Happy Thursday, friends. Last year, I managed to put together only a handful of mixes, and, as usual, I found myself wondering whether it was still worth the time and energy. That’s a conversation we can finally have properly now, over on Headphone Community . But for all the self-questioning, some rituals are too important to abandon. Today marks the arrival of the 18th chapter in Mathias Van Eecloo's eisOtones series - a carefully assembled journey through 50 tracks drawn from 50 different rel...
Feb 19, 2026•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 337
Good morning, and welcome to your Thursday. I may not have published many mixes this past year, but I can't let this one slip through the cracks. Tradition is a tradition. I've been hosting Mathias Van Eecloo's label showcase for almost half a decade, whereby he compiles two years of LAAPS and IIKKI releases into a single continuous mix. If you want to start at the beginning, you can download or stream the 2020-2021 installment, followed by the 2022-2023 chapter, and finally share your time with...
Feb 05, 2026•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 336
Good morning, friends. Admittedly, I have been quiet here and somewhat behind in the music I want to share. I promise you, however, that is not due to the lack of attention. If anything, I am focused even more, pouring all of my energy into Headphone Community , where I feature an artist each month, connecting on a much deeper level with a meaningful engagement. If you miss this in the current day and age of thinly veiled unsocial media and algorithmic content, I think you would love this new an...
Apr 24, 2025•59 min•Ep. 334
Happy Monday, friends. I didn’t publish many mixes last year—probably about four altogether. Do you think I should continue investing time into this? Oh, right. You can’t answer me here, but you can on the newly launched Headphone Community . In any case, some traditions continue. And today, I have the 17th instalment of Mathias Van Eecloo‘s eisOtones series, which comprises 50 tracks from 50 releases of 2024. See all previous editions here . Prepare yourself for a very eclectic selection of tun...
Feb 24, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 333
Looking back at last year, I realised I didn’t publish many episodes on HC Podcast. In fact, besides the celebrations of the year past, I only had Dustin O’Halloran making a Blue Summer Mixtape for me [and for you]. I’m not sure how I feel about that, to be honest. It’s not like anyone reached out and said, “ Hey, what happened to the mixes? ” But at least I have this annual tradition where Mike Jedlicka of Optic Echo creates a vinyl-only mix at the beginning of each year. And this is his 14th i...
Jan 11, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 332
With all of my regular hectic programming, I completely forgot to invite other artists and create a mix for the HC Podcast! This is immediately rectified with this wonderful Blue Summer Mixtape by the one and only Dustin O'Halloran. Oh, and if you're just jumping on board this long-running series and want to catch up, there are a total of 330 mixes already published - almost too many to host in one place. So you can either stream them on your favourite platforms or even download the entire archi...
Jul 10, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 331
It's 2024, and Mathias Van Eecloo of LAAPS is back with another instalment (his 16th) of the eisOtones series, where he hand-selects and celebrates 50 pieces from 50 releases of the year . As is the case with other regular contributors to Headphone Commute (like Ryan Griffin of ASIP and Mike Jedlicka of Optic Echo ), who continue this ongoing annual ritual, I always look forward to the eclectic sounds of eisOtones . We already know and celebrate the music featured on the LAAPS and IIKKI imprints...
Jan 31, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 330
Yes, folks, I am still rejoicing in last year. What can I say – I love to listen to great music, especially when it’s picked by someone else. And not just anyone – a trusted source! Ryan Griffin and I go back more than a decade now. Secretly, I’m even jealous of his capacity to operate one of the best labels on the scene today. At times, I toyed with the idea of starting a label too – but then, when would I have the time to write these words and share this music? And so, I leave it to the rest. ...
Jan 23, 2024•3 hr 2 min•Ep. 329
This has been an ongoing tradition for over a decade (by my count, this is the 13th year). This time, I didn’t even reach out with a friendly reminder. Mike Jedlicka of Optic Echo just let me know that he’s already on it, and here we are with a selection of his favourite vinyl releases of the year. Every single year, I complain about the amount of music, and every single year, I keep wanting even more. And even as I drown in all of the releases, it’s always amazing to discover new and fantastic ...
Jan 06, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 328
Good morning, and welcome to the quietest week of the year. Did you have a good holiday? Before I sign off for the year, I think I’ve got one more gem to share with you. This is a wonderful label showcase and a reflection on this past year from a lovely independent Valencia-based imprint, Archives, curated and operated by Agustín Mena, aka Warmth. I’ve profiled plenty of its releases since its inception in 2015, and I must admit that Warmth’s Parallel (2018) has been on repeat more than others. ...
Dec 27, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 327
Good morning, and welcome to your Tuesday. I have a special entry in Headphone Commute’s Podcast series for you today. And if you’re just getting around to enjoying these, let me remind you that we have 325+ others available directly when you subscribe to the podcast , or you can download them from our offline archive (going back to 2009!). Anyway, it is not just a mix but an entire label showcase of Mathias Van Eecloo‘s amazing LAAPS imprint, covering releases in the last two years (2022-2023)....
Oct 03, 2023•46 min•Ep. 326
Today, we conclude the 9+ hour mix by Roel Funcken with its sixth and final part. It's been a real journey, exactly as predicted, connecting time in a single, comforting, and beautiful stretch of sonic weave. If you pay attention to the track listing, you will notice how Funcken threaded pieces from repeating artists (sometimes even a few from the same release) to create a cohesive musical voyage, along with his expertly practised touch of additional post-processing to get it all nicely glued to...
Sep 26, 2023•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 325
Arriving at part five of a 9+ hour ambient mix by Roel Funcken, I am exactly with it as intended. This is a continuous ambient journey, serving as a bridge between fragmented times, uniting days and months into a single voyage. For a while, I’ve had an image in my mind as if we all move in a circle, approaching seasons in their respective physical locations (winter is on top), traversing time as we rotate on the perimeter. I wonder where it’s from? Perhaps they showed me that in elementary schoo...
Sep 19, 2023•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 324
We’re almost halfway through the series, and today, I’m publishing the fourth instalment of this 6-part mix by Roel Funcken. How are you getting on with it? Don’t forget that I’ll share the full, uninterrupted, 9+ hour continuous journey once this podcast series is completed. I can tell you that I’ve personally listened more than a couple of times to each entry, noticing the tiny nuances that are the handiwork of Funcken, who is not only the selector but also the navigator of this trip but is al...
Sep 14, 2023•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 323
September’s upon us, and just as predicted, this third part of the 9+ hour Gorreliann Plasebant mix by Roel Funcken serves as a type of bond, creating continuation in a somewhat fragmented turn of events. As if on cue, the temperature dropped, and the weather has changed, and the sunshine and warmth are somewhere in the memory, recalled through some words and, of course, through this music. There are lots of great pieces on here as well, painting the Autumn sky with the colours of sound, and as ...
Sep 05, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 322
It is Tuesday morning, and perhaps you’re on your way to work. Or maybe you’re already in front of the computer reading through those emails that can surely ruin your day. Or perhaps you’re just waking up to all the possibilities this day may come to offer. Being open to the “good” and the “bad” without colouring these with your expectations and simply watching things unfold — the way a flower would without judgment. To help you onboarding for your day (even if you’re not listening to this on an...
Aug 29, 2023•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 321
Summer is almost over. I just took some time to travel a bit again, and as usual, when I return, it’s always difficult to get back into the swing of things. Thankfully, I have an easy task ahead of me today because Roel Funcken has done all the work for me. If you have a keen eye, you may have noticed that today I’m only publishing the first section of a 6-part (9+ hours!) Gorreliann Plasebant mix, which I will link to in its entirety at the end of this series, in which Roel traverses some of hi...
Aug 22, 2023•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 320
I think I met Joseph sometime in 2008 when he was running his Solipsistic Nation podcast. We shared the same taste in electronic music, and in 2010 I prepared a mix called “ DSM-IV-TR “. This seems to be a long time ago now, but Joseph and I still keep in touch. So when he asked me to follow up with another instalment, I gladly pulled out my latest favourite pieces to prepare this mix. These days his show is called Soundwave , where he continues to showcase some of the best artists on the scene,...
Aug 08, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 319
Fields We Found is the moniker of an artist and the newly-launched quiet details label founder, bathing our ears with ambient bliss. In the last few years, we were gifted with deep-evolving soundscapes appearing on Ambientologist, Seil Records, and Handstiched Recordings, with the most recent album, Paths , “… exploring the routes we all choose and where they take us ” on Facture. Late in 2022, Alex also put out music on the beloved Home Normal, run with tremendous devotion by the one and only I...
Jun 21, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 318
Sofia Nystrand is a Stockholm-based composer with an anticipated new album Månens Hav , due out on June 2nd, 2023, via the German LEITER imprint. This follow-up to her 2019 record Hav , is deeply influenced by her childhood experiences growing up in the Swedish archipelago of Roslagen. With her music, she explores the duality of beauty and brutality in nature, “ awe and fear, magic and sorcery, ” and how it shapes our emotions and creative expressions. For this Headphone Commute Mix , Sofia co...
May 03, 2023•55 min•Ep. 317
I am always happy to bring new sounds to your ears [and mine!], and today I’ve got a mix showcasing some special selections from the upcoming boutique music festival named Q3Ambientfest, which will take place this year in June. Creating a perfect balance between some established and emerging artists of various genres and diverse origins, this event showcases a wide range and reach of the music scene. The festival [and this mix] is curated by Brueder Selke, East Berlin-born, Potsdam-based, multi-...
Mar 23, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 316
I've got an exceptional podcast for you today, folks. It's not a mix but rather a continuous, single, long-playing track composed by Fields We Found. I'm sharing this fantastic music as an opening to an introduction to a brand new label, quiet details, which I will be profiling this week. Founded this year by the artist behind this piece, the imprint focuses on each artist's interpretation of the phrase after which the label is named. Spanning multiple genres, the upcoming releases explore this ...
Mar 14, 2023•23 min•Ep. 315
50 pieces from 50 releases of the year – this is the ongoing theme of the eisOtones series that we have been featuring on the Headphone Commute podcast, and this is our 15th entry (previous mixes can be found here ). Once again, Mathias Van Eecloo, of [previously] Eilean Rec. and [currently] LAAPS, returns for his annual tradition of masterful selection of musical journeys. This one has been in the making for quite some time, and I only wish that I could have published it earlier in the year. Bu...
Mar 01, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 314
Zach Frizzell's Indianapolis (US) based label, Past Inside the Present , has been an incredible force in the last couple of years in the ambient community. So much so that when I was putting the finishing touches on my own album and thought about the best home for it, PITP sprang to mind first. You may think that I'm singing praises here as a result of that, but if you flip through its impressive catalogue, you will immediately notice the quality output from artists such as ASC, 36, bvdub, Lav, ...
Feb 15, 2023•58 min•Ep. 313
Yes, it’s already February, and yes, I’m still looking back at all the music from last year. But music can’t be “dated” – wouldn’t you agree? I’ve said that many times before, so let us practice what we preach. Today I am very happy to share with you a selection of favourite pieces from 2022 as curated by Brian Housman of Stationary Travels . We’ve been partnering in spreading our honest words about honest music for many years now, and I’m very happy that Brian still cracks on [that’s a new Brit...
Feb 01, 2023•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 312
I look back at 2022 and realize that I didn't put out the "usual" amount of mixes for the HC podcast. This is indeed because right after the celebration of the music from the year before, I was utterly preoccupied with the thoughts turned towards Ukraine. As a result, there were two "For Ukraine" mixes by Brian Housman of Stationary Travels and Peter can Cooten of Ambient Blog . In the last two weeks, with the annual Best of the Year tradition, I managed to broadcast and archive a few of my sele...
Jan 13, 2023•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 311
I’ve got something slightly different for you today than the usual fair. How are you feeling about atmospheric drum & bass this morning? To be fair, this is not the first time that I’ve showcased this genre on these pages (see Clima‘s Headphone Commute Mix or the super fun Chill & Bass Mix by Orangewarrior). Except for this time, it’s also a label showcase, featuring very special selections from James Clements‘ newly launched Spatial imprint (a sub-label for his Auxiliary), with an ethos...
Jun 07, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 310
I honestly wish that I could stop promoting this benefit compilation, titled For Ukraine , which is now on its second volume (see links below). I’d stop promoting because we wouldn’t need the funds which would all be donated to International Rescue Committee ( rescue.org ) to support displaced children and families with vital supplies. Albeit somehow it has all receded in the background, and yet the war goes on. This time, I’ve enlisted the help of Peter van Cooten of ambientblog.net to compile ...
May 25, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 309
About a week ago, in collaboration with Hollie Kenniff who curated the roster of artists, Headphone Commute released the first volume of the benefit compilation For Ukraine with 100% of all proceeds being donated to the International Rescue Committee ( rescue.org ). This is one of those things, folks, that does not need to be written about, promoted, or sold. Nevertheless, with the help of Brian Housman of Stationary Travels, I am happy to share with you an hour-long compilation teaser, featurin...
Mar 24, 2022•55 min•Ep. 308
How would you like to hear 50 tracks from 50 releases from last year? Well, in this 14th instalment, Mathias Van Eecloo, of [previously] Eilean Rec. and [currently] LAAPS [for which he also made a very special mix ], returns for his annual tradition of masterful selection of musical journeys from many of my favourite labels. Plenty for you here to unpeel and explore throughout the numerous genres and musical diversions. And although I usually feature this mix sometime in January, I think it’s sa...
Feb 15, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 307
