Today is a great day! Not only did I get to spend the weekend with my wife (since the COVID-19 lockdown in California we’ve spent maybe three weeks together) and throw a party for our youngest’s thirteenth birthday, today I finally get to release a mix from our guest deejay, Charles Hazlewood!
Charles is a musician, composer and orchestra conductor and I came across him during the first month of the lockdown while catching up on some documentaries I’ve been eating in to watch. One of the documentaries was Tones, Drones and Arpeggios: The Magic of Minimalism where Charles goes in search of minimalism by exploring the work of four great American composers who rebooted classical music in the 20th century.
It’s difficult to revisit the first month of the lockdown. The infection and death rate was exponential and there was no way of telling how high the numbers might climb. Each day was full of dread and anxiety and the fear that going outside or touching something might afflict me with a crippling illness if not killing me out right. And then there was the loneliness. It was just me and my dog. When would my family be under the same roof again? Weeks? Months? A year?
What gave me solace was listening to ambient, classical, experimental and instrumental music, which was the inspiration for SOUNDWAVE. If music was helping me get through COVID-19, surely it would help others. And after watching Charles interview luminaries such as La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Philip Glass and Steve Reich I reached out to him and asked if he could continue a mix for the show. And his mix is wonderful!
On today’s show we’ll hear from Ellen Allien, who I also interviewed when I showcased her label BPitch Control on solipsistic NATION, my electronic music show. We’ll also hear a track from Terry Riley’s album, Shri Camel and a track from Tony Conrad and Faust’s album, Outside the Dream Syndicate. New to me are two tracks form Kali Malone and Kieran Hebden. That’s one of the things I love about the guest deejays on SOUNDWAVE, they’re always turning on on to great music.
So, yes, a great day! I hope you enjoy today’s show. If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to have brunch with my wife and our friends.
Join us again next week when our guest deejay will be Sean Hocking, founder of Metal Postcard Records (check out my interview with Sean here).
See you then!
- Ellen Allien “Empathy”
- Terry Riley “Anthem of the Trinity”
- Tony Conrad with Faust “The Side of the Machine”
- Kali Malone “Arched in Hysteria”
- Kieran Hebden “Lyman Place”
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Logo by Rik Oostenbroek