Hum, Buzz, & Hiss: The Living Music List

#99: C'mon, Make It Happen

Melted Form — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 13:07:52 GMT

Currently listening to: oh yeah? by Steve Lacy

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published

Come on, come on, come on
Life's a bitch
And then you live again
Tragedies and wins
Breakups with your friends
Memories of home
Feels like life is moving on
I don't wanna lose again
Please, I beg
Could my hope be of value?
Let me out tonight
We’re too young to die
Come on, come on, come on

Hello, friend.

What’s happening? I can’t believe we’re a week into August. The summer is flying. I hope you’ve had time to slow down and soak it in.

Over here, there’s a lot happening… and I’m happy about that. My mind’s been brimming with plans for the future, and, now, I am staring straight into the face of those plans and the task of making them happen. It’s exciting, but also a little overwhelming.

I often get into these extended states of daydreaming about certain projects. One day, I want to open my own storefront selling physical media. Another day, I’m plotting the layout for an indie movie theater. Another day, I’m conceiving the birth of a record label.

Suddenly, I’ve been tapped into these new communities—like, actual, real, in-person communities of other people who get together and hang out and make art and give constructive feedback and dream about a better world together—and opportunities have presented themselves. I just need to accept them… and make it happen.

So, that’s where I’ll leave my reflecting for this week, because I’ve got work to do. Maybe you do, too. Let’s do it.

Tell me about what you’re working on in the comments or email me (meltedform@gmail.com). Are you making an album? Running an arts business? Building a community? I’d love to hear about it, and I think it’s inspiring and motivating to share progress.

I’ll be sharing more of what I’m working on soon, but here’s one thing:

If you’re local to north Jersey at all, come listen with me in September!

The Living Music List + Bandcamp Friday Returns

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed the reflection—and I hope you also enjoy today’s return of Bandcamp Friday.

Today, 100% of your purchases on the Bandcamp platform go directly to artists and labels since Bandcamp waives their fees. It’s a great day to do some shopping for albums new and old! Buying digital music is one of the most effective ways to support artists. See this handy graphic from —today, all $10 of those dollars for that digital album would go to the artist on Bandcamp!

Physical media still rocks too, btw (especially CDs, imo). P.S. The good folks at Sleevenote have a few final units of their prototype music player still up for grabs on their website. It looks pretty sick. (Not sponsored, just a fan of what they’re doing!)

Okay, that’s enough free advertising from me. Or wait… I guess it’s not, since I’m about to recommend a bunch of new albums for you to go listen to and maybe purchase! Let’s get into the new music list.

Happy listening.

Human Music: Live Improvisations I by Jessica Roch (album / electronic, neoclassical) [Past Inside the Present]
The word “ethereal” gets tossed around a lot when describing ambient music (guilty), but it is genuinely meaningful in the case of an album like this release from London-based composer . We think of the ethereal as something that is delicate, light, and airy, and all of those descriptions ring true at various moments throughout this set of live improvisations. We also think of the ethereal as bearing those qualities because it is something that is somehow not of our world—derived from the ether, a term which also holds many meanings, but is most commonly used to describe the charged emptiness that exists prior to creation.
That is why, to me, ethereal is the perfect descriptor of Roch’s record. In a beautifully human rejection of the manufactured and soulless sound of AI “music”, Roch released these 6 tracks and delivered us proof of the indelible remarkability of human artistry—a reminder that our instincts and our connection to our natural world, to the ether, are irreplaceable in the chain of artistic creation. Through various instruments and—most impactfully in my view—through her ethereal voice, Roch weaves a living, breathing, vibrant tapestry of music made in the moment, for the moment.
Nácar by Matt Emen (album / experimental electronic) [Portal Sur]
I love the concept behind this album: its name is Spanish for nacre, or mother-of-pearl, the smooth, hard, rainbow-colored substance that mollusks produce naturally to line and repair their inner shells (and it is what creates pearls, of course). When considering this substance as a form of beautiful bandaging creating a physical reminder of past pain and loss, Nácar’s electronic compositions take on a similar sheen and meaning. The textures are complex, their movements unexpected. Like the oceans in which the nacre-makers live, there is both peaceful harmony and forceful chaos. As I listened, the whole record began to feel like a sacred process of damage examination and subsequent self-repair.
The Rest Is My Ghost by Lawrence English (album / drone, dark ambient) [Room40]
Many ambient heads should already know Lawrence English and his Room40 label quite well, especially given their prolific output of quality minimalist and dark ambient works. If English is not your first language, though (…sorry, terrible joke), then this latest record from the Room40 honcho himself is a perfect introduction.
Softly rumbling like a distant thunderstorm rolling toward you, this album encompasses the listener in a way akin to full cloud cover. Its minimalist nature leaves plenty of space for the imagination to roam, but its grayscale tones apply a filter of neutrality to the whole sonic experience, making it come on like a foggy spell of tired, but contemplative sleeplessness.

Pure Devotion by Overmono (album / electronic) [XL Recordings]
Days by The Mountain Goats (album / indie folk rock) [Cadmean Dawn]
A New Age of Decay by Corretta (album / metal) [Wonderhaus Records]

Music List Reminders: Bandcamp links provided first when available—if an album is not on Bandcamp, then YouTube or other preview links are provided. List format: Title by Artist (release type / approximate genre or subgenres) [Label].

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Listen to the latest Melted Mix (paid subs only until August 14):

Join Our Discord Community

Hum, Buzz, & Hiss has a free Discord server where music fans and artists hang out together, share music, chat about our work, and learn from each other. Plus, you’ll get some behind-the-scenes stuff and even more music recommendations from me. I’d love for you to join us! Click the button below and I’ll see you there.

Join the Discord

Ways to Support My Work

Upgrade to a paid subscription for some extra goodies. Full price is $5/month or $50/year, but I also offer no-questions-asked, pay-what-you-can discounts on annual subscriptions. Learn more about the perks of paid subscriptions here.

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Referrals also mean a lot! If you enjoy this newsletter, please consider sharing it with a friend, a family member, a coworker, or your social media followers. The more it grows, the more ears can hear the music shared here.

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Get In Touch

Are you an artist, a label owner, a fellow writer, or just a music fan? Want to share news of your upcoming release, an ad, or a potential idea for a future Hum, Buzz, & Hiss issue? Email me at: meltedform@gmail.com.

Get in Touch

As always, I would love to hear and recommend your music, especially if it’s new and ambient/electronic/experimental. However, please note that I am not able to respond to every inquiry I receive.

#98: Poet's Dispatch, v1

Melted Form — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 13:18:28 GMT

Currently listening to: Cmon (LATIN MAFIA, KatzPascale, Fred edit) by Fred again.. & Brian Eno

Hello, friend.

Lately, the words have filled my lungs like air. Their oxygen rushes from my alveoli into my blood, flooding straight to my brain, a linguistic, nitrous-like headrush. In shallow trances, my fingers dance on pencil legs, prescribing the striking of my fancy for the day.

Here they come now, riding on the wind like horses from heaven—though on darker nights they may arrive like bats out of hell. I hear their hoofbeats in rhythm, their patterns of intention. They require only my ears for the listening and my hands for posterity. Mark them now, I must. Otherwise, in a gust, they will swiftly breeze by, never to be seen again by eyes beside mine.

I’ll share with you now, my friend, a stringing of these words. It took form on Tuesday amid a circle of sorcerers, a coven of conjurers channeling this enchanted air. Read it and tell me—who do you see?

Born again

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published

The day you’re
Born again
I'll be dying
To see you
Whenever that may be
Wherever, however
Whoever sets you free
Or brings you back to me
And even if it seems
It was the other way around
As long as you're no longer lost
Then I will be found
In songs that sound like
What you liked
I like to find
The highest note
I send my voice
Up ladders 'til
It flies off key
And freely floats
For up there
In the shaky air
I'm taken by your face
It's the only place
I remember why
I think of you and never cry

***
There is one thing more that I must share before the music starts. A stage, a crowd, a set of spotlights shining down. My words from years ago were flowing outward from my mouth. An ancient dream of moonlight, of this life and our mysterious meaning. Listen closely now as I speak it out and tell me what you are seeing:

Moonlight Bounce (recited at Boonton Coffee Company’s Literary Open Mic, July 16, 2026)

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s poems—and I hope you saw and felt something meaningful in my words.

Before we get to our usual new music recommendations, I wanted to note that paid subscribers can now listen to July’s Melted Mix. This month, I did something different and made a single mashup of 2 tracks I love, rather than a longform mix of multiple tracks.

Rush My Computer is made up of Rush by Troye Sivan (Valente Extended) and Fuck My Computer by Ninajirachi. Both bangers in their own rights, and I hope I did right by them in your eyes. I’ve been quite enjoying blasting it in my car.

This mashup track will unlock for free subscribers on August 14th, but if you don’t feel like waiting, you can upgrade to paid to help support my work. Some other fun benefits too, like a free digital copy of my poetry book Shifting Senses, Lifting Lenses that I self-published in 2023.

Subscribe now

Anyways, let’s get on to more music from the digital new release crates. Happy listening.

The Silent Harvest Volume Two by Various Artists (compilation / electroacoustic, drone, experimental) [Folk Police Recordings]
For some background (per the Bandcamp description): in the late 1960s, folk singers Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger recorded a ten LP set of English, Scottish, and American variants of traditional folk songs and ballads, released by Argo Records as The Long Harvest. Now, the label Folk Police Recordings is auditing those LPs through The Silent Harvest, a series of compilations in which they bring together artists to interpret the imagery of the original tracks as inspiration for new works. On Volume Two which released earlier this month, you’ll hear a variety of sounds from artists within the Inner Echo ambient community (including some friends of Hum, Buzz, & Hiss like and ). All proceeds from this name-your-price comp go to ClientEarth, an environmental law charity working to bring about systemic change to protect life on earth—holding companies and governments to account over climate change, nature loss, and pollution.
Halfway from nowhere by Far away Nebraska (album / lofi, drone) [Kordel Records]
I wasn’t aware until now that German label Seil Records (think: Jogging House and friends) had expanded with a sub-label called Kordel Records. Quite exciting news given the brilliant output of Seil, primarily known for lofi tape-saturated minimalism, with subtle loops and a hint of downtempo pacing. This new record by Far away Nebraska, an Italian ambient artist whose real name is Alessio Bertuzzi, sits perfectly in that space. There’s a bit of a dim cloudy quality to this record, though. Some extra piece that feels intentionally missing or incorrect, like a classic liminal space. Loving it.
vertical railsides by psychedelic source records (album / instrumental, field recordings) [psychedelic source records]
This Hungarian psych rock collective occasionally wanders into ambient territory, and this new album was improvised and recorded outdoors by the side of a railway. The band’s traditional rock instruments like drums, electric guitar, and bass guitar feel more like acoustic instruments in these spacious recordings where structure falls away and the music simply moves onward to the sound of the world around it.

Peace Anthems by Various Artists (compilation / jazz, electronic, ambient) [Red Hook Records]
This compilation urges global peace through the abstract expressions of artists like Moor Mother, Taylor Deupree, and Qasim Navqi. These tracks tend to float somewhere in the jazz realm, with experimental electronic and ambient tendencies regularly seeping through the cracks. Was pretty close to putting this in the ambient list honestly, but there are some vocals in a few places from the poet and singer Moor Mother. All proceeds benefit the International Red Cross.
XXXXX by Arca (album / experimental electronic) [XL Recordings]
I am a new fan of Arca. I’ve heard her name tossed around in certain circles, though seemingly not as often as it should be. In a way, her work reminds me of SOPHIE’s with its absolutely singular feeling among the electronic landscape. Arca just livestreamed an odd but engrossing live performance along to her album release and it’s certainly something to behold. I feel as though I’ll be parsing through these tracks for years, losing myself in their jagged edges, curvy bends and folded layers.
Stream / Buy
Cicada Burnt by leo (album / electronic) [peak oil]
This album popped up on today’s Bandcamp Daily, with a review from Mike Steyels who wrote that it is “an abstract, dubby journey full of pristine sub bass; the swing and syncopation of UK and Detroit dance music; and an ultra-clear sound design.” That’s as good an introduction as any, and I’ll only add that listening to this album is a bit like listening to an ambient album—it rewards close listeners with little nuances to its out-there sounds, displaying a careful consideration for every second of music that one may otherwise miss thanks to the seamlessness of its composition. Also, it just sounds like it would be cool as fuck in the background of a scene from a TERMINATOR film or a car chase at night.

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Listen to the latest Melted Mix (paid subs only until August 14):

Join Our Discord Community

Join the Discord

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Get In Touch

Get in Touch

#97: Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it

Melted Form — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 15:32:32 GMT

Currently listening to: Australian Ambient — A Clifftop Mix at Sunrise by Various Artists (DJ Mix by )

Hello, friend.

We are all products of the past, right? Or at least, a past. Our past.

We can’t help but live in it some of the time. Our minds wander their ways back to old moments. We analyze and problem solve things that have already been analyzed and solved. We embrace the fond feeling of nostalgia like a cozy blanket. We regret things.

This is a sacred duty—the remembering. We are innately called to carry on a collective record of what has taken place, the things we have learned and experienced. This is our sacred timeline. It helps define who we are, who we might become, where we might be going—our present and our future.

It is interesting to me how this single direction of time—backwards—is visible in so much of our modern lingo. A social media feed is a timeline (at least, it used to be when posts were represented in chronological order more commonly). Albums of music are also called records because they are works that have been recorded to something physical like vinyl (at least, they used to be, before recordings could be exclusively created and stored digitally).

I like noticing these small points of mild tension between past, present, and future in our language. It’s a reminder that we are always evolving, and that evolution cannot take place without that which comes before.

In Darwin’s theory of evolution, the fittest who persist through successful reproduction only survive in the first place because their genes are best adapted to their environment. On the other hand, this natural selection phases out those who do not adapt.

Some words survive, often because their meanings are able to evolve, to adapt to new environments. A digital record is still as much a record as a physical one.

But what of all the words that have been lost to time?

Consider the thousands of ancient languages that went extinct as their speakers passed on from this world without passing on the language to their descendants. Even languages that still survive in one form through physical recordings do not fully exist anymore, because no one knows how to speak them accurately.

Take Sumerian, a language that died around 4000 years ago. Still today, we possess tons of intact tablets displaying Cuneiform, the written version of Sumerian. However, not a single living soul can speak the language accurately. We simply wouldn’t know how because we haven’t heard it. Only a dedicated few can read and translate it, and it is all, really, a very well-educated guess.

We homo sapiens have been around in some capacity for hundreds of thousands of years, but what do we remember about ourselves from our earliest days? What do you remember about your own life from the hazy blindspots of your single-digit youth?

We are all collectively, constantly forgetting. What I mean to say is, everything passes out of memory and, therefore, existence once enough time and people have passed.

That’s why I find the perseverance (and evolution) of certain memories so compelling.

Last weekend, I saw Christopher Nolan’s THE ODYSSEY. It got me thinking of oral traditions, stories being passed down verbally through so many generations. The fact that a single story like the journey of Odysseus—which may be made up of several separate stories pasted together to create a single narrative—has survived as long as it has is almost unfathomable. For nearly 3000 years, people have heard, read, and watched some form of this tale.

In those almost 3000 years, the story has never really been exactly the same. That is an essential aspect of oral tradition—individual’s memories changed the experiences of each listener all those centuries ago. Even after it was written down, The Odyssey has been edited and adjusted across many iterations.

Now, Nolan’s own interpretation gives modern audiences a unique version of the same core plot that was ancient Greek poet Homer’s The Odyssey. Nolan takes his own creative liberties, like pulling from other related stories to strengthen the themes he wanted to focus on—see the central role of Elliot Page’s Sinon, a character who was actually from Virgil’s The Aeneid.

While I can’t say precisely why certain stories and traditions survive longer than others, I’d hazard an educated guess that language is an example we can set in comparison. The languages that have survived for long periods of time—Tamil, Mandarin, Greek—do so because so many people have passed them on. Simultaneously, these languages have been somewhat concentrated in and protected by their environments. Tamil started in the southern region of India, which was long insulated by the Deccan Plateau, with mountain ranges forming a natural border to the north and the Indian ocean bordering it to the south.

Now consider Latin as a counter-example: in a way, the memory of Latin survives through its evolution into the many different Romance languages. We see the roots of Latin terms everywhere in Spanish, Italian, French, and Portuguese (not to mention the Germanic-rooted English that is also heavily Latinized). These modern languages are spoken all over the world much in the way Latin was once a global tongue carried abroad by the Roman empire through trade and conquest.

Universality. The brute force of quantity. These are reasons languages persist.

A shift in environment, then, is a big reason that languages evolve.

The Odyssey may one day cease to be remembered like so many other stories. There is no telling what exactly the future holds for our collective memory—though the current signs of our technology point to a longer, clearer, more assured existence for that which we remember. For now, though, The Odyssey remains firmly involved in the framework of our narrative tradition. Perhaps this is so because the nature of Odysseus’s story is universal—his journey represents massive moral questions, while also thrilling audiences with bouts of war, temptation, greed, triumph, and love.

The Odyssey is also remarkably good at evolving to fit new environments. It bears an adaptable symbolism that resonates in humans living all around the globe, thousands of years apart.

As you go forth and create your art, tell your stories, and live your life, remember: characters like Odysseus succeed because they are mirrors, reflecting every single person who comes to know them. As Odysseus spends years losing himself in the past rather than moving forward, so do we. It is my belief that, like Odysseus, we must struggle to move forward by accepting change, by acknowledging the absence of our control over that which already happened to us.

For many of us, art is our mode of adaptation. So, stand firm in the present moment, face the future, and know that change is not just possible—it is in your blood.

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s reflection—and I hope you feel ready to face the future. I also hope you have a chance to see The Odyssey! I loved it, and I bet you will too.

Now, returning to the present, here is some new music that is ready for you right here in this moment. Maybe it will trigger memories of the past, or maybe it will inspire your visions of the future. Either way, listen to it now and see what happens.

Since I’ve droned on quite a lot already, going to share this week’s recommendations without further words from me—hopefully they are fun surprises for your ears.

Happy listening.

The Odyssey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Ludwig Göransson (album / film score) [Back Lot Music]
Okay, really quick word on this one actually: why the fuck are people saying this soundtrack is “forgettable” and a “monotonous, boring listen”? It’s absolutely otherworldly, haunting, and filled with emotion. It is one of the most unique scores I’ve heard and paired with the film perfectly. Give it a chance for close listening without the visuals.
Stream / Buy
A New Day by Cousin Silas & Kevin Buckland (album / drone) [Independent]
one six two by VAAAL (EP / drone, ambient guitar) [Echoes Blue Music]

The Thread by WILLOW (album / art pop) [Three Six Zero]
Stream / Buy
Music, Fashion, Film by Charli XCX (album / pop) [Atlantic]
Stream / Buy
Un Jazz by Nu Jazz (album / free jazz, experimental) [Orange Milk Records]
It’s Always About Liberation by Ancient Infinity Orchestra (album / spiritual jazz) [Gondwana Records]
Peasants Revolt by Creekbed Carter Hogan (album / folk, Americana) [Gar Hole Records]

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Join Our Discord Community

Join the Discord

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Get In Touch

Get in Touch

#96: Tip Your Muses

Melted Form — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 15:22:36 GMT

Currently listening to: Stone In Focus by Aphex Twin

Hello, friend.

When you think of a muse, who or what comes to mind?

Muse: a person, force, or state of mind that serves as an inspiration for creative endeavors.

When I married Christine, I inscribed her wedding band with the words “Forever my muse” to remind her that she will always be the foremost inspiration in my world. When I look at her, I see a multiverse of possibility and the inexplicable, indescribable beauty of our shared existence, which I feel compelled to attempt to describe in my search for some sort of halfway-satisfying explanation as to why we are here.

Christine has been the inspiration for much of my creative work, but especially my poetry and music. Last September, I shared a poem that I wrote several years ago—Moonlight Bounce, I called it. It’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever written. I even recorded a demo of it. If you missed it, you can check it out below.

Last night, I recited Moonlight Bounce at a literary open mic night in front of a packed room of other poets. It was my first time really performing spoken word like this in front of a crowd.

As I took the low stage, my palms were coated in sweat. I introduced myself and my book, then got a cheer for being a first-time reader and a new resident of the town where this event was taking place. I squinted in the spotlights—I’m not sure whether it’s cruel or kind the way stage lighting turns most of the audience into silhouettes. My voice quivering slightly, I began.

And then I was thanking the crowd and shouting out Christine amid the applause. It happened so fast. As I walked back through the crowd to our spot in the audience, a few people shared kind words of encouragement as I passed them. Breath filled my lungs, the weight of public performance now removed from my chest.

I took a moment between speakers to think back on all the poets who had stood up there before me. When I had arrived at the event a couple hours earlier, I was actually the first person to sign up to speak… on the “if there’s time” list. The basket of entries was already full. The room was far more populated than I had anticipated.

I had spent the next couple of hours before my turn—which was far from guaranteed—trying my best to listen and process everyone else’s work. It was like going last for a school presentation, when your mind can’t help but wander back to your own words and how you might say them, how you might get up there and introduce yourself, how people might react.

Along the way, though, I was able to deeply enjoy hearing from all the other readers. There were short poems and long poems. Some had strict rhymes and meter, while others were more free-flowing and prose-like. Some read from books they had published, while others read off of their phones or notebooks. One or two recited from memory, like I wound up doing. It was an incredibly moving night.

At the end of the event, one of the organizers reminded everyone: “Tip your baristas!” (This was at a great local coffee shop.) I exchanged words and books with a few folks. Someone actually paid me for one of my books. I was invited to a weekly poetry circle on Tuesdays. I met a couple of fellow Democratic Socialists who I’d be seeing again in a different context next week.

This sudden community was stoking something within me—an urge to write more poetry—which had already been gaining fuel over the last week or two. Maybe it was this now hometown of mine, with it’s classic American Main Street that hosts tens of small businesses, many of which frequently hold free events like this open mic. I have never really lived centrally in a small town like this—one with such an emphasis on community, art, and shared belonging.

As Christine and I left the shop and ambled up the street to our hilltop home, I thought of the organizers words. Please, tip your baristas, those reliable accomplices who lovingly pour a heart of half-and-half into your latte or steep a pot of green tea to get you through whatever it is your going through—the morning slog, the sleepy afternoon, or the title bout against a blank page.

My mind went to my muse walking beside me. The girl who supported me in venturing down the hill to read my words in public, who was the reason I was able to be vulnerable around strangers, who is the only reason much of my creative work exists as it does.

It is now the next morning, 8 AM, and I just finished making pancakes on the griddle, including a half-dozen with chocolate chips and one with Mickey Mouse ears. I sprinkled powdered sugar over the buttered discs of golden dough, then served them to my muse with a cup of cold brew.

Tip your muses, friend.

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s reflection—and I hope you can find muses in your life. Remember, they don’t need to be a person, and they can come from within you. Whatever or whoever they are, thank them, nurture them, and you will be rewarded.

Now, let’s tune into some new music that is sure to inspire us.

Happy listening.

Wildwood Trail Soundwalk by Chad Crouch (album / field recordings, contemporary classical) [Independent]
It’s easy to see nature as maximalist—it’s everything around us, right? But this newsletter was founded on the idea of listening for the little things in the noise, the hum, buzz, and hiss. It seems to me that is a master of this minimalist approach, walking the trails in his home state of Oregon and hearing the soft elements of the environment around him. The whistling birdsong, the subtle blow of the wind, the rustling of leaves. All of nature in bloom, but quietly, peacefully, leaving plenty of space. Crouch placed his recordings of this environment into conversation with classical-inspired instrumental music—smooth woodwinds, washes of electronic textures, processed guitars. It’s an entire 12-part harmonic suite in G major, and all 41 minutes flow past you like a calm creek teeming with life just below the surface.
P.S. You can hear more lovely soundwalks and read his reflections about them on his Substack, Soundwalk.
Of Modern Poetry by Andy Stermer (album / electroacoustic, drone) [Independent]
Pairing perfectly with last night’s poetry read is this record of cinematic ambient works by Miami-based artist Andy Stermer. I’m a believer in the proper timing of things, so I love that I finally caught up on my emails after the open mic to discover this debut album from Stermer which is, in a way, far from a debut—he has spent the last decade composing ambient music for a podcast called Interesting People Reading Poetry in which his works form the backdrop for poetry readings. Here on Of Modern Poetry, he shares 7 compositions inspired by 7 iconic poems from writers like Walt Whitman, Arthur Rimbaud, and Rainer Maria Rilke. I can’t wait to dig into past episodes of the podcast and sit with this album as I write more of my own stanzas.
Aunque llegue la mañana · Refracted by Various Artists (album / electronic, drone) [Noray Records]
A year ago, I mentioned how much I enjoyed Raúl Cantizano & David Cordero’s collaborative record, Aunque llegue la mañana. Cantizano’s flamenco guitar intertwined beautifully with Cordero’s spacey, textural electronics. Now, Cordero has invited some wonderful ambient artists to reimagine that record in their own unique ways. On Refracted, artists like Ian Hawgood, Rhucle, zake, and Warmth mold the original 11 tracks into new webs of ambient sound, taking care to keep the essence of the originals somewhat intact. It makes for a really fascinating experience listening to both the original album and Refracted, comparing all of the intricate novelties and differences. And what a lineup of modern ambient composers to have grouped together on one record!
Beyond our World by Fringo (single / space, contemporary classical) [Independent]
Keep all channels open. This is a lesson I’ve learned over the 2+ years of writing this newsletter, because great music can come from anywhere (it reminds me of “Anyone can cook!” from Ratatouille). I rarely use Reddit these days, but every once in a while, I’ll pop on there and see someone from r/ambientmusic has found my account in an old thread and DM’d me to share their work. I’m grateful that this artist, Fringo, took the step to do so, because I love how wistful and emotive this single is. With this help of its planetary cover art, it conjures up the feeling of a scene in a space opera, perhaps a love finally acknowledged or a moment of bitter loss after a heroic sacrifice. I’m reminded a bit of Vangelis’s BLADE RUNNER score when the chimes come in. I look forward to following along with Fringo’s work as it climbs through the atmosphere into the future.

On the Levee by Jaco Jaco (album / psych pop) [Independent]
As soon as I clicked play on this album, I was reminded of Unknown Mortal Orchestra (huge compliment in my world). Jacob Theriot, the Philly-based musician who plays here as Jaco Jaco, has a breathy, cooing voice that bears an uncanny similarity to UMO’s Ruban Nielson. However, this immediate comparison should not detract from the quality or uniqueness of this Jaco Jaco record. Theriot and his co-producer Chad Copelin have delivered a funky psych pop sound that is crisp, buttery, and frequently goosebump-inducing. Will almost surely be on repeat for me in the coming weeks.
Dream Beach by Cloudchord (album / surf rock) [Nettwerk]
Why pigeonhole yourself into one genre when you can play whatever you want? That’s clearly what multi-instrumentalist (but guitar specialist) Derek VanScoten thinks! While VanScoten primarily wades in the vibey waters of surf rock and chillhop, this new double-disc album proves his tastes are wide-ranging (if still sunny and tropical most of the time). The opener is a dance track sampling the late blues artist Reverend Gary Davis. There’s also flavors of flamenco, funk, and, yes, groovy chillhop. Fans of Khruangbin will find something to love on many of the instrumental tracks with their effortless approaches to melody through guitar licks, steady beats, and airy background vocals. There’s even a Nirvana cover (All Apologies). Dive into Dream Beach this weekend and enjoy the sun (if it’s not covered up by the smoke of these Canadian wildfires for my fellow North American friends).
All the Shine is Gone by Babbling April (EP / indie rock) [Independent]
I wish you could see the face I made as I banged my head along to the fast-paced opener of this EP from Washington, D.C. via L.A. outfit Babbling April. I also wish you could then see the face I made as I heard the second track come in much softer. The DIY bedroom production of these indie rock tracks, whether tender and yearning (Just Come Over) or driving and gritty (All the Shine Is Gone), makes these raw songs hit so much harder. There’s a lot of modern indie rock out there that’s become so clean and shiny—it’s nice to hear a band that sounds like a group of friends you’d hear playing to a bar of 20 people in your hometown. Ironically, Dave New, one half of Babbling April’s core duo along with Vivienne Machi, is from Maryland like me. Would love to catch this group at a small show in the near future!

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Join Our Discord Community

Join the Discord

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Get In Touch

Get in Touch

#95: Good Things

Melted Form — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 13:24:43 GMT

Currently listening to: Sound Check at Cherry Lane Theatre by Blood Orange

Hello, friend.

Hope you’ve been well. Surviving the summer heat?

Apologies for the absence last week—I was moving to a new apartment in 103 ºF weather (39 ºC for my non-American friends). That was… an experience.

Still getting settled, but Christine and I are infatuated with our new town and its walkable main street.

The day we moved was the first Friday of the month, and during the evenings of these “First Fridays”, the town’s many independently-owned shops, art galleries, and restaurants open their doors and invite visitors to enjoy special events like live music, free gifts, and social gatherings. Sadly, we decided to skip this first First Friday out of exhaustion from moving (we went and jumped in my in-law’s pool too, so it wasn’t all that sad).

The day after we moved was a Saturday, which meant the Farmer’s Market was taking place. We strolled down to a local coffee shop for some morning sips, then followed them up with bagel sandwiches from a different spot next door. Bellies full and eyes bright with the charm of the morning, we wandered our way to the market where we found local eggs, fruits, and veggies, specialty spices, freshly squeezed juices, caciocavallo cheese, and pierogies. After walking away from the stand where we bought a cup of carrot-ginger juice, we heard the two women who sold us the juice cheer for themselves that they just made their first ever sale.

Our farmer’s market haul

A handful of days passed. We unpacked boxes upon boxes—still many more cover our creaky hardwood floors—and our new home was beginning to take shape. At one point, a neighbor left some dry goods at our doorstep to welcome us to the building. We ate the pasta for dinner just last night.

Gifts of sustenance from a kind neighbor

On Wednesday, my birthday arrived. 29 years lived, hopefully many more to come. I awoke to Christine making me breakfast. I gleefully opened gifts from her and my mother-in-law—new films for my collection!

While I had to work during the day—life comes at your fast!—we celebrated in the evening with a brief visit to a local record shop before dinner and drinks at a salumeria and bar. Christine spoiled me and bought me this German import of THE SOCIAL NETWORK soundtrack. Hell yeah. I drank 2 Negronis made with barrel aged gin, ate cheese, olives, and various cicchetti. We got free champagne, cake, and gelato, courtesy of one of the bartenders who happens to know Christine from childhood.

Today, I’m only working a half day. I don’t know exactly how I’ll spend the afternoon off yet, but I’m excited to find out. I do know that, later in the evening, Christine will be taking me on a dinner cruise out of Hoboken, complete with a buffet, a DJ, and skyline views of NYC from the water. Should be quite a treat.

Now, it’s the early hours of Friday morning and I’m listening to a random album stumble, writing as the sun rises, thinking about the many good things with which this life has blessed me. Above all is time. For many of you, 29 years may be a fraction of what you’ve spent. For others, it’s lifetimes later. All I know is that, if this, my 30th year, were to be my last, I would still feel luckier than most.

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s reflection—and I hope you have some good things in your life worth appreciating. If you’re feeling a bit bereft today, maybe some new music can fill your cup. Here are some new records for you to check out.

By the way, I’m quite behind on listening to all the music that get submitted to me here at Hum, Buzz, & Hiss, so if you’re an artist or a label and wondering if I’ve heard your work yet, just know that I’m digging my way out of emails and hopefully will soon!

Happy listening.

A Certain Distance by ndrw cnry (album / lofi, drone) [Independent]
There’s this fun little app called Music League that my cousins and I play together—each round has a different theme you submit songs for, and then vote on which songs you like the most. This week’s theme is “Songs that you wish were longer” (must be shorter than 2 minutes) and I found it fitting that I finally listened to ndrw cnry’s A Certain Distance at the same time this round was taking place. All the tracks on ACD are little ambient vignettes that artist Benoît Pioulard described as “little flashes of memories that drift by before you’re ready for them to depart.” Despite their short lengths, these miniature moments invite you into their warm pools of sound, slowing the seconds and sending the mind venturing forth toward parts unknown.
Se stiamo fermi, tutto si muove by MAREINTERNO (compilation / experimental electronic) [MAREINTERNO]
In Turin, Italy, a group of musicians have been hosting some live ambient concerts at intimate venues. Now, they’ve released their first compilation featuring 8 ambient electronic tracks that meet their motto of creating “a space for wavy music and deep immersion.” In English, the title means, “If we stand still, everything moves.”

Piano Distance by NAKAMURA Hiroyuki (album / minimalist, ambient piano) [Beyond Boundaries Music]
This solo piano record earns its space on the list because of its fascinating use of space: the artist built their own spatial audio system specifically for composition, recording binaurally. The result is a lowercase-esque record that really shines on good headphones, the piano notes, in their various, often unexpected textures, striking like soft bolts of lightning at different points in the room around you. Brilliant quiet listening.

ʅ͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡(̸̢̛̼̞̭͋ͅ)̸͚̰͛̔̾̀̿͒͂:̴͓̞̑̌̂̆̊͋̀:̸͎̟̯̂̓̌ ҉ ͡ ͞ ͞ ͞ ҉● ࿀ ● ࿀ ● ҉⃝ ⃝͢ ͞ ͘ ͞⃝̕ ͢ ̛ ⃝ ̸ ̡ ͢⃝̧ ͡ ͡ ̀ ̧ ̢⃝͜ ҉ ͞ ͞ ⃝͞ ͘ ͞ ͡⃝ ⃝҉҈҉҈҉҈҉҈҉҈҉ :̶̢͙͙͕̠̩͆(̷̮͍͚̫͚͂̍)̵̳̗̊( ̟̞̝̜̙̘̗̖҉̵̴̨̧̢̡̼̻̺̹̳̲̱̰̯̮̭̬̫̪̩̦̥̤̣̠҈͈͇͉͍͎͓͔͕͖͙͚͜͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢ͅ l̡̡̡ ̡͌ Ɵʅ͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡(̸̢̛̼̞̭͋ͅ)̸͚̰͛̔̾̀̿͒͂v̴̢͚͚͎ȯ̶̞̮͖̑̈́)̸̳̥̰̜̥̺̐ͅ)̴͎̜ by ⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ (album / house) [Independent]
A new, full-length release from Kieran Hebden (Four Tet)’s Wingdings alias. This one explores Asian-inspired instrumentation, mixing danceable house beats with some more spaced out synthtronics.
new avatar by Kelela (album / R&B, electronic) [Warp]
This album sounds like another promising entry in the realm of R&B that dances into darker electronic sounds, breakbeats, and washed out guitars (think of the glitchier, more modern lofi sounds of artists like Frank Ocean or James Blake). There are echoes of other eras too, though, like ‘90s and early ‘00s underground electronic works. Tying it all together is Kelela’s crystalline voice that cuts through the gritty beats like a warm knife.
Fire From the Hip by Finn Wolfhard (album / indie rock) [Night Shift Productions Inc.]
Finn Wolfhard (of Stranger Things fame) first made his music debut in early last year with the short album Happy Birthday, featuring a song that I absolutely love in Choose the Latter. Now, he’s back with a sophomore effort that continues his rough-around-the-edges indie pop-rock sound, which is evident from the opener, I’ll Let You Finish. But this time, there’s also some folk vibes entering the moving picture on a few cuts like Lights Go Down and Trail. Really excited to keep following the evolution of Wolfhard’s artistic career, no matter what medium he chooses to play in.
Stream / Buy

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Join Our Discord Community

Join the Discord

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Get In Touch

Get in Touch

#94: The Cleansing Flame

Melted Form — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 13:54:26 GMT

Currently listening to: Ama by Phondupe

Hello, friend.

Can you imagine a world without money, a world in which people are both radically self-reliant and constantly cooperative?

This was the sort of world I stepped into when I entered the communal grounds that hosted this year’s Summerisle Burn.

After hours driving through the rural fields and farms of central Pennsylvania, my wife and I arrived at a rocky dirt road that led us up to the gate of the property. We were greeted by teeth-filled grins and hugs from strangers who asked for consent first. We received our wristbands and some bags of ice to fill our coolers—we had 3 of them, carrying provisions to sustain ourselves and our campmates for the long weekend.

Meet M.O.T.H. (“Mother, Obviously, That’s Her”)

We continued on into the campground, quickly stumbling upon our camp—Camp Lamp, as it would be known. The space was already mostly decorated by our group of 8 friends, most of whom were in the middle of rigging a giant lampshade to a few central trees.

This would be the warm heart of our camp’s art installation, which included several other independent spaces consisting of smaller lamps we thrifted and then meticulously paired with custom seating, rugs, side tables, and other decor. Each lamp’s space represented some sort of vibe, era, or aesthetic.

It was satisfying to our souls to see our fellow burners enter Camp Lamp and choose a spot to sit for a while, resting and taking in their surroundings. Our camp was all the way at one end of the grounds, downhill from everything else, which made it feel a bit like a sanctuary, detached from the upbeat sounds of techno music that we could hear faintly thumping in the distance.

Consistent with our theme, we all dressed up at one point as various forms of light-attracted insects (primarily, moths). It was delightful to also see real moths wind up at our camp, affixing themselves to our lamps. It truly felt like the space we had created was a magnet of warm light.

We spent our first day wandering the grounds, meeting kindhearted folks and enjoying the sunshine (the weather was perfect all weekend). Everyone we met offered us something, from smiles and jokes to hot food to cold drinks—all without any expectation of something in return. It was a true community of people taking care of each other without questions or judgment, only wanting the best experience for everyone else. We saw people being their best selves—dressing how they wanted, sharing their art, learning from and relying on each other.

As the first day of our time at the burn was coming to an end, I descended the rocky hill back to our camp to set up a special event that my friend Eli had suggested to me: an ambient DJ set I would call my Late Night Ambient Lounge.

I placed my stereo speakers on either side of our “living room” area in camp which was the main space where we would hang out—it was decorated with a collage of colorful rugs and our many camp chairs beneath a white and yellow canopy. Next to the table where I set up my laptop, I placed a tall whiteboard on which I would write the names of the tracks and artists who were currently playing.

Setting up the whiteboard for the ambient set (peep my red mothman costume)

Starting around 1 AM and lasting for just over 2 hours, our living room space was filled with the sounds of ambient music by mostly independent and lesser known artists (many of whom you are probably familiar with if you’ve been following this newsletter for a while). You can listen to the full mix using the link below.

The following day, we enjoyed more sunshine and wandering. Our positive experiences only compounded. As the sun fell toward the horizon, we all made our way toward the open field where an effigy would be burned. We sat just beside the large band of musicians who drummed and played other instruments rhythmically throughout the ceremony. Fire spinners (including my friend Eli) danced around the burning pillar of wood. People yawped and shouted and cheered. Everyone circled closer to the fire, with many dancing around it. It was a jubilant affair. Following the burn, we all danced and partied the night away.

On Sunday, our last full day, there was a calmer sense across the grounds as many people began to pack up in preparation for their exit. Still, many who were staying until Monday wandered and communed. There was a mutual understanding that some rest and recuperation was in order after most folks had fully embraced their last 2 or 3 days there.

We capped off Sunday with another burn of what was called “the temple.” This was a more somber ceremony in which silence fell over the grounds, save for the crackling fire and the sounds of the natural world around us. We all sat and reflected.

As the fire began to die down, we became a tighter circle, staring into the flames. I wondered what everyone else was thinking in those moments of deep introspection. I thought of many things.

The word “vanity” kept spiraling around my mind for some reason, and I considered how it made me feel to be perceived by others in different contexts. Have I been putting too much stock into the opinions of others? Do I need too much validation? Am I more interested in the work of creating what is meaningful to me or what I think others want?

As this self-analysis began to subside, it was replaced by warm, comforting feelings. I was grateful for my friends, grateful for this unexpected community, grateful for the reminder that humans can do good for the sake of good. I was in awe of the art I had witnessed—the sculptures, paintings, theater, costumes, food, music.

In the light and heat of the burning temple, I felt it. The knowing. The belonging. The raging of souls against the dark.

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s reflection—and I hope you enjoy the latest Melted Mix! Let’s bring some more radical inclusion and community into the world outside the burn.

Some music will help, right? Here are a few things in my ears this weekend.

Happy listening.

Flowers Not Bombs by Various Artists (compilation / neoclassical, experimental electronic) [Beacon Sound]
Mostly ambient and all beautiful compilation benefitting Palestinian-led mutual aid groups on the ground in Gaza.
SANS VISAGE by Félicia Atkinson (album / electroacoustic, film score) [VIERNULVIER Records]
Atkinson re-scores LES YEUX SANS VISAGE (EYES WITHOUT A FACE), the cult classic horror film from 1960 directed by Georges Franju.
Season Cycle: Summer by Ed Herbers (album / drone, field recordings) [Passed Recordings]
The third season in Herbers’ Season Cycle series is here to brighten your early summer day.
Field Notes by Noodle Therapy (album / electronic, field recordings) [A Strangely Isolated Place]
From the Bandcamp description: “Fragments of found sound drift through evolving compositions, where analog circuitry, digital instruments, and Eurorack systems are used less as tools of precision and more as instruments of discovery.”
Melting Days by Lusine (album / downtempo) [Ghostly International]
From the Bandcamp description: “Loraine James once told Wire that Language Barrier was her ‘favorite ambient album of all time.’ Now Ghostly labelmates via James’ Whatever The Weather project, the two artists invite a similarly loose, old-school UK use of the “ambient” tag, something more akin to early Aphex Twin, Seefeel, and Lusine fave, Locust, where instead of a beatless canvas, the music remains active and fluid, far more in the foreground.”

Your Day Will Come (LP2) by Chanel Beads (album / indie pop) [Jagjaguwar]
Hard to describe the collage of things happening in the production on this album, but it feels a bit like a more washed out Dijon record with some youthful indie twang to it? Idk, just give it a listen lol.
BLISS by Temples (album / psych rock) [V2 Records]
Another round of bombastic and groovy neopsych from one of the genre’s best.
Stream / Buy
Contínua by Orbital Ensemble (album / Brazilian psych-fusion) [We Are Busy Bodies]
One of those true in-between sounds fusing Brazilian neotropical psychedelia with funk and jazz.

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Join Our Discord Community

Join the Discord

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Get In Touch

Get in Touch

#93: 2 Years Later, It All Feels Right

Melted Form — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:14:48 GMT

Currently listening to: Time (Live in Prague) by Hans Zimmer

Hello, friend.

Yesterday marked the 2-year anniversary of my first post here on Substack, welcoming you to Hum, Buzz, & Hiss. Monday will be 2 years since Issue #1 of The Living Music List, my main weekly series that you’re currently reading… 93 issues later.

Yes, time moves fast. Much has transpired since I first felt compelled to send you a letter reflecting on my week, collecting new music releases like precious jewels.

Time moves slow, too. Both speeds are true.

If you have received my letters for many months now, you’ve seen me acknowledge my deep enjoyment of the time it takes to write to you like this, because it helps me slow down. It helps me grow intention in my thoughts and my listening. I hope that you having taken the time to read these (often quite long) letters has also helped time settle in your life too.

In a way, the world has shifted dramatically over the last 2 years. In a more real way (and in the words of Talking Heads), it is the same as it ever was.

A lot of what we humans deal with on a daily basis boils down to a couple of core experiences: Consciousness and Love.

We grapple with our own existence essentially all the time (at least, I know I do). And then, beyond the fending for ourselves—the sustenance of life through the securing of food, shelter, and everything else we physically need to survive—we center so much of our time and effort around our relationships. Family, friends, romantic partners. How do we meet them, keep them, please them, learn from them, connect with them, deal with them, thrive with them, lose touch with them, lose them.

It’s like that DEAD POETS SOCIETY quote you probably see reposted on social media every few months, the one about how art and love are what we stay alive for. The full quote from Robin Williams’ character John Keating (which also includes a Walt Whitman quote) is usually trimmed, but even more powerful read in full, so I will share it here:

We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, “O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?” Answer. That you are here—that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

“Cogito ergo sum,” which means, “I think, therefore I am.” That was part of French philosopher René Descartes’ verse in this powerful play. Descartes wrote that while considering what it meant to doubt everything. He realized that his ability to think (to doubt) alone must mean that he, at the very least, exists—even if the nature of his existence, including who and what he was, along with everything else that he had experienced, was ultimately a mystery.

Everything and nothing has changed since Descartes’ time. The world is completely and utterly different, but we are still considering the same mystery as Descartes, and will probably always be.

Do not despair over this, friend. Choose joy instead. O life, we are here! Our play goes on. Players like Descartes have not been forgotten for expressing the mystery in their own verse, and neither will you.

Memory is not about names or dates and quotes. We are all living one life, all living things across all of existence. Life (existence) is memory, and me writing this and you reading it is all the proof we need that we are here and we are remembered, the same way we are always remembering. And to remember is to love, because what greater example of true affection and care is there than to become proof that another exists?

Consciousness and love—these are the things that inevitably found their way into my writing over the last 2 years of my life. So, in my work-in-progress verse of this powerful play, why has music shared the stage with all of this never-ending existentialism?

At the end of the day, music makes it all feel right.

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s reflection—and I hope you are feeling alright, alright, alright.

Quick note: The paywall on last month’s Melted Mix is now dropped for free subscribers to give it a listen. Check it out, especially if you’re into psych rock (think Tame Impala, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Temples, etc.) It’s a really dreamy hour of music!

Now, let’s get on with this week’s list of new music recommendations—10 great new records!

Happy listening.

Rite by CIRC (album / drone, field recordings) [Independent]
It’s been exceedingly hot and humid here in New Jersey as the June sun blazes overhead. As someone who generally dislikes the heat (give me cool fall weather all the time, please), I’m not sure why I have felt excited to embrace the sauna this summer. This warm bath of ambient works arrives to meet my willingness with rich, echoing drones built upon recordings of warm summer winds and the insects that thrive within them. It’s a cleansing listen that feels a bit like a sauna—wonderfully relieving in the long run, but the sweat of the moment can feel all-encompassing, sometimes to the point of breathlessness. Just what I needed.
All Gates Open by Blood Incantation (soundtrack / film score, space, drone) [Century Media Records]
Another example of the oddly fine line between metal and ambient, the cosmic maestros of Blood Incantation show here that they can make the latter brilliantly.
zakè [20th Anniversary Edition] by zakè (album / drone, minimalist) [Past Inside the Present]
While I usually don’t feature an artist two weeks in a row (see last issue’s Still Beauty by zakè & marine eyes), I felt compelled to include this anniversary re-release of one of ambient’s most beloved contemporary composers. Pure, simple drones that slowly but surely work their way into your bones.
Candle Days by Carl Aagesen (album / ambient piano, contemporary classical) [Independent]
Lovely, low-key piano vignettes perfect for long, slow moments.
Disclosure Day (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by John Williams (soundtrack / film score, classical) [Back Lot Music]
John Williams is 94 this year, and this new film score is his 30th collaboration with legendary film director Steven Spielberg. Let that all sink in! I can’t wait to see this film in theaters later tonight.
Stream / Buy

you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love by Olivia Rodrigo (album / pop) [Geffen Records]
When a pop singer becomes as big as Olivia Rodrigo has, doubt and hate are bound to find them. Expectations balloon. Positives get downplayed. Every single lyric and choice is analyzed to death. And yet, Rodrigo’s songwriting and vocal prowess answers all of it with a proud middle finger. Every track believes in the build. The writing is cheeky and serious, vulnerable and guarded, liberated and tortured. Also, if you actually stop to consider how hard it is to sing some of these songs live—listen to her blast through the chorus of stupid song on Jimmy Kimmel last night and her insane breath control on this acoustic performance of drop dead—you’ll truly begin to realize how massive her talent really is. This is one of my favorite things about pop music—the seamless listening experience. The instant get. The universality. These songs touch you right away, and you understand them, and you understand her, and you feel like she (and everyone else) understands you. Olivia Rodrigo fucking rocks.
Side note: if you’re into analyzing singing techniques, I highly recommend watching Tristan Paredes’ videos on Olivia Rodrigo’s performances like this one for The Cure.
Stream / Buy
Distant Lands by zzzahara (album / bedroom pop) [Lex Records]
There is so much fucking great music in the world. Case in point: this new indie rock/bedroom pop record from zzzahara that sounds like a room where weak sunlight is diffused through cigarette smoke as it bends around everyone’s internal teenager who’s hanging out, getting high, and wallowing in their seesawing emotions as they ponder life’s bullshit.
People Pleaser by Damian Dalla Torre (album / contemporary jazz) [Squama]
This album sort of creeps around on you—not in a creepy way, but just in like a tiptoe-y kind of way. The arrangements of guitar, woodwinds, strings, and more feel sort of restrained, like nobody wants to step on anyone’s toes. This all may be intentional given the album’s title.
Blindspot by Ella Hunt (album / folk) [Historical Fiction Records]
Get up close and personal with Ella Hunt as her unabashed lyrics and bold vocals tell tales of complex relationships, grief, and family. Very hard to believe this fantastic album is Hunt’s debut.
in this body by Sparklmami (EP / soul) [Independent]
Another incredible debut record—shoutout to and his radio show for turning me on to it. Only 23 minutes long, but Sparklmami packs in so much punch, soul, and silky-smooth sweetness.
Stream / Buy

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Join Our Discord Community

Join the Discord

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Get In Touch

Get in Touch

#92: Dream Visitors

Melted Form — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 12:23:13 GMT

Currently listening to: Songbird by Eva Cassidy

Hello, friend.

What can we make of the meanings of our dreams? Are the people we meet in them more real than we think?

Earlier this week, as Monday turned into Tuesday, I was looking into the eyes of my great grandfather. You may remember him from letters #54 and #55.

John Alden, the family man, the father of 12, the wonderfully kind man who was quite a talented singer and guitar player, was sitting on a camp chair, smiling at me.

As I approached him, he rose to greet me with a hug. His embrace was strong, not like it was toward the end of his life. I felt the scraggle of his facial hair that was just beginning to peak through on his jaw—unusual, as I only remembered him in life with a clean shaven face.

With our hug ending, I took a step back and again found myself locked eye-to-eye with him, almost hypnotized. Then he began to speak.

“I hear you saw my bird,” he said. “Make sure you take good care of it.”

I nodded, assuring him I would, “It’s good to see you, Grandpa.”

I woke with a start, the gold of the morning beaming in through the blinds of my bedroom window. My comforter was warm around me, a barrier against the frigid air conditioning and my cat who was on my chest already begging—an hour early—for breakfast. My wife continued to snooze beside me.

“My bird?” I recalled as I rubbed the sleep from my face. What did he mean? Did he have a favorite bird?

As the day went on, I set the dream aside and settled into my routine. I mentioned it to my wife, who asked what his message might have represented—she and I both believe our dreams often bear some kind of deep symbolism. I sent a message to my mom and my grandmother (who is the daughter of my great grandfather). Neither of them were certain about a favorite bird or any bird with a strong connection to him.

I found the sentiment interesting given that, recently, my wife and I have been noticing birds often. My wife said she’d like to get into birdwatching as a hobby, and we’ve been listening and watching for them everywhere. She even downloaded an app where your phone can identify the bird calls around you. Maybe grandpa was encouraging this newfound interest?

It was until the mid afternoon when I remembered: my great grandfather’s guitar bore the image of a bird.

The precious guitar, currently in the possession of my uncle Alan, must have been what my grandpa was referring to. It was a bit odd, because I hadn’t actually seen the guitar in quite awhile, and it was not mine to care for.

I messaged my uncle for the second time that day—I had already wished him a happy birthday. Interesting timing, I wondered. Here was our brief exchange:

I marveled at the magical timing of it all. A dream visit from my great grandpa who passed several years ago. A day spent considering its meaning. A revelation at just the right time. Can you imagine if I hadn’t reached out to my uncle and later found out something had happened to the guitar on his walk into the woods?

Still, I think my grandpa’s message was more than just a single warning for my uncle. A few days before this dream, I had picked up my wife’s acoustic guitar and fiddled around with it. I never learned to play—stringed instruments don’t click with my brain for some reason—but I always loved the idea of it. I can sometimes figure out little things here and there. Perhaps my grandpa was encouraging a new musical pursuit with his favorite instrument.

Or perhaps, it meant something even more mysterious. Something about the bird as a “spirit animal” that represents some lofty ideas about the state of my being. A quick search showed me that birds are often thought to bridge the heavens and the earth, acting as spiritual messengers, which seemed to fit given my dream visitor from the other side.

This all made me reflect on the other visitors I’ve had over the years, the loved ones I’ve lost. My cousin, Karl (also a descendant of my great grandfather). My friend, Kyle. I have been visited by both of them in my dreams since their passing. Every time, I am always greeted with silent smiles and small messages. Every time, I wonder what they might be trying to tell me and come up with a range of different answers.

As my life moves forward—work goes on, time passes, and the world changes—I think the purposes of my dream visitors are never singular. They mean to make me think, to consider their secret meanings, to wonder about where they are. I believe they are asking me to remain open in the way I interpret the world around me, to always read between the lines.

I also believe that they are there just to smile at me, to give me a hug, and to assure me know that they are still there, somewhere. They are okay. And I will be too.

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s reflection—and I hope you have had some meaningful dream visits in your lifetime. I’d love to hear about your own encounters. Feel free to share them in the comments!

As we sit and reflect on these dreams, let’s listen to some new music! A bunch of new album recommendations for you below.

Happy listening.

Still Beauty by zakè & marine eyes (album / drone, vocal ambient) [Past Inside the Present]
A new collaboration of quiet, minimalist music from 2 of my favorite ambient artists in the PITP family, with soft textures, cool voices, and tape-saturated drones melding together like a healing salve for the ears.
Pareidolia by Jake Muir (album / dark ambient, drone) [enmossed]
This dark and uneasy ambient album was formed from manipulated atmospheric excerpts of hundreds of black metal and death metal tracks.
Tamayura by Haruhisa Tanaka (album / new age) [Nettwerk]
This suite of tracks sounds like the twinkling of refracting light constantly overlapping, ramping up and then receding. In Japanese, “tamayura” translates literally to the sound made when two jewels or beads gently strike one another, but is commonly used to describe a fleeting moment or ephemeral resonance.

Lithic by Laura Misch (album / downtempo jazz) [One Little Independent]
While it’s difficult to categorize Laura Misch’s music, it’s simple to fall in love with it. Her soft saxophone riffs, ambient drones, lowkey textural beats, and her deep, satin-smooth voice all combine to create a spellbinding and meditative listening experience.
Entertain the Space by Lennie Rayen (album / indie rock) [Independent]
Heartfelt, yearning, and headstrong, Lennie Rayen’s breathy voice is the soul of this traditional singer/songwriter-focused indie rock record. The guitar tones are super satisfying throughout too.
Philadelphia’s been good to me by Kurt Vile (album / indie rock) [Verve]
This new Kurt Vile record channels a different slice of indie rock that bleeds into the buzzy, twangy territory of both country and folk. I’m reminded of artists like Jeffrey Lewis. This is a fun one for a drive in the sun.
Stream / Buy

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Join Our Discord Community

Join the Discord

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Get In Touch

Get in Touch

#91: Separate, Together

Melted Form — Fri, 29 May 2026 12:52:50 GMT

Currently listening to: Victoria by obli

Hello, friend.

I hope you are doing well on this late May Friday. It’s warm and sunny here in New Jersey—Summer is making its slow entrance.

Next month, I’ll be attending Summerisle Burn, a regional festival in Pennsylvania inspired by the principles of Burning Man. On the off-chance that you happen to be attending or are interested in attending, please feel free to reach out to me via Substack DM or email—I’d love to see you there!

I’m in the midst of making a longform ambient DJ mix that I’ll be playing for a Late Night Ambient Lounge at our camp during the festival. Around 1 AM-ish, in our camp lit by many different lamps, I’ll be playing 2+ hours of ambient music and writing on a whiteboard the names of the tracks and artists that listeners are hearing. I hope it will be a nice come-down from the excitement and partying my fellows will be enjoying. I’ll also be giving out free copies of my poetry book.

I wrote a short poem this morning while reflecting on the experience of making this new mix, inspired by the beauty of coincidence when discovering just how perfectly different songs can fit together, like puzzle pieces that snap together cleanly despite being cut from different puzzles.

I hope you enjoy it, and I hope to share the mix with you all in the near future.

P.S. If you’d like to contribute a track to the mix, you can join our Hum, Buzz, & Hiss Discord community where you’ll find more details. Deadline to submit is this Sunday, May 31.

***

separate, together

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published

separate
together
perfectly clever
mixing the distinct

instinctual
unexpected
carefully collected
a supernatural wink

unbeknownst
collaboration
cross pollination
layering, layering

novel
familiar
singular they still were
harmoniously destined to be

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s poem—and I hope you are getting some sun wherever you are. I also hope these 6 new music recommendations will help set a lovely tone for your weekend and week ahead.

Happy listening.

Light Held Still by Bleeptwig (album / electronic, drone, atmospheric drum and bass) [Independent]
Oscillating between tracks full of warm, sustained tones and tracks dappled with atmospheric but hard-hitting beats, this album feels like catching lightning in a bottle—once contained, it is still and beautiful, but take the cap off, and its crackling power is unleashed.
têmpora by hugo espirito santo (album / minimalist, drone) [Independent]
I feel like this debut record is a perfect follow-up to Bleeptwig’s album listed above: there are some atmospheric beats hidden among the ambience, although they are more muted and restrained. But instead of light and stillness, this album is a meditation on darkness and fluidity.
Possible Utopias For Jazz Quintet by Laurence Pike (album / experimental, ambient jazz) [Balmat]
This record isn’t really jazz, and it’s certainly not a quintet—just Pike and his drum/ambient experimentations (plus a few occasional friends) sounding a bit like the improvised sound check of a jazz group in a small room.

Inferno by Boards of Canada (album / electronic) [Warp Records]
Needs no introduction, really, I know… but after 13 years and an excitingly mysterious promotional cycle, the brothers are back. And the production of Inferno is as beautiful, haunting, and intricate as ever.
Soft Speak by obli (album / electronica) [Anjunachill]
Despite the dim blue hues of its cover art, this record was made for the early summer sun. Full of rhythms and harmonies that get your head nodding and put butterflies beneath every inch of your skin.
Many As One by Good Swim (EP / folk) [Independent]
A while back, I shared the single Paper Tiger from this EP by Belfast-based singer/songwriter Dave McConnell (playing here as Good Swim). I was captivated by McConnell’s voice and writing on that single and, thankfully, the full 5-track EP is just as captivating.

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Join Our Discord Community

Join the Discord

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Get In Touch

Get in Touch

#90: Trying to Slow Down in a Life That is Short

Melted Form — Fri, 22 May 2026 13:01:01 GMT

Currently listening to: Shell by Laura Misch

Hello, friend.

What are you searching for? What do you seek?

It is easy to breeze past the completion of each season.

Easy to unbelieve the beliefs one once had.

Easy to freewheel like the collegiate one once was.

Easy to ignore the lesions slow appearing on one’s skin.

Yet it is hard to see how far one has to go for love and loss.

Hard to feel the parts of life when scars would leave their marks.

It isn’t hard to know the trial’s over when it starts.

It’s harder to acknowledge we know nothing of our hearts.

We know nothing of what’s next.

We know nothing of what’s now.

We know nothing of what’s left.

We know nothing of what’s how.

We hear the music playing, watch the needle in the groove.

We hear what we are saying, read the feelings in the room.

But in the end, we play pretend.

We shrug and scoff and sneer.

We skip a step and place our bets.

We are never really here.

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s poem—and I hope you can slow down today.

While I don’t have any lengthy personal words to share about this week’s list of recent releases, I have included a single line from each record’s Bandcamp description—just to give you a tiny hint at what you can expect from each.

Happy listening.

Sender by Jogging House (album / minimalist, meditative) [Independent]
“A calmer language.”
Oceanine by Jolanda Moletta (album / vocal ambient) [Beacon Sound]
“What if the sirens’ songs were considered dangerous because they carried another truth, an ancient truth long forgotten?”
Paradessence by Visible Cloaks (album / electronic, experimental) [RVNG Intl.]
“The album’s fourteen songs shift, heave, and shimmer against a faintly luminous backdrop of night, a cavernous space shaped by sparse hyperreal representations of the natural world.”

After Nothing Comes by Fugue State (album / jazz, experimental electronic) [Switch Hit Records]
“The ship of Theseus sailing the .WAVs — how many plugins can you apply to a human performance before it’s no longer human?”
Feeling Is Structure by Max Cooper (album / electronic) [Mesh]
“We have this remarkable capacity to spill ourselves into the world through form.”
sssiv 2 by sssiv (EP / dream pop, indie rock) [PinkCottonCandy]
“We love imperfections, we love fucking things up in the beautiful way that only humans can.”

Music List Reminders: Bandcamp links provided first when available—if an album is not on Bandcamp, then YouTube, Soundcloud, or other preview links are provided. List format: Title by Artist (release type / approximate genre or subgenres) [Label].

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Join Our Discord Community

Hum, Buzz, & Hiss has a free Discord server where music fans and artists hang out together, share music, chat about our work, and learn from each other. Plus, you’ll get some behind-the-scenes stuff and even more music recommendations from me. I’d love for you to join us! Click the button below and I’ll see you there.

Join the Discord

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Get In Touch

Get in Touch

#89: HBHTV Episode 1

Melted Form — Fri, 08 May 2026 12:43:58 GMT

Currently listening to: Introit / Prophecy At 1420 MHz by Boards of Canada

Hello, friend.

You’re watching HBHTV, the television channel that brings you the hottest music videos streaming directly to your eyes and ears.

It’s Friday, May 8th, 2026, and we kicked today’s show off with Boards of Canada continuing their long-awaited return with their new single, Prophecy at 1420 MHz.

Now, let’s switch up the vibes. This is Charli xcx with Rock Music. Not, like, actual rock music, really—it’s still electronic and poppy—but, like, I see what she means.

Up next, it’s JPEGMAFIA’s intriguing new single, War Over Land.

Very excited to see how Peggy’s new album EXPERIMENTAL RAP shakes out. Next, we’re getting braindance-y with Max Cooper’s new visual feast of a music video for The Shape of Memory.

You are now entering a moment in fashion and music history. Here are Lady Gaga and Doechii absolutely serving on RUNWAY.

Absolutely insane costume design work there. And a banger of a track to boot.

Now, let’s lean back to something more chill—this is Action Bronson’s smooth new single TRICERATOPS (featuring Lil Yachty & Paul Wall) from his new album Planet Frog that came out today.

Unexpected trio there (damn, I haven’t thought of Paul Wall since like… Grillz? But that’s on me) but I’m here for it. I’m also here for this hip-thrusting, booty-shaking Harry Styles video for Dance No More.

Okay, HBHTV viewers, now it’s time to go a little harder. Here’s Lauren Sanderson teaming up with Fred Durst (yup!) on COME SAY SUM.

And with that, I’m officially feeling nostalgic. Which means it’s time for our throwback portion of the episode!

Allow me to reintroduce you to Flyleaf’s I’m So Sick—it’s still so sick.

Now let’s go back even further and remember the fun and weird styles of 1980s music videos like this one—it’s Duran Duran with Is There Something I Should Know?

Alright, friend, I hope you’ve enjoyed that little jaunt down memory lane. We’re just about ready to wrap up this episode, so let’s send you off with one last new, blue-tinged video from Chanel Beads. Thank you for tuning into HBHTV.

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s episode of HBHTV. For continued listening, I’ve got some recommendations of recently released albums and EPs down below.

Happy listening.

Blank Slate, Open Space by Alaskan Tapes & Blu Miles (EP / ambient jazz) [We All Speak In Poems]
Intimate ambient piano and saxophone (with other instruments like guitar and clarinet occasionally coming through). Quiet, gentle, and contemplative.
RadgePacketRemorse by Andrew Wood (album / experimental, field recordings) []
A lightly haunting lofi collage of unidentifiable field recordings, synths, and noise, all presented in the uniquely compressed format of a floppy disk. More on this album over on the label’s Substack.
Yutori by Buildings and Food (album / Kankyō ongaku, electronic) [Independent]
Minimalist synth ambient with a bit of a lofi feel, made in the spirit of 20th century Japanese environmental music by artist , whom I interviewed almost exactly 1 year ago.

Loud Bloom by Olof Dreijer (album / dance) [dh2]
Vibrant, hypnotic house music that dances away from conventions, created by a member of iconic Swedish electronic pop group The Knife and released on The 1975 drummer/producer George Daniel’s dh2 imprint.
Where This Ends by Polyvinyl (EP / indie rock) [Independent]
New Wave-inspired indie rock that sounds 40 years old in the best way, with a singer who has an absolutely classic female rock voice. Single Bad Dreams could have been in a John Hughes movie.
Lobos trio by LOBOS TRIO (album / free jazz) [Camembert Électrique]
This debut release from an Argentinian trio is satisfyingly plunky, percussive, and playful.

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Join Our Growing Community on Discord

Join the Discord

Get In Touch

Get in Touch

#88: Cruisin' Through NYC

Melted Form — Fri, 01 May 2026 12:28:19 GMT

Currently listening to: Cruisin’ by Smokey Robinson

Hello, friend.

You’re listening to WHBH, and right now, we are cruisin’ into the weekend feelin’ mighty smooth. Cruise for a second with me, baby.

Fresh apple juice we made at home

I’m drinking some homemade apple juice we made from Honeycrisp apples using our juicer. Super fun appliance and delicious results. More expensive than just buying apple juice at the store? Absolutely. Worth it? Definitely, occasionally.

Yesterday was my wife’s 27th birthday. Happy birthday, Steenie! I planned a long day in NYC of various mystery events for her including:

breakfast at The Grey Dog in Union Square… delicious!
shopping at The Strand… a book lover’s dream
a NY Mets game… Steenie loves the Mets but I grew up a Nats fan, and they happened to be playing yesterday. It was a poor outcome for her despite my double-agent support of the Mets in honor of her special day
a trip up to the Empire State Building’s 86th floor observation deck… somehow it was our first time?!
a motown/funk/R&B-themed dance party in Bryant Park… why I’ve got Smokey on this morning. P.S. there are 2 more weeks of this free event on Wednesdays and Thursdays, highly recommend if you’re local

This breakfast was divine

Steenie posing before we learned West Coast Swing from a couple of dance instructors at a free dance party in Bryant Park. The theme was motown, funk, and R&B, and we two-stepped our way around the park to Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, & more

I told Steenie how I had loosely based the day on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which she saw for the first time only a couple of months ago. We had a nice meal (not Chez Quis and my name’s not Abe Froman, but the food was fantastic), went to a ballgame (unfortunately no foul ball was caught), browsed a museum (inside the Empire State Building) before seeing sky-high views of a metropolis from a famous skyscraper (Ferris went to the Sears/Willis Tower), and got to dance around in a huge crowd of people (as close as I could get to the famous parade scene).

Among all of the amazing things we saw and experienced yesterday, the dance party stood out. While walking around the city, we were constantly reminded that, like Ferris, we had a day off from the usual weekday work grind. Most people walked around at breakneck paces, headphones on, heads down in their phones, on autopilot, moving between subway stations and sidewalks without so much as a glance at the other people or things going on around them. I do the same thing when I commute once or twice a week into the city. At the dance party, the energy of the city felt entirely different.

People were in one shared space. Very few phones were out, though there was some unavoidable filming and picture-taking. For the hour of dance instruction we received, it seemed like there were about a hundred or so people actually living in the moment, holding hands (even with strangers), dancing together, smiling, laughing off messed up footwork and accidental bumps, singing along to these classic R&B tracks played by a live band.

New York City always feels like a space of duality to me, a constant contradiction. A while ago, I read this note from Cheryl Douglas on Substack about the financial extremes at play here. I think it’s a good example, but there’s also the extremes of shared existence to consider.

The majority of the millions of people here seem to act completely ignorant of everyone else most of the time. But then, something happens.

An event, an unexpected interaction. You spot Ari Miller walking around with his music rig and compelling folks to stop, take out their earbuds, and listen to some random New Yorker drop a legendary freestyle. You happen upon a random Marc Rebillet set on a street corner. You somehow get an invite to a Book Club Radio party. You find yourself at a free dance class in Bryant Park.

Anyone who’s spent time in New York can vouch for the social aspect of it all as strongly as the antisocial aspects. Happy hour cocktails with coworkers are as ubiquitous as aurally isolated pedestrians.

All this to say, as often as I have jokingly said “the best part about the city is leaving it” (which I did last night as we—19,000 steps later—tiredly tumbled onto a NJ Transit train), I should also follow it with a “New York, I love you, good night.”

The Living Music List

Finally: TODAY is Bandcamp Friday once again! That means no fees on music/merch purchases—100% of your money goes directly to the artists & labels you’re supporting

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s reflection—and I hope you get to cruise somewhere this weekend.

I haven’t had much time to listen to new music this week, so this week’s list of recommendations includes new releases I’m just beginning to dive into. Thus, these recs are also absent of additional words from me. Lots of promising stuff in here regardless! Hope you enjoy them.

Happy listening.

Sol.Hz by Seefeel (album / dub, electronic) [Warp]
ambiento 1 - 5 by Tiger J (EP / electronic, ambient guitar) [Independent]
Faint Glow by Miguel Otero (EP / minimalist, meditative) [Noray Records]

American Football (LP4) by American Football (album / indie rock, midwest emo) [Polyvinyl Records]
Diavola by Gabrielle Cavassa (album / vocal jazz) [Blue Note Records]
Buy / Stream
Something Worth Waiting For by Friko (album / indie rock) [ATO]

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Join Our Growing Community on Discord

Join the Discord

Get In Touch

Get in Touch

#87: Video Games

Melted Form — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 13:18:18 GMT

Currently listening to: Unforgotten (from the Halo 2 OST) by Marty O’Donnell

Hello, friend.

Did you grow up playing video games? If so, what era are you now most nostalgic for?

For me, it’s the Xbox 360 era of the late 2000s. I think about the year 2007 too much, probably. Halo 3 released that year and brought with it another iconic evolution of the OST (but I love all the music from the series, despite discovering recently that the main composer Marty O’Donnell has some absolute shit views).

There were some other massive video game releases that year: BioShock, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Assassin’s Creed, Portal. If you were a gamer, it was truly one of the most incredible years for new releases I can remember.

Meanwhile, we were jamming out to Linkin Park’s What I’ve Done after hearing the needle drop during the end credits of the first TRANSFORMERS movie. There was a ton of iconic pop and R&B coming out that year, in addition to the still-large presence of rock. Look at this list of radio hits:

Video games, specifically, are on my mind though because, yesterday, I met up with a friend who I wouldn’t have known without them.

I stepped out of my New York City office around noon and paced across a few avenues. As I turned a corner, I saw a pizza shop and a guy standing in front of its windows, smiling at me. It was my friend, Ramee.

We went inside, and, Ramee, being the hospitable friend he is, bought me a couple of slices. All the pizza here was halal, including their pepperoni, which was a benefit for Ramee, who is a Palestinian-American Muslim.

We took our slices, walked over to Bryant Park, and found a couple of chairs among the throng of people. We sat for a while and ignored work, catching up after months (years?) since we last saw each other in person.

Ramee got married just a month ago. I got married 6 months ago. We talked about what it’s like to move in with your wife, to share a space, to share cats. We talked about splitting incomes and supporting our loved ones as they pursued graduate school.

Ramee lives in Brooklyn, and I probably would have never had a reason to know him if it weren’t for multiplayer video games and mutual friends.

Dan, one of my best friends from college, became friends with a guy named Allen way back when we were kids during the Xbox 360 era. They just met randomly while playing online and the rest is history. Allen is Ramee’s older cousin, so eventually, Ramee joined their gaming sessions. Another friend from Brooklyn, Isiah, also joined the group at some point.

Then, when Dan and I lived together in college, he introduced me to all of them. We spent many days and nights playing games old and new, joking and laughing in our Xbox parties.

Eventually—and I can’t remember exactly when it happened or what prompted it—we decided to meet up in person. It took the online friendship to a different level, and now, I text this group daily.

If there was a single game that defined this group of video game friends, it was Halo. Dan, Allen, and Ramee spent hours playing through those campaigns together when they were younger, and I did so separately. Once I entered the fray, we revisited them often and played lots of silly custom games. We all bonded over our love for the music and atmosphere of Halo—the Gregorian chants, the cinematic strings, the driving rock sounds, the epic scale of it all.

Halo music has become one of those “peak male friendship” memes that still comes up today, with guys joining forces to find acoustically satisfying locations to sing the choir pieces. Like a public bathroom, for example:

Halo united a generation (and spanned across generations), and I’m thankful that Halo and so many other video games played a part in leading me to friends I never would have known otherwise. And man, the music that we’ve gotten to hear just because of video games…

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s reflection—and I hope you have some free time to game soon, if you’re into that kinda thing.

A quick heads-up before jumping into today’s music recs: a new Melted Mix for April just released this week for paid subscribers. The paywall will drop on April 29th, but if you want to listen now, you can use your free preview (if you have one still) or upgrade to a paid subscription (I’ve got steep discounts for you at the end of this newsletter!)

Happy listening.

HH by zakè (album / drone, minimalist) [Zakè Drone Recordings]
I’d like to send my well wishes to Zach Frizzell (AKA zakè) and his wife, as it appears this new album arrives amid some kind of health concerns. Frizzell writes:
“Time spent in hospital rooms. The weight still unfolding. The uncertain future. More questions than answers. Pieces of my heart, heard through the sounds of HH. For my wife. Shaped by what we are moving through together. An attempt to meet pain with love.”
Even without this backdrop, HH holds a higher sense of spirituality than most other independent drone releases from the Past Inside the Present founder. There’s an Eno-like quality here, with tracks that are simplistic and minimal in their composition and progression, but also grand and moving and timeless. HH.1, for example, almost reminds me of the iconic Halo 2 track, Unforgotten. Overall, these 4 longform pieces are warm, healing pools to bathe in, not filled with water but with light and a soft, loving touch.
Making Colors by Dave Harrington, Max Jaffe, & Patrick Shiroishi (album / ambient jazz, experimental) [AKP Recordings]
There’s a little group of jazz musicians I keep stumbling upon without intentionally tracking any of them—this trio + Spencer Zahn, who are all frequent collaborators—and every record they touch is an unexpected little gift of jazz experimentation, often with some more ambient and even psychedelic tendencies. This new LP demonstrates those ambient tendencies, especially in its first two tracks, employing drawn out, warbly guitar resonance that coalesces into a noisy cacophony of insect-like electroacoustic bleeps and bloops (I’m not certain, but I’m assuming it’s a combination of more processed guitars and horns, rather than the modular synth bleeps and bloops you might be expecting). The oddness continues into track 3 (lovingly titled steal from walgreens), feeling at this point like a work of sound art where I imagine the trio trouncing around a room full of weird metal objects and other Foley sound sources. And then sunddenly, the back half of the record kicks in on track 4 and we get some more familiar sounds of drums, guitar, and saxophone. Regardless of this return to some form, there always remains a sense of wandering, a hazy unease.
130.81 by Passed Recordings (compilation / drone, post-rock, minimalist, downtempo) [Passed Recordings]
I am a simple man—I see , I listen. That mindset is especially rewarding when this collective drops massive compilations like this one. 31 tracks from 31 artists, all intertwined around the red thread of a single note: C3 (which is represented here by its frequency of 130.81 Hz in standard A440 tuning). Don’t worry, you don’t have to know what any of that means—the fun part is that it lends a sonic consistency within the wide-ranging collection of tracks, all distinct in their flavors, playing with different genres and tempos. And yet, as the label says, you can shuffle it all and hear a seamless flow of ambient music.

Under My Umbrella by Miss Grit (album / electronic) [Mute]
The Great Divide by Noah Kahan (album / folk) [Mercury Records]
Buy / Stream
Singing by Gia Margaret (album / indie folk) [Jagjaguwar]

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Join Our Growing Community on Discord

Join the Discord

Get In Touch

Get in Touch

#86: YouTube Algorithm Reveal

Melted Form — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 13:36:45 GMT

Currently listening to: the chase, rl stine, trainers (NTS Session) by THEY ARE GUTTING A BODY OF WATER

Hello, friend.

I hope you are well. I’m not sure how you could be though, considering THEY ARE GUTTING A BODY OF WATER!!!

When I discovered this band TAGABOW—isn’t it funny the way we often say we “discover” bands and artists as if we’re the first to ever find them? It’s some Christopher Columbus shit—I was surfing through my YouTube recommended list and saw this video. It felt impossible not to click.

What a goofy little treat. Ironically, this isn’t much of a music video, despite our humble protagonist’s description of his casting call that doubled as a unique and coveted world record attempt.

Noticing the name of the page that posted it, I realized that it truly was a music video, subtly featuring this 1-minute interlude by a Philadelphia-based shoegaze band:

Rabbit hole time. I sailed my Santa María over to their NTS session, discovering that it ripped (rips). And I was hooked. Yay, a new band to explore!

Okay, continuing through my recommended list. Zohran Mamdani interview. Movie trailer. NFL talk show. Easter bunny fights in defense of woman outside Orlando, Florida bar (6 years ago). Video game trailer. Hold on… wh- what is this?

No title. No profile picture. But an un-skippable thumbnail, as one user commented. And a fun, chill lofi ambient beat of sorts. I had seen/heard something like this before...

Thank you, Mr. uh… Baby Kong? I will hit that blunt.

Now, part of me did worry that these little, one-off beats with silly images could have been AI-generated tracks. They sounded decent and I was enjoying them, but YouTube is as notorious as any other major music-hosting tech platform for pushing AI slop, especially from unidentifiable artist profiles.

Through some quick link diving in the descriptions, however, it seemed that both of these tracks were made by real European producers—larua and margo proxy—who just happen to say very little about their identities in these larger spaces. However, after sending out the Nina and the Pinta for recon, my crew found that these producers share a project called imago meri from which they sell sample packs and publish music from their community. They have an active Discord server with ~2500 members. They are seemingly very human!

Quick monke-brain break:

And, oh wait, a cat? I love cats. And dandelions. And Sony Handycam footage.

My YouTube is absolutely unhinged crazy-sauce, sometimes. I mean, you cannot make up this kind of duality between 2 videos being recommended beside each other, but my algorithm can apparently.

And yes, hornse goes hard. And check out its comment section:

A lot of these weird internet videos that mix old analog and digital vibes seem to really trigger a lot of varying emotions and specific moments of nostalgia in people, myself included. It’s fascinating to me that there is this whole underbelly of YouTube featuring some pretty fun electronic and ambient-adjacent music which draws in hundreds of thousands of listeners purely by way of odd images and silly titles. The product of our meme-fueled, social media-centric world perhaps? I mean, how else do you get this?

And the top comment on this cat Radiohead cover?

For all the AI slop and bot farms and nonsense online, it has given me a lot of joy to continue discovering these little videos online and remember that there are still a ton of humans out there making weird stuff just for fun. It takes me back to days when the internet felt far more magical than it does now.

Is all of this stuff art? Eh… not really. But it’s some top-quality content. And despite all the bullshit that YouTube puts in front of me on a daily basis, I can’t ignore that I’m still having fun discovering legit artists from around the world on there. Artists who are somewhere out there, just doing their own quiet little things.

***
Oh, and by the way, here’s another little thing that popped up on my YouTube this morning—a new Boards of Canada single:

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s reflection—and I hope you find some hidden gems during your voyages across the YouTube sea.

Some more music recs and words on the ambient stuff from me down below.

Happy listening.

BODY SOUND by Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, & Macie Stewart (album / contemporary classical, chamber music) [International Anthem]
When released Normal Sounds [Moon Glyph], I was struck by her way of meshing the mundane (a car alarm, a fridge, an ice cream truck) and the musical (her cello, a saxophone, a synth). There was a kinship in that record with a wider movement in this 2020s era of ambient/experimental music—one which seems to increasingly acknowledge the quiet and overlooked sounds of our world (see also the work of artists like and vanessa rossetto, to name a couple). If you were to also examine past releases from Whitney Johnson and Macie Stewart, the ultimate result of this trio’s new album BODY SOUND comes into complete clarity. Take Stewart’s 21-minute piece from December, The World Doubles In Size, with it’s water sprinkler-like textures and string plucks; consider Johnson’s meditative, psychoacoustic works as Matchess and her first, string-forward collaborative album with Kohl, For Translucence.
I know, I haven’t yet written anything about this new release, but that is because there was something about it that compelled me to first turn back the pages, to understand where each artist was coming from. Because BODY SOUND hears Johnson, Kohl, and Stewart improvising in perfect lockstep, their strings resonating and singing alongside their voices, their mysterious spatial recordings altering the temperature of the air, and their attuned ears gently guiding ours to the subtle, wonderful sounds of a life that we’ve been missing all along.
The Boundless by The Abstract Observer (album / electronic, minimalist) [Independent]
I know there is some fatigue from music writers and critics about conceptual backdrops to an ambient or instrumental album, a sort of vexation about long-winded descriptions explaining the inspirations behind an album that delivers no words within the music to make those meanings clear. And I understand it, to a certain degree—ambient music carries emotion and triggers diverse thoughts within different listeners like any other genre, but can be difficult to be so pointed as to convey the same meaning the artist themself takes from the work they’ve created. I, however, still find these lore drops utterly fascinating. I always welcome the artist’s perspective on what the music means to them, what drove them to make it, why it sounds the way it does in their mind.
And so, I enjoyed my immersion in this concept album that draws from the writings of the ancient Greek philosopher, Anaximander. This existential philosophy considers human origins, guilt, justice and injustice, time, and other intangible aspects of this mysterious life. The minimalist electronic soundtrack to this philosophy concocted by The Abstract Observer is ambiguous, spacious, and, at times, erratic—certainly a potent mix for doing one’s own philosophizing. And while I would have never thought to connect these sounds on their own to the ideas of Anaximander, I’m grateful to have taken in this music in that context. In summary: don’t be afraid to share your perspective and your knowledge alongside your more enigmatic works.
The Mutual Blur by Charlatan (album / experimental electronic, New Age) [The Jewel Garden]
Brad Rose is an artist behind various pseudonyms housed within his prolific label, The Jewel Garden—Charlatan is one of those pseudonyms. This new Charlatan release arrives not only in the form of 2 long, 20+ minute tracks, but also in the form of a zine—the first issue of Rose’s new Stupid Dreams project. According to Rose, “Stupid Dreams is a new project about listening as a way to build the world we need in the one that's falling apart.” I love that the zeitgeist is amplifying the sharing of physical media and zine-making, and Rose is one of the latest participants in the latter practice, and a welcome one.
I first learned of Rose’s work through his beautiful contribution, A Life We Once Lived. He has also contributed longform ambient work to Lawrence English’s Room40 label. Now, The Mutual Blur goes the direction of twinkly, speckled electronic collages, featuring a healthy amount of quietly noisy textures that dapple their light on a cozy bed of synths. It is indeed blurry, but with elements of bright clarity peeking through, and uplifting moments that swell and recede like the tides.

LOTTO by THEY ARE GUTTING A BODY OF WATER (album / shoegaze) [ATO]
Perfect Sound Forever by Pavement (album / indie rock) [Matador]
COME CLOSER by TOMORA (AURORA & Tom Rowlands) (album / electronic) [Fontana]
Buy / Stream

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Join Our Growing Community on Discord

Join the Discord

Get In Touch

Get in Touch

#85: My Zone of Interest is Always in Motion

Melted Form — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 15:17:37 GMT

Currently listening to: Ears First by Mica Levi

Hello, friend.

What is an artistic experience you know will stick with you forever?

For me, it was watching Jonathan Glazer’s THE ZONE OF INTEREST (2023). As my wife and I sat in the theater while the lights dimmed into total darkness, the screen followed. There was nothing to see. Only a black void.

But then, there was sound—the first piece in Mica Levi’s brief score. Ears First, it is titled. Though we did not know it by name then, knowing it now lends greater meaning to the use of this haunting, primordial track. It signaled to us as viewers that we should be listeners first.

For those who have seen the film, you’ll remember how central sound design is to the experience of watching it. The story really happens in the audio. If you haven’t seen it, I’ll say little else and encourage you to give it a watch, with a gentle warning to be prepared for quite an emotionally difficult experience.

Many have called this Ears First a “descent into hell,” setting the stage for a soul-stealing film that depicts a demonic, unimaginably horrific slice of life inside the Holocaust. I agree with this characterization. It’s a true tone-setter.

However, I don’t want to write any more about the film or its score. I’d like to instead consider the film’s title in a completely different context.

THE ZONE OF INTEREST.

Where is my zone of interest?

Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit unmotivated when it comes to this newsletter/blog/personal-journal-thing of mine. I’ve been lacking inspiration, succumbing to the nerves of expectations. If you’ve been a reader of mine for a while now, you’ll remember occasions where I’ve acknowledged my gratitude to you for sticking with me through times where this “music blog” has seemed like it’s about anything but music.

It’s something I think about a lot when I compare my work to other writers on Substack, especially the music-focused writers whom I read the most. They seem so dedicated to their craft of engaging with albums, writing long and informed reviews, interviewing artists, and drawing from a deep well of music knowledge in their work. I deeply admire them.

As time has gone on—I’m quickly approaching the 2-year mark of writing these weekly letters—I’ve found myself increasingly struggling with the box of being a music writer. I love music. I love finding sneaky ties between music and other art forms. I also love finding ties between music and life’s bigger ideas like the meaning of our existence, of human consciousness, and of the way we communicate and organize ourselves socially.

As you already know, I’ve gotten really into collecting blu-rays recently. It’s no surprise I adore movies. They’ve come into my writing plenty—lately, almost as much as music. I’ve been feeling deeply inspired by and interested in films to the point that there’s been little room left for music.

My zone of interest has shifted. It seems to always be shifting.

I am always feeling the tug of something elsewhere pulling my interest away from my current fixation, like a mechanic trying to work beneath a moving car.

Is this normal? Do you feel like this too?

The positive I see in the way my zone of interest frequently shifts is that there is always that edge of excitement, that nip of novelty.

I seek stimulation. Last night, for example, I was at a hockey game with my wife, and the stadium was loud and bright, and things moved constantly all around us. I was completely comfortable. It’s no surprise that my body and mind seem to always be searching for the next stimulus, the next place where my zone of interest can fall, where I can suck up some more sugar of life.

The negative of this trait is that commitment can be hard for me.

While I’ve never felt this way in my relationships, committing to any project of substance, any hobby, any long-term goal has been a monumental ask. Is it just a short attention span or is it an endless craving for greater spiritual nourishment? I believe this is partially why my writing is mostly stream-of-consciousness and my approach to music and other art is the same. I’m a doodler and a sketcher. I’m an improviser. In these ways, at least I find myself thrilled at my ability to live in the moment—so there’s a silver lining there.

I am also a rambler, as you can tell. I don’t know where my words will take me, where my zone of interest will go. I choose the topics of these letters almost exclusively in the early hours of Friday mornings, just hours before I publish them to the world. That’s how hard it is to pin down my own zone of interest.

I am who I am because I want to move people.
- Issue #74: Identity Ends With a Why

I wrote that line back in January as I considered not just who I am, but why I am the way I am. I still agree with it, and, looking at it again, I am beginning to better understand this always-in-motion zone of interest of mine.

If my goal is to move others, perhaps it is so because I am always being moved myself—not just by music, but by everything.

There is, however, one crucial part of myself that doesn’t seem to change, from which I never move on.

I called this newsletter Hum, Buzz, & Hiss as a reminder to myself to use my ears first—though this is not always literal. I think the main reason I’ve stuck with HB&H is that I’ve found something eternally necessary in the listening that is required to write it.

It is the listening to myself.

Whereas introspection combines the latin intro- ("inward") and specere ("to look at, examine"), I think a more appropriate name for this activity would be introauditing (audit coming from audire, “to hear, listen”).

This is my outlet for what is bouncing around inside of me. This is my chance to use the ear of my heart and mind first. I don’t do therapy, so, in many ways, these weekly reflections have become my primary method for processing the way my life moves.

Life will always move forward. My zone of interest will likely always be a shifty one. But my ability to listen and audit myself will, hopefully, always remain.

For as long as I can still listen, I will follow the sound of music.

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s reflection—and I hope you consider doing some introauditing this weekend. Here’s some music to help score the process for you (without words this week given the long reflection).

Happy listening.

sunn O))) by SUNN O))) (album / post-metal, drone) [Sub Pop]
Stillform by Yui Onodera & Arovane (album / minimalist) []
Hinterlands by Green-House (album / melodic, electronic) [Ghostly International]

Connecters Vol 1: Original Recordings, 1992–1999 by Larrison (album / electronic) [Freedom to Spend]
POMPEII // UTILITY by Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE, & SURF GANG (double album / hip-hop/rap) [10k]
Distracted by Thundercat (album / jazz, soul) [Brainfeeder]

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Join Our Growing Community on Discord

Join the Discord

Get In Touch

Get in Touch

#84: Pristine

Melted Form — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 13:12:09 GMT

Currently listening to: Pristine by Snail Mail

Hello, friend.

I hope you have had a nice week. That’s all from me today, really.

I’ve got a bunch of new music to share with you below so gonna keep it simple this week and direct you down there.

I hope you have a peaceful weekend and week ahead.

March’s Melted Mix Available Now 🎧

ICYMI: A new mix is here and free to listen to for all subscribers. This one is a community mix containing 35 minutes of ambient tracks made by members of the Hum, Buzz, & Hiss Discord server.

File under: drone, dark ambient, downtempo, minimalist. Hope you enjoy it!

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. As promised, some great new records below with some lengthier write-ups than usual.

Happy listening.

The Unreleased Themes for Hellraiser [expanded ritual] by COIL (album / experimental, hauntology) [Mental Groove Records / Musique Pour La Danse]
This newly unearthed piece of film music history is, like the mysterious box containing film director Clive Barker’s demonic Cenobites, perhaps better left alone. That is, of course, if you are not the type who might enjoy a bit of a fright in your music once in a while, a taste of discomfort. English experimental electronic band COIL were once asked by Barker to make music for his now-iconic 1987 body-horror film HELLRAISER, only for the producers to pivot to a different, less experimental option (Christopher Young’s score is also fantastic). Now, those early recordings made for COIL’s potential score have been raised out of hell—or perhaps purgatory—to see the light of day and terrify your ears. It’s a fun listen for the right time and place (might I suggest a dark and stormy night?)
Los viajes imaginarios by Laura Molina (album / sound art, experimental) [Pulsar Sonoro]
“Virtual crate digging on a Friday morning” should probably be the name of my next album given how much fun I have thumbing through the lists of Bandcamp’s fresh arrivals. It’s often like wading through a maze built upon a bog—much noise to slog through in search of some unknown treasure hidden within. It’s a mysterious journey, but one that is almost always certain to pay off in the form of great music from unfamiliar artists. One such artist is Argentinian composer Laura Molina, who authored one of my latest stumbles—Los viajes imaginarios (Imaginary Journeys). A new name, seemingly no supporters, and an album description written only in Spanish—yet, something led me to this intriguing work of experimental music. I’d like to share an excerpt (translated via Google Translate, so apologies if it’s slightly inaccurate in places) of the Bandcamp description that seems to match the experience I’ve just described.
```
A journey might be interpreted as an opportunity to venture into unknown territory—to get lost and let oneself be guided by intuition in order to discover it, without a compass or rules, and with an openness to the unexpected and to whatever may arise along the way.

Imaginary Journeys embraces this premise, proposing an adventure into the exploration of sonorities—suggesting spaces, atmospheres, and luminosities that evolve into abstract landscapes—and invites the listener to traverse them through attentive and sensitive listening.
```
The Sacred Ground by Asha Patera (album / minimalist, drone) []
The beauty of the art we make is always inherently inspired by and built upon the beauty of the world in which we exist. It is the specific frame of reference through which we see that world that lends uniqueness to the beauty on which we reflect—a frame defined in parts by our personal history, our ability to move through the world, and our serendipitous landing in whatever physical location we call home. On The Sacred Ground, ambient artist sheds some of the personal connection to physical location that one might expect when finding a record so inspired by real places. In fact, he says he’s never visited any of the places that lend their names to this album’s track titles. But our modern world allows our eyes to bridge the gap, experiencing far-off worlds vicariously through images, videos, and the stories of others. Many listeners, myself included, may find themselves in Patera’s shoes, never having traveled to see these bastions of natural beauty. And yet, with Patera’s majestic and introspective soundtrack of minimalist electronic compositions, we can sit with him and wonder at the experience, in awe of the simple fact that these places do exist somewhere out there. Even if we never reach them on foot, at least our eyes have seen glimpses and our ears have heard tales—that’s far more than most humans before us were given.

Land of Siesta 午睡島 by the FVL. (album / experimental electronic, psychedelic) []
This feels like a perfect transition from the ambient list and Asha Patera’s album specifically because it truly feels like an ambient-adjacent record that contains a vibrant world of its own. Unlike the real-world locations in Patera’s album, the Land of Siesta is a world of fantasy, full of colorful characters and imaginative, almost impossible spaces. Almost like the spirit of a Studio Ghibli film, but one made by Taiwanese pscyhonauts. It has ambient leanings but carries through it the presence of what feels like a band. There’s bright and bubbly percussion plus twinkly, delayed guitars decaying into unrecognizable loops. But there is also an electronica dressing to it all, with various synth arpeggios and tones wafting up, down, and all around. The overall sound is perhaps best described by the label: “folk-inspired sci-fi electronica that moves between tribal ambient, 4th world melodic atmospheres, and bass-driven psychedelia”—sign me up!
No Knock No Doorbell by worriedaboutsatan (album / electronica) [This Is It Forever]
It’s fun finding an artist for the first time only to realize they’ve got a massive back catalogue to explore. No Knock No Doorbell is Yorkshire-based artist Gavin Miller’s 20th album with band worriedaboutsatan, and what an entry this is for me as a new fan. This is a record that moves. A few places feel almost like improv jazz (A Looming Spectre, Piece By Miserable Piece), while several other tracks lean into downtempo ambience and drone (Inside A Dream I: What Year Is This?, Icelandic Hardcore, A Terrifying Thing To Wake Up To). There are even a few places where some vocals enter the picture, providing a reminiscent sound of ‘90s trip-hop (Piece By Miserable Piece, The Dream Is Over). It’s a ride of a record and its tracks never fall off their horses or overstay their welcome.
Full Circle by Tom Misch (album / neo-soul) [Beyond The Groove]
Tom Misch’s latest feels like both a step forward and a step back from his past work. Maybe a bit more sentimental, a bit less groove-centric. He reflects on aging (Old Man), family (Sisters With Me), fear (Fear Can’t Hurt Any More Than A Dream), and love (Red Moon). Through this reflection, Misch’s lyrics and signature guitar looping prowess shine in a completely new way. It all feels more aware, more honest, more mature—like he’s accepting his entry into a new era of life that simply asks for more of everything. He meets that ask with a genuine heart, and it has me feeling more connected to his music than ever.
Buy / Stream
Ricochet by Snail Mail (album / indie rock) [Matador]
Snail Mail will always hold a special place in my heart for being the first band that my wife and I ever saw live together. We had known each other for only a week and found ourselves at the All Points East festival in Victoria Park, London. As we entered the big grassy fields, we wandered over to a stage after following the voice of Lindsey Jordan, delighted to see one of the few bands we both knew on the lineup so quickly. Snail Mail’s older song Pristine was a favorite of ours and, to this day, I always switch the song’s opening lyric to “Christineeee” as a running joke with my wife. Jokes aside, Jordan’s voice has always drawn me in. It’s got that raw quality to it (side note: we were supposed to see Snail Mail live another time and then the concert got postponed due to the singer having health issues with her voice… still sad we missed that show). If you had to ask me to name an indie band, Snail Mail would probably be first out of mouth because their sound has just become the defining example of 2010s-2020s indie pop/rock. Fuzzy guitars, satisfyingly classic drums, and plenty of yearning lyrics to channel all the emotions of a young person navigating adolescence and early adulthood (especially young love and sadness). Ricochet is the newest entry in Snail Mail’s discography that still does all of that sonically, but wades a bit deeper in terms of Jordan’s written material. As the Bandcamp description offers: “These 11 songs are colored by the anxiety of watching life slip through your fingers, as well as the vulnerability of loving deeply rather than frenetically. Ultimately, Ricochet is an album about realizing—and accepting—that the world still turns no matter what is going on in your tiny life.”
^From that festival in 2019, as I stood beside my future wife.

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Join Our Growing Community on Discord

Join the Discord

Get In Touch

Get in Touch

#83: Wired In

Melted Form — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 12:57:03 GMT

Currently listening to: Godmode by Nine Inch Nails

Hello, friend.

What do you listen to when you need to lock in?

I’m at my office in Manhattan—18th floor, a small sea of computer stations. Among them, you find me: headphones on, double screens ablaze, fingers flying across a clackety old keyboard.

An unexpected fire drill at work. Not alarms in the building, but an emergency response to a client’s extensive comments on a slide deck we’ve been developing. High stakes.

Another team member is out. Can I sub in and handle it? It’ll take the entire day. Let me clear my calendar.

As I work through the changes, the world around me dims. My vision tunnels in on my cursor, each mouse click bringing me closer to completion of my task. I sift through the tens of tabs open on my browser, cross comparing data, sorting through the muck, processing the key information, translating it into copy and actionable instructions for the art directors.

I’m wired in.

Every 12-16 minutes, I check the clock. The day is speeding by like the taxis down 18 stories on the streets of this bustling city. Every 8 minutes or less, I check my messages. A ping from my partner, from my direct report, from my supervisor. Group chat thread, email, email, email. I see it all in my peripherals, ignoring the noise for a period of time until I systematically clear the notifications to maintain order.

I am making progress. There are only 13 pages in this piece, but each of them is dense and requires careful consideration, rewrites, rearrangements. I jump on calls to workshop ideas with the Art team. Let’s design a new graphic here, adjust the contrast there. How can we fill this space? How can we make this all fit on one page?

I’m assessing, processing. What is the story flow? Where are the necessary footnotes? What’s the key takeaway?

I’m wired in.

It’s coming down to the wire now. I’ve got one last meeting before EOD, and one page left to address.

I pause, go to the large conference room—it’s our whole agency calling in from various offices and remote locations. I crack open a beer—it’s 4:30 and this is one of those team camaraderie affairs.

The meeting takes place. They announce the winner of a weekly trivia question: how many members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are there? Around 11,000, I had remembered when they asked the day before—a tidbit I somehow picked up while watching the Oscars the prior weekend. I win trivia and some sort of voucher I can eventually turn in for a gift card when I have enough of them.

The meeting ends. I briefly chat with a coworker from a different department and his boss whom I’ve never met. We talk about movies and awards. What was that one about that thing? I answer. Oh yeah, it had that one older actor, what was his name? Stellan Skarsgård, I say.

We politely bid each other goodbye. I return to my desk and replace my headphones. I take a deep breath.

I finish the edits on the final page. Even though it’s after hours now, my boss calls me just to check in, aware of the day’s toil. We both vent a little and feel better. We have a plan for Friday to ensure all of this resolves and we can meet our deadline by Monday morning.

I hang up, close my laptop. I open another—my personal. I have another meeting at 6 for a personal project. Given the timing, I stay at the office, posting up in a conference room.

At 7, I finally pack up to leave. The office is mostly empty now, save a handful of people. I wonder what deadlines they’re working toward that they’re here so late. One of them is a guy I saw when I had first arrived this morning just before 9. He had already been at his computer, headphones on, typing away. I half-laugh to myself, thinking about him sitting at his desk around the clock—never sleeping, never leaving, always wired in.

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s reflection—and I hope you’ve had a productive week. I also hope you don’t stress over work too much. Life is too short to break down over slide decks (talking to myself here).

I find music helps when deadlines are close and my fingers are tired. Here’s some new music for your headphones when need to get wired in (or maybe zoned out).

Happy listening.

Fortune by (album / drone) [Independent]
We all get by with a little help from our friends, don’t we? Missouri-based ambient artist dreamwarper agrees! Fortune is anything but a solo effort, with most tracks being born out of collaborations with fellow artists—it almost feels like a new Studio Obscura compilation with dreamwarper as the master curator. But interweaved are indeed a healthy handful of solo tracks which demonstrate dreamwarper’s drone capabilities, meshing lush pads and spaced out frequencies that advance and recede like celestial waves. All around, it’s a super chilled out collection that lasts a couple hours—somehow perfect for both a workday morning and a sleepy afternoon.
F/T/W by S4/ (album / dark ambient, glitch) [Independent]
An email arrives in my inbox. A DIY debut album from an artist in Sardinia. I press play and I’m immediately reeled in by the noisy texture, the glitching electricity of the sound. But are those bird calls blended in? And the synths that seem to constantly be falling, shimmering, and echoing around me. It reminds me of The Twilight Zone, like a shot of a black and white film that starts with the camera quite far away from a subject, then slowly zooms in until eventually, you’re close enough to see beads of sweat leaking out from their pores. All 5 tracks here feel essentially like that. Dark, gritty, ominous, mechanical, hypnotic, calculated. If that sounds like your kind of dark ambient album, give F/T/W a spin and see where you wind up.
Liminal Tides by Appleblim (album / experimental electronic, dub) [quiet details]
My 2025 Ambient Label of the Year awardee dropped yet another gem of a record this week with Appleblim’s Liminal Tides. If you don’t mind some beats in your ambient, this dubby, psychedelic venture will reward you with a unique listening experience that you can almost feel as if you were holding it in your hand. The lurking, bubbling nature of both Gaseous and Globule remind me of acid rain muted as it collides with my roof, its colorful mist fogging up my window and flecking vibrant particles across the pane. Warmth calls up memories of trip-hop or lowkey DnB that would get me through my subway transfers as I move about the city. This record fits like a glove with today’s theme.
Season Cycle: Spring by Ed Herbers (album / minimalist, ambient piano) [Passed Recordings]
A bonus rec this week: Ed Herbers’ 2026 seasonal ambient series continues with its second iteration. You may recall when I recommended the first—Season Cycle: Winter—back in issue #72 on January 2. Now that we’ve begun to thaw out of winter’s cold hold, there’s a sense of reawakening, reemerging. The world seems brighter as the days grow longer and warmer. Ed’s music follows suit with minimalist piano that slowly, gently dances like a ballerina atop translucent layers of drones. Though brighter, there still remains a sense of waiting, of only partial fullness, which beautifully represents this season’s signature work-in-progress sort of feeling. A shedding of skin, a slow turn to the nearing sun. An expectation. An awaiting.
P.S. There’s a listening party today at 12 pm EDT if you’d like to celebrate the Vernal Equinox with Ed and the gang. RSVP here.

ELEPHANT by Adam O’Farrill (album / jazz) [Out of Your Head Records]
A jazz quartet covering a Ryuichi Sakamoto track? That was the treat that enticed me, but it was all the way at the end of this album of 9 tracks that somehow seems to sprawl across it’s only 50-minute runtime. Thankfully, the whole ride turned out to be a treat. Led by trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, the small group also includes Yvonne Rogers on piano/synth, Russell Holzman on drums, and Walter Stinson on double bass—and, as any great jazz group should allow, each member shines in their own right as much as this is a greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts affair. At times hallucinogenic, and at others quite traditional, ELEPHANT is a jazz record that always seems to be stomping forward in rhythm, with O’Farrill acting as the beast’s trumpeting trunk, expressing how much fun it’s having along the way.
Written into Changes by Avalon Emerson & the Charm (album / indie pop) [Dead Oceans]
Finishing our list this week (I know, only 2 albums in this list, but I gave ya an extra ambient rec today!) with something light and bright. This album of indie pop from Avalon Emerson & the Charm finds a sweet spot between an indie band and dancey electronics, wrapped up around her lead vocals that hold one’s attention like the best frontpeople do. The production is quite crisp and satisfying across these tracks, with vocal layers and drum tones carefully considered. Still exploring this one, but wanted to share it right away since it grabbed me so quickly.

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Join Our Growing Community on Discord

Join the Discord

Get In Touch

Get in Touch

#82: Be Kind, Rewind

Melted Form — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 11:54:30 GMT

Currently listening to: Tears in the Rain by Hans Zimmer & Benjamin Wallfisch

Hello, friend.

What’s your favorite film of all time? Favorite soundtrack or score?

I’ve got a new (expensive) hobby, and that’s collecting movies in physical formats. Specifically, 4K Ultra HD and standard blu-rays. Any recommendations?

I’ve always been a movie lover, so perhaps this was inevitable. If you’ve been reading these emails for a while, then you’ve surely seen me write about films and film music here and there. I’ve mentioned how my affinity for ambient music—and the way my own compositions tend to stray toward the cinematic—is driven by my longtime dedication to film.

As far back as I could remember, I always ~~wanted to be a gangster~~ loved watching movies. When my sister and I made trips to our granny’s house as children, the first thing we’d do was pore over her shelves of DVDs. Most of the time, we ended up just watching SLEEPY HOLLOW (1999)—it became our tradition to dogpile in bed and watch that during every visit, unless it was Christmas time (in which case, we’d likely watch HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS [2000]) or we were feeling spicy (in which case, we’d beg to go out to a new movie at the local theater).

At home, we had stacks of VHS tapes and DVDs too, in limited quantities, of course. One of my prized possessions was an orange tape of THE RUGRATS MOVIE (1998). Rewatch value was crucial—although, luckily, I was pretty easy to please as a kid. I could rewatch the same films and TV shows for hours.

As I got older, new formats came around. At one point in the early aughts, I came to own a PSP (Playstation Portable)—badass. It played these little UMDs (Universal Media Discs) and I remember one of the only movies I had for it for months was XXX: STATE OF THE UNION (2005). I watched the fuck out of that.

Blu-rays eventually came around but never caught on in my house. My family had a sizeable DVD collection and eventually, we started renting or buying more on digital platforms.

I shouldn’t forget to mention the excitement I got to experience when we would go out to a Blockbuster or a Red Box machine and rent a movie or two, pick out some boxes of candy and a bucket of popcorn to take home, just like at the movie theater.

And speaking of theaters—man, did I love going out to the movies.Half my birthdays before age 18 consisted of trips to the theater to see the latest blockbuster film (I was blessed with an early July birthday, which has always been a prime period for big flicks). Growing up in Maryland, there were 1 or 2 birthdays where we made the trip into Washington DC to see something new at the now-closed Uptown Theater—a spot that only had a single, large screen. It was like entering a hallowed space every time I went, knowing this was a place where the world premieres of films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Jurassic Park took place.

Picture of the Uptown Theater’s curved screen by Darrow Montgomery

At the theater, I would always get Rasinets and a Cherry Coke. Always. No exceptions. Now, at age 28, there are some exceptions. I don’t always get candy, and I get Cherry Coke Zero. Regardless of my slightly-less-bad-for-you refreshment choices, I’m an AMC A-Lister who tries to see films on the big screen several times a month. I do so because, to me, films are works of art that deserve to be seen the way their creators intend—with the best picture and sound possible.

This brings me back to where I started: physical media. After waiting and saving money for years, I invested in a large 4K OLED TV and a decent audio setup. After getting more into collecting CDs and vinyl records for music lately, I started reflecting on all these happy moments from my childhood of interacting with the medium of film on physical. I got stars in my eyes imagining my own bookshelf of cases containing hours of entertainment, all curated by me. I realized how tired I had grown of the glut of streaming services—so much content I didn’t care for, so many movies I loved but couldn’t easily find. What films were important enough to me that, no matter what, I wanted to own copies of them forever?

I started to imagine having kids of my own. What relationship would I want them to have with movies? What stories would I want to ensure I passed down to them, in the same way my own parents and grandparents did for me?

I saw visions of my son, excited by the freedom of a Friday night, running over to the shelf to select a movie. He’d bring the case over to me and, in the fatherly tone of Samwise Gamgee in this moment from LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS (2002), I would say to him, “Yes, my boy, that’s a classic.”

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s reflection—and I hope you can enjoy a movie this weekend, whether it’s one that brings you back to your childhood or something entirely new.

Speaking of something entirely new, here are some entirely new albums for you on this lucky Friday the 13th weekend.

Happy listening.

Quietly not shutting the flux up by Ritual Madness (album / drone, ambient guitar) [Independent]
When Ryuichi Sakamoto’s 12 released, I recall being so struck by the way you could hear his wheezing breath alongside his piano. With that record, his fans had the context of knowing he was nearing the end of a battle with cancer. When I heard Pads, the artist known as Ritual Madness, breathing in certain moments of this record, the context was entirely different. It felt like an invitation inside this world, an offer to get closer, to remember the human behind the music. These stripped back, almost meditative tracks consist primarily of smooth drones that sit high in the background as fingers twiddle across the strings of an acoustic guitar. When the guitar gives up the lead, the drones swell in to fill the space, and vice versa. But the sound of the breathing, when it makes its rare appearances—that is the honest heart of this record. It is intimacy through music, through shared action, shared existence.
IOWA by OHYUNG (album / experimental, dark ambient) [Independent]
While this record initially had me at an utter loss for words, the record itself needs no words to say so much. The emotion on display here, the complexities, the subtle tension—there’s an innate sense that there are generations of history behind the sound of IOWA, generations of complicated human lives represented in the mysterious field recordings, the drone washes, the smeared vocals. Many of these tracks make me feel almost breathless, like they have pulled the air out of my lungs, exhaling everything within me in an attempt to remember where the air once came from. A brutal, isolated remembrance. A knowing nod. A shared glance before the dark.
This may go down as one of the best ambient albums of the year.
Buy / Stream
Midnight Zone (Original Soundtrack to the Film by Julian Charrière) by Laurel Halo (film score / electroacoustic, drone) [AWE]
Echoing footage of a descent into an abyssal plain within the Pacific Ocean, acclaimed ambient composer Laurel Halo dreams up drones as deep as the sea on this film score. The use of space and reverb here is everything, and these often quite long tracks completely swallow you up like the cavernous gullet of a great whale. The overall sound is expectedly dark and quite ominous at times, but every so often, there are refractions of light. The catch is that, down here, we are too far for sunlight to reach. No, any light we see is the bioluminescence of other creatures who miraculously survive down here—and not all of them are to be trifled with.
Buy / Stream

Trying Times by James Blake (album / indie electronic) [Good Boy Records]
James Blake’s signature off-kilter, crooning brand of electronic pop music feels extra endearing this go-around. On I Had A Dream She Took My Hand, his lamenting lyrics “I just wanna know what it means/I just wanna know” feel like the central theme of the whole record. A bit like he’s stumbling through the darkness that is love and existence with his heart on his sleeve, willing to take the licks that inevitably come in a world as difficult as ours. With a falsetto as lovely as ever, these soulful tracks shed some of Blake’s weirder experimentations. And yet, Blake maintains his capacity for making what could be a straightforward pop song sound singular and fresh, as well as familiar and timeless.
Buy / Stream
A Portal To Here by Work Money Death (album / jazz) [ATA Records]
While this record starts out feeling much like the classic, smoky-room jazz you might imagine in a film set in a suave location in the early 1900s, it evolves through improvisation and goes to different places—some danceable and others quite introspective. If I could break the record up, I’d almost put the first and last tracks in the ambient list, as there’s certainly a listlessness quality to them. Taken as a whole, though, A Portal To Here is a spiritual experience that doesn’t discriminate when letting the soul roam.
Buy / Stream
Balance by Claire Dickson (album / electronic, art pop) [New Amsterdam Records]
When I first heard the Through EP by Claire Dickson late last year, I was struck by her voice. So while I expected to enjoy her voice again here on new album Balance, I didn’t expect just how interesting the production behind it would be. This 7-track album comes in just under the 30-minute mark but every second of it is engaging between Dickson’s floating vocals, rolling percussion, piano trills, and synth explorations.
Buy / Stream

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Join Our Growing Community on Discord

Join the Discord

Afterword—Let’s Get In Touch

Are you an artist, a label owner, or a member of the press? Want to share news of your upcoming release, a sponsored ad, or a guest post for a future Hum, Buzz, & Hiss issue? Email me at: meltedform@gmail.com.

Get in Touch

As always, I would love to hear and recommend your music, especially if it’s new and ambient/electronic/experimental. However, please note that I am not able to respond to every inquiry I receive.

#81: An Exquisite Corpse

Melted Form — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 14:05:10 GMT

Currently listening to: Exquisite Corpse II by Studio Obscura

Now available for free download on Bandcamp

Hello, friend.

I’m excited to share a new collaboration with you this week. Meet Exquisite Corpse II: a mix of 8 ambient tracks from 8 independent artists, including myself and a bunch of fine folks from the Studio Obscura community (who also happen to overlap into our Hum, Buzz, & Hiss community!)

The concept of an exquisite corpse may be familiar to you—it’s a work of art that is created through the process of one artist making something, which then inspires another artist to make something else, and so on down the line. In the case of Studio Obscura’s Exquisite Corpse series, the rules are:

One artist creates a song.
Another artist uses the last 30 seconds of that song in some way to create their own song.
Everyone tries to avoid listening to each other’s full tracks until the entire mix is finished.

What you’ll hear is a lovely collection of lush pads, airy drones, intricate textures, and subtle echoes of melody. It truly is a seamless blend from one track into the next to the point that it feels almost indistinguishable—a longform, 40+ minute ambient work that goes here, there, and everywhere.

It was a ton of fun to be a part of, and I’m honored that I was given the opportunity to kick off the process with the very first track. Special shoutout to for inviting me to take part and for organizing and mixing/mastering the whole thing.

By the way, this is the second iteration in the EC series—if you’d like to listen to the EC1, it’s name-your-price on Bandcamp.

Exquisite Corpse II artist lineup:

Melted Form
Channel 21
Outerlab
ellipses
Bleeptwig
Our Forgotten Future
dreamwarper
Uneven Shade

P.S. Want to come hang and maybe collaborate with us in the future? You can meet most of this gang in the Hum, Buzz, & Hiss Discord Community!

Join Our Discord

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoy your autopsy of Exquisite Corpse II—and I hope you’ll also enjoy the other great new records I’ve got in store for you this week.

By the way, it’s also Bandcamp Friday! Today, March 6, 100% of your money spent on Bandcamp goes directly to the artists and labels from whom you’re purchasing records. Good day to cross some albums off your wish list!

Happy listening.

The Quiet Below by Clariloops (album / electroacoustic, melodic) [Whitelabrecs]
Lulham’s work as Clariloops is my much needed reminder that the clarinet exists and is quite underrated. She improvises with it here to hypnotic effect, but its presence is amplified by the variety of electronic sounds forming the bed on which the clarinet can dream. Clariloops experimented with synths like the Organelle M and the Arturia Microfreak, as well as the iconic Hologram Electronics Microcosm effects pedal. The resulting works are dreamy, melodic blends of airy woodwind acoustics and digital tones.
label head Harry Towell invited to host an insightful interview with Clariloops that I’d recommend you check out if you’re interested in learning more about her production process and inspirations.
Buy / Stream
gentle voices, vol. 1 by cloud collecting + Echoes Blue Music (compilation / minimalist, New Age) [cloud collecting / Echoes Blue Music]
I’ve long been a reader of Cynthia Bernard’s newsletter, which features the work of women and gender-expansive artists in the ambient space. You’ve also probably seen me recommend her music as several times. Now, she’s connected with Anita Tatlow of Echoes Blue Music (all:ambient fans, anyone?) to expand cloud collecting into a label. gentle voices, vol. 1 is the debut compilation of this collaborative curation, featuring 10 pairs of artists from around the globe who were selectively matched and asked to create a track under the titular theme. Overall, the compilation feels soft, warm, and light on the ears. It’s full of beautiful, reflective moments, whether they are scored by tender guitar, processed piano, ethereal vocals, or reverberating synth pads. A fitting record to celebrate International Women’s Day this Sunday, March 8!
Buy / Stream
Autechre Guitar by Shane Parish (album / ambient guitar) [Palilalia]
First off, I have a confession: I’m actually not the biggest Autechre fan. Gasp! I know, take away my ambient electronic fan club card. Truth is, I don’t mean that I don’t like Autechre—I have really enjoyed everything I’ve heard from Autechre (ie, Amber and Tri Repetae)—but I must then be honest in acknowledging that there is so much I still haven’t gotten around to listening to. Thankfully, that didn’t stop me from loving the hell out of these 10 twangy, pastoral fingerstyle guitar adaptations of classic Autechre tracks, pulled from 4 of their classic 1990s-era albums (I was halfway prepared!) It also didn’t occlude me from knowing how remarkable this effort must have been for Shane Parish to interpret Autechre’s complex electronic compositions for guitar. Autechre Guitar is simply a brilliant listen, whether you’re an Autechre die-hard or just a poser like me. ;)
Buy / Stream

HELP(2) by Various Artists (compilation / alternative) [War Child Records]
In 1995, the charity organization War Child raised funds by sponsoring the release of The Help Album, a compilation featuring 20 tracks from like Oasis, The Stone Roses, Radiohead, Portishead, Sinéad O'Connor, and more. It was a cultural moment, I’ve heard (1997 baby here). Now, over 30 years later, War Child has released HELP(2), a new compilation for the 2020s with 23(!) tracks from some of the most exciting artists, new and old, spanning multiple genres, but mainly in the very wide alternative scene. Black Country, New Road, Arooj Aftab, Depeche Mode, Big Thief, Cameron Winter, Pulp, Wet Leg, Olivia Rodrigo… oh my. Oh, and acclaimed film director Jonathan Glazer was Creative Director for HELP(2), overseeing the filming and art direction for the project. I’ve only listened to the pre-release singles thus far, but I’m excited the full comp is finally here. All proceeds from this album support War Child UK to protect, educate, and stand up for the rights of children living through conflict around the world.
Buy / Stream
Kiss All the Time, Disco Occasionally by Harry Styles (album / pop) [Columbia]
Harry Styles is officially back (and he’ll be back for major residencies at arenas like MSG and Wembley Stadium later this year too). When I first heard lone single Aperture, I wasn’t necessarily wowed, but I did appreciate the electronic direction the production was taking. I’m very happy to see that direction has been fully committed to on this new record. From my listening of the full record thus far, I’ve got sparkles in my ears while I analyze the blown out but subtle drum breaks on Season 2 Weight Loss, the funky bass line of Dance No More, and the synth patterns on Ready, Steady, Go! There are still glam rock elements and quieter cuts, but overall, this record feels like somewhat of a sizable swing from an instrumental standpoint compared to Styles’ previous records—what excited me about certain tracks like Music for a Sushi Restaurant are sprinkled all over. And it’s certainly making me want to dance and sing along.
Buy / Stream
fabric SELECTS VI by Various Artists (compilation / dance) [fabric Originals]
Speaking of dancing, here’s a comp of 16 dance tracks from London-based imprint fabric Originals. It’s hard-hitting, gritty, and somehow both dark and vibrant at the same time. It feels timeless, with some cuts echoing dancefloor classic and others feeling quite progressive and modern. If I wasn’t sick with a cold this weekend, I’d love to use this as pregame inspiration before transitioning to a club (who am I kidding though, I’m almost never at clubs lol). But this record makes me want to spend every Saturday night sweating under the strobe lights!
Buy / Stream

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Join Our Growing Community on Discord

Join the Discord

Can You Take a Quick Survey?

Help guide my work as I build a new tool for artists, labels, publicists, and music writers. The topic: pitching new music to the press (even if you’ve never formally done this before, you can take the survey!) Your insight is invaluable to me—thank you in advance, and thanks to everyone who has already participated!

P.S. Members of the Discord channel will get early, exclusive updates on this project.

Survey for Artists/Labels/Publicists

Survey for Writers/Curators

Afterword—Let’s Get In Touch

Get in Touch

As always, I would love to hear and recommend your music, especially if it’s new and ambient/electronic/experimental. However, please note that I am not able to respond to every inquiry I receive.

#80: Survival Instincts

Melted Form — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:40:32 GMT

Currently listening to: If You’re Free by 070 Shake

Hello, friend.

Just checking in. How is your week going?

It’s felt like a long one for me. Sometimes life is as simple as looking forward to the return of a TV show you love, and that was the case this week: Survivor returned on Wednesday to ease the midweek blues.

Survivor is one of the only “reality” shows that truly feels real to me these days. Obviously, there are some moments that appear somewhat scripted, like the confessionals guided by the producers to help solidify the storylines as the game progresses. But there is still so much realness to enjoy in this iconic social experiment—the relationships, the communication, the intuition, the physical perseverance, the raw emotions, the lying, the vulnerability.

The best parts of Survivor, to me, are not the physical challenges, the puzzles, or even the strategic gameplay. It’s the intimate social interactions, especially during downtime, that grips me.

A few handfuls of people from different backgrounds are plucked from their normal lives and forced to become small tribes living on a beach with little else but a few tools and the clothes they brought in their packs. No one can hide. Everyone must play a part in the tribe’s success… or its failure.

In just 1 episode of this milestone 50th season of Survivor, we saw players argue, cry, hug, lie, trust, joke, mourn, and triumph.

When the wild surrounds you, the walls fall fast. And when a game is being played around the clock, every moment and every interaction matters.

There was one tasty moment of tension when two strong players spoke privately. Though they sat casually beside each other on the beach, and though both seemed to acknowledge each other’s prowess while expressing a potential desire to work together, the entire situation was as tense as a nuclear standoff. Both players came out of the interaction confessing that they didn’t trust each other. It was palpable.

One conversation, just like that. A rivalry born out of mutual, almost instantaneous distrust.

On another tribe, a middle-aged male player initially seemed frustrated and annoyed by a younger, 25-year-old male player. A generation gap on display. However, their relationship quickly shifted as the older player began to appreciate the younger player’s humor and enthusiasm for the game. Then, a touching moment suddenly occurred when the younger player broke down and cried, expressing how he felt like talking to the older player—somewhat of an icon in the world of Survivor who the younger player grew up idolizing—felt like talking to his father. The pair embraced and a deep bond was established, with the older player beginning to see himself in the younger player (the older player, now 51, was half his age when he first played Survivor—the same age as this younger player he was now embracing). They became allies.

I always find these parts of the show so fascinating. We get to see snap judgments being made and, sometimes, those same judgments being recanted. We see how quickly people recognize a vibe between themselves and others. We see their instincts at play in a game of deception, but also in a game of a trust. Everything is a matter of perspective and the smallest variables can shift how people view you in their own plans for the game.

It makes me reflect on how I interact with others in my regular life. I’m not surviving on a beach with a few fellow castaways, but I may be surviving work deadlines with my small team of coworkers, or a Wednesday night with my wife, when the weekend can’t come fast enough. A game for a million dollars is not being played, but the game of life is.

What instincts am I acting on? Am I receiving cues from my intuition with open arms or with a coarse grain of salt? How much empathy am I allocating to others and how much are they allocating to me?

It’s usually best not to get too caught up in analyzing social interactions, especially with those closest to you. That’s where trust is supposed to come in and reassure you. I’m thankful that I have many people in my life whom I trust implicitly.

“I trust you implicitly.” That exact phrase was said a couple of times in this week’s episode of Survivor. It’s a bold statement to make on a game where backstabbing is encouraged and so much is on the line. In fact, the person who got voted out first this week had mentioned that they trusted someone implicitly… and then that person showed them the door.

Isn’t it thrilling? To trust someone like this, knowing they have no real responsibility to reciprocate that trust? For the anxious analyzers, it may seem crazy.

I believe one of life’s ultimate goals is to gain and earn actual trust from people around us. It’s one of the greatest gifts we can give and receive, to live with honor and loyalty. To be let into someone else’s world, to take some responsibility for them, for their emotions and their wellbeing. To become a friend, a partner, an ally.

The only thing perhaps more thrilling is the question that follows the establishment of trust: now that you have it, what are you going to do with it?

What could we accomplish together through trust?

The Living Music List

Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s reflection, and I hope you enjoy this season of Survivor if you’re a fan!

Anyways, let’s get on to our featured new music releases!

Happy listening.

Olympia-5 by Drexler (album / contemporary classical, ambient piano) [Independent]
Sometimes, the soft sounds of a piano are all you need. The tactility of piano notes being played, the fingers on the keys, the level of pressure used to play them, the air behind the notes—it all adds up to a tangibility, a real sense of the emotion behind the music as it is being formed. A sense of the pianist themself and their disposition. In this case, we sense Drexler, who, at the time of composing Olympia-5, was sending these recordings of his compositions to his father who was in the hospital, drained from a relapse of lymphoma. I can feel not only the sadness, the absence, the impending grief, but also the care and tenderness in every note being played. Though distance separated Drexler from his father physically, these notes feel like a hand reaching out to hold him.
Buy / Stream
Organic Forms & Sonic Shapes Vol.2 by Particle Bunni (EP / electronic, dark ambient) [Independent]
I love a good post-industrial ambient environment, and that is where this EP places you. There are mechanical echoes all through the bones of these tracks, whether in the recurring percussive elements on opener Wave Regression or the drawn out, almost alarm-like tones resonating across Junko Devi. The dark drones of Between The Waves and Exist #2 imply some cavernous regions within the concrete belly of a facility like the one pictured in the cover art. Closing track Trashlit was like a palate cleanser, brightening the scene with buzzy guitars, yet it still ended with synth tones that had an uneasy, rocking feel to them, like the continuous motion of spinning cogs.
Buy / Stream
private conservation by Rooms Without Doors (album / slushwave, drone) [Independent]
Though it is a shallow puddle in which the deer stand on the cover of this record, the tracks contained behind the image are deep pools of sound in which one could drown in. All slowly unfurling and revealing their depth over minutes, not seconds, these tracks are coated in reverb, soaked in space, reminiscent of more concrete, acoustic sounds but, for the most part, just a soft, heavily processed echo of them. Like a dream.

Ivory by Ciara McNally (EP / folk, singer-songwriter) [Ragged Company Recordings]
21-year-old artist Ciara McNally comes of age on Ivory, a 4-track EP that delves into the universal but deeply personal experiences of love, longing, and one’s own relative meaningful place in a vast universe. McNally writes and sings with heart-on-their-sleeve vulnerability, overlapping layers of silk-like vocals with stripped down acoustic guitar.
Buy / Stream
The Mountain by Gorillaz (album / alt pop) [Kong]
The new Gorillaz record feels like peak Gorillaz as much as it feels completely out of left field. Damon Albarn and co. walk an exciting tightrope between delivering the bouncy, clean production of a catchy synthpop track and dazzling with exotic instrumentation inspired by India and the Middle East. There is the cinematic opener, the hip-hop breakdown of The Moon Cave, plus other tracks that draw from reggaeton, R&B, and so much more. It’s a colorwheel of musical ideas that somehow works seamlessly. I’m still early into my hike up The Mountain, but I’m dancing and grooving my way up without a worry in the world.
Buy / Stream
TRON Ares: Divergence by Nine Inch Nails (album / electronic) [The Null Corporation / Interscope]
NIN is back with a surprise drop of *checks notes* 20 new tracks to add to the world of their TRON ARES film soundtrack, including new b-sides and remixes. Some of the collaborators? Mark Pritchard, Danny L Harle, The Dare, ARCA, and regular touring buds Boyz Noize. So far, I’m loving it—hard-hitting electronic beats, digital arpeggios, and that signature NIN industrial flair. But the remixes bring new elements to the original soundtrack, whether its Nine Inch Noize techno or Pixel Grip’s alt take on probably the most classic NIN cut on the whole soundtrack, As Alive As You Need Me To Be.
Buy / Stream

That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Your friend,

Melted Form

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

Ways to Support My Work

20% off forever!

40% off forever!

60% off forever!

As an alternative to subscriptions, you can buy me a coffee for an easy, one-time tip.

Buy Melted Form a Coffee

Share Hum, Buzz, & Hiss

Join Our Growing Community on Discord

Join the Discord

Can You Take a Quick Survey?

P.S. Members of the Discord channel will get early, exclusive updates on this project.

Survey for Artists/Labels/Publicists

Survey for Writers/Curators

Afterword—Let’s Get In Touch

Get in Touch

As always, I would love to hear and recommend your music, especially if it’s new and ambient/electronic/experimental. However, please note that I am not able to respond to every inquiry I receive.