I’ve been jonesing to record a mix for weeks now, but I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to make it ambient or beat-oriented, and you can probably hear as much from this month’s Eavesdropping. For the past couple of months, I’ve been stocking a playlist with murky, slightly sullen rhythm tracks all over the tempo spectrum; I’ve also been filling the same playlist with all manner of beatless, drone-infused, ambient-adjacent material, and when I sat down to put together this set, the two sides ended up in conversation with each other.
It took me a couple of tries to get it right; after working out a rough tracklisting, I recorded a first take that was almost there, but it had a few too many clunky joins. So I went back to the drawing board, shuffled some things around, and tried again. This time, it flowed much better (and not just because the last track faded out about 30 seconds before I was due to jump on a conference call with the Pitchfork editorial team and GQ’s new editorial director; talk about a quick change of hats).
A few of the shifts might seem abrupt, but there’s usually a reason for them—in particular the solo piano track whose rhythm is mirrored by the somewhat thundering drum-machine groove that follows—and the whole thing seems to be held together by a muggy throughline of toe-scuffing beats, tangled delay chains, and grudgingly harmonic blends. That’s my hope, anyway.
Selections come from Hashman DJ, Nadia Struiwigh, Sun Electric, Foote/Dickow, Tyler Friedman’s incredible new album of microtonal pulse and chime, and more; the set closes on an as-yet-unannounced Balmat record, as a treat.
Read on for the full set and the complete tracklisting.
This issue is for paying subscribers, as a thank you for your ongoing support. Paid subscriptions are $5 a month or $50 a year; perks include exclusive playlists (now available on Tidal as well as Apple Music, Deezer, and Spotify); Eavesdropping, a new series of mixes by me; the ongoing Mixes Digest series; and full access to the archives, including interviews with Call Super, Avalon Emerson, Nick León, William Tyler, Kara-Lis Coverdale, and more.
