The A.M.

I didn't notice that the 400th episode of the AM had come and gone, but celebrating number 402 works just as well. I shared the first song ever played on The AM, and there'll be a Spotify playlist of the first episode's tracklist available sometime shortly—visit https://theam.ca for that one. But, we're always looking forward, and this week's mix of cosmic synthesizers, melodic art-rock, and psychedelic surf is your recommended way to ease into the last week of January.

Playlist:

• Andrew Wasylyk, featuring Alabaster DePlume - Dreamt In The Current Of Leafless Winter
• Charbonneau / Amato - Évaporations
• Ray Barbee - Always Dreamin'
• Eine Kleine China - Disko Bay
• Everyday Dust - Tropic Morass
• Ben Lukas Boysen - Clarion (Kiasmos Remix)
• Trees Speak - Imaginary Forces
• Untrained Animals - Cosmic Logic
• Lunar Lemur - Equilibrium Reflux
• Bjørn Torske - Kokning
• Orange Crate Art - Vintage Brain Fog
• Melody's Echo Chamber - Looking Backward
• Beach House - Only You Know
• Johnny Hawaii - The Lonely Smurfer
• Johnny Hawaii - Drivin' Down to the Beach (Smokin' Weed in Your Car)
• Beach Towels - Drip Dry
• Sam Evian - Never Know
• Faith Healer - Light of Loving
• The Soundcarriers - At the Time
• Crystal Eyes - Candy BB
• Exek - Several Souvenirs
• Brian Eno - The True Wheel
• Jenny Hval - The Year of Love
• Jim Guthrie - Garden Party
• Michael Rother, Vittoria Maccabruni - Happy (Slow Burner)
• Holy Fuck - Free Gloss
• Economics - I Need You to Fix This

An episode anchored by Krautrock and kosmische, with new music from Roedelius and a controversial classic from Neu!. Plus psychedelic jams from Mt. Mountain and Kikagaku Moyo, atmospheric electronics from Bonobo and Sun Rain, and other sounds to warm you up, wake you up, and get you ready for a new week.

Playlist:

• Roedelius, Tim Story - Crisscrossing
• Beverly Glenn-Copeland, featuring Reworked by Joseph Shabason & Thom Gill - Ever New
• Tape - Dust and Light
• Kindly Spoken Thieves - Capacitor
• Proxima Psychoacoustics - Man from Gdynia
• Sun Rain - Willow Tree Testing (Animal Party Remix)
• Bonobo - Counterpart
• lokey - AndWillContinueToGrow
• Die Scum Inc. - Reports In
• Destroyer - Tintoretto, It's For You
• Contagious Yawns - Keep Yourself Together
• Makaya McCraven - C.F.D.
• Tawni Bias - Flare Intropin
• Andy Stott - Faith in Strangers
• Botany - No Refuge in the Past
• Neu! - Drive (Grundfunken)
• Neu! - Euphoria
• Garcia Peoples - Cold Dice
• Lael Neale - Hotline
• Cindy Lee - Always Lovers
• Scott Hardware - Watersnake
• Sam Evian - Freezee Pops
• Cedric Noel - Headspace
• Spiritualized - Crazy
• Pia Fraus - Swim in Eyes (Rerecorded)
• Parker Sprout - Ghost
• Beach Towels - We're Gonna Run Away
• Mt. Mountain - Tassels
• Kikagaku Moyo - Green Sugar
• Century Palm - King of John St.
• Circuit des yeux - Neutron Star

New music from Cocteau Twins co-founder Robin Guthrie, a double-dip into the disparate sounds of the Woodford Halse label, an 8:30 throwback to the sweet sincerity of Martin Rev's See Me Ridin', and other psychedelic, shoegazy, synth-laden sounds for a Monday morning.

Playlist:

• Michael Rother, Vittoria Maccabruni - Exp 1
• Melodien - Dissolution
• Bristol Manor - Periodic Waves
• Hampshire & Foat - Galaxies like Grains of Sand
• Jung People - Astral Projection
• Eve Parker Finley - Come With Me
• Copcarbonfire - Safe
• Red Setter - Band of Rain
• Ouska - Robot Timide
• Various Artists, featuring Yutaka Hirasaka - Sun Shower
• Marconi Union - Strata
• Robin Guthrie - Starfish Prime
• Mansur Brown - Serious
• Euchan Chon - Portrait
• Martin Rev - I Heard Your Name
• Martin Rev - Secret Teardrops
• Trees Speak - Pyramid
• Broken Social Scene - Curse Your Fail
• Modern Nature - Performance
• David Byrne, Yo La Tengo - Who Has Seen the Wind?
• Caribou - Bijoux
• The Hologram People - Sacred Ritual To Unlock The Mountain Portal
• Cloakroom - A Force at Play
• Living Hour - Slow Shines
• Von Lehbauer - The Straight Line is Dead
• Widowspeak - Everything is Simple
• Florida BC - Cults
• Peel Dream Magazine - Due to Advances in Modern Tourism
• Nobaby - Love is In the Air
• Monochromatic Visions - Sabre
• Tonstartssbandht - Magic Pig
• The Radiation Flowers - Sunrise

The second half of a two-part look back at the music of 2021, featuring long-distance collaborations, bedroom-pop projects, wordless concept albums, and audience-free live performances. What better way to start a year than with soothing sounds made in uneasy times?

Playlist:

• Wau Wau Collectif - Yaral Sa Doom II
• Moat Bells - Nisse
• Pye Corner Audio - Growth Potential
• Untrained Animals - Survive Outside
• Concretism - Chroma
• Alexandre Bazin - Supercollider
• Cylindricon - Glass Landscape
• Proxima Psychoacoustics - Full Heart
• Lone - Hidden By Horizons
• Hannah Peel - Ecovocative
• Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble - Now (Forever Momentary Space)
• Madlib - Road of the Lonely Ones
• Fuubutsushi - Suzushii Kaze
• Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk - Along Deserted Streets
• Moses Sumney - In Bloom (in the woods)
• Leanne Betasamosake Simpson - Viscosity
• Andre Ethier - Wild Goldfish
• High Five - Misterio Do Planeta
• Mdou Moctar - Bismilahi Atagah
• Mint Julep - A Rising Sun
• The Besnard Lakes - The Father of Time Wakes Up
• Beautify Junkyards - A Garden by the Sea
• Helado Negro - La Naranja
• Charles Spearin - Portrait of the Artist as a Thursday
• Bell Orchestre - V. Movement
• Mega Bog - Station to Station
• Cold Beat - Mandelbrot Fall
• Ohama - I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry
• Nosdam + Rayon - From Nowhere to North

Part one of a two-part look back at some of 2021's most memorable musical releases. Soothing electronics, library music grooves, cosmic Canadiana, and psychedelic bedroom pop all share space here under the banner of offbeat easy listening. Saying goodbye to 2021, and hello to whatever is coming next.

Playlist:

• Apta - Threads
• Liila - Appa Wu Wei
• Loscil - Vespera
• Robin Hatch - Mockingbird
• Future Museums - The Myth is the Myth
• Drummachinemike - The Way Out
• NETRVNNER - Silver Gate
• Haiku Salut - All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace
• Lisa Bella Donna - Make Me Your Wife
• Peter Talisman - We Have to Leave This Town Because I Have Done Something Unforgivable
• Kogane - Waterfront Station
• Bitchin' Bajas - We Travel the Spaceways
• Maston with L'eclair - Ghost
• Nolan Potter's Nightmare Band - Holy Scroller
• Bernice - It's Me, Robin
• Not Waving, featuring Marie Davidson - Hold On
• Cobalt Chapel - Cry a Spiral
• Sven Wunder - Pentimento
• BADBADNOTGOOD - Beside April
• Astral Swans - Spiral
• Fiver & The Atlantic School of Spontaneous Composition - June Like a Bug
• Soccer96, featuring Salami Rose Joe Louis - Sitting on a Satellite
• El Michels Affair - Murkit Gem
• The Garrys - Bury Me With My Money
• La Luz, featuring Adrian Younge - Watching Cartoons
• Tonstartssbandht - What Has Happened
• Mega Bog - Station to Station
• Chad VanGaalen - Golden Pear
• Gruff Rhys - Loan Your Loneliness
• Deerhoof - We Grew, and We Are Astonished

The last new-music episode of the AM for 2021. Year-end lists are up next, but for now, may as well bask in jangling pop tunes, atmospheric post-rock, synth beauties, and a throwback to one of Brit-pop's more underrated songwriters.

Playlist:

• Salamanda - Boiled Tomato
• Mas Aya - Momento Presente
• Beverly Glenn-Copeland - Ever New (Reworked by Bon Iver & Flock of Dimes)
• Sven Wunder - Asterism Waltz (Celesta Version)
• N33T - Untitled
• Sam Goku - Breaking Through the Soil
• lokey - Event Recording
• Bristol Manor - Permafrost
• Blockhead - Sore Winner
• Tanizaki - Letter
• Fontän - Iriz
• Pick A Piper - Keep Your Head Up
• Uyemi - Mindful
• Various Artists, featuring Dominic Pierce - Drag
• Richard Hawley - Precious Sight
• Richard Hawley - The Nights are Cold
• Big Thief - Time Escaping
• Central Heat Exchange - You Showed Up
• JW Francis - John, Take Me With You
• DUCKS LTD. - 'Twere Ever Thus
• The Umbrellas - She Buys Herself Flowers
• Beach House - New Romance
• Fine Place - This New Heaven
• Ryan Bourne - Hopeless
• Galaxius Mons - On a Flaming Line
• Mokadelic - Tilikum
• Liars - King of the Crooks
• Bill Callahan, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, featuring Six Organs of Admittance - Arise, Therefore
• Safia Nolin - Mourir au large (sunset version)
• Diamondtown - Everyday is Monday
• Hibou - Dissolve
• Absolutely Free - Clear Blue Sky

An unintentional theme episode—acceptance, mortality, and embracing the present pop up a few times in this week's selections. Never a bad thing to focus on, as long as you include the brighter moments, too, and this week has plenty of those.

Playlist:

• Mind Maintenance - Complete Rain
• Polypores - Fairy Rings
• Psychic Pollution - Vermillion Sun
• Faex Optim - Rodan
• Elektra Monet - Soothsayer
• Cylindricon - Numbers & Letters
• Test Card - Too Soon for Yesterday
• PBS'73 - Public Television
• Buildings and Food - Food Court
• Stilz - Hyperspace Drifter 2
• Michael Rother, Vittoria Maccabruni - Exp1
• Broken Social Scene - This House is On Fire
• Hampshire & Foat - Morning Walk
• Matt Sweeney & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Resist the Urge
• José González - Lasso In
• Rodrigo Amarante - Tao
• Lali Puna - Middle Curse
• Lali Puna - Contratempo
• You'll Never Get to Heaven - Eternal Present
• Joan As Police Woman - Get My Bearings
• Rick White, Eiyn Sof - Space
• Earth Girl Helen Brown - Earth
• Mouth Painter - Tropicale Moon
• barT - Once Was
• Samantha Savage Smith - In It to Win
• The Garrys - In the Dawn
• Tonstartssbandht - Hey Bad
• Hana Vave - Ghost Tracks
• LOW - White Horses
• Correlations - Safety Net
• Various Artists, featuring The Besnard Lakes - Good Morning, Captain

From synth pioneers to jazz remixes, post-rock classics and brand-new dream pop, this week's AM covers a lot of ground in helping you ease into the first Monday of December.

Playlist:

• Robin Hatch, featuring Laura Bates - Airplane
• David Borden - Esty Point, Summer 1978
• Soda Lite - Reed Warbler
• Dalham - Polaris
• Lone - Realise
• Proxima Psychoacoustics - Ashes on the Roadway
• Oneohtrix Point Never, featuring Elizabeth Fraser - Tales From the Trash Stratum
• Proc Fiskal - Leith Tornn Carnal
• Oakk - Sunrise Session
• Tawni Bias - Gossamer
• Makaya McCraven - Tranquility
• BADBADNOTGOOD - City of Mirrors
• Android Trio - Miscellany B
• Créature Sonore - Restful Rest
• Cobalt Chapel - In Company
• Tarwater - All of the Ants Left Paris
• Tarwater - Seven Ways to Fake a Perfect Skin
• Sam Evian - Around It Goes
• Lee Paradise, featuring Blunt Chunks, Karen Ng - Tripping Over Daisies
• Broken Social Scene - Love and Mathematics
• Helvetia - Inverted
• Chad VanGaalen - Cross Trainer
• Galaxie 500 - Listen, the Snow is Falling
• Diamondtown - Stride
• Orange Crate Art - Early Morning Freakbeat
• Grazer - Hyper-normal
• DUCKS LTD. - Under the Rolling Moon
• Painted Shrines - Gone
• Fazerdaze - Misread
• Nap Eyes - Alaskan Shake
• Various Artists, featuring Kurt Vile and the Violators - Run, Run, Run

Rick Mercer talks about his new memoir, Talking to Canadians. Hear him in conversation with Jann Arden on Wordfest's Imagine On Air platform, Dec. 7 at 7pm.
Legendary Canadian political satirist Rick Mercer joins in the third hour to discuss his new memoir. That, plus your usual blend of offbeat easy listening to start your week off right.

Playlist:

• Pye Corner Audio - Symbiosis
• Sanctums - Magnum Opiate
• Haiku Salut - I Dreamed I Was Awake For A Very Long Time
• Proxima Psychoacoustics - Teletype Repair
• sub lumen - Mass
• Oscill8 Collective (Various), featuring Midnight Churn - Simulations
• Trees Speak - Quantize Humanize
• Gold Panda - Fifth Ave
• NETRVNNER - Max Turbo
• Shy Layers - Test Pattern
• Joe Nora, Yuutsu - Shimmer
• Rude Skøtt Osborn Trio - The Blue at the Horizon
• Charles Spearin - Portrait of the Artist as a Thursday
• Web Web, Max Herre, featuring Mulatu Astatke - Meskel Flowers
• João Donato, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge - Desejo de Amor
• Badge Époque Ensemble, featuring Dorothea Paas - Zealous Child
• Lucio Battisti - Anima Latina
• José González - Tjomme
• Andy Shauf - Spanish on the Beach
• Rick Cuevas - The Birds
• Vinyl Williams - Exopalace
• Dana Gavanski - Yesterday is Gone
• Nell Smith, The Flaming Lips - Red Right Hand
• The Soundcarriers - Waves
• Moon Duo - Lost Heads
• Astral Swans - Blackhole Town
• Julie Doiron - Thought of You
• Cate le Bon - Moderation
• Cocteau Twins - Fotzepolitic
• Anika - Critical
• SUUNS - Witness Protection
• koleżanka - Back to Your Place

Legendary Canadian political satirist Rick Mercer joins in the third hour to discuss his new memoir. That, plus your usual blend of offbeat easy listening to start your week off right.

Playlist:

• Pye Corner Audio - Symbiosis
• Sanctums - Magnum Opiate
• Haiku Salut - I Dreamed I Was Awake For A Very Long Time
• Proxima Psychoacoustics - Teletype Repair
• sub lumen - Mass
• Oscill8 Collective (Various), featuring Midnight Churn - Simulations
• Trees Speak - Quantize Humanize
• Gold Panda - Fifth Ave
• NETRVNNER - Max Turbo
• Shy Layers - Test Pattern
• Joe Nora, Yuutsu - Shimmer
• Rude Skøtt Osborn Trio - The Blue at the Horizon
• Charles Spearin - Portrait of the Artist as a Thursday
• Web Web, Max Herre, featuring Mulatu Astatke - Meskel Flowers
• João Donato, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge - Desejo de Amor
• Badge Époque Ensemble, featuring Dorothea Paas - Zealous Child
• Lucio Battisti - Anima Latina
• José González - Tjomme
• Andy Shauf - Spanish on the Beach
• Rick Cuevas - The Birds
• Vinyl Williams - Exopalace
• Dana Gavanski - Yesterday is Gone
• Nell Smith, The Flaming Lips - Red Right Hand
• The Soundcarriers - Waves
• Moon Duo - Lost Heads
• Astral Swans - Blackhole Town
• Julie Doiron - Thought of You
• Cate le Bon - Moderation
• Cocteau Twins - Fotzepolitic
• Anika - Critical
• SUUNS - Witness Protection
• koleżanka - Back to Your Place