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[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 20: Early Choral Music Special

Here’s my most recent episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio. This one is comprised of entirely early Western vocal music (technically some of this is toeing the line into the Baroque period), completely a capella, and mostly sacred, though at least one of these songs is a non-devotional love song. I’ve listed the composer as the artist, and then the performers in parentheses after the song title. In full transparency, I’m neither an expert on this stuff nor am I at all religious–I just really love this music, and I think it makes an ideal winter hibernation soundtrack. I hope you like it too. You can download an mp3 version here. Stay warm!

Tracklist:
1. Hildegard von Bingen – O Lucidissima (Rosa Lamoreaux & Hesperus Ensemble)
2. Claudio Monteverdi – Ah Dolente Partita
(Emma Kirkby & The Consort of Musicke)
3. Pérotin – Plainchaint: Viderunt omnes fines terrae (Tonus Peregrinus)
4. Tomás Luis De Victoria – Kyrie (The Tallis Scholars)
5. Léonin – Viderunt Omnes, 2 Part Organum (Tonus Peregrinus)
6. Claudio Monteverdi – Donna, Nel Mo Ritorno (La Venexiana)
7. Unknown composer, 12th century Aquitanian monasteries –
Lux refulget (Sequentia)
8. Carlo Gesualdo – Sabbato Sancto, Responsorium 5 (The Hilliard Ensemble)
9. Walter Frye – O florens rosa (The Hilliard Ensemble)
10. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina – Motet Nigra Sum (The Tallis Scholars)
11. Pérotin – Beata viscera (The Hilliard Ensemble)
12. Unknown composer, 13th century England – Conductus:
O Maria stella maris (Anonymous 4)
13. Léonin – Pentecost: Repleti sunt omnes (Red Byrd)
14.Thomas Tallis – Spem in alium (Motet for 40 Voices) (The Tallis Scholars)

Mix for Sanpo Disco

Honored to contribute a mix to Sanpo Disco, a very inspiring Melbourne-based mix series that I’ve been a fan of for a long time. This is meant to be a pushback against the most brutal New York winter in recent memory: tropical and Latin textures, pillowy synths, ocean waves, sunny Japanese garage pop, crickets. Yes, that’s John Martyn covering “Over The Rainbow,” and it’s just as weird-good as you’re hoping. You can download an mp3 version here. Cheers, and stay warm!

Tracklisting:
1. John Martyn – Over The Rainbow
2. Art of Noise – Crusoe (Ambient Version)
3. Pili Pili – Be In Two Minds
4. Yoshiaki Ochi – Ear Dreamin’
5. Unknown Cambodian Artist – Side B, Track 1 (Edit) (Sayonara Sound Productions 16)
6. Akira Ito – W・A・T・E・R
7. Sally Oldfield – Blue Water
8. The Coconuts – Did You Have To Love Me Like You Did?
9. Yuki Okazaki – アイドルを探せ
10. Grace Jones – The Crossing (Ooh The Action…) (Edit)
11. Ana Gabriel – Parece Que Fue Ayer (For C)
12. Ryuichi Sakamoto – Put Your Hands Up
13. Karin Krog – Hymn To Joy
14. Sven Grünberg – Temaga
15. Владимир Леви & Ким Брейтбург – Не Уходи, Дарящий
16. World Standard – 私の20世紀 (My 20th Century)
17. Piero Milesi & Daniel Bacalov – Camera 2 Parte

25 Favorite Releases of 2017

In the spirit of the season, I wanted to share some of my favorite releases of the year. Obviously not exhaustive; just some personal highlights. Quite a few of these are giant major label releases, so I’ll be taking down those download links quickly or leaving them off accordingly. Let me know if links are broken. Happy holidays!

Previously: 2016 | 2015

	Alice Coltrane – Divine Songs, 1987 buy comp / download
	Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir – Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, Vol. 2, 1987 buy / download
	Cleaners From Venus – Going To England, 1987 download
	David Sylvian – Secrets Of The Beehive, 1987 buy / download
	Depeche Mode – Music For The Masses, 1987 buy
	dip in the pool & Masahide Sakuma – 黒いドレスの女 OST, 1987 download
	Dolly Parton, Linda Rondstadt & Emmylou Harris – Trio, 1987 buy
	Elicoide – Elicoide, 1987 buy / download
	Eric B. & Rakim – Paid In Full, 1987 buy / download
	Frankie Knuckles & Jamie Principle – Baby Wants To Ride/Your Love, 1987 buy
	Geoffrey Landers – Many Hands Make Light, 1987 buy
	George Michael – Faith, 1987 buy
	Haruomi Hosono – The Tale Of Genji, 1987 download
	Ichiko Hashimoto – Mood Music, 1987 download
	Isabelle Antena – Hoping For Love, 1987 buy / download
	Laraaji – Essence/Universe, 1987 buy / download
	Masahiro Sugaya – Music From Alejo, 1987 download
	Meredith Monk – Do You Be, 1987 buy / download
	Michael Jackson – Bad, 1987 buy
	Pet Shop Boys – Actually, 1987 buy
	Phuture – Acid Tracks, 1987 buy / download
	Pizzicato Five – Pizzicatomania, 1987 download
	Prince – Sign O’ The Times, 1987 buy
	Sinead O’Connor – The Lion And The Cobra, 1987 buy
	Yasuaki Shimizu – Music For Commercials, 1987 buy / download

Andreolina – An Island In The Moon, 1990

Sublime collaboration between Silvio Linardi (who’s collaborated with David Sylvian, Hector Zazou, Roger Eno, and others) and Pier Luigi Andreoni (whom you may know from The Doubling Riders). Ricardo Sinigaglia makes a few appearances too, first on piano and then on an Akai S 900. This was their only release as Andreolina.

Sprawling, weightless instrumentals that never stay soporific for too long. You can hear Andreoni’s classical training in much of this, and not just because of how much oboe there is, but structurally too. The name of the album comes from an unfinished piece of William Blake prose, and some of the song titles are Blake references as well–so while it might be power of suggestion, there seem to be tinges of romanticism dotted throughout, whereas other moments veer off into jazz. Lots to love here for Elicoide fans.

As an aside, this was released on ADN, the same label responsible for Tasaday’s L’Eterna Risata and the aforementioned Sinigaglia record. Depending on who you ask, ADN can stand for A Dull Note, L’amore del Nipote, or Agnostic Dumplings Nursery.

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[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 14

Listen to my newest mix for NTS Radio below. Moody slow-burners, futuristic textures, and a few anachronisms. If you like it, you can download an mp3 version here. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

1. Владимир Леви & Ким Брейтбург – Не Уходи, Дарящий (thanks David!)

2. Susumu Yokota – King Dragonfly

3. Roberto Musci & Giovanni Venosta – Water Music

4. Ichiko Hashimoto – La, La Maladie Du Sommeil

5. Penguin Café Orchestra – Numbers 1-4

6. John Martyn – Please Fall In Love With Me

7. Yumi Murata – Face To Face

8. Unknown Artists (Burundi) – Akazehe Par Deux Jeunes Filles

9. Ryuichi Sakamoto – Put Your Hands Up (Opening) (TBS News 23 1997)

10. Wilson Tanner – Pilot

11. Françoise Hardy – Ce N’est Pas Un Rêve

12. Sean McCann – Video Singing Score No.3

13. Alice Coltrane – Yamuna Tira Vihari

14. Nuno Canavarro – Antica/Burun

15. Dolly Parton – Gonna Hurry (As Slow As I Can)

Francesco Messina – Medio Occidente, 1983

Francesco Messina’s name has come up quite a few times around here. I’ve been very vocal about my admiration for his stark and gorgeous split with Raul Lovisoni, and have included tracks from it, and from this, in a handful of mixes. And while Messina’s name is frequently lumped in with iconic Italian minimalists like Roberto Cacciapaglia, Franco Battiato, and Giusto Pio (all of whom appear on this record), there’s not much information floating around about Messina himself–though this record seems to have acquired a cult following. Messina was born in Sicily in 1951 and studied design in Milan, where he met Battiato and his art entourage, with whom he collaborated musically and visually for many years. He’s currently a graphic design professor. That’s about all I’ve got.

I’ve avoided sharing this record for years because, aside from not knowing how to talk about it, I don’t even know how to classify it. Discogs has it catalogued as “Jazz, Pop, Folk, World, Country, Italo-Disco, Abstract, Ambient.” I would argue most of these, especially Italo, are inaccurate, but I don’t have any better suggestions. Slinky, smart instrumental pop with pristine drum programming that hints at balearic as much as Berlin school. Thick with candy-toned new age synth pads, nods to Latin percussion, and rotary melodic motifs suggesting (duh) Italian minimalism, though this is definitely not minimalist. If this hadn’t come out a year before Echoes, I might guess Messina had been listening to Badarou. Tinged with mysticism in ways that are much harder to define than the album cover would suggest, and with a few tracks that remind me of Lena Platonos or even Vangelis in that they manage to simultaneously be operatic, melancholic, synthetic, and evocative of patriotism. (The first track is the real wildcard–if it’s not for you, don’t be put off!) If you can better explain what exactly this is, please enlighten us in the comments. In the mean time, enjoy!

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[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 13: Joanna Brouk Tribute

My newest mix for NTS Radio is a two hour tribute to Joanna Brouk, who passed away this month at 68. Considered one of the early founders of New Age, Brouk never referred to herself as a composer, but rather insisted that she was a vessel for the music that flowed through her. Her work sat somewhere in between new age, drone, minimalism, and classically inclined ambient, with a curiosity and a roughness reminiscent of pioneering early electronic music. You can buy her excellent compilation released last year by Numero Group here. There’s also a great interview with her here in which she talks about her early processes and her work in sound healing.

She often said that it was the space between the notes in which interesting things start to happen, and that music has to slow down in order to get there. I put this mix together of things that, to me, are similarly interested in space and silence. Some of these songs were written by her contemporaries; others are just things that I hope she might have liked. If you like it, you can download an mp3 version here. Goodnight, Joanna, and safe journey.

Tracklist:

1. Joanna Brouk – Healing Music (excerpt)

2. Francesco Messina – Prati Bagnati Del Monte Alalogo (excerpt)

3. Kudsi Erguner & Xavier Bellenger – Apu-Caylioch / Le Seigneur Des Étoiles

4. Kevin Braheny – Lullaby for the Hearts of Space (excerpt)

5. John Clark – The Abhà Kingdom (excerpt)

6. Masahiro Sugaya – 水-(1)

7. Craig Kupka – Clouds II (excerpt)

8. Iasos – The Winds of Olympus

9. Daniel – Quartz Crystal Bells (Side A) (excerpt)

10. Daniel Kobialka – Planetary Mysteries

11. Ojas – Shiva Dance (excerpt)

12. Jansen / Barbieri – The Way The Light Falls

13. Hiroshi Yoshimura – Water Planet

14. Alice Damon – Waterfall Winds

15. Joanna Brouk – Golden Cloud Layers

[Mix for Blowing Up The Workshop] #73

Honored to contribute a mix to Blowing Up The Workshop, which is a very useful archive of mixtapes including many from my own musical and curatorial heroes. I was thinking about escapism, cinematic déjà vu, anime soundtracks, hyper-optimistic fantasy about the experience of tourism, courtyards, commercials, and ruins as I put this together. If you like it, you can download it here. Thanks for listening!

Tracklist:

1. Jun Miyake – Good Morning Yamanashi

2. Giovanni Venosta – Woman In Late

3. Lena D’Água – Tao

4. Nuno Canavarro – Untitled 8

5. Forrest Fang – The Luminous Crowd

6. Einojuhani Rautavaara – Cantus Arcticus I: Melancholy

7. Kurban – Masto A Iran

8. Maria Marquez & Frank Harris – Canto Del Pilon

9. Iury Lech – Barreras

10. Marcel Pérès & Ensemble Organum – Offertoire “Diffusa Est Gratia In Labiis Tuis” (comp. Machaut)

11. Masami Tsuchiya – Never Mind

12. Pale Cocoon – Sora

13. Connie Francis – Siboney

14. Kenji Kawai – Nightstalker

15. Jansen / Barbieri – Breaking The Silence

16. Hiroko Yakushimaru – Tomeina Churippu

[Mix for LYL Radio] The Oddlogs Episode 4

I made a two hour guest mix of long-form instrumentals for Lyon/Paris based online radio station LYL Radio. The Oddlogs is their series of guest sets with different music bloggers from around the world, and their lineup has been excellent thus far so I’m honored to be in such good company. I wanted to take advantage of the long time slot to use lengthier, more meditative tracks that are less synth-heavy and more acoustic-centric, with (almost) no vocals. There’s also a lot of excellent natural reverb and room tone in here. In the spirit of the music, I recorded my talkback segments in my bathroom for added reverb, and made my best attempt at ASMR-esque speaking. For what it’s worth, I think it makes a solid snow soundtrack. If you like the mix, there’s an mp3 version without my speaking in it which you can download here. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

1. Joanna Brouk – Winter Chimes

2. Raul Lovisoni – Amon Ra

3. Daniel Lentz – Lascaux

4. Daniel Schmidt & the Berkeley Gamelan – Faint Impressions

5. Daniel Kobialka – Orbital Mystery

6. David Casper -Tantra-La

7. Ernest Hood – From The Bluff (Excerpt)

8. Roberto Mazza – Artigli Arguti

9. Vincenzo Zitello – Nembo Verso Nord

10. Pandit Ram Narayan – Rāga Kirvani

11. Seigén Ono – Suimen-Jo Niwa

12. Joel Andrews – The Violet Flame, Part 2 (Excerpt)

13. Stuart Dempster – Secret Currents

Vincenzo Zitello – Et Vice Versa, 1988

Hope you want more harp, because that’s where I’m at for the time being. Vincenzo Zitello tends to get tossed around with the Italian minimalists, but this is a little too swirly and baroque for me to consider true minimalism–his interest in Celtic music means that he often turns up on new age compilations. These were compositions written specifically for the Celtic harp, and like many of my other favorite harp records, there’s lots of room tone. Ideal winter record. (If anyone has a rip of his 1986 tape Frammenti D’Aura Amorosa, I’d really love a copy!)

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