This week on CrossFade, it’s all about the 𝓋𝒾𝒷𝑒𝓈 – which makes it a great episode for writer, critic, and podcast host Bijan Stephen’s debut!

Uyama Hiroto was a close friend and collaborator with Nujabes (known best for his Samurai Champloo soundtrack and being an influential artist in the jazz/hip-hop space), and it shows in “freeform jazz,” his 2017 record featuring a lot of chill instrumental work and music that, as Bijan put it, lights up the pleasure centers of your brain. 𝒱𝒾𝒷𝑒𝓈 aren’t always posi, of course, so Matt’s pick, Joy Division’s “Unknown Pleasures,” is an early post-punk record marked by the tragedy of vocalist Ian Curtis’s early death and the oddball production style that makes it a sonic journey more than 30 years after its release.

Thanks for listening!

You can find Bijan’s work at the following links:

• Listen to Eclipsed, Bijan’s podcast on overlooked stories from history: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/eclipsed/id1587958685
• Listen to Fun City, Bijan’s a narrative RPG podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fun-city/id1477094947
• Follow him on Twitter https://twitter.com/bijanstephen and Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/bijanstephen
• Read his writing about Twitch and internet culture: https://www.theverge.com/authors/bijan-stephen
• On music: https://www.thenation.com/authors/bijan-stephen/
• On games: https://culture.org/contributor/bijan-stephen/

“This Searing Light, the Sun and Everything Else: Joy Division: the Oral History” by Jon Savage: https://www.roughtrade.com/us/jon-savage/this-searing-light-the-sun-and-everything-else-joy-division-the-oral-history

We’d love it if you’d rate and review CrossFade on iTunes, ‘cause it means more people can find the show and love it, too! You can find Matt and Jason on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MattHelgeson and https://twitter.com/nintendufus respectively and in the #music channel of the MinnMax Discord server.

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, “Die Off Songbird”: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Uyama Hiroto & Joy Division with Bijan Stephen

5:18 - Uyama Hiroto - “freeform jazz”

10:35 - Taiko

14:43 - Yin and Yang

21:30 - South Side feat. Shing02

24:38 - Into The Freedom

28:13 - Joy Division - “Unknown Pleasures”

30:58 - Disorder

34:43 - New Dawn Fades

39:42 - She’s Lost Control

47:32 - Insight

53:35 - I Remember Nothing

57:45 - Interzone

1:01:15 - Community questions

1:29:20 - “The Girl from Ipanema” by Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto & João Gilberto (suggested by Zeth Hillman-Johnson)