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Tag: ambient

let there be light, for maybe seven minutes: 12feb26

Published February 12, 2026 by Warren Ellis

It has stopped raining for whole minutes.

As I write this, it’s darkening down again. I am still completely tapped out, which is getting really fucking frustrating now. So I’m going to leave this here and hope for a comeback tomorrow.

TODAY:

STATUS: đź’€
READING: THE QUEEN’S AGENT: FRANCIS WALSINGHAM AT THE COURT OF ELIZABETH I (UK) (US+)
LISTENING: Ambient Daily 48

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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12jan26

Published January 12, 2026 by Warren Ellis

I blew off everything last night: made harissa lamb shanks with truffled mashed potato, then a jar of cold ginger tea, then a jar of blood orange orangeade. But it turns out I still can’t make hummus.

TODAY:

  • Here in the UK, Ofcom is “investigating” X over sexual deepfakes, which could lead to a fine of 10% of X’s global revenue, while Musk is appearing in public with Pete Hegseth, signalling a return to the Trump administration fold.
  • Erich von Daniken died. At least one generation will remember his weird books being on the shelves of every charity shop in the world.
  • Autofocusing eyeglasses. (which makes me smile, see STATUS below)

OPERATIONS: Today is scripting and figuring out my schedule for the next few weeks, because I am appallingly behind and need to sort myself out.
STATUS: My near vision has been slowly deteriorating over the last five years or so, and I’ve been needing very strong light to read some print. Herself saw me struggling to read a small-print label yesterday, and handed me a pair of her +2 reading glasses that were laying around, as an experiment. And suddenly holy shit. Mortifying. I held on to the glasses and spent an hour reading THE NOMA GUIDE TO FERMENTATION without needing a powerful reading light. I’m 58 next month and have just ordered my first pair of reading glasses. I am mortified, to be honest.
READING: SPIES: THE EPIC INTELLIGENCE WAR BETWEEN EAST AND WEST, Calder Walton (UK) (US+) and THE NOMA GUIDE TO FERMENTATION (UK) (US+)
LISTENING:


LAST WATCHED: rewatching SMILEY’S PEOPLE on iPlayer

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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NIGHT MUSIC: chroma

Published January 4, 2026 by Warren Ellis

chroma by fields we found. It’s a misty summer morning of a thing, which makes a nice change right now.

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SUCH SWEET THUNDER and FRUTIGER AERO

Published January 3, 2026 by Warren Ellis

I got gifted these two records by Such Sweet Records just before Xmas.

SUCH SWEET THUNDER is very much a chill-out record, improvised electroacoustic ambient. There’s quite a range in the three pieces on here, a collection of soundscapes that transition cleverly. I’m reminded of a few other people – there’s a flash of guitar work that made me think of Windy and Carl – but it’s very much its own thing.

FRUTIGER AERO is a shorter piece – I have to say, I’m usually allergic to saxophone, that most abused of instruments, the skronk criminal and soundtrack to every shit thriller from the eighties and nineties. But here it is pleasingly textural and carefully applied. I’m very pleased with both of these and very grateful to Such Sweet.

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AMBIENT, Alice Thompson

Published December 6, 2025 by Warren Ellis

A bit spendy for a digital album, but the third track is worth the price of admission all on its own. Those big grainy washes and slow movements that have that indefinable Philip Jeck like tone to my (tin) ear

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telemetry 2dec25

Published December 2, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Octothorpes are hashtags and backlinks that can be used on regular websites, connecting pages across the open internet regardless of where they’re hosted.

As with all indieweb stuff, I lost the will to live less than halfway through the “getting started” section of the docs, but maybe this will be useful to someone, and maybe I should return to it after more coffee.

The Hare #9 [December 2025] by Andrew Chapman

Bronze Age/Neolithic complex find, Indian menhirs… and the original rock music

Read on Substack

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telemetry 29sep25

Published September 29, 2025 by Warren Ellis

UNCLASSIFIED: Edinburgh Festival Highlights

Join Elizabeth Alker with a selection of fresh music from genre-defying artists as we journey through landscapes of ambient and experimental sounds. Tonight she plays highlights from some of Unclassifield’s favourite artists’ live concerts at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Today’s jacket was the Yarmouth Oilskins sailcloth Engineer chore jacket.

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