BWDD – November 22, 2020

It’s variety night on Blue Water Drift Dive! Actually, it’s not, but it might seem that way. Stylistically, we will be covering quite a bit of ground tonight, but there is some method to the moshpit. For me, tonight is about telling a story.

It’s about an upcoming holiday, a special day of the year with a complex background, simultaneously revered as a symbol of peace and gratitude while also viewed by some as the celebration of a genocide. Both are true, in my view, and that is the story I hope to tell tonight. It begins in darkness and violence and despair, navigating a path through a silent wasteland, then finding new life and new growth, ultimately bringing us to a very quiet personal place, away from all the trouble of the past. For me, this is the true meaning of the holiday: giving thanks individually. Nothing more, simple personal gratitude, in this place and in this moment.

Will tonight’s music successfully tell that story? I hope so. And I hope you’ll join us for the program. We’ll be playing music by a panoply of artists, including Thom Brennan, Numina, Robert Carty, Shane Morris, Bill Baxter, Cluster Balm, Meho, c.paradisi, Bing Satellites, North Hive, Robert Rich, and Steve Roach and Byron Metcalf. To name just a few. Hope you tune in!

There will also be an unusual live set tonight, where I focus on live generative music. To me, this is an interesting concept I’ve been playing with lately, to answer the question: what kind of live music can I make with only a mixer and a couple of knobs to play with? Will the experiment work? Find out tonight!

The show happens tonight at 10p/9p/8p/7p ET/CT/MT/PT (2a UTC), immediately following the end of Tony Gerber’s fantastic Ambient Sundays program, and will last at least 2 hours. As with all RadioSpiral.net programs, the emphasis is on community, so of course there is a live chat.

If you tune in, I hope you’ll stop by and say hello …

BWDD – October 4, 2020

Please join me this evening for another edition of Blue Water Drift Dive on RadioSpiral.net.

Tonight I’ll be focusing on live music! Although I will not myself be performing tonight, I’ll be playing nothing but live music from RadioSpiral artists — specifically two wonderful concerts put on by two of my favorite artists.

We’ll begin with Emerald Adrift and his astonishing concert given at one of electro-music.com’s Kansas City festivals, entitled Wings of Morpheus. If you haven’t heard David Herpich’s music before, you need to hear this live set. This is an artist who pushes the boundaries of ambient and electronic music, who creates some of the most satisfying and intellectually challenging abstract music you have ever heard. This concert is one of his best performances, so I encourage you to check it out.

In the second hour, we’ll focus on the live music of that immensely talented artist Brin Coleman. During this hour, we’ll hear Bing Satellites Alive In Lincoln, which Brin recorded in July 2019 as part of the Weird Garden concert series at No. 10 Decimal Place in Lincoln, UK. Truly magnificent music by one of the most productive and influential ambient artists today.

The show happens tonight at 10p/9p/8p/7p ET/CT/MT/PT (2a UTC), immediately following the end of Tony Gerber’s fantastic Ambient Sundays program, and will last at least 2 hours. As with all RadioSpiral.net programs, the emphasis is on community, so of course there is a live chat.

If you tune in, I hope you’ll stop by and say hello …

The Ambient Drones of Bill Baxter

0011134456_10It’s not often that I come across an ambient artist I haven’t already heard of.  It’s even more rare when that artist comes with an already-established catalog that is even larger than my own.  And in the case of Bill Baxter, that catalog is many times larger.  Like, incredibly large.

In fact, I can count on one hand the number of artists who are more prolific.  And yet, somehow, the music is consistently superb.  If you are a fan of deep, contemplative, hypnotic,  constantly-evolving ambient drone, then Bill Baxter is someone you should know about.

Check it out!

Kowalski Room – Modern Urban Starlight

I’m just sitting here coding away, listening to some good music to keep me in the zone.  Today’s music comes from Kowalski Room, an enigmatic ambient music project that seeks to find new music by layering and mixing bits and pieces of other sounds, scraps of music previously recorded, and other miscellanea.

They just released a new album, which contains three beautiful, restful pieces, which go perfectly with work, rest, relaxation, or even sleep.  Check it out:

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https://kowalskiroom.bandcamp.com/album/modern-urban-starlight

And I will give ten points to anyone who can educate me as to who the artist(s) are behind Kowalski Room.  I have a suspicion, but would love something more firm …

 

 

 

Playlist – March 30, 2018

Another great set of music, this time all lush, droney, ambient minimalism.  Puts me into a hypnotic state every time.  I hope you enjoyed the program!

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Mister Vapor – Dunes Of Infinity (2009)
Dunes Of Infinity

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As Lonely As Dave Bowman – POD (2007)
Pod Three

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Bill Baxter – Luna (2016)
Luna, Part Four

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ocp – Sleeping Aid (2005)
Sleeping Aid

 

Playlist – March 16, 2018

A night of just plain great ambient music!  Two long players, several short players, and all of it outstanding music.  Plus a live performance by myself.  I had a great time and hope you enjoyed the show as well.

Hope to see you next week!

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K.Markov – Explorer (2018)
Explorer

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Lee Rosevere – Light Years Book II – The Vela Companion (2010)
Chapter Seven – Re-entry

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The Synthetic Awakening – Songs For Annabelle (2017)
Death Stare

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Slept – On a Bright Day (2011)
Song About Being Somewhere Else

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Kendall Station – Mend (2011)
Mend

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Bing Satellites – Songs of the Long Land (2018)
Songs of the Long Land

Playlist – December 1, 2017

cactusWe had a lovely program tonight to celebrate the advent of December.  Tonight we journeyed deep, diving into the dark soothing pool of ambience with a variety of new music to the program from a collection of great artists.

I was particularly excited to feature an unreleased piece by Sergio de Vega, an artist I’ve loved for some time who recently reached out to me.  Deep and hypnotic music.

As always, we had a lot of fun in the chat room talking about pinball machines, milk shakes, carbon fiber lap steel guitars, espresso, and catching up with old friends.  A great time.

Hope to see you next week!

 

Dimensional Time Shift
Anantakara – Dimensional Time Shift (2017)
Beat of Winged Uniting Souls
Ictus Of Infallibility Follow Your Sacred Heart Longing

 

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Phobos – One Moment Live – Self-Released (2013)
One Moment Live

 

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The Ambient Visitor – Whispers in the Wind – Self-Released (2017)
Whispers in the Wind Part 1
Whispers in the Wind Part 2

 

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Sergio de Vega – Unreleased (2017)
Drone 271117 Final

Playlist – October 20, 2017

It was a fun show this evening!  It’s always a pleasure to hang out in the chat room and chit chat while listening to some great ambient music, from folks like Steve Roach, Forrest Fang, Shane Morris, and Thom Brennan.  If you ‘re listening but not chatting, you’re definitely missing out on half of the fun.

Here’s the playlist from tonight’s program:

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Steve Roach – Destination Horizon – Life Sequence – Projekt (2003) 

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Shane Morris and Q – Drifting to the Great Unknown – The Ascent – Self-Released (2016)

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ELYA – Pastoruri – Glaciers – La Bel (2016)

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The Ambient Visitor – The Journey Continues Part One – The Journey Continues – Self-Released (2017)

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Forrest Fang – The Hallucinations of Hung Tung – Phantoms – Projekt (2009)

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Lingua Lustra – Wave 4 – Waves (Rolling from the Edges of Time) – Earth Mantra (2016)

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Thom Brennan – Beneath Clouds Part 4 – Beneath Clouds – Arya (1996)