DXP-011: Alex McCarl Design Exchange with Thomas Grové

Making Ambient Music in Asia while Teaching English

Alex McCarl writes and performs experimental ambient music under the moniker Casino Witch. We catch up with Alex in Japan to talk about music production, the differences between Vietnam, Japan, and the USA, and sex with witches.


Check out Alex's music on Bandcamp: https://casinowitch.bandcamp.com/


Table of Contents:


00:22 - Intro
02:21 - Overview of Topics for The Rest of The Interview
03:41 - How Alex Got into Teaching English (in 5 minutes)
12:49 - The Icarus Music Festival Wasn't Only Electronic Music
13:39 - Thomas Says Dub is Electronic Music
15:11 - Alex's Musical Journey
20:22 - Demonstration of Live Electronic Music Performance Using Sampler on the iPad
34:06 - Alex on Performing Live
39:51 - Borderlands - Another App Alex Uses for Music Production
43:32 - What Alex Likes About Performing Music on iPad
45:42 - Shared Living
48:49 - Alex and Thomas Talk About Failure
53:29 - Americans Are Victims of Protestant Work Ethic
59:32 - The Making of The Sefu Switch Bag and Burnout
1:03:24 - Thomas Started A Podcast to Deal with Depression
1:04:58 - Alex on Learning Curves
1:08:18 - Alex: The Notion of Success or Failure Exists in Our Minds
1:12:45 - Alex's End Goal is to Build an Artist Haven in The Countryside
1:17:45 - Corporate Taglines, in English, in Asia
1:20:52 - American Cinema in Japan vs Vietnam
1:23:04 - Post Modernism in Media and Stranger Things
1:30:03 - And... Black Mirror Too!
1:32:19 - And... Marvel / Spiderman
1:33:26 - Feeling Natural When Recording an Interview and Roe Rogan
1:38:03 - There's A Blow-Job Parlor Across The Street
1:39:39 - Too Cool Spiderman; Real Cool vs Douch Bag Cool
1:43:09 - Casino Witch; Sex With Witches?
1:46:26 - Outro


Episode Hashtags:

#Ambient #ProducingMusic #CasinoWitch #Vietnam #Japan #China #Failure #Postmodernism #DXP #DesignExchange #Podcast


This episode is also available to watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Nqa3Mk1eUw8