Mix: Environmental Interactions

Pieces of improvised music that whether intentionally or unintentionally incorporate the sounds of their surroundings. Audiences (both human and not) and locales introduce new, serendipitous textures or influence the progression of the piece in fantastically unpredictable ways.

00:00. Three Forks – “Drunken Traffic” [excerpt] from Seven Layer Ape (United Fairy Moons, 2005)

03:33. Hermione Johnson & Stefan Neville – “Gala” from Scrum (Feeding Tube, 2016)

10:10. R.O.T. – excerpt from fifth segment of Klein Eiland (morc, 2020)

12:17. Alec Livaditis – “Clear and Cloud” [excerpt] from Clear and Cloud (Kye, 2015)

16:32. Áine O’Dwyer – “An Unkindness of Ravens” from Music for Church Cleaners (Fort Evil Fruit, 2012)

19:26. Chow Mwng – “Grid Ref SH610646” from Dis-Ordinance (Recordiau Dukes, 2019)

23:43. Evan Parker – second untitled track from Evan Parker with Birds (Treader, 2004)

32:10. Glorias Navales – “Enero Vuelta” from Cofradía Náutica (Kye, 2016)

34:17. Derek Bailey – “Paris” [excerpt] from Aida (Incus, 1980)

Mix: Sonic Stew

Stew is a good meal to make on a freezing cold evening when you just need some warmth in your body. Stew is also a good meal to make when all you have are some broth and a pile of disparate ingredients you don’t really know what to do with. Apply the two preceding sentences to dense, playful collage music—what I like to refer to as “sonic stew”—and the claims still hold true. Go ahead and help yourself to a sizable spoonful.

00:00. Faust – beginning of “Why Don’t You Eat Carrots?” from Faust (Polydor, 1971)

00:56. Gus Coma – “Meet Our Employees” from Color Him Coma (It’s War Boys, 1983)

03:58. Sugar Pills Bone – “Lumb Airline Crash on Blue Waffle Island” from Lumb (Orb Tapes, 2019)

07:29. Martin Tétreault – “Induction” from La Nuit Où J’Ai Dit Non (Audioview, 1997)

15:59. Guido Gamboa – “Nasal Passage Complication Inducing Variants of Voluntary Breathing, Light Sensitivity Traced to Anticipation of Migraine Aura Onsets” from 2018: Recent Amelioration of Lingering Proprioceptive Issues, Elimination of Winter Coat Improves Muscle Tension (Regional Bears, 2018)

19:30. Gomma Workshop – “Bruitages cubik” from Almanacco Moderno (Madcap, 2004)

24:02. Five Starcle Men – “Ducks Abduct” from Gomba Reject Ward Japan (Lost Frog Productions, 2007)

26:11. Ken Shoticker – “ctch th mnkey” from avatar toolkit (fals.ch, 2001)

27:15. Ground-Zero – “The Glory of Hong Kong – Kabukicho Conference” from Revolutionary Pekinese Opera Ver.1.28 (ReR, 1996)

31:45. Stanol Ester – “Yn, the Monts of the Mystics” from Yn, the Monts of the Mystics (self-released, 2018)

35:01. Ash Charge – “II” from Ash Charge (Garden Magik, 2019)

Mix: Past Vocalisms

This mix is based on a strange little digital-only album released last October by Spricht Editions, a Denmark imprint focused on “vocal oriented sound.” Here are where our unspoken words, random gargles, little tongue clicks we do when we’re irritated or bored, unintelligible howls of frustration, and hums of contentment all gather and congeal. Take care that your shoes don’t get stuck in the muck—but if they do, stay a while.

00:00. c.haxholm – “1” from Past Vocalisms (Spricht Editions, 2019)

06:38. Graham Lambkin & Áine O’Dwyer – “One and One Is Two” from Green Ways (Erstwhile, 2018)

10:47. Lily Greenham – “Improvisation” from Lingual Music (Paradigm Discs, 2007)

12:04. Ami Yoshida – 5th untitled track from Tiger Thrush (Improvised Music from Japan, 2003)

14:26. Gil J. Wolman – “Mégapneumies” from L’Anticoncept (Alga Marghen, 1999)

16:07. Yeast Culture – “Folk Songs of the Neskowin Indians” from Dueterium: Yeast Culture Improvacoustic Series Vol. 1 (Regional Bears, 2019)

20:54. Ute Wassermann, Duncan Harrison, Dylan Nyoukis & Claus Haxholm – excerpt from side A of Dissecting an Utterance (Spricht Editions, 2019)

22:49. Katalin Ladik – “Shaman Song / Sámánének” from Phonopoetics (Alga Marghen, 2019)

24:14. Michael Barthel – excerpt from side C of Heme (Geräuschmanufaktur, 2017)

26:26. Jamison Williams – “Part One” from Silly Symphonies, Vol. 1 (Lurker Bias, 2020)

29:19. Matthew Revert – “Dear Heath” from Letters to Friends of the Late Darcy O’Meara (Round Bale Recordings, 2018)

32:24. Rodrigo Ambriz – “Despojado al fin por su propio soplo” from Una silueta se precipita en arcadas (Szara Reneta, 2018)

Mix: Free Rock

There’s not just an essential, but also an audible difference between an orchestrated, technical maelstrom and total improvisation. The former may sound chaotic or random but cannot match the complete, blissful freedom of the latter. The songs in this mix, however, lie somewhere on a spectrum between those two endpoints, tending towards spontaneous gesture without disregarding or eliminating the fragments of structure that still linger in the music. Some of them gradually fall back into a conventional meter, others remain formless and ease through fluid dynamic changes, and still others play rhythmic patterns so loosely that they often don’t appear to be rhythmic at all.

00:00. Dilute – end of “Apple” from Grape Blueprints Pour Spinach Olive Grape (54º40′ or Fight!, 2002)

02:14. Storm & Stress – “And Third and Youngest, Unnamed” from Under Thunder and Fluorescent Lights (Touch and Go, 2000)

07:22. Gorge Trio – “Roof Halves and Dewdrop Gems” from Open Mouth, O Wisp (Skin Graft, 2004)

10:41. Coptic Light – “Mix the Races” from Coptic Light (No Quarter, 2005)

18:27. Who’s Your Favorite Son, God? – “Tapestry Mouth” from Out of Body Diva (KDVS Recordings, 2006)

20:40. Sister Iodine – “Western Lei” from Helle (Textile, 2004)

23:57. Fading Tapes – “O-bon” from Radio Okinawa (Katuktu Collective, 2018)

29:09. Jackie-O Motherfucker – “Dark Falcon” from Ballads of the Revolution (Fire, 2009)

33:46. zOoOoOm – “Ablution” from Eight My Heart (Condor, 2004)

Mix: Into Winter

Today was our first biting, bitterly cold day of the forthcoming Midwest winter, so I thought it fitting to put together a mix of my favorite raw black metal. Pained shrieks, stifling atmosphere, and percussive rumble are sometimes encased within a lo-fi haze; other times they stab through with piercing, feedback-wracked squall. I’ve assembled a combination of both ends of (and anywhere in between) the spectrum.

00:00. Luminous Shadow – “A Formless Reflection” from Demo II (Midnite’s Darkness, 2017)

03:00. Graveflowers – “Handful of Dust” from The Hyacinth Garden (Path of Silence, 2017)

05:34. Nocturnal Chalice – “Possessed by Burning Hatred” from The Hidden Order (Tour De Garde, 2016)

10:12. Burier – “Disease & Deluge” from Burier (self-released, 2019)

14:02. Ythogtha – “Sunken City” from False Faith (self-released, 2007)

15:33. Yoga – “Open Sesame” from Skinwalker (Holy Mountain, 2012)

20:55. La Torture Des Ténèbres – “Descent Into Wolves’ Wound” from Choirs of Emptiness (self-released, 2016)

23:44. El-Ahrairah – “Flora” from Demo (A Terre, 2009)

27:12. Lonesummer – “I Miss You Still, Ma Bête” from Satisfaction Feels Like a Tomb (self-released, 2010)

30:00. Black Cilice – “Channeling Forgotten Energies” from Banished from Time (Iron Bonehead, 2017)

35:10. Vegas Martyrs – “A Part from the Cross” from Vancouver Missing Women (Hospital, 2010)

Mix: Noise Rock

Artists whose music resides within the well loved tradition of “noise rock,” but in this case with heavy emphasis on the “noise.” Buzzsaw guitars, torturous wails and nonsensical jabbering, lumbering rhythm sections that often aren’t concerned with much rhythm at all. What’s not to love?

00:00. White Suns – “Priest in the Laboratory” from Totem (Flenser, 2014)

04:52. Dan’l Boone – “Paper Tree Alley” from Dan’l Boone (Drag City, 2014)

09:41. Horse Gives Birth to Fly – “Rubbish Drunk on the Sand” from Horse Gives Birth to Fly (self-released, 2009)

14:00. The Hospitals – “Hairdryer Peace” from Hairdryer Peace (Meds, 2009)

17:28. Staer – “I Roll With Creflo” from Staer (Discorporate, 2012)

23:51. Guttersnipe – “Ophid Spy Cramp” from Demo (self-released, 2015)

29:56. Big Neck Police – “Street” from Don’t Eat My Friends (Ramp Local, 2016)

33:55. Drunkdriver & Mattin – Side B of A List of Profound Insecurities (Badmaster, 2009)

Mix: Transmissions

Think of this one like stations on a dying shortwave radio. Static, garbled voices, jumbled beauty.

00:00. CC – “Haunted Sideband” from AM (Crooked Acres, 2017)

02:36. Thought Broadcast – “The Immaterial Eschaton” from Abduction (Chained Library, 2019)

04:40. Jack Taylor – “Somnii” from Somnii (Dinzu Artefacts, 2017)

09:35. Rolf Julius – “Fast Schwarz” from (Halb) Schwarz (Edition RZ, 2001)

11:33. Philippe Petit – “04” from Nyctalopia (Electronic Musik, 2011)

15:34. Joe Panzner – “Less Than a Feeling” from Clearing, Polluted (Copy for Your Records, 2011)

20:24. fringe limb – “victuals” from endling (self-released, 2019)

26:14. [N:Q] – “November” from November Quebec (Esquilo, 2006)

33:01. Andrea Marutti & Fausto Balbo – “Winter” from Detrimental Dialogue (Afe, 2010)

34:24. Surface of the Earth – “Shield” from Interference (Fusetron, 1997)

Mix: The Freeing of Folk

A collection of pieces on the fringes of folk music, where the communal, earthy atmosphere has been lifted from the bounds of rhythm and conventional structure and carried into a realm of unbridled beauty. These tracks are often ecstatic and sublime, but there is also a mysterious energy that lurks beneath.

00:00. Jackie-O Motherfucker – “Amazing Grace” from Fig. 5 (Road Cone, 2000)

10:01. Davenport – “Free Country” from Free Country (Foxglove, 2004)

13:00. Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice – “Sun Sets on Clarion” from Gipsy Freedom (5 Rue Christine, 2006)

15:20. Three Forks – “Firewood” from Firewood (Metonymic, 2005)

19:44. The Hands Free – “Needle & Thread” from The Hands Free (New Amsterdam, 2018)

26:24. Scatter – “Orbling” from Surprising Sing, Stupendous Love (Pickled Egg, 2004)

29:07. Mike Cooper & Tasos Stamou – excerpt of first untitled track from London Taximi (Coherent States, 2017)

34:32. Kemialliset Ystävät – “Valojuopot” from Kemialliset Ystävät (Fonal, 2007)

Mix: Hidden Humanity

This one is about how the most earnest emotional expression can be found amongst the furthest edges of “music.” A collection of works, improvisations, and excerpts from artists whose creations are removed and subversive yet profoundly personal.

00:00. Daniel Löwenbrück – “Gebet in den Wind” from 1800m (Recordings for the Summer, 2014)

05:25. John Collins McCormick – “5” from One Bone in the Arm (Pan y Rosas Discos, 2018)

07:21. Shots – excerpt from A side of Up Front (Bánh Mì Verlag, 2016)

10:20. Jean Tinguely – excerpt from B side of Bascule VII (Manhood, 1994)

12:14. Yeast Culture – “Feral Fleeces Falling in Flannel Flurries and Fit for Felting” from Shit on a Shingle (Petri Supply, 2013)

14:56. Hardworking Families – “Illy Alley” from BA / LS / BN (Beartown, 2016)

20:51. Hangjun Lee & Martin Tétreault – excerpt from A side of Film Walk (Crustacés, 2017)

23:18. 010001111000 – “okasi yarou” from lmof (Vitrine, 2015)

28:47. Alyssa Festa – “websdr_recording_2017-07-06T22-05-51Z_3924.8kHz” from Alyssa Festa (A R C H I V E, 2018)

33:24. GX Jupitter-Larsen – “Radio Abrasion 2013” from 30/4 compilation (Fragment Factory, 2013)

37:20. JS Hogan – excerpt from Ahh, I See Pan (Y.A.L. Sounds, 2016)

Mix: With the Flow

I actually originally made this as a mixtape for a friend of mine, but for some reason I was thinking about it today and wanted to post it. Still one of my best mixes I’ve put together, in my opinion. It collects my favorite tracks that would be best classified under the umbrella of abstract or experimental hip-hop. Enjoy.

cLOUDDEAD (who hail from my hometown of Cincinnati, OH!)

00:00. cLOUDDEAD – “Pop Song” from Ten (Big Dada Recordings, 2003)

05:27. E L U C I D – “Hyssop” from Shit Don’t Rhyme No More (self-released, 2018)

08:26. Deep Puddle Dynamics – “June 26th, 1999 (Purpose)” from The Taste of Rain… Why Kneel (Anticon, 1999)

11:48. Coin Locker Kid – “Inquisitor.” from The Ghost Sonata (self-released, 2012)

15:26. Aceyalone – “The Catch” from A Book of Human Language (Project Blowed, 1998)

16:50. P.O.S – “Purexed” from Never Better (Doomtree, 2009)

20:05. Dr. Yen Lo – “Day 777” from Days With Dr. Yen Lo (Pavlov Institute, 2015)

23:14. Spirit Agent – “Bioluminescence” from Depth Perception (Navigators Inc., 1999)

26:17. Subtle – “She” from A New White (Lex, 2004)

30:38. lojii & Swarvy – “do u (feat. Nikko Gray)” from Due Rent (Fresh Selects, 2017)

33:50. Atoms Family – “Adversity Strikes” from The Prequel (Centrifugal Phorce, 2000)

37:52. Eyedea & Abilities – “Burn Fetish” from By the Throat (Rhymesayers, 2009)