Almost 10 years ago, I made a mix inspired by late-period Talk Talk and the Mark Hollis solo album that followed, called Watershed. I’ve made a sequel to that mix, called Headlands. I hope you enjoy it. Happy Epiphany to you all. Rest in peace, Mark Hollis.

1. Jonny Nash – Shell
2. Blake Mills – My Dear One
3. Modern Nature – Flourish
4. Klimek – For Mark Hollis and Giancinto Scelsi
5. Olivia Block – The Hermit’s Peak
6. Dawn Richard & Spencer Dawn – Indigo/Vantablack
7. Between – Paused
8. Loma – Thorn
9. Tape – Feeler
10. Clarissa Connelly – Into This, Called Loneliness
11. Steve Jansen & Richard Barbieri – Mother London
12. Sarah McLachlan – Ice
13. Szun Waves – Constellation
14. Mark Trecka – A Sea of Tents
15. I Heart Lung – Interoceans I (Upswelling)
16. Piotr Kurek – Maybe Life
17. Purple Pilgrims – Delphiniums in Harmony: Two Worlds Away
18. Stephan Mathieu & David Sylvian – Saffron Laudanum
19. David Sylvian – The Boy with The Gun
20. Girls in Airports – Cabin
21. Held by Trees – In the Trees
22. Westerman – Your Hero Is Not Dead

(91 min)

The concept behind this mix was very simple and concrete in my head, but hard for me to articulate coherently for whatever reason. Here’s some ways I tried: “organic futurism” “rainforest cyborg” “greenhouse A.I.”… uh hopefully one of those makes sense. Anyway here it is, enjoy!

1. Visible Cloaks – Lex
2. Raime – Some Things Can Happen Just Like This
3. Isomov – Origin, Emergence, and The One
4. Björk ft. Kelis – Oceania (remix)
5. Kenji Kawai – Making of Cyborg
6. Leif – Borage
7. Celestial Trax – Peace
8. 猫 シ Corp. & t e l e p a t h – Building a Better World
9. Laurie Anderson – O Superman (For Massenet)
10. Motion Graphics – Vistabrick
11. Nuage – Prints of You (Ital Tek remix)
12. Lockah x Taste Tester – U Don’t Know Me (Slick Shoota remix)
13. Kara Lis Coverdale and LXV – Buffering Landscape
14. Barker – Hedonic Treadmill
15. Topdown Dialectic – A1
16. Deena Abdelwahed – Tawa (M.E.S.H. remix)
17. James Bangura – AllTheGirls
18. Endless Mow – Possession Chamber
19. CYPHR – Brace
20. 猫 シ Corp. – Eden Transit
21. FKA Twigs – Fallen Alien
22. Suda – Idiopath
23. Vessel – Paplu (Love That Moves the Sun)
24. Dog & Fox – Who Gets The Cows?

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This is the third Halloween mix by Scholastics, the follow-up to The Shadows Are A Mercy and Lies are Cheaper than Thrills, but departs from the horror disco & synthwave template of those two mixes for a sound that’s a bit noisier.

1. Phoenix Chorale – Ola Gjeilo: Serenity (O Mangum Mysterium)
2. John Luther Adams – Inuksuit Part IV
3. Puce Mary – To Possess Is To Be In Control
4. SHCCHCHCHCXSH – Shudududu
5. Deena Abdelwahed – Fdhiha
6. Austra – Beat and the Pulse
7. 33.10.3402 – (100 Drone Passive Scape)
8. Äisha Devi – Dislocation of the Alpha
9. Dis Fig – Purge
10. Paul Jebanasam – Rites II
11. Richard Skelton – Rapture
12. Fever Ray – Red Trails
13. Villages – Temper of the Age
14. Hyph11e & Sharon Stewart – Speak to Me
15. Bliss Signal – Bliss Signal
16. Holly Herndon – Eternal

Listen Now!

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Scholastics – Marginalia № 5

1. David Wenngren & Christopher Bissonnette – Their Hunted Expression
2. Gailes – Requiem for an Airport Television Newsreader
3. Gregg Kowalsky – Maliblue Dream Sequence
4. Christina Vantzou – And Instantly Take Effect
5. Bing & Ruth – What Ash It Flow Up
6. Nested – What A Beautiful World This Will Be…
7. Julia Holter – Boy In The Moon
8. Biosphere – You Want To See It Too
9. Kelly Moran – In Parallel
10. Joanna Brouk – Aurora
11. Dirty Beaches – Stateless
12. Rafael Anton Irisarri – Karma Krama
13. Warren Defever and Johnny Evans – Infinity Mirror
+ Jóhann Jóhannsson – The Beast
15. Bethan Kellough – Vision
16. Dedekind Cut – Hollow Earth
17. Lawrence English – Negative Drone
18. Nils Frahm – Said and Done
19. Claire M. Singer – Solas
20. Mario Batkovic – Quatere

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Marginalia № 4 by Scholastics

1. Lusine – Two Dots (Pezzner remix)
2. Sasha – Cassette Sessions E (Rival Consoles remix)
3. Roy Blues – Pyramid
4. Jonas Rathsman – Wolfsbane
5. Tunnelvisions – Umai’s Dance
6. Pale Blue – You Stopped Dying
7. Kink – Chorus
8. Kelly Lee Owens – cbm
9. The Cyclist – Ripples Through The Ice
10. Jimpster – Burning Up
11. Toto Chiavetta – Analog Suite II
12. Quarion – Monolith
13. Portable Sunsets – Straylight (Dave DK Remix)
14. Pleasure Model – Calmstone On Sea
15. Gonno – Are Are You Asleep
16. Boris Dlugosch + Cassara – Traveller

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Scholastics – Marginalia № 3

1. Argoman – Chimicalissimo
2. Affkt – San Diego
3. Todd Terje – Ragysh
4. Roland Tings – Who U Love (12″ version)
5. Ara Koufax – Natural States
6. Leno Lovecraft – Princess (Yan Wagner remix)
7. Bufi & La Royale – Watch Out
8. NTEIBENT and Stella – A State Nearby
9. Dr. Packer – I Feel Acid
10. Wolfram – Automatic Dub
11. Zombies In Miami – Hipodromo
12. Todd Terje – Spiral
13. Diskjokke – 1987
14. Lindstrøm – Closing Shot
15. Ichisan – Automatik
16. Genius of Time – Juno Jam
17. Lime – I Don’t Wanna Lose You
18. Klapto – Mister Game (Alden Tyrell Vocal Remix)
19. Casco – Cybernetic Love

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Marginalia No. 2
1. Tourist – Tonight
2. Björk – Pagan Poetry (acapella)
3. Symmetry – Magic Gardens
4. Saint Cava – Forget (Scholatics Reprise Edit)
5. Havenaire – Brute Camp
6. Merely – Limestone Corridor
7. White Sea – Cannibal Love (School of Seven Bells Remix)
8. Hundred Waters – Murmurs (Brandt Brauer Frick Remix)
9. Cuushe – Daze (Populous Remix)
10. Markus Guentner – Chrom
11. Olan Mills – Intestinal Flora
12. Irah – Fast Travelling
13. Cortney Tidwell – Palace (Michel Cleis Its Too Late Remix)
14. + Rival Consoles – Looming
15. Fort Romeau – IKB
16. Forest Swords – The Highest Flood
17. Lowly – Deer Eyes
18. Blonde Redhead – Top Ranking
19. Still Corners – Dreamhorse

ambient, electronic, dream pop, downtempo

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This is the sequel to 2013’s Wakanda Astronautics and Space Agency, and follows a Wakandan world ship through a wormhole and into uncharted reaches of deep space and beyond. Like its predecessor, WASA II is half footwork/juke and half other stuff, but everywhere focused on rhythms. Turn on your subwoofer.

Scholastics – Wakanda Astronautics and Space Agency II: The Other Side of Time

Interlude (Slight Return)
1. Alice Coltrane – The Firebird
2. Eve Ewing – I Come From the Fire City
3. Mark de Clive-Lowe ft. Nia Andrews – The Why
4. DJ Paypal – Why
5. London Afrobeat Collective – Ole (iZem Remix)

V. The Bridge
6. Dengue Dengue Dengue! – Murdah
7. DJ Rashad – Drop Juke Out
8. Pedestrian – Ndizi
9. 7th Sense & Aku – PowDee
10. Jo Def – Static Juke
11. DJ Mastercard – In The Dark
12. DJ Taye ft. DJ Earl – Go 2 Sleep
13. Paveun – Get Up
14. Submerse – Trip
15. Steve Spacek – If U Wan 2 Find Me (Scholastics Sunset Edit)

VI. Uncharted Reaches
16. Mansa 91 – Chuku (Stas remix)
17. Branko (ft. Okmalumkoolkat & Lewis CanCut) – Whole Night
18. Rudeboyz – Space Walk
19. WxT – Bat Walk Mix
20. Tanzania Soundsystem – Msichana
21. Ploy – Sala One Five
22. Innov Gnawa – Toura Toura (Mr. Assister’s Assisted Version)
23. 10 Foot Ballerina – Sogoni Kalimba (Traumer’s Long Vision Remix)
24. Auntie Flo ft. Shingai – Su La (In Love Version)

VII. Cusp
25. Mark Ernestus Ndagga Rhythm Force – Lamb Ji
26. Populous – Vu
27. Motin – Selva
28. CYPHR – Wetware
29. MM – 9th Ritual
30. TSVI – The Healer
31. Dombresky – Utopia (4B)
32. Daniel Haaksman – Sembene (2Pekes Remix)
33. Missy Elliot – Work It (King Kong Goes Duro Remix)
34. Clap! Clap! – Camo

VIII. A Planet All Their Own
35. Los & Swisha ft. Kush Jones – Maku
36. Rattraps – Bugged Out (Robustt Remix)
37. FVLCRVM & Monophobe – Tape Me
38. LSWR – Sleepwalkers
39. Gunjack – The Way U Treat Me
40. Deft – Perky
41. B-Ju & Yunis – Guelb Ou Dem
42. Simpig – Midnight Spleen
43. Zora Jones & JLin – Dark Matter
44. Jlin – Nandi
45. Kelis – Runnin’ (Machinedrum Remix)
46. Jessy Lanza – It Means I Love You

This is the first in a new series of mixes. The general idea is to be a little more free than the Live for the Library series, which turned out to be pretty house-focused.

1. Tafi All Stars – Outside Rhythm
2. Red Axes – Me And Abra In Ruanda
3. C.P.I. – Sacrifice to Venus
4. Freddy Spins – Journey to Middle Earth
5. Khidja – Mustafa (Timothy J. Fairplay Remix)
6. Rabo & Snob ft. Soma – Yawumma
7. Waffles – Uriah
8. Chilly – For Your Love (Psychemagik Edit)
9. Boot & Tax – Le Ripeterete Abbarbicando
10. Mutsumi – Look Down At Your Feet Below
11. Autarkic – Violence
12. Roman Flügel – Sliced Africa
13. Tears For Fears – Head over Heels (Talamanca System Tribal Persuasion Remix)
14. Fever Ray – Mama’s Hand
15. Konvex & The Shadow – Sources
16. Bird of Paradise – Muscle Touch Ban
17. Global Communication – Maiden Voyage (Ripperton Edit)
18. – Zaya (Perdu Edit)
19. Talking Heads – This Must Be The Place (Patrice Bäumel Edit)

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The last Lampshade mix of 2017 is also the final volume in the Live from the Library series. It’s afrohouse.

1. Haloed – Human
2. Batongo – Aguirre (Mano Le Tough Remix)
3. Manoo, Raoul K, Ahmed Sosso – Toukan (Dixon Rework)
4. Skinnerbox – Gender (Auntie Flo’s Marimba Jam)
5. Hugh Masekela – Don’t Go Lose It Baby (Benedikt Frey Reinterpretation)
6. Elias – Coyote
7. Frankey & Sandrino – Wega
8. Mulya – Marvin
9. Brigado Crew & Crisstiano – Zulu (Om)
10. SMD – Cruel Intentions (Space Cave 12″ mix)
11. Ultrademon – Goonchie Blunch
12. MMat & Asio – Don’t Leave Me To Me (Deadbeat’s Bird Migration dub)
13. Ian O’Brien – Spirits
14. Penya – Acelere (Jose Marquez Instrumental)
15. Marcus Worgull & Frank Wiedemann – Muwekma
16. &ME – The Rapture
17. Portishead – Roads (Him Self Her Remix)
18. Mabiisi – Baakoya (Armonica Remix)
19. Radiohead – The Butcher

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The sequel to Lies Are Cheaper Than Thrills.

1. Felicia Atkinson – Valis
2. Steve Moore – Intro & Credits
3. Rafael Anton Irisarri – Fear And Trembling
4. Fever Ray – If I Had A Heart (Live In Lulea)
5. Makeup And Vanity Set – Ono Sendai
6. Protector 101 – Vision
7. Lost Years – Snakebite
8. Priest – Waiting For The End To Come
9. Sinoia Caves – Run Program: Sentionauts
10. Curses – Another View (The Golden Filter reversion)
11. Cant – Too Late, Too Far
12. Antoni Maiovvi – My Moon
13. I Speak Machine – Shame
14. Ubre Blanca – The Sadist
15. Zombies In Miami – Shadows
16. Zombie Zombie – What’s Happening In The City
17. Alessandro Parisi – Azot Et Ignis (Vercetti Technicolor’s Rod Of Asclepius Remix)
18. Soho Rezanejad – Closing Title
19. Bat For Lashes – What’s A Girl To Do?

Listen Now!

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1. Siavash Amini – Dusk
2. Seahawks – Islands (Mike Simonetti Remix)
3. Cubicolor – Down The Wall
4. Pional – In Another Room (Reduxed)
5. Khidja – Looki (Africane 808 Live Dub)
6. Von Party – Cobra Kush (Peter Power Remix)
7. Pollyester – Voices (Baris K Remix)
8. Nicola Cruz – Espiritu De Proteccion
9. The Field – No. No… (John Tejada Mix)
10. Golden Mean – Resonance
11. Kauf – When You’re Out
12. Grace Jones – Williams Blood (Aeroplane Remix)

60 min. Recorded live.

1. Todd Terje – Snooze 4 Love (Luke Abbott Remix)
2. The Ancient Moons – Vermillion (Agoria Remix)
3. Zeké Africa – Dr. Ctrl
4. Leon – Bloosh (Zeb Zito Remix)
5. Courtney Tidwell – Palace (Michel Cleis Its Too Late Remix)
6. Lane 8 ft. Lulu James – Loving You (Moon Boots Remix)
7. Cain – Nagan
8. &Me – Cape Coast
9. Awanto 3 – Su What?
10. Dave DK – Halma
11. Solomon Grey – Twilight (John Monkman Remix)
12. Usio – Arobaini Na Nne
13. Sasha – Vapour Trails (Kiasmos Remix)
14. Roman Flügel – Verschiebung 1
15. Kuniyuki – Shout (12″ version)
16. Lee Burridge ft. Junior – Lingala
17. Jonas Friedlich – Thuesdub
18. Nina Simone – The Ballad of Hollis Brown (Super Flu ReDings)
19. Ed Davenport – Kuromaku
20. Floorplan – Never Grow Old

70 min. Recorded live.

A fall-oween mixtape for 2016.

1. Aaron Roche – Giganova
2. Akron/Family – I’ll Be On The Water
3. Castanets – No Voice Was Raised
4. Danielson – Jokin’ At The Block (Dymaxion remix)
5. Vapor Lanes – Mary
6. Aperture Science Psychoacoustics Laboratory – Music of the Spheres [Portal 2 Soundtrack]
7. Broken Spindles – Matte
8. Blank Banshee – XENOS
9. Back the the Future the Ride – Jubilee of the Inflatable Diamond
10. Michael Andrews – The Tangent Universe [Donnie Darko Soundtrack]
11. Moon Racer – Song of the Mogwai

From Ore I Labored You is at once crisp and dreamy, nestled halfway between an arid autumn and a sharp winter. It’s full of small, delicate moments which are rendered grand by the intimacy with which they are viewed, a drama in miniature that grows in scale as it draws itself to its full height. When the crescendo comes, you will be ready.

1. Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – I Ain’t Got Nobody (And Nobody Cares for Me)
2. Badly Drawn Boy – Shining
3. Moondog – Lament I (Bird’s Lament)
4. Golden Fable – Sugarloaf
5. Bitchin Bajas – Sun City
6. gh0sthack – Chiba City Blues
7. Disasterpeace – Adventure
8. joshua davison with the origin of the cosmos ensemble – Zayre Petites
9. Lightning Bug – A Sunlit Room
10. Yo La Tengo – Little Eyes
11. R23X – X. Airship 飛空艇
12. (Mr.) Twin Sister – Meet the Frownies
13. Zbigniew Preisner – Leaving The Docks (from The Secret Garden soundtrack)
14. Florence + The Machine – How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (Demo)
15. Bruno Coulais – The Hand (from the Coraline soundtrack)
16. The Decemberists – The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid
17. Zbigniew Preisner – Craven Leaves (from The Secret Garden soundtrack)

With Watershed, Scholastics mines the effects left on the universe by late-period Talk Talk. Gorgeous and haunting, this delicately-structured mix is dense with sounds that evoke feelings and ideas that may have been lying dormant. I’m not saying this might make you cry or anything, but, you know. It might make you cry. Or laugh. Or sigh. Best taken with warm tea, a blanket, and a puzzle.

Like a lot of people on the internet, I was enamored with Mad Max Fury Road from the moment the film started. Elements of it crawled up into my brain and began leeching weird feelings, all shiny and chrome, into my body. Weirdly enough, this mix, its name an obscure reference to an in-show video game from Steven Universe, existed in some sort of proto-form before Fury Road came out. Only now, bathed in fire, can its true destiny shine forth.

Tracklist:

1. Tom Holkenborg – Survive (from the Mad Max Fury Road soundtrack)
2. Dylan Ettinger – Life Power Church (Fourth Dimension)
3. Fuck Buttons – Brainfreeze
4. Zao – Alive is Dead
5. Amon Tobin – Shut Down
6. C4AM95 – Starlight on the Barrow Downs
7. Cibo Matto – Black Hole Sun
8. Isis – Weight (Fennesz)
9. Rafter – Coldness of Space
10. HEALTH – Die Slow
11. MrSolidSnake745’s Floppy Drive Orchestra – Airwolf Theme
12. Fang Island – Daisy
13. Maserati – Pyramid of the Moon
14. Julianna Barwick – Look Into Your Own Mind
15. Holy Fuck – Stay Lit

The long delayed 4th edition of what’s become a series rooted in house music. For this one, I wanted something rawer, freer, more organic, groovier, jazzier, less mannered, less atmospheric, less melancholy.

Summer’s starting and the heat is permeating further than just the temperature. Let Scholastics cool you down.

SIDE A
1. Shur-i-kan – Jazz Club
2. Fouk – Cat Lady
3. Motor City Drum Ensemble – Raw Cuts #5
4. Ishmael – Want You
5. Kez YM – Amplified Soul
6. Axel Boman – Hello
7. George the Poet vs. Bodhi – My City
8. DaniÎl Leseman – On The Fritz
9. JTRP – You And Me (Glenn Astro Remix)
10. Forget Me Not – Everything But Love

SIDE B
11. Tim Vit·, Oliver Gehrmann & Xaver Hirsch – Blessed Munchkin
12. Floating Points – Shark Chase
13. Midland – Checkbob
14. Ninetoes – Finder
15. Auntie Flo – Hey, Don’t Make Trouble
16. The Carter Bros – Loving You Is Easy
17. Session Victim – Random House
18. HNNY – Trummor
19. Joschka Seibt & Dj Mettigel – Ziguener Art
20. Max Graef – Bummse
21. Wilfred Giroux – Stronger

We start off season 2 of LAMPSHADE with a haunting and gripping edition of the Live from the Library series. Scholastics has compiled a selection of tunes to prove that a group of disparate songs, played in sequence, can move you beyond in a dance-floor sense. We’re here, in the 21st century. ‘Remix culture’ is old hat at this point. So, is a mixtape a work of art? Can it make you feel anger? Suffering? Hope?

1. Claude Speeed – Tiger Woods
2. Efdemin – America
3. Plastikman – EXpand (Tale of Us Remix)
4. Alex Smoke – Ruction (Dub)
5. Alba – Knokke (Cliques Remix)
6. Vincenzo ft. Minako – Just Like Heaven (Dave DK Remix)
7. Ryo Murakami – Contagion
8. Lucy – Laws and Habits (Milton Bradley Remix)
9. Somne – Millennium (Alternate Mix)
10. Lory D – grn_HF
11. Moderat – Bad Kingdom (DJ Koze Remix)
12. Flight Facilities – Two Bodies (HNNY Remix)
13. Vimes – Celestial (Gardens of God Remix)
14. Rival Consoles – Think Tank
15. Levon Vincent – Black Arm w/Wolf
16. Joy Wellboy – Before The Sunrise (Dixon Remix)

Listen now!

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Moon Cities takes you to outer space and inner space, playing Pied Piper with a mix that’s by turns hazy and sharp, woozy and swaggering. You won’t know where you are or how you got there, but you’ll be happy to be there.

1. The Bobby Fuller Four – Let Her Dance
2. Richard Swift – Laugh It Up
3. Half Cousin – The Absentee (Fujiya & Miyagi Remix)
4. Wilco – Whole Love
5. The War on Drugs – Best Night
6. Devendra Banhart – Seahorse
7. Damien Jurado – Nothing is the News
8. Starflyer 59 – Sound on Sound
9. Metric – Monster Hospital
10. Sleigh Bells – Demons
11. Pepe Deluxe – The Storm
12. Zammuto – F U C-3PO
13. Bear in Heaven – The Reflection of You
14. Jesse Ruins – Dream Analysis
15. M.I.A. – Space
16. ∆®¥ \/\/∆®|\|∆∆® – ΠΠΔⓀΞ (Daft Punk cover)
17. Beat Culture – Belong (ft. Stefaloo)
18. Korallreven – Sa Sa Samoa
19. Rostam – Wood 9-27 B

Listen now!

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Live from the Library V is an oncoming storm. It begins with the oppressive atmosphere of a low pressure system rolling in as the sun sets, and never loses that low ceiling of melancholy. It takes a few tracks for the rhythm of the rainfall to take hold, softly and hesitantly at first and later driving and relentless. There are occasional moments where the melancholy lets up and the stars peek through the clouds, and it’s those moments of starshowers where Scholastics allows the emotional weight of such a storm to drench you.

1. From The Mouth of The Sun – Like Shadows In An Empty Cathedral
2. Pilotpriest – Intruder
3. Villages – Slow Aging
4. CLOSE – My Way feat. Joe Dukie (Tanner Ross & Slow Hands Remix)
5. Flight Facilities – With You (David August Remix)
6. Gidge – You
7. Cocolores – Inside
8. Alex Burkat – Shower Scene
9. 1977 – Dab Dis
10. James Holden – Blackpool Late Eighties
11. Low Jack – Punta
12. Al Gobi – A Cup of Tea
13. Maribou State – Moon Circles
14. Dauwd – Lydia
15. Rihanna – Stay (Marius Hˆrsturz Remix)
16. Joakim – Labyrinth (Junior Boys Remix)
17. Steve Reich – Nagoya Marimba (HNNY edit)
18. Crazy P – Beatbox (Debukas remix)
19. Fort Romeau – Together
20. En – A Dying Sun/Return to Holyoke
21. High Aura’d – La Chasse-Galerie
22. Henry Saiz & Pional – Uroboros

Listen now!

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Sylvan Summer Spectre, Moon Cities’ long-awaited proper follow-up to Golden Ghost Forest, has arrived in its proper timing, on the fall equinox. Like the mix it follows, it’s full of perfect, moody segues that move fluidly and unselfconsciously between genres without being showy, distracting or disturbing the spell it carefully weaves. The mix lies in that hazy, bittersweet place between seasons, between anticipation and anxiety, and embued with an uneasy, uncomfortable joy. It wouldn’t be right to call it nostalgic, because it’s about what’s happening right now, right here, on the cusp that is every moment. It’s about embracing life in all of its glorious uncertainty, about the low swampy places and the swift sunrises. A bold and brave mix. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

1. Damien Jurado & Richard Swift – Hello Sunshine (Relatively Clean Rivers cover)
2. Phosphorescent – Sun’s Arising (A Koan, An Exit)
3. Mount Eerie – I Hold Nothing
4. Shugo Tokumaru – Sun Lips (Black Moth Super Rainbow Cover)
5. Aivi & Surasshu – Dad Museum (from Steven Universe)
6. Holly Waxwing – silktails for isabel
7. Moby – My Weakness
8. Shane Carruth – A Low and Distant Sound Gradually Swelling and Increasing (from Upstream Color)
9. jj – Beautiful Life
10. Here We Go Magic – How Do I Know
11. Viva Voce – The Lucky Ones
12. The Sandals – Theme from The Endless Summer
13. The Go! Team – We Listen Everyday

Listen now!

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The first volume of Moon Cities’ live mix series is here, and it’s a slab of amped up, genre-agnostic electronic dance music. His mixing’s got a raw immediacy to it that’s thrilling – my favorite moment is when a the bassline from a significantly sped up “You’re Nasty” slams down over Daft Punk’s acidic french house, in sync but a beat ahead. It’s the kind of thing that could make a dance floor explode – or make your car ride that much more exciting. Music to vanquish to.

1. Aperture Science Psychoacoustics Laboratory – Science is Fun (Portal 2 Soundtrack)
2. Factory Floor – Here Again
3. Daft Punk – Indo Silver Club
4. The 2 Bears – You’re Nasty
5. Young Galaxy – Pretty Boy
6. Lo-Fi-Fnk – Taking U 4 Granted (produced by FRIENDZONE)
7. La Roux – Bulletproof
8. Calvin Harris ft. Ne-Yo – Let’s Go (Wild Boyz! Remix)
9. MSTRKRFT – Beards Again
10. Out Hud – Dad, There’s a Little Phrase Called Too Much Information
11. Erlend Øye – The Athelete

Listen Now!

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A proper tribute to Frankie Knuckles, Live from the Library, Volume 3 starts meditatively and never loosens its grasp on that emotional thread, even while delicately punching its way up to a workout. It’s pure house and pure heart that crescendos into a classic, often leaving you breathless with tears—or stars, or both—in your eyes.

1. Kyle Bobby Dunn – Kotylak
2. Simon James Phillips – Poul
3. Christian Loffler – Notes
4. Bob Moses – Interloper
5. Isaac Tichauer – Questions
6. David August – Epikur
7. Stimming – Buxton Pipes (k civ edit)
8. Leon Vynehall – Be Brave, Clench Fists
9. Wanklemut – My Head Is A Jungle (MK Remix)
10. Drumtalk – Time
11. Fiona Apple – Every Single Night (Its Overture Remix)
12. Ame – Junggesellenmaschine
13. Voices from the Lake – Sentiero
14. Vincenzo, Language – Merry Go Round (Axel Boman Mix)
15. Slove – Flash (Panchanga Boys Remix)
16. Max Cooper (ft. Braids) – Automaton
17. Jamie Principle & Frankie Knuckles – Your Love

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“Feels”, that piece of post-Tumblr Millenial slang, is as much misunderstood as it is derided. But let’s get to that later. Pure Feels (the name chosen as a homage of the iconic Pure Moods compilation) draws from ambient music, not the genre proper, but the music that was going on while other things were happening. Music from Dreamcast and N64, the sounds of spas and suburban malls, elevators and hold lines. It might seem strange that that songs so influenced by background music, music essentially designed to be ignored, are invested with such sincere emotion. And that’s part of the reason why stuff like vaporware is assumed to have been made with a hefty amount or irony. But that’s not it at all  The whole thing is soaked in the nostalgia of those times. Those feelings of comfort, of control, of limitlessness, of certainty, of prosperity, are as tied to the 90s as they are to childhood for people of a certain age. Using the word “feels” as a noun may seem at first like childish artifice, but it’s inarticulateness is the point. It’s an emotion that can’t be named, but only felt, deep and inchoate. That’s the vein Moon Cities has tapped into on Pure Feels. This is the New New Age.

1. Sega Saturn – NTSC Boot
2. Vektroid – YR HEART
3. Macintosh Plus – ECCOと悪寒ダイビング
4. USF – Kneepads
5. Meishi Smile – Summer Blue
6. Pastel Ghost – Dark Beach
7. Clams Casino – Wizard
8. Rivka – Gone
9. Friendzone – Poly
10. Saint Pepsi – Mr. Wonderful
11. Miami Vice – Climate Control
12. Classixx – A Fax From the Beach
13. Anamanaguchi – U n ME
14. Jim Guthrie – Cabin Music
15. Balún – El Medio Contenido
16. Chalkboards – ta på jakken din
17. Teen Daze – I Fell into the Light
18. Kosumo Notto – Desperation Move
19. aivi & surasshu – The Hill (from Steven Universe)
20. Lullatone – Finding a Leaf in your Girlfriend’s Hair

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Just in time for summer, Moon Cities’ Direct from the Caribbean is a warm breeze of tropical mood music. It starts in a sort of woozy 60s California nostalgia, but quickly becomes blissfully unmoored from both time and space, effortlessly leaping across decades and international borders alike. Just as its fraternal twin Direct from the Islands was made on location in Hawaii, Direct from the Caribbean was assembled on location on a Caribbean cruise, and still bears the distinct aroma of saltwater and sand. Grab your sunscreen and pour whatever you’re gonna drink into a coconut – this is music for a jetsetter equipped with a time machine.

1. The Avalanches – Pablo’s Cruise
2. Disneyland – Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me)
3. Lord Kitchener – Love in the Cemetery
4. Harry Belafonte – Jump in the Line
5. Django Reinhardt – Brazil
6. Monster Rally – Baja Samba
7. Dimitri from Paris – Le Moogy Reggae
8. Fantastic Plastic Machine – Pura Saudade (Nova Bossa Nova)
9. Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 – The Frog
10. Esquivel – Cumana
11. Sven Libaek – Open Sea Theme
12. Belasco’s Orchestra – Blow Wind Blow
13. Franco & Le TPOK Jazz – Tcha tcha tcha de mi amor
14. Tommy McCook & The Supersonics – Reggae Merengue
15. The Little Mermaid – Kiss the Girl
16. The Paragons – On the Beach

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Scholastics has taken the feeling of existential dread that can be experienced at 4 am in a dead town and has transmuted it into an hour and a half of chills-up-your-spine bone-rattle music. A spiritual cousin to Golden Ghost Forest.

1. Rachel’s – Cypress Branches
2. Castanets – Into The Night
3. Scott Tuma – Red Roses For Me
4. Other Lives – Dust Bowl III
5. The Archivist – Street Night Om
6. His Name Is Alive – Send Me A Dragonfly
7. Tom Carter & Christian Kiefer – Hard Time Killing Floor Blues
8. Woven Hand – Animalitos (Ain’t No Sunshine)
9. Antic Clay – Broken Throat Blues
10. Carla Bozulich – Drowned To The Light
11. DM Stith – Creekmouth
12. Secret Pyramid – Depths
13. The Gentleman Losers – Wind In Black Trees
14. Evan Caminiti – Night Of The Archon
15. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Moving On
16. Liz Janes & Create! – All The Pretty Horses
17. Jay Munly – Dar He Drone
18. Jonny Greenwood – Open Spaces
19. TG Olson – I
20. Calla – The Swarm
21. Jasper, TX – In All Your Blinding Lights
22. Zoe Keating – Seven League Boots
23. Pausal – Topography
24. Grizzly Bear – Colorado

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The third in the ongoing Chapter of Seas ambient mixtape series ventures out into deepier, choppier waters. But the brutality of the opening third gives way to an ocean of celestial drone. Salvation is reserved for those who endure.

Tracklist:

1. Superstorms – Part 1
2. RxRy – Cetus
3. therefore – Free Soundtrack
4. Seth Nehil – Grave
5. ISIS – Hym (Thomas Koner Remix)
6. Infinite Body – Out To Where I Am
7. Kid606 – Dandy
8. Fridge – Cutup Piano and Xylophone
9. Golden Poultry Error – It’s Raining Fingers
10. Keith Fullerton Whitman – Stereo Music for Yamaha Disklavier Prototype, Electric Guitar and Computer
11. Secret Pyramid – A Descent
12. Antonymes – Strange Light
13. Abiotha – Distant Ghostly Citadels

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The second mix in the Live from the Library series is a lot brighter and more sprightly than the first. It’s also about 15 minutes longer, clocking in at just over an hour.

Scholastics – Live from the Library, Volume Two
1. Philip Jeck and Jacob Kirkegaard – Soaked Pt. 7
2. Tim Hecker – Spring Heeled Jack Flies Tonight
3. Coma – Raindrops
4. Tomson & Benedict – Switch
5. Cesar Merveille & Ryan Crosson – Orca
6. Softwar – One Day (Detroit Swindle Remix)
7. Ciara & Justin Timberlake – Love, Sex, Magic (Bodhi Remix)
8. Rainer Weichhold – Memories of a Child
9. The Beach Boys – Good Vibrations (Vamos Art Edit)
10. BeyoncÈ – Grown Woman
11. Emmanuel Jal – Kuar (Olof Dreijer Remix)
12. Tale of Us – Another Earth
13. Art of Noise – Moments in Love (Theatre of Delays Remix)
14. Argy Feat. Bajka – Upon Ourselves (Osunlade Stripped Mix)
15. X0 – No Scrubs
16. Final DJs – Feel Your Breath

genre tags: ambient, minimal, house, pop

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I’m a man who loves Christmas music. I’m also a hardline no-Christmas-until-after-Thanksgiving seasonal separator. So the few weeks between Christmas and the new year are filled with wall-to-wall Christmas music for me. Over the years, I’ve amassed quite a collection, and I’ve become something of a connoisseur of original Christmas songs. A good Christmas song has elements of classic Motown, strings, bells, and balances the continuum of joyous and sacred. The lyrics can’t be too generic or cheesy. Sufjan Stevens excels at this—there’s one of his tracks on here, and some tracks from his friends and cronies, as well as 19 other Christmassy tracks that will make you feel right at home for the holidays even if you’ve never heard them before.

1. George & Jonathan – The Best Christmas
2. Joy Electric – Lollipop Parade (On Christmas Morn)
3. xmas movie soundtrack – Boxing Day
4. I Was A King – Over Mountains
5. Candy Claws – Snow Face
6. Monster Rally – Christmas in Dreamland (Santa’s Hula)
7. Half-Handed Cloud – Öh, It’s Christmastime Again
8. Via Vegrandis – Christmas Date
9. Starflyer 59 – A Holiday Song
10. Los Campesinos! – A Doe To A Deer
11. Parenthetical Girls – Rejoice! Rejoice!
12. DM Stith – I Stay Still
13. Sufjan Stevens – Jupiter Winter
14. Create (!) – Hymn for St. John of Shanghai
15. Aaron Roche – the the the snow
16. Ash Reiter – Christmas in California
17. The Rosebuds – Thru That Door
18. Firebreather – Peppermint Delight
19. Coconut Records – It’s Christmas
20. Rosie Thomas – Why Can’t It Be Christmastime All Year

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As much as I love doing heavily plotted, extensively planned concept mixes, they take me a pretty long time to do. And I haven’t had as much free time on my hands recently, so I’m starting the Live from the Library series. The concept of this series is there isn’t a concept – I play music from my library that sounds good together. Here I play connect the dots a little before settling into a deep house groove that’s both moody and ebullient. I hope you enjoy it. (40 min).

Scholastics – Live from the Library: Volume One
1. Philip Glass – Video Dream/New Cities in Ancient Lands, C
2. Tom Trago – Avenido
3. Kanye West – Love Lockdown
4. Nick Nikolov – Come Down
5. Disclosure – My Intention Is War! (Fig ii)
6. Jakkin Rabbit – Jakkin Jill
7. Status IV – You Ain’t Really Down (Jazzanova’s Hey Baby Remix)
8. Safeword – Be The Light
9. Octo Octa – Please Don’t Leave
10. Lopazz and Casio Casino – I Feel Love (Pt. 2)

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This started as a Halloween mix and transmogrified into more of a Fall-oween mix, it seems. It’s not so much spooky and ghosty (though there is that) as much as it is music for cold, windy nights, full of moonlight and magic.

1. Tim DeLaughter – Pink Trash Dream [Thumbsucker]
2. Zulma Yugar – El Trasnochador
3. Monster Rally – Ribbons
4. George Bruns – Jungle Beat [Jungle Book]
5. Candy Claws – Night Ela (Mystic Thing)
6. Helado Negro – Dance Ghost
7. Balún – El Medio Contenido
8. Beach House – Lazuli
9. Datahowler – Weight of Dreams (Preface)
10. Mellow – Multithing [CQ]
11. Blind Slime – Dark Vibrations (In The Sky)
12. The Clientele – Graven Wood
13. Frankie Rose – Moon In My Mind
14. Air – Ghost Song [The Virgin Suicides]
15. Bat for Lashes – What’s A Girl To Do?
16. Ombre – Cara Falsa
17. Michael Andrews – Waltz in the Fourth Dimension [Donnie Darko]
18. J. Tillman – Crosswinds
19. Shigeru Umebayashi – Bamboo Forest [House of Flying Daggers]
20. The Mountain Goats – Tyler Lambert’s Grave
21. Clogs – I Used To Do
22. Jim Guthrie – Like a Lake
23. Damien Jurado – Cloudy Shoes

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I started playing this in the car and my two-year-old son said “Scary music!” but when I asked him if he wanted me to turn it off, he said no. Scholastics has put together a little over half an hour of Halloween slasher music that uses synthesizers instead of knives.

1. Makeup and Vanity Set – A Prologue
2. Glass Candy – Redheads Feel More Pain
3. Umberto – Temple Room
4. Xinobi – (I Hate The Sound Of) Guitars
5. Gatekeeper – Visitor
6. Gatekeeper – Bog
7. Zombie Zombie – I’m Afraid of What’s There
8. ZOMBI – Slow Oscillations
9. Tangerine Dream – Betrayal
10. Padded Cell – City of Lies
11. Cliff Martinez – Skull Crushing
12. Royksopp – Happy Up Here (Boys Noize Remix)
13. Gesaffelstein – Viol

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Halloween 2012 (mark 2) by Moon Cities

Here’s a redone version of last year’s Halloween mix tape. It’s spooooooooky!

Tracklist:

1. The Revival Hour – Hold Back
2. M83 – In the Cold I’m Standing
3. Spoon – The Ghost of You Lingers (Daytrotter version)
4. Dead Man’s Bones – My Body’s a Zombie for You
5. Jookabox – You Cried Me
6. Sufjan Stevens – They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhh!
7. Yo Gabba Gabba – It’s Halloween
8. Monster Rally – Beach at Night
9. RJD2 – The Horror
10. Keith Ruggiero – Horror
11. Do They Know It’s Hallowe’en (Cadence Weapon Remix)
12. Perturbator – Nightmare Interlude
13. Clip of Doctor Orpheus’ Speech from “A Very Venture Halloween”

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The second in what has become an ongoing series of collaborative ambient mixes between Scholastics and Moon Cities. The unsaid theme of this one was for more “organic” sounds. We <3 you, Hearts of Space.

1. Serifs – There Is an Inaudible Roar Underneath All Things
2. Arp – The Rising Sun
3. Balmorhea – Winter Circle
4. Geotic – Sleep and We’ll Transition
5. Les Halles – Few Of Us, 1986
6. His Name Is Alive – Everglades National Park
7. Monument XIII – Ice
8. Kosumo Notto – Begin New Game
9. Teenage Reverb – Variables
10. Yume Bitsu – Surface I
11. Juliana Barwick – Labryrinthine
12. Teen Daze – Garden 2
13. Lullatone – Wake Up Wake Up
14. Julia Holter – Hello Stranger
15. Tim Hecker – Whitecaps of White Noise II

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I was gonna write a big thing about this, but I think the thing speaks for itself. Dancing about architecture, etc. Three things you need to know:

1. Wakanda is a fictional African country from the Marvel Universe. The mix follows W.A.S.A. from its tribal origins to deep space.
2. Afrofuturism is an aesthetic that combines science fiction with African mythos and fantasy. Think Sun Ra albums, Octavia Butler books, Basquiat paintings, and even Janelle Monáe.
3. This mix is designed around bass and drums. Bring subs or don’t bother.

I’m pretty pleased with how this turned out, weaving together genres into a cohesive, narrative whole.

Prologue
27. Sun Ra – Space Is The Place

I. Origins & Resolution
1. Douster – King Of Africa
2. Romare – The Blues (It Began In Africa)
3. Todd Edwards – Shall Go
4. Clap! Clap! – Please Mother Rain Wash Our Souls From Human Evil
5. Mpese Mpese Band – Mpese Mpese Theme (DrumTalk remix)
6. Frankie Francis – Ca Ca Ye (Frankie Francis Edit)

II. Research & Development
7. Clap! Clap! – Hold On (feat. LSWR)
8. Numa Crew – Tuff Africa
9. Golden Teacher – Sweat Bath With Saturn
10. Schlachthofbronx – Ayoba (Instrumental)
11. KU BO – Lem Lem feat. Sara
12. L D R U – The Tropics

III. Up from the Gravity Well
13. African Head Charge – Dervish Chant
14. Manni Dee & Deft – This One, The Art of the Possible
15. Cut Hands – Brown Brown
16. WILDLIFE! – Hear Dat (feat Toddla T)
17. Margaret Antwood – BodyWorks (Jukular War REWERK)
18. Digi – Ivory
19. Romare – I Wanna Go (Turn Back)

IV. In Deep Space
20. Bonobo – Eyesdown (Machinedrum Remix)
21. iTAL tEK – Solar Sail
22. Africa Hitech – Out In The Streets
23. Batida – Alegria (Octa Push Remix)
24. Salva – Komodo
25. Bobby Tank – Gurrl U Know
26. DJ Paypal – Why

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An ambient collaborative mix. We both grew up hugely inspired by long-running “slow music” NPR show Hearts of Space. The Chapter of Seas series of mixes are our tribute to Hearts of Space and ambient music in general.

1. Murcof – Cosmos I

2. Oneohtrix Point Never – Where Does Time Go

3. Stellardrone – Eternity

4. Cluster & Eno – Steinsame

5. Back to the Future the Ride – Glaciers of Molten Gold

6. Stars of the Lid – A Meaningful Moment Through a Meaning(less) Process

7. Polmo Polpo – Farewell

8. Sean McCann – Stone Ilex

9. John Luther Adams – The Farthest Place

10. I Heart Lung – Interoceans I (Upwelling)

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A cassette style mix of timeless cool summer evening jams.

1. The New Pornographers – Failsafe

2. Damien Jurado – Caskets

3. The M’s – Big Sound

4. DM Stith – Suzanne (Randy Newman cover)

5. Here We Go Magic – Tunnelvision

6. Citay – Final Fantasy

7. Les Paul & Mary Ford – The World is Waiting for the Sunrise

8. Capitol K – Pillow

9. Richard Swift – Lady Luck

10. Bill Withers – Sweet Wanomi

11. The Beastie Boys – Ricky’s Theme

12. Cotton Jones – Blood Red Sentimental Blues

13. Blue Giant – Target Heart

14. Harry Nilsson – Many Rivers to Cross

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This is a mix designed around gospel house music. Although there’s a lot of the wonderful soulful vocal house sound that’s associated with that phrase, it draws from other traditions in house music as well, dipping into 90s deep house and bass-influenced house music. I tried to create a narrative not just out of the sound and pacing, but out of the lyrical content, loosely mirroring the rhythms of a church service in the black charismatic tradition. Next to 30000 is the New 8, this is probably the most personal mix I’ve done. I hope you enjoy all 93 minutes of it!

1. Barbara Tucker – I Get Lifted (Goto Church Mix)
2. Restless Soul – Call Him (ft. Lady Alma) (Deep Dub Mix)
3. Djrum – Arcana (Do I Need You)
4. 4th Measure Men – Given (MK Dub)
5. Ricardo Baez – The Language of Heaven
6. Dj Oji & Una – We Lift Our Voice In The Sanctuary (95 North Vocal Mix)
7. DJ Spen & Robert Owens – A Greater Love (12 Inch Mix)
8. Todd Terje – Strandbar (Samba Version)
9. Paki Palmieri – Words of Pray (Club Mix)
10. Floorplan – We Magnify His Name
11. Disclosure – When A Fire Starts to Burn (Scholastics Throwdown Dub)
12. Breach & T. Williams – And Than We (Scholastics Edit)
13. Stefano Ritteri – Let Us Pray (Jaymo & Andy George’s 96 Refix)
14. Urban Soul, DJ Roland Clark – You Get Me Lifted (Tony Loreto Remix)
15. Deep City Soul – We All Fall Down (Guy Robin Vocal Mix)
16. Kenny Bobien & Dennis Ferrer – Grateful
17. Aaron Ross ft. Natasha Watts – Time to Shine (Muthafunkaz Soul Time Mix)
18. Dennis Ferrer ft. Danil Wright – Church Lady (MF Remix)
19. Namy, Josh Milan – From Now On (Dj Spen & N’Dinga Gaba Remix)
20. Stephanie Cooke – I Thank You (Shelter DJ Mix)

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Inspired by the BBC Radio One Essential mix, this is a wide-ranging 2 hour dance mix designed to work in your headphones or on a dance floor.  It starts off with some weaponized pop sugar, but quickly becomes more complicated, blending together afrobeat, nu-disco, rap, post-punk, and deep house with a pulsing four on the floor beat. The whole thing is head and shoulders above any mix I’ve made, but the closing section, which starts with Williams’ cover of Love On A Real Train, contains perhaps the best and most inspired mixing I’ve done to date.

1. Joy Electric – Roolundria II [Plastiq Musiq]

2. MRTN – Slow (Final DJs Remix) [Top Billin]

3. Dragonette – Pick Up the Phone (Arithmatix! Remix) [Self Released]

4. Anna Lunoe & Touch Sensitive  – Real Talk [Future Classic]

5. Pilotpriest – Rad [Self-Released]

6. Rihanna – Don’t Stop the Music [Island Def Jam]

7. Oliver – Control [Fool’s Gold]

8. Autoflash – Uprising [Self-Released]

9. Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun [Epic]

10. Fela Kuti – No Possible (Joystick Jays Vulgar Distractions Edit) [Disco Delicious]

11. Jay Lamar & Jesse Oliver – Diamonda (Justin Faust Remix) [Discotexas]

12. L’Etranger – Skin [La Bombe]

13. Waze & Odyssey – I Want You You You [Throne of Blood]

14. Jonas Rathsman – Since I Don’t Have You [French Express]

15. E.S.G. – Moody (Frantic Freddie’s Mostly Harmless Edit) [99]

16. Fred Everything – Don’t Nobody (Hot Toddy Remix) [OM Masters]

17. Panthers – Goblin City (Holy Ghost! Disco Dub) [DFA]

18. The Rapture – How Deep is Your Love (Dimitri From Paris Remix) [DFA]

19. Maximum Balloon ft. Theophilus London – Groove Me [Interscope]

20. Knightlife – Serves You Right (Emperor Machine Remix) [Cutters]

21. Aesop Rock – None Shall Pass [Def Jux]

22. Bing Ji Ling – Home (Blackjoy Dub) [Lovemonk]

23. Missy Elliott – Pass That Dutch [Elektra]

24. Padded Cell – Triple X Sindrome [DC]

25. Gorillaz – DARE (DFA Remix) [Virgin]

26. Talking Heads – Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) (Live In Tokyo) [Sire]

27. Chic – I Want Your Love (Todd Terje Edit) [Self-Released]

28. Talking Heads – I Zimbra (Forbes’ Beri Bimba Bootleg)  [Sire]

29. Konk – Your Life (Party Mix) Sleeping Bag  [Sleeping Bag]

30. Midnight Magic – Beam Me Up (Jacques Renault Remix) [Permanent Vacation]

31. Lindstrom and Christabelle – Baby Can’t Stop (Aeroplane Remix) [Smalltown Supersound]

32. Donna Summer – I Feel Love (Future Feelings Edit) [Self-Released]

33. Gil Scott Heron – I’ll Take Care of You (Mighty Mouse Remix) [Self-Released]

34. Cassian – I Love It [Nurvous]

35. Bag Raiders – Turbo Love (Jan Driver remix) [Fool’s Gold]

36. Jan Driver – Peaker [Boysnoize]

37. Justin Martin – Don’t Go (Dusky Remix) [Dirty Bird]

38. Williams – Love on a Real Train (Tangerine Dream Cover) (Williams Odyssey Mix) [Love Triangle]

39. Hugh Masekala – The Boy’s Doin’ It (Carl Craig Remix) [Verve]

40. John Talabot – Naomi [Permanent Vacation]

41. Zombie Zombie –  Forêt Vierge [Versatile]

42. Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) (Louis La Roche Remix) [Self-Released]

43. Makeup and Vanity Set – The Cross [Self-Released]

44. Talk Talk – Happiness Is Easy (12” Mix) [EMI]

45. Talk Talk – Happiness Is Easy [EMI]

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1. Primal Scream – Loaded

2. Gorillaz – 19-2000

3. Handsome Boy Modeling School – Metaphysical (featuring Miho Hatori and Mike D)

4. Serge Gainsbourg – Ballad de Melody Nelson

5. Air – Kelly Watch the Stars

6. Miho Hatori – Barracuda

7. Sérgio Mendes & Brasil ‘66 – Mais Que Nada

8. Dimitri from Paris – Sacre Français

9. Hideki Naganuma – Sweet Soul Brother (Jet Set Radio)

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This is something of a primer on that mid-90s Japanese melting pot sound, shibuya-kei. Drawing equally from Brazilian bossa nova, French nouvelle chanson, electronic experimentalism, synth-pop and twee, this sound exploded into life in the early 90s and was heavily influential through the late 90s and early 2000s. These few songs are from key players in the original Japanese scene; part 2 will include precedents, antecedents and convergent evolvers of similar sound.

1. Flipper’s Guitar – Goodbye, our Pastels Badges

2. Kahimi Karie – Mike’s Always Diary

3. Takako Minekawa – Klaxon!

4. Cornelius – Star Fruits Surf Rider

5. Cibo Matto – Working for Vacation

6. Fantastic Plastic Machine – L’aventure Fantastique

7. Phofo – I Love Happy Fun Ball

8. Pizzicato Five – 20th Century Girl

9. Flipper’s Guitar – Groove Tube

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Twenty minutes of thoroughly modern electro-disco woven together into a dense mat of beats and crazy synthesizer hooks. And Karen O.

1. Metronomy – Heartbreaker (Discodeine remix)

2. Rafale – Everglades (Voyou remix)

3. Dragonette – Mixin To Thrill (Villains remix)

4. Hot Chip – Ready for the Floor (Soulwax dub)

5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll (A-Trak remix)

6. The Joy Formidable – Whirring (Innerpartysystem remix)

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This is an old (December 2009) collaborative mix from both of us. We traded songs back and forth in an attempt to make a coherent whole. This mix is much more pop-focused than the previous two.

Tracklist:

1. DM Stith – Pity Dance

2. Celestine Ukwu & His Philosophers National – Okwukwe Na Nchekwube

3. Kate Bush – Pull Out The Pin

4. Animal Collective – Peacebone

5. Yeasayer – Ambling Alp

6. Madvillain – Money Folder (Four Tet remix)

7. El-P – The Moore Overly Dramatic Truth

8. David Bazan – Hard to Be

9. Wolf Parade – I’ll Believe in Anything

10. Jookabox – You Cried Me

11. Talking Heads – Found a Job

12. Helado Negro – Awe

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An instrumental mix of sylvan reading music for the December Adventure Hobbit book club. (decemberadventure.tumblr.com)

1. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Title
2. Jim Guthrie – Dark Flute
3. Ombre – Cara Falsa
4. Clams Casino – Wizard
5. Bibio – Saint Christopher
6. Candy Claws – Warm Forest Floor
7. Monster Rally- Jaguar
8. Balún – El Medio Contenido
9. Sufjan Stevens – BQE Movement I: In The Countenance of Kings
10. Balmorhea – Bowsprit
11. Chris Schlarb – Another Verdant World (Giant Leaf)
12. Explosions in the Sky – Day 2
13. CJ Boyd – Thoughts of Youth
14. Geotic – Through the Lush and Undiscovered
15. Julia Kent – Arlanda
16. Clogs – I Used to Do
17. Marumari – Smart Birch
18. Dntel – Boadicea

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This is an hour long exotica mix, mixing classics and rarities, Golden Age and modern era. If you’re not familiar with the “genre” of exotica, there are a couple of great primers here (www.ambientexotica.com/aboutexotica/) and here (exoticaproject.com/about.php), but the basic idea is that it’s white people making an ersatz, romanticized version of “ethnic”, often tropical music, inspired by the post-war return of American soldiers from the Oceania and the Pacific theater, the occupation of Japan, and Hawaiian statehood. It’s less a true genre than a state of mind, so if think “Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland”, you’re like 75% there. As you might imagine, it’s a bit complicated to enjoy this kind of music as a culturally aware person in 2013, but I do. It’s practically the only kind of music that I really that I’d classify as a “guilty pleasure”. Anyway, enough navel gazing. It’s designed to (mostly) fade into the background, perfectly optimized for your luau, lounge, smoking room, BBQ, jungle cruise, safari, or private beach. There are no synthesizers, electronics, guitar feedback, four on the floor, long songs, or remixes in sight. There are, however, lots of pops, clicks, and surface noise on some of these songs, since they were ripped from vinyl LPs or 45s.

Track Listing:

1. Intro – Aloha Malahini!
2. Martin Denny – Quiet Village (Original Version)
3. Al Simms Sextet – (Jungle) Slave Dance
4. The Blue Jeans – Moon Mist
5. The Islanders – Forbidden Island
6. Jack La Forge – The Cleopatra Kick
7. Poss Miyazaki – Ta-Huwahuwai
8. Frank Hunter – White Goddess
9. Stanley Black and His Orchestra – By The Waters Of Minnetonka
10. The Surfmen – Taboo
11. Elmo Garcia and His Orchestra – Island Love Chant
12. Les Baxter – Coronation
13. Michel Magne – Tropical
14. The Afro-Americans, Sticks Evans, Lila St. John – Africa Laments
15. Edmundo Ros & His Orchestra – Jungle Fantasy
16. Joe “Fingers” Carr & 80 Drums Around the World – Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
17. Big Walter and the Thunderbirds – Watusie Freeze, Part 1
18. The Embers and Joe “Mack” Lackey – Alexandria
19. Clark Terry – Swahili
20. Don Reed & His Orchestra featuring The Voice Of Love – Nature Boy
21. John Barry – Thunderball
22. The Tikiyaki Orchestra – In Search of Mei Ting
23. Dick Hyman – Caravan
24. Gene Rains – Hana Maui
25. Carmen Lesay – Sunset Mood

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