These tracks stretch from ambient pioneers such as Vangelis and Steven Halpern (who some consider to be the originator of New Age Music), through Global Communication – creators of what I feel to be the best album of the ’90s ambient revival – and on to current electronic titans such as Emeralds and Oneohtrix Point Never. I also slotted in a couple of vaguely Chinese-themed tracks to reflect our band’s particular interests.

I would never claim to be anything approaching an expert in this field of music, and for further listening I would strongly suggest a visit to Crystal Vibrations. This blog (where, in fact, I sourced some of the more obscure early items in my mix) is run by the brilliant electronic composer Greg Davis and is, in my opinion, the best place to find out about good New Age Music. Well, without further ado, here it is:

Stream the mix

1. Steven Halpern – Attunement 1
2. Sean McCann – Stasis
3. Stellar OM Source – Sand Lie
4. Marc Barreca – School For Whales
5. Vangelis – The Little Fete
6. Oneohtrix Point Never – Months
7. Christopher Franke – Electric Becomes Eclectic
8. Emeralds – Goes By
9. Global Communication – 4 14
10. Rene Hell – Open Vic Flower
11. Lucia Hwong – Generic Actress #3
12. Michel Genest – Shangrila

Popular music plays an important part in all of his three films to date: Metropolitan, Barcelona and The Last Days Of Disco. Of course, this is most obvious in the last of these, with its soundtrack of wall-to-wall disco classics. I feel that his choice of music is more than simply nostalgic scene-setting though, as much of this music reflects both the hedonistic high-life that Stillman’s characters aspire to, and also the bittersweet sense of youthful searching and emotional confusion that pervades his films.

Stillman is also adept at the humorous and memorable juxtaposition of music and images, as when the Italo-Disco classic Dolce Vita soundtracks the inevitable collapse of the heedless and irresponsible disco-era way of life (as exemplified by the downfall of the Studio 54-esque nightclub at the centre of the film).

There is an interesting scene in Stillman’s second film, Barcelona, in which the protagonist, an expat American salesman, connects with a Spanish girl over a love of the “disco music of the late seventies…despite what everyone else thought”.

As well as being escapist “party” music, disco represents a badge of identity, both aspirational and nostalgic, to Stillman’s characters. This is most memorably expressed in the following climactic monologue from The Last Days Of Disco:

Some people find Whit Stillman’s characters objectionable, and there is certainly no doubt that their pretensions and attitudes are sent up by the director to some extent. However, the universal human emotions that the director and actors also convey are what, for me, elevate his films above straightforward social satire.

For example, the environment and lexicon of the characters in Stillman’s debut film, Metropolitan, may be very particular, but the feelings and desires they experience would surely be familiar to most young people. I think the director indicates this occasionally with his choice of music. Despite the film focussing exclusively on white, upper-middle class characters, a number of key scenes are conspicuously soundtracked by classic R&B. This music represents a very different part of the social spectrum, but like the film, expresses equally universal human emotion and experience.

As committed Francophiles, we were there to celebrate French nationhood a few days early at the second annual Bastille Day London Garden Party. Balloons were released in the French national colours, and we enjoyed classic chansons from Les Apaches – who we had previously encountered supporting Monade at the Brixton Windmill.

There were also performances by the legendary Bluebell Girls from Paris’s famous Lido cabaret. These stunning dancers were matched in flamboyance by a troupe of tutu-wearing Bichon Frisé dogs, who made a brief but memorable appearance.

A petanque tournament was staged and, for a personal highlight, I was able to meet French international rugby superstar Serge Betsen.

However, anyone who knows us will be unsurprised to learn that the true high points of our day came from the impressive selection of French food that was available. We were particularly impressed by the delicious macarons from (I think) Café On, and an absolutely stunning raclette. There was a huge queue for this last dish throughout the day, and when we finally decided to join it, the long and tantalising wait proved to be more than worth it!

Seeing those classrooms and corridors, that mish-mash of architectural styles and those colours and textures again was truly an incredible experience. I hope you don’t mind me sharing some of my memories.

The vinyl is super heavyweight and beautifully presented, as you’d expect from the label.

This collaboration with The Advisory Circle will be available to buy on vinyl and as a digital download on 2 July 2010 from Ghost Box and all the usual vendors. You can preorder the 7″ now, however.

Here’s a beautiful English summer evening reflected in the vinyl.

Director Nobuhiko Obayashi was an experimental film maker who had become a big name in Japanese commercials in the 70s, directing hit ‘CMs’ starring the likes of Charles Bronson and Kirk Douglas, but he had never made mainstream narrative cinema.

Toho’s decision to let this outsider direct a feature demonstrated the crisis facing Japan’s traditionally rigid film industry at the time. Obayashi was asked by desperate Toho executives to deliver “the Japanese Jaws“, and House (Hausu) is what he came up with.

The film was supposedly inspired by the director’s young daughter, who one night pondered how scary it would be if your house attacked you. Her nightmarish ideas – a piano chewing off your fingers; electric lights dropping on your head; being mangled by the gears of a grandfather clock – are all present in this kaleidoscopic, funny and visually-innovative film. I hope these images whet your appetite to seek it out.

House features a cameo from groovy pop group Godiego. I love their soundtrack song “Cherries Were Made For Eating”:

Finally, the brilliant Ubuweb has several early experimental films by Obayashi, all free to watch online.

To mark this occasion I’m posting a beautiful Puffin Club film made in the 1960s about Joan Aiken, one of my favourite authors when I was young. The film follows Joan as she works, travels and talks about her inspirations – she has an amazing voice!

Excerpts and illustrations from The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Blacks Hearts in Battersea, Night Birds in Nantucket and Whispering Mountain also feature.

The full Wolves of Willoughby Chase series runs to 12 books in all and these atmospheric historical adventures are probably what she is best remembered for. I, however, will always reserve a special place on my bookshelf for the anarchic Arabel and Mortimer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00sm4tg/Chopsticks_at_Dawn/

Presented by Anna Chen, the programme looks at inauthentic Chineseness in music, from Debussy to David Bowie.  It’s an incomplete look at the subject, and I’m afraid I shouted at the radio on a couple of occasions, but it’s worth listening to if you want to find out the (probable) origins of the ‘ning-a-ning-nong’ melody from Kung Fu Fighting.

East-Asian influences in music – real or fake – are something that we’re very interested in, and we discussed the same subject when we appeared on Lucky Cat on Resonance FM a few months ago.

What’s probably more interesting to us is the flow of influence in the opposite direction – how Western pop norms were incorporated into East-Asian rock n’ roll of the 50s and 60s. I’ll gladly make a documentary about it for Radio 4 – they have only to ask.