Made of Sky

What is Made of Sky?

It’s a playlist I’ve been building for somewhere between twenty-five and thirty years. It’s never been finished, and it’s never been the same list twice. Tracks come and go, and the list moves with me. What doesn’t change is the feeling it’s after: a kind of bright stillness, calm that leaves you more awake, not less.

How long have I been listening to electronic music?

A long time. I’ve been listening to electronic music forever, because I’ve been making it forever. I remember going to see Tangerine Dream on September 9, 1988, at the Palace Theater in New Haven, Connecticut. That’s the town I grew up in. I was there with my best friend from those years, and we were, let’s say, trouble, or troubled, or both in our youth — and I’m talking kindergarten. I think he slept through a lot of it. Maybe he doesn’t recall? Maybe he will comment??? Dead Bob does!

Tangerine Dream had been shaping electronic music since the late sixties, and I was in awe of the technology on that stage. Now, well, we have better. Light-years, sci-fi better! But I walked out of that show knowing synthesizers could do more than sound futuristic. They could sound like weather, like distance, like light coming through a window. Tangerine Dream is still on this list. “At Darwin’s Motel” is the thread back to that night.

What am I listening for?

I hear it two ways. One is the way anyone can: as quiet morning music, something to read to, walk to, hike to, meditate to, or just think alongside. The other is the way I can’t switch off. I listen to how a lead line is shaped, where a chord progression leans or differs from the expected, how a track builds and then knows when to pull back. I notice voices, sung or synthetic, used as one more texture instead of the center of attention. And I pay close attention to the tracks that do almost nothing and still say everything. That’s Nils Frahm, some Moby, Jon Hopkins, and of course Brian Eno, who gave ambient music its name and its philosophy: music you can ignore or lean into, and both are right. Some day, I want to be like them.

How is it put together?

The arc is deliberate. It opens warm and rhythmic with ODESZA and Moby. Then it eases into a long, meditative middle — Hammock, Eluvium, Stars of the Lid, Solar Fields — where time loosens. It comes home through Ulrich Schnauss, David Moore with Bing & Ruth, and Eno and Hopkins together on “Emerald and Stone.” Put it on for a walk with no destination. It works best when you let it run.

Who’s on it, and where are they from?

All over. Tangerine Dream out of Berlin. ODESZA out of Seattle. Moby out of New York. Hammock out of Nashville. Ulrich Schnauss from Kiel, Nils Frahm from Hamburg, Jon Hopkins from Kingston upon Thames, Brian Eno from Woodbridge. Daft Punk out of Paris. Ström, a Swiss duo. The only one of these I’ve seen live is Tangerine Dream, and that was 1988. The rest are more obscure. I did see David Bowie and U2 concerts multiple times, and the Brian Eno presence of course was there in spirit.

Notable standouts

Ulrich Schnauss, “Made of Sky.” The title track, of course. Tangerine Dream, “At Darwin’s Motel.” Daft Punk, “Motherboard.” Ström, “Storulvån.” Jon Hopkins, “Cold Out There.”

What’s it for?

Quiet mornings, working, reading, winding down, and a window of time with nothing in it. This is also something new for Oceanbrz: the first electronic playlist here, and not the last. More are in the works.

For more instrumental groove, try Modern Western if you love guitar. For more mood music, but not just electronic, try Swimming In A Mist.

Enjoy!