Ever wish that there was something decently interesting to listen to on the radio? Electronic music that is interesting, interviews with musicians you actually care about, subcultures and trends that are fresh… Well, there is! Bazooka Joe, the owner, DJ, and host of Solipsistic Nation, describes recent episodes of his show as “If NPR did a show about electronic music.” He features cutting edge electronic music of all genres, and does interviews with many influential artists. Solipsistic Nation is featured online as a podcast and also broadcast on KYOURadio every Saturday night at 11PM PST. Joe took a moment from his busy schedule to do a quick interview with me about his show.

HOW DID YOU BECOME A DJ?

A girl I used to date said I would make a terrible DJ because I would play tracks or albums I loved obsessively over and over again!

As for how I became a DJ, well, when I was a kid I used to work in the telemarketing division for a publishing company. My office was chick full of musicians which was perfect for me because I often purchased vinyl but didn’t have a turntable. Most of those guys were audiophiles so they had top notch gear and would let me come over to their apartments to record my albums to cassette.

One day as I was about to leave work I announced to the office that I had a stack of Big Black albums and asked it anyone would be kind enough to let me come over to their home and record them. Everyone was busy that night but Mikey Dee, one of my fellow drones, told me that he didn’t have a turntable at home but he did work at WMFO, a local radio station, and that I was welcome to record my Big Black vinyl in one of their studios.

I took Mikey up on his offer and met him at WMFO later that night. While I was recording each album I had some time on my hands and hung out with Mikey Dee while he did his show. WMFO’s broadcast under a freeform format which Mikey Dee completely embraced. He’d play some alt pop, segue into some country then jump over to some world music, fade into some jazz and then play some classical music all within the space of 15 minutes! I hated radio because it’s usually so heterogeneous but Mikey Dee was doing radio the way I always though radio should be done.

I knew I had to be a DJ at WMFO. I applied for a position, submitted a demo tape and a few weeks later I was spinning over the air!

HOW DID YOU DEVELOP SUCH VARIED AND ECLECTIC TASTE IN ELECTRONIC MUSIC?

My dad played in a band and exposed me to a lot of different kinds of music. I thought myself quite knowledgeable about music until I started spinning at WMFO. Each DJ was a walking encyclopedia of music and they exposed me to stuff I had never heard of before: Iannis Xenakis, John Zorn, The Impotent Sea Snakes, Tom Zé, etc. I soaked it up like a sponge.

Back when I first started spinning at WMFO, I was completely into punk. At the time electronic music to me lacked authenticity and soul. I remember a staff meeting where someone suggested we should do a techno show on WMFO and I scoffed at the idea. Funny, right?

Every Saturday night I would do my show and broadcast a live studio performance by a local band. My soundman, Harry, would play a lot of electronic music while he was setting up for the night and over time I started digging it. Eventually I started to include the most abrasive of what he played in my show.

Years later, I moved to San Diego and became a DJ at Free Radio San Diego and RadioActive San Diego. I noticed that at least 25% of my shows would feature electronic music, and I decided to do an all-electronic music show so I could get it out of my system.

I applied the WMFO spirit of freeform to my electronic music show. I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way. That said, while each edition of Solipsistic Nation is different from the last I usually build each show around a theme.

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE ARTIST TO LISTEN TO RIGHT NOW?

Right now? Let me check my iTunes for what’s been getting the highest play count in the last few months.

I’ve been enjoying King Cannibal’s Let The Night Roar album. Truly dark and twisted stuff that blends dubstep and dancehall and music from your nightmares! Loved it so much that I had Dylan Richards on my show with a King Cannibal live set.

Speaking of dubstep, I recently got turned on to Somatic Responses. These guys have done everything from electro to ambient, but it wasn’t until I heard their dubstep album, Reformation that I became a fan.

I’m a huge fan of Blackfilm and Frank Riggio . Blackfilm creates dark and atmospheric music, while Frank Riggio does frantic beat driven stuff. Both of them are heavily influenced by different aspects of Amon Tobin’s music and it’s been great seeing these two guys come into their own.

Hindu Pez is a drum and bass/ industrial artist, who just self-released his first album. I can’t wait to see what direction he goes next!

A month or so ago I was sent a bunch or remixes of Max Sedgley’s and I’ve loved every version that I’ve heard.

I’ve also become a big fan of The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble/The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation. It’s not really an electronic music project, more atmospheric, jazz influenced stuff. Really fucking heavy and floors me every time I hear them. Can’t recommend them enough.

Let me wrap up this list with Mauxuam and Greg Hunter’s Cloudcycle album. I get sent a lot or music to play on Solipsistic Nation and most of it is dreck. My job is to sort through all that music and find the gold. When I first heard Mauxuam and Greg Hunter’s Cloudcycle album my ears immediately perked up. They’re not breaking new ground but the music they do is seductive and emotionally and it’s a crime I haven’t worked them into an edition of Solipsistic Nation yet!

YOU HAVE INTERVIEWED SOME LEGENDARY ARTISTS ON YOUR SHOW, INCLUDING ALEC EMPIRE. DO YOU EVER GET NERVOUS?

Between doing radio, the Small World podcast and Solipsistic Nation I must have interviewed about 800 people so you’d think I’d be an old hand at this by now. But yes, I still get nervous.

I’m a huge fan of people like Alec Empire, Amon Tobin and Jack Dangers. I’ve been listening to their music for so long that I am very emotionally invested in the interviews. I turn into a fan boy and want them to like me and laugh at my “witty” comments. The result is that I usually come off stiff and awkward because I’m trying to hard. Fortunately, the folks I mentioned are truly nice guys and wonderful guests.

My normal interviews run 15 to 30 minutes, but I think I talked with Alec for about 90 minutes and I talked with Amon for almost 3 hours. By the end of our interview my hands were shaking because I had to pee so bad! We talked for so long that I eventually got past my nervousness, calmed down, and enjoyed the flow of the conversation. Editing down those interviews to fit a one hour program was an absolute bitch, though.

HOW DO YOU FIND NEW MUSIC?

When I relaunched Solipsistic Nation as a podcast I had to work hard to find music to play on the show because if the music isn’t podsafe I’d have to ask the label’s permission to play it on the show. Very time consuming. Three years later and now I’m flooded with music! It’s physically impossible to listen to all the music that gets sent my way. But I do try.

Over the years I’ve developed relationships with musicians and labels so I get a lot of stuff sent to me that way. The folks at Terrorbird and IODA Promonet have been a great sources of new music for the show. I can’t thank them enough.

In the print world I read the reviews of Headphone Commute, HiddenPlace Music, and Igloo Magazine. And then there’s MySpace. And Twitter. And Facebook…

YOU ARE CURRENTLY WORKING ON A BITPOP DOCUMENTARY. WHAT, IN YOUR OPINION, DEFINES BITPOP?

I hope to have the Bitpop doc out in the next month and putting the documentary the consensus seems to be that Chiptunes is music where all the sounds are, to quote Wikipedia, “synthesized in real time by a computer or video game console sound chip, instead of using sample-based synthesis.” That means making music with chips from the Atari or Coomadore consoles, the Nintendude Gameboy or sound chip emulators. Chiptunes is made by people who are really into working within the limitations of 8bit music. Bitpop, on the other hand, uses Chiptunes as an influence but isn’t locked into Chiptunes conceptual framework. It wouldn’t be incongruous in a Bitpop tune to hear a Gameboy melody being played along with a guitar line, a cocktail drum kit and an accordion.

WHAT PLANS DO YOU HAVE FOR SOLIPSISTIC NATION IN THE FUTURE?

Well, I’m going to release the Bitpop doc and I’ve also been working on a Steampunk documentary. I just need to do a few more interviews and then I can begin the tedious process of editing. I’ve also been slowly been putting together a documentary about the whole Asian Massive scene but that’s at least six months aways from completion.

The first Friday of each month I feature a live performance from an artists and upcoming shows will feature sets from Somatic Responses, Mad EP, Hecq, Terminal 11 and Ill.Gates.

The second Friday of each month I showcase a record label that is putting out amazing releases and will feature labels such as Lot49 and Aleph Zero Records.

When I’m not featuring a live set, or showcasing a label, I do eclectic mixes. Lately, I’ve been trying to make Solipsistic Nation more of an audio magazine. The closest I’ve come to achieving that goal was the A/V show I did back in October. I interviewed everyone from Speaking in Code director Amy Grill to Big Up Magazine editor Katyá Guseva. I’m very proud of the A/V show. It’s absolutely drenched in information. My only regret: I wish I could have edited the interviews down further and played more music.

Oh, and I’m also quite fond of the Decibel and Freqs shows that I’ve done. Hell, I’m proud of all the shows I release.

I’ve also been threatening to do a videocast of Solipsistic Nation but I keep putting that off due to the learning curve. Maybe 2010 will be the year.