It's Drone and Ambient Night at Swallow Hill 🐤
In May, I curated a two-hour 'Sips and Spins' event where we dove into modern ambient. Here's the tracklist.
In May — which seems so far away now as to maybe draw you to swipe away from this update immediately — I curated a “Sips and Spins” event at Swallow Hill Music, a longstanding music school and venue in south Denver. The invitation came from Barry Osborne, a folk musician here who works at Swallow Hill and hosts the very relaxed shindig. Aside from being my friend and the man who officiated our wedding — seamlessly dropping references to REM, Bill Callahan, Depeche Mode and Substack GOAT Patti Smith into his reading — we’ve also listened to many records together. Actually, we ran into each other in the international section of Twist & Shout in the weeks leading up to the event.
The following photos were taken by Kenzie Everitt and shared courtesy of Swallow Hill Music.
When Barry asked me for a theme for the night, I instantly went to what I knew best: ambient, drone and glitch. These are broad instrumental classifications and as far as the general public is concerned still call back to Enya, Yanni and Eno. The first record I played drew a quip from a man there who said it was stuck on repeat. For an activity where people are encouraged to sit, listen and learn about different styles of music, I saw it as an opportunity to set the record (I’m sorry) straight.
Ambient doesn’t necessarily mean new age or peaceful. In many cases what constitutes ambient music can be thought of as eerie or unsettling, such as The Caretaker’s An Empty Bliss Beyond this World from 2013 all the way back to Brian Eno’s seminal Ambient 1: Music for Airports from 1978. One audience member at Swallow Hill said the choral pads of “2/1” were haunting for her, and shared with me that Eno sampled actual singers and not rendered voices as it may appear.
This is contemplative music, though. The same person who joked at the beginning closed his eyes and bobbed his head gently for a couple of tracks, settling into the stillness. For others, it can feel like forced restraint. I get it. All I can say is that it’s good to let go sometimes and surrender yourself. (Eno said that.)
One of my favorite record labels for the last decade or so has been RVNG Intl., which is based in NYC. In addition to fostering the works of a number of excellent ambient artists, such as Emily A. Sprague and Visible Cloaks, they’ve taken it on their hands to rescue magnificent collections from obscurity, including the field recordings of Ernest Hood and a truly captivating score by author Ursula K. Le Guin in collaboration with Todd Barton.
There are other labels — Kranky, PAN, Mego, all the little internet labels that put out those early vaporwave records — that had a role in shaping ambient music in the 21st century. There are so many standout records that P4K made a Top 50. And that was before Andre 3000 brought Carlos Niños and the boys out of Los Angeles and on a new-age tour around the world. We’re truly in a golden age of ambient.
The rising popularity of ambient music also comes with questions about class, socioeconomic stability and race. I’m afraid I’m only scratching the surface.
I put together a Spotify playlist of everything I played at Swallow Hill. It’s listed in order but go off and explore.
I feel like you’ll be reading about ambient sh*t from me again soon…
Miguel’s Lite und Ambiente Classics
Matthew Herbert - “In the Kitchen” from Around the House, 1998
Brian Eno - “1/1” and “2/1” from Ambient 1: Music for Airports, 1978
Ernest Hood - “Into the Groves” from Back to the Woodlands (2022 reissue)
Microstoria - “File Care” from init ding + _snd (2024 reissue)
Emily A. Sprague - “A Lake” from Water Memory / Mount Vision (2019 reissue)
Ana Roxanne - “Venus” from Because of a Flower (2020)
A Winged Victory for the Sullen - “Requiem for the Static King Part 2” from A Winged Victory for the Sullen (2011)
The Caretaker - “Tiny gradiations of loss” and “Camaraderie at arms length” from An Empty Bliss Beyond this World (2011)
Yves Tumor - “Limerence” from mono no aware (2017 compilation)
Visible Cloaks, Yoshio Ojima & Satsuki Shibano - “Lapis Lazuli’ from FRKWYS Vol. 15: serenitatem (2019)
Huerco S. - “Plonk I” from Plonk (2022)
Fennesz - “Made in Hong Kong” from Endless Summer (2001)
Emeralds - “Magic” from Solar Bridge (2022 reissue)
Bing & Ruth - “The How of It Sped” from No Home of the Mind (2017)