SOUNDWAVE : 89 : DANIEL FUZZTONE

Today’s guest deejay is danielfuzztone.

daniel’s mix is important to me for several reasons.

One reason is that I meant daniel through Soundwave guest deejay Michael Donaldson (listen to Michael’s mix here) when he posted an interview with daniel on his Micro.blog. Initially, I read the interview simply because it was on Micro.blog, a cool social media network I am a member of. But what hooked me was the interview itself and daniel’s exploration of sound through this music.

The other reason today’s show is important to me is that while I love all the mixes on Soundwave, and I mean that, daniel’s mix hit me in all the right places. He included some familiar and precious tracks from the likes of Miles Davis, This Mortal Coil and Skinny Puppy. This is stuff I immersed myself in the 80s and 90s, so it felt like putting on a well-worn sweater. But daniel’s mix included a lot of stuff I had never heard of before, like Oliver Coates, Besombes & Rizet, and Angelo Badalamenti. It was a perfect blend of the familiar and unfamiliar that his mix provided just under an hour’s with of dopamine hits.

The final reason is that I listened to daniel’s mix many places (while working, walking my dog, doing the dishes, etc.), but the place that had the most significance was in my car while driving my grandkid to day school. The experience is already special because I enjoy watching all the adults delivering their most precious of cargos and seeing the love and concern on their faces. daniel’s mix heightened and already tender experience.

daniel has words of his own regarding today’s mix below.

Join us next weekend when our guest deejay will be Sean Slight.

See you then!

 

danielfuzztone
danielfuzztone

Like much of the ambient-drone music I produce, this mix was born from a live performance and then manipulated in the digital domain via Audacity. Nothing beats the hardware-software hybrid.

While I’ve DJed for three decades years — including two long stretches of college radio — my skills were a bit rusty, to say the least. I wanted to showcase some of my long-time favorite artists — Brian Eno, Boards of Canada, Spacemen 3, Jean-Michel Jarre — along with several newer ones (and maybe even a few you wouldn’t necessarily think of in the ambient realm).

I performed the set in real time using two MacBooks as playback decks, connected to a cheapo RadioShack DJ mixer from the ’90s.* Recorded in Audacity. Numerous field recordings and samples were also added at this stage — including a mix-long drone of processed shortwave static.

The result is a dark, noisy vibe with bursts of melody, strands of light, and even occasional beats. It’s mysterious and romantic, a droning, pulsing soundtrack from the past 50 years. Enjoy and #DroneOn

— danielfuzztone

POST-SCRIPT: Look for several back-to-back releases in early 2022 via Bandcamp, as well as a live performance in January.

*Due to the lo-fi-meets-hi-fi nature of the recording, you’ll occasionally hear pops and ticks from some of the aging gear. Relax. It’s all part of the ride.

  1. danielfuzztone “Prima Facie”
  2. Brian Eno “Triennale”
  3. The House in the Woods "Bucolica”
  4. Mark Pritchard “?”
  5. Miles Davis “In a Silent Way”
  6. Steven R. Smith “Awake”
  7. William Basinski “The Wheel of Fortune”
  8. danielfuzztone “Nishiki 10-Speed Dream”
  9. Boards of Canada “XYZ”
  10. Cult48 “Deep Calls to Deep”
  11. Gong “Magick Mother Invocation”
  12. Besombes & Rizet “Evelyse”
  13. Godspeed You! Black Emperor “The Dead Flag Blues”
  14. Skinny Puppy “Fritter (Stella’s Home)”
  15. This Mortal Coil “Acid, Bitter and Sad”
  16. Sonic Youth “Providence”
  17. Windy & Carl “Antarctica”
  18. danielfuzztone “Transient Response”
  19. Tim Hecker “Celestina”
  20. Oliver Coates “Honey”
  21. My Bloody Valentine “Glider”
  22. Spacemen 3 “Ecstasy Symphony”
  23. Terry Riley “Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band”
  24. M83 “Birds”
  25. Jean-Michel Jarre “Equinoxe Part 1”
  26. Emerald Web “The Dragon’s Gate”
  27. Angelo Badalamenti “The Voice of Love”
  28. Yo La Tengo “Shortwave”

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Logo by Rik Oostenbroek

SOUNDWAVE : 65 : YANN NOVAK

Today’s guest deejay is Yann Novak, the founder of Dragon’s Eye Recordings.

I met Yann when I showcased his label on solipsistic NATION.

I discovered Yann’s label through Mike Lazarev’s music blog, Headphone Commute (if you enjoy Soundwave, you’re going to love Headphone Commute).

Yann curates a heady offer of music through Dragon’s Eye Recordings featuring notable artists such as Pinkcourtesyphone (Richard Chartier), Genrietta, and Lawrence English. Some of the label’s releases are whimsical, some challenging, and some so ephemeral that you might imagine you dreamt of hearing it. But all the releases on his label are lovingly selected and demands to be listened to just as Yann’s mix demands to be heard.

 

Yann Novak
Yann Novak
Photo Credit: Robert Crouch

A few highlights.

The hairs went up on the back of my neck when I instantly recognized Geinō Yamashirogumi’s score for the cyberpunk classic, Akira. Back in the 80s, the movie was considered as imponderable as 2001: A Space Odyssey, but Akira has influenced culture to such a degree that it seems straightforward by our current standards. Incidentally, you can purchase Kaneda’s jacket, who is the film’s protagonist.

Yann’s inclusion of Billie Eilish & ROSALÍA’s was an unexpected delight. Eilish is kind of cyberpunk herself, having sung about our anthropogenic doom and interviewed by an AI bot.

The Future Sound Of London make yet another appearance on Soundwave via Yann’s mix. So much of the electronic music that was fasionalble in the late 80s seems dated but The Future Sound of London still feel timeless.

Lloop was also a surprise. I first heard Lloop when I showcased The Agriculture label on solipsistic NATION (mumbles) 15 years ago.

I know it isn’t true but I can’t help but feel that Yann made this mix specifically for me. It’s uncanny.

Yann modestly didn’t include his own music in his mix but I wanted to mention that Friday he released his new album, Lifeblood of Light and Rapture., available through Room40 (streaming starts July 2). Yann is really proud of this album and he can’t wait for everyone to experience it! He hopes it’s just the kind of lightness… or darkness you need right now.

 

Frank Riggio’s Empreinte Musicale 3 LP
Frank Riggio’s Empreinte Musicale 3 LP

Before I wrap this up, there are two things I need to mention.

Frank Riggio just released the third and last installment of his new trilogy, Empreinte Musicale 3. It’s just as weird and wonderful as his previous two albums. Go listen to it, and then buy it, and afterwards, listen to Frank’s Soundwave mix.

Lastly, I believe I’ll wrap up Soundwave sometime in 2022. I launched Soundwave to cope with the stress and isolation of the pandemic. I told myself that once COVID-19 is no longer the threat that grinds nations to a halt that the show willhave served it’s purpose and that I’d bring it to an end. Unless the pandemic spirals out of control again or unless I change my mind, I will release all the remaining mixes our generous guest deejays have provided for us.

And on that note, please join us next week when our guest deejay will be Corey Parlamento.

See you then!

  1. Geinō Yamashirogumi “Requiem”
  2. Félicia Atkinson “Infant vampire”
  3. Tim Hecker “Arctic Lover’s Rock Pt. 2”
  4. Billie Eilish & ROSALÍA “Lo Vas A Olvidar”
  5. The Future Sound Of London “Domain”
  6. Braulio Lam “Dream Lens (Edit)”
  7. Fortresses “Spring”
  8. Labrinth “Forever (Euphoria: Special Episode 2)”
  9. Allen Ginsberg “Pacific High Studio Mantras (feat. Arthur Russell)”
  10. Byron Westbrook “Heavy Weather”
  11. Tim Hecker “The Return Of Sam Snead”
  12. Ian Wellman “Watershed”
  13. LLOOP “Track 1”
  14. Geinō Yamashirogumi “Requiem”

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Logo by Rik Oostenbroek

SOUNDWAVE : 27 : JONATHAN AMMONS

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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Logo by Rik Oostenbroek

Weekly Mix 7: February 19, 2017

I’ve been having a lot of fun producing The Weekly Mix. Its different from other shows I’ve produced in the past because it’s short and informal. I’m not trying to craft a seamless mix that’ll take you on an emotional journey like I’ve done on solipsistic NATION, the electronic music show I used to do. And when I do the occasional interview on The Weekly Mix they’re quick, usually around five minutes, instead of the long form interviews I’m used to doing.

I’m also not trying to build up an enormous audience for the show. It’s mostly for my friends and family to enjoy. But look, if you like the show and you want to turn other people on to The Weekly Mix, I’d certainly appreciate it. The more people who listen to the show the more musical guests I can get on the show. Besides, why keep The Weekly Mix to yourself?

The other thing I’ve been doing differently is using Periscope and Facebook Live to promote The Weekly Mix. I don’t know if it’s actually making a difference but it’s fun and I plan on exploring the possibilities of streaming video. For example, this Friday I’ll be interviewing The Brevet on Facebook Live when they perform here in San Diego at Lestat’s. I’ll also stream one or two of their songs they’ll be performing while in town. And I’ll also be using the Rode VideoMic Me that my friend Robin turned me on to, so I’ve got an extra reason to be excited about that show. Follow me on Twitter at @josephaleo if you want to know when that’ll be happening.

You can also listen to The Weekly Mix each week on KAOS Radio Austin every Sunday at 6PM Central and every Friday on Bondfire Radio at 11:30 AM Eastern Standard Time.

Okay, I’m out of here. See you next week!

  1. Dashboard Confessional “Love Yourself”
  2. Ivy Sole “Life (feat. Dave B)”
  3. Chet Baker “It’s Always You”
  4. Alemayehu Eshete “Feqer Feqer New”
  5. AfroCubism “Djelimady Rumba (feat. Toumani Diabaté, Eliades Ochoa & Bassekou Kouyaté)”
  6. Buena Vista Social Club “Chan Chan”
  7. Orishas “537 C.U.B.A.”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017