AM Gold 2025, Part Two: 30 or so songs that made the last year more liveable. Ambient electronics, jazz, dream-pop, folk, psychedelic, and more. Hope you enjoy it and that your year starts with a steady pulse and a hopeful melody.

A new year's reintroduction: The AM is a weekly radio show on @cjsw.bsky.social in Calgary, AB, airing live on Monday mornings at cjsw.com and 90.9FM locally. Each episode is three hours of music to help find your footing for the week. Electronic, jazz, psych, shoegaze, mostly new, but not always.

First spin of 2026.

Taking in the new years sunrise. Sort of.

AM Gold 2025 Part One: A selection from some favourite albums of the past year, from ambient jazz and Ethiopian-inspired electronics to bossa nova, post-punk to pagan folk. Enjoy the last few days of the first quarter of the 21st century, and tune in for Part Two in 2026. theam.ca/post/8043071...

AM Gold Part One starts now: Sharing some favourite releases from 2025 on CJSW.com. Tune in live for the next three hours, or head to cjsw.com/program/the-... after that for the archive episode.

I’m very curious about Marty Supreme but also have strong physical reactions against the thought of watching one particular cast member for any length of time. So I guess I’ll be missing it.

Treated myself to not a bad Boxing Day haul, especially with keeping things under $20/record.

A Very AM Christmas: Sad songs, loud songs, classics and oddities; a Christmas playlist of mostly unexpected moments. Nearly 100 songs in no particular order, throw it on shuffle for maximum effect. Apple Music playlist below, or Spotify here: music.apple.com/ca/playlist/...

It's The AM's midwinter special—partly inspired by the winter solstice, partly by Christmas. A quiet one even by AM standards, but hopefully it introduces a few new seasonal favourites (including rarities from Blur, Animal Collective, Bjork, & more). Listening links: theam.ca/post/8036826...

This morning’s soundtrack: Revisiting a solstice playlist from a few years back. Songs of the moon and the sun. Hope your longest night has been a restful one.

AM Gold 2025: 50 favourite albums from the past year, and 150+ others that are also very much worth a listen. Ambient, psychedelic, modular synth, jazz, library grooves, jangle pop, and other sounds suited to early mornings and contemplative moments. wanderlines.ca/2025/12/18/a...

Yesterday's AM on @cjsw.bsky.social: A low-key AM, with a throwback to a cult Jean-Claude Vannier soundtrack, and a mix of new sounds, missed 2025 releases, and a handful of classics to get you through your Monday morning (or whichever day you choose). theam.ca/post/8031500...

Every time I try to prune this 300-ish song playlist of 2025 releases, I end up making it slightly longer. At least it makes for great morning listening in the meantime. FFO: spacey electronics, ambient jazz, library grooves, cosmic psych, and offbeat easy listening.

Starting in the seond hour, this week’s AM puts its own spin on The Scene’s recent “25 records for 25 years” article with 25 Calgary classics that didn’t appear on their list. Is it definitive? No. Is it nostalgic? Definitely. Hopefully also a reminder of how much is worth celebrating in YYC music.

Music matters.

I've been too busy and then sick to write blurbs The AM's picks for November's new releases, and with #BandcampFriday mere hours away and the mug of NeoCitran kicking in, I'll have to settle for just the links and a playlist. Don't let that discourage you from listening to these 30 albums.

I've been too busy and then sick to write blurbs The AM's picks for November's new releases, and with #BandcampFriday mere hours away and the mug of NeoCitran kicking in, I'll have to settle for just the links and a playlist. Don't let that discourage you from listening to these 30 albums.

Narrowing down my year-end album list from a 300-album spreadsheet and a playlist of tracks from all those that were up on streaming. I’m reaching new heights of obsession here, but it feels like the only way to keep up.

Hey #musicsky, any recent hip hop recommendations in the same vein as Ka or Mary Sue?

The first AM of December hopefully sounds less wintry than the world outside. A throwback to Talk Talk’s final album, new music from Chad VanGaalen, The Notwist, and Teen Daze and a mix of genres from the ambient and experimental to the groovy and garage-y. Listening links: theam.ca/post/8017815...

If you told me ten years ago that King Khan would be making devotional instrumental sitar music with a traditional Anishnaabe flute player, I guess I may have believed you but I would certainly have been surprised.

Always confusing seeing people talk about how hard it is to find good independent music/art/film/etc. Sure, relative to just throwing on a Spotify playlist or whatever Netflix is featuring, digging for hidden gems is harder. But relative to any other point in history? It's never been easier.

The new live EP from Toronto's Orbital Ensemble is a blast—loving the slightly more muscular take on their Brazilian-jazz-psych debut. Released on @wearebusybodies.bsky.social, but I found it through the single on Caju Collective (cajucollective.bandcamp.com/album/orbita...). Both doing vital work.

Bit of a glitch with this week's episode, so the recording may or may not be available tomorrow. But there's always the Apple Music and Spotify playlists, if you want the music without the rambling: Apple: music.apple.com/ca/playlist/... Spotify: open.spotify.com/playlist/62R...

Somewhere in the last decade the Notwist went from a band I appreciated to one of my all-timers. These songs have technically been released before, but I’ll take anything resembling new music from them. Lovely stuff as always. thenotwist.bandcamp.com/album/magnif...

This week's AM on @cjsw.bsky.social: Animator Winston Hacking joins the show in advance of his visit to the GIRAF animation festival. Listen to that conversation, plus ambient electronics, psychedelic grooves, dreamy tropicalia, and other sounds to make Monday mornings a little more pleasant.

This week’s AM is live for the next three hours at cjsw.com. Three hours of laid-back sounds to start your week on the right footing.

Couple good finds at the antique shop today. I’ve been watching out for the MMC3 release for a surprisingly long while now.

Looks like I also neglected to include The Besnard Lakes are the Ghost Nation in that October roundup, yet another example of people who should know better taking one of Canada’s finest psych rock acts for granted. Shame. thebesnardlakes.bandcamp.com/album/the-be...

Picking up this thread with eight more October releases. I'm also just realizing I missed including Buildings and Food's excellent Provincial Park VIP Mixes EP, which puts a more propulsive spin on tracks inspired by BC landscapes. Don't overlook it: buildingsandfood.bandcamp.com/album/provin...

An alphabetical thread rounding up some of the finer ambient, jazz, psychedelic, and otherwise dreamy releases of this past October. As always, I'm astounded by how much good stuff is steadily released, so this is just scratching the surface. Bandcamp links in thread, Apple Music playlist below.

No one does Halloween mixes better than @vintageobscura.net. Here's a decade-worth of their playlists to set the right mood for today.

This week’s episode is back to the normal AM mix, with a jangle-pop throwback, plenty of brand new music, a bit of early 2000s YYC nostalgia, and other low-key sounds for the last week of October. Happy Hallowe'ek!

Picking up on this thread, here's the other 17 selections from September 2025. Yes, it's almost the end of October now, but it takes a while to process this muhc music, y'know?

Have I mentioned on Bluesky that the @cjsw.bsky.social funding drive is on now? Support Canada's best campus and community radio station at CJSW.com/donate, and use the link below to hear three hours of me sharing tracks from this year's two FD mixes and flogging the benefits of independent radio.

Anyone else find that September was shockingly good for new music? I feel like I could happily spend a year with just the releases from last month. Here's a playlist running down selections from just under 30 albums from September 2025, plus bandcamp links in the thread. (In alphabetical order)

It’s hard to put into words what it means to lose D’Angelo. Not just the man, but the sound, the feeling, the very essence of soul that he embodied.

All-timer autumn albums. I’ll start: Bibio - Vignetting the Compost Overshadowed by Ambivalent Avenue’s pop transformation that same year, VtC bridges that album with his warblier early releases, delicate fingerpicked melodies falling like fresh leaves.

Jonathan Richman is joy and sincerity and wisdom and silliness, an absolute blessing to see him perform. It’s a wonder how he makes every song sound so alive, and forces the audience to be so present.

This week's AM on @cjsw.bsky.social: a throwback to the album that introduced a generation of insufferable indie rockers (myself included) to experimental electronics, plus your usual AM mix of ambient electronics, shoegaze, dream pop, pastoral jazz, and other soothing sounds. It's a good one, IMO.

Can't resist tossing out a few #BandcampFriday suggestions for fans of pastoral ditties, ambient electronics, dreamy psychedelia, and gentle kosmische. A thread of great recent releases from the past month or so, in alphabetical order:

100% agreed, this is fantastic. Especially the title track’s mix of Floydian/Fortean grooves and vocals recorded through the black lodge’s curtains. Perfect October vibes.

New episode: My return to The AM after a three-week absence. A throwback to the 20th anniversary of Broadcast’s Tender Buttons, new music from Juana Molina, The Leaf Library, Project Gemini, and wihtikow, and other early morning goodness awaits. theam.ca/post/7960807...

I've been on holidays, what September releases have I missed? Already been looping Shrunken Elvis, Rachel Kitchlew, Area 3, and Go Kurosawa, and enjoying Yoo II avec Nolan Potter, the Oruã & Reverse Death split EP, and new Kara-Lis Coverdale. What else is good in the ambient/jazz/dream/psych world?

I was lucky enough to be part of the heritage prize and grand juries for Polaris, and spent many hours in deliberations with fellow music fans from across the country was a delight. Amazing chance to dive deep into some records I love, some others that I don't, and to hear many in a new light.

One for the spacerock heads: Canadian post rock and psych juggernauts Yoo Doo Right and Population II join bedroom-Zappa Nolan Potter for five tracks and 40+ minutes of coughing cosmic riffs. yoodooright.bandcamp.com/album/yoo-ii...

I'd thought August was a bit of a slow month, but looking back, it's been packed with pretty stellar new releases. Here are 20 or so that stood out/that I'll either be revisiting or kicking myself if I don't. In alphabetical order.

Excellent split release from Brazillian lo-fiers Oruã and Seatle psych-drone band Reverse Death. Oruã's contribution is outtakes and demos from their upcoming K Records release, mostly on the mellow side of garage, hazy dub narcotic vibes, plus an eight-minute freakout if that's more your speed. 1/2