Rhucle appeared on Soundwave in March of 2021 with a mix became the soundtrack to my walks with my dog. Today’s show promises to be as intimate and magical as the last.
Rhucle
Rhucle is an electronic music producer from Japan. His music is a blend of ambient, lo-fi, and field recordings featuring the sounds of nature. Rhucle’s music evokes a sense of calm and introspection and is perfect for relaxation or contemplation.
Today’s mix is like a dream of reuniting with long-lost friends and never wanting to wake from that dream.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Luke Entelis.
Last month I shared a retrospective mix from the Ambient Dub compilation series. It was a fantastic experience revisiting those albums, which also served as a touchstone to some beautiful times. Inspired, I reached out to as many of the musicians on the compilation album as possible, leading me to Glyn, whom I’ve always known as one-half of Original Rockers.
Glyn’s mix re-introduced me to gems from Durutti Column and Faust and introduced me to new favorites such as Chassol and Khotin. And Glyn’s mix is chock full of his music projects, such as Biggabush.
Glyn has some words about his mix below.
Join us next weekend when our guest deejay will be Rubén Tamayo.
See you then.
Glyn Bush
It was really nice to be asked to do an ambient mix as it’s a genre I always enjoy even if I don’t normally listen to it that much.
With Original Rockers/Rockers Hi-Fi, we were asked to do an “ambient dub” track by Mike Barnet from Beyond Records around 1992. We just went with our gut and very quickly produced “Sexy Selector.” I suppose we defined ambient dub as being quite lush, with deep chords, lots of space, sequences, and odd bits of vocal. At the time I was listening to The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld and going to a club called Oscillate in Birmingham and hearing quite a bit of what you might call ambient electronica, seeing people like Autechre play live, Alex Paterson on the decks and of course the Higher Intelligence Agency who ran the night.
So I’ve delved back into that era a bit in my mix and checked out some more contemporary stuff with tips from my daughter, re:ni, plus an ambient track we made together a couple of years ago using the sounds of glaciers crumbling, rainfall, and suchlike.
The opener by Richie Hawtin alias F.U.S.E. is one of my all-time fave tracks, just a slowly unfurling 303 looping over and over in its inimitable way.
I dropped a couple of bits from Chassol who makes really beautiful music, not necessarily defined as “ambient” but lush and interesting and full of surprises. He does incredible stuff with recordings of voices where he literally turns all the inflections of speech into musical notes. Check out his Barack Obama track too.
I included a track from my Sunken Foal Stories album, possibly my favourite release and unlike anything I’ve done before or since, with lots of random juxtapositions and happy accidents.
re:ni recommended a lovely track by MLO called ”Sleeper”, which didn’t make the cut, but I used a nice Wagon Christ remix of one of his tracks which I’d not heard before. I’m always happy to crowbar a Luke Vibert track into any mix.
Ghost Power is a collab between Tim Gane of Stereolab and Jeremy Novak of Dymaxion who do some really interesting stuff, mostly nothing like the track I used but all good.
Neotropic is Riz Maslen, who made lovely stuff in the early 90s. This was a fave on cassette back in the day.
Beak> is a Geoff Barrow from Portishead side project, doing a mix of krautrock-ish, motorik beats, plus some excellent synth work, quite soundtrack-y vibes.
Durutti Column was making ambient guitar stuff in the early 80s, of which this is a fine example and always makes me think of sunshine.
PLO Man and C3D-E are on the coveted Acting Press label, which I’d not heard of before re:ni gave me a tip, but it’s high-quality stuff. Likewise, Khotin – is a Canadian producer doing some lovely things on Bandcamp.
Faust was a bunch of crazy German guys who lived in their studio, recorded shedloads of improvisations, and wrote some beautiful songs. The two Faust tracks are from the The Faust Tapes, another all-time fave album of mine compiled from their unreleased tapes from the early 70s.
A couple of Bigga Bush tracks, one called “The Bells,” written in the mid-90s, and the collab mentioned above with re:ni, which was written for a DJs for Climate Action campaign using natural found sounds.
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 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.
Alisú included Riz Maslen in her mix for Soundwave last fall, which led to me spending hours re-visiting the music Riz recorded as Neotropic, as well as her work with 4hero and The Future Sound of London. I invited Riz to share a mix with us, and it’s something else.
Riz mix begins with a piece by Freddie Philips, a British composer known for his work on television music, particularly the theme for Camberwick Green. It’s what I imagine a mix from Wes Anderson might sound like, and I would have been completely satisfied if Riz stayed within that genre. But Riz pivots to Egyptian jazz-inspired psychedelic rock, shifts to trip-hop, and never looks back. And yet, Riz’s mix never feels incongruous. Each track seamlessly blends into the next.
You’re in for quite the journey.
Each mix shared on Soundwave is special. When I say that, I’m not equivocating; they are unique. But some resonate with me more than others, and Riz’s mix is one of those mixes. As the pandemic continues to disrupt our lives, I’ve found Riz’s mix to sometimes act as a balm and other times a needed distraction.
I envy you. I wish I could hear Riz’s mix again for the first time.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Robocat.
I met Steve through Jason Engling, who guest deejayed on Soundwave a couple of years ago. Steve shared a magical mix that I have listened to many times. Today’s show is no less resplendent in its emotions and sounds. It’s a journey.
Earlier this week, I was telling a friend about Soundwave and Steve’s mix. I explained that because Soundwave was created to help me cope with stress and isolation during the first few months of the pandemic, it is a touchstone to those fearful and uncertain times. For me, Soundwave has become a weekly meditative act of reflecting on those early days and the impact of the pandemic on nearly everything in our lives. While I go back to that emotional space weekly, my thoughts and feelings about those times have changed.
As I write this, it is a beautiful day in San Diego, and I can see the ocean from where I sit. I’ve seen this view many times, and while the view is the same, I’m not the person I was at the beginning of this pandemic. I’ve changed. We’ve all changed. I find myself asking who this person is I’ve become and what will I do? Where do I go from here? Steve’s mix provides the soundtrack for the journey.
I often feel misplaced. Out of tune with much of the goings on of the world around me. As a result, sound and nature have always been a source of refuge. As a child raised around fields and Great Lakes, I’m always drawn to music and sound that drifts, billows or breathes. And so it is with this mix of music. It’s intended as a reflection of my lack of place but also my sense of solitude, refuge and wonder. For me, these are the underscores of moments of abandon out on the road or a morning walk in my neighborhood. Moments of solitude where my mind surveys the landscape of hardships and joys. Spaces where my thoughts drift to someone I deeply miss. Or during the exhale at the end of a long day. To me, these pieces of music are boundless and internal. Drifting like a breeze or a trace of a memory. Something otherworldly but familiar. Nostalgic and grateful. The spirit of a land but not a place.
I discovered Lecu a few months ago when Soundwave guest deejay Ishmael Cormack asked folks on Twitter for musical recommendations. Lecu suggested Sebastian Mullaert and Erland Cooper. Those were both great recommendations. Who was this Lecu? I checked out how Twitter profile, which led me to his Bandcamp page and listened to his albums. I extend an invitation to join us on Soundwave, and here we are today.
It was a breath of fresh air after last week’s mix from Line Spectrum. Don’t get me wrong, last week’s show was great, but listening to it on my AIrPod Pro with transparency mode felt more like an auditory hallucination than a mix. Lecu’s mix feels whimsical by comparison but no less fantastic than Line Spectrum’s mix.
If you’d like to hear more music from Lecu, check out show on 1020 Radio, every first Thursday of every month from 10 PM – 11 PM Pacific.
Lecu has some brief words about his mix below.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Inner Travels.
Leo, AKA Lecu
I’m happy to share my mix with you today. Lots of nice textures, both abstract and familiar, with some lush tracks along the way — one of which is a new one from me, which feels like the start of a new record and a new direction for me as an artist.
It was really fun to make, and I’m so honoured to be in very good company with your other guests
Much love from Plymouth, England, and wishing you all the very best.
I met Michael when he posted an interview with Daniel Fuzztone on Micro.blog. I enjoyed the interview and Michael’s other blog posts and Daniel’s music, so I invited both of them to guest deejay on Soundwave. We’ll hear Daniel’s mix in December.
I’m happy about the Micro.blog connection. It’s one of the aspects of social media I still like. When I joined Twitter 2006, it was easier to have actual conversations with people and establish friendships. It was also easier to chat with musicians, label owners, directors, etc and bypass the dual intermediaries. Those days are gone, and Micro.blog’s network is currently too small to be useful to me in that way, what it has going for it that’s invaluable is the conversations and connections you have there. It’s cosier. And because Micro.blog is subscription based, it eliminates the riff raft.
Michael Donaldson
I got a kick out of Michael’s blog. It’s got a lot of 80/90s feel to it, so for me hearing Michael’s mix was like putting on a comfortable, worn-in sweater. Michael’s mix is wonderful, but the track that got me in the feels was My Bloody Valentine/Skylab’s “Incidental Peace.” It’s such an unlikely collaboration but somehow weaves a seamless blend of shoegaze and electronic music. It’s all kinds of wonderful and “Incidental Peace” is buttressed between music that is equally gorgeous.
I think what I love most about Michael’s mix is how dreamy it it. I’ll find myself listening to the it, and lose myself in the music and my own thoughts and feelings, only to resurface laster in the mix, uncertain how much time has passed.
Okay, time for me to pack it in. Tomorrow is my boy’s first baseball game of the season. I’ll be honest, even with social distancing I think it’s going to be unsettling being around so many people. At least we’ll all be outdoors.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Gert De Meeseter.
Jonathan guest deejayed on the show last October. Jonathan’s mix was so moving that I invited him back to Soundwave. Today’s mix is equally remarkable. I had the unique opportunity to listen to it while driving from San Diego to Sacramento to visit my wife this weekend. It’s wildfire season in California (it’s always wildfire season), and Jonathan’s mix provided the soundtrack to my apocalyptic drive. The skies were tinted dirty brown from the ashes from the wildfires, but somehow the sun managed to blast the landscape with glaring light: grass and trees parched from California’s megadrought. Every 20 miles or so, I’d pass an abandoned car to the side of the highway. And yet, Jonathan’s mix somehow lent some beauty to such desolate scenery.
Jonathan has some words about his mix below.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be anthéne.
See you then!
Jonathan Ammons
I think that my past year has looked like many people’s lives during the middle of one of the largest global pandemics in history. A lot of isolation, a lot of finding ways to busy yourself or occupy your mind. In the past, as someone who worked from home, I had enjoyed drone, ambient, and all of those experimental genres for the way they occupied a space without dominating it. If ambient music was created to generate music that did not evoke strong and tumultuous emotions — as Brian Eno claims— that was exactly what I wanted droning on in the background of my house while I pecked away at a keyboard for work. As a journalist, it provided this stoic, emotionless wallpaper for the background of my daily existence.
Covid changed a lot of that. They daily monotony left me just craving a change of emotion. But I didn’t want words; I didn’t want lyrics that would remind me of how things were when we were able to go places, meet people, kiss strangers at a bar… I wanted the same stability that the drone I’d come to love gave me, but I wanted something a little more expressive.
I also noticed that the more I used any streaming platform, the more the algorithm would eventually whittle things down to the same handful of artists. I wanted new things. I wanted variety in a locked-down life with no chance of spontaneity. So I decided to cut all algorithmic music out of my life. I stopped listening to Spotify or Pandora or any of those generated playlists and dialed back in to the radio.
I have to give a giant shoutout to Noods Radio out of Bristol, England, because they have been a major lifesaver. A station dedicated to the wild and weird sounds of Bristol. You never know what you’ll find, but the rich spread of creativity has introduced me to a slew of new artists. Props to BBC6’s great ambient show, as well.
Northern England’s A Beautiful Burning World make’s gorgeous sounds using very simple gear and tape loops. They even have a subscription system for $15 a year, and you can get their entire discography for cheaper than that! Much of this mix comes from artists discovered through the radio or combing around Bandcamp.
Seamstress makes delightful chill-out beats. Scanner gorgeously blends drone and ambient with deep arrangements that are so subtle, but meaningful. And I don’t know why it took me till now to notice Garth Stevenson’s incredible compositions. We really are in a golden age for the reinvention of modern classical music. Just look no further than Tristan Perich’s fantastic work.
I also have to give a shoutout to Kimathi Moore. Kima is an incredibly talented sound artist here in Asheville. His style’s shift between ambient, drone, and Edgard Varèse-like tone poems. I got the chance to work with him on a music video he shot for my latest album, and got to see just what a meticulous worker he is.No wonder his sounds are so precise and pristine.
Of course, I had to include some Harold Budd. I included a selection off of his album the Serpent (In Quicksilver) because I remember hearing an interview with him in which he claimed that it was his favorite record that he’d made. A major loss for the ambient music world, losing one of the original masters to this damned virus.
And lastly, the original tracks are two previously unreleased compositions. I started messing around with more tape loops in my studio this winter, and really decided to dive into it, which is how “The Same River” originated. The closing track is actually from a much larger piece I have coming out in the Fall. “A Certain Kind of Light” is a 40-minute piece in five movements. It was an experiment to see just how far I could go using only a single chord. The incredibly talented Olivia Springer performed all of the string parts for that piece. I’ve included the final movement of that piece to close out this mix as its debut.
Endless thanks to Joseph for having me back for another Soundwave mix. It’s been a pleasure to follow along and hear what everyone is listening to these days!
I follow all the guest deejays on Twitter (check my SOUNDWAVE list here), and the Hypnagogue Podcast kept turning up on Kirk Markarian’s Twitter feed. I trust Kirk’s taste in music, so I listened to a few episodes of Hypnagoge. I loved everything I heard and invited John to guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE.
John’s mix is everything you’d expect in a SOUNDWAVE mix, but what especially delighted mas his selected dub tracks.
I’ve been a fan of dub since last century.
I first became aware of dub when I read William Gibson’s cyberpunk classic, Neuromancer. In the novel, Case, our protagonist, finds himself in a Jamaican space colony called Zion.
Case gradually became aware of the music that pulsed constantly through the cluster. It was called dub, a sensuous mosaic cooked from vast libraries of digitalized pop; it was worship, Molly said, and a sense of community.
I was intrigued by that mysterious description. Shortly afterwards I came across the 21st Century Dub album on ROIR. I was hooked and became a dub devotee. I even adopted the persona of a character called King Dub. I’d speak with an Jamaican patois, and combined with some echo and pitch-shifting, I became a deejay from the deepest realm of dub spinning tracks from everyone from Ras Michael and The Sons of Negus to The Orb.
When I launched SOUNDWAVE I assumed there would be a lot of dub. The genre is a natural fit for the format of those show. I’ve been disappointed that dub has been a blind spot and I’m relieved that John is the first guest deejay to include dub tracks in the mix. Hopefully he won’t be the last.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Roedelius. Check out his livestream concert here.
John Shanahan
The Hypnagogue Podcast began over a decade ago as an offshoot of the Hypnagogue Reviews site, which I ran from 2003 until 2017, when I decided I didn’t have anything worth saying anymore. Now the music does the eclectic talking for me every two weeks, built from the amazing range of music sent my way.
I laid down this Soundwave mix as I do my own show—picking an interesting place to start and following a stream of semi-conscsiousness through my library to see what associations arise. So we kick off with haunting sound-sculptor Joe Frawley and move with the piano into the sparse, emotional spaces of Memory Bell. The Detroit76, a Matt Borghi side project, shifts us smoothly into beat-driven groove territory, segueing into tasty licks from Austin funk-dub duo Canartic, which melts neatly into into vintage Cyberchump. Forest Robots offer a bridge by way of plucked-string tones in a wash of electronica, and Corciolli & Emmanuele Baldini use it to escort us further intro electro-acoustic territory. That put me in mind of the modern chamber music of Domingues and Kane, after which we flick the switch to Tim Story’s brand of electronic chamber music. At the end, the ride finishes courtesy of the person who brought my show to Joseph’s attention in the first place, Neuro…No Neuro, aka Kirk Markarian.
Protests blazed across the US, sparked by the killing of George Floyd, from the kindling of over 150 years of police brutality, systemic racism and hundreds of years of slavery. I watched police cars run into protesters. I watched police officers beat and shoot peaceful protesters. I watched protesters raze property, sometimes from their own communities. I’ve even watched a man armed with a bow with an arrow notched aiming it at protesters who quickly took him down.
It is nauseating.
It makes me ill that it’s come to this. I want to hope that out of all this anger, suffering and pain that some good will come of it. But I don’t think my country is ready to have an honest conversation about race that might lead to the healing that this nation so desperately needs.
I’m fried. Once again this show is a balm and a welcome distraction, brief as it is.
Our guest deejay on today’s SOUNDWAVE is Planet Boelex.
I met Planet Boelex through Travis Nobles of hiddenplace music. He suggested that I feature one of Planet Boelex’s live sets on solipsistic NATION, the electronic music show I produced. Planet Boelex’s sound music is impressive because aside from being beautiful it was also distinct. His personality is imprinted onto his music. Electronic music often sound anonymous because some musicians use stock sounds and loops. When you hear a song by Planet Boelex you know it.
I hope today’s show gives you some respite.
Next week’s guest deejay is Dronny Darko. I hope were all in a better place by then.
I’ll leave you with two quotes.
“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”
— James Baldwin
“One is responsible to life. It is the small beacon in that terrifying darkness from which we come and to which we return. One must negotiate this passage as nobly as possible, for the sake of those who are coming after us.”
Frank Riggio’s Empreinte Initiale EP
