MIXED BAG. I mean that's always my intention but this week we've got heartfelt electronic ambience, crunching techno, party jams and pastoral instrumentals. 

Donnacha Costello - Together
Donnacha's been sharing a lot of stuff via Bandcamp lately, some of it interesting, some of it ... less so. This is a remastering and reworking of an album released in 2001 asTogether Is The New Alone, but DC just recently realised that it certain tracks on the original CD were at the wrong pitch, and heavy use of noise reduction removed certain important elements. So he's had it remastered by Stephan Mathieu, and the results are quite beautiful. Andrew Ryce of RA interviewed him this week but my header image was created before that piece went live. Since it looks so nice I decided to leave it as is.

Maia Ibar - When You Close Your Eyes / And I See
Robin from Norman brought this to my attention. I'll be honest and say the second track isn't really to my taste but the first is just glorious. It's 24 minutes in length and features beautiful non-verbal vocals, plucked strings, humming drones, swirling tones, and eventually some gentle bells. Melt away in its shimmering abyss. The second side follows on from the first quite nicely, but it's a bit less abstract and thus, for me, less interesting. You might like it though.

MACHINE WOMAN - SAC #020 - THANK YOU SLIPKNOT
I honestly can't say if this music owes anything to Slipknot, as I've never listened to them. It's a great crunchy set of techno though. 

buttechno - sport
Moar techno here. Dark undulating business, embellished by clicks, whirs, pins dropping. It was originally composed as a soundtrack for a fashion show and now it's pressed to vinyl for our pleasure. 

Aurora Mitchell - Chilltrax
Aurora made this mix some months back but it passed me by until she shared it again with tracklist. It's gorgeous. It features some absolutely beautiful tracks, among them the sublime 'Ascending' from Actress and Fit Siegel's 'Carmine'. UPDATE: She made a second mix in the time between me writing this blurb and sending this mail, and it's even more dreamy and soothing than the first.

Amanda Feery - Nocturne for the Old Raver
This is a wonderful piece, written by Amanda Feery, performed by Lisa Moore. It's an eight-minute piano work, which opens with classic house chords — not quite 'Strings of Life' but that kind of thing — and then moves into more forlorn, abstract territory. 

Ben UFO - Live at Factory, Osaka - 26.09.15
Ben UFO live sets are rare beasts online, so it'd be rude not to share this. Recorded during Ben's recent jaunt to Japan, it's 200+ minutes of crunching techno, searing bleeps metallic clank and some old favourites for good measure. 

Mary Lattimore - Luciferin Light [KR14] 
Gloriously beautiful harp melodies from Mary Lattimore, forthcoming on Kit Records, the label's last release of the year. "Half dreamt, half improvised, Mary's songs meander like off-world rivers glowing with bioluminescence."

Vic Mars - Collecting Pebbles And Stones
This bucolic dream is built of beautiful xylophone, clarinet chorus plucked strings, inspired by reprints of vintage British Railway posters.

Lazy & Crazy Guest: CL
Friend of Bandcloud CL did a mix for us back in May and it was full of bouncing, joyous house music. She's put together another mix for Lazy & Crazy, and it's simply effervescent. Hugely enjoyable, it starts off bright and fun and moves towards slightly harder (but not darker) regions. She's got an ear, let me tell you.

With all the talk of blogs and sites dying off at present I'm torn between throwing in the towel at #100 on one hand and trundling on forever on the other.

Who knows which impulse will win out.

Aidan