A monthly broadcast of sacred, ethereal sounds for intimate listening.

https://www.nts.live/shows/braden-wells/episodes/braden-wells-23rd-november-2022

Braden Wells w/ Mark William Lewis - 21st November 2022

Performing live very rarely - even then only acoustically - Love Spirals Downwards hybrid dreamscapes are a revelation of studio experimentation. Multi-instrumentalist and producer Ryan Lum and then girlfriend Suzanne Perry released a series of projects in the 1990s, melding dream pop, East Indian music, psychedelic rock, and ethereal ambient sounds, and fused processed and acoustic recording methods, creating a sound that feels relevant decades later. 
Compiled & mixed by Gem&I
Photo: Susan Jennings 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/in-focus/episodes/in-focus-love-spirals-downwards-15th-march-2024

In Focus: Love Spirals Downwards 150324

ESS is excited to bring to you our first set from the Creative Audio Archive's Artist Mixtape Series... The first mix comes from Lia Kohl!

From Lia ...

This playlist is organized around unlabelled tapes in the Sun Ra archive. In addition to many rehearsal, performance, and lecture recordings, there are a few tapes in the archive that aren't easily categorizable -- a collection of recordings of a voicemail machine, or a series of short synth improvisations, for example. I have a special love of uncategorizable things, so I gravitated towards these tapes particularly, including selections from the aforementioned two, as well as a tape that seems to be Ra tuning through the radio and occasionally singing along. The voicemail tape is actually recordings of voicemails left for Alton Abraham, Sun Ra's manager and good friend. I love the refrain of his most frequent caller -- "Ham pick up, pick up Ham" -- and the drama that unfolds with so little context. I'm drawn to the synth recordings because Ra seems to be truly experimenting: stopping and starting at places before finding a new pattern. I love to think of this larger-than-life man having a quiet moment in the studio by himself. On side A of the "radio poem" tape, you can hear Ra improvising words over the radio, but on side B (which I've included almost in its entirety), he only occasionally sings along. Instead of feeling like a piece, it just feels like we're listening to the radio together. The only edit I made in that recording is to cut short Hotel California -- even if Sun Ra wants to listen to that, I don't.


I also included some selections from the Malachi Ritscher collection: Mamadou Diabate Ensemble at Eli's Cheesecake World (this place still exists!), Rob Mazurek with an ensemble in 2005, and Milford Graves at the Empty Bottle. I love the aliveness of these recordings: that we can hear Graves running around the space with a whistle and some bells, people whooping as he passes; that the Diabate Ensemble's incredible playing is punctuated by children crying. Music is in space and time and real people are listening, then and now. 


In a similar vein: ESS recently uncovered a tape of Fela Kuti live at the Riviera, which I've included a few cuts of. It's really cool to hear Kuti live, but somehow equally wonderful to hear the unknown recordist offering a light to a friend. Which is to say that these recordings remind me that music is something that happens between people, and this playlist is about celebrating that. 


(each track is bookended by a voicemail)


00:28 - Mamadou Diabate Ensemble live at Eli's Cheesecake World

07:04 - Fela Kuti live at the Riviera

10:23 - Unlabelled tape from the Sun Ra Collection (synth improvisation)

14:13 - EMI Vol.3 (Hal Rammel Collection)

18:24 - Mamadou Diabate Ensemble at Eli's Cheesecake World

27:44 - Milford Graves live at the Empty Bottle (1999)

31:49 - EMI Vol.3 (Hal Rammel Collection)

37:12 - Rob Mazurek Ensemble (2005)

41:26 - EMI Vol.3 (Hal Rammel Collection)

48:06 - Unlabelled tape from the Sun Ra Collection (synth improvisation)

53:13 - Mamadou Diabate Ensemble live at Eli's Cheesecake World

1:01 - Unlabelled tape from the Sun Ra Collection (synth improvisation)

1:05 - Fela Kuti live at the Riviera

1:09 - Rob Mazurek Ensemble (2005)

1:17 - Sun Ra Radio Poems

1:24 - Sun Ra Radio Poems

1:27 - Sun Ra Radio Poems

Lia Kohl / ESS CAA Mixtape Series 001

Further information and tracklist: https://bleep.com/bleep-mix-282--chanel-beads

Celebrating the recent release of his debut album Your Day Will Come on Jagjaguwar, our Bleep Mix this week is from Chanel Beads, the project of New York-based musician Shane Lavers currently on tour supporting Mount Kimbie in their early summer run of US dates.

A welcome accompaniment to the warmer climes breathing through at the moment, @chanel-beads' selections draw from the same R&B laced lo-fi indie ambience Lavers has carved out for himself with a host of seemingly disparate yet ultimately cohesive selection taking in Van Morrison, ML Buch, his own edit of Caroline Polachek, Blawan, Tirzah and John T. Gast. Recommend listening whilst in the shade from the midday sun with Negroni in hand.

Bleep Mix #282 - Chanel Beads

Irregular extra special shows from the world of Melbourne reissue label Efficient Space.  
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/efficient-space/episodes/efficient-space-4th-october-2024

Efficient Space w/ Bridget Small 041024

Sitting on the Moon

Wicked Game

Brussels based label and event organiser Toverberg show off latest finds, music soon to be released on the label and artists they’re hosting in the near future.

Toverberg w/ Floridada & Daniël Paul @ Kiosk Radio 11.08.2025

Where the wall meets the floor, Temporal Cove is a body of sound exploring the ethereal and ephemeral. Smilegoth dives into shoegaze, post-rock, house and more to articulate a flow of reverberations that can be felt on every surface.  
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/temporal-cove/episodes/temporal-cove-14th-august-2025

Temporal Cove w/ Smilegoth 140825

Liquid Mirror is the aural exploration of all intersections of ethereality with musician and artist Olive Kimoto. Interpreted eclectically, the monthly broadcast ranges from shoegaze and dream pop, to electronic and experimental. 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/liquid-mirror/episodes/liquid-mirror-18th-august-2025

Liquid Mirror w/ Olive Kimoto 180825

Frozen Echoes

For the third instalment of “Cowboys And The Sounds Of,” an Editorial mix series from longtime contributor @napmusick , we’re treated to the sounds of sad country music and trains passing by. The combination is unexpectedly heart-wrenching, as if the sound of trains bring us back to an era of long goodbyes and far distances. Three years in the making, Rincon’s two hour collection of cosmic country and folk is a testament to the enduring heartbreak and beauty of the genre. 

Daniel Rincon makes music under the moniker @napmusick ,  is one half of Ambein Baby and La Fe, and runs an experimental electronic label @sonidoisla out of Montreal.

Artwork by Rebecca Ladds

Cowboys And The Sound Of Trains - Daniel Rincon

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Efficient Space w/ Bridget Small 041024

NTS 2024-2025