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May 2008 Profile:
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By Nina Khachatourian
Cyberina Flux was singing along with the radio repeating "Yack Yack Yack Yack" from Billy Joel's song "Movin' Out" before she could walk. At age 10 she got involved in the strings program school by playing upright bass and thus began her love affair with actively playing and performing music. By age 12 she discovered the world beyond pop music, and everything snowballed after that.
Since those early years, she has flourished into a successful dj and quite the music aficionado. You may have seen her play at a series of monthly Saturday night events at Art Landing. She also held down residencies in Dallas at Synergy, and at the underground warehouse parties called Prodeathrave. She has played numerous times at The Church, and at Underworld in Houston. She is currently involved with East Side Psy collective djing various parties.
The biggest constant in her life; and what she's best known for is her long running show, Rocket Radio, which airs every Friday night on KNON 89.3 FM.
But make no mistake folks - she still can jam out on her upright bass at a moments notice.
What led you to djing ?
First and foremost I think my drive to start djing came from the void that came after finishing high school. I no longer had a medium in which to perform music for people. When I made my first attempt to get a dj gig, I was greeted by a guy who literally told me that girls don't spin, and when they did it was just a novelty. I didn't give it a second thought until DJ Stereotype brought it up, and kind of pushed the issue. It was from the mutual support of DJ Stereotype and Per that encouraged me to stop turning down opportunities, and just do it.
How long has your show, Rocket Radio, been on the air?
Rocket Radio was born the week of Independence Day in 2001. Prior to that, I began assisting DJ Stereotype on The Grey Zone since February 1999. Very soon after I started, he suggested I apply for an open Sunday night slot, and I declined on the basis that I didn't feel comfortable on air. He spent the next 2 years using the last hour of The Grey Zone to train me in hopes I would take the next open slot that came along. Unfortunately, the next open slot came with his passing.
What is the philosophy behind the show? And what kind of music can people expect to hear each week?
In early 1998, I had made a post online about electronic music vs. "rock" music. The general essence of the message was that electronic instruments are a new class of instrumentation, and we should celebrate that. We should not however, give up everything else just because we have a new toy. DJ Stereotype described his show as "...the grey zone between rock, industrial, and dance music" and he liked what I had to say enough to invite me to join him on The Grey Zone. I've tried to keep with that same kind of philosophy, and I gear Rocket Radio towards music in which technology has significantly influenced the instrumentation and sound.
Can you elaborate on that a little more?
For many people, electronic music is a genre in, and of itself. I see it slightly differently. Electronic music producers have taken influence from every genre known to man: blues, every era of classical music, rock, and music from around the world. From that, and the natural progressions that have come from the intuitiveness and creativity of electronic musicians, those influences have melded into new genres of music. Who could deny the soul and funk in house music, the martial qualities in EBM, and the blues in trip hop?
I very truly attempt to represent it all on Rocket Radio, though its vastness is far beyond a 4 hour weekly radio program. The end product turns out to be frequent 180 degree shifts in style between the breaks. I am often guided by the people who call in, and build blocks to match the style of the songs requested. You're always guaranteed to hear blocks of some of my personal favorite genres like Industrial, IDM, trance, and drum and bass. What comes between, though, is truly anyone's guess as it changes all of the time.
KNON has been a staple in Dallas since 1983, What is the biggest benefit to having a show on a public radio station?
First and foremost, I can do pretty much anything I want as long as it's legal and is centered around modern music. For those 4 hours, I have the assignment to represent electronic music, and am given pretty much a free license to do that however I see fit. There is no one building my playlists for me, dictating what songs I should play, or what songs I can't play. Since we are a community radio station, I'm actually encouraged to support local music. Since KNON is known for supporting Dallas musicians, they come to me just as frequently as I seek them out. I have an entire block of time on each show dedicated to sets by local and visiting DJs and producers. The other big bonus is that we aren't a commercial station and therefore the concentration is not on playing the music that will draw the most sales for advertising to specific demographics. We have more freedom to explore music as a product of culture.
This can best be described by the words of William Gibson in the Rolling Stone article that Rocket Radio was named after. He uses the term "Net" to describe mass media, and he says:
"In the Seventies the Net writhed with growth. Gaps began to close. A paradox became increasingly evident: While artists needed the Net in order to reach a mass audience, it seemed to be the gaps through which the best art emerged."
Public radio stations such as KNON are one of those gaps.
