The blind stares of a million pairs of eyes. Friday yo.

Sign Libra - Closer to the Equator
Sounds of The Dawn drop another of their own tapes, with this one exploring beautiful new age territory. If you've read about it in the Guardian, you'll love this! Comes with both individual tracks and one long one. My son seems to like it. 

C ( Nika Son & F#X ) - Tennō EP
The VIS label continues to bring us magnificent harsh sounds. This collaboration features Mo'Wax-like beats and cranking electronic sounds, nauseating drones and terrifyingly reversed vocals and is generally weird and oppressive. 

Cass. / Dudal / Stijn Hüwels - Silent_Night#4: Dauw
This is taking me back to the early days of Bandcloud, when I'd regularly share this kind of gentle ambient, with its metallophonic tones, hushed voices and softly undulating pads. It's given way to a lot of heavier, more droning stuff, but this is a welcome recharge, a beautiful suite of lengthy passages filled with detail but prone to drift above and around one's consciousness. That's just the first side. The second is heartbreakingly dramatic yet collapses in a sea of frivolous wibbles.  

Ioannis Savvaidis - NSA Trusted Networks
I've listened to this one track so many times now. It starts off like any other arpeggiated modular joint, but changes direction and heads for the cold realms of outer space, where fear is your only friend.

Radio Cómeme-"Ambient Dreams When Your Ghost Producer Tells You To Listen To Gabba" by Machine Woman
Machine Woman's contribution to the Cómeme series follows the kind of static-laced dread found on Thank You Slipknot, her release for Sacred Tapes. Constructed with sounds culled from a variety of sample packs, it's a slow-burning hour of fizzing menace.

Violet: The 'Shine A Light On' Mix
This, on the other hand, is a thoroughly enjoyable jaunt through heady acid house. Big up Violet every time. She includes this really excellent track from TX Connect too.

شمس أسمى Shams Asma - "Homeland is..."
Shams Asma is a Syrian-born, Palestinian-based artist who I came across via the Syrphenetwork. This piece came third at the Young Artist of the Year Award for Palestinian artists for 2016. It's a lengthy piece that features warning sirens, corrosive noise and melodica, and seeks to engage history through sound. 

Scurge - Untitled
This release seems to be a kind of modern take on radiophonics, as it moves through cascading noise into weirdo sound flips. "Stagnant swamp water is disturbed for the first time, exposing centuries-old secrets for what they truly are."

FADER Mix: Katie Gately
Last time I heard Katie Gately do a mix she closed out with a full half hour of Tony Conrad and Faust, 'From The Side of Woman and Mankind' to be precise. On this mix she uses her time differently, reaching for dark tracks from the likes of Klara Lewis and Akkord, before eventually turning towards the light. I haven't got to grips with her new album Color yet, but this is wonderful.

Aquarium - Swimming [Silver Lake]
The wonderful Aquarium are inaugurating X-Kalay's new Silver Lake sub-label, and this is a brilliant introduction to the label, and artist if you're not already familiar. It's at a slightly vibrous house tempo, but is gentle enough to soothe, and those gorgeous lapping sounds just make it even nicer.

SoundCloud playlist

It's Dean's birthday today so if you haven't listened to his mix, go do so!