Anne’s music is a beautiful blend of ambient, experimental, and modern classical styles. I was introduced to Anne’s through Soundwave guest deejay Peter van Cooten (listen to his mix here and here), host of Ambientblog and DreamScenes on Concertzender.
Anne Bakker
Based in the Netherlands, Anne Bakker is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer. Her music often incorporates field recordings, found sounds, and electronic elements to create unique and immersive soundscapes.
Anne has released several albums and EPs on labels such as Dronarivm, Whitelabrecs, and Rusted Tone Recordings. Her music has been described as “a delicate and hypnotic work that shines with an inner light” and “a moving and atmospheric experience.”
Many of the tracks in Anne’s mix feature minimalistic arrangements and slowly evolving textures, often exploring the sonic nuances of single notes or simple harmonic progressions. Using drones and sustained tones is also prevalent, creating a sense of sonic stasis or timelessness. Several pieces also feature acoustic instruments, such as piano, guitar, and strings, woven into the electronic soundscapes to create a delicate interplay between the organic and synthetic elements.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be zaké.
Ian is another fantastic musician I was introduced to through Yann Novak (listen to his mixes for Soundwave here and here). Every artist Yann has turned me on to has been outstanding. Oh, I’ll still listen to the releases of the musicians he recommends before inviting the person to guest deejay on Soundwave, but it’s perfunctory at this point. I know anyone Yann suggests is going worthwhile.
Take today’s mix.
Ian begins his playlists with a lovely tune by Cosmo Sheldrake. Wherever Ian is going to take me on this mix, I’m happy to be along for the ride. And it’s an emotional journey, full of meditations and reflections, not all of it gentle. Appropriate enough for the time of year.
Ian Wellman
Ian recently released Sedge, which he calls “a little tape of sandhill crane recordings,” available through Luminous Drift. I’m listening to the album as I write this. It’s quite nice and a great way to wind down this post.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Joshua Bruner.
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.
I met Bulut well over a decade ago while producing Solipsistic Nation, my electronic music podcast. I was a fan of his New Turkish Beat podcast, and we started an acquaintanceship on Twitter.
I’ve been reflecting on that time for the last few days. It was during Solipsistic Nation that I enjoyed Twitter the most. The network was becoming large enough that I could strike up great conversations and meet interesting people but still small enough that things didn’t get lost in the noise. I still love Twitter, but I admit that the number of genuine interactions I’ve had in the last few years has dwindled.
As I write this, Twitter seems like it might crash and burn. Something will emerge out of the wreckage, but it might not be anything we recognize as Twitter. But maybe that’s okay. Perhaps Twitter has served its purpose. I’m glad I met people like Bulut while it was still vibrant.
Bulut has some words about his mix below.
Join us next weekend when out guest deejay will be Glyn Bush.
See you then.
My idea while recording this podcast was that the listener would pay some attention to the music at the beginning of the podcast. Then they would gradually let the sound disappear into the background after the second half. I call this mix “Relax” because I selected some tracks that I believe are relaxing from the beginning. The podcast gets dreamier toward the second half. The second half is super easy to ignore. I recommend starting with a volume that you consider medium or even louder. The podcast intentionally gets very quiet toward the end, so you may barely hear it. I thought this podcast could provide an hour-long atmosphere where you can ignore the sound towards the end by focusing on reading, studying, or falling asleep.
“Funky Zena” by Mickey Hart
Mickey Heart is the legendary drummer of Grateful Dead. There is definitely magic on this entire album. This is a surprisingly relaxing percussion album that is also good for dancing. I play the hand drums myself and I enjoy the meditational aspect of repetitive beats. There is magic in this track for sure.
“Big Man Cry” by Banco de Gaia
An English electronic musician named TobyMarks. This is one of my favorite tracks by Banco de Gaia.This sound sends your soul to a faraway place.
“Selig Sind, Die Da HierWeinen” by Popol Vuh
Popol Vuh was aGerman musical collective founded by Florian Fricke and FrankFiedler. Some say that Popol Vuh is a Krautrock band. I enjoy their relaxing psychedelic tracks and the good news is that they have a lot of good ones. This is what I call "comfortably numb ":)
“Letting Go of This Radiant Hive” by Vir Unis
Vir Unis is an American New Age Musician. The New Age music radiates positive energy. This track is exactly what we needed in this spot.
“Ancient Anatolia” by DJ.Bulut
The only instrument on this track is my electric guitar. I processed the sound to give this a slow and ambient vibe. There is repetition in this which should help us lose track of time very quickly. I believe that my track sounds relaxing at low volumes. It is a long track. In fact, it turned the volume down on the podcast recording so that the listeners can enjoy it quietly. Too quiet for you at this point? Feel free to turn it up 🙂
I invited Pierre to share a mix on Soundwave after hearing his 2019 album, You Disappeared. Since then, Pierre has released a new album, Sundown. Where You Disappeared felt like the soundtrack to a China Miéville novel, Sundown felt like a Koyaanisqatsisque soundtrack for a doomed planet. The album notes for Sundown tell a tale of desperate conflict in Rome in the year 2062. That works, too. The album drips with foreboding.
Pierre Laplace
The first mix Pierre shared was an unexpected delight. Then I could hear the influences of someone like, say, Ennio Morricone, in his music, Pierre’s mix didn’t convey the feeling of his own music. Pierre’s mix for today’s show is further from his albums. His mix is more unexpected and just as delightful.
Aside from three artists, I’m unfamiliar with the musicians who appear in Pierre’s mix. I’ve gone down the listening rabbit hole on Spotify because all the music in his mix is brilliant. I’m sure you’ll be doing the same.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be KMRU.
Today’s guest deejay is Stefan Beck, AKA Golden Brown.
I met Stefan through Steve Targo from Inner Islands after he guest deejayed on Soundwave. I asked Steve, whom he knew would share a mix on the show, and he recommended Stefan. I listened to Stefan’s music and lost myself in his gentle guitar playing, swathes of warm sounds, and field recordings. So we have Steve to thank for today’s gorgeous mix.
As is my habit, I reacquaint myself with the mixes sent my way two weeks before I share them with you. Stefan provided the soundtrack for hurricane Kay which hit Mexico this week. In the evenings, when it was cooler, I’d go for an hour-long walk and listen to Stefan’s mix. Wednesday was a very sensual night. There was a moment as I was walking past a canyon when a rivulet of sweat ran from my temple and behind my right ear. It cooled and evaporated immediately. There was a hint of sage in the air. And Stefan’s mix played over my AirPods. Delicious.
Friday, San Diego was awash with the rain from hurricane Kay. It was very dramatic. The sky was gloomy, the wind gusted from my patio door, and occasionally raindrops would land on my shoulders from my skylight window above me, all while Stefan’s mix playing in the background.
I hope Stefan’s mix provides an equally wonderful experience.
Stefan has a few words about his mix below.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Serge Timmers.
See you then.
Stefan Beck
The songs selected here don’t have any unifying theme apart from that they inspire me and put me in a certain 🌀zone🌀
I think they all have a lot of heart in them and make elegant use of space. Jerry Garcia appears here twice under the radar as well. I can’t resist.
Everybody hates Twitter. I understand why. There’s so much vitriol and misinformation. I’ve rarely had those experiences on Twitter. My experiences on Twitter have been good for the most part.
Take today’s show.
Last year Emil Zapffe guest deejayed on the show. He opened his mix with a track from Giulio. I shared the show on Twitter, and Giulio thanked Emil for including him in the mix. I invited Giulio to join us on Soundwave, and here we all are today.
Giulio Aldinucci
Giulio describes his mix as “Altri ambienti: a glimpse at Italian minimalism between the 70s and 80s in five pictures.”
Giulio’s mix is lovely. It’s helped get me through the week. Summer decided to get hot in San Diego. I work from my kitchen table and am blasted by the sun all day. If you had a video camera trained on me, you’d see me moving my laptop around my kitchen table to flee the sun’s light coming from my skylight. But there’s no escaping the heat. I’ve been baking in the sun all week long, which leaves me a little stunned, making me more receptive to Giulio’s mix. Some songs lend themselves to the heat, and I lost myself in their shimmering sound waves. Others felt like a cool draught of air.
You’ll want to hear more music from Giulio. His new album Real will be released on Karlrecords on October 14, available on vinyl, cassette, and digital.
All this from a conversation that started on Twitter.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Stefan Beck.
Today’s guest deejay is Michael Jakucs, AKA Sunwarper.
After hearing Michael’s music in both Brian Sangmeister and Forest Robots’s mixes for Soundwave, I invited Michael to share a mix. Based on Michael’s music, I knew we were in good hands. But I did not anticipate the surprising directions he took his mix and yet felt utterly familiar.
Let me explain.
The focus of Soundwave is ambient, classical, experimental, and instrumental music, with an emphasis on the ambient. And that’s fine. I’m all about that ambient life. But for me, it’s always a delight when a guest shares a mix that leans into the show’s classical, experimental, and instrumental aspects. Christian Sager’s doom metal/math rock/hip hop mix comes to mind. As does Charles Hazlewood’s mimimalist/modern classical/free jazz mix.
What makes today’s show special, for me, is that it’s very much steeped in shoegaze and dream pop. So while I only know several of the artists in Michael’s mix, I already feel well acquainted with the music I’m unfamiliar with. It’s very déjà vu. I keep asking myself, “Isn’t this a 4AD release?”
Michael Jakucs, AKA Sunwarper
Michael just released a track composed for the season finale of the webcomic The Eagle and the Snake called “Forever Becoming.” He also has a full-length album, Radiant Visage, that will be released on October 14 and available for pre-order on September 9.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be n5MD founder Mike Cadoo.
Sasha’s been on Soundwave twice as protoU (listen to her mixes here and here). Sasha accepted my invitation to guest deejay a third time and shared a mix celebrating Pride. No ethereal mixes on today’s show; we’re all about getting a groove on.
Sasha Puzan, AKA Robocat
Last weekend I spent the day with my grandkid. We had plans to go to our favorite playground, but there was no parking to be had. I decided to take him to the beach instead. We got caught up in Pride traffic on the way there, which seemed like the perfect time to play Sasha’s mix. People dressed in rainbow gear, butterfly wings, and leather chaps darted between cars as we slowly inched forward. It was a magical afternoon.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Hessel Veldman.
Alisú included Riz Maslen in her mix for Soundwave last fall, which led to me spending hours re-visiting the music Riz recorded as Neotropic, as well as her work with 4hero and The Future Sound of London. I invited Riz to share a mix with us, and it’s something else.
Riz mix begins with a piece by Freddie Philips, a British composer known for his work on television music, particularly the theme for Camberwick Green. It’s what I imagine a mix from Wes Anderson might sound like, and I would have been completely satisfied if Riz stayed within that genre. But Riz pivots to Egyptian jazz-inspired psychedelic rock, shifts to trip-hop, and never looks back. And yet, Riz’s mix never feels incongruous. Each track seamlessly blends into the next.
You’re in for quite the journey.
Each mix shared on Soundwave is special. When I say that, I’m not equivocating; they are unique. But some resonate with me more than others, and Riz’s mix is one of those mixes. As the pandemic continues to disrupt our lives, I’ve found Riz’s mix to sometimes act as a balm and other times a needed distraction.
I envy you. I wish I could hear Riz’s mix again for the first time.
Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Robocat.
