Ambientblog Mixes

Imagine yourself in deep sleep. Very deep sleep. Unaware of your surroundings, unable to control images built from memories, unable to distinguish your dreams from impressions originating from the outside world.  At times, following a gentle sleep cycle, your consciousness slowly raises - almost up to the point of waking up. At these moments, the outside world is more perceptible, you're vagu...

I guess I should start with a warning for regular visitors: this mix is different from what you're used to. First: it's definitely not an "ambient mix", although there's quite a lot of ambience involved in this music.  Second: it's not a compilation mix, but a mix featuring the music of one artist only: Michel Banabila. --- originally published on Ambientblog --- This mix is not a ' Best of B...

A collaborative mix by Muttley (Subversion Weblog) and myself. The mix is divided in 'sets' getting shorter each round. In minutes: 20-20-10-10-5-5. Every 'set' (except the first, of course) is created as an associative reaction to the the preceding one. --- originally published on Ambientblog --- Playlist: Part 1 - Muttley 00:00 David Tagg - Stele ( Split with Hakobune, 2009 )09:00 Quos...

Though the title of Arve Henriksen’s opening track (Stille Veg, Quiet Road) was the working title for this mix, I finally decided to call it “Invisible Ink” - referring to the quote from Laurie Anderson’s track from "Homeland", which may describe the confused global state (and - if you wish -  the political state of Holland in particular): "Was the Constitution written in visible ink? Has eve...

Since 1995, X-Rated (a weekly three hour radio show on dutch alternative music radio channel Kink FM) has been a "platform for 'difficult' music". Experimental, avant-garde, poetry, soundscapes: uncensored and uncompromised. (The FM in the channel's name is somewhat misleading, since it's a cable radio station that can also be received via internet or satellite). X-Rated's existence for...

If you check out the Fluid Radio Mixcloud playlist,you'll find a lot of familiar names: it seems that almost all artists working in the contemporary electronic experimental music field have contributed one or more mixes themselves. Most of these have appeared somewhere in one of my earlier mixes. These mixes make Fluid Radio one of the most popular channels on Mixcloud. Fluid Radio Webchannel Apar...

Let me begin with a warning: this mix is quite unlike the previous ones! Though there are quite a lot 'ambient moments' to enjoy, it cannot be qualified as 'ambient music mix' because it contains a lot of other musical elements too. This mix was created especially for Frans Friederich - a dutch musician currently working on a megalomaniac project he started in 1997: Recycl...

Not long ago, Muttley's "Isolate" mix was published on Ambientblog as a guest mix. Muttley's own Subversion weblog hosts a lot of his mixes, as well as the 15 Minutes of Fame series.  The SubVersion 15 Minutes of Fame format dictates that any mix should contain no more than 10 tracks and last no longer than 40 minutes. That's an average of 4 minutes per track. So, when&nbs...

First, let me give my best wishes for 2010 to all of you!! What better way to start the new year than with a brand new mix ánd a brand new design (thanks Ingmar from Planet KL!)? The design change is symbolic, in a way: after publishing a lot of mixes in 2009, all of wich were created for radio broadcast, it is now time to take a further step and start publishing new mixes. "Miserere" is the first...

This is the last upload of the mixes that were created for radio.  2010 will start off with new mixes exclusively created for this weblog. Like "Sounds of Spellborn" (published last week) this mix is different from most previous mixes, in that it does not include many different artists, but concentrates on the music of one single artist: Mark Tamea. Tamea is a composer from England, currently...

‘The Chronicles of Spellborn‘ came with so much interesting soundscapes, that I decided to create a second mix, an alternate version to the first one published the week before. Basically, the ingredients and the atmosphere are the same, but different tracks and samples are chosen. In fact, both of these mixes can be played together and be listened to as one (two-hour) mix. Read the information in...

If you have listened to previous mixes on this weblog, you may have grown accustomed to the kind of format that they share. This one has a different approach. I noticed that a lot of people are unfamiliar with ambient music, but still get exposed to it more than ever: in movie soundtracks, and even more: when playing games. It may not be recognised as 'music' at all, but more as sounds to create/e...

Nonstop Ambient Montage: from Alva Noto to Arvo Pärt, via Arve Henriksen and Jacaszek, with short stops at Christopher Bissonnette, Entia Non, Kraken, Goldmund, and many, many others. This mix was created may/june 2009. Image by Weirena This is the last of the 'ambient montages' that were created for radiobroadcast.  Until now, 24 mixes are published on this webl...

“Utsura-Utsura” is a japanese expression indicating the ‘fluctuation between alert wakefulness and a state of half-sleep’. This is exactly what this hour-long mix is about: between being awake and half asleep. Sigur Rós, Arve Henriksen and Helios may be your grip to reality in this somewhat abstract, sometimes hallucinatory sound. --- originally published on Ambientblog --- UTSURA-UTSURA PLAYLIST:...

Like it's companion mix ("Strange Birds", published last week) this mix was also broadcast in April 2008. It's a further walk in the same landscape. Sometimes the tension may rise somewhat, but the view remains spectacular. This mix is concluded by the Soccer Committee song 'True' that also gave this mix it's title. In her search for quietness, Mariska Baars (Soccer Committee) has proven that 'amb...

The central thematic piece in this mix is Christina Kubisch' "Tea Time (Autumn Leaves Mix)", from Gruenrecorder's "Autumn Leaves" - male singers communicating as if they were birds, twittering words like "Who's awake?", "Me Too!" and "Who cooks for you?". This spring-like chatter evokes a strange and hypnotic landscape sometimes unnerving, sometimes comforting. This mix was created february - marc...

According to my dictionary, 'Allegaar' translates to 'Hotchenpotch' - but I can imagine there may be a better word for that!? Just like the previous mix ("Leftover Mix"), this 2008 mix has no special theme, it's just a collection of tracks mixed together fairly randomly. But in their new context the tracks seem to start to tell their own new story! --- originally published on Ambientblog --- ALLEG...

Though the title may give the impression that this mix consists of 'second choice music', that is definitely nót the case! These tracks did not find their way to a 2007 Folio radio show, but were too good to stay unnoticed. So I used them in this '2007 end-of-year' mix. It serves these tasty 'leftovers' as one uninterrupted delicate stew. --- originally published on Ambientblog ---...

No special theme for this mix...just flowing, quiet music... The title obviously comes from the track by Svarte Greiner. (This mix was broadcast paired with 'Be Still'' in june, 2007, which will be published next week). --- originally published on Ambientblog --- PLAYLIST: Fovea Hex - Huge (The Joy of Trouble)- Huge - 2006 - Janet Records / Die Stadt - JR002 /DS86 Lustmord - Erie- Juggernaut - 200...

No special theme for this mix...just flowing, quiet music... This mix was broadcast paired with 'Final Sleep' in june, 2007. In this mix the title is taken from the Adrian Klumpes track. --- originally published on Ambientblog --- PLAYLIST: Denzel & Huhn - July- Paraport - 2007 - City Centre Offices - Towerblock 036 Triosk - Lazyboat- The Headlight Serenade - 2006 - Leaf - 49 Peter Andersson -...

"Ring" is the second part of the  two part auditive "guided fantasy" from 2006 ("Wave" being the first part). A mix of ambient music, soundscapes and other musical surprises, created in 2006. The first of these four programs was a compilation of the (magnificent) album 'Spellewauerynsherde' by Akira Rabelais, the fourth part was a compilation of music from Iceland. (Since these programs...

"Wave" is the first of a two part an auditive "guided fantasy" ("Ring" being the second part). A mix of ambient music, soundscapes and other musical surprises, created in 2006. No track is played completely, but the interaction of the fragments creates a completely new structure.... Which, in fact, is true for all ambient mixes of course... These two mixes were part of a 4-hour radio broadcast tha...

'The End of Trying' is not a 'typical' Dakota Suite Release. Unlike most Dakota Suite albums (except 1999's Navigators Yard) it is fully instrumental, with Chris Hooson, David Buxton and Colin Dunkley playing piano and David Darling playing cello. The latter fact may indicate the mood of the music on this album: it is extremely delicate, heartbreaking melancholic music. A 'classic' release that im...

"The Hum in the Room" the final part of the three-part mix dedicated to ... the hum in your room!  The buzz that you suddenly notice, that appears to have been there forever but unnoticed - until this moment. The sound that will be there forever from now. The hum that appears to come from the inside of your head, and that keeps changing when you turn your head or walk through the ro...

"Acoustical Illusions", a part of the "Hum in the Room-trilogy" (2005), is dedicated to the environmental sounds that sound like distant choirs or orchestras. Sometimes when you listen to sounds in your environmental background, they may vaguely sound like a full string orchestra, or like soft whispering voices. An orchestra tuning? Cars passing on the highway? Sound that sound different from...