A new year, a (sort of) new month — a mid-week — and some new music.

I’d wanted to cull some ‘best of moments’ from 2013 (and perhaps I still might) but in the interim I’ve uploaded this third, and final mix, from the In A Landscape series.

Lots of mid-range movement going on here, with some classics from Eric Satie, Yo-Yo Ma, Boards of Canada and a rare track from Annie Lennox, a haunting a cappella version of an old Eurythmics track that appeared on Dave Stewart‘s soundtrack for the 1989 film Lily Was Here. It’s quite amazing.

Enjoy, and please, as always — share your comments below.

The exact moment of this year’s Winter Solstice occurs early morning tomorrow, here in Washington, though many of us will celebrate tonight.

I created this mix several years ago — a collection of hymns, chants, Medieval carols and songs — a music compendium to mirror and celebrate this sacred moment in the Earth’s time cycle.

The Solstice, the night of the longest night, also marks the return of a slowly growing luminosity, as Winter begins in the Northern Hemisphere and radiance gains in prominence.

Light has always symbolized awareness and consciousness, as well as life-giving, creative properties. And in a very real sense we are each bodies of light, with the Sun Absolute as both our source and sustainment. And that link is not simply symbolic, it is literal.

For many astrologers the Winter Solstice is a demarcation that defines the start of the New Year. How we experience this evening (and tomorrow morning) provides an essential hint as to the theme or signature of the year ahead. Both universally and personally.

I will take a more sporadic approach to posting on Astro Inquiry in the coming week, as travel and gatherings with friends will shorten my time on the computer.

Solstice Blessings to each of you!

If you would like to hear more details pertaining to the Solstice, from an astrological perspective, I highly recommend my friend and colleague, Jessica Murray‘s recent radio interview (from December 19) where she shares a slew of insights into this magical moment — and the upcoming year, 2014.

The art work featured on this mix is by the talented Krista Hout. Ms. Hout spent her formative years in the forests of British Columbia, where she trained in fine arts and classical animation. Her paintings explore the relevance of archetypes in folklore, using inspiration from storybook illustration, folk art, animation and vintage kitsch. Krista’s work has been shown at galleries throughout the United States. You can explore more and order prints directly from her website Kristahout.com.

Part of the extreme sport-like difficulty of being a music mixer is attempting to blend contradictory styles of music. The segues must remain germane to the integrity of the entire playlist. It’s no easy feat, and often, like painting a painting it’s the accidents that turn out to be best parts of the canvas.

On this second volume of yuletide tunes (even more so than on Volume 1), I attempted to do just that: Have happy accidents. So you’ll hear Big Band blasters dovetail into country songs that shift into solemn carols, and classical instrumentals giving way to polychromatic pop numbers.

Some words about some of my choices:

The Carpenters‘ Merry Christmas Darling is, to me, the last really stellar Christmas song to make its way into the honorable holiday music canon. The title alone calls back to the 40s or 50s; and Richard’s arrangement makes it work in ways that other contemporary Christmas tunes can’t duplicate. And anything with Karen’s vocal is transformed instantly into something golden. Instead of featuring a cut from the last truly great modern Christmas album, 1963’s A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, I chose this song.

The most beautiful non-secular Christmas song is O Holy Night, from the French Cantique de Noël. And its history and transformation over time is fascinating. The elegance of the melody married to such compelling lyrics: Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices! O night divine, the night when Christ was Borne — makes for something astonishing. We’ve heard the song so many times — usually delivered with blaring glory notes and glissandi — that the song’s impact has dulled. But country singer Martina McBride, with her open, clear tone and natural annunciation brings everything that’s mystical about the song into high relief. This is the finest version I’ve experienced. Read more

This is part 2 of my In A Landscape mixtape. Part one encompassed more of an ambient, ethnic-tinged, bardo balm. Part two? Well, prepare yourself.

The closing mix was inspired by astrologer Kate Petty, in particular her detailed investigation of the various permutations of the ongoing and epic Uranus Pluto square. As she writes in Reclaiming the Apocalypse: “An apocalypse (meaning ‘un-covering’), translated literally from Greek, is a disclosure of knowledge … a lifting of the veil or revelation…”

How to make a mix that channels apocalyptic chic? You can’t. A demiurge must be summoned and control relinquished. Before you know it the tracks are selected, sequenced and you’ve tumbled down a rabbit hole of gyrating goodness. The tonal structure of this mix — like fire and water — should steam and float about your brain like an ember or bubble.

Included: 80s synth classics (Martin Gore‘s remake of Sparks’ Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth and the Eurythmics‘ Jennifer, an ode to looking fabulous while drowning), a 50s R&B scorcher from Ruth Brown. For movement and joint support, several dance and house cuts culled from the discursive Morse code of our data-dotted Age of Anxiety. And a bonus track: A morose rap/narrative from Schoolboy Q that you can dance to too — the best cut from his new LP Habits and Contradictions.

Read more

This is the first section of a two part mix. I’d had some requests to put something together that wasn’t so dance and beat-oriented (as this month’s earlier mix).

And so here is what you get:

Atmospheric autumnal tracks that span classical, world, ambient, glitch, David Lynch, chill, zombie (whatever that is) and pop.

This collection is best experienced with wine and natural lighting.

Please no synthetic scents or substances while listening.

Black holes. We all ponder their mystery and often our life can feel as though we are living right on the edge of a black hole, shaking, shattering and ready to be sucked — in — to — smithereens!

There’s a scientific term for the edge of the black hole. It’s called the event horizon.

Richard Birkin is a composer from Derbyshire, United Kingdom and he created this video and soundtrack to accompany it. He writes about it:

“Accretion discs are the beautiful tails of a black hole, formed by stars being dragged into that invisible thing that spells the end of matter, the observable universe, and known physics. They’re nightmarish, really. But from this distance they’re beautiful stationary things. By the time we look at them they’ll’ve already spiralled, changed, moved, chewed up who knows how many worlds.”

In fact as you’ve read this entry several stars have already gone down the rabbit hole. Where will they emerge?

You can watch the video above or read about the entire production here.