After the last mix, I was trying to decide what to do next - sea mix? orchestral? shortwave? train? Well, Paul beat me to it by sending a tracklist for another excellent train mix.
Here's what Paul has to say about this mix:
“The main qualification in selecting music for a train mix is that it has that distinctive rocking rhythm, like a cradle. Like a lullaby. Beyond that, there is the paradoxical elements of both wistfulness and anticipation—nostalgia and unknown adventures. This mix features a more mellow side of “Berlin School” sequencer-driven electronic music. I have also included one track each from my other three train mixes for Low Light Mixes: “The Memory of Trains,” “Galaxy Express” and “Places I’ve Never Been” (all available on Mixcloud). “Memory of Trains” was the first mix I did with Dave and Low Light Mixes three years ago. And life has never been the same! Happy travels, on this slightly longer-than-usual journey….”
Paul, thanks for another superb set!
Cheers!
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Stellardrone - Twilight (A Moment of Silence 2011)
- 04:10 Tom Moore & Mike Clay - Leaving Our Orbit (Beyond Our Orbit 2020)
- 08:40 MHZ - Train Tracks (25 Peaks 2015)
- 14:30 Marconi Union - Sleeper (Ghost Stations 2015)
- 20:25 Cousin Silas - Green Mist (Midnight Beats 1 2020)
- 25:27 Spiral Dreams - Anywhere (Anywhere 2016)
- 32:45 John Agebjorn - Sleepless on the Kostomuksha-Petrozavodsk Night Train (We Never Came To The White Sea 2017)
- 38:54 Paul Speer & Sherry Finzer - Venus Rising (2016)
- 43:57 Von Haulshoven - The Multiverse Trip (Symptom of the Multiverse 2019)
- 51:14 Stimulus Timbre - Look at the Stars and Think of Us (A Place We Never Been 2017)
- 56:43 Germind - Time Consciousness (Antimatter 2014)
- 62:45 Between Interval - On Track (Legacy 2017)
- 66:02 Tigerforest - Vermilion (Songs of Reverence 2016)
- 70:15 Sequentia Legenda - Au Revoir (Extended 2016)
- 89:12 end
2 comments:
So there's a difference between synthesizer tracks depicting trains & train motion and what is essentially soft krautrock "perpetual motion". What you have here is the later. I believe as time goes on with the progression of train-themed releases, there is growing confusion between the two, and that is indeed disrupting my sleep.
The synthesizers here really don't make any train nuances for us. Listen to "Bikila" by Garry Hughes to refresh your sense of train-themed synthesis. If the synthesizers aren't making train effects, then train sound effects can be overlaid, as has been done in the past. The effect heard here are ocean waves (Stimulus Timbre): we don't think of trains with that, especially when accompanied by a violin or string choral.
The mix features the mild side of the Berlin School. Well, in fact there is a heralded train-emulation composition that epitomizes the Berlin School: "Departure from the Northern Wasteland" by Michael Hoenig. The train even runs at night, just like this concept, as its the cover photo suggests, but it seems to have been evaded by all train mixes here to date. This despite well-received suggestions last year (see comments March 2019 "Places…; Ode to Rail"). Hoenig has puffing steam, acceleration to speed, subtle clickety clack, subtle whistles, desynchronizing of noises from opposite directions, and passing of ringing grade crossings, giving a feeling of a train ride.
Had to come back to express something overlooked in the first commentary. Is 19 minutes of the Sequentia Legenda really listenable? We have come to expect the token Seaman "runaway" track on these perpetual motion mixes, but in this instance it is a sure formula for a migraine. I have just seen a station listener, tuned in for a whopping continuous 128 hours, leave the station upon hearing this segment, likely because he/she could not tolerate the final 19 minute reputative "Do-Loop". Please review mixes for listenability. I am today abridging my version for the sake of listenership.
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