SubVersion Stop 50: Muttley - Back To Mine Pt.3 - Dark Days, They Make Us Believe We're Someone Else

The 50th SubVersion instalment brings a special New Year gift into circulation...

Muttley - Back To Mine Pt.3 - Dark Days, They Make Us Believe We're Someone Else

Well here it be: my opus to end 2009. The first 'Back To Mine' - "Overshadowed" - was heralded as a return to being myself. The second - "Reflections" - a home listening catch-all for mental disorders. This, in its unhurried incantation, is for putting the past behind me, revisiting, and travelling to and from my chosen occupation.

Around this period I furthered my inquisitivity for classical and ambient music, speaking to a 60-nearing friend there of his passion for opera. "Dark Days, They Make Us Believe We're Someone Else" is an aid to get myself in the right mindset to guarantee I don't have ensuing apothesis'.

"Where Are You?" I discovered via Paradigm X's excellent 15 Minutes Of Fame debut - "Vocalisms". I decided I needed a rhetorical buffer to maximise the changing of styles early in the set, and the calming of textures with the musical. The transition isn't smooth - I aimed to undercut the subsidence to a minimal drone, where synchronizing written with aural was a conduit - "How To Catch The Right Thought" (track 4)?

This is what awaits us, subjectively - a well of despair and self-destruction, where our true self is disconnected, and defective behaviour longs for spiritual manna. Favourites that have stayed with me through thick and thin resolve the loose ends. Koen Holtkamp's "Night Swimmer", Richard Skelton's "Shore" and Mogwai's "Chocky" are emotionally poignant enough to heal impermanent silences.

The last tune on this, Sigur Rós' "Viõrar Vel Til Loftárasa" I'd like to have played at my funeral. I have sat up until early hours on NYE with this serenading the room and it always activates shivers when the crescendo hits. I hope you have a productive 2010 and that "Dark Days, They Make Us Believe We're Someone Else" won't dim your lights, those which I hope will shine brighter towards the good in the coming echoes.

TRACKLISTING

01. Coil - Where Are You? (from Musik To Play In The Dark CD 2)
02. Zelienople - Slaving (from Gone OST)
03. Oophoi - Dimensional Passage (from Night Currents)
04. Hildur Gudanottir, BJ Nilsen & Stillupsteypa - How To Catch The Right Thought (from Second Childhood)
05. Fennesz - City Of Light (from Venice)
06. Milieu - Six Fourteen (from Brother)
07. Aphex Twin - SAW Untitled 1 (from Selected Ambient Works Vol.2)
08. Lawrence English & Tom Hall - Lines Twine Oscillation (from Euphonia)
09. Koen Holtkamp - Night Swimmer (from Field Rituals)
10. Obfusc - Alto Piano (from the split w/ David Tagg)
11. Atomic Skunk - Suspended Ascent (free download - www.atomicskunk.com)
12. Inverz - New Found Lands, New Found Sounds (from Slow)
13. Richard Skelton - Shore (from Marking Time)
14. Mogwai - Chocky (from Come On Die Young)
15. Lamenter - Kinski For Halloween (from Sleeping Me)
16. Inverz - Everything In Order (from Slow)
17. Greg Haines - Caesura (from Slumber Tides)
18. Mono & World's End Girlfriend - Trailer 1 (from Palmless Prayer: Mass Murder Refrain)
19. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Blaise Bailey Finnegan III (excerpt) (from Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada)
20. Arvo Part - The Beatitudes (from Part)
21. Sigur Rós - Viõrar Vel Til Loftárasa (from Ágætis Byrjun)

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SubVersion Stop 49: Code @ NuKillaBeats, Nov 7th 2009

Retrospecting a month, I had much fun attending NuKillaBeats with ASC in Limerick, Ireland. It was great to meet him after chatting online for three annums, and also see friends Conor (Code, Subtle Audio) and Louisa (girlfriend, flyer design).

I obtained a SubVersion exclusive from this outing: Code's contribution for the night, representing dubs from Dak, old classics like Blu Mar Ten's "She Moves Through", and a crate of gems bigger than stocking fillers would breach.

TRACKLISTING

01. Blu Mar Ten - She Moves Through (Good Looking)
02. Intense - Eastern Promise (Good Looking)
03. Breakage - The Look (Scientific Wax)
04. Deep Blue & Blame - Transitions (Moving Shadow)
05. Axis - Solution (Good Looking)
06. Skitty - Bennies (Scientific Wax Digital)
07. Jubei & Cern - Black Hole (Ingredients)
08. Optical & Ryme Tyme - Headhunters (Virus)
09. Fracture & Neptune - Killerwhat? (Astrophonica)
10. ASC - Fresh (Offshore)
11. Total Science - No Smoking (Advanced)
12. Skitty - City Of Quest (Scientific Wax Digital)
13. Dak - Coffee (Unreleased)
14. Fanu - Orient Dawn (13 Music)
15. Marcus Intalex & ST Files - Lose Control (Metalheadz)
16. Fushara - Alien Technology (Unreleased)
17. Jonny L - I Let U (XL Recordings)

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SubVersion Stop 48: Fushara - Protective Instinct (December 2009)

I was introduced to Fushara by Plainaudio's "Rising" EP, whereby "Symbol Of State" stuck out. Slowing the tempo, he's very kindy offered the 15 Minutes Of Fame mix series "Protective Instinct". A righteous 145bpm venture through bass, Krome & Time piano motifs, piston-precision atmospherics and plentifully multicoloured breakbeats, he's subsequently showcasing some tracks from his forthcoming album on Make:Shift. It's, by this example, a welcomely noble addition to their already high standard catalogue.

TRACKLISTING

01. Fushara - Breakbeat Sign
02. Fushara - Digitalism (Make:Shift-from forthcoming album Tales from A Concrete City)
03. Fushara - Sharpy
04. Fushara - Rate Control
05. Fushara - Element
06. Fushara - Distorted Thinking
07. Fushara - 3am London Borough (Make:Shift-from forthcoming album Tales from A Concrete City)
08. Fushara District 10
09. Fushara Urban Decay part 1 and 2

Mixed in Serato Scratch.

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SubVersion Stop 47: Muttley - Life Support (December 2009)

"Life Support" is the third and final set of 2009 that's dedicated to the people of Bridewell Gardens. As an alternative to sending out Christmas cards, giving each of my friends there a specially made CD seemed the best option. I will be handing "Life Support" out tomorrow at the Christmas meal. Not contrary to the goodwill, it's a free event put on by the Bridewell staffers.

"Comets" by Piano Magic carries the underlying message of this excursion: "you should always tell them, you love them, in case you never see them again". I also aspired to showcase Rameses III and Greg Haines, two artists I will be working with towards spring 2010.

TRACKLISTING

01. Rameses III - All Shall Be Well (from I Could Not Love You More)
02. Global Communication - 4-14 (from 76-14)
03. SpeaK - Drowning Peacefully (from Once Nomadic)
04. Peter James - Flight Of Tears (from Holding On - Letting Go)
05. David Tagg - Magic Interval (from the split with Obfusc)
06. Drowning The Virgin Silence - Beneath The Sulfur Sky (from Beneath The Sulfur Sky)
07. Greg Haines - Arups Gate (from Slumber Tides)
08. Mogwai - Friend Of The Night (from Mr.Beast)
09. Piano Magic - Comets (from The Troubled Sleep Of Piano Magic)

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SubVersion Stop 46: Muttley - I Shall Not Drown (December 2009)

  Photo: Natasha Khan

A body that lives a long time, accumulates debris. It cannot be avoided. Partly inspired by Dave @ Low Light Mixes with his "A Solitary Sea", I chose tracks based on circumnavigating the drowning condition - whether it be your sorrows, tears, or loneliness.

Unlike "Weathering" and "Gravitation To Resolution", I wasn't rooted by track names. Bat For Lashes' "Sleep Alone" is the sole track with national radio play. I saw them live in October and was staggered by the quality of their second album, particularly Natasha Khan's haunting voice. "Sleep Alone" is based on the relationship I lost, and if I will start all over again - which I surely will, in 2010.

Conjoining tenacity for creation with artists receiving scant attention, "I Shall Not Drown" is the second Muttley set built in Acoustica Audio Mixer, which I can see myself using ever greater as the years roll on.

TRACKLISTING

01. Drowning The Virgin Silence - To Reach The Clouds (from Beneath The Sulfur Sky)
02. Rameses III - Across The Lake Is Where My Heart Shines (from I Could Not Love You More)
03. Eluvium - All The Sails (from When I Live By The Garden And The Sea)
04. Peter James - Adrift (from Holding On - Letting Go)
05. Stars Of The Lid - The Evil That Never Arrived (from And Their Refinement Of The Decline)
06. Herzog - Our Friends Save Us From Drowning (from First Summer And The Running Dream)
07. Fennesz - Rivers Of Sand (from Venice)
08. Arovane - Seaside (from Tides)
09. Seafar - New Town Dreams (from Hegira)
10. Black To Comm - Trapez (from Alphabet 1968.)
11. Bat For Lashes - Sleep Alone (from Two Suns)
12. Atomic Skunk - Liquid Dharma (free download - www.atomicskunk.com)
13. Global Communication - 12-18 (from 76-14)
14. Bitcrush - To Drown (from Epilogue In Waves)

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SubVersion Stop 45: Muttley - The Eyes, They See An Ominous Pillar (December 2009)

Photo: Alexisonfire

"The Eyes, They See An Ominous Pillar": designed to soundtrack Thursday 17th - Sunday 20th December. The title references magnifying of small happenings affecting my mindstate, and their consequential broadening and minimizing.

I visited the county I grew up in with my family this past weekend. It was to attend my cousin's wedding reception, and have a meal with old friends. Upon anticipating this I decided to put my feelings to music. The first section supplants a mantra via track names - I felt like I was "Alone In The Rising Fog", and the progress was "Like A Slow River". "The Low Falls" and "Saltwater" are precursors to "I Shall Not Drown", the mixtape that will follow.

When in the venue surrounded by new faces and relatives, I hallucinated mildly. I thought pictures on the wall were rolling their eyes (windows and varying sizes of gaps). Different positioning of shutters on an adjacent image promoted disorientating factors to flourish. The lyrics of "Rough Hands" I used to consolidate word counts, and it proved useful.

The closing three tracks are touchstones from environment altering. I desired to sculpt a contrasting sequence where demons are welcome to wither ("Everybody's got your back" from Zelienople's "Pajama Avenue"), and humanness is dissipated from the ether (see Metric's "I've seen all the demons that you've got / If you're not alright, now, come on baby, I'll take you where, take you where you want"). Ultimately the result is a file with a plentitude of moodswings stitched into it.

TRACKLISTING

01. Aquadorsa - Alone In The Rising Fog (from Cloudlands)
02. Lull - Like A Slow River (from Like A Slow River)
03. Jasper Leyland - The Low Falls (from Carbon Series Vol.5)
04. Last Days - Saltwater (from Sea)
05. Peter James - Aurora (from Holding On - Letting Go)
06. Stars Of The Lid - Another Ballad For Heavy Lids (from And Their Refinement Of The Decline)
07. Max Richter - This Picture Of Us. P (from 24 Postcards)
08. Alexisonfire - Rough Hands (from Crisis)
09. Peter Broderick - A Glacier (from Float)
10. Zelienople - Pajama Avenue (from Pajama Avenue)
11. The Caretaker - Long Term (Remote) (from Persistent Repetition Of Phrases)
12. Metric - Twilight Galaxy (from Fantasies)

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SubVersion Stop 44: Muttley - Head In The Clouds (December 2009)

"Head In The Clouds": constructed to celebrate my folks' 30th anniversary from meeting, in 1979. All blends don't synchronize totally, while the theme - having one's head in the clouds - is presented by the contemplative mood.

TRACKLISTING

01. Quosp - Submerged (from Soundscapes II)
02. Herzog - Congratulations, Here's Your Mountain (from First Summer And The Running Dream)
03. Carl Sagan's Ghost - Into The Light I (from Darkness And The Light)
04. Stars Of The Lid - Dopamine Clouds Over Craven Cottage (from And Their Refinement Of The Decline)
05. Rameses III - Clouds Kings (from I Could Not Love You More)
06. Grouper - Wind And Snow (from Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill)
07. John Foxx & Harold Budd - Raindust (from Transluscence)
08. Biosphere - As The Sun Kissed The Horizon (from the album Substrata)
09. The Lights Galaxia - The Last Lights In The City (from Global)
10. Leyland Kirby - And At Dawn Armed With Glowing Patience, We Will Enter The Cities Of Glory (Stripped) (from Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was)

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SubVersion Stop 43: Muttley - Caught In Static (December 2009)

Photo: Sawako

Movement is tried and tested artistically. It facillitates growth opportunities, frees stangnancy and liberates matters from a rigid structure. However, there are also phases that benefit from being 'stuck'. "Caught In Static" accrues such temporality.

A companion piece to "Mind Over Matter", we've had the sleep selection "Threshold", sequenced to revitalise, now is the turn of specifically chosen tracks that have a time-lapsed feel to them, which, paradoxically, condenses my concentration into a small block and appertains to reap rewards of dedication and perserverence.

TRACKLISTING

01. Sawako - Cloud No Crowd (from Hum)
02. Apalusa - Live From The Dry Valley's (from Live From The Dry Valley's)
03. Stars Of The Lid - Arch Song (from Music For The Ballasted Orchestra)
04. Marow - Hadar (from Scintillation)
05. Last Days - Nothing Stays The Same, Nothing Ever Ends (from The Safety Of The North)

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SubVersion Stop 42: Do you have trouble sleeping at night?

Photo: Richard Lainhart's "Threshold" disc

There have been an array of online comments foretelling that music can be good for sleep, breathing, anxiety reduction et al. There have also been a multitude of mixtapes that put that stigma to the test. And we all have thresholds that limit our conscious perception of living and dreaming. "Threshold" is an excercise in assuaging these statements and reproducing their fruits.

Muttley - Threshold - December 2009

01. William Basinski & Richard Chartier - Untitled 2 (from Untitled 1-3)
02. Richard Lainhart - Threshold (from Threshold)
03. Fennesz & Sakamoto - Oto (from Cendre)
04. Felicia Atkinson & Sylvain Chaveau - How The Light (from Roman Anglais)
05. Richard Lainhart - Cranes Fly West 040706-2 (from Threshold)
06. David Tagg - Cave Light Spectrum (from Dulcimer Studies)
07. Ian Hawgood - Ginseng & Polaramin, And One Long Slumber (from Before I Let The Sunshine Rot)
08. Quosp - Night Coast (from Soundscapes I)
09. Aphex Twin - Blue Calx (from Selected Ambient Works Vol.2)
10. Leyland Kirby - Tonight Is The Last Night Of The World (from Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was)

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I use "Threshold's" timeline as a measure of how active I've been that day. I then estimate what I can do to improve my sleep. By sharing this I trust there are individuals that believe in meditation, inner calm and replacing nothingness with something to treasure for years. The tracks may or may not resonate with the listener, but what they do achieve is lulling the brain and causing panic to subside.

SubVersion Stop 41: Muttley - Mind Over Matter (December 2009)

Photo: Leyland Kirby

There are all manner of things we have to overcome as we exist. Whether it's baby steps, speech, refraining from urges, balancing work with love, or simply bypassing the tumultuous chaos around us, everything is valid, yet somehow, the mind is not strictly as it seems. With the advent of technology doing more of the work for us, drifting and distracting ourselves can increase.

"Mind Over Matter" is a cornerstone for such behaviour. It sprouted from procrastination and my attention span waning when studying for my Open University course. I'm presented units each week, and listening exercises on accompanying CDs demand me to focus in a variety of ranges.

Active and passive listening, timbre, structures and forms, texture, writing about sound: it's a budding music journalists' paradise.

I like every Muttley mixtape to have a theme. This one is obvious. You can do it. You can pick yourself up and face the hardships, frustrations and enigmas the world throws at you. Even if you're singularly partaking in discovery, you are never just 'you' - but you're ideally welcome to be yourself. There is likely a fourth dimension in the panoramic distance, one that we all uncover when the mists of grey vanish and we're left with achievement or failure.

Whatever the outcome, sometimes we need an informal push, and I hope this selection will help incentivise and inspire a few people to remember that memories live longer than dreams.

TRACKLISTING

01. Robert Haigh - Tomorrow Never Came (1989) (from Notes And Crossings)
02. Leyland Kirby - Memories Live Longer Than Dreams (from Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was)
03. Goldmund - Light (from Two Point Discrimination)
04. Sylvain Chaveau - Staring (from Nuage)
05. 36 - Inside (from Hypersona)
06. Arlo Bigazzi & Arturo Staleri - Stregatto (from Zaum Vol.1)
07. eDIT - Twenty Minutes (from Crying Over Pros For No Reason)
08. Krzysztof Orluk - Beautiful Mind (from Blurred Reflection)
09. Boards Of Canada - Dawn Chorus (from Geogaddi)
10. Skindred - Who Are You? (from Shark Bites And Dog Fights)

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SubVersion Stop 40: Muttley - Dreamscape (November 2009)

As a celebration of 20000 views and 350 posts in my "Ambient lovers" thread, I've uploaded "Dreamscape". It's dedicated to my friend dwarde, who once said he listens to my mixes when he goes to bed, but consequently misses most of the music. The theme here is life-affirming sounds. They are also partly ghostly. "Dreamscape" begins beatless with long blends, then traverses classical, downtempo and drone influences. I'm trying to break the habit of building sets to crescendo levels, and instead making a proper sleep selection where perception is motionless; a strong segment of the caveat.

TRACKLISTING

01. Bruno Sanfilippo - Imagined Reality (from Auralspace)
02. Oophoi - Night Psalm (from Hymns To A Silent Sky)
03. Seafar - Dr.Catchlove (from Hegira)
04. Philip Dickau - I Am With You, I Am Happy (from This City, And You)
05. Stars Of The Lid - The Daughters Of Quiet Minds (from And Their Refinement Of The Decline)
06. Eluvium - Reciting The Airships (from Copia)
07. Slow - You Can't Say No To (from Dual Box)
08. Black To Comm - Hotel Freund (from Alphabet 1968)
09. Fur - Friends (from Black Castles)
10. Repetition / Distract - Ghosts On Our Train (from Not Even In Sleep)
11. Breakage - Unireverse (from This Too Shall Pass)
12. Noah And The Whale - Instrumental II (from The First Days Of Spring)

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SubVersion Stop 39: Muttley - Better Days To Come (November 2009)

Cover: Antony and the Johnsons

TRACKLISTING

01. Asher – 1.1 (from Landscape Studies)
02. Seafar – Yob Data (from Hegira)
03. Netherworld – Jostedaal (from Zaum Vol.1)
04. Mindspan – Conversations (Unreleased)
05. Fennesz – The Point Of It All (from Venice)
06. Svarte Greiner – Ullsokk (from Knive)
07. Olafur Arnalds – Raein (from Found Songs)
08. Jasper TX – Better Days To Come (from A Darkness)
09. Autechre – Outh9x (from Quaristice)
10. Antony And The Johnsons – Daylight And The Sun (from The Crying Light)
11. Sawako – A Last Next (Instrumental) (from Bitter Sweet)
12. Peter Broderick – And It's Alright (from Home)

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Dedicated to friends Conor and Louisa; a soundtrack to when I visited Ireland on November 7th. It begins with layered drones that border on lachrymose, overlaid with snippets of voice that aren't quite quantifiable. My battle against compulsions tripping me up, confusion, forgetting, and deluded thinking are all captured in this doctrine.

This episode within finishes at 13:45, where the mood is very melancholic. "Better Days To Come" then progresses to positive reminiscence with piano, female singing and strings. There's a happy ending through the darkness - I was told to re-recognise that things will always pass, as they do. I have Conor to thank also for introducing me to Brian Hartnett, a founder of Hearing Voices Ireland, and ASC (aka Mindspan) for "Headspace", his second foray into ambient and minimal techno, currently unreleased.

SubVersion Stop 38: Muttley - White Horizon (November 2009)

Originally posted by Dave Trax on djtrax.wordpress.com

"This blog was set up to host News, Mixes and Videos from DJ Trax. However, Muttley has given so much support to the underground scene and therefore I'm proud to host his latest mix."

TRACKLISTING

01 - ICR - Misspent (Misspent Music)
02 - Probe-One - Protocol (Covert Operations)
03 - Silent Witness - Amazon (DNAudio)
04 - Hipnotic - White Horizon (D:Art Recordings Unreleased)
05 - ASC & Subwave - Storm System (Covert Operations)
06 - DJ Trax - This One (Subvert Central)
07 - Cloak & Dagger - Soul Sauce (Subtle Audio)


Download exclusively at djtrax.wordpress.com


"White Horizon" is ordinated for clubs at peak or primetime, when handled with enough discern. The health of dancefloors worldwide survives on variation, but you won't encounter selections like this at the majority of drum and bass nights. I view the problem like film transgression. If we call punter satisfaction crucial, most events are Hollywood blockbusters, where trailers fabricate longevity, and idiosyncracies are wasted. With "White Horizon" I chose a cross-section from digital and vinyl labels, that are either today defunct, or running on subscription protocols.

You get a package that's a labour of love, and not commodified - as is your average big-buck flick. The Hipnotic track remains the sole tune with a two-step beat. It highlights that as a DJ, you don't have to revert to heavy-hitters.

SubVersion Stop 37: Carl Sagan's "Glorious Dawn"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc&feature=fvw

For those of you who haven't heard it, this track is composed of vocal samples and clips from Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" series about astronomy and cosmology.