ambient – Page 10 – Synecdoche

February 7, 2021June 27, 2021

SOUNDWAVE : 45 : ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ RECORDS

Today’s guest deejay is Crimean drone artist Tim Six, who along with his wife, Mila, run ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ Records.

I discovered ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ Records while searching for ambient, classical, experimental and instrumental music on Bandcamp. These days there are hundreds of ways to find new music. There’s Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, etcetera, and while I use all those services, I find myself drawn to Bandcamp more and more. Partly it’s because of the social aspects of Bandcamp. I like seeing and listening to what other Bandcamp customers have purchased. Partly because I know that Bandcamp is one of the few services that offer musicians and labels a higher percentage of money format the sales they make from music purchased on Bandcamp. In fact, on the first Friday of every month, they’ve waived their revenue share to help support the many artists who have seen their livelihoods disrupted by the pandemic.

I’ve come across so much beautiful music on Bandcamp that I extended invitations to musicians and labels to guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE. Ishmael Cormack curated last week’s show, and in the future, we’ll hear mixes from Out of Hell, Less Bells, Emil Zapffe, and more. I noticed that many of the albums that struck me deeply were all releases from ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ Records. I reached out to Tim, and he was generous enough to put together today’s mix. You’ll find it gentle, mysterious, and at times, sublime.

I encourage you to spend a few dollars on any of the songs you hear on today’s show mix to support the artists.

Tim has a few words about his label and today’s mix below.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Ivan Somov.

See you then!

ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ Records / Pantheon is an independent D.I.Y. music label from St. Petersburg, Russia, releasing various kinds of lesser-known artist from all around the globe. Our label specializes in limited editions of cassettes and CDs in handcrafted packaging and releasing digital-only albums.

All tracks for today’s show are from albums released on ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ Records (2014-2020).

Find us at:

https://www.facebook.com/pantheophania

https://instagram.com/pantheophania

https://pantheophania.bandcamp.com

https://twitter.com/pantheophania

Thank you for listening!

tremorkikimor “lunaria”
Mitseliy & Konstantin Beresnev “Blurred Intensity III”
Symphocat “Stream Harmony”
Dynastor “Crystalline Caverns”
Blear Moon “Rising late”
July in January “About dreams and visions”
Dvory “Nisargadatta”
Highland Spokesman “two”

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January 31, 2021June 27, 2021

SOUNDWAVE : 44 : ISHMAEL CORMACK

Today’s guest deejay is Ishmael Cormack.

To date, nearly all the guest deejays on SOUNDWAVE are people I have relationships with or introduced to me through the guest deejays. Ishmael is different.

These days I purchase nearly all my music on Bandcamp. Yes, I said purchase. I’m old fashioned that way. Oh, I do more than my fair share of streaming, but if I find music I genuinely love, I’m happy to spend money on it. Bandcamp is my favorite platform to purchase music because the artists and labels are treated fairly, and they receive a higher percentage of money from sales than most other platforms. So I’m on Bandcamp a lot. And because of SOUNDWAVE, I tend to peruse releases from ambient, classical, experimental, and instrumental musicians.

If you enjoy music from any of those genres, you know from experience that most of it are dreck. The music tends to be bland or outright terrible. It isn’t easy to compose music in those genres that’s engaging and take you on an emotional journey. It’s refreshing to find musicians who do it well, and Ishmael is one of those artists.

I'm not a musician myself, so it’s difficult for me not to fall into clichés to describe Ishmael’s music using words like delicate, pretty, or sonorous. I’m reminded of an interview I once heard with Ben Frost where he complained of this very thing. I believe he said something to the effect that sommeliers have many metaphors to describe wines’ taste, but we lack the same when talking about music.

It’s almost a shame, then, that today’s mix from Ishmael does not feature his music. Almost, because Ishmael has lovingly selected tracks that are, sigh, delicate, pretty, and sonorous, but it’s true. It’s a wonderful mix.

If you enjoy today’s show, and I have no doubt you will, then support the artists by following my example and purchasing their music. And while you’re at it, listen to Ishmael’s releases on Bandcamp, and if you hear something like it, show him your appreciation by spending some money on his music.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Tim Six, founder of ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ Records.

See you then!

Ishmael Cormack

Andrew Chalk “The Flood”
Taylor Deupree & Marcus Fischer “On Branches”
Richard Ginns “Faded From The Winter”
Tom Scott “Ribbon Glass”
Jens Pauly “Licht”
Cyril Secq “Huitiéme Branche”
Morimoto Naoki “Nod”
Suda Norihito “The Weather Of The Day Was To Calm Almost As If Nothing Had Happened”
Melissa Pons “Screeching Dawn”
Jodi Cave “For Sine And Breath Tones”
Federico Durand “IIu Wouter”
Van Veldhoven “First Lullaby”

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January 24, 2021June 27, 2021

SOUNDWAVE : 43 : STEVE SWARTZ

Today’s guest deejay is Steve Swartz.

Some months ago, Jason Engling was a guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE (you can hear his mix here). After Jason’s show I asked who he thought might be interested in contributing to SOUNDWAVE, and he recommended Steve.

I’ve been a fan of Jason’s music since discovering him through my electronic music show, solipsistic NATION. If Jason recommended Steve, then as far as I was concerned, it was a done deal. I’m not disappointed with Steve’s mix, and neither will you. It’s a thing of beauty. It’s also a perfect way to wind down four years of a corrupt and inept presidency and an attempted coup. Whew!

Steve has some words about his mix below.

I want to note that Steve included a lovely track from Brian Eno. That’s not anything remarkable, given that Eno practically invented the ambient genre. What is impressive is that Eno pitch-shifted his voice, creating a vocoder-like effect. I usually hate that sort of thing, but Eno being Eno, the song gave me goosebumps. And when I looked over Steve’s playlist and saw that the track was by Eno, I thought to m myself, “That makes sense.”I thank Steve for introducing me to an Eno track I had not heard before.

W. David Oliphant’s *Remote Listening: Rag Dun vs Life Garden* album

Before we get to Steve, I want to share with you the latest release from W. David Oliphant, who guest deejayed on SOUNDWAVE in September. The album is called Remote Listening: Rag Dun vs Life Garden. Oliphant describes remote listening as “the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen target, purportedly ‘sensing’ with the mind.” Like everything else I’ve heard from Oliphant, his music is stepping into someone’s fever dream.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Ishmael Cormack.

See you then!

I don’t know anyone who escaped the intense gravity of 2020. In addition to a pandemic, this year also saw the unexpected passing of my father. A loss I’m still trying to process. I’ve spent a great deal of time contemplating death, disease, and division over the last several months. Music has always been my primary outlet of expression. As a result, I made a lot of music in 2020. (Four releases!) But as I land on the other side of them, I find myself increasingly feeling lost and out of place. I am often daydreaming about being somewhere else and unreachable. This sense has carried over into my music listening habits as well. I’ve desired quieter sounds that feel less tethered to a place or time. Fewer words. More feeling. To, perhaps, communicate something words cannot yet find. And that is what I have found in these songs over the last several months. To me, each of these pieces feels like rivers that drift or breeze stirring trees in a geography I would prefer to dwell. So I sit in these songs and let them fill my house throughout the days and evenings until, hopefully, I embody the spirit of their imagined origins.

John Carroll Kirby “Canyon (Waiting Alive In A Canyon)”
Brian Eno “And Then So Clear”
3617 “Orphans of The Sky”
Dedekind Cut “Tahoe”
Warmth “The Creek”
Toshifumi Hinata “Misldsummer Night”
Johnny Nash & Suzanne Kraft “Time, Being”
The Blue Nile “From A Late Night Train”
Gigi Masin “The Word Love (Original Mix)”
Windy & Carl “Forest Trails”
Arve Henriksen “Sorrow and Its Opposite”

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January 17, 2021June 27, 2021

SOUNDWAVE : 42 : MIKE CADOO

Today’s guest deejay is Mike Cadoo, the founder of n5MD, an independent record label based out of Oakland, California, that focuses on ambient, modern composition, post-rock, and experimental electronic music.

I showcased n5MD on solipsistic NATION some years ago. Let me share what I said about n5MD on that episode of solipsistic NATION, which explains why I invited Mike to be our guest deejay on today’s show.

“What I’ve always found so charming is that the releases on n5MD don’t just provide music that establishes a mood. The releases on n5MD take you on an emotional journey, which I find far more compelling and interesting. Anyone can play a chord in E minor that will evoke an emotional response. Still, it’s much more difficult to build an emotionally complex song and takes you places in your imagination. Let me take that back. There are plenty of people who can do that, there are a just few people who do it well and do it with sincerity, and I think that’s what n5MD is all about.”

Mike’s mix for today’s show captures everything I just said about his label. Mike is going to take you by the hand and gently guide you through an emotional journey.

Mike explained that while waiting for the Near The Parenthesis vinyl to arrive, he made an ambient mix that features no n5MD artists. Mike usually does one of these each year, and I’m thankful he shared it with us.

As I’ve mentioned many times before, I launched SOUNDWAVE to cope with the stress and isolation brought about by COVID-19. I did not expect how much I would need SOUNDWAVE, and Mike’s mix, in particular, to provide the solace I need during our nation’s attempted coup. I suspect I will need it more in the next few weeks, if not the next few months and years.

On that sad note…

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Steve Swartz.

See you then!

dj healer “Protectionspell”
Stars of the Lid “Mullholland”
Jon Hopkins featuring King Creosote “Immunity”
Neil Cowley & Ben Lukas Boysen “A Grain of Truth”
The Ideal Setback “Whittle”
Black Swan “Slow Oblivion, Part I”
Chronovalve “Something to Hope For”
Holy Fawn “Tethered”
loscil “Neve”
Nils Frahm “A Shine”
ILUITEQ “Moon Disconnected”
KMRU “degree of change”
r beny “Golden Larch Emerging fin Spring”
Julianna Barwick “Same”
KMRU “Whir”
Carlos Ferreira “Epilogue”
Sea Oleena “Portugal (A Lift)”
bvdub “I Would Have Waited”

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January 10, 2021June 27, 2021

SOUNDWAVE : 41 : TINEIDAE

Today’s guest deejay is Pavlo Storonsky, AKA Tineidae.

I discovered Pavlo while perusing artists on the Cryo Chamber label on Bandcamp. Cryo Chamber has been one of my favorite music labels since being introduced to them through a friend who played music from their catalog to provide the soundtrack to our Vampire: The Masquerade game sessions. I’ve never heard a Cryo Chamber release I didn’t like; there are just some I like more than others. I was hooked when I heard Pavlo’s Exo album. It’s as dark, ominous, and cinematic as everything else on Cryo Chamber but with a science fiction-horror vibe.

That’s not to say that Pavlo’s mix for today’s show sounds like that. But it's undoubtedly moody, atmospheric, and beautiful. I’ve been listing to it all week, and it’s exactly what I needed to help get me through Trump’s attempted coup here in the U.S. and 4,000+ dying a day from COVID-19. It’s surreal that I just wrote that sentence, but here we are.

Tineidae — Elliott Sharp’s *Filiseti Mekidesi* album

Before I go, I wanted to mention that last month Elliott Sharp (who did a mix for SOUNDWAVE) released his new album, Filiseti Mekidesi. The album is a meditation on the search for safety and neutrality, a place free from danger. It’s an opera, yes, but it’s an opera by Elliott Sharp, so it’s as unique and distinct as the rest of his oeuvre.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Mike Cadoo, founder of the record label, n5MD.

See you then!

36 “Cocoon”
Burial “Forgive”
Blackhill Transmitter “Five Twenty Seven”
Access to Arasaka “char *argv[]”
Valance Drakes “Until Either Comes To Pass”
Lorn “SILHOUETTE”
Bad Sector “Ampòs”
Ghost Factory “It Will Be Okay. We Can Walk Through This Forest Together.”
Subheim “Streets”
the_empath “silberstreif”
Glanko “AC”
Mønic “Morse”
Tineidae “Gas Mask (Ambient Version)”

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January 3, 2021July 1, 2021

SOUNDWAVE : 40 : FITZ GITLER

Today’s guest deejay is Fitz Gitler, and he has a beautiful mix to ease us into 2021.

I met Fitz when I asked Jason Randall Smith (listen to Jason’s mix here) who he knew would be interested in sharing a mix on SOUNDWAVE. Jason did not steer me wrong. Fitz is a musician, deejay, and designs sounds for theatrical productions, many of those in collaboration with director Tim Lee. He also creates under the name Techniken Defunkus or Techdef.

I’m particularly fond of this mix because it was the perfect soundtrack for an eight-hour wintery drive to Sacramento last week. Fitz’s mix had my tapping out rhythms on my steering wheel and grooving in my seat. Don’t be lulled by some of the jazz standards because there are plenty of surprises. More than once, I found myself scrambling to purchase albums featured on Fitz’s mix. As I write this I’m listening to Dan Tepfer’s album, Goldberg Variations/Variations, which is a delight.

If you love Fitz’s mix, and you will, check out his music on Bandcamp or his sets on Mixcloud.

Fitz has some words about his mix below.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Pavlo Storonsky AKA Tineidae.

See you then!

Fitz Gitler
*Photo credit: Cyndi Shattuck*

Twenty years ago, I met Jason Randall Smith behind the decks in a tiny bar in New York’s East Village, and music forged our friendship. I’m honored to be in his company and the full cast of mixes that Joseph has artfully assembled.

Jason and I were thrown together by our friend, EL Soundscraper, who I’ve known since junior high, but fortuitously reconnected with because of our shared love of music. Enrique (Soundscraper) called my tracks meditation music—not the sound, but because of how it functioned for me. This mix I created for SOUNDWAVE does that; it’s a sort of spirit guide through the insomniac thoughts of the small hours, and a kind of requiem too. This year has had no shortage of tragedy; there’s enough to go around.

I already loved music in college, but then I met Bill Hileman, aka Ronin Tengu, aka DJ Payce, aka Gandalf Punk. He gave me his world: hip hop, techno, ambient, jungle, acid jazz, funk, plenty of mischief, and more. He passed last month, too young, taken by cancer, not COVID. Bill is with me in every mix, laughing and needling me to keep searching. Too few experienced his true wealth of knowledge and love, but he influenced many, and his spirit lives on in his musical descendants.

It falls somewhere among the worlds of jazz and electronic music, but really it’s a sound design of sorts. I’m still exploring the loose idea “free-format” that I first witnessed in the middle of the night on college radio in the early ‘90s.

Techniken Defunkus “Pre-show for That Time”
Teebs “The Endless”
Colin Alexander “Bells and Strings”
Tom Richards “Minor Breach”
LV feat. Tigran Hamasyan “Hammers and Roses”
Techniken Defunkus “Ash Girl Post & Almost Nothing”
The Art Of Noise “Robinson Crusoe (downshift)”
Gabriella Swallow “Linear Construction (No. 5)”
Johnny Mbizo Dyani “Afrikan blues (excerpt)”
Aaron Novik “Ballroom of Lost Faith-Lost Dignity-LostSoul”
Rahsaan Roland Kirk “Haunted Feelings”
David Boykin Reads Sun Ra “The Space Age Cannot Be Avoided”
Buddy Peace “Day 138 – Been Glorious”
Jean Grae “BITS part 2 – The Fear”
Angel Bat Dawid “Transition East”
Daniel Carter, Brad Farberman, Billy Martin “I Guess Everything Is Happening As It Should”
Ill Considered “Retreat”
Coleman Hawkins “Hawk’s Variations, Part 1”
Dodo Marmarosa “Bopmatism”
Ahmad Jamal “Ahmad’s Blues”
Roy Eldridge “Echoes of Harlem”
Dan Tepfer “Improvisation 12 / obsessive”

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December 27, 2020July 1, 2021

SOUNDWAVE : 39 : APPLEFISH

Today’s guest deejay is Nik Davies. You most likely know her as Applefish.

Even before launching SOUNDWAVE I listened to a lot of ambient, classical, experimental and instrumental music. But as you can imagine, I listen to even more music from those genres these days. After perusing Bandcamp and listening to playlists on Spotify certain musicians turned up again and again. And for good reason, their music was singular and provocative. Applefish is one of those artists and I approached her to do a mix for SOUNDWAVE which we’ll listen to today.

2020 was a hard year for all of us. There was so much fear and uncertainty. Confronting your mortality on a daily basis is exhausting.

SOUNDWAVE was my way of coping with the stress and isolation of COVID-19. Pop music, movies, tv and books did not speak to the truth of the new reality I found myself in. The only thing I could focus on and gave me some relief was ambient, classical, experimental and instrumental. Because there are no vocals I could project whatever meaning I needed to on songs form those genres or a song would resonate with me. If I was finding solace in this music than surely others needed to hear it as well, and so I launched this show to share that music.

Almost immediately I decided to invite musicians, music label owners, journalists, etc to guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE. I started with people I knew and then asked the guest deejays who they thought would be interested in sharing a mix on the show. I’ve met so many amazing people and heard some mind blowing mixes.

I have some great shows in store for you in 2021! That said, I’m hoping this time next year nearly everyone will have been vaccinated and COVID-19 will be no more of a threat than any of the viruses we vaccinate for. And on that day I will retire SOUNDWAVE, content that it serviced its purpose.

Until then, today’s mix by Nik is the perfect way to wind down 2020. It’s quiet and it’s beautiful. Nik’s mix is like a blanket you wrap yourself in to keep yourself warm in a sometimes cold and harsh would. It’s also an expansive mix that makes me optimistic. And that’s a fine way to end 2020

Join us next week (and net year) when our guest deejay will be Fitz Gitler.

See you then!

Applefish “Andromeda”
Good Weather For An Airstrike “Thaw”
Aphex Twin “#3”
Lauge “Pine Trees Covered in Fog”
Lauge & Matt Tondut “Above the Clouds”
Crows Labyrinth “Our Last Dream (Single Version)”
Applefish “Astrosat”
Biosphere “Poa Alpina”
Applefish“Return to the Trubutaries”
Good Weather For An Airstrike “The Depths Between Us”
Spacecraft “Zodiacal Light”

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December 20, 2020July 1, 2021

SOUNDWAVE : 38 : HARROLD ROELAND

Today’s guest deejay is Harrold Roeland. Harrold is a trained composer, a poet, sound designer and performing musician, specializing in the use of environmental sounds and long attention spans. His works try to invoke the timelessness of the world and its landscapes. He sings medieval and renaissance music with Ensemble Vlechtwerk, and hosts the radio show Sensenta, a musical serial, at the Concertzender every Sunday evening that explores many of these themes.

From the beginning, whenever I’ve had a guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE I’ve asked them who they know personally that they think would be interested in participating in the show with a mix of their own. I do this for several reasons. For one, I like the intimacy of the invitation. While I have no problem contacting people I don't know to be on SOUNDWAVE I prefer this more personal touch. It’s a network built up of likeminded people who actually know each other. Secondly, having guest deejay’s on the show introduces me to wider scope of music. I’d like to think my knowledge of music is fairly deep but I know its really shallow. The guest deejays on SOUNDWAVE open me up to having so much more music in my life. And so many surprises! Today’s show features both Yusef Lateef and John Coltrane.

Harrold’s mix has been my soundtrack to many a late night and I'm thrilled to share it with you. Harrold’s will take you by the hand down darkened paths. It’s the kind of mix I love that seamlessly blends each song into the next and takes me on an emotional journey. I recently had the opportunity to listen to Harrold’s mix while driving through a sun-blasted Arizona highway and all it did was make the shadows cast from Harrold’s mix longer

Special thanks to Kirk Markarian of Neuro… No Neuro who introduced us to Harrold (listen to Kirk’s mix for SOUNDWAVE here). I’m curious to know who Harrold will introduce us to.

Harrold has some word about his mix which you can read below. But first, a few items I wanted to discuss.

As I’ve mentioned many times before, I launched SOUNDWAVE to help me cope with the stress and isolation of being stuck in my house due to the stay at home orders brought about by COVID-19. It was a very lonely time in my life: my wife was away at work and our kids were with their dad’s. It was just me, my dog and my music. Here we are in the second wave of the virus and once my wife has been sent out of town and yesterday I dropped off the kids to be with their dad. The difference this time is that instead of waiting months to be with my wife I’m going to see her today's and work remotely for the next few days. As a bonus, I’m going to spend the eight or so hours in my car listening to mixes for upcoming editions of SOUNDWAVE.

Finally, last week we lost Harold Budd and this week we lost pioneering blind composer and synthesist Pauline Anne Strom. Pauline released music in the 1980s under the name Trans-Mellenia Consort and explored the ambient and new age. Pauline’s last album, Angel Tears in Sunlight, is her first new album in 30 years and is scheduled to be released in January 2021.

Join me next week when our guest deejay will be Applefish.

See you then!

This mix starts with jazz, an album by Yusuf Lateef which has a nicely worn out sound. Biosphere’s wonderful impression of breaking ice quickly enters the scene. As far as worn out and slightly off key sounds go, Denmark’s Øjerum is an expert on that. His works are often soothing and slightly disturbing at the same time, as are Roly Porter’s, entering the mix around the 7 minute mark. We take a step back then for the second third of the mix, combining IA’s “Mater Lacrimosa” with, again, the percussive side of Biosphere. The last third of the mix is a piling of works, as often happens in my radioshow Sensenta on the Dutch Concertzender. IA meets John Coltrane meets Markus Guentner meets the genius of Kaija Saariaho. And finally, since it’s polite to introduce oneself, the last notes of “Glacier Looming,” is an impression of the weight of the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand, a work using birdsong and semi-modular synthesis.

Yusef Lateef “Purple Flower”
Biosphere “Skålbrekka”
Øjerum “The Forest Is Sleeping With The Trees, Part 1”
Roly Porter “Inflation Field”
IA “Mater Lacrimosa”
Biosphere “Bergsbotn III”
John Coltrane “The Drum Thing”
Markus Guentner “Magnetar”
Kaija Saariaho “Six Japanese Gardens IV”
Harrold Roeland “Glacier Looming”

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December 13, 2020July 1, 2021

SOUNDWAVE : 37 : CHRISTIAN SAGER

Today’s guest deejay is Christian Sager, co-host Supercontext, a podcast autopsy of media: how we consume it and how it informs our everyday culture.

I loved Supercontext. It felt like a podcast that was produced exclusively for me. For example, some of the topics they covered have been the anime Akira, Roy Scranton’s book, Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization and Bruce Sterling’s state of the world address at SXSW 2016. All those things are in my nerd wheelhouse. Even the shows that discussed topics I knew nothing about were gems.

Sadly Supercontext is now defunct although Christian and co-host Charlie Bennet still release a monthly podcast for Patreon supporters where they chat about the media they’ve been consuming. I highly recommend you go through their archives and listen to shows you think might strike your fancy.

I respect Christian and Charlie’s taste in music and invited them to guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE. Christian has delivered a mix that ranges from prog to math to dirge rock with a dollop of hip hop. Not your usual SOUNDWAVE fare but for me, at least, it was the perfect soundtrack to this week. 300,000+ dead from COIVD-19 and a President and his supporters who seemingly want to upend democracy. Christian’s mix is the blast of sound and fury I needed to propel me though the week.

Special thanks go out to Taylor Shechet for sequencing this week’s mix. Christian didn’t have the original tracks and when I offered to assemble the mix GarageBand refused to import the audio files. Taylor did me a solid by putting the mix together. And if you love today’s show then you’re definitely going to love Taylor’s mix for SOUNDWAVE that I’ll release in the next month or so.

Before I go, I want to mention that Christian and David Moore are launching a project called CORRIDOR Magazine, a new horror magazine bringing the weird worlds of short fiction, art, comics, and essays together under one roof. I’m helping fund it and so should you if this sort of thing is your bag.

Jonathan Ammon's American Splendor album — Jonathan Ammon’s *American Splendor* album

I also wanted to share Jonathan Ammons’s new release, “Living Proof,” from his forthcoming album, American Splendor. I’m looking forward to the album. If you want to hear more music from Jonathan, listen to his mix for SOUNDWAVE here.

Lastly, some sad news. Ambient composer Harold Budd died December 7. Just the day before I was listening to The Pearl, an album he recorded with Brian Eno, the day before he passed and was thinking how much I enjoyed his music. Harold was a pioneer in ambient music. He will be missed and my condolences go out to his family and friends.

And on that somber note, it’s time for me to say goodbye.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Harrold Roeland.

See you then!

Aspects of Physics “Level 3”
Battles “Tonto”
Atomsmasher “Thunderspit”
Sannhet “Invisible Wounds”
DJ/rupture “A04 Untitled from ‘Nubus’”
Run The Jewels “Don't Get Captured (Instrumental)”
MONO “After You Comes the Flood”
Thrones “Ephraim”
Russian Circles “309”
Sunn O))) & Boris “Akuma No Kuma”
OXES “Bees Won”
The Fucking Champs “What's A Little Reign?”
Orthrelm “rdd 1+2”
Heilung “Norupo”
Earth “Crooked Axis for String Quartet”

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December 6, 2020July 1, 2021

SOUNDWAVE : 36 : JOEL SHEARER

This week our guest deejay is Joel Shearer, an international and highly regarded session and touring musician, composer and producer based in Los Angeles, CA.

I met Joel through Carmen Rizzo when he was our guest deejay back back in July (check out Carmen’s mix here). Carmen’s mix was beautiful and as is my wont I asked Carmen who he knew personally that would be interested in participating in the show and he recommended Joel. I can’t thank Carmen enough for introducing me to Joel because we very much need to hear Joel’s mix.

If you’re new to SOUNDWAVE then you should know that I launched the show to help cope with the isolation of stress of COVID-19 and the stay at home orders back in March. The only thing that gave me solace was ambient, classical, instrumental and experimental music and I decided to share what I was listening to whoever else might need to hear it as well.

Here we are nine months later in the second wave of COVID-19 infections and deaths. It's going entirely as predicted. What I don’t think think anyone could have predicted is the absolute magnitude of our current administrations ineptness at handling the pandemic. Several vaccines to combat the virus have been developed at astounding speed. That's breathtaking. Equally breathtaking is that instead of the 300 million doses the administration had promised before the end of the year the plan is now to only distribute 35 to 40 million doses. We’re at the beginning of a second wave with over 288,000 deaths and there’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel except that light is being blocked by an administration that seems to go out if its way to bungle the distribution of the vaccines.

When I began SOUNDWAVE there is no way I could have predicted these infuriating and crazy making responses to the pandemic by our current administration, which is why I, and maybe you, need to take comfort in Joel’s mix. It's exactly the kind of succor we need. I’m Listening to Joel’s mix as I write this and I find myself wrapping it around me like a cherished and well worn coat to keep me warm in the winter.

Joel has some words to share about today’s mix below but before we get to that I wanted let you know that guest deejay Robert Rich has released his new album, Neurogenesis, earlier this week.

Robert Rich's Neurogenesis album — Robert Rich’s *Neurogenesis* album

I’ve been listening to Robert’s music since last century when I heard I discovered him on the From Here To Tranquility Volume 2 compilation album. I later interviewed him and when I featured his live set on solipsistic NATION. I had the pleasure of finally meeting Robert face-to-face (at a safe and respectable six foot distance, of course) this summer while I was in Northern California and Robert was kind enough to play me a few tracks from Neurogenesis in his studio.

Robert started recording Neurogenesis in Spring of 2019 inspired by a lucid dream. Robert says Neurogenesis expresses optimism about the potential for human consciousness. At the start of pandemic lockdown in March he stopped working on Neurogenesis to record Offering to the Morning Fog because listeners were asking for something calm. He got back to work on Neurogenesis in June, and finished in late October. I’ve been listening to Neurogenesis all week and I’m glad Robert is able to share his album with the world.

You can hear more music from Robert in his mix for SOUNDWAVE here.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Christian Sager.

See you then!

Let’s hear from Joel about today's mix.

This playlist is intended to turn folks onto new music from known and unknown ambient artists.

Joseph August is new artist out of Los Angeles and a frequent guest for Secular Sabbath with Rhye, Diplo, Flume.

Clarice Jenson is best known for being the cellist for Max Richter’s Sleep amongst many others and an incredible solo artist in her own right.

“March” comes from my second release from my latest album, Hours, available on all digital outlets.

Orpheo McCord is the founding member of Ed Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, this song is off Orpheo’s first solo release. Epic ambient marimba beauty.

Naneum is an ambient artist out of New York, who’s played for many artists including Angus and Julia Stone and Passenger.

Jónsi is a member of Sigur Rós and composer and “Boy” is from Alex Somers’ second release.

Joseph August “A Soft Reflect”
Clarice Jensen “Final”
Joel Shearer “March”
Orpheo McCord “As Within”
Naneum “Accretion”
Jónsi and Alex “Boy”

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