Tag: newyork

SOUNDWAVE : 42 : MIKE CADOO

Today’s guest deejay is Mike Cadoo, the founder of n5MD, an independent record label based out of Oakland, California, that focuses on ambient, modern composition, post-rock, and experimental electronic music.

I showcased n5MD on solipsistic NATION some years ago. Let me share what I said about n5MD on that episode of solipsistic NATION, which explains why I invited Mike to be our guest deejay on today’s show.

“What I’ve always found so charming is that the releases on n5MD don’t just provide music that establishes a mood. The releases on n5MD take you on an emotional journey, which I find far more compelling and interesting. Anyone can play a chord in E minor that will evoke an emotional response. Still, it’s much more difficult to build an emotionally complex song and takes you places in your imagination. Let me take that back. There are plenty of people who can do that, there are a just few people who do it well and do it with sincerity, and I think that’s what n5MD is all about.”

Mike’s mix for today’s show captures everything I just said about his label. Mike is going to take you by the hand and gently guide you through an emotional journey.

Mike explained that while waiting for the Near The Parenthesis vinyl to arrive, he made an ambient mix that features no n5MD artists. Mike usually does one of these each year, and I’m thankful he shared it with us.

As I’ve mentioned many times before, I launched SOUNDWAVE to cope with the stress and isolation brought about by COVID-19. I did not expect how much I would need SOUNDWAVE, and Mike’s mix, in particular, to provide the solace I need during our nation’s attempted coup. I suspect I will need it more in the next few weeks, if not the next few months and years.

On that sad note…

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Steve Swartz.

See you then!

  1. dj healer “Protectionspell”
  2. Stars of the Lid “Mullholland”
  3. Jon Hopkins featuring King Creosote “Immunity”
  4. Neil Cowley & Ben Lukas Boysen “A Grain of Truth”
  5. The Ideal Setback “Whittle”
  6. Black Swan “Slow Oblivion, Part I”
  7. Chronovalve “Something to Hope For”
  8. Holy Fawn “Tethered”
  9. loscil “Neve”
  10. Nils Frahm “A Shine”
  11. ILUITEQ “Moon Disconnected”
  12. KMRU “degree of change”
  13. r beny “Golden Larch Emerging fin Spring”
  14. Julianna Barwick “Same”
  15. KMRU “Whir”
  16. Carlos Ferreira “Epilogue”
  17. Sea Oleena “Portugal (A Lift)”
  18. bvdub “I Would Have Waited”

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SOUNDWAVE : 40 : FITZ GITLER

Today’s guest deejay is Fitz Gitler, and he has a beautiful mix to ease us into 2021.

I met Fitz when I asked Jason Randall Smith (listen to Jason’s mix here) who he knew would be interested in sharing a mix on SOUNDWAVE. Jason did not steer me wrong. Fitz is a musician, deejay, and designs sounds for theatrical productions, many of those in collaboration with director Tim Lee. He also creates under the name Techniken Defunkus or Techdef.

I’m particularly fond of this mix because it was the perfect soundtrack for an eight-hour wintery drive to Sacramento last week. Fitz’s mix had my tapping out rhythms on my steering wheel and grooving in my seat. Don’t be lulled by some of the jazz standards because there are plenty of surprises. More than once, I found myself scrambling to purchase albums featured on Fitz’s mix. As I write this I’m listening to Dan Tepfer’s album, Goldberg Variations​/​Variations, which is a delight.

If you love Fitz’s mix, and you will, check out his music on Bandcamp or his sets on Mixcloud.

Fitz has some words about his mix below.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Pavlo Storonsky AKA Tineidae.

See you then!

Fitz Gitler
Fitz Gitler
Photo credit: Cyndi Shattuck

Twenty years ago, I met Jason Randall Smith behind the decks in a tiny bar in New York’s East Village, and music forged our friendship. I’m honored to be in his company and the full cast of mixes that Joseph has artfully assembled.

Jason and I were thrown together by our friend, EL Soundscraper, who I’ve known since junior high, but fortuitously reconnected with because of our shared love of music. Enrique (Soundscraper) called my tracks meditation music—not the sound, but because of how it functioned for me. This mix I created for SOUNDWAVE does that; it’s a sort of spirit guide through the insomniac thoughts of the small hours, and a kind of requiem too. This year has had no shortage of tragedy; there’s enough to go around.

I already loved music in college, but then I met Bill Hileman, aka Ronin Tengu, aka DJ Payce, aka Gandalf Punk. He gave me his world: hip hop, techno, ambient, jungle, acid jazz, funk, plenty of mischief, and more. He passed last month, too young, taken by cancer, not COVID. Bill is with me in every mix, laughing and needling me to keep searching. Too few experienced his true wealth of knowledge and love, but he influenced many, and his spirit lives on in his musical descendants.

It falls somewhere among the worlds of jazz and electronic music, but really it’s a sound design of sorts. I’m still exploring the loose idea “free-format” that I first witnessed in the middle of the night on college radio in the early ‘90s.

  1. Techniken Defunkus “Pre-show for That Time”
  2. Teebs “The Endless”
  3. Colin Alexander “Bells and Strings”
  4. Tom Richards “Minor Breach”
  5. LV feat. Tigran Hamasyan “Hammers and Roses”
  6. Techniken Defunkus  “Ash Girl Post & Almost Nothing”
  7. The Art Of Noise “Robinson Crusoe (downshift)”
  8. Gabriella Swallow “Linear Construction (No. 5)”
  9. Johnny Mbizo Dyani “Afrikan blues (excerpt)”
  10. Aaron Novik  “Ballroom of Lost Faith-Lost Dignity-LostSoul”
  11. Rahsaan Roland Kirk “Haunted Feelings”
  12. David Boykin Reads Sun Ra “The Space Age Cannot Be Avoided”
  13. Buddy Peace “Day 138 – Been Glorious”
  14. Jean Grae “BITS part 2 – The Fear”
  15. Angel Bat Dawid “Transition East”
  16. Daniel Carter, Brad Farberman, Billy Martin “I Guess Everything Is Happening As It Should”
  17. Ill Considered “Retreat”
  18. Coleman Hawkins “Hawk’s Variations, Part 1”
  19. Dodo Marmarosa “Bopmatism”
  20. Ahmad Jamal “Ahmad’s Blues”
  21. Roy Eldridge “Echoes of Harlem”
  22. Dan Tepfer “Improvisation 12 / obsessive”

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SOUNDWAVE : 36 : JOEL SHEARER

This week our guest deejay is Joel Shearer, an international and highly regarded session and touring musician, composer and producer based in Los Angeles, CA.

I met Joel through Carmen Rizzo when he was our guest deejay back back in July (check out Carmen’s mix here). Carmen’s mix was beautiful and as is my wont I asked Carmen who he knew personally that would be interested in participating in the show and he recommended Joel. I can’t thank Carmen enough for introducing me to Joel because we very much need to hear Joel’s mix.

If you’re new to SOUNDWAVE then you should know that I launched the show to help cope with the isolation of stress of COVID-19 and the stay at home orders back in March. The only thing that gave me solace was ambient, classical, instrumental and experimental music and I decided to share what I was listening to whoever else might need to hear it as well.

Here we are nine months later in the second wave of COVID-19 infections and deaths. It's going entirely as predicted. What I don’t think think anyone could have predicted is the absolute magnitude of our current administrations ineptness at handling the pandemic. Several vaccines to combat the virus have been developed at astounding speed. That's breathtaking. Equally breathtaking is that instead of the 300 million doses the administration had promised before the end of the year the plan is now to only distribute 35 to 40 million doses. We’re at the beginning of a second wave with over 288,000 deaths and there’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel except that light is being blocked by an administration that seems to go out if its way to bungle the distribution of the vaccines.

When I began SOUNDWAVE there is no way I could have predicted these infuriating and crazy making responses to the pandemic by our current administration, which is why I, and maybe you, need to take comfort in Joel’s mix. It's exactly the kind of succor we need. I’m Listening to Joel’s mix as I write this and I find myself wrapping it around me like a cherished and well worn coat to keep me warm in the winter.

Joel has some words to share about today’s mix below but before we get to that I wanted let you know that guest deejay Robert Rich has released his new album, Neurogenesis, earlier this week.

Robert Rich's Neurogenesis album
Robert Rich’s Neurogenesis album

I’ve been listening to Robert’s music since last century when I heard I discovered him on the From Here To Tranquility Volume 2 compilation album. I later interviewed him and when I featured his live set on solipsistic NATION. I had the pleasure of finally meeting Robert face-to-face (at a safe and respectable six foot distance, of course) this summer while I was in Northern California and Robert was kind enough to play me a few tracks from Neurogenesis in his studio.

Robert started recording Neurogenesis in Spring of 2019 inspired by a lucid dream. Robert says Neurogenesis expresses optimism about the potential for human consciousness. At the start of pandemic lockdown in March he stopped working on Neurogenesis to record Offering to the Morning Fog because listeners were asking for something calm. He got back to work on Neurogenesis in June, and finished in late October. I’ve been listening to Neurogenesis all week and I’m glad Robert is able to share his album with the world.

You can hear more music from Robert in his mix for SOUNDWAVE here.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Christian Sager.

See you then!

Let’s hear from Joel about today's mix.

Joel Shearer
Joel Shearer

This playlist is intended to turn folks onto new music from known and unknown ambient artists.

Joseph August is new artist out of Los Angeles and a frequent guest for Secular Sabbath with Rhye, Diplo, Flume.

Clarice Jenson is best known for being the cellist for Max Richter’s Sleep amongst many others and an incredible solo artist in her own right.

“March” comes from my second release from my latest album, Hours, available on all digital outlets.

Orpheo McCord is the founding member of Ed Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, this song is off Orpheo’s first solo release. Epic ambient marimba beauty.

Naneum is an ambient artist out of New York, who’s played for many artists including Angus and Julia Stone and Passenger.

Jónsi is a member of Sigur Rós and composer and “Boy” is from Alex Somers’ second release.

  1. Joseph August “A Soft Reflect”
  2. Clarice Jensen “Final”
  3. Joel Shearer “March”
  4. Orpheo McCord “As Within”
  5. Naneum “Accretion”
  6. Jónsi and Alex “Boy”

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SOUNDWAVE : 26 : HANNAH PEEL

On today’s SOUNDWAVE our guest deejay is Hannah Peel! I’ll tell you why I am so excited to have her on today’s show shortly.

I just got back from traveling to Chicago for a vacation. I love that city and each time I go to there the more I want to move there. Granted, we went there just before fall, which is the best time to visit Chicago. It was neither hot and humid or wet and frigid.

I got to spend time with my brother and sister-in-law, run to the lakeshore and watch the sunrise, and bike around the city but overall it was an eating vacation. I live near Los Angeles so my expectations for superior restaurants is high. Chicago surpasses those expectations. You simply can’t get a bad meal in that city. The restaurant that served the best meals was The Purple Pig but our favorite dining experience was Podhalanka. We met Greg, the owner, who made us feel welcome and ordered our meals for us and each dish was delicious. Greg clearly loves what he does and he cares deeply that you are well fed.

But I’m not here to talk about what I did on my vacation. I’m here to tell you that I’m grateful that I was able to spend time with family and friends. I hadn’t realized how much I needed a vacation until we landed in O’Hare. Usually it takes me a day or two to unwind but I instantly relaxed the moment we arrived. And I’m also grateful for our vacation because it gave me some time to process a lot of my thoughts and feelings regarding COVID-19 and how to lead my life going forward. I’m not going to go into the details here but what I will share with you is that COVID-19 has brought into sharp relief that our time on this planet is short and we could leave it at any moment. The last few months I’ve met many people who have I opened up and shared their deepest thoughts with me. And why not? Now’s the time to do it. And like a lot of people, I’ve been reevaluating my life and what I want to do with it during the time I have remaining. Despite the anxiety of COVID-19 I’m also excited about the possibilities that lie before all of us.

I began SOUNDWAVE to help cope with the stress of the pandemic but over the last half year my relationship to COVID-19 has changed dramatically. I hope it has for you as well. Carpe diem.

Let’s get to today’s show, shall we?

As I mentioned above, our guest deejay is Hannah Peel.

Until a few weeks ago I wasn’t familiar with Hannah and had only become acquainted with her when I asked SOUNDWAVE guest deejay, Charles Hazlewood, who he knew personally that might be interested in sharing a mix on the show. Charles put me in contact with Portishead’s Adrian Utley and Hannah Peel. Adrian’s mix was lovely and Hannah’s mix is no less so.

On today’s show Hannah will take you to some very surprising places and she begins her mix with a track from Joni Mitchel. So unexpected! You’re in her capable hands so enjoy the journey. I know you’re going to love today’s show.

As I said, I was unfamiliar with Hannah but I’ve been getting up to speed. And you should, too, because Hannah’s music is also unexpected. Her songs can be delicate and achingly familiar. She’’ll paint impressionistic music with swathes of sound but will also delight you with covers of pop songs from the ‘80s performed on music boxes. I catch myself singing Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love” constantly thanks to Hannah.

Join us again next week when our guest deejay will be Jonathan Ammons.

 

Hannah Peel
Hannah Peel

  1. Joni Mitchel “A Case of You”
  2. Darkstar “Blurred”
  3. Mort Garson “Music to Soothe the Savage Snakeplant”
  4. Nick Drake “River Man”
  5. Bobby Krlic “The House that Härga Built”
  6. Caroline Shaw “Plan & Elevation: IV. The Orangery”
  7. The Hermes Experiment “Uh Huh, Yeah”
  8. Julianna Barwick “Labyrinthine”

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SOUNDWAVE : 16 : SHAD MARSH

Our guest deejay on today’s SOUNDWAVE is Shad Marsh, who hosts 2000 Years on 103.3 AshevilleFM.

This is a rare instance where I don’t know out guest deejay at all. My good friend, Steven Howard, introduced us when I first launched SOUNDWAVE. Steven’s taste in music is impeccable and when he suggested Shad as a guest deejay I said yes without a moment’s hesitation. And I was right it trust Steven because Shad’s mix is singular. On his radio show Shad explores the genres of experimental, freeform, jazz and psychedelic music and while all of that informs today’s show the mix also like a foley’s wet dream. Shad’s mix feels extremely personal and takes you on an unexpected journey.

I’m going to wrap things up because I blew out my knee last week and as a result I’m way behind on chores. Enjoy Shad’s mix and he encourages you to experience it with headphones.

Join us next week when out guest deejay will be Charles Hazlewood.

Take care!

 

Shad Marsh
Shad Marsh

  1. Daniel Bachman “Car”
  2. Israel Martínez “Mi Vida”
  3. Issac Shankler “Future Feelings”
  4. Yarn/Wire “Quartz and Feldspar”
  5. Loren Connors & Suzanne Langille “I Wish I Didn’t Dream”
  6. Gamelan Son of Lion “Sleeping Braid”
  7. connect_icut “Longing Forest”

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SOUNDWAVE : 10 : PLANET BOELEX

Well, that was a week.

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.”

—James Baldwin

  1. Snorri Hallgrimsson “Chasing The Present”
  2. Digitonal “Autumn Round (Planet Boelex remix)”
  3. Mikael Fyrek “Bau”
  4. Data Rebel “Collisions”
  5. Mosaik “Heart Racer ft. Maria Seger”
  6. Krister Linder “Other Skies”

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SOUNDWAVE : 4 : STEVEN HOWARD

I’ve expanded the scope of SOUNDWAVE by inviting musicians, deejays, podcasters, etc to contribute mixes to the show. I’ve been overwhelmed with their generosity and support.

Last Sunday’s show featured our first guest deejay, Sean Horton, who provided a gorgeous mix of music. All week long people have shared with me how much it meant to them. On today’s show we’ll hear another mix of music no less beautiful than Sean’s, this time from my old and dear friend, Steven Howard.

I met Steven last century one day while I was wrapping up my show at WMFO. He was their be trained by one of our staff but for whatever reasons that deejay failed to show up. I gave Steven a 15 minute crash course on how to operate our board, wished him well, and ran off to work.

Steven and I became fast friends and he introduced me to so much music. Over the decades I’ve watched Steven meet the girlfriend he would later marry, become a proud father of two boys, move from Boston to Asheville and help launch two radio stations. You can catch his show, Mental Notes, on AshevilleFM.

Steven was one of the first people I asked to participate in SOUNDWAVE. You will, of course, love his mix but what I think you will really enjoy is the field recordings he weaved into the music. It’s a reminder of the world that’s out there waiting for us when it’s safer to leave our homes.

Before I let Steven talk about today’s show I implore you to purchase any of the songs you hear on today’s mix or any mix you hear on SOUNDWAVE. The artists are pouring their hearts into each track. Your purchases of songs or albums not only helps them continue working on their craft but also puts food on their tables or pays for the roof over their heads.

See you next Sunday when our guest deejay is Vince Millett, the founder of Broken Drum Records and the host of the Secret Archives of the Vatican podcast.

 

Steven Howard
Steven Howard

It’s kind of silly to say this here:

I knew I had some field recordings on my phone. My intention was always to use them somehow. As I started going through files of artists in my digital library, I dropped tracks into a folder for your project. It was easy to pick the tracks I wanted. I only picked 9 between A-O in my experimental section of my digital library. I then sequenced those into an order roughly resembling a fantasy walk in nature.

Often when I would drive to work in South Boston at 4 am, I’d listen to ambient music like Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Vol II. I always loved how the city looked with the backdrop of dark ambient playing. When I moved to Western North Carolina I would take drives into the mountains or onto the parkway sometimes alone. Ambient worked well there, too.

Being in many different time slots on the radio has moved me further away from experimental sounds over the past handful of years. I have always felt that way about experimental radio. Sometimes I’ve felt like I’ve made all the segues I needed to make. Then you come along and ask me to do a short 30 minute project. I realize if I’m to make a piece, it has to include some original work.

In the layering of these pieces as I sequenced them, I imagined walking in some unknown place, as if superimposed on a green screen and looking down a crater at pulsing orb embedded in a forest. While it looked ominous there was no danger. I passed along wind whipped water of a mountain lake and looked up and saw the late morning sky and heard a plane’s echo of the mountainside. Behind some five miles back, that orb has flown off. I hear it and look.

My heart is exhilarated. I feel good. I’m nearer my goal with the others at camp. The stars are coming up and it’s been a long day. It’s time to feed.

  1. Steven Howard “Field Recording: crows in trees before sunrise (Three Lakes, Wisconsin – July 7, 2019)”
  2. Oren Ambarchi “This Evening So Soon”
  3. Biosphere “Antennaria”
  4. Annea Lockwood “floating world: Part 1”
  5. BJ Nilsen “Black Light”
  6. Sylvain Chauveau “A”
  7. Colleen “Your Heart Is So Loud”
  8. Pauline Oliveros & Miya Masaoka “Twilight – Bashou (Tolling Of A Bell)”
  9. Geir Jenssen “Cho Oyu Basecamp – Morning”
  10. Steven Howard “Field Recording: katydids from our backyard (Asheville, North Carolina – July 19, 2019)”

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