Audio Wanderer

This episode was inspired by numbers stations, and by extension the Cold War and where it crosses over into the modern era of military cybersecurity. I could go on and on about how fascinating and disturbing these spy radio stations are, but hopefully I’ve conveyed that in the podcast so I won’t.

The cover art was once again provided by Tansy Undercrypt, my amazing wife and (among other things) producer of Precarious Audio Theater.

Song titles for Episode 6 (using the term “song” rather loosely):

1. AW6 (Intro)
2. Perimeter
3. UVB-76
4. Hostiles
5. BE
6. Crypto
7. 7426
8. The Source of the Glow
9. Worm
10. The Petrov Alternative

If you enjoy this sort of thing, I also recommend checking these out:

The Conet Project: The definitive collection of raw numbers stations recordings and certified nightmare fuel.

Number Stations: Released by PublicStations Lab in 2010, this is a collection of various artists interpreting and incorporating numbers station material.

Number Stations part II: Released by PublicStations Lab this March, along the same lines and just as good.

Dark Ambient #33: All of the Dark Ambient podcasts are good; this is the Numbers episode.

This episode was strongly inspired by the Arabian Nights in general and one story in particular: The City of Many-Columned Iram.

The cover art for this episode was provided by the lovely and talented Tansy Undercrypt, creator of Precarious Audio Theater (among other things).

Song Titles for Episode 5:

1. Desert Night
2. Empty City
3. Caliph
4. Building Paradise
5. A Mighty Rushing
6. Shaddad’s Tomb

The original storyline involved a fight scene in the final vault between the bone thief and the protagonist, which was supposed to be song 4. When I was working on song 3, I realized that the bone thief had already won the conflict in the previous song.  The big necromantic fight music will have to wait for another time.

I’m not sure when this episode turned into a D&D module in my head, but that’s pretty much what happened.

Song titles for Episode 4:

1. Silent as Thieves
2. Hidden Caverns
3. Bonecrafting

I started out thinking, “Iowa.  Huh.  Maybe I’ll go with a Children of the Corn kind of thing.”  That’s not where it went at all.

Song titles for Episode 3:

1. Closer to Thee
2. Trying to Remember
3. Evil Days

Many years ago, I ran a BBS called Freestation Seshat to host games of VGA Planets for my friends.  The name is a reference to the Egyptian patron goddess of libraries, among other things.

Inspiration for this episode includes a pile of sci-fi soundtracks, particularly Christopher Franke‘s wonderful Babylon 5 music.

Song titles for Episode 2:

1. Data Courier
2. Port Seshat
3. A Meeting of Peers
4. Alarm Party

I’ve been doing the theme and background music for Precarious, but when Tansy asked if I’d be interested in having an entire section of the next podcast dedicated to a mini-soundtrack, I was nervous since it’s a bit of a departure from the usual audio theater fare.  I like how it all turned out though, proving once again that she knows what she’s doing.

This episode took inspiration from Angelo Badalamenti‘s iconic Twin Peaks soundtracks.

Going forward, I’ll post the episode notes shortly after the podcast is up.

Song titles for Episode 1:

1. Unseemly Theme
2. 100 Yards from Main Street
3. I Do Not Dream of Them

When I was initially figuring out what I wanted to do with the podcast, I brainstormed a list of places that would be fun to write music about.  Home wasn’t on the list, but it seemed like a logical place to start.

All of the texts quoted are in the public domain.  Thanks to Ken Larson for finding a great reference book on the Holy Roman Empire.

Having spent many years performing live and recording almost nothing, I reached the end of 2009 a bit frustrated.  I knew I needed to start recording, but I didn’t know what kind of framework would keep me focused.  An inspiration for a monthly podcast of original music came from Jim Butler Music and the Dark Ambient Music Podcast in particular, which I highly recommend.

I am constantly inspired by the amazing and talented Tansy Undercrypt, creator and producer of Precarious Audio Theater (among other things).

Song Titles for Episode 0:

1. Found in Books
2. Transport

Looks like iTunes is having some “technical difficulties” with accepting new podcast feeds, so the iTunes podcast link isn’t working. I’ll have it going as soon as I can.

Edit: It’s working now.