

Music Not Diving with Scuba
Scuba
Paul Rose aka the musician, DJ, and label boss known as Scuba talks to people of significance from the world of electronic music about their experiences, observations, and attempts to cultivate a life for themselves in the murky and sometimes treacherous waters of the music industry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 12, 2025 • 44min
Classic Episode: thoughts on Bandcamp and the D2C model
Music Not Diving is supported by Acid Nation (formerly AC55ID)... head over to www.acidnation.com to check out the fastest growing electronic music marketplace, a central hub for music discovery, streaming and purchasing!--Watch the video episodes of Music Not Diving over at youtube.com/@WeNotDiving--If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlistChapters:00:00 Intro and Bandcamp alternatives07:50 What is Bandcamp and D2C?15:45 Bandcamp vs the whole industry19:00 Growth, efficiency, takeovers26:00 Single point of failure?36:00 Are dance music fans stingy? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 29, 2025 • 1h 33min
#017 Slam on Techno, Daft Punk, and why Glasgow is the best place to DJ
Music Not Diving is supported by Acid Nation (formerly AC55ID)... head over to www.acidnation.com to check out the fastest growing electronic music marketplace, a central hub for music discovery, streaming and purchasing!--Watch the video episodes of Music Not Diving over at youtube.com/@WeNotDivingStuart McMillan is half of Slam, one of the most important UK techno acts in history and absolute key players in the world of Scottish electronic music.The new Slam album, Dark Channel is out now on their own Soma imprint - one of the most important UK techno labels and a conversation in itself.We discuss the story of Slam from the mid 80s onwards, traversing the Acid House experience in Glasgow into the 90s rave era and beyond. We talk about Daft Punk releasing their early singles on Soma and the history of the label more generally. And we discuss the modern techno scene in Scotland and across the world.Another point of conversation is the 2018 Slam album Athenaeum 101 - a really great piece of work which very much deserves another look and listen.Scotland has been criminally neglected on the podcast up til now so this is a great way to start addressing the balance! --If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlistChapters:00:00 Intro02:54 Glasgow techno scene12:20 New Slam album - Dark Channel21:50 Divisions in society and music28:45 Is techno political?34:10 Early years in music40:40 Acid House and rave in Glasgow01:01:50 Early Slam productions01:15:30 The label - Soma01:18:30 Discovering Daft Punk01:27:55 The best club in the world Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 22, 2025 • 13min
Schedule PSA and the world's worst Spotify take
Music Not Diving is supported by Acid Nation (formerly AC55ID)... head over to www.acidnation.com to check out the fastest growing electronic music marketplace, a central hub for music discovery, streaming and purchasing!--Watch the video episodes of Music Not Diving over at youtube.com/@WeNotDivingNo full episode this week but an update on our scheduling woes and what we have coming up for the rest of the summer. Oh and the world's worst Spotify take. --If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlist Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 15, 2025 • 1h 42min
Classic Episode: Luke Slater on techno, acid house, and Berlin
Music Not Diving is supported by AC55ID... head over to www.ac55id.com to check out the fastest growing electronic music marketplace, a central hub for music discovery, streaming and purchasing!--Watch the full video version of this episode over at youtube.com/@WeNotDivingWe've covered techno quite a lot over the years, but this episode is definitely one of our favourites.Originally broadcast May 2024, we were discussing the LB Dub Corp album Saturn To Home. But we talk about a lot more than that!Normal service will resume on Tuesday 29 July.--If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlistChapters:00:00 Intro01:52 Luke Slater's definition of Techno05:20 Techno vs Rave09:30 Dance music vs Rave Culture15:40 Modern festivals18:30 Early 90s Techno wars30:00 Using aliases35:00 LB Dub Corp - Saturn To Home43:00 Vocalists on the album57:20 On very long tracks01:05:30 Berlin clubs01:13:00 Problems in the modern club scene01:24:00 Different eras of Hard Techno01:33:40 Internationalism in the dance scene01:37:00 Techno recommendations! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 8, 2025 • 1h 16min
#016 Psychotherapist on mental health, creativity, and whether geniuses are all mad: Denise Devenish
Music Not Diving is supported by AC55ID... head over to www.ac55id.com to check out the fastest growing electronic music marketplace, a central hub for music discovery, streaming and purchasing!And for artists and labels... use the code Scuba6 for six months free use of the platform!!--Watch the full video version of this episode over at youtube.com/@WeNotDivingDenise Devenish is a psychotherapist who specialises in treating musicians, offering a specialist service for those working in music and the creative industries.She describes herself as having grown up "in a family steeped in the music business and having been surrounded by musicians and industry folk my whole life" and having "witnessed first hand the unique highs and lows that working in the industry entails."So of course this is an interesting person to talk to!We discuss the extent of the mental health crisis in the creative industries (as well as the wider economy), the differences in the younger generation and their attitudes to drug and alcohol, the "art comes from pain" and "genius requires madness" tropes, and the changes that digital music has brought to participants in the industry.The book we refer to is Can Music Make You Sick? by Sally Anne Gross and George Musgrave (aka Context). A key input into that is Jodi Dean's Communucative Capitalism (2005), which I also recommend.This a really interesting discussion of some pertinent issues!--If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlistChapters:00:00 Intro and how you can support the show03:39 Who is Denise Devenish?07:45 Mental health challenges in creative industries13:30 The realities of creative work20:40 Suffering for your art27:30 On-stage characters30:50 Challenges of different levels of success36:10 Metrics of value in digital music43:30 Are young people really drinking less?50:00 What are the treatment options?01:07:00 Early experiences Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 1, 2025 • 1h 45min
Classic Episode Remastered: Steve Davis on fame, snooker, and modular synths
Music Not Diving is supported by AC55ID... head over to www.ac55id.com to check out the fastest growing electronic music marketplace, a central hub for music discovery, streaming and purchasing!And for artists and labels... use the code Scuba6 for six months free use of the platform!!--Watch the full video version of this episode over at youtube.com/@WeNotDivingThis is easily in my top 3 favourite episodes of the 170-odd we've done. The sound of it was originally pretty terrible though, it was a constant battle in the early days of the podcast to get people recording in good spaces.Luckily we kept most of the individual mic channels and the software has come on leaps and bounds recently, so it's now very easy to convert a very roomy mic recording into something that sounds like it was done in a proper radio studio.Steve Davis was one of the very biggest sporting celebrities in the 1980s. He totally dominated the sport of snooker in Tiger Woods-like fashion, winning the world title six times and setting unprecedented levels of excellence in front of enormous television audiences. The 18m who tuned in on BBC2 to watch him lose the 1985 final on the final ball of the final frame, well after midnight, is still a record.But he's also a major music head, DJ and modular synth-playing member of experimental group The Utopia Strong, who has always been a very interesting character. The Utopia Strong releases since we first broadcast this conversation two years ago are... well, strong, especially the BBC Sessions release which was recorded in a live session at the legendary Maida Vale studios.And he's also Eddie Hearn's Godfather.So we talk about all of the above, but perhaps most interestingly the experience of fame at that level and how to cope with it. Having a really top manager helps, we discover.This is well worth a re-listen if you caught it first time round, and if you didn't - well, you're in for a treat.--If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlistChapters:00:00 Intro and how you can support the show04:45 Warming up for Blur10:50 The legend of Magma12:40 Starting a DJ career21:15 Getting into modular25:15 The Utopia Strong - influences28:30 Playing music live vs playing professional snooker40:00 Dealing with nerves42:30 Issues with quitting professional sport48:00 Longevity in music careers54:00 Professionalisation of snooker59:00 Management and Barry (and Eddie) Hearn01:13:30 The pressures of fame01:21:30 On Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White01:24:15 The 1985 World Championship Final01:29:30 The similarities of flow in sport and music01:33:40 On going on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 24, 2025 • 1h 35min
#015 James Holden on playing live, coding swing, and what he really thinks of nightclubs
James Holden, UK electronic musician, producer and coder behind Border Community, talks live-improvised shows, moving away from DJ culture, and building tools like a Max for Live ‘humanizer’. He describes making dance without strict beats, collaborating with Wacław Zimpel, and the thrill and risk of real-time performance. Short, candid, and full of technical curiosity.

Jun 17, 2025 • 1h 56min
Classic Episode: Tijana T on music journalism and the politics of dancing
Music Not Diving is supported by AC55ID... head over to www.ac55id.com to check out the fastest growing electronic music marketplace, a central hub for music discovery, streaming and purchasing!And for artists and labels... use the code Scuba6 for six months free use of the platform!!--Watch the full video version of this episode over at youtube.com/@WeNotDivingWe've been talking a lot in recent weeks about politics in dance music. Over on the Patreon feed we did a bonus episode covering the debate around private equity in festivals, of which there will be a second part this week. There will be a solo podcast covering all that on the main feed in the next couple of weeks but in the meantime we wanted to return to one of the absolute best episodes we've done, one which covered many of the wider themes that have come to the forefront of the discussion recently, from all the way back in March 2023.Tijana T is a DJ from Serbia. She's been involved in the scene in Belgrade one way or another since the 90s, a period which for obvious reasons was extremely fraught across the whole region. The discussion covers her wider career, but we spend a lot of time discussing the effect that conflict has on art, and on artists. From a position of direct experience, Tijana speaks with real insight on these topics.Covering this sort of thing is difficult. Not least because we get blocked from promoting our videos on Youtube when certain topics are even mention. But this is the important stuff that's happening in culture right now, and while tackling anything of it with a degree of nuance is a serious challenge, it's one that we enjoy on this show.Even if you listened to this episode the first time round we highly recommend giving it another spin. It's highly relevant to what is going on today.--If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlistChapters:00:00 Intro and how you can support the show02:32 the problems with music journalism12:40 privilege in dance music21:20 developing as an artist in Serbia33:30 the rave scene in 90s Belgrade47:10 war in Yugoslavia and the dance scene56:00 representing Serbia as an artist today01:06:00 the war in Ukraine and the dance scene01:22:00 performative activism in music01:35:00 musical pigeonholing01:40:30 DJs and personal branding01:48:30 favourite DJ mixes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 10, 2025 • 1h 8min
#014 Groove Armada - Andy Cato on juggling music, regenerative farming, and working with Jeremy Clarkson
Music Not Diving is supported by AC55ID... head over to www.ac55id.com to check out the fastest growing electronic music marketplace, a central hub for music discovery, streaming and purchasing!And for artists and labels... use the code Scuba6 for six months free use of the platform!!--Watch the full video version of this episode over at youtube.com/@WeNotDivingAndy Cato is half of Groove Armada - one of the biggest ever UK dance acts and source of some of the biggest hits of the late 90s and early 2000s. To a younger audience, however, he might be more familiar as the guy who does regenerative farming on Top Gear alumnus and pantomime villain Jeremy Clarkson's weirdly successful Amazon show 'Clarkson's Farm'. This is an interesting combination to say the least, and really we could've done with another couple of hours to explore the two things in full, and also the link between. But an hour is all we had on the day... because Andy had to go off to film with Clarkson.We actually focus mostly on the second half of Andy's career during this conversation - I found the prep for this so interesting that I had a ton of questions on his journey to prominence in this area, as a farmer but also a co-founder of the Wildfarmed organisation, and also the area itself. But we also get into the music too. Episode 1 of Farming Not Diving it is...--If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlistChapters:00:00 Intro and how you can support the show03:14 Getting into farming - France09:40 European agriculture15:00 Agriculture in the US19:00 Regenerative farming36:00 The food industry44:00 Farming and climate change50:30 What is rewilding?55:00 Music! 58:20 Working with Clarkson01:01:20 Hit records Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 27, 2025 • 1h 23min
#013 Joe Goddard on getting political, musical longevity, and the beauty of jamming
Music Not Diving is supported by AC55ID... head over to www.ac55id.com to check out the fastest growing electronic music marketplace, a central hub for music discovery, streaming and purchasing!And for artists and labels... use the code Scuba6 for six months free use of the platform!!--Watch the full video version of this episode over at youtube.com/@WeNotDivingHow important is it for musicians to have a political message? Not just the platitudinous virtue signalling that many in the arts indulge in - but a real message that poses a challenge to the powerful forces in society? That's a question that sounds like it has an easy answer to it, but reality is always more complicated.Hot Chip's Joe Goddard joined us on stage last summer at Lost Village festival for a chat in front of an audience that you can find on this episode of our previous incarnation - the Not A Diving Podcast. But this episode is not that - Joe joined us in the studio earlier this month for a 'proper' episode in which we tackle the above questions and a lot more besides.We also discuss the process for making a Hot Chip record, and also the processes behind his solo material. We talk about his work a producer for other acts and his music making philosophy more generally. We continue on the topic of grunge from our last conversation, and we ponder the challenges of staying relevant in music over a long career.Joe is one of the good ones and you're gonna enjoy this!--If you're into what we're doing here on the pod then you can support the show on Patreon! There are two tiers - "Solidarity" for $4 a month, which features the show without ads, regular bonus podcasts, and extra content. And "Musicality" which for a mere $10 a month gets you all the music we release on Hotflush and affiliate labels AND other music too, some of which never comes out anywhere else.You can also make a one-off donation to the podcast using a card, with Paypal, or your Ethereum wallet! Head over to scubaofficial.io/support.Plus there's also a private area for Patreon supporters in the Hotflush Discord Server... but anyone can join the conversation in the public channels.Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlist00:00 Intro and how you can support the show04:00 new Hot Chip album sessions07:00 writing music in the studio12:00 working with different producers17:30 the art of music production25:00 jamming and song writing32:30 Kneecap and Rage Against The Machine41:00 is politics in music important?53:20 is the streaming model evil?01:05:00 the debate over ticket prices01:09:00 the economics of live tours01:17:40 reasons to be optimistic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


