Yahoo! On the Road is the first mobile entertainment tour ever done, hosting live shows across two different continents, and featuring artists, comedians, and more who are currently creating a huge buzz globally. The tour started April 29th and will continue in the US for the rest of the month before it’s off to Europe. With that being said, Yahoo! On the Road pulled together Australian natives, Gold Fields and Empire of the Sun for one special night of stunning theatrics and a beaming light show at the House of Blues in Dallas.

First of all, let me just say that the best part about all of this was that it was completely FREE. Yes, I said free. If you actively check Yahoo! News and saw the article announcing the show literally days before it happened, you were probably also lucky enough to score some vouchers that were being passed out Sunday May 19 at different locations throughout Dallas. You were then supposed to arrive early the day of the show to have them redeemed. It was a performance that was fit to capacity for sure. What was really neat was that this entire show was streaming live on Yahoo! for fans from all over the world to see. Who would’ve thought…Dallas would be the city to host such an incredible night? The venue quickly filled up with fans of all ages excited, but none prepared for a show that would be one for the books!

Gold Fields promptly took the stage at around nine. All the way from Australia, this was their very first time playing in Dallas, and for a rather short set, they delivered. Gold Fields is currently touring in support of their latest album, Black Sun. For those who have never heard of Gold Fields before, their sound definitely resembles a sound similar to bands such as Two Door Cinema Club and The Neighbourhood. Although lead singer, Mark Fuller seemed to be a bit more on the relaxed and sluggish side onstage, guitarist, Vin Andanar was the total opposite. He got the crowd moving and shouted to the crowd to chant along from time to time. Judging by the crowd that night, you could tell that although many people had no idea who Gold Fields were, they were digging the rhythmic beats and the crazy drum duo between keyboardist/drummer, Rob Clifton, and second drummer, Ryan D’Sylva. There was even a point when D’Sylva was playing drums with his shirt covering his head. Very odd, but you couldn’t help but keep watching him play his drums like that. One of their hit tunes off of Black Sun that got the crowd moving was “Dark Again”. The band ended their set on an energetic note and let their newly turned fans know they were definitely set on coming back to Dallas. Gold Fields has toured through Texas before in Austin playing at Fun Fun Fun Fest last year and South by Southwest (SXSW) this year.

Finally, it was time for Empire of the Sun to take the stage. The moment every single person in that crowd had been so patiently waiting on since probably four or five in the afternoon while in line to redeem these vouchers. For any attendee of that show, I’m sure he/she will tell you that the wait was worth every minute though. It all started with dancers in full costumes swarming the stage wrapped in clear spheres from the waist up doing the most intricate dancing. Then, brilliance behind Empire of the Sun and vocalist, Luke Steele rose onto the stage through a platform. The makeup, the theatrics, and the vibes were all there that night. Not an aspect of what an Empire of the Sun show would look like could have possibly been missing. Steele strutted the stage in a full costume and trademark golden crown greeting Dallas from left to right with nothing but energy and aggressive guitar riffs. In total, the dancers and Steele did full costume changes three times including one for the encore. Although the band is currently touring on a festival streak and also in support of their upcoming album, Ice on the Dune (out June 18), they played all of their widely known hits off of their very first album, Walking On A Dream, from “We Are the People” to “Swordfish Hotkiss Night”, and of course, “Walking on a Dream” itself. As far as stage presence goes, duo Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore are rather different live. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing, but Littlemore reserved to being on the far side in a stationery spot whereas Steele was all over the place. I guess because most of the work is done together, one would think their onstage interaction would be just as connected. Following their set was an encore that could not have been more fitting for a show such as this one. The crowd clapped in unison and kept cheering and shouting hoping the band would return back on stage for one more song. An entire costume change and minutes later, Empire of the Sun returned to the stage to give the crowd one more dazzling performance of their latest single “Alive” from Ice on the Dune. It became one mega dance party and sing-along that could give any fan of their music goose bumps. It sounds exaggerating, but it’s just one of those shows where you just had to be there to know what I’m talking about. Overall, the entire seventy-minute set was one that could leave fans such as myself talking about it for the rest of this summer.

Check out Empire of the Sun’s encore in Dallas for “Alive” via the Yahoo! On the Road Stream

Say Anything has a lot to talk about. Frontman Max Bemis has been writing about anything and everything on his mind for over a decade now, and his brutally honest, off-the-wall lyrics have been bolstered by a full band’s raw sound. Their music has touched on a lot of genres, but they’ve managed to rise above most of their peers with catchy, creative music and candid lyrics that last. There will never be a day that you won’t want to rock out to “Alive with the Glory of Love” in the car.

The band will be back playing at The Door here in Dallas on Thursday, June 6th alongside Eisley, HVRD, and Northern Faces. Thanks to our friends over at Red Cloud Promotions, we’ve got some tickets for you to win!

Rules:

1. ‘Like’ Radio UTD & The Door Clubs over on Facebook
2. Click ‘Attending’ on the SAY ANYTHING @ THE DOOR Facebook Event
3. Post on the Event Wall your favorite Say Anything song, tagging @RadioUTD

The contest will end on Monday, May 27th. Keep in mind that tickets are still available to purchase over on Prekindle. Until then, let’s go for a little throwback.

Well, don’t fret if you missed out on our last Aziz Ansari giveaway. The comedian, known for his many roles on the screen and off, is nothing but funny. In his latest Buried Alive Tour, Aziz is changing things up a bit,, but don’t be surprised when you thank him after.

The quirky comedian will be going through Dallas in a few weeks and thanks to our friends over at AEG Live, we’ve got some tickets for you to win.

Rules:

1. ‘Like’ Radio UTD & Verizon Theatre at Grand Prarie on Facebook
2. Click ‘Attending’ on the Aziz Ansari Facebook Event Page
3. Post on the Event Wall why we should pick you, tagging @RadioUTD

And just like that, you’ll be entered in. The contest will end on Monday, May 20th at 5PM. We’ll pick a winner and alert you afterwards.

Aziz Ansari will be performing at the Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie on May 31st. Tickets are still available over at the venue website. Did somebody say Randy?

We mentioned a couple of weeks back how stoked we were to attend Kanrocksas. As Kaleidoscope Dream and Good Kid, M.A.A.D City have been on repeat the past few weeks, the end of June can’t be here soon enough.

If you’re bummed you didn’t win the first contest we ran, our friends over at Kanrocksas have given us a second pair of passes to give away. This will be a final contest, so time to get those winning caps on.

Rules:

1. Follow Radio UTD on Instagram
2. Take an Instagram of a summer related activity, what YOU love most about summer, etc. — anything pertaining to Kanrocksas (the location, line-up, festival) gets bonus points.
3. Upload that photo to your Instagram account, tagging @RadioUTD with the hashtags: #summerishere #kanrocksas

All entries must be entered by Monday, May 20th by 5PM. Winners to this contest will win a pair of 2-day passes alongside a sweet camping spot directly across from the festival grounds.

For more information and to purchase single or two-day passes, head over to the Kanrocksas website. While you upload those ‘grams, check out the line-up.

D.R.I., 5/8 @ Trees

This past week was a very busy time for the metalheads around Dallas. On Friday, Club 1919 hosted a hardcore show with Dallas natives Power Trip, along with Downpresser and Take Offense that made their way here from California, as well as a few other locals played that night, too. Absu played the following evening at the Boiler room with Protest, The Black Moriah, and a few others. The shows just keep on coming.

This past Tuesday and Wednesday, I was able to make it out to see two legends of thrash: Suicidal Tendencies and Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, or D.R.I. Both bands performed two of the best shows I’ve seen in a while, providing the fans with plenty of music for some heavy pitting and heavy hitting. The fans were ready — with their patch jackets and all — to thrash around and hit each other as best as they could. Needless to say, while some people woke up for work with a hangover, I came in to work after each show with two of the heaviest bangovers (headbanging hangover) of my life. I was proud.

On Tuesday night, Suicidal Tendencies came by the Granada Theater and rocked my world harder than I could have imagined. Sick of It All opened up for them, pumping up the crowd as best as possible, but nobody there could have been ready for what was to come next. The band attracted more people than I thought, down each of those rows on the floor of the Granada were about 50-100 people each, with easily 100+  packed tightly in the front section to get in as much moshing and stage diving as possible. Even the guitarist and bassist from Hoodrat, set to open up for D.R.I. the next night, were there with their girlfriends ready to bash some bodies themselves.

They opened up the show with “You Can’t Bring Me Down,” and the crowd went berserk almost immediately as the band transitioned into “that pepsi song,” as described by another crowd member after the insanity was over. A few songs in, one person had the balls to go for the very taboo act of stage diving at the Granada. Surprisingly, it went over well, but soon after, drunk patrons climbed up on stage, putting up their index and pinky fingers and then promptly jumping right back off. Luckily, the front section pit was so dense that whoever jumped off was caught right away.

Once they came on stage, the most notable thing I saw was their bassists five string bass with these bright green glowing strings. He shredded that thing all night at the front and center of the stage. He almost made the show for me, at least I thought. It wasn’t until they ended with “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow” that the real fun began. As the crowd chanted “ST, ST, ST” over and over, after a couple of minutes, the drummer came back out for one of the most intense drum solo I’ve ever witnessed. The rest of the band made their appearance shortly after and finished the night off with “Pledge Your Allegiance.” But the best part of the night was during that song when audience members bum-rushed the stage for a giant mosh pit with Suicidal Tendencies themselves. Sweat dripped and bodies flew all across the stage as the drummer made a sly switch-out with the local high school drumming prodigy Mike Mitchell. Mitchell took the drumsticks and played another one of the sickest drum solos I’ve ever seen. It was a great night.

On Wednesday night, I was back at it again to see D.R.I. play at Trees once again on their 31^st anniversary tour. The greatest part about this was that they were playing with the original five piece lineup from back in the day. They brought it on hard opening up with “Hooked” and then “Madman.” In the first few seconds, the crowd started thrashing, swinging, and flat-footing all over the place. D.R.I. kept this going with all of their riffs providing a perfect atmosphere for circle pits galore. They even kept spirits up throughout the show with lead man, Kurt Brecht, reminiscing about how much he missed playing with the other guys on stage that night, and also telling us about how much he loved Texas.

D.R.I., 5/8 @ Trees

Unfortunately though, not every concert is perfect. Trees messed this one up by putting railing up on the floor in front of the stage, normal for many concerts, but atypical at this particular venue. D.R.I. is famous for fan stage diving, and many of the fans, including myself, were anticipating the exhilarating stunt. The other incident that went awry happened in the pit during the second song when one man, who I personally thought looked pretty cool due to his yellow Sex Pistols shirt, started a fight with another man while moshing. It’s one of those things that unfortunately does happen from time to time.

All in all, it was an amazing two nights of music and moshing that I wish I could relive over and over again. I anticipate the return of both artists — just to see if they can top themselves like this again.

If you’re one for great music festivals with the weather all warmed up, we’ve got a little bit of good news. Fort Worth Music Festival is a two-day festival deep in the heart of Cowtown. A variety of acts will perform in the two days of the festival, including but not limited to: Drive By Truckers, Old 97′s, Galactic, The Walkmen, Quaker City Night Hawks, and loads more of local acts to drive the fest wild.

Thanks to our good friends over at Spune Productions, we have some passes to give away to you.

Rules:

1. ‘Like’ Radio UTD & Fort Worth Music Festival on Facebook
2. Click ‘Attending’ on the Fort Worth Music Fest Facebook Event
3. Post on the Event wall your favorite video of a fest artist tagging @RadioUTD

You’ll be entered to win tickets then. Contest will end Monday, May 13th at 5PM. Good times will ensue, so enter, win, and come start off the summer with us.

Tickets are still available to purchase for this event for under $40 over at Forth Worth Music Fest’s website. Let the festivities begin.

Our programming for spring 2013 has ended, so now our eyes are set on the fall semester. That means we’re looking for fresh meat talent. Radio UTD is more than a club, we’re a fundamental facet of UTD student life. Joining us is joining a family; a weird, loud, fun family that digs listening to, playing, and talking about music. If that sounds like something you’re interested in, give us a chance!

We’re looking for DJs as always, with an emphasis on specialty shows (unusual genre, theme, time period, etc.) and talk shows (news, sports, etc.) Additionally, we’re looking for peeps to join a Radio UTD blog team, so writers are encouraged to apply as well – being a DJ is not required! DJs have a weekly two-hour show and blog contributors write for us from home or wherever. All training is provided, so don’t worry if you’re inexperienced.

All the information and application forms can be found here. Click ‘Join’ on our Facebook event as well. The deadline to apply is August 7th, 2013. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Yo La Tengo, 5/4 @ Granada

When seeing a band surrounded by as much critical acclaim as Yo La Tengo, it’s reasonable to expect a show that will blow you away.  Even still, Yo La Tengo’s show at the Dallas’ Granada Theater this Saturday night absolutely shattered expectations.  The seminal indie rock band brought a show more than worthy of their history and legend.

The band arrived onstage a half hour late, but the gorgeous acoustic set that followed more than made up for it.  Before any words were said, they burst into an unusually melancholy acoustic version of the first track from their new album, the already-fan-favorite “Ohm.”  The quiet instruments brought out the voices of the band’s three talented singers, and the slowly building instrumentation kept a six-minute-and-one-chord song not only interesting, but deeply moving.  ”Ohm” gently moved into “Two Trains,” another track from the new album, Fade.  One could hear building cheers from the crowd as they heard the opening bass notes and drum hits of one of the bands more popular songs, “Our Way to Fall.”  They proceeded with a few more classics from their backlog, including an unexpected performance of “Winter A-Go-Go” from Summer Sun, before playing a big chunk of new songs, and finally ending with a beautiful acoustic version of “Tom Courtenay,” sung by drummer Georgia Hubley.

Yo La Tengo, 5/4 @ Granada

The highly intimate acoustic set had the feeling of watching the band jam together in a living room.  Frontman Ira Kaplan seemed to communicate almost as much directly to Georgia and bassist James McNew as he did to the crowd.  The band shared instrumental and vocal duties completely evenly.  The acoustic set was permeated by an air of calmness and sincerity.

However, this almost immediately shifted as soon as they stormed back onstage for their electric set.  Even though they started off the set with one of the most calm, quiet songs in their discography, “Night Falls Over Hoboken,” the band’s dynamic had taken a huge shift, one that more accurately resembled that of their recorded material – Georgia coolly driving the songs with her jazzy, understated drum beats, James providing a strong, heavy backbone by calmly churning out fluid bass lines, with Ira frantically splashing color to cover the expansive canvas built by his band mates.  After passionately singing “Hoboken”’s verses, Ira soon shifted from played a sweetly melodic solo to manipulating his pedals to create vast washes of feedback.  He then assisted Georgia in a drum solo before the song descended into a drone that filled the entire venue.

While the acoustic set was mostly dominated by tracks from their new record, their electric set was packed with ones from their extensive back catalog.  From a dancy, piano-fueled version of “Moby Octopad,” to a thrashing, noisy rendition of “Today Is The Day,” no fan who came expecting classics left disappointed.  Personally, I was happy to see them play songs from one of their earlier records, “Painful,” from which they played a frantic, organ-infused version of “Big Day Coming,” and the calmly moving “From a Motel 6.”

Yo La Tengo, 5/4 @ Granada

When listening to Yo La Tengo’s albums, it’s easy to interpret a lot of the band’s complex sound as studio trickery – an assumption that is absolutely shattered when seen live.  Even the bits of their sound that they cannot recreate live are compensated for by immense showmanship.  During James McNew’s gorgeous, funk-influenced “Mr. Tough,” Ira made up for the lack of a horn section in their live show by wowing the crowd with a beautiful piano solo.  In place of the strings on “Before We Run,” Kaplan placed an evocative guitar solo, and beautiful washes of pure shoegaze-esque noise.  I certainly wasn’t expecting the band to re-create all of the sounds in “Night Falls Over Hoboken” live, but they managed to create a version even more beautiful and involving than the studio track.

When talking about the end of their electric set, it’s admittedly hard for this reviewer to remain objective.  Yo La Tengo have always been known for their shoegaze epics, but they closed the main set with possibly the most towering behemoth in their entire discography – “The Story of Yo La Tango.”  You could see looks of elation form on the crowd’s faces as the song transformed from puzzling keyboard washes to the immense, feedback-drenched main riff.  They started off slow, but grew gradually louder and faster until the song exploded into deafening noise – remaining there for minutes past the song’s already intimidating running time.  Kaplan thrashed around the stage, swinging his guitar around as the feedback grew to nearly unbearable levels.  It didn’t feel like you were merely watching an indie rock band – it felt like you were at a show that would go down in history.  You had to be there.

Yo La Tengo, 5/4 @ Granada

When Yo La Tengo took back the stage for an encore, they performed three covers: Ira’s favorite Monkees song, “The Door Into Summer,” a Jackson Browne classic, “Somebody’s Baby,” and William Devaughn’s “Be Thankful For What You Got,”which was a fan request.  The show ended where it began, coming full circle with two more acoustic songs, including the band’s biggest hit, a melancholy indie pop cover of the disco classic “You Can Have It All.”  Georgia left her position behind the drum set and joined Ira and James in the foreground, but the crowd’s clapping provided more than enough percussion to substitute for the classic beat, providing an incredible end to an already jaw-dropping show.

In the end, if you came to this concert as a big Yo La Tengo fan, you probably left more than satisfied, and if you didn’t  you probably walked out with a new band to add among your most cherished favorites.

Ishi emerged in 2009 with a very powerful balance of cute fun sex appeal from the (ex) lead singer Taylor Rae and raunchy teases from lead male vocalist, John Rudd. Since the release of their original album, Through the Trees, they have performed at various venues and exhausted their first set. No one complained about enjoying the same songs such as Pastel Lights and Shake Your Dandelion, but every attendee waited for the announcement of a new album.

Early this year the prayers were answered when the revered ‘folktronic’ band started to release the newest album testing waters before their masterful performance. Since Taylor left Ishi in early 2011 with guitarist Rob Bastien to start their own project, I was weary if the newest album would have as much hold as the first.

As predicted JT took the new role of being the lead and letting the mellower Becky Middleton to sing the support, but new guitarist Rocky Ottley is fitting in just fine with a new fan base just for him. He featured a plethora of guitar solos that stunned the audience in his white pants kneeling to be that much closer. Girls, and some guys, screamed out in fandom before JT took back his role as the lead.

The pre-show featured a wide variety of bedazzled bosoms and “trashy” fetish frenzy with Nikki Trash Burlesque Experience and followed by the lovely deejay duo Booty Fade. As the crowds multiplied, the braids doubled, faces were painted and glow sticks broken the anticipations grew at a tremendous rate.

As the curtain rose and the lights went out the screams of excitement almost muddled the beginning of Mirror Ball Sky, but quickly changed to a singing crowd. Rudd, featuring spandex and a mirror studded hat floated over the stage on the adoration from the fans. Flying though the new album, no one resisted shouting with him the lyrics to “Emotional Hard Drive” and “Digital Wounds.”

The screaming girls and happy dancing transformed into a sort of religious chant with ISHI. The entire theater chanted the short four letters. I-S-H-I. No one was left behind.  If a lone soul missed it the first time, they picked up quickly singing, “don’t be too hard on yourself, there’s enough love to go around” on the second religiously followed song “Mother Prism.”

Newbies to the music scene surely thought the show was over when the entire band evacuated the stage and the lights in the house rose slightly, but for those that knew the deal, I’m surprised no one fainted from excitement.

Two dancers step on stage in skirts that hung off their bodies and the music kicked in. No one was able to resist the charm when Rudd returned in another outfit. The girls danced as he enjoyed being up there displaying his quirkiest of moves.

All in all, the show was a success. Ishi will live another 2 years fueled off the newest album and the fandom can grow. They blew it out of the water and surpassed any expectations set for the night.

Saturday night at Dada, Akron/Family, Pinkish Black, and M. Geddes Gengras took the stage for what turned out to be one of the most criminally undercrowded and breathtaking shows to come to Dallas in the recent past.

The show began with modular synth wunderkind M. Geddes Gengras playing to 10-15 lucky individuals. His set was short and sweet, building off a patch on his modular synthesizer that basically played itself. After getting into the groove, M. Geddes began playing with a separate synth, improvising a sort of lead line that seemed to come straight out of a soundtrack to a dream. Whirring tones filled the room and shook the building, leaving all there to witness the set in absolute awe.

Next up was the Ft. Worth based Pinkish Black, an uncommon duo of drums and synthesizers/vocals. Immediately after beginning their set, it was clear that Pinkish Black had come to Dada to lull you into a dream world with droning soundscapes, then pummel you out with pounding drums that seemed to come equally from heavy metal and drone rock. The polyrhythms were complex, the tempos were slow, the music was loud, and bodies were moving. The drummer seemed to take the spotlight of the show, while the synthesizer and vocal melodies provided a backdrop for his impressive chops.

Finally, as the clock struck midnight, the mysterious Akron/Family (a long-time favorite of mine) took to the stage. Now performing as a quartet (M. Geddes Gengras has joined them on synthesizers for this tour), the freak-tribal-psych-rockers began their set with a slow cut from their new album Sub Verses called “Sometimes I” that simply demanded attention. Their dynamic was such that it attracted your ear to the tiniest of details. This was contrasted by the next track, which saturated the room with Seth Olinsky’s squalling guitars and Dana Janssen’s grooving drums. Such was the dynamic of the night. Somber, introspective moments, contrasted with pounding rhythms that you couldn’t help but dance to. The small crowd was very reactive to their set, which consisted mostly of cuts from their new album, while embracing the couple of older songs they played (“Light Emerges” and “Ed is a Portal.”) The quartet was heavy into the improvisation of their music and reveled in disorder and sonic chaos. The set closed with a heartbreaking take of Sub Verses closer “Samurai” which found bassist Miles Seaton reciting Robert Pinsky’s gorgeous poem “Samurai Song” over a gentle wall of droning guitar and synthesizer with Dana opting for gentle drums that simply drove the song forward rather than demand attention. All in all, for the third time, Akron/Family left me completely awestruck and longing to hear more. If they’re coming to your neck of the woods, it’s not something you want to miss.

Shortly after the set, I got the chance to sit down with the masterful M. Geddes Gengras, where we discussed his experience with Akron/Family, collaboration in music, and his fascination with synthesizers.

M. Geddes Gengras

Radio UTD: Concerning your involvement with Akron/Family, are you going to be with them full-time?

M. Geddes: Nothing’s certain at this point. We have a bunch of touring set up for the rest of the year in support of the record that just came out  and so I’m going to be touring with them probably through the end of the year at least. We’ll see from there.

Radio UTD: Were you involved in the recording of the album?

M. Geddes: No, I wasn’t on the album. Actually a buddy of mine from Seattle, Tim Mason, recorded all (or most) of the synthesizers on the record, and then they found me in LA. When they played me the record, I thought it was really cool because they recorded the album in Seattle and I heard a Serge on it, and I only know one guy in Seattle with a Serge, and it turned out to be the same guy.

Radio UTD: I know you’re heavily involved in making your own solo material, but you also have knack for getting involved in other projects. How does the process of making music differ when you’re on your own versus playing with another group?

M. Geddes: Well I’ve always enjoyed playing in other people’s bands and learning other people’s music, you know to try and get inside of it and get what they’re trying to get out of it. When I’m by myself, it can be a direct extension of how I’m feeling at the time, especially with the way I do things live, where there’s a lot of improvisation involved. Alone I can react in real time to however I’m feeling. With a band it’s a totally different dynamic; you’re trying to get this group of people to an end goal, but I have a great time doing that, it’s like a fun challenge or puzzle to take on.

Playing with Akron/Family, who’ve been playing together for years, and for a few years as a three piece, they have a really tight dynamic. It’s fun to find a way to slip into their sound, and sort of augment it. It also frees them up to do more stuff. By laying down a lot of the basic melodic lines, it allows Seth to be a lot freer on the guitar, and allows Miles to play guitar, or higher up on the bass. Tonight was a good example of when it goes well, and they really got to be a lot freer as far as improvisation goes.

Radio UTD: What would be your ideal musical collaboration?

M. Geddes: At this point, some of them have already come true. Doing a record with The Congos was something I never thought would happen, but when the opportunity arose I realized it’s something that I definitely wanted to do. As far as other people I’d like to work with, I can’t think of anyone specific. But I’d like to work with people who do things really different than me, because that’s a great way to learn stuff, and get a new perspective on how to do things. I’d like to work with someone who’s more edit and detail oriented, because I tend to make music in a very live sort of way. I’m really into Musique concrète, where every sound is placed very specifically, and everything is kind of an edit. It’d probably drive me crazy, but I think it’d be really interesting. I’ve been trying to incorporate those ideas into my music a little bit, but it’s not something that really comes naturally to me.

Radio UTD: So what interests you about modular synthesizers?

M. Geddes: What interests me is combining things that are set, like an LFO or a sequence that repeats, with random things that are always going to be changing. Within that you can have something that is melodic or musical that’s also continuously evolving, and variable. That’s the interesting aspect for me. You can leave something on for 20 hours, and it will always be changing, but at the same time, any 5-10 minute clip also makes sense. The way the machine works, it also kind of plays itself. You can sort of set something up, and step away, but you can still tweak or turn something.

Radio UTD: Lastly, what have you been jamming out to lately that you could recommend to some of our readers?

M. Geddes: I’m really big into a lot of acts that I know. Sleep∞Over, Pure X, Rene Hell, they’re all old buddies of mine. Keith Fullerton Whitman is my modular synth guru. High level thinking, conceptual synth music, and he’s also a great dude. There’s tons of others out there, but off the top of my head I’d have to say those guys.