WABI SABI by Daniel Hawkins

 

I've been super busy lately so it's perfect timing for another wonderful guest mix from friend of the feed, Daniel Hawkins. Daniel has done 4 mixes for LLM, each of them a great ambient journey. You can find them here:

Amiably Ambient
The Silence Between
Dark Woods
Metallic Memories

This one takes some thoughtful curating to come up with such a cohesive set. Here what Daniel has to say about the mix:

"Wabi Sabi conveys feelings of desolation and solitude. Within Mahayana Buddhism these can be considered positive traits, representing release from the material world and the possibility of transcendence to a simpler life. As Mahayana philosophy emphasizes direct experience over verbal explanation, Wabi Sabi may be best understood in a non-verbal, experiential way.

According to Richard Powell, "Wabi Sabi nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect."

Many forms of Japanese art have been influenced by Zen and Mahayana philosophy over the past thousand years. The contemplation and acceptance of imperfection, as well as the awareness of constant flux and impermanence, have been particularly important to Japanese arts and culture.

Awareness of the transience of all things heightens appreciation of their beauty, and evokes a gentle sadness at their passing.

So I’d been working on this mix for months - adding metallophonic cuts that caught my fancy - as a follow up to last year’s Metallic Memories mix.  The mix got to over 3 hours - and I wasn’t sure Dave would be amused.  They were all good pieces of music - but I thought maybe a tighter focus would make a more cohesive mix.  As I trimmed it down the Wabi Sabi theme seemed to fit the mood and I think makes a nice set.  I hope you agree."

Thanks for another fantastic mix, Daniel.

Cheers!

[ s t r e a m ]    [ d o w n l o a d ]    [ a p p l e _ p o d c a s t s ]

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00   Anaamaly - I Am Inspired by Possibility (Urban Metta, Vol. 2 2017)
• 06:10   Masayoshi Fujita - As Dusk Falls(Feat. NATURE) (As Dusk Falls 2025)
• 09:45   Luis Miehlich & Marty Hicks - Upon the Winds of Change (Reflections Vol. 2)
• 14:15   Zheleznyak - Water Talk (Attenuated In Ambient)
• 18:42   CSillagkod - Kettoscsillag (Silent World 2014)
• 21:55   Jogging House - Fingers (The Ambient Zone: Collection 006 2020)
• 25:45   Steve Good - Infinite Rainbows (Arise, Decay, Sustain, Release 2024)
• 32:05   Robot Koch - Kassel(Foam and Sand rework) (The Next Billion Years - Foam and Sand reworks 2022)
• 36:00   Marsen Jules - Yara 4 (Yara 2009)
• 43:10   Tapes and Topographies - Holograms (Partial Holograms 2025)
• 47:50   Heavenchord - Field Recordings #19 (Field Recordings #4 2022)
• 56:05   Calm Whale - Flower of Transformation (Flower of Transformation 2025)
• 65:17   end