{"id":3797,"date":"2021-04-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-04T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/josephaleo.com\/blog\/?p=3797"},"modified":"2021-06-27T00:54:33","modified_gmt":"2021-06-27T07:54:33","slug":"soundwave-53-ambientblog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/josephaleo.com\/blog\/soundwave-53-ambientblog\/","title":{"rendered":"SOUNDWAVE : 53 : AMBIENTBLOG"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today\u2019s guest deejay is Peter van Cooten<\/a>, host of Ambientblog<\/a> and DreamScenes<\/a> on Concertzender<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

I ask each guest to deejay who they know who would be interested in participating in the show with a mix. Harrold Roeland<\/a>, who was a guest deejay on Soundwave back in December<\/a>, suggested Peter. I\u2019ve known about Ambientblog for years and have listened to many of Peter\u2019s mixes on Mixcloud<\/a>. I\u2019m thankful that Harrold made the introduction because Peter\u2019s mix is exceptional.<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Peter\u2019s
Peter\u2019s Soundwave mix.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Mix is not the word for what Peter does on today\u2019s show.<\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s more accurate to say that Peter composed a concept album masterfully weaved from a multitude of sampled material. Take a look at the \u201cplaylist\u201d below to get an idea of the scope of today\u2019s show. It\u2019s a work of art you get to immerse yourself in for the next hour.<\/p>\n\n

Peter\u2019s mix, like all of his Ambientblog shows, is an experience. Follow Ambientblog on Mixcloud<\/a> to hear more of his work.<\/p>\n\n

I\u2019ve included an excerpt about today\u2019s show from Peter\u2019s website below.<\/p>\n\n

Today\u2019s show is special because it\u2019s also Soundwave\u2019s one-year anniversary.<\/p>\n\n

I launched Soundwave to help me cope with the stress and isolation of COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n

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\u2019s exhausting to live that way.<\/p>\n\n

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\u2019d watch a tv show and fret how there was no social distancing and why the cast wasn\u2019t 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?<\/p>\n\n

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?<\/p>\n\n

I\u2019m humbled by everyone\u2019s gift of generosity of time and effort. We\u2019re all going through this together, each in our way. I\u2019m grateful that during this pandemic that each guest deejay lovingly crafted mixes to share with us.<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"My
My first vaccination shot.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Today\u2019s show is also special because today, I also got my first shot for the COVID-19 vaccination.<\/p>\n\n

I was shopping for groceries when the Mercy Plaza Pharmacy<\/a> called me and told me they had extra doses. Could I stop by for a vaccination? Most definitely.<\/p>\n\n

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\u2019t care about the cilantro\u2019s cost; ring me up so I can leave! She understood.<\/p>\n\n

The folks at Mercy Plaza Pharmacy couldn\u2019t be nicer. They\u2019re 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\u2019t wait to go back.<\/p>\n\n

So here we are a year later. We\u2019re almost at the finish line. Hopefully, next year, this will be behind us, and we can all enjoy each other\u2019s company. I\u2019m looking forward to meeting some of you in person. Maybe I\u2019ll even get to meet Peter.<\/p>\n\n

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Micha\u0142 Milczarek<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

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

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Ambientblog
Ambientblog album art.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n

Clicking through the list of contributions, you\u2019ll 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 \u2018better\u2019, 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\u2019s fragments so that they seem to melt together and thus start telling a different story.<\/p>\n\n

Whether this is successful or not can only be determined by the listener. <\/p>\n\n

This mix is simply named after the podcast Soundwave. It is a happy coincidence that it literally starts with waves\u2014sonically manipulated by Jos Smolders\u2014and ends with the same waves morphing into the sound of a cheering crowd.<\/p>\n\n

Different kinds of soundwaves are all around us, every moment. Sometimes we\u2019re aware; most of the time, we are not. This mix (hopefully) shows that it can be rewarding to take a moment\u2019s rest to really listen and let the sounds affect you.<\/p>\n\n

Thanks to Joseph Aleo for inviting me!<\/p>\n\n