We have all suc­cum­bed to the exqui­site reso­nance of divine melody and rhythm and we have each reve­lled in its poig­nant effects. There is an unde­nia­ble calm­ness when smooth sinuous vocals meld with gra­ce­ful ensem­ble, a benign com­fort if you will. An equally power­ful and sup­po­sed oppo­site coe­xists. Dis­cor­dant beats that follow no recog­ni­sa­ble out­line force a men­tal agi­ta­tion. Hesi­tant underl­ying noise pro­vi­des an aural bat­te­ring that the brain endea­vours yet ulti­ma­tely fails to inter­pret. Now envi­sage a fault­less amal­ga­ma­tion of these two dis­si­mi­lar the­mes, an oxy­mo­ro­nic proposition?

I was intro­du­ced to a mix tape entit­led “Lis­ten with Xela” in August 2004. Xela, also known as John Twells, may be like­ned to the elec­tro­nic mas­ter­minds Four Tet and Fen­nesz. Boom­kat, an English inde­pen­dent music spe­cia­list issued this album as part of their ongoing mix collec­tion, gar­nished as follows:

“An out of focus world of modi­fied sympho­nies, alien sound­tracks and smo­key jazz base­ments […] — for late night love­li­ness, the selec­tion just doesn’t get any better……or more inspired.”

This was my first expe­rience of “dis­so­nant euphony”. I had dis­co­ve­red music that could utterly horrify me before effort­lessly brin­ging me to sere­nity. “Lis­ten with Xela” mer­ges the fear of the night with the won­der of the stars and remains an unsur­pas­sed mid­night soundtrack.

Time to say so long, it won’t be too long. Good Night

• 1.edward arte­miev — sola­ris part i (bach) (toei music)
• 2.carbon fra­me­work — krane (unreleased)
• 3.night of the living dead OST — dri­ve­way to the ceme­tary (varese saraband)
• 4.goblin — jane mirror theme (dagored)
• 5.goodiepal — flap nip­per main (skipp)
• 6.midaircondo — sere­nade (type)
• 7.kenji kawai — the ring (pony canyon)
• 8.julee cruise — up in fla­mes (war­ner bros.)
• 9.max rich­ter — ico­no­graphy (fatcat)
• 10.angelo bade­la­menti — gene­ri­que : mar­ce­llo (philips)
• 11.susanna and the magi­cal orches­tra — sweet devil (rune grammofon)
• 12.doris day — time to say goodnight
• 13.philip jeck — who­le­some (touch)
• 14.akira rabe­lais — buciu­meana (ritornell)
• 15.angelo bada­la­menti — mulho­lland drive (milan)
• 16.signer — night is blu­rred (involve/carpark)
• 17.julien neto — one (type)
• 18.svarte grei­ner — radar sound (unreleased)
• 19.fennesz — tran­sit (with david syl­vian) (touch)
• 20.carter bur­well — fargo, north dakota (tvt)
• 21.susumu yokota — lapus lazuli (leaf)
• 22.john car­pen­ter — dark star (varese)
• 23.porn sword tobacco — pinkys (city cen­tre offices)
• 24.cocteau twins — otter­ley (4ad)
• 25.david lynch and peter ivers — in hea­ven (lady in the radia­tor song) (IRS)
• 26.goldmund — sola­ris part i. (bach) (unreleased)

I dearly wish for this to come back into print.