People Like Us, DO or DIY
DO or DIY with People Like Us on WFMU
Since Autumn 2003 People Like Us have been doing a weekly show on WFMU, called DO or DIY. The aim of the show is to mix highbrow with lowbrow to challenge whether there is much difference. Also, many artists played on DO or DIY get very little radio play (a google search for many of these bands brings the show's airplay at the top of the results). Each weekly show has been known to have excess of 75,000 listens per year (based on average Realplayer stats archives collected over the space of one year).
Here are the archived playlists and realaudio streams of at least 200 shows from 2003 to the present day. www.wfmu.org/peoplelikeus
Subscribe to the Podcast of DO or DIY by clicking here - it will prompt your iTunes program to open, where you will receive the podcasts.
People Like Us' radio show DO or DIY is now also a separate 24 HOUR DO or DIY Stream on WFMU! Yes indeed - DO or DIY is available all day, every day. 24 hours of All Things Avant Retard.
You can listen to the stream through iTunes, by clicking here - it will download a file that you can then click on to play the stream.
DO or DIY biog
DO or DIY is a freeform sound art radio show broadcast weekly by Vicki Bennett (project name People Like Us) on WFMU.
The philosophy behind the show is simple. That within the realms of avant-garde and experimental sound art the goalposts defining "accessible" and "inaccessible" are constantly moving. As the radar rises and dips, fragments and shards of underground creations unearth, and popular culture and artist resonate, shifting shapes accordingly with one another in reflections of changing spotlights.
The avant-garde and popular culture rely on each other's energy. People Like Us collage both "hard to listen" works and popular listening matter, showing that in fact, beyond the restrictions of genre, genre IS the restriction and it is possible to like many kinds of art and music. The key is finding the door - DO or DIY leads the way into new and unusual realms of listening and hope to show the way in.
Each show consists of collages made of sound works from the 20th and 21st century, often layered and looped many times over, resulting in an album type effect on each show.
The pun "All Things Avant-Retard", a rhyme with "All Things Avant-Garde" literally means All Things Forward-Backwards. Essentially by using sonic extremes and apparent opposites we find some sort of central point or balanced perspective on music and sound.
Suggested Listening:
DO or DIY fill in for Ken.
New Free WFMU iPhone/iPod Touch app!
Also, if you have an iPhone or iPod Touch we are also pleased to announce that you can listen to not only the regular WFMU stream on the move at a glorious 128k, but also all of our special streams, recent DJ show archives and DJ podcasts including all of DO or DIY!
You can download the much improved updated free WFMU app right here.
ABOUT WFMU
WFMU are very influential to NYC area record buyers, particularly ones who search for music out of the ordinary. The station was listed as #1 station in the USA by Rolling Stone critics for 4 consecutive years, was voted #1 station at 1999's Gavin Convention, subject of a New York Times magazine feature, and has gotten accolades from the WIRE, John Peel, Matt Groening & other luminaries. The format covers anything from home cassettes, noise, old country, rockabilly, electroacoustic, experimental, electronic, metal, out-jazz, krautrock, schlock, hip-hop, collage, garage, and pop from all decades. They've hosted Senegalese rappers, Japanese black metal bands, Tuvan psychedelic rock groups, Brit folk legends, indie rock darlings, and played about 2000 other genres they can't even begin to list.
"WFMU is known as an oasis in the airwave desert. While most stations practice one-dimensional 'narrow-casting', WFMU embraces everything in the wonderful world of sound." - SPIN
"WFMU is the best freeform radio station in America." - NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
"Fantastic website, great archives. It is truly eclectic programming, unlike other stations, which claim to be eclectic." - MATT GROENING, SIMPSONS CREATOR
"There's nothing better late at night in this town than climbing into the car and turning on and tuning into WFMU cracklin' across the river with whatever weird shit they're playin' tonight." - LEE RANALDO, SONIC YOUTH
"Romping through the history of recorded sound, WFMU's disc jockeys often come up with unbelievable artifacts, revelatory juxtapositions and songs you thought you'd never hear again." - NEW YORK TIMES
"This is one full-on Limey who believes believes believes that when it comes to transformation through sound, we should support WFMU for their percipient ur-cultural bravado. It's the 21st century and WFMU is here to celebrate our coming of age!" - JULIAN COPE, MUSICIAN/AUTHOR/HISTORIAN
Thanks for listening to Radio Boredcast
Hopefully you've been listening all month to the online radio station curated and programmed (and sometimes containing) by People Like Us. It ran through March as part of AV Festival 12, and had 20,000 listening hits over the month.
Throughout the month we've been airing specially created shows and recordings as well as carefully selected programmes that reflect the AV Festival theme of As Slow As Possible. You who have listened know that we have really stretched the theme and have been surprised and hopefully delighted by what you have heard.
We will now start to archive the month on WFMU's servers and make it available in streaming/on demand format. To keep up to date on this you should subscribe to our mailing list on the peoplelikeus.org front page.
Radio Boredcast Interview in WIRED
Radio Boredcast and AV Festival are getting some good press at the moment, here is an Interview in WIRED.
WIRED interview http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/03/slow-radio/
AV Festival / Radio Boredcast mentioned in The Guardian
Lots of good press (and hilarious youtube mentality comments) coming in the UK press for AV Festival now. The 7th March Guardian has a very nice review, that includes Radio Boredcast.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/mar/07/av-festival-as-slow-possible/print
Radio Boredcast Schedule
The Schedule for Radio Boredcast, running from Noon on 1st March 2012 to Midnight 31st March is now up and is broadcasting online!
Listen at Basic.fm
If you have problems listening through a browser because you are at work etc, you can listen to the mp3 stream here - Just open iTunes, go to Advanced on the Menu bar and Open Stream and past it in.
http://www.avfestival.co.uk/programme/2012 - navigate using the Radio Boredcast link or by viewing each day of the AV Festival calendar in its entirety. Or follow the links below that take you to each day.
Meanwhile, subscribe to the Radio Boredcast Preview podcast - which runs from now until the end of March 2012. Clicking on this link will prompt your computer to open iTunes. This is normal, let it do so.
THUR 1
FRI 2
SAT 3
SUN 4
MON 5
TUE 6
WED 7
THUR 8
FRI 9
SAT 10
SUN 11
MON 12
TUE 13
WED 14
THUR 15
FRI 16
SAT 17
SUN 18
MON 19
TUE 20
WED 21
THUR 22
FRI 23RD
SAT 24TH
SUN 25TH
MON 26
TUE 27
WED 28
THUR 29
SAT 31
avfestival.co.uk / thepixelpalace.org
HERE'S THE FULL LIST OF PARTICIPANTS!
The full list of participants in Radio Boredcast with new and exclusive recordings and shows are Carl Stone, Pseu Braun & Alex Orlov, Touch, Rob Weisberg, Nicolas Collins, Andrew Lahman, Chris & Cosey, Jonathan Dean and Transmuteo, Cheese Snob Wendy, Kevin Nutt, Tony Coulter, Daniel Menche, Scott Williams, John Wynne, Chris Watson, Jem Finer and Longplayer, Tim Maloney, Ergo Phizmiz, Matmos, Dave Soldier, Charlie and Busy Doing Nothing, Andrew Sharpley, Nancy O Graham, Gwilly Edmondez, Anna Ramos & Roc Jiménez De Cisneros, Doug Horne, Irene Moon, David Suisman, Radio Web MACBA, Mark Gergis and Porest, Jez Riley French, Don Joyce, Carlo Patrao and Zepelim, Dorian Jones, Jason Willett, Zach Layton, Primate Arena with Alex Drool and Eran Sachs, David Toop, Dylan Nyoukis, Jared Blum and GiganteSound, Ed Pinsent, Adrian Philips aka Mr Rotorvator, Axel Stockburger, Craig Dworkin, Felix Kubin, People Like Us, Language Removal Services, Daniela Cascella, John Levack Drever, Joel Eaton, Clay Pigeon, Gudrun Gut, Charles Powne, Carl Abrahamsson, Andreas Bick and Silent Listening, Phantom Circuit, Patti Schmidt aka Wheelie Houdini, Leif Elggren, Ken Freedman, Erik Bünger, Douglas Benford, Christof Migone, BJNilsen, Andy Baio, Adam Thomas aka Preslav Literary School, Caroline Bergvall, Ken's Last Ever Radio Extravaganza, Tapeworm, Brent Clough and The Night Air, Ilan Volkov, Nat Roe, Steven Ball, X41, The Long Now Foundation, Sharon Gal, Michael Ruby, Jonathan Leidecker, DJ/rupture, Gordon Monahan, Michael Cumella aka MAC, Lloyd Dunn and nula, DDDJJJ666, and Kenneth Goldsmith.
PODCAST
Subscribe to the Radio Boredcast free podcast now - it will arrive into your iTunes with previews of show highlights every 2-3 days through the month of March. Subscribe Now and receive a Welcome podcast.
Subscribe via iTunes here -
itpc://radioboredcast.podomatic.com/rss2.xml
Or through the apple store -
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/radio-boredcast/id501309800
ANDROID AND iPHONE APP
Radio Boredcast is hosted by BASIC.fm, and there's a free Android and iPhone app that you can download now as one way to listen to the radio station while on the move. BASIC.fm already exists in it's own form, and magically will change into Radio Boredcast throughout the month of March.
For iPhone - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/basic-fm/id481267209?ls=1&mt=8
For Android - https://market.android.com/details?id=com.bandxmedia.basicfm
BLOG POST by Vicki Bennett about Radio Boredcast http://www.avfestival.co.uk/blog/2012/02/19/radio-boredcast-presents
INTERVIEW with Vicki Bennett about Radio Boredcast http://www.thepixelpalace.org/basicfm/radio-boredcast
REVIEWS
WIRED interview http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/03/slow-radio/
The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/mar/07/av-festival-as-slow-possible/print
BACKGROUND ON RADIO BOREDCAST...
Time is a curious thing - on one hand we complain about being so busy we just don’t know what to do with ourselves, and on the other hand we literally don’t know what to do with ourselves and say we are bored. Given that we need more time, when we are not killing it, it is also strange that (in the western world) we are so obsessed with speed - the one thing guaranteed to make us miss out on the detail, complexity and depth of experience in exchange for thrills and illusions of gaining something, that “something” often being more time. It is with these thoughts that I’ve entered into curating “Radio Boredcast” for AV Festival 12.
The first thing that struck me is that 744 hours is quite a long time. 744 minutes is a long time. Four weeks lined up in iTunes is a long playlist. It would be easy to think about how to fill this up as quickly as possible, but that’s Speediness rearing it’s rather worn out head again. “Slow” is subtle, it avoids the obvious, the short cut or the first hurdle; it is to start at the end of the race and see where we are running to. The only thing to be stretched is the concept of what Slow actually might be - the only aim to make it an engaging, entertaining and unpredictable a listening experience as possible.
Radio Boredcast has and impressive list of participants, providing content in the form of specially produced new and unpublished works, playlists and regular freeform radio shows, field recordings, interviews and monologues and much, much more.
While listening, you may hear adults talking for hours about slowness and children complaining about how boring it all is, thematic freeform radio shows, mathematical experiments and time-based compositions, field recordings of nature’s cycles and underwater rumblings, musical meanderings through memory and inner worlds of sleepless nights; across landscapes and back through time, discovering the world of ritual and speaking in tongues by way of babbling poets and bubbling brooks full of musical elephants, a voyage into deep concréte through art gallery toilets, scientific discussions on insects and evolutionary biology, ultrasound recordings of bats, journeys through very slow cheese, soundscapes from faraway lands with long phonecalls full of language removal, testcard music and shipping forecasts, vast sweeping summaries of the entire history of everything, and then… Silence. Outside of this will be programming of thematic playlists all the way through “Acconci” (Vito) to “Zzz…” (Leif Elggren & Thomas Liljenberg)
Here's how the schedule began... on post-its in an A2 notepad.
WFMU Marathon 2012
Who'd think another year has passed since the WFMU Marathon? Well the WFMU bank balance is well aware of that. Please help keep this wonderful station on the air if you appreciate what we do, and put your money where your mouse is. Lots of swag to be won too, no one goes away empty handed for $15 or more! Oh, and don't forget the true value of what you're pledging for the hours, days, months, YEARS of FREE programming that has enriched so many peoples lives. If you have ever listened to DO or DIY with People Like Us please consider donating.
https://www.wfmu.org/marathon/pledge.php
Add this pledge widget to your site or blog too.
Radio Boredcast Update
UPDATE - The Schedule is now online!
http://www.peoplelikeus.org/2012/radio_boredcast_schedule.html
Interview about Radio Boredcast with Pixel Palace/Basic.fm
Pixel Palace, who co-commissioned Radio Boredcast along with AV Festival, recently interviewed Vicki to see how she is getting on with creating a one-month long radio station to compliment AV Festival 12 and the festival them As Slow As Possible.
http://www.thepixelpalace.org/basicfm
People Like Us on WFMU
Wednesday November 2nd from 9.30am to 11.15am NY time
(that's from 1.15pm, UK people!!) on Ken Freedman's show on WFMU
wfmu.org
Ken airs two videos live on the air and the website. From 9:30 to 10am, listeners can watch and listen to People Like Us's new horror collage The Magical Misery Tour. Then, at 10:15 Ken previews Radio Soulwax's new Brazilian video/audio mashup-sterpiece, Batutas Disco. Listeners can listen over the radio, or watch and listen over the website. Links will appear at wfmu.org when each video goes live. People Like Us and Radio Soulwax will each discuss their work following their videos.
Please pledge to WFMU and DO or DIY this month
This month of October we are doing an online/mail-only fundraiser at WFMU. To mark this, there will be an extra special bunch of events going, including Singles Going Steady week (Oct 24-30) where WFMU DJs play nothing but 7 inch singles, the WFMU Record Fair (Oct 28-30) and WFMU's RadioVision Festival (Oct 28-30). In fact there are special events going on every day, with more being added to the schedule all the time:
Regular listeners will know that DO or DIY has been on the air every June-October (Summer Schedule) since 2003, with archives that cover every show since it started, and without wanting to toot my own alphorn, I'm playing a lot of things that you just wouldn't hear elsewhere - and if you do a google for it it's my show that comes up as the first result in playing it! DO or DIY also does a 24-hour audio stream which can be accessed from the WFMU frontpage and also on the free WFMU iphone app.
Just this season alone we've had DO or DIY Specials from JG Thirlwell, Daniel Menche, Brian Joseph Davis, Wobbly, Gwilly Edmondez, Alex Drool and Nico Teen, Jennifer Walshe, Irene Moon, Osymyso, Andrew Sharpley (Stock, Hausen & Walkmen), Carl Stone and on Wednesday 5th October from Graham Duff, creator of BBC TV's "Ideal" (amongst many other things!). WFMU is never a dull place, earlier this year I ruined my clothes and other peoples appetites covering fellow WFMU DJ Bryce with mayonnaise and baked beans. Where else would have us? We need you to help us continue this kind of ridiculous programming!
In previous years have had specials and exclusives from Ergo Phizmiz, Dave Soldier, Felix Kubin, Rank Sinatra, Blanketship, Borful Tang, Freddy McGuire and RIAA as well as having co-hosted with Kenny G on numerous occasions and putting albums and albums worth of FREE DO or DIY mixes online, without asking for anything except that you share further!
WFMU is a wonderful place to be treasured and not taken for granted. We ARE listener sponsored, and we do need your support. However dedicated we are as DJs and you are as listeners this is NOT enough unfortunately, this thing will not look after itself alone.
Some of you may remember that on WFMU we also did the lovely and ever-so-informative Codpaste podcast on WFMU in collaboration with Ergo Phizmiz!
Since I only broadcast during the Summer Schedule each year, this will actually be my first opportunity to raise money for my own show while on air in quite some time, so please consider donating to DO or DIY for this reason also!
Without listener support we would not exist, and it would be impossible to build something like this up again should it be allowed to fade away.
DONATE NOW - we have some new swag too!!! For instance if you pledge $50 you will get this brand new design WFMU t-shirt: 
Feast your eyes on the full list of swag here http://www.wfmu.org/marathon/tch.shtml
So far this month DO or DIY's extra-curricular activities will be a Graham Duff Special on Wednesday 5th October, a 7"-only show on Singles Going Steady Week on Wednesday 26th October, participation in WFMU's RadioVision conference on Saturday 29th October, a free People Like Us concert in the AV Lounge at WFMU Record Fair on Sunday 30th October, and just after the marathon People Like Us will appear on Ken Freedman's show with a video special of The Magical Misery Tour, a streaming radiovision premiere!
If you are an active listener to my show then really... don't be passive with your support - please help us continue.
Please go to my show page now and pledge. http://wfmu.org/playlists/PL
Offline : DO or DIY Goes Analogue!
Offline : DO or DIY Goes Analogue!
DO or DIY, Wednesday 12th October 2011
8pm - 9pm on WFMU 91.1 fm 90.1 fm and wfmu.org
That's correct! Did you know that since 2003 DO or DIY has never played a record OR a CD? It's all just files, files, files. So in preparation for Singles Going Steady Week on WFMU (Oct 24-30), we've been crawling around under the bed and finding our old vinyl. And here's what we found in our home LP collection. No WFMU Record Library, no online blogs, just what we found, er, under the bed, and some reflections on how different it is to do a show without the aid of the World Wide Web.
Don't forget that October is WFMU online-only fundraising month, so it's ironic that this is when we decided to go analogue! Tune in... and please pledge. Thank you if you have already!
Graham Duff on DO or DIY
Wednesday October 5th 2011, 8pm-9pm (NY time) on DO or DIY
Graham Duff
On this week's DO or DIY Graham Duff presents a musical blend of off kilter sounds.
Graham Duff is a writer, actor and producer. He created and wrote all fifty three episodes of the BBC TV comedy drama Ideal starring Johnny Vegas. Other TV work includes co-writing Doctor Terrible’s House of Horrible, a series of Hammer horror homages with Steve Coogan. For BBC Radio 4, he’s written and appeared in three series of the sci-fi sit-com Nebulous starring Mark Gatiss, script edited seven series of Count Arthur Strong’s Radio Show and starred in his own show Stereonation. He’s also appeared in the Harry Potter films and written articles for The Guardian and Wire Magazine. Outside the world of TV and radio, Graham has collaborated with Mark E. Smith, Wire’s Colin Newman and ‘art terrorist’ Stewart Home.
Playlists and archives will be available for the show shortly after it is broadcast at DO or DIY with People Like Us
DO or DIY with People Like Us is also available as a podcast.
For more info on how to have the MP3 archives of DO or DIY with People Like Us delivered automatically to your computer and/or MP3 player, visit our Podcast Central page.
Carl Stone on DO or DIY
Wednesday, September 14th 2011, 8pm - 9pm (NY time) on DO or DIY
Carl Stone
Carl Stone is checking in from his summertime perch in Umbria. Stone was born in Los Angeles and now divides his time between California and Japan. He studied composition at the California Institute of the Arts with Morton Subotnick and James Tenney and has composed electro-acoustic music almost exclusively since 1972. His works have been performed in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America and the Near East. In addition to his schedule of performance, composition and touring, he is on the faculty of the Information Media Technology Department, School of Information Science and Technology at Chukyo University in Japan.
Andrew Sharpley on DO or DIY
Wednesday, September 7th 2011, 8pm - 9pm (NY time) on DO or DIY
Andrew Sharpley Mix for WFMU
Late of various obscure nineties European electronic bands, inc. Stock Hausen and Walkman, Dummy Run, a&e, etc (no i haven't heard of them either), Andrew Sharpley is currently operative at an address surprisingly close to where you live.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nItbrxkabqQ
JG Thirlwell on DO or DIY
Wednesday, August 31st 2011, 8pm - 9pm (NY time) on DO or DIY
JG Thirlwell
In this week's DO or DIY JG Thirlwell will be doing a mix for the show.
JG Thirlwell is a composer/producer/performer based in Brooklyn NY. After working with experimental group Nurse With Wound, Thirlwell started making his own records in 1980, initially releasing them on his own “Self Immolation” label. In recent years, with commissions for Kronos Quartet, Bang On A Can, and his occasional eighteen piece ensemble, he has been increasingly interested electronically and sample generated music being re-scored for traditional instrumentation – played both conventionally and not (recent examples include performing with a chamber ensemble version of Manorexia). In addition, Thirlwell scores “The Venture Brothers”, a hit cartoon show on Adult Swim/Cartoon Network. His project Manorexia will be playing Oct 2 at ATP's I'll be your Mirror in Asbury Park NJ with Portishead, and at the BAM cafe (free!) in Brooklyn on Nov 18.
Osymyso on DO or DIY
Wednesday, August 24th 2011, 8pm - 9pm (NY time) on DO or DIY
Osymyso
Falling Out Of Cars Mix by Osymyso
"This is a themed mix about cars, driving, motorways, traffic and all that stuff. It was originally an hour long and used in an installation that showed bits road movies on a loop and as a consequence I don't think anyone other than myself ever heard it all the way through. So I thought I'd chop it up, add some new bits and hey presto a 20 minute session for DO or DIY.
As ever I struggle with a biog. I've got nothing to say, nothing's really happened of late. No albums or performances to speak of. I've mostly been doing things for other people, sound design and all that. I have got some new things nearing completion but no knowledge of how and when they'll get released. I'm your typical "struggling artist" trying to make ends meet. As I said this time last year I find talking about myself embarrassing because to describe who I am I have to reference work I did over a decade ago and I feel like a sad old failed artist talking about past glories, a bit like Creme Brulee. I need something new and exciting finished that I'm proud of, then I'll be prepared to blow my own trumpet. For now I just feel like a bit of an idiot." - Mark, Osymyso
Irene Moon on DO or DIY
Wednesday 17th August 2011, 8pm - 9pm (NY time) on DO or DIY with People Like Us
Irene Moon
Irene Moon and the Auk Theater love drama, insects, crime, and examinations. All of these elements make great theater and all occurred at Princess Anne High School documented in the record yearbook created to archive the 1963-1964 school year. Irene found the record in a thrift store in early 2011, but had no idea the demon she uncovered! Of course, these elements could only be discovered in the recording by reading between the lines, backmasking, and interviewing people who know a lot about many things. The new historical drama is filled with music from Nine Fingered Thug, Juules Trakker, Yellow Tears, Secret Boyfriend, Kites, Kevin Blechdom, and, naturally, Lawrence Welk.
Irene Moon is an entomologist at North Carolina State University who participates in music and theater. She has the duel focus to advance appreciation of art in the halls of science; as a means of connecting the public to entomology and increasing awareness of the art and creativity intrinsic to the scientific process.
Find out more information about Irene Moon, Auk Theater and the Begonia Society at www.begoniasociety.org
Jennifer Walshe on DO or DIY
Wednesday, August 10th 2011, 8pm - 9pm (NY time)
Jennifer Walshe
On this week's DO or DIY it's the turn of Jennifer Walshe to make a DJ mix for the show.
“The most original compositional voice to emerge from Ireland in the past 20 years” (The Irish Times) and “Wild girl of Darmstadt” (Frankfurter Rundschau), composer and performer Jennifer Walshe was born in Dublin, Ireland. Her music has been commissioned, broadcast and performed all over the world. She has been the recipient of fellowships and prizes from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York; the DAAD Berliner Künstlerprogramm, the Internationales Musikinstitut, Darmstadt and Akademie Schloss Solitude among others. Walshe has written a large number of operas and theatrical works, including “XXX_LIVE_NUDE_GIRLS!!!” an opera for Barbie dolls, available on DVD from Mere Records.
http://www.milker.org
http://www.vimeo.com/4607410
Daniel Menche on DO or DIY
Wednesday, August 3rd 2011, 8pm - 9pm (NY time): Daniel Menche
Daniel Menche presents "Acapocalypse," a 30 minute DJ mix of his hand-picked favorite vocal noise/singing/babbling/chanting songs. A full spectrum of the downright dumbest to the most beautiful voices brought to you from Portland Oregon's sound abuser: Daniel Menche. A lifetime supporter to the DO or DIY experience and someone who you likely would not expect to be a huge fan of Bronski Beat and Misfits. Who wudda thunk!
http://danielmenche.blogspot.com/
Alex Drool and Zohar "NicoTeen" Shafir on DO or DIY
Wednesday 27th July 2011 on DO or DIY with People Like Us
Alex Drool and Zohar "NicoTeen" Shafir
Alex Drool is an improviser percussionist-vocalist, and in the past decade he has established himself as one of the pivotal figures surrounding Israel's flourishing experimental scene. He has collaborated live w/ Blood Stereo, Adam Bohman, Fritz Welch & many others. He also co-curates Primate Arena - a platform promoting out muzak in Israel alongside Eran Sachs.
Zohar "NicoTeen" Shafir is a musician and performer based in Tel Aviv. In recent years she has been performing extensively in key experimental music events in Israel and abroad. With several beautiful independent EPs released, she creates charming catchy tunes using toy synthesizers, vocal harmonies and lo-fi recording methods. She is also part of the enigmatic duo Cassexxe Vibrato.
Gwilly Edmondez on DO or DIY
Wednesday 20th July 2011 on DO or DIY with People Like Us
Gwilly Edmondez
This special mix for DO or DIY features new material from Gwilly, which continues to pursue a reckless collision of live vocals and collage improvised wherever and whenever, alongside other stuff from Felt Beak posts and recent and forthcoming Kakutopia releases.
Gwilly Edmondez is one of four artists in one person he shares with Gustav Thomas, Virginia Pipe and Copydex. He performs and records solo, as well as in Falco Subbuteo (with Val Persona) and occasionally with Sound of Aircraft Attacking Britain and Radioactive Sparrow (of which he was a founder member in 1980). Gwilly comes from Bridgend in South Wales and is now based in the Northeast of England. His most recent adventure has been the anarcho-thon Felt Beak, a profligate praxis bulletin that courts the flagrantly prolific. He gave up smoking in the 90s.
http://www.kakutopia.com
http://feltbeak.tumblr.com
Wobbly on DO or DIY
Wednesday 13th July 2011 on DO or DIY with People Like Us
Wobbly
On this week's DO or DIY, it's the turn of Jon Leidecker aka Wobbly to do a 25 minute guest DJ mix.
Since 1990 Jon Leidecker has performed appropriative collage music under the psuedonym Wobbly, aiming for extended narratives spun from spontaneous yet coherent multi-sample polyphony. This Variations podcast series at Radio Web MACBA Jon Leidecker reconstructs the history of sound appropriationism by looking at examples from 20th century composition, popular art and commercial media, and the convergence of all these trends today.
http://detritus.net/wobbly/
http://rwm.macba.cat/en/variations_tag/
Brian Joseph Davis on DO or DIY
Brian Joseph Davis on DO or DIY with People Like Us
Wednesday 6th July 2011
On this edition of DO or DIY Brian does a guest mix "30 Shortest Tracks in my iTunes" and gives some exclusive tracks to play.
Davis worked at Blocks Recording Club for several years, then lived in the Mojave desert in 2010 where he experienced perfect, terrifying silence. Mornings included the grilling of hotdogs and deadpan announcements of "und meine Ohren sind Wunden." Since that time he's settled in Brooklyn and concentrated on text and writing. Recent works include adapting 300 pages of The Pentagon Papers into Star Wars fan fiction, publishing a short story collection, and running the literary magazine Joyland.
Playlists and archives for DO or DIY with People Like Us
DO or DIY returns to WFMU
DO or DIY will return to WFMU's airwaves and ether on Wednesday 15th June.
The show will be on each week at 8pm NY time throughout the WFMU Summer Schedule, 2011, and each show will be archived online for further listening. As ever, it will also be available as a podcast.
The new WFMU Summer 2011 Schedule is here http://www.wfmu.org/table?period=28
Listen live on WFMU http://www.wfmu.org/
Subscribe to the podcast here http://wfmu.org/podcast
Listen to archived shows and view playlists here http://wfmu.org/peoplelikeus
The show will run through to the beginning of October 2011.
Kenny G at The White House Today
Our friend and collaborator Kenny G, aka Kenneth Goldsmith read his amazing poetry at The White House today, 11 May 2011. As well as being beautiful and engaging in its own right, Kenny's work has been a gateway to understanding of so called "higher" forms of writing and reading to People Like Us and many other allies.
Watch and download the video archives here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2011/05/11/president-obama-poets-white-house
and
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2011/05/11/poetry-student-workshop-white-house
More inspiration:
Kenneth Goldsmith
And from the larger umbrella:
UbuWeb
A People Like Us & Kenny G collaboration:
Nothing Special (CD)
Induction Is A Draft Is A Gust Of Air (2009) on Vimeo.
Watch and Listen to People Like Us Live on WFMU
Genre Collage - live on the internet and radio
Wednesday 4th May 2011 on WFMU at 11am, NY time
(broadcasting at 91.1 fm in New York, at 90.1 fm in the Hudson Valley, US)
and on WFMU.org
People Like Us will be performing a live video/audio feed of their current concert "Genre Collage" on Ken's show on WFMU on the above date.
Ken's show runs from 9am-noon NY time (that's 2pm-5pm UK time) - and you can check Ken's playlists and archives at www.wfmu.org/playlists/KF
Vicki co-hosted with Ken recently for the WFMU 2011 Marathon.
A recipe cooked up by Vicki Bennett and Bryce Kretschmann for Touch
touchmusic.org.uk/recipebook/conceptual/vicki_bennett_and_bryce_kretschmann.html
Bryce with co-host Vicki - WFMU Marathon 2011
FRIDAY 11th MARCH Noon-3pm (NY TIME)
Update - the show is archived on video and audio here:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13251636
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/39526
As part of the WFMU 2011 Marathon, BRYCE will be on the RADIO and WEBCAM w/ co-host VICKI (DO or DIY with People Like Us) endeavouring in a spot of culinary hairdressing for pledges, bringing a whole new meaning to "cut and paste". The more you pledge, the more food will be applied to Bryce by Vicki, your hostess with the most mess.
Please lend your support by "attending/liking" this event - by "attend" you mean you will be listening and watching at wfmu.org. Please also support us by sharing this event.
Add water, mix, wait 180 minutes, throw away.
Please follow the links below to really ever so exciting playlists and archives and a lot of swag which can be yours in return for your pledges, and help keep WFMU on the air for another year.
TUNE IN AND WATCH ON WEBCAM: http://wfmu.org/
PLEDGE / SWAG: http://wfmu.org/mara
PHONE-A-PLEDGE: 1-800-989-9368
LISTEN TO BRYCE'S ARCHIVES: http://wfmu.org/playlists/BK
LISTEN TO VICKI'S ARCHIVES: http://wfmu.org/peoplelikeus
Full version of the stream (thanks to John Dalton for videocam archiving this)
WFMU Marathon and co-host schedule 2011
WFMU Marathon - 28th February-13th March
It's the most wonderful time of the year, WFMU Marathon Time! The marathon runs from February 28th to March 13th 2011, but you can make a pledge below, check out our new Tim Biskup T-shirt and other swag, or marvel at our new line of DJ Premiums!
If you follow and like the work of People Like Us you will be well aware of the influence that WFMU has had on us, as well as knowing how hard we work to make DO or DIY with People Like Us on WFMU. We've been broadcasting since 2003, and playlists and archives are still available of every show.
People Like Us will be co-hosting with two WFMU DJs in the second week of the marathon. Please listen, pledge, maybe win a prize, get some swag and know you helped us achieve good thing!
WEDNESDAY 9th MARCH 2011
9am-Noon (NY time): Ken Freedman with People Like Us
FRIDAY 11th MARCH 2011
Noon-3pm (NY time): Bryce with People Like Us
Tune in at http://www.wfmu.org
Pledge here:
Once the marathon has started you can also phone in your pledge while your favourite shows are on at 800-989-9368. If you live outside the US, phone your pledge at 1-201-413-9368. These numbers will ONLY work between 28th February and March 13th 2011.
The whole co-host schedule is here
People Like Us and The Aunties fill in for Ken on WFMU
DO or DIY with People Like Us will fill in for Ken on Wednesday, December 29th, 9am - Noon on WFMU, NY time. That is 2-5pm UK time.
This time around, the special guests returning to the mic will be Aunty Pat & Aunty Ellen.
http://www.wfmu.org/upcoming/fillins
Please Support WFMU
WFMU will be taking pledges to send Station Manager Ken aloft with helium balloons on Wednesday, December 8th, 11am-noon (pre-game show starts at 9am)! For every $1000 we raise, we’ll fill up a balloon and tie it to Ken's lawn chair. If we’re successful, Ken will lift off! We'll host a live video feed of the whole debacle, so you won't want to miss out.
Help keep WFMU and Ken aloft by using the brochure that will be hitting your mailbox soon, pledging online, or over the phone on December 8th. We’ve got a brand new t-shirt and a baseball cap up for grabs, too!
A Double Bill of Specials on DO or DIY - Dave Soldier and Irene Moon
Two Specials in one edition DO or DIY with People Like Us
Wednesday, September 22nd, 7pm - 8pm
Dave Soldier
An old musician's joke is on the order of "it takes him half an hour to play the Minute Waltz". Today, WFMU's favorite local classical music composer Dave Soldier visits for a live performance of his newest collaboration, with the late Frederic Chopin and living electronic musician Sean Hagerty. Soldier performs the Minute Waltz on the grand piano at Le Poisson Rouge very very slowly, lasting a half hour, while Hagerty stretches each piano note out over time. Chopin may make a surprise appearance.
http://davesoldier.com/
Irene Moon
Irene Moon and a cast of characters from the Auk Theater perform a musical mystery theater about insects. Each character has an insect of choice that is suspect in a recently discovered serial murder. Information about insects is introduced as they try to unravel the "who done it." Not all of the content is logical, but it is absolutely factual. Irene is an entomologist and musician at North Carolina State University whose present research involves the dissection of wasp heads and the representation of the muscles found within the head. She was quoted recently to say, "social bees and wasps are commonly found and easily organized. It's the non-social beasts that fascinate and truly demonstrate how many creative methods there really are to dispose of an unfriendly caterpillar."
http://begoniasociety.org/auktheatre.php
Ergo Phizmiz Special on DO or DIY
DO or DIY with People Like Us - Ergo Phizmiz Special
Wednesday 15th September
http://www.wfmu.org/peoplelikeus
Join Ergo Phizmiz in the studio for this week's DO or DIY featuring the premiere broadcast of the entirety of Ergo Phizmiz's score for "La Puce de Neige" ("The Snow Flea"), a mime puppet-opera for Buchinger's Boot Marionettes, which premiered in Marseille, November 2009.
The show, created for children, tells the story of Kerugug, a snow flea who in the Arctic who is displaced to Antartica through a hole in the world, and his journey back - with an evil ice-cream in hot pursuit, sneaking snow fleas to use as anti-freeze in his produce. The piece combines field-recordings of Inuit folk songs with a memetic score that references Mussorgsky, Moondog, French folk songs, Augustus Pablo, Prokofiev, Strauss, and Raymond Scott.
Gwilly Edmondez on DO or DIY
Gwilly Edmondez on DO or DIY with People Like Us
Wednesday 8th September
On WFMU at 7pm NY time
Improvising vocalist and sampler-spitter Gwilly Edmondez joins People Like Us to talk about paperweights, bog-standard footwear and 50 Pence, while dashing off a handful of 21st century pop songs that are already ahead of their time. In a revealing discussion, Gwilly helps unravel some of the mysteries of modern awareness while promoting the complete decomposition of all music.
http://www.kakutopia.com
http://www.ubu.com/sound/edmondez.html
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Gwilly_Edmondez
Borful Tang session on DO or DIY
Wednesday 4th August on WFMUat 7pm NY time
A beacon of light transmitted from his hermetic dwelling in Oakland, California, Borful Tang is proud to bring a gaggle of exclusive new material to the DO Or DIY show. With the help of producer/engineer Dominic Cramp (Evangelista, Vulcanus 68, Qulfus) Mr. Tang has crafted a handful of short narrative pieces compromised of nuggets from his vast vault of found sounds: a news report on the Commodore 64; a warped skipping Jesus record for children; an Austrian synth demonstration DVD; the Sapphire and Steele box set! It is all source material for this fiendish cut-up specialist. And all of it set to a musical interplay that puts him in a class all his own. These pieces are also in support and celebration of Borful Tang’s latest, release, Herd and Unherd, out now on Gigante Sound.
Playlists and archives for DO or DIY
Osymyso session on Do or DIY with People Like Us
Osymyso session on DO or DIY with People Like Us
Wednesday, July 21st, 7pm - 8pm
"I have to say, I'm not very good at writing about myself or my stuff. Am I supposed to do it in the 3rd person? Who knows. Here's a paragraph for you. Feel free to change it, reduce it, expand on it or ask me to come up with something else entirely. There's no theory or deep thought gone into this mix, to be honest I was just happy to be doing my own thing for once so it's just unadulterated nonsense really." - Osymyso
Wednesday, June 30th, 7pm - 8pm: RIAA
Wednesday, June 30th, 7pm - 8pm: RIAA
RIAA, the mashup/sound collage project of Los Angeles DJ/musician Mr. Fab, returns to DO or DIY for another exclusive mix. "The Kitchen of Tomorrow," an excerpt from the forthcoming epic "USA," will be featured, drawing on such sources as old industrial films, easy-listening records, and instructional records to humorously depict the changing role of women in American society.
DO or DIY returns to WFMU from 16th June 2010
We are very pleased to let you know that DO or DIY with People Like Us will return to WFMU from Wednesday June 16th as part of WFMU's Summer Schedule. We will be on the air and internet every Wednesday until October.
http://www.wfmu.org/table?period=26
DO or DIY filling in for Ken on WFMU 7th April 2010
DO or DIY will be broadcasting our first 2010 show - to fill in for Ken on WFMU on Wednesday 7th April!
We'll be doing a three hour show from 9-noon NY time (which is 2-5pm UK time).
You can tune in in many different ways at WFMU - as usual we will be doing a live playlist throughout the show.
Tune in to the archive of the show afterwards at http://www.wfmu.org/peoplelikeus
New DO or DIY Stream on WFMU!!!
NEW DO OR DIY STREAM
http://do-or-diy.wfmu.org/listen.pls
It's the beginning of the WFMU 2010 Fundraising Marathon, and to coincide with this we are very pleased to announce that People Like Us' radio show DO or DIY is now not only a regular radio show and podcast, but we now have our own 24 HOUR DO or DIY Stream on WFMU! Yes indeed - DO or DIY is available all day, every day. 24 hours of All Things Avant Retard.
You can listen to the stream through iTunes, by clicking here
- it will download a file that you can then click on to play the stream.
You can also find the DO or DIY stream through the front page of the WFMU website, alongside the Ubu and Ichiban streams.
NEW FREE WFMU iPHONE APP!!!
Also, if you have an iPhone or iPod Touch we are also pleased to announce that you can listen to not only the regular WFMU stream on the move at a glorious 128k, but also all of our special streams, recent DJ show archives and DJ podcasts including all of DO or DIY!
You can download the much improved updated free WFMU app right here.
IT'S THE WFMU 2010 MARATHON, TIME TO GIVE!
Have you ever listened to WFMU? Did you know it's listener sponsored? Did you also know that only 3-5 per cent of regular listeners ever give anything back? Time to change that. We give a lot - if you like it please support us. 15 dollars or more and we'll go away and get on with it again.
https://www.wfmu.org/marathon/pledge.php
TECHNICAL INFORMATION IF WE ARE CONFUSING YOU
To listen to the stream on your computer all you need to do is open iTunes, and paste this stream address (much like you would any other stream) by going to Advanced/Open Audio stream - paste this:
http://do-or-diy.wfmu.org/listen.pls
Alternatively, if you just click on the link above it will do the same for you anyway by downloading you a small file that you can click on to open up the stream in iTunes.
BACKGROUND ON PEOPLE LIKE US' RADIO SHOW ON WFMU
All you need to know here!
http://www.peoplelikeus.org/doordiy/
The WFMU 2010 Marathon is here!
The WFMU marathon 2010 has begun! If you are a fan of WFMU or indeed listen to DO or DIY with People Like Us please consider pledging, since the station runs on listener sponsorship. We're looking forward to the marathon and hope you are too! Here is the co-host schedule:
http://www.wfmu.org/marathon/schedule.shtml
And here's some of the marathon goodies you can get if you pledge:
http://www.wfmu.org/marathon/tch.shtml
Take me to the pledge page now!
The WFMU 24 Hour Short Fall Marathon has begun!
Please help us continue to broadcast on WFMU!
Our 24-Hour Marathon starts TONIGHT, Tuesday Nov 17th at 7pm and runs until
Wednesday November 18th at 7pm!**
We're setting aside our pride to interrupt programming this Fall for our
first, and hopefully last, 24-hour
Marathon http://www.wfmu.org/marathon/index.shtml .
Our coffers are empty thanks to the combined evil forces of the recession
and WFMU falling short of our March Marathon goal. Help us raise enough
money in 24 hours to stay on the air through the winter months!
We've got an *action-packed 24-hours* planned, including *co-host
madness* http://wfmu.org/marathon/schedule.shtml ,
on-air *prize drawings*, and all of the *fun-loving insanity* and surprises
you've come to expect from WFMU Marathons. Check out our new *Radio Bear
t-shirt https://www.wfmu.org/marathon/tch.shtml#pr100 *, as well as a fresh
batch of *DJ Premiums* by *Tom Scharpling, Terre T, Evan "Funk" Davies,
Marty McSorley, Ken, Maria Levitsky, and Seven Second Delay* that are up for
the taking. Visit our pledge page
https://www.wfmu.org/marathon/pledge.php>for details.
*
We hope you can help us out with a year-end
donation https://www.wfmu.org/marathon/pledge.php
!* Pledge online or by calling 800-989-9368.
WFMU Short Fall Marathon
WFMU is holding a 24-hour Marathon: Tues Nov 17th, 7pm - Wed Nov 18th, 7pm. We're setting aside our pride to interrupt our programming for 24 hours this Fall, so we can make it through the winter months. Our coffers are empty thanks to the combined evil forces of the recession, and falling over $100,000 short of our March Marathon goal. We hope you can help us out with a year-end donation! Check out our new fall swag and make a pledge right here or by using the brochure that is soon to arrive in your mailbox.
Interview on BBC Radio 3
People Like Us were broadcast on "Twenty Minutes" on BBC Radio 3 yesterday - about the Light Music composer named Roger Roger, who we have played a lot of on radio shows. The interview features the usage of it on DO or DIY with People Like Us on WFMU.
Awful Fun with DO or DIY on WFMU
It's the end of the Summer Season on WFMU and so time for DO or DIY to unplug the ethernet cable, give the ol' modem a bit of a dust and take the next season off. But before we go we haven't forgotten that it's somewhat a tradition to make a downloadable collection of the best of all things avant retard for your ears and eye-pods, you lucky people - complete with downloadable artwork. So here it is. I always say there's nothing like art, and this is nothing like art.
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2009/10/people-like-us-end-of-season-album-download.html
For playlists and archives of DO or DIY going back to 2003, have a look at the WFMU website homepage for the show.
Final DO or DIY of the Summer Season 2009
This Wednesday 7th October will see the final edition of DO or DIY on WFMU. As is now a tradition, this will be a "best of" show, and be downloadable (with artwork) after the show at both WFMU's Beware of the Blog and then here shortly after.
DO tune in! 7pm NY time at WFMU, both on air, and on line.
For more DO or DIY and radio related information and downloads visit our DO or DIY webpage.
People Like Us interview in Crawdaddy
http://crawdaddy.wolfgangsvault.com/Article/People-Like-Us-Vanguard-of-the-Avant-Retard.html
Subscribe to the DO or DIY podcast
It's easy! So long as you have iTunes installed if you click on this link it will do the rest for you.
http://wfmu.org/podcast/PL.xml
Also you don't need an mp3 player/ipod to play a podcast - all it is is an mp3 that gets delivered to your computer as soon as it's available - how about that?
If you'd prefer to just listen to archives you can listen here in just SO many ways. We've even got a fancy pop up player -
Install iTunes for both Mac and PC here
Codpaste mp3s!
Codpaste - People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz's podcast from 2008 is now available in mp3 form!
Just go along now to WFMU's Free Music Archive and grab them now.
Alternatively grab the mp3s here:
1 - Cartoon Music
2 - The Chase
3 - Hooked On Classics
4 - ThEdit
5 - Fwms Bo Wo
6 - Snow Day
7 - Banjos, Pots, Pans and Squeezeboxes
8 - Collage
9 - I Can't Tell A Waltz From A Tango
10 - Nana Mouskouri
11 - Sing Song
12 - Comedy
13 - Easy Listening
14 - Finale
More background information on Codpaste here -
http://www.peoplelikeus.org/2007/codpaste_podcast_on_wfmu.html
Codpaste was later developed into the album Rhapsody in Glue.
DO or DIY on Twitter
DO or DIY back on WFMU Summer 2009!
We are very pleased to announce that DO or DIY with People Like Us will return to the radio waves and internet tubes every Wednesday evening starting June 24th, right through the summer to October 7th inclusive, bringing you All Things Avant Retard.
The show will be on after the fantastic "Seven Second Delay" (with Ken and Andy) - between 7pm and 8pm NY time. That is midnight Wednesday evening in the UK.
Generally we do a live playlist and enable live commenting so do watch as well as listen if it's not too much of a distraction from the beeauutiful music. If you live in NY/NJ you can listen on the radio at 91.1fm in New York and 90.1fm in the Hudson Valley. If you're on the internet then listen anywhere by clicking on Live Audio Stream links at the top of WFMU.org.
For those of you unfamiliar with People Like Us' radio show, or indeed if you just fancy another listen, move your mouse over to the DO or DIY archives at WFMU.
We've also made a number of "Best of" compilations available since 2003, including these two from 2008.
DOwnloadable DO or DIY 1
DOwnloadable DO or DIY 2
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DO or DIY chart in The Wire
DO or DIY chart - The Wire (October 2008)
Final DO or DIY of the season
Downloadable DO or DIY, Volume 2
Just like last week, but this is the LAST DO or DIY of the season and People Like Us will be taking the next season off. So here is VOLUME 2 at the WFMU Blog - grab yourself the Best of DO or DIY for the past year's broadcasts.
Zip file (everything: MP3s, cover art jpgs, tracklist)
1. It's Just Amazing
2. More Noice Noise
3. Dancing On Hot Coals
4. Bringing You The Best In 1970s Rock
5. Tijuana Frog Trot
6. Put The Hammer Down
7. Wouldn't It Be Noise
DOwnloadable DO or DIY DOuble Bill - 2008
It's that time of the year again, when DO or DIY zip up their bags and... send it right over to you! Indeed, for the two final weeks of the WFMU Summer Season, DO or DIY with People Like Us are giving you an album sized chunk of all things avant retard - a lovely noisy collage, complete with artwork. So listen in live to DO or DIY at 7pm NY Time (that's midnight UK time) Monday evenings, then go over to the WFMU Blog and grab yourself VOLUME 1 of the Best of DO or DIY for the past year's broadcasts - or get it below.
Zip file of all tracks, atwork and playlist
or get it separately...
1. Sung Song Glue
2. I'm A Star In NY
3. O Wo Is Mio
4. I Am That I
5. All The Screamers
6. MupPet Sounds
7. We Don't Go Too Far
8. Tweety Takes A Holiday
9. Look What You've Done
People Like Us, WFMU & TouchRadio in today's Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2008/aug/11/radio.digitaltvradio
Mention in the Guardian (UK) - Click That Dial! (August 11 2008)
TouchRadio
Touch, an independent arts organisation that turned 25 last year, is home to artists such as Christian Fennesz, Biosphere and Chris Watson. Touch Radio features challenging and entertaining material, including field recordings, interviews and live performances. There are audio diaries from Chris Watson, where he illuminates his work as a wildlife sound recordist in the Galapagos Islands, taking in the Alcedo volcano. If you are truly tired of words by this stage, you will find an antidote in Touch 10: The Bits In Between by Vicki Bennett, whose own show on WFMU, a glorious mashup (peoplelikeus.org), will leave you in a spin. touchradio.org.uk
Pascal Wyse
WFMU-FM 91.1 FM
Home to an acclaimed country and western show hosted by singer Laura Cantrell, WFMU describes its output thus: "Rock'n'roll, 78rpm records, jazz, psychedelia, hip-hop, hand-cranked wax cylinders, punk rock, gospel, exotica, R&B." And, if that's not enough, there's "Andrew Lloyd Webber soundtracks in languages other than English".
Alexis Petridis
Documentation of the People Like Us Retrospective at alt.gallery
Documentation of the People Like Us Retrospective at alt.gallery
alt.gallery (entry via alt.vinyl) 61/62 Thornton Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4AW.
16 May-12 July 2008
alt.gallery is pleased to announce the first retrospective exhibition of work by People Like Us (aka Vicki Bennett).
ARTIST INFO
For the past seventeen years British artist Vicki Bennett has been an influential figure in the field of audio visual collage, through her innovative sampling, appropriating and cutting up of found footage and archives. Using collage as her main form of expression, she creates audio recordings, films and radio shows that communicate a humorous, dark and often surreal view on life. The exhibition will focus on the concept of collage, showing an edited selection of her work, including twenty album releases, numerous singles and remixes, live sets, seven films and over a hundred and fifty radio shows. These collages mix, manipulate and rework original sources from both the experimental and popular worlds of music, film, television and radio. People Like Us believe in open access to archives for creative use, and have made work using footage from the Prelinger Archives, The Internet Archive, and A/V Geeks. In 2006 she was the first artist to be given unrestricted access to the entire BBC Archive. People Like Us have previously shown work at Tate Modern, Sydney Opera House, Pompidou Center and Sonar, and performed radio sessions for John Peel and Mixing It. The ongoing sound art radio show 'Do or DIY' on WFMU has had over a million "listen again" hits since 2003. The People Like Us back catalogue is available for free download hosted by UbuWeb.
MEMORY STICKS
Every week during the exhibition a different collection of special downloads from the People Like Us archive will be available from the gallery, bring your memory stick along for a free take away!
ESSAY BY DR DREW DANIEL
A specially commissioned essay by Dr. Drew Daniel of Matmos accompanies the exhibition. Download pdf here. Drew's essay can also be linked to here
Download a larger version of this flyer here
Download the poster (featured top right) here
The exhibition also included a framed essay by Rick Prelinger on The Virtues of Preexisting Material. Here is an excerpt:
On the Virtues of Preexisting Material
© Rick Prelinger 2007
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution License
1 Why add to the population of orphaned works?
2 Don't presume that new work improves on old
3 Honor our ancestors by recycling their wisdom
4 The ideology of originality is arrogant and wasteful
5 Dregs are the sweetest drink
6 And leftovers were spared for a reason
7 Actors don't get a fair shake the first time around, let's give them another
8 The pleasure of recognition warms us on cold nights and cools us in hot summers
9 We approach the future by typically roundabout means
10 We hope the future is listening, and the past hopes we are too
11 What's gone is irretrievable, but might also predict the future
12 Access to what's already happened is cheaper than access to what's happening now
13 Archives are justified by use
14 Make a quilt not an advertisement
Download a pdf of the full text here, or link to the essay here.
The exhibition will also launch a new CD curated by Vicki Bennett for Sonic Arts Network called 'Smiling Through My Teeth', a compilation of humorous music and sound art.
SPECIAL EVENTS
People Like Us Special on WFMU
Thursday 15 May, 11pm-midnight (UK time) www.wfmu.org/playlists/ER – To celebrate the exhibition opening Ergo Phizmiz hosts a People Like Us Special on his show 'Phuj Phactory' on WFMU, both on terrestrial radio and live internet stream.
People Like Us Talk and Screening
Friday 16 May, 7:30pm
Star and Shadow Cinema, Stepney Bank, Newcastle
Vicki Bennett presents a selection of films by People Like Us.
The Late Shows: Smiling Through My Teeth CD Launch
Saturday 17 May, 7pm-11pm
alt.gallery
www.altgallery.org
The Late Shows form part of NewcastleGateshead's world-class festivals and events programme. www.thelateshows.org.uk
Many thanks to Rebecca Shatwell for inviting us to do this retrospective, it was great fun to work together. Rebecca is now director of AV Festival.
DO or DIY on Australian National Radio!
Starting 23rd December for several weeks of their summer season on ABC Radio National, the radio program The Night Air will be rebroadcasting People Like Us's show, DO or DIY on WFMU - this means you can tune in on your transistor radio or online, or listen afterwards to the archive. Go along to their website now and check it out - the program details for the first episode are here. People Like Us guested on The Night Air back in 2001, alongside friends Irene Moon and The Evolution Control Committee - you can hear that in mp3 form here.
Codpaste podcast on WFMU
This is the archive page of People Like Us and Ergo Phizmiz's podcast "Codpaste". Playlists and archives can be accessed indefinitely at http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/CT. Please read on...
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 Tangohttp://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 - Sing 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 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 track's 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 "Boots!" 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 "gift economy" 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". "Screen Play" was a live soundtrack for Christian Marclay's film of the same name, performed as part of the Wire 25 celebrations in London in November 2007. "Boots!", a year-long project (2006-2007), was presented online as a free downloadable 5-hour long archive (at UbuWeb), including compositional elements dissected into component parts, demonstrating creative processes that led to finished works, making it remixable by downloader. The project received radio play on BBC Radio, Channel 4 Radio - plus 450 subscribers to our subsequent 10" record - "Honeysuckle Boulevard", and an additional 200 who were too late to participate.
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.
Codpaste timeline
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 "album" form. So in other words, this timeline contains a number of simultaneous and overlapping events - the making of material, outputting and collating.
May 2008 – Releasing the album plus hosting elements on WFMU's Free Music Archive
The album, entitled "Rhapsody in Glue" is now available at bleep.com! Watch this space for bonus tracks which will be hosted at WFMU's Free Music Archive shortly!
15 May 2008 - Rhapsody in Glue - digital album release
Following the success of the critically acclaimed "Perpetuum Mobile" CD of 2007, renowned UK collagists / composers People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz reunite for "Rhapsody in Glue", a cycle of bricolage-ballet-music, skewed-waltzes, and skewiff-pop.
There is a story behind every album, and with "Rhapsody in Glue" we find a unique approach to constructing a record. Both long-term contributors to New York radio station WFMU, People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz decided to publicly tear apart their respective practices and create an album "in the open", presenting on a seafood-filled-platter the process of collaborative collage composition - informally discussing and jabbering nonsense to one another, resulting in the "Codpaste" free podcast series. "Rhapsody in Glue" is the culmination of the ideas explored in the podcast series.
"Rhapsody in Glue" continues in the bizarre ballroom vein of their previous efforts together, however, increasing the sonic palette into textural depths previously uncharted in their work. If "Carmic Waltz" is an expressionist painting by aged ballroom dance teacher who's eaten the wrong kind of mushrooms in her soufflé, then "Gary's Anatomy" is a slice of pure absurdist pop shot through with slabs of exotica and Ethel Merman. Recurring through the record is an apparent obsession with Prokofiev's "Troika (Sleigh Ride)", which merges and mashes with Burt Bacharach and Queen on "Snow Day"' and lapses into pure fantasy on the almost entirely acoustic "Withers in the Whist", jarring with Ergo's strange, Victoriana obsessed lyrics. Then on "Dancing in the Carmen" we discover what happens if Nana Mouskouri is thrown into a pot with Peggy Lee and let simmer for 10 minutes, whilst "In The Waking" shimmers along on multitracked guitars, meandering melodies, and music boxes.
Rhapsody in Glue is available exclusively at budget price from http://www.bleep.com
3 June 2008 - Digital Single derived from Codpaste on the WFMU Blog
We are pleased to announce two brand new downloadable tracks from People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz, available to the web exclusively from WFMU's Free Music Archive and Beware of the Blog. The Music to Run Fast By digital 7'' is based around the idea of "The Chase", where Vicki and Ergo sourced from and collaged as many fast moving sounds as they could possibly think of! This music was originally conceived for a live soundtrack to Christian Marclay's film "Screen Play", performed by WFMU's delightful duo in London last year. It was then developed into "The Chase" episode of their "Codpaste" podcast on WFMU.
If you own a horse then do take this on your ipod next time you go out for a trot.
Download the mp3s at the WFMU Blog
Teaching Pack
We have produced a teaching pack to accompany the Codpaste series, in pdf form. Don't forget you don't need to subscribe now the series is over - just go to http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/CT to listen along with this!
Codpaste - Peaching Tack by People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
Based on a work at www.peoplelikeus.org/piccies/codpaste/codpaste-teachingpack.pdf
This project is supported by Arts Council England and WFMU.
DO or DIY - Wet Sounds - WFMU download
In keeping with what is now becoming a tradition, the last on air edition of DO or DIY with People Like Us is being delivered alongside an album sized chunk of a megamix with the bitesize title of "Wet Sounds - The Best Of All Things Particularly Avant Retard 2007". Not only that, but it has fantastico artwork and a delectable bonus 15 minutes on top of what we are playing on the last show of the season. AND no mic breaks prattling on while you're trying to relax and realign your soul to this calming and cooling sonic breeze. People Like Us will be taking the next season off, but will resume podcasting in November, after a short break, so stay detuned.
Zip file of the whole album (including the cover art)
DOwnloadable DO or DIY on WFMU 2006
To commemorate our summer season of DO or DIY on WFMU we have made available a special downloadable edition of the best of DO or DIY on WFMU. We will be skipping the next (Winter) season in order to pursue other projects so grab it while you can (not that it's going anywhere) in mp3 form here at WFMU's BEWARE THE BLOG.
Get along little doggies...
Do or DIY with People Like Us is riding off into the sunset to attend to other audio and art projects. Until she returns to the WFMU schedule, Vicki leaves us with a Best of Do or DIY Megamixathon 2006 collection, complete with some high-res CD cover art and an annotated listing of source material, for those of you who still hanker for physical media:
Track 1
Track 2
Track 3
Track 4
Track 5
Track 6
Track 7
Track 8
Track 9
CD Cover
People Like Us on TouchRadio
From the digital gutter, here lie all the soundbytes edited out of mic breaks for People Like Us's radio show DO or DIY on WFMU from June to September 2005. The show is all about cutting together avant with pop, and the only aspect of this one hour a week that has ever felt slightly out of place has been the necessary mic breaks. So now we do them justice by taking the entire unedited 3 hours, and in Language Removal Service style we take out all the meaning and are left with 34 minutes of delicious background noise, voice glitches and hesitations.
The file is here http://bulletin.touchmusic.org.uk/touchradio/Radio10/Radio10.m3u
If you go into iTunes you'll work out through the info page how to download it as an mp3 too.
Subscribe to Touch Podcasts here:
http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/TouchPod/podcast.xml
- or just open iTunes, go to "Podcasts" then "Advanced" on your menu settings. Then you can "Subscribe to podcast" by pasting in the above address.
The Avant Retard Mixathon
The final show of the 2005 Summer Season of People Like Us's radio show on WFMU featured a megamix of the best parts of the series - downloadable here!
The Avant Retard mixathon
Artwork here
and here
DO or DIY Premium 2004 - download here
The DJ Premium for People Like Us's radio show on WFMU for the 2004 WFMU Marathon.
Track 1
Track 2
Track 3
Track 4
Track 5
Track 6
Track 7
Track 8
Track 9
Track 10
CD inlay / CD label / CD cover
WFMU website
People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz - Xmas Special
DO or DIY Xmas Special on WFMU with special guest Ergo Phizmiz
Tis the season not only of Good Will, but also of Irritainment Music - but we don't agree that all Xmas music is bad! So just to illustrate the point, here is a chance to not only hear but download the Xmas edition of DO or DIY with People Like Us from 2003, with Special Guest and now WFMU DJ, Ergo Phizmiz! Pour yourself a nice drinky and careful you don't crack your nuts. Wishing you a pleasant Xmess!
http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/KF/2006/12/DO_or_DIY_with_People_Like_Us_Xmas_Special.mp3
Nothing Special by People Like Us & Kenny G
Here's an album by WFMU's two terrible DJs, People Like Us, and Kenny G.
01. I'm From
02. Wake Up
03. Nothing
04. So Sorry
05. Close To Me
06. You'll Be A
07. More Sorry
08. Counting Time
09. Give Up It's Mine
10. Greatest Nobody
11. It Wouldn't It Be Nice In Yr Face
12. Too Far
13. I've Got You
And here's the full 3 hour WFMU show that this album was edited from - Nothing Special with Kenny G
Kenny G website
Mess Media through Soleilmoon website
Interview with People Like Us by Kenny G on WFMU, one week before this was recorded.