Feeling like 3 hours of American gamelan? I got you covered.

In the last few months, I had an immersion into the 'genre'. A story of how deeply personal obsession of Canadian composer Colin McPhee (and later his American counterpart Lou Harrison) resulted in the unlikely transplant of traditional Indonesian music culture into the ivied towers of American academia. A story somewhat related, but very different from musicological cliché about Exposition Universelle 1889, French musical impressionists and tiresome litanies about cultural colonialism.

While I was going through the written history, I also started to amass the recordings. In stark contrast to the abundance of bibliography - McPhee alone wrote three books - I was surprised to find that audio renderings are few and far between. Most of it out-of-print or released by tiny avant classical or uni-adjacent imprints. It took a while to source and process it. Most of what I encountered is gorgeous. Depressingly, obscure to anyone but people purposely researching the subject. Midway through this process I realized I should systematize the findings into a sort of digestible genre survey. I find it's a good way to remember things. And since not many people in their right mind would undertake similar deep-dive I decided to share it. The 'programme' is a lengthy one due to the nature of the material. So, I split it in 2 parts.

The timespan is from the 1930s (McPhee's brilliant proto-Reichian orchestral stylisation Tabuh-tabuhan) via postwar music by Harrison and minimalist gamelan by the 1970s downtown cohort (Barbara Benary, Philip Corner) + their West Coast counterparts (Daniel Schmidt, Daniel Lentz). With healthy dose of recent'ish pieces by Brian Baumbusch, Bill Alves and Michael Tenzer. I also included some sonorically sympathetic works by Partch and Cage which influenced all the above. There're also odder bits by Robert Turman, John L.Adams, Maggi Payne and R. Murray Schafer to keep things quirky. Now I don't know who would be interested in 3 hours of gamelan, but it's up there for the taking.

Full tracklist here:
https://snowsovgethen.com/journal/snows-ov-gethen-hermetic-journals-american-gamelan-part-i-ii

Hermetic Journals: American Gamelan Part II

This instalment of the Forecast series comes from the heart, mind and laptop of Nat Earthsine. Nat was, until very recently, a resident of Glasgow before making the move to the much more temperate and far less monochromatic city of Manchester, so the mix was created as a kind of soundtrack for this upheaval. Think John Carpenter's stabby synth lines for Escape from New York, only it's an hour and a bit of meandering genre hopping, the escape is from a puddle soaked west coast of Scotland and not an 80s future Big Apple, and there's nary an eyepatch'ed Kurt Russel in sight. 

Please keep an eye out for Nat’s upcoming tape label "Listen to Believe", check out his productions AFTER listening to this mix and Godspeed on wherever your journey takes you.

Unknown Album

Forecast 068: Nat Earthsine

for the backroom and basement dwellers among us, summer offers a rare side quest to less darkened surrounds. fase uno of these dances are ye olde aluminium room 2s that navigate the a-roads and home our journeys. 

I got this mix just in time for one of those trips two weeks back. dubbed out, cosmic, with zero concern to conform, it’s 3hrs ov mix totally at ease with letting go. music like this could only come from one of the realest, jaye ward. being introduced to jaye’s sounds from early on has been of one of life’s better coincidences. 

reaching back to those early days, jaye always reminds u that [somehow] this thing is still alive.

jaye ward

Presenting some curious and disjointed musical phrases.

http://www.instagram.com/ddddoula

???? with Doula @ The Lot Radio 08-24-2024

Tune into Ghost Notes Worldwide for that post-twilight sound. Night time music of all strains, with blunted R&B and hip hop instrumentals, neo-downtempo productions, slow jams, and hazy dancefloor sounds. 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/impey/episodes/impey-14th-november-2024

Ghost Notes Worldwide w/ Nicky Soft Touch & Nymity 141124

Broadcasted live at Radio Tempo Não Pára (21.12.2024)

Artist: @karim-semin

Karim Semin @ Radio TNP 21.12.2024

Somewhere between banging your head against a brick wall and holding your breath under water. 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/dont-trip/episodes/dont-trip-10th-january-2025

Don't Trip w/ Margarita 100125

Melbourne based producer YL HOOI share an hour of dub, electronics, postpunk and more every month... 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/yl-hooi/episodes/yl-hooi-9th-january-2025

YL HOOI 090125

Drifting into a new day with Maria Somerville, live from Ireland's wild west coast.  
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/early-bird-show-maria-somerville/episodes/early-bird-show-maria-somerville-13th-january-2025

The Early Bird Show w/ Maria Somerville 130125

marjai presents Kantina Fuck: a 90s trauma thru eldritch slowcore, fatal screamo & wretched post-hardcore

marjai ~ Kantina Fuck: a 90s trauma thru eldritch slowcore, fatal screamo & wretched post-hardcore

Nosedrip - SANPO 156 (Lockdown Series)

Transmissions to the aether • des bruits colorés
https://snowsovgethen.com/

Hermetic Journals: American Gamelan Part II

Snows ov Gethen