Today’s guest deejay is Justin Broadrick.
Justin is a singer and songwriter best known as a founding member of the band Godflesh, which combined metal and industrial music. Justin is also know for Jesu, which some refer to as his “shoegaze” project. While those are some of Justin’s more well-known projects, he’s been involved with many projects over nearly four decades, including everything from remixes to ambient music.
Every episode of Soundwave features spectacular mixes from our amazing guest deejays. Today’s show is no less unique. But today’s show a special to me because my I have an intimate relationship with his music.
I discover Justin through Godflesh’s Streetcleaner album. I can tell you that the album fused metal and industrial music. I can tell you that while the album is bleak as hell, it is somehow psychedelic and cathartic. But you owe it to yourself to experience it. Loudly.
When I learned that Godflesh would be performing in Boston for their first US tour, I interviewed Justin and his partner, G. C. Green, for WMFO. Unfortunately, their drum machine was fried from the US’s electrical current despite the adaptor they used to protect. Justin has to go out on a Sunday morning and purchase a new drum machine. I never got the chance to interview Justin because he had to program beats into his new drum machine as quickly as possible. Instead, I smoked joints and played video games with their road crew in their tour bus. Justin eventually programmed his drum machine and delivered a pulverizing show. I believe they opened with “Love is A Dog from Hell.” A personal favorite of mine.
My other story is about Justin’s collaboration with Kevin Martin called Techno Animal. I was in a relationship with a woman that was crumbling. One night she didn’t come home and was sleeping with another man. The only thing that got e through that long and painful night was listening to Peter Gabriel’s Passion soundtrack and Techno Animal’s Ghosts album repeatedly.
When I launched Soundwave to cope with the stress and isolation of the early days of the pandemic, Justin was the first person I reached out to be a guest deejay on the show. It was a shot in the dark. I didn’t expect a response, but Justin replied to my invitation the next day and said he’d be play to share a mix.
So here we are today with a mix of some ambient music that Justin considers essential listening.
I encourage you to listen to anything that Justin has been involved in. You might consider beginning with Justin’s latest release, EXPECT NOTHING AND THE KINGDOM WILL BE YOURS, which he records under his ambient project monicker, FINAL.
Justin has some words about his mix below.
Faced with the inevitably impossible task of squeezing my favourite, loosely speaking ambient tracks of all time into maximum one hour, i decided to simply include what immediately comes to mind as opposed to labouring over what should or should not appear in this mix, so this is a tiny snapshot of my ambient favourites; there will be some glaring omissions among songs that have stuck with me for decades, but this is my memory in the present…..
Join us next week when out guest deejay will be Inner Islands.
- Thomas Köner “Llira”
- Cabaret Voltaire “Double Vision”
- Controlled Bleeding “Music For Earth And Water, Pt. 3”
- NON “Cruenta Voluptas”
- Jon Hassell & Brian Eno “Rising Thermal 14° 16′ N; 32° 28′ E”
- vidnaObmana “Out From the Garden Reminded”
- :zoviet*france:* ”Ciels ténébreuses”
- Squarepusher “Tommib”
- Isolde “You’re Alone In Red Riding Picture (Part 1)”
- Celer “Peak Pressure”
- Aphex Twin “#3”
- William Basinski “Melancholia II”
- NON “A Taste Of Blood”
- Klaus Wiese “Shunyata V”
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