Night Music One by Feuilleton on Mixcloud
Night Music I
The Hafler Trio – Soundtrack To “Alternation, Perception, And Resistance” — A Comprehension Exercise (1985)
Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works Volume II: Untitled 4/1 (Hankie) (1994)
Michael Brook – Earth Floor (1985)
Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works Volume II: Untitled 10/1 (Tree) (1994)
Biosphere – Startoucher (1994)
Black Lung – Rex 84 (1995)
Biosphere – Biosphere (1992)
Holger Czukay – Radio In An Hourglass (1993)
Rapoon – Rains (1993)
Clock DVA – Memories Of Sound (1992)
Night Music Two by Feuilleton on Mixcloud
Night Music II
Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia – Dust (At The Crossroads) (1994)
Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works Volume II: Untitled 2/2 (Parallel Stripes) (1994)
Harold Budd – The Gunfighter (1986)
Divination – Errata (1993)
Coil – Dismal Orb (1992)
Biosphere – Mir (1994)
David Toop and Max Eastley – Rising Up Before Us Like Things (1994)
Angelo Badalamenti – Night Life In Twin Peaks (1990)
Coil – The Sleeper II (1992)
Jon Hassell – Empire II (1983)
The Grid – Virtual (1990)
Biosphere – En-trance (1994)
After signing up to Mixcloud earlier this year I’ve only managed to compile one mix so here’s an unseasonal attempt to compensate.
Night Music was a bona fide mix on cassette tape that I put together in 1994, intended as a response to Kevin Martin’s double-disc compilation from the same year, Ambient 4: Isolationism. The three previous entries in Virgin’s Ambient… series were fairly routine reworkings of the label’s back catalogue, collections of more-or-less ambient material with light electronica. Martin’s compilation concentrated on the darker, doomier end of the musical spectrum, and also pulled in music from outside the Virgin fold. It arrived as a considerable tonic after several years of diluted techno and psychedelic clichés being marketed as “ambient”.
Night Music is much more of a genuine DJ mix than Ectoplasm Forming. I didn’t have any proper mixing equipment at the time so had to record every other track onto stereo videotape then play back the tape while fading the rest of the tracks in and out from the CD player. The whole thing was recorded live to a C-100 cassette. Rather than run the mix as a single track I’ve kept the two sides separate; both sides were programmed with beginnings and endings so work better this way. I transferred the mix to CD several years ago, and still listen to it every so often. There’s a little too much Biosphere but apart from that I wouldn’t alter the track list.
As usual I’ll be away for a few days so the { feuilleton } archive feature will be activated to summon posts from the past below this one. Enjoy your wassail.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• A mix for Halloween: Ectoplasm Forming
Post Tenebras Lux John.
All the best to you and yours, stay frosty…..
Thanks for the brainfood, for a non aggregate site you are a benchmark of quality.
Looking forward to your 2014 soundtrack mix.
Thank you, I’d never heard of Psychick Warriors ov Gaia before. Even though I really don’t care for Genesis P-Orridge, I am rather fond of Coil and much of the writings of Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth, as well as that very unorthodox writing style they say it was Genesis who originally came up with.
Almost like a lingual virus, I see that writing style pop up here and there in expected places, albeit usually associated with musicians and artists of other kinds. I am sure Mr. Burroughs would have been at least amused.
Anyways, its nice to hear work from other musicians influenced by TOPY.
Scott: Many thanks.
Wiley: As far as I know Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia (who were Dutch) only had a peripheral connection to PTV/TOPY but the name stuck for a couple of years until they shortened it to PWOG. I like their early works very much, mostly a handful of singles, the Obsidian EP and this album:
http://www.discogs.com/Psychick-Warriors-Ov-Gaia-Ov-Biospheres-And-Sacred-Grooves-A-Document-Ov-New-Edge-Folk-Classics/release/1411018
A good blend of “tribal” electronica and ambient business. When Robbert Heynen left to form Exquisite Corpse they changed to PWOG and became a lot less interesting.
The “ov”, “thee”, etc neologisms were definitely originated by Genesis, they date from before Throbbing Gristle to his days with COUM where the ethos was to reinvent every aspect of your life, language included. There’s some reason to carry this over into the extended TOPY world but I’ve always wondered why those who have no connection with TOPY/PTV adopt this linguistic style. The whole purpose of doing it in the first place was about being a unique individual, not adopting the habits of others.
That’s interesting, and thanks for the suggestions on where to look by the way, but I had no idea Genesis came up with that script alteration for lack of a better term, before Throbbing Gristle came about.
I’ve seen explanations for its usage written in different places. It can be misleading to paraphrase another’s writing, especially if its of a speculative or philosophical nature, so I’ll play it safe, perhaps too safe, and refer to what one sees in Wikipedia. ‘Advocating a deconstruction of “normal” or consensus modes of communication in order to achieve a more integrated understanding of the Self’.
OK, whenever anyone uses those Jungian terms, it typically piques my interest, but I tend to only skim over the writing and not delve very deeply. I would regard Jung as definitely one of the more interesting of the writers often associated with matters occult, though I find writers like Burroughs and Gysin to be more interesting for certain. The problem is, people from any number of opposing philosophies can skew Jungian terminology around to make it mean whatever the hell they like. Very often writers just toss about colorful symbolic terminology like ‘gnosis’ or ‘praxis’ or ‘the self’ seemingly to disguise the notion that they’re not really saying anything at all.
That being said, your more straightforward explanation matches up pretty well with the more flamboyant quote I used. I always thought it was simply to make their writings more challenging to read, to discourage petty dabbling, and frankly I just thought it looked cool as hell.
I am not sure, John Zewizz’s life seems somewhat melodramatic and I’ve never really cared to read about him, but I don’t know if Sleep Chamber was affiliated with TOPY, and I see that manner of script in the accompanying writings to every release I have of theirs. On a side note, they are also a band of ‘very’ uneven output, if you check them out at all I suggest Sexmagick ritual, Satanic Sanction, or Sonorous Invokations ov Brian Jones.
I’ve also seen the style writing used on releases on the HolyTerror record label. I know I’ve seen it elsewhere, but those are the more recent examples.