There are plenty of podcasts about drones, in the military-industrial-surveillance-state-toy sense of the word, and that certainly isn’t the sort of drone podcast that Dronecast is.
There are also plenty of podcasts that explore drone-music — that is, music that consists of or builds upon or, as is often the case with labels that gain some semblance of cultural traction, has a vague affinity for drones.
And then there’s the brand new Dronecast, which in its singular format is downright dronetastic. Each episode — there are three so far, in barely the first week of the podcast’s existence — plays a single drone for its entire, full-hour length. You hit play and, to borrow Brian Eno’s relevant language, experience repetition as a form of change.
Which isn’t to say the Dronecast episodes each sound the same. Quite the contrary. The debut episode is of a quickly vibrating, low-end drone, as if your ear has been put up close to a high-grade portable fan. The second episode is fiercely angelic, a heavenly choir caught in a harsh loop that locates and accentuates the razor-sharp texture of their high-pitched voices. The third episode seems to welcome a broader audience, providing something more soothingly ambient than the two earlier episodes. (Bonus: while the podscast is available through major podcast syndication services and apps, including [iTunes](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/dronecast/id1397648202), its [webpage](http://dronecast.libsyn.com/) lets you play all the episodes simultaneously.)
Each episode is tagged with the equipment utitlized: “One hour drone. Grendel Drone Commander, effects pedals,” “Kilpatrick Phenol, Grendel Dronecommander, FX Pedals,” and “P12, Keydogs” so far. The technology isn’t of the household-name variety, but a simple Google search can reveal wonders, like the existence of this [Keydog](https://kvgear.com/products/key-dog), pictured below, that simply holds a note forever:
The Dronecast podcast is the work of San Jose musician Todd Elliott, who also goes by Toaster (see: [toaster.bandcamp.com](https://toaster.bandcamp.com/)). Toaster’s output is quite varied, but often has a drone component, as in this solo live guitar performance from 2016:
Subscribe to Dronecast at [dronecast.libsyn.com](http://dronecast.libsyn.com). Video originally posted at Toaster’s [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJGV2pZtjFs). This is the latest video I’ve added to [my YouTube playlist of recommended live performances of ambient music](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAgCxRbmR1MJxihgJkCPEnehAPvjoF71-).