SOUNDWAVE : 89 : DANIEL FUZZTONE

Today’s guest deejay is danielfuzztone.

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
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.

  1. danielfuzztone “Prima Facie”
  2. Brian Eno “Triennale”
  3. The House in the Woods "Bucolica”
  4. Mark Pritchard “?”
  5. Miles Davis “In a Silent Way”
  6. Steven R. Smith “Awake”
  7. William Basinski “The Wheel of Fortune”
  8. danielfuzztone “Nishiki 10-Speed Dream”
  9. Boards of Canada “XYZ”
  10. Cult48 “Deep Calls to Deep”
  11. Gong “Magick Mother Invocation”
  12. Besombes & Rizet “Evelyse”
  13. Godspeed You! Black Emperor “The Dead Flag Blues”
  14. Skinny Puppy “Fritter (Stella’s Home)”
  15. This Mortal Coil “Acid, Bitter and Sad”
  16. Sonic Youth “Providence”
  17. Windy & Carl “Antarctica”
  18. danielfuzztone “Transient Response”
  19. Tim Hecker “Celestina”
  20. Oliver Coates “Honey”
  21. My Bloody Valentine “Glider”
  22. Spacemen 3 “Ecstasy Symphony”
  23. Terry Riley “Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band”
  24. M83 “Birds”
  25. Jean-Michel Jarre “Equinoxe Part 1”
  26. Emerald Web “The Dragon’s Gate”
  27. Angelo Badalamenti “The Voice of Love”
  28. Yo La Tengo “Shortwave”

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Logo by Rik Oostenbroek

SOUNDWAVE : 85 : JOSÉ SOBRANES

Today’s guest deejay is José Sobranes.

I met José through Mauricio Sotelo, AKA Haiteku, who I met through Axel Arturo Barceló, who guest deejayed on Soundwave here and here. Soundwave has been around just long enough that it is beginning to form a rhizome-like network. I like that.

I also like José’s mix. I’m never quite sure where one song ends, and the next begins. The only boundary is the start and end of his mix. It exists in some liminal space that is akin to being awake and being asleep. I’m doing my best to describe José’s mix, but really, you need to let it wash over you and take you where it may.

José is a self-taught composer and recordist based in Mexico. His compositions explore the balance between electronics and environmental sounds, chaining narratives, context, and movement, all based on the felt of direct presence.

He is the current label manager and founder of Nova Fund Recordings an independent label focused on contemporary arts and music. All his productions was released in many countries around the globe for mention some: Whitelabrecs (UK), Faint (ES), Ediciones Éter (CO), Blaq Records (MX), WOS Colectivo (MX), Frente Pulquero (MX), Shimmering Moods Records (NL), USON (ES) and more…

José has some words about his mix below.

Because Soundwave was borne out of the isolation and stress of the pandemic, I feel obligated to mention it on the show. But what is there to say? The pandemic has become part of our lives, and we’ve come to expect the peaks and valleys of infections and deaths. We go about our days trying to maintain some semblance of normality while at the same time incorporating the disruption across the world as part of our new routine. We simultaneously desire to return to our lives before the pandemic while re-evaluating what’s important in our lives and where we want to go next. What will happen?

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Alisú.

See you then!

 

José Sobranes
José Sobranes

Thanks to Joseph for the invitation, Mauricio Sotelo for trusting in my project, and all my listeners and artists friends who encourage me every day to keep going. Thanks to my girlfriend Brenda for inspiring me every day to keep going ahead on this path.

  1. José Soberanes feat. Kiiote “Fallaos”
  2. Dzyan “Orquídeae”
  3. Alex Bober “Shielded”
  4. Darren McClure “Smooth Manifold”
  5. Francesco Giannico “Litania”
  6. Kate Carr “Under An Ancient Fort”
  7. Machinefabriek “Entrance ”
  8. PCCL + Through “Ehécatl”
  9. William Ryan Fritch “Floats feat. Powerdove”
  10. Booka Shade “Moonstruck”
  11. Brett Nauke “Executable Dreamtime”
  12. Pepo Galán & Lee Yi “Zaragoza Rosa”

SOUNDWAVE : 39 : APPLEFISH

Today’s guest deejay is Nik Davies. You most likely know her as Applefish.

Even before launching SOUNDWAVE I listened to a lot of ambient, classical, experimental and instrumental music. But as you can imagine, I listen to even more music from those genres these days. After perusing Bandcamp and listening to playlists on Spotify certain musicians turned up again and again. And for good reason, their music was singular and provocative. Applefish is one of those artists and I approached her to do a mix for SOUNDWAVE which we’ll listen to today.

2020 was a hard year for all of us. There was so much fear and uncertainty. Confronting your mortality on a daily basis is exhausting.

SOUNDWAVE was my way of coping with the stress and isolation of COVID-19. Pop music, movies, tv and books did not speak to the truth of the new reality I found myself in. The only thing I could focus on and gave me some relief was ambient, classical, experimental and instrumental. Because there are no vocals I could project whatever meaning I needed to on songs form those genres or a song would resonate with me. If I was finding solace in this music than surely others needed to hear it as well, and so I launched this show to share that music.

Almost immediately I decided to invite musicians, music label owners, journalists, etc to guest deejay on SOUNDWAVE. I started with people I knew and then asked the guest deejays who they thought would be interested in sharing a mix on the show. I’ve met so many amazing people and heard some mind blowing mixes.

I have some great shows in store for you in 2021! That said, I’m hoping this time next year nearly everyone will have been vaccinated and COVID-19 will be no more of a threat than any of the viruses we vaccinate for. And on that day I will retire SOUNDWAVE, content that it serviced its purpose.

Nik Davies
Nik Davies AKA Applefish

Until then, today’s mix by Nik is the perfect way to wind down 2020. It’s quiet and it’s beautiful. Nik’s mix is like a blanket you wrap yourself in to keep yourself warm in a sometimes cold and harsh would. It’s also an expansive mix that makes me optimistic. And that’s a fine way to end 2020

Join us next week (and net year) when our guest deejay will be Fitz Gitler.

See you then!

  1. Applefish “Andromeda”
  2. Good Weather For An Airstrike “Thaw”
  3. Aphex Twin “#3”
  4. Lauge “Pine Trees Covered in Fog”
  5. Lauge & Matt Tondut “Above the Clouds”
  6. Crows Labyrinth “Our Last Dream (Single Version)”
  7. Applefish “Astrosat”
  8. Biosphere “Poa Alpina”
  9. Applefish“Return to the Trubutaries”
  10. Good Weather For An Airstrike “The Depths Between Us”
  11. Spacecraft “Zodiacal Light”

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Logo by Rik Oostenbroek

SOUNDWAVE : 10 : PLANET BOELEX

Well, that was a week.

Protests blazed across the US, sparked by the killing of George Floyd, from the kindling of over 150 years of police brutality, systemic racism and hundreds of years of slavery. I watched police cars run into protesters. I watched police officers beat and shoot peaceful protesters. I watched protesters raze property, sometimes from their own communities. I’ve even watched a man armed with a bow with an arrow notched aiming it at protesters who quickly took him down.

It is nauseating.

It makes me ill that it’s come to this. I want to hope that out of all this anger, suffering and pain that some good will come of it. But I don’t think my country is ready to have an honest conversation about race that might lead to the healing that this nation so desperately needs.

I’m fried. Once again this show is a balm and a welcome distraction, brief as it is.

Our guest deejay on today’s SOUNDWAVE is Planet Boelex.

I met Planet Boelex through Travis Nobles of hiddenplace music. He suggested that I feature one of Planet Boelex’s live sets on solipsistic NATION, the electronic music show I produced. Planet Boelex’s sound music is impressive because aside from being beautiful it was also distinct. His personality is imprinted onto his music. Electronic music often sound anonymous because some musicians use stock sounds and loops. When you hear a song by Planet Boelex you know it.

I hope today’s show gives you some respite.

Next week’s guest deejay is Dronny Darko. I hope were all in a better place by then.

I’ll leave you with two quotes.

“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”

— James Baldwin

“One is responsible to life. It is the small beacon in that terrifying darkness from which we come and to which we return. One must negotiate this passage as nobly as possible, for the sake of those who are coming after us.”

—James Baldwin

  1. Snorri Hallgrimsson “Chasing The Present”
  2. Digitonal “Autumn Round (Planet Boelex remix)”
  3. Mikael Fyrek “Bau”
  4. Data Rebel “Collisions”
  5. Mosaik “Heart Racer ft. Maria Seger”
  6. Krister Linder “Other Skies”

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

Logo by Rik Oostenbroek