“Listen to your world. It may be more interesting than all the things you buy to escape from it.” American writer Sasha Frere-Jones’ observation from 1999 comes 30 years after composer R. Murray Schafer introduced the term acoustic ecology, thus shaping the awareness for the musicality of soundscapes.

This 46-minute mix proves Frere-Jones right – with field-recordings by Alejandra & Aeron, Bill Fontana, Chris Watson, Paul Bowles and others.

Featured cover art: Jean C. Roché – Birds of Venezuela

Listen also to

Ambient Japan (1981-2004)

Free of artificial ornamentation, well balanced, and designed with love for detail, some Eighties' Japanese ambient music resembles the concept of the countries' traditional gardens. 51 minutes of music striving to enhance environments – with works by Haruomi Hosono, Inoyama Land, Masahiro Sugaya, Yasuaki Shimizu and others.

Playlist ‘Filed Recordings’

Paul Bowles – Wind

playing with a musical sound (1958, Dom America)

Geir Jenssen – Cho Oyu Basecamp: Morning

audio diary of climbing the eight-thousander Cho Oyu in Tibet (2006, Ash International)

BJNilsen – Rough Grazing

exploring acoustic environments in Gran Paradiso’s alpine landscape (2015, Editions Mego)

Justin Bennett – The Mosques of Tanger (exc.)

high up on a rooftop in the early morning, calls from different mosques mix and resonate as they cross the city (1994, Staalplaat)

Chris Watson – Cassarina

echoing voices shouting by the seaside (2002, Touch)

Jean C. Roché – Ocumare (exc.)

fascinated by the unusual musical volume he encountered in Venezuela, ornithologist Jean C. Roché set out to record the country’s birds (1972, Sub Rosa)

Paul Williams – Top Fuel

action during the hot-rod drag car racing meet on England’s Santa Pod Raceway (1999, Ash International)

Alejandra & Aeron – Anguiano Bells

calling the village for the Danza de los Zancos during the annual Fiesta de la Magdalena in Anguiano/La Rioja (2001, Lucky Kitchen)

Félix Blume – Piano and Screaming

a funeral in Port au Prince on the Caribbean island of Haiti (2016, Discrepant)

Bill Fontana – Waves Breaking on Rocks Along the Northeast Australian Coast

field recording as an art in itself, analogous in many ways to photography (1983, Sierra Club)

Eckart Rahn – Pachinko In Your Head (exc.)

imaginary rhythms emerging from the interfering sounds of about 1,000 pinball machines at Aladdin Pachinko Parlour, Shinjuku, Tokyo (1998, Blue Rahn Studio)