Spaceman’s Transmissions

My personal challenge with this was to make a mix that I REALLY liked, only take a few hours from start to finish, that did not mess with family time in any way, and didn't cause me to go to bed at a time that only allowed me about 4 hours of sleep before I had to get up for work. Whew! I'm pretty sure that I accomplished that task.

I wanted to make a mix that was very dark, but when I started getting the tunes, it made me wonder how anyone could make it through something so heavy and ominous. So I changed my plan to put alternate between the dark and light (thus the title). Nothing says dark ambient music like Steve Roach (had to put in two of his tunes). It was a good chance to use some of his stuff. Maybe should have gone with some Robert Rich, but he was on the last mix. There are always future mixes. I have some more Maenad stuff, and it came down to that or something from Nurse With Wound. Another time, another mix. Enjoy this mix!

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I've been wanting to do this mix since I started this blog. Okay, that means about a month ago. Nonetheless... I've been a member of Magnatune for some time now: I used to buy albums (CD's? digital releases?) separately when that was the only option. Now, they've managed to step it up with a streaming membership and a download membership (my preference) that is affordable (edit: no longer true) and allows you to get TONS of music. You don't even need an account to stream EVERYTHING that you want (edit: again, no longer true). By everything, I mean classical (I'm partial to the Medieval stuff), hip-hop, rock, ambient, jazz, ethnic, folk, eccentric, and downright not-fitting-a-genre.

I am in NO way affiliated with Magnatune, I just think that they are completely affordable and extremely ethical (being a musician myself, that is very rare in the music business). Okay, enough hero worship, on with the music. This was a daunting task, to only pick things that were appropriate, in order to make a representation of a very small genre that is barely a portion of what I have from them. I managed to put in a bit of my favorite artists/releases, like Anne Garner (first and last songs), Robert Rich, Paul Avgerinos, and Rapoon. This allowed me many hours of sifting through tunes and artists. Not at all a bad task. I think that overall, I managed to stay consistent with my style of mixes, keeping it for the most part very ambient. Going through so much stuff made me eager to do a mix with some small amounts of pulse. Time will tell if I need to scratch that itch... Well, enjoy the mix, and pay them a visit, you will be glad that you did!

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I started off making a mix with more vocal stuff in mind. But when I had problems loading in a Sigur Ros song, I just thought it best to just make a good solid mix. I did manage to put in some vocal stuff, though. I'm not sure what language is sang in Low Light (a tip of my hat to Dave Michuda); I would guess that it's Gaelic. Also, the second tune is from a release that is mostly traditional folk-ish medieval music. This piece is great, I heard it the first time on Sleepbot Environmental Broadcast and decided to find and purchase the rest of the music. Glad that I did.

I managed to slip in some not so ambient stuff, like Bombay Dub Orchestra (amazing stuff!), Carbon Based Lifeforms, and Lawrence (check out the rest of Childish Music, very interesting). The last artist, Conelrad, I have to give made props to. One, for making really incredible music that I absolutely love. Two, for posting it all for FREE! And three, for corresponding with me about his music. Thanks for listening, and support the artists!!

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I'm making a resolution to keep the comments on the posts a bit brief; I want the music to speak for itself. I started out making a time-based mix, and for the most part, a bit of it turned out that way. But in the end, I just picked a bunch of stuff that I really enjoyed and wanted to share. I picked some stuff I've had going around in my mind for a bit. There was a bit of a resist to put on some Brian Eno, since it's a win-win situation with ambient music, but one cannot resist. Of course, it also contains some Global Communication (which I love!), and an artist (Gopal) from the Magnatune label.

I was going to save the Max Richter song (On The Nature Of Daylight) for a classical based mix, but I decided to go ahead and use it here. No apologies over that! I actually did a mix of guitar based stuff before this, but I'm still mulling it over. Some of the moments are a bit shred-licious. I think that might be alright, it is all still VERY chill. Alright, enjoy the music, and of course support the artists!!

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I started out just making a mix that used more ‘real’ instruments rather than synthesizer pads to give my respect to the more composed pieces of music. After working on it a bit, I could see that the titles lent themselves to a ‘space’ vibe. That was going to be a theme for a mix of mine at one point, so why not now? These songs represent space, weightlessness, and inspire awe just like the cosmos.

You know, very often my son (who is 6) and very much into super heroes asks me what super power I would like to have. My answer is always the same: the power of flight. Why? Because growing up as a little boy and reading Superman comics, I was always captivated and jealous of the fact that he could fly into outer space and see the most amazing thing that the majority of the world’s population would never see. I guess you could say that I’m a bit of an astronomy fan.

I pulled a few sound samples for this mix, from a NASA site as well as a site that posted a few samples online. For the next space mix (there will be another at some point), I’ll dig a bit deeper finding better samples, but for now…..

In keeping the instrumentation as organic as possible, I opened up with a track from Harold Budd. To me, the sedating effect of this track represents weightlessness. The EP that this track is on was produced by none other than Brian Eno (with Chas Smith on steel guitar). Who would ever think that steel guitar could be so tranquil?

For the same reason I like Stars Of The Lid, I also like Windy & Carl (pssst, real guitar!). They describe their music as ‘dreamy & psychedelic’. I couldn’t agree more. And, of course, with a title like ‘The Sun’, this song fits perfectly.

Next up is again a very influential musical hero of mine, Vangelis. Creation Du Monde translates to ‘Creation of the World’ (French).

Aloof Proof is an artist that I discovered from the Asphalt Eden (defunct) site and fell very much in love with the organic sound. I purchased Piano Text, and here I decide to play an excerpt from the same release (there are only 2 tracks, but that is more than sufficient). There are more recordings of this artist that can be found online, but this Piano Text is pure magic.

JONN SERRIE seems to specialize in ‘space ambient’, if there is such a term. And for a good reason, he makes epic voyage music.

I really enjoyed making this mix. I pulled out some astronomy books, checked out some Hubble pictures, and basked in the warm flow of great music.

Turn on, tune in, sleep...

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Hello! This time around, I wanted to capture a bit of a vibe from the time that one drifts off to sleep until the awakening. I started off with something from BIOSPHERE that for some reason reminds me of growing up in Daytona Beach, Florida. I lived not too far from the beach, and as the youngest of 6 spent a lot of time outside playing Frisbee in the summer. I was also not too far from the airport and Embry Riddle University. The students there often flew small prop planes for study (fun study, right?), and hearing this song from BIOSPHERE really takes me back to that time when I was young, carefree, and spending all day outside until day faded until night.

I put in the rain to transition between 2 events: the end of the evening and that time when just before sleep when your mind begins to visualize bizarre things. I wanted you to imagine you are hearing something out of the ordinary, hence the GLOBAL COMMUNICATION talking and an excerpt from JIM HALL’s Beija Flor. Beija Flor is a piece written by South American composer (can’t remember who), and this rendition from JIM HALL does it much justice. As far as jazz albums go, his album All Across the City and Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue are both my favorites (tie).

I have a lot of soundtrack material, and one day I’ll put more into use. I love everything about the soundtrack to American Beauty. Not only is it one of my all time favorite films (Kevin Spacey is an absolute hero!), but the music is dead on accurate as far as creating the right mood for the film. I’m envious of THOMAS NEWMAN. When you read his Wikipedia page, you’ll be blown away by the amount of output he’s had.

Oddly, I discovered the song Cirrus (HUGH & SATURATION) from a game created by IVORY called 4 DIFFERENCES. When the game loads, you can click a link to their website and get all of their compositions free. Not bad. Great game as well!

Again, more field recordings of a creek to break things up a little bit. The sleeping night is all about transitions.

The DAVID HELPING song comes from an album called Sleeping on the Edge of the World, which is appropriately named for our nightly passage. David shares a website with Jon Jenkins, so it’s worth checking out.

I have every album that PETER GABRIEL has released. Most people didn’t like OVO: The Millennium Show as much as his other stuff, but I love it. Peter’s not singing every song, there are a lot of cameos, but it’s him through and through. I spent a lot of consecutive days wearing the grooves out on this album, and every time I hear it, it’s like the first time that I’ve heard it again. And that’s okay. I have some more of his stuff that I’d like to use at some point, probably as excerpts.

The last 2 artists, ROBERT RICH and DAC CROWELL are both artists that I discovered via MAGNATUNE. Robert is a household name to those that like their ambient a little bit dark, somewhat like Steve Roach in feel. DAC is a bit unorthodox, and definitely has his own approach to soundscapes which are innovative and memorable. 

If the ending seems abrupt, it is meant to be that way (the song honestly ends like that) as you are awakening. And who ever wakes up over the course of 30 minutes? Only in Hollywood.

Well, I enjoyed making the mix, and have even more ideas for the next one. I’ll create one for the sleepers probably next, or a soundtracks mix, or a collage of snippets from rock tunes. We’ll see. Enjoy!

Turn on, tune in, sleep...

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This mix opens with the very first thing that got me into any sort of ambient music. I’m a huge admirer of VANGELIS ever since I borrowed (stole) his album Ignacio/Entends-Tu Les Chiens Aboyer. The first side (half of which is in the mix) is like a lullaby. I had the worst experience of my life at that point, and this album was played every day. VANGELIS, to me, is something of a modern classical composer more than an electronic musician. Other releases from him that I highly recommend are Heaven and Hell, Mask, Soil Festivities, The Blade Runner Soundtrack, Mythodea, Rhapsodies (w/Irene Papas), and L’Apocalypse Des Animaux (I know it’s a lot, but I’m a big fan!).

The next song comes from the album 76:14 (the duration of the album) by GLOBAL COMMUNICATION. HERE’S the Wikipedia page on the album, there are some interesting facts about it worth reading. Their other release (Pentamerous Metamorphosis) is also great, and I’ll do a mix with some stuff from that at some point.

One thing that I love about STARS OF THE LID is that they use a real guitar (!). They, like Paul Avgerinos, are a thinking man’s ambient. Their music for me is not so easily ignored. I can’t unconsciously listen to them, they draw me it with their organic amalgamation. I like this particular song because of the violins and the warm analog sound of the entire thing.

Once again, I have to use the opportunity to inject some PAUL AVGERINOS (of course). Not too much to elaborate on, this one is also from Words Touch. This piece is very compositional (Paul holds a degree from Peabody Conservatory and plays bass. I actually got all of my stuff of his from MAGNATUNE, which is a great (and affordable) source for independent music.

BIOSPHERE (real name: Geir Jennsen) is an artist from Norway that considers his music to be ‘arctic ambient’. He sometimes uses field recordings in his works. Like most of my favorites, he definitely has his own compositional style. There is another song from this same release that will be on the next mix.

Okay, I put in a thunderstorm to break things up a bit, sorry!

The last track on here is another VANGELIS tune from the Blade Runner Soundtrack played on an out of tune piano (or maybe is just an effect, hard to say). Very beautiful composition, if somewhat sad.

Okay, thanks for listening/downloading!

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I didn't pick songs that put me in a melancholic mood, but rather songs (or songs from releases that I admire) that represent periods in my life.

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