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
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.

Techniken Defunkus “Pre-show for That Time”

Teebs “The Endless”

Colin Alexander “Bells and Strings”

Tom Richards “Minor Breach”

LV feat. Tigran Hamasyan “Hammers and Roses”

Techniken Defunkus  “Ash Girl Post & Almost Nothing”

The Art Of Noise “Robinson Crusoe (downshift)”

Gabriella Swallow “Linear Construction (No. 5)”

Johnny Mbizo Dyani “Afrikan blues (excerpt)”

Aaron Novik  “Ballroom of Lost Faith-Lost Dignity-LostSoul”

Rahsaan Roland Kirk “Haunted Feelings”

David Boykin Reads Sun Ra “The Space Age Cannot Be Avoided”

Buddy Peace “Day 138 – Been Glorious”

Jean Grae “BITS part 2 – The Fear”

Angel Bat Dawid “Transition East”

Daniel Carter, Brad Farberman, Billy Martin “I Guess Everything Is Happening As It Should”

Ill Considered “Retreat”

Coleman Hawkins “Hawk’s Variations, Part 1”

Dodo Marmarosa “Bopmatism”

Ahmad Jamal “Ahmad’s Blues”

Roy Eldridge “Echoes of Harlem”

Dan Tepfer “Improvisation 12 / obsessive”

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