Episodes

Japan is a very interesting country with a long history in culture and tradition. One may sometimes wonder how trends are born, but they are usually quite unique to the rest of the world. One of their traditions is about how they worshipped gods. As a special feature tonight, you will get a six-pack of tracks from the new Legacy of Thought compilation Seven Lucky Gods, which is on a special group of Japanese gods: the Seven Lucky ones. Well, when compiling music for the remainder of the show, it really became an easter special edition with albums all but one released right today on April 2nd.

Only half a year later of the birth of syndae, the Schallwelle award saw its light, which is the German price on electronic music of the kind you can listen to on syndae. While it is a small event, it still is much appreciated by artists, who are celebrated for their achievements of the passed year. Since 2020 was the year of the pandemic, many concerts were cancelled and some took place virtual. But still, lots of musicians put their heart and work into new music to delight each of us with fresh sounds. Fittingly, and as we are still in the pandemic, the award ceremonies for the Schallwelle were presented online this year. And it is a really nice ceremony with concerts in between and it is free to watch, too. You will find a link below in the details section.

Take it easy, my dear friends in sound. Anything noteworthy this week? Nothing really exciting happening around my place recently. Only the usual crazy stuff on the news all week long. But this is not the place to discuss politics. Not that I am unpolitical, neither am I very political. But this is the place for fun and joy, to relish beautiful scapes and rhythms. Nearly a place for well-being, if you like.

The hot topic of the past week obviously has been some interview by an American host with British folks. I only got this from some late shows, where they picked some funny and scandalous moments of it. Including a count of the "what"s of the host. And, of course, they showed some of the (unbelievable) reactions from other media. It made me wonder, why people are so interested in scandals of other people. On the other hand, this shows how colourful life and people's minds are. Which also shows in musical taste, where you can barely count the number of styles out there, and each of those has a fandom. So, by listening to syndae, you do out yourself for being a fan of ambient and electronic music. Luckily, the music varies in style quite often, so you can get a decent range of aural colours.

Does one have a reason for a serene hour? Well, I don't. And there is none. Except, maybe, that I need more sleep. But ambient music not necessarily means to fall asleep listening. On the contrary, some ambient tracks are such beauties and have so wonderful details that you tend to listen more closely. Even better, if on the second and third listen you spot more details and pieces of wonder in a track. It's like watching a painting where you find those little interesting strokes the longer you look. And that's what makes the tracks of this edition special as well.

There are no events to go to these days. One of the things, many of us are missing dearly. As a quantum of solace one finds online events from time to time. Which is nice, but no real replacement for meeting up with friends in sound. Oh, I do enjoy such sessions, as they give at least a little hope. And the music always is great, too. What I did not see, yet, is an event like coming up on March 26th to 28th with the SynthFest. A three day online event with artists from all over the world. Well, barely possible as live event at an offline event (okay, "offline" sounds a bit off...) here you will be able to listen to some dozen artists playing live. And it's free as well, as far as I can see. What is stopping you? I hope nothing.

No time to chill. This was a beating week work wise, and tonight's edition will simply reflect that. I am still energized, so why stop now? There is a weekend up to chill and rest. Sometimes, I simply need some strong soundwaves beating me up and treat my body like a resonator. Ah, well, doesn't make sense, does it? When do you need some louder and harder music? Let me know in the comments.

Boy, what a busy week. So I had to clear snow twice this week. And on Sunday it had a thick frozen layer below the fresh snow on top. Had to hack through to get the sidewalk free. Of course, afterwards I was rewarded with exhaustion and some muscle pain next day. Imagine sitting at home for a year and suddenly having to move snow. Oh, well, sitting home is the new normal these days, no surprise there. Unfortunately, the weather was sneaky and covered my tracks with more snow the next days. Bad boy. Bad boy! Well. It's still in the minus so that white stuff will not go away for a while. No wonders I am longing for some relaxation, and here we go with tonight's tracks. Chill out music to relish the cold weather, but home with the heaters on and soothing on the couch.

The downside of trying something new or unusual is that you do not know about the outcome. Does it please you? Does it anger you? Well, everyone is different in that. Some love new things and simply enjoy the change, some... and maybe I am one of them in most situations... rather refrain and stick with what they know. This also applies to listening to music. If there is a kind of music that makes you happy, you definitely want to have more of it, do you not? Well, it may depend on your mood, though, what kind of music comforts you. But at least in that matter I am in for risk and like trying new things. Of course, I have to anyway, listening into all the submissions for podplay, some of which are cool, some are interesting, others don't fit at all. As I tend to set a theme for each show, some music does not make it to a regular edition. Hence, for tonight, I picked tracks I think are very interesting but do not fit to the common kind of styles I have on. Hopefully, you will enjoy them, too.