coexisting within a concrete jungle

Quite a while back, I learned about a very interesting little machine entitled the AMBIENT ADDITION, which was a thesis from an MIT student named Noah Vawter The purpose of the machine was to transform everyday sounds into musical notes. He had made the valid point that with the whole 'i' revolution (iTunes, iPod, iPad, etc.), the 'i' represented isolation. I actually downloaded the whole thesis, and gave it a very good bit of my attention. For some reason, there have been no other sort of things like this, and it seems that this idea turned out to be nothing more than just an idea. Granted, there are a few apps that I have on my (old) iPhone, like the INCEPTION app as well as RJDJ (if you have an iPhone, I highly suggest these; I believe that RJDJ is no longer a functioning app, but I could be wrong). We can't escape the noise, but maybe we can take in what is there and process the good bits through our minds to keep us grounded.

Another mention that I have to make is of a book called HEPCAT. I've read this to my kids for years. I'm fascinated by this story of how a jazz cat learns to hear each sounds of the city as separate musical entities, until his mind creates the symphony of each noise, not unlike seeing separate colors and forming a picture. I'm not kidding when I tell that I've taken the story of this book to heart. Obviously, we all have. I'm not at all alone in being fascinated and creating and purchasing music that lives and breathes field recordings.


So that leads to the purpose of this mix. Weaved within the soundscapes are field recordings of the concrete jungle. We must find the balance between the two, and enable our being to coexist with that which we have created. Don't fight against it; rather, immerse yourself in the underlying sonic texture that turns chaos into control. I give you, the listener, equal amounts of city structure balanced by the sweet escape of encompassing sounds. Yin and yang. Pleasure and pain. We begin our journey in the concrete jungle and finish to a place within your mind that you create and find peace. Along the way we let go of the urge to resist the melding of the two worlds.

This mix would do well to help you reemerge into a world that is wrought with turbulent noises. Let the message from this set be that your universe exists in a 5 1/2 inch plane: the space between your ears.

Turn on, tune in, coexist and flow...

[DOWNLOAD COEXISTING WITHIN THE CONCRETE JUNGLE] [ITUNES]

TRACK LISTING

• 'Yellowstone Park (Rocky Mountains) (Extract) - Tangerine Dream from Le Parc (Start Time: 00:19)

• 'Blood And Water' by Jon Jenkins from Flow (Start Time: 00:55)

• 'The Saddest Love Letter Of The Day' by Bing Satellites & Daniel Land from King Midas In Reverse (Start Time: 02:44)

• 'Tides' by Good Weather For An Airstrike from A Home For You (Start Time: 06:52)

• 'The Wind' by Siavash Amini from What Wind Whispered To The Trees (Start Time: 12:35)

• 'Music To Sleep Under Snow' by Lucy Claire from Futuresequence 7 (Start Time: 00:00)

• 'Bound In Sea' by Heinali from Futuresequence 4 (Start Time: 19:46)

• 'You Lead Me Home From The Depths Of The Wild' by The Eager Seas from T H E W I L D E R N E S S Y E A R (Start Time: 25:32)

• 'A Modern Hymn For NYC' by Clem Leek from ...and darkness came (Start Time: 26:56)

• 'Articulate Silences Part 1' by Stars Of The Lid from And Their Refinement Of The Decline (Start Time: 29:31)

• 'It's A Beautiful Thing, The Destruction Of Words (Excerpt)' by Semblence from Quotes EP (Start Time: 33:57)

• 'Swamp' by Coppice Halifax from Inland By Night (Start Time: 34:45)

• 'Beneath The City Trees' by Rhian Sheehan from Seven Tales Of The North Wind (Start Time: 39:58)

• 'Daydream Sounds' by Articology from Music For Daydreamers (Start Time: 42:22)

• 'Living Through The End Of Time (Alafoss)' by Sigur Ros from () (Start Time: 45:20)

• 'Droplets' by Bubble from O (Start Time: 54:01)

• 'Titan' by Broken Harbour from Gramaphone Transmissions (Start Time: 55:05)

• 'Cloudscape Timelapse 04.06.15 (The Zone)' by An Imaginal Space from Cloudscape Timelapses - Volume 2 (Start Time: 58:40)

• 'It's Not Where You Go' by Kevin Kerwijmeren from Futuresequence 8 (Start Time: 60:40)

• 'Gates Of Heaven' by Paul Avgerinos from Bliss (Start Time: 64:35)