Best Ambient 2022 part 3

 

I can't decide which of these Best Ambient mixes I like the most. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to listen all 3 all day, every day until the end of the year. Then the journey starts all over again.

As another year comes to a close, it's hard to believe I've been at this for 17 years. Yikes! I'm not sure how long I'll keep creating these mix but I at least have to make it to 20 years, right? If I ever retire from my day job this seems like the perfect retirement activity. Forget golf, I just want to listen to music and create mixes(and go to movies, concerts and funky restaurants.)

Here's to a hopefully less chaotic 2023.

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    Seabuckthorn - Of No Such Place (Of No Such Place - Laaps)
• 03:26    Son of Chi & Arthur Flink - Part Two (The Fifth World Recordings - Astral Industries)
• 07:45    Tapani Rinne & Juha Mäki-Patola - Distant (Open - Hush Hush)
• 12:36    Nils Frahm - Do Dream (Music for Animals - Leiter)
• 19:35    Toàn - Coraline (Phonolite - [Krysalisound)
• 22:35    Gylden - A drink at the stream (Island Friend - Seil)
• 27:00    Oren Ambarchi - IV (Ghosted - Drag City)
• 31:10    Adrian Copeland - No Heat No Light (If This Were My Body - Lost Tribe Sound)
• 36:45    Roméo Poirier - Le case degli altri (Living Room - Faitiche)
• 40:00    't Geruis - Quand Le Bois Chante (Bain D'Étoiles - Laaps)
• 43:20    The Lonely Bell - The Final Light (Kingdoms Of The Deep)
• 49:40    Music For Sleep - L'ansia che cura (L'ansia che cura)

Best Ambient 2022 part 2

 

Not much to say other than here is Best Ambient 2022 part 2. Enjoy.

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    Snufmumriko - Langt under noll (Radio Mnemosyne - Dronarivm)
• 06:10    Heavenchord - Field Recordings #19(Field Recordings #4 - Secret Domain)
• 12:00    Austin Rockman - Muter (Our Own Unknown - Krysalisound)
• 13:27    Alio Die - Il Lievito Dell'anima (Distillation Of Time - Hic Sunt Leones)
• 18:25    Taylor Deupree - Rythn (Harbor - Laaps)
• 21:15    Jason Kolàr - Magic / Random / Exotism (Liquid Rhythm - Dauw)
• 27:37    Jarguna - Neogene (Neogene - Projekt)
• 28:33    Alio Die & Dirk Serries - Without The Light Of The Sky, Time Is Lost (The Chapters Of The Eclipse - Projekt)
• 34:25    State Azure - Nova Sonus (Nova Sonus)
• 42:40    Deepchord - Drassanes (Functional Designs - Soma)
• 47:20    Louigi Verona - Journeys on Google Earth III (Journeys on Google Earth)
• 54:22    CELL - Auxin (Onwards System - Ultimae)
• 59:50    Calm Whale - Awaken Earth (Handpan Journey)
• 67:37    Ruven Nunez - Untitled No. 51 (Untitled No. 51 - Longform Editions)
• 75:06    end

Best Ambient 2022 part 1

 

Man, these lists are tough to assemble. So why do I does this? Mostly because I enjoy the exercise of reviewing the tons and tons of music that is released over the year. It's a more active and intentional listening mode that I switch to at this time of year. I love checking out other lists to see what I may have missed. I'll link to some of those in another post. But mostly I'm just a music dork who likes lists.

My Top 10 Ambient Albums of 2022

1. Ecovillage - The Road Not Taken [Laaps]
2. Snufmumriko - Radio Mnemosyne [Dronarivm]
3. Man Watching the Stars - The Sextant of a Blind Seafarer
4. Gylden - Island Friend [Seil]
5. Nils Frahm - Music For Animals [Leiter]
6. Glåsbird - Himalaya [Whitelabrecs]
7. Alio Die & Dirk Serries - The Chapters Of The Eclipse [Projekt]
8. Tapani Rinne & Juha Maki-Patola - Open [Hush Hush Records]
9. Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling, Andreas Werliin - Ghosted [Drag City]
10. Tapes and Topographies - Modalities [Simulacra]

Here's the rest of the list in alphabetical order:

• 't Geruis - Bain D'Étoiles [Laaps]
• 't Geruis - Slow Dance on Moss Beds [Lost Tribe Sound]
• Adrian Copeland - If This Were My Body [Lost Tribe Sound]
• Alio Die - Distillation of Time & Spirals of Light [Hic Sunt Leones]
• Austin Rockman - Our Own Unknown [Krysalisound]
• Calm Whale - Awaken Earth
• CELL - Onwards System [Ultimae]
• Deepchord - Functional Designs [Soma]
• Glåsbird - Cinéma Noir [Whitelabrecs]
• Harry Towell & Guy Gelem - Restful Spaces [Polar Seas]
• Heavenchord - Field Recordings #4 [Secret Domain]
• Inhmost - Space & Awareness [Tonight’s Dream Records]
• Jarguna - Neogene [Projekt]
• Jason Kolàr - Liquid Rhythm [Dauw]
• Jens Pauly - 1989 [Whitelabrecs]
• Johann Johannsson - Drone Mass [DG]
• Louigi Verona - Journeys on Google Earth
• Michael Scott Dawson - Music For Listening
• Moss Covered Technology - Brick & Air [Audiobulb]
• Oren Ambarchi - Shebang [Drag City]
• Pan-American - The Patience Folder [Kranky]
• Polaroid Notes - Cloud Anthems [Whitelabrecs]
• Romeo Poirier - Living Room [Faitiche]
• Ruven Nunez - Untitled #51 [Longform Editions]
• S. van der Toorn - vervlogenheden i-xi [Aural Canyon]
• Scattered Light - D.A. #017 A.D. 2022 [Dust Archive]
• Seabuckthorn - Of No Such Place [Laaps]
• Son of Chi & Arthur Fink - The Fifth World Recordings [Astral Industries]
• State Azure - Nova Sonus [2022]
• Steve Tibbetts - Hellbound Train [ecm]
• Tapes and Topographies - Amplitudes [Whitelabrecs]
• Taylor Deupree - Harbor [Laaps]
• The Lonely Bell - Kingdoms Of The Deep
• Toàn - Phonolite [Krysalisound]
• William Basinski & Janek Schaefer - “ . . . on reflection [Temporary Residence]

I've done three separate mixes to celebrate the best ambient music of 2022 and I will post one a day.

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    Ecovillage - Silent River(ft. Henrik Meierkord & Ruven Nunez) (The Road Not Taken - Laaps)
• 03:10    Jens Pauly - Vast (1989 - Whitelabrecs)
• 08:40    't Geruis - la petite riviere (Slow Dance on Moss Beds - Lost Tribe Sound)
• 13:00    William Basinski & Janek Schaefer - . . . on reflection(one) (“ . . . on reflection " - Temporary Residence)
• 19:41    Scattered Light - A.D. 2022 - SP#086 (D.A. #017 - A.D. 2022 - Dust Archive)
• 23:36    Man Watching the Stars - Sakkyoku • 55 Cancri (The Sextant of a Blind Seafarer)
• 29:10    Harry Towell & Guy Gelem - Montague's Creek (Restful Spaces - Polar Seas)
• 36:05    Inhmost - So Far Away (Space & Awareness - Tonight's Dream Records)
• 40:12    Glåsbird - Vansa (Himalaya - Whitelabrecs)
• 44:30    Johann Johannsson - To Fold & Remain Dormant (Drone Mass - DG)
• 47:54    Tapes and Topographies - The First of Many Moons (Modalities - Simulacra)
• 51:54    S. van der Toorn - vervlogenheid i (vervlogenheden i-xi - Aural Canyon)
• 55:08    Michael Scott Dawson - Summerfallow (Music For Listening)
• 57:51    Pan•American - Swimming in a Western Hotel (The Patience Fader - Kranky)
• 60:30    end

As usual I listened to a lot of music in 2022. Anyone who says there's no good music being released is just not trying. There's a ton of it and it's hard to keep up. My Spotify playlist of 2022 albums has 4000 tracks in it. I end up making playlists called Heavy Rotation & More Time in an attempt to give select tracks & albums a more in depth listen. I also have separate 2022 playlists for ambient, electronic and jazz in an attempt to keep it all straight in my head.

All that is to say there was a lot of music in 2022 and I have some favorites that I'd like to share with you.

MY 2022 FAVORITE ALBUMS:

1. Kevin Morby - This Is A Photograph
2. Angel Olsen - Big Time
3. Sprints - A Modern Job EP
4. The Smile - A Light For Attracting Attention
5. Shearwater - The Great Awakening
6. The Beths - Expert in a Dying Field
7. Yard Act - The Overload
8. Beth Orton - Weather Alive
9. Gang of Youths - angel in realtime.
10. Hermanos Gutierrez - El Bueno Y El Malo

#1 - Inspired by his father's illness and paging through old photo albums, this album celebrates all the joys and heartaches of life and is catchy as hell.

#2 - Perfect country-tinged album with beautiful melodies and gorgeous pedal steel guitar.

#3 - Bursting with energy & angst, I love this EP.

#4 - Yes, it sounds like a Radiohead album but that's a good freaking thing!

#5 - this whole album has a late-stage Talk Talk vibe going on. A beautiful album.

#6 - Excellent indie jangly guitar music. The title track compares breaking up with someone to being an expert in a dying field - you have all this knowledge that is now useless.

#7 - Another album that is bursting with energy. This one is fun as heck.

#8 - This sounds like Beth Orton doing her own take on a Radiohead vibe and it works. This may have been the most surprising album of the year.

#9 - I don't really listen to this type of music much anymore - big, bold, fist-pumping arena rock - but I latched on to this album early in the year and kept returning to it.

#10 - I found Hermanos Gutierrez via Khruangbin. It's an instrumental album on which they use heavily reverbed guitars creating a kind of film soundtrack-esque atmosphere and vibe.

Here’s the rest of the list in alphabetical order:

• Beach House - Once Twice Melody
• Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
• Courtney Marie Andrews - Loose Future
• Curse of Lomo - People in Cars
• Flock of Dimes - Head of Roses: Phantom Limb
• Florist - Florist
• Horsegirl - Versions of Modern performance
• Hurray for the Riff Raff - Life on Earth
• Julia Jacklin - Pre Pleasure
• Los Bitchos - Let the Festivities Begin!
• Lucrecia Dalt -¡Ay!
• Makaya McCraven - In These Times
• Mitski - Laurel Hell
• Momma - Household Name
• Nilufer Yanya - Painless
• The A’s - Fruit
• Wet Leg - Wet Leg
• Weyes Blood - And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow
• Wild Pink - ILYSM

I'll post ambient favorites soon but until then what are your favorite "normal" albums from 2022?

A Tribute to Manuel Gottsching

 

I have been a casual fan of Manuel Gottsching for a long time but I never really dug into his discography until the last few days with the news of his passing. I don't have time to write much about him so I'll cut & paste a few things from Pitchfork.

"Manuel Gottsching, the Ash Ra Tempel bandleader who went on to compose the electronic cornerstone album E2-E4, died last Sunday (December 4).

Göttsching made his name in the West Berlin underground scene in the late 1960s and early ’70s. He was a core member of Ash Ra Tempel, a krautrock linchpin with revolving members including Tangerine Dream’s Klaus Schulze. The loose, shapeshifting outfit released five influential albums between 1971 and 1973. Göttsching’s solo debut, 1975’s Inventions for Electric Guitar, was subtitled Ash Ra Tempel VI; from then on he mostly produced records under his own name or as Ashra, such as the 1976 classic New Age of Earth.

In 1981, after a visit to Schulze, Göttsching improvised the composition that became known as E2-E4, hoping to throw together some listening material for an imminent trip. That mysteriously perfect hourlong exercise, which combined Prophet 10 synth pulses with waves of electronic percussion and electric guitar, came to define his post-krautrock output. After composing the track, Göttsching later recalled, the billionaire and Virgin Records owner Richard Branson invited him to his houseboat and, upon hearing the track, advised Göttsching that it could make him a fortune. But Göttsching decided to release the full improvisation on his friend Schulze’s label, without overdubs, in 1984, and it appeared to have little impact.

Though E2-E4 sold poorly, it had—unbeknownst to Göttsching—made its way across the Atlantic and into Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage sets, as well as the collections of key electronic music innovators. As Pitchfork’s Mark Richardson wrote in a 2016 review, the improvisation “wound its way across the world, morphing and changing with formats and remixes, finding new contexts, a music that is constantly in the process of becoming.”

It was a nice trip through Gottsching's music making this mix. I hope he is improvising with his buddy Klaus somewhere.

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    Ash Ra Tempel - Traummaschine (Ash Ra Tempel 1971)
• 11:37    Manuel Göttsching(Ash Ra Tempel VI) - Echo Waves (Inventions for Electric Guitar 1975)
• 24:35    Ashra - Slightly Delayed (Blackouts 1977)
• 30:55    Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 (E2-E4 1984)
• 47:00    Ashra - Deep Distance (New Age Of Earth 1976)
• 52:12    Manuel Göttsching - Halensee(Excerpt) (The Best Of The Private Tapes 1998)
• 58:24    Manuell Göttsching(Ash Ra Tempel VI) - Quasarsphere (Inventions for Electric Guitar 1975)
• 64:52    end

 

Bells and Flutes for Sleep & Meditation by Paul Asbury Seaman

photo by Paul Asbury Seaman

This is the perfect mix to offset the hustle & bustle of the holiday season. Skip the shopping and make some tea and chill the f*** out to this wonderful meditation mix from Paul Asbury Seaman.

Here's what Paul says:

"Native American flutes. A bit of Ireland, a bit of acoustic guitar (with echoes of India), interspersed with Tibetan bells, wind chimes, and a recent track by Steve Roach that is his most sublime composition since “Structures From Silence.” So, a bit of variety, but all with a consistent tone of serenity—my most soothing mix yet.”

Here links to all the music used in this mix:

• https://mysticjourney.net
• https://www.amazon.com/Baraka-Deluxe-Michael-Stearns/dp/B008MZPW4O
• https://sherryfinzer.bandcamp.com/album/synesthesia
• https://jeffjohnsonarkmusic.bandcamp.com/album/coming-going
• https://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/prospettive-animiche
• https://whiteswanrecords.bandcamp.com/album/om-guitar
• https://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-book-of-wanderers
• https://whiteswanrecords.bandcamp.com/album/dhyana-aman-meditation-of-no-mind
• https://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/projekt2022-name-your-price
• https://whaleloryb.bandcamp.com/album/blue-moon-meditation

Thanks Paul for another great mix!

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    Suzanne Teng & Gilbert Levy - Sounding the Bell (Shimmer 2022)

05:25    Michael Stearns - Monk with Bell (Baraka 1993)

07:42    Sherry Finzer - Obsidian Shadows (Synesthesia 2022)

10:55    Jeff Johnson & Brian Dunning - Shepherding the Wind (Coming, Going 2022)

13:55    Jarguna - Garden of the Mantras (Prospective Animiche 2019)

21:35    Stevin McNamara - Aubade (Om Guitar 2020)

29:00    Forrest Fang - Song of the Wanderer (The Bok of Wanderers 2020)

34:15    Manrose - Tengpoche Monastery (Dhyana Aman 2010)

40:43    Suzanne Teng & Gilbert Levy - Mother and Child (Shimmer 2022)

45:55    Steve Roach - What Remains(excerpt) (Projekt2022 2022)

53:01    Calm Whale - Blue Moon Wind (Blue Moon Meditation 2017)

60:00    end