ListN Up is a weekly series of artist-curated playlists that offer an intimate sonic portrait of contemporary artists by showcasing the diverse and stylistically varied music that influences their creative practice.
Aron Dahl is a composer, filmmaker, songwriter, sound synthesist and performer based in LA and Oslo. Through a wide array of artistic practices he explores themes like transcendence, displacement, queer sexuality and identity. Aron Dahl is a Fullbright Fellow and just graduated CalArts as a double major MFA in filmmaking and composition.
Hi, my name is Aron Dahl. I’m a composer and filmmaker from Oslo, Norway. The theme of my playlist is spirituality, harmony, and transformation. I’ve included older works of some of the pioneers that have shaped me as an artist and human being as well more recent works of mainly my friends and colleagues that inspire me on an everyday basis. Thank you for listening.
Patchwork by Laurie Spiegel
One of my all time favourite albums and artists, Laurie Spiegel is an early electronic music pioneer. The Expanding Universe is a collection of re-released works from her time at the Bell Labs in the 70s.
Tides II by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
I love this track and this album — such a calming, healing energy fills me whenever I listen to it.
Rainbow Trout by Son Ash
Son Ash a.k.a. Andreas Pallisgaard is a Danish producer and composer. We worked on my debut album Loosening Orion’s Belt together. His debut album Easy Listening for the Hearing Impaired is a lovely collection of playful and melancholy compositions for synthesizers. I hear them as a form of chamber music from a parallel universe.
My Voice is Real by slim0
A text by Yoko Ono arranged and composed by the fearless and super talented Danish experimental grunge band, slim0.
Slim Goes Home by Super Hit (Hayden Waggener)
LA’s best kept secret, Hayden Waggener is a gem of a producer that I hope more people will get their ears on in the future.
Nautilus by Anna Meredith
I heard this track when it came out, and it completely blew me away. I listened to it every day for weeks, and it still blows my mind. Mesmerizing, larger-than life, epic, and still composed and produced with minimalist restrain.
Forest Nativity by Francis Bebey
Bebey was a Cameroonian writer and composer, one of the early pioneers of electronic music. His music has been a continuous source of inspiration over the years — it’s beautiful, deep, sensuous, intellectual, and humorous all at the same time.
Harmony IV. Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates by John Cage, performed by The Arditti Quartet
Apartment House 1776 was a large scale work following Cage’s Musicircus principle based around four different religious traditions in the United States: Protestant, Sephardic, Native American, and African American. The “44 Harmonies” was a small part of the piece, and consisted of partly decomposed 18th century hymns, beautifully arranged for string quartet by Irvine Arditti.
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