honest words on honest music
The Audio CD Flaw
My journey into a rabbit hole of bit-perfect data transfer
Snorri Hallgrímsson
I Am Weary, Don’t Let Me Rest
“… heartwrenching melancholia that walks the scale in search of resolution, peace, and rest…”
In the studio with µ‑Ziq
“… I used to lust after the gear I read about in magazines, but now bundled software seems more than enough…”
Best of 2022
Headphone Commute’s 15th edition is now live, revealing one list per day!
How to fall in love with digital music…
All about appreciating the medium from a connoisseur’s point of view…
In the studio with Biosphere
“… I often start a composition by creating a theme with an acoustic-digital filtered sound. Over this, I often try to integrate pure synthetic sounds from a synthesizer…”
Interview with Max Richter
I finally catch up with one of my all-time favourite contemporary classical composers to talk about his latest record, VOICES and touch a little on SLEEP.
Muriël Bostdorp
Resilient
“… each carefully pressed key expresses feelings with its weight […] flowing naturally as an extension of herself…”
A new solo piano offering from Amsterdam-based composer available on Julien Marchal’s Whales Records
“… many notable artists release their music without the attention they deserve, and a lot of silly music has too much space…”
September 24th, 2023
Good morning, and welcome to your latest update of the newly released music that has skirted …
“… I usually try to bring new elements to the process or deliberately limit myself to one instrument…”
Lisa Bella Donna
Electronic Voyages
“… a garden wall of modular synthesis harvested from this modern master of electronic music…”
A gorgeous offering from the “sonic sorceress” that should be experienced in your headphones, preferably in the dark, in a fully horizontal position.
Roel Funcken
Gorreliann Plasebant [Part 4 of 6]
The fourth part of 9+ hour mix which I am publishing in six parts over the upcoming weeks…
Roel Funcken
Gorreliann Plasebant [Part 3 of 6]
The third part of 9+ hour mix which I am publishing in six parts over the upcoming weeks…
ARROWOUNDS
Therianthrope Series
“… a dark, organic, and textural journey into the sonic abyss… for here it begins and circles back into itself…”
Jim Perkins & Curve Ensemble
A Distant Sun
“… a familiar constant with changing surroundings […] creating a warm and emotionally moving piece…”
Hidden Notes
On today’s episode, Matt chats with Daniel Inzani and Alex Hobbis of the Hidden Notes music festival, which will take place this year in Stroud on September 23-24th.
Rod Modell
Ghost Lights
“… floating through the twilight like a ghost in the city, eavesdropping on sounds and stories untold…”
Another immersive experience courtesy of Ario Farahani Astral Industries imprint with beautiful artwork by Theo Ellsworth.
Roel Funcken
Gorreliann Plasebant [Part 2 of 6]
The second part of 9+ hour mix which I am publishing in six parts over the upcoming weeks…
Roel Funcken
Gorreliann Plasebant [Part 1 of 6]
Traversing favourite ambient and contemporary classical pieces of the day in a 9+ hour mix!
“… I start with great instruments and then mostly leave them be…”
Maxime Dangles
Operate (Pavane Remix)
“… nourished by the feelings of struggle, anger, stress, alienation and hope…”
The Hillside Project
Dizygotic II
“… wandering through a harmonic landscape and landing on an extremely warm and musically satisfying pianissimo…”
Taylor Deupree
Eev
“… the decay and the growth stir tiny, fragile worlds…”
The latest stopover on a slow journey through ambient sound that has brought Duepree acclaim and renown for over two decades.
“… the very edges of the sonic landscape, where beauty and destruction lie on opposite sides of the dynamic spectrum…”
Akira Kosemura
Looking in the Same Direction
“… the human condition is explored on every single track, with a slightly melancholy, quiet tone…”
“… many of my favorite compositions have been created using pretty simple and relatively cheap tools…”
Hotel Neon
Deprivation
“… I could hear everything, together with the hum of my hotel neon… I never felt sadder in my life…”
McKenzie Stubbert
Err
“… a haunting atmosphere of two protagonists trapped somewhere in-between this world and the next…”
zakè & City of Dawn
Ash
“… a sound that encompasses the listener and demands attention… music to get lost in…”
Sound in Silence is a boutique record label from Athens, Greece, founded by George Mastrokostas, aka Absent …
July 16th, 2023
I was going to open up this OUT TODAY column with yet another reflection on the …
Rrose
Please Touch
“… addressing in equal measure the perceptual and the corporeal…”
The second full-length solo LP from one of the masters of advanced techno manipulations
Quiet Places
The Empty View
“… moments of melody amongst the wide landscape of abstract sounds are the only glimpse of reality…”
Olivia Belli
Anima I
“… the beginning of a personal journey searching the essential…”
Tim Hecker
No Highs
“… a beacon of unease against the deluge of false positive corporate ambient currently in vogue…”
“What is the function of music? Is it to serve as a background for a WeWork, efficiency world, for someone who just wants to code? Or is it for driving down a foggy road at night, wanting that experience amplified?”
“… the process is ultimately very instinctive, not cerebral […] where I find pleasure is in the raw part, the creation…”
James O’Connell
Lightforms
“… atmospheric textures, delicate piano notes, and soaring heart-wrenching strings…”
A new and welcome entry from a film composer taking a step back from the frenzied schedule and sharing the intimate moments through honest and thoroughly human music.
Hecq, Trifonic, Warmth
Celebrating Headphone Commute’s many years of content, I am highlighting albums that I covered 15, 10, …
Ott, Willits + Sakamoto, and Jon Hopkins
Celebrating Headphone Commute’s many years of content, I am highlighting albums that I covered 15, 10, and 5 years ago.
“… I don’t like habits too much; it’s the variation and the not always knowing that makes the practice exciting…”
“… I take a lot of inspiration from solitude in nature […] the environment is crucial, much more so than being in a perfect recording studio…”
A Winged Victory For The Sullen
In this episode, Matt Emery chats with Adam Wiltzie of the one and only A Winged Victory For The Sullen
Bob Holroyd
Big Fields
“… although they think something different, all people actually want is football chants and nursery rhymes…”
… ambient music has become a pool of musical diversity […] and more about a basic feeling of freedom and an experimental environment…
Vargkvint
Headphone Commute Mix
A selection of pieces inspiring Sofia Nystrand while composing her new album
Josh Cohen
Tachypsychia
“… delicate pauses, which break free from the constraints of the predicted and the foreseen…”
“… it starts with sound… experimenting with sound… it truly gets me inspired… it’s what I react to…”
Markus Guentner
Prisa
“… a captivating progression […] with an endlessly interwoven carpet of sound that spreads out over six etudes…”
Tom Adams
Afterglow 1
“… weather-beaten and tired, yet content and grounded […] the calm after being in the storm…”
“… I like the idea of creating a sonic bed to lie down in, especially in the early stages of a track…”
OZMOTIC | Fennesz
Senzatempo
“… an expansive sonic architecture, balancing exquisite composition with space for improvisation…”
A new collaborative record of expansive pseudo-orchestral movements wrapped in electronic microsound and glitch.
Philip G Anderson
To Be Brave
“… how fear can influence an artist during a creative process, and how they can grow…”
“… I froze a bell strike and extended it for hours [and] noticed overtones, hidden sub-tones, and even entire harmonies within that single strike…”
Caterina Barbieri
Spirit Exit
… musical vortexes rewiring time and space […] standing alone in its ecstatic intensity and cataclysmic emotional impact…
The Italian electronic music composer showcases expert modular manipulations on her brand-new independent label. A retroactive addition to Best of 2022 selections.
Clark, Julia Kent, Aukai
Celebrating Headphone Commute’s many years of content, I am highlighting albums that I covered 15, 10, and 5 years ago.
April 10th, 2023
I vividly remember when I used to chase new music. Boomkat, in particular, was [and still …
“… we restricted ourselves to the grand piano as a source [and] the effects are opening up new prospects to transform the sound…”
Between
Low Flying Owls
“… as delicate as it is restless, the breadth of instrumentation and influences comes to life across the sonic space and printed page…”
One of the label’s most ambitious releases to date, featuring a collective of seven like-minded musicians distilling the sound into a single cohesive aesthetic.
The Album Leaf
Prologue
“… the musical journey [which] weaves us through chaos culminating in some sort of peace…”
Clarice Jensen
In this episode, Matt Emery chats with Clarice Jensen, an American cellist and the artistic director of ACME
“… [I like] introducing new elements to a sample, giving it a whole new character and making it sound old and tired or completely removed from what it originally was…”