Within the first few seconds of Secret Mix #10, I was pretty sure I could narrow down the mixmaker to a couple of people, which is interesting because I've usually got to think about it a little bit to identify an overall style or aesthetic.
Track 1: I can't remember the title offhand, but I recognize the piece. Hauntingly minimal solo piano with either some tape hiss, ambient room noise, or perhaps both. A nice, somewhat familiar reference point to start off the mix. As I said, when this track opened I could identify who the mixmaker was likely to be because I know who has been repping this artist. The artist is
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- Otto A. Totland, the song is from his Pinô album, released this year.
Track 2: There's a bit of a jarring contradiction here. The song opens with a few leading notes from an oud and is fleshed out a bit with some other Middle Eastern instrumentation. I quite enjoy the arrangement. The vocals are a sharp contrast, though, adding in an element that seems to me to be like some sort of European minstrel. I have no idea where I get that connotation from, and I'm not sure if I like the combination.
Track 3: The opening here is a very distorted and affected sample that sounds sort of like it was originally sourced from a violin. More samples and noise are layered in, along with hints of rhythm and percussion. There's a few moments where the dense mix lets up, and it feels like you can breath, but they're brief. It's a pretty neat piece that brings to mind a more electronic version of
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- Tim Hecker.
Will be interested to find out this artist.
Track 4: A return to some quieter music, with a piano opening that is expounded upon with some strings and perhaps some woodwind. I really like the atmosphere set up in this one, too. I can think of some ensembles who play in a similar style, but I can't identify this group. Still, another good track on what is overall a really good mix.
Track 5: The melody on this one feels really familiar. I really like the string arrangements on this piece. They add a lot to the piano's building blocks without obscuring them. The vocalist has a very unique quality to her voice that I'm trying to figure out if it's simply a character of her vocal cords or the language that she's singing in (which, again, I cannot identify). An abrupt ending, just as it feels like it could keep swelling ever upwards.
Track 6: The mixmaker has a thing for great timbres, and this track is no different. I'm not quite sure what the instrument at play here is, but it sounds wonderful. Okay, I guess there's several instruments which sort of combine together, and then become more identified as the song expands. Guitar, strings, woodwinds, marimba, harpsichord perhaps? I really like how this one has built up over its duration from an understated intro to the much fuller peaks and troughs that define the middle sections, and then the inevitable denouement.
Track 7: A very quiet opening with little bits of sound here and there. Odd percussive bits that at times sound like rattling metal, and at other times sound like sawing wood. This piece is very minimalist as we've got a simple, steady drumbeat, some light cymbal play, and some quiet strings to add into the stew of percussion formulated in the intro. Another really great atmospheric piece.
Track 8: This one delves back into more electronic territory with a droning field of sound that subtly shifts and flows throughout the duration. Music for visualizing to, I get vast icy expanses overtopped with a star-studded sky and the aurora borealis. The last forty seconds or so, there's a shift in tone that's rather ominous, but quickly fades.
Track 9: The first time through, I really thought the mix was entering into much harsher territory with the squalling, noisy, blown-out introduction of this piece. Instead, it yields to a spectacularly uplifting piece with a prominent drumbeat, some organ and saxophone lines, and an overall vibe that is a strong counterpoint to its opening. One of my favorite pieces on this mix.
Track 10: At the start of this track, it feels like we're heading back into some of the more Eastern-tinged neo-classical styles that have been visited in several forms thus far. Things are a little darker, here, though, with more baroque arrangements and a sense of something looming. It evokes a similar mood to
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- Kayo Dot
without the bluster. There's hints of wordless vocals here and there among the horns, strings, and percussion. It feels like it's setting up for something, but doesn't appear to get there.
Track 11: The longest track on the mix makes use of its running time by slowly and quietly unfolding with subtle drones giving way to minor melodies. Around the halfway point, the slow swelling begins to rapidly expand and become distorted before finally bursting into a spacious ambient swirl with tiny bits of chattering electronic percussion. Light washes of static or ocean noise also begin to put in appearances.
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- This could possibly be Loscil, but I'm not familiar enough with his music to be sure.
Track 12: This one finishes up the mix in a characteristically unexpected fashion. A piano framework houses a singer with another unusual voice that is backed by a choir of hums. Despite some of the more ominous and haunting parts present in a lot of the music on this mix, this song is one of the more unsettling ones because it's difficult to really a get a handle on it. The piano melody is pretty, but the vocals appear to be aiming for something much darker with snatches of lyrical phrasing shedding light on some convoluted tale that I can't quite understand.
Overall, I quite enjoyed this mix, as it sits much closer to my musical sensibilities than most of what's come before. I also really like how it seems thematically pitched to evoke quiet nights spent in contemplation. I'm going to spoiler my guesses as to the mixmaker so as not to put off certain people who may be disinclined to check this mix out based on who's behind it.
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- I'm pretty sure this mixmaker is Heathen, though if not him, then probably Kreng.
