16 years of these, 16 years of ‘ambient’ music. I still get a lot of enjoyment from putting the annual mix together. This year it was more difficult to do as I didn’t listen to nearly as much music of that genre. Albums by Bobby Gillespie, The Coral and Luzoscura by Sasha were staples over the summer. Saying that, there was still great ambient albums peppered throughout the year. From Hotel Neon and Warmth right at the start of the year to the pair of Cheval Sombre albums in the Spring/Summer ending with Jonsi, Jon Hopkins and the immense @0 compilation on the Nina Tune label in November, it was still a year for stellar releases.
I hope you like volume 16. I was unsure what it would be like when I first started gathering tunes, but i’m really pleased how it turned out. Happy listening.
Jaykits vol. 16
1. ‘Love Theme From Jesmond Dene’ – SL Walkinshaw
2. ‘Time’- Michael E
3. ‘Cirrus’ – Warmth
4. ‘Towards a Distant Shore’ – Hotel Neon
5. ‘The Mind Scans and Maps the World Behind’ – Tilman Robinson
6. ‘Virga’ – Blank Gloss
7. ‘The Celestial City’- A Winged Victory for the Sullen
8. ‘Floodgate’ – Ryan Teague
9. ‘Dreamsong’ – Cheval Sombre
10. ‘Because This Must Be’ – Nils Frahm
11. ‘He Was My Gang’ – Cheval Sombre feat. Sonic Boom
12. ‘Elevated Pastures’ – Chinyami
13. ‘Cryonics (Part 7)’ – Motionfield
14. ‘Follower’ – Max Richter
15. ‘Breaking the Horizon (Eluvium Broken Mix)’ – Michael Price
16. ‘Hedione’ – Jonsi
17. ‘Yin-Yang’ – Felsmann + Tiley
18. ‘Remember We Were Lovers’ – Bobby Gillespie & Jehnny Beth
It’s the time of the year that my annual ambient mix (The ‘Jaykits’ Series) gets put together. I’ve no idea why I do this in August/September when the end of year would make more sense. Maybe next year I’ll rectify this.
As always, I’ve loved putting this together. A majority of this was formed of the lockdown walks, often in the evening sun. The field recordings were either recorded in my garden or out in the woodlands of Perth (as was the cover photo). The early days of lockdown meant the bird song was just that bit more prominent and easy to capture. Reverb has been added to the field recordings and used throughout the mix.
In terms of the music, selecting the tunes was easy. The first track chosen was the The Slow Descent Has Begun by A Winged Victory for the Sullen from The Undivided Five. The album came out at the start of November 2019 by which time Jaykits Vol. 14 was done. After that the tunes on the mix are presented in some sort of chronological order. Motionfield, Jonas Munk and Federico Mosconi were early year favourites. The rest has been released since the world changed. That is except for the Virginia Astley track. The title track From Gardens Where We Feel Secure is included. I will forever associate that time with her album. A classic from the early 80s that I was lucky enough to discover this year. The mix finishes with Bella Ciao (Version Lenta) from Money Heist. We discovered that show during lockdown. It will long live in the memory.
I very much hope you enjoy.
Jaykits Vol. 15 – 1hr 11mins
Intro – Blackbird field recordings May/June 2020
1. Coasts – Loscil
2. Always There Part 9 – Motionfield
3. Eastern Horizons – Jonas Munk
4. Il Tempo Della Nostra Estate – Federico Mosconi
5. From Gardens Where We Feel Secure – Virginia Astley
6. All Human Beings Part 3 – Max Richter
7. Blacklight Trail – Tineidae
8. Fleeting Premonition – ASC & Sam KDC
9. Abyss Forms (i) – Eluvium
10. The Slow Descent Has Begun – A Winged Victory for the Sullen
11. Visit Me – Mogwai
12. Mad Rush – Bruce Brubaker & Max Cooper c/w Blackbird field recordings
13. For Now I Am Winter (Nils Frahm Rework) – Ólafur Arnalds
14. No Sleep No Dream’- Gia Margaret
15. Bella Ciao (Versión Lenta de la Música Original de la Serie la Casa de Papel / Money Heist) – Manu Pila
I can always rely on Ryan Bisset (aka Halftribe) to deliver an album that totally speaks to me. Also, a label (Dronarivm) that includes Brock Van Wey (bvdub), is likely to present a joy. Backwater Revisited is definitely that. Most of this summer Halftribe (along with Warmth – Wildlife) have soundtracked my sleep over the summer.
Backwater Revisited, the 4th album by Halftribe, unsurprisingly comprises instrumental landscapes underpinned by lightweight drones. It follows hot the heels of 2018 For the summer, or forever, which was one of the musical highlights of 2018. It’s fair to say a Halftribe release is much looked forward to at Jaykits HQ.
Backwater Revisited kicks off with Tuning Out, which immediately evoked memories of my teenage (late teenage) years and particularly a Creation label act called Sheer. A simple pulse, a repetitive growl, a piano layer and distant vocals create a dark but enticing opening. What follows, over the course of the remaining 12 tracks, is pure beauty. Drones, stretched whispering vocals, keys and softly plucked, heavily filtered guitars predominate as is perfectly evident on More than Autumn.
The entire album never feels hurried. There is always this feeling of space and, despite the relatively repetitive nature of some of the tracks, it never feels overly long. The track lengths are kept to a minimum, only breaking through the 6 minute barrier when the album goes Off Kilter. Curiously, this track really reminds me of I’m not in Love by 10CC. You can make your own mind upon about that. Ideosyncrasy, changes the key but not the mood. It is darker but still maintains the feel overall. I could wax lyrical about the remainder of the tracks on Backwater Revisited but they are primarily variations on a theme. This is no bad thing at all, as for soundtracking sleep there are no surprises. After all, even Dark Side of the Moon has Money to shake the listener from their stupor. Interestingly, the least effective album track is the title track. There is little to lift the drone that forms the basis of this piece. A special mention should go to the fluttering keys of Kaja and the majestic closer Linear with the sound of the dawn chorus.
This will no doubt feature in many end of year lists. It’s already in mine.
It’s been a good musical start to 2019: Umber and Billow Observatory were particularly strong releases, as was the immense Verve by Sebastian Plano. However, it was Cocoon – You’ve Arrived that peaked my attention initially. What a rich and varied tapestry that it weaves. Taking in, ambient, modern classical, and even a bit of dub techno.
Cocoon, the solo project of Clair Obscur kingpin Christophe Demarthe, is his fourth album on Optical Sound. There is a pulse that underpins this album. Sometimes it veers off into beautiful ambience, other times something altogether more industrial. However, it all works, and all seems to fit together.
Bader is a slightly misleading opening. It promises something completely different than what follows. The album changes style into keys led piece, helpfully title Piano. The initially childlike/later industrial Romantic Distorsion with filtered vocals, first introduces the pulse. A Cure is a banger, pitched that up and it could be played on the more discerning dance floors. On Cab, all the influences come to bear, the childlike nature, the ambience and the pulse. Cindy & Bahn shows the dark and light in equal measures. Instant Valhalla is ambient techno, where echos and reverb predominate. Voyage, sits somewhere bang in the middle of a horror or Sci-Fi movie. Peace 3Mn reminds me a lot of the sound Sasha used on the original Northern Exposure back in the mid 90s. See, I told you it’s all different.
The title track You’ve Arrived is a dark epic. A sedentary pulse provides a structure to the synth. A slow march to the album finale Maos. which is another industrial banger. The album actually closes with Vinyl, which is roughly 3 seconds of static when a needle hits a record.
On the whole, this is not my usual bag but the variety of styles has enough to satisfy a wide variety of musical pallets. Highly recommended.
Sebastian Plano is an Argentinian composer and musician. In recent years, he teamed up with Ben Lukas Boysen to create, the epic Everything; a 4hr Playstation game soundtrack which was my album of the year in 2017. The release of Verve has not been a straightforward story. 5 years or so ago, his computer and a couple of hard drives, were stolen from his car. Content lost included his latest EP, but also the album that could’ve/would’ve been Verve. Therefore, the painstaking process of attempting to recreate (from memory) the ‘lost’ album began. This was clearly a thankless task and nigh on impossible to do. However, to his credit, what emerged was Verve, if possible an improvement on the lost album?
From the brooding opening of Abeyance, it is soon after that the keys are introduced which is the mainstay and focus of Sebastian Planos’ work. Every piece sounds familiar, an extension of the previous one. The first true standout moment is the title track Verve which again, sounds familiar if you love this genre. My personal highlight is Purples. This is a beautiful swirling piece. I’m watching the sunrise over the hills as Purples is playing. Looking to the left, the pink glow on the snow covered hills, how poetic. Purples can provide a soundtrack to both the start or the end of the day in equal measures. To this point, it is the best tune I’ve heard in 2019. One Step Slower is another that catches the attention. This builds and builds delivering an epic finale. I’d read someone describe Verve a ‘plinky plonk’ music. I guess it is, but considering how many standout tunes there are, this is really good plinky plonk. Exta introduces the strings. A further level of depth to this album. Extrema continues where the previous track left off, more strings, more keys. Volant, almost feels like a lullaby, but a dark one if such a thing exists. The album is closed by the 7 minute Chiaroscuro. Another that builds, eventually fading out, bringing the album to a close, perfectly.
I love this album. The tunes feel simple but you know they’re not. It’s almost a mathematical equation for me: Keys + Strings = Joy. Verve is an early contender for album of 2019.
Jaykits 