Founded in 2018 by Carl Cox and Christopher Coe, Awesome Soundwave has spent the past eight years championing artists who create and perform electronic music live, releasing over 80 titles along the way. The label recently launched ASW Live, a new event series returning to smaller venues, with opening nights at Pawn Shop in Dublin and The Ulster Sports Club in Belfast featuring performances from Phil Kieran and Christopher Coe. The series continues in October with two Ibiza shows, a boat party on 8th October and a special performance at Akasha on 16th October, where Christopher Coe, Stimming, and Sebastian Mullaert will play live together.
Alongside the series, Awesome Soundwave has released ‘Holds The Sky,’ the new album from Sebastian Mullaert and Tamarma, on 25th September. Christopher is also known for his Modular Lounge and Worlds End projects, which explore modular synthesis and improvisation. We spoke with Christopher about the original vision for the label, the thinking behind ASW Live, his solo projects and what is coming next.
WWD: Can you talk us through the original vision of Awesome Soundwave when you and Carl Cox originally founded the label?
Well it was all Carl’s idea really! So it’s his fault 🙂 Actually I had just completed my album entitled Mntns of Slnce and I was telling him about my plans to present it as a fully live A/V show incorporating footage from the mountainous landscape of the west of Ireland. He liked the project and the idea so much he said “Let’s start a label and get this out!” As we discussed it further we realised that we needed to focus on live electronic artists and create a platform to help these artists grow their craft.
WWD: What qualities do you look for when deciding which artists and projects belong on the label?
Firstly the music must be awesome! That’s the first and most important criteria. It has to be made by live electronic artists who are currently working out there. And it doesn’t have to be genre specific, as long as it is live electronic artists making great music!
WWD: You have described ASW Live as a return to the smaller venue experience. What inspired you to launch the series at this point in the label’s development?
I felt it was time to get back to the more intimate live experience. Over the years with Carl we have done some amazing events together with many of our live artists being given great opportunities to play on big stages and it has been a truly awesome experience. But now I feel we need to bring it back to a space where people can be more directly involved in the experience of a live electronic show. Where they can see and experience up close and personal the raw energy, they can see the artist actually doing it right there in front of them. This brings a level of excitement and joy that is truly unbeatable! And we love this !
WWD: The first ASW Live events took place in Dublin and Belfast with performances from Phil Kieran and yourself. What did you want audiences to experience at these opening events?
Well, as I mentioned above, it’s really to be more “involved” in the whole experience in a more intimate setting. I find in these situations often the artist can be more free to experiment and some wild things can happen. And oftentimes the audience are so much more engaged and part of the process so it becomes a much more collaborative event in a way. Especially if the crowd are literally dancing around the artist and can see what she or he is actually doing to make this crazy sound! I think of artists like Honeysmack (Australia) or Kink and how much they really work hard to fully engage the crowd in the process and the outcome. This is where it’s at for us.
WWD: Awesome Soundwave places a strong emphasis on live performance rather than conventional DJ sets. What do you believe makes a live electronic performance different for both the artist and the audience?
Ha ha.. See above, I seem to be answering your questions ahead of them 🙂
WWD: How are you approaching the choice of venues and locations for ASW Live?
We made the decision to work with smaller venues of max 500 people, we want to work with venues that are special and are run by sympathetic management or promoters who get the idea of what we are trying to do, and we want to make sure it is a comfortable and joyous experience for both artist and audience. Obviously the sound system is the most important element 🙂 For example, in Ibiza we are working with a beautiful venue called Akasha where the room was actually designed and built around the incredible hand built sound system and where the booth is in the middle of the room. Venues like this are special to us, or we work in places that have a great reputation and some really interesting history, Ulster Sports Club in Belfast is a great room and has sooooo much history of great nights. Or maybe we can find an amazing boat party like the Island Noize event we are doing also in Ibiza.. Or an old radio station in Berlin, or a small and vibey warehouse in Melbourne.. There are so many ideas and options and we want to find the places and bring the vibe. Any ideas? Let us know!
WWD: Awesome Soundwave is releasing the new album, ‘Holds The Sky’ from Sebastian Mullaert and Tamarma. Can you describe the album to our readers?
A truly warm, evocative and beautiful album that crosses neo-classical, ambient and deep house. It’s been on non-stop repeat round at our gaff! So beautiful
WWD: You have also developed projects including Modular Lounge and the Worlds End series. How have these projects shaped your approach to modular synthesis, experimentation and live electronic music?
These projects are really both a challenge and an opportunity for me to freely improvise and experiment with my sound. For example with Modular Lounge, as the setting is always a small and cosy room full of cushions and people lying around listening, chatting, maybe dancing, or enjoying a glass of wine it frees me up to explore a free approach to a deeper, minimal, sometime melodic improvisation with my modular system only. It only happens on special occasions and by invite and in unique spaces, a cave in Ibiza, a Yurt in country Portugal, a fireside lounge room in Clare Island off the West Coast of Ireland, someone’s villa, an afterparty, or a hidden space in a corner of a nice festival..
Worlds End series is a nice and challenging project that I intend to keep doing for the rest of my life. It’s an homage to the remote and misty islands off the west coast of Ireland, where I spent my youth. Each year I choose a different one from the many hundreds of Islands out there and go there with my modular system, table, battery pack and a film maker. We find the most remote part of the island, usually on a tall cliff looking out to the Atlantic ocean and here I set up my gear and improvise again, inspired by the location, the raw weather, birds and the wind. We film it and turn it into a short film with the music as the soundtrack. The music is only what was created at that moment and forms the basis of the edit in the film. So far we have done 4 in the series, Achill Island, Inisturk and soon to be released: Clare Island and the latest one from Inishboffin.
WWD: Can you give our readers a sneak peek into what’s forthcoming for Awesome Soundwave over the coming months and into next year?
Well so much! We are doing two amazing Ibiza shows in October, on October 8 with the Island Noize crew, 4 live artists on a boat ! Myself, Sturge, Mäthzz and Antoxo .
Then on October 16th we are presenting a truly unique experience at Akasha Ibiza with myself, Stimming and Sebastian Mullaert playing live together in the middle of the room!
As far as releases go we just released Sebastian and Tamarma’s extraordinary album and next up is a live EP from the legend Saytek, recorded live from Sisyphos (Berlin) last year. We are releasing a truly innovative and astounding work from Melbourne live electronic artist Beatrice and soon after this my latest Worlds End installment from Clare Island.
WWD: Finally, who is one upcoming / breakthrough artist who you’re really excited about and why?
Every artist we work with is innovative, passionate and always pushing themselves.. We’ve been working with Melbourne artist Beatrice who is relatively unknown as a live electronic artist in her own right but has a huge pedigree of performance and production, working in her band Haiku Hands, producing with artists all over the world from New Guinea to New York. Her album comes out early next year and is astounding!!!
WWD: Wow, we can’t wait to hear it! Thanks for the chat 🙂
With over 80 releases and a growing programme of live events, Awesome Soundwave continues to focus on artists who create and perform their music live. ASW Live has begun in Dublin and Belfast, with the Ibiza dates still to come in October. On the release side, ‘Holds The Sky’ is out now, with a live EP from Saytek recorded at Sisyphos in Berlin, an album from Melbourne artist Beatrice and the next Worlds End film from Clare Island all on the way.