He Is Losing His Mind and He Feels It Going

If you've tried to tune in lately, you may have noticed that the stream has been... uh, not always there. The reasons for this have been manifold. The server was on the fritz for a while, then I had to switch stream providers, then this most recent outage was because the new stream provider changed the URL of the stream on me. Why would they do such a thing, you ask? Well... because I asked them to. And then forgot to change the link.

Annnnnnnnnnnyway, I think we're stable now. Everything works at the moment, the stream is streaming, and when you click the little play button, music comes out. Fingers crossed...

Pause for Station Identification

This is just a quick note to inform my loyal listening public that Technical Difficulties Radio now has an actual website:

http://www.technicaldifficultiesradio.com

I'm also experimenting with different formats, rather than endlessly recycling the static playlists of yesteryear, so you should start hearing all the latest stuff as soon as I get it (such as Youth Code's much-anticipated "Commitment to Complications", which just landed in my mailbox yesterday afternoon). You should also start hearing the usual glitches until I get the kinks worked out.

And also a brief mea culpa - no live broadcast last Friday or this one, due to circumstances beyond my control (scheduling and illness, respectively). Next Friday should be on.

Onward and upward!

Back in the U.S.S.A.

Technical Difficulties Radio is dead! Long live Technical Difficulties Radio!

We narrowly escaped the event horizon of the black hole left behind when Live365 imploded, and are once again streaming over the netwaves!

Seriously, check this out!

You'll have to forgive the somewhat sloppy web design - I literally put the page together just last night, using HTML and stylesheets I shamelessly stole lovingly borrowed from this blog. I must say, losing Live365 may yet turn out to be a blessing in disguise. All of a sudden, I have a lot more flexibility. Maybe I can display cover art. Maybe I can display the correct cover art. Maybe I can finally fix the weird Unicode issue I always had with Live365, and Leæther Strip, Einstürzende Neubauten, and Δaimon, among many others, can get the props they deserve. Maybe at long last I can finally achieve world domination! Ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaa! Ha! Ha... Uh, where was I? Oh, yeah.

Anyway, yes. Technical Difficulties is back, until the next disaster strikes. Huzzah!

And Then There's Nothing

Well, folks - looks like this is the end of the line for Live365.com. If you haven't seen it, here's the bad news:

We are sad that we are closing our doors at the end of the month. There are always possibilities that we can come back in one form or another, but at this point in time, January 16, 2016 is the last day that Live365's streaming servers and website will be maintained and supported.

I don't know what that implies for Technical Difficulties Radio just yet. Will streams continue to stream forth automatically until the servers crash? Will I be able to send a live feed from my server, or just be restricted to my backup rotation? Or, as seems most likely, will it all just go away?

Compounding this is one of the reasons Live365 folded in the first place: the elimination of the small broadcaster licensing category. Again, I have no idea what this implies for Technical Difficulties Radio. There's a lot of pessimism about the future of independent broadcasting, and concerns that the more successful stations will abruptly find themselves put out of business by spiking royalty payments. But my listenership is not that large (and I like it that way, thank you very much), and so having to pay royalties on each individual stream doesn't sound like it will be that expensive for me, but I just don't know yet.

So. Lots of things up in the air. I am exploring alternatives to Live365 right now, and I will let you all know what happens. It won't necessarily be easy or straightforward, but right now, I think I can manage to keep Technical Difficulties alive. Fingers crossed...

Closed for Remodulation

"So, CHR.... just where have you been for the past month?"

Let me tell you. I've been right here, computerless. The server that hosts the broadcast has had recurring problems with the hard drive that contains the music. Last month, it went belly-up for good. Followed immediately by the other hard drive, the boot drive. The music and playlists were backed up on an external hard drive, but everything else was lost.

The laptop that I use to manage the music and the playlists, well, that had been having problems too. The wi-fi card had failed, and I was tired of trailing a long ethernet cable behind me wherever I went. Both computers went to the shop.

I finally have them both back. The laptop had to go to an Apple-certified technician, who for reasons as yet unexplained, reformatted the hard drive. So, the only data that survived this experience was what I kept on that external hard drive - all the important stuff, but nothing else. I'm... a trifle peeved, let's put it that way. Compounding the peevishness is the fact that the shop failed to call and let me know the computers were ready - I could have had them back late last month.

But no matter. What's done is done. I can now rebuild, and I am rebuilding. As I write this, there is a  brand new, pristine, empty hard drive being filled up with music. I had them upgrade the RAM while they were at it, so the listening experience should be smoother and less prone to the occasional jitters some of you may have experienced in the past. Soon, the real broadcast will resume. The ads will cease, and all will be right with the world. Soon.

Technical Difficulties Live Playlist - September 25, 2015

Artist	Title	Album	Time
OhGr	Water	Welt	4:27
God Module	Sky Shut Down	False Face	4:48
Venetian Snares	10th Circle of Winnipeg	My Love Is a Bulldozer	7:00
Sabotage	Wild Child	Acoustic Costumes	3:59
Motorjesus	Rust	Electric Revelation	4:56
Comaduster	Unfound	Hollow Worlds	3:05
Black December	The Division of Hate	Vol. 1	4:42
Leæther Strip	I Am Him - He Is Me	Untold Stories - The Melancholic Sessions	5:08
Beauty Queen Autopsy	Pumps	Lotharia	3:24
Otto Von Schirach	March of the Dead Instrumental	Magic Triangle	4:24
Nine Inch Nails	Last	Broken	4:44
Wumpscut	Tod Essen Leben Auf (Reactor7X Remix)	DJ Dwarf 13	4:29
Hysteresis	Shikha	There Is No Self	3:29
Black Nail Cabaret	Dance for You	Harry Me Marry Me Bury Me Bite Me	4:56
And One	Everybody Dies Tonight / The End of Your Life	S.T.O.P.	7:44
Näo	Imago	Näo	5:26
Liquid Divine	Comagirl	Autophobia	4:50
Crystal Stilts	Worlds Gone Weird	Nature Noir	2:48
Anklebiter	Werewolf of Portland	Weight of a Pronoun	5:38
Ministry	Smothered Hope (Live)	Box	4:57
Client	Authority	Authority	3:48
The Legendary Pink Dots	When Lenny Meets Lorca	A Perfect Mystery	4:31
Enduser	Retribution	Even Weight	5:06
Front Line Assembly	Headcase Fargone	Convergence	4:28
Angelspit	Fight Dirty	The Product	4:20
Thee Maldoror Kollektive	Evangelis 6 (Nightmarescape Mix)	23 Miles Back on the Clockwork Highway	8:33
The Birthday Massacre	Beyond	Superstition	3:51
Czar	Priestess	No One Is Alone if No One Is Alive	4:43
Hecq	Relay	Horror Vacui	4:34
Kloq	Begin Again	Begin Again	4:16
Interpol	All the Rage Back Home	El Pintor	4:21
Hansel Und Gretyl	Hexenkraft	Black Forest Metal	3:59
Lilenthal	Hero Anthem	Masonic	4:29
Mindless Faith	Next to Last	Just Defy	5:52
Death in June	Disappear in Every Way (Live in Wien. 27.X.11)	Live in Wien	2:00
Coil	Circles of Mania	Horse Rotorvator	5:01
Der Blutharsch	Hold On! (Remix)	The Cosmic Trigger	3:29
Δaimon	Emptiness (Textbeak Remix)	Flatliner	4:22
Diaphane	Metastable	Lifeforms	4:51
Joy Division	Twenty Four Hours	Closer	4:26
Cabaret Voltaire	Mao Musak Intro / Crackdown (Live at the Toronto Concert Hall, 5.05.85)	Archive #828585 Live	7:36
Front Runner	Freedom (Burial Strategy Mix)	Digital:6::Focus:A	4:52
Atiq & Enk	Slow Clouds	Fear of the Unknown	4:17
Skinny Puppy	Candle	The Process	4:58
Ayria	The Box Under My Bed	Plastic Makes Perfect	3:54
Foundation Hope	The Kind	Tomb of Empires	4:36
Decoded Feedback	Resilience	Electronic Saviors 2 - Recurrence	4:56
Seeming	Convincing	Madness & Extinction	3:45
Aphex Twin	Diskhat2 / Piano Un10 It Happened / Hat5c 0001 Rec-4	Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments Pt. 2	7:12
Inkubus Sukkubus	Reptile	Wild	4:29
Absurd Minds	Stop the Fall	Noumenon	3:53
Stoneburner	Secher Nbiw	Songs in the Key of Arrakis	5:59
AlterRed	Emily	AlterRed and the Electro Creep Show	3:41
Orphx	Tensile	Radiotherapy	7:19
The Cure	This Morning	The End of the World	7:15
Mimetic	Scaffolding	Where We Will Never Go	5:26
Killing Joke	Tomorrow's World (Urban Primitive Dub)	In Dub	7:08
Lindemann	Yukon	Skills in Pills	4:45
Dubcon	UFO pon di Gullyside (Destination Dub)	UFO pon di Gullyside	5:16
Front 242	Masterhit (Live)	Moments 1	3:42
In Strict Confidence	Engelsstaub (Extended ISC Version)	Engelsstaub	6:20
Bourbonese Qualk	To Hell with the Consequences	1983-1987	3:16
Reformed Faction	Stueck 4	The World Awake / 11 Stueck	2:16
Your Bunny Rot	Error Injection	Error Injection	4:08
Control	Constructive Destruction	Transgression	6:20
Poupée Fabrikk	Death Is Natural	The Dirt	5:28
Detritus	It's Nice to See the Sky	Everyday Explanations	7:43
Psyclon Nine	The Saint and the Valentine (A Reclamation)	Disorder - The Shadow Sessions	5:02
Einstürzende Neubauten	Die Befindlichkeit des Landes (Klavierversion)	Klaviermusik	6:22
Acumen Nation	Mister Sandman I Am	Territory = Universe	3:44
KMFDM	No Meat No Man	Don't Blow Your Top	3:53
Juno Reactor	Guillotine (Bliss Remix)	The Golden Sun Remixed	8:29
This Morn' Omina	Asa [ccf]	Maschinenfest 2011	5:34
Mirabilis	Le Sorbier de l'Oural	Here and the Hereafter	1:45
Tyler Newman	Slomo	Zonekiller - Original Soundtrack	1:18
Blutengel	Kinder Dieser Stadt (Symphonic Version)	Black Symphonies	3:29
Calva Y Nada	Rascheln	Dias Felizes	4:24
Pigface	Alles Ist Mine (Fookness Interruptus)	Crackhead	4:33
Nurse With Wound	Psychedelic Underground (Live in an Army Bunker, Wiltshire, 1984)	Bar Maldoror	4:38
Bauhaus	Exquisite Corpse	The Sky's Gone Out	6:39

Technical Difficulties Radio Live Playlist - September 18, 2015

Artist	Title	Album	Time
Front 242	Religion (Pussy Whipped Mix)	06:21:03:11 Up Evil	6:05
Ministry	Filth Pig	Filth Pig	6:19
Raoul Sinier	Too Late	Guilty Cloaks	3:51
The Causticles	Spacebugs	Eric Gottesman	4:06
Pankow	Kein Entkommen	And Shun the Cure They Most Desire	4:48
Rational Youth	Holiday in Bangkok (1983 Demo Mix)	Magic Box	5:36
Wumpscut	Vienna	Bulwark Bazooka	5:31
Deviant UK	Wreckhead (Method Cell Orchestral Version)	Very Bad Things	2:48
Edgey	Chaosbane	Misfire	4:26
Nine Inch Nails	Sanctified	Pretty Hate Machine	5:54
Pop. 1280	Lights Out	Imps of Perversion	2:45
Virgins O.R Pigeons	Done with You	Gotta Get Mad	4:39
Aphex Twin	4 Bit 9D API+E+6	Syro	4:28
Psyclon Nine	Heartworm	We the Fallen	5:10
Ohgr	Feelin' Chicken	Devils in My Details	3:48
Ostara	Story of Lament	Paradise Down South	5:06
Blutengel	Der Regen Fällt...	Omen	4:22
Membranes	If You Enter the Arena You've Got to Be Prepared to Deal with the Lions	Dark Matter/Dark Energy	3:35
100Blumen	A Poem / I Gonna Stay Young	Surveillance	9:56
Mastermind	Mute	Power	5:17
Einstürzende Neubauten	Yü-Gung (Fütter Mein Ego)	Halber Mensch	7:13
Killing Joke	Drug	The Singles Collection 1979-2012	4:32
Cabaret Voltaire	Theme from Earthshaker (Sheffield Mix)	Earthshaker	3:01
Config.sys	Club der Freunde	Disco Loud	3:07
Controlled Bleeding	Now Is the Time	Penetration	3:43
Displacer	Firebug	Foundation	3:46
iVardensphere	Jigsaw (Speak Mix)	Cycle of the Sun - Remixes Vol. 1	8:33
Δaimon	○+☆≋□	Amen	3:46
444Capsule	Residual Ash	Japanese Electro Punk Brutality	4:10
Pigface	Empathy (Edit)	The Best of Pigface - Preaching to the Perverted	3:55
Antidote For Annie	Beneath	All of This Time	5:36
Der Blutharsch & The Infinite Church Of The Leading Hand	Cool Down	The End of the Beginning	3:05
Klangstabil	Pay with Friendship	Shadowboy	4:01
Cygnets	Modern Youth	Isolator	4:06
Apoptygma Berzerk	Major Tom (Coming Home - Alon Cohen Remix)	Major Tom EP	4:33
SKM-ETR	Spreading the Disease	New World Order	4:46
Death In June	The Maverick Chamber	The Snow Bunker Tapes	4:15
Seabound	Nothing but Love	Speak in Storms	5:31
Coil	Dismal Orb	How to Destroy Angels	7:32
The Cure	At Night	Seventeen Seconds	5:53
David Bowie	The Hearts Filthy Lesson (Alt. Mix)	The Hearts Filthy Lesson	5:22
Crisk.	Meine Stadt (Jens Schipper Mix)	Das Erste Mal	5:27
Igorrr	Tartine de Contrebass	Poisson Soluble / Moisissure	4:24
Whore	Supercollider	The Pale Blue Dot	4:16
Peter Murphy	Silent Hedges (Live at the Henry Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles, July 27th, 2013)	Lion	3:26
Disharmony	Reactor	Room 78	2:59
The Exploding Boy	Shadows	Four	4:20
Noir	The Satin Box	Darkly Near	4:28
Twilight Circus meets Edward Ka-Spel	No Secrets	800 Saints in a Day	4:41
Front Line Assembly	Circuitry (Alien Mix)	Explosion	6:13
Current 93	The Invisible Church	I Am the Last of All the Field That Fell	6:31
Deutsche Wertarbeit	Deutscher Wald	Deutsche Wertarbeit	4:05
Hilt	Down on Mommy's Farm	Call the Ambulance Before I Hurt Myself	3:19
God Module	A Minute to Midnight	The Magic in My Heart Is Dead	4:48
Nightmare Noise Machine	Freaky Bitch	K.I.T.F.H.	4:09
Geistform	General Electric	Transistor Music	5:10
Amduscia	Check Mate (Love Game)	Filofobia	4:27
Bella Morte	A Quiet Place to Die	Exorcisms	3:48
Negativland	Wildlife Tonight	It's All in Your Head	8:45
Diverje	Mesmer	Existence / Program Remix	3:29
KMFDM	Stray Bullet	Symbols	5:29
Delerium	Heaven's Earth (Album Version Edit)	Heaven's Earth	3:54
Damon Edge	I'm a Gentleman	Alliance & The Wind Is Talking	3:57
Perturbator	Humans Are Such Easy Prey	Dangerous Days	4:22
Junksista	All You Can Eat	Bad Case of Fabulous	3:22
Totakeke	Digital Exorcism II (Death with a Face)	Digital Exorcism	5:47
Paulina Cassidy	The Trance Pool	Sugar Wingsilver	2:20
Tweaker	Wasted Time (Rob King / Adrian Terrazas-Gonzalez Mix)	And Then There's Nothing	5:14
Reformed Faction	Qtre	Mikrocomposer Series 1	3:30
Funker Vogt	Nothing to Include	Maschine Zeit	6:28
Modern Cubism	Spleen (Je Suis Comme le Roi...)	Ravivé	4:21
Pro-Tech	Thread Four	Orbiting Cathedrals	8:45
Contagious Orgasm & Dirk Geiger	Black Heart	Fallen Empires	6:13
Opium	Dissolving into You	Twilight	6:27
Inertia	Emeralds	Existential	6:31
Karsten Pflum	Bare Demon	Sleepwald	4:24
Skinny Puppy	Riverz End	Last Rights	6:40
Wordclock	And Then the Dawn	Endless	2:58
The Legendary Pink Dots	We Bring the Day	Malachai - Shadow Weaver Part 2	18:59
VNV Nation	Teleconnect 2	Transnational	8:12