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FROM ANDROMEDA AND BACK RADIO: SKIES THAT DO NOT FADE

I remember being in Chicago back in the day, listening to an FM rock station. After a bevy of alternative rock, the DJ suddenly put on the Waltz from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. At the art store where I worked, one of the young hipsters immediately yelled, "Tchaikovsky!" and began conducting with her hands. I'll never forget that moment. We had gone from, say, Throwing Muses to Tchaikovsky, and I remember thinking: How cool was that? Here was music making its own case. It didn't plead. It didn't demand. In its own way, it rocked. And then, after that glorious interlude, it was back to alternative rock. The funny thing was that the classical piece had not seemed out of place. It held its own. It brought to the table its own heft, its own weight. It wasn't preachy. It wasn't better than. It was simply another fiber in the fabric of the day. And maybe that's the way great music should be heard. Not fenced off by genre. Not placed behind glass. Not approa...
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THE TERRA FIRMA PLAYLIST: PART 5 (DOWN THAT HAPPY RABBIT HOLE)!

This is an updated version of an earlier post — we've added some old friends, so enjoy!


From Left: Sync 24, Adriatique, Sesen, Astropilot, Cygna

Adriatique's Tulum set is often the entry drug in EDM, but that's just the door — once inside, the rabbit hole goes much deeper. You know how it is. People always ask "What are you listening to?" Or "How or where can you hear new sounds?" It's a daunting question yet there are answers or at least answers that I can scramble up and present to you as vehicles that helped to undergird Terra Firma an alien horror story fueled by music of all types. It's a 400 page novel yes, but all the time music of some type was filling my own soundscape. 

So we come to EDM the most wide ranging of all modern music. You can go to the Spotify, Apple Music or Soundcloud suggestion lists but I gotta tell you, I'm out driving through Silver Lake in the City of Angels at 3 am eternal and my phone is on KCRW's Music / KCRW selections. You can choose your genre and they will take you on a journey, trust me! It's free (I subscribe but you don't have to unless you really benefit from source an extraordinary resource)! Listen 'till your heart's content! They will open your ears!

Greenosophy is the collection that keeps on giving. I discovered Sesen here as well as Cygna (whose Broken Dream Of A Little Snail is sublime). When Gunz and Lucky march in for their showcase Sesen is surging on the speakers. Her "Emerge" instantly prepares the girls to conquer. 

One thing leads to another and in a quest for that particular sound I arrived at Sync24's "Inadvertent" from his Comfortable Void album. This opens the final set of the novel and tell me if you know of a better opening gambit. It is simply intoxicating!

Astropilot has a record and his many cds and streams are available. In may ways he is, to me, the ambient king. Dreamy, searching, always fitting any mode or mood, his music refuses to be imprisoned in strict categories. Lucky is listening to "Languor" from his sublime Solar Walk when she breaks into the alien code. I can think of no better aural aide. 

The EDM pool is ocean wide but there are ways to get a handle on such riches. I've suggested a few but let it be known that iTunes (my favorite music store) has all the selections listed above and YouTube and Spotify (as in the case of Solar Walk) often has them as well. 

EDM does many things for the listener but probably its greatest gift is that it is bendable; it can be stretched, folded, bent and molded into a soundscape that suits your needs when you need it. And in Terra Firma music is a core element!


More Terra Firma music: Playlist! Part One | Playlist: Part Two | Soundtrack: Part Three | Playlist: 4 | The Nylons Electrify "Remember" | Soundtrack: When You Hear It You'll Know!

I'd love to hear your thoughts, so speak your mind. Leave me a comment or feel free to hit me up at: fromandromedaandback@gmail.com. And thank you!

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