mix: it's snow fun

the cozy and the bone-chilling sides of the coldest months. i drew from digital fusion releases, game music and library music for this mix. happy holidays!

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In what has become something of an inadvertent tradition, here is my seasonal mix, this time themed after the cold of winter.

I tried to keep Christmas out of this, as I consider Christmas music basically its own world, but one Christmas tune did sneak in--the excellent Funtastik library has some great tracks for Christmas specifically, so I had to put on on here: "Christmas at Last"! A few other library tracks also made the cut, such as the futuristic "Sky 2" by the brilliant (and recently passed away) Alan Hawkshaw.

I've also included a selection of tracks from various game releases, mostly (rather on the nose) from ice or snow levels, but also just anything that captures my imagination and makes me think of winter or cold weather. I once again had to include the stellar soundtrack to "Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Burst Forth!! Choro-gon☆Breath", as well as the fantastic Sonic Frontier soundtrack (I need to play this game if the soundtrack is any indication!)

The rest of the tracks are a selection of various recent digital fusion releases, such as from the criminally underrated Buzugu, WaxTerK's latest compilation of heavy hitters, and Metaroom's entry to PURE MIDI.

Finally, I would be remiss not to mention that if you want more winter-themed music, Infloresce held a 2-day, 4 hour festival of digital fusion from the entire community, and the VODs are available on Twitch!

mix: water season

with summer over, this mix captures the joy of rainfall after a drought, the calm of a warm bath, and the fear of the deep unknown and what lurks there.

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The ineffable genre of "Water Music", songs about or centering water-adjacent experiences, has always been one of my favorites. There are countless demoscene tracks that feature water prominently, due partially to water also being a fascinating thing to render in real time.

The impetus for this mix came when I heard fusoxide's opening track for their new release, The Dynamically Generated Future, which captures that demoscene/early 3D game underwater vibe perfectly. From there I wanted to capture both newer digital fusion music from the scene, as well as older tracks that have stuck with me, such as xerxes' and Ceekayed fantastic tracked work, and Plaid's wonderful "light rain".

Most of these tracks are pretty directly in reference to rain, water, the ocean and so on, but at least a few probably don't have a direct relationship to water, but they just FEEL that way to me, like Shirobon's "Umbra" and coda's "Safety Layer".

This mix also serves as my autumn mix, as I strongly associate water and the fall season, especially now that I live in California and the 7-ish month drought comes to an end at last! Tracks like mandrasigma's "Rainwalker", and aivi's "silver lining", both from exciting new digital fusion label Infloresce Records (which I'm part of as a mastering engineer), capture in my mind the joy of rain.

mix: endless summer

a summery playlist, travelling from japan's city pop and retro-future jams, to brazil's bossa nova, and landing on american jazz fusion and jazz-tinged pop.

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This mix is a bit of a change from my previous ones, which were specifically aiming for newer releases with a focus on digital fusion. For this one, I was inspired by the summer's sweltering heat to let my mind wander to worldwide genres that make me feel like summer.

Starting with Japanese city pop. I included a selection of classics, like "Clouds" by Tatsuro Yamashita, as well as SUPER DRAGON's cover of "Kimi wa 1000%", but also modern takes, like Mukajudan's wonderful Maboroshi Time Machine and Flamingo by Asako Toki.

Drifting onward from this sound, I landed on the bossa nova sound from Brazil: Jobim, Banda Black Rio (although they might be considered funk instead), and many other pioneers from that time.

Finally, I selected some of the most summery tracks from the US jazz fusion and jazzy, summery side of r'n'b from the 70s and 80s: Steely Dan is a must of course, and I recently discovered that "I Can't Help It" by Michael Jackson was written by Stevie Wonder, a real sleeper track with stellar production by Quincy Jones. I also included some of my favorite instrumental jazz fusion tracks to close the set out, with Ramsey Lewis' "Brazilica" tying it all together. Get a cold drink and sit under the intercontinental palm trees!