low light mixes

ECM Favorites Vol. 2 by Erwin Broers

I know two things that are true - Erwin Broers is a great contributor to Low Light Mixes and I'm an airhead. 🤪 Last year after I posted a mix of my favorite albums from ECM records, Erwin did his own version. He sent it to me in September and I totally spaced out and forgot about it until this week. But it works out in the end because I've been busy lately so a guest mix is just what I needed.

Here's what Erwin says about his ECM favorites:

"When LLM published a set of highlights from the revered ECM label back in early Aug '25, https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/ecm-favorites/, it just felt like short-selling its 1600+ title catalogue. A second installment seemed only a matter of time. And here it is! 

The mix mostly contains tracks one could characterize as "smooth contemporary jazz", the kind of music you put on to unwind after a busy day. A classic in this genre is John Abercrombie's "Timeless". 

But it also features a very special piece by Stephan Micus, the renowned German multi-instrumentalist, for whom ECM seems to have been created. We hear him singing in an imaginary language and playing several instruments; hauntingly beautiful!

Cover Artwork: Timanfaya National Park, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain, 2017"

Thanks for another wonderful set, Erwin.

Cheers!

 

( ( ( T R A C K L I S T ) ) )

• 00:00:00   Arve Henriksen, Eivind Aarset, Jan Bang & Tigran Hamasyan - Traces I (Atmosphères, 2016)
• 00:06:12   John Abercrombie, Jan Hammer & Jack De Johnette - Timeless (Timeless, 1975)
• 00:18:00   Stephan Micus - To The Evening Child (To The Evening Child, 1992)
• 00:25:43   Pat Metheny, Eberhard Weber, Lyle Mays & Dan Gottlieb - Sea Song (Watercolors, 1977)
• 00:35:46   Bill Frisell - Etude (Works, 1988)
• 00:39:50   John Surman - Holding Pattern I (Withholding Pattern, 1985)
• 00:44:18   Tord Gustavsen Trio - Vicar Street (Being There, 2007)
• 00:47:49   Egberto Gismonti, Nando Carneiro & Zeca Assumpçao - Um Anjo (ZigZag, 1996)
• 00:53:32   Anouar Brahem - Ashen Sky (Souvenance, 2014)
• 01:00:50   Terje Rypdal - Shining (Skywards, 1997)
• 01:03:04   François Couturier & Tarkovsky Quartet - Nuit Blanche (Nuit Blanche, 2017)
• 01:08:28   Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Oz Guizos (Faithful, 2011)
• 01:14:55   end

Sunday Morning Music Vol. 25 - The Beauty of Sundays

It's been a little over a year since my last Sunday Morning Music mix so I figured we needed to revisit this beautiful series. This mix follows the same format as previous sets - a little jazz, some ambient and a few vocal tunes. There's not much else to say other than grab a cup of coffee, kick back and enjoy some Sunday Morning Music.

 

LINKS TO ALL THE MUSIC USED IN THIS MIX:

• https://ecmrecords.com/product/touch-of-time-arve-henriksen-harmen-fraanje/
• https://blendreed.bandcamp.com/album/tales-of-tides
• https://www.amazon.com/music/player/albums/B0CLPDMX8R
• https://ecmrecords.com/product/convergence-bjorn-meyer/
• https://panamerican.bandcamp.com/album/new-world-lonely-ride
• https://momokogill.bandcamp.com/album/momoko
• https://phi-psonics.bandcamp.com/album/morning-sun-arrival
• https://michaelscottdawson.bandcamp.com/album/the-tinnitus-chorus
• https://www.amazon.com/music/player/albums/B0CVJ8D5ZC
• https://anjalauvdal.bandcamp.com/album/farewell-to-faraway-friends-vol-1-2
• https://amanaz.bandcamp.com/album/africa
• https://barrywalker.bandcamp.com/album/paleo-sol
• https://www.amazon.com/music/player/albums/B0BPQ216WH
• https://johnalsobennett.bandcamp.com/album/klima
• https://alabasterdeplume.bandcamp.com/album/to-cy-lee-instrumentals-vol-1
• https://aaronshaw.bandcamp.com/album/and-so-it-is

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :
00:00   Arve Henriksen - The Beauty of Sundays (Touch of Time 2024)
03:00   Blendreed - Sillages (Tales Of Tides 2025)
07:54   Knudsen, Bremer, Ewert - Broken Beauty (Bushbabies 2024)
11:22   Björn Meyer - Motion (Convergence 2026)
16:25   Michael Grigoni & Pan American - Sun Morning Sun (New World, Lonely Ride 2025)
19:45   Momoko Gill - Heavy (Momoko 2026)
23:23   Phi-Sonics - Morning Sun (Morning Sun/Arrival 2024)
28:12   Michael Scott Dawson - Present Day(feat. Jairus Sharif) (The Tinnitus Chorus 2024)
30:50   Kamaal Williams - Everything in its Right Place (2024)
36:12   Anja Lauvdal - Silk (Farewell to Faraway Friends 2023)
38:38   Amanaz - Sunday Morning (Africa 1975)
43:30   Barry Walker Jr. - Under Leaf Hill (Paleo Sol 2026)
45:54   The Japanese House - Indexical Reminder Of A Morning Well Spent (In The End It Always Does 2023)
50:05   CV & JAB - Dwelling (Klima 2023)
53:50   Alabaster DePlume - Not My Ask (To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals vol. 1 2020)
57:10   Aaron Shaw - Soul Journey (And So It Is 2026)
61:28   END

The Silence Between by Daniel Hawkins

 

When Daniel wrote that he had a new mix based around silence I knew it would be good. Then I saw the tracklist and I knew it would be great. He includes cuts from some of my favorite artists - Halftribe, Innesti, Sonmi451, Loscil, and A Produce. The A Produce track is one of my favorite ambienbt tracks of all time.

Here's what Daniel says about his new mix:

Claude Debussy once wrote: “The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between them”, suggesting that music's emotional impact, beauty, and expression come from the pauses and spacing between sounds.  The first thing I think of is Eno’s classic Music for Airports - man did I fall in love with that album.  Roach’s Dream Circle comes to mind - low and slow - the music just seems to breathe.  Of course you have the steady state drone stuff from Grassow and friends, which I like - but there is no real structure - that’s the point I guess.  I tried to pick work for this mix that had at least a bit of melody, but plenty of silence to define the notes.  There is a sweet spot that when achieved sends me at least into a deep peaceful space.  I’m thinking we all need to spend some time in that space these days to recharge and nurture our sanity.  Hoping this mix might help with that my friends.

 Thanks, Daniel, for another excellent mix.

Cheers!

 T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00   Halftribe & Spinnet - A Minimal Resolution (Patterns of Sync 2020)
• 09:09   Snufmumriko - Mot Nattens Hjärta (Sekunder, Eoner 2019)
• 12:12   ASC - Find Yourself (Tales Of Introspection 2025)
• 22:48   Innesti - Nothwithstanding (Filament and Place 2021)
• 28:00   Sonmi451 - Oxygen Is Flowing (Oxygen Is Flowing single 2025)
• 33:12   Loscil - Stella (Clara 2021)
• 42:23   A Produce - A Smooth Surface(Edit) (White Sands 1995)
• 47:40   Hipnotic Earth - Repose (The Waters of Home 2017)
• 57:00   Lab's Cloud - Rising (The Structure of Emotions 2021)
• 63:58   end

Step into my Time Machine

 

 

 

I bought a new mac mini recently and I have been transferring a ton of music to the new system. While cruising through the old files I discovered a folder called "NETLABELS." It's a fascinating collection of music the 2000s that was released on what were then known as "netlabels". I had a ball listening to some of it so I decided to make a mix. 

There was a lot of music to sort through so I decided to focus on two of my favorite labels - Thinner & Autoplate. Thinner, based in Frankfurt, Germany, released music from 2001 to 2009. They were one of the most consistent and successful netlabels. Thinner’s catalogue includes releases from artists such as Digitalverein, Marko Fürstenberg, Benfay, Pheek, krill.minima, Vladislav Delay, Christian Bloch and many others. As of September 2006, Thinner productions had accumulated over two million MP3 downloads. Thinner had a sublabel called Autoplate, focusing on experimental and ambient music. 

 

Thinner on Archive.org

Thinner on Scene.org

Autplate on Archive.org

Autoplate on Scene.org

I hope you get a kick out of this trip back to the aughts. Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00   Benfay - Mein Entschluss anders zu leben (Crossways 2005 Thinner)
• 04:12   arrial - Shiver(marsen_jules_rework) (this is my beauty, show me yours  2004 Autoplate)
• 08:00   tlon - while my tears swept away (Crossways 2005 Thinner)
• 12:45   color by numbers - Hyacinth Miasma (The Transitions 2004 Autoplate)
• 15:30   Danny Kreutzfeldt - Core_3-digitalis_remix (recore:02 2003 Thinner)
• 20:08  Tlon - Torch Number (Acoustic Lazy Dolls 2003 Autoplate)
• 27:20   krill.minima - Die Reflexion Des Projektors (Zwischen Zwei Und Einer Sekunde 2003 Thinner)
• 34:27   Lomov - Hochwaldregen (Holzwege 2005 Autoplate)
• 42:55   Falter - Taumelflug_1 (Taumelflug 2003 Thinner)
• 49:10   Lou Teti - Stroll (Night P{pieces 2005 Autoplate)
• 53:43   Martin Jarl feat Jon Ericsson - Inidimman (Crossways 2005 Thinner)
• 61:33   Marsen Jules - Lazy Sunday Funerals (Lazy Sunday Funerals 2003 Autoplate)
• 65:46   end

Frozen Landscapes

 

I haven't had much time or been motivated to create new mixes so far in the new year. But there's nothing like sub-zero temperatures and being cooped up indoors to get one in the mood for a good wintry mix. The temperature as I type this is -15 degrees with a wind chill of -40. 🥶

I've done these frigid temps themed mixes before and I'm always surprised at how well they come together. I start by simply searching for tracks with certain keywords - frozen, cold, frigid, ice, wind, winter, etc. and then try to use mostly tunes from 2025. This mix is a bit different than others because it turns toward warmth in the last few tracks - "Warmer Light," "Threads of Warmth," and "Warmth". I hope that by ending the mix on a warmer note that I may manifest higher temps.

Stay warm and cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :
00:00   Hainbach & Ensemble Recherche - The Cold Settles In (Retold 2025)
03:40   Valotihkuu - The Frozen Landscapes (Drifting Between Seasons 2025)
06:15   Science Of Sleeping - The Coldest Winter (Samsara 2025)
06:57   Jeff Pearce - A Long Winter'S Sleep (From the Darker Seasons 2017)
16:12   Erik Wøllo & Ian Boddy - Ice Station (Transmissions 2025)
20:30   Philippe Deschamps - Wind Secrets (Wind Secrets 2025)
22:39   Dirk Serries - Weathering The Gale (Treasure Of Stars 2025)
29:43   Seaworthy & Matt Rösner - Cold Weather (Deep Valley 2024)
32:27   Chihei Hatakeyama - Wind From Mountains (Lucid Dreams 2025)
37:00   Tokyo Ambient Collective - where the fireplace is (Winter Ambience 2025)
42:35   Pete Kvidera - Warmer Light (2025)
45:40   Valotihkuu - Threads Of Warmth (Drifting Between Seasons 2025)
51:25   Sebby Kowal - Warmth (Deep In Our Hearts 2023)
59:04   end

Favorite Instrumental Rock Albums of 2025

 

One of my favorite genre rabbit holes that I went down in 2025 was instrumental rock music. That title covers a lot of styles from post-rock to stoner rock to prog rock to cosmic country to fusion to psych rock etc. I've always listened to music that falls into this category whether it's Khruangbin or Causa Sui or Oren Ambarchi but this year my interest in this genre exploded. 

So I thought I would create a mix of some of my favorite instrumental rock albums from 2025. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the heavy stuff. This mix has a nice blend of a few heavy tunes with some Khruangbin-like tracks, a couple kraut rock style tracks, a jam band cut, a prog tune, even a dub track, and a bunch of other difficult to categorize music. 

 

>>>LINKS TO ALL THE MUSIC USED IN THIS MIX<<<

01 - https://actiontensionspace.bandcamp.com/album/new-dimensions

02 - https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/yawning-man-pavement-ends

03 - https://ambarchiberthlingwerliin.bandcamp.com/album/ghosted-iii

04 - https://elparaisorecords.com/product/causa-sui-in-flux/

05 - https://piotrkurek.bandcamp.com/album/songs-and-bodies

06 - https://elparaisorecords.com/product/edena-gardens-dispossessed/

07- https://barrywalker.bandcamp.com/album/barry-walker-unit-at-the-13th-moon-gravity-well

08 - https://jeffthebrotherhood.bandcamp.com/album/magick-songs

09 - https://kungensman.bandcamp.com/album/resande-i-rockmusik

10 - https://markusreuter.bandcamp.com/album/truce-3

11 - https://re-stoned.bandcamp.com/album/the-loom-maxi-single

12 - https://townportal.bandcamp.com/album/grindwork

13 - https://holmisanisland.bandcamp.com/album/behind-curtains

14 - https://yuuf.bandcamp.com/album/alma-s-cove

15 - https://eliwinter.bandcamp.com/album/a-trick-of-the-light

 

I know this isn't the usual LLM ambient fare but it is still somehow trance inducing. I hope you enjoy this deviation from ambient bliss.

 

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

01)  00:00   Action & Tension & Space - Folkemusikk fra Kvala (New Dimensions 2025)
02)  04:47   Yawning Man - Bomba Negra (Pavement Ends 2025)
03)  09:45   Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling, Andreas Werliin - Chahar (Ghosted  III 2025)
04)  15:49   Causa Sui - The Circus is Back (In Flux 2025)
05)  17:32   Piotr Kurek - Nothing Holds Still (Songs And Bodies 2025)
06)  22:26   Edena Gardens - Fills The Well (Dispossessed 2025)
07)  27:50   Barry Walker Unit - High in the Hummocks (At the 13th Moon Gravity Well 2025)
08)  32:51   Jeff The Brotherhood - Many Moons Dub (Magick Songs in Dub 2025)
09)  37:27   Kungens Män - Resande i rockmusik  (Resande i rockmusik 2025)
10)  42:40   Markus Reuter - We Have Your Back (Truce <3 2025)
11)  47:20   The Re-Stoned - The Loom (The Loom 2025)
12)  52:24   Town Portal - Gold-Plated (Grindwork 2025)
13)  56:18   Holm - Behind Curtains (Behind Curtains 2025)
14)  60:08   Yuuf - Alma’s Cove (Alma's Cove 2025)
15)  63:37   Eli Winter - A Trick of the Light (A Trick of the Light 2025)
67:16   end

Berlin School EM 2025 End Of Year XL Update by Erwin Broers

 

 

Oh man, what a way to end the year! Erwin has been curating excellent Berlin-school mixes for us all year and now he finishes it off with this massive end-of-the-year update. I've been in this headspace for a while now so this perfectly satisfies my craving. Thanks to Erwin for a great year of electronic mixes.

 

Here what he has to say about this year-ender:

 

"Another smorgasbord of what the electronic music scene has to offer these days and another invitation for space travelling! It's an extra long mix given my incapacity to choose from the wide offer of sublime tracks and albums that were released in 2025.

The diversity in styles within this music category is remarkable; synth pop, retro, contemporary and progressive Berlin School, cosmic sound tapestries, contemplative/meditative/emotional (drone) ambient and a lengthy deep house track.

Special mention for two female electronic music artists Andrea Cichecki and Lisa Bella Donna. Unfortunately, women are rare in this line of music, but these ladies more than deserve their place in this mix with thrilling evocative compositions. Check it out & enjoy your trip!"

  

LINKS TO ALL THE MUSIC USED IN THIS MIX:

01. https://aevanelstprojects.bandcamp.com/album/the-art-of-ae-live-2

02. https://fritzmayr.bandcamp.com/album/eye-of-the-storm

03. https://cosmiccadence.bandcamp.com/album/alien-artifacts

04. https://epigenetics.bandcamp.com/album/tunes-for-the-trip-to-alpha-centauri-2025-album

05. https://cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/album/everything-dies-cyd-0139

06. https://cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/album/gemstones-vi-cyd-0141

07. https://cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/album/a-sequence-of-colours-cyd-0147

08. https://sphericmusic-shop.de/gb/featured/1889-mergener-peter-chip-meditation-2025.html

    https://www.groove.nl/shop/peter-mergener-chip-meditation-2025/?v=910955a907e7

09. https://moonsatellite2.bandcamp.com/album/litanie-des-songes

10. https://tronestamjohan.bandcamp.com/album/settlers

11. https://caughtinjoy.bandcamp.com/album/equilibrium-double-album

12. https://matthiaslehmann.bandcamp.com/album/autumn-rhapsody-season-quadrology-part-iv-album

13. https://sequentia-legenda.bandcamp.com/album/timeless
    https://cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/album/timeless-cyd-0143

14. https://jimottaway.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-odyssey

15. https://dacker.bandcamp.com/album/saudade
    https://www.groove.nl/shop/dacker-skoulaman-saudade/?v=910955a907e7

16. https://lisabelladonna.bandcamp.com/album/dawn-of-a-new-age

17. https://mahorka.bandcamp.com/album/making-things-happen-netlabel-day-10th-anniversary-compilation

18. https://mattgoodluck.bandcamp.com/album/portals

19. https://phelios.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-planetarium-erkrath

20. https://unisphereerikrene.bandcamp.com/album/opus-tria

21. https://drune-music.bandcamp.com/album/beyond

22. https://joerg-dankert.bandcamp.com/album/back-to-berlin

23. https://hellomrklaus.bandcamp.com/album/angels-memento-mori

24. https://mindphaser2.bandcamp.com/album/analogue-birth-of-the-universe

25. https://tectonia.bandcamp.com/album/luna-the-moon

26. https://cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/album/the-vanishing-point-cyd-0145

27. https://hrresonance.bandcamp.com/album/dream-mooring

28. https://quietdetails.bandcamp.com/album/yesterday-sky

29. https://tim-stebbing.bandcamp.com/album/spacehopper

30. https://colinrayment.bandcamp.com/album/optical-perceptions

31. https://galacticsoundstation.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-the-mental-health-of-astronauts-volume-1

32. https://astro-sphere.bandcamp.com/album/fading-sun-endless-blue

33. https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/album/the-world-will-never-survive-without-you-ambient-works

Happy New Year to everyone and here's to 2026 being another fantastic year of music.

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

01. 00:00:00   AE Van Elst Projects - Take-Off (The Art of AE Live)

02. 00:05:58   Fritz Mayr - Wind & Rain (Eye Of The Storm)

03. 00:07:12   Cosmic Cadence - Alien Artifacts (Alien Artifacts)

04. 00:11:45   Epigenetics - Leaving Everything Behind (Tunes for the Trip to Alpha Centauri)

05. 00:16:04   Rodrigo Passannanti - Blue Skies (Everything Dies)

06. 00:20:08   Andrea Cichecki - Fragmented Reality (Gemstones VI - Cyclical Dreams label compilation)

07. 00:25:00   Michael Brückner - Sequential Blue (A Sequence Of Colours)

08. 00:30:48   Peter Mergener - Julia Quantity (Chip Meditation 2025)

09. 00:35:14   MoonSatellite - Litanie Part 04 (Litanie Des Songes)

10. 00:41:34   Johan Tronestam - Pioneers (Settlers)

11. 00:48:36   Caught In Joy - Cathedrals Of Light (Equilibrium)

12. 00:53:03   Matthias Lehmann - Stubai Fall (Autumn Rhapsody - Season Quadrology Part IV)

13. 00:57:15   Sequentia Legenda - Love Feeds Love II (Timeless)

14. 01:01:03   Jim Ottaway - Cosmic Odyssey (Cosmic Odyssey)

15. 01:07:36   Däcker & Skoulaman - Hiraeth (Saudade)

16. 01:15:56   Lisa Bella Donna - Reach For The Light (Dawn Of A New Age)

17. 01:22:14   Fallen + Philippe Blache - Supplique Au Vent (Making Things Happen: Netlabel Day 10th Anniversary Compilation)

18. 01:26:22   Matt Goodluck - After Hours (Portals)

19. 01:29:35   Martin Stürtzer - Return To Earth (Live at Planetarium Erkrath)                         

20. 01:35:56   UNI Sphere - Shifting Your Horizon (Opus Tria)               

21. 01:43:10   Drune - Nucleia (Beyond) 

22. 01:49:44   Joerg Dankert - Checkpoint Velocity (Back To Berlin)

23. 01:53:12   Hello Mr Klaus - Uriel Angel Of Light (Angels "Memento Mori")

24. 01:58:36   MindPhaser - Mellotron Resonance (Analogue Birth Of The Universe) 

25. 02:00:32   Tectonia - Tranquility Base (Luna - The Moon)

26. 02:02:50   Grant Beasley - Zero Point (The Vanishing Point)

27. 02:10:55   Subtle Shift - Dream Mooring (Dream Mooring)             

28. 02:29:14   Shawn Rudiman - Psyconnex (Yesterday Sky)

29. 02:35:44   Tim Stebbing - Deep Freeze (Spacehopper)

30. 02:43:23   Colin Rayment - Mysterious Illusion (Optical Perceptions)

31. 02:46:26   Terminus Void - Zero Gravity (Music for the Mental Health of Astronauts Vol. 1)

32. 02:52:01   Astropilot - Fading Sun Endless Blue (Fading Sun Endless Blue)

33. 02:55:34   Jay Hosking - Prince, The Poet (The World Will Never Survive Without You)

end 03:03:44

 

Favorite Ambient Albums of 2025 Part 2

 

 

Not much to say in this post other than here is part two of my favorite ambient albums of 2025. I'll also repost the full list here with links.

1. Alexander Knaifel - Chapter Eight

2. Almost An Island - Almost An Island

3. Andrew Heath - Signals and Codes

4. Anthéne & Simon McCorry - Wellspring

5. Bill Brennan and Andy McNeill - Dreaming In Gamelan

6. Byron Metcalf - Spiral Exchange

7. Clarice Jensen - In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness

8. Dictaphone - Unstable

9. Emily A. Sprague - Cloud Time

10. Erik M - Soft Wish

11. Florian TM Zeisig - A New Life

12. Lab's Cloud and Flavio Salvaje - Kalima

13. Loneward - Musings of a Painted Sky

14. M. Sage - Tender / Wading

15. Martin Stürtzer - Nexus-6

16. offthesky - form.radio

17. offthesky - Nocturnas

18. Peter Gregson - Peter Gregson

19. Rod Modell - Northern Michigan Snowstorms

20. Seabuckthorn - A Path Within A Path

21. Six Missing - Without Mind

22. Steve Roach - The Reverent Sky

23. Taylor Deupree & Zimoun - Wind Dynamic Organ, Deviations

24. Xu - Murmurs of the Machine

25. Yorkshire Modular Society + Peter Digby Lee - Beneath the Hanging Sky

26. zakè - Silentium

Here's to more excellent ambient music in 2026.

 

Cheers!

 

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00   Lab's Cloud and Flavio Salvaje - Sandwhistle (Kalima)
• 04:12   Byron Metcalf - Voices Of Vision (Spiral Exchange)
• 09:25   Seabuckthorn - Shadow Of The Land (A Path Within A Path)
• 12:15   Steve Roach - The Nuturing  Ground (The Reverent Sky)
• 20:10   Bill Brennan and Andy McNeill - Reverie (Dreaming In Gamelan)
• 23:35   Almost An Island - Perfume Gloves (Almost An Island)
• 27:40   Andrew Heath - Delegate 24 (Signals and Codes)
• 33:00   Anthéne & Simon McCorry - Summer's Glow (Wellspring)
• 37:20   Taylor Deupree & Zimoun - Deviation V (Wind Dynamic Organ, Deviations)
• 42:55   Xu - Echoes from the Ether (Murmurs of the Machine)
• 45:50   offthesky - form.radio 3 (form.radio)
• 50:12   zakè - Pax Animi [ft. Tyresta] (Silentium)
• 53:20   Loneward - Shrouded Sighs (Musings of a Painted Sky)
• 59:48   end

Favorite Ambient Albums of 2025 Part 1

When end-of-the-year list season began I wasn't sure if I was going to do a favorite ambient albums list. I wasn't as locked into ambient as much this year as in the past. I spent most of my listening time in indie, jazz, and berlin-school. I had several ambient albums that would for sure make my list so I started with those and the next thing I knew - I had a list of 26 albums that are my 2025 favorites.

Here are my favorite ambient albums of 2025, in alphabetical order:

1. Alexander Knaifel - Chapter Eight
2. Almost An Island - Almost An Island
3. Andrew Heath - Signals and Codes
4. Anthéne & Simon McCorry - Wellspring
5. Bill Brennan and Andy McNeill - Dreaming In Gamelan
6. Byron Metcalf - Spiral Exchange
7. Clarice Jensen - In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness
8. Dictaphone - Unstable
9. Emily A. Sprague - Cloud Time
10. Erik M - Soft Wish
11. Florian T M Zeisig - A New Life
12. Lab's Cloud and Flavio Salvaje - Kalima
13. Loneward - Musings of a Painted Sky
14. M. Sage - Tender Wading
15. Martin Stürtzer - Nexus-6
16. offthesky - form.radio
17. offthesky - Nocturnas
18. Peter Gregson - Peter Gregson
19. Rod Modell - Northern Michigan Snowstorms
20. Seabuckthorn - A Path Within A Path
21. Six Missing - Without Mind
22. Steve Roach - The Reverent Sky
23. Taylor Deupree & Zimoun - Wind Dynamic Organ, Deviations
24. Xu - Murmurs of the Machine
25. Yorkshire Modular Society + Peter Digby Lee - Beneath the Hanging Sky
26. zakè - Silentium

I made two mixes so it will be a little easier to digest. This post is for part one. I hope you enjoy this look back at 2025.

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00   Erik M. - Tall as Grass (Soft Wish)
• 03:55   Offthesky - Poised Above A Place (Nocturnas)
• 08:06   Rod Modell - Snowstorm In Munising (Snowstorm In Munising)
• 13:40   Emily A. Sprague - Osaka (Cloud Time)
• 19:23   Florian T M Zeisig - Earth Loop (A New Life)
• 21:00   M. Sage - Fracking Starlight (Tender / Wading)
• 26:18   Dictaphone - 122 (Unstable)
• 29:50   Six Missing - Sit Down and Play (Without Mind)
• 35:38   Peter Gregson - Prism (Peter Gregson)
• 38:37   Clarice Jensen - From A to B (In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness)
• 44:05   Alexander Knaifel - Chapter Eight: Stanza XXIII-XXXII (Chapter Eight)
• 49:15   Martin Sturtzer - Nexus-6 (Nexus-6)
• 55:30   Yorkshire Modular Society - Beneath the Hanging Sky (Beneath the Hanging Sky)
• 01:09:28   end

First Snow

This is a mix I originally created back in December of 2006, during my first year of posting mixes online. This one never made its way to Mixcloud so I figured, with all the cold and snow I'm getting in my neck of the woods, now would be a good time to resurrect this set. The original post here on the blog has a bad link to the mp3 so I wanted to post it her as well.

It's interesting to see the artists that I was listening to at the time. Such as Freescha, Svalastog, Yellow 6, Klimek, and the track by Clint Mansell from the soundtrack to The Fountain, which I was absolutely obsessed with for a few years.

Every tune has one of these words...snow, winter, cold, frozen, ice, or freezing, in the title. Btw, the pic is my mom, taken in the mid 1970s. :-) 

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00 Scott Solter - The Great Cold
04:20 Klimek - Snowfall 1
13:15  Greg Haines - Snow Airport
14:20  Corker & Conboy - Colder
17:20  Clint Mansell - First Snow
18:20  Library Tapes - It was a cold day in February...
20:15  Loren Connors - Falling Snow
24:40  Yellow 6 - (The First) Of Winter
30:00  Svalastog - Snow Tracer
35:20  Taylor Deupree - Snow Sand
39:00  Last Days - Snowing
42:30  Outputmessage - Snow
47:20  Trentemoller - While the cold winter waiting
49:20  Brian Eno - Cold
50:40  Freescha - Frozen Stiff
54:15  Hammock - Winter Light
56:45  Forrest Fang & Carl Weingarten - Freezing Days
60:10  Boc Scadet - Ice Shelves & Glaciers
65:20  Stuart Busby - Snow Fall