Tag: pop

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SOUNDWAVE : 49 : LESS BELLS

SOUNDWAVE : 49 : LESS BELLS

Today’s guest deejay is Julie Carpenter, AKA Less Bells.

Several months ago, I did a deep dive on musicians on Bandcamp who explored ambient, classical, experimental, and instrumental music. Julie explores all those genres, so naturally, I invited her to join us on SOUNDWAVE. I expected to be surprised, but I didn’t expect how surprised by her mix. Dirty Projectors? Buddy Sainte-Marie? Big Star? What the hell?!? I’m not complaining. In fact, I’m delighted!

Speaking of delights, I urge you to go on your music streaming platform of choice and listen to Julie’s music. I’ve been listening to her albums constantly since first discovering her music, and I have a feeling you’ll do the same. Better yet, if you like what you hear, and you will, why not spend a few dollars on some of her songs or her albums. You can thank me later.

Julie will talk about her mix below.

I need to wrap this up because my wife will visit me for the next week and I need to tidy up around the house. The pandemic and work have kept us apart for months at a time. While I’m used to a solitary life, I don’t like being apart from her this long. But I have relapsed into my former bachelor ways and need to get things shipshape before she’s back in town.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Emil Zapffe, AKA João Guimarães.

See you then!

 

Julie Carpenter, AKA Less Bells
Julie Carpenter, AKA Less Bells

Putting together a coherent playlist makes me feel like I’m having a party and leaving some of my favorite guests standing outside in the cold. I start with way too many ideas and then eliminate the various contestants. This is how I write music, too. It isn’t until I’m done that I can see what I was trying to do. This list revealed itself as a collection of my favorite sound palettes.

I love music that makes me ask, “how on earth did they do that?” The whole Bitte Orca album from Dirty Projectors is a cabinet of wonders, but this is the crowning gem for me. They hung this beautiful melody on reversed swelling strings, and it’s sculptural.

The Clint Heidorn piece that follows has its own kind of dimensionality but pursues it through timbres. The way the sax, strings, guitar, and upright bass move together creates one gorgeous multi-faceted instrument.

Windy & Carl have such a deep body of work, it was hard to choose, but I love the little chimes that litter the winter landscape of “Snow Covers Everything.” Guitar and vocal sounds are their trademark, but it’s the attention to little sonic details that sets them apart.

“Sleep Walk” is a song I’ve loved my whole life because it’s one of those perfect melodies that embodies yearning and satisfaction in the same moment. Also, it’s got the best reverb.

Christina Vantzou’s piece that follows is from a completely different planet, but the dialogue between the elements she’s chosen is so subtle and warm. It’s a piece you can wrap up in.

The Books take us in yet another direction, a frantic scramble of chopped acoustic bits that comes together in an emotionally resonant way.

Buffy Sainte-Marie is a hero of mine in many ways, but I especially love Illuminations for her experimentation with processing. “Poppies” shows off her acrobatic voice in such a chilling atmosphere.

I debated putting “Kanga Roo” on this list as it’s such a well-known song, but it’s got so many elements that draw me in. It’s the ultimate beautiful mess: distortion clashing with strings, dissonance, and melody, timing fluid to the point of falling apart.

I closed out the playlist with “Queen of Crickets” from the most recent Less Bells album Mourning Jewelry because I feel like its one of our most successful experiments with texture. I loved bringing together the sound of a 120-year-old banjo with synthesizers and strings. In the end, it’s all just vibrations and how they move the listener.

  1. Dirty Projectors “Two Doves”
  2. Clint Heidorn “Pasadena”
  3. Windy & Carl “Snow Covers Everything”
  4. Santo & Johnny “Sleep Walk”
  5. Christina Vantzou “Entanglement”
  6. The Books “That Right Ain’t Shit”
  7. Buffy Sainte-Marie “Poppies”
  8. Big Star “Kanga Roo”
  9. Less Bells “Queen of Crickets”

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Logo by Rik Oostenbroek

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SOUNDWAVE : 28 : AXEL ARTURO BARCELÓ

SOUNDWAVE : 28 AXEL ARTURO BARCELÓ

Today’s guest deejay is Axel Arturo Barceló, who I met while interviewing him for solipsistic NATION about his netlabel, Discos Konfort. I enjoyed talking to Axel about his label and dug the music from his roster of artists that he was one of the first people I contacted when I started asking folks to guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE. I know you’re going to live his mix!

 

Axel Arturo Barceló
Axel Arturo Barceló

This is another one of those entries that I have to keep short because I have friends from out of town that I’m about to meet up with for dinner. A few things before I go…

A few weeks ago I saw a photo of apocalyptic skies due to the fires in NorCal that Robert Rich posted on Facebook. When I discovered that he and I lived in the same area I said we should hang out, and so we did. Robert is just a nice and thoughtful as you’d imagine. We was also generous and gave me a copy his latest CD, Offering to the Morning Fog. So cool to finally meet the guy whose music I’ve been listening to since last century. Check out Robert’s mix for SOUNDWAVE here.

 

Joseph Aleo and Robert Rich
Joseph Aleo and Robert Rich

This week I’ve been enjoying W. David Oliphant’s new album, Beyond All Defects: 2020, that he recorded with Sir Richard Bishop. Actually, I don’t know if enjoying is the right word. More like experiencing it. Oliphant’s music is haunting and that doesn’t even begin to capture the depth of his music. Look, just listen to the damn album and hear for yourself. Or listen to Oliphant’s mix for SOUNDWAVE.

Okay, that’s it. I got a flex. Join us next week when our guest deejay will be protoU.

See you then!

  1. Jerry ZZZ “M”
  2. Rose McGowan “Canes Venatici”
  3. Tom Misch & Yussef Dayes “Storm before the Calm”
  4. Field Works “Formation 2, Revisited (Lusine Remix)”
  5. Liozn “Ascending”
  6. Local 86 “Sim Dreams”
  7. Pássaro “Ayaymama”
  8. mdol “aquablock”
  9. Machino “Navajas”
  10. OMAAR “Dancefloor (Like this)”
  11. Hexsystem “Cycles”
  12. Emmerichk “Dub 2”
  13. Bliz Nochi “Day Dreamwalker”
  14. Matías Pérez Fuentes & Joni Lobos “Magnetismo”

Subscribe to SOUNDWAVE on iTunes, Overcast, Castro and Pocketcasts.

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SOUNDWAVE : 6 : JAMES CURCIO

SOUNDWAVE : 6

Today’s guest deejay is James Curcio.

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
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.

  1. IAMX “Stardust (Video Mix)”
  2. David Bowie “No Plan”
  3. Forest Swords “Panic”
  4. David Bowie “Love is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix)”
  5. Eivør “Í tokuni” (lyrics translation)
  6. David Bowie “The Motel/Sunday”
  7. Onuka “Zenit (intercut with sections of Davi Bowie’s ‘Sunday’)” (lyrics translation)
  8. Perturbator “Tactical Precision Disarray”
  9. Igorrr “Downgrade Desert”
  10. SKYND “Tyler Hadley”
  11. David Bowie “Killing A Little Time”
  12. Nine Inch Nails “Me I’m Not (James Curcio Original Remix)”
  13. James Curcio “Mother Hive Brain (Recorded at OrangeFace)”

Subscribe to SOUNDWAVE on iTunes, Overcast, Castro and Pocketcasts.

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SOUNDWAVE : 4 : STEVEN HOWARD

SOUNDWAVE : 4

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)”

Subscribe to SOUNDWAVE on iTunes, Overcast, Castro and Pocketcasts.

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Weekly Mix 28: July 16, 2017

A lot of new listeners tuned in to last week’s show and one of them was Jon Fine, who played with David Grubbs in the band Bitch Magnet. Jon was really excited to hear Loving Six on last week’s mix. He had heard about Loving Six and had been waiting to hear their music for almost 30 years. We got to talking and it turns out that Jon has also written a book called Your Band Sucks: What I Saw at Indie Rock’s Failed Revolution (But Can No Longer Hear), which has been described as a cult favorite musician’s memoir. Jon said his book touches on some of the things Chip and I talked about on last weeks show. You should go buy it because I’m going to read the Your Band Sucksand have Jon on the show in a couple of weeks to talk about his book.

On last week’s show I also played a song that was a collaboration between The Bug and Earth. I’ve known about Earth for at least 20 years but had never listened to their music before. I went on Twitter and asked what songs or albums I should listen to and I got a lot of excellent suggestions. Ben Burnham said I should start off with Earth’s album, Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method.Corey Brewer suggested I listen to their songs ”Ouroboros is Broken” or “Old Black” and Holly Carson said I should listen to their Pentastar: In the Style of Demons album. Thanks for the suggestions! I’ll be listening to Earth for the next few weeks and will play them on a future Weekly Mix.

Okay, let’s get to today’s show. See you next week!

  1. Dawg Yawp “I’ll Quit Tomorrow”
  2. Reddish Blu “When I Get Too Sad”
  3. L8LOOMER “Right Side (feat. Doja Cat)”
  4. Kevin Abstract “American Boyfriend”
  5. Devoted To God “Hidden Track”
  6. Kamasi Washington “Truth”
  7. Robert Turman “Veiling Reflections – excerpt”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 25: June 25, 2017

Before we get to today’s show I wanted to tell you about a game I just started playing called Vampire: The Masquerade. It’s a role playing game like Dungeons & Dragons but instead of warriors and wizards it’s based on vampires. And we’re playing the game with dice and paper and not on a laptop.

I confess, vampires aren’t really my thing but I’ve been having a blast. It’s been ages since I’ve been part of a role playing game and usually I’m the person running the game, so it’s fun to be a player character. I’m also tickled that my girlfriend is playing, too. When I tell her that she is my dream girl I don’t think she understands how much I mean that.

I won’t go into the game too much because I don’t know too much about it myself aside from what I’ve read on Wikipedia. But I’m really digging how the game incorporates the mythology of vampires and also how morality and humanity is also a very important part of the game. What I can tell you is that there are a bunch of clans of vampires and each clan has their strengths and weaknesses. There’s been a murder within the clans that could possibly throw everything into turmoil and me and my fellow players have been tasked to get to the bottom of things. Pretty dramatic, huh?

There are four of us. My girlfriend is playing a Nosferatu-like vampire who is also a hacker. Our friend Becky is playing a corporate-raider type on vampire and our friend Glenn is a biker vampire. Me? I’m playing an effete, club-footed vampire from the 19th century who is a cross between Oscar Wilde and Percy Bysshe Shelley.

I’ll tell you more about the game as we go along. And if you’re listening to today’s show and you also play role playing games I’d love to hear about your own experiences.

  1. Queen “Bohemian Rhapsody (Played by 100+ year old fairground organ)”
  2. Golden Vessel “Shoulders (ft. Elkkle & Mallrat)”
  3. Wolf Alice “Yuk Foo”
  4. Ex Eye “Opposition/Perihelion; the Coil”
  5. Be the Bear “Erupt”
  6. Terror Jr “Come First”
  7. Mary J. Blige “Strength Of A Woman”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 24: June 18, 2017

I’m going to keep the introduction to today’s show short because I only have a little time to record this before we head out to see The LEGO Batman Movie at the nearby park. The kids and I have already seen it but my girl hasn’t. She’s not the comic book nerd that I am but she likes those kinds things well enough and indulges me in my nerdy. We’re also going to meet up with my new friend Blanca, and her family. So let’s get to today’s show before I have to leave.

  1. ANIMA! “Blood”
  2. Trapo “Hello”
  3. The Beta Band “Dry The Rain”
  4. Elohim “Hallucinating (Mariachi Version)”
  5. Mondo Cozmo “Automatic”
  6. Boyfriend “Fun Shit (feat. Cindy Wilson)”
  7. Swell “I’m Sorry (feat. Shiloh)”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 16: April 23, 2017

On today’s show we’ll chat with Ned Raggett about the art of writing album reviews. Ned has been published in AllMusic, The Quietus, Pitchfork and many other fine publications. While I’ve been a deejay and a podcaster for several decades, I’ve only done the odd album review. If I’m going to do The Weekly Mix properly, I need to hone my skills at album reviews and who better to learn from than a master like Ned Raggett?

I’ve known Ned online for quiet a while and discovered him through my friend Steve Howard’s Facebook feed. I’ve always been impressed with his insightful album reviews as well as his political commentary. When I launched the Pop Culture Intelligentsia podcast I invited him to become a co-host because I respect his skill as a wordsmith and I knew he’d really add to the roundtable. Due to Ned’s busy schedule he rarely appears on the show but when he does he delivers the goods. The best example I can give was when Ned came on Pop Culture Intelligentsia to review Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly album.

I’m out of here. See you next week!

  1. Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy “INS Greencard A-19 191 500”
  2. Kendrick Lamar “DNA.”
  3. Beyoncé “Formation”
  4. Ravyn Lenae “Free Room (feat. Appleby)”
  5. 18scales “Wayout”
  6. Lizzo “Coconut Oil”
  7. Kadhja Bonet “Fairweather Friend”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 14: April 9, 2017

I’m really excited about today’s show because it’s a great way wind down after a busy week. As I mentioned on the last show, last week my girl friend and I drove up to Los Angeles from San Diego to catch a rare performance by The Firesign Theater. A few days later I drove back up to Los Angeles to get fitted for a tailor made suit from Indochino for my brother’s wedding next month. There’s a good chance you heard about Indohchino on another podcast. At least that’s how I heard about them. I could have given Indohchino my measurements online but I wanted to be measured by an actual human being. I have to admit, I was impressed by Indohchino and now that they have my measurements I’ll order more clothing from them in the future. I’ll post a photo of the suit in a couple of weeks on my blog.

Last night my girl friend and my boy drove back up to Los Angeles again for the opening of a friend Mark Casillas’ new office. The name of his studio is Warm & Fuzzy and he and his partners do visual effects and animation for commericals, TV shows and movies like The Avengers and Star Wars. The party was great! There were food trucks, a bouncy castle, a deejay and lot of fun and interesting people to meet. You know, I used to hate Los Angeles but the more I go there the more I love. Except the traffic. I hate the traffic.

And today we took the kids to the Fleet Science Center in San Diego and then I took the kids and our dog to the beach. So, yeah, a busy weekend.

Click the links below to purchase and download the songs you liked from today’s show. You can spare a few dollars and you’ll be helping out the bands and musicians who are pouring out their hearts to touch you.

If you enjoy The Weekly Mix, share it with a friend. I’m looking at you, Ben. I know you like last week’s show.

Okay, time for me to amscray. Enjoy the show. I’ll see you next week!

  1. Swet Shop Boys “T5”
  2. Futuro Pelo “Swamp”
  3. Frankie Reyes “Noche de Ronda”
  4. Sampha “Plastic 100°C”
  5. Yoni & Geti “Lunchline”
  6. Little Scream “Love as a Weapon”
  7. Hite “Light”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017mix

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Weekly Mix 13: April 2, 2017

Before we got to today’s show I want to welcome Blumenkraft from the pnut social media platform to the show. I actually know Blumenkraft from App.Net, which was a great social media platform that was ad free but unforutnately shut down last month. Anyway, I promoted my recent show on Pnut and Blumenkraft really enjoyed it and went back to download prevous episodes of The Weekly Mix. Blumenkraft, if you’re listening, welcome aboard and I hope you dig today’s show.

The other thing I wanted to chat about is the trip my girlfriend and I made to Los Angeles last Thursday to see The Firesign Theatre. You probably don’t know who they are but they are extremely important to me. The Firesign Theatre was a comedy group from the 60s who recorded these really complex concept albums. When I was a boy, about four years old, my dad would play them all the time. The Firesign Theatre had a lot of TV and radio commercial skits that confused me because at that age I was still struggling to distinguish reality from fantasy. They sounded like commercials but I knew something was not quite right. The Firesign Theatre shaped my own sense of humor and when I got into radio I would insert bits from their albums into my shows.

Last Wednesday I was talking to my friend Taylor about working on another show I produce called Pop Culture Intelligentsia. We were catching up with each other when he mentioned that he was going to provide sound effect for a life performance from The Firesign Theatre. Taylor only had a vague idea who they were and cetainly had no idea how important those guys are to me. I asked Taylor if he could get me into the show because those guys are senior citizens now, in fact, there are only two members still alive. I’d regret it if I didn’t see them. Taylor was kind enough to get me into the show and I even got to ask Phil Proctor, one of the founding members a question!

Okay, enough out of me. Enjoy today’s show.

  1. Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweat “I Need Never Get Old”
  2. Shirley Bassey “Spinning Wheel”
  3. Portugal. The Man “Feel It Still”
  4. Lauren Sanderson “Alotta Me”
  5. Yaeji “New York 93”
  6. Naadei “Not Nice”
  7. o k h o “Hey The House Is On Fire”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017mix