Sound Contours

The lounge chair's in the right place. Most of the umbrella's still standing. It's everything else that's gone. Bid farewell to civilization with this dramatic mix of post-nuclear lounge tunes -- a fantasia of slunk grooves, dramatic orchestral arrangements and exotic percussion. Join me for our last few sips of wine cooler ever, at the last party anyone will attend, here on the last patios anywhere. Tracklist: Submerse - It's All Fun And Games Until Someone Loses, Les Baxter - Thinking Of You, Esquivel and His Orchestra - So Rare, Paul Tanner, Andre Montero and His Orchestra - Holiday On Saturn, Martin Denny - Hypnotique, The Surfmen - Aloe Oe, Armando Sciascia - Black Sand, Frank Hunter and His Orchestra - White Goddess, Ron Goodwin - The Moon, George Shearing - Lotus Land, Warren Baker and His Orchestra - Malayan Nightbird, Piero Piccioni - Eros In Hiro, Jerry Byrd - Bird Of Paradise, Frank Comstock and His Orchestra - Out Of Space, Henry Mancini - Lujon (Slow Hot Wind), Decibels A Go-Go - De 9 A 6, Andre

The only way out is through. Wild Gems III will get you there. Tracklist: Roger Roger and Nino Nardini - Strange Motion (Nature Nocturne), Los Amaya - Bailen Mi Rumbita, Indian Rope - Purple Mania, Ike Mathews - African Feeling, Erkin Koray - Karli Daglar, Goat - Try My Robe, Wadih Essafi - Aandak Baharia Ya Rayess, The African Brothers International Band - Wompe Masem, Aby Ngana Diop - Sapaly, Roj - Bongo Workout, Aldo Tamborrelli - Indian Feeling, Hervé Roy and Pierre Bachelet - Pachydermes and Cie, Alessandro Alessandroni - Collata, Omar Khorshid - Rakset El Fadaa, Okay Temiz - Dokuz Sekiz, Un Dos Tres Y Fuera - San Juan, Tambor Y Fuera, Can - Smoke (E.F.S. No. 59), Mac Talla Nan Creag - Grugaigian Chant, Aisha Kandisha's Jarring Effects - Roof Fish Suck, The Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band - Sao Sakit Mae, Beaver and Krause - People's Park, Flamingods - Gojira, Albert Marcoeur - Controle-Vitesse-Pusssance, Agitation Free - Ala Tul Canal Din, Georgia - (Open Voice)

Mind Train aka Wild Gems II picks up where the first Wild Gems left off, taking us further down the stoney path through a vibrant and concerted wilderness of psych, exotica and eclectic international rock records. Tracklist: Budapest Radio Orchestra - The Lights of Hong Kong, Yoko Ono - Mindtrain, Erkin Koray - Sir, Bharat Karki and Party - Calcutta Calcutta, Fred Weinberg - Aum Mau Mau, Dick Hyman - Topless Dancers of Corfu, Bo Dollis and The Wild Mangolias - Handa Wanda, Bernard Gérard - Crocodile Porte-Clé, Stereolab - Iron Man, Ersen - Gafil Gezme Saskin, Cem Karaca and Apaslar - Gilgamis, Pierre Henry - Jericho Jerk, John Hill - Io, Morgan Delt - Barbarian Kings, Selda - Yaylalar, Kalyanji-Anandji - Bansarai Babu Beats, The Piranha Sounds - La Turbie Pirhanienne, Raymond Guiot - Primitive Spirit, Ananda Shankar - Dancing Drums, Zafer Dilek - Tokat Sarması, Los Diablos Rojos - El Guapo, Banda Eletrica - Soy Loco por ti America, Yma Sumac - Gallito Ciego (One-Eyed Rooster), Los Henry's - Cumbia del Amor, A

Enjoy a mix of vintage Luk Thang 45s, ripped from a stack of singles brought over from Thailand by our cousin and good friend. Here's the best hour of material. I try to provide an authentic rendering of each disc, while avoiding the harsher surface noise, clicks, and scratches from the vinyl. Information about some of these Luk Thang picks is available online, but many remain mysterious. My partially reconstructed tracklist has tunes by Sangsuree Rungroj, Sayan Sanya, Winai Bundarak, and Chaloemphon Hit Donchai, but we know up to ten other unknown artists are featured. Who, for instance, is behind the cover of Serge Gainsbourg's J'taime Moi Non Plus? Whatever the answer, dip into the retro vibe of Thai Town, the first of four new episodes to be released over upcoming weeks tracing the varying strains of sound among international musics. Tracklist: Sangsuree Rungroj - Mixed, Sayan Sanya - Unknown, Sayan Sanya - Some Old Love, Sayan Sanya - Do Not Fall For The Rumor, Sayan Sanya - Borderman, Unknown Artist - J

House music for the nest: These selections of micro, minimal, lo-fi, glitch, ambient and deep house hang together like insulating drapes -- subtle head music heaving and pulsing in the stillness of a calm room, with steady, four-on-the-floor background beats and tightly knit bass lines that like to lead the groove. Synth pads and vocal samples line the space like wallpaper. Zone out and enjoy. Tracklist: Afterhours - Defragment #2, Body-San - One Million Brazillion Dollars, Stimming - No. 17, Ishmael - No Chaser, Letherette - Without You, Farben and James Din A4 - Please Excuse My Face, Jan Jelinek - They, Them, Jetone - Octan, Rod Modell - Syria, Martin Schulte - City Night, Thomas Fehlmann - Atlas 2, Elka - BBX1999, You're Me - Oot Re Mi, Perfume Advert - Auspice, Anders Ilar - Gramineous Glow, Martin Buttrich - Stop Motion, Ricardo Villalobos - Hireklon, Farben - Silikon, Nosaj Thing - NR2, Moodymann - Why Do U Feel, Gold Panda - Mediaevil, Francesco Tristano - Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence

Euphoric vibes, sculpted tones and melodic (at times challenging) beats converge for a brisk tour through the industrial cyberpark of tomorrow. The hoverboard has its soundtrack. Tracklist: Yasuaki Shimizu - Tachikawa, Radiohead - I Am Citizen Insane, Rival Consoles - Morning Vox, Ada - You and Me, Rabit - Glass Harp Interlude, Aphex Twin - Milk Man, Iller - Bending Oddity, Kwes. - Hives, Arca - Dignity, Kahn, Commodo and Gantz - Kibosh, Knxwledge - Dntleave, Bullion - Don't Talk (Close Your Eyes), Gold Panda - Autumn Falls, Gobby - Hyuna, Bjork - Innocence (Alva Noto Unitxt Remodel), Jlin - Nandi, Kutmah - Darkening Of The Light, Henry Wu - Expensive Ghetto (Feat. Mo Kolors), Cakedog - 24 HRS, Moiré - Gel, Beat Spacek - Alone In Da Sun, Dabrye - In Water, James Place - High Rise (Rainier), Bibio - Saint Christopher, Baths - Seaside Town

It's the sound of momentum: Hand drums, mallet instruments and mesmeric beats cut an exotic path through the worlds of global electronica and avant-garde techno. Tracklist: You're Me - Walled Garden, Mestre Geraldo E Su Bateria - Mistura #2, Don't DJ - Evolve, Black Merlin - Reef Play, Tyondai Braxton - Greencrop, Clap! Clap! - Sahkii's Elevation, Cut Hands - Inchantment, Tony Allen - Asiko (In A Silen Mix), YPY - Gazing Beat, African Head Charge - Timbuktu Express, Banabila and Machinefabriek - Awake, Andew Pekler - A Savage Topography, Michael Turtle - Zoote Pointe, Don't DJ - Disparata 69, Francis Bebey - Binta Madiallo, NV - Bells Burp, DJ Eye - (iii), BD1982 - Coney Island High, Elysia Crampton - Dummy Track (Feat. Why Be and Chino Amobi), Bateria Fantastico De Potela - Demonstracao de Som e Andiamento, Lucy - A Millenia Old Adversary, DJ Paradise - Mbizi (R)

The second of two mixes compiling excellent 2016 instrumental music, fashioned for wet weather and a cool state of mind. This one's got (somewhat) more of a rock bent. Enjoy. Tracklist: So Percussion - Drumkit Quartet No. 51 (Chicago Realization), Thor Harris - 12 Ate, Anna Meredith - Blackfriars, Christopher Tignor - The Will And The Waiting, F.S. Blumm and Nils Frahm - Day One Three, Suzanne Kraft - Bank, Raime - Dialling In, Falling Out, Szun Waves - Orb Light, nonkeen - Glow, Daedelus - Hold Sway, BADBADNOTGOOD - Here and Now, Kikagaku Moyo - Melted Crystal, The Eye of Time - I could sleep for thousand years, Billington-Tramposh - Live January 13 2016, Mica Levi and Oliver Coates - Xhill Stepping, Mark Pritchard - Cycles Of 9, Plaid - Wen, Guy Blakeslee - Maja (Queen of The Storm) Movement 3, Oren Ambarchi - Hubris Part 1, Odd Nosdam - Endless 432 (Feat. Teebs)

The first of two mixes compiling excellent 2016 instrumental music, fashioned for wet weather and a cool state of mind. Tracklist: Mica Levi and Oliver Coates - Mob of Waters, Olof Melander - Travelers, Body-San - Voices 1, Foodman - Waterfall, Barnaby Carter - Cold Weather Warm Soul, You're Me - Applet W, Don't DJ - The Grey Shrine, Autechre - spTh, Banabila and Machinefabriek - Strokjes, Suzanne Kraft - Scripted Space, Kane Ikin - Echoic, Jilk - Baby Hannah, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Stratus, Masayoshi Fujita and Jan Jelinek - Helio, Andrew Pekler - Theme From Tristes Tropiques/Avian Modulations/Life In The Canopy, Seiho - The Dish, Ian William Craig - Lost On Time, Part 1, Nicolas Jaar - Leaves, Ash Koosha - Ooh Uhh, Burial - Young Death, Pendant - Des Vieux Temples, weeVanStood - black.exe

My mood at the end of an era. This Best Of 2016 mix offers neither the very best songs nor representation for the very best albums of 2016. Instead it condenses some of the year's very best tracks from some of the year's best albums into a cloud of sentiment--a Top 40 mix defined by its vintage, covering the songwriters and producers I like most (plus a few one-offs). Enjoy. Tracklist: Laura Mvula - Bread, Chairlift - Crying in Public, Jenny Hval - Period Piece, Cross Record - Steady Waves, Radiohead - The Numbers, Bon Iver - 22 (OVER S∞∞n), Mitski - Your Best American Girl, Suuns - UN-NO, Tobacco - Human Om, Gobby - Mysterioso, Alex Smoke - Dire Need, Nicolas Jaar - Three Sides of Nazareth, David Bowie - Lazarus, Flamingods - Anya, Cloudland Canyon - An Arabesque, Morgan Delt - Don’t Wanna See What’s Happening Outside, Animal Collective - Golden Gal, Danny Brown - Lost, Mark Pritchard - Beautiful People (Feat. Thom Yorke), Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Rare Things Grow, James Blake - Choose Me, Bibio - With The Th

It's 35 swag beats from 34 of my favorite producers this year. All 2016 everything. Shitty year; awesome sounds. Reap the harvest. Tracklist: Parks Burton - dlab1, Four Tet - Evening Side (Oneohtrix Point Never edit), Nicola Cruz - Invocacion, GOALS - Sugar Crush, Brother Mynor - david duchovny hides in the broom closet, Ccolo - Exoticaspeakerjam, GUNDAM - Bikini Beach, Al Dobson Jr. - White Rum, mieksneak. - Mililiters, Kaytranada - DESPITE THE WEATHER, FaltyDL - Bridge Spot, Gold Panda - Pink and Green, Daedelus - Special Re: Quest, Commodo - Solid Gold Telephone, Dakim - may hope (beatitude 4), Saafron - Host Body, Olof Melander - Slow, Abu Ama - Efendi Remix, Bwana - Failed Escape (Where You Belong), Seiho - Peach and Pomegranate, Andy Stott - New Romantic, Submerse - Sidequests, Mark Pritchard - Under the Sun, Oval - re, Nosaj Thing - N R 3, Jilk - Be Heart, Weval - You###re Mine, Etch - Technicolor Daydream, Moiré - Brixton, Hiele - Verwelkoming, LinG - Canthem, T_A_M - Myelin Sheath, Don’t DJ - Fall (4

Lose yourself in an atmosphere of allied electronic artistry, from collaborators in turn-of-the-millennium Japan. Cocoon ("Maju" in Japanese) features work by artists who played in Audio Sports, Maju, Neina, Hosomi, Kangaroo Paw and Synapse -- with particular focus on musicians Aki Onda and Sakana Hosomi. Their overlap outlines a scene that paralleled Nobukazu Takemura and the Childisc label, and resulted in some of the most innovative, glitchy ambient and post-rock music of the time. Listen up, and let the sonic boundaries break down. Tracklist: Audio Sports - So, That Was the Beginning, Maju - Eyelids Not Yet Open, Kangaroo Paw - Phlizz, Audio Sports - Banana (Joy Mix), Aki Onda - Cattleya, Hosomi + Ryo Miyashita - nog, Neina - Quit Elegance, Maju - Within Time, Without Words, Kangaroo Paw - Cat’s Cradle, Audio Sports - Never Personal, Tujiko Noriko - Tablet for Memory, Aki Onda - Fish Don’t Know it’s Raining, Hosomi - sp, Maju - Yawning in an Afternoon’s Monotony, Synapse - Soap Bubble, Maju - Once Again,

Keigo Oyamada’s vibrant Trattoria Records, a Polystar-owned imprint that lasted from 1991 to 2002, stood out among the core labels of Tokyo’s Shibuya-kei scene. It also provided a home to Oyamada’s brilliant Cornelius project, in which counterpoint, syncopation and sampling invaded — nay, parasitized — the sunny alt-rock sound of the ‘90s. If Cornelius could encapsulate Shibuya-kei’s eclectic, hyper-pastiche type of retro-chic and its flair for experimentalism on a single record, Trattoria reflected a broader vision where sounds like baroque pop, noise rock, psych, shoe-gaze, trip-hop, lounge and J-pop soccer anthems would all live on one roster. This mix pairs Cornelius tracks with Oyamada's production work, while setting aside Trattoria’s Western artists -- and its more overt J-pop, alt-rock and avant-garde sounds -- in favor of the label’s most inclusively adventurous (adventurously inclusive?) Japanese material, showing off what Shibuya-kei was truly capable of. Tracklist: Cornelius - 1969, Cornelius - Th

A small label run by Nobukazu Takemura in Kyoto from 1994 to 2007, Childisc was subtly groundbreaking. Takemura was at the cutting edge: beyond just granular synthesis, his output randomizers affected melody, his glitches (the sounds of ordered processes going awry) became pleasant listening, MIDI noise was incorporated into music, and the voices of robots -- hidden like kodama in a personal computer -- were friendly and cute, rather than isolating and threatening. Though he deserves his own episode, Takemura put out most of his best work on Childisc and honed a singular aesthetic there, curating the work of lesser known yet likeminded artists from around Japan and pairing it with his own. Childisc was about mystery and wonder -- a pairing of experimentalism and whimsy, where cute or kawaii voices and melodies were peppered with challenging bursts of blips and bloops. Electronic noises were slyly recontextualized as atmospheric music or percussion instruments; trip-hop and breezy, Brazil-inflected beats were

On this global bass mix, energy is central: Rhythms of the Afro-latin world are brought together in a transatlantic call-and-response between Africa, Europe, South and Central America -- a swirl of synthetic and acoustic beats, a weaving of sampled and recorded voices, a synthesis of roots and branches -- joined by producers from nearly every continent. The second Global Electronic episode, Global Antenna mixes digital cumbias from post-EDM Mexico, Argentina and Ecuador with a selection of high-energy clave-rooted beats and kuduros from all over the Portuguese-speaking world, while dropping in hip-hop and dancehall-inflected beats that flip sounds from locales as far-flung as Bollywood. It matches French MPC producers ventriloquizing Brazilian MPB samples with Italian producers ventriloquizing Central African tribal recordings, and blends the latest electronic techniques with classic Latin percussion instruments and African mbira. It selects from African artists living part-time in Europe, and even listens in

Holographic sounds for a Schwinn Beach Cruiser. Make the bike path glow. Tracklist: Bop - Fragments, Weval - You Made It (Part I), Al Dobson Jr. - Vibration, Armadillo - Aves del Valle, Don't DJ - Southern Shore, The Invisibles - Wing, John Wizards - Leuk, Seiho - DO NOT LEAVE WET, Jose Larralde - Quimey Neuquen (Chancha Via Circuito Remix), Balam Acab - See Birds (sun), Co La - White Silver Sands (Radiowave Version), Anchorsong - Monsoon, Nerftoss - Virtue Walk, The Avalanches - Subway/Going Home, The Day - Boots In the Pool, Disclosure - Feel Like I Do (Feat. Al Green), Kaytranada - LITE SPOTS, Cornelius - Drop, Bibio - A Mineral Love, Al Dobson Jr. - In the World, Botany - Anchor, Arawak - Accadde A Bali, Flamingods - Majestic Fruit, Gold Panda - I Am Real Punk, Mice Parade - Pursuant to the Vibe, Mount Kimbie - Adriatic, K15 - Mist, Submerse - No Continues Kid, TOKiMONSTA - Waiting For the Break of Dawn, Michael Turtle - Maid of the Mist, Teebs - Arthur's Birds, Gossamer - Okuma

Ambient heat and luminescent drones from contemporary artists and composers for bathing in the light ecstatic or brooding in the blinding sun. On this episode, tons of 2016 tracks are featured alongside seldom heard classics, all by thinkers who truly know how to focus their (and our) senses. Tracklist: Shigeto - Deep Breathing, Irezumi - Contemplations, Benoît Pioulard - Of Everything That Rhymes, Manu - Yawning In An Afternoon's Monotony, Naemi - Procel (Original Mix), Lucy - A Selfless Act, Guitoo - Snow Noiz, Christina Vantzou - Valley Drone, Sean MCCann - Guardian, Ian William Craig - Expanding Hope Into Caverns, Anenon - Panes, Huerco S. - The Sacred Dance, Zomes - Life On The Wheel, Julianna Barwick - Nebula, Tim Hecker - Up Red Bull Creek, Trees - sonm ambient 2, Ben Lukas Boysen - Sleepers Beat Theme, Felicia Atkinson and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - ME, Harbour - best self, Don't DJ - Southeast Subterrane, Matthewdavid's Mindflight - Venusian Sunset, Mark Pritchard - ?, Benoit Pioulard - II, Kane Ikin - Au

Feel it. Tracklist: Pharaohs - Beyond Within, Musiccargo - Sol Lucet Omnibux, Jib Kidder - Remove a Tooth, The Chemical Brothers - Dream On, Flamingods - Yuka, Morgan Delt - Little Zombies, Animal Collective - Graze, Nice Nice - Big Bounce, Dalhous - Bolder and Lighter Than the Beat from a Wing, Cloudland Canyon - An Arabesque, Spiritualized - Electric Mainline Part One, Zomes - Cosmovital Force, The Avalanches feat. Father John Misty - Saturday Night Out, Gwenno - Chwyldro, Vytas Brenner - Araguaney, Woodsman - Beat the Heat, Soft Circle - Shimmer, The Chemical Brothers - Wonders of the Deep, Stereolab - Moogie Wonderland, Caribou - Sun, The Boredoms - two circles, Deakin - Good House, Sun Araw - Horse Steppin

Last in the Dutch Waves series, Building Brains is a post-punk mix for the open mind. Holland's contributions to post-punk were restlessly creative and aesthetically experimental: industrial noise, synthesizers, modern classical, dub and krautrock grooves all made an impact. You might hear an acoustic guitar or a chamber orchestra. You might hear a dreary jam session, driven by a repetitive bassline and ornamented with bleeps and bloops. Or, pleasant ambient tones. A grinding synth instrumental. Sheet metal being cut. An entire factory coming to an abrupt halt. Some obtuse improvised non-music recorded direct to cassette at a squat somewhere in Amsterdam. A piano. Tracklist: De Fabriek - Take Four, Ensemble Pittoresque - Several Sunsets, Flue - Legacy, Mekanik Kommando - Scars - Run Tintintin Run, Bazooka - Rood / Wit, Nasmak - 4 Our Clicks, Edward Ka-Spel - Hotel Rouge, Prof. Einstein - Le Jardin Noir, Van Kaye and Ignit - Chapel, Nexda - ThreeSeventyFive, The Visitor - Tranceparent Whirled, Ensemble Pittore

Wild, uptempo post-punk slammers from Holland in the ’80s. If the spirit of Dutch new wave can be captured in a single mix of dark, eccentric party tracks? Here's your candidate. Tracklist: Kiem - Short Memories, Das Ding - H.S.T.A., De Div - Walk, Güler - Princess Parade, La Voix Qui Rit - Huba Huba, Flue - Some-Times, Minny Pops - Time, Mekanik Kommando - Entangled By Colors, The Actor - Picture 210, The Project - Money and Morals, The Tapes - Night After Night, Dojoji - Quincunx, Cargo Cultus - Le Peste, W.A.T. - Sub, Storung - Europe Calls, Tent - Distances, Ensemble Pittoresque - Program, Van Kaye and Ignit - Negroe in N.Y., Nine Circles - Twinkling Stars, Vice - See!, Coitus Int. - In Jutland, Nasmak - Plaster, De Div - Dit Moment, Kiem - Moneyman, Ensemble Pittoresque - A Distant Dance, Minny Pops - Tracking, Ende Shneafliet - The Day Detlef Macha Won, Mekanik Kommando - Icefield, Pee Dee - Tiuri, Tent - The Fear, Nasmak - Me Rex, The Tapes - Hot Line, Vice - Fiction Tales, Nine Circles - Here Come I,