{"id":3273,"date":"2020-05-03T00:00:05","date_gmt":"2020-05-03T07:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/josephaleo.com\/blog\/?p=3273"},"modified":"2021-07-02T20:48:31","modified_gmt":"2021-07-03T03:48:31","slug":"soundwave-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/josephaleo.com\/blog\/soundwave-5\/","title":{"rendered":"SOUNDWAVE : 5 : VINCE MILLETT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019m writing the show notes you\u2019re reading from my backyard. Vince Millett<\/a>\u2019s mix, today\u2019s 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\u2019s week seven of California\u2019s safe at home. COVID-19 has completely disrupted civilization and we\u2019ll feel the aftershocks for years, if not decades, to come. So, yeah except for that, I\u2019m having a fantastic day.<\/p>\n\n

Today\u2019s mix, by the way, is spectacular.<\/p>\n\n

Opening the show to guest deejays has been a great idea because it\u2019s really exposed me to so many musicians I\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n\n

I met Vince eight years ago on Twitter. I was impressed with his netlabel, Broken Drum Records<\/a>, and his podcast, Secret Archives of the Vatican<\/a>, and invited him to be a guest deejay for solipsistic NATION<\/a>, my electronic music podcast. You\u2019ll want to listen to that episode<\/a> as soon as you\u2019re done with today\u2019s show. Vince\u2019s taste in music leans towards the Asian and Middle Eastern and that is reflected in today\u2019s mix. Each song is a gem. Dhafer Youssef\u2019s \u201cDawn Prayer,\u201d for example, is gut wrenchingly beautiful <\/p>\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n

In just a few short weeks I\u2019ve received a lot<\/em> of mixes for SOUNDWAVE from some amazing<\/em> guest deejays. It\u2019s humbling how everyone were so quick to respond to my requests and their generosity of their time.<\/p>\n\n

Last week\u2019s show<\/a> featured a gorgeous mix by Steven Howard<\/a>. Next week\u2019s guest deejay is James Curcio<\/a> and his mix was inspired by the three years he spent writing and researching for his book, MASKS: Bowie & Artists of Artifice<\/a><\/em>, and is a meditation on mortality, futility, transience, being lost in the simulacra and isolation during the coronavirus.<\/p>\n\n

See you then.<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

\"Vince
Vince Millett<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

We open with \u201cKemancheh\u201d 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. <\/p>\n\n

We then move into one of my own, \u201cOutremer\u201d 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. <\/p>\n\n

Tunisian born oud player and vocalist Dhafer Youssef then leads us into the exquisite \u201cDawn Prayer.\u201d His music gets marketed as jazz but I\u2019m not convinced. It is unique. Listen to that voice!<\/p>\n\n

Next we head towards the world of film soundtracks with \u201cEastern Path\u201d by Vangelis from the film Alexander<\/em>. The duduk is one of the most expressive and melancholy instruments on the planet.<\/p>\n\n

We continue to head east with \u201cBattle Remembered\u201d by Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. I\u2019m 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. <\/p>\n\n

Bassist Jonas Hellborg recorded \u201cSuriya\u201d live in Aleppo in 1996. The whole album, Aram of the Two Rivers<\/em>, is beautiful and is another example of superb musicians from disparate traditions creating something transcendent. <\/p>\n\n

I finish this mix with my favourite piece of medieval music, \u201cPal\u00e4stinalied,\u201d here played by Kalenda Maya from their album Pilegrimreiser<\/em>. I have a Spotify playlist with 42 versions of this tune, all sounding different. This is a particularly chilled rendition.<\/p>\n\n