I made the first version of this mix two years ago as I was starting to see the continuity in a lot of the music I was gravitating towards, though I didn’t have much vocabulary for it at the time. Since then I’ve started to think of it as intimate music (not the same thing as music for intimacy)—it’s music that conveys a closeness to the musician and an awareness of the space that the musician occupied. It’s often acoustic, doesn’t see much post-production, and has a very present room tone. It’s warm and sometimes a bit rough. It leans towards baroque folk, strings, and piano. None of these are hard and fast rules though—Ernest Hood’s Neighborhoods breaks most of them and is still peak intimate music. It’s more of a feeling than a genre.
I was really happy with the original mix, and since I published it fairly early on I don’t know if it got much eartime, so I was excited to rework and extend it a bit. I think of it as a fireplace soundtrack, although any quiet nighttime indoor space seems like a safe bet. I hope you have a moment with it. If you like it, you can download an mp3 version here.
Tracklist:
1. The Rising Storm – Frozen Laughter
2. The Durutti Column – Sleep Will Come
3. Bridget St John – Many Happy Returns
4. Harold Budd – Albion Farewell (Homage to Delius, for Gavin Bryars)
5. Connie Converse – There is a Vine
6. Woo – Taizee (Traditional)
7. Unknown – Pumi Song
8. Robbie Basho – Variations On Easter
9. Clara Rockmore – The Swan (Saint-Saëns)
10. Lewis – Like To See You Again
11. Carlos Maria Trindade – Plan
12. Patti Page – The Tennessee Waltz
13. Raul Lovisoni – Hula Om (Excerpt)
14. Kate Bush – Something Like A Song (Home Demo 1974)
15. Yasuaki Shimizu – Suite No. 2: Prélude (Bach)
16. Donnie & Joe Emerson – Love Is
17. Rosa Ponselle – The Nightingale and the Rose (Rimsky-Korsakov)
18. Henri Texier – Quand Tout S’arrête
19. Molly Drake – I Remember
20. Virginia Astley – Sanctus
21. Arthur Russell – A Sudden Chill
A winter blessing. Thank you.
Marvelous. Many discoveries here for me.