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) [Passed Recordings]
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 Asha Patera 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) [PFR Records]
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.
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.
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:
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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.
I was looking forward to the new Tom Misch record but on first listen it was something of a disappointment...I think you were spot on (and slightly generous) in describing it as more sentimental than his previous releases
What would be cool is a version of Hellraiser that uses Coil's music instead of the theatrically released score - some kind of "special alternate soundtrack cut" or the like