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Not A Diving Podcast with Scuba
#037 Sister Bliss: Faithless after Maxi, raving in the 90s, and the power of a global hit
Season 2, Ep. 37
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Music Not Diving is supported by Acid Nation (formerly AC55ID)... head over to www.acidnation.com to check out the fastest growing electronic music marketplace, a central hub for music discovery, streaming and purchasing!
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Watch the video episodes of Music Not Diving over at youtube.com/@WeNotDiving
Sister Bliss is the musical driving force behind one of the biggest dance acts of all time - Faithless.
We discuss her early period as a DJ, linking up with Rollo and launching Cheeky Records from home, meeting the late, great Maxi Jazz and forming Faithless. And of course we get into the hits and the differing process of music making over the years.
This is a great conversation with a true legend of UK music!
00:00 Brought to you by Acid Nation
03:00 Sister Bliss
05:10 Releasing music now vs then
07:05 Champion sound & the double-album idea
09:15 Invisible gatekeepers
10:35 Forever Free, Maxi & the meaning of freedom
12:10 Vinyl culture & record-shop life
23:30 Early musical influences
29:45 The cassette demo that changed everything
31:10 Camden studios, sushi & late nights
33:00 Meeting Maxi
36:40 DJing, dropping out & taking the leap
41:10 Cheeky Records
48:00 Making the first album
55:30 Making music now: tools, plugins & overload
01:00:40 The future of creativity
01:02:45 Memory, archives & coming full circle
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If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.
You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.
Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.
Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlist
Chapters:
00:00 Brought to you by Acid Nation
03:00 Sister Bliss
05:10 Releasing music now vs then
07:05 Champion sound & the double-album idea
09:15 Invisible gatekeepers
10:35 Forever Free, Maxi & the meaning of freedom
12:10 Vinyl culture & record-shop life
23:30 Early musical influences
29:45 The cassette demo that changed everything
31:10 Camden studios, sushi & late nights
33:00 Meeting Maxi
36:40 DJing, dropping out & taking the leap
41:10 Cheeky Records
48:00 Making the first album
55:30 Making music now: tools, plugins & overload
01:00:40 The future of creativity
01:02:45 Memory, archives & coming full circle
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55. #55 Gavilán Rayna Russom: politics, DJing, analog synths, and LCD Soundsystem
01:08:11||Season 2, Ep. 55I'm playing all night long at Venue MOT in London on 14 Nov. Grab a ticket here: https://ra.co/events/2527068Sign up for free to join our community.--Gavilán Rayna Russom is a producer, DJ, and interdisciplinary artist based in New York. A former member of LCD Soundsystem, she has a new album under her Black Meteoric Star alias entitled Wet. We discuss her time working at DFA and eventually joining and then leaving LCD Soundsystem, her previous time as an analog synth engineer, as well as the new album and the Black Meteoric Star alias more generally. We also get into the political situation in the US and the way it affects her work, and also her long term journey as a DJ from playing the high school prom all the way to Berghain. This is a good one, get involved! --MERCH: Support the podcast with a purchase from our new line of awesome merch. Tees, hoodies, water bottles... etc! Cheap worldwide shipping!Visit the store here: hotflushrecordings.com/shop--Listen to the Not A Diving Club radio show: https://soundcloud.com/scubaofficial/sets/not-a-diving-clubYou can now discuss the show on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MusicNotDiving/If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlist00:00 Intro04:00 LCD Soundsystem21:00 Music and current politics34:00 Recording methods and the new album51:00 How to be a DJ
54. #54 Jend: new ways of connecting music to people
53:41||Season 2, Ep. 54I'm playing all night long at Venue MOT in London on 14 Nov. Sign up for tix here: https://ra.co/pre/2527068Sign up for free to join our community.--Jend is a producer and DJ who has built an impressive following on streaming platforms and social media using a very interesting set of strategies adapting from his time in drop shipping. So we are getting deep into the weeds of digital music marketing on this week's podcast, and while it gets a bit technical in places this is a really interesting conversation from the perspective of building an audience completely independently in a way that just wasn't possible before the digital model.He offers a version of his strategy via his Intellijend platform, which automates many of the processes and makes the whole thing a lot more manageable for the typical expert DAW technician who has never opened Facebook ad manager.We talk about how he came up with these approaches to music marketing and how to implement them, building them into a product for other artists to use, and also the necessity for music to live in the real world and different ways to achieve this in a similar DIY way.This is the antidote to moaning about Spotify and telling people to buy CDs... get involved!--MERCH: Support the podcast with a purchase from our new line of awesome merch. Tees, hoodies, water bottles... etc! Cheap worldwide shipping!Visit the store here: hotflushrecordings.com/shop--Listen to the Not A Diving Club radio show: https://soundcloud.com/scubaofficial/sets/not-a-diving-clubYou can now discuss the show on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MusicNotDiving/If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlist00:00 Intro04:30 Jend09:10 How to market a song26:10 Cynicism, algorithms, and publishing40:00 Dance music in the real world
53. #53: How to be a DJ
37:10||Season 2, Ep. 53I'm playing all night long at Venue MOT in London on 14 Nov. Sign up for tix here: https://ra.co/pre/2527068Sign up for free to join our community.--On the podcast this week...What you need to do to become a DJ in 2026. I mean a good DJ.Why you should learn to beat match, preferably on vinyl.Why you should learn to use Ableton.Why you should take digital marketing seriously.Why you should respect the worst aspects of the industry.This is not an exhaustive study, but it does contain some pretty good pointers.The Resident DJ article mentioned: https://saxe-coulson.medium.com/the-resident-dj-is-infrastructure-too-b2cc760c6f69The Manual by The KLF: https://www.scribd.com/document/955029/KLF-the-ManualBack next week with a guest!--MERCH: Support the podcast with a purchase from our new line of awesome merch. Tees, hoodies, water bottles... etc! Cheap worldwide shipping!Visit the store here: hotflushrecordings.com/shop--Listen to the Not A Diving Club radio show: https://soundcloud.com/scubaofficial/sets/not-a-diving-clubYou can now discuss the show on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MusicNotDiving/If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlist00:00 Intro01:10 DJing on hard mode04:40 How to be a DJ06:11 The techniques10:35 The canon12:20 The basics of Ableton13:55 Warm up and closing17:00 Being the headliner19:45 Tell your story23:20 Identity and tribes25:25 Is all publicity good publicity?30:50 The KLF and The Odyssey
52. #52: Did the promise of AI-human hybrids drive the deals for Distrokid and Kobalt?
38:05||Season 2, Ep. 52On this episode...Why Distrokid selling to CVC will lead to more AI music.What Kobalt selling to Primary Wave means for the majors.Why the industry is counting on the hybrid musicians of the future.Were the Odyssey casting decisions part of the marketing campaign?And what Suki Waterhouse could learn from Boy George...!Read my 2000 word essay on the Burial / dubstep conundrum: https://www.patreon.com/scubaofficial/posts/eyes-back-puzzle-164702147--NEW MERCH STORE: Support the podcast with a purchase from our new line of awesome merch. Tees, hoodies, water bottles... etc! Cheap worldwide shipping!Visit the store here: hotflushrecordings.com/shop--Listen to the Not A Diving Club radio show: https://soundcloud.com/scubaofficial/sets/not-a-diving-clubYou can now discuss the show on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MusicNotDiving/If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlist00:00 Intro02:59 Releases roundup07:40 CVC buys Distrokid15:27 Primary Wave buys Kobalt21:10 AI copyright regulation30:57 Suki Waterhouse and Boy George35:50 Is Christopher Nolan a troll
51. #51: Is the John Summit vs Pete Tong beef real?
31:25||Season 2, Ep. 51Even if it's not just a very effective bit of marketing, John Summit should definitely turn heel. On this episode we also discuss other notable examples of music industry creative stunts including Chuck D vs Flava Flav, Fifty Cent vs Kanye, Green Day vs The Network, and The KLF vs a million pounds. --NEW MERCH STORE: Support the podcast with a purchase from our new line of awesome merch. Tees, hoodies, water bottles... etc! Cheap worldwide shipping!Visit the store here: hotflushrecordings.com/shop--Listen to the Not A Diving Club radio show: https://soundcloud.com/scubaofficial/sets/not-a-diving-clubYou can now discuss the show on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MusicNotDiving/If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlist00:00 Intro02:41 John Summit vs Pete Tong10:00 Chuck D vs Flava Flav15:12 Green Day vs The Network20:06 Fifty Cent vs Kanye West23:05 Joaquin Phoenix 25:24 The KLF vs a million pounds30:12 Conclusions
50. #50: Dance Music Deserves To Be Destroyed By AI
53:31||Season 2, Ep. 50No, really it does. In this episode we discuss a series of articles recommended by friend-of-the-show Darren Hemmings in this substack post.As the title suggests, we consider the ethics of AI music from two separate angles. And finally we look at the increasing dominance of standup comedy in the ecosystem of live events. I will never stand being accused of cynical ragebait! --NEW MERCH STORE: Support the podcast with a purchase from our new line of awesome merch. Tees, hoodies, water bottles... etc! Cheap worldwide shipping!Visit the store here: hotflushrecordings.com/shop--Listen to the Not A Diving Club radio show: https://soundcloud.com/scubaofficial/sets/not-a-diving-clubYou can now discuss the show on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MusicNotDiving/If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlist00:00 Intro03:58 Changes in the business of social media08:08 dBridge Substack post16:35 Is algorithmic influence any different to human influence?19:44 Why musicians hate the press24:52 Dance music deserves to be destroyed by AI35:03 The success of standup comedy 41:37 Transgressive comedy vs music51:48 Conclusions
49. #49: Thoughts on Trillionaires
38:49||Season 2, Ep. 49What does the new age of oligarchy mean for the future of art and the cultural sector?And what can we learn from previous era of extreme inequality?Weighty question on this episode of the podcast...--NEW MERCH STORE: Support the podcast with a purchase from our new line of awesome merch. Tees, hoodies, water bottles... etc! Cheap worldwide shipping!Visit the store here: hotflushrecordings.com/shop--Listen to the Not A Diving Club radio show: https://soundcloud.com/scubaofficial/sets/not-a-diving-clubYou can now discuss the show on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MusicNotDiving/If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlist00:00 Intro02:30 Elon, Tesla, and SpaceX07:23 The Gilded Age10:34 Andrew Carnegie27:27 Busting the Trusts31:24 Help needed now36:36 How left wing are you?
48. #48: I was WRONG about music and corporate money
28:54||Season 2, Ep. 48NEW MERCH STORE: Support the podcast with a purchase from our new line of awesome merch. Tees, hoodies, water bottles... etc! Cheap worldwide shipping!Visit the store here: hotflushrecordings.com/shop--Corporate money is the wellspring of great art... discuss!Also, the demise of Nina, Juno Download, and eventually Subvert. --Listen to the Not A Diving Club radio show: https://soundcloud.com/scubaofficial/sets/not-a-diving-clubYou can now discuss the show on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MusicNotDiving/If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlist00:00 Intro03:18 Money and art11:04 Downloads are dead23.33 Conclusions
47. #47 Carl Craig: from Motown to Techno via The Electrifying Mojo
01:34:59||Season 2, Ep. 47NEW MERCH STORE: Support the podcast with a purchase from our new line of awesome merch. Tees, hoodies, water bottles... etc! Cheap worldwide shipping!Visit the store here: hotflushrecordings.com/shop--Carl Craig is a producer, DJ, and label owner from Detroit. A feature-length documentary, Desire: The Carl Craig Story, is available to stream now. Listen to the reissue of 'Meditations' LP.We discuss the history of Detroit music, the development of techno, the influence of other areas of popular culture on dance music, and the breadth of his musical experiences from playing guitar in bands as a teenager to being a current artist-in-residence at Michigan State University.This is a conversation with a true legend who does not disappoint! --Listen to the Not A Diving Club radio show: https://soundcloud.com/swufm/scuba-not-a-diving-club-14-1You can now discuss the show on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MusicNotDiving/If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlist00:00 Intro02:00 The documentary07:15 Judging artists' work14:08 Jungle and the UK rave scene20:29 Breakthrough and early material25:20 Popular culture and dance music31:55 Collaboration and solo work35:48 Bring back guitars41:55 The Electrifying Mojo54:46 Techno and Motown01:01:58 Frankfurt vs Berlin01:08:50 Black music and diversity01:19:47 Artist in residence at MSUFCU