Headphone Commute

Happy Thursday, friends. Last year, I managed to put together only a handful of mixes, and, as usual, I found myself wondering whether it was still worth the time and energy. That’s a conversation we can finally have properly now, over on Headphone Community. But for all the self-questioning, some rituals are too important to abandon. Today marks the arrival of the 18th chapter in Mathias Van Eecloo's eisOtones series - a carefully assembled journey through 50 tracks drawn from 50 different releases. You can explore all earlier editions if you feel like retracing the path, but this one very much stands on its own. Expect a wide-ranging and occasionally surprising selection, brushing up against styles that don’t always revolve within the usual Headphone Commute orbit. And that is exactly the point. If you're a fan of Phantom Limb, Thrill Jockey, 12k, Room40, Hands In The Dark, Dronarivm, Audiobulb, and about 40 other labels, then this is definitely a voyage for you. And with that, it’s time to stop talking and let the music take over.

Good morning, and welcome to your Thursday. I may not have published many mixes this past year, but I can't let this one slip through the cracks. Tradition is a tradition. I've been hosting Mathias Van Eecloo's label showcase for almost half a decade, whereby he compiles two years of LAAPS and IIKKI releases into a single continuous mix. If you want to start at the beginning, you can download or stream the 2020-2021 installment, followed by the 2022-2023 chapter, and finally share your time with us here. Once again, this is a glorious selection of two years of music, spanning 23 releases and even 8 books - a label sampler unlike any other, available exclusively here, which, hopefully, will whet your appetite, and you'll check out the albums in full.  As usual, when it comes to sharing these mixes, words become futile, and I'd rather let the music speak for itself. Enjoy the journey, and please don't forget to support all the humans who share this beauty - it's the least we can do in this increasingly bizarre age of agents.

Good morning, friends. Admittedly, I have been quiet here and somewhat behind in the music I want to share. I promise you, however, that is not due to the lack of attention. If anything, I am focused even more, pouring all of my energy into Headphone Community, where I feature an artist each month, connecting on a much deeper level with a meaningful engagement. If you miss this in the current day and age of thinly veiled unsocial media and algorithmic content, I think you would love this new and intimate space. In March, I featured James Murray, finishing this month with Ben Chatwin, and I'm happy to announce that Erik K. Skodvin will be the featured artist for May! It's only $1 a month, and you also get a significant discount code from the artists' latest albums (it's 80% off!). With that said, I want to share a beautiful mix prepared exclusively for Headphone Commute by Jeremy Young. So why don't you sit back, hit play, and let me tell you more about this artist...

Jeremy Young is a Canadian musician from Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, and a member of Cloud Circuit, Sontag Shogun, and the newly formed Associated Sine Tone Services (alongside Nicolas Bernier and Rutger Zuydervelt). Young works with analogue oscillators, reel-to-reel tape loops, and filtered electromagnetic signals to create his lo-fi concrète compositions. His recently released album, Cablcar, is a raw suite of tape-saturated sketches, stitched together from found fragments and tuned entirely by hand — no synths, no software, just voltage and intuition. In the spirit of this process, Jeremy has crafted this special mix, sharing the music that’s inspired him throughout Cablcar’s creation — a compelling prelude to the record’s elemental textures. Enjoy this mix and see if you can catch Young in person at one of his upcoming live performances.

Happy Monday, friends. I didn’t publish many mixes last year—probably about four altogether. Do you think I should continue investing time into this? Oh, right. You can’t answer me here, but you can on the newly launched Headphone Community. In any case, some traditions continue. And today, I have the 17th instalment of Mathias Van Eecloo‘s eisOtones series, which comprises 50 tracks from 50 releases of 2024. See all previous editions here. Prepare yourself for a very eclectic selection of tunes, some outside the HC general pathway. This is precisely what I love about this journey – I get to turn to the alleys I don’t generally go down. I like to think of it as a way to reset, cleansing the mind and stepping away from the usual sounds we take for granted. It’s a chance to explore music that exists on the outskirts, the boundaries of which we seem to narrow every day. Mathias is, of course, the founder of the now-concluded Eilean Records, as well as the ongoing IIKKI project and LAAPS, a label focusing on ambient and electro-acoustic genres. All of which I can highly recommend. And now, the music!

Looking back at last year, I realised I didn’t publish many episodes on HC Podcast. In fact, besides the celebrations of the year past, I only had Dustin O’Halloran making a Blue Summer Mixtape for me [and for you]. I’m not sure how I feel about that, to be honest. It’s not like anyone reached out and said, “Hey, what happened to the mixes?” But at least I have this annual tradition where Mike Jedlicka of Optic Echo creates a vinyl-only mix at the beginning of each year. And this is his 14th instalment (if you don’t count his best-of-the-decade mix). As usual, Mike keeps me on my toes by sharing fantastic music that I somehow missed, and it’s a great pleasure to experience his deep knowledge of eclectic selections in a long-form continuous mix. If you like these choices, check out the Optic Echo Presents archive. Enjoy the journey, and may I remind you once again to please support the featured artists and labels! Pick up their releases on Bandcamp, even if you still intend to play them on Spotify on the go! Oh, and one last thing – if you love this mix, I’ll try putting up a lossless version on Headphone Community.