Originally, both of these long form tracks served as the basis for sound baths I performed for friends and families. I would hit play and then make some sounds in the physical space, focusing on objects in the environment (rustling the leaves on a bush, hitting a metal fence with a stick, clicking stones, etc). I always intended for these tracks to also be able to hold up on their own, so here we are.  

When is a song done? Don’t we just arbitrarily decide when to call it? I like the idea of this only being part of the “song”, and that the “song” is always changing. After each performance I added little pieces of the fresh live sounds into the pre-recorded mix. There will likely be more performances, so the tracks will change further. This is just where they are now. And I like that.

As I worked on these tracks over the last few years, the theme of impermanence became more clear to me. My father was lying on the grass in my parent’s yard for the first performance. That was in 2020, during the pandemic. Recently, my father passed away, so I’m dedicating these songs to him. He was a landscape architect, and I always loved how that sounded, and I always loved him.

Performed, recorded, and mixed by nat hawks between 2020-2024.

Dedicated to dad.

- padna


padna - vol.1 (sample)

Blurstem’s 'Remnants and Whispers' is an album of memory-of echoes and fragments, of moments gathered and reshaped, of the past carried gently into the present. Released on Fluid Audio, renowned for its exquisitely crafted physical editions, this collection of soundscapes and textures is imbued with nostalgia, intimacy, and the quiet weight of time.

The album weaves together the delicate and the vast, the small and the sweeping. Tiny, almost imperceptible guitar plucks flicker like candlelight amidst expansive ambient washes. The sonic palette moves seamlessly between lo-fi warmth and pristine clarity, embracing the imperfections of cassette recording and the wobbly, warbled charm of home videos from a lost era. Each track breathes with a human touch-organic instruments processed and reimagined, from tremolo strings pitched and resampled on “Tethered” to layers of sound that feel like old photographs brought to life.

At its heart, 'Remnants and Whispers' explores the idea of remnants-what we carry with us through life, the fragments of friendships, memories, and fleeting moments that shape who we are. Much like the album’s sonic construction-built from past sketches, ideas, and textures revived and given new form-the music mirrors the way we collect and reinterpret our own experiences over time.

This ethos extends beyond the music itself into its physical presentation, with Fluid Audio’s deluxe edition incorporating 1920s sheet music and book fragments as old as the 1890s-historical relics that feel like the perfect visual counterpart to the album’s themes of memory, loss, and renewal. The tactile nature of these artifacts deepens the listening experience, making 'Remnants and Whispers' not just an album, but a tangible connection to the past.

Mastered on Bartels’ late ’60s analog tape machine, the album’s final touch further enhances its warmth and character, adding an unmistakable depth and timeless quality to its sonic palette.

A meditation on change, nostalgia, and the beauty of imperfection, Remnants and Whispers is an invitation to pause, reflect, and listen-not just to the music, but to the quiet echoes of our own stories.

Music: Blurstem
Mastering: Bartels
Design: Crossley

www.fluidaudio.co.uk
www.blurstem.bandcamp.com

Blurstem - Along the Rails

'Petrichor' is the third studio album from long-time collaborators James Osland and Andrew Heath, and serves as a natural continuation of their creative partnership following the release of Elysian Fields (2024), also on the esteemed Fluid Audio label.

The two artists were initially brought together by a shared admiration for each other’s work within the ambient music community. Andrew Heath is an established figure in the genre, with numerous albums and EPs released on respected imprints such as Disco Gecko, Whitelabrecs, Rusted Tone Recordings, Elm Records, and White Paddy Mountain. James Osland, meanwhile, is both an accomplished artist and the founder of Elm Records, a boutique label known for its thoughtful curation. His personal discography includes releases on Unknown Tone Records, Whitelabrecs, Flaming Pines, and Dewtone Recordings, among others. Osland’s practice explores the intersection of sound, memory, and place, working across both sonic and visual mediums.

Petrichor began to take shape during an exchange of ideas between the two artists in the late winter and early spring of 2024. As Andrew shared loops and sonic sketches, James found himself listening from his studio, watching the unrelenting English rain from the window. These moments of stillness-quiet reflections on the shifting of seasons-informed the mood and direction of the album.

What emerged is a collection of slowly evolving compositions, revealing gentle melodies, nuanced textures, and soft drones-much like the tender unfolding of early spring leaves. The album carefully weaves together field recordings, organic textures, and synthesis to create immersive soundscapes that capture the subtle beauty and contemplative atmosphere of seasonal change.

James Osland & Andrew Heath - Outside The Light Was Starting To Wane

I’ve been mesmerised with the sound of Deaf Center since the very beginning. I think it’s been more than 20 years now since their Neon City EP was released on Type. This is way before I even knew that behind the project was a Norwegian duo who started making music together as friends. This is before I knew their names to be Erik K Skodvin and Otto A. Totland. Before I listened to, admired, and celebrated their solo works on here. And, before I met each one in person, and of course, before we naturally became friends. This is precisely why, when it came to launching Headphone Community and deciding on who I should profile there from the start, I reached out to Erik and his partner Monique Recknagel (who runs Sonic Pieces imprint) to pitch them this idea (it was actually when I visited their mi-so shop in Berlin). This is why Erik is the currently featured artist for the month of May on Headphone Community (join for just $1 for an intimate journey!), and this is why I am premiering this track for you today. It’s been another long period of silence for Deaf Center, but the two long-form pieces on Reverie clearly show that they have not put their collaboration on hold. If anything, it has only evolved into a hypnotic meditation on Otto’s keys and Erik’s strings, guitar, effects, and atmospherics, designed for a very deep listening session. The recordings actually come from a live performance in October 2024 in Rabih Beaini’s studio, Morphine Raum in Berlin, during the 15th anniversary celebration of Sonic Pieces. This is less of an improvisation and more of a dialogue between the two friends who haven’t spoken in a while. It is truly magical, and I only wish I could be there to experience it live.

In “Rev”, deeply effected piano motifs reverberate and echo in the depths of the room, evolving through looping and electronics into a blissful, mesmerising cloud of (dis)harmony. The sound is reminiscent of the 7inch “Vintage Well” mixed with the basic elements of 2011’s “Owl Splinters”. […] The immediate duality of the two performers has rarely been so strongly felt, Totland’s deep melodic feeling is underscored by Skodvin’s abstract ambience and processing. Dark versus light, loud versus quiet – this has always been at the core of what makes Deaf Center a special project.

TRACK PREMIERE : Deaf Center - Rev (excerpt)

Tracklist

01. Claire Rousay & Gretchen Korsmo -  Thick walls, thin walls
02. No Memory - Heaven's Gate
03. The Volume Settings Folder -  Squeamish mind
04. Moss Covered Technology & Snufmumriko - Skagerrak
05.  Giannis Gogos - Fragments
06. Guy Gelem - Night Walk
07. Seawind of Battery - Sidestepping
08. Tatsuro Murakami - Dialogue with a Mountain
09.  Landtitles - Borrowed light
10.  Richard Ginns - A joy forever

425. Sleepy Sunday Podcast (Elm Records)

'Unstable' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den397
available on all formats at http://denovali.com/dictaphone

Dictaphone are back with their 6th full length called "Unstable". In the 25th year of the project Brussels born composer and mastermind Oliver Doerell is surrounded again by a lot of musicians & friends. Roger Döring is there, his clarinet and saxophone play has always been a trademark sound of the band - also Alexander Stolze's ghostly violins. The dark atmosphere and experimental sound of the new album is a reference to the 80s belgian art music scene, which Doerell had the luck to experience in his formative years. Minimal jazz meets musique concrete meets a postpunk mind. On this new album “Unstable“ more voices and vocals than usual can be heard - especially Helga Raimondi (who already sang on the last album “Goats and Distortions 5") . As a collage artist she is also responsible for the visual side of Dictaphone - she designed the cover artwork and the visuals for the live shows.

The Brussels-Berlin-Teheran connection: Other guests on "Unstable" are the voices of Kaveh Ghaemi and Ashkan Afsharian, who Doerell met during a modern ballet production by Modjgan Hashemian (2008). The trumpet of Shahab Anousha can be heard in the track “La fin“ - Oliver Doerell and Shahab Anousha also share the spoken words Project “Noufān”. For nearly 20 years Oliver Doerell is linked to the Iranian Diaspora in Berlin and the Dictaphone track “Rattle” from the classic album “ Poems from a rooftop “ (2012) has been a hit in Teherans underground scene since the beginning. Furthermore the title track “Unstable“ is a homage to Ian Curtis of Joy Division. The words of this piece are based on the setlist of Joy Divisions last show.

Dictaphone played more than two hundred shows all over the world (including festivals Mutek, Transmediale, Unsound , Benicassim and many others). Their music can be heard in countless films, tv series and theatre pieces - (“the responder“ (BBC) , “the love he knows” (Ali Mohammad) , “Don´t move“ (Modjgan Hashemian) , Ring (Felix Ruckert) among others.


Dictaphone - Desplendor

I don't think I will ever forget the first time I heard m.=addiction. I can also confirm that every time I played out that record, folks waltzed over to me to find out the name. Something mystical and enigmatic brought them over to music, making me feel like I was a snake charmer enchanting a cobra with the sounds of a pungi. The music of Dictaphone often evoked hazy spaces, full of jazzy smoke, lo-fi textures, and noir voices, occupying those distant corners of your memory where you felt glamorous comfort, charming enchantment, and warming delight. Since the 2002 debut, the Berlin-based duo of Oliver Doerell and Roger Döring released five more albums, all of which I think I have covered on Headphone Commute. And, in my humble opinion, their latest upcoming release is the closest to that special aura I felt nearly two decades ago. Unstable is Dictaphone's 6th full-length, where Doerel and Döring are also joined by Alexander Stoze (on violin) to mesmerise us with that special scent of future-retro nostalgia that seems to drift in the air like thick incense in a temple of soporific ghosts.

TRACK PREMIERE : Dictaphone - Desplendor

Æther #009 by Tim Six
Dronarivm Guest Mixes Series

We recently released a beautiful two-track EP by Paris-based ambient/drone artist Tim Six - https://dronarivm.bandcamp.com/album/alpine-valley - and asked him to share some recordings that he's been enjoying lately, so he came up with this mix.

You can also read about Tim's preferences in music, synthesizers, and hairstyle in a short interview we did with him: https://dronarivm.com/2025/06/28/interview-with-tim-six/

Tracklist:

00:00. Ariel Kalma ~ Water Echoes [Self-released]
03:23. Shine Grooves ~ Ambience 113 [Not Not Fun]
06:27. Lamina ~ Eclipse [Mappa]
09:57. Amkarahoi ~ Arrhythmic Wave [Biardo Records]
14:27. v a n i t a s 命死 ~ 緑のHorizon [Self-released]
17:47. TEGU ~ 2x3 [Not Not Fun]
22:20. Light Blending In ~ Entities [The Tidal Charm]
25:52. Bålsam ~ Dream Particles Forming [Global Pattern]
31:33. Evelyn Greene ~ TOUCH [Dream Journal Institute]
38:38. Mychael Danna & Tim Clément ~ Under August Sun [Chacra Alternative Music]
43:32. Jean-Paul L'Heureux ~ Rilassamento Subliminale [Demetra]
48:09. Tim Six ~ Park in the evening [Aural Canyon]

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Æther #009 by Tim Six

Emerging between what never was and what always has been, memory breathes without need for a name. Light carries secrets older than language, and time folds inward like a hand returning to itself. In the stillness beyond rhythm, each emotion floats anchorless: soft, translucent, infinite. Origin is not a place, but a resonance.

Blurwaltz

cantsleep.1 Rest Here

“A Kindness” is a short ambient suite tracing the residue of memory, soft gestures, and quiet absurdities. From the scent of wet earth to a lullaby lost mid-sentence, it leaves you in a stillness that lingers.

Just In

Focusing on experimental genres, we aim to provide a space to share in the creative process and spread the experience of inner exploration through musical expression.