Tag: rock

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SOUNDWAVE : 53 : AMBIENTBLOG

SOUNDWAVE : 53 : AMBIENTBLOG

Today’s guest deejay is Peter van Cooten, host of Ambientblog and DreamScenes on Concertzender.

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.
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.
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.
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.

Thanks to Joseph Aleo for inviting me!

  1. Jos Smolders “Plate 7”
  2. Mia Zabelka & Icostech “The Final Stop”
  3. Robert Scott Thompson “Still The Syllables Of Water Whisper”
  4. Charley van Veldhoven & Túrion “Hemellichaam IV (Henrik Meierkord Recycle)”
  5. FM Einheit & Susie Green “Joyful Pleasure”
  6. Joey Largent “Below Diorite Waters”
  7. Barbara Ellison “De Auflaan de Pussychat”
  8. Jana Winderen “The Listener”
  9. Grace Ferguson “Barnumbirr”
  10. C-drík “An Imaginary Place Inhabited By Those Who Are Asleep”
  11. James Osland & Finn Kelvin “Things That Have Form Will Alway Disappear”
  12. Daniel Thomas Freeman “Crawling Out Of The Void”
  13. William Basinski “For Whom The Bell Tolls”
  14. Morgen Würde “Mittsommer”
  15. Biosphere “Stordjupta”
  16. Randal Collier-Ford “Eyes Of The Temple (feat. Northumbria)”
  17. Merope “Alma”
  18. Space Whisper “Park Date”
  19. Innesti “Dark Describes An Arc”
  20. Joost Lijbaart “Twinkling Night”
  21. Pinkcourtesyphone “Another Interior”
  22. f5point6 “Natural Selection”
  23. Andrew Heath “I Sleep Above The Forest”
  24. Lustmord “Journey Of The Dead Man”
  25. Bow Quintet feat. Aidan Baker “Bryanbaum Variation”
  26. Aase Frejadóttir “Saying It”
  27. James Rushford “Musica Callada, Book I – Angelico”
  28. Nick Luscombe “Tokyo Spring Birdsong”
  29. Akropolis Reed Quintet “Homage to Paradise Valley: I. Ghosts of Black Bottom”
  30. Kate Carr “I Spotted Some Backyard Dancing”
  31. Olivier Alary “Khaltoum”
  32. Kazuya Nagaya “the Book Of Sunken Memory”
  33. Jos Smolders “Plate 5”
  34. A Winged Victory For The Sullen “Every Solstice & Equinox”

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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”

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

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SOUNDWAVE : 37 : CHRISTIAN SAGER

SOUNDWAVE : 37 : CHRISTIAN SAGER

Today’s guest deejay is Christian Sager, co-host Supercontext, a podcast autopsy of media: how we consume it and how it informs our everyday culture.

Christian Sager
Christian Sager

I loved Supercontext. It felt like a podcast that was produced exclusively for me. For example, some of the topics they covered have been the anime Akira, Roy Scranton’s book, Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization and Bruce Sterling’s state of the world address at SXSW 2016. All those things are in my nerd wheelhouse. Even the shows that discussed topics I knew nothing about were gems.

Sadly Supercontext is now defunct although Christian and co-host Charlie Bennet still release a monthly podcast for Patreon supporters where they chat about the media they’ve been consuming. I highly recommend you go through their archives and listen to shows you think might strike your fancy.

I respect Christian and Charlie’s taste in music and invited them to guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE. Christian has delivered a mix that ranges from prog to math to dirge rock with a dollop of hip hop. Not your usual SOUNDWAVE fare but for me, at least, it was the perfect soundtrack to this week. 300,000+ dead from COIVD-19 and a President and his supporters who seemingly want to upend democracy. Christian’s mix is the blast of sound and fury I needed to propel me though the week.

Special thanks go out to Taylor Shechet for sequencing this week’s mix. Christian didn’t have the original tracks and when I offered to assemble the mix GarageBand refused to import the audio files. Taylor did me a solid by putting the mix together. And if you love today’s show then you’re definitely going to love Taylor’s mix for SOUNDWAVE that I’ll release in the next month or so.

CORRIDOR Magazine
CORRIDOR Magazine

Before I go, I want to mention that Christian and David Moore are launching a project called CORRIDOR Magazine, a new horror magazine bringing the weird worlds of short fiction, art, comics, and essays together under one roof. I’m helping fund it and so should you if this sort of thing is your bag.

Jonathan Ammon's American Splendor album
Jonathan Ammon’s American Splendor album

I also wanted to share Jonathan Ammons’s new release, “Living Proof,” from his forthcoming album, American Splendor. I’m looking forward to the album. If you want to hear more music from Jonathan, listen to his mix for SOUNDWAVE here.

Harrold Budd
Harold Budd

Lastly, some sad news. Ambient composer Harold Budd died December 7. Just the day before I was listening to The Pearl, an album he recorded with Brian Eno, the day before he passed and was thinking how much I enjoyed his music. Harold was a pioneer in ambient music. He will be missed and my condolences go out to his family and friends.

And on that somber note, it’s time for me to say goodbye.

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Harrold Roeland.

See you then!

  1. Aspects of Physics “Level 3”
  2. Battles “Tonto”
  3. Atomsmasher “Thunderspit”
  4. Sannhet “Invisible Wounds”
  5. DJ/rupture “A04 Untitled from ‘Nubus’”
  6. Run The Jewels “Don't Get Captured (Instrumental)”
  7. MONO “After You Comes the Flood”
  8. Thrones “Ephraim”
  9. Russian Circles “309”
  10. Sunn O))) & Boris “Akuma No Kuma”
  11. OXES “Bees Won”
  12. The Fucking Champs “What's A Little Reign?”
  13. Orthrelm “rdd 1+2”
  14. Heilung “Norupo”
  15. Earth “Crooked Axis for String Quartet”

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 : 5 : VINCE MILLETT

SOUNDWAVE : 5

I’m writing the show notes you’re reading from my backyard. Vince Millett’s mix, today’s guest deejay, plays in the background. The sun is out, the sky is blue, birds are chirping and my dog is smelling a flower. It is an idyllic day. Except that it’s week seven of California’s safe at home. COVID-19 has completely disrupted civilization and we’ll feel the aftershocks for years, if not decades, to come. So, yeah except for that, I’m having a fantastic day.

Today’s mix, by the way, is spectacular.

Opening the show to guest deejays has been a great idea because it’s really exposed me to so many musicians I’ve never heard before. I was counting on Vince to turn me on to some great stuff and his mix does not disappoint. It is exactly why he was one of the first people I asked to guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE.

I met Vince eight years ago on Twitter. I was impressed with his netlabel, Broken Drum Records, and his podcast, Secret Archives of the Vatican, and invited him to be a guest deejay for solipsistic NATION, my electronic music podcast. You’ll want to listen to that episode as soon as you’re done with today’s show. Vince’s taste in music leans towards the Asian and Middle Eastern and that is reflected in today’s mix. Each song is a gem. Dhafer Youssef’s “Dawn Prayer,” for example, is gut wrenchingly beautiful

Vince will talk about his musical selections below but before I go, I want to thank everyone who has sent the mixes you will hear in the upcoming months.

In just a few short weeks I’ve received a lot of mixes for SOUNDWAVE from some amazing guest deejays. It’s humbling how everyone were so quick to respond to my requests and their generosity of their time.

Last week’s show featured a gorgeous mix by Steven Howard. Next week’s guest deejay is James Curcio and his mix was inspired by the three years he spent writing and researching for his book, MASKS: Bowie & Artists of Artifice, and is a meditation on mortality, futility, transience, being lost in the simulacra and isolation during the coronavirus.

See you then.

 

Vince Millett
Vince Millett

We open with “Kemancheh” by Moving Ninja. Some years back when I was first discovering dubstep, the folk music of my hometown Croydon, I was surprised to find tracks like this that were far away from the dancefloor and had some middle eastern influences. Genre labels can be so limiting and misleading.

We then move into one of my own, “Outremer” by Thousand Yard Prayer. This is built upon a simple Viola Da Gamba line playing an Arabian musical scale with some medieval frame drums, a Persian ney flute and some subtle Croydon post-dubstep bass wobble adding to the low end.

Tunisian born oud player and vocalist Dhafer Youssef then leads us into the exquisite “Dawn Prayer.” His music gets marketed as jazz but I’m not convinced. It is unique. Listen to that voice!

Next we head towards the world of film soundtracks with “Eastern Path” by Vangelis from the film Alexander. The duduk is one of the most expressive and melancholy instruments on the planet.

We continue to head east with “Battle Remembered” by Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. I’m not a huge fan of western classical music but I love to hear musicians from that world working with highly skilled musicians from other traditions.

Bassist Jonas Hellborg recorded “Suriya” live in Aleppo in 1996. The whole album, Aram of the Two Rivers, is beautiful and is another example of superb musicians from disparate traditions creating something transcendent.

I finish this mix with my favourite piece of medieval music, “Palästinalied,” here played by Kalenda Maya from their album Pilegrimreiser. I have a Spotify playlist with 42 versions of this tune, all sounding different. This is a particularly chilled rendition.

  1. Moving Ninja “Kemancheh”
  2. Thousand Yard Prayer “Outremer”
  3. Dhafer Youssef “Dawn Prayer”
  4. Vangelis “Eastern Path”
  5. Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Ensemble “Battle Remembered”
  6. Jonas Hellborg “Suriya”
  7. Kalenda Maya “Palästinalied”

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

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Weekly Mix 27: July 9, 2017

Last night my girlfriend watched I T2 Trainspotting. I haven’t seen Trainspotting since it was released back in 1996 and I thought it’d be fun to revisit those lovable junkies and hooligans from the first movie. And it was fun. The dialogue was whip-smart and the cinematography was was breathtaking and the actors were fantastic. But it was fun in a Trainspotting sort of way because it you remember the first movie it was about a bunch of Gen X kids who use heroin because they’re lives have been hallowed out by Thatcherism, consumerism and boredom. In T2 Trainspotting we get to revisit those characters except this time they’re older, a little thicker in the middle and they’re nostalgic while at the same time they’re considering they’re mortality.

I’m a Gen X kid. I’m older. I’m a little thicker in the middle. I think about my mortality. But I’m not nostalgic. The 90s were just another decade for me and then I moved on. Each decade had it’s peaks and valleys and some friends dropped out of my life but they were replaced by new friends. But the 90s were special, special to me, anyway, because I was a young man with a bright future ahead of me and my life was so vivid because I was experiencing everything for the first time. I got to fall in love as an adult for the first time. I also got to experience my first heartbreak as an adult. I got to meet friends for the first time that I’ll probably know until the day I die. Or until they die. Hopefully they go first.

And I was always listening to music and the first five songs you’ll hear on today’s show were part of the soundtrack to my life at that time. The stuff is heavy. As usual, I listened to a lot of different kinds of music back in the 90s, everything from hip hop to avant-garde jazz, but hardcore and industrial was the music that I really responded to. Can you blame me? America was fighting in the first Gulf War and it was clear that it was going to come back and bite us in the ass further down the road. The Republican and Democratic parties were just starting to become recalcitrant and hyper-consumerism was becoming a cultural value.

I’ll see you again next week. I promise it won’t be as heavy as today’s show. See you then!

  1. Godflesh “Love Is A Dog From Hell”
  2. Bastro “(I’ve) Ben Brown”
  3. Loving Six “U.S. World”
  4. Gore “Mean Man’s Dream”
  5. Head of David “Dog Day Sunrise”
  6. The Bug & Earth “Dog (feat. JK Flesh)”
  7. Pale Sketcher “Plans That Fade (Faded Dub)”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017

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Weekly Mix 26: July 2, 2017

I subscribe to several newsletters but I usually delete them as soon as they hit my inbox because they’re uninteresting or sharing links to other articles. The only newsletter I read from start to finish is Bob Lefsetz‘s newsletter. Lefsetz is a music industry analyst and critic and the reason I read his newsletter while I delete the rest is because he always has a fresh take on things, whether it’s music, politic or sports or just talking about his life.

Recently Lefsetz wrote a response to an article on the Washington Post about the decline of electric guitar sales. In short, rock is dead. Or on life support. As Lefsetz pointed out, rock is still around but it has all the relevancy of jazz or folk music. Why? Because rock has been so thoroughly corporatized that rock has been de-fanged. It’s no longer dangerous. Songs are no longer crafted, they’re manufactured on spreadsheets and ProTools and and any spontaneity left over is autotuned out. Not only that, rock has nothing new to say. It’s an exhausted genre. Furthermore, rock is reductive. It simplifies more complex music like blues or folk or Cajun music, etc. But now rock is reductive of rock music. It’s become pablum.

The only thing fresh and exciting happening in music today is hip hop and electronic music. It’s taking chances. It’s experimenting. Even the stuff you hear on the radio (who even listens to radio these days?) is more inventive than what passes for rock these days.

The electric guitar is dead. I mourn it’s passing. But to put things in perspective, there was a time when the accordion was huge. Now it’s an instrument regarded as hokey and old-timey.

  1. Oumou Sangaré “Kamelemba”
  2. Gordi “Heaven I Know”
  3. Crooked Man “Coming Up for Air”
  4. John Moreland “Sallisaw Blue”
  5. Amelia Payne “Down”
  6. Army of Lovers “Crucified”
  7. DJ Cummerbund “Earth, Wind & Ozzys”

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 11: March 19, 2017

This week my girl friend and I started a 30-day juice fast. That’s right, 30 days of drinking vegetable and fruit juice instead of eating meals. I’ve done something like this before when I drank Soylent for a month. But this is different. It’s definitely more of a challenge. For some reason, when I was drinking Soylent for a month I barely missed food. But when I’m drinking juice all I can think about is food. Not that I’m hungry. I just want something with texture in my mouth. Crunchy things like popcorn or potato chips are always on my mind. Or barbeque. Or a wad of hot, gooey cheese. And when I go into a supermarket or a restaurant, I smell everything.

But I like challenges like this because anything that breaks you out of your routine makes you see the world and your life in a different light. For example, until I started this juice fast I didn’t realize how many little rituals I have about food. For example, on Friday nights I’ll usually eat somethingthat’s a little saltier and a little fattier than I normally eat as a reward for making it though the week. I’m sure we all do that, right? Maybe treat ourselves to an ice cream or something? I’m hyperaware about all that stuff now.

And I’ll be honest with you, I’m never excited about drinking a glass of vegetable and fruit juice. It tastes okay but I don’t crave it like I’m currently craving some rolled tacos.

And then there are the side effects: the headaches, the hunger pains, I’m tired, and my tongue is emitting a layer of white gunk. All this stuff is supposed to pass in the first few days and then I’ll start feeling energized and my cravings will change from my normal diet to a healthier, green diet. But I have to get past these first few days. On the plus side, I’ve lost almost six pounds in the first two days, so it’s not all bad.

I’m happy to chat with you about this if you’re interested. Just hit me up on Twitter. But if you want to see the documentary that inspired us to take the plunge to do this 30-day juice fast ,then I suggest going to Netflix or Amazon or whatever and watch Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. The doc follows this guy Joe Cross on his 60-day juice fast and his trip across America. I’m not being evangelical about this, because believe me, I can’t wait to eat a cheeseburger. But if you’re interested, go watch the flick.

Okay, let’s get to today’s show. I’m sure me talking about my 30-day juice fast is not the most exciting thing in the world.

You can find me online on Twitter at josephaleo or at my website at josephaleo.com While you’re there, click the links to purchase and download any of the songs you like from today’s show. It’s a simple way to show them your love and support. And if you want to support The Weekly Mix, tell a friend about the show. No need to keep The Weekly Mix to yourself, there’s plenty to go around.

You can listen to The Weekly Mix every Sunday on KAOS Radio Austin at 6PM Central and every Friday on Bondfire Radio out of Brooklyn at 11:30 AM Eastern Standard Time.

Time for me to bug out. See you next week!

  1. Walter Martin “Sing to Me”
  2. The Exquisites “Count on Me”
  3. Mateo Katsu “Nag Hammadi 1276”
  4. Pleasurekraft “Rigel (Orginal Mix)”
  5. Kid Cudi “Kitchen”
  6. Lily Allen “Smile”
  7. Keith Hudson “Depth Charge”

Illustration: GDBee ©2017