Where to listen
You can listen to this podcast by either subscribing at the podcast page at WFMU
or you can listen to an archive of the show using iTunes, or WFMU's own pop-up player at the show's playlist page
Episode 1 - 3rd December 2007 - Cartoon Music - http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/25395
Vicki and Ergo ride their little bicycles with square wheels and honky hooters and tell you about their love of this funny music. Features, amongst others, the music of Carl Stalling, Roger Roger and BBC Radiophonic Workshop, all collaged with conversation and ridiculously pointless repetitions.
Episode 2 - 10th December 2007 - The Chase - http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/25405
Ergo and Vicki show you how fast they can juggle without dropping everything, or at least make very fast music. They play you some of their very favourite speedy rhythms, generally all at the same time, then when it's finished they start it all over again. Features amongst others, different versions of William Tell Overture and Hungarian Rhapsody, and also the misc of Spike Jones, The Comedian Harmonists and Offenbach.
Episode 3 - 17th December 2007 - Hooked On Classics - http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/25406
In which Vicki and Ergo revisit the 1970's phenomenon of Hooked On Classics, classical cover versions as well as all things light, orchestral and popular. Features a medley of the best of this fine mulch of classical music with a disco beat, as well as some tangential visits to the world of amateur orchestras. Features Portsmouth Sinfonia, The Swingle Singers, John Oswald and Wendy Carlos, amongst others.
Episode 4 - 24th December 2007 - ThEdit - http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/25429
All about the wonderful world of editing and cutting up of sounds. Ergo and Vicki talk about their favourite editors of life, and demonstrate how one can mess up sound so easily and to such good effect. Features the work of William Burroughs, Negativland, Language Removal Services and cut ups of BBC Radio.
Episode 5 - 31st December 2007 - Fwms Bo Wo - http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/25530
Features some of the best explorers of sound poetry, and general transformers of the spoken word. Is this nonsense? Is it music? Are we serious? Ultimately we don't know but we really enjoy it, and this is a fun introduction to a kind of audio art that all too often is alienating. Features, amongst others, the work of Jaap Blonk, Leif Elggren & Thomas Liljenberg, Christian Bok and Stanley Unwin.
Episode 6 - 7th January 2008 - Snow Day - http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/25533
People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz examine their obsessions with the classical piece Troika (Sleigh Ride), Queen, Rod McKuen and songs about the weather, plus Vicki tries to mix Mrs Miller with B.J.Thomas and wonders why it didn't turn out too well.
Episode 7 - 14th January 2008 - Banjos, Pots, Pans and Squeezeboxes - http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/25819
In which Vicki and Ergo discuss the combination of sampling, live instrumentation and voices. Features Wendy Carlos, Sun Ra and Esquivel, amongst others.
Episode 8 - 21st January 2008 - Collage - http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/25942
When does it stop being completely isolated from the rest of the universe and step into the world of collage, adding another patch to the huge quilt of sounds that have gone before? People Like Us "start at the very beginning" and try to find out. Features sounds from Noah Creshevsky, DJ Earlybird, Brion Gysin and Kid Koala, amongst many others.
Episode 9 - 28th January 2008 - I Can't Tell A Waltz From A Tango - http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/25966
Can you? Vicki and Ergo offer a masterclass in the key of E Minor on all things that you can't dance to. Features the swinging sounds of Percy Faith, Charles Barlow & His Orchestra, Johann Strauss II and Ferrante & Teicher.
Episode 10 - 4th February 2008 - Nana Mouskouri - http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/25655
Why on earth is it called this? Well, this episode is all about those themes and songs that are just so catchy that we just keep returning to them. Includes such delights as Bert Kaempfert, Lenny Dee, The Swingle Singers, The Comedian Harmonists, and of course Nana Mouskouri.
Episode 11 - 11th February 2008 - Song Song - http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/25970
In which Ms. Us and Mr. Phizmiz play all their favourite songs and think about how artists fit in with the world of popular music, almost by accident at times. Features, amongst others, the fabulous works of Noel Coward, Winifred Atwell, The Ronettes and Xper. Xr.
Episode 12 - 18th February 2008 - Comedy - http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/26276
Funny ha ha or funny peculiar, either way, we love that music with a sense of humour, a sense of the surreal and absurd. Vicki and Ergo reflect on the aftermath of chancing a visit to a village hall full of leaping lederhosen. Listen to, amongst others, Mary Schneider, Liszt, The Goons and a bunch of WFMU DJs.
Episode 13 - 10th March 2008 - Easy Listening - http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/26488
No, don't switch off, you like it really, don't you. Easy Listening, it's nice. Hear the beautiful noises of Glen Campbell, Esquivel, Nelson Riddle and Martin Denny.
Episode 14 - 17th March 2008 - Finale - http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/26515 - and at the WFMU blog
The final podcast of Codpaste - a 96 minute mix of the best of the show, which when we play it back, we're quite amazed at how much we fitted into this series in such a short space of time.
What's next? 18th March-30th April - making an ALBUM inspired by all of this!
Watch this space...
Podcasts are simple to subscribe to!
It's true! A lot of people... in fact the MAJORITY of people that we have spoken to, had never subscribed to a podcast until we made them! We are talking about people who are very media friendly indeed, but they thought it was too much hassle or complicated, that it would be a big file or that even that they needed an iPod to subscribe. NONE of this is true. All you need is iTunes. It is free and available for all computers. Download and install this, go to the top of your computer screen to the menu bar, along to "Advanced" on the menu bar, then scroll down to "Subscribe to Podcast" and then copy this - http://www.wfmu.org/podcast/CT.xml - and paste it into that box. Then it is done. You are subscribed to the entire series. Then, depending on your iTunes preferences (also on the menu) you can decide whether you want iTunes to only download the most recent show or all shows. Here you can also decide whether you want it to keep or delete the podcast after you have listened to it.
But really - this is simple. You don't have to put the podcast on your iPod, or have an iPod to do any of this. You can play it from iTunes through your speakers. All a podcast is is an mp3 which gets downloaded using programming that goes and looks for that mp3 at it's host's website. Also, podcast mp3s are generally small sized, they will not max out anyone's bandwidth restrictions these days, not even the whole series.
Still baffled? Let WFMU explain it - http://wfmu.org/podcast_howto.html
What it's all about
"Codpaste" is a weekly podcast series in which the two artists People Like Us and Ergo Phizmiz will attempt to compose collage music from the very beginning, in a "work in progress" style, attempting to open up the creative
process.
The theory is that it is rare to see compositions made from the outset, and usually the audience are only invited in once the piece is finished, done and dusted. It could be that new light may be shed on the creation of art if the curtains are opened and the audience are given access to the raw, the imperfect and the wrong as well as the polished and the finished. This is what we hope anyway!
From 3rd December 2007 WFMU will be hosting the podcasts of: (i) audio sources, the tracks used as the basis for the collage in the episode, (ii) sketches, mixes and collages combining trackÕs elements, with added instrumentation, electronics, vocals, etc, and (iii) fragments, layers, and multitracks of the collage compositions. These elements will be tied together by snippets of light-hearted, tangential conversations and introductions and occasional mental overload and verbal meltdown.
The previous collaboration ÒBoots!Ó experimented with combining free digital downloading with more traditional formats and forms of distribution (record and CD through record stores), and came to the conclusion that the Ògift economyÓ does work - with evidence of increased mail order sales and reports from stores hosting the record that customers also bought things at the same time. As a result, we will compile these weekly programmes into a mp3 album of the same name ("Codpaste"), taking selections of the free podcasts, shaping them into a finished pod-album format, for sale on iTunes. Once the project is completed, all elements will be hosted in perpetuum at WFMU's Free Music Archive, allowing the good work to continue once the artists are done with it!
It is a rare and new thing to be making work-in-progress in front of an audience - and hopefully will prove to be both fun and an inspiration for artist and listener (and ultimately listener as remixer), and a vital exploration of unique ways of making work in a market more than saturated with products.
Background on the collaboration
Since 2002 People Like Us and Ergo Phizmiz have collaborated on a number of compositional projects; including a radio show, two albums and two live performances; "Boots!" and "Screen Play".
You can subscribe to People Like Us and Ergo Phizmiz's other solo podcasts, also on WFMU, at
DO or DIY with People Like Us and The Phuj Phactory with Ergo Phizmiz.
July 2007 – So it begins: collecting sound sources and visual material,
discussing structure, audio collaboration begins
The
simultaneous collecting and making of work. The
podcasts will to go out as the artists are making the work, so that the outlet is time
sensitive to the creation. The
creating and outputting will be going on throughout the following stages until
completion in March 2008.
3rd December 2007 – Weekly podcasts begin on WFMU
A weekly podcast will go out at the same time each
week - subscribe through http://wfmu.org/podcast, with playlists and other information added both on this website and also http://wfmu.org/playlists/CT
March 2008 – Develop the material into an album
The artists
will steer the collaborative material in the direction of it being
collated in ÒalbumÓ form. So in
other words, this timeline contains a number of simultaneous and overlapping
events - the making of material, outputting and collating.
June 2008 – Finishing the album plus hosting all elements on WFMU's Free Music Archive
Watch this space... more to come nearer the time
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click on images for larger downloads |
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This project is supported by Arts Council England and WFMU. |
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