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As autumn becomes winter, here’s a new mix that’s been slowly percolating for the last couple months. It follows some of the artists of Post-Punk and New Wave as they developed into the later 1980s, as their music–still empowered by the artiness and intelligence of Post-Punk and the popular ambitions and joy de vivre of New Wave–began to become less self-consciously futurist, also drawing inspiration both pan-culturally and from decidedly pre-Punk, even classical and folkloric traditions. These artists deftly blend state-of-the-art electronics, sequencers and samplers with organic acoustic and electrified instrumentation, confidently in control of their means of production always toward a greater end.
Perhaps this music can be described as post-Modern, but unlike its architectural or academic/art world counterparts that superficially tacked on non-Modernist references at random (always with air-quotes-implied irony) to a fundamentally Modernist framework that rejected accrued culture and understandings, this is music that has moved on from abstraction for its own sake, and is whole-cloth human and humane, unashamed to be deeply concerned with conveying emotional truth by all available means. It is music that is unafraid to be more than simply “new,” and to declare that Beauty is a good and worthy pursuit. And the music is indeed beautiful, speaking equally to the body, mind, soul and heart.
This music is the work of mature artists, including The Blue Nile, Heaven 17, Dif Juz, Tears For Fears, Thomas Dolby, Talk Talk, Scott Walker, Scritti Politti, Arthur Russell, David Sylvian, This Mortal Coil and others. I imagine they were inspired by artists like Brian Eno, Sly Stone, Joni Mitchell, Bernard Parmegianni, Marvin Gaye, Erik Satie, Van Morrison, Haruomi Hosono, Mike Cooper, Vangelis, Astrud Gilberto, Milton Nascimento, Nina Simone, Brigitte Fontaine, Nick Drake, Tim Buckley, et al; and likely serving as inspiration to people who would follow a similarly sophisticated humanist vision, like Bjork, CFCF, Matmos, Antony and the Johnsons, Fennesz, Junior Boys, Caribou, Earth, Joanna Newsom, The Knife, Anja Garbarek, Erykah Badu, Massive Attack, Stina Nordenstam, Burial, FKA Twigs, Matthew Herbert, Sade, Portishead and countless others.
I imagine this music will serve you equally well on a last-of-Autumn walk through the woods and as the soundtrack to a late-night walk through the empty city streets. For me, this music inhabits the ethereal and the physical, the cinematic and the intimate, the pastoral and the urbane, the orchestral and the synthetic, the nocturnal and the dawning light.
Full tracklist, stream and download after the “more” link. As always, if you like what you hear, pass it on, and please support the artists and labels who made the music! A very special thanks to Eric Scheidt for allowing me to use his gorgeous photography for the cover art. If you like this one, I recommend you check out the ‘1981 – Heart‘ mix, which is the spiritual forebear of ‘The Dawning;’ and the other “Post Post-Punk” mixes which follow the more angular and more electronic paths of Post-Punk.
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Various – ‘The Dawning’
(1981-1989)
Part I
01 [00:00] The Blue Nile – “Over the Hillside” (Hats, 1989)
02 [05:00] Heaven 17 – “Let Me Go” (The Luxury Gap, 1983)
03 [09:16] Hot Gossip – “Morale” (Geisha Boys and Temple Girls, 1981)
04 [12:18] Dif Juz – “The Last Day” (Extractions, 1985)
05 [16:13] Tears for Fears – “Start of the Breakdown” (The Hurting, 1983)
06 [21:03] Mick Karn – “Tribal Dawn” (Titles, 1982)
07 [25:12] Thomas Dolby – “The Flat Earth” (The Flat Earth, 1984)
08 [31:34] Peter Gabriel – “Zaar” (Passions, 1989)
09 [35:56] Nona Hendryx – “Off the Coast of Love” (Skin Diver, 1989)
10 [40:23] Cocteau Twins – “Lazy Calm” (Victorialand, 1986)
11 [44:34] Talk Talk – “I Believe In You” (Spirit of Eden, 1988)
Part II
12 [50:40] Comsat Angels – “After the Rain” (Fiction, 1982)
13 [54:31] King Crimson – “Two Hands” (Beat, 1982)
14 [57:48] Bel Canto – “Without You” (White Out Conditions, 1987)
15 [61:43] Scott Walker – “Dealer” (Climate of Hunter, 1984)
16 [66:33] Scritti Politti – “Absolute” (Cupid & Psyche ’85, 1985)
17 [70:53] Arthur Russell – “This Is How We Walk On the Moon” (Another Thought, 1984)
18 [75:34] David Sylvian – “Orpheus” (Secrets of the Beehive, 1987)
19 [80:20] Durutti Column – “Love No More” (Vini Reilly, 1989)
20 [83:06] Kate Bush – “Never Be Mine” (The Sensual World, 1989)
21 [86:42] David Byrne – “Ghosts” (The Knee Plays, 1985)
22 [89:54] Colin Newman – “I Can Hear You” (Commercial Suicide, 1986)
23 [94:16] This Mortal Coil – “Ivy and Neet” (Filigree & Shadow, 1986)
24 [99:04] Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – “Of All The Things We’ve Made” (Dazzle Ships, 1983)
[Total Time: 1:42:27]
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