Episode 7.32 /// Featuring Ned Milligan and Giulio Aldinucci
In today’s episode I’ve got two featured albums that are not only noteworthy and of high caliber, but carry with it their own unique transcendence. My first featured artist is Ned Milligan and his intimate album “Real Fun” — a beautifully collaged album that reads like an audio diary conveying both grief and the ephemeral. And later in the program, I’ve got the new album “Materia” from Italian sound artist Giulio Aldinucci, a colossal listening experience that vividly portrays sound as a physical substance.Plus new music from Ed Herbers, Erjos, Andrew Tuttle & Darren Cross, Harvey Valdes and more. Strap in and make yourself comfortable. Join us for the next hour for global ambient music, on The Relay Station.Artist informationNed MilliganNed Milligan — schoolteacher, musician, and founder of the experimental label Florabelle — returns with his first album in three years, called “Real Fun” — and it’s a deeply personal album. Milligan assembled the ten-song LP around moments with his son, but it’s also shaped by grief. During the process of writing and recording the album, he lost both of his parents — one suddenly and one slowly — and it’s that absence that runs quietly through the record from start to finish. In his words: “This is unavoidably present in the music, to be sure, but its presence is also a kind of offering.” He brought in collaborators too — M. Sage, Lake Mary, and Zander Raymond all had a hand in the album — handing one track entirely over to Andrew CS as what Milligan calls an “interludinal postcard.” Working with chimes, autoharp, field recordings, and piano, “Real Fun” is Milligan at his most vulnerable — and, true to the title, still finding joy in the middle of it all. The arrangement almost reads like an audio diary — cataloging passing moments, ephemeral experiences, and fragments of memory through dreamlike musical sound beds, hypnotic ornamentals, and field recordings. It’s a pleasant and intimate listening experience — and you owe it to yourself to experience this album first-hand. https://www.nedmilligan.com/https://florabelle.bandcamp.com/Giulio AldinucciItalian sound artist Giulio Aldinucci returns with his fifth album on Karlrecords, called “Materia,” continuing a run that’s included critically acclaimed records like “Disappearing In A Mirror” and “Shards Of Distant Times.” Based in Siena, Aldinucci has spent over two decades building these immersive, multilayered soundscapes — blending field recordings, choral textures, and electronic processing into something that sits between contemporary ambient and electroacoustic composition. This time, the concept is sound as physical substance. As Aldinucci puts it: “Materia focuses on the idea of sound as a matter, which can be shaped into complex forms by removing excess material from the sound mass.” He’s treating time itself as something that can be molded, shaped, and sculpted — shattering sounds down to the millisecond and reassembling them in new sequences, pushing past traditional ideas of rhythm altogether. The album provides the listener a rich tapestry of dense textures, haunting vocalizations as instruments, cavernous atmospheric conditions, and pensive arrangements that are ripe for expansive, contemplative listening sessions. It’s a top-shelf album, and you simply cannot afford to let this one slip by. https://www.giulioaldinucci.com/https://karlrecords.bandcamp.com/Playlist* [0:00] INTRODUCTION* [01:34] “Wishes That Never Came True” by Ed Herbers from “Season Cycle: Autumn” (Independent, 2026)* [04:40] “October” by Erjos from “Autumn Vol. 2” (Bigo & Twigetti, 2026)* [07:36] “Wave Ghoster Catch Up” by Andrew Tuttle & Darren Cross from “AT/DC” (Someone Good, 2026)* [11:42] FEATURED ARTIST SEGMENT* [13:48] “Rainbow Rubberneckers” by Ned Milligan from “Real Fun” (Florabelle, 2026)* [18:05] “Liena” by Harvey Valdes from “Lumora” (7d Media, 2026)* [21:43] “Hyacinth in Bloom” by John Louis Kluck from “Ethereal Space” (Ambient Cat Records, 2026)* [26:15] “We Drifted Until Morning” by The Snowball Effect from “We Drifted Until Morning (single)” (Independent, 2026)* [30:27] FEATURED ARTIST SEGMENT* [32:25] “In A Shadow Of Noise” by Giulio Aldinucci from “Materia” (Karlrecords, 2026)* [40:16] “Raw umber” by Thme from “Overleaf” (Laaps, 2026)* [44:29] “In Characteristic Form” by Celer from “Capri (Remastered Deluxe Edition)” (Two Acorns, 2026)* [48:34] “Fading Gates (of Cosmic Enlightenment)” by Ystrith from “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌 𝐑𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬” (Independent, 2026)* [54:02] “Silenza” by David Cordero from “La Imagen Muda” (Noray Records, 2026)Become a supporter today!Join our community and become a monthly supporter of The Relay Station. Your financial support helps cover operating expenses and our collective efforts for the program to reach carbon neutrality. Join us at https://stolace.com/support/ Get full access to The Relay Station at therelaystation.substack.com/subscribe
