Bloody heatwave. Three months now and averaging 32°C/90°F and no rain. Well a few storms but nothing I can’t count on one hand. As I type it’s the end of the second week of August and I’m contemplating how much more heat I can take in a country devoid of air conditioning. I mean the sun is lovely but I don’t operate well over 20°C/68°F so it’s been a challenge. If I can I will take myself into cool water, something which has become rarer since the lake near me has cooked up to a green soup. Most nights in the apartment don’t drop below 27°C/80°F. Sleep has become a fevered luxury. I feel a little mad with it all, and I’m displaying my inner Britishness in full, wasting this first paragraph on weather. But this leads me into the hypnotic trip which is this month’s episode.
There are two recent releases that have inspired August’s mix and these are from IN9 favourites, Jim O’Rourke (with Joe Smolders) and a local recording from Kali Malone and Leila Bordreuil, which was recorded at a church in a town I often cycle through. I have been predominantly crate digging for old jazz records over the last six months, but recently I rekindled my love affair with modern composition and electro-acoustic music. I also discovered some new musicians (to me) that have tickled my ears in the form of Bernard Parmegiani and Biliana Voutchkova. Patient music for impatient times. Saying that productivity is out the window in this heat. Most of the time I feel like I’m in the hot hotel rooms in Naked Lunch.
The grass is bleached. The soil is cracked. The sky is blue and the city smells. The lake is evaporating and the wildfires are becoming more frequent. The ability to think has slowed and the need for water has increased tenfold. A hot cup of English Breakfast tea is a distant dream and wearing clothes is an inconvenience. Fans blow hot air and the air conditioned supermarkets become silos for sanity. My record player no longer keeps speed and my apartment remains dark at all times to keep out the relentless sun. Limits on bottled water stop panic buying and crops are left to die as irrigation becomes a luxury. The wind is an infrequent visitor and the rain is but a distant memory. Dust and dander fill my lungs, replacing pollen as my snotty catalyst.
So here are nine pieces of music to get lost in; to REM, to fever dream, to drift, and to hide in dark corners with.
Fever dream 1
Mechanics and listening architectures
Gustavo Costa, Clara Saleiro, João Dias & Biliana Voutchkova
Natura Mimesis
LP on Sonoscopia
2024
Fever dream 2
Pilots in the Night
Leila Bordreuil + Kali Malone
Music for Intersecting Planes
LP on Ideologic Organ
2026
Fever dream 3
Chamber Music for Lawn Mowers
Sage Martens
Chamber Music for Lawn Mowers
Cassette on Edições Cn
2025
Fever dream 4
HP-HP [edit]
Jim O’Rourke and Joe Smolders
Albumin
LP on Moving Furniture Records
2026
Fever dream 5
Nightclouds
Ellen Arkbro
Nightclouds
LP on Blank Form Editions
2025
Fever dream 6
Behind the Flower
Eleni Poulou
Behind the Flower
DL via BC
2022
Fever dream 7
Expression 1
Bernard Parmegiani
La création du Monde
CD on INA-GRM
1986
Fever dream 8
Boiler
Seven Tons for Free
Pita
CD on Mego
1996
Fever dream 9
Rabbit Hour
Sadie Powers
Souvenir
DL on Room40
2025
Inside No. 9 is an attempt to share unique narratives through the mixing of 9 songs. Every episode will showcase a new theme, opening up new tributaries of discovery. Inside No. 9 is presented by Peter Taylor, a former features writer for Foxy Digitalis from back in the late 2000s. Peter is a visual artist and musician and has been creating music as MAbH since 2008.
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