An Incredible Experiment. . . with Mark “Frosty” McNeill and Ale Cohen

An Incredible Experiment. . . with Mark “Frosty” McNeill and Ale Cohen

by | Nov 11, 2020 | Creative Innovators Podcast

dublab

Ale Cohen and Mark “Frosty” McNeill share their journey through “experimenting with sound” and community in building the Internet radio collective DUBLAB over the past two decades. They share what inspired and drove them to build this institution and how it has shifted gears in our listen-from-home global era.  

Dublab is not your average radio station. Mark calls it “experimentation with sound” that was formed as a reaction to the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which forced the closure of low-power stations. We talked about online radio as a “misuse of technology” — as a “hack” and a mutant use of tech. Initially, dublab acted as “an excuse to gather the creative community of Los Angeles.” They share stories of how contemporary much often started out of the studio and how dublab became a testing ground for new sound and to honor the music that went before.

Guests: Mark “Frosty” McNeill, Founder, And Alejandro Cohen, Director, Dublab

Alejandro Cohen is a musician and composer from Los Angeles, and the Director of non-profit radio station DUBLAB. Over the last two decades, Cohen has released music under numerous projects and groups including Languis and Pharaohs. He has composed music for TV shows, documentaries, and educational materials, and recorded more than two hundred solo artists and bands as a sound engineer and consultant for dublab.com, KPFK 90.7 FM, Sony/Columbia, and the Society for the Activation of Social Space Through Art and Sound (SASSAS). As Executive Director of the Internet radio station and creative collective DUBLAB, Cohen curates the station’s programming and podcast offerings, fundraises for the organization, and curates the annual ambient music event Tonalism.

Mark “Frosty” McNeill is a DJ, radio producer, sonic curator, filmmaker, and creative community builder based in Los Angeles. He was the founder of dublab.com, a pioneering web radio station that has been exploring wide-spectrum music since 1999. McNeill hosts Celsius Drop, a weekly dublab radio show and has produced long-running programs for Red Bull Radio, Marfa Public Radio, and KPFK 90.7fm. McNeill co-curated/produced the Pacific Breeze compilations of Japanese City Pop music for Light in the Attic Records as well as Somewhere Between, a forthcoming album focused on the more experimental side of Japanese pop. His output on a multitude of international media platforms has focused on sharing transcendent sonic experiences.

Mentioned Links

Email: info@dublab.com

Frosty

Ale

  • Web: https://www.dublab.com/djs/ale

Dublab

 

 

    I Never Knew I was Supposed to Only Do One Thing. . . with Arabian Prince

    I Never Knew I was Supposed to Only Do One Thing. . . with Arabian Prince

    by | Oct 27, 2020 | Creative Innovators Podcast

    Arabian Prince

    In this episode, Arabian Prince shares the rest of the story — both before and after working with NWA.  He shares how he got started with tech, entrepreneurship, and music creation at a young age.  He talks with Gigi about how he taught himself new gaming and creative technologies, and how he brings that energy to his many current adventures. 

    Guest: Arabian Prince, Founder of iNov8 Next Open Labs and GGGOAT; Partner at Covitech; President, Next Careers

    A songwriter, rapper, producer, DJ, technologist Pro Gamer and futurist, Arabian Prince is best known for being a founding member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted rap group N.W.A., West Coast electro music pioneer, and producer of the Grammy-nominated #1 hit song Supersonic. Founder of iNov8 Next Open Labs, GGGOAT, and Partner at Covitech. He also is the President of Next Careers, a non-profit working with 1,500 FIRST Tech Challenge roboticists, grades 7-12, across Southern California.

    His passion for technology led to him create a 3D animation and special effects studio in the ’90s working with companies like Saban Entertainment and Fox, including 100+ videogame, film, and TV  titles for Fox interactive and Vivendi Universal. As a consultant, Arabian has advised many companies on bridging the gap between technology and the youth, while bringing new product innovations to market. He is currently working with his tech partners to bring Open Labs to communities across the country in support of youth, women, diversity, veterans, and anyone else who wants to explore the future of technology.

    Mentioned Links:

    • @OGArabianPrince
    Composers of Tomorrow . . . with Akira Nakano

    Composers of Tomorrow . . . with Akira Nakano

    by | Oct 20, 2020 | Creative Innovators Podcast

    Christopher Hope

    In this episode, Akira Nakano takes us through his journeys in piano performance, music composition, video editing, and starting a non-profit.  These led to the launch of the LA Inception Orchestra, which works with youth and composers to launch Composers of Tomorrow.  He shares his experience in piloting a learning non-profit organization and how his diverse skills and relationships combined into its launch and now growth in this Learn-From-Home era.

    Guest: Akira Nakano, President, CEO, and Artistic Director, Los Angeles Inception Orchestra

    Akira Nakano studied at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in both piano and percussion, soloing with numerous orchestras throughout Southern California as a young performer. He studied with Dr. Heewon Kwon with masterclasses from Jeffrey Kahane, Leon Fleischer, Ilana Vered, John Perry, and Daniel Pollack. He was the winner of the 1st Annual Herbert Zipper Award in Music Composition amongst other piano competitions. Entering UCLA on a full-ride piano performance scholarship, he won the UCLA Concerto Competition and graduated with a B.A. in Film & Television production.

    Mr. Nakano spent over twelve years working as a video editor, writer, producer, and live event director at TRW Space & Electronics and went on to have 20+ years of video marketing/communications and film producing experience which will dovetail into the LA Inception Orchestra’s Virtual Reality/360 music education program. 

    Akira returned to the Zipper Hall stage in March 2012 with a solo recital accompanied by Michael Sushel. In September 2013, he paired with the Dream Orchestra in a concert of Liszt, Rachmaninov, and several original works. Since then, Akira has appeared as a performer/lecturer as part of the Great Speaker Series at the Beach Club in Santa Monica benefiting the California State Parks Foundation; soloed with the Southeast Symphony; and has played multiple engagements at the Huntington Library President’s house for their donor dinners.

    Mentioned Links:

    Inception Leadership Team:

    Additional Links:

    Trust Your Calling . . . with Christopher Hope

    Trust Your Calling . . . with Christopher Hope

    by | Oct 7, 2020 | Creative Innovators Podcast

    Christopher Hope

    In this episode, Christopher Hope shares his journey to found The Loop Lab in Cambridge, MA.  He learned through DJing, community service, religious studies, and partnering with local organizations to deliver a unique blend of higher education, apprenticeships, and entrepreneurship training.  He has grown this nonprofit into a live and virtual training program for womxn and BIPOC youth to build jobs and creative companies in audiovisual industries.  He began locally in The Port neighborhood and now connects with community leaders around the world.  We discussed challenges in launching and growing The Loop Lab and its transformation during the current WFH challenges — including how they are helping other non-profits in their local communities.

    Guest: Christopher Hope, Founder and Exec. Director, The Loop Lab

    Christopher Hope, CTS is the founder and executive director of The Loop Lab, a non-profit dedicated to empowering young adults of color to enter careers in the media arts industry in Cambridge, MA.  Hope received his B.A. from Tufts University, and a Masters at Harvard Divinity School. He now serves on the board of advisors for the George Washingon University School of Business in D.C., for the My Brother’s Keeper Task Force in the Cambridge Mayors office, and on the community board of Lesley College of Art + Design. He is also an alumnus of the Creative Community Fellowship with the National Arts Strategies and has served on board of the South By Southwest festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas.

    Hope is also an accomplished audio-video professional and on-air DJ with a podcast and radio broadcast called “Hip-Hope Radio,” having interviewed guests like Dr. Cornel West.

    The Loop Lab:

    The Loop Lab is a Cambridge-based non-profit social enterprise specializing in media arts internships and digital storytelling.  Their mission is to empower Womxn and People of Color in the media arts to develop careers in audio/video through job training and job placement. As an organization, they are committed to ending inequality and racism through digital storytelling.

    Photo credit – Matt Malikowski/ The Loop Lab

     

    Mentioned Links:
    Solving Problems with Art, VR, and Software . . . with Sasha Samochina

    Solving Problems with Art, VR, and Software . . . with Sasha Samochina

    by | Sep 28, 2020 | Creative Innovators Podcast

    Sasha Samochina

    In this episode, Sasha Samochina shares her journey connecting art, VR, and science together — to her trio of roles at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).  She illustrates why she is “thankful for [her] boldness” in interning and pushing into each new job and new technology.  The Field Museum in Chicago became an opportunity to connect art, science, computing, and social storytelling.  By the end, you’ll see the arc that returned to her desire as a young student to be a teacher and librarian but on an inter/planetary scale.   

    Guest: Sasha Samochina, Deputy Manager of the Ops Lab, Project Lead for ProtoSpace, and the Technical Group Supervisor for the User Interface Development Group (397M) at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

    Sasha Samochina (sam-ocean-uh) is an Emmy award-winning creative technologist. She joined the team at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) after working in New York in the fields of video and web development and in Chicago, where she was a Media Producer at The Field Museum of Natural History. After dreaming up content for JPL’s Communications department, she began to explore the world of 360 videos and XR. Through Sasha’s visualization skills, she pioneered the very first 360° video release on social media for NASA. She is currently the Deputy Manager of the Ops Lab, Project Lead for ProtoSpace, and the Technical Group Supervisor for the User Interface Development Group (397M) at JPL. Sasha dedicated herself to helping create software that incorporates innovative forms of visualization that aid scientists, engineers, and astronauts in transforming their workflow, and she leverages that same experiential technology to educate and inspire the public to engage in STEAM. She loves all things digital, animal, sound-emitting, cosmic, and views the world through XR-colored glasses.

    Mentioned Links: