solipsistic NATION No. 248: Excursions in Ambience

Today’s show is very special for me and I imagine it will be a very special show for a lot of people, because today we’ll be talking with Brian Long and showcasing music from the Excursions in Ambience compilation album series.

Back in the early 1990s when I was first falling deeply in love with electronic music, Caroline Distribution released Excursions in Ambience, which captured my imagination and expanded my horizons of what electronic music, and ambient music, could be.

Excursions in Ambience turned out to be an incredibly successful album, and was quickly followed up with Excursions in Ambience: The Second Orbit, The Third Dimension and ended, sadly, with The Fourth Frontier.

Brian was the AR & Project Manager for Caroline Distribution back in the early 90s and was the man responsible for releasing the Excursions In Ambience series as well as being instrumental in the launch of Astralwerks. Astralwerks is owned by Virgin Records/EMI and distributed by Caroline Distribution in the US and continues to release amazing electronic music.

Brian currently runs Yes Know Management and represents artists such as The Juan McLean and VHS or Beta. Brian also hosts the Infinite Eargasm show on East Village Radio every Thursday from 2PM – 4PM EST.

The Excursions in Ambience albums are no longer being pressed and are not available as digital downloads. You can still find used versions of those albums, however, and I’ve included links below where you can find them on Amazon for a fair price. You can always give sites like eBay a try. too.

If you enjoyed todays’ show, and really, how could you not, then you’ll probably dig last month’s show featuring Waveform Records. I’m going to continue the theme next month with an interview with Silent RecordsKim Cascone and play select tracks from his From Here to Tranquility compilation albums.

A special thanks goes out to all of you who expressed their concern and sympathies for my grandfather’s failing health. The last two weeks have been an emotional roller coaster for me and I’m grateful I was able to say goodbye to him. I’ll see you again next week. I’m not sure what I’ve got in store for you. As you can imagine, my schedule has been a bit disrupted, but I’ll think of something.

See you then!

  1. Steve Fisk “Express God”
  2. Mike Kandel “Slow Boat To China”
  3. Interview with Brian Long, curator of the Excursions in Ambience compilation album series
  4. Single Cell Orchestra “Drifting In Wire”
  5. Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia “Obsidian (Deconstructure Edit)”
  6. Interview with Brian Long, curator of the Excursions in Ambience compilation album series
  7. Material “Mantra (Praying Mantra Mix Edit)”
  8. Air “Trip #2”
  9. W.F.O. “No-One In The World (Edit)”
  10. Locust “Prospero”
  11. Interview with Brian Long, curator of the Excursions in Ambience compilation album series
  12. Tranquility Bass “Mya Yadana”