A year ago, while perusing Boing Boing I read a post about Hollow Earth Radio, a Low Power FM (LPFM) non-commercial DIY radio station based out of Seattle. I was intrigued about the station’s promise of “local music, found sound, paranormal encounters, crank calls, dreams, etc.! 24 hours a day!” and tuned it. The station is a delight, and I became Sean’s show, Aquanautic Frequencies, and invited him to guest deejay on Soundwave.
Aquanautic Frequencies broadcasts every Wednesday from 11 am-1 pm PST. Spinning strange and groovy and tunes from the deep. Featuring clangy krautrock and kosmische musik, brain-melting prog, afrobeat, and jazz from Saturn, pulsing psych, weird Bungley rock, Pacific Northwest favorites, outsider music from Finland and beyond, turntable experiments, avant-metal, random radio transmissions, and even the occasional jangled pop number as long as it fits the mood. His shows are broadcasted live at the station with vinyl only, programmed from his music collection, or home recorded with two turntables and mixer fed into a recording console.
In addition to the radio show, Sean is a scientist and has made music a creative outlet for about 20 years. He is the co-founder of Fringe Biology Recordings (fringebiologyrecords.com), a Seattle-based record label of outsider/self-educated recording artists specializing in experimental rock, avant-electronic music, sci-fi soundtracks, kosmische musik, and science-inspired music.
What I love about Sean’s mix is that it took Soundwave’s instrumental aspect and ran with it. And Sean’s mix obviously showcases some of his obsessions in music. I always welcome music from Secret Chiefs, Sun City Girls, Can, and Sun Ra, and I was happy to be introduced to artists like Bo Hansson, Thomas Dinger, and Diminished Men.
Sean has some words about his mix below.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Alex Haas.
See you then.
Sean Sleight
Many thanks for the invitation to contribute a mix. I wanted it to have a positive vibe in these weird times and thought of Winter Solstice when daylight is at its minimum. Now that it’s almost the darkest time of the year, I thought maybe it was time to reverse polarity and share some warmth for the days ahead.
Today’s guest deejay is Ilya Fursov, AKA Textere Oris.
Ilya is yet another guest deejay that comes to us by way of the Cryo Chamber music label. I’m sometimes reluctant to feature musicians from Cryo Chamber because I showcase artists from their roster a lot. But that’s because the label’s releases are so good that why would I not invite them on Soundwave?
I was introduced to Ilya after listening to Reflections at the Sea, an album he released with Vladislav Sikach, AKA SiJ. Like most albums on Cryo Chamber, I was immersed in the world they unfolded through their music. I often listen to music while working or doing chores, but I often found myself pausing what I was doing as I got lost in Reflections. Ilya’s mix for today’s show is equally mysterious and magical.
Ilya Fursov, AKA Textere Oris
Here in the States, we celebrated Thanksgiving. As I write this, I’m in Boston. This is the first time my father, uncle, brother, and sister have been under the same roof in decades. It wasn’t without family drama, but I suspect that’s part of the Thanksgiving tradition. I also got to spend time with some of my oldest and dearest friends.
I admit to being reluctant to travel to Boston. Mingling with people at the airport and flying with more people in a metal tube with people for five hours was unsettling. I certainly don’t want to catch the virus, and I wouldn’t want to pass the virus on to my family. My father and uncle are in their seventies, and I’m all too aware that my time with them shortens each year.
Like most people, I was able to put the pandemic out of my mind for a while and enjoy myself. But the Coronavirus is not done with us, and now we have to Omicron variant to contend with. Soundwave is my way of coping with the pandemic, and each time I think the show has served its purpose, there is yet another reason to continue sharing mixes with you. And here we are.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Dead Melodies.
I ask each guest to deejay who they know who would be interested in participating in the show with a mix. Harrold Roeland, who was a guest deejay on Soundwave back in December, suggested Peter. I’ve known about Ambientblog for years and have listened to many of Peter’s mixes on Mixcloud. I’m thankful that Harrold made the introduction because Peter’s mix is exceptional.
Peter’s Soundwave mix.
Mix is not the word for what Peter does on today’s show.
It’s more accurate to say that Peter composed a concept album masterfully weaved from a multitude of sampled material. Take a look at the “playlist” below to get an idea of the scope of today’s show. It’s a work of art you get to immerse yourself in for the next hour.
Peter’s mix, like all of his Ambientblog shows, is an experience. Follow Ambientblog on Mixcloud to hear more of his work.
I’ve included an excerpt about today’s show from Peter’s website below.
Today’s show is special because it’s also Soundwave’s one-year anniversary.
I launched Soundwave to help me cope with the stress and isolation of COVID-19.
This close to what we all hope is the finish line of the pandemic its easy to forget that we were all white-knuckling it for the first couple of months. Every day was filled with existential dread. Would this trip to the grocery store kill me or someone I love? It’s exhausting to live that way.
During that time, I could not watch tv or movies or listen to music because they were not speaking to the truth of our new reality. I’d watch a tv show and fret how there was no social distancing and why the cast wasn’t wearing masks. Pop music was particularly difficult to listen to because it was so painfully vapid. How am I supposed to enjoy a love song when I might be a patient or a vector in this pandemic?
The only music that I could tolerate and gave me solace was ambient, classical, experimental, and instrumental music. It was the soundtrack for my stay-at-home lockdown. And if I found some relief with this music, why not share it with others? Any why not ask people I respect to share their mixes?
I’m humbled by everyone’s gift of generosity of time and effort. We’re all going through this together, each in our way. I’m grateful that during this pandemic that each guest deejay lovingly crafted mixes to share with us.
My first vaccination shot.
Today’s show is also special because today, I also got my first shot for the COVID-19 vaccination.
I was shopping for groceries when the Mercy Plaza Pharmacy called me and told me they had extra doses. Could I stop by for a vaccination? Most definitely.
My cilantro stymied the woman who was ringing up my items at the grocery store: were they regular cilantro or organic? She was about to do a price check when I explained that I needed to get the hell out of there to be vaccinated. I didn’t care about the cilantro’s cost; ring me up so I can leave! She understood.
The folks at Mercy Plaza Pharmacy couldn’t be nicer. They’re a family-owned business, and the owner checked up on me after my shot to see how I was feeling. We talked about San Diego, Sacramento, and our kids. This is going to sound weird, but I had such a great time that I can’t wait to go back.
So here we are a year later. We’re almost at the finish line. Hopefully, next year, this will be behind us, and we can all enjoy each other’s company. I’m looking forward to meeting some of you in person. Maybe I’ll even get to meet Peter.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Michał Milczarek.
See you then!
Ambientblog album art.
It’s my honour to open the second year of this series with my contribution. Of course, we can only hope that the series will continue for musical reasons, not because of the pandemic.
Clicking through the list of contributions, you’ll find that most of them are what I call mixtape-style compilations: a head-tail-mix of (full) tracks. Traditionally, my (Ambientblog) mixes are different (which does not mean necessarily ‘better’, by the way) in that they incorporate many sampled parts of tracks (a full-length track is either an exception or a very short track itself), mixed in a layered collage-style. I always try to shuffle the collage’s fragments so that they seem to melt together and thus start telling a different story.
Whether this is successful or not can only be determined by the listener.
This mix is simply named after the podcast Soundwave. It is a happy coincidence that it literally starts with waves—sonically manipulated by Jos Smolders—and ends with the same waves morphing into the sound of a cheering crowd.
Different kinds of soundwaves are all around us, every moment. Sometimes we’re aware; most of the time, we are not. This mix (hopefully) shows that it can be rewarding to take a moment’s rest to really listen and let the sounds affect you.
