P621 Just Unstable Enough

Taking it a step further from the last mix, while still pretty chill.

Raime’s “Notions 2 Notion” sets the tone immediately—bleak, skeletal electronics that make a great lead-in to The Bug’s “Void,” featuring the unmistakable voice of Liz Harris. Matriochka which I grabbed from NØ and its quite a strange ride that I haven’t fully digested yet.  Hillage’s remix is a particularly nice bit of time travel, leading to Dr Parnassus, Suns of Arqa, Somko and Electronic Dub which are all like different rooms of the same house.

Keichi Suzuki blends so well next to The Sect, a CD I nabbed at a strangers house when passing through a town back in college; it was a strange memory that came up listening to this again. Bass Kittens has the same vibe but a more modern twist or maybe it’s a subdued Big Beat vibe here. The Shamen came up from NØ’s onslaught of their singles a few months back. I gave them all a listen but only really liked a handful of tracks. Taking it down in intensity is Sven Väth leading to my favorite Orbital track. уплотнение here sounds almost like Boards of Canada meets The Caretaker, due to the heavy static and wobbly vibe. Then there’s Tolouse Low Trax to close things out and reminds of where this started with some murky basement dub.


01 Raime – Notions 2 Notion
02 The Bug – Void (feat Liz Harris)
03 Kelly Lee Owens – Anxi (feat Jenny Hval)
04 Matriochka – Tetugyo
05 Stereo MC’s – Fever (Steve Hillage remix)
06 Dr Parnassus – Kat Man Do
07 Suns of Arqa – Did He Die? (Zea Yoph Mix)
08 Somko – Addoro
09 Electronic Dub – Electronic Dub 4
10 Keichi Suzuki – Satellite Serenade (Transasian Dub)
11 The Sect – Dream Circuit
12 Bass Kittens – Play it Backwards (Club Mix)
13 The Shamen – In The Bag
14 Sven Vath – Harlequin’s Meditation (B-Zet)
15 Orbital – Semi-detatched (TeX)
16 уплотнение – поздно
17 Tolouse Low Trax – Milk in Water (Grim Lusk’s Dub Version)

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P20 Ambedo

Easing out of the ambience for some, er, well, ambient electronic music. This particular kind of ambient/electronic record that I never seem to get tired of where music that sits somewhere between dub, jazz, experimental electronics, and soundtrack music. The atmosphere is as important as whatever notes are actually being played. It starts with Steve Kilbey’s Summer Asteroid and moves quickly into Loscil’s Endless Falls, including the excellent “Dub for Cascadia.” Pan American follows with two selections from his early work, including “Remapping” from the self-titled 1998 album, before things get progressively stranger with the Russian uplotnenie tracks, Watter’s wonderfully hazy “The Cloud Sanctuary” from History of the Future, and Brian Eno’s “Fine-grained” from Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks. Some of the music here feels like it was designed for staring out a window rather than doing anything particularly productive, which I had plenty of time to do over the last months.

The second half wanders further into the electronic weeds. The Dead Texan, Asger Baden & Peder, Susumu Yokota & Rothko, and James & Eno all occupy slightly different corners of that same hazy space, while Nala Sinephro’s “Space 7” brings in her remarkable blend of harp, electronics, and improvisational jazz from Space 1.8. From there we get into the more overtly electronic material—Download from my favorite of their albums III, LFO from Trance Europe Express 4, Bass Kittens, Desert Dwellers, Sabres of Paradise, and Sven Väth from the only CD I have of his. Ending with Bennie Maupin’s from the 1974 ECM classic The Jewel in the Lotus. Maupin’s tiny, almost weightless piece is a perfect way to finish this particular trip.


01 Steve Kilbey – Summer Asteroid
02 Loscil – Dub for Cascadia
03 Pan American – Remapping
04 uplotnenie – Rainy Day
05 уплотнение – гены
06 Watter – The Cloud Sanctuary
07 Brian Eno – Fine-grained
08 The Dead Texan – Taco Me Manque
09 Pan American – Het Volk
10 Asger Baden & Peder – Por Sato
11 Susumu Yokota & Rothko – Clear Space
12 James & Eno – Hammer Strings
13 Nala Sinephro – Space 7
14 Download – Were
15 LFO – Helen
16 Bass Kittens – Red-Headed Stepchild
17 Desert Dwellers – Ring of Fire (Inner Space Mix)
18 Sabres of Paradise – Pylon Hum Mix
19 Sven Vath – Ballet Dancer
20 Bennie Maupin – Past + Present = Future

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P618d Lights Off!

 

This isn’t terribly dark music, the quiet dread-soaked horror movie stuff. I’d say it is more somber than the previous mixes, with some more experimentation here and there. New Cult of the Sun Moon is Robin Storey (Rapoon) with Andrew Diey (Black Faction), so you know what to expect of this project. Hawthonn is a project that came to my attention due to their references and tributes to Jhonn Balance of COIL. After this, many more names from previous mixes. Then The Caretaker aka James Kirby, whom should be well known by anyone into this genre. The Nurse With Wound track is from a bonus CD from the Images/Zero Mix CD & book set from 2008. Ending it with Andrew Liles featuring most of Volcano The Bear, which is a perfect match in my opinion. Hope this was an enjoyable descent/ride through some ambience this week.


01 Max Richter – Song
02 New Cult of the Sun Moon – Sun Phase 6
03 Hawthonn – Odo Galse
04 Bass Communion – Indicates Void IV
05 Biosphere – Black Lamb & Grey Falcon
06 Harold Budd & Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois – Dark-Eyed Sister
07 Biosphere – Antennaria
08 The Caretaker – Mental Caverns Without Sunshine
09 Nurse With Wound – Requital for Lady Day
10 Jon Hassel – Blues Niles
11 Christoph Heemann – Untitled (Rings of Saturn)
12 Andrew Liles – My Long Accumulating Discontent (feat Aaron Moore & Nick Mott)

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P618c Devotional Withering

 

Ambient music with rhythm, yet it never distracts from being background filler. Joe Westerlund is the drummer from Megafaun and session musician for North Carolina’s folk-experimental scene, and here this takes a bit more of a free-jazz style creating a lot of space in this opening track. Jon Hassell the trumpeter creating some sublime and otherworldly transcendent music. Some more familiar names from the previous mixes showing a bit more of some loops or almost rhythms here. That leads us to Forrest Fang, a employment law defense litigator and ambient composer, talk about a double life! Noveller’s guitar based ambience is cinematic in feel and this track is from an album based around sleep paralysis, which you can definitely feel. Then we have Oval, where last mix I featured Microstoria, this is more straight forward glitch based. Asfandyar Khan is an artist from Pakistan and has several “name your price” albums up on bandcamp if this is your style of music. I ended it with a favorite from Harold Budd, piano and pads, a track I use for short meditations during the day.


01 Joe Westerlund – The Circle
02 Jon Hassell – Aurora
03 Labradford – Recorded and Mixed at Sound of Music, Richmond, VA.
04 Christina Vantzou – The Library
05 Oneohtrix Point Never – Grief and Repetition
06 Kevin Richard Martin – Loveless
07 Biosphere – Ancient Campfire
08 Andrew Liles – Together Alone
09 Forrest Fang – Night Procession
10 Noveller – The Fright
11 Oval – Momentan VR
12 Loscil – Halcyon
13 Motion Sickness of Time Travel – Auto Suggestion
14 Asfandyar Khan – Anomie
15 Harold Budd – As Long As I Can Hold My Breath

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P618b Middling Stature Despite the Grand Vista

 

This next mix moves from the peaceful calm of the previous and bridges the gap towards the darker end to this series. I’ll skip around more in my write ups as not to repeat myself. I find that I do like most artists on Kranky, and have enjoyed researching each new name I came across on some early compilations they released. Loscil being one of them that grabbed my attention, as each album is written under a theme, and the music is very evocative of that intent. Microstoria being the group composed of Markus Popp (Oval) and Jan St Werner (Mouse on Mars), is actually more than the sum of its parts. What you expect but then much more, especially on this remix album. Philip Jeck’s turntablist work is surprising to me as I always associated that term with Q-Bert, Shadow, Kid Koala, etc. His approach is much more nuanced and has a different type of control. Andrew Liles using the longest named place in the English-speaking world for a track title, and I think this is more of his wry humor he throws into the monsoon of releases he has put out. Each one of those goes in unexpected directions and can be rewarding and difficult at the same time.

Robert Haigh has gone all over the map with his projects, from Truth Club, Fote, Sema, Omni Trio, and his solo works. I’m glad he’s back to some ambient and piano works as I think that shows his raw talent the most. Another Kranky shout out to Labradford, I’m so glad I bought “Prazision” in the early 90s on a whim, I’ve loved every release since then. I was introduced or had my attention focused on the guitar playing of Andreas Martin through the Brainwashed Eye video, where his style and humble nature let the music really shine. Here with his brother Christoph Heemann they make some wonderfully beautiful music, that isn’t too far off from HNAS later years’ sound which they both were involved in. Old Saw is one I captured for my Ambient Americana mixes, and they do fit well here as a bridge into Asunta’s clarinet and harmonium and Rapoon using similar instruments to a darker vibe ending this mix on an unsettled and uneasy place.


01 Christina Vantzou – CV
02 Loscil – Endless Falls
03 Microstoria – C-Schulz & Hajsch / Microstoria Remix
04 Richard Skelton – For Either Deadened or Undeadened
05 William Basinski – dlp 4.2
06 Lawrence English & Stephen Vitiello – with Chris
07 Philip Jeck – Wipe
08 Andrew Liles - Taumatawhakatangitangihangakoauautamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahullanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogogoch - Part 3
09 Stars of the Lid – F*cked Up (3:57am)
10 Grouper – A-D (excerpt)(from ’10’, Room-40)
11 Tony Wakeford et L’Orchestre Noir – The Widow II
12 Robert Haigh – Berlin Kino
13 Harold Budd & Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois – Late October
14 Tim Hecker – Black Refraction
15 Andrew Liles – Soft Focus
16 Labradford – P
17 Andreas Martin & Christoph Heemann – Untitled
18 Old Saw – Lacustrina
19 Asunta – Landscape VI / Krajobraz VI
20 Rapoon – Last Twilight

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P618a Peaceful

 

I’d made these next four mixes for music while I was studying for some technical certifications. I’ll stagger them over the coming week. First up is the most mellow and drone centered of them, long tones with soft edges. I’ve just recently started to explore the vast discography of Motion Sickness of Time Travel, solo work of Rachel Evans. She’s married to Grant Evans, and they’ve got several projects together. I’m really fond of her style, lots of processed vocals, or are they synth pads? Guess that is part of the charm. Biosphere needs no introduction, nor does Pete Namlook and Tetsu Inoue for this genre. Christina Vantzou who is half of Dead Texan (The other half being Adam Wiltzie of Stars of the Lid), quickly gained my attention when I came across her work. Each album is followed by an excellent remix album, something I really enjoy with artists do that. I found Tor Lundvall through his collaboration with Tony Wakeford, and have really enjoyed his solo work as it can be quite dynamic for ambient work. His music sounds very much like what his paintings should sound like.

Kevin Richard Martin might seem out of place here at first, however his work under his own name (instead of The Bug, Techno Animal or King Midas Sound) show a completely different side. “Sleep Circle” is represented here as I keep returning to this as an album to fill an evening with peaceful music. Oneohtrix Point Never keeps calling to me, yet I feel overwhelmed by their discography as I have barely scratched the surface. Laraaji and Brian Eno, yeah this is a classic and great meditation music.

Included the full Harold Budd track here as its just so magical. Then Peter Andersson is another surprise, not for ambient music, but because this is not his typical dark ambient style from Raison D’Etre. Stars of the Lid then Basinski’s Disintegration Loops excerpt are more modern classics of how this style keeps evolving and experimenting. Finally ending things with Richard Skelton and Bass Communion which helps me not feel guilty that almost two hours passed while this mix played.


01 Motion Sickness of Time Travel – Closer
02 Biosphere – Dover Ferryport
03 Pete Namlook and Tetsu Inoue – Orion Transfer 6
04 Christina Vantzou – 11 11
05 The Dead Texan – A Chronicle of Early Failures Pt Two
06 Tor Lundvall – Despair
07 Kevin Richard Martin – Worthlessness
08 Max Richter, Grace Davidson – Path 3 / Whose Name is Written on Water (Pt 2)
09 Tim Hecker – Live Room Out
10 Oneohtrix Point Never – Months
11 Laraaji – Meditation #2
12 Mark Isham – Tibet Part II
13 Harold Budd – Bismillahi ‘Rrahamani ‘Rrahim
14 Peter Andersson – Piano Movements VIII
15 Alio Die & Sylvi Alli – The Inner Sea (Silver Sea)
16 Stars of the Lid – The Better Angels of our Nation
17 William Basinski – dlp 1.2.2
18 Richard Skelton – The Viscid Substance
19 Bass Communion – A Grapefruit in the World of Park

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