POTW (2019/31): Daydreaming 2

With the Daydreaming 2 playlist, its curator, Carlo Rogall, has assembled a lovely collection of pieces. This is the first time I’ve featured one of his playlists, and not a moment too soon. (It’s a bit of an oversight, actually.)

Stressed, Moi? I make chillout!

From the opening bars of the first track, I could feel the stresses of the last few days melting away. Stresses? Thanks for asking! I’ve been pushing hard towards finishing as many of my open projects as possible. I need to reclaim my computer’s over-stuffed hard drive for a large project starting in September. The deadline is approaching way too quickly for my comfort and the push to complete projects is generating even more data!

The projects I’m trying to close out are some remixes and reworkings of other peoples’ songs. These have taken longer than expected, and a few other important things have needed my attention along the way. (I made my Patreon site and moved my website to a new host.) I’ll let you know when the music is going to be coming out. (It is looking like the EP will be late October, but I’m hoping the other remix will release sooner).

Enough about me. Back to Daydreaming!

This week’s curator is Carlo Rogall. He’s a DJ, producer & drummer from Germany, who, as Spaceschneider, makes electronic music focussing around downtempo, psychedelic, dub & deephouse. His tracks often have acoustic elements and influences from world music and jazz, and he frequently collaborates with other artists. Dephinite, Erkan Baran and Mniei being examples. In fact, he and Dephinite own the Rogalist Records label together. If you’ve read this blog for a while, you may recognise this label name, as I featured two playlists by their manager, last year.

As you might expect from Spaceschneider, there’s a large dose of relaxing and downtempo electronica in the playlist. But it is also filled with a mixture of other independent music, including experimental, classical and world-music-influenced styles, . Most of the time the playlist flows, but there are occasionally slightly abrupt changes in direction. A good example would be the jump from Lauge’s peaceful composition Fairbanks to Ugochill’s Familiar, with its rocky solo guitar. Normal service is resumed quickly, dropping the pace down to Andy Salvanos’s acoustic piece Under the Piano two tracks later. The pace switches are probably entirely intentional, to keep it a daydreaming playlist, and not a sleep-dreaming one.

Too much to take in

There are many great tracks on this list, but I’ll mention just a few that stood out. Mbr/Ajisai by Ametsub is, a hybrid of African and Eastern meditative sounds with a downtempo beat and soft, layered vocals. Guaava by Germind is a slow, floaty synth piece that fades in and out, which suits the daydreaming theme particularly well. This Charming Violin is a remix by TPOT of Kick Bong’s track. It’s all mournful violin playing and operatic wailing over a bouncy electronic backdrop. It sounds way better than I described it! Last one: Entheogenic’s A Language Older than Words is beautifully produced prog-tronica journeying through a Floydian-but-Eastern landscape.

There’s too much to take in properly in one sitting, but this is the sort of playlist you’ll want to return to. (I’ll happily admit I already have).

Duration: 12h 10min, 159 songs.

Rating: PG (I can’t quite give this one a U, there’s one track with the dreaded ‘explicit’ label. I can’t vouch for any non-English lyrics, either.)

Ideal for: Background music, evening winding-down. Some tracks are a bit slow for work music, but as the intensity of tracks varies, this playlist isn’t likely to send you to sleep at the office. Beware of daydreaming, though! If you do nod off, earlier nights and more coffee may be needed!

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