Fans of YMO, Yukihiro Takahashi, or Japanese rock in general may be aware that The Beatniks have a new album out (Exitentialist a Xie Xie), with a catchy new single, first heard live in concert last year:
Music
55mix
55mix
PART 1 (44m 08s)
Birds Gotta Swim – Martin Mull
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (excerpt) – Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra/Witold Rowicki
Shipping Container – Ruby Throat
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (excerpt) – Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra/Witold Rowicki
Life, Life – Ryuichi Sakamoto
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (excerpt) – Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra/Witold Rowicki
Here Come a Raincloud (live) – China Crisis
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (excerpt) – Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra/Witold Rowicki
Help Me Somebody (live) – David Byrne
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (excerpt) – Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra/Witold Rowicki
The Ink in the Well (live) – David Sylvian
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (excerpt) – Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra/Witold Rowicki
Don’t Worry About After Death (Shaka Shaka Nippon) – Melon
Theme for Great Cities – Simple Minds
Headless Chicken – Thought Gang
It’s Steeper Near the Roses – Harold Budd
PART 2 (44m 49s)
‘the moment’ (excerpt) – The Art of Noise
O.D. (Optimistic Depression) – Melon
‘the moment’ (excerpt) – The Art of Noise
The Flat Earth – Thomas Dolby
Firefly – Vertigo Angels
‘the moment’ (excerpt) – The Art of Noise
A Bridge to the Rings of Saturn – dip in the pool
Blackstar (pt 1) – David Bowie
The Day it Rained Forever – Nick Heyward
Blackstar (pt 2) – David Bowie
Next – Skylab
Speak to Me/Breathe/Breathe (reprise) – Pink Floyd
(16 March 2018)
Xmas 2017 Mix
For the first time in maybe two or three years, I am listening to more than just a couple of Xmas songs. I haven’t been feeling it the last couple of Xmases (I’m still not, if I’m to be completely honest), so watching my usual batch of Xmas movies (It’s a Wonderful Life, Scrooged, The Ref, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, 1941, and especially Bad Santa (the director’s cut, of course) has been about as much as I have been willing to do.
Now and then I have made Xmas mixtapes or mixdiscs, but have not really made an effort in that direction for a few years now. A couple of days ago, I did make a mix that I could dub to cassette and play in the car (the CD player hasn’t worked for a couple of years now, so I listen to cassettes instead), but did not put together a proper mix this year until today.
Here it is: Continue reading
Sureru
The soundtrack of my 2005 experiment with a digital camera, video feedback, and digital editing. I gave away DVD-R copies of the video as xmas presents in 2005; I remastered the audio, and also created a new mix, in April 2014.
(1 December 2017)
The Primitive Technopop EP
A 2014 compilation of some of my recordings from 1989. These pieces all have a primitive, playful quality that I never quite achieved again.
(1 December 2017)
Miren EP
‘Miren’ is a Japanese word that refers to a lingering attachment to someone, often tinged with regret. This EP was recorded under the influence of such a mindset.
Recorded October 1994, compiled and released in digital form in 2014.
(1 December 2017)
Fluorescent Lighting EP
Four pieces, recorded in 1989, sharing a similar quirk in the sequencer of the synthesizer I was using at the time.
(1 December 2017)
The Meaning of Shame
A 2014 digital compilation of music that was previously unreleased.
(1 December 2017)
Sinistrata: Music from the Archives, Vol. 1
The last Tinty Music cassette, released in 1998, contained half new music, and half music that I had recorded while I was living in Tokyo. This digital edition, released in 2014, contains only the older material.
(1 December 2017)
Compilation tracks, 1996–1997
Three pieces released on compilations in 1996 and 1997; I reissued them as separate pieces in 2014.
‘Slip mode’ is an edited recording of me abusing a turntable I rescued from the dumpster of the apartment where I was living at the time. It originally appeared on a compilation cassette of music by folks subscribing to the Sylvian mailing list (back when internet mailing lists were a thing).
‘Gotanda-eki/Shibuya-eki/Ekimae’ was my contribution to the Wood Block Compilation double cassette released by Sound Probe Recordings.
‘Opacity grid’ was my contribution to Resurgence, a double-CD compilation of electronic artists from Oregon and Washington. I had trouble coming up with something new, so I dubbed ‘Refraction grid’ to a 4-track cassette, and used that as the basic for this new piece.
(1 December 2017)
Ordinary Average Thoughts 