XLR8R TV - Episode 2: Ear This: Carl Craig

[kowgod]

Episode 1 debuted a couple weeks ago to some pretty strongly mixed reviews. Check out episode 2 and let us know what you think.

"We set Detroit techno legend Carl Craig loose in San Francisco's favorite weird music destination, Aquarius Records. Known less for their techno and more for their collections of Scandinavian death metal, Bhangra Black Sabbath, and recordings of glaciers cracking, Aquarius is a playground for the musically refined. Watch as Carl listens to, and waxes poetic on, everything from 8- bit metal core to pygmy chanting to Bloc Party."

[floris]

Yeeeees, finally! Thank you for the headsup.. Going to check them out later after work.

[sugarsickness]

I enjoyed this ep a lot, it was cool >:D!

[monkeyhead]

Lookin' good. Can't wait for more TV.

Just off to browse for a copy of 'Les Stances A Sophie' - schweet!!

[kowgod]

No doubt, Bloc Party is the shit. But better than the Smiths? Hmm. Hmmmmmm. Gonna have to think about that one...

This was good. But too short. More, please.

[chuckles]

No doubt, Bloc Party is the shit. But better than the Smiths? Hmm. Hmmmmmm. Gonna have to think about that one...

This was good. But too short. More, please.

You got it!! It is going to be a weekly release. :)

About the Show

Every week XLR8R TV takes you behind the scenes with the groundbreaking musicians, artists and scenes covered in the pages of XLR8R magazine. You'll get interviews, live performances, tricks of the trade, tour stories, a video show curated and hosted by a pink bunny, and more -- check back weekly for new episodes!

-chuckles-

[sparklepuff]

Love that you stopped by AQR, I make purchases almost every week they put out a list. I had no idea what this show was about, but as soon as I saw you were rooting around in there, I knew it'd be great.

Were you just sampling the staff recommendations? It was an interesting show, but I wish there was a little more meat. The host (who I'm not familiar with) seemed incredibly knowledgeable (fela kuti is incredible--not my focus genre, but NPR's All Songs Considered highligthed a similar contemporary group if anyone's looking for something similar http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9238939), but I wish he'd chased after some of his own favorites, maybe alongside Aquarius staff. It just seemed random, but still cool.

I'm definitely going to be checking out new episodes. Great work.

edit: looking at the response to the last show, it seems this might be the wrong crowd for this sort of thing. Just look at the music related content that gets front paged at digg (NIN, Linkin Park, etc.). Nothing wrong with that necessarily, but it's not exactly a musical crowd. As the show begins coalesce, and really figure out where it's going, I can think of plenty of music people who would love this.

[kowgod]

edit: looking at the response to the last show, it seems this might be the wrong crowd for this sort of thing. Just look at the music related content that gets front paged at digg (NIN, Linkin Park, etc.). Nothing wrong with that necessarily, but it's not exactly a musical crowd. As the show begins coalesce, and really figure out where it's going, I can think of plenty of music people who would love this.

Then be sure to pass it along to them and get em in here. I'm always lookin for people to talk music with...

Might wanna check out NotMTV (http://revision3.com/notmtv), as well, if you haven't already. Different music show, different points of view.

[numberwang]

Hey Sparklepuff et al,
Thanks for your nice reviews & interest in the show! The host of this particular episode is a guy named Carl Craig - within electronic and techno music circles he's revered for groundbreaking production as well as being an artist. He was in town doing a show at Mezzanine, so we snagged him for a few hours.

The premise of the episode was to take him out of the electronic/techno element he's associated with and put him in a record store known for more experimental, oddball music to see what he'd say about various recordings. Of course, since he's a well-rounded guy and listens to EVERYTHING, he wasn't exactly out of his element which is great - made for some really good insight on the music he was listening to.

We came up with the selected albums through a joint effort between the aQ staff and Carl. I actually used to work at aQ, so I made sure to get some metal in there [Xexyz] since it's not an authentic Aquarius experience without a little doom!

It's funny that most people are saying it was too short - a big complaint about our 1st ep was that it was too long. We're trying to find middle ground still...

And yes, kowgod, all of us long-term Smiths fans gasped when he said Bloc Party was better than the Smiths.

So, thanks from us at XLR8R TV..and be sure to check out next week's episode too, it's a goodie!!

[monkeyhead]

Hey Sparklepuff et al,
Thanks for your nice reviews & interest in the show! The host of this particular episode is a guy named Carl Craig - within electronic and techno music circles he's revered for groundbreaking production as well as being an artist.

I'm glad you put revered and groundbreaking in the same sentence! ;)

In europe he's been loved since the early nineties. His brand of Detroit techno transfers brilliantly to my home region (Manchester/Liverpool). People there have had an obsession with Detroit Techno since the late eighties. I think its something to do with the shared post-industrial landscape and our love of deeply underground black music.

What Herbie was to Jazz......Carl is to Techno?