{"id":3895,"date":"2021-05-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-23T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/josephaleo.com\/blog\/?p=3895"},"modified":"2021-06-25T23:16:24","modified_gmt":"2021-06-26T06:16:24","slug":"soundwave-60-nate-heard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/josephaleo.com\/blog\/soundwave-60-nate-heard\/","title":{"rendered":"SOUNDWAVE : 60 : NATE HEARD"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today\u2019s guest deejay is Nate Heard<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Fitz Gitler<\/a> introduced me to Nate after I asked him who would be interested in doing a mix for Soundwave (listen to Fitz\u2019s mix here<\/a>). If Fitz recommends anything<\/em> then I\u2019m going to listen because that guy has excellent taste in music, so invited Nate to guest deejay on Soundwave without hesitation.<\/p>\n\n

Nate did not disappoint. I\u2019ve listened to his mix many times, usually with a cup of coffee while I\u2019m starting my workday. Despite each listen, Nate\u2019s mix sounds fresh even as it\u2019s burnished with another lacquer of familiarity.<\/p>\n\n

Nature said that today\u2019s mix inspired him to dust off his Ableton and begin composing again. I look forward to whatever he decides to share.<\/p>\n\n

Nate is a medical geographer who uses maps to support health programs around the world. When I asked him if there was anything I should mention on today\u2019s show notes, he said he wanted to promote efforts such as 80,000 Hours<\/a> (a London-based organization that conducts research on which careers have the most significant positive social impact and provides career advice based on that research), GiveWell<\/a> (an American non-profit charity assessment and effective altruism-focused organization, focusing primarily on the cost-effectiveness of the organizations that it evaluates, rather than traditional metrics such as the percentage of the organization\u2019s budget that is spent on overhead), and Animal Charity Evaluators<\/a> (a US-based non-profit charity evaluator and effective altruism-focused organization that finds and promotes the most effective ways to help animals).<\/p>\n\n

Nate was some words about his mix below.<\/p>\n\n

As of Monday, I am fully vaccinated. Outwardly, you\u2019d never know that being vaccinated has changed my life. I still wear my mask when I go out into the world. I still keep my distance from people. I don\u2019t want to pass on the virus even though I may be immune to it, and I certainly don\u2019t want to risk catching one of the variants. Inwardly, I feel like a weight has been lifted. I feel a little bit invincible.<\/p>\n\n

Before the pandemic, I purchased tickets to see Swans<\/a> perform in Los Angeles. The concert was rescheduled, rescheduled again, and finally canceled. I\u2019m hoping that once enough people have been vaccinated that I\u2019ll finally get to see them.<\/p>\n\n

This week I\u2019ve been putting my CDs in storage. While packing, I came across fantastic music by C \u2013 Schulz<\/a>, Coil<\/a>, Zoviet France<\/a>, Techno Animal<\/a>, Z\u2019EV<\/a> , and others that I plan to share on a future mix.<\/p>\n\n

Okay, that\u2019s it for me.<\/p>\n\n

Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Jon Solo<\/a>, AKA Naneum<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

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

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Photo
Nate Heard
Photo Credit: Miles Heard<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Like many mixes that appear on Soundwave, this one captures a specific moment, even though these selections come together from a span of about 50 years. I received Joseph\u2019s kind invitation to be a guest deejay the day after seditious white supremacists stormed the Capitol building<\/a>. I was a mess. I happen to live in Washington, D.C., and have spent some time in those office buildings. Terre Thaemlitz<\/a>\u2019s \u201cD.C. D.O.A.\u201d (1997) came to mind and ended up anchoring this mix.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI got a phone call. He wants us to join him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u201cIn Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u201cSome kind of big demonstration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThey think they\u2019ve finally got a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t go to Washington. I can\u2019t even get out of bed!\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Julianna Barwick<\/a> goes straight for catharsis with \u201cInspirit\u201d (2020). It\u2019s a purification. Listening to it feels like participating in a rite. Like \u201cInspirit,\u201d Haruomi Hosono<\/a> and Bill Laswell<\/a>\u2019s \u201cUnfinished Screams\u201d (1996) washes over you, but in alternating waves of drum & bass and ambient synth & insect passages. The outro forms a bridge to the musique concr\u00e8te and collage pieces that compose the mix\u2019s core.<\/p>\n\n

The one electronic music class I\u2019ve taken focused primarily on tape processing and the studio techniques Delia Derbyshire<\/a> used, such as cutting and splicing magnetic tape with a razor. This excerpt of \u201cCircle of Light\u201d (1969) is a nod to Derbyshire\u2019s brilliance with this medium and, like other excerpts in the mix, encourages seeking out the complete pieces.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cEspace\/Escape\u201d (1989) is one of the most tonally rich pieces of musique concr\u00e8te I know and endlessly rewarding on repeated listening. Holger Czukay<\/a>\u2019s \u201cTr\u00e4um Mal Wieder\u201d (1984), roughly \u201cdream again,\u201d is also built from ethereal, dreamlike sources but is held together by driving percussion and has much more structure than its name suggests.<\/p>\n\n

The album \u201cPan De Sonic \u2013 Iso,\u201d which includes the track \u201cEvening Night fall \u2013 Fire, cricket, wine glass etc\u201d (2021), will be available by the time this mix appears on Soundwave. Ai Yamamoto<\/a> composed it entirely of \u201cdomestic field recordings\u201d from the artist\u2019s COVID lockdown in Melbourne. It promises to be an extraordinary release.<\/p>\n\n

Chris Burke<\/a>\u2019s \u201cEverything I Need\u201d (1995) is at once jagged and tender, much like Joe Cocker<\/a>\u2019s source vocals. To my ear, Burke captures the essence of Cocker\u2019s song with only variations on a four-second sample.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cAvril 14th\u201d (Aphex Twin) is recognizable from the opening bar of loscil<\/a>\u2019s remix of Wagner and Murcof\u2019s cover (2017). But unlike the original or the cover, the melody doesn\u2019t hit until 2:03, which for me, was one of the biggest payoffs in music I\u2019d heard in a long time. It\u2019s patient and brilliantly arranged.<\/p>\n\n

The opening track on Pauline Oliveros, Stuart Dempster & Panaiotis<\/a>\u2018s \u201cDeep Listening\u201d is \u201cLear\u201d (1993) which, the more I thought about it, evoked the 45th president. The greed. The king\u2019s solicitation of flattery. King Lear does not want the responsibility of power. Only the benefits. Shakespeare\u2019s tragedies typically end with a restoration of order after chaos. Maybe less so with Lear.<\/p>\n\n

I\u2019d wanted to end this mix on an up note but settled for something absurd. Negativland<\/a>\u2019s \u201cTime Zones\u201d fit the moment and make for a clear bookend to Thaemlitz. The madness of Lear and the brain worms of conservative political talk radio. Some kind of big demonstration? \u201cIt\u2019s not even funny.\u201d Eleven tracks. \u201cIt\u2019s ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n