SOUNDWAVE : 93 : CHRISTOPH BERG

SOUNDWAVE : 93 : CHRISTOPH BERG

Today’s guest deejay is Christoph Berg.

Christoph is a composer and musician living and working in Berlin, focusing on chamber music and music for film. Besides releasing music on various imprints, Christoph runs his own record label Monochrome Editions. He also releases electroacoustic music as Field Rotation.

That’s all verbiage I copied and pasted from Discogs. I could use words like minimal, haunted, and mournful to describe it but you really, you need to experience Christoph’s music for yourself.

 

Christoph Berg
Christoph Berg

While writing this, I can tell you that I was listening to his Tape Anthology Vol. 1 album over my AirPods. My wife is asleep next to me, and I don’t want to disturb her. I was caught up in the emotions that Christoph was stirring in me when I began to be aware of the sounds of my stomach gurgling. But then it dawned on me that it wasn’t my stomach. It was gentle rumbling sounds within Christoph’s music. I’m sure that wasn’t Christoph’s intent, but for me, it gave an intimate and organic feel to his music. The experience endeared me to Christoph in an unexpected way.

Christoph’s mix, on the other hand, seems to capture the desolate spirit of our pandemic winter of 2022.

Everyone I know seems to have COVID. I have a dry, slight cough. It could be from the booster shot I received last week, a common cold I picked up, or the virus. And so, as part of my now monthly routine, I need to schedule yet another COVID test. But this is the shape of our lives now, so I square my shoulders and get on with it.

Christoph’s mix provides the soundtrack to what feels like it will be a very long winter.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Kazuya Nagaya.

See you then.

  1. Strain of Laws “Ordinary Mystique”
  2. Hildur Guðnadóttir “Gallery”
  3. Murcof “Dropped Soul/Shadow Surfing”
  4. Jasmine Guffond & Erik K Skodvin “The Burrower”
  5. Egisto Macchi “Segni Preistorici”
  6. John Wall “Stat:Unt:Dist”
  7. Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin “Vaccination No. 2”
  8. Black Merlin “Sibi”
  9. PDP III “Walls of Kyoto”
  10. Radiohead “The Jumbled Words of Climbing Up the Walls Read by Little Dan Clements”
  11. Makunouchi Bento “Jubokko”
  12. Meitei / 冥丁 “Jizo”
  13. Twinkle³ with Sidsel Endresen “Debris in L.E.O.”
  14. Mica Levi “Delete Beach (Japanese)
  15. Mikado Koko みかどここ “Ten Little Kuronbo”
  16. Demdike Stare x Il Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza “The Feed-Back Loop (excerpt)”
  17. Robert Millis “Only Here A Short While”

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Logo by Rik Oostenbroek

SOUNDWAVE : 77 : GERT DE MEESTER

Today’s guest deejay is Gert De Meester.

Gert appeared on Soundwave last year, and I enjoyed his mix so much I invited him back. Today’s show is equally fantastic. Gert can expect another invitation from me in 2022.

Gert says today’s show features a perfect mixture of tracks that have influenced him and tracks that currently influence him. He said they’re all such beautiful tracks, and what’s best, you can find them all on Bandcamp, some of them entirely for free.

Today’s mix also includes a track form Gert’s project, Distant Fires Burning. You’re gong to love today’s mix and you’ll want to hear more music from Gert. Good news! You can find his latest album, Inperspectycon Vol​.​1, here.

 

Gert De Meester
Gert De Meester

One thing that’s interesting about the 21st century is music is so freely available, and it’s nearly endless. Consequently, I don’t think most music gets the attention due, and I’m not wagging my finger. I’m just as guilty. It’s exceedingly rare that I will listen to a song or an album repeatedly. There’s so much I want to listen to, and I’m often impatient to listen to the next song, even while I’m listening to something that very moment.

Take today’s show. It’s spectacular. But you’ll listen to it once. Some of you might even listen to it twice. And then you’re on to the next show. Or the next song. Or the next video.

As the producer of Soundwave, however, I have a very different relationship with the music you hear.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I receive these mixes months before I publish them on Soundwave. I live with these mixes. I marinate in these mixes.

I’ve become very familiar with Gert’s mix. It’s a gorgeous experience. But after repeated listening, I’ve come to appreciate just how dense the songs that appear in today’s show are. I’ve become intimately acquainted with every snap, crackle, and pop. I lose myself in the swooshes, the sizzle, and grit.

Gert’s mix is made for repeated listening. I encourage you to do so.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Michael Southard of Triplicate Records.

See you then!

  1. Taylor Dupree “Everything’s Gone Grey”
  2. Neuro… No Neuro “Blend With Internal Mirror”
  3. Loscil “First Narrows”
  4. Biosphere “Endurium”
  5. For Greater Good “Love You Terrorist (Stockholm Syndrome Mix by Distant Fires Burning)”
  6. Boards Of Canada “XYZ (Peel Session)”
  7. He Can Jog “My (Mother’s) Records”
  8. Umlaut “Audio(bulbs)”
  9. Jon Doe One “Karper”
  10. Autistici “Edall”
  11. Distant Fires Burning & Seigo Aoyama “Or The Horror Of It Now”
  12. Ashtoreth & Stratosphere “The Burning Spirit”
  13. Dadavistic Orchestra “Strung Valve Checkout”
  14. Oubys “ToweringWindTowering”
  15. Roel Funcken “Graydon Margolis AMB”
  16. Sonmi451 “Hippocampus”
  17. Darren McClure “Time Takes It’s Course”

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Logo by Rik Oostenbroek