HTRK

Nigel Yang is an Australian guitarist and producer based in Sydney, following several years in London and Berlin. With lead vocalist and co-producer Jonnine Standish, he forms HTRK, pronounced “Hate Rock”, a band founded in Melbourne in 2003. Their fellow co-founder, bassist Sean Stewart, died in 2010. HTRK set out to create music inspired by Lynchian imagery, using languid mechanical repetition, melancholic lyrics, simple groove-laden basslines and richly textured, noisy guitar arrangements. Inspired by Rowland S. Howard, Mika Vainio and Suicide, HTRK continued to experiment with different synthesisers and drum machines.

In a decade HTRK has released numerous critically acclaimed albums and singles on labels such as Ghostly International, Blast First Petite, Mistletone Records and Fire Records. Ghostly International was particularly important in bringing HTRK worldwide recognition. Their album “Work (work, work)”, EPs such as “Eat Yr Heart/Sweetheart” and split release with Tropic of Cancer “Part Time Punks Radio Sessions” received widespread coverage and praise. Their visual world is equally distinctive, from Nathan Corbin’s video for “Bendin’” to Pussykrew’s “Synthetik”.

An album recorded at Blazer Sound Studios in New Mexico is due in early 2014. Amid that activity, Yang found time to compile and record the journal’s eightieth mix.

His selection is a meditative journey across cultures and eras: eight tranquil, expansive recordings released between 1977 and 2012. Yet each composition inhabits a world of its own, making chronology feel secondary. Many of the works draw on musical traditions beyond Western electronic music. Compositions by musicians such as Pandit Pran Nath, Jon Hassell, Luc Ferrari, Steve Roden and others simply inspire and captivate. In most of these pieces, the performers convey inner calm, control and a fluid approach to music, reaching beyond an urban everyday environment that can feel rigid, geometric and violent. They create an imagined private space in which to find inner peace, or simply be yourself.

The midnight opening

Pandit Pran Nath’s opening raga establishes the nocturnal timescale of the recording. Jon Hassell’s “Blues Nile” extends it through breath, instrumental colour and an expansive sense of space.

The unhurried pace reflects Nigel’s own measured rate of music consumption. As Nigel explains, he dislikes too many changes, individuals and egos mixed into too short a period. He lets pieces play almost in full in order to retain the psychological and sometimes psychedelic effects that he experienced while he was listening to these mesmerizing tracks. What matters here is not quantity but the integrity of each listening experience.

Sustained, sublime atmospheres form the foundation, with vividly recorded instrumental improvisations, diverse field recordings and occasional suggestive vocals. Its technical construction is less important than its visionary narrative; statistics alone explain little of its effect. This smoothly developing and gradually expanding picturesque selection asks for concentration, patience and openness to absorb its crystal beauty and underlying cosmic feeling.

Landscapes in sound

Brian Eno’s “Lizard Point” makes atmosphere feel like a place rather than a background. Steve Roden’s “Airria (Hanging Garden), Second Version” extends that attention to small changes in sound; the linked 2020 collection is a later edition of the piece heard in this mix.

The mix recalls John William Waterhouse’s enigmatic, dramatic painting “Sleep and his Half-brother Death” where two figures recline side by side in an interior touched by the mystery of moonlight. Foggy shadows and a sleepy aura shroud the intimate scene. The strange likeness and unlikeness of the reclining figures take hold of the unconscious. Waterhouse’s painting mirrors HTRK’s ethereal selection through its perplexing composure and sense of parallel worlds. It also suggests the lucid dreaming Nigel is exploring.

Like the painting, the mix moves between emotional states: divinity, calmness and proximity give way to confusion, inner chaos and hidden depression.

It begins with a midnight raga, a melodic framework in Indian classical music associated with that hour, and sustains its mood through much of the recording. Listening at midnight lets that atmosphere fully take hold. Nigel captures psychological dimensions as understated and unforgettable as the sequences of an illuminating dream. HTRK’s timeless selection is dedicated to all devoted guardians of metaphysics and spirituality.