Here is the DIFM PsyChill radio mix for October 09 . I am hesitant to upload this to Soundcloud as I prefer to use that site just for regular PsyAmb episodes. Also, this is a rather large file so hosting on another site is probably the best idea. As this is a mix for a different site you will see various tunes in there that may have appeared on previous PsyAmb episodes.
Welcome back to PsyAmb. This week I'd like to present to you a new chillout mix download which I'm calling Nokorimono ( "Leftovers" in Japanese).
This will be an occasional journey into tunes that don't quite fit into my other mix genres ( psybient/dub/space ). Nonetheless these are great chillout tunes and deserve to be heard here on PsyAmb. Don't worry , I'm not talking cheesy MOS chillout ( Ministry Of Sound ) stuff ! If you like this mix rest assured there will be more Nokorimono mixes in the future. Probably around once every 6 weeks or so I suspect. Not sure yet.
Today we kick off with "A mountain of ice" by "Helios". A beautiful tune from a truly amazing album , "Caesura" . Check out the Type Records website for more info. A great tune to chillout with first. Highly recommended release.
Next up is an old favorite of mine "Sno Pa Hisingen - CBL remix" by "El LCD". This is a remix by Carbon Based Lifeforms and is quite a chill out classic I think. The intro always reminds me of that Chris Isaak song - Wicked Game. This is the only tune EL LCD actually released as far as I know which is a shame. Really soothing ambiance that never grows old.
Flowing on from EL LCD is "Lights" by "Leif Hatfield". This is taken from the "Iboga Records""New Entry" CD of 2002. You can hear some samples of the CD at SaikoSounds. Some really solid tunes on that CD make it still well worth picking up 7 years after release.
"Taxi Drive" by Tiya. While little might be know of Tiya there is quite a lot known of Tiya member Christof Drouillet. Christof was born in Paris, France where he founded "3D Vision". Based in Ibiza since 2004, he has been involved in the music business for quite a long time, releasing his first record back in 1988. My first exposure to Christof's music was through his trance project Transwave in the mid to late 90s. A few years later Christof turned his attention to forming the 3D Vision record label through which he released some of the greatest psytrance albums of the time. He also formed his latest solo project "Absolum" which sees him producing full on night-time psytrance. This is a cool tune , one of the best ambient music tunes around and has some humorous samples which never fail to make me smile.
Next is Drift's tune "Arc-en-Ciel". An awesome bit of the ambient psychedelic experience mixed with chill-out flavors. This comes from the "Liquid Sound Design" "Interior Horizons" CD from 1999. 10 years ! The label is a non-producing entity these days but it does have a great back catalog of significant psychedelic ambient and dub releases that you would be crazy to miss. Drift is a duo consisting of Adham Shaikh and Tim Floyd. They have made a few appearances on some "Interchill Records" compilations so far. If you like this tune then I recommend tracking down their 1996 awesome limited debut CD - maybe through Interchill. Or the at least the guys there might point you in the right direction. Here is a YouTube clip of a track from the album to wet your appetite :
After Drift we have "Cloud Theory" by Shen. I've featured Shen under the Sympath alias in previous mixes. Both are the work of Canadian Noah Pred. Do a quick search of this site to find other tunes by Noah if this one tickles your fancy.
Next up is movie music maestro Clint Mansel with the tune "Stay with Me" from the soundtrack to the movie "The Fountain". Excellent movie by the way. Well worth spending a few hours stuck on the sofa with. One of my all time best ambient tunes.
Pan Electric , whom I talked about back in episode 12 , chips in next with a sweet little slice of sublime downtempo goodness. Be sure to read up on Pan Electric's form in episode 12 - there is some great information in that episode about all the various guises and labels involved around the group.
Okay after that we have an odd little tune that from Karl Axel-Bisser called "Floating Castles". With a track name like that one might think a nod to Hendrix, yes ? Well ,actually this sounds more like a tune from some cosmic spaghetti western. Anyway, it's freakin cool ! Can be found on one the Chillosophy comps that Digital Structures put out around 8 years ago. They were really popular compilations so there is a good chance they are still available for purchase through PsyShop or SaikoSounds.
At the heels of Karl is the wonderful "Patchwork" with "Flughund". Jens Paulsen is the solo member of Patchwork and produced four really great CDs around the change of the decade. Those CDs and the label that released them , Spirit Zone Recordings, had quite an impact on the psychedelic ambient scene at the time. Jens would go onto to focus on working on art projects through a multicultural gallery in Hamburg. Spirit Zone Records on the other hand closed up shop in 2005 but not before releasing loads and loads of trance and chillout CDs including the popular "Global Psychedelic Chillout" series.
After that we have a new discovery for me in the shape of "Marconi Union" . The tune "Red Line 12AM" is real gem and the album it comes form ,"Tokyo", has shot right into my top 10 for 2009. There is a great little website about the group which you can access here. Not psychedelic per se but very, very impressive non the less. Quite a work of art mixed into ambient space.
If one was to continue on the themes of top tens and expand it out to top 10s of all time, then the CD the following tune derives from would certainly rank within mine. The KLF were a band from the British acid house movement during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Beginning in 1987, The KLF released a series of international top-ten hits on their own KLF Communications record label, and became the biggest-selling singles act in the world for 1991. Not bad for a bunch of ravers ! What is less known about the band (by the Top40 purchasing public ) is that in 1990 they released the seminal ambient house album "Chill Out" to a nation of E loving youth and everyone gladly did just that.
Portraying a mythical night-time journey up the U.S. Gulf Coast from Texas into Louisiana. The album is a continuous composition, in which sampled music (including Elvis Presley, Fleetwood Mac, Acker Bilk and Tuvan throat singers), vocal samples and sound effects are overlaid with original music including synthesizers and pedal steel guitar. Sounds interesting ? It is ! Pump this through your headphones, lie down and relax and you will be transported into a totaly new world. Bloody brilliant.
The KLF then mixes into "The Beast Man" by Etnica. Not the most brilliant of tracks but I love the Planet Of the Apes samples they use. It also gives me an excuse to extend the track further by mixing in a few minutes of an outro track I produced with further vocals from the movie.
As always thanks for listening and your warm feedback. Don't forget your can subscribe to get updates or join me on Facebook where I also post regular show updates. As a bonus I will be uploading another mix within the next day or so. This is not part of the PsyAmb series of mixes but a mix I did for DIFM's PsyChill channel. Based in New York , DIFM is the web's most popular interenet radio station for electronic music. Check them out at this link and tune into the PsyChill channel for 24 hour streaming psychedelic ambiance !
Artist - Track
01. Helios - A mountain of ice
02. El Lcd - Sno Pa Hisingen(CBL Carbonator Remix)
03. Leif Hatfield - Lights (Electric Mix)
04. Tiya - Taxi Drive
05. Drift - Arc-en-Ciel
06. Shen - Cloud Theory
07. Clint Mansell/Kronos Quartet/Mogwai - Stay With Me
08. Pan Electric - Always A Way Back Up
09. Karl-Axel Bissler - Floating Castles
10. Patchwork - Flughund
11. Marconi Union - Red Line 12am
12. KLF - Elvis on the Radio, Steel Guitar in My Soul
13. Etnica - The Beast Man
14. Ninjin ( PsyAmb ) - Tri 14 Area
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Just finished watching Forbidden Planet - one of the top psychedelic movies so I'm feeling pretty mellow and therefore it's 'ambient dub time' again on PsyAmb with a selection of bass-heavy psychedelically tinged tunes. Things kick off with Krill.Minima's "Kroned Dub" from the excellent "Bioluminescence" CD on Native State Records. Native State have some amazing releases and I recommend checking them out if are yet to do so. NSR was founded by Evan Marc ( aka Bluetech ) and has a few other side labels.There is a wealth of great tunes behind the doors at NSR. Next up is Shen ( aka Noah Pred ) out of Canada with a smooth flowing construct of of dubby glitch. Noah has quite a few aliases and is constantly busy producing and remixing. He has some awesome mixes available for download on his website.
The Cord track up third in the mix comes from "Midnight Soul Dive" , a CD I was addicted to for ages. It's full of solid tunes that have been perfectly selected and arranged. One of the finest ambient dub compilation albums ever IMHO. Check out Aleph Zero records for more info on that one and plenty of other excellent CDs like "Natural Born Chillers 2" compilation released earlier this year.
Veterans of the electronic dub scense, Sounds from the Ground follow up next with a great tune from their "BrightWhiteLight" albumn of this year. SFTG have been producing since the early 90s or there about I think. They do tend to branch out into other electronic genres rather than remain firmly in the dub scene. However everything they do is solid so they are well worth following.
Speaking of veterans of dub, up next is Greg Hunter , a man who has had perhaps as much influence on the psychedelic ambient music scene as anyone I can think of. Held in the highest of esteem by producers world wide , Greg has been involved in some of the most important albums in the scene over that last 20 years. Born in 1965 and brought up in West London, Greg Hunter started making music at the age of nineteen. Whilst working as a young studio engineer at Steve Levine's studio he met the Orb with whom he then went on to work with for several years. Greg's work with the Orb lead to collaborations with artists such as Paul McCartney, Crowded House, Killing Joke, Youth and Juno Reactor. In the past I would often find his name credited in production for loads of groups as well as being involved as a member of groups like Dub Trees , Alien Soap Opera, DMT ( Digital Mystery Tour , not the Shpongle DTM song ) , Kreg ( that Microwave track is awesome ! ) and Subsufing. I could go on forever here so I recommend checking out his Discogs catalog to see just what a huge amount of work he has been involved in over the years. The track in this mix is from his latest album titled "Metasurfing" which you can download at his website and support him via a donation. Top ambient dub artist.
Next we have Green Lemon with the cruisy "Rauchy Stranger". I love the guitar work in this tune - very easy and breezy. This is followed up by Majan with a tune from the "Natural Born Chillers 2" compilation - a very solid compilation that is firmly in my top 10 for this year. Then we have a bit of a tune from the archive with Nomads of Dub and their classic hit "Spirals". Such a shame this was the only song they ever made. Simon Posford and Nick Barber - that was a combo with amazing potential. Actually, come to think of it, they did made one other track but under the name of Purple Om which is also amazing but apart from that I think that was all for the pairing. Both tracks can be found on Liquid Dub Vol 7 ( no , there is no liquid dub Vol 1-6 ! ).
At number 10 is Orthonorma with "Queen of Midnight" from his 2008 CD "Time 2 Wait". Smooth and subtle basslines in this one - quite the couch locker. Rouding out the mix we have "Message from Bob" by the almighty bass god Ott ! Vlastur smashes your resonating particles with "Biz Dub" - so funkin cool. Lovin his CD this year. Warp Technique's "Wonderland" provides us with a cheeky little number which as my podcasting friend from the U.K would say "slips down a treat". Finally we round things of with the Ram Dass and Kriece tune "Thoughts" which you can pickup from the friendly folk's at Waveform HQ.
Phew , my fingers could do with a rest after all that. If you have managed to stay with me long enough through all of that then all I can say is thanks for your patience and lets get on with the ambient dub show.
Cheers ...
Artist - Track
01. Krill.Minima - Kronen Dab
02. Shen - Jagiya
03. Cord - Zodiac
04. Sounds from the Ground - Under the Sun
05. Greg Hunter - Grains Of Light
06. Gaudi & Tripswitch - Subdown
07. Green Lemon Feat. Bernd Langer - Rauchy Stranger
08. Majan - Explore It
09. Nomads Of Dub - Spirals
10. Orthonorma - Queen of Midnight
11. Ott - Signals from Bob
12. Vlastur - Biz Dub
13. Warp Technique - Wonderland
14. Ram Dass and Kriece - Thoughts
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Welcome back to PsyAmb. This week I have a spacey ambient mix for you all. Lots of deep pads, driving bass and ethereal atmospheres. There is even a track I did myself in there somewhere !! One artist who I really should have featured much earlier in my mixes is Kilowatts ( aka James Watts ). You can hear one of his tunes in today's mix but I highly recommend checking out some of his CD's. Excellent stuff.
don't have a lot of info on him but I do remember picking up my first Kilowatts album , "Ground State", a few years ago in 2007 and being instantly hooked. This led me to getting hold of a few older EP's. A new CD is now available called "Undercurrent". Released in August of this year it is limited to a 777 copies worldwide so I'm not sure of the current availability. Anyway, grab it if you can as it's an excellent interpretation of the ways melodies can evolve. Or, in KW's own words:
"From a larger perspective, I felt that the search for these melodies was similar to unearthing subconscious archetypes that drive reality"
Right on ! So Lets get on with today's mix. Enjoy the tunes and as always feel free to get back to me with any comments,requests etc.
Welcome back to the PsyAmb psychedelic music downloads podcast.
Q : What do Green Nuns of The Revolution, Tufáan, Elemental Journey and Pan Electric all have in common ?
A: Matt Coldrick
Matt has been involved in some of the most groundbreaking acts in the psychedelic trance and ambient world for over 10 years now. As part of the three man act Green Nuns of the Revolution, Matt and his partners Dick Trevor and Neil Cowley (Brand New Heavies) quickly shot to the pinnacle of the psytrance scene and were in high demand on the festival circuit world wide. Their debut full player "Rock Bitch Mafia" still rates in many DJ's top 10 lists of all time and it's no wonder why. Truly a classic piece of production that makes me smile today , some 12 years after it's release.
Dick and Matt also teamed up with Andy Smith to form the group Tufáan and released a few great 12 inches in the mid 90's. The next time I ran across Matt's work was some years later when in 2001 his first solo album , "Music For A Busy Head", was launched. This was as far away from the maddening hectic funky psy of GNOTR as anyone could hope to get. As a solo artist Matt was now following a very ambient path. Once again however the production values and emotion that GNOTR put into every track could been seen all throughout "Music For A Busy Head" and it immediately won over many listeners and gained Matt a very dedicated ambient listener following.
Later Matt would team up with Matt Hillier of ISHQ fame to form Elemental Journey and release an album through Coldrick's own label Absolute Ambient. This is also a really fantastic album that I highly recommend to everyone who likes deep, lush ambient sounds. It would be a few years before Matt would be heard of again when in 2007, under the name of Pan Electric, which he had used years earlier on Flying Rhino's Caribbean Eclipse comp ( great album btw ! ) , Matt released "Conscious Pilot" - one of the most amazing ambient albums of all time in my opinion. Perfect listening for a day lying at the beach , strolling through a park or generally enjoying all nature has to offer. Late last year another collaboration with Matt Hillier saw the release of "About Time" , once again on Absolute Ambient. A bit of a departure from their previous collaboration, it introduced some minimal beats to quite a few of the tracks but it works , it really works !
Check out Matt's website for more info and news of upcoming psybient music releases. Well that's about it for today. Bit of a varied mix this week with some classic oldies in there like the Cosmosis and I.S.T tracks. None the less I think they work well alongside some more current tunes.
