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Following up on the collected ‘1981’ mixes, this is the second in a series of Musicophilia collections that gather together musically connected mixes into one download, in this case the ‘Sensory Replication Series’. These have generally not been the most popular at Musicophilia, but in a lot of ways, they are the ones I put the most of myself into and are some of my absolute favorites. With “Sensory Replication” the goal was to create almost three-dimensional environments through music, and then to create a journey through that place in the fourth dimension of time–inspired especially by the feeling I always had listening to Brian Eno’s ‘On Land,’ where the usual borders between “music” and “sound” ceased to be. I normally spend an inordinate amount of time culling and sequencing a mix. With these, that’s just the beginning, because then I spend untold hours literally mixing the music, layering pieces one upon another, finding serendipitous coalescence in the collision of sounds. The general approach is that at any given moment, there is a piece that forms the “spine,” say a song or a beat-oriented piece, which is then intertwined with one or two or three other more atmospheric or textural tracks. It’s not that the pieces don’t stand on their own–they should be heard that way, as the artists intended–but that brought together brings the unexpected, and allows the familiar to be heard in a new light.
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So, perhaps a little less accessible than my more typical mixes of 80s post-punk or 70s funk, or so it would seem in theory. But the net effect is remarkably musical–these are not raw-material, abstract, ambient. They contain those aspects, but they pull you along through one space and into another, and become almost narrative. Surprisingly, these mixes also allow a greater emotional range than almost any others. There is not simply “happy” or “sad” here, but also tension, anger, thrill, as often as not followed by moments of sublime beauty and release. ‘On Land,’ ‘Spirit of Eden,’ ‘Future Days,’ ‘Black Saint & The Sinner Lady,’ ‘In a Silent Way,’ ‘World of Echo,’ these albums create entire worlds and take you away from your specific moment and space. That’s the inspiration and objective, here. The music edges up to other sounds I typically share–jazz, post-punk, art rock, singer-songwriter, compositional music, 70s groove–but takes them in a unique direction.
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‘Collide/Coalesce‘ is the most singularly intensive mixing I’ve ever tackled, getting into making my own dub-like “versions” of a few tracks, and even remixing Can and early Steve Reich into a new hybrid. It probably best achieves the “sensory replication” goal of creating a cinematic journey. ‘Gloaming,’ ‘Adrift,’ and ‘The Somnambulist‘ are among the shortest mixes I’ve made (at 27 to 42 minutes each) but are the most pithy and coherent. ‘Tall Stories of Evil Gris-Gris‘ and ‘Zygotic (after the Flaming Lips’ Embryonic)‘ creates a humid fantasy world, something from the grizzly, sweltering imaginations of Tom Waits or David Thomas or Dr. John, where dark spells are cast and deals are made with the devil. ‘Still‘ is the most traditional mix, with very little intermixing of tracks; but it is probably the most singularly emotionally resonant mix I’ve made, the most beautiful and peaceful, engaging a common thread of crystalline clarity through threads of otherwise diverse musical origins–it might be my “desert island” Musicophilia mix. So if you’re ready for sonic adventure, I hope you’ll download and dive in (headphones on, lights off is strongly recommended–these don’t make for great background music).
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Given the mixes include as many as 60 tracks in as little as 40 minutes, I won’t recreate the full track listings here–they can be found on the original pages for each mix, found here. Some of the key artists: John Cale, Faust, This Heat, Brian Eno, Miles Davis, Bjork, Robert Wyatt, For Carnation, Mark Hollis, Suicide, Rachel’s, Stockhausen, Dave Brubeck, Arthur Russell, Tangerine Dream, Mozart, Iannis Zenakis, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Vivaldi, Einsturzende Neubauten, Bach, Brigitte Fontaine & Areski, Nina Simone, Toumani Diabate, Low, David Sylvian, Dave Thomas, Pierre Henry, Scanner, Muddy Waters, Bernard Parmegiani, J Dilla, The Knife, Mnemonists, Edgar Varese, Charles Ives, Arto Lindsay, Dr. John, Harold Budd, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Lou Reed, Scott Walker, Jack DeJohnette, Stevie Wonder, Andy Stott, Matthew Herbert, Pauline Oliveros, Deadbeat, Klaus Schulze, Ennio Morricone, Luc Ferrari, Neu, Daniel Menche, Burial, Holger Czukay, Franco Battiato, Sonny Sharrock, Augustus Pablo, Tony Conrad, Agitation Free, Tortoise, Shuggie Otis, Led Zeppelin, Tod Dockstader, The Feed-Back, Silver Apples, Can, Steve Reich, Luciano Cillio, Janko Nilovic, Heldon, David Axelrod, Alice Coltrane, and many others.
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So here you can download the Complete Collection of the ‘Sensory Replication Series’ in one 550MB download, likely available for a limited time. Enjoy, and please share this post with people who would enjoy this music. As always, I ask that you please purchase the music you enjoy, to help make sure these kinds of adventurous sounds remain available to be discovered.
Download All Eight ‘Sensory Replication’ Mixes
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