Dream Weapons present: STILLNESS IN MOVEMENT C90

With «Music for contemporary dance choreography» as the subheading. It felt more appropriate than the often used «music for an imaginary film»-variation. I just slapped it on for fun, but I actually watch a lot of contemporary dance/ballet. And I do think most of these 18 pieces included, would be perfect for performative dancing. 

This is actually that darker sibling of «Walk with me in Beauty» I mentioned (in my previous post) I was working on. A different kind of beauty. I think it’s all quite stunning really. Modern Classical, Electronic, Ambient, Experimental (often combined), a little doom laden Folk + a slice of Gamelan Jazz(?) compositions - or musicians musicking. All taken from recent releases. Not at all unlike my approach to the present tense-mix shared earlier this year. Deeply in debt to newothermusic, I’ve been searching in these musical fields of late. When this new-other-music sneaks upon me, aims for the heart and hits - it’s truly an earth-shattering experience -Moahaha

1 Frederikke Hoffmeier - The Orphanage
2 Dead Space Chamber Music - The Grail Carol
3 Our Love Will Destroy The World - Venus Skeleton Green
4 Rebecca Foon & Aliayta Foon-Dancoes - Surrounded By You
5 Paweł Szamburski - Pożegnanie
6 Anthony Pateras - 1: Reise der Schatten 2: Sans Visages #1
7 Ensemble Nist-Nah - Snakelike
8 Tim Didymus & Foster Neville - Hidden
9 Aaron Martin & Umberto - Spectacle of Mystery

10 Michele Andreotti - Laubia 
11 Cerys Hafana - Luke Wake Dirge
12 Jacaszek, Jan Kleefstra, Romke Kleefstra - It Deel
13 Poppy H - We All Felt It At The Time But Now We All Don't Feel It No More
14 Teddy Abrams - Mahler's Pedal-Found Material
15 Mark Springer, Sacconi Quartet - Noon
16 Andrea Belfi - Pastorale
17 Aho Ssan & Resina - Egress II
18 Tristanne - Maison Mary

Here 

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Dream Weapons present: WALK WITH ME IN BEAUTY C90

I was compiling a similar, but darker mix and this one is mostly made out of the considered tracks that felt too outright beautiful to fit within that context. I’m not all that seasonal in my music listening habits. But it’s in the midst of summer here, so it felt appropriate to share the «nicest» among the two, first. Ninety minutes of wintery melancholy and longing instead of straight up gloom. Basically a collection that combines Modern Classical, Ethereal Folk with elements of Ambient/Electronic (perhaps bordering on New Age at times). 21 out of 24 tracks are taken from 2024-2025 releases, and the remaining three were released in 2022-2023. For some reason I find that somewhat pleasing in itself -Moahaha 

1 Adrian Lane - Pigeon Angel
2 Annelies Monseré - Floods
3 Akira Umeda & Metal Prayers - Ice Maidens Myriad Dream
4 Grabek - The Awakening
5 Loopsel - Det vi inte får
6 Dag Rosenqvist - Decemberljuset
7 Federica Deiana - Leaves
8 Brueder Selke & Midori Hirano - Scale A
9 Raphael Rogiński - Šilinis Viržis
10 Colin Andrew Sheffield - Testament
11 Grischa Lichtenberger - Stranger Things 2
12 Johan Carøe - Sorrow

13 Valentina Magaletti - A Ghost Again
14 Svin & Arhus Sinfonietta - Elegi II
15 Lydia Clapperton - Diane
16 Laura Cannell - Ad Celestum Armoniam
17 marucoporoporo - Conceive the Sea
18 Olga Anna Markowska - Train Ride Home
19 Otto A. Totland - Marka 
20 Malcolm Pardon - The End
21 Troth & Jon Collin - Whispering Sand
22 Western Skies Motel - Fountain
23 Farah Kaddour & Marwan Tohme - Kayfa Taltaqi el-Qulub
24 Sofie Birch & Antonina Nowacka - Love Object

Here

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Dream Weapons present: ENTITIES C90

I always thought it was from a poem but I can’t seem to locate it anywhere, so maybe it’s just a local saying. It goes something like this:

Outside it's spring, but inside of me it's fall

-and that's Norwegians in a nutshell... or maybe it’s just me. Yes, I know it’s summer by now, but I think you catch my drift. And if you do, you’ll also have an idea of what to expect from this mix of mine. Finally, the sun is shining! Let’s stay indoors and listen to darkly tinted, melancholic music all day long -Moahaha

1 Hector Zazou - Vera C.
2 Eulipion Corps - Lotus Run
3 Ben Reynolds - A Pit Meditation
4 Kay Gardner - Awakening
5 Kara-lis Coverdale - Eternity
6 Gallo Curcio Group - Bow
7 Jorja Chalmers - She Made Him Love Again (reprise)
8 Bernard Xolotl & Daniel Kobialka - Adieu
9 Lucy Ishkanian - Armenian Folk Dance
10 Vieo Abiungo - In Wash or Haze
11 Makoto Nomura - Memusica 8 - Riparian Tress
12 Paul Ben-Haim - Three Songs Without Words: III. Sephardic Melody

13 Jorge Reyes - En El Dondo Del Barranco Hay Un Cangrejo... (Part 1)
14 Eccentronic Research Council - Post Wake Estate Agent
15 Mirror Image Artifacts - Outside
16 Allegro Corporation - Eerie Music
17 Trembling Strain - At Marsh
18 Sulkhan Tsintsadze - Prelude no. 6 In B Minor
19 John Williams - In Search of Unicorns
20 Emerald Web - Inside The Hall Of Chips
21 Camino Al Desvan - Adjudicado a la Danza
22 Gwakasonné - Atmosphere
23 David Crowell - Point - Cloud (III)
24 Nilson - Winstanley
25 Golden Retriever - Thread of Light

Here

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Dream Weapons present: PRESENT TENSE C60

I have to admit that I’m a little proud of this one. It is the sort of mixtape I would have loved for someone else to have compiled - and for me to discover. Twelve compositions released in 2024 and two from 2023 is about as present tense that I’m capable of. Actually it’s way beyond my capabilities in that regard. I made a  playlist titled «Strange Beauty», and somehow this hour of pristine musical gems materialized from within it. Almost. 

-Whether leaning mostly toward the traditional, experimental, electronic or ambient - all fourteen compositions can safely be filed under «Modern Classical». In retrospect, I might as well have kept my playlist-title, as these are all strange beauties to my ears -Moahaha

1 Alice Hebborn - Saisons - Mouvement 2
2 Laura Masotto - Dark Horse
3 Bruno Sanfilippo - The Feast of Crows
4 Christopher Cerrone - Beaufort Scales. I & II
5 Malcolm Pardon - Side Effects
6 Kirin McElwain - Work
7 Ljudvägg & L.T. Fisk - Försvinna, återvända

8 Jasmine Wood - VII
9 Laura Cannell and Lori Goldston - Lying Beneath The Earth
10 Snowdrops - The River
11 Watine - Unbroken Fields
12 Sarah Neufeld, Richard Reed Pary, Rebecca Foon - Georgia
13 Lauré Lussier - 4th Movement - Allegretto
14 Otto A. Totland - Mirror

Here

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Dream Weapons present: NOCTURNAL C90

 

 

«Through the darksome forest roam, Luna breaks through oaks and bushes» is a quote from Goethe's poem «The Beautiful Night». I wanted to capture a vibe like that in music somehow. Nocturnal music to me is ambiguous music of light and dark. Slow-footed, jazzy film noir moods, loads of easy, eerie listening and I think... a few surprises underway -Moahaha

 1 Masahiko Satoh and Medical Sugar Bank - Parus Varius
 2 Yusef Lateef - From Within
 3 Emilio Locurcio - La Visione - La Primavera Feroce
 4 The Don Black Orchestra & Singers - Where Did Our Summers Go
 5 Don Elliot And His Choir - Dinah
 6 Silvano D'Auria - Porto Cammelli
 7 Four For Jazz - Ghost And Blood Chant
 8 Academy of Music Ljubljana - Läksin Minä Kesäyönä Käymään
 9 Boastein - En Gresk Western
10 Jac Berrocal - Automne Perdu
11 Albrecht Gündel-vom Hofe, Robin Draganic & Lucía Martínez Alonso - Finden des Ich's
12 Syrinx - Journey Tree
13 Het Pandorra Ensemble - Ritme 7000
14 Jun Fukamachi - From Mishone

15 Svein Finnerud Trio - IDA
16 Frank Comstock & His Orchestra - From Another World
17 Cecil McCartney - Sacrifice  (Collage For Leather Boots, Bread Knife, Voice, Guitars & Electronics)
18 Juan Gelman Juan Cedrón - Madrugada
19 Heinz Von Moisy - Mirage
20 Supersister - In Die Allee
21 Kunihiko Murai  - Goyoukiba - Love Theme
22 Eddie Suzuki - High Tide
23 Wlodzimierz Nahorny - Kotwica / Obserwatorzy
24 Melba Liston - Dark Before the Dawn
25 Martha Elefteriadu - Dvě Kresby Tuší II.
26 Pascoal Meirelles - Juruviara
27 Frank & Jo Byers - Polynesian Fantasy Theme Song (Finale - more waves)

Here 

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Dream Weapons present: LUX IN TENEBRIS C60:

Light in Darkness/Lux in Tenebris is a phrase taken from the Gospel of John. «The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it». Light and dark. Great art usually has a bit of both, eh?

-So what I’ve compiled for you is mostly contemporary classical music originating from sometime in between 1947 up to the present era. I’ve come to learn that 20th century Eastern European composers speaks to me the most. No place else than behind the former Iron Curtain do I find all this soul crushing beauty in spades. But east or west, everything included here touches me deeply -Moahaha

 1 Sulkhan Tsintsadze - Didavoi Nana
   Georgian State String Quartet
 2 Herman Galynin - Suite for Piano: II. Intermezzo
   Fernanda Damiano
 3 Peteris Vasks - Balta Ainava (White Scenery)
   YuEun Kim, Mina Gajić, Coleman Itzkoff
 4 Anne Vanschothorst - Higher She Flies Without Feet!
   Anne Vanschothorst
 5 Henri Dutilleux - Sonate for Oboe and Piano: I. Aria-grave
   Caleb Harris
 6 Wolfert Brederode - Ruins 1
   Wolfert Brederode
 7 Johannes X. Schachtner - Bach.Choral.Exerzitien: VI. Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten (BWV 691)
   Patrick Stapleton

 
 8 Bohuslav Martinů - String Quartet No. 7, H. 314: II. Andante
   Stamic Quartet
 9 Tõnu Kõrvits - Stalker Suite - II. The Room
   Duo Gazzana
10 Valentin Silvestrov - Winter Evening
   Elene Gvritishvili, Alexey Pudinov
11 Balys Dvarionas - Élégie for Violin and String Orchestra
   Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
12 André Jolivet - Chant pour les piroguiers de l'Orénoque
   Heinz Holliger
13 Maija Einfelde - Sonāte - Meditācija Altam Un Klavierēm: II. Allegro Energico
   Andrejs Senakols & Veneta Miķelsone
14 John Bence - Michael, Archangel of Hod
   John Bence 

Here

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Dream Weapons present: MALAISE C60

Pure and simple beauty is nice (but nothing pure is ever simple). I’m primarily more interested in an unsettling kind of beauty, though. I’m not sure why. Perhaps I find it more true to life. I do know I respond stronger to it emotionally. Well, that’s just me. Now let’s see if this collection of strangely alluring tunes touches a few kindred spirits out there as well -Moahaha

1 Egisto Macchi - Post-Impressionismo
2 Akiko Yano - リンゴ
3 Adam Wodnicki -  Dulcimer Dream
4 Gunter Hampel And His Galaxie Dream Band - no 94 angel
5 Jackie McLean, Michael Carvin - The Crossing
6 Vytautas Juozapaitis, Vilnius Quartet - Kvartetas Nr. 3, Andante
7 Romano Rizzati - Solare

8 Bruce Ditmas - Don’t Wake Me
9 Guglielmo Papararo & Vittorio Montis - Jonosfera
10 Umberto Santucci - Ceylon
11 Fabio Fabor - Contemplatif
12 Ennio Morricone - Non e Un Dramma
13 Algardas Martinaitis - Gyvojo Vandens Klavyras (edit)
14 Hector Zazou - Le Bain Royal
15 Hanns Eisler - Eisler Sonata for Violin and Piano

Here

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Btw: If you enjoy these sounds, I think you'll locate all the other mixes of mine that operate within the same soundspaces, by simply pressing the Modern Classical-tag.

Dream Weapons present: INDOOR GAMES C90

Late last August I compiled a folk-mix sort of tributing the coming of autumn in all its glory*. This year’s autumnal mix however, is for the great indoors. Contemplative, (but not meditative), gently strange songs and instrumentals for book reading, board games, playing cards, knitting, drinking tea or wine, making soup, staring out the window… or whatever you feel like like doing when days get colder and shorter. This time I actually made the cover art first, and then I started collecting music I enjoy that I associated with the visuals in one way or another -Moahaha

1 The Ron Grainer Orchestra - The Art Seminar Around the Fountain
2 Miranda Martino - Maraviglioso momento
3 Séguin - Crépuscule
4 Toru Takemitsu - In the End
5 Mikael Lammgard, Gunnel Derning - Vattnet
6 Benedicte Maurseth & Åsne Valland Nordli - Alde
7 Combustible Edison - Lonelyville
8 Paul Castanier - Cad e sin don te sin
9 The Sandpipers - If
10 Beaver & Krause - Loves Of Col. Evol
11 Cyrus Faryar - Ghosts
12 The Michael Coldin Septet - Lullaby Of The Leaves
13 Mormos - Walk In, Walk Out
14 Mor - Marines
15 Belan - Homesick

16 Stressi - Finaali
17 Gale Garnett - So Long
18 Jorja Chalmers - Nightingale
19 Jessica Moss - Fractals (Truth 3)
20 Antonio Riccardo Luciani - Problemi Del Sud
21 Dulcimer - Morman's Casket
22 Gianni Fallabrino - Ballata Ebraica
23 Long Orme - Nos Rêves
24 Guglielmo Papararo & Vittorio Montis- Sol 3
25 Ken Narita - 昼下がり
26 Makoto Kubota - あさの光
27 Raul Porchetto - I. C. Ciento Treinta y Tres
28 Alfrēds Kalniņš - Balade
    (Outro/Owls

Here / Here 

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*The Light Traveller is 2021's rural, autumnal mix (+ a couple more folk mixes in the link)

Dream Weapons present: ACROPODIUM C60

As a curator of mixtapes, this time I decided to invite 17 artists/composers to interpret a sculpture by Brâncuși. Haha no I didn’t. Originally I found a catalogue with an «ugly» (but in a great way) Jean Arp-piece pictured on the front page that I wanted to use as cover art. Naturally I started collecting a bunch of twisted tunes. But as often before I ended up in more beautiful place than where I started. Eventually the selected music didn’t really resemble ‘Ptolemy II’ at all anymore. So at the finishing stages I swapped that in favour of this alluring work of art instead. Finally here’s the equivalence to the exquisite «Mlle Pogany II» in sound. Somewhat -Moahaha.

1 Omoide Hatoba - A Scab Forms Crone
2 Anthony Davis - Prolog (The Days In Space)
3 Remo De Vico - If you disappear, the vacuum...
4 Bill Frisell - Under a Golden Sky
5 Maria Joao - No Dia Em Que As Flores Comeram Os Passaros
6 Egisto Macchi - Un Violoncello Magico
7 Vittorio Gelmetti - Lied Romantico
8 T. Isotani & K. Yoshimatu - Lehte
9 Lalo Schifrin - Acupuncture #1

10 Alabaster DePlume - Pastry
11 Fabio Fabor - Asteroidal
12 Paul Castanier - Pera Geta Elena
13 Эдуард Садоян - Две пьесы для виолончели соло 1. Zargo 2. Allegro
14 Kaija Saariaho - Überzeugung
(performed by The Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Oslo Sinfonietta/Grete Pedersen)
15 Les Fragments de la Nuit - Soleils Noirs pour Lune Blanche
16 Sic - Ella Se Desliza
17 Janko Nilovic - Un Piano Dans L'Espace

Here / Here

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Dream Weapons present: OBSERVANCE C60

Observance is actually our 150th mix (yay) ever, but it seems I'm not really in a much of a celeboratory mood. Time to get somewhat serious again. I always find it easier to describe my inner imagined scenery rather than the actual musical content. A remembrance or maybe a burial is how I picture this. More like a modern version of a boat set on fire and set adrift than a «regular funeral» though. A darkly tinted meditation contemplating a closure, an ending or loss. But my ideal soundtrack to a customary practice, rite, or ceremony is not devoid of light - or life. -Moahaha

1 Irmin Schmidt & Kumo - Etrurian Waltz
2 Klaus Morlock - Opening Titles/Forest Chase
3 Mac Prindy - Eliza 1
4 Iraklis - Magiki Apoklisi - Chor
5 Trembling Strain - What The Bird Told Me
6 J.A. Caesar - 鏡の国のスパイ (The Mysterious Mandarin)
7 Daniele Sepe - Auschwitz

8 Pierre Bastien - Never Even
9 Takami - Tatoeba....to Anata wa Iu
10 Ryo Kawasaki - Tane's Dream Part 2
11 Blacklight Braille - The Fountain Falling From The Ace Of Cups
12 Sebastian Gandera - Les Sanglots Du Locataire
13 Philip Sanderson - Weird & Gilly Ride Again
14 Ensemble Economique - I Can See the Light, The Edge of Forever
15 Hills - Claras Vaggvisa

Here / Here

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Dream Weapons present: (DIS)COMFORT ZONE C90

A further out and sonically more challenging version of my largely academic or modern classical (Un)Modern-mix. Packed with intriguing soundscapes and strange beauty galore but darker, more twisted and dissonant than its predecessor. All that aside I still tried to include only works that had a seductive or inviting quality to them. Anyone reading this has got to be at least a little bit musically adventurous - so this could be just a walk in the soundpark for some of you -Moahaha

1 Wendy Carlos & Rachel Elkind - Rocky Mountains
2 Anna Clyne & Colleen Clyne - Beauty (edit)
3 Vyacheslav Artyomov - III. Offertorium: Domine Jesu Christe
4 Grupo PIAP - Invocação em defesa da máquina III. Music Humanizes the Machine
5 Ivo Malec/Anne Pérez - Mavena 1/4
6 Ata Ebtekar & The Iranian Orchestra For New Music - Tonus
7 Andrea Belfi - C
8 Abbey Rader - Four-cast
9 Steve Kimmel - Doll-a-Bye Part 3 (Whispers)
10 Sylvano Bussotti - Variazone Russolo / Slancio D'Angoli
11 Yurodny - Zvuky Znakiv: III - Son (Dream)

12 Amanda Stewart - Sound and Sense
13 Awake - Sospensivita
14 Joji Yuasa - Voices Coming (excerpt)
15 Toki Takumi + Takashi Kojima - Mornest
16 Pacific 231 + John Duncan - Untitled
17 Henk Badings - Capriccio, for Violin and Two Sound Tracks
18 William Walton/Edith Sitwell - Façade: Lullaby for Jumbo
19 Felix Kubin & Ensemble Intégrales - Vögel Ohne Specht
20 Egisto Macchi - Kleines Dachauer Requiem
21 Ak Musick - Hava

Here / Here

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Dream Weapons present: GATES TO PARADISE C60

Its a little misleading that this collection of «modern»-or psuedo classical tunes visually ended up resembling a religious mass. But the mood sort of fits + I love the Wilhelm Bernatzik painting that I used and just kept its title. Too much sentimental nostalgia for some I’m sure. But autumn is coming up and I need these melancholic adagios of unbashed beauty like I need my warm blanket, my book and my mug of hot cocoa.

-Moahaha

1 Michael Harrison - Aeolian Harp
2 Paul Winter Consort - Forlorn Hope
3 Vladilen Aleksandri Balyan - Duet in the form of a fugue
4 Stomu Yamashta - Shadows Pt 2
5 Elizabeth Anderson - Fuguedelic
6 Philippe Dubosson - Sweet Leaves
7 Cornelius Dufallo - Violin Loop I
8 Marco Antonio Araujo - Ilustrações

9 Mount Vernon Arts Lab - The Black Drop
10 Richard Davis - A Child Is Born
11 Martin Wester & Bernhard Hering - Sculpture Moderne
12 Fazıl Say - İstanbul'da Bir Kış Sabahı (4 Parça: No. 2)
13 Valentin Silvestrov - Silvestrov: 3 Postludes - #2
14 Andrew Ball & Susan Milan - Summer Music: II. Siesta: Lento e dolce
15 Johnny Scott Quintet - Othello
16 Valentinas Kaplūnas - Jurgutis / Pjesė
17 Connor Chee - Navajo Vocable for Piano No. 2

Here / Here

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Dream weapons present: (UN) MODERN C90

This collection of 20/21th century classical/avantgarde music sounded way more cutting edge at its early stages. But these haunting spine-tinglers of otherworldly beauty kept replacing the more challenging ugliness, until the latter material felt like roadblocks on a musical journey. Melancholic and mournful - at times even sentimental and nostalgic-sounding, but then again even mid-century totalitarian brutalist architecture comes across as sort of cozy in 2017. (un)modern or not mind you - for our 50th mix(!) I still compiled a rather dark and brooding hour and a half.

-Moahaha

1. Alan Hovhaness - Koke No Niwa, Op. 181
-Alan Hovhaness, Elden Bailey, Ruth Negri, Melvin Kaplan & Walter Rosenberger
2. Colin Mcphee - Suite In 6 Movements: III. Seduk Maru
-Robert Aitken & New Music Concerts
3. John Cage - In the Name of the Holocaust: A
-Margaret Leng Tan
4. Dobrinka Tabakova - Spinning a Yarn
-Roman Mints
5. Henry Cowell - Ostinato Pianissimo
-Paul Price
6. Tzenka Dianova/Erik Satie - Socrate : I. Portrait de Socrate
-Tzenka Dianova
7. Miklós Maros - Trifoglio: I. Allegro
-Eva Maros
8. György Kurtág - Játékok, Book 6 (Games): Mihály András Emlékére
-Marino Formenti
9. Lou Harrison - In Honor of the Divine Mr. Handel
-Just Strings & HMC American Gamelan

10. Alfred Schnittke - Sonata No. 1 for Piano Solo: I. Lento
 -Illya Filshtinskiy
11. Rene Eespere - Evocatio Fuer Gitarre Solo
-Tiil Peterson
12. Lepo Sumera - Schweigende Odaliske (Vaikiv odalisk)
 -Janika Lentsius
13. Alex Clairmon - Trio for Violin, Cello and Harp: II. Adagio, Pt. 1
-Lily Laskine, Roman Charmy & Jules Lemaire
14. Peteris Vasks - Gramata Cellam - II. Pianissimo
 -Sol Gabetta & Amsterdam Sinfonietta
15. Kaija Saariaho - Mirrors
-Wolpe Trio
16. Hannah Kendall - Regina Caeli
-Benjamin Nicholas & Choir of Merton College, Oxford
17. Patrick Godfrey - Another Door
 -Patrick Godfrey
18. Otmar Schoeck - No. 37: Scherzo
-Minguet Quartet

Here / Here

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