It's not ambient, and it's only remotely electronic.
Still, when I discovered this album last week (it was released in march this year), it left me completely speechless and utterly fascinated.  
 
The Happiness Project is a concept created by Charles Spearin from Toronto, known by some for his contributions to Do Make Say Think and Broken Social Scene.

For this project he has been interviewing some of his neighbours in downtown Toronto, and used their recorded voice to create the musical track.
In these sample-laden times that in itself  does not sound very spectacular, but Spearin focussed on the melody of the voice and doubled it with a musical instrument fitting the voice. The pitch of the voice is never changed, but rhythmic and melodic patterns are created by repeating some of the phrases. Thus resulting in a sparkling and engaging kind of experimental jazz music.

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A nice present from the Hibernate Recordings label to help you through the dark winter days: The Hibernate Sampler, volume 1 sampler collection.

Hibernate Recordings is a new independent label, focussing on ambient and electro-acoustic music. And, judging by the artists released in their first half year of exisence and by the works on this sampler, I guess their name will be mentioned on this weblog on a regular basis.

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A special mix to conclude 2009.
This also 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 living in Nijmegen (Holland).
His music is a fascinating combination of electronics, environmental sounds, musique concrête, acoustical an modern classical music.

When I hear the music he creates, I can imagine the wondrous feelings Alice must have had when exploring Wonderland: landscapes vaguely familiar yet alienating, a new surprise at every corner...

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Since its original release in 2007, 'Favourite Places' has been one of my ...favourite soundscape albums.

It presented music inspired by favourite locations of well known artists (like Biosphere, Taylor Deupree) as well as equally beautiful compositions by lesser known (to me) names.

The concept is as simple as it is challenging: ask composers to describe their favourite place - in sound.
This place must be exactly pinpointed with location details, so it should not be an imaginary place.

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"Mathon" is a project (named after the same titled location in the Swiss Alps) where for one week a mobile studio is installed high up in the swiss mountains, ands guests are invited to join the Mathon core musicians (Thomas Augustiny, Roger Stucki and Pete Leuenberger) and to create music inspired by the beautiful landscape surrounding them.

The recent project called 'Via Mala', refers to "a trail along the Hinterrhein in Graubuenden. A canyon with cliffs carved by its torrents, falling threehundred meters into the depth. It seems as if the mountain is broken in two. Enormous floads of meltingwater, the consistent gnawing of the river created during centuries a natural spectacle of unique beauty."

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'The Hardest Working Man in Showbusiness'.
Usually this refers to Funk Godfather James Brown, but if anyone else deserves this credit it would be Rutger 'Machinefabriek' Zuydervelt.

From 2004, he has been releasing a steady stream of music, most of them self-released (often on 3-inch CDR's with handcrafted artwork). 

Though in itself his work is quite uncompromising, it did not stay unnoticed for long. Machinefabriek soon became one of Europe's most important and acclaimed electronic artists.

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‘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 last week.

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 the previous podcast entry for more details about this mix and about the Chronicles of Spellborn game.

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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/enhance an environment - but still: that's what ambient music is about, isn't it?

When The Chronicles of Spellborn was released early 2009, I decided to create a special mix from a selection of the sound and music that comes with it.

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I'm very proud to present this ambientblog.net flyer, designed by Ingmar Hugen (Planet KL / Dub Infusions):

flyer front

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**Please note: **
This remix was intended as a special 2009 Christmas gift from Akira Rabelais.
It is now no longer available to download

Right from the very first time I heard the "Spellewauerynsherde" album by Akira Rabelais (released in 2004 by David Sylvian's Samadhisound label) this album has been one of my absolute favourites. 
And now, 5 years since the original release, it still is a sound unheard neither before nor since.
 
Spellewauerynshere is built from found sounds, field recordings of traditional Icelandic accapella lament songs that were recorded in the late 1960s or early 1970s. The recordings are heavily (and sometimes less heavily) treated and manipulated by Rabelais' custom built music software, Argeïphontes Lyre.
You can check back on ambientblog to read my review from 2005:
"It's as if a voice coming from the middle ages haunts you in your deepest sleep. It's beautiful, heavenlike. But at the same time it's distorted and confusing, scary even."

Now, Akira created a complete new mix from the same source material, and decided to present it as a Christmas gift.
It has the same haunting atmosphere, so if you want to have some 'slightly' different christmas music at home this year, this gift is for you. You'll have to act quick, since the links and podcast will be removed after christmas day.

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Helios is in fact Keith Kenniff, who is also releasing as Goldmund. Most of his releases were issued through Type records, but there are also a couple of titles available directly from the artist himself.
And these prove to be as interesting as the official releases.

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Earlier this weekend, the Belgian label Slaapwel (Sleep Well) presented their first labelnight in Leuven, Belgium.
To my regret, I was not able to be there - although I'm a big fan of Slaapwel's sleep inducing catalogue.

And, looking at the venue for this special night (including breakfast) it must have been very special indeed:

The Slaapwel label night this weekend coincides with a new release, called "Music for a sleeping Sculpture of Peter Broderick" by ... you guessed it: Peter Broderick.

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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 weblog, counting 26 hours of continuous ambient/electronic/experimental music.  

In the remaining weeks of this year some 'different approach' mixes will be published additionally: one focussing on game music and another focussing on the work of one composer. 

Then, in 2010, on to the next phase....

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The Serein netlabel was founded in 2005 and released quite an impressing batch of quality ambient and electronic music. In 2007, Serein released it's 'flagship title': the Nest EP.

Nest is the collaborative project of Otto Totland (Deaf Center; Type Records) and Huw Roberts (Serein Label owner).

The beauty of their music was quickly recognised, the blogosphere caught on and the EP was features in a lot of favourites-lists that year. 

Then, early 2009, the Serein site closed down.

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“Utsura-Utsura” is a japanese expression indicating the ‘fluctuation between alert wakefulness and a state of half-sleep’. Or at least: I was told that it means something like that…can anyone confirm this?

True or not, 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.

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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 'ambient' music does not necessarily involves 'electronics'.

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These artist names are probably familiar to everyone even remotely interested in ambient/electronic music.
Multi-instrumentalist Peter Broderick (from Oregon, now living in Berlin) released quite a few impressive albums under his own name, and is currently touring as a member of Efterklang.
The number of albums Rutger "Machinefabriek" Zuydervelt (from Arnhem, now living in Rotterdam) has released can hardly be counted any more (quite some of them are featured on this weblog).

So when two such great artists start working together expectations are quite high!

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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 - march 2008, together with "True".  It was definitely an early spring that year!

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The brand new Fluid Audio label kicks off with a promising start: a compilation album donating 50% of its profits to charity. (Toybox Charity foundation, supporting latin america's street children).

One may wonder how much funds this may raise in times where ambient musicians hardly make enough money to break even on any physical CD release.
Just realising the fact that the 'average Guatemalan street kid' has an average life expectancy of four years should make you buy this album.
But the music included proves to be rewarding too - raising expectations fairly high for future releases on this label.

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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!

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This could have been one of the shortest reviews of this weblog: I simply could state that this music induced some of the deepest sleeps I experienced when listening to ambient music. And please don't doubt that that is meant as a true compliment!

Even the found environmental sounds included in the tracks could not disturb the peaceful quiet and the balanced harmonies of this music. And most of the real-time environmental sounds merging in from outside can't either.

This fact alone makes this album one of the most impressive I heard this year.

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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.

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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.

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Obviously, since it's very hard to earn a living (or even a part of it) from creating ambient music, a lot of musicians creating this kind of music offer it for free.
From their own websites,  through netlablels or using archive.org, bandcamp.com or one of the many alternatives for sharing music.

So if you take some time to do a good search you may find quite some nice music (and a pile of rubbish too).

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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).

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Frank Rothkamm is a composer as well as a conceptual artists. You can tell when visiting his website, but also when reading the promo text for this new CD: "He cultivates enigmas <...>In fact, Rothkamm is a magician, a prestidigitation theoretician, and a carny all in one".

Wow. Big Words. Want more? Read [here]!

But luckily he's not without humour. His discography boasts 21 releases - among which Opus Spongebobicum, a set of piano variations on the first ten notes from the "Spongebob Squarepants" theme song. (Don't know it, but I'd love to hear it!)

His latest release, ALT is released on the Baskaru label. It is a collection of 'analog computers & algorithms', created between 1989 and 2009.

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Though he's not the only one working in this musical area (think of Eliane Radigue, her 'Trilogie de la Mort' especially, or Alvin Lucier with his 'Music on a Long Thin Wire'), I can hardly think of anyone creating drones more 'minimal' than Phill Niblock does.

Phill Niblock (born 1933) has a vast catalogue of compositions exploring the essence of sound by asking the listener to zoom in almost indefinitely and forget about time. To the casual passer-by, the music may sound like it's only one endless chord and if you don't have the right mindset you'll probably get extremely bored soon. But if you let the sound grab you, you'll hear the subtle nuances and interplay of the interacting waveforms.

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Compared to earlier releases on "Slaapwel Records" (Sleep Well Records - the Belgian label dedicated to Music to Fall Asleep To), Komarovo may be the hardest one to fall asleep to, simply because of its dynamic range.

For this 30 minute piece, Greg Haines used sound recordings from a Berlin performance, including piano, tape recorders and the impressive sound of the Grünewaldkirche church organ.

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"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 are not 'ambient mixes' they are not included in this collection).

The four parts were called "Spelle", "Wave", "Ring" and "Sharde", which together is also the full title of Akira Rabelais' "Spellewauerynsherde" album. Tracks and fragments of this album are present throughout all four programs. I'm very grateful to Akira for sharing some of the unreleased shardes from his magnificient Spellewauerynsherde project!

BTW - the pictures shown above are from Helga Kvam.
No one ever captured the mysterious Icelandic nature better than she does.

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If you're a collector that likes to have your music on a physical CD, times are rapidly getting harder. Especially in the ambient and experimental genre, where more and more releases are handmade do-it-yourself releases in extremely limited editions.

Take Wixel's 2009 project, for instance: one CD every month, every edition physically released in the number of days of that particular month (but at least these are later rereleased in simpler packaging and available as digital downloads too). Even a relatively 'big name' like Thomas Köner releases his latest CD 'La Barca' in a limited edition of 600 copies only.
By the time the news of a new release reaches you, chances are the album is sold out and unavailable physically.

Such is the case with Wink, the new album by Kleefstra / Bakker / Kleefstra.
Although I thought I acted quickly, my handpainted CD (!) and handpainted cover bears the number 90 - of only 100! So I guess it's sold out the moment you read this...

So what's the use of this blogpost then?

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Ambient musician Warren Sulcs, known to some under the name Dub Jay, created this album about a year ago. But finding a record label for his music proved increasingly difficult, as most ambient musicians can probably confirm.

So after a while he decided to just share the album to those interested.
And I really think this album is interesting enough to be heard - so you may grab your chance and listen to it too!

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"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 that were thematically related to Icelandic music. At least: the first and the last were mostly. 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.

I guess it's safe to assume that this also probably is the first (and possibly single) ambient music collage containing Venetian Snares music!
(read more for complete paylist) 

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"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 appeart to come from the inside of your head, and that keeps changing when you turn your head or walk through the room.
The noise that can irritate as well as fascinate.

Or, to quote John Cage from a 1937 lecture: "Wherever we are, what we hear is mostly noise. When we ignore it, it disturbs us. When we listen to it, we find it fascinating. The sound of a truck at 50 m.p.h. Static between the stations. Rain. We want to capture and control these sounds, to use them, not as sound effects, but as musical instruments. "

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In december 2008, dutch musicians Frans Friederich and Michel Banabila met each other performing on the 'RadioLines' performance, organised by the (now almost deceased) radio programs Folio and Supplement.

Three musicians performing simultaneously, while live-mixed by one of the radio-makers. The musicians had no influence on the resulting mix in any way (there even was a possibility they were playing their parts without it being heard at all).
(The musicians brave enough to take this risk were Michel Banabila, Frans Friederich and Floris van Bergeijk - the resulting music can be found and downloaded [here].)

For edition "P" of Frans Friederich's Recyclopedia, a series of 26 multi-styled CD's (one for every single letter of the alphabet), Michel Banabila created a beautiful remix, inviting dutch trumpet player Eric Vloeimans to play the additional trumpet part.
This track is unclassifiable: it's jazz, pop, electronic, fourth world and maybe even more.
It is also a perfect example of what can happen when open-minded musicians work together for the sake of music, not caring about whatever expectations there may be!

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If you're lucky enough to have a internet-enabled mobile device with unlimited data access, you can listen to the Ambientblog podcast mixes directly.

The weblog pages are stripped down for mobile use, so you can now easily listen to the mixes as a soundtrack of your journey!
No need to be anywhere near a computer!!

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Although The Notwist generated a storm of hyped attention when releasing their Neon Golden album in 2002, that was never the music for me. And neither for this weblog, since it's nowhere near 'ambient music'.

My local record shop retailer recently insisted I'd listen to their recently released "Sturm" (Storm) soundtrack.
And right he was (Thanks Willem!)

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Thomas Köner started his musical career in relative obscurity. His first four albums were release on the Barooni label (from Utrecht, Holland!) - you'll have a hard time finding these and if you do, be prepared to pay for it. Even the Mille Plateaux re-release of two of them (Teimo/Permafrost), is very hard to find nowadays.

In his work, Köner explores the 'soul of sound', and he's not afraid to use remarkable sources.
He treated cymbal sounds to the extreme and unrecognisable (Nungatak Gonggamur, 1990), or even the dusty crackling of an old 16mm film (Unerforschtes Gebiet, 2002). There will probably be no musical sounds as deep as his Daikan (2002).

But in using his sources, there's always a delicate space left for silence and stillness, which gives his music a Zen-like feeling of eternity.
If you ever want to experience a feeling of floating in indefinite space, listen to Thomas Köner's music!

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Those of you familiar with Stephan Mathieu's beautiful album 'Radioland' (2008) will probably find this follow-up equally interesting.

The concept is more or less familiar: using analog (found) sounds to create immersive layers of ambient electronics, using a process technique that makes the end result sound very 'natural'.
And it's exactly that what makes Stephan Mathieu's music stands out compared to others.

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The 'Warm Up' this title refers to is the 'cacophony of notes played by a symphony during warm up, where a single unified tone emerges out of the various intruments and voices'' (from the liner notes).

In this 'cacophony' Jamie Drouin recognised the resemblance with the constant sound of traffic on a public square. He started recording these sounds at a public square in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The 124 field recordings from a period of three months were used to create this composition.

But this certainly is not 'just another field recording'!

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"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 what they really are - Acoustical Illusions.

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Found Songs initially was conceived as a download-for-free internet-only project: 7-songs in 7-days.
But obviously the response was such that these songs, covering just over 20 minutes, are now releases in physical form too.
"From Twitter via Flickr to Traditional Record Stores".

In fact, that feels a bit like if these songs did not really exist until they were released in the form of a 10" vinyl limited edition, or as a Digisleeve limited CD edition.
Hey, we're the online digital generation, aren't we? Why bother with physical releases?

Wrong!

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What do you see when listening to ambient music?
I guess most answers would be something like: landscapes.
Desolate, comforting or alien, depending on the kind of ambient music.

I guess some of the images will be triggered by the track title.
So - what would a videoclip for Machinefabriek's "Dauw" ("Dew") look like?

when clicking the YouTube link to the video by Joost Meijer for this track, I was prepared for some abstract impressionist landscape shots. But I was not prepared for a heartbreaking story of an elderly couple growing apart.

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Once again Monolake genius Robert Henke delivers a masterpiece of tranquility: a 60 minute reworking of "Indigo", the closing track of Monolake's Cinemascope album (2001).

The original track is 8 1/2 minutes of layered sound and relaxing dripping water.
Swedish "installation artist" Fredrik Wretman contacted Robert Henke to use this track for a new installation called "Tap Tim": 'one single calm and focused work of art in a huge gallery space'.

But as expected this simple approach was not the route Henke would prefer to take. The original track simply was too short to just put on repeat.

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Although ON is mostly presented as a duo, in fact it's better to say that it's a trio. A trio with a very special approach to creating the music: I guess not much musicians immediately 'kill their darlings' after recording them. ON did: by handing over the completed recordings to be remixed and deconstructed completely.

ON is a collaboration project between Sylvain Chauveau (household name of Type Records, among others), and percussionist Steven Hess (Pan American).
For their (2004) album "Your Naked Ghost Comes Back At Night'", they recorded their music and asked Helge Sten (a.k.a. Deathprod) to completely rework it.
And he did, in such a way that this is as much a Deathprod album as it is Chauveau/Hess'.

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Excuse me for being ignorant, but until recently Balmorhea was unknown to me.
Which is sort of remarkable, since they mention Claude Debussy, Beethoven, Rachel's, Max Richter, Arvo Pärt and John Cage as their influences, and, according to their Discogs Profile, they shared stages with Stars of the Lid, Eluvium, Helios, and many others.
Their latest album is titled 'All is Wild, All is Silent''  

'All is Wild, All is Silent' is far from 'ambient electronic'. It may best be described as 'jazzy instrumental folk-prog-rock', if that is of any use. Touching themes in cleverly dynamic compositions that I'd enjoy but would not normally present on this weblog, simply because it doesn't really fit the style..(there's quite a lot of music that I thoroughly enjoy but not present here).

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'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 immediately struck me when I first heard it in the beginning of this year.

The track titles indicate the overall mood of this music: How Could You Let Me Go, Things We Lost Along The Way, All The Love I Had Was Not Enough, A Quietly Gathering Tragedy, and not forgetting "Een Langzaam Lekkende Wond' (A Slow Leaking Wound) which reminds us of the fact that Chris Hooson lived in Holland for quite a few years.
This beautiful sad music is clearly not meant to brighten up your day. But it might soothe your sadness with rays of hope shining through empathic, understanding themes and fabulous cello sounds. 

'The End of Trying' is one of the most beautiful albums I have heard this year, and it even gains strength with the companion CD that was released shortly after the release of the original: "The Night Keeps Coming In".

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NOTE:
The files have been moved to a different server on july, 17.
As far as I can see the issues mentioned below have disappeared.
Please let me know if you experience any more trouble when streaming or downloading.

If you're experiencing irregular issues when downloading or streaming the mixes from the podcast server, please read on:

While looking for a podcast server to host the mixes/podcasts, I chose podbean.com.

After uploading the first mixes, I started to notice that sometimes, at irregular intervals, the mixes fail to play or download.

As far as I can tell now, this is only the case when you are contacting the server from Europe, possibly due to a faulty configured DNS server somewhere along the way.
Visitors from outside Europe probably (hopefully) do not encounter this problem.

From my experience, it sometimes helps to restart the computer or just wait a while, because the next visit another route may be chosen to contact the server.

Of course I contacted podbean tech support (not to say I stalked them about this issue), and they are looking into it. I have asked them to put the ambientblog files on another one of their servers.
(Lowlightmixes also uses podbean, and I never experienced this problem downloading those files...in fact that's the main reason I chose podbean...)  

I really hope this issue will be solved soon, and - if not - I will transfer all files to another server a.s.a.p. (suggestions for good podcast service are welcome).

Please be patient for a while, and keep checking back regularly... 

BTW:
I'd like to know if you ever experience these issues or not, and which location you're visiting from. This may help investigate the issue.

Today, Lowlightmixes posted a kind recommendation to Ambientblog. 
Thanks, Dave, for these kind words.

I'm especially honoured, since I'm a regular visitor of Lowlightmixes myself.
I believe we share a vision in our approach to creating our mixes of ambient music.
Lowlightmixes has a vast collection of mixes to listen and download: at this time, you'll find over 40 different titles, with a wealth of interesting music to discover!!

So, if you're not a regular visitor yet: be sure to check out the mixes on Lowlightmixes too. It's definitely worth your time!!

"Mantra of Walls and Wiring" is the first of a set of three one hour mixes created in 2005.
The other two are "The Hum in the Room" and "Acoustical Illusion" (will follow later).

As you can read from the titles, these mixes thematically deal with the sound you can hear in your living environment; the 'everyday hum' surrounding you.

I got inspired for this theme when I listened to a slowly fading ambient-cd...and finally realised the cd had already stopped for quite a while and I was oviously listening to (and enjoying) the hum of my own refrigerator!
Since then the household environmental sounds do not disturb me anymore...they became part of the music I'm playing.

Starting point of these programs is the text Paul Simon wrote for Philip Glass's 'Changing Opinion' ('Songs from Liquid Days'), featured here in an extremely 'deconstructed' version (full text below).

Compared to the previous mixes these mixes are less accessible for listeners not used to 'ambient drone music'.
These are the most 'minimal' mixes, containing some very strange combinations: the David Darling recording with the Wulu Bunun for example (which may give the feeling you are lifted into the sky) flowing into the sound of eternal rest of Eliane Radigue, followed by Herbert's sound of home-cooking bringing you back to your own private home.

As in all mixes, there are some dark and tense parts. This is not meant to be 'new age happiness' at all.
But in fact its serene timelessness never fails to amaze me.

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Part 2 of the 2-part mix called 'S.A.D. Sounds (Voorjaarsmoe)'  (from april 2004).

The first part can be found here. (Please listen in sequence...)

"S.A.D." is an acronym of 'Seasonal Affective Disorder', otherwise known as 'Spring Fatigue' (and also for the other season's equivalents, like 'Winter Depression').

In Part 2, this theme is reflected in the closing part, a recording of a Kathleen Ferrier's performance of Handel's "Spring is Coming" (From 'Ottone'):
Why should I alone be silent, when all nature awakes to life?"

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The joys of springtime usually get the most attention, but the season has a dark side, too: “Spring Fatique”.
The need to eat and to sleep more than usual, inexplicable mood changes, the difficulty to be able to concentrate, etc.

These feelings are not strictly limited to the spring season, however. Comparable feelings are also known in Winter and Fall. About 60% of all people will probably recognise these symptoms. About 2% suffer from the more serious “Seasonal Affective Disorder’ (S.A.D.), also known as ‘Winter Depression’.

The symptoms described can almost be heard in the strange soundscapes of this mix: not only in the titles of the tracks, but also in the atmosphere. Dark sounds, mostly, especially in the beginning. Luckily, the keynote of the pieces used gets lighter when time progresses: it is as if you hear the sun struggling to break through the sky.. Besides being an auditive impression of the tiredness of spring, this program may hopefully also be a remedy against it.

This mix was created in 2004.

The classic Peter Hammill track ‘The Birds’ in the beginning of Part 1 defines the theme:

'Spring came far too early this year: Mayflowers blooming in February.
Should I be sad for the months, or glad for the sky?
The birds don’t know which way to sing, and, my friends, neither do I.'

(Part 2 of this mix can be found here)

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Peinzing - Part 2 (2003) is of course the second part of Peinzing (Pondering; Muse-ing).

Since both parts are meant to be listened to as one, please download part 1 first and listen to them sequentially.

You can find the full comments with Peinzing - Part 1, so for this edition I'll just stick to the playlist..

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"Peinzing" (pondering, muse-ing) (2003) is the name of the musical collage in which the difference between 'music' and 'sound' will not always be clear to the listener.

Over time, this has proven to be one of the most popular mix, especially with listeners that were not exactly familiar to ambient/electronic music.
It is indeed one of the more accessible - which does nót necessarily mean this is 'easy listening'.

Do nót expect 'New Age' music, despite some whale-, cricket- and other sounds of nature. At times the layers of sounds are dark and threatening, maybe even confronting.
There's always the dynamic range between tension and release. The quiet piano sounds of John Cage and Arvo Pärt surround a broad spectrum of auditive landscapes. Inbetween, sometimes 'ordinary' pop-songs define the theme, like Paul Simon's 'Quiet':"I am heading for a time of quiet / When my restlessness is past / And I can lie down on my blanket / And release my fists at last".

This particular sequence (Arno Peeter's collage of hectic life's answering machines, Paul Simon's detaching Zen-like song 'Quiet', and Jon Hassell seemingly rephrasing Paul Simon's last vocal line) is one of my all time favourite sequences.
Because for me this part expresses what most mixes are about: Tension...Release...and then again: dark clouds gathering above strange landscapes...

Please note that this 2-part mix is meant to be listened as one.
Peinzing (Part 2) can be found here

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Vergeten Tijd ('Time Forgotten') was not specifically created for the Polderlicht Project (Amsterdam, 2001), but the mix fits in seamlessly with KlankSluis and Eindpunt.

Because these three mixes were broadcast in one 'go' on dutch radio in 2002, I like to refer to them as the "Polderlicht Trilogy".

To me, good drone/ambient music always has a feeling of timelessness. This mix (like most of my others) combines some of the deepest drones (Thomas Köner, Alio Die, Stars of the Lid) with music that is not even remotely considered 'ambient', yet has a similar feeling (Calexico, David Darling, Kimmo Pohjonen).

The sequence image (below) shows the way the tracks are superimposed and combined.

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One of the reactions on the earlier 4 hour non stop ambient collages broadcast by Supplement (...dutch radio program with a focus on modern/avant garde/experimental music...) in the past years, was an invitation to contribute two sound installations to the location project called Polderlicht (Amsterdam, november 2001).

This is the second one: "Eindpunt (End of the Line)"

The first one was "Klanksluis" (SoundLock, as in 'Airlock').

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One of the reactions on the earlier 4 hour non stop ambient collages broadcast by Supplement (...dutch radio program with a focus on modern/avant garde/experimental music...) in the past years, was an invitation to contribute two sound installations to the location project called Polderlicht (Amsterdam, november 2001).

This is the first one: "Klanksluis" (SoundLock, as in 'Airlock').
The other one is "Eindpunt (End of the Line)", which will be published next.

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Part 4 of the 4-part mix from 2001..

Notes on this mixes can be found with Dreamscenes - Part 1.
Read more for the complete playlist:

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Part 3 of the 4-part mix from 2001..

Notes on this mixes can be found with Dreamscenes - Part 1.
Read more for the complete playlist:

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Part 2 of the 4-part mix from 2001..

Notes on this mixes can be found with Dreamscenes - Part 1.
Read more for the complete playlist:

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DreamScenes was originally created in 2001 for dutch radio. It consists of four one-hour parts that were broadcasted uninterrupted.
To my surprise it led to quite a few reactions, some people even listened to the the full 4 hours in one radio session.

This mix actually was the second in the series: in april 2001 the first one, called 'Ambient Mix' was broadcast (also 4 hours).
That one was in fact more of a 'live mix' (I had no good setup to pre-listen to the tracks), so I find this mix a bit too messy to publish here.

Quite a few of these mixes would follow in later years. I will gradually publish them all on this podcast weblog
I will of course publish full playlist details here too. Hope you'll enjoy them and hope to find you here again in the future...

(Read more for Playlist Details and download link)

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In the past, I've been looking for a good platform for the ambient mixes I have created. Though the oldest these mixes are  nine year sold, I think they still deserve to be heard.

Since the Folio radio show I co-compiled will be terminated in november 2009, it became obvious that public local radio is not the best place to promote ambient music.
So I finally started working on something I had in mind for a long time: a podcast featuring the ambient collages/mixes/montages I created in the past, and to host the mixes I will create in the future!

This means this weblog will proudly present ambient mixes to listen, or to download to your computer/portable player for later listening.
Apart from listening or downloading from this weblog, you can also subscribe to the podcast in your favorite player, such as iTunes.
You'll never miss another mix, and you'll be able to listen to it in high quality, on a time that fits you... No need to stay up late to record the radio show

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You may have noticed the name of this weblog has changed from 'DreamScenes' to 'AmbientBlog.Net'.

Nothing else has changed, all other links/locations/entries remain as they were.

The new name is, of course, the same as the starting URL: http://www.ambientblog.net.
You may want to bookmark that link if you're interested.

Why this change?

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Oraison, written in 1937 by Olivier Messiaen for an ensemble of Ondes Martenots (an early electronic keyboard instrument using a ribbon and a ring to change pitch), was one of the first compositions written for electronic instruments exclusively.
But that historical fact is not the only thing that makes this music so special.
There's a very special timeless, otherworldly, alienating feeling in this composition... even after 70+ year of technological advances.
It's the perfect blend of a strange, previously unheard instrument, and the composition especially written to use it. 

Recently, Richard Lainhart transcribed Oraison for his Buchla 200e synthesizer and Haken Continuum Fingerboard controller, and has shared this performance on YouTube and Vimeo. Because of the 'tactile' way of playing the Haken Continuum Fingerboard, the piece retains its original, almost human voice-like feeling.

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Nonstop Ambient Montage:
from Alva Noto to Arvo Pärt, via Arve Henriksen and Jacaszek, with short stops visiting Christopher Bissonnette, Entia Non, Kraken, Goldmund and many, many others.

This mix, as all others before, was created for broadcast through the dutch Radio 6 program NPS FOLIO.

<<this mix is re-published as a podcast/download in december 2009>>

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There are not too may live-recordings in ambient music. With obvious reason: most of it is recorded in (home) studios and is optimized for use in private spaces and/or exhibition rooms.
The noisy live club environment is not the best place to consume ambient music.
Apart from that, ambient gigs and laptop concerts are not noted for their intense live experience. At most gigs, the performing musician might as well be checking his mail after starting the pre-recorded sequence.…the public wouldn't really notice.

I remember watching a Biosphere live gig in Amsterdam Paradiso, way back in 2002.
Paradiso, like any club in Holland, is noted for it's noisy crowd, chatting and twittering all through the concert. That's the effect of having a bar INSIDE the concert hall (and of people coming to a Festival instead of devotees coming to a single concert).

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If there is a link between Kraftwerk and Latin Music, it can be pin-pointed down to one man: Uwe Schmidt, aka Senor Coconut.
His CD 'El Baile Aleman' (2003) was full of a stunning arrangements of Kraftwerk tunes in a latin big band fashion - gotta hear it to believe it.

The music and sounds on Liedgut, recorded under the Atom TM monniker, is the complete musical opposite of this hot-blooded latin Senor Coconut sound.

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Quite some time ago, I wrote some entries about the fascinating concept of Generative Music: music that is different every time you play it - the missing link between recorded and live music.
SSeyo Music introduced their fascinating concept as KOAN software - a brilliant package that was released about fifteen years ahead of it's time.
Brian Eno was on of the first to pick up on this concepts, because it fitted perfectly to his multi-CD installations.
Read more about this here and here, but be sure to get back to read on.

(Side Note: this software still exists: it's called Noatikl now. )

So the concept of Generative Music is as fascinating as ever. Enter Parallel Music, or PMusic - (as opposed to RMusic: Recorded Music).

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There are quite a few ways to listen to ambient / environmental sounds. Apart from buying CD's and finding new musical releases, you can listen to the sound of your own environment. Take a walk and open your ears to the sounds you don't normally hear.
Or: play a computer game.

A few years ago, the creators of Myst were praised for the use of sound in their game. They hád to pay attention to detail, because the game was a sequence of beautiful but non-moving images (can you imagine that nowadays?).
Currently, games tend to be almost lifelike experiences. Not only in graphic detail, but also in sound.

There may be quite a lot more people listening to 'ambient music' on daily bases, maybe even without realising it.

The MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) The Chronicles of Spellborn comes with almost 20 hours of sound.
About one hour of that is 'composed' soundtrack music (written by Jesper Kyd), the rest is environmental sound enhanced with ambient musical effects (created by Matthew Florianz).

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Wixel sometimes refers to the small group of musicians surrounding the Belgian artist Wim Maesschalk. When I recently saw them performing at a dutch festival (CrossLinx), I felt they sounded like Sigur Rós but without the vocals. Which is meant as a compliment, because when listening to most of Sigur Rós's music I always wonder if I would like it better without the odd vocals. 

'Wixel' is also used as Wim Maesschalk's artist nickname.
Wim 'Wixel' Maesschalk is a prolific artist, working very hard to find ways to get his music exposed to the world. (not unlike Rutger 'Machinefabriek' Zuydervelt, though their musical angles are different).

Slowly, the world starts to find Wixel's music too.

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Mark Tamea, an english composer/sound artist living in Nijmegen, Holland, has released some quite adventurous work in the past (of which a lot of information and some free downloads can be found on his website: www.tamea.org).
His latest work, Tessellation, is one of the most intriguing recordings I have heard in the past year.

It combines a lot of different styles: ambient electronic soundscapes, field recordings, musique concrête, post-classical - but still feels organic and complete.

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Celebrating their 25th birthday, ECM Records released a recording of the unusual musical combination of saxophone player Jan Garbarek with the Hilliard Ensemble performing ancient vocal music ('Officium', 1994).
An album so stunning it proved to be one of ECM’s biggest “hits”.
I was lucky enough to attend a live performance of this album in a church in my hometown that year, and amidst all of the concerts I have seen in my life this one especially is one I will never forget.
In 2009, ECM celebrates it’s 40th birthday. Could this be the reason they have searched for a musical combination as unusual and maybe even as unheard as on Officium? Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. But to me, 'Being Dufay' has about the same effect 'Officium' had.

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Katendrecht is a typical area in Rotterdam where you can expect to find a lot of things.
But the last thing to expect to find there is a spaceport where you can take a direct flight to Jupiter.

Still, a small venue called De Player created the exciting opportunity to embark on a spectacular journey to outer (inner) space on march 22, 2008. The journey was guided by Lysn, consisting of Hilary Jeffery (on trombone and tromboscillator), Chris Long (accordion and electronics), and Anne Wellmer (analogue electronics and harmonium).

This evening was presented as part # 3 in a series called Com.Post ('Prancing around on the post-digital compost heap of contemporary music').

I wasn't there, that evening. And hearing the recording of this event that was recently released, that's something to regret!

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Utsura-Utsura is the eleventh mix in a continuing series of ambient compilations created for dutch NPS radio (Supplement / Folio).

Eleven mixes, totalling about 29 hours since 2000!!

What these mixes have in common is that they do not strictly focus on ambient-electronic-drone music, but include ambient electronic music as well as acoustical sounds, classical music and sometimes even 'pop' music - creating an atmosphere that can be soothing, intriguing and sometimes even frightening.
I am very proud of this collection. And also I'm very grateful to the NPS providing the unique opportunity to broadcast this challenging music collages on dutch national radio.

Utsura Utsura is (or seems to be) a japanese expression indicating the fluctuation between being half asleep and awake and alert. That's a fairly good expression of  what this compilation tries to express...

I hope you'll find the time to listen to this mix. And if you do, please let me know what you think of it.

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Some albums, particularly those by major artists, take a few years to complete. The many recordings of Rutger 'Machinefabriek'  Zuydervelt are not among those.

This particular little gem, IJspret ('Ice/Skating Fun') was released within a few weeks after the short period that Holland enjoyed skating on natural ice (last days of december 2008 + some in january 2009). It had been a few years ago since the last time that had been possible, and may take a few years to happen again.

After noticing the strange sounds of ice crackling and the sounds of skates skating, Rutger used a contact microphone to record it. Those  field recordings were combine with some other (ducks, coots, and people playing) and completed with some improvised acoustic guitar sounds.

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Robert Henke's previous works (Layering Buddha / Signal to Noise / Piercing Music / Floating Point - not to mention Monolake's music) almost makes "Atom/Document" a blind buy.
However, the music on this new album is quite different from the previous releases. So be prepared!

The album opens with [...flicker] spreading a massively deep drone. But the drone only returns in [convex], and in the closing track [_exit]...and there's quite a lot of beating, pounding and clanking inbetween.

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