Tag: arctic

SOUNDWAVE : 125 : SUNWARPER

Today’s guest deejay is Michael Jakucs, AKA Sunwarper.

After hearing Michael’s music in both Brian Sangmeister and Forest Robots’s mixes for Soundwave, I invited Michael to share a mix. Based on Michael’s music, I knew we were in good hands. But I did not anticipate the surprising directions he took his mix and yet felt utterly familiar.

Let me explain.

The focus of Soundwave is ambient, classical, experimental, and instrumental music, with an emphasis on the ambient. And that’s fine. I’m all about that ambient life. But for me, it’s always a delight when a guest shares a mix that leans into the show’s classical, experimental, and instrumental aspects. Christian Sager’s doom metal/math rock/hip hop mix comes to mind. As does Charles Hazlewood’s mimimalist/modern classical/free jazz mix.

What makes today’s show special, for me, is that it’s very much steeped in shoegaze and dream pop. So while I only know several of the artists in Michael’s mix, I already feel well acquainted with the music I’m unfamiliar with. It’s very déjà vu. I keep asking myself, “Isn’t this a 4AD release?”

 

Michael Jakucs, AKA Sunwarper
Michael Jakucs, AKA Sunwarper

Michael just released a track composed for the season finale of the webcomic The Eagle and the Snake called “Forever Becoming.” He also has a full-length album, Radiant Visage, that will be released on October 14 and available for pre-order on September 9.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be n5MD founder Mike Cadoo.

See you then.

  1. Kh3rtis & Willebrant “Calm Complete”
  2. Frequency Control Centre “Ventral Tegmental”
  3. Sunwarper “Farther”
  4. jesu “We All Faulter”
  5. Maureen’s Friend “R.P.O.W.”
  6. Cloudkicker “We Were All Scared”
  7. Cities of Earth “Sundog”
  8. christ. “Pylonesque”
  9. Eonlake “Retcon”
  10. Boards of Canada “Constants Are Changing”

Subscribe to SOUNDWAVE on iTunes, Overcast, Castro and Pocketcasts.

Logo by Rik Oostenbroek

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
Ishmael Cormack

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

Subscribe to SOUNDWAVE on iTunes, Overcast, Castro and Pocketcasts.

Logo by Rik Oostenbroek