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01

24 December 2022

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Before I go any further, my Just Giving page will remain open for a period and you can find out more or donate via my Just Giving page << HERE >>.

I've got to be honest, I never thought I'd get here. But here I am. 52 mixes, well a few "selections" in there, but the general point stands. 52 mixes. 64 hours 30 minutes and 24 seconds of music. 771 tracks. 601 different main artists. 90 remixers / editors (+ countless featuring musicians and artists) on 360 record labels. At the time of typing, a disappointing 4547 plays across Mixcloud and Soundcloud, and those are certainly not going to be full and completely engaged plays.

I want to place on record my heartfelt thanks to those who have supported my effort, whether by donating or sharing what I've been up to - you know who you are! As things stand, £360 + Gift Aid has been raised for Sue Ryder, which of course was the point and motivation behind this project. I could be wrong, but I suspect the donations have come from 8 people outwith my own household. I say that I could be wrong because several are anonymous donations, at least some of which I suspect have come from my other half because she knows this has been a difficult thing for me to do and won't like to see me feeling like a total failure in the things I do, but that is generally how I do feel. I think around £160+ Gift Aid has come from the kindness of others and for that I'm grateful, but of course wish for the sake of Sue Ryder it would have been far more, so suspect the remainder has been from my other half, and some from my own donations from selling some of my records.

I started this project with enthusiasm and put a lot of effort into trying to drum up interest and support. I shared my experience, wore my heart on my sleeve and put my cards on the table for all to see. I created an Instagram, which I was kicked off of in less than 3 months for "breaching" their terms; I can only assume it was from tagging artists and labels that featured each week.... Instagram didn't tell me of course. For some time I would tag artists and labels on Twitter which proved to be a waste of time too. The hope was that they'd perhaps share the mixes on their social media and therefore give me a chance of growing the interest organically. Sadly it didn't happen and my drive evaporated over time, particularly because in the early days of Twitter or Facebook this was how most people generated interest and connections. It seems things have changed, but I've no idea to what, or where I went wrong with that.

I've really struggled this year, not just because I've lost a lot of direction and the responsibility that was on my shoulders when I lost my Mum, but also because there's been an awful lot not right and missing in life and this endeavour has shone a light on some of that and in particular how few people I have in my corner. I shouldn't compare myself to others, and I try not to, even limiting my access to (anti)social media, but I still see other people doing things and having their friends, family and the people linked to those connections being very visibly supportive and I can't be anything but honest and tell you that it hurts quite a lot to not feel like you have that in your life. It's more painful when there's a light shone on that week in and week out. This is obviously just a very small aspect of my world and there's little point (other than the cathartic benefit) in sharing any more on here.

I'm relieved and glad that this is over. I don't think there's much future for "mixamorphosis" any more. At one point I could see a path forward with what I was doing around music but when life became heavily weighted towards my Mum, and then losing everything through being hacked several years ago, things have never clicked for me again. From 2009 to around 2014 the blog, followers, interactions were overwhelming, over the past few years it's like I never existed, never did nothing or helped anybody, contributed to nothing and finding that sweet spot to build has disappeared. Or if it's still there I no longer know where to find it.

I'm sounding like a broken record here, which is fitting because I do feel pretty broken, in more ways than just this nonsense. I could go on about loneliness, isolation, depression, anxiety, zero confidence, no real life interactions, physical aches and chronic pains but there's little to no point. I spend hours worrying about what to do, what to write, what I should or should not share, and ultimately it does not matter because for 45+ years my voice has not been heard and I doubt there's much hope for me to change that now. This project has kind of hammered that home to me and if I'm being totally honest, I've felt like burning it all to the ground and deleting everything I have online than I have felt like completing this. I'm a stubborn fool at times though and I'd have felt like I failed myself more than anything if I didn't finish what I set out to do, even though it's of little interest to anyone out there.

I've nothing else I can say now. After 52 weeks of this, it's not going to suddenly and miraculously grow arms and legs. I'll leave this here. #01 is a selection of music I have loved. I could have done this a hundred times over with thousands upon thousands of different tracks, but this is what came out as I felt it on this occasion. All I've ever wanted is to share music that has triggered a feeling, emotion, a movement, since I was a child it's been something I loved to do. That's what I've tried to do via my mixes, blog and posts through the years.

I expect I'll be posting less on Twitter and it may or may not be the last post here and on the music hosting sites, I doubt it matters either way. My voice doesn't carry.



Tracklist

01. From The Willowmeadow - Mayflowers (Self Released)

02. Alan Watts - Life Is Not A Journey (No Label)

03. Weyes Blood - It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody (Sub Pop Records)

04. Air - Les Professionnels (Source)

05. DJ Shadow - What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 1 - Blue Sky Revisit) (Mo Wax)

06. DJ Cam Quartet - Herbie (Attytude Records)

07. Matthew Halsall - I've Been Here Before (Gondwana Records)

08. Kahil El'Zabar - We'll Get Through This (Spiritmuse Records)

09. Nina Simone - Backlash Blues (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival) (BMG)

10. Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five (CBS)

11. Guru ft. Roy Ayers - Take A Look At Yourself (Chrysalis)

12. Fela Kuti - He Miss Road (Wrasse Records)

13. Hugh Masekela - Don't Go Lose It Baby (12" Version) (Jive)

14. Kuniyuki Takahashi - Afric Univers (Mule Musiq)

15. Martin Patino - Hommage A La Sodomie (Suara Records)

16. Joep Mencke - Sabda (Klassified)

17. Vincent Gericke - Mebuki (Amselcom)

18. Lamb - Cotton Wool (Fila Brazillia Remix) (Kudos)

19. St Germain - Montego Bay Spleen (Blue Note)

20. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Waiting In Vain (Island)

21. Andy J Dobbs - Long Waves

22. Everything But The Girl - Walking Wounded (Dave Wallace Remix) (Virgin)

23. Underworld - Skym (JBO)

24. Svaneborg Kardyb - Everything Possible (Gondwana Records)

25. Ane Brun - I Want To Know What Love Is (Balloon Ranger Recordings)

26. Vieux Farka Touré et Khruangbin - Savanne (Dead Oceans)

27. Tyler Newman - La Ramble @ Midnight (Solid.Grey.Sky.Recordings)

28. Arthur Russell - This Is How We Walk On The Moon (Point Music)

29. José González - Crosses (Imperial Recordings)

31. Nick Cave - Cosmic Dancer (BMG)

32. Medicine Head - Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues (See For Miles Records)

33. The Doors - The End (Elektra)



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02

18 December 2022

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Well, it's the penultimate mix of the year and I'll save my summary of that until next week. What I will say is that there's a narrative and a feeling from this weeks mix; sometimes the title, sometimes the vibe of the track, often both, that sums up how I feel and where I'm at. Not just now, but for quite a long time. That's not a grumble, it's just how it is. Today isn't the first time my eyes have welled up thinking about things whilst I'm putting a post together. Whether it be the purpose behind this year of mixes, the person behind the point of it all, the position I find myself in, the fact it hasn't quite panned out as I hoped. If I can summon the energy / will to build on that in next weeks post, then I will but I'm finding energy and focus and motivation in short supply, so we'll leave it at 'see what next week brings'.


Of course, I have to mention that the 51 mixes (well there's a handful of "selections" in there) that I have posted so far this year have been about one thing for me - trying to raise some funds for the work done by the people at Sue Ryder. They help people with serious neurological conditions live their life, you can find out more via their website, or on my Just Giving page if you feel like a small donation is something you can manage, or you can probably pick up a few bits of understanding what this is about by digging through some of the pages on this blog.


Of course, I always try to provide a linked up tracklist to the mixes I post, you'll find it below and please support the artists / labels where you can. Buy their music, follow their socials, share their posts etc. It's what keeps things going, you know?


Tracklist

Good Weather For An Airstrike - Frozen In Thought (Hibernate)

Blurstem - Far Too Long, Far Too Lost (Anthem Falls Music)

Myosotis - Small Existence (Hidden Vibes)

So, I'm An Islander - O Di Haij Ret (... And They Were Right) (Hidden Vibes)

Thomas Méreur - A Steady And Sad Process (Preserved Sound)

Dag Rosenqvist - To Not Forget (Hidden Vibes)

Kieldfel - And The Tide That Takes Us Away (Echoes In The Valley)

Hania Rani - Ghosts (Gondwana Records)

Olga Wojciechowska - Walk In My Shadow (Time Released Sound)

Matthieu Karsenti - Resilience (Slowcraft Records)

Trigg & Gusset - Ominous Clouds (Preserved Sound)

Andrew Wasylyk - The Life Of Time (Claypipe Music)

Kenneth James Gibson - Unblinded (Kompakt)

Visionary Hours - No One To Be Seen (Preserved Sound)

The Echelon Effect - Nobility In Loneliness (Good Weather For An Airstrike Remix) (Self Released)




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03

11 December 2022

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04

4 December 2022

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If you caught last weeks post [here] you'll know that this mix is a continuation from last week and sits in the sphere of electronica and ambient by my reckoning. Assigning genre tags has never been a strong suit of mine and I think constantly narrowing genres to this narrowest margins is counter productive to opening music up to people who might otherwise skip by and disregard. For me, it's much more helpful to give a general idea or feeling about a track, album or mix than the narrowest definition possible. So any disagreement on the genre tags I may use are fair and fine by me, but this is my approach and I'll stand by it.


Once more, I'm going to be a little lazy when it comes to pointing out why I'm posting weekly mixes through 2022 and just copy and paste what I posted last time around. I set out at the start of the year to post a new mix every week as a challenge to myself and also as a way to try and raise some funds for Sue Ryder, a charitable organisation that helped provide care for my Mum in her final 3 years. The hope being that if listeners enjoyed what I posted that they might find it worthy of a small donation to Sue Ryder via my Just Giving page, where they receive 100% of all funds raised. Sue Ryder provide care and a home for people in Aberdeen with extremely challenging neurological conditions like MS, MND (ALS) and Huntingtons to name a few, as well as respite and palliative care centres elsewhere in the country. All too often these services are the kind that you don't realise the importance of until you find yourself in the position of needing to use them, and sadly there is a considerable waiting list for that. Like most people and businesses, the pandemic and cost of living has had a huge impact and support is very much needed to make sure these services can continue. So, if you have listened and enjoyed any of the posts this year, please consider a small donation. Find out more on my Just Giving page, or via the Sue Ryder website.

 

As usual, I will post a linked up tracklist below the player so you can find any particular track you may want to pick up, but it also gives a chance to follow and support the artists and labels by digging a little deeper yourself, something I very much encourage and hope you will do.

 

 

Tracklist

Brian Case - DCIN (Hands In The Dark)

Karima Walker - For Heddi (Keeled Scales / Ordinal Records)

More Eaze - Better (Past Inside The Present)

Stellardome - I Don't Belong Here (Hidden Vibes)

David Cordero - El elogio de la sombra (DRONARIVM)

Cold Womb Descent - Colony Of The Remnants (Hidden Vibes)

Steve Moore - You're Making A Big Mistake (Relapse Records)

Reinis Ramans - Luminosity (Growing Bin Records)

Matthias Puech - Badalisic (Hands In The Dark)

Takashi Kokubo - Fluctuation #2 (Glossy Mistakes)

Lucy Liyou - How To Build An Automaton (Full Spectrum Records)

Porya Hatami - Restless (Tomotsugu Nakamura Remix) (DRONARIVM)

Max Würden - Exothermic Reaction (A Strangely Isolated Place)

Slow Meadow - A Light Without Flame (Self Released)

Sachi Kobayashi - Communication (Hush Hush)

Jonathan Fitoussi & Clemens Hourriere - Instants Ephemeres (Versatile Records)

 

 

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05

27 November 2022

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Not much commentary this week, just an electronica (?) mix. You can give it a label for me, I can't really get my head around the ever growing list of genres. I'd go with electronica and ambient, you might know better. This, and the next couple of mixes were originally one long mix that I've decided to cut into more consumable lengths. I might share the uncut full length mix down the line but I doubt there would be much call for it.


I can't not mention the point behind my weekly mix posting, if you don't mind I'll just copy and paste what I have written in the previous post... 

I set out at the start of the year to post a new mix every week as a challenge to myself and also as a way to try and raise some funds for Sue Ryder, a charitable organisation that helped provide care for my Mum in her final 3 years. The hope being that if listeners enjoyed what I posted that they might find it worthy of a small donation to Sue Ryder via my Just Giving page, where they receive 100% of all funds raised. Sue Ryder provide care and a home for people in Aberdeen with extremely challenging neurological conditions like MS, MND (ALS) and Huntingtons to name a few, as well as respite and palliative care centres elsewhere in the country. All too often these services are the kind that you don't realise the importance of until you find yourself in the position of needing to use them, and sadly there is a considerable waiting list for that. Like most people and businesses, the pandemic and cost of living has had a huge impact and support is very much needed to make sure these services can continue. So, if you have listened and enjoyed any of the posts this year, please consider a small donation. Find out more on my Just Giving page, or via the Sue Ryder website.

 

As always,  I try to link up the tracklist as best I can so you can support the artists and labels by buying their music. You can also use your Google machine to search for alternative sources or follow them via social media. You'll find the tracklist below.



Tracklist

A Winged Victory For The Sullen - X (Erased Tapes)

Bartosz Kruczyński & Poly Chain - Solacious (Into The Light)

Biosphere - Daphnis 26 (Biophon)

Myosotis - A Moment Illuminating Eternity (Hidden Vibes)

Jonathan Fitoussi & Clemens Hourriere - Aquedec (Obliques / Traversales Disques)

Carbon Based Lifeforms - Vakna (A Strangely Isolated Place)

Hoshiko Yamane & Mikael Lind - Reprocessed Phrases (Time Released Sound & Time Sensitive Materials)

Banabila & Machinefabriek - Sasquatch (eilean rec.)

Black Swan - Evolving Robots (Past Inside The Present)

Karamika - Ton 1 (ESP Institute)

Quiet Places - Track 6 (A Strangely Isolated Place)

Katya Yonder - Spinning Olimpia (Métron Records)

Wanderwelle - Presumed Lost (A Strangely Isolated Place)

Vhr-17 - Nuke (Eilean rec.)


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06

20 November 2022

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Dipping back into the world of 4/4 this week with a house mix. Call it house, deep house or as Beatport likes to go with organic house, go with whatever you want to call it. There are a couple of mixes that could be better thanks to some glitchy behaviour from my Traktor software but it's not bad enough to warrant the recycle bin and I'm posting it regardless.


I have to mention the purpose behind these weekly mixes that I've posted this year. I set out at the start of the year to post a new mix every week as a challenge to myself and also as a way to try and raise some funds for Sue Ryder, a charitable organisation that helped provide care for my Mum in her final 3 years. The hope being that if listeners enjoyed what I posted that they might find it worthy of a small donation to Sue Ryder via my Just Giving page, where they receive 100% of all funds raised. Sue Ryder provide care and a home for people in Aberdeen with extremely challenging neurological conditions like MS, MND (ALS) and Huntingtons to name a few, as well as respite and palliative care centres elsewhere in the country. All too often these services are the kind that you don't realise the importance of until you find yourself in the position of needing to use them, and sadly there is a considerable waiting list for that. Like most people and businesses, the pandemic and cost of living has had a huge impact and support is very much needed to make sure these services can continue. So, if you have listened and enjoyed any of the posts this year, please consider a small donation. Find out more on my Just Giving page, or via the Sue Ryder website.


As ever, you will find a linked up tracklist below the player where you can buy the tracks I've used. All Beatport links this week but I'm sure you can find them elsewhere at Juno, Bandcamp and the like.



Tracklist

Tim Green - Lune (All Day I Dream)

Amonita - Stay (Peace Symphonies)

Wassu & djimboh - Green Eye Cat (The Sound Garden)

Nomi Ruiz - Be Your Girl (Arabic Piano & Dr Feel Remix) (KID Recordings)

Sebjak & Fehlberg - Somebody (Abracadabra Music)

The Cobb - Vesna (-102 °c)

Mauro Masi & Julian Liander - Djambore (AMITABHA)

Alley SA - Sleeping Under The Stars (Bekool Records)

George X - Ourania (Amulanga)

Erdi Irmak - I Can Find ft Amego (Maty Owl Extended Remix) (When We Dip XYZ)

loan - Carosel (Nite Grooves)

Perry Farrell & The Kind Heaven Orchestra - Mend (Tim Green Remix) (Heaven After Dark)


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07

13 November 2022

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Before I started this year of mixes shenanigans I spent some time thinking about how I would approach it and how would I keep things interesting for myself as well as other people? One thought was that I'd occasionally have a mix or selection based around an artist or label that I am particularly keen on.  I did it with number 36, but it would have been quite a miss not to feature the artist 36 that week.


As the weeks have rolled on and the fact this whole project hasn't really gone as well as I had hoped I've ebbed and flowed in my enthusiasm for doing this. I let a couple of negative comments get to me and I ended up not really sticking to what I originally had been thinking about. I've decided to at least make the effort to get this one done before coming to the end of the year because it's one of, if not my most favourite label in recent times.

 

Gondwana is a mountainous and hilly region in India, it was also the name given to a massive landmass (or super-continent) around 500,000,000 years ago. It's also a label that features heavily on my record shelves. The label was set up in Manchester in 2008 by one of my favourite artists, Matthew Halsall. I could extol the qualities of this label and many of the artists that feature on it but that's kind of what the mix/selection is about. I've pulled together a small sample of some wonderful music but really it could have been hours longer with more artists, but trying to keep these selections around an hour or so, it's just a sampling of what is on offer. I would encourage you to dig deeper yourself, visit Bandcamp and Spotify (Matthew Halsall has an excellent spiritual jazz playlist he curates himself), start with Matthew Halsall's work and also look out for Hania Rani (and check this video and this one). Anyway, I hope this gives a nice taste and perhaps pulls one or two listeners to the label. As always, I will link to where you can buy the music featured below the player and will add some additional links for the label too.


This weeks cover picture is an edited photo I took in Grindelwald, Switzerland which is nestled in the heart of the alps and surrounded by the mountains of Faulhorn, Schwarzhorn, Wellhorn, Wetterhorn, Mettenberg, Schreckhorn, Lauteraarhorn, Agassizhorn, Fiescherhorn, Mönch, Eiger, Lauberhorn and Männlichen. Nearby Lauterbrunnen is said to have been inspiration for Tolkein's Rivendell in The Hobbit / Lord Of The Rings.

 

Finally, as always, I must briefly explain the purpose of these weekly mixes. At the start of 2022 I decided to try and raise some much needed funds for the excellent work done by the Sue Ryder charity by posting a weekly mix, hoping if people enjoyed what I shared they might put a small donation over (I was thinking the price of a coffee etc). The Sue Ryder organisation helped care for my Mum in her latter years and need all the help they can get. You can find a little more out and donate via my Just Giving page (100% of all money goes direct to Sue Ryder). You can also find out more digging around the blog here where I really have used the space to vent a little about the care system and the impacts of that, as well as the world in general.




Tracklist

Forgiveness - Ocean Floor

Dwight Trible ft. Matthew Halsall - Black Is The Colour Of My True Love's Hair

Matthew Halsall - Reflections

Phi-Psonics - Like Glass

Vega Trails - Train To Kyoto

Caoilfhionn Rose - Truly

Hania Rani - Come Back Home

GoGo Penguin - One Percent

Portico Quartet - With, Beside, Against

Matthew Halsall - The Temple Within

Paradise Cinema - Possible Futures

Jasmine Myra - Words Left Unspoken

Chip Wickham - Sais (Egypt)


Links for Gondwana - 

Website  //  Spotify  //  Bandcamp  //  Twitter  //  Instagram  //  Facebook  //  Youtube

 

 

 

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08

6 November 2022

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09

30 October 2022

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Seeing out October with another ambient based mix, slightly looser in the genre description than the last few mixes, this one was done with a bit of an "otherworldly" or sci-fi feeling in mind, it's up to you to decide if that fits.


As I'm approaching the end of this year and this series of mixes in an attempt to raise funds for Sue Ryder, I've already accepted that there's not much point in me carrying on beyond this. As much as I like to think I can pick a good tune and put together a mix in a way I enjoy listening to mixes, it's clearly not hitting the spot for other people in that way. I do get the odd bit of positive feedback but I'm full of self doubt and empty on confidence so I don't take praise or positivity well and more often than not I doubt whether it's genuine. That's on me, I accept that and I probably don't have the correct mindset through the longstanding and exhausting combination of depression and anxiety to be putting myself through this process, and worse if there should be some scathing criticism which isn't unknown.

 

Although I've still to switch the most recent posts over, I've changed all the players on the blog to Mixcloud and will be allowing my Soundcloud subscription to lapse, something I should have done years ago. I can't justify the cost and eventually I'll be on the free level of service for Mixcloud too which still allows all the mixes to remain online. Whether anymore get posted after this year, I don't know, but at the moment it feels pretty pointless. I just wanted to mention that because there are a small handful of regular listeners on Soundcloud that do still play older mixes quite regularly.


As ever, I try and link a tracklist below the player so you can support artists and labels if you are so inclined and of course my Just Giving page for Sue Ryder remains open and will do until they expire it.


 

Tracklist

Brian Eno - A Clearing (Editions EG) (We Are On The Fucking Moon Version) (via The Onion)
Ben Woods - Space & Time (Not On Label)
Okada + duenn - Hana To Midori To Hikari (UP-04) (Newhere Music)
Michael Stearns - In The Beginning... (Emotional Rescue)
Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres - Relent (Headphone Commute)
Lord Of The Isles - Zub (Emotional Response)
Cicely Irvine - Organ & Buchla Duet (eilean recs)
Seabuckthorn - The Observatory (eilean recs)
Karamika - Ton 2 (ESP Institute)
Billow Observatory - In A Stream (Felte)
Jo Johnson - Ancestral Footsteps (Further Records)
High Skies - Au Debut Du Voyage (Microscopics)
Anzano - Movements II (Throne Of Blood)
duenn - Hal (Past Inside The Present)
Joel Mull - Alden Plateau (Parabel)
Jonathan Fitoussi - Andromede (Further Records)
Carbon Based Lifeforms - Metrosat 4 (Leffield Records)
Findthings - Curio
A Positive Life - The Calling (Loved 'Ub Mix) (Music From Memory)


 

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10

23 October 2022

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For October I said I would be focussed on mixes that were ambient in nature. For #10 I'm pushing that boundary slightly and giving you a mix of what I think pulls together elements of ambient, neo-classical and electronica. I often struggle to pigeon hole music into a particular genre, so it may not be the best description but it's broadly there, or thereabouts.

 

Before I go further I need to put on record my thanks to my friend Matthew Foord for sharing my recent mixes and tagging others with them over on Twitter. I only occasionally tag and it's only ever artists or labels that feature in the specific mix I'm posting. I do it with the thought that if I put music out either as a producer or running a label I'd be interested to hear how they might be used. It's probably naive of me to think others would think that way but there you are, that's the thinking behind it. Generally I think I shouldn't be tagging people because who'd really want me doing that? So, I was really surprised and pleased that none other than Low Light Mixes followed me after Matthew tagging via Twitter and that led to a very big uptick in plays compared to usual and a few more followers too. I've been following Low Light Mixes for as long as I've used Mixcloud, I can't imagine how hectic notifications (and messages or tags) might get with 121,000+ followers, I'm not sure I could handle it really, but I send my thanks. Donations to the Just Giving page are no further forward but given where things are in the world that's no surprise.


Even with the positivity of the last weeks listener numbers I know that interest in the mixes I post aren't at levels they used to be, not by a long distance, and that due to the current climate there is unlikely to be any more uplift on my Just Giving page, I still need to bang the drum here. These weekly mixes are being put together and shared as a small effort on my part to raise some funds for the work done by the charity Sue Ryder. They do wonderful work for people with serious neurological conditions and helped care for my Mum during her final 3 years. Like many charities the covid pandemic caused massive shortfalls in funding for Sue Ryder and that is still having impacts now, but on top of that charitable organisations are also being hit by the cost of living impacts, particularly energy. For example, many people require equipment like specialist air beds which for people who have no choice but to spend prolonged periods in bed help prevent sores and skin breaking down. For people who can't go out because of their health will need to use more heating, power for lighting or tv's etc, not to mention other powered equipment like wheelchairs and hoists etc.

 

So, if you enjoy anything I post, and are in a position to do so, please consider a small donation to support the good work Sue Ryder does. Any donation is much appreciated and 100% of donations through my Just Giving page go to supporting their work.


 

Tracklist

Andy Rowe - Vienna, Aug 2015
Karen Vogt - I Know It Is Hard (Past Inside The Present)
Creation VI & Endless Melancholy - Winter Without Snow (Hidden Vibes)
Field Recording - Thunderstorm
Ben McElroy - Wolves Dance (Slow Music Movement)
Harry Towell & Guy Gelem - Sefad (Polar Seas Recodings)
Stefano Guzzetti - Aurora (Home Normal)
Olivia Belli - From Your Garden (Headphone Commute)
Rachel Grimes - Patsy (Instrumental) (Headphone Commute)
Ôlafur Arnalds ft Arnôr Dan - Say My Name (Late Night Tales)
Penguin Cafe - Coriolis (Erased Tapes)
Gläsbird - Greenhousing (Whitelabrecs)
Caught In The Wake Of Forever - Carousels (Archives)
Luke Howard Trio - Shame/Shame (Reprise) (Hobbledehoy)
Ryuichi Sakamoto - Aqua (from Playing Piano For The Isolated) (Ahead Of Our Time)
WW Audio - Hammersmith Morning Ambience

 

 

 

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11

16 October 2022

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Still going with the general theme of ambience and inspired music for my mixes through October and seeing as this has been put together and is being typed whilst I am still in September (the wonders of setting up scheduled posts) it's probably best I don't blether on too much.... Putler might well have nuked us by then, or perhaps he'll save himself the hassle and just leave Liz Truss to it, she's doing a good job of destroying what the other disasters have left in their wake.


In the hope that we are still here, I may as well bang the drum for my efforts to raise some much needed funds for Sue Ryder. Each mix I post every week is in the hope that listeners may enjoy what they listen to enough to feel it worth chipping in a small donation to my Just Giving page which is 100% in aid of the wonderful work done by Sue Ryder. More details can be found and donations can be made over on my Just Giving and as always, please do your bit to support the artists too, buy their work, follow their socials etc. Every little helps.


Tracklist

Roger Eno & Brian Eno - Cerulean Blue (Deutsche Grammophon)
Abstract Aprils - Playing Records On Sunday
Good Weather For An Airstrike - Two Miles Of Uncertainty (Rural Colours)
Julianna Barwick - Safe (Ninja Tune)
Alex Bober - Friendly Raindrops (Hidden Vibes)
Brambles - In The Androgynous Dark (Nest Version) (Serein)
Lauge - Pine Trees Covered In Fog (Echoes In The Valley)
MLO - Shadows Of Life & Thought (Music From Memory)
WW Audio - Deep Woodland Ambience
Mondkopf - The Call (Tigersushi Records)
Aisha Burns & Jake Woodruff - The Reservoir (Headphone Commute)
Daniel Pemberton & FSOL - Behind The Eyes (Ahead Of Our Time)
Sun Electric - Love To Love (Music From Memory)
Pawel Pruski - The Sound Of Oars (Krysalisound)

 

 

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12

9 October 2022

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Continuing with the ambient theme through the month of October, you can decide for yourself which sub-genre it comes under. The interest in these mixes I'm posting and odd occasional nice comment have dried up, not that there was much of that in the first place, but needless to say it doesn't help the aim of growing the Sue Ryder donations which is the whole point of doing this. I'm back to feeling that I should have just made the donation myself and not bothered with this because it just hasn't panned out as I hoped. Anyway, it is what it is, we are where we are...


... the photo was taken from a great hotel I stayed at in Grindelwald, Switzerland during a recent trip. This was a railway car-park that was at the rear of the hotel. The view from the front of the hotel was stunningly beautiful landscape, but there was something about the lighting and symmetry that caught my eye as I passed the window. I'll post a few pictures of Grindelwald below although they don't do it justice, if you ever get a chance to visit, or nearby Lauterbrunnen, then you absolutely should, lots to see and do.


As always, I will mention that I am posting weekly mixes in the hope I can raise a few pounds for the good work done by Sue Ryder. You can find out more and donate (any donation, large or small is much needed and appreciated) over on my Just Giving page.

Tracklist

Cat Tyson Hughes - Almonta (Past Inside The Present)
Rime Trails - Reality's Dark Dream (Not On Label)
Madloch & Subnode - Abyssal (Reprise) (Crossfade Sounds)
Jeff Bridges - Seeing With My Eyes Closed (Squarespace)
Tess Said So - One Eye Open (Preserved Sound)
Carbon Based Lifeforms - Somewhere In Russia (Leftfield Records)
Julia Kent - Spring Snow (Headphone Commute)
Biosphere - Biosphere II (Biophon)
James A. McDermid - Sepastia (Mailbox)
Thomas Newman - Horse (Late Night Tales)
Jonathan Fitoussi & Clemens Hourriere - Vague (Obliques/Traversales Disques)
Abul Mogard - Half Light Of Dawn (Ecstatic)
IKSRE - Seeds (Headphone Commute)
Agnes Obel - Stretch Your Eyes (Ambient Acapella) (Late Night Tales)
David Cordero - Isolation (Archives)
Hoshiko Yamane & Mikael Lind - Beyond The Hidden (Time Released Sound)

 

 

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Bonus photos from around Grindelwald...
 

 





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13

2 October 2022

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As we slide into October and the final quarter it's probably a good time to take stock of where things are, what's going on and share one or two thoughts. Not that I expect many people will read this, but it's quite a cathartic thing for me to do so that's why I bother for the most part - with the odd occasion where I look back and regret what I've posted. Don't we all?

 

So, where to start? Well, probably a good idea to speak about the music because that's the main point of this, isn't it? August was all about house music in one form or another, September saw me dip into the world of edits for the first time in a while and for October I intend on focussing on various shades of ambient.

 

 Ambient takes many forms, it influences other genres and evokes different feelings to each individual. What might seem quite melancholic to one could feel light and uplifting to another. I think the key point is to try and be open minded about it, as with most music really - there is a place for all tastes but most people have closed themselves off to a fairly limited palate which is a real shame. I suppose where you listen to music matters too, for example, if I'm riding my motorbike and have music playing via bluetooth into my helmet, more often than not it will be rock / blues / indie - basically guitar based music, whereas if I'm relaxing with a book or in the bath I can only listen to very mellow music, say ambient or jazz. Anyway, if this isn't your usual kind of thing, perhaps give it a try in a different setting - you might be surprised and find you enjoy it more than you'd think....  let me know if you do!

 

Since August I've been preparing mixes, blog posts and tweets in advance and scheduling them to go live automatically every Sunday at 10am - a process I'm sticking with for now. There were a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, because I haven't felt great for large parts of the year, I wanted to make sure that I had a bit of a buffer. If there was a period where I didn't feel up to putting mixes together, making covers, uploading to Soundcloud and Mixcloud, blog posts, twitter posts and updates to Just Giving, then I would be covered for a period of time where I would hopefully be able to catch up with myself. It's proved worthwhile on occasion. The other reason being that I was away on my bike for a couple of weeks and I'll likely use some of the photos taken during the trip for my mix covers and todays cover is a photo I took whilst on the Ferry from Newcastle to Netherlands. Of course, quite a lot has happened in the time since I last put a batch of mixes / posts together so I suppose, for the sake of needing to vent a little, I'll say a bit about the goings on.

 

I could speak about lots of current affairs, issue by issue, and be here typing for hours upon hours. Whether it's the death of the Queen, the ongoing situation in Ukraine, the issues in the UK around the mess created by Brexit, the financial and energy problems here and overseas the ongoing rollercoaster that is Covid 19 or the shambles that is presiding in No.10 Downing Street, I can't help feel that division is the common theme that runs throughout, and of course it runs through every aspect of society, not just the few mentioned there. Religion, class, race, gender, sexuality to more trivial things like (dare I say it) sport. We are constantly focussed on what makes us different from one another. If we constantly focus on what divides us, how can we address and solve the issues that we all face? For example, following the death of the Queen, there was a constant clashing on social media - some felt grief like they had lost a family member whilst others were elated and celebrated as if something momentous had been achieved. Back and forth people would argue, but what did any of that achieve? The thing is, everything mentioned above, and much more besides, is argued with much venom and hatred all day, every day, on multiple platforms and right around the world. Where does it get us? Does it move anything forward? Is the energy invested in that (I mean in terms of personal effort) worthwhile? I don't think so. 

 

Humanity has lost its humanity, if it ever possessed it in the first place. How does your average person contributing to pay for a royal family serve the well-being of the rest of society? Who is benefiting from the war in Ukraine, or any other war for that matter and who pays the heaviest price? Who or what stand to gain the most from Brexit and the gambling on currencies, stocks and bonds from the hedge funds? Why should big businesses have the ear of your politicians but the communities in which they serve are ignored? Who is being served when genuinely well evidenced and presented science on how to "live with Covid" is being ignored in favour of putting your fingers in your ears and burying your head in the sand? Everyone of course will have their own views and answers to all those questions, but the over-arching theme that it all comes back to is division and by being so divided we are prevented from meaningful progression. The reality is that the human race has become too large to be managed, governed, directed or guided in any meaningful way - there are too many pockets or groups pulling in their own direction and that has a knock on impact to any cohesion that might form. I don't know what the answer is, but I don't think it's having a King, moving a border a few miles one way or another while killing indiscriminately, cutting yourself off from generally well functioning political unions, believing a god will save you, believing your nation, race, gender is superior to any other or whether you vote for the red or the blue. The systems in place are not fit for purpose and until we can find a system that deals with our issues at scale, we're going to be getting nowhere fast. Having said that, what does me bumping my gums on here achieve?_ _ _ _ Exactly! The thing is, it's quite hard to not get sucked into it all, I get that and I'm guilty of falling into it at times too, though I do try to pull myself back from it on Twitter and use this place as my wee ranting ground. The beauty of that is that there is nobody else here to shout back at me.


So, having vented and let off a little steam here, back to the music. If you've been here this year, you'll know that I'm posting a new mix every week in the hope that if people enjoy the mix, they might consider a small donation to the wonderful charity Sue Ryder who helped with my Mum's care in the latter stages of her life. I don't expect there will be any more donations, given how the financial climate is, but of course, any donation is very much welcomed, and given the impact being felt by charities at the moment too, any donations are much appreciated. You can find my Just Giving page [HERE]. I'll be doing my best to get to the end of the year, still posting mixes, whether there are donations or not, just so that I can feel I held up my end.

Of course, as always, you'll find a tracklist, linked up as best as I can, below the player. If you enjoy any of the music on the mix, please support the artists / labels by buying their music, giving their socials a follow etc etc etc.


Tracklist

Christopher Franke - Electric Becomes Eclectic (Virgin)
Danny Scott Lane - One (Shimmering Mood)
Andy J Dobbs - Birds & Waves
Yui Onodera & Vadim Bondarenko - Cloudscape 1 (Serein)
Willits & Sakamoto - Completion (Ghostly International)
Rime Trails - Soothe By Silence What Words Cannot Heal (Not On Label)
Turtle - Heathland Haze (Warm)
Malibu - Held (PAN)
Soundstory - Rainstorm
Ashan - Blue Pulse (Inner Islands)
Toshi Tsuchitori - Ishiura (Abridged) (Light In The Attic)
Nest - Tides (Serein)
part-timer - A Guest (Self Released)
Mikael Lind - Piano Says Goodbye (Whitelabrecs.)
Robert Cole Rizzi - Garden Dawnchorus (via Luftrum)

 

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