A little further on than the previous recording, a hidden pond with many more frogs.
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Un peu plus loin que le précédent enregistrement, un étang caché avec bien plus de grenouilles.
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Saint-Silvain-sous-Toulx (Creuse, France) 46,26339° N, 2,18290° E
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(Zoom F3, MKH8040, ORTF)

240413 · 10:00 pm ·  Grenouilles Vertes · Green Frogs (Creuse, France)

Sven's compositions often transport listeners to inspiring, ethereal realms. Cellos and pianos paint soft, contemplative landscapes, tinged with underlying angst and longing, showcasing Sven's talent for translating life stories into relatable and evocative music.

With 'The Undefined Feeling of Discomfort', Sven presents an album this time brimming with anxiety, fear, and anticipation. Struggle permeates the music, enhanced by distorted vocals, acoustic guitars and drone pads. Sven once again evokes deep emotions, guiding the listener through a powerful sonic journey.

The album opens with a floating, introspective tone. The atmosphere is dark, and an anxious feeling gradually emerges. As the first city lights appear from afar, a tumultuous force sweeps everything away, like an undertow shattering waves on a coastline. Moving on, choir-like vocals bring in a biblical aspect, adding darker, soul-wrenching depth. It feels like a scream from the abyss, leaving an empty shell resonating with its vastness. Soft guitar notes offer hope, but the passage ends with intense anxiety, and feelings of rapid flashes before one's eyes throwing us off balance.

Further along, a rise from uncertainty hints at a resolution. It starts with a sense of battle and resistance illustrated with hopeful strings and a heartbeat-like backbeat. A force emerges from the dark sonic cloud pierced by a tenacious sun. The second half brings resolution and lightness, offering hope and comforting certainty amidst the alarming tension of this transitional phase. The album leaves us feeling chaos after the storm, atoms crushing into one another. With a calmer end, as if the initial rumble had passed, a scar remains. The memory lingers, but things move forward. 

The Undefined Feeling of Discomfort

wlr180 Sven Laux - The Undefined Feeling of Discomfort

Tracklist

01.  David Cordero & Rhucle - Horizontal Line
02.  Thme - Ombre
03.  Seaworthy & Matt Rösner - Whispered Surfaces
04.  Slow Reels (Ian Hawgood and James Murray) - Heartshaped
05.  The Humble Bee & Offthesky - Presence
06.  Celer & Forest Management - Montrose
07.  Jason Calhoun + Foresteppe - iii
08.  Tomoyoshi Date - 熱 Netsu (33 rpm)
09.  Chihei Hatakeyama + Stijn Hüwels - NA GOMI

408. Sleepy Sunday Podcast (Elm Records)

20250404

Brief excerpt from a recording actually made during dawn on Friday 2nd May 2025, because the weather was perfect, and because I could get out there; whereas the forecast for Sunday 4th May wasn't as good, and I couldn't get out there that day. Raw recording. Just a friendly postcard from the other pole, where it's not spring, but on the way to winter. (They say 'Down Under': but, of course, there is no 'up' or 'down' in Space.)

2025.05.02 For the Northern Hemisphere's 'Dawn Chorus Day', from the Southern Hemisphere.

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)

Henrik Meierkord is a Swedish artist based in Stockholm. His main instrument is the cello, although his work often incorporates viola, double bass, guitar and subtle electronic elements too. His sound blends the emotional pull of classical music with the meditative depth of Ambient and Henrik’s intuitive creative process draws inspiration from film scores, minimalist composers like Pärt or Ligeti, and Ambient pioneers such as Popol Vuh and Biosphere.

Italian composer Marco Lucchi from Modena brings plenty of experience to this collaboration, having been active in experimental and Ambient music since the late 1980s. A former music teacher and scholar, Marco's approach is grounded in kosmische music, minimalism and Ambient styles. In this album, he joins Henrik in a continuation of their longstanding creative dialogue. Swedish flautist and producer Pawel Kobak adds a third strand to this project, layering processed flute textures into some of Henrik and Marco’s evolving pieces.

The Book of Dreams explores themes of sleep and dreams. What began as a collaborative piece for the Sleeplaboratory5.0 compilation grew into a fully realised collaboration. Henrik and Marco exchanged ideas from across the borders, building lush, drifting pieces through a process of inspiration and response. Pawel's flute recordings, gently pitched, time-stretched, and transformed, were later woven into the fabric of this album. The result is an album that lives between the conscious and the unconscious, where layered strings, gentle drones, and evolving Ambient passages unfold slowly like distant memories.

Themes of restlessness and retreat run throughout the album, echoing the growing tension many of us can feel in modern life. It acts as both an ode and antidote to sleeplessness, intended not just for passive listening but as a contemplative aid. Whether heard during late-night solitude or the quiet morning hours, The Book of Dreams offers a space to wander, drift, and dissolve into stillness.

The Book Of Dreams

wlr185 Henrik Meierkord, Marco Lucchi & Pawel Kobak - The Book Of Dreams

South African Jason van Wyk is quickly becoming a favourite and prominent artist on these pages. You may even think I’m biased, because I asked Jason to rework one of my tracks. But this relationship is indeed in reverse – I only requested his participation because I admire his sound, and am indeed inspired by his music when I choose to work on my own. There’s something ethereal, delicate, and dreamlike in how his cinematic pads swirl in a cocktail spatial ambience and pulsating rhythm that takes over my heart and bewitches my soul. Stunning harmonic progressions show off true musicianship, while the layered textures keep me occupied with intelligent sound design. This is the culmination of elements that I highly respect in my music. This is why I keep listening to Jason’s music and try to share it with the world. This is why, I’m sure, Mike Cadoo continues to invite him on his label. We last heard from Jason nearly three years ago [time is always speeding up], when in October of 2022, he released Descendants, which inevitably landed on my Best of the Year list in the most coveted category, Music For The Film Behind Closed Eyelids. This is a sacred space, often occupied by the likes of Max Richter, Ólafur Arnalds, and, of course, Jóhann Jóhannsson. With his latest sixth full-length album, Inherent, Jason is back on n5MD, pushing his boundaries forward, featuring even more expansive soundscapes of warm ambiance, haunting piano melodies, and trance-inducing beats. Enjoy this exclusive track, and who knows, maybe Jason will show up on Headphone Community (wink, wink).

TRACK PREMIERE : Jason van Wyk - Remnants

The focal point in these elided consecutive excerpts from a continuous dawn recording is the dawn duet and solo singing of the Kangaroo Island subspecies (lashmari) of the Western Whipbird (Psophodes nigrogularis), also known as the White-bellied Whipbird (Psophodes leucogaster).** Background species include: Crescent Honeyeater, Galah, Grey Shrike-thrush, Kangaroo Island subspecies (KI) Crimson Rosella, KI Grey Currawong, KI Superb Fairy-wren, among others. The recording was made near the edge of a waterfall that was completely dry, overlooking a deep valley winding down to the ocean just over a kilometre away.

When listening to this recording (and viewing the accompanying track photograph taken at the location), it is important to embrace in mind that one is listening to an ecosystem soundscape recorded at dawn only five years after untypically catastrophic bushfires (the 'Black Summer' bushfires of 2019-2020) - an untypicality that is scientifically attributable to anthropically-caused climate change. This an ecosystem still in early stages of a struggling recovery (exacerbated by the continuation of the drought that initially catalysed the 'Black Summer' bushfires), and the focal birds that one is listening to were listed, in 2021, according to the IUCN Red List classification, as 'Endangered'. The following is a quotation from the Australian government environmental report that advised this classification:

"The main factor that made the subspecies eligible for listing in the Endangered category was the severe (>50%) reduction in population size in the previous 10 years. This major reduction in population was caused by the largest recorded wildfire on Kangaroo Island that burned for six weeks from late December 2019 to early February 2020. The subspecies’ extent of occurrence is estimated at 5,300 km2 (stable trend), and the area of occupancy is estimated to be 540 km2 (contracted). The population is estimated to have declined to 1,000 mature individuals in the wild due to the Kangaroo Island 2019/2020 bushfires, however this decline is probably not continuing. An analysis by a team from the National Environmental Science Program Threatened Species Recovery Hub shows that a large proportion of the range of Kangaroo Island Western Whipbird was affected by these fires: 51% was burnt in high to very high severity fire, and a further 11% was burnt in low to moderate severity fire. A structured expert elicitation process was used to estimate the proportional population change for this species from pre-fire levels to immediately after the fire and then out to three generations/10 years after the fire, when exposed to fires of varying severity. These results, combined with the spatial analyses of fire overlap, suggest that one year after the fire, the species has experienced an overall decline of 44% from pre-fire levels, but that the decline could be as large as 62% (bound of 80% confidence limits). After 10 years, the estimate for the overall population decline relative to the pre-fire population is predicted to be 33%, but potentially as much as 58% (bound of 80% confidence limit). For comparison, experts also estimated the population change over time in the absence of fire; by 10 years, the overall population of Kangaroo Island Western Whipbird after the fire was estimated to be 30% lower than it would have been, had the 2019/2020 fire not occurred."

Reference: https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/species/pubs/81024-conservation-advice-14122021.pdf

**A note of thanks to the amazing Marc Anderson for identifying a clip from this bird's song on xeno-canto.

2025.04.08 White-bellied Whipbird. Dawn Songs. Kangaroo Island. Autumn.

https://shimmeringmoodsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/in-bel-m


A series of solo piano recordings registered in Belém, Brazil at a cultural centre in the Praça da república run by the Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA) downtown. I had a 1 hour window to record one evening thanks to Margaret Refkalefsky. This series of recordings took place in the moment and also was mediated by the sounds of the city. I was listening intently to the city's soundscapes while playing. My friend, musician and producer Nick Schofield, generously took these recordings and worked with them to bring out some of the rich tones that were registered simply on a Zoom H4n recorder. 

Thank you for listening. – Stefan Christoff

releases July 21, 2025 

Recorded by Stefan Christoff 
Mixed by Nick Schofield 
Artwork, “Vistas” is by Ionaldo Rodrigues 
Thank you to Margaret Refkalefsky 

SHM 349 
Shimmering Moods Records 2025

Stefan Christoff - In Belém VI

a 12 min 12 seconds long tribute to Ravi Shankar

by Marco Lucchi / piano, tools

12 dicembre 2012

12.12.12. (for Ravi Shankar)

Percussionist. Improviser. Performer. Occasionally composer and field recordist. Co-founder of the ensemble]h[iatus. Co-founder and curator of Le Bruit de la Musique festival. Artistic adviser of Association Ryoanji Épicentre.

240413 · 10:00 pm · Grenouilles Vertes · Green Frogs (Creuse, France)

Lê Quan Ninh