This week we’ll look at the life serving skill of reason. The process in deciding if something is true. It’s based on reducing assumptions and making the best choice under the circumstances. The simplest answer isn’t always the truest. This week we’ll hear from six artists who gradually peal back layers to get to that essence. They are Advanced Suite, Kazuki, Lovement, The Microgram, D-Echo Project and Culture Horn. I’m Jim Nye.

This week, we’ll listen to The City at Night. From the time the sunsets until dawn, the city changes neighborhood by neighborhood, from glittering to gritty, from evening to the early morning it sound different, somehow more distant than daytime.

This week we’ll hear from seven artists who are not what they seem. Not entirely anyway. We make assumptions and have expectations that are not always met at first blush. Like the name of a band or the music from a particular place.

This week we’ll lay out a spread of Cheesy Beats and Firecrackers. Embracing the schmaltz and finding our inner groove. It's cinematic music with modern beats nostalgic for camp Hollywood tropes and tv variety shows but ultimately it all leads back to Walter Wanderley’s elevator classic ‘Summer Samba’.

This week we will reflect on how artificial intelligence is influencing music culture.  People's ability to learn from each other, from teacher to student, from mentor to novice, is how we build knowledge and transmit culture.

This week we take a look at the second generation of electronic music artists. Standing on the shoulders of giants like Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream and Wendy Carlos, a decade later these artists were marrying a dyi-punk ethos with the widespread availability of synths.

This week we’ll look at Anima Mundi or the ‘Soul of the World’. Thought to be a vital force that permeates the world, the Anima Mundi is believed to be the feminine creative power of God.

This week we will celebrate our Crystal or 15th anniversary of podcasting independent Downtempo Music and Artists. Looking back I am happy to report most continue to make music or have a presence on the web. We will hear from six artists from our freshman year who, 15 years later, are still going strong.

This week we’ll look at the luminescence of candles, of wax and tallow. Mostly used in celebrations and ceremonies these days, candles brought light to the darkness for early lives constrained by the rising and setting of the sun. It meant extra hours beyond daily work to gather, socialize and create. Candles lit the way and we followed.

This week we will focus on mind wandering. When your attention drifts from the task at hand. Most of us feel this mild disassociation routinely. When you feel a million miles away. While it can be distracting daydreaming can lead to more creativity through decoupling and self reflection. We will hear six tracks that exhibit some of this dreamlike quality including Red Wine Riots, Aphilas, Dreza, Eva Schlegel, Azoora and Just Banks.

This week we will look at personal correspondence. Any private communication revealing private thoughts usually between just two people. It is often easier to put your true feelings down on paper. Shared thoughts of devotional love. Despair and hope of lovers on the edge. The loyalty of close friends and letters written with no intention of ever being sent.