mental medication

My hometown baseball team, the Milwaukee Brewers, had a fantastic finish to close the regular season. They captured the central division title and are now in the playoffs. I am loving every minute of it but it's also stressful as heck! I am definitely too old for this kind of roller coaster ride.

I went to the first two games of the playoffs and between standing for half the game, clapping on every pitch, screaming my head off and the adrenaline rush of close games, I am exhausted! I don't know if I'll last the whole post-season.

So I figured I needed a little "mental medication" and came up with this mix. It's even more soothing than my normal ambient mix. This is music for meditation. Music for contemplation. Music for concentrating...on destroying the Dodgers. Oops! See that's exactly why I need this mix. Haha! This mix actually is a meditative type of mix that you could almost play in a spa. If that spa was way cooler than a normal spa and it played good music.

Cheers and Go Brewers!

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Sonmi451 - Angel
• 05:22    Bengalfuel - Arcs
• 09:40    Julia Rovinsky - An Arc of Doves
• 15:40    Ruven Nunez - As Above, So Below
• 26:05    The Heart is Awake - Ec
• 30:35    Spheruleus - Saturday Drones
• 37:35    Hiroshi Yoshimura - Clouds
• 42:30    Alex Crispin - Rosewater
• 47:00    Raul Lovisoni & Francesco Messina - Prati Bagnati Del Monte Analogo
• 58:45    Eternell - Resting On The Surface Of A Stream
• 74:30    Ruven Nunez - As Below, So Above
• 96:00    end

Memories are an old film

The idea for this mix came from a track by Andrew Sherwell on his wonderful new album, Orthodox Tales, released by the excellent label Whitelabrecs.

https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/album/orthodox-tales

The song, "And the Smoke of the Incense," starts off with the sound of a film projector. That sound is strangely evocative and I love how it sounds in that cut. After hearing that tune I created a folder called "My Life is an Old Film" and I would occasionally toss in similar sounding tracks. Eventually I collected enough cuts for a mix and decided to change the name to "Memories are an Old Film."

Many of these tracks have a bit of noise and scratchiness that one would associate with an old 8mm film. I added a few film projector sound fx here and there to continue the vibe.

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Andrew Sherwell - And the Smoke of the Incense(2018)
• 03:15    L. Pierre - 1948 part 2(2017)
• 08:45    Ghost And Tape - Eostre(2017)
• 13:25    Luton - Spectres of Mark(2018)
• 15:38    Masaya Kato - Desensitization(2018)
• 18:05    Max Richter - Old Song(2004)
• 19:55    The Caretaker - Synapse Retrogenesis(2018)
• 21:30    Parallelism - Tapes(2018)
• 25:30    Lusine - drip(2004)
• 27:25    Clem Leek - Rogers Park(2018)
• 30:50    Aaron Martin - Memories are Drifting Bells(2018)
• 32:15    Ashlar - Same Fate(2018)
• 36:15    Tape Loop Orchestra - Inner Voice(2018)
• 43:30    Time Rival - Carbon Fever pt. 3(2018)
• 49:55    Max Richter - Shadow Journal(2004)
• 52:10    The Caretaker - Advanced Plaque Entanglements(2018)
• 53:55    Kilchhofer - Nihic(2018)
• 57:41    Dakota Suite - De Ziekte Van Emile(2018)
• 61:04    end

dubstrates & dreamstates

Ambient dub is one of my favorite sub-genres. I've done several "dubby & dreamy" mixes over the years. Such as:

http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2015/09/dubby-rainy.html

http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2016/05/dubscapes-seacapes.html

http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2013/01/dubscapes-dreamscapes.html

http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2012/02/dubby-noisy.html

http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2013/08/dub-transmissions.html

http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2010/12/subatomic-dubscapes.html

http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2008/12/motion-for-relief.html

There could be a couple more mixes floating out there but those are the ones that I could recall.

This new mix follows in that same dubby/dreamy mode that I love. Also I have found that these ambient dub mixes work well as stargazing companions. So the timing for this one is good as the Perseid meteor shower is at it's peak tonight & tomorrow night.

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Halftribe - Balm
• 03:13    Docetism - One Forest
• 06:55    Segue - Vapour Trails
• 09:55    Pan American - Double Rail
• 13:39    Hannu Karjalainen - Love Unconditional
• 17:00    Martin Goodwin - Fifty
• 19:45    Radius - Always Dreaming
• 24:25    Dub Surgeon - Crazy Dub
• 26:10    Yagya - Very Long Daydream
• 28:30    Lars Leonhard - Circular
• 32:10    Lee Gamble - Helicopter
• 33:30    Ohrwert - Sonometric
• 40:00    SVLBRD - Vessel
• 45:00    Snufmumriko- Eterspar
• 50:15    Fluxion - Moving On
• 54:20    Joergmueller - DFM #8
• 59:15    Mokira - Untitled #6
• 62:20    Gray Acres - A Beauty Not Theirs
• 65:55    Purl & Hivetribe - Airwaves
• 74:38   end

Galaxy Express

Welcome to another great collaboration with my cosmic friend, Paul Asbury Seaman. The term "collaboration" gives me too much credit because Paul does the heavy lifting of finding the tunes and deciding on a sequence. I just mix them together.

This is another mix with a train-like propulsive feel but this one also has more space travel vibe. I like this mix more and more with each listen.  Here's what Paul has to say about it:

Like with Dave, my mixes often build on a single track (or title) I like, in this case a piece of artwork by Jon Lomberg, going back several decades, that was used to illustrate one of the chapters of Carl Sagan’s first book, THE COSMIC CONNECTION: “The Night Freight to the Stars.” 

This is an interstellar tribal/trance mix, with the emphasis not on nostalgia but a forward-looking magical realism. The ASC piece reflects an adrenaline-infused take-off (after Jon Serrie sets the space-travel motif and Adam Fielding sets the train motif). But then things settle down for the long haul between stars…

Harold & Durango Budd

A few months ago when I reached out to a few folks to create guest mixes, one of the first people I contacted was Matt Borghi. I've been listening to Matt's music for a long time and with him running the Ambient Soundbath Podcast it would be a perfect fit.

I absolutely adore the mix he has come up with as Harold Budd is one of my all-time favs as well.

I'll let Matt tell you about the mix:

I was very pleased when Dave invited me to submit a guest mix to the Low Light Mixes. Dave's mixes are as diverse as they are interesting and they're always chill with good vibes. I spent quite a bit of time thinking about what I might contribute that could hang with so many great mixes. I have a certain thing I do with the Ambient Soundbath Podcast, but the Low Light Mixes are more all-encompassing. 

After a couple months of deliberation, I decided that I would feature the work of my favorite composer, Harold Budd and newcomer, Durango Budd. Harold Budd's fantastic catalog of work very much informs the work of Durango Budd (https://durangobudd.bandcamp.com), and both of these artists have the piano at the center of most of their creative pursuits. Harold Budd has a well-publicized and longstanding love/hate relationship with the piano, yet he manages to coax such beautiful music out of a wood box filled with felt-tipped hammers and strings. Durango Budd, similarly, takes the same instrument and through experimentation and synthesis manages to coax out equally beautiful, distressed tones that evoke melancholic nostalgia (as Mike Carss, the artist known as Altus, put it - https://www.altusmusic.ca/).

In any case, many thanks to Dave for letting me do this mix and I hope that folks enjoy what I've put together. 

Thank you and enjoy.

-Matt Borghi

www.ambientsoundbath.com

www.mattborghi.com

Thanks Matt! I recommend both his music and his podcast - check them out.

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

⦁ 00:00 – 06:00 - The Child with a Lion – Harold Budd – The White Arcades

⦁ 06:00 – 09:30 - Piano Drone 4 – Durango Budd – Drones for Prepared and Synthesized Piano

⦁ 09:30 – 12:30 - A Child in a Sylvan Field – Harold Budd – By the Dawn’s Early Light

⦁ 12:30 – 31:00 - Bismillahi’ Rrahman Rrahim – Harold Budd – The Pavilion of Dreams

⦁ 31:00 – 33:00 - Piano Drone 5 – Durango Budd – Drones for Prepared and Synthesized Piano

⦁ 33:00 – 39:00 - The Room of Ancillary Dreams – Harold Budd – The Room

⦁ 39:00 – 46:30 - Piano Synthesis Drone 3 – Durango Budd – Drones for Prepared and Synthesized Piano

⦁ 46:30 – 59:00 - Agua – Harold Budd - Agua

⦁ 59:00 – 61:30 - Piano Drone 1 – Durango Budd – Drones for Prepared and Synthesized Piano

Warming Trend

As I have said about 8 million times before, many mixes start with a single track. In this case it was the rediscovery of the track "Warming Trend" by Adam Pacione. It's a gentle, droning track that reminds me of Eno's Discreet Music.

I knew I wanted to use the tune in a mix and then realized that the track name would make a good title for a mix. From there I went in search of cuts that made me think of rising temps as we move from spring to summer. 

So a natural first selection would be "For the Summer, Or Forever" from Halftribe's excellent new album. Most of the tunes are new, predominantly from 2017 & 2018. And they all have a lazy, slow feel that works well with the title.

Grab a cool drink(personal fav would be a tequilla mule) and hang out with this new mix.

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Halftribe - For the Summer, Or Forever(2018)
• 03:46    36 - Ego Death(2018)
• 09:19    Off Land - Off Spring(2018)
• 13:24    Adam Pacione - Warming Trend(2007)
• 15:40    The Green Kingdom - Photic Zone(2018)
• 22:39    Segue - Westcoast Trail(2013)
• 27:20    Sawako - jupiter c.cloud(2018)
• 31:00    Moss Covered Technology - Sea #4(2018)
• 40:42    Tonepoet - Cosmic Blue(2018)
• 47:07    Christopher Willits - Return(2017)
• 52:40    Snufmumriko - Still Early Days(2017)
• 58:15    Valotihkuu - The Wind Caresses the Treetops(2017)
• 62:33    end

these delicate sounds

As so often happens with these mixes, there was a specific event that gave birth to this collection of tunes.

On Mixcloud a listener asked if I could help identify a piece of music from a defunct website. The tune is looping electro/acoustic music of the type that came out of Japan 10 or more years ago.

I found the track and it's lovely. It's Walden Dos by .tape.(yes, there is a . before and after the word tape). I haven't listened to this type of music in a long time.  It's a mix of acoustic instruments with bleeps and blops, small melodies, cheap keyboards and lots of little noises. It's related to glitch music but more pretty. I eventually grew tired of it's preciousness and it's oh so twee sounds.

But when I heard this song by .tape. I immediately knew I needed to revisit some of these tunes and make a mix. It was great to immerse myself in these micro sounds for a couple weeks. I'm not sure if this style will be a part of my regular listening habits but in small(micro?) doses these tunes can be very soothing.

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    .tape. - walden dos(2005)
• 03:27    Marcus Fischer - Strand(2017)
• 08:55    The Boats - The Fell In The River(2017)
• 11:05    Music A.M. - Saturday(2005)
• 13:55    Aero - Float(2003)
• 14:45    Aus - apt(2007)
• 19:04    Carpet Musics - Air(2001)
• 21:50    Takahiro Kido - poco!(2008)
• 26:50    Fenton - Neon Giraffe(2005)
• 31:20    Lullatone - Puddies on the Plyground(2004)
• 34:16    Brael and Tokyo Bloodworm - Magic Wand(2008)
• 39:33    The Boats - Shlom, Sonia and Coner(2017)
• 40:20    Illuha - Guuzai(2011)
• 47:03    Montag - Motif(2005)
• 48:00    Marow - Eis(2011)
• 51:00    Planivaar - Adrift(2007)
• 60:00    end

Slow Motion Universe

Somewhere out there in the Multiverse, there is another universe just like ours except that everything runs much slower. With a DIY quantum tunneling device in my studio I've been able to bring over a few pieces of music from this other reality.

I'm sure many folks have heard the tracks "Justin Bieber slowed down 800%" or "Windows startup sound slowed down 2000%."  Those slowed down cuts(and Bieber) come from that alternate universe.

I've used tracks from that other cosmos in a few mixes and used them to remix tracks in many mixes over the years. A previous mix used all slowed down tracks.  You find that mix here...

http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2012/11/s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d-beyond-recognition.html

This new mix is all stretched/slowed tunes as well. There are some pretty recognizable tracks in the mix. Or at least they were recognizable in our universe. Actually most are still familiar if not immediately recognizable.

According to my brother from another mother in the other universe, our sped up music doesn't work quite as well in their ambient mixes. Although if you play Hall & Oates "Kiss on My List" at 45rpm instead of 33rpm you get a nice little dance tune out it. Don't ask how I know that. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this mix from an alternate slow version of our universe.

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Aphex Twin - Lichen 300% slower mixed with 800% slower
• 07:30    Vangelis - Fading Away(Blade Runner) 800% slower
• 15:30    Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians Section 1 800% slower
• 25:18    Ryuichi Sakamoto - Revenant Main Theme 600% slower & edited
• 34:15    Johann Johannsson - Kangaru(Arrival) 800% slower
• 42:55    Brian Eno - An Ending(Ascent) reversed half speed mixed with 800% slower
• 49:00    Aphex Twin - Rhubarb 800% slower
• 60:00    end

Apollo Vermouth

When researching artists or labels that might be interested in doing a guest mix I came across a label that is based very close to me here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  I'd never really thought that there might be an ambient community here. 

I decided to do a search for "ambient" and "Milwaukee." And what do ya know, I got an interesting result right away. In an article about the essential Milwaukee albums of 2017 was a blurb about Apollo Vermouth and her album "Crashing into Nowhere." I immediately headed over to Bandcamp and was so excited to find that it's an excellent album.

https://apollovermouth.bandcamp.com/

Apollo Vermouth is Alisa Rodriguez, based right here in Milwaukee. So I asked her to do a mix and she was nice enough to curate some tunes.  Here's what she had to say about these tracks:

"This mix is a collection of ambient tracks that have hit me in a certain way. It’s hard for me to put into words of what they mean to me. I spend a lot of time by myself, always looking for something that makes me feel less lonely. Somehow, these tracks sort of saved my sanity. It’s funny how music can be like your best friend. They’ll never leave you in the dust."

That pretty much describes my relationship with ambient music too.  Go visit her page, buy some music and listen to this mix.

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Gas - Narkopop 1 
• 04:20    Belong - Late Night 
• 07:35    Steve Roach - Left Perfectly Alone 
• 09:30    Grouper - She Loves Me That Way 
• 17:34    Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Appearances 
• 20:22    Harold Budd and Brian Eno - Among Fields of Crystal 
• 23:27    Wretched Excess - Suburban Decay 
• 26:35    Benoit Pioulard - IV
• 30:15    M. Sage - Gulls Over Landfill Caldera 
• 42:52    Jeffrey Cantu-Ledesma - Blue Nudes 
• 50:05    Boards of Canada - Macquarie Ridge
• 54:42    end

Snowblind

I wanted to get a snow themed mix in before winter starts to wane. So here it is.  

 Most of the tracks have the word snow in the title.  Anytime I can use a tune from Yagya's "Rhythm of Snow" I'll gladly take it.

 Looking forward to a new guest mix in the coming weeks and a mix featuring delicate micro-sounds from 10 years ago.

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Blamstrain - Tundra V
• 06:00    Parks - Snowblind
• 09:20    Yagya - Snowflake 10
• 12:50    Panoptique Electrical - Falling Snow
• 15:12    Locust - Snowblind
• 17:02    Halo - Winter Lullaby I
• 18:05    Andrew Lahiff - Snow
• 21:00    The Green Kingdom - Sleep, Snow
• 25:23    Taylor Deupree & Marcus Fischer - Snow Slowed
• 28:35    Endless Melancholy - A Song for Watching Snowfalls
• 31:44    Ocean in a Bottle - Bordering the Snow
• 34:05    Akira Kosemura - Snowy Sky
• 35:37    From the Mouth of the Sun - Snow Burial(while blue skies gather)
• 38:35    Fuzzy Lights - Snowstorm in a Snow Globe
• 41:10    Stormloop - Snowdrift
• 52:10    Autistici - Hidden in Snow
• 54:20    Motionfield - The Sound of Snow
• 56:15    Chihei Hatakeyama - Heavy Snow III
• 61:37    end