Radio BSOTS

For this special extended episode, Macedonia shares his debut live stream for Netlabel Day Radio from July of 2024, a two-hour takeover in celebration of Creative Commons music from across the globe. Featured artists include DJ Spooky, Devin Morrison, EPMD, Rah Digga, Laetitia Sadier, Negativland, and many more.

For the first episode of 2025, Macedonia shares his live stream test run for Netlabel Day Radio from the previous year, showcasing some head-nodding beats from the likes of Bluntspeakers, Comfort Fit, Suhov, and Apes On Tapes. Other episode features include listener feedback, a song in celebration of 20 years of ccMixter, poetic brilliance from the late, great Nikki Giovanni, and much more.

Spotify removing over 500 music episodes from their platform, including the podsafe ones? Hundreds of thousands of hip-hop mixtapes taken offline overnight? The Internet Archive experiencing a cyberattack? Some weird things have occurred in the worlds of music, podcasting, and archiving over the past month and Macedonia offers some thoughts along with a handful of Creative Commons selections. Expect some ocean floor deep techno from King Britt as Scuba, jazz-flavored electronica from Lavoura, introspective hip-hop from A. Billi Free & Uncle El, left-of-center pop from Wizard Of Loneliness, and a brooding downtempo joint from Coldreavers.

As Both Sides Of The Surface quietly acknowledges its 19th anniversary, the podcast feed is given a jolt with the return of the BSOTS GONE (buck)WILD experience, delivering a mix of music ranging from the political to the satirical and just plain silly. Expect a brief observation concerning a calendar with good intentions and selections from Mega Ran, Five Fingers Of Funk, Tha Silent Partner, DJ Ilya Monosov, EllaMaeFlossie, Columbo Black, Mikal Amin & Mista Mayday, The Bran Flakes, 85, and leumas.

Back with another handful of Creative Commons tunes to champion, Macedonia opens with a Shad & Skratch Bastid cut that was co-produced by DJ Jazzy Jeff and closes with a Moki McFly song from an album that won the 2024 Creative Commons Community Music Award for Album Of The Year. Other featured artists in between include NIki J. Crawford, Ultimate Fantastic, DJ Enki, Tab, and Ohad Slavin.

Macedonia shows honor to the legacy of Bondfire Radio by revisiting an episode from 2016, a show that features some of the artists and music championed on the BSOTS on Bondfire broadcast during its first year. This show includes selections from Public Enemy, The Hot 8 Brass Band, NxWorries, Blitz The Ambassador, DJ EFN, DJ Vadim, Semi Hendrix (Ras Kass and Jack Splash), and more.

In the second of two episodes celebrating 18 years of Radio BSOTS, Macedonia discusses podcast quality over quantity, finding community at Bondfire Radio, a single episode released in 2021 that led to him speaking at Afros & Audio, that time that his voice became part of an intro for a netlabel release, the potential kill date that he seriously considered a decade ago, and the insistence on protecting the creative child into adulthood. Featured music includes selections from Devin Morrison, Soul Inscribed, Mikal Amin, CM & Tha Silent Partner, Shlohmo, Core Rhythm & Zajazza, Exmiranda, SHON THA PHENOM, and Nangdo.

As lovers of Black music history, Jay Ray and DJ Sir Daniel have made some incredible strides over the past two years with their podcast, Queue Points. The show has quickly become a mainstay in the Camp Lo-Fi podcast queue. As a BSOTS feed bonus, I am pleased to share this special episode of Queue Points with you, one where I joined the dynamic duo as a guest in their exploration of trip hop and drum and bass. Enjoy the show! Queue Points - The Power of the Drop: Trip Hop and Drum & Bass Shook The World There was a rumble coming out of the UK in the early-1990s. With the heavy influence of hip-hop came new styles that changed the way many experienced the music they loved. From the early days of Jungle that birthed Drum and Bass to to Trip Hops genre bending sounds, the crew continues our musical journey to the UK with, guest, Jason Randall Smith of Radio BSOTS. Follow Queue Points Facebook: https://facebook.com/queuepointspod Instagram: https://instagram.com/queuepointspod Twitter: https://twitter.com/queuepointspod TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@queuepointspod

Macedonia celebrates 18 years of BSOTS by reflecting on the show's development and challenges in its early years. A handful of independent and Creative Commons selections provide the soundtrack, including works from Comfort Fit, Friends Or Whatever, Lovespirals, Jonny Sonic, Cosmic Analog Ensemble, and more.

Another Creative Commons crate digging session uncovers gems from DJ Harrison, Yung Miss, niteffect, J. Lang, Close Counters, and The Polish Ambassador featuring Kool Keith.

The second installment of a two-part interview with Douglas Whitfield, co-founder of the Creative Commons Community Music Awards. Doug discusses netlabels as sonic curators, what started the CC Listening Parties on YouTube, and future plans for a CC Community Music Hall of Fame. Featured music includes works from Headsnack, Revolution Void, Carsie Blanton, CM and The Silent Partner, and Satori.

The first of a two-part interview with Douglas Whitfield, co-founder of the Creative Commons Community Music Awards. Between learning Doug's CC origin story and examining the functionality of the licenses behind the music, songs are featured from Natasha Beller, Kid Data, Wiseman, and Spiedkiks (2023 CCCMA Winners of Album and Track Of The Year).

BSOTS returns with a renewed focus on Creative Commons licensed music and the joys of virtual crate digging. The featured tracks in this show represent a mix of tunes from prior BSOTS episodes alongside selections receiving their first spins, cutting across genre and released between 2009 and 2023. Artists include Public Enemy, Nikki Giovanni, Kidkanevil, Wals, Niki J Crawford, Isak Gaines, and Yoko Absorbing with guest appearances from Brother Ali and Oddisee.

Macedonia revisits his own commentary from 20 years ago, written shortly after Jam Master Jay's murder. Features hip-hop cuts from the Creative Commons universe including guest verses from Chuck D of Public Enemy and Darryl "DMC" McDaniels. Artists include The Impossebulls, Tha Silent Partner, Just Plain Ant, Mute Speaker, Yashiyah, and more.

Macedonia reemerges from podcast hibernation to survey a pandemic-struck earth through beats, bass, rhymes, rants, and a 17 year-old blog entry. Featured artists include DJ Spooky, A.Moss, Rashad thaPoet, Talons, Phresoul, Rabbi Darkside, and more.

In this season of DMCA takedown notices raining down on podcasters, Macedonia reminisces on an earlier era of podsafe music and plays some Creative Commons tunes to keep the RIAA at bay. Artists include Mega Ran, Amerigo Gazaway, Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble, Mos Emvy, Tab, and more.

The final installment of the Tranquil Beats series presents an hour's worth of instrumental beats and downtempo gems. Featured artists include Machinedrum, Will Sessions, DJ Harrison, KRTS, Julien Dyne, and much more.

Macedonia reflects on The Summer That Wasn't, quarantine restrictions, racial injustice, and the choice between reflecting the times versus prioritizing joy as a Black creator. Featuring music from Amerigo Gazaway, Rah Digga, KRTS, Zengineers, C-Doc, Mikal Amin, Sir Tumes, and more.

The chilled out series of instrumental mixes continues with a collection of lush, jazzy, and atmospheric selections from the likes of Jon Hopkins, Funki Porcini, Lovespirals, Ohbliv, Lee Rosevere, Affelaye, The Jet Age Of Tomorrow, and more.

Show #171 enters 2020 in BUCKWILD mode with a delayed transmission from December of 2019. As sentiments are expressed on dealing with self-doubt and holding onto creativity at all costs, music is featured from Flying Lotus, DJ Shadow, Little Simz, Rodney P, Vula Viel, Mikal Amin, and many more. This episode is NOT WORKSAFE.