Liminal Spaces are spaces that are transitional in nature, like hallways, waiting rooms, parking lots, and so on. This concept has spread like a virus for the last 2 years on Reddit and other websites, where internet communities post images of empty functional spaces. These images became popular because they contradict our expectations. The empty, lifeless images of functional spaces create an unsettling feeling of dissonance with the hustle and bustle of our lived experiences in these places.In YouTube compilations, these images are often put together layered with "dreamy" or "weird" music that seemingly "match" the aesthetics and add to the discomfort.This episode reclaims Muzak, Elevator Music, Airplane boarding music, software installing music, and telephone hold music among others, as Liminal Music: the conceptual sonic counterpart for the Liminal Spaces trend.Liminal Music is functional music that exists solely to be played as a background signal, an acoustic wallpaper composed to be heard but not listened to. You as a passive listener don't decide to listen to it, it's just there.This music is supposed to be designed to have psychological effects on the people who hear it. It soothes and relaxes the listener, fills a silence, modifies behaviours, encourages shoppers and increases workers' productivity, remembers you what you are doing and serves as company when you have to wait.Aesthetically, Liminal Music sounds watered down, without big shifts in dynamic levels. Among original tracks it’s also common to hear light versions of popular tracks flattened out, making them mellow and easy to listen to.We could compare Liminal Music with #mood and #chill playlists on Spotify, or the famous YouTube channel "chill beats to study or relax to", but the difference is that in these last ones the listener chooses to press play.These songs are actually really well made, and sometimes (in the case of muzak and elevator music) are composed by great composers who put a lot of effort into making this music so secondary and unexciting.Listening to some of these songs can bring back different memories to different people, as these songs have been used for different purposes by different companies or places. Ironically some of these tracks that we recognise and hate from calling support lines for hours, can cause some sense of nostalgia and familiarity.So to recap: this is a collection of Liminal Music, presented isolated from its original context. Here we won’t listen to the reverb, noises, chatter, speaker announcements, the sounds of people passing by, bad signal noises, or analogue distortions that normally accompany the songs in their original context. These songs are reduced to the original empty music, as in the Liminal Spaces trend.I hope you like it, and thank you for holding the line.TRACKLIST1 - Intro2 - Wayne Hill - Left Bank Two (Vision On Gallery Theme)3 - Tim Carleton - Opus No. 14 - Didier Malherbe & Loy Ehrlich - Hadouk5 - Chris Rae - Liquid Latin6 - Marco Iodice - Qatar Airways Onboard Music (Night Version)7 - Skype for Business - Hold Music8 - Seeburg Music Library - One Note Samba9 - Karl Jenkins - Mr. Lucky10 - Dick Walter - Playground of the Stars11 - Fresh Music Library - Let's Do Lunch (Saxophone Hold Music)12 - Clean Bandit - Rather Be - Instrumental13 - Muzak Orchestra - 3 Days of the Condor14 - James Last - Guantanamera15 - Stan LePard - 1996 Internet Starter Kit - Velkommen16 - Ryanair Boarding Music - Liam Aidan - Golden Skies17 - Glitch Game Music - Waiting Muzak 2.118 - Fresh Optimism - One to One full19 - Sam Cardon - Elevator Music 2332320 - Aisha Duo - Amanda21 - Frank Chacksfield - I'll Be There22 - Jean Marie Ecay & Philippe Bestion - Positive Dimension23 - The New Edition - Bette Davis Eyes