In It's Own Good Time

I got a bit carried away with today's selection.

I was keen to create another long-form piece, three to four tracks, each around the twenty-minute mark. I ended up with a short list of eight, couldn't whittle them down any further, so I used them.

A single, eight-song selection would have clocked in at nearly three hours, so instead I've sequenced the tracks into two separate 'phases', each coming in at 83-84 minutes.

The music  spans the last five decades, though mostly comes from the 21st century. There are two 'oldies'. Tangerine Dream were properly introduced to me through listening to The Orb in the 1990s. Green Desert was recorded in 1973 but not finished and released until 1986, as part of the vinyl box set In The Beginning...

I read about Les Rallizes Dénudés first, in Julian Cope's absorbing and essential Japrocksampler, and were one of many such bands that I actively tracked down after finishing the book. There are relatively few official Les Rallizes Dénudés releases, and tons of unofficial ones. Enter The Mirror usually clocks in at around ten minutes, but the version here comes in at double that.

The Arch Drude himself follows suit, having put out what seems like dozens of albums , particularly the Rite series, featuring extended jams and/or streams of consciousness. Last year, Julian returned with I Dream The Cosmos Atavistic.

Likewise, Moby has been putting out music like this ever since he put out a 33-minute ambient version of 1994 single Hymn. His Long Ambients/LA series is exactly as the title describes. It may send you to sleep, but then that was Moby's intention all along.

A surprise addition in 2003 was Paddy McAloon's album I Trawl The Megahertz, not least the 22-minute opening song. If you've not heard it, I won't spoil things with a description. Suffice to say it's a radical - and beautiful - departure from his work as Prefab Sprout. When the album was reissued in 2019, it was rebranded as Prefab Sprout, but this is a one-of-a-kind record from a one-of-a-kind artist.

Dungen were recommended to me by my friend John, Swedish prog/psych rock for the modern age. Today's featured song is Midsommarbongen, which you can translate without too much trouble as 'The Midsummer Bong' which probably tells you all you need to know about what the music sounds like.

The first track on Phase 1 and the last track on Phase 2 are courtesy of Richard Norris, who has released 20-minute ambient pieces on a monthly basis for years now, transforming it into an art form.

Spring - Alban Eilir is from Richard's 2023 edition of his Music For Healing series. It not only felt like a timely inclusion, but also features some beautiful trumpet floating throughout. Land by Deep Earth Network is so fresh that it came out in March. An "earth inspired sonic journey" created by Danny Hammond, mastered by Richard and featuring shack- and field-recordings and spoken word, including those inspiring today's post title.

Phase 1

1) Spring - Alban Eilir: Richard Norris (2023)

2) Green Desert: Tangerine Dream (1973)

3) LA3: Moby (2016)

4) I Trawl The Megahertz: Paddy McAloon (2003)

Phase 2

1) Enter The Mirror (Mars Studio Version 2): Les Rallizes Dénudés (1980)

2) Psalm Zero: Julian Cope (2025)

3) Midsommarbongen: Dungen (2001)

4) Land 1: Deep Earth Network (2026)

1986: Green Desert: A2

2003: I Trawl The Megahertz: A4

2005: Dungen 1999-2001: B3

2012: Mars Studio 1980: B1

2016: Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep.: A3

2023: Music For Healing: Equinox 3: A1

2025: I Dream The Cosmos Atavistic: B2

2026: Land: B4

In It's Own Good Time (Phase 1) (1:24:01) (GD) (M)

In It's Own Good Time (Phase 2) (1:23:37) (GD) (M)

If that's not enough and you want to fill your boots/mind/day with more of the same, take your pick!

Chic Thug Stuttered Through A Stereo Dream (August 2021)

Conchoidal Fracture (January 2022)

Monoliths (May 2023)

Sendimentary Sedentary (October 2023)

Urban Head Musics (July 2021) / More Urban Head Musics (February 2022)