I met Steven last century one day while I was wrapping up my show at WMFO<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n\n Steven and I became fast friends and he introduced me to so<\/em> much music. Over the decades I\u2019ve 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<\/a>, on AshevilleFM<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n 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<\/em> enjoy is the field recordings he weaved into the music. It\u2019s a reminder of the world that\u2019s out there waiting for us when it\u2019s safer to leave our homes.<\/p>\n\n Before I let Steven talk about today\u2019s show I implore you to purchase any of the songs you hear on today\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n See you next Sunday when our guest deejay is Vince Millett<\/a>, the founder of Broken Drum Records<\/a> and the host of the Secret Archives of the Vatican<\/a> podcast.<\/p>\n\n \u00a0<\/p>\n\n It\u2019s kind of silly to say this here:<\/p>\n\n 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. <\/p>\n\n Often when I would drive to work in South Boston at 4 am, I\u2019d listen to ambient music like Aphex Twin<\/a>\u2019s Selected Ambient Works Vol II<\/a><\/em>. 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. <\/p>\n\n 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\u2019ve felt like I\u2019ve 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\u2019m to make a piece, it has to include some original work. <\/p>\n\n 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\u2019s echo of the mountainside. Behind some five miles back, that orb has flown off. I hear it and look. <\/p>\n\n My heart is exhilarated. I feel good. I\u2019m nearer my goal with the others at camp. The stars are coming up and it\u2019s been a long day. It\u2019s time to feed.<\/p>\n\n![\"Steven](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/josephaleo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/8F5D390D-3387-4F4A-9DC7-B19029C369F8.jpeg?resize=525%2C525\")