Episodes
Sunday Feb 16, 2020
Cruising Altitude Departure 33, 2019 December 7
Sunday Feb 16, 2020
Sunday Feb 16, 2020
[GUEST POST]
Good morning, friends, it's Captain Halcyon, dropping in to provide what I hope is a nice little break from this site's usual content. It's been seven months since I've done this--have you missed me? I have missed these departures, but we have tried the "regularly scheduled appearance" strategy and like most other things it didn't work. Thankfully no one was hurt!
Anyhow, sometime while I was away, I suppose, this "program" celebrated a sixth birthday. That we have only done 33 of these excursions feels more right than wrong. There is no demand whatsoever for these transmissions, and they can't be special if they happen all the time. (Is this what the kids call a "subtweet?") All that said, I feel like our journeys add up to a coherent...something. This one was maybe a bit heavier and choppier than whatever I must have first imagined in the "halcyon" summer of 2013, but living things are bound to change.
Fly with me next time, whenever that is, and we'll see how things are different, and how they are the same.
CRUISING ALTITUDE playlist, 2019 December 7, 1000-1100:
- "Blue" | Not Waving | Futuro (Music for the Waldorf Project) | Ecstatic
- "Racimos De Luz" | Federico Durand | Pequeñas Melodías | IIKKI
- "Mouthless Dub" | Jay Glass Dubs | Plegnic | Ecstatic
- "ស្ថានីយ៍ដំបូង s u n r i s e ░ f i r s t s t o p ░" | s i r o s ស៊ីរ៉ែន | Sualo Gevor | Virtual Soundsystem
- "(This Is) Water" | Soap&Skin | From Gas to Solid / you are my friend | Play It Again Sam
- "Zweitens" | Max Würden Feat. Luis Reichard | Pop Ambient 2019 | Kompakt
- "Breathe the Snake 1" | UnicaZürn | Transpandorem | Touch
- "Dekka" | Anton Kubikov | Pop Ambient 2017 | Kompakt
- "Bright Light" | Fumio Miyashita | Wave Sounds of the Universe | Personal Affair
- "A" | Trudge | 100 | 1Ø PILLS MATE
- "Shinkiroh" | Toshifumi Hinata | Broken Belief | Music from Memory
Friday Aug 02, 2019
Cruising Altitude Departure 32, 2019 May 4
Friday Aug 02, 2019
Friday Aug 02, 2019
[GUEST POST]
Halcyon here, the "good captain," as I like to think of myself, bringing you another audio transcript of a gentle Saturday morning from long ago. For civic infrastructure trivia buffs, this should have bookended street repairs near the radio station that had just begun when I embarked on my previous departure, but this was not the case. More evidence that I shouldn't concern myself with what is on the ground. People keep trying to tell me. Who knows if I will ever listen.
I am hereby giving myself credit for reigniting Kid Catharsis's interest in Laraaji by playing today's lengthy opening piece. Why shouldn't I? Structurally, things get more hectic after that point, the changes coming faster and faster. Is that reminiscent of something? Does that do anything for you, listener? Is it perhaps none of my business?
As always, this was a "pop-up" program, and I don't know if or when I will be allowed to do this again. Life is contingency.
CRUISING ALTITUDE playlist, 2019 May 4, 1000-1100:
- "Equinox" | Laraaji & Lyghte | Celestial Realms | Morning Trip
- "Side A" | Not Waving / Jim O'Rourke | Side A / Side B | Diagonal
- "Hal - Wolfgang Voigt Mix" | Soulsavers | Pop Ambient 2017 | Kompakt
- "New Dawn" | Seahawks | Eyes of the Moon | Cascine
- "Nordmeer" | Benoît Honoré Pioulard, Sean Curtis Patrick | Avocationals | Beacon Sound
- "Hawaii et Papaye" | Papillon | Cercueil flottant | Sucata Tapes
- "Discovery" | Dravier | Spirit Channels | Not Not Fun
- "Cerulean Skull" | DJ Rubio | Western Medicine | Man Band
channel spirits
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Monday May 06, 2019
Cruising Altitude Departure 31, 2019 March 23
Monday May 06, 2019
Monday May 06, 2019
[GUEST POST]
Good day to you, traveler. I bring you greetings from some seven weeks after this program aired. If I recall correctly, which is never a safe bet, this was a wet, gray, somewhat cold morning in the Ithaca area. It was "Spring" by the slimmest of technicalities, though winter never seems far away here. "Sunlit but Shivering?" Maybe a little of that. "Partly sunny" is a local specialty. In any case it was a reasonable day for flying, and apparently I was needed. I rose to the challenge as I sometimes do.
This program was book-ended by two long and lovely pieces. I received a compliment on the Michael Morley tune, which made me feel nice even though I didn't create the music! What is the psychology of that, I wonder? I did not receive any praise for playing Becoming Animal, but then again it was not required. I am happy to play just about any fruit of the Cindytalk tree.
Again, this was a "surprise" program, and I have done yet another one in the meantime. I will write a report at some point, I am sure. When time allows, when it allows.
CRUISING ALTITUDE playlist, 2019 March 23, 1000-1100:
- "Cease The Four Winds" | Michael Morley | Heavens Idleness Awaits | Thin Wrist
- "Sky" | SLV | Berlin. Portrait In Music | Soma Quality Music
- "Toward a Boundless Uncertainty, Sunlit But Shivering" | Benoit Pioulard | Toward a Boundless Uncertainty... | Mellotron
- "4(E+D)4(ER=EPR)" | William Basinski | On Time Out of Time | Temporary Residence Ltd.
- "The Courtesan Jigokudayu Sees Herself as a Skeleton in the Mirror of Hell" | Black to Comm | Seven Horses For Seven Kings | Thrill Jockey
- "The Sky Is Ever Falling - Abul Mogard Remix" | Becoming Animal | And We Are Passing Through Silently | Houndstooth
not not fun
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Monday Jan 07, 2019
Cruising Altitude Departure 30, 2018 December 8
Monday Jan 07, 2019
Monday Jan 07, 2019
[GUEST POST]
This is your Captain, Halcyon, here, with what is probably a less startling appearance than the last one. I appear "in the hour of need," and it would seem that in December the need is more likely to arise than in many other months. This was a crisp morning in late Autumn, which if I recall has been a favorable condition for me in the past, but this particular day was a bit overcast for my taste. Alas. This program was conceived in summer sunshine and is probably best suited for that time, and this particular broadcast seems dreary and "rubs me the wrong way" to an extent. It seems to me barely there until Cindytalk reminds us that indeed we are here.
To each their own, though, and this may give you the same pleasure that some listeners experienced at the time. Laraaji was especially popular, as is proper. I remember having a zither in the Halcyon household when I was a child, and the thought fills me with warmth. Having to talk about a chowder cook-off breaks the mood, such as it is, but we do what we must. And we had a bit of a clunky landing with "Boundless Informant," but you may feel differently.
Since this program is of the "pop-up" variety, I am "popping down" for the time being, but I suspect you have not heard the last from me.
CRUISING ALTITUDE playlist, 2018 December 8, 1000-1100:
- "Aural Dawn" | Marco Shuttle | Tropicalia | Spazio Disponibile
- "Introspection" | Laraaji | Bring On The Sun | All Saints
- "Who Will Choose My Dress" | Cindytalk | The Labyrinth of the Straight Line | Editions Mego
- "Banteay Srey" | Carl Stone | Electronic Music from the Eighties and Nineties | Unseen Worlds
- "Panorama" | Wurden & Pfeiffer | Pop Ambient 2018 | Kompakt
- "Doobieatics" | Magic Mountain High | Air Texture, Vol. V - selected by Spacetime Continuum and Juju & Jordash | Air Texture
- "Boundless Informant" | Jasmine Guffond | Traced | Sonic Pieces
Monday Dec 24, 2018
Cruising Altitude Departure 29, 2018 November 3
Monday Dec 24, 2018
Monday Dec 24, 2018
[GUEST POST]
Surprise! Do you remember me? It's Captain Halcyon, just checking in at holiday time with a program I did a little over a month ago. It stunned me to realize that it had been just over two years since my most recent audio departure. So I felt I had to rectify it when I had the chance, and the chance is now (or then).
This program gave me good, happy feelings, particularly the Easychord piece, which comfortably goes on nearly forever without changing. I even received some positive feedback in real time, though the caller (actually texter) mistook me for someone else. It happens. I hope Kid Catharsis won't mind my telling you that the kudos made him jealous! This sort of thing never happens to him, he says, though he apparently has other things that drive him.
I promise we'll meet again soon (and I do mean sooner than two years from now!).
CRUISING ALTITUDE playlist, 2018 November 3, 1000-1100:
- "Third Site" | Landing | Third Sight | El Paraiso
- "Kaskelot - offthesky Remix" | Tobias Hellkvist | Kaskelot: Reissue + Remixes | Home Normal
- "Small Hours" | Altars Altars | Small Hours | Home Normal
- "Want We" | Max D | Air Texture Volume V | Air Texture
- "Sonido Espanol" | Leandro Fresco | Pop Ambient 2017 | Kompakt
- "I Wasn't There For Goodbye" | Easychord | Air Texture Volume V | Air Texture
- "Looped" | Bowery Electric | Beat | kranky
- "Good Life" | Thore Pfeiffer | Pop Ambient 2017 | Kompakt
- "C6 81 56 28 09 34 31 D2 F9 9C D6 BD 92 ED FC 6F 6C A9 D4 88 95 8C 53 B4 55 DF 38 C4 AB E7 72 13" | TCF | Mono No Aware | PAN
- "Home" | The Legendary Pink Dots | The Maria Dimension | Play It Again Sam
introspection
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Friday Mar 03, 2017
Cruising Altitude Departure 28, 2016 October 30
Friday Mar 03, 2017
Friday Mar 03, 2017
[GUEST POST]
Dear friends, it's me again, Captain Halcyon, sharing a recording for one last time--"last," for now, anyway. There was some mumbling by Guy a few weeks ago about asking me to take over his time slot, as the darkness recedes; I considered it and for a while I thought I might jump back into the business of being a "broadcast personality." But life is full and I have things to do. What things, you ask? "Secret things." Now is not the time for full disclosure.
Anyway: this is a good mix, and--dare I say it--not a sad one. So I hope, if you're listening, you are not sad. I have a feeling we will see each other again. Nothing is forever.
CRUISING ALTITUDE playlist, 2016 October 30, 1700-1800 EDT:
- "Shadow" | Jessica Bailiff | Brain in the Wire | Brainwashed
- "Mahler Remix 4" | Fennesz | Mahler Remix | Touch
- "Hall" | Automat & Max Loderbauer | Selekt 01 | Bureau B
- "I'm On Fire - Western Skies Motel Remix" | Graveyard Tapes | I'm on Fire (White Rooms Remixes) | Lost Tribe
- "Seagull's Flyway" | Rhucle | A Water Letter From You | Assembly Field
- "Changer Demain" | Adam Johnson | Chigliac | Merck
- "There Dub" | Flying Saucer Attack | Chorus | Drag City
- "Gulps" | Leafcutter John | Resurrection | Desire Path
- "Down 3" | Stars of the Lid | The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid | kranky
- "Whales Tails" | Cocteau Twins | Victorialand | 4AD
- "Les Preger's Tune" | The Durutti Column | Vini Reilly | Factory Once
- "The Cave" | Daniel Lanois | Goodbye to Language | Red Floor - ANTI-
changez l'avenir
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Monday Feb 27, 2017
Cruising Altitude Departure 27, 2016 October 23
Monday Feb 27, 2017
Monday Feb 27, 2017
[GUEST POST]
Captain Halcyon, checking in with my penultimate show from last fall. Winter and the time change were approaching, making the 5 to 6pm hour progressively darker and unsuitable for these sonic flights. At least that is how I feel, and this is my time and space for self-expression. This particular program also happened to fall during the WRFI fundraiser; this week I was joined by the head honcho, the General Manager, Felix. For some reason he mistakenly referred to me as "Jim" --who on earth is that? I need hardly point out that we raised no money for the station. [Sigh.] I suppose I might have to dismantle my aircraft and sell it for parts at some point, which, I must say, is a more wholesome revenue-generating idea than the one kid catharsis has.
CRUISING ALTITUDE playlist, 2016 October 23, 1700-1800 EDT:
- "Casual Encounter / Formal Encounter" | Pinkcourtesyphone | Sentimental Something | Important
- "Es. 30" | Carl Craig | More Songs About Food And Revolutionary Art | SSR
- "Weiter" | Keith Fullerton Whitman | Peace (For Mom) | Brainwashed
- "Slo-Glyde" | The Durutti Column | Return of the Sporadic Recordings | Kooky
- "Closed Circuit" | Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani | FRKWYS Vol. 13: Sunergy | RVNG
- "Sectomy" | Best Available Technology | Air Texture Volume IV | Air Texture
- "Channel Skimming Spirits" | Ondness | Quase Driven | Seagrave
- "Dreams Are Like Water" | This Mortal Coil | Blood | 4AD
- "Distance" | Lake People | Purposely Uncertain Field | Permanent Vacation
tired sounds
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Friday Feb 24, 2017
Cruising Altitude Departure 26, 2016 October 16
Friday Feb 24, 2017
Friday Feb 24, 2017
[GUEST POST]
Happy Friday, Bombasticons! On this scorching February afternoon I have another recording to offer you. This, again, is from last fall, and that specific period of time that we call "fundraising." If listening to the human voice is your thing, today is your lucky day, because there is a lot of it here. I am joined in the "cockpit" by Drew Hoffmann, who also hosts a show on WRFI called The Slow Drift (it is a better show than mine!). We discuss the Room40 label, local merchants, warm feelings, and t-shirt collecting. And we manage to raise precisely zero dollars! It is a blessing that I am allowed to continue doing this. I'm not sure whom it benefits besides myself.
CRUISING ALTITUDE playlist, 2016 October 16, 1700-1800 EDT:
- "MRI" | Norman Westberg | MRI | Room40
- "And The Morning After" | harbel Haber | Of Palm Trees and Decomposition | Discrepant
- "Storm for Steve" | The Durutti Column | Fidelity | Les Disques du Crepuscule
- "Celestial Ash" | Anna Homler & Steve Moshier | Breadwoman & Other Tales | RVNG
- "Pain P.M." | Nick Klein | Failed Devotee | Unknown Precept
- "Over and Out" | System 7 | System 7 | Ten
various encounters
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Wednesday Feb 22, 2017
Cruising Altitude Departure 25, 2016 October 2
Wednesday Feb 22, 2017
Wednesday Feb 22, 2017
[GUEST POST]
It's Captain Halcyon, posting again, feeling like I should apologize for doing this so much. This is becoming a residency! It was never meant to be that. However, I have more programs to share with you, and this is one. This was a warm, wet October day; kid catharsis and I are agreed that such weather is the worst Ithaca has to offer. Good to be in the "cockpit" at the station and not airborne. And a good selection of tunes I brought with me--fewer "standards" and more spread out, I think. Natural Snow Buildings--I was wishing for something that was not going to happen, but what else is new?
Today, it struck me that I chose the right "career," because "flight" is my natural response to almost every kind of stress and tension! It explains a lot.
CRUISING ALTITUDE playlist, 2016 October 2, 1700-1800 EDT:
- "Whisper to the Wind" | The Durutti Column | Idiot Savants | Artful
- "Disquiet, Pt. 3" | John Bence | Disquiet | Other People
- "Il Mare" | Architectural | Amour | Wolfskuil
- "April" | Anton Kubikov | Pop Ambient 2016 | Kompakt
- "Facing South" | Landing | Third Sight | El Paraiso
- "New Misfortunes" | K. Leimer | Re-Enact | Palace of Lights
- "Second December" | John Chantler | Which Way To Leave? | Room40
- "How To Bring a Blush to the Snow" | Cocteau Twins | Victorialand | 4AD
- "Next Door" | Deru | Trying to Remember | Merck
- "Milepost 4" | Strategy | Seeds of Paradise | Idle Hands
- "Forest of Doshi" | Asian Psilocybe Foundation | Water Vein EP | Mental Groove
- "The Rising Portal" | Natural Snow Buildings | Terror's Horns | Ba Da Bing!
is there anyone on the air
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Tuesday Feb 21, 2017
Cruising Altitude Departure 24, 2016 September 25
Tuesday Feb 21, 2017
Tuesday Feb 21, 2017
[GUEST POST]
Greetings to all visitors of the "Bombast" archive. Captain Halcyon, here again, posting something because kid catharsis has nothing left to post (at least until he does another program.) Fortunately, I have a modest backlog, so here is a broadcast from last fall. It was a relatively cool day, a nice relief from our intolerable summer, and there were a few clouds as well, if I remember correctly. There are some transcendent moments here, I must say, even if I did resort to several chestnuts at the end. Imperfection is to be embraced.
CRUISING ALTITUDE playlist, 2016 September 25, 1700-1800 EDT:
- "Koa" | Dagir Du | Uriel Wavv | Seagrave
- "Fly High" | Jessica Bailiff | Peace (For Mom) | Brainwashed
- "Sea of Polaris" | Buck Curran | Immortal Light | ESP-Disk
- "Midnight Snow, Street Lights, Window of Empty Building" | ASUNA | Tide Ripples | Home Normal
- "Piano Aquieu" | Stars of the Lid | The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid | kranky
- "Erase All Trace {Wait To Rot}" | Belarisk | Moments in Shapeshifting | Type
- "William B" | The Durutti Column | Vini Reilly | Factory once
- "Throughout the Dark Months of April and May" | Cocteau Twins | Victorialand | 4AD
- "Head in a Cave" | Swallow | Blow | 4AD
new misfortunes
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