Technological Retreat

This episode of Technological Retreat features mixes from three nights in November of 1988. Lots of varied sounds that go around in this hour. Tibetan Monks & Humpback Whales in dub – Stravinsky & The Marx Brothers & John Michael Jarre fight it out – Muhamad Ali battles Mr Tooth Decay in an alternate reality – more media manipulations and somewhat witty banter. Thanks for tuning in and checking it out.

This is the second episode in this set of 1-hour re-broadcasts. All of these sounds that you’ll be hearing were originally broadcast in October and November of 1988, somewhere in the middle of the night. During this period, I was making lots of background audio tapes of radios and TV flipping from channel to channel. Enjoying the static and fragmented dialogs along with pieces of popular mass media bouncing source to source. A lot of this was noise, sometimes very sweet noise, sometimes not. I would use these as sound beds, layering more and more into them, like a visual collage.

I’m here to announce more of the same! Beginning this Sunday at 4 pm, available online through KFAI’s “Irregular Audio (FA2)” stream will be the next series of one-hour Technological Retreat programs, featuring the audio sound collages from my 20th century radio program, that was broadcast from 1985 – 1989, and on between 1am – 6am on Sunday nights – Monday mornings. Several years ago, I digitized over 100 cassettes of these shows and have been taking the sound collages or mixes, and putting them together in 1-hour presentations. 15 of these programs are available on KFAI’s website and on Spotify. Sound collage is the live layering and mixing of different audio sources to create new pieces. Similar to the creation of a visual collage. Not an idea that I invented, but one I certainly played around with. My stuff never was sample based or a dance mix, more like a soundtrack for the subconscious. Radio & TV chatter, ambient city sounds and musical beds all mushed up. Now it’s called mash up. Technological Retreat is available online through KFAI’s “Irregular Audio (FA2)” stream in conveniently sized travel packages, ready for your own personnel usage. Please listen Sunday at 4pm or at any time of your choosing through KFAI’s archive. I’m excited to be presenting these experimental radio programs through KFAI’s digital media stream.  

And the sounds keep coming. Podcast number 15 contains 5 mixes from 3 nights – and that equals 15… Three summer nights from 1988 to be exact. Listening in to these old radio shows again has been enjoyable. I’m actually impressed with how contemporary these sound collages sound. Maybe the noise in this world is finally catching up to the way the world sounded like to me back then. Listen in for spacey ethereal feedbackery, crazed dialog and a completely over the top homage to William Shatner performed by Cap’n Caffeine himself, an irregular regular caller-in to the show if there ever was one. Find the other episodes here.

Hello and thanks for tuning in. Podcast 14 contains 3 minutes from July 4th that didn’t fit in the last episode, and almost 56 minutes from August 22nd. It sounds like there was a lot going on up in the studio that night. Lots of little sounds making bigger sounds in these long mixes. Listening to these shows again has reminded me of that unhindered creative energy I felt and how much fun it was to do these shows live. I hope you are enjoying these as well. Find the other episodes here.

Welcome to the Thirteenth Technological Retreat podcast. Thanks for staying tuned and coming back. The five mixes presented here are from July of 1988. The first two are from the fourth and the other three from a tape that just says July ’88. This episode is action packed and full of nuts: Angry self-help teachers, freaked-out religious fanatics in DUB, classical nightmares and helpful literary advice from Captain Caffeine, among other late-night tales. Find the other episodes here.

Welcome to the twelfth Technological Retreat podcast. The original broadcast dates of these four mixes were from March and June of 1988, and overall give me the feeling of Celestial Chatter. AKA, what the world sounded like to me back then. Imagine if you will, on your cosmic radio the badly tuned-in music of the spheres passing through and passing out of our solar system, riding sound waves on an audio cycle always heading out. Or imagine whatever you like while you stay tuned and listen in. Find the other episodes here.

Here is episode number 11, and like the number 11, these ones are fun. These recordings are from January 11th, 23rd, and February 22nd, 1988. The set of voices beginning the second mix belong to Graham and Steve, the hosts from "Baghead Dreams". Later on in this episode I’m joined by my very good friend Alice Phoenix. Alice hosted and DJ’d KFAI’s first radio show focused on local, Minneapolis punk rock and all the variations thereof. It was called "New Day Rising", after the Husker Du song, and it is such a treat to be able to hear her voice coming out of speakers again. This picture appeared in City Pages. That's her in the center and me on the right at a Husker Du show.  RIP Alice. Find the other episodes here.

This is the tenth podcast in the series. Technological Retreat was 5 hours long and I spent a lot of time playing great music by itself, which isn’t the focus of these podcasts. I’m interested in the sound collage mixes that I think are worth listening to. The two included here are from January 11th, 1988, and are each about half an hour long. I was having fun that night and the mixes go all over the place. Thanks for coming back and stay tuned, we’re just scratching the surface. Find the other episodes here.

Podcast number 9 contains the final recordings from 1987. The first two mixes are from April 13th and were made for and given to my Mom for her birthday that year. Using a lot of the music she enjoyed from light jazz to classical to Broadway show tunes, with a lot of messing around in between. I can’t imagine what her reaction could have been: “That’s really nice Greg. How about next year getting me another cat or a video tape recorder, hmm?” The other three mixes are from June 21st, and almost sound like what a bunch of drunk robots on laughing gas in the studio might have sounded like. Almost. Find the other episodes here.

Within the 100 or so cassettes I have from this show, there are only 6 tapes from 1987, and mixes from three of those tapes are here with a special bonus prize included. Hold onto your ears for the first mix from Feb 16th! Mixes two through six in this podcast are all from one night, March 28th, giving a nice example of different places I could go in one evening. Mix seven, the last in this episode is an unknown date and was featured on my first home made CD of this material, called “Music to Vacuum By”. Named for all those old, schmoozy orchestrated records, like “Music for Dining” or “Music to Sleep To”, well, mine was Music to Vacuum By. Find the other episodes here.

Proceed with Caution! Episode 7 contains volatile and unstable recordings from a significant part of KFAI’s history, covering the time that we first went Station 2 Station. The first recording is from May 26th of 1986, and was my last broadcast from KFAI’s first physical home, which was in the tower of the Walker Church. The next two recordings are from June 1st, and are from my first show in our then new home on Lake Street, which was known at the time as the Butler Drug Building. The last two recordings are from November 30th.  I have no tapes from June through November except for this one.  I’m surprised to still have as many of these tapes as I do, but don’t worry kids – there’s still 1987 - 8 and 9 to listen through. Find the other episodes here.

Welcome to another Technological Retreat podcast, available now in convenient travel size packages. This is the sixth trip into what the world sounded like to me, a melodic noise. This episode features mixes from two nights in May of 1986, the 5th and the 12th. What many people don’t realize is that May 5th is Shoe Day, and we are fortunate enough, perhaps, to have this aural documentation of what a typical, late 20th century shoe day celebration sounded like. Find the other episodes here.

Welcome to the fifth episode of the Technological Retreat podcasts. I’m presenting these radio mixes in chronological order with exceptions, like the first mix in this program. This tape was undated but begins with an early Reel to Reel tape loop experiment from 1985.  Using Ravi Shankar’s voice then repeating it into itself over and over, while manipulating speed. The other three mixes are from March 17th, March 23rd, and April 21st, 1986, and contain strangely meditative sounds, some nice classical salad, and live uncensored sax in the studio. Find the other episodes here.

Welcome to the fourth episode of the Technological Retreat podcasts. Is it a cacophony or a symphony? Is it noise or nuance? Sure it is. In one of the featured mixes I talk a little about sensory overload and having to pay attention to too many things at once, which is precisely what I was trying to create or recreate with the sound collages. An interpretation or response to the week I had just had and current events of the time. The first mix from February 17th 1986 features a long example of Sound Mobile recordings in the background. The Sound Mobile was in my basement at the time and was like a giant wind chime that you could walk through. Bicycle frames, tanks and resonant metal things hanging from the ceiling by guitar and piano strings. You could bang and clang & plunk and plink. It was a lot of fun and no one ever got hurt. I would often have TV’s and radio’s playing in the background while I knocked around in there. The second mix is from March 10th 1986 and starts with an excerpt from the Technological Retreat theme, which I will be including by itself in an eventual podcast. Find the other episodes here.

Welcome to the third episode of the Technological Retreat podcasts. One of the things I enjoyed most about late-night radio was the creative freedom. More often than not, the radio stations were just thankful to have people up there let alone caring what they did, as long as it followed FCC guidelines and decorum of course. This was before the age of robot DJ’s and audio software. The three mixes in this episode are from the same night, February 3, 1986. The first mix is from 2:00 AM, and begins with a live recording of Charles Bukowski reading his own work, mixed with South Indian vocal music. The second mix started around 2:45 AM and the third around 3:15 AM. Find the other episodes here.

Welcome to the second episode of the Technological Retreat webcasts, where I will be presenting the live radio mixes that I referred to as Sound Collages. That’s what I called them but I don’t think I necessarily invented the phrase. I had done late night radio in college before moving to Minneapolis in 1985, and enjoyed having a lot of time to play a lot of different music. Having an overnight show on KFAI allowed me to stumble through and experiment with this style of sound and to be able to really stretch the mixes out. What was essential, was the feeling of being artistically free to create. These first two mixes were originally broadcast on January 21st, 1986. The first one started around 2:20 AM and is about ten minutes long. The second began before 3 AM and is under 20 minutes. The third mix was originally broadcast in February of 1986, started around 2:30 AM and is about half an hour long. Find the other episodes here.

Welcome to episode one of the Technological Retreat webcasts, with three of the Sound Collages that I  spun into the night with. This begins with a station ID and two mixes from January Thirteenth, 1986. The station ID and intro are done by Larry Englund, recently departed and much-loved person within the KFAI world. This recording was made when KFAI used a boombox to record air checks with. It sounds like it wasn’t tuned in very well that night. This first mix began around 2:20 AM, the second mix featured began around 4:40 AM. Find the other episodes here.