SNOOTY SYNTH LABS, volume 1: I began buying synth records for samples. After getting my feet wet with artists like Tangerine Dream and Eberhard Schoener and the half-ass techno-pop-new-age on labels like Innovative Communication, I began to bin-drift into the 20th century classical and experimental sections, and began finding more and more cold, theoretical, and academic early synth records. They were cheap and abundant, so I bought em all. 

These records were snooty, intimidating, and had their own self-imposed opacity, despite their voluminous liner notes. Musically, I found most of them to be pretty similar. They all seemed to feature an instantly recognizable flavor of dissonance almost like an electronic sigh, a genre mark for the in-group. Most of all, these records screamed stay away! The artists wanted you to know that they had gotten into very good schools, done all their homework, and gained access not just to the rarified campus synth lab, but to a private discourse and a chin-stroke social scene with mentors and residencies and open invitations to industrial flats in Dusseldorf. 

I went to a public university where I took one experimental music class. There were seven people in it. Three of them worked exclusively in early music. Five of them wore exclusively black turtlenecks. I was a hip hop dj obsessed with finding new sounds. Sometimes I wore a stetson flat cap. They regarded me as I regarded them: with a kind of contemptuous but admiring non-comprehension. Oh the paths we did not take! One day our instructor played us some famous recording: it was just random gongs and percussive crashes and farm animal sounds. Then the instructor said he had a rare copy of the score, placed it on the table and encouraged us to follow along. They all jockeyed for position, and I watched them reading something unintelligible, but giggling superciliously before the good parts, like attendees at a foreign film laughing before the (singsong voice: not funny at all) jokes are translated. But I realized then that it was all just jokes all the way down, and we got along after that.

I've gotten into the dissonance since then. And while I still hold my gleeful and admiring disdain for the trappings of the "snooty synth" genre, that doesn't mean we can't explore and embrace sounds. So here's two hours of synth moves with varying dissonances and granular epiphanies. I invite you into a world you don't have the prerequisites to join.            

Please note: the auto-generated tracklist is inaccurate and incomplete. My braniac drums make computers lose patience. 

ABOUT: Live vinyl and cassette blends to melt the exoskeleton and see through your T2 frame. Broadcasting deep from the quasar mindpiece of DJ t.h.e.o.2 and his top knowledge on the phonograph. Excavating weak genres to reveal the real. All selections shall forever Bump & empirical empires shall forever Fall!

AUTHENTIC BIO: Entrepreneur and carnosaur, DJ t.h.e.o.2 was dubbed the “Prince of Records” in 1976 by Disco King Mario and helped invent the “deadly live wire” scratch technique. During the 80s, after gaining fame throughout, dealt with inner demons. Now, after 20 years out of sight & out of Mind, the Man is back, in Full Force & stronger than Ever! With over 2.6 million records, this Man is still the “Prince of Records!”