{"id":4822,"date":"2023-07-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-02T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/josephaleo.com\/blog\/?p=4822"},"modified":"2023-07-02T00:10:24","modified_gmt":"2023-07-02T07:10:24","slug":"soundwave-163-mike-lazarev","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/josephaleo.com\/blog\/soundwave-163-mike-lazarev\/","title":{"rendered":"SOUNDWAVE : 163 : MIKE LAZAREV"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today\u2019s guest deejay is Mike Lazarev<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Mike and I go way back.<\/p>\n\n

I met Mike through Solipsistic Nation<\/a>, an electronic music show I produced. Mike recently launched Headphone Commute<\/a>, an electronic and ambient music blog. We traveled in the same circles. Our paths were bound to cross.<\/p>\n\n

Mike and I had a conversation years ago. I don\u2019t recall what we were talking about, but what I distinctly remember is coming away from our conversation impressed with his sincerity and integrity.<\/p>\n\n

Since that time, Headphone Commute has grown in depth and reach. It is now part of the dialogue in ambient and electronic music, Or, as their tagline says on their website, \u201chonest music.\u201d Integrity.<\/p>\n\n

Also, during that time, Mike has released six<\/em> albums. Each note on each song was lovingly played. Mike\u2019s latest album, When You Are<\/a><\/em>, explores new terrain. I could use words like \u201cdelicate,\u201d \u201cwarm,\u201d \u201cevocative,\u201d or \u201corganic\u201d to try and convey what Mike\u2019s album feels like, but those words capture the experience of listening to When You Are<\/em>. For me, it was getting lost in Mike\u2019s music on a rare, dreary day in San Diego and reflecting on my life and family. It was a very moving experience, and I don\u2019t know if that moment would have happened if Mike\u2019s music hadn\u2019t put me in that state of reverie.<\/p>\n\n

How\u2019s that?<\/p>\n\n

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

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

In this mix, I focused on exploring the very edges of the sonic landscape, where beauty and destruction lie on opposite sides of the dynamic spectrum. Between them, one can hear the transmutation between organic and synthetic, fragile and brutal, beauty and fright. I really love the distorted build-ups originating in the gentle and soothing melodies, climaxing to their concerted peaks and then collapsing into beauty once again. It's in this contrast that we find ourselves forever bouncing between the darkness and the light, only to accept that there is no middle ground and that this journey is the way.<\/p>\n\n