My second mix tape for you all. I’ve gone for the dark haun­ting lullaby-noise theme that cele­bra­tes both the fear and won­der of the night. I let loose some of the sca­rier tracks in this, so be warned.

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.

Inde­pen­dent Cul­ture — My new music and movie recom­men­da­tions website.

Taken from my latest article:

A few weeks ago, in the cold reces­ses of Decem­ber, I attemp­ted to mimic that mid­night Xela pre­mise. Spo­ra­dic and fra­grant vocals nee­ded to inter­min­gle with astute jazz, dis­quie­ting per­cus­sion loops and loose piano the­mes. I nee­ded to pur­vey frus­tra­tion, heart ache and con­fu­sion amongst nos­tal­gia and flir­ting hope.

“It’s night time and I’m in the moment, but it’s ending”

01. Arve Hen­rik­sen — Pro­ces­sion Pas­sing
Album: Saku­teiki, Label: Rune Gram­mo­fon
The album is a wor­king tri­bute to Japa­nese cul­ture and the sound of the sha­kuhachi. Stark other-worldly roman­ti­cism gives the per­fect introduction.

02. Super­si­lent — 4.1
Album: 4, Label: Rune Gram­mo­fon
A per­fect com­pli­ment to Henriksen’s uni­que modus ope­randi. Dying jazz oppo­ses flit­ting cine­ma­tic mys­tery and abra­sive per­cus­sion to form a jarring yet inti­mate storm.

03. Bon­nie ‘Prince’ Billy — I See a Dark­ness
Album: I see a dark­ness, Label: Palace
The storm is pas­sing, but its devas­ta­tion has only just been rea­li­zed. A dark hymn with thinly laye­red gui­tar pro­vi­des a cogi­ta­tive com­men­tary. A brief resur­gence and an echoing cry for help.

04. Ale­jan­dra and Aeron — Jua­nita, King Chime and Flo­rida Flash Flood
Album: Bousha Blue Bla­zes, Label: Orth­lorng Musork
This haun­tingly expec­tant fusion of atmosphe­ric piano and deli­cate elec­tro­nics obser­ves a des­ti­tute rea­lism with the nai­vety of a child.

05. The Gentle Waves — Part­ner in Crime
Album: Swang­song for you, Label: Jeeps­ter
“Part­ner in Crime” is the con­so­ling bed­time story that acts to rein­sure yet spi­rals dan­ge­rously away into a cold despondency.

06. Múm — We have a Map of the Piano
Album: Finally we are no one, Label: Fat Cat
True hope comes with the war­ming mor­ning sun and there is momen­tary rest bite. Warm synthe­si­zer chords and glitch-beats offer tranquility.

07. Ale­jan­dra and Aeron — Hum­ming Radio Caro Cariño
Album: Bousha Blue Bla­zes, Label: Orth­lorng Musork
At the boun­da­ries of folk there is a clan­des­tine pri­vacy that is effort­lessly caught by this song. This family recor­ding bids opti­mism and nos­tal­gia with a fra­gile air of uncer­tainty. Soft Spa­nish words with recu­rring acous­tics and gui­tar bequeath frail rem­nants of life.

08. Alva Noto & Ryuichi Saka­moto – Duoon
Album: Vrioon, Label: Ras­ter Noton
Cres­cen­dos of high fre­quency throbs pierce the ears whilst rhythm evol­ves from life­less sta­tic, a lone piano acts as a guide through this harsh soundscape.

09. Nick Lar­son — Aviva Pas­to­ral
Album: Palin­dro­mes sound­track,
The piano con­ti­nues on in this rare track that con­torts young vocal inno­cence into a tool of luring pas­sion and tres­pas­sing guilt, vir­tues of youth are achingly spoi­led by melancholy.

10. Nils Økland — Blond Blå
Album: Bris, Label: Rune Gram­mo­fon
Stan­ding and power­ful strings rever­be­rate a las­ting regret that leads natu­rally onto a self-reflection that for­bids forgiveness.

11. Ms. John Soda – Tech­ni­co­lor
Album: No P. or D., Label: Morr Music
Through a union of sur­fa­cing elec­tro­nic tech­ni­ques and clas­si­cal the­mes this is har­mo­nic pop with a dif­fe­rence. An unbrid­led fresh­ness brings cheer­ful­ness amongst the surroun­ding repres­sion, a fit­ting pause in the proceedings.

12. Fen­nesz – Tran­sit
Album: Venice, Label: Touch
The eyes of ancestry watch as an apo­calyp­tic tech­no­lo­gi­cal future looms; flic­ke­ring noise and pul­ses beau­ti­fully drown a wist­ful voice that betrays its past. “Say your goodb­yes to Europe […] follow me”

13. Phi­lip Jeck – Pax
Album: Stoke, Label: Touch
Eerie loops com­pli­ment war­ped vocals to croon the rising moon. An air of unea­si­ness builds with each pas­sing repe­ti­tion clim­bing towards a night time awkwardness.

14. Paa­voharju — Valo Tih­kuu Kai­ken Läpi
Album: Yhä hämärää, Label: Fonal
A sere­na­ding elec­tro­nic lullaby regur­gi­ta­tes faith and ends the mix with com­for­ting reas­su­rance that everything will be alright in the end.