DreamScenes – Part 1 (mix)
DreamScenes was originally created in 2001 for dutch radio. It consists of four one-hour parts that were broadcasted uninterrupted.
To my surprise it led to quite a few reactions, some people even listened to the the full 4 hours in one radio session.
This mix actually was the second in the series: in april 2001 the first one, called ‘Ambient Mix’ was broadcast (also 4 hours).
That one was in fact more of a ‘live mix’ (I had no good setup to pre-listen to the tracks), so I find this mix a bit too messy to publish here.
Quite a few of these mixes would follow in later years. I will gradually publish them all on this podcast weblog
I will of course publish full playlist details here too. Hope you’ll enjoy them and hope to find you here again in the future…
(Read more for Playlist Details and download link)
Finally: Podcast Possibilities!
In the past, I’ve been looking for a good platform for the ambient mixes I have created. Though the oldest these mixes are nine year sold, I think they still deserve to be heard.
Since the Folio radio show I co-compiled will be terminated in november 2009, it became obvious that public local radio is not the best place to promote ambient music.
So I finally started working on something I had in mind for a long time: a podcast featuring the ambient collages/mixes/montages I created in the past, and to host the mixes I will create in the future!
This means this weblog will proudly present ambient mixes to listen, or to download to your computer/portable player for later listening.
Apart from listening or downloading from this weblog, you can also subscribe to the podcast in your favorite player, such as iTunes.
You’ll never miss another mix, and you’ll be able to listen to it in high quality, on a time that fits you… No need to stay up late to record the radio show 🙂
More info and instructions below.
Name Change
You may have noticed the name of this weblog has changed from ‘DreamScenes’ to ‘AmbientBlog.Net’.
Nothing else has changed, all other links/locations/entries remain as they were.
The new name is, of course, the same as the starting URL: https://www.ambientblog.net.
You may want to bookmark that link if you’re interested.
Why this change?
Richart Lainhart: ‘Oraison’ (Messiaen)
Oraison, written in 1937 by Olivier Messiaen for an ensemble of Ondes Martenots (an early electronic keyboard instrument using a ribbon and a ring to change pitch), was one of the first compositions written for electronic instruments exclusively.
But that historical fact is not the only thing that makes this music so special.
There’s a very special timeless, otherworldly, alienating feeling in this composition… even after 70+ year of technological advances.
It’s the perfect blend of a strange, previously unheard instrument, and the composition especially written to use it.
Recently, Richard Lainhart transcribed Oraison for his Buchla 200e synthesizer and Haken Continuum Fingerboard controller, and has shared this performance on YouTube and Vimeo. Because of the ‘tactile’ way of playing the Haken Continuum Fingerboard, the piece retains its original, almost human voice-like feeling.
Biosphere – Wireless
There are not too may live-recordings in ambient music. With obvious reason: most of it is recorded in (home) studios and is optimized for use in private spaces and/or exhibition rooms.
The noisy live club environment is not the best place to consume ambient music.
Apart from that, ambient gigs and laptop concerts are not noted for their intense live experience. At most gigs, the performing musician might as well be checking his mail after starting the pre-recorded sequence.…the public wouldn’t really notice.
I remember watching a Biosphere live gig in Amsterdam Paradiso, way back in 2002.
Paradiso, like any club in Holland, is noted for it’s noisy crowd, chatting and twittering all through the concert. That’s the effect of having a bar INSIDE the concert hall (and of people coming to a Festival instead of devotees coming to a single concert).
Atom TM – Liedgut
If there is a link between Kraftwerk and Latin Music, it can be pin-pointed down to one man: Uwe Schmidt, aka Senor Coconut.
His CD ‘El Baile Aleman’ (2003) was full of a stunning arrangements of Kraftwerk tunes in a latin big band fashion – gotta hear it to believe it.
The music and sounds on Liedgut, recorded under the Atom TM monniker, is the complete musical opposite of this hot-blooded latin Senor Coconut sound.
Consemble Project
Quite some time ago, I wrote some entries about the fascinating concept of Generative Music: music that is different every time you play it – the missing link between recorded and live music.
SSeyo Music introduced their fascinating concept as KOAN software – a brilliant package that was released about fifteen years ahead of it’s time.
Brian Eno was on of the first to pick up on this concepts, because it fitted perfectly to his multi-CD installations.
Read more about this here and here, but be sure to get back to read on.
(Side Note: this software still exists: it’s called Noatikl now. )
So the concept of Generative Music is as fascinating as ever. Enter Parallel Music, or PMusic – (as opposed to RMusic: Recorded Music).