SOUNDWAVE : 39 : APPLEFISH

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.

Nik Davies
Nik Davies AKA Applefish

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!

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

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SOUNDWAVE : 33 : PALEOWOLF

SOUNDWAVE : 33: PALEOWOLF

Today’s SOUNDWAVE features a mix of select tracks from Paleowolf!

I’ve been sitting on a handful of mixes since I invited guest deejays on SOUNDWAVE. If they were going to be generous with their time and efforts to send me a mix then I could be patient and release my own mixes on a later date. And at long last I can finally share with you today's mix of select tracks from Paleowolf.

I got turned on to Paleowolf when Warren Ellis raved about Paleowolf’s album, Megafauna Rituals. I’ve been waiting for an album like Megafauna Rituals for decades since listening to Brian Eno’s Ambient 4: On Land album. Yes, yes, I know that album is an imaginary soundscape the captures the essence of Eno’s England but I didn't know that when I first heard it. To me On Land was more of a touchstone to our Paleolithic past.

Speaking of the Paleolithic, Paleowolf’s music is the soundtrack to a lot of Ice Age role playing games such as Würm, Paleomythic and my own homebrew game based on the Strain rule set. You might want to incorporate it into your own game if that’s your bag.

Paleowolf's new album, Primordial II
Paleowolf’s new album, Primordial II

Scorpio V is the man behind Paleowolf and I was hoping to have him on the show to be a guest deejay but the guy is busy. After looking at all his releases and side projects I don't think the poor bastard has time to eat or sleep. In fact, as I write this his latest album, Primordial II, will be released November 16. Maybe after this album I can get him to guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE.

If you dig today’s show you’ll want to check out Scorpio VI’s other projects such as Orkforge, Metatron Omega and Forest of Yore.

Ana Roxanne's new album, Because of a Flower
Ana Roxanne’s new album, Because of a Flower

Before I head out, I want to turn you on to Ana Roxanne’s new album, Because of a Flower. I’ve been a fan of Ana’s music since her 2020 album, ~~~, so much so that I featured her track, “It’s a Rainy Day On The Cosmic Shore,” on the first edition of SOUNDWAVE.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be offthesky.

  1. Paleowolf “Thundertribe”
  2. Paleowolf “Hunter”
  3. Paleowolf “Hunter II”
  4. Paleowolf “Sabertooth”
  5. Paleowolf “Eos”
  6. Paleowolf “Héḱmō (Stone)”
  7. Paleowolf “Unjo”

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SOUNDWAVE : 32 : DANIEL MCCAGH

SOUNDWAVE : 32: DANIEL MCCAGH

Today on SOUNDWAVE our guest deejay is n5MD recording artist, Daniel McCagh. I’ll talk about Daniel’s mix shortly but first let me tell you about the election that just took place in the U.S.

As I write this Joe Biden has been declared the president-elect of the United States. The vice president-elect is Kamala Harris is the first Indian-American, the first African-American, and the first female vice president in U.S. history. It is so long overdue that someone like Harris becomes a vice president that it took a while for me to recognize the significance of this accomplishment. This should have been the norm a very long time ago. Of course a woman should be a vice president. Of course a woman of color should be vice president. There shouldn’t be anything remarkable about this at all. But here we are at long last.

Here in San Diego the mood is ebullient. There are motorcades, the honking of horns and cheering. You can feel the difference; the joy and the relief. After four years of mendacity, racism, cruelty and incompetence we are ready for a change.

SOUNDWAVE was created as a coping mechanism to the isolation and stress of COVID-19. President Trump and his administration bungled the management of the crisis of COVID-19 so badly that they contributed to the spread of the virus. So badly, in fact, that the Trump administration effectively gave up. I can only hope that Biden’s administration will reign in the virus and accelerate a cure. As Americans we need to get back to our lives and loved ones and we need an economy that will work for everyone.

I’m not naive. I know this presidency will disappoint and outrage me as all other presidencies have in the past. But at least it will be a normal disappointment and outrage and not that nauseating horror show I’ve had to endure for the last four years.

Let’s take a break from politics.

Planet Boelex's new album, Connect
Planet Boelex’s new album, Connect

Planet Boelex is a previous guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE and he has just released and new album called Connect. It’s about as beautiful as you’d expect and you can find it on Bandcamp for the very affordable price of $7.

Want more of Planet Boelex? You can listen to his mix for SOUNDWAVE here or listen to his live set for solipsistic NATION here.

Daniel McCagh
Daniel McCagh

Okay, let’s talk about our guest deejay, Daniel McCagh.

Daniel describes his mix as a collection of some favourite tunes both beautiful and sometimes uncomfortable for deep and immersive listening. It’s the kind of soundscape that’s perfect for the rare rainy day we’re having this weekend in San Diego. After you are done listening to Daniel’s mix you will know that you have just experienced something profound and that you will need time to process it.

Daniel’s mix comes to us by way of Mike Cadoo, the founder of n5MD. I interviewed Mike and featured music from his label on solipsistic NATION some years ago. When I launched SOUNDWAVE I reached out to Mike to do a mix for a show. Mike was busy at the time but suggested that Daniel put together a mix for SOUNDWAVE. Great idea, Mike. Oh, and I still want you to do a mix of your own when time permits.

Daniel McCagh is an electronic music producer and sound artist currently residing in Melbourne, Australia. Daniel uses acoustic instruments and digital manipulation to create powerful emotive and cinematic music. Daniel is also the sole composer and sound designer behind Gutterbox Audio, having composed music and designed sound for global companies such as Polestar, Huawei, Acura and Volkswagen.

You’re in good hands. Enjoy today’s mix!

Join us next week when we’ll listen to a mix featuring Cryo Chamber recording artist Paleowolf.

See you then!

  1. Proem “As They Go”
  2. Roly Porter “Known Space”
  3. Abul Mogard “Flooding Tide”
  4. Yair Elazar Glotman & Mats Erlandsson “Procession”
  5. Deru “Undertow”
  6. Martin Stig Andersen “City”
  7. Tim Hecker “In The Fog”

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SOUNDWAVE : 30 : JOSEPH ALEO

As I write this we’re driving to Arizona to pick up our daughter who we haven’t seen her in over seven months.

Before the self-quarantine in California began we took our kids to stay with their bio-dad and his partner. We didn't know how the virus was going to play out and my wife was certain she was going to be summoned for duty and I was going to work from home. Having them with their dad and his girlfriend was our best option.

We picked up our boy from Arizona a few months ago and by the end of the day all our family will finally be under the same roof again.

So here we are in the car and we’re listening to today’s mix. That’s my wife's idea, which is very flattering. Ambient and experimental music isn’t her thing.

This mix is very special to me.

I launched SOUNDWAVE to help cope with the stress and isolation of being under self-quarantine due to COVID-19.

We’ve been living with the Corona virus for over half a year now so it’s easy to forget that the during the early days of the self-quarantine we were all white knuckling it. We were all asking ourselves how long this would go on, what can we do to protect ourselves, and will we or our family members or friends die from the virus?

I don’t know about you but during that time I found it difficult to focus on anything outside of work, and work was a blessed distraction. My television could barely hold my attention and I’d turn it off in frustration. I found myself unable to read books and would read the same paragraphs over and over again. And I discovered that music no longer spoke to the truth of my new reality. Love songs in particular seemed inane. The only music I could listen to was ambient, classical, experimental and instrumental where there were no lyrics and I could infer or impart my own meeting. And if that was the only music that gave me solace then surely others needed it to, so why not share it?

Shortly after launching SOUNDWAVE I invited folks I knew to guest deejay on the show. I was overwhelmed by the responses so I sat on today’s mix until the right time.

So here we are. Finally.

The first track on today’s mix comes from Dronny Darko’s latest album, Origin. The entire album is fantastic and I was so impressed that I invited Dronny to be a guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE. Dronny Darko is on the roster of artist on the Cryo Chamber label, as is our next artist, Sabled Sun, which is Simon Heath, the founder Cryo Chamber. And from Sabled Sun we segue into Multicast Dynamics. Samuel van Dijk is the man behind Multicast Dynamics and today’s track comes form his fifth album, Lost World.

All of these songs seamlessly blend into each other until we fade into Ecker & Meulyzer, who I discovered n the Bandcamp Daily blog. Wonderful, spooky stuff full of powerful rhythms and raw swaths of sounds.

From there we hear a piece by West Dylan Thorsdon from the Split soundtrack. That man can do a lot with just a bow and a cello that’ll raise the hair on the back of your neck.

Our next song is from the Devs soundtrack by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow. If you haven’t watched Devs, please do so. It’s written and directed by Alex Garland and I think it’s Alex working in peak form. And Ben and Geoff’s music elevate Devs into sublimity. Oh, and Geoff is also a member of Portishead and you should definitely listen to his bandmate, Adrian Utley, mix for SOUNDWAVE.

We end today’s show with a piece by Those Who Walk Away from composer Matthew Patton’s album, The Infected Mass. It’s a mournful song for a mournful show. Patton’s piece is accompanied By some words by Peter Wessel Zapffe from his book, The Last Messiah. Prior to the pandemic I was knee deep in the nihilism of Thomas Ligotti and Emil Ciordan and Zapffe’s name kept popping up so naturally I had to read his stuff. Being steeped in nihilism isn’t the healthiest frame of mind to be in during the self-quarantine so I exorcised it with today’s mix.

I love this mix and I’m happy to finally share it with you after listening it to it weekly for the six months. It’s also something of a relief because today’s mix is also a touchstone to very unhappy time in my life and I’m glad to finally let go of it.

Join us again next week when our guest deejay will be E & S from one of my favorite labels, Other Forms of Consecrated Life.

See you then!

  1. Dronny Darko “Bioelectric Dive”
  2. Sabled Sun “Silo”
  3. Multicast Dynamics “Observation Deck”
  4. Ecker & Meulyzer “Carbon Cycles”
  5. West Dylan Thordson “Opening”
  6. Ben Salisbury, Geoff Barrow “Suffocation”
  7. Those Who Walk Away “First Degraded Hymn”
  8. Peter Wessel Zapffe “The Last Messiah, Excerpt”

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SOUNDWAVE : 29 : protoU

Today’s guest deejay is Sasha, AKA, protoU!

A few months ago Dronny Darko came on the show with a killer mix. As usually, I asked Dronny who he knew personally who would be interested in sharing a mix of their own for SOUNDWAVE and Dronny recommended protoU. It’s a dark and mysterious that’s both ethereal and earthy. Sasha’s mix resonates with me because it is reminiscent of the first two albums that introduced me to ambient music, Brian Eno’s Ambient 4: On Land and Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks. Sasha’s mix also include’s Hivetribe’s “Uthernno”, which features one of my favorite recording of a 1950s housewife trying to describe a LSD experience.

You will not be disappointed with Sasha’s mix. I’ve had her mix on repeat for weeks and I still find something new in it.

In other news, this tiny show dedicated to niche genres of music that I launched to help cope with the stress of COVID-19 is growing ever so slightly, which is gratifying.

I don’t do much to promote SOUNDWAVE because it’s not that kind of show. It really is a form of therapy and I’m touched by every guest deejay’s generosity. I’m also moved that you, dear listener, take time out of your no doubt busy week to experience the mixes offered on this show. Maybe it’s time to share this show with more people. If you know of someone that you think would enjoy SOUNDWAVE, grab their phone and subscribe them to the podcast.

Join us again next week when our guest deejay will be… let me check my schedule… me!

protoU
protoU

  1. Alphaxone & protoU “Consumed”
  2. protoU “Transparent Clusters”
  3. protoU “Unreal Symbols”
  4. protoU “Dai Robsa Preah”
  5. Dronny Darko & protoU “Riparian Forest [300 million years ago]”
  6. Dronny Darko & protoU “Everything”
  7. Untitledcloud “Waves”
  8. Untitledcloud “Abstractions”
  9. Hivetribe “Herbquake”
  10. Hivetribe “Uthernno”

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SOUNDWAVE : 28 : AXEL ARTURO BARCELÓ

SOUNDWAVE : 28 AXEL ARTURO BARCELÓ

Today’s guest deejay is Axel Arturo Barceló, who I met while interviewing him for solipsistic NATION about his netlabel, Discos Konfort. I enjoyed talking to Axel about his label and dug the music from his roster of artists that he was one of the first people I contacted when I started asking folks to guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE. I know you’re going to live his mix!

 

Axel Arturo Barceló
Axel Arturo Barceló

This is another one of those entries that I have to keep short because I have friends from out of town that I’m about to meet up with for dinner. A few things before I go…

A few weeks ago I saw a photo of apocalyptic skies due to the fires in NorCal that Robert Rich posted on Facebook. When I discovered that he and I lived in the same area I said we should hang out, and so we did. Robert is just a nice and thoughtful as you’d imagine. We was also generous and gave me a copy his latest CD, Offering to the Morning Fog. So cool to finally meet the guy whose music I’ve been listening to since last century. Check out Robert’s mix for SOUNDWAVE here.

 

Joseph Aleo and Robert Rich
Joseph Aleo and Robert Rich

This week I’ve been enjoying W. David Oliphant’s new album, Beyond All Defects: 2020, that he recorded with Sir Richard Bishop. Actually, I don’t know if enjoying is the right word. More like experiencing it. Oliphant’s music is haunting and that doesn’t even begin to capture the depth of his music. Look, just listen to the damn album and hear for yourself. Or listen to Oliphant’s mix for SOUNDWAVE.

Okay, that’s it. I got a flex. Join us next week when our guest deejay will be protoU.

See you then!

  1. Jerry ZZZ “M”
  2. Rose McGowan “Canes Venatici”
  3. Tom Misch & Yussef Dayes “Storm before the Calm”
  4. Field Works “Formation 2, Revisited (Lusine Remix)”
  5. Liozn “Ascending”
  6. Local 86 “Sim Dreams”
  7. Pássaro “Ayaymama”
  8. mdol “aquablock”
  9. Machino “Navajas”
  10. OMAAR “Dancefloor (Like this)”
  11. Hexsystem “Cycles”
  12. Emmerichk “Dub 2”
  13. Bliz Nochi “Day Dreamwalker”
  14. Matías Pérez Fuentes & Joni Lobos “Magnetismo”

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SOUNDWAVE : 27 : JONATHAN AMMONS

SOUNDWAVE : 27

Today’s guest deejay is Jonathan Ammons, a journalist, radio producer, and musician living in Asheville, North Carolina. You can find his music on Bandcamp and listen to his radio show from WPVM and Pacifica Radio Network at the Dirty Spoon.

Jonathan is yet another amazing person I was introduced to through my old friend, Steve Howard (listen to Steven’s SOUNDWAVE mix here). Meeting Jonathan is one of the unexpected pleasures in the evolution of SOUNDWAVE.

I launched SOUNDWAVE to help cope with the stress of the pandemic. In the first few months of COVID-19 it seemed that stepping outside your house might kill you. If that wasn’t terrifying enough, my family was scattered about the country so for a long time it was just me and my dog. That took a toll on me and my usual distractions, music, reading and television, could not hold my interest at all. In fact, they annoyed me or angered me. The only thing that provided any comfort was ambient, classical, experimental and instrumental music. I reasoned that if that music was giving me solace it might help others as well so I launched SOUNDWAVE. Very soon afterwards I decided to invite the talented people I know who might enjoy or, more importantly, need to share a mix of their own. And that very quickly led to asking my friends who they knew personally who might want to participate in the show. That decision introduced me to such wonderful people as Adrian Utley, Hannah Peel, Charles Hazlewood and Jonathan.

I don’t really know Jonathan, though. We’ve just had a few email exchanges arranging today’s show but through his mix I feel I know him more intimately than I might know him through a dozen conversations. That’s all projection, of course, but that is the power of music. It bypasses the rational and hits on emotional truths, which is why I launched SOUNDWAVE in the first place.

Jonathan has some words about today’s mix below.

Join us again next week when our guest deejay will be Axel Arturo Barceló.

See you then!

 

Jonathan Ammons
Jonathan Ammons

Back in 2016 there were a series of forest fires that broke out throughout Western North Carolina, surrounding my home in Asheville. The air was thick with smoke, and a perpetual haze fell over everything. It just so happened that it fell right on the heels of a devastating national election, and for a moment, it truly felt like the whole world was on fire. 

I had just started spending time with a very lovely lady, and I asked her one night if she’d like to go watch the mountains burn.So I threw some camping chairs in the truck, grabbed a camera and a bottle of Champagne, and we headed out to the center of the fires. 

There’s a strange feeling when you sit and watch your home burn to the ground. Halloween orange glowing from every hilltop, brick red clouds in the night sky. Knowing that everything would grow back eventually, but that the sights you grew up seeing would be permanently scarred. The world would be better, maybe even healthier than it was before, but it would take a lot of ash and rubble to get there.

I started making my first ambient LP — First Sight — during those fires. At the time, my office was on my screened in porch, and I could sit while I composed and watch ash fall from the sky. I like to think that much of my approach to the way I currently make music came from that experience. 

I remember calling a friend one day, and saying, “you know how I’ve been complaining a lot about that knot in my stomach that wouldn’t go away? I think I finally figured out what that is. I think it’s despair. I just think it’s the first time I’ve ever felt it. Ithink I just didn’t realize it because it doesn’t feels as hopeless as I would have thought.”

From that point on, I was able to see the fragile, delicate things that fall apart, and not feel the overwhelming sense of loss I had initially felt. Instead, I understood it to be a burning of the dross, a disposal of things that were unnecessary. When a fire burns, after all, it makes way for far better things than grew there before. Sometimes you just have to let it burn.

I like to think of this mix as songs from the fire. Pieces of music that are as devastating as they are restorative. A little hazy, a little bleary, but beautiful in their own right. There are three original compositions in the mix, the first and last are from an as of yet unreleased record (this is actually their debut). The other, “Open Eyes”, is from my new album First Sight. The rest of the mix runs a gamut between crumbling organic sounds and stark synthesis. Ian William Craig actually wrote his new and beautiful record while also being surrounded by forest fires, Goldmund delivers gorgeous ambient versions of old Civil War era songs, and Oliver Patrice Weder delivers the most thoughtful, pensive piano performance… music to watch the world end. My favorite kind.

  1. Jonathan Ammons “Wishful Thinking”
  2. Tim Hecker “Chimeras”
  3. Wojciech Golczewski “Abner’s Wake”
  4. Jonathan Ammons “Open Eyes”
  5. Ben Goldberg “Demonic Possession is 9/10ths the Law”
  6. Oliver Patrice Weder “Sol’s Lullaby”
  7. Ian William Craig “Mountains Astray”
  8. Goldmund “The Flag of Columbia Shall Float O’er Us Still”
  9. Villages “Life Expectancy” 
  10. Jonathan Ammons “Dead Leaves”

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SOUNDWAVE : 12 : JAIME IRLES

SOUNDWAVE : 12

It’s late and its been a long week so I’m going to keep this short.

The only thing I can think off the top of my head that’s COVID-19 related is that supposedly a bunch of teenagers on Tik Tok punked President Trump earlier today by reserving tickets for his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was supposed to pack a stadium full of supporters but instead it was barely half full. Was it teens that did this, though? At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if it was pulled of by Russian or Chinese hackers. In any case, whoever did it, well done. That means half as many people might get infected with the virus. Reading Trump’s rage tweets is going to be something.

Our guest deejay for today’s show is Jaime Irles.

Jaime was one half of Known Rebel, an electronic music duo from Ibiza. I very much wanted them to interview them for my electronic music show, solipsistic NATION but it never happened. I always regretted missing that opportunity so when I launched SOUNDWAVE Jaime was one of the first group of people I contacted to participate on the show.

Jaime was kind enough to send me this mix we’re going to listen to on today’s SOUNDWAVE. It’s spectacular and ranges from Burial to Ryuichi Sakamoto and I know you’re going to love it.

Jamie’s going to tell us all about his mix below but before I go I encourage you to pick up his latest album, Cardonova. I was expecting sometime more in the style of what he was recording when he was in Know Rebel but I was delightfully surprised to hear the new horizons he’s exploring. It’s got more of an 80s synthwave kind of sound. Go get it, its only a few a few dollars. The price of a cup of coffee, as they say. And while you’re at it, if you dig any of the the songs you hear on today’s show, go buy them too. Sure, you could stream it, but then the artists only get the tiniest fraction of a penny. They deserve more than that. Splurge and buy one of their songs. Better yet, buy an entire album.

Next week’s guest deejay is Tijs Ham. See you then!

 

Jaime Irles
Jaime Irles

The set I have recorded is a mix of organic soundscapes, melancholic melodies, textures and darkambient sounds with a strong cinematic touch.

Burial has been one of my musical referents for years and wanted tostart the set with one of his latests works. “State Forest” is full of gloomy ambient textures and foggy atmospheres.

Lorn is one of the usual artists on my spotify lists, this specific subject takes me straight to an imaginary cyberpunk movie.

I came across A Winged Victory For The Sullen’s “Retour au Champ-de-Mars” a while ago looking for movie soundtracks. I haven’t had the chance to see the French movie In the Shadow of Iris, but the soundtrack is just as beautiful as it is powerful.

“Encounter Me In The Orchard” is a relatively new track from Polish producer Jacaszek. I love the mix of reverb drenched melodies and sonic textures on thisone.

Lauge and Matt Tondut’s “Above the Clouds” is ambient music at it’s finest, melancholic soundscapes that keep the cinematic vibes of the set.

Nicolas Winding Refn is one of my favorite directors and Too Old To Die young one of the best series I’ve seen lately. Watching the show is like being in an art gallery, watching one beautiful moving painting after another and as an accompaniment to that visual work of art, the music of Cliff Martínez with one of his most outstanding works. “I’m Hunting” is the best fit on set but could have used any of them.

The “Annihilation” end-scene wouldn’t have been this impressive if not for this amazing piece of dark ambient. Not the typical Moderat song but I wish they would do more music on this direction.

Lorn again, not much to comment on, I just love “SILHOUETTE “ and his haunting landscapes of sounds.

With Ryuichi Sakamoto and Oneohtrix Point Never’s Rework you can’t go wrong. Daniel Lopatin is one of my main influences and this trackis a clear example of why. A beautiful piece of art.

“Naval” is the last track of from my Cardonova EP I released in April. The album is an eclectic mixture of downtempo, synthwave, and dark ambient sounds reminiscent of past decades,evoking soundscapes and leading the listener through a journeythrough the depths of oneself. I named the track in honor of Naval Ravikant, an Indian American entrepreneur and investor that really inspires me.

  1. Burial “State Forest”
  2. Lorn “Feed The Dogs For Me”
  3. A Winged Victory For The Sullen “Retour au Champ-de-Mars”
  4. Jacaszek “Encounter Me In The Orchard”
  5. Lauge & Matt Tondut “Above the Clouds”
  6. Cliff Martinez “I’m Hunting”
  7. Moderat “The Mark (Interlude)”
  8. Lorn “SILHOUETTE”
  9. Ryuichi Sakamoto “andata (Oneohtrix Point Never Remix)”
  10. Jaime Irles “Naval”

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SOUNDWAVE : 11 : DRONNY DARKO

SOUNDWAVE : 11

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!

Dronny Darko
Dronny Darko

  1. Red Fog “Arboria Institute”
  2. Dronny Darko “Noumenon”
  3. Line Spectrum “Unreleased”
  4. Richard Chartier “Sketch For Winter”
  5. protoU “Transparent Clusters”
  6. Cryogenic Weekend “Unreleased”
  7. Red Fog & Dronny Darko “Unreleased”
  8. Sleeping On Lotus Ashes “Failure of the Material”
  9. Ajna & Dronny Darko “Mutated DNA”

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Logo by Rik Oostenbroek

SOUNDWAVE : 2 : JOSEPH ALEO

SOUNDWAVE : 2

Last week I said that SOUNDWAVE would be a monthly show. I’ve changed my mind and decided to release the show on a weekly basis for as long as we are told to stay at home to flatten COVID-19’s curve. I’ve also invited friends, podcasters, musicians, deejays and record label owners to contribute mixes to SOUNDWAVE so expect to hear from them shortly.

Okay, today’s show…

We open with a track from Richard Moult’s Celestial King for a Year album. I came across Moult while listening to writer Warren Ellis’s excellent SPEKTRMODULE podcast. A casual Google search didn’t turn up much information but I did learn that Moult warrants an unofficial fan page on Facebook.

From there we segue into “Regnantem sempiterna” by Jan Garbarek and The Hilliard Ensemble. If you’ve been watching Alex Garland’s Devs you’ll recognize it immediately. I’ve been following Garland’s career since he wrote the screenplay for 28 Days Later but Devs is quite possibly the best thing he’s ever done, and he’s accomplished a lot, but he really gets to shine in a long-form tv series. The writing is great, the acting is great, the cinematography is great, etc. and the music department have been selecting absolute gems and “Regnantem sempiterna” gave me the chills and is the emotional cornerstone for this week’s show.

The next track is from the soundtrack from the horror film Hagazussa by MMMD. I’m not going to spoil the movie but I will say this, if you’re listening to “Hagazussa” over your speakers, and you really should to experience it fully, prepare for your windows to rattle and for plates and glasses to vibrate off your kitchen table.

Our penultimate track is Colin Stetson’s “Sorrow: II – Lento Largo—Tranquillissimo” from his SORROW – a reimagining of Górecki’s 3rd Symphony album. I’ve been listening to Henryk Górecki’s Symphony No. 3 for a couple decades now and it never fails to rend my heart. I’ve also been a fan of Colin Stetson for quite a few years. He’s played with everyone from Godspeed You! Black Emperor to Tom Waits to Bill Laswell and a gaggle of other stellar artists. When I learned he had released an album of his interpretation of Górecki’s Symphony No. 3 I purchased it without question and Stetson did not fail to deliver. It’s actually quite faithful to the original, but with Stetson’s own unique take, of course.

We close today’s show with Kazuya Nagaya’s “Thanatos” from his Dream Interpretation album. I discovered Nagaya on the Bandcamp Daily blog and fell in love with his music and this track in particular. When I released last week’s show I sent the episode to my mom knowing that she’d enjoy it. She did, mostly. She found the mix beautiful but Nine Inch Nails “The Cursed Clock” was a bit too solemn for her. I get it, especially during these days of COVID-19. I don’t think today’s show will agree with her but if you are listening, mom, I think you will find solace in Nagaya’s “Thanatos.”

If you enjoy SOUNDWAVE, please share it with someone you think will also appreciate it.

See you next week for more lustrous music.

  1. Richard Moult “Celestial King for a Year (Pt. 2)”
  2. Jan Garbarek, The Hilliard Ensemble “Regnantem sempiterna”
  3. MMMD “Hagazussa”
  4. Colin Stetson “Sorrow: II – Lento Largo—Tranquillissimo”
  5. Kazuya Nagaya “Thanatos”

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

Logo by Rik Oostenbroek