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What is friendship? What is it that makes another person’s contributions to your life unforgettable? Common values? Intelligent conversations? Compatible tastes? Maybe it’s just being in the right place, at the right time, in the right frame of mind. An inescapable part of getting older is losing the ones we love. The younger we are, the older the ones are that we say goodbye to, if we’re lucky. The older we get, however, the closer those trend lines converge. We lost a good one recently. This one’s for you, Will. This mix was recorded live in Vancouver about six weeks ago, at my good friend Dan’s top-floor terrace on a lovely summer evening. It includes some classics in original form, plus a few nods to days gone by.

I was fortunate to be able to get back through Canada for a visit in recent weeks. It was energising to spend some quality time with family and friends, and of course no visit to Toronto would be complete without a proper record playing session. The day itself was sunny and comfortably warm. Friday of a long weekend, with a clear schedule, a place downtown ready for the evening, speakers and equipment sorted, and a tight knit crew en route in time for sunset. All set, all ready to go, just needed to get there. Easy train in from the suburbs. But while the bigger bits of travel had all come off without a hitch, the hardest part of the whole trip, it turned out, was finding my way out of Bloor Station – a task made harder as a result of at least one poor decision on my part. Who knew train stations could be so convoluted? There is of course a particular satisfaction in escaping from a trap of one’s own making. Happy to see the light indeed. This is episode 128 of Music For Small Audiences. Recorded live through the evening hours on a warm summer evening, it captures a two and a half hour musical show-and-tell session among good friends with plenty to celebrate.

Alex arrived at our school in year 11. We clocked the Nitzer Ebb T-shirt before we clocked anything else about him, which told us most of what we needed to know about his taste in music. We made a point of introductions, and became good friends quickly. Some time later the two of us sat at a piano together, working out a little riff we had come up with. The whole thing turned on a single note, an alternation between major and minor over the same tonic, with the root and fifth holding steady. It sounded uncomfortable, with a bit of chromatic friction. He loved it immediately, and while it troubled me at first it grew on me. You could hear, in the space of one semitone, just how much emotion and energy can shift. It is remarkable how little it takes to change the whole feeling of a thing. A short break, pause or shift (even if just a semitone) is often enough to recharge, reset, and re-release for the moment ahead. Yes, things are difficult at times, but nothing is forever. Enjoy it if you can, endure it if you must. This is episode 127 of Music For Small Audiences. Recorded live on an Australian winter evening the weekend before a midweek getaway to tropical Queensland, it provides alternating slices of major and minor key energy as befits the mood of the day. Tracks include some of Argentina’s finest, along with a few quality works from local Melbourne legends.

The weather here in Melbourne ground to a halt this past week. As the news put it, a blocking high parked itself in the Tasman Sea, and according to the forecasters it intends to stay there for a few more days yet. Some inland towns have been looking at the same temperature for seven days running. The sky, for the moment, has decided it has nothing further to add. It has been an interesting few months. A motorcycle ride around Tasmania with my good friend Jason retraced a trip we did more than twenty years ago, while a weekend in Adelaide with Andrew gave a chance to see Marsh play a very cool free laneway set. A very warm Easter in the tropics with family (and similarly stopped weather) rounded out early autumn, providing a great sense of connection. My mother spoke often about travel as a kind of slow-release lesson in personal growth, and about how the fun parts and the harder parts both had something important to teach. This is episode 126 of Music For Small Audiences. It was recorded live the week before Easter, and I have been road testing it in the weeks since. Bit of a delay getting this one uploaded, in line with finding time between work and personal priorities, but I think it sits well. One of the gentler privileges of releasing infrequently is the freedom to release when the mix is ready, rather than when the calendar insists. Appreciate your patience, and hope you enjoy.

The Australian summer is here, and with it has come a series of getaways with friends and family – some just a weekend, some a few days longer. It can be hard to squeeze both fun and relaxation into the same trip, particularly when one seems to spend as much time planning and packing as on the trip itself. Thankfully, the more often we do it, the better we get. Preparation is a funny thing. It’s easy to put off, particularly when there are more fun things to do – and whether it’s the night before heading off or the last night before heading home, the liminal energy of the moment doesn’t always lend itself to careful administrative attention. Yet taking those few extra minutes to really dial things in can make a world of difference. As the holiday period fades and the real work returns, the principle remains – preparation is easy to intend, but hard in the moment to consistently do.

We are a few days away from the first day of summer here in Australia as I write this, and while the real summer weather hasn’t arrived yet, there’s already a looseness in the air. As for me, I’m enjoying catching up with friends and family, getting a bit of fresh air, and settling back into something like normalcy after a few years of balancing study alongside everything else. This is episode 124 of Music For Small Audiences, and as a whole it’s a fair reflection of what I’ve been playing over the past 20+ years. Recorded live on a recent Saturday night, the mix is laid back and groove-driven, and kicks off with a trio of twenty-year-old tunes. While largely instrumental, the lyrics that do appear speak to themes I return to often – impermanence, introspection, continuity, the complexity of separating thought from feeling, and the small salvation of the commitment-free weekend.

For the past eighteen months I’ve been balancing a fair bit of study alongside fulltime work and daily existence. It has been a wild, life-changing ride. With nine modules down and one to go, the finish line is now in sight. With a rush and a push I am now getting my head around the last three subjects of thirty – hoping to make the most of this last intensive session, without taking anything for granted until done is done. As befits my current state of mind there’s plenty of energy in this extended mix. Recorded late at night just before my recent trip to Berkeley, California in support of said study, it features a number of high quality alternate remixes of time-tested tunes that some of you will surely recognise, along with plenty of great new stuff from Melbourne and beyond.

There is a saying in Germany – Man sieht sich immer zweimal im Leben – that has baked into it a delightful ambiguity. Functioning simultaneously as both wistful sentiment and subtle warning, it acknowledges that goodbyes rarely mean forever. It speaks to the interconnectedness of social relationships, and of the cyclical nature of life. Whether you’ve enjoyed someone’s company and feel they’re leaving too soon, or you feel that they’ve wronged you (and that you might welcome a future opportunity to settle the score), this expression reminds us not to assume any departure is permanent. I must admit I’m not entirely certain how our German host meant it, but as the saying itself suggests, time will tell. This is Episode 122 of Music For Small Audiences. As befits the title and writeup, it contains a few references to prior episodes, themes and epochs, as well as a few refreshed takes on some timeless classics. There is of course a whole bunch of groovy new stuff mixed in too. Wherever you are on the cycle of hello, goodbye, and oh hey, I hope it brings you peace, resilience and joy.

I read somewhere recently that ‘strategy is what you say no to’. We can’t be all things to all people, and we can’t take advantage of every opportunity that comes along. Time, money, and energy are all limited resources. And so it seems reasonable to not expend any of them moving in a direction we don’t want to go. That said, it’s also too easy to slip into the habit of ‘just this once’ – and to be seduced by the power of marginal thinking that leads us to take individually justifiable actions in the short term that are in opposition to our longer term interests. After all, no single raindrop believes it is responsible for the flood, right? This is episode 121 of Music For Small Audiences. It was recorded in the leadup to a trip I’m really looking forward to – a weeklong study exchange in Germany, coming at a very interesting time for future European historians to consider. The mix has been put together as the soundtrack to that multinational voyage, which begins in a few days.

The Australian summer holiday period is winding to a close, and Melbourne is slowly gearing back up into its normal urban pace after a very sleepy four week period. While it can be difficult to unwind after a fast-paced year, it can be just as difficult getting the mind body and spirit back up to speed again after a few weeks of lazy self-indulgence. Can’t say I’m completely there yet, but the motor is at least running. Much as I envy those who can easily nap during the day – falling asleep quickly, and then jolting back into action on waking – I envy those who are able to dial it up and down from work to relaxion quickly when circumstances suggest. Perhaps the skill to develop is just that. Lots to work on in this regard. This is episode 120 of Music For Small Audiences. It was recorded early in the new year, on a decidedly relaxed summer evening. There is a fair bit of high quality made-in-Melbourne progressive house in here too (including the intro track) – so much good stuff coming out of Melbourne these days. Enjoy!

I have recently returned from a fair bit of solo travel that included time with friends, family, and some study. There is something special about travelling alone that is uniquely thought provoking. I am reminded of a quote that I’m not able to determine the provenance of but that has long rattled around my head – ‘there is no loneliness quite like the loneliness of a long drive home late at night, having visited worlds that no one else will ever know.’ I’m confident the same can be said of a long overnight flight returning home, too. This mix was recorded live in Vancouver on the first weekend of the trip at my good friend Dan’s groovy inner city pad. It carries throughout a couple of relevant thematic elements, and served as my soundtrack for the rest of the journey. With a DJ booth facing the outdoor terrace, and the terrace offering an elevated view of Gastown, Chinatown and surrounds with all of its urban grit and energy, Dan’s place was a really fun space to catch up with friends and reconnect.

I played a really fun house party gig in the inner west last night, sharing the controls with two very good friends. We’ve played a lot of gigs together over the years, from sharing residencies here in Melbourne nearly twenty years ago through to countless club gigs, parties and get-togethers in all sorts of interesting places with many lovely people over the years in between. A good gig remains equal parts energising and cathartic. It’s amazing to reflect on just how quickly twenty years can go by – and who we have each become in the process. Somewhere along the way we’ve each turned into actual adults. Hard to say where or when it happened, even with the benefit of hindsight. Thankfully, we have stayed connected to each other, and I’d like to think we’ve stayed true to ourselves. While we’re each indubitably twenty years older than we were twenty years ago, and we’ve each added a few wrinkles and grey hairs since those heady nights of the noughties, nights like last night really reinforce the power and importance of enduring good friendships. It’s also a friendly reminder of just how timeless shared musical bonds can be. While it’s true that many of the ‘old school classics’ we played last night were our up front and fresh new catches twenty years ago, it also goes to show that a good tune is a good tune is a good tune. As the old John Digweed saying goes, the only thing that matters is what comes out of the speakers. This is episode 118 of MFSA. There is some sensational music contained within, including a couple of bits of wax that I had been checking the post for regularly prior to their arrival. Enjoy.

I celebrated a milestone recently. To mark the occasion, we spent a few days in sunny Brisbane. While it wasn’t a long trip, it was a relaxing trip, and an inspiring one, too. In such a context it is hard not to reflect with some depth on one’s mortality and one’s time and place in the world. Thankfully, the trip involved plenty of walking, plenty of time in nature, plenty of time in the ocean, and plenty of time doing not-very-much. Good for the soul, I suspect. This is episode 117 of Music For Small Audiences. Recorded live the weekend before the trip, it’s a laid back look at some of the more reflective music in my collection, including a few modern takes on some classics, and a few groovy tunes that have been stuck in my head for weeks. It builds from a gentle start, and is exactly the sort of set I’d play for a lazy late-afternoon-into-early-evening subtropical sunset poolside get together. Enjoy.

Sometimes it’s important to play to your strengths. Sometimes it’s important to work on your weaknesses. For some reason the former always sounds much more appealing than the latter. After a nearly ten year break, I have returned to study. I am hoping some of the topics covered will be within my existing areas of knowledge. At the same time, I both look forward to and fear the parts that are at the moment completely foreign to me. Time will tell I suppose. This is the 116th installment of Music For Small Audiences. At just under four hours, it was recorded live on March 2024. As befits my current headspace, it contains within at least one unveiled reference to the connection between effort and reward. As always, perspective is everything. I hope you enjoy.

Never trust a thought that occurs indoors, the saying goes. We are into the final third of summer here in Australia, and at the risk of tempting the sun gods, I daresay the weather has started to stabilise – as far as Melbourne weather ever does, anyways. The combination of pleasant weather and still-long-enough evenings makes for plenty of time to be outdoors and introspective, while the ever-shortening days also serve as a reminder that soon enough we’ll be back to heaters and scarves. Some quality tunes in this one. I hope you enjoy.