Today’s returning guest deejay is Raziel Panic. You can listen to Raziel’s previous mix for Soundwave here.
Raziel’s last mix defied my expectations. I naively assumed he would share a mix much like the music Raziel records and performs as YouShriek. Einstürzende Neubauten and Kraftwerk was not a surprise. Arvo Pärt was unexpected. Kitaro caught me entirely off guard.
And yet, where we are again, Raziel has delightfully baffled me.
Today’s mix is full of hypnotic melodies, haunting atmospheres, and evocative compositions. But those are just words. You have to experience Raziel’s mix for yourself. Headphones are perfect. But if you are one of those fortunate few with a decent sound system, crank that sucker and let Raziel’s mix rattle your windowpanes.
Raziel has a few words about his mix below.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Cole Peters.
See you then.
Raziel Panic
Karl is from Angelspit is one of my most recent acquaintances. Drekka is one of my oldest, and Charles from Cathode Ray Tube was my randomly-selected college roommate / dorm flood survivor.
I was introduced to Hekla through the kind folks at Phantom Limb (listen to their mix for Soundwave here). Hekla is known for her explorations into the depths of sound, blending influences from her Icelandic roots with experimental electronic sounds. Her album, Á, was breath taking, as is her more recent album, Xiuxiuejar, both of which I encourage you to experience.
Hekla
In her mix for Soundwave, Hekla takes us on a journey through the themes of nature, spirituality, and human connection. Her selection of songs includes works by the Estonian composer Veljo Tormis, whose choral music draws on ancient folk traditions, as well as Ghédalia Tazartés’ haunting “Un amour si grand Qu’il Nie Son Objet” and Meredith Monk’s playful “Cow Song.” Hekla also includes a selection from the French composer Olivier Messiaen’s “O Sacrum Convivium,” which explores the theme of spiritual communion.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Jonas Munk.
I was first introduced to Jolanda through her captivating work in Peter van Cooten’s mix for Soundwave (listen here), and I’ve been hooked ever since. I invited Jolanda to share a mix with us.
Jolanda’s mix features artists whose works are marked by their unique approach to sound and a profound sense of introspection. It is a haunting and deeply introspective exploration of the mystical power of sound.
Hailing from Italy, Jolanda has been making waves with her unique blend of organic and electronic soundscapes, drawing inspiration from her love of nature and the cosmos. Her album, Full Moon Session, was just released earlier this month, which includes live performances of songs from her Nine Spells album.
Jolanda also led the folk band She Owl, delivering two full-length albums and performing more than 300 concerts across Europe and the US. But in the past two years of isolation, Jolanda focused on a deeply personal project, one that connects her to her ancestral roots and promotes healing.
Jolanda has some words about her mix below.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Sanderson Dear.
See you then.
Jolanda Moletta
When I started working on my debut solo album Nine Spells, I wasn’t aware of other artists doing ambient/neoclassical/experimental music except for a few names. I didn’t know how my album would fit into these genres. I just had a vision of wanting to create something with only vocals and I imagined something meditative that was like a prayer, or an invocation. In months following the release of the first singles, it became clear that there was actually a community, and a scene, of these genres. My mix aims to put a spotlight on the many incredible women who are also creating beautiful music within this community. I am happy to now call some of these artists my friends, and others I would love to meet one day and maybe even collaborate with. So I truly do hope that you’ll warm to this mix and come to love their music as much as I have.
Last month I shared a retrospective mix from the Ambient Dub compilation series. It was a fantastic experience revisiting those albums, which also served as a touchstone to some beautiful times. Inspired, I reached out to as many of the musicians on the compilation album as possible, leading me to Glyn, whom I’ve always known as one-half of Original Rockers.
Glyn’s mix re-introduced me to gems from Durutti Column and Faust and introduced me to new favorites such as Chassol and Khotin. And Glyn’s mix is chock full of his music projects, such as Biggabush.
Glyn has some words about his mix below.
Join us next weekend when our guest deejay will be Rubén Tamayo.
See you then.
Glyn Bush
It was really nice to be asked to do an ambient mix as it’s a genre I always enjoy even if I don’t normally listen to it that much.
With Original Rockers/Rockers Hi-Fi, we were asked to do an “ambient dub” track by Mike Barnet from Beyond Records around 1992. We just went with our gut and very quickly produced “Sexy Selector.” I suppose we defined ambient dub as being quite lush, with deep chords, lots of space, sequences, and odd bits of vocal. At the time I was listening to The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld and going to a club called Oscillate in Birmingham and hearing quite a bit of what you might call ambient electronica, seeing people like Autechre play live, Alex Paterson on the decks and of course the Higher Intelligence Agency who ran the night.
So I’ve delved back into that era a bit in my mix and checked out some more contemporary stuff with tips from my daughter, re:ni, plus an ambient track we made together a couple of years ago using the sounds of glaciers crumbling, rainfall, and suchlike.
The opener by Richie Hawtin alias F.U.S.E. is one of my all-time fave tracks, just a slowly unfurling 303 looping over and over in its inimitable way.
I dropped a couple of bits from Chassol who makes really beautiful music, not necessarily defined as “ambient” but lush and interesting and full of surprises. He does incredible stuff with recordings of voices where he literally turns all the inflections of speech into musical notes. Check out his Barack Obama track too.
I included a track from my Sunken Foal Stories album, possibly my favourite release and unlike anything I’ve done before or since, with lots of random juxtapositions and happy accidents.
re:ni recommended a lovely track by MLO called ”Sleeper”, which didn’t make the cut, but I used a nice Wagon Christ remix of one of his tracks which I’d not heard before. I’m always happy to crowbar a Luke Vibert track into any mix.
Ghost Power is a collab between Tim Gane of Stereolab and Jeremy Novak of Dymaxion who do some really interesting stuff, mostly nothing like the track I used but all good.
Neotropic is Riz Maslen, who made lovely stuff in the early 90s. This was a fave on cassette back in the day.
Beak> is a Geoff Barrow from Portishead side project, doing a mix of krautrock-ish, motorik beats, plus some excellent synth work, quite soundtrack-y vibes.
Durutti Column was making ambient guitar stuff in the early 80s, of which this is a fine example and always makes me think of sunshine.
PLO Man and C3D-E are on the coveted Acting Press label, which I’d not heard of before re:ni gave me a tip, but it’s high-quality stuff. Likewise, Khotin – is a Canadian producer doing some lovely things on Bandcamp.
Faust was a bunch of crazy German guys who lived in their studio, recorded shedloads of improvisations, and wrote some beautiful songs. The two Faust tracks are from the The Faust Tapes, another all-time fave album of mine compiled from their unreleased tapes from the early 70s.
A couple of Bigga Bush tracks, one called “The Bells,” written in the mid-90s, and the collab mentioned above with re:ni, which was written for a DJs for Climate Action campaign using natural found sounds.
Yann guest deejayed on Soundwave last year, and it’s a delight to have him back on the show. And it’s not just because his mix is utterly fantastic, but because today’s show reminds me that I’ve known Yann since 2009 when I showcased his label, Dragon’s Eye Recordings, on solipsistic NATION.
Not that I know Yann besides what I see him post on social media. But when I launched Soundwave, I reached out to many people through solipsistic NATION, and Yann was one of them. I like his label, and I respect Yann’s thoughts about music. The mix he shared on Soundwave was beautiful and unexpected. Today’s show is no less lovely and surprising.
So, no, I don’t really know Yann. But it’s good to know people are creating, releasing, and sharing music because it needs to be heard.
Yann Novak
Yann included “A Trembling of Light” in his mix, which is from his recently released album, Reflections of a Gathering Storm. It sets the tone for today’s show. If you like it, you might consider giving his album a listen, maybe even spend a few bucks on it. Maybe play it loud enough that the neighbors can hear it, like I did.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Ishmael Cormack.
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
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.
Today’s guest deejays are Potsdam-based Brueder Selke, brothers Sebastian and Daniel Selke (CEEYS).
Over the years, I’ve gotten quite good at jotting down notes on how I meet people. But sometimes, I forget to capture that information, and in this case, I don’t recall how I met Sebastian and Daniel. If I had to guess, I believe I discovered them while perusing Bandcamp for new music.
CEEYS’s albums explore and combine experimental, minimalist, avant-garde, pop, jazz, ambient, and classical chamber music. I love all that stuff, and Sebastian and Daniel distill all those forms of music into a heady listening experience, something you can lose yourself in. I’ve had “Yes, Brick By Brick” on repeat for few hours, for example.
Their mix for today’s show was a surprise. I trusted they would craft a mix worth hearing, and while it captures their musical sensibilities, it also subverted my expectations. And the mix is dense. In the space of 40+ minutes, you’re going to hear music from 28 different artists.
Sebastian and Daniel have some words about their mix below.
Paleowolf’s Cenozoic album
Before I wrap things up, I want to mention that Paleowolf has released a new album, Cenozoic. Paleowolf continues to create music inspired by totems of prehistoric animals and describes Cenozoic as the spiritual successor to Megafauna Rituals. It’s impressive how much material Paleowolf has churned up within his self-created genre. Listen to the Soundwave Paleomix here.
Joins us next week when our guest deejay will be Roel Funcken.
See you then!
Brueder Selke (CEEYS)
For us, two brothers coming from beyond the Iron Curtain, the Wall, with a strikingly serene sense of modesty and humility, rooted in the daily improvisation to manage and resolve shortcomings during Communist-era GDR times and the later reunion of Germany, the most intrinsic part of being a musician is the encounter with like-minded friends and fellows.
The aim of this handpicked list of talent is to blend established and emerging artists from diverse genres and origins. Some even shared already the stage with us while others are invited to come over to our little filmtown Potsdam, in the future.
Thanks to Joseph, who gave us the opportunity to curate this cozy playlist.
I met James years ago back when I was hosting the small WORLD podcast. I was part of the second wave of podcasting and I was small WORLD as the punk rock Fresh Air. If by punk rock, you mean badly played music on out of tune instruments. Anyway, James Curcio was one of my guests and I believe we we talked about his book, Join My Cult!
During the course of producing small WORLD I noticed that James would pop up again again in various circles. Into culture jamming? James was there. Interested in philosophy. James is your man. Writing? James. Music? James again. Magick? Also James.
When I was putting together a list of guest deejays for SOUNDWAVE I included James because I was curious what kind of mix he’d put together. I suspected it would be a playlist that included Coil, Current 93 and Dead Moon. You know, some sort of musical art project attempting to turn lead into gold. Instead, I got a mix of David Bowie interspersed with industrial and Nordic folk music. Did not see that coming.
Before I let James introduced this week’s show, I want to thank everyone who is listening to the show and the kind words they’ve shared. I just ask that you do it in on iTunes. Leave SOUNDWAVE a quick review and whatever algorithm Apple uses pushes the show up their podcast charts. SOUNDWAVE is a super niche show so I don’t expect that it’d take much.
Come back next week. Out guest deejay will be electronic musician Frank Riggio.
James Curcio
This mix was probably inspired by spending 3 years writing and researching MASKS: Bowie & Artists of Artifice (especially the themes that come up in this long-form blog post, Masks All The Way Down). But it’s not a “Bowie mix” as such: mortality, futility, transience, being lost in the simulacra, isolation during coronavirus… and some great beats. Everything in our lives feel so fragile now, but of course the truth is it always was. The outro track is an original remix of Nine Inch Nail’s “Me I’m Not” that I did like 10 years back, and some live studio outtakes from a mushroom party.
