I am excited to share that the radio version of One More Song received an award this week from the New Mexico Broadcasters Association! As many of you know, I host a radio version of this podcast every other Sunday morning from 10AM to Noon Mountain time on KNCE Taos 93.5FM (True Taos Radio). It’s on this platform that each of the Fresh Wind sessions that I release on Substack make their world premiere, and it’s also the platform where I regularly spin records from my collection. NMBA gives awards out every year to four different types of Radio Markets: Small, Medium, Large, and Metro. In the Small Market division, I received the award for Best DJ Personality Aircheck! It brings me a lot of pleasure to have become an award-winning radio DJ just a month shy of my 3-year anniversary of doing my show on KNCE. Quite a vindication, 17 years after being rejected by WNYU for not having an “obscure enough” music taste.
FRESH WIND SESSION No. 30
Roo
Recording Date: 12 May 2024
KNCE 93.5 FM Premiere Date: 19 May 2024
Substack Premiere: 23 May 2024
Roo is only the second electronic musician that I’ve had the pleasure of recording a Fresh Wind session with. While most of the musicians I have worked with could be described as acoustic troubadours, there is something really special about the experience of an electronic musician setting up their sonic laboratory in the Taos Green Room studio.
Roo’s music first came to my attention in the early months of 2023 via a series of videos on their Instagram and YouTube platforms. I found their approach to sharing their composition process, via a visual lens that allows the viewer to see how they build their sonic worlds with their chosen gear, utterly fascinating. Though I hadn’t yet met Roo in the Taos scene, based on those videos I booked them to play at the very first Sunset Series that I curated at Ennui Gallery.
With a stylistic range that varies from what I would describe as meditation-fairy-sound bath music to darkwave and dance, Roo’s Fresh Wind session includes three songs that they composed in the week before recording the session: “Mourning Dew”, “Orion”, and “Knew”.
It was a unique and special treat to record Roo’s session 8 and a half months into their pregnancy! Their partner, Adrian Findley, who performs with Roo as a duo in town under the artist name Mint, was present for the session - providing support, encouragement, and a surprisingly positive review of my childhood CD collection.
For listeners interested in exploring more of Roo’s recorded work, they released their first album, Out’s Better Than Perfect, last November on the Bandcamp platform.
9: Fresh Wind Session No. 30: Roo