A series of cinematic mixes/collages published on Ambientblog.net. Non-stop layered immersion created from fragments and samples of ambient/electronic/experimental (and related) music.
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For the 7th year, the Dutch radio station Concertzender schedules an 8-hour ambient all-nighter on the night of the Winter Solstice (December 21, 2025). Compiled by four radio producers – Roel Janssen, Harrold Roeland, Bob Rusche, and myself – each of us presenting a two-hour selection. My contribution is closing the night, between 5am and 7 am. I’m not sure how many listeners will make it to the…
After publishing many ambient mix-collages (87 and counting!), I decided to challenge myself. What if I combined ambient soundscapes and classical music? Would that work out? This proved to be more difficult than I expected. It proved to be much easier to combine abstract atmospheric music than ambient music with 'program music' like classical. It proved even more difficult when choosing from…
The Winter Solstice Ambient Night on Concertzender Nederland has become a yearly tradition: this is the sixth edition already of the 8-hour ambient music night presented by four of their radio show hosts. Like in all previous editions, I'm honored to close the night with a two-hour collage. My contribution is presented here, but for those interested, the complete night will remain available on…
My 2-hour contribution to the fifth edition of the 8-hour Winter Solstice broadcast on Concertzender Nederland. For this fifth Winter Solstice mix, I chose fragments (most of them heavily edited) that are all more or less in the same key. In the first hour all tracks are in B-minor, in the second hour the tracks are in F-minor (first half) and A-minor (closing half). These chords define the…
Could this be ‘the saddest mix of all time’? I don’t think so myself, I would rather call it melancholic – in a pleasant way. But it’s a fact that all of these tracks are in D minor (Dm), which is said to be ‘the saddest chord’: “The D minor chord (often written as Dm) is a chord that evokes a sense of melancholy and contemplation on the negative side of situations. Like many other minor chords,…
This is my contribution to the fourth ambient night on Concertzender Nederland , which is traditionally scheduled on or around midwinter solstice. It was broadcast from 5:00-7:00 AM on December 25, and closed the 8-hour night. As in all of my (Ambientblog) mixes, Winter Solstice 4 is a collage created from (short) fragments - hence the extended tracklist below. This time, I used a different method…
Most (if not all) previous Ambientblog mixes always had some dark moments in them, they are never 'just' relaxing. You can only feel release if you also felt tension . This time, I wanted to avoid the darkness and create a 'lighter mood mix'. Not of the 'Ibiza Chillout Lounge' kind, but one that can be played in the background and is still exciting enough to listen to. I hope I succeeded, but of…
Apart from its opening sample - 'It is time to stop seeing. It is time to stop speaking. It is time to listen', from David Cronenberg's Crimes Of the Future - this mix has no central theme or story. It's up to you, the listener to take the time to listen and go with the flow. Let your fantasy tell you the story. And, after you did, I'd love to hear what you heard. Tracklist Start time Sample…
This mix is created for radio broadcast between 5-7 am, but it is not intended to induce sleep: it is way too 'active' for that. I created this with the intention to manipulate your dreams when you're asleep or half-awake at the time of the broadcast. In that case, it shouldn't be played too loud or you'll probably not be able to sleep at all. When listening on-demand, at different times, sleep is…
Just imagine yourself sitting in a local bar at the end of the day. A bit tired, your head full of thoughts. The murmuration of the people around you slowly gets blurry as you drift off. Your thoughts begin to wander, memories are mixed with fantasies and places you never even visited. Until now. Ambient Daydream tells a story created with myNoise.net generators. I hope that it serves as an…
This mix is simply named after the podcast itself: SoundWave . It is a happy coincidence that it literally starts with 'waves' - sonically manipulated by Jos Smolders - and ends with the same waves morphing into the sound of a cheering crowd. Different kinds of soundwaves are all around us, every moment. Sometimes we're aware, most of the time we are not. This mix (hopefully) shows that it can be…
Music For Long Winter Nights This is my 2-hour contribution to the (7-hour) ambient music night on Concertzender Nederland radio, which was broadcast in the December 19-20 night. When compiling this set, I tried to keep in mind that this was intended to be listened to in the deepest and darkest of the night. But it is not a 'sleep set', due to the variety of moods and atmospheres. It's a…
When I first heard Christine Ott's Comma , I felt that this piece should be the starting point of a new mix. In the end, it became the final piece of the same mix - somewhat a movie's intro and end credits.I did not start this mix with a specific theme in mind. Its title only occurred to me after it was completed because it reflected its mood: a somewhat melancholy journey that fits the end of…
I'm very honoured to present this collaboration mix with Dave Michuda from Low Light Mixes , who has been a source of inspiration from the very beginning of Ambientblog.net. When we talked (or rather: mailed, since Wisconsin and Holland are not exactly near) about creating a mix together, we chose not to go for a 'simple' back-to-back exchange but gave ourselves an objective without knowing where…
If you listen back, most of my mixes have a rather dark edge to them. There's always a lot of 'tension/release' - but in this case, it seems there's a bit more 'tension' than 'release'. Sign of the times, probably…I tried to find another name (and image) for this mix, but it seems that only one title remained appropriate at this time.I'm very proud that this mix is also published on Dave Michuda's…
A two-hour mix for the longest night: Winter Solstice. To be played (and hopefully enjoyed) in the deepest darkness. "Dream All The Dark Away" ... --- originally published on Ambientblog --- December 21 is the longest night in the Northern hemisphere. It marks the start of Winter (even though it is also called "Midwinter"), but gradually the nights will slowly get shorter as to indicate spring…
The mix title, Radical Candor, comes from the (management) philosophy that argues that feedback (on behaviour) is most effective if it is 'challenging' but at the same time shows that you 'care'. I felt there was a resemblance: the mix is 'caring' at times but can also be quite 'challenging' to the listener. At least, that was my intention. Now you decide. --- originally published on Ambientblog…
"For me, personally, a mix has the most impact when it feels like I'm watching a movie. With ups, downs, some drama, sentiment, moment of joy, climax and anticlimax. And yes: tension and release." --- originally published on Ambientblog --- When I started working on this mix, its working title was Wonderlust, simply because I liked that word: a variation on wanderlust ('a desire to travel') which…
Headphone Commute, Ambientblog and Slowcraft Records are proud to present a unique mix by a colleague and partner in crime, Peter van Cooten, of beautiful works from a beautiful couple: James Murray and Anne Garner --- originally published on Ambientblog --- The inspiration for this mix came after attending separate performances of James Murray and Anne Garner . The music they perform is quite…
"Follow me into a movie that you might want to see sometime... a movie that's happening in the back of your own head..." And remember: "use your ears, not your prejudices"... --- originally published on Ambientblog --- Playlist: (first time is the start time, time in brackets is the sample length) 00:00 (01:33) Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet - Dreams Landfall, 2018, Nonesuch 7559-79338-9 01:21…
A collaboration mix with Headphone Commute's Mike Lazarev, in which we take five minutes for each turn without knowing the others tracklist. The result: Bipolar! --- originally published on Ambientblog --- We had no clear concept for this mix when we started, other than 'each turn takes 5 minutes, we'll stop at 60, and we'll see where it gets us' . We were unaware of each other's tracklist (apart…
The moment I heard Rami Malek whisper "Mind awake, body asleep" (Mr Robot, series 2) I knew this would be the inspiration for a new mix. A mix about half-sleep, lucid dreaming impressions... ungraspable images... and about "letting go". After all, Mr. Robot's tagline was "Control is an Illusion". Control proved to be an illusion indeed, with these different, unrelated, fragments coming together…
Your reality is manipulated. Your perception is managed. Your thoughts are not your own. Reality is imaginary. This mix is inspired by 'Hypernormalisation'. --- originally published on Ambientblog --- Playlist start time – sample length – Artist – Title Album Title, Year, Label Details 00:00 01:52 Amon Tobin - Lost & Found (Machinefabriek Deconstruction) Wendingen (Selected Remixes 2005-2015),…
"Life can only be remembered backwards, but it must be lived forwards." The central piece provides the title for this mix: Solace - "Comfort in sorrow, misfortune. Consolation." This Fovea Hex track literally breathes consolation in every single note, so it seemed a good starting point for this mix. It is also one of the few tracks in the mix that are included in its full length. Even though there…
Because of the drones, atmospheric field recordings and insect sounds, this mix will be labeled as an 'ambient' mix by most listeners. And of course it is.... but at the same time it isn't. It simply isn't 'unobtrusive' enough to be 'ambient'. An hour-long journey of scene changes, meandering between *Kitsch* and *Kult* - a bit more 'psychedelic' than 'ambient', in fact. --- originally published…
On October 26, 1985, Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown arrives in his flying DeLorean time machine and persuades Marty McFly and his girlfriend, Jennifer Parker, to come back to the future with him. They arrive on October 21, 2015 Only now we found out why they chose this date! --- originally published on Ambientblog --- To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Ambientblog.net, this mix is a part of a very…
.... slowly evolving to a state of inert uniformity .... retracing information that was lost from the message ... searching for the uniformity in what seems to be randomly disordered ... --- originally published on Ambientblog --- Playlist start time sample length Artist – Title Album Title, Release Year, Label details 00:00 2:54 Johnny Jewel - The Dead Zone Lost River OST, 2015, Italians do it…
This mix is made to be published in the excellent series of mixes on the "Sounds of a Tired City", part of the larger website with the same name.Inspired by the site name, I decided I wanted to try to create a sonic 'walk' through a 'tired' city. A mix with a lot of scene changes... like walking through an unknown city on a (quiet sunday?) morning - finding hidden surprises and marvels around…
"Jam Karet" is Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language) meaning "Elastic Time" (or "Rubber Hours"). To me, this concept also applies to mixes that include ambient and drone fragments... where the listener gets immersed in sound in such a way that all notion of time is lost; where music could last for minutes, or for hours. --- originally published on Ambientblog --- Playlist: start time - sample…
This mix is built around mysterious vocals. Vocals that may guide you, or lure you, into distances unknown. Often, but not exclusively, female, and some of them not even human - like the beautiful flute-playing by Jean-Christophe Bonnafous, or the mysterious singing sound of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko that was recently discovered during the Rosetta space missions. With just a little…
"Mental Health Hotline" is the second 'collaborative dialogue' created together with Christophe 'Klankschap' Ywaska. (The first was "Both Were Moving", 2012). Each selection a reaction to the previous addition means the story may have some unexpected turns and views... especially with over 50 samples crammed into this adventurous hour of sound! Be prepared for a dazzling - and possibly somewhat…
For this mix I aimed to create a dreamlike and timeless atmosphere - dark (but not too dark). It is calm, yet there are many shifting scenes, many passing landscapes and some conflicting emotions... When it ends, (I hope) it feels as if it was much longer than it actually was ... --- originally published on Ambientblog --- Playlist [start] [length] [Artist] - [Title] [Album], [Year], [Label#]…
If one of the criteria for 'ambient' music is that you can comfortably fall asleep to it, I guess you'd better skip this particular mix. Although it starts quiet and reassuring with soothing vocal chords from Silvestrov's "The Lord's Prayer", the mood disintegrates and sometimes can become rather unsettling - depending on your own personal 'incidental memories', of course. --- originally published…
"Autumn is here. Darkness slowly creeps up just a little bit earlier. Clouds get grayer and swell up with rain. Trees shed their colors and tighten their belts. And people begin to prepare for winter. But among all the shadows there’s a small ray of light. And with that glow comes the music… For today’s exclusive podcast, Peter van Cooten weaves in layers of haunting soundscapes spanning the…
"I'm not formed by things that are of myself alone" This is the key quote (taken from Stoker) for this mix, which is also 'not formed by things of itself alone'. Every detail, every short sample, has its origin in another context, another musical composition, from which it is taken to find a new place in a completely different context. "My ears hear what others cannot hear." "Parallax" is the…
The title of this mix is taken from the beautiful soundtrack it heavily leans on: Alexandre Desplat's "Rust and Bone" ("De Rouille et D'Os"). "Rust" usually refers to 'decay', but in dutch "Rust" simply also means 'rest', ('tranquil - or 'repos' in french). But - as we say in Holland: "Rust Roest" - or: "Too much rest will make you rusty..." In other words: don't expect just 'tranquil' sounds in…
The sheer volume of the Headphone Commute’s '…And Darkness Came' compilation – issued as a charity fundraising for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, and boasting 87 tracks (over 6 hours) of music – was also a kind of invitation to create a mix from it. --- originally published on Ambientblog --- Presenting a wide range of music from well (and lesser) known artists – covering most of the…
If you have ever watched Stanley Kubrick's "2001 - Space Odyssey", you will definitely remember the impressive scene in which the memory modules are slowly taken away from HAL, the ship's main computer, because it started to disfunction and became a threat to the astronauts and their mission. Just before his memory fades completely, HAL remembers being programmed to sing"Daisy", one of his…
When Christophe Ywaska, creator of the weekly Klankschap radio shows on VillaBota webradio suggested working on a mix together, I knew we were in for a sonic treat. Klankschap mixes are never "just" ambient - or "just" any other genre for that matter. Their tracklistings are a display of a deep knowledge of all kinds of experimental music, both new ánd old. Due to their nature, they dó require…
This must be one of the darkest mixes I have created until now. I recommend headphone listening for this mix, but also recommend to avoid late night listening - unless, of course, you know what to expect. The atmosphere is immediately set with the first notes, with a threatening (Boduf Songs) howl , and may even get downright frightening in the end climax. Yet, not all is dark and gloomy. In the…
"We were playing Hide and Seek on a Cemetery Hill... ...quiet hiding in the flowers...among the Flowers and Bones..." Atmospheric drones slowly unfold into childhood memories ... Peaceful melancholic romanticism, but gradually overshadowed by fear of something out of control? Remember: all is well that ends well.... --- originally published on Ambientblog --- Playlist: start time - sample length -…
Andrej Tarkovsky's 1972 movie "Solaris" inspired this mix-collage. This mix includes many different sources. Some parts of the originals Artemyev soundtrack are linked to fragments of the beautiful game soundtrack from Skyrim, by Jeremy Soule. The cinematic parts are alternated with various electronic soundscape fragments - familiar and less familiar. Together with many tiny fragments from your…
This mix obviously found its name from the lovely intro (and outtro) track by Nest. Inbetween, there are many moments of 'stillness', too... Moments you may slowly drift off into the drones, letting your mind wander ... to be pulled back again by some of the post-classical 'anchors' in this mix. Maybe it's a small opportunity to retreat from current society's turmoil, and to find some time to…
In the Northern Hemisphere, the November month is the month of Autumn: the month that summer is definitely over, when cold and darkness slowly creeps in. (In the Southern Hemisphere, November is a month of Spring - which means this mix will probably not fit your "November Thoughts" at all). (Northern) November can be rough and harsh, but it's also very beautiful to watch nature prepare for winter…
"Teloorgang" is a beautiful dutch word that can be best translated with "Loss" or "Decay". Some say there is beauty in decay....This may be true, but in fact only when watched from a safe distance - the 'decay' not regarding ourselves or our own environment.. It is, of course, tempting to relate the theme of this mix to the current state of our (western) society. But that may just be coincidence:…
The main theme for this mix (as well as the title "Discouraging Intruders" ) came from the spoken word track by the Dwindlers: "What the Wolves Said": "No two of us on the same note, we sound bigger...our harmony discouraging intruders..." Although generally not sounding like a pack of howling wolves, sometimes the purpose of 'ambient' music also is also is to 'discourage intruders' (such as…
Although it was created in March, this mix shows little signs of "Spring". There was no intentional relation, but inevitably the devastating Japan Earthquake, and the frightening nuclear disaster following it, somehow found its way into this mix. The result: a rather dark overall atmosphere, which seems to leave little room for hope. But at the same time, in Europe, winter retreats and daylight…
When I started working on this 'single artist mix' featuring music and sounds from Arno Peeters, I did not realise that creating a mix-collage based on soundscapes would be more difficult than one based on single tracks. A soundscape is a collage in itself - and using fragments from soundscapes to build another soundscape is like ripping up a collage and presenting the fragmented details out of…
When I read that a new Fovea Hex album will be released in the "Very-Imminent-Future", this revived fond memories of their 2007 box set called "Neither Speak Nor Remain Silent". Two quotes may introduce this fascinating collection: Brian Eno thought these were "Some of the Most Extraordinary Songs I've heard in Years", and The WIRE aptly summarized it this way: "If Emily Dickinson had ever been…
What exactly happens at the moment night changes back into day again, when darkness slowly retreats and light comes back in? Are we aware of what happens outside, at that time of day most of us are still sleeping? What sort of animals or creatures are hiding from the light, and what sort finally dare to come out again? Would we discover “Dawn Secrets” when we’d leave our own safe and familiar…
