by Ben Hogwood

One of the benefits of social media is the opportunity to share music we love, to get new perspectives on music we know, and to discover whole new pathways and music we haven’t heard before.

This used to be one of the best things about Twitter, but for obvious reasons I’ve closed that particular door and now enjoy BlueSky, where a welcoming community share music challenges from month to month. I’ve enjoyed a few challenges, but the latest one is definitely worth sharing with Arcana readers.

Without further ado, welcome to #AmbientAugust – with thanks to Coinneach Rooney (@coinneachrooney.bsky.social), whose idea it was. The guidelines are:

“Post an ambient track each day in August. Modular synths, lo-fi guitars, digital landscapes, or whatever feels right to you. There are rules, but you’ll only find out what they are after breaking one. 😂 Use #AmbientAugust when you post.”

My contribution for day one is Aphex Twin‘s Xtal, one of the very first bits of music we heard from Richard James back in 1992, when it was released as the first track of his Selected Ambient Works Vol. 1 anthology for Apollo Records. It samples Evil at Play, a production music track by Steve Jefferies, Mary Carewe and Donald Greig, and Apache by Incredible Bongo Band.

The track has special significance for me, as the Selected Ambient Works Vol. 1 album played a part in helping me through glandular fever at university. Here it is – very simple, and blissful:

Published post no.2,965 – Saturday 1 August 2026