“Primitive Sound System - Update 002: Verifiably Awesome!” by Richard F. Yates

After some finagling, I discovered that I was incorrect about Radionomy not being able to recognize a number of the songs that I’ve uploaded. (It turns out that I’m just REALLY impatient.) I tried uploading a song by The Shamen (“Destination Eschaton,” which is full of Illuminati references…) and the upload process stalled, giving me a little, yellow exclamation point---which I took to mean that the host site couldn’t recognize or verify my song, so I gave up and went to bed. The next morning when I got up and checked the site, the exclamation point was GONE and the song was “verified.” I was happy, because I really like that song and wanted to play it. Next, I thought to myself, “Maybe I was just too impatient, and some of those other songs that I tried to upload might have just needed more time to be recognized.” (I’m paraphrasing, of course, because I don’t really remember what I thought to myself…) And so I re-uploaded a bunch of the songs that I thought failed before, and almost all of them were quickly recognized the 2nd time I tried!!! Excellent. The Specials, Vicious Pink, Misfits, D-Mob, etc., etc., etc…. All up and running now!

At this point, only one cut has failed to be verifiable, the song, “Shock Treatment” by Richard O’Brien and Patricia Quinn, from the soundtrack to the sequel to THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. I’ve had a couple of songs upload and be verified, but with the wrong artist or title info, which is frustrating. In most cases, I’m just deleting the song if it’s not the proper info, but in a couple of cases, I’ve just left it and written a note in the song’s file that the title or artist information was incorrect.

Overall, though, I’m very happy with the host, and the station has been up and running for about a week! If you haven’t yet, click on by and give it a listen!!!

http://primitivesoundsystem.playtheradio.com/

---Richard F. Yates
(Commander in Cheap of The Primitive Entertainment Workshop)

https://primitiveentertainment.wordpress.com
https://www.patreon.com/primitiveentertainment
http://readadamnbookwithrfy.blogspot.com
http://primitivesoundsystem.playtheradio.com/

“Primitive Sound System – Update 001: Roll Call!”

Here’s a list of the bands that have been uploaded to the station since last weekend (along with the genres that they seem closest to falling in…) Should you choose to listen to the STATION, this is the type of stuff you are likely to hear!!! Also, if you like long lists of bands, you might think this post is fun!

808 State – techno
A3 – techno
Adam & The Ants – new wave, post-punk, pop
Alien Sex Fiend – goth, industrial, experimental rock, electro (they’re all over the place)
And One – industrial, ebm
Bad Manners – ska
The Bad Plus – jazz
Bassnectar – dubstep, techno, experimental electro
Beat Pulse Mecca – techno
Big Face – nu-rave, dance rock
Bjork – new wave, alternative, experimental, techno, electro, lounge, weird
Blondie – new wave, synth-pop, pop, disco
Blue Oyster Cult – classic rock
Bob Dylan – classic rock
Book of Love – new wave, synth-pop, electro
Bratmobile – punk, indie rock
The Breeders – grunge, alternative
The Buggles – new wave
Cab Calloway – jazz, swing
Captain Sensible – new wave, post-punk
The Chemical Brothers – techno
Cosmo & Dibbs – techno
Cotton Mather – indie rock, alternative
Crystal Castles – electro, dance rock, experimental, witch-house
The Cult – goth, post-punk, new wave, rock
The Cure – punk, post-punk, goth, new wave, alternative, electro… a little bit of everything
The Damned – punk, new wave, goth, post-punk
David Bowie – David Bowie did it all…
The Death Set – punk, synth-pop, electro-rock
Depeche Mode – new wave, synth-pop, alternative
Devo – punk, new wave, synth-punk, electro, synth-pop, experimental
Die Antwoord – hip hop, electro, techno, freak
Dr. Calculus – new wave, synth-pop, electro
Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show – classic rock
Duran Duran – new wave, synth-pop, pop, new romantic
Echo & The Bunnymen – new wave, post-punk
Erasure – new wave, synth-pop, electro
The Farm – electro-rock, dance-rock, alternative
Fatboy Slim – techno
Fishbone – ska, post-punk, funk, funk-rock
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention – classic rock, psychedelic
Frankie Knuckles – house
Fulflej – alternative, grunge
Funkadelic – funk, funk-rock
Furnace – goth, alternative
Gang of Four – punk, post-punk, new wave
Gary Numan – new wave, synth-pop, post-punk, electro, experimental
The Germs – punk
Groovie Ghoulies – punk, indie rock, monster rock
Happy Mondays – britpop, alternative, house, dance rock
Hithouse – house
The Housemartins – new wave, alternative
Human Resource – techno
The Idle Race – classic rock
Information Society – new wave, synth-pop, electro, techno
Instant Funk – funk, disco
INXS – new wave, alternative
Jape – alternative, indie rock, techno (when remixed)
Joey Scarbury – pop, easy listening
The Kinks – classic rock, gods among men
Kiss – glam rock, classic rock, hard rock
Kon Kan – new wave, synth-pop, electro, dance rock
The Legendary Pink Dots – goth, new wave, electro, experimental, psychedelic, uber-freak
Les Rita Mitsouko – new wave, synth-pop, electro, alternative
Lionrock – techno, alternative, dub
Madness – ska, new wave, pop
Martin Denny – jazz, lounge, exotica
Meco – disco
M.E.S.H. – house, acid house
mind.in.a.box – industrial, ebm, electro, future-pop
Minutemen – punk, post-punk
Mochipet – techno, dubstep, electro
Modern English – new wave
Mr. Oizo – electro, techno, experimental
Neneh Cherry – synth-pop, pop
Newcleus – hip hop, electro
Nuclear Family – electro, dance noise
Obscure FM – techno
The Orb – techno, electro, ambient, experimental
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – new wave, synth-pop, post-punk, experimental
Our Daughter’s Wedding – new wave, synth-pop
Pink Floyd – classic rock, psychedelic
The Postal Service – alternative, synth-pop, indie rock, dance rock
Prince – funk, funk-rock, electro, r&b, synth-pop
The Prodigy – techno, EVERY kind of techno
Public Image Ltd. – punk, post-punk, new wave, alternative, experimental
PUD – punk
Quando Quango – new wave, synth-pop, dance rock
Re-Flex – new wave, synth-pop
Revenge – new wave, synth-pop, post-punk, electro
Saint Etienne – trip hop, electro, future-house, acid-jazz
Schoolhouse Rock – rock, pop, educational, novelty
Scratch Acid – punk, post-punk, alternative
Sex Gang Children – goth, post-punk
The Shins – indie rock, alternative
Siouxsie and The Banshees – punk, post-punk, goth, electro, experimental, alternative
Skinny Puppy – industrial, goth, electro, dub, experimental
Sly & Robbie – dub, reggae, dancehall, electro, techno
Smart E’s – techno
Soft Cell – new wave, synth-pop, electro, sleaze
Special AKA – ska
Subway Sect – punk, post-punk
Suicidal Tendencies – punk
Swanky Tunes & Far East Movement – techno, hip hop, electro
The The – new wave, alternative, post-punk
Throbbing Gristle – industrial, experimental
Trevor Simpson & The Cataracs – techno, hip hop, electro
TR/ST – electro, goth, synth-pop
Underworld – techno
Vampire Rodents – industrial, goth, experimental
Violent Femmes – new wave, alternative
Virgin Prunes – goth, post-punk, experimental
“Weird Al” Yankovic – novelty, comedy
Whodini – hip hop
The Wombats – electro-rock, nu-rave, indie rock
Yes – classic rock, prog rock


---Richard F. Yates
(Commander in Cheap of The Primitive Entertainment Workshop)

https://primitiveentertainment.wordpress.com
https://www.patreon.com/primitiveentertainment
http://readadamnbookwithrfy.blogspot.com
http://primitivesoundsystem.playtheradio.com/

“RADIO: Primitive Sound System” by Richard F. Yates

Greetings Sports Fans and All the Ships at Sea!

FLASH!

This just in: The Primitive Entertainment Workshop has entered the online streaming radio station business! The PRIMITIVE SOUND SYSTEM is now up and running, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, for your listening pleasure!

The Primitive Sound System is hosted on Radionomy, and you can listen online in the flash player (after a short ad), which you can “pop out” of the page and hide in the background while you’re doing other stuff. I had the show playing all day on Sunday while I was working online, and the program only stopped to buffer once in an 8 or 9 hour period. There is also a “Radionomy” app available for Android, for those who like to listen on the go. I downloaded and tested the app, and it seemed to work fine. I was able to find my station in a matter of seconds with the search bar (just typed in “Primitive Sound System” and it was the first station on the list), and after another quick “advert,” it ran without any problems. So there are a few different ways to listen, depending on your needs and desires!

The station plays, primarily, music of the alternative and/or electronic persuasions. As the sole programmer, I come from the NEW WAVE generation, so the show is heavily 80’s weighted, particularly by synth-pop, post-punk, and “college” rock songs, but there is also a major TECHNO element to the mix. I actually like a variety of different music styles, so don’t be too surprised if you hear jazz or classic rock or reggae or novelty tunes or…who knows…

I’ve been collecting music since the early 1980s, and I’ve been a DJ for decades. My first gig was playing music at a friend’s house party on a dual cassette-deck back in 1988. I “went pro” in 1996 when I was hired to play techno music at a bar in Kelso, WA, and about a year later I started working for a local DJ company doing weddings, school dances, company picnics, and all that junk---and I still work the odd job for those folks every now and then. I’ve also done podcasts and live online radio shows in the past, but I’ve never RUN THE WHOLE SHOW, until now!

The part that I've found MOST fun so far has been making the personal promos. We’re pretty LOW-TECH here at the Workshop, so I’ve been recording audio with my phone, then using a freeware audio program (Audacity) to edit and enhance the files. I’ve done my best Tiny Tim impression and sung a promo, I’ve tried (very VERY badly) to do a Cagney impression, I’ve recorded my wife saying the name of the station and then enhanced her track with some echoes and effects, and I’ve even recorded the stupid cat meowing and mixed it with my younger daughter laughing… I’m hoping in the next week or two to start getting some interviews and maybe some rants recorded to slip in-between the tunes and make the station more “personal.” At this point, however, it’s mostly music.

Here’s some technical stuff / minor complaints that I have with the Radionomy site: (1) – Because of licensing (I’m guessing), the host sight has to “verify” the songs that I upload before they will let me play them. I have a love for old, weird, obscure tunes, though, so a LOT of the songs I’ve uploaded have been unverifiable, so I’m not able to spin some of my favorite songs (like “Nocturnal Me” by Echo and the Bunnymen, or “Take Me Now” by Vicious Pink, or “We Call It Acieed” by D-Mob…) (2) – Every once in a while, say once every 40 minutes or so, the station adds one of a handful of songs to my playlist by some lounge/jazz/new age band, which I’m guessing payed some fee or something to promote their act. I get it---I’m using the host site for free, so they get to take some liberties. I just wish the music was a little more “MY STYLE.” It’s not TOO far off from some of the older ambient or world beat albums that I own, but it’s still a bit unpleasant. (3) – This one’s a minor point, but as I'm a stickler for detail, it’s a bit frustrating. When I upload songs to Radionomy, they have to “find” the tracks, and the artist and title details are “locked” and not editable. Once they verify the track, they call it what they have in their database, and the artist and title data remain uneditable. Sometimes, however, the titles or artist info that they come up with don’t match what I meticulously typed into the computer when I loaded the CD in the first place. For instance, they called the band M.E.S.H. (an acid-house band) “S*M*A*S*H” and that’s just stupid. The band’s only song is “Meet Every Situation Head-On” or "M.E.S.H." It’s printed on my CD cover and everything. In another case, they dropped the remix information from a song I posted by Jape. It was supposed to be “Floating (D.I.M. ReWork)” but they just called it “Floating.” The original, non-remixed version of the song is pretty boring, but when D.I.M. remixed it, the cut came alive, and my whole family likes that version. The audio that plays on the station is still the version that I uploaded, but listeners just won’t know that the track is a remix. Another particularly annoying mess-up happened when I uploaded an obscure old techno track, and Radionomy tried to say it was by Lil Wayne. I just deleted the song…

Those complaints notwithstanding, (none of them are deal breakers) I’m pretty happy with the station and the host, and I hope that listeners find the station entertaining! As I said, we’re hoping to have more ORIGINAL spoken word stuff to play soon, but for now there are a few home-made bits and a bunch of awesome tunes. Give it a listen, and let us know what you think!

---Richard F. Yates
(Commander in Cheap of The Primitive Entertainment Workshop)

https://primitiveentertainment.wordpress.com
https://www.patreon.com/primitiveentertainment
http://readadamnbookwithrfy.blogspot.com
http://primitivesoundsystem.playtheradio.com/

P.S. – This is a list of the first 17 songs played on the P.S.S. It’ll give you some idea of what the station is up to!

---The Breeders – “Safari”
---The Idle Race – “Sitting in My Tree”
---Newcleus – “Jam on It”
---Gary Numan – “Stormtrooper in Drag”
---Jape – “Floating (D.I.M. ReWork)”
---The Bad Plus – “Heart of Glass”
---Alien Sex Fiend – “Radiant City”
---The Cure – “Fire in Cairo”
---Information Society – “I Like the Way You Werk It (Jr. Kain & Ary Mix)”
---Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – “Radio Waves”
---Captain Sensible – “Plastic Arcade”
---Les Rita Mitsouko – “Andy”
---Dr. Hook – “Freakin’ at the Freakers’ Ball”
---PUD – “Mamma (Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Satan)”
---Hithouse – “Jack to the Sound of the Underground”
---Saint Etienne – “Filthy”