I’m writing this from a hotel room in Phoenix, Arizona. I’m wearing a N95 mask because we’re still in a pandemic, although Arizonans don’t seen to be taking it seriously because maybe 25% of the people I see are wearing masks and observing social distancing. That probably explains why Arizona is seeing a spike in infections. Anyway, I’m wearing a mask and it is clear that I should have brushed my teeth before sitting down to write today’s show notes because I’m basically inhaling the contents of my lungs. Gross.
Let me take care of that. Be right back.
So why am I in Arizona if it is a COVID-19 hotspot you might be asking yourself? I’m here to pick up my kid and his grandmother and bring them back with me to California.
The weekend before California shutdown my wife and I made the decision to take our kids to Arizona to be with their bio dad. They were going to spend spring break with him anyhow and it seemed prudent to leave them with him a few weeks early. I was going to be working from home and it was likely my wife was going to be relocated to help deal with COVID-19. But or boy is done with Arizona and wants to come home and his grandmother will be living with us.
It’s pretty much been me and my dog for the last three months and I’ve fallen into bachelor-like routines (staying up far too late, walking around all day in pajamas, eating breakfast for dinner, etc) so this will take a bit of readjustment for me. For all three of us, really.
So that’s why I’m in Arizona. And from what I’m seeing around here and from what I’ve been hearing from friends scattered about the U.S. it seems we’re going to be living with COVID-19 for quite a while. Which means SOUNDWAVE will continue indefinitely.
Today’s guest deejay is Dronny Darko and he’s got a mix of marvelous dark ambient music for us to enjoy.
When I launched SOUNDWAVE I reached out to friends and acquaintances to guest deejay on the show but I also reached out to folks whose music I’ve been enjoying for the last few years. There’s a net label out of Oregon called Cryo Chamber I discovered when I got back into role playing games. (RPGs) Seems music from Cryo Chamber is the default soundtrack for many horror RPGs. And for good reason, the music is atmospheric and often tinged with dread.
Most people unfamiliar with ambient music often mistake it for swaths of pretty sounds and while that’s true, it’s so much more than that. Ambient music has many moods and its the reason I was drawn to it when we were all under the stay-at-home self-quarantine. Pop music seemed inane and didn’t speak the truth of our new reality. But there are no lyrics in ambient music, just moods and sounds, and that I could listen to. Ambient, classical, experimental and instrumental music spoke to me in ways pop music could not. The dark ambient music from Cryo Chamber was the soundtrack to my existential dread, which helped my process everything I was experience in and come to some sort of terms with it.
One of the artists on Cryo Chamber that I particularly enjoy is Dronny Darko. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve listened to his album, Origin. He was the first artists from Cryo Chamber I reached out to when I began SOUNDWAVE because his music had the most impact on me. It’s darkly lush, quietly epic, and strangely beautiful. If you enjoy Dronny’s mix, and I know you will, I highly encourage you to purchase his album.
Speaking of purchasing music, if you dig any of the songs on today’s show, purchase them, too, if you have the means. As we’re all learning, we need art to help get us through the most trying of times. Musicians pour their heart and soul into their music, spending hours, days, weeks and months for something we listen to in minutes. And for most musicians are already working full time job on top of perfecting their craft. And as writer Bruce Sterling often says, “whatever happens to musicians will happen to all of us.” So out of solidarity, spend some cash on their music. They deserve it and need it.
Join us again next week when our guest deejay will be Jaime Irles. See you then!
- Red Fog “Arboria Institute”
- Dronny Darko “Noumenon”
- Line Spectrum “Unreleased”
- Richard Chartier “Sketch For Winter”
- protoU “Transparent Clusters”
- Cryogenic Weekend “Unreleased”
- Red Fog & Dronny Darko “Unreleased”
- Sleeping On Lotus Ashes “Failure of the Material”
- Ajna & Dronny Darko “Mutated DNA”
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Logo by Rik Oostenbroek