The Living Music List #43: On Radio & Rabbit Holes
All it takes is a gentle push to send you spiraling down a rabbit hole of discovery
Currently listening to: About Work (from the NuckolBall podcast, featuring music by Melted Form)
I scored another podcast episode! Readers who’ve been around since the beginnning might remember Issue #4: On Scoring a Podcast Episode. That was my first time doing a project like this and I had a lot of fun with it. Luckily for me, host Mike Nuckols invited me back to work on another episode. This one was very different for his podcast and also a very different kind of project for me in terms of the sounds I ended up utilizing. It was a fun experiment in switching melodies, beats, and moods frequently across the ~13-minute runtime. Due to the nature of the content, it’s more upbeat most of the time, but toward the last 5 minutes or so, there’s an ambient piece that I really enjoyed making. Give it a listen on your preferred service above—I hope you enjoy it!
Reflection
Hello, friend.
Last night, I drove up I-95, sitting in silence for a while. There were 67 miles to go, so I turned off the GPS. It was dark, save the too-bright headlights of a truck or two and the gleaming rest stops named after notable New Jersey historical figures like Woodrow Wilson and Joyce Kilmer.
I know most of those rest stop names, but not being a native New Jerseyan, there are a few of whom I was previously unaware—Kilmer being one of them. I wrongly assumed Joyce Kilmer was a woman, but was actually Alfred Joyce Kilmer, a male poet, journalist, lecturer, and editor who fought and was killed in World War I. With Easter weekend on the horizon, one of his poems caught my eye as I browsed through his works: a short 4-liner called Easter.
Kilmer was married to Aline Murray Kilmer, who was also a poet, as well as a children’s book author and essayist. I now find myself searching the Internet Archive for her works. Again, one stands out for its timely title: In Spring. I find it read aloud in a few places, but have to go 2 steps further on Google to find a transcript of the collection within which it was first published.
Back in the car, I mulled over the Kilmer name, considering the various titles that may have accompanied it. Soon, though, my mind drifted and highway hypnosis threatened to set in. I pressed the knob of the radio and static kicked up like dust on a dirt field. For some context: I currently drive a 2006 Cadillac that only has a radio and a CD player, the latter of which works but has a disc stuck in it, so the only CD I can listen to is a collection of hits by The Four Seasons—I had thought that was relatively timeless music until I relied on it one too many times to save me from the often unreliable radio. I’ve now had quite enough Frankie Valli for some time.
Anyways, I began to turn the dial on the Cadillac’s radio, going notch by notch searching for a good channel. Again, I’m not originally from this area, so I’m still not totally aware of what the good channels are. As I scanned, there were three or four iterations of static before the imperfect sound of a live station came through. Christian talk radio? No thanks. Classical? Not my vibe at the moment. Top 40 pop? The definition of overplayed when all you have in the car is a radio.
I thought of asking Siri to play something on my phone at this point, but I didn’t know what I even felt like listening to and the mystery of the radio still felt appealing. I kept tuning to lower FM stations until finally landing on 103.3 WPRB: “New Jersey’s only radio station, and that’s a fact!” the host later joked.
I was taken aback by the track playing when I landed there. It was the middle of Total euphoria by experimental indie band caroline. The out-of-sync overlapping guitars immediately indicated this was something different.
After the caroline track, I heard The Quiet by Mamalarky—so sick.
It was here that the host’s voice cut in, revealing this was the middle of The Laboratory, a 3-hour segment focusing on new music primarily from the indie scene, mostly experimental indie rock and jazz. After the brief interruption, the music continued with weirder and jazzier cuts, including songs by Butcher Brown, Hiromi, and more.
As I listened, I couldn’t help but continue to Shazam each new track I didn’t recognize. They were all new and interesting, and such a major change from what I had heard on all the other stations I could get a clear signal on. [If you want to see the full show’s playlist, you can click the button below (you can listen to WPRB live online anytime and anywhere here). There’s also a weekly show on Fridays at 11 PM EST called Music with Space hosted by Mike Hunter which plays “ambient, electronic, experimental, avant garde, and Berlin school music for quiet contemplation” that I’m really looking forward to checking out.]
At some point toward the end of the drive, I got far enough north that the station faded into static. I clicked the radio off again, stting with what I heard. I looked forward to adding all these new tracks to my library and exploring the artists from there.
I often fret over not being able to play music from my phone over the car speakers, but I have certainly overlooked the excitement and intrigue that the radio can still deliver. It may be rare and inconsistent—I’ve had many a drive where it seems no station is really offering something as new and diverse as this show did—but the treat of hearing a true source of new independent music that can send you down a rabbit hole of discovery is worth the price of admission (namely, scanning through static and undesirable stations, hoping you’re in range of the right frequencies).
It’s like seeing a name you don’t recognize on the title of a rest stop. You wonder who that name was tied to, and why a state named a rest stop after them in tribute. Following these threads of curiosity may turn up something wonderful, and then lead you to even more.
Music Recommendations
Hello again, friend.
Thank you for reading today’s post. I hope you enjoyed the reflection—and I hope you go down a rabbit hole today after finding something new and unexpected that connects with you.
Maybe you’re next rabbit hole starts here—new music of many kinds just below!
Happy listening.
The Living Music List—Ambient
Note: All of the below ambient projects are available on Bandcamp.
Blue Veil by Lucy Railton (album / experimental, cello drone) [Ideologic Organ / Bandcamp]
Platform Memory Leak by Naive Bayes (album / dark ambient, drone) [Independent / Bandcamp]
I Keep My Diamond Necklace in a Pond of Sparkling Water by Gryphon Rue (album / electroacoustic, field recordings) [Independent / Bandcamp]
Seraphim III by How to Disappear Completely (album / dark ambient, drone) [Independent / Bandcamp]
Fragments by Federica Deiana (EP / neoclassical, ambient piano) [Home Normal / Bandcamp]
Orbweaver by Zosha Warpeha & Mariel Terán (album / experimental, meditative) [Outside Time / Bandcamp]
Déjà Vu by Richard Bégin (album / experimental, dark ambient) [Reverse Alignment / Bandcamp]
Songs of Embourgeoisement by Spite Cathedral (album / noise, experimental) [Blod + Heathens / Bandcamp]
A Boyish Chameleon by IMMR (album / experimental, dark ambient) [Ingrown Records / Bandcamp]
Iterations EP by the volume settings folder (EP / lofi, tape loops) [Independent / Bandcamp]
SAND AND SALT by Jeannine Schulz (single / minimal, electronic) [Independent / Bandcamp]
Lights from the Winter Coordinates by Eph Depths (album / dark ambient, drone) [Independent / Bandcamp]
The Living Music List—All Genres
Note: All of the below projects are available on major streaming services. Bold and ^ denote reader-submitted work. Bandcamp links only provided for reader-submitted work in the all genres list.
New Thing by Avery Friedman (album / indie pop) [Audio Antihero / Bandcamp]^
Thinking Without Language by The Orphaned Bee (EP / prog synth rock) [Bird’s Robe Records / Bandcamp]
Hex Key by Mamalarky (album / indie pop)
OUT THERE (feat. Sonicwonder) by Hiromi (album / jazz)
Fizz Vol. 1 by phonon & Israel Strom (album / electronic)
Letters From The Atlantic by Butcher Brown (album / jazz)
Movement I by Petit Biscuit (EP / electronic)
I Heard That Noise by quickly, quickly (album / indie alt pop)
Send a Prayer My Way by Julien Baker & Torres (album / indie country)
At Eternity’s Gate by jives (album / electronic)
Bonus recommendation: The Future of Music is Noise by Venus Theory
No edition of The Press Box this week, so I wanted to share this great video from creator Venus Theory. It reflect on the interesting trend of various forms of art, including music, embracing imperfection. In music, this takes the form of a larger emphasis on using noise, playing with different timbres, and experimenting with sound design—a rebellion to the era of digital clarity that some may feel lacks character at times. Give it a watch if you have ~27 minutes, it’s very worth the time.
Join the Hum, Buzz, & Hiss Community
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If you enjoy my letters and want to connect directly with others in the ambient/DIY music space, then come join us on Discord. There, you’ll also find more music recommendations from me, custom playlists, giveaways, and more.
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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:
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.
