Happy Solstice! The Summer Solstice is the day with the longest period of daylight, and has come to mark the beginning of summer. So it seemed fitting to share this solarpunk inspired mix from Jordan Christoff. Back in 2015, Jordan and Patrick Dique (together known as PJS) put together Harvest, a unique installment in our Lost Children mix series. That may have been their earliest release, actually, but Jordan has been prolific in the years since, working with many of our favorite labels: Shimmering Moods, Muzan Editions, Constellation Tatsu, Phinery, Leaving, Past Inside the Present. In addition to his work with PJS and as a solo artist, he is also part of Anarchist Mountains with his brother, Stefan Christoff. [I was very lucky to join them for La terre et la force, released earlier this year.] And so I’m very glad to share post global solarpunk. This mix feels like a warm day basking in the sun, gentle and soothing vibes for a peaceful beginning of the summer. (Joseph Sannicandro)
MINI-INTERVIEW
Please introduce yourself.
Greetings wonderful humans! I am Jordan Christoff, creator of sound worlds, artist and educator. Feeling blessed to share these selections with you all. I have been making more mixes after being asked to do some for NTS, dublab and my brilliant brother Stefan Christoff’s Free City Radio. It is a really fun process for me to explore diverse sounds from around the world and blend them together, it gives me similar feelings and a warm nostalgia for making friends mix CDs in high school and beyond. I deeply care about cultivating compassion for all beings and ecosystems on our planet while learning about each other and ourselves.
What creates balance? What creates harmony? What creates joy? What creates understanding? and how can we develop and share these aspects of being through a myriad of approaches so everyone and everything can benefit. Our planet, spirits and ancestors all reflect the solar multiverse that is here to help us all.
What’s your local scene like, how does it bear on your sound?
Local scene… currently I reside on an island in the southern side of the Salish sea on Lekwungen territory. There are battles to protect the old growth rainforest at Fairy Creek on the island currently, the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion for tar sands also threatens the coastal ecosystem to which I and many hold dear. The environment is powerful, magical and sacred like the core of our natural world. There are beautiful environmental justice movements here on the island with strong Indigenous and youth led initiatives to shift and destroy settler colonial free market lobotomy government frameworks that destroy our planet.
Here are some Indigenous led initiatives to learn more about and support
https://twitter.com/IY4wetsuweten
https://twitter.com/KanahusFreedom
The natural environment of the ocean and lush green rainforests influences the sound of my music and this mix being warm, natural and fluid while also containing full spectrum dynamics that occur on planet earth. While studying and exploring nature I tend to listen to beatless sonic spells that ground, activate, calm and inspire. I have been honoured to get to know musicians and labels from around the world doing releases under my birth name, with my best friend in PJS who I have been playing with for over 15 years, my brother Stefan for Anarchist Mountains and various live collaborations with various friends like copcarbonfire and Airick Asher Woodhead (Doldrums). Have currently been enjoying playing music outside as the spring/summer blossoming magic has ascended and my friends have an amazing place out in the deep forest of the north island.
Tell us about the mix.
The mix seeks to represent diversity, hope and wide eyed wonder. The joy of life generating constant learning, expansion and awakening of oneself within the multiverse. I love to share music from friends and labels I enjoy or totally random discoveries. I hope the mix brings a sense of calm and gratitude to listeners. Operating within niche music communities such as experimental, vaporwave, ambient, solarpunk, glitch and braindance is constantly inspiring. These communities also show the post global magic of music to bring people together from all across the world. I have been resonating with solarpunk ideas after my friend Tim Six in St. Petersburg asked me to contribute to a solarpunk compilation he was curating for Global Pattern. I really appreciate the hopeful push of solarpunk that includes utilizing technology responsibly while caring for the earth. This includes destroying the human centric hierarchy in which most global systems and nation states operate. Caring for all ecosystems and beings is beneficial for everything as Daiara Tukano so succinctly says “nature determines the destiny of humanity”.
One thing I appreciate about solarpunk is that it often includes futuristic seeming elements that already exist and are in use today.
More green spaces! integrating gardening and farming into buildings and public spaces. Dreaming big, creating sustainable futures by repurposing and slowing down our consumption habits. Honouring our local spaces and designing urban spaces that require less of a carbon footprint through better transit and bike/pedestrian focused design. Providing space for animals and plants to thrive to the point where it is intertwined with our day to day life. Having more sustainable and thus healthier eating habits that honour the earth. Upcycling, recycling, trading skills with each other while slowing down and listening to nature, our greatest teacher. Solarpunk can also help shift away from dystopian and nihilistic views that are not helpful for finding solutions to our climate crisis and broken profit driven models. Also, balancing scarcity and sharing abundance for all could manifest through decentralized symbiotic economic structures that are more locally, regionally and cultural sensitive. The shifting of societal consciousness to develop more utopian visions is also essential to care for each-other and the planet because we are what we think. Opening our imagination, expanding our horizons and developing alternatives to outdated models together is also an essential part of solarpunk. Let us all manifest hopeful visions of the future that care for our planet seven generations after us and beyond.
https://www.re-des.org/a-solarpunk-manifesto/
What’s going on with your music lately?
Just released a solo album, Wombs, on the wonderful Muzan Editions
+ vintage solo sonic journeys here
A few PJS releases on the horizon and vintage adventures found here
some upcoming visual albums on VHS too!
gratitude to Joseph and acloserlisten crew + all the curious sonic explorers
Our pleasure, thanks!
TRACKLIST
PAQ – Karin Solaris
Bubble Keiki – Network Gardening
Mareena & JakoJako – Tagtraum
Celia Hollander – 5:59 PM
One Of Them – Grace Bay
Hipnotic Earth – Float Gently
Rinnovare – Alder Drip
ExMemory – Skyriding
ゆPlateformeゆ – A lodge of blue gold
Mnemonic45 – between two seasons
Joseph Sannicandro + Stefan Christoff – Orbiting Mercury in a Dream
Knower – Finally, I Was Put to Deep Sleep by All My Nature Friends
Ai Yamamoto – Far Away Home Away
Maryam Sirvan – Everywhere’s Gone Black
Rodrigo Stradiotto & Karen Vogt – Noctilucent
Panabrite – Hydrothermal
Traipse – Wicker Sky
Patricia Wolf – Closing a Door
Black Brunswicker – At Least we still have dreams
marine eyes – idyll
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A SUMMER INVOCATION.
touching distant beams enough,
O sun,
a closer listen 