SOUNDWAVE : 123 : SURVEY CHANNEL

Today’s guest deejay is Matt Donatelli, AKA Survey Channel.

I met through Francisco Dominguez. After Francisco shared his fantastic mix earlier this year, I asked him who he thought would want guest deejay on Soundwave. Francisco recommended Matt, and after doing a deep dive on Matt’s music, I wholeheartedly agreed.

If you love today’s mix, and you will, then you’ll be happy to know that Matt spins on CAMP Radio. His show is called Aural Dogma. Tune in!

Matt has some words about his mix below.

I am increasingly grateful for Soundwave. I initially launched the show to help cope with the stress and isolation of the first months of the quarantine lockdown. I told myself that I would wrap the show up once the pandemic was reasonably under control: Soundwave would have severed its purpose. But the pandemic is not done with us. Over the last few months, I’ve seen more and more people who are frayed and exhausted. I’m a bit worn out myself, and Soundwave continues offering respite and delight. I hope you feel the same.

 

The Metallic Ratio by Eva Kierten
The Metallic Ratio by Eva Kierten

Before I go, I want to let you know that Other Forms of Consecrated Life (listen to their mix for Soundwave here) just released Eva Kierten’s new album, The Metallic Ratio. Kierten continues to gently plumb emotional depths.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be John de Reybekill.

See you then.

 

Matt Donatelli, AKA Survey Channel
Matt Donatelli, AKA Survey Channel

Lately, I’ve been seeking out a variety of cleansing soundwaves in countless flavors. From the oddly contemporary sounds of “early” electronic group Syrinx, the the folksy-pivot of ex-Sneaker Pimps vocalist Kelli Ali, to the wonderfully weird Iasos. I find myself constantly visiting old favorites, as well. This mix is a snapshot in time of the tunes that spoke to me; working through me as I built it. I’ve added a few minor soundbytes to a couple of the tracks — I find the mixes with a personal touch that can tell a story to be the most successful.

Overall, I hope this mix acts as an inspiration for listeners to continue to seek out music in any genre; there is always something waiting to be heard.

  1. Ela Orleans “Beatrice”
  2. oldboy “Sun Behind the Clouds”
  3. Kelpe “Panpipe Dreams (Goodbye)”
  4. Five Nine Alaska “Calos One”
  5. Kelli Ali “Throw It to the Dogs”
  6. Ciaran Byrne “Audry Hugo”
  7. Pye Corner Audio “Sleep Chamber”
  8. Seefeel “Rupt”
  9. Casino Vs Japan “Stolen”
  10. Syrinx “Father of Light”
  11. Autechre “Slip”
  12. Jessy Lanza “Giddy”
  13. Iasos “Siren Shallows”
  14. Thom Yorke & Robert del Naja “Dead Editors”
  15. Bibio “Vidiconia I”
  16. arovane “windy wish trees”
  17. Amon Tobin / Two Fingers “Wooden Toy (Bibio Rework)”
  18. Violent Age “Alone at Noon

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Logo by Rik Oostenbroek

SOUNDWAVE : 121 : ROBOCAT

Today’s guest deejay is Sasha Puzan, AKA Robocat.

Sasha’s been on Soundwave twice as protoU (listen to her mixes here and here). Sasha accepted my invitation to guest deejay a third time and shared a mix celebrating Pride. No ethereal mixes on today’s show; we’re all about getting a groove on.

 

Sasha Puzan, AKA Robocat
Sasha Puzan, AKA Robocat

Last weekend I spent the day with my grandkid. We had plans to go to our favorite playground, but there was no parking to be had. I decided to take him to the beach instead. We got caught up in Pride traffic on the way there, which seemed like the perfect time to play Sasha’s mix. People dressed in rainbow gear, butterfly wings, and leather chaps darted between cars as we slowly inched forward. It was a magical afternoon.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Hessel Veldman.

See you then.

  1. Charli XCX “Boom Clap (Cahil Remix)”
  2. Dua Lipa “Don’t Start Now”
  3. Domo Wilson “Bisexual Anthem”
  4. P!nk “So What”
  5. Taylor Swift “You Need To Calm Down”
  6. Jefferson Airplane “Somebody To Love (Remix)”
  7. Suvo “Go_A (Shum-) (Suvo Remix)”
  8. Russya “Don’t Stand By My Window”
  9. Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande “Rain On Me”
  10. Kazka “Cry”
  11. Britney Spears “Gimme More”
  12. Madonna “Hung Up”
  13. Icona Pop “I Love It (feat. Charli XCX)”
  14. Britney Spears “Toxic”
  15. Cher “Believe”
  16. Gloria Gaynor “I Will Survive”

Weekly Mix 26: July 2, 2017

I subscribe to several newsletters but I usually delete them as soon as they hit my inbox because they’re uninteresting or sharing links to other articles. The only newsletter I read from start to finish is Bob Lefsetz‘s newsletter. Lefsetz is a music industry analyst and critic and the reason I read his newsletter while I delete the rest is because he always has a fresh take on things, whether it’s music, politic or sports or just talking about his life.

Recently Lefsetz wrote a response to an article on the Washington Post about the decline of electric guitar sales. In short, rock is dead. Or on life support. As Lefsetz pointed out, rock is still around but it has all the relevancy of jazz or folk music. Why? Because rock has been so thoroughly corporatized that rock has been de-fanged. It’s no longer dangerous. Songs are no longer crafted, they’re manufactured on spreadsheets and ProTools and and any spontaneity left over is autotuned out. Not only that, rock has nothing new to say. It’s an exhausted genre. Furthermore, rock is reductive. It simplifies more complex music like blues or folk or Cajun music, etc. But now rock is reductive of rock music. It’s become pablum.

The only thing fresh and exciting happening in music today is hip hop and electronic music. It’s taking chances. It’s experimenting. Even the stuff you hear on the radio (who even listens to radio these days?) is more inventive than what passes for rock these days.

The electric guitar is dead. I mourn it’s passing. But to put things in perspective, there was a time when the accordion was huge. Now it’s an instrument regarded as hokey and old-timey.

  1. Oumou Sangaré “Kamelemba”
  2. Gordi “Heaven I Know”
  3. Crooked Man “Coming Up for Air”
  4. John Moreland “Sallisaw Blue”
  5. Amelia Payne “Down”
  6. Army of Lovers “Crucified”
  7. DJ Cummerbund “Earth, Wind & Ozzys”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

Weekly Mix 15: April 16, 2017

Before we get to today’s show I want to wish everyone a Happy Easter. I’m not a religious guy myself but any chance to spend a day with the people I love is okay by me. This Easter we had lunch with our friends Alex and Thelma. We get together with them on a regular basis for outdoor movie nights, Halloween parties and trips to wineries in Ensenada. This time Alex and Thelma had us over for barbecue and it was delicious! With summer around the corner I really need to step up my grill game. Fortunately, I have my Patio Daddy-O cookbook my friend Diana gave me for a birthday present oh, a couple of decades ago. I’m going to pay it forward and give a copy to our oldest for his birthday. Cooking on a grill is a rite of passage for men and having a recipes like Cracklin’ Sugar-Charred Cowboy Steak or Dragonbreath Corn on the Cob in your back pocket is a necessity.

I ate too much at Alex and Thelma’s because later we went to our friends Jason and Tawnya’s for Easter and dinner and I barely had room for another meal. That’s a damn shame because Jason is a chef and he had cooked up some smoked ham; a salad of mint, peas and and beets; and another salad with black carrots. Black carrots, who knew there was such a thing. And Tawnya made a cheesecake dessert that was half lemon meringue. So good! Oh, yeah, and they were plying us with ice tea made with homemade limoncello! I was uncomfortably full and wished I hadn’t eaten so much earlier.

At least I could eat. Our boy Townes had a bout of food poisoning and threw up almost a dozen times during the night. Poor boy! Between me and you, I suspect when my boy throws he calculates how much collateral damage he can do because he seems to throw up everywhere. His bed, the sheets, the floor… I was up at three in the morning mopping up his vomit and washing his sheets.

Anyway, Townes felt terrible and wasn’t up for barbecue or smoked ham or chocolate eggs or jelly beans.

So that was my Easter.

  1. Bernie Worrell “At Mos’Spheres”
  2. Mylene Cruz (Herizen Guardiola) & The Soul Madonnas “Keep A Light In My Window”
  3. Organized Confusion “Open Your Eyes”
  4. Quindon Tarver “Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good)”
  5. Rotary Connection & Minnie Riperton “I Am the Black Gold of the Sun”
  6. David Axelrod “The Human Abstract”
  7. Solange “Cranes in the Sky”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

Weekly Mix 2: January 15, 2017

Before we get to this week’s music I wanted to let you know that you can also hear The Weekly Mix every Sunday on KAOS Radio Austin at 6PM Central. KAOS Radio Austin used to be a pirate radio station but they’ve gone legit and now broadcast over the net instead of the airwaves, delivering the weirdness you’d expect from a city like Austin. I chatted with KAOS Radio Austin’s founding member and programmer, El Demento, last year for Pop Culture Intelligentsia, so it’s my great pleasure to be part of their radio station. It’s also my pleasure to have El Demento on today’s show and I hope to make it a tradition to talk with programmers from every radio station that carries The Weekly Mix.

You can find me online on Twitter at @josephaleo or on my website at josephaleo.com Want to contact me? Email me at joseph@josephaleo.com.

  1. Interview with El Demento, founding member and programmer for KAOS Radio Austin
  2. Rhiannon Giddens “Freedom Highway”
  3. The Joubert Singers “Stand on the Word (Studio Version)”
  4. The Incredible Bongo Band “Apache”
  5. NVDES “I Want to Make Out at the Gay Club”
  6. Electric Six “Gay Bar”
  7. Nora Dean “Barbwire”
  8. Georgia “Ama Yes Uzume”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017