193 - Wrapping Up And Winding Down

All comments, questions, and general feedback can be sent to radiobsots@gmail.com.  Record a voice message and send it my way or leave one at the Speakpipe page!

Visit the BSOTS Linktree for all the podcast and social media platforms.

This episode's track list (title / artist / source / license):

1.  Like Comment Share and Subscribe (ft. Mirtel Pohla) by Rando Arand [Bandcamp] (2025)

2.  Squares And Melodies by BTB [Enough Records] (CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0) (2025)

3.  Apple by Sami Konzo [Phonocake] (CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0) (2026)

4.  225 Santa Monica by Eko_Fisk & Gears In The Rain [Zenapolae] (CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0) (2025)

5.  The Long Retreat by Birocratic [Bandcamp] (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0) (2022)

August of 2026 marks the 21st anniversary of Radio BSOTS.  For several years now, I have quietly celebrated in August when the show turns another year older.  This year, I decided to give myself a gift:  permission to walk away.

The podcasting landscape has changed drastically in the past 20 years.  And yes, everything must change.  Had it remained stagnant or frozen in time, it more than likely would not be as popular as it is now.  I feel like I'm a product of a different era, and I question often whether or not I'm built for podcasting's present age.  I'll do my best to explain, but I know myself enough to know that I enjoy the process of recording and editing an episode, the process of putting it together.  Everything that comes after that...not so much.  And all signs as of late are pointing towards stepping away from this mode of expression as a creator.  I still love podcasts.  I still believe in the potential intimacy factor that makes creating and listening to episodes so engaging and enjoyable.  And I'm thankful that I got to produce episodes of my own show for this long and for all of the music and artists Camp Lo-Fi championed along the way.

This is not the last episode, but I'm closer to it than I've ever been.  Thank you for listening.

Theme music edited by Macedonia.  (Much love and thanks to Cy Tru for the original theme.)  ID drop from Kahlief Adams of Spawn On Me.

Other key info:
Macedonia on Mixcloud
Fading Into Obscurity presents What's Your Path, Man? (Side A)
Netlabel Assembly 2026 – Sunday, August 16
The Pivot - What Happens When You Ask “What’s Next?” with Twila Dang & Dominic Lawson

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Radio BSOTS show # 177 - pause. (for Jason Mizell)

 

("J-A-Y are the letters of his name..")

All comments, questions, and general feedback can be sent to radiobsots@gmail.com.  Record a voice message and send it my way or leave one at the Speakpipe page!

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This episode's track list (title / artist / source / license):

1.  "Way Back When (Featuring Chuck D)" by Just Plain Ant [blocSonic] (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
2.  "30​:​5 / moonshine ft. chadah​-​hadassah" by Yashiyah [Bandcamp] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
3.  "Larger Than Life" by Jazz One Beats [Dusted Wax Kingdom] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
4.  "Jazzweek" by Arze Kareem [Jamendo] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
5.  "Ignition" by Mute Speaker [Bandcamp] (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
6.  "91 NITES" by Tha Silent Partner [blocSonic] (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
7.  "Road Warriors" by The Impossebulls [blocSonic] (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
8.  "LoveSigns" by Makaih Beats [Free Music Archive]  (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

For the past two decades, "pause" merely existed as long-form commentary on the BSOTS website.  Roughly a week after Jam Master Jay's murder, the bile in my belly fueled a rant in my brain and it all came spilling out onto my computer keyboard.  More emotional than logical, it wears my sarcasm and cynicism like spike-studded armor.  I'm definitely in my "I said what I said" bag here, back when I had no problems taking an either/or approach when dividing music into rigid yet subjective categories like "commercial" vs. "alternative" and viewing hip-hop as if it were a sonic civil war with only two sides:  "conscious" vs. "gangsta."  I had one foot out the door of the culture and the music when I wrote this and it shows.

Creative Commons licensed tunes break up the commentary, featuring selections from netlabels like blocSonic and Dusted Wax Kingdom as well as cuts scattered across Bandcamp, Jamendo, and the Free Music Archive.  The blocSonic cuts include guest verses from Chuck D of Public Enemy and Darryl "DMC" McDaniels of Run-DMC.  The sound of dusty vinyl underneath certain parts of the commentary comes directly from a project entitled This Is The End, Beautiful Friend by File Under Toner.  The description of this project on the Free Music Archive begins with the following question:  "Are the hiss, crackles, and pops on records protected by copyrights?"  All of the featured sounds are from the locked grooves at the end of various records, which get messed with using delay, reverb and other audio techniques.  I thought that these works added just the right amount of tension at certain times, more than traditional background music would.  The locked grooves running into themselves in this circumstance just sound so stark, like it's occupying the space where Jam Master Jay's cutting and scratching used to reside.

I live with me all the time, enough to know that the longer I hold on to this episode, the more that my own doubts and anxieties will keep me from releasing it into the podosphere, so I have to let it go.  It's going to do whatever it does.  Here's hoping that you will give this one a shot and consider it time well spent.

ID drop courtesy of Kahlief Adams. Theme music by Cy Tru (edited by Macedonia).

Background music:
Charlie Dreaming - Soft Hypnotic
qpe - milk
Ezekiel Honig - Plastic Rumblings
Vanity (Instrumental) by BADLUCK (CC BY 4.0).

Other key info:
Macedonia on Mixcloud
BSOTS on Bondfire Radio
Queue Points Podcast: Episodes 77 and 78
Hip-Hop Can Save America:  Parents Just Don't Understand