The permanent host of the works of R.J. Stefanski, an experimental dark ambient musician from Detroit, MI. Self released nearly 20 continuous mix tapes featuring the best of both contemporary and classic experimental music, with a focus on ambient and indie electronic genres. I also am an avid field recorder, and you can hear my tapes of rain, trains, and all sorts of found sounds in my mixes. Enjoy and I love hearing feedback! All my works are streaming on soundcloud and some for purchase on bandcamp.

Also, a word on my mixes: only brief samples of songs are used, always being tweaked or adjusted in some way by myself, and always presented in ONE long, continuous track. I am NOT giving away anyone’s music, if you enjoy the sample of an artist in one of my mixes, I urge you to go out and buy the album on vinyl and support the artist. That is the whole reason I am making these!

30th March 2013

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Mini Anthology of Ambient [2013 Revised & Remastered Edition]

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Mini Anthology of Ambient (For Cameron) [2013 Edition]

(click on title above to be directed to soundcloud)

My second mix, which originally was released over 2 years ago, is now streaming in a remastered and revised form. Fans of the original will hear a more smoothed out, slightly louder project. I also added two artists who were not on the first: Stars of the Lid, and Marconi Union. All of the details including the full tracklisting, is available by clicking through the link above. Enjoy.

Tagged: ambientsleep mixGasbiospherestars of the lidsigur rosaphex twinsleepmeditation

22nd February 2012

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Mix 10: Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (A Soundtrack for Space Travel)

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In the not so distant future: You are aboard a state-of-the-art space vessel hurtling off into the unknown realms of the universe. The only member of your crew still alive, you are haunted by voices which seem to echo from every dark corner of the craft. More troubling than those, the ship is under constant bombardment from fragments of sonic and audio data being beamed out into space from other ships and planets, remnants of old radio broadcasts perhaps, constantly unfolding into one another so that each small part melds into an ever changing orb of found sound. Suddenly you seem to have found a glimmer of hope in the far reaches of your telescope, the Sun. Its a race against time to try and reach the nearest civilization before the voices, real or imagined, drive you to insanity. So, light your last candles as you preserve vital power resources, dawn your best headphones, and let the speed-of-light voyage wash over you in a thick, psychedelic haze. (Hopefully the Sun’s image is not yet another one of the universe’s many mirages, looping you into a black hole which will bring you right back to where you began). [Download link in title below, enjoy!]

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (A Soundtrack for Space Travel) [1:07:51 @256 kpbs]

Feat.

(intro)Blondes “Moondance” (OPN Sundial Mix) / Boards of Canada “Smokes Quanity” / Pink Floyd “Set the Controls…” / The Present “Space Meadow” / Emeralds “Science Center” / Stars of the Lid “Music for Twin Peaks…” / Animal Collective “What Would I Want? Sky” / Boards of Canada “In a Beautiful Place…” / Mouse on Mars “Chromantic” / Biosphere “Hyperborea” / Gas “Pop #3” / White Rainbow “Major Spillage” / Studio “Life’s a Beach!” / Burial “Ghost Hardware” / Panda Bear “I’m Not” / Aphex Twin “Lichen” / The Orb “Earth (Gaia)” / Boredoms “Newsun #5” / Gang Gang Dance “Dust” / Casino Versus Japan “We Are You” / The Sight Below “Spelentique” / Biosphere “The Things I Tell You” / Telefon Tel Aviv “I Made a Tree on the Wold” / Gas “Zauberberg #7” / City Center “Cloud Center” / (fade return to intro)/

Tagged: Animal Collectiveambientbiosphereblondesboards of canadaboredomsburialdjdruggydubstepelectronicexperimentalgang gang dancegasheadphonesindiemusicnewagepanda bearpink floydpsychpsychedelicstars of the lidstudiotechnotelefon tel avivtrippywhite rainbowaphex twinidm

3rd August 2011

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mix 8: Anchor States (another sleep mix)

image            If there is one theme I am likely to return to more than others, it will probably be in the sleep/ambient genre. I listen to music every night as I fall asleep and am constantly tweaking playlists on my ipod in search of the perfect way to doze off. Compared with “Mini Anthology of Ambient”, here you will have to strain a bit more to catch the field recordings: the crickets, waves, ambient mall chatter, cars passing in the rain and more are all there, but hidden in the background as textures so as to never compete with the music for your overall attention. The music here is still largely electronic, but has a much more orchestral feel, heard right from the beginning with Loscil’s “Endless Falls” and continued to the end with multiple selections from Stars of the Lid. Where the first sleep mix was designed specifically for an infant and by necessity had to be beatless, one slowly fades into this mix towards the end of Andrew Thomas’ “I Am Here…” and continues through The Sight Below’s “At First Touch.” Although the “beat” here is more like that of a heartbeat than anything you would hear in a club, elements like this and a few weird drone-y moments may mean this mix will serve some as a chill-out soundtrack better than for sleep. That being said I honestly have had a very difficult time making it through the full 53 minutes without being lulled asleep. A number of pieces were also taken from various Pop Ambient compilations released by Kompakt (artwork above by myself, download link in title below).

Enjoy!

Anchor States (another sleep mix) [53:33]

feat.

Loscil - Endless Falls & Enthalpy / H.I.A. & Biosphere - Cannon Hill / Tal - Tal'90 / Biosphere - Spindrift / Andrew Thomas - I Am Here Where Are You & A Thousand Pinholes in a Black Paper Sky / Gas - Untitled 3 (Konigsforst) / The Sight Below - At First Touch & Shimmer & Further Away / Ulf Lohmann - Java / Stars of the Lid - Requiem for Dying Mothers, pt.1 & Anchor States, pt.1 & Even (Out)+ / All - Alles Fliesst Nichts Bliebt / also w. Sufjan Stevens, Animal Collective, Manual, and various field recordings / 

Tagged: AmbientAndrew ThomasBiosphereChill OutGasHigher Intelligence AgencyLoscilSleep MixSleep MusicStars of the LidSufjan StevensThe Sight BelowUlf LohmannKompaktPop AmbientCricketsField Recordings

6th June 2011

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mix 2: Mini Anthology of Ambient (For Cameron)

imageEssentially the opposite of project one, this is a beatless sound collage designed to help an infant (my one year old nephew) fall asleep. It features, in near-chronological order, some of the most important ambient artists of the last few decades, beginning with Briano Eno’s work from the 70s, skipping ahead to Aphex Twin in the early 90s and so forth. To help achieve a consistently soothing atmosphere I included plenty of natural sounds: rushing water, rain, waves lapping on a beach, etc. Hope it puts you right out! (link in title below, artwork above by me).

Mini Anthology of Ambient @160kbps (40:12)

feat:

Brian Eno - “1/1” / Aphex Twin - “Rhubarb” / Biosphere - “Kobresia” / Gas - “untitled 3” (from the album “Gas”) / Markus Guentner - “In Moll IV” / Keith Fullerton Whitman - “Modena” // also with. The Sight Below, Boards of Canada, and Radiohead.

Tagged: ambientsleepmeditationsoothingbrian enobiosphereGasrelaxationsleep music