P609 Properly Disorienting

This is music that is more of a stretch, and probably more enjoyable when I am alone. I’ve been trying to use my downtime to my advantage, catching up on a lot of music I had acquired over the last year but never really had the time to sit with. A few of these tracks sent me down rabbit holes looking for other new artists, and several of those discoveries brought a pretty big smile to my face. That is always one of the best parts of digging through music: you start with one track and suddenly you have five more things you need to hear.

It starts out in outright weirdness with A Mouse Orchestra and Un-Kommuniti, then wanders into the more ambient touchstones like Mike Cooper the British lap-steel guitarist who went from folk-blues scene to experimental & exotica. That sits alongside Soul Whirling Somewhere and the hushed modern-classical world of A Winged Victory for the Sullen. The Trigg & Gusset track appears seemingly everywhere David Lynch is tagged on Bandcamp. There is a nice stretch of hypnotic and experimental stuff here before things start getting a little more restless. Imitation Electric Piano brings some movement, followed by Jackie-O MF’er, and from there the playlist starts taking some pretty unexpected turns.

The second half is where things really get fun. Kevin Richard Martin’s dubby dark downtempo leads into Julianna Barwick’s choir-loop style fractured via the Prince Rama remix, followed by the genuinely unexpectedly wonderful combination of Venetian Snares and Daniel Lanois, which I learned was recorded in a former Buddhist Temple in Toronto. Then it keeps moving, with Lara Sarkissian and Valentina Magaletti who I had spent a lot of time chasing down all the projects she’d worked with. I kept the vibe going with Yu Su, Tolouse Low Trax, Tomaga (another Valentina project), which all would fit neatly with some Shackleton. Solar Lodge slows it back down a bit before Carl Gari & Abdullah Miniawy’s track which lovingly reminds me of Bryn Jones. Ending with another Lara Sarkissian track with Locust because I will blindly dive into any Mark Van Hoen project. There isn't really a comfortable place to settle in here, which is kind of the point.


01 A Mouse Orchestra – A Lump in Your Throat Pt 1
02 Un-Kommuniti – (Heavy) Sh!t at the Station 1
03 Five or Six – Aroma
04 Mike Cooper – A Pattern of Islands
05 Soul Whirling Somewhere – Opening the Ten-End
06 A Winged Victory for the Sullen – The Haunted Victorian Pencil
07 Trigg & Gusset – Krakau
08 Imitation Electric Piano – Progressive Rock
09 Jackie-O Motherf*ck3r – Skylight (Recorded Live at Cargo, London, UK)
10 Kevin Richard Martin – One Hundred Deaths
11 Julianna Barwick – Prizewinning (Prince Rama remix)
12 Venetian Snares x Daniel Lanois – Best P54
13 Lara Sarkissian – Our Dead Can’t Rest (Old Jugha Flute Dance)
14 Valentina Magaletti – A Queer Anthology of Drums
15 Yu Su – Futuro
16 Tolouse Low Trax – Milk in Water
17 Tomaga – Tuscan Metalwork
18 Solar Lodge – Our Dead Steed
19 Carl Gari & Abdullah Miniawy
20 Lara Sarkissian, Locust – DBM

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P608 Lit a Green Candle

That break was long enough. I waited until I had landed a new job which will hopefully last me until retirement. It was a rough set of months in the job market, applying, networking, following up, chasing down recruiters, interviewing, and being given every excuse to not hire me. Finally, a company saw my value and pursued me; that felt validating and I’m back on track.

Health is good, have a job, happy family, new and big adventures coming. I’m all set to pull some cohesive thoughts together for some new mixes. Also, I wiped my free storage to make room for the new, anyone that wants a re-up of an old mix let me know and I’ll take care of it.

I’ll start it off with an easy to digest one. I made this last December when I shut down for a while. Pulled what I was listening to and some new finds off the local indie radio station in town and had this as the soundtrack for date night with my wife as we drove into town for a fine meal and evening walk. In hindsight, I suppose there is some metaphoric meaning in a few of these songs, or specific lyrics that reflected my sadness from losing my previous job. However, this is not all doom and gloom, it’s a rather fun and upbeat (at times) mix that got me re-invigorated to share again.



01 Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (Original)
02 Leonard Cohen – One of Us Cannot Be Wrong
03 Wolf Alice – Thorns
04 Santigold – Disparate Youth
05 Purity Ring – Fineshrine
06 Fontaines D.C. – Favourite
07 David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes (single version)
08 Mt. Joy – Lucy
09 Eggs for Breakfast – Sad Sex Songs
10 Giske – The Sound of Birdsong
11 Three Mile Pilot – Still Alive
12 These Quiet Hours – Seven Waves Deep
13 Deceits – Please, Wake Up
14 Soccer Mommy – Driver
15 R.E.M. – Bad Day
16 Del Water Gap – How to Live
17 Lucy Dacus – Brando
18 Goth Babe – Surfing in Iceland
19 Panda Bear, Sonic Boom – Edge of the Edge
20 Tarta Relena – Me Yelassan
21 Elvis Costello & The Imposters – Honeyhouse
22 Turn On – Ru Tenone
23 Brian Eno – St. Elmo’s Fire
24 Asobi Seksu – Never Understand (Live on KEXP)
25 Possessed by Paul James – Songs We Used to Sing

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Spotify

A Recentering Presence

I began this blog as a quiet act of self-care—a place to share playlists and mixes I had created while supporting my mother through her journey with cancer. Music became an anchor during that time, something steady to hold onto. After she passed, I continued the practice as a way to give shape to my grief and to stay present with whatever emotions surfaced.

Years later, my own path took an unexpected turn when I was diagnosed with stage-three cancer and underwent surgery within days. Recovery was long and humbling. After five rounds of immunotherapy, I learned that the treatment was damaging my healthy organs without affecting the remaining cancer. I was no longer a candidate for any medical treatment. It was a moment that forced me to pause and reconsider everything.

I turned inward and focused on what I could influence—mindfulness, a vegan lifestyle, and Eastern healing practices such as Ayurveda and acupuncture. These choices grounded me. They restored a sense of agency and alignment, and over time, they supported a deeper kind of healing. Last month, after four years, I was finally able to say I am cancer-free!  Reflecting on this blog, I can see the ups and downs displayed through what I've shared here.

That same month—I was laid off, bringing a 28-year career to a close. With so much change unfolding at once, I chose to step back from sharing my mixes. Music mirrors my inner landscape, and lately that landscape has been shifting daily.

For now, this space is on sabbatical. I will likely return to it someday. At present, my attention is on listening—deeply—to what’s next for me. One door closed, another opened, and the delicate balance of life revealed itself in real time.

I give thanks to all the commenters and friends in the blog world for opening me to new music, ideas, themes and possibilities. Sharing music is one of the greatest gifts we can give each other.  I'm still around if anyone cares to comment, ask for a re-up, or send a request.

607 Time Stereo in all its Glory

It is about time I did a record label overview here.  Time Stereo started as a cassette-only label by David Brainard (Princess Dragonmom, Little Princess) and Warn Defever (His Name is Alive).  They expanded to CD-Rs and very artsy box sets as well as other art objects like oven mitts and clouds, and all sorts of interesting collectables.  I've been lucky enough to score some limited prints from them as well as waiting around for the crazy early morning drops of limited box sets.  The website used to be very robust with a lot of incredible information and artwork, and a great discography.  They also used to host an annual Noise Camp which from the pictures and stories sounds freaking amazing.

The music on this label is literally all over the sonic map, while geographically isolated to Livonia, Michigan.  As a rabid fan of His Name Is Alive, I can easily say some of their best material was released on these limited CD-Rs.  The Heart and Hand and Cloud box sets are some of my most prized possessions.  

Here I present two mixes.  One of pleasant music and one of harsh noise.  Several tracks are excerpts as many Time Stereo releases are single tracks that span 40+ minutes.  There is some CD noise on a couple tracks that is unavoidable due to the media I ripped from (CD-Rs with printed sticker labels).  I've collected all I can, but am still missing a lot of the discography which is respectfully very limited and obscure.  If anyone has Time Stereo releases, please reach out to me.  I'd love to obtain copies, or higher quality rips if anyone is willing to share. 

Sort of Immortal:

00:00  ESP Summer - Everything Grows Together

02:48  Control Panel - Broken Tango #5

08:27  IDA - Shrug (Dub)

15:36  Warn Defever - Prayer Wheel

22:52  Denise James - School's Out (Alice Cooper)

26:08  His Name Is Alive - Moon Dance (Van Morrison)

30:20  His Name Is Alive - Moon Don't Go

33:06  Persona - Untitled (Electronic Mud)

33:31  His Name Is Alive - Killing Floor

35:43  His Name Is Alive - The Time Light Bodies Take To Fall

40:03  His Name Is Alive - Untitled (Michigan's Finest)

45:30  Brown Cuts Neighbor - Alice Cooper Space Rider

45:50  Godzuki - Prophecy of Wade

52:34  New Grape - track 3

55:20  Erika Hoffmann - Ragged But Right

57:14  His Name Is Alive - ESP Summer (Ian Masters demo)

60:05  Denise James - Abstract Symphony No 1 (excerpt - Time Piano)

64:28  The JK Band / Westernaires - 3/4 Time (excerpt)

67:59  ESP Family - I Hate The Capitalist System

Download mix 1

Noise Camp Attendance:

00:00  War Machine - side A

04:40  Live ESP - Something

11:30  ESP Beetles - Quiet

19:06  John DeFever - Communist Guitar #4

22:09  Pail Saint - No

28:57  The God Bullies - Broken Time

31:18  Fab 44 - Pyris-7

32:44  His Name Is Alive - Summer of WSP (Aube remix)

39:39  Princess Dragonmom - If He Thinks We're The Devil (Blue Oyster Cult) (Excerpt)

43:58  The Electric Bear - Live at Worm (Excerpt)

46:22  S Van Gelder - No Credit (Excerpt)

47:47  His Name Is Alive - Up Your Legs Forever (Little Princess remix)

49:23  The Hearing Trumpet - Sleepy Lagoon (Excerpt)

51:22  Metal Dungeon - Grids

60:51  Little Princess - Electronaut #2

Download mix 2

606 Its Kid606 time

The first decade or so of Miguel Manuel De Pedro aka Kid606's work was tremendously enlightening for me.  The squelchy, digital, fritzy anarchist punk attack at electronic music was so fresh and exciting to me.  I used to do DJ sets of all Tigerbeat6, Vinyl Communications, & Violent Turd artists back in the day, usually to the annoyance of my guests.  Here I've assembled a rather lengthy set of his early works that really stand out.  Mostly comps, aliases and rarities I believe; and a lot of fun for the patient listener.  

Yeah, I'd been holding on to this one so I could release it as my 606th mix here.

00:00  The Spacewurm - Inside the Egg (Music For Virgins Mix)

07:16  Kid606 - Damn Dre Why You Always Hating

11:13  Ariel - No One Else Can See You

12:39  Kid606 - Attn:vat!

14:40  Kid606 - While You Were Sleeping

21:13  Kid606 - Buffalo 606-The Morning After (Ricci's Pieces version)

25:11  Kid606 - Dropkick (Matmos' Theme for a Biker Movie Starring Kid606 remix)

30:38  Tigerboy - With Attitude

34:56  Kid606 - Here Kitty, Kitty

37:08  Kid606 - Punksh!t

37:20  Kid606 - War Bombs

41:52  Kid606 - Shimmyshimmy606

46:46  Kid606 - That's What I Got

52:04  Kid606 - Straight Outta Compton (remix)

55:54  The Locust - Well I'll Be A Monkey's Uncle (Kid606 remix)

60:57  Disc - Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division)

67:21  SCSI Bear - Let's NOT Get This Party Started

71:34  Solex - Another Tune Like 'Not Fade Away' (Throwing My Life Away in 3/4 time remix)

77:09  Seefeel - Spangle (rebootleg remix)

82:19  The Spacewurm with Crash Worship - Scorched Earth (Throbbing Gristle)

86:17  Lesser - Mensa Dance Squad (Don't Techno For An Answer remix)

95:13  Kid606 - Pregnant Cheerleader Theme Song

97:11  Kid666 - Take The Piss On

100:18  Kid606 - Don't Sweat The Technics Dubplatestyle

Download (new link)

608 The Sundays - Non-Album Tracks

The Sundays are one of my guilty pleasures.  No matter how much harsh, extreme, wild and crazy music that I generally listen to, at least once a month I put on "Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic" as its just such a damn fine album.  Today, much to my surprise and enjoyment, Butterboy posted a guest compilation of 6CD comprehensive overview of The Sundays with so many gems and delights for even casual fans.

That reminded me that years ago I put together my own "rarities" disc of their music which I dug up today.  I noticed that mine has three tracks not included in Butterboy's post, as well as a different version of "Turkish" (I checked and have about 15 versions of that song) and some fun live gems.   Consider this a small overlap, but also an expansion (designated with an asterisk below) on their wonderful and in depth review and post.

Can't Be Sure (demo)

You're Not The Only One I Know (demo)

*I Kicked a Boy (We're just boring f*ckers live version)

Don't Tell Your Mother

*We Don't Mind (live)

Noise

*Harriet thanks Madder Rose (live)

*Something More (live)

*Turkish (live)

Wild Horses

Through the Dark

So Much

Life Goes On

Nothing Sweet

Gone

Download (un-mixed)