guest mix: silas (spring on the battlefield)

Greetings, dear listeners, and welcome aboard Spaceman's Transmissions intergalactic courier service. Though we never exercise the mandates of viewing our terms of service, I'd like to take a moment to summarize the conditions of said agreement in as few words as possible at this very second. The summary can be summed up into this: turn on, tune in, sleep...

The staff at Spaceman's Transmissions is dedicated to providing an optimized listening experience as the best in-flight entertainment one can find. Cheating you out of this golden opportunity would be a disservice and would diminish our reputation. Okay, mumble jumble out of the way, let's get on with the purpose of our mission. We'll begin with a very tiny story. Brief, but vital to the mission.

There was a time, not too long ago, but also at the same time a long time ago, in which there was a flourishing field of ambient mix enthusiasts on MIXCLOUD. I was only a junior flight instructor in training, green in the field, and a directionless (yet eager) disciple of sleep journey amalgamations. The atmosphere of ambient creators was electric, and there was a lot of networking that I sought to nourish. Every weekend, your old boy Tonepoet would saddle up to a few hours of listening and marvel at some of the masterpieces created by those that I considered top-tier flight instructors. Many of them I've hosted here before (JUNKYARD ANGEL, FACTION, DJ SEROTON, and SILAS), as well as quite a few others. One of the most impressive visionaries to me was Silas, whom I still seek to emulate with the amount of perfection and precision he applies to his sessions. In my opinion, I'm not even close (still), so for me it's been about the journey and not the destination. Silas is without a doubt a sensei of sound, and one capable of delivering purely emotive-driven content to the highest degree.

Well, dear listeners, I've happened to come across quite a few guest mixes from those that I mentioned, as well as a few others, that I will do my best to trickle down from the cosmos so that I can provide the aforementioned in-flight entertainment more so on a semi-regular basis. The first gem that I wanted to bring to the light is this mix by Silas entitled 'Spring On The Battlefield'. I was fortunate to have gotten ahold of Silas and received a bit of a description of his method and meaning for this session:

• The mix was recorded live on 4 decks, and a sampler and recorded in one take (after a few practice ones)! The story behind that mix was that I was really inspired by some classical elements but also lots of electronica too.  At the same time I was reading something about World War 2, and the article cover (not one used on mix) really struck me as its showed two pictures, the field during the war and horror and the field now, where the land had recovered and beautiful countryside remained and really impacted me. I wanted to capture that, and put a mix together which was a imaginary epic film score, and made you think of the UK countryside, fields, loss, war, life, dark and light, bravery of soldiers in all wars, getting old and flying (loved how the spitfire sample worked) and what can be better than Thom Yorke and full orchestra ending it! When I found that cover photo for the mix I knew it was right, and it actually the first time one photo really captured the mix or what I had in my mind anyway!

You'll easily find why I seek to emulate Silas' flawless execution and attention to detail. The delivery of art will leave your breathless and floating within embers of glory and melancholy. Peace.

Turn on, tune in, sleep...

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TRACK LISTING

• Feel First Life - Jon Hopkins

• False Sense - Matt Robertson

• Being Here - Mammal Hands

• Into - Be

• Inside - Martin Stig Anderson

• Song/Echo - Grace Davidson, Max Richter, Yuki Numata

• Whose name is written on the water - Max Richter & Grace Davidson

• Three Worlds : Modular Astronomy - Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg & Robert Ziegler

• Normandie - A Winged Victory For The Sullen

• Things of Beauty Burn - Hammock

• Blue, in Script - Alaskan Tapes

• Before - Goldmund

• Migration - Goldmund

• Recovery - Jon Hopkins

• Sublunar - Max Richter, Yuki Numata, Caleb Burhans, Clarice Jense & Ben Russell

• L’embauche - A Winged Victory For The Sullen

• Three Worlds: Transformation - Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg & Robert Ziegler

• O’Fridur (Liminal Remix) - Sigur Ros

• The Breeze - Clem Leek

• Tree Synthesisers - Jonny Greenwood

• Snow Tale 5 - Clem Leek

• Doria - Olafur Arnalds

• Empire - Matt Emery, Fraser Bowles & Will Harvey

• Home - Stafano Guzzetti

• Searchlight - Jon Hopkins

• Touch - Secret Pyramid

• Three Worlds: War Anthem - Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg & Robert Ziegler & Hila Karin

• Comme on a dit - A Winged Victory For The Sullen

• Steep Hills of Vicodin Tears - A Winged Victory For The Sullen

• Vivaldi, The Four Seasons: Spring 1 - Max Richter, Daniel Hope & Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin

• Viewed from Above - The Future Sound of London

• PostScript - Matt Robinson

• The Great White Open - Christian Loffler

• Ocean Bloom - Hans Zimmer/Radiohead

• Echo Dissolve - Jon Hopkins