilarious obscenities.

MTW, Inc is a musical jihad against corporate thoughtforms. We’ll use their tools against them, and drink tequila as the old guard crumbles and topples from its own weight.

We are currently in the studio preparing a completely overwhelming sensory experience: our first album, Nothing Is Sacred. This is a taxing process that involves copious amounts of drugs and self-abuse, so bear with us and check out the album when it’s released if we don’t all OD on cough syrup and fermented yak semen, or invoke a wrathful demon that replaces all of our bodily fluids with nutella.

(Thankfully we got most of our drummer’s material before he left this Earth. RIP Thor Thorsson, you weren’t good for much else, but you sure could play them drums.)

Music in this episode by Marz233, Scott Landes, James Curcio, Iron Will.  Additional music by Gordon Bash and Nate Sampsel.

Listen to or download show below

Cup of TNB is a podcast hosted by Joseph Matheny. Every few weeks, Matheny interviews authors who contribute to The Nervous Breakdown. In this episode, he talks to Nick Belardes, whose book of bizarre trivia, Random Obsessions, is now out in paperback from Viva Editions. (Also, check out TNB in the LA Times).

Listen below or at http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/podcasts/

Happy New Year!

I hope you had fun bringing in 2010 because 2009 sure was a bitch, wasn’t it?

For today’s New Year edition of the Small World I was going to do a segment on Steampunk. The show was going to feature an interview with Bruce Sterling, who along with William Gibson, pushed Steampunk into the mainstream with their novel, The Difference Engine. We were also going to talk with David Simkins, one of the writers and executive producers of the Syfy channel’s Warehouse 13 and also talk to Steampunk Tales Evelyn Kriete.

Unfortunately, what with the holidays and work I wasn’t able to get around to editing all of those interviews. My fault, really. I could have easily done a show just featuring one of those people but no, I have to turn it into a grand project!

My apologies but I will have the Steampunk segment ready for you in two weeks.

In the meantime, I’m going to repodcast one of shows I produce called solipsistic NATION.

On solipsistic NATION I play the best of all genres of electronic music and I often interview musicians and music labels and other people from the electronic music community. If NPR did a show about electronic music I imagine it would sound exactly like solipsistic NATION.

I’m quite proud of the show. I took everything I learned from producing the Small World and applied it to solipsistic NATION. What’s cool is now I’m taking everything I’ve learned from producing solipsistic NATION to the Small World.

The show from solipsistic NATION you’re going to hear today was actually released October 16th of 2009 and features interviews with Amy Grill, director of Speaking in Code, Paul Owens, director of Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet, Hannes Stöhr, director of Berlin Calling, Katyá Guseva, editor of Big Up Magazine, Graham St. John, editor of Dancecult and Fernando Fonseca, founder of Public Spaces Lab.

As I said, I’m proud of solipsistic NATION and I’m particularly proud of this episode.

If you like what you hear then why don’t you go to solipsisticnation.com and subscribe to the show. This week on solipsistic NATION I interview John and Paul Healy from Somatic Responses and play music from one of their live sets.

Okay, enough out of me. Here’s the show show. I hope you like it!

Today on solipsistic NATION we’ll talk with Amy Grill about her documentary, Speaking in Code. We’ll also talk to Paul Owens, the director of Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet, a documentary about the Chiptunes movement. On the night of the debut of Berlin Calling in Hollywood, director Hannes Stöhr shares his thoughts about his new movie. From the big screen to the pages of Big Up Magazine, we’ll talk to Katyá Guseva about bass driven music, art and culture and Big Up Magazine’s one year anniversary. We’ll also talk to Graham St. John about the newly launched Dancecult journal. Finally, Fernando Fonseca, the founder of the Public Spaces Lab, shares with us his experiences at the Net Audio Festival in Berlin.

Speaking in Code Speaking in Code is an intimate account of people who are completely lost in music and is a heartbreaking and lighthearted documentary, it’s a vérité glimpse into the world of techno. Speaking in Code stars Modeselektor, Wighnomy Brothers, Monolake, Philip Sherburne, David Day and Amy Grill.

Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet is a feature length documentary which delves into the movement known as chiptunes, a vibrant underground scene based around creating new, original music using old video game hardware. Familiar devices such as the Nintendo Game Boy and Nintendo Entertainment System are pushed in new directions with startling results.Using New York as a microcosm for a larger global movement, Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet maps out the genesis of the first annual Blip Festival, a four day celebration of over 30 international artists exploring the untapped potential of low-bit video game consoles. With floor-stomping rhythms and fist-waving melodies, trailblazers of the chiptune idiom descend upon Manhattan to pen a new chapter in the history of electronic music.

Berlin Calling is about electronic music composer Martin (Paul Kalkbrenner), known as DJ Ickarus, is touring with his manager and girlfriend Mathilde (Rita Lengyel) from club to club around the globe and is about to release their biggest album to date. However, all of his plans are thrown out of kilter after Ickarus is submitted to the emergency ward of a psychiatric clinic high on drugs after a gig- A tragicomedy in Berlin of today. Berlin Calling is directed by Hannes Stöhr who has also directed One Day in Europe (Berlinale 2005 in Official Competition) and Berlin is in Germany (Berlinale 2001 Panorama Audience Award).

Big Up Magazine is a magazine dedicated to bass driven music, art, culture and people and celebrates its one year anniversary October 24th at the Paradise Lounge in San Francisco with Cyrus/Random Trio, Cluekid featuring Aurorah, Kutz, Samiyam and Darkiside of Get Darker TV.

Dancecult is a peer-reviewed, open-access e-journal for the study of electronic dance music culture and has launched the 1.1 edition 1.1 published and available at http://dj.dancecult.net.

The Net Audio Festival ‘09 took place from the 8th to the 11th of October and gathered the international netaudio community for a four-day music and conference festival in Berlin, under the title “East meets West.” 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain. Net Audio Festival ‘09 recalled pictures of hands reaching out to pull people from both sides up onto the Berlin wall. The event will took place at Maria, a venue situated immediately on the former Berlin ‘death strip’ once dividing the city and the world into eastern and western hemispheres.

That’s the show! Join us again next week when we’ll do it all over again. But completely different.

Photo Credit: Mitch Vega

1. The Field “Sun and Ice, Excerpt”
2. Speaking in Code Trailer
3. The Field “The Deal”
4. Interview with Amy Grill, director of Speaking in Code
5. Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet Trailer
6. Starscream “Gravity in Terms of Space-Time” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
7. Interview with Paul Owens, director of Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet
8. Paul Kalkbrenner “Gebrünn Gebrünn (Berlin Calling Edit)”
9. Interview with Hannes Stöhr, director of Berlin Calling
10. Cyrus/Random Trio “Mind Games”
11. Interview with Katyá Guseva, editor of Big Up Magazine
12. Dubatech aka Cold Form “Windless Dub (Havantepe’s Breeze)” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
13. Interview with Graham St. John, editor of Dancecult
14. Zengineers “Passage to India” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
15. Interview with Fernando Fonseca, founder of Public Spaces Lab
16. Niteffect “Naked Swords” [FREE DOWNLOAD]

While The GSpot takes a holiday, Ray Carney provides us with a Ripple to take it’s place this week. James Curcio supplies a special behind the scenes look at MTW in two weeks and then The GSpot returns January 22nd, 2010. Have a safe and happy holiday (if that’s how you choose to spend it) and enjoy.

Ray Carney talks to Richard Metzger (born October 25, 1965 in Wheeling, West Virginia) who  is a television host and author. He was the host of the TV show Disinformation, The Disinformation Company and its website, Disinfo.com. He is currently the host of the online talk show Dangerous Minds. (more at wikiepedia)

Carla Skray, CEO of Tammuz Inc., chief exploiter of hordes of unliving workers, finds herself “haunted” by her ex husbands – returned as the same zombies she employs…

Music Monday was a regular feature on the Small World where each week I’d interview a musician and feature three of their tracks of their choice. Since relaunching the Small World on Alterati I’ve wanted to return to that segment but was uncertain how to do it now that the Small World is a bi-monthly show. I still haven’t resolved this problem but I decided to move forward anyway.

Today on the Small World our guest is Natalia Paruz who plays such novelty musical instruments as the musical saw, pitched Austrian cowbells, handbells, the glass harp, theremin and more.

Natalia has performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta, with the Westchester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Air Moroccan Symphony Orchestra and at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall with PDQ Bach composer Peter Schickele and with the Little Orchestra Society. In 2007 she debuted as a musical saw soloist Carnegie Hall and in 2008 marked her Madison Square Garden debut. Natalia also performs in more modest locations on the streets and the subways of New York City

Natalia has recently released Hark! An Angel Sings with arrangements by composer and husband Scott R. Munson and with Christmas just around the corner I thought she’d be a perfect guest to have on today’s Small World.

Happy holidays!

1. Natalia Paruz “Jingle Cowbells”
   Austrian Cowbells with orchestra
2. Natalia Paruz “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”
   Musical saw and piano
3. Natalia Paruz “O Little Town Of Bethlehem”
   Musical saw with orchestra/ethnic instruments

As always, you can reach me at smallworldpodcast@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/smallworld

Listen to or download show below