I feel a sense of nostalgia for this isolatedmix, for several reasons:
Firstly, Mike Jedlicka (Optic Echo) and I go back for some time now after initially meeting in Portland (Oregon) amongst the amazing ambient scene at the time. We would often find ourselves at the same shows in what is a small city, and both of us would make the trip up to Seattle for Rafael Anton Irisarri’s Substrata Festival (with one such memory being a field recording trip where I must’ve been the only one not knowing what the hell I was doing at the time).
Second, the artwork chosen by Mike for the captures the heart of Oregon, a place I still admire and go back to often. The shot of the Colombia River Gorge is synonymous with the good feelings of summer hikes amongst nature’s finest and ending the day at a brewery.
And lastly, the mix. Not only is Mike an avid-vinyl enthusiast, spinning vinyl-only for his Optic Echo Presents radio show mixes and applauded end of year lists, but his isolatedmix continues this theme with what I can only describe as some essential ASIP-loved vinyl. Many of the artists featured in the mix evoke memories of early ASIP blog days; such as Night Sequels, 36, Eluvium, and of course Wanderwelle all contributing isolatedmixes in the past at the very least - the tracklist strikes at the heart of the ASIP ethos.
Enough of my sentimental musings. To go into a bit more detail with Mike and his mix, I sent over a few questions:
Hi Mike, let’s start with how some people here may know you - making some great year-end mixes and hosting them with our friends at Headphone Commute - how do you go about choosing your favorite vinyl of the year?
Hi Ryan, we miss you here in Portland!
I have been trying to be mindful of new artists and non-mainstream records that I have enjoyed / been intrigued by over the year. I start by compiling a list of possible albums, usually 50+ records. It's helpful that I can look over my OEP playlists to see if I missed anything. In December I whittle it down a bit, pull all the records, and sort them into genres. I start experimenting with them, mapping out the mix around mid Dec. I'm usually receiving records till late December that I want to give a good listen, so I usually don't record the mix till the very end of the year or on NYD. I am thankful for Mike of Headphone Commute for giving me the opportunity every year!
Like me you now have a little one running (crawling?) about the house. How has having a child impacted your music life? Are you still buying as many records!?
It has been a monumental change in my life when he joined our family, and mostly positive. I had to restructure my priorities, as I haven't written my own music in a couple years. But I've kept up with my weekly 2-hour radio show on XRAY. I also attended way less live shows (pre-COVID-19) after he was born.
I had to slim down on buying physical records (my wife may disagree) by maybe 20%, which I really needed to do and probably should do more. I don't have nearly as much money to throw around.
As I mentioned above, I still miss the Portland ambient scene from a few years back. How has it changed over recent years?
I feel that I have not had my finger on the PDX ambient music pulse for the past 2-5 years as I used to, so I'd be better at telling my story. I was deep in it back when I threw the Aleatoric monthly starting ~2007. That merged into different monthlies with Coco Madrid and side shows with Tim Westcott (wndfrm) at Leaven and different churches around town. I've learned through experience to choose different venues (art studios, churches, community spots, outdoor events, etc.) instead of bars for ambient gigs, as people would listen more instead of talking while drinking.
My last show that I curated was Marcus Fischer, Simon Scott (of Slowdive), and Rafael Anton Irisarri. Tim had a contact that could get large venue speakers for a decent price, and we got a great deal for a nice Meyer system with a HUGE sub. That led to getting shut down by the police ... for an ambient gig. Perfect way to throw in the towel.
After that I chose to pull back and just do support work for different ambient events, and I'm pretty good at working the door. I really dropped off the map by ... I want to say 2017.
I know Beacon Sound was a staple Portland record store, and is unfortunately shutting down, but I’ve seen quite a few new shops pop-up since I left, do you still dig locally? What’s your go to now?
I loved BeaconSound so much, its closing was terrible news but understandable in this time. They had (in my opinion) the best selection in town and Andrew is a wonderful human. His store was the last show I attended, a few weeks before COVID hit the US. I have been taking the quarantine seriously, which means I get most of my vinyl currently from Bandcamp.
Other record stores I enjoy in town (assuming they are still open due to the pandemic) are Exiled, Little Axe, and Clinton Street. I really miss record diving :(
Your isolatedmix sticks to your theme of vinyl only - what was the thinking behind the mix?
I did not have a theme per se, but I leaned more on the tempo / structured side of things, longer mixes, a few more classics, and less experimental music than my normal Optic Echo Presents mixes. I hold your isolatedmix series in high regard, so I took my time to get you something that I was happy with, while not playing it safe.
You've written some extensive mix notes detailing your transitions too - do you always do this? Why do you feel it’s important to highlight the technical aspect of a mix?
The notes were for you personally since I thought you might be interested, although I don't mind you sharing publicly. I preplan all of my OEP sets in this way, which takes way more time but will consistently give me the quality of mixes that I desire. It also makes it easier to live mix my FM broadcast (we are currently pre-recording shows due to COVID-19) or record at home, so the transitions come out to my expectations. I have an excel database that I've updated since my college downtempo DJ days 20 years ago of every (tempo driven) record that I own, so I am able to search for a specific BPM when I'm coming up with ideas to beat matching records.
Listen on Soundcloud, Mixcloud, or the ASIP Podcast.
