Friday 3am-5am
Welcome to Elysian Fields – KXCI Tucson
DJ: Dominic Castelli
“In the desert darkness, all sound is music.”
Elysian Fields is your early‑morning source for experimental soundscapes. Ambient drones, field recordings, neoclassical compositions, sound collages, spoken word, and more. Tune in Fridays at 3 AM MST (local) or stream live 10:00–12:00 GMT.
SUBMIT YOUR MUSIC TO ELYSIAN FIELDS!
A Brief History of Experimental Music
In 1913, Luigi Russolo’s hand-built noise machines called Intonarumori. These were meant to challenge the ideas of pitch and timbre of the time. In the 1940s, Pierre Schaeffer began splicing audio recordings into something strange and beautiful he called music. Edgard Varèse took sirens, percussion, and static and turned them into thick walls of sound. Stockhausen followed, coaxing order out of electricity, leaving behind the bones of the first electronic studios.
The 1960s and 1970s brought a new breadth to music. La Monte Young holding a single note like an unbreakable vow; Terry Riley and Steve Reich broke new ground with their slow-motion echo games; Brian Eno, insisted that music didn’t have to beg for your attention; it could just be. In 1978, he named it Ambient and the world never sounded the same.
In the 1980s and 1990s technological changes ushered in a new era. John Oswald broke songs apart, reconstructed them, and gave them new meaning; Christian Fennesz let his guitar rot beautifully through a laptop. The digital era had arrived, and there would be no turning back.
why does elysian fields exist?
Elysian Fields treats sound as more than just information or entertainment; it serves to spotlight self‑published and indie‑label artists who rarely get mainstream airtime. The focus ranges from local DIY talents to global innovators who produce sounds that will challenge and inspire you. The show is focused on being in the moment with these sounds.
If you’re ready to slow down and really listen, not just to the music, but to the space around it, the textures beneath it, and the way it makes you feel when you stop trying to explain it, then this show is for you.
One of the main inspirations for this program is the writing, Listening (2007) of French philosopher Jean‑Luc Nancy. For Nancy, listening was not about collecting sounds or interpreting meaning. It was about reinforcing community, and resonating with the sounds of the world. He believed that listening to sound was a profound way of experiencing meaning, time, and even life itself. He believed that listening to sound brought the listener into contact with something deeper that shifted the sense of self and opened them to the world in new ways.
“Music is the art of making sense with the body, in space and in time, without recourse to the word.”
Each episode of Elysian Fields blends ambient music, field recordings, experimental tones, and subtle noise into an evolving soundscape. There’s no fixed style or story; it’s just sound in motion, drifting between the quiet and the extreme. It doesn’t aim for traditional beauty or neat resolution. In fact, it often moves in the opposite direction, toward something rougher, less polished. This isn’t a flaw. It’s part of what makes the listening real; you get to listen with more than your ears.
The program is broadcast locally in the early hours before dawn, emanating from Tucson, Arizona. Locally, Elysian Fields meets the listener at a time when the world is quieter and more open to reflection. It’s also streamed out to the world live, wherever you may be.
Whether you’re listening by choice or by circumstance, Elysian Fields offers a place to land. This is a place where the sounds don’t tell you what to think or feel, but offer something more honest: a chance to simply be in the moment. The program provides you the opportunity to hear what usually goes unheard.
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KXCI Tucson 91.3 FM
Saturdays, 3:00 to 5:00 AM
