Thomas Park aka Mystified is arguably the best composer / musician working in the field of ambient-industrial electronica. He must certainly be one of the most prolific having his works available on many different netlabels. His discography lists many CDs and online recordings that attest to his talents. His bag of tricks includes field recordings, beat manipulation, drones, and homemade sounds and he always manages to cook up a stunning array of soundscapes. I picked an even dozen recordings, all free, legal and online, that will give you a good representation of Mystified’s world. These are all full albums between 30 minutes to one hour in duration.

Mystified’s work on the Nishi net label may be as good as a place to start as any. Mystical Steam is one of the more accessible, starting with a catchy and almost tuneful “Certainty” then transforming into hypnotic soundscapes involving. among other things, water drops, chimes, and mechanical noises. Dark Lacunae and Hunting Collecting are also good introductions as the tracks include both ambient efforts, drone pieces, and more rhythmic endeavors.

As typical of many of the albums on the Webbed Hand Records, Mystified’s Constant and The Hush are single tracked and meditative. These are long droning works with Mystified at his most minimalist. I also recommend his albums from Webbed Hand’s Rain Series.

Treetrunk has a nice collection of Mystified albums. Cavern of Tile is primarily water sounds: pipes, faucets, sinks, etc. all recorded and manipulated in his apartment. Nocturne is a good example of the use of field recordings. It is an abstract work eschewing rhythm and tone completely. In South City Spring. Mystified uses a mini-disc recorder to pick up apartment sounds and assemble them in odd ways. Audio Paintings is an interpretation of two paintings by Sandy Spreitz representing the four elements. The sounds are mainly taken from apartment noises and short wave radio transmissions.

The Jon7.Net label has two of my favorite releases by Mystified. Puzzle Street is a dark and haunting work best experienced late at night with headphones. Sidewalk Salad is a sonic collage involving the sounds of Parks’ hometown, Saint Louis, Missouri.

Finally, one of Mystified’s latest works appears to be 2007’s Tenuosity but the artist turns them out so fast that will probably not be true by the time of this posting. For us, it is a good place to end because you can see how all of his experimentation on past albums result in this most current effort. This online album has plenty of beats but also drones, manipulated sounds and everything you would expect from Mr. Parks. Mystified is a continuing project of which we will look forward to more awe-inspiring and unpredictable sounds.

Download
Audio Paintings
Cavern of Tile
Constant
Dark Lacunae
Hunting Collecting
Mystical Steam
Nocturne
Puzzle Street
Sidewalk Salad
South City Spring
Tenuosity
The Hush