Rejoice ! The Orb have a brand spanking new album out soon. So I thought it might be worth revisiting where it all started for me with The Orb and that is back in 1990 with the release of their now classic track "Little Fluffy Clouds". For me this track was a major influence in my appreciation of chillout music.

It bridged the gap between the pure ambient music and baggy Manchester pop I had been listening to at the time. I was young and The Orb seemed to me to be the epitome of all things cool, riding a wave of their own creation. I grabbed my board and began to paddle.

A lot has been written about this track over the years. This is due to it's contentious use of samples at a time when sampling was still somewhat of a gray area.

The release of Little Fluffy Clouds involved a settlement case and  royalties paid to other artists whose material The Orb made use of ( the track is pretty much entirely sample based ! ). 

One of the best articles about LFCs is the following one uploaded by Sound On Sound writer Richard Buskin as part of SOS's "Classic Tracks" collection ( hours of great reading by the way ) in August of 2011. So read on to find out how The Orb constructed this extraordinary tune.

The Orb — Martin ‘Youth’ Glover’ (left) and Dr Alex Paterson as they were when photographed for SOS in 1993. Photo: The Ferrari Brothers

Papadosio is a live five piece electronic rock jam band for the modern era. Think Ozric Tentacles mixed with a bit more modern electronica and heavier grooves. They are steadily gaining a large dedicated fan base from their home in Athens OH and are now spreading around the US and the world via online social networks such as twitter and their Facebook page.

I ran across the group by chance on YouTube where I discovered a rather cool cover version they do of Shpongle's "Divine Moments Of Truth" ( see below ) . On their website they have a full tour schedule and a number of albums you can download for free too ! Check em out - you wont be disappointed. Oh, there is a also this Archive.Org page of some life recordings which you can download and listen to as well.

Today's mix is a spacey ambient mix with a number of dynamite tunes from some recent 2012 releases by Sync24 [ Daniel Segerstad né Ringström] and Solar Fields. It's great to see Sync24's new CD "Comfortable Void" doing so well on the ambient charts. It has been a long time coming for a new solo album from Daniel since the previous "Source" CD and the new one is a truly astonishing release. For the last few years Daniel has been busy producing music as part of the ambient trance duo Carbon Based Lifeforms.

I must say you can definitely hear similarities between recent CBL work and Daniel's latest album. However there is just enough diversity in the tracks to make it stand alone as a independent piece of art. While CBL albums have great stand alone tracks, "Comfortable Void" plays out best as an album to be listened to and appreciated from start to finish.

We begin today with a tune from Californian Mystical Sun [ Richard Plom ]. Richard has been making ambient music from his studio for over the past 20 years and has released around four albums to date. His music is best described as celestial, cinematic, and thought provoking. From a very young age Richard started to circuit bend toys and other household items into musical instruments and recorded the output by overdubbing between tape decks.  Along with these early electronic experiments he studied and mastered the guitar before later transferring his interests to analog synthesizers and computer based sound production by developing his own sequencers and software instruments. I think that this dedication to creating new sounds and devices is what makes his music always sound fresh and engrossing.

Next up are two songs from the previously mentioned new Sync24 album "Comfortable Void". Realistically I could have chosen any song from the album to play in this mix as they are all just that good. So if you enjoy those spacey ambient sounds that Ultimae Records are known for then check out the album on the UR website or follow the above link to Daniel's own website.

Following those tracks we have a tune from A.I.A [ Ambient Intelligence Application ] off the "Materia Musica" compilation CD on Ajana Records in 2008. A.I.A is an ambient project from Greece comprised of the two brothers Konstantinos and Nassos Kousiros. I haven't heard much from them since the release of their debut album "Physical Moments" back in 2009. Ajana Records have also been a bit quite after a number of excellent releases since 2005 from artists like Capsula, Khooman, Chronos & C.J. Catalizer and Objekt4. Let's hope we don't have to wait too much longer for some more exceptional music from this quality label.

After A.I.A is a track from John Rigas aka Alwoods. This track can be found on John's album "Aeolian Mode". One of my favorite albums of 2011, Aeloian Mode is an superb release and one of the very few quality chillgressive ( chill progressive ) albums available to date. It certainly is a niche genre and one I would like to see grow more. Apart from John I would also recommend the album "Through Other Glasses" by GMO vs. Dense if you like the slow progressive trance sounds.

After Alwoods is a number of Ultimae records artists with some older tunes from Aes Dana and H.U.V.A Network ( aka Aes Dana and Solar Fields ). I wonder if we will ever see another H.U.V.A Network album again ? The two released so far are absolute epics ! These tracks are followed by two picks from the latest Solar Field album "Random Friday" which was released in April this year. With his latest release Solar Fields has gone for a more upbeat tempo into the progressive trance side of things. There are still plenty of ambient atmospheres there and the quality of production is still up to the high standards you can always expect from a SF release. Great album !

Next is a a tune from Russian Astronaut Ape [ Oleg Belousoff ]. This track can be found on the compilation "Everything is Possible" by Trimurti Records. A real treat of a compilation with some fantastic cover art by the amazing surrealist Adrian Borda. Trimurti also released the refreshingly different "Crystal Forest" by "Super Special" which I also recommend for something a little spicy.  We finish today with a nice atmospheric track from Carbon Based Lifeforms' "Interloper" album. Another excellent Ultimae Records release.

Well that about wraps it all up for this week. Hope you enjoy listening to this ambient trance mix. I also hope you are all enjoying the summer trance festival circuit for you listeners in the northern hemisphere. There are some huge shows coming up that look to have awesome chillout, dub and psybient stages so pack your sleeping bag and hit the road. At the top of the list would have to be the Ozora festival which runs from the 7th to 12 of August in Hungary. Check this for a chillout stage lineup :


And that's just the more well known chillout acts !!

Here is the tracklisting for this week's mix :

Track / Artist

• 01. Place Of Refuge  -  Mystical Sun
• 02. Nanites  -  Sync24
• 03. Something Something  -  Sync24    
• 04. Signals & Systems  -  A.I.A
• 05. Natural Calling  -  Alwoods    
• 06. Aftermath #05  -  Aes Dana    
• 07. Antimatter [Post]  -  Aes Dana
• 08. Orientations  -  H.U.V.A. Network
• 09. Landing Party  -  Solar Fields
• 10. Light Control  -  Solar Fields
• 11. Universalis  -  Astronaut Ape
• 12. Polyrytmi  -  Carbon Based Lifeforms

Play Now : option 1

Mix is now available via Soundclound. Press play button to listen or select the download icon ( right side of player ) to download as an MP3. First 100 downloaders only !

Play Now : option 2

> You might also like this chillout mix - psyamb30

"How do I mix ambient music ?" is a question that listeners here often ask so I thought it might be useful to explain the way I do things on this blog. Mixing ambient music is not exactly rocket science however creating a mix that people will want to listen to again and again, well that come from your experience of the genre and your love for the music.

Mixing can be child's play

Unlike techno or trance music, there is no need for knowledge of beat matching when it comes to creating a great chillout or ambient mix. There are a number of ways to go about mixing your favorite ambient tunes including vinyl decks, cd mixers and laptops/pcs with some mp3 mixing software. Heck I've even seen a guy perform an amazing mix, live, using two Sony Walkmans ( the tape versions !! ) and another get great sounds from mixing with two Nintendo GameBoys. So there are no hard rules, just choose what fits your style and budget. My preferred method and the one I use to create the mixes on this site is to use a laptop with mp3 mixing software and a few other programs to assist in production. So let's take a look at the process from the seed to the tree.