Piano Day 2020

Today, March 28th, is International Piano Day. This is what the Piano Day website says about today:

“Why does the world need a Piano Day? For many reasons. But mostly, because it doesn’t hurt to celebrate the piano and everything around it: performers, composers, piano builders, tuners, movers and most important, the listener.” – Nils Frahm

Piano Day, an annual worldwide event founded by a group of likeminded people, takes place on the 88th day of the year – in 2020 it’s the 28th March – because of the number of keys on the instrument being celebrated.

The aim of the day is to create a platform for piano related projects in order to promote the development of musical dimensions and to continue sharing the centuries-old joy of playing the piano. Piano Day welcomes all kinds of piano lovers — young and old, amateur and professional, of any musical direction – to join in this year's festivities. It is intended to be the most joyful of all holidays!

Piano Day gives me an excuse to put together an all-piano mix. I really like the vibe of this year's version. Most of it is very stripped down and simple. I've also found it to be very therapeutic during these quarantine times.

Hang in there everybody!

[ s t r e a m ]    [ d o w n l o a d ]    [ i t u n e s ]

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Plïnkï Plønkï - Hiraeth
• 04:22    Mike Lazarev - Afflicted
• 07:00    Olga Wojciechowska - All I Have Not Seen
• 11:27    Innesti - Forgotten
• 14:18    Klangriket & Sjors Mans - Leidseplein
• 18:22    Nils Frahm - Some
• 22:20    Ben Lukas Boysen - Only in the Dark
• 25:35    Ólafur Arnalds - saman
• 27:39    Sjors Mans - With You
• 30:31    S.hel - Eia Popeia
• 34:38    Hania Rani - Warszawa
• 39:55    Infinite Scale - Across the Otherside
• 42:03    Julien Marchal - Insight XXXVIII
• 43:12    Roger Eno And Brian Eno - Blonde
• 47:05    Yosi Horikawa - Thalfang
• 50:50    Piano Day Website Remix
• 63:29    end

Alone Time - music for self-isolation

I have to come clean. I stole this idea. Dennis Huddleston, who records as 36, posted a Spotify playlist a couple of days ago and I thought it sounded like a good theme for a mix. Here's his playlist...

All the tracks in this mix have quarantine/isolation appropriate titles such as "Stay Home," "Return to Self" and "Being Alone Never Hurt Anybody."

Working in tv news it was crazy watching email after email come in sating another school system closed, another performance canceled, another event postponed, another business shutting down. It was nuts! We went from virtually no school districts closed to essentially all of them closed in a couple of hours.

Stay home, stay chill and enjoy some music.

Cheers!


[ s t r e a m ]    [ d o w n l o a d ]    [ i t u n e s ]



T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Justin Hurwitz - Quarantine (2018)
• 02:06    William Ryan Fritch - Separation (2019)
• 05:45    Pulusha - Isolation (1997)
• 12:30    Heavenchord - Infinity From The Inside (2018)
• 19:15    Warmth - Home (2017)
• 22:40    Gray Acres - Return To Self (2018)
• 28:25    Hildur Guðnadóttir - Alone (2019)
• 31:47    Max Richter - Dream Solo (2019)
• 38:24    Arovane & Mike Lazarev - Us, Inside (2019)
• 41:35    Sean Curtis Patrick - Being Alone Never Hurt Anybody (2019)
• 44:57    Dalot & Sound Awakener - Inside (2018)
• 47:36    Dub Tractor - Stay Home (2017)
• 51:15    Neil Cowley & Ben Lukas Boysen - Solitary Refinement (2019)
• 56:00    R Beny - And Fall, Standing Alone Again (2019)
• 62:53    Justin Hurwitz - Home (2018)
• 64:28    end

Lullabies for a Night Train by Paul Asbury Seaman

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!

[ s t r e a m ]    [ d o w n l o a d ]    [ i t u n e s ]

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