Of all the people we follow on Mixcloud, few have instant listen status when a new mix is upped. black_ops is one such person.

I don’t know who is behind the account, where they are based or anything. And whilst that information isn’t at all important, you can’t help but be curious.

What is important, and is something that black_ops delivers on each and every upload, are the sounds. Typically they’ve focused on the darker ambient strains of sound with occasion subject focus such as a recent all Patti Smith mix, a Lynch theme one; one on Lou Reed, a Scott Walker one, and so on (their Burroughs mix of notable mention). But it’s worth telling you that those mixes aren’t a greatest hits comp of stuff you know. No, these are a deep exploration of the lesser known sounds you probably didn’t pay attention to. And that’s one of the reasons I love the black_ops mixes. Each mix is a treasure trove.

Time Is Folding In is the latest offering and is in typical dark sound fashion. Full of artists and sounds unknown to me, together with the recent offering on PAN from new signing Mohammad: a Greek trio of contrabass player Coti K, cellist Nikos Veliotis and a knob-tweaker ILIOS. Also featured on the mix is Haxan Cloak’s Dieu taken from the forthcoming April release of Excavation on Tri Angle. The closing track from the 2011 cassette release of The Silent March by Secret Pyramid is one of warmest, most beautiful sounding pieces of drone sound I’ve heard in a long time.

Take some time out and invest your mind into the selections of black_ops. You’ll thank me for it.

They really need to get these mixes available as downloads, or even better as a podcast.

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Lawrence Weiner – Nothing To Lose
The Haxan Cloak – Dieu
Günter Schickert – Sieben
Robert Turman – Al Qa’ida
Ata Ebtekar – Picture Of A Whisper
Uton – Subatomic Prayer/Coral Dream
Microflvrsence – 11
Brute Heart – Irrenanstalt
Mohammad – Lapli
Moljebka Pvlse – Aftermath
Timo Glock – Methamorphosis
Secret Pyramid – Silent March 1