A classic and a favorite. Twinkling, lazy jazz-scapes for new agers. A dripping, humid, reactionary piece of anti-avant-garde. Budd refers to this as his magna carta. Gavin Bryars on the glockenspiel and celesta, Michael Nyman on the marimba, Brian Eno production. Enjoy!
Tag: new age
Mix: Winter (Outdoors)
I made this mix with the hope that you’ll listen to it outside in headphones. If you like it, you can download an mp3 of it here.
Tracklist:
1. 0:00 David Sylvian – Preparations for a Journey
2: 3:10 Stellar OM Source – Alpine Architecture
3. 5:30 Meredith Monk – Strand (Gathering)
4. 7:20 Bernard Xolotl – Perseverance (Excerpt)
5. 13:10 Actress – Untitled (Excerpt)
6. 14:50 Emerald Web – Flight of the Raven
7. 16:40 Muslimgauze – Sapere Aude
8. 20:00 Deutsche Wertarbeit – Auf Engelsflügen
9. 25:10 Woo – Hopi
10. 28:00 Dip in the Pool – Rabo del Sol
11. 32:40 Kraftwerk – Ananas Symphonie
12. 35:00 Don Slepian – Sea of Bliss (Excerpt)
13. 37:00 Drahcir Ztiworoh – Elephant Dance (Excerpt)
14. 41:40 The Hilliard Ensemble – Veni Creator Spiritus (Comp. Pérotin)
15. 48:40 Fripp & Eno – Wind on Water
16. 54:10 Li Garattoni – Here is Silence
17. 55:50 Roedelius – Wenn der Südwind Weht
18. 59:40 Barbara Buccholz – Öd
Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd – The Moon and the Melodies, 1986
Today I’m posting a record that matters a whole lot to me, and has been an ongoing reference point in my musical conversations with many people in my life. It’s also weirdly overlooked, possibly because there’s confusion over to whom the record is credited, and possibly because Robin Guthrie left it out of the catalog of Cocteau Twins records that he remastered in recent years. As far as I know, there haven’t been any major write-ups about it.
It’s an uncategorizable work, one which far exceeds the sum of its parts. It’s egoless. It’s a fluid, restless record, moody and aloof–it peaks several times, ecstatically, only to retreat back into itself. Startling synergy between these masterminds means that ambient and new age fans will find a lot to love here–it’s Harold Budd, after all, and there are long stretches of huge, hulking instrumental tracks. But the record is darker than typical new age–it feels like climbing through a cavernous skeleton, and the instrumental tracks (like “Memory Gongs”) are echoing and sometimes sinister. It’s not as effusive as Cocteau Twins, and perhaps not as immediately gratifying–many tracks fade out right when you want more the most. It has its rock moments (“Eyes Are Mosaics”) but this isn’t daytime music, and it’s not background music. Clocking in at just under 40 minutes, it’s a perfect on-repeat record, folding in on itself like water.
Steve Roach – Structures From Silence, 1984
An all-time favorite. The most precise new age record I’ve ever heard. Searingly emotive, but without all that sloppy human feelings stuff. It sounds as if Steve Roach didn’t even write this so much as channel it. Not on Youtube. Enjoy :}