Idyllic Music

This week, on the 100th episode of Idyllic Music, we hope to honor the many regular listeners of this podcast with two CD ready mixes of the best vocal and instrumental tracks heard on the show over the past two years. Don, Mika, Stephen and I have gleaned the archives and will offer up these two mixes unencumbered by the usual patter so that you can burn them directly to the blank CD of your choice. We have two podcast mp3 files of nearly 80 minutes worth of the best music featured over the two years. Picking only these songs proved difficult.

This week, we'll contemplate the patient ear. The following five tracks require time. At least they did for me. Each one finds its stride at precisely the right moment for that song and that make them special. Taking their own sweet time about it are HerbalJ, Audiokonstrukte, Terence Blanchard, Wurlitztraction and Misosoup. At the end of the program, I'll have a few words about our 100th episode and give away.

This week, East meets West for a soft clash or happy mesh of global culture. It's the musical migration that may be our best hope toward understanding and acceptance of each other. Helping us along are DubDriver, Tokyo507, Omnisine, Mystic Village and Soma Sonic.

This week, we'll look at fair-trade music. Over the past several years, three things have changed the course of popular music, for better or worse. First came the marriage of music and video and the overwhelming marketing power it presented. It was an expensive tool requiring serious funding by record labels loathe to take chances on what they viewed as a commodity. Next was the advent of personal digital recording allowing bands to record professional quality music on a shoestring and finally the Internet offered the ability for bands to market their own music. Fair-trade music acknowledges this and offers a new relationship between artist and fan. Embracing the new paradigm are Laki Mera, The Chill Conspiracy, Lich, to the sea with me and Radio Orphans.

This week, we'll look beyond the Lost Horizon for the mythical places, hidden and elusive. They are known by names like El Dorado, Shangri-La, Avalon, Atlantis or Utopia. Guiding our way on this episode of Idyllic music are AguaFlames, Neko Neko, Alu, Neil Smith, Indidginus and Orange Crush.

This week, we'll look at transportation. It's the getting from one place to another that takes up so much of our time whether it's physically or spiritually. So we'll explore the conventional and not so conventional ways of getting around with the help of USB, Under, Crisopa, Aquanaut and HypNo.

This week, we'll look for the lost, the secret, the rushed and hypnotic with the help of four bands who have made distinctive contributions to independent music in their home countries. They are Bluba Lu, Kalahari Surfers, QuiOui and Volfoniq.

This week, we'll look at city life and the effort it takes not to be overwhelmed by it. Taking us through the structure, disorientation, density and sanctuaries of respite are DJ Shiro, Dive Index, Confused Man, Danieto and Macrostructure.

This week, we'll look at the brusque and abrupt. It seems as if we live in a time of rapid change, speeding up yet halting in fits and jerks. It is demonstrated in the area of climate change, where the theory of abrupt, tipping point change is becoming more widely accepted. On this episode we'll hear 7 songs whose precipitous changes and Unexpected endings represent that new reality. They are from Alif Tree, I am Open, Krael, Gisela, Jeff Mallon and Anji Bee. I'm Jim Nye

This week, we'll look at the One and no other. Novelist Iris Murdoch said 'The absolute yearning of one human body for another particular body and its indifference to substitutes is one of life's major mysteries" It explains how years after love goes sour, you can be haunted by that failure. Accepting no substitutes this week are Blind Divine, Chris Martin, Dive Index, Countertop Hero and Lemonchill.

This week, we'll look at the blue side of love. The agonizing reappraisal that comes after infatuation with the help of Big Wheel, Kristin Mainhart, The Banjo Consorsium, Fez Dispenser, Velvet Chain and Deerfoot. I'm Jim Nye

This week, we'll hear five songs by artists and musicians who have internalized the sounds of their adopted homes or stepped outside their native cultures to embrace the beats of another. They are Amanda Jayne, Virculum, Suzanne Vega, Stervhia and the Lion of Joppa Soundsystem. I'm Jim Nye

This week, we'll look at sister cities. Not in any formal sense but closely related nonetheless. We have four bands and four cities whose cultural and artistic proximity could just as easily be one. They are Mavro, Chill Factor-5, Tricky and Bubblelawn. I'm Jim Nye

This week, we'll look at foreknowledge and hindsight. The ability to know what might happen and inability to profit from that knowledge. Like Camus' unused train ticket found at his fatal car crash or lyrics of a song made clear over time. We'll visit that paradox with Jamdeluxe, Nihaya, Owen, Tryad, and Coil.

This week, we'll search for the empty space, the gap or missing part. A spot devoid of all things but meaning through the help of the definitive Lacunae, Aaron the cutter, DS-Art, Max Cavallera and Egon.