James Holden has curated an excellent two hour selection of ambient music.
The producer stepped in at the behest of the BBC, sculpting Ambient Focus for BBC Sounds. Rising to the challenge, James Holden has sculpted a wonderfully immersive two hour selection, including some key touchstones.
Dropping in a few of his own touchstones, the term ‘ambient’ is perhaps misleading – open-ended creativity that focusses on atmosphere and mood over form, this offers 120 minutes of riveting aural abstraction.
made a playlist of so-called ambient music for the BBC (including motion sickness of time travel, @polypores, KFW, @johnalsobennett, TCF, XAM duo, shabaka, alice, dj plead, pataphysical,…) : https://t.co/6g4iPwkzmk
— James Holden (@mrjamesholden) August 13, 2023
Sharply melodic, the playlist is capable of moving from Alice Coltrane to Shabaka Hutchings via Brian Eno, D1G, Polypores, and more.
Find it in full over on BBC Sounds.
James Holden’s new album ‘Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space Of All Possibilities’ landed earlier this year. Clash writer Lee Wakefield observed: “Holden is chasing the optimism only dance music can spark in young onlookers. In his unique way, he captures it.”
