Ambient mix – The earth as still as stone

“The sky is empty/silent

The earth as still as stone

Nothing stands above me

Now I can sleep alone”

Rowland S. Howard

I need to make something of a disclaimer regarding this mix. The original idea came from something that Mute boss Daniel Miller wrote in the liner notes to a Mojo compilation called “Electricity: A brief history of future sound” that came out in September 2012 and which for some reason stuck in my head. Miller wrote that “As far as the sequencing goes, I started with Fad Gadget’s “Back to nature” – a very important track for me personally because it was the track that really got Mute going as a label. I ended the compilation with Non’s “Total war” because it’s a track that can’t be followed”. Given the sheer aggression of sound and theme, I tended to agree with Miller’s opinion.

Nonetheless, the idea that “Total war” could not be followed seemed to me to be an interesting conceptual challenge for a mix. Could I create a narrative arc where this idea was the central theme? Could I sonically and thematically create this idea of war and destruction after which nothing would remain? Therefore, this mix should in no way be perceived as any kind of personal opinion or call to arms and should not necessarily be taken to be my personal opinion about the world. It is an intellectual exercise, a puzzle to assemble perhaps, and if anything, I would like to present a criticism of violence and fear and just ask why? Is violence essential to nature? Similarly, situating certain artist’s tracks around this intentional idea of violence and war may be to give them context and association that they do not have or do not want, so I apologise to them if there is any misunderstanding caused. Noise does not necessarily have to be violent and, indeed, I quite often find it soothing.

Continuing this idea I make particular reference to the brief appearance of the Kraftwerk track “Vom Himmel hoch” (From Heaven above) which features synthesised sounds of bombers coming in and dropping their payloads. Axis or Allied bombers or both? It was David Stubbs who pointed me to this track in his book “Future Days: Krautrock and the building of modern Germany” where he says: “In later musical life, Kraftwerk would become renowned for their synthetic transcriptions of modern mechanised life. The opening passage [of “Vom Himmel hoch”] is, however, a rare direct reference in the Krautrock canon to wartime, whose traumas and experiences generally play a much more suppressed and subliminal role in the music.” Stubbs also makes reference to Kraftwerk reclaiming potentially controversial national symbols for Germany, such as the autobahns, which were originally built by Hitler, and also romanticising trains which clearly had their own sinister purposes in the Second World War. This is obviously not to say that Kraftwerk are secret Nazi sympathisers, probably the opposite, but it warns that context and misinterpretation are always possible. This is also the point of this disclaimer, to try and avoid anyone taking this mix in the wrong way, but at the same time I do not want to imply that there is any fixed way that it should be taken. The title of this track also refers to a hymn text relating to the Nativity of Jesus written by Martin Luther in 1534 which reads "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her" ("From heaven above to earth I come") and which has appeared in many other works, most notably Bach.

The mix was done at home during the first few days of the year on Christmas vacation and was finished last week before the events in Paris on Wednesday. I was playing it at home on Friday night to check the final adjustments I had made and I felt a little bit uncomfortable listening to the closing sequence, especially to “Total war”, but also the British Murder Boys track. Moreover, my French girlfriend was in the room and was reasonably upset by it, but ironically found the shift to Pharmakon’s “Bang bang” to be somehow even more disturbing, despite it being essentially quieter and a well-known pop “song”. This of course was the point of selecting it and it marks a clear epilogue, if there is indeed something after “total war”, or alternatively it is the last inhalation of breath before the beginning of a second climax. I should also add that some of my girlfriend’s family is from Algeria, like the French killers, and therefore the events this week were particularly important for her and others like her as they are clearly a betrayal and a profanity of the most profound kind.

If anyone was wondering, the mix was made entirely in Adobe Audition and in some cases there are three or even four tracks playing at once. I have used cut and paste editing of tracks in several occasions to create small loops or continuations of sounds and so on, that make it easier to graft the subsequent track or to create continuity of ideas such as the nature sounds.

Number	Artist	Track	Label	Year
1	Kevin Drumm & Jason Lescalleet	Dawn	Erstwhile Records	2014
2	Francisco Lopez	Untitled #286	Touch	2012
3	Chris Watson	Haefest	Touch	2013
4	Charles Cohen	Sunrise women-men	Generations Unlimited / Morphine Records	1988 / 2014
5	Laurie Spiegel	The expanding universe	Philo / Unseen Worlds	1980 / 2012
6	Kettenkarussell	Of course	Giegling	2014
7	Grouper	Lighthouse	Kranky	2014
8	David Bowie	Moss garden	RCA Victor	1977
9	Sandwell District	Untitled (7” B side)	Sandwell District	2011
10	Peder Mannerfelt	Nihilist 87	Digitalis Recordings	2014
11	Pierre Schaeffer	Étude aux chemins de fer	INA-GRM	1948 / 1990
12	Chris Watson	Veracruz - The tunnel	Touch	2011
13	Godspeed You Black Emperor	Nervous, sad, poor...	Constellation	1997
14	Lawrence English	Hapless gatherer	Room 40	2014
15	Koenraad Ecker	Decline	Digitalis Recordings	2014
16	Shifted	Untitled	Unknown Precept	2013
17	Ben Frost	The Carpathians	Bedroom Community	2009
18	Dale Cooper Quartet & The Dictaphones	Ma couloir	Diesel Combustible	2006
19	These Immortal Souls	Untitled feedback (crowned)	Mute	1992
20	Boys Next Door	The friend catcher	Missing Link	1980
21	Valerio Tricoli	In your ruins is my shelter	PAN	2014
22	Kraftwerk	Vom Himmel hoch	Philips	1970
23	NON	Intro/Total War	Mute	1992
24	Ancient Methods	Guardians of an eternal bliss	Unknown Precept	2013
25	British Murder Boys	Hate is such a strong word	Counterbalance	2005
26	Pharmakon	Bang bang	Sacred Bones Records	2014
27	Roly Porter	Giant	Subtext	2013
28	Rowland S. Howard	Sleep alone	Reliant Records	1999