The Living Music List #30: On Macro and Micro

Zooming in or out can be rewarding... or dangerous

Currently listening to: Thatorchia by Ethel Cain

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Reflection

Hello, friend.

How often do you consider your place in the universe? What space do we take up, relative to everything else?

I’ve been thinking lately about the scale of things—like how big and small I can feel at the same time, how many people have entered and exited from my life, and how lasting or fleeting my footprint will be.

Zooming in and out can be a rewarding experience or a dangerous one, depending on the kind of lens through which you’re looking. Going too far in either direction will send your mind careening.

I can’t really comprehend the subatomic realm, where my imagination ventures beneath the building blocks of life, and particles are called silly things like quarks and leptons. Then I consider something like the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall, a cluster of galaxies that stretches 10 billion light-years long, 7 billion light-years wide, and almost a billion light-years thick. The Great Wall is generally considered by the scientific community to be the largest known object in existence.

How the hell am I supposed to reconcile my place in a universe potentially containing stuff like that? Amid the unfathomable scale of the universe (in both directions of observation), I sit here on my 7-feet-long couch in my 750 square-feet apartment and spew my thoughts like radiation from a quasar.

Here lies the danger of losing perspective on the scale of our lives. In the macro setting, we can quickly abandon all hope and meaning. What worth has our miniscule lives in the shadow of galactic superclusters? Yet, in the micro setting, we drink in the power of squashing bugs or lording over the billions of organisms and particles that seem to exist only to provide structure to our bodies or the other objects on our level. How many megalomaniacs throughout history have gained a decent crowd and level of influence, then compared themselves to gods, so easily forgetting or ignoring that there was always a much bigger fish in the cosmic sea?

Back in my apartment now, I listen to a song made by somebody mere hundreds of miles away. It’s weird and dark, and it conveys an extremely powerful spectrum of emotions that the artist must have been wrestling with (and possibly still is). This one doesn’t contain lyrics—it lets the grinding drones and overlapping wails of the artist’s voice speak for themselves. Even the name of the track is mysterious, a seemingly made up word that may or may not play on the greek root word for “testicles.”

It’s a hilarious transition from the end of that last paragraph but… this is where I’m meant to live. I feel it in my bones. I’m grateful to be on this level, where things aren’t too big and empty or small and contained. Here I am, in the space observable to my naked eye, taking in the art of my fellow species members on our singularly odd but familiar planet. It’s like the story of Goldilocks and the three bears—this bed is juuuust right.

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Music Recommendations

Hello again, friend.

Thank you for reading today’s post. I hope you enjoyed the reflection—and I hope you can keep things in perspective this week. Don’t feel too big or too small. You have earned the space you inhabit, and it’s just right for you.

Now, on to the new music. We have one short feature today just below the lists, so be sure to stick around for that!

Happy listening.

The Living Music List—Ambient

Note: All of the below ambient projects are available on Bandcamp, except #2 which is available on major streaming services (Soundcloud streaming link provided in lieu of Bandcamp). Bold and asterisk denote reader-submitted work—thank you!

1. dream or memory? by missing scenes (EP / percussive ambient, experimental {note: use of drums in 3/4 tracks, but still retains an ambient feel throughout}) [Varia Records / Bandcamp]

2. Perverts by Ethel Cain (album / slowcore, dark ambient {note: Some vocals present across various tracks, but much of it is more like spoken word or soft, ethereal singing which is why I mentioned slowcore. Overall, very experimental and several tracks contain long portions of or are entirely drone/noise/dark ambient cuts.}) [Daughters of Cain Records / Soundcloud]

3. Aurora Terminalis by William Basinski & Richard Chartier (album / drone, experimental) [LINE / Bandcamp]

4. South of the Lake by Wil Bolton (album / meditative, drone) [quiet details / Bandcamp]

5. Henry House by Nate Wooley (album / experimental, spoken word) [Ideologic Organ / Bandcamp]

6. Live at Le Guess Who? by Abul Mogard & Rafael Anton Irisarri (live album / drone) [Black Knoll Editions / Bandcamp]

7. 38 - free ambient electronic sampler by Spotted Peccary Artists (compilation / variety of subgenres, including: electronica, meditative, organic {note: several tracks are more upbeat electronic}) [Spotted Peccary / Bandcamp]

The Living Music List—All Genres

Note: All of the below projects are available on major streaming services. Bold and asterisk denote reader-submitted work—thank you! Reminder: Streaming links only provided for reader submissions in the All Genres list.

1. Nocturne (Soundtrack for an Invisible Film) by Avi C. Engel (album / experimental folk) [Independent / Bandcamp]*

2. Förr by Dött ljus (single / electronica) [Slowcraft Records / Bandcamp]*

3. The Human Fear by Franz Ferdinand (album / alt rock)

4. i just want next year to be better by bby (EP / indie rock)

5. Childish(ish) by Lane8 (EP / dance)

6. Look Up by Ringo Starr (album / country)

7. Dreamstruck by Dreamstruck (album / indie pop)

8. The Robot Test by Jan Blomqvist, Felix Raphael & Peer Kusiv (EP / electronica)

9. I Can Change Your Mind by Maddie Jay (album / indie pop)

10. Tippin’ by Carl Allen (album / contemporary jazz)

11. Spiral Your Way Out by zzzahara (album / indie rock)

12. Medium Raw by Early James (album / bluesy singer/songwriter)

13. Who Let The Dogs Out by Lambrini Girls (album / rock)

14. Cold Blows the Rain by Bridget Hayden and The Apparitions (album / folk)

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The Press Box

In this week’s edition of The Press Box, we feature a new release from independent artist missing scenes (R. Hunter), also included on today’s ambient list.

dream or memory? by missing scenes [Independent]

In the artist’s own words:

The light on the forest floor. The darkness just below the surface. dream or memory? speaks to the liminality which binds these two states. As the eyes dim, the ears open.

R. Hunter has been creating music for more than two decades under various names and across various projects (eg, Conversations About the Light, Occulted Sound, Self Spiller and Snares of Sixes). His new solo album dream or memory? is his fifth outing under his current moniker, missing scenes, and was inspired heavily by Akira Kurosawa’s 1990 film DREAMS.

Here, the artist explains the connection to the surreal film by the Japanese filmmaking master:

The brilliant colors and magical realism that make up Akira Kurosawa’s DREAMS provided inspiration for dream or memory?. A quarter of a century since I first saw the film, scenes from DREAMS’ vignettes still appear to me unbidden but never unwelcome. Peach orchard, kitsune wedding, watermill village, Van Gogh’s crows… the rich tapestry of DREAMS is mirrored in the album’s sonic vignettes exploring my love of nature, darkness, light, and the importance he assigns to memory, sleep…and dreaming.

New to a missing scenes record, the element of percussion runs through the veins of this album. After hearing the record Spiral by Steve Lyman, Hunter reached out to Lyman, seeking something different to bring this next project to life in a new way. And a wonderful decision it turned out to be, considering the complex textures and ghostly rhythms that are peppered across the EP.

Occasionally offkilter, frequently mystical, and wholly cerebral, dream or memory? is a winding journey through a surreal landscape that does proper justice to its Kurosawan influence. Simultaneously, it offers something utterly unique and compelling to attentive and multitasking listeners alike.

You can purchase dream or memory? on Bandcamp or listen on major streaming services.

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

Your friend,

Melted Form

Remember to listen to the hum, buzz, & hiss of the world around you—there is music to be heard there.

Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:

The Living Music List #29: On Apathy

Afterword—Let’s Get In Touch

Are you an artist, a label owner, or a member of the press? Want to share an in-depth feature of your upcoming release, an advertisement, or a guest post for a future Hum, Buzz, & Hiss issue? Get in touch with me at meltedform@gmail.com. As always, I would love to hear and recommend your music, especially if it’s new and ambient/electronic/experimental.