low light mixes

simply ambient

 

This mix, like the title, is simple. It's straight forward ambient music. Nice and relaxing, beatless, drifting ambient music.

All of the music is new - 9 of the 12 tracks are from 2020. Other than that there's not much else to say except I hope enjoy the tunes.

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00    Andrew Chalk - Mikhail (One Long Year 2019)

09:00    Ylowknfe - Gamma (= 2014)

15:55    Innesti - Ideas Not Considered (Apperception 2020)

22:20    Carlo Giustini - Ascensione(a Tandura) (Custodi 2019) [Lontano Series]

28:09    Eternell - Centuries Apart (Imagined Distances 2020) [sound in silence]

34:12    Echolog - Reflection (Conte 2020) [Polar Seas]

37:55    Scanner - Wefte (Warp & Weft 2020)

43:30    Hainbach - Light Splitting (Light Splitting 2020) [Seil]

48:05    Robert Farrugia - Days (Worn 2020) [Lontano Series]

54:05    36 - Fifth Sequence (Wave Variations 2020) [Past Inside the Present]

56:20    Mikael Lind - Give Shape to Space (Give Shape to Space 2020) [Whitelabrecs]

57:50    Andrew Heath - Undertow (A Trace of Phosphor 2020) [Disco Gecko]

 

Fragmented Dialogue

image by Thomas Park

This mix was a lot of fun! 

Back in April, Peter van Cooten, of Ambientblog, created the awesome mix, Lockdown. After it posted we talked about doing a collaboration mix. As Peter is in Holland and I am in the States we would send files back and forth to each other adding more tracks with every pass. We had to decide on a theme and a format. In the end the format became the theme.

 

It worked like this:

We each take 5 minute turns and increase the sample count with each turn. So in the first turn we each start with a 5 minute track. Next turn we each use two samples, next turn 3, then 4...until we get to the final turn where each 5 minute turn contains 6 samples each. When all is said and done we end up with 42 samples used in a 60 minute mix.

Peter is the master of layering multiple tracks or samples to create interesting mixes. I generally don't use quite that number of cuts in my mixes so I knew it was going to be a challenge. I worried that it would turn into a situation where it sounded like a good idea at the time until I had to actually do it.

 

I think it turned out great! It was really cool trying to match of the outro of the previous segment to my new tracks but still make my own segments unique. Somehow this crazy format produced a fascinating mix.

After finishing the mix Peter came up with the title "Fragmented Dialogue" which fit perfectly with how this beast was put together.

 

I'm excited to have this mix published in three places at the same time - Low Light Mixes, Ambientblog & Headphone Commute. Both Ambientblog & HC are my favorite places to go for ambient reviews and mixes. Here are their posts about this mix...

 

https://www.ambientblog.net/blog/2020-07/fragmented-dialogue-mix/

 

https://headphonecommute.com/2020/07/28/fragmented-dialogue-low-light-mixes-ambientblog-mix/

 

I hope you enjoy listening to this mix as much as we enjoyed creating it.

 

Cheers!

 

 

T R A C K L I S T :  -  Ambientblog = Red    Low Light Mixes = Green

 

00:00    Yair Elazar Glotman/Mats Erlandsson - Procession (Emanate 2020)

 

05:10    William Ryan Fritch - Dream Glitch-Fugue State-Broken Barriers (The Letdown 2020)

 

09:45     Apparat - Suicide (Soundtracks: Stay Still, 2020)

11:18     Biosphere - You Want To See It Too (Departed Glories, 2016)

 

15:00    Ashlar - The First Saturday (Saturday Drones 2012)

18:45    echospace - Fallen Tribes Reduced (echospace [detroit] presents echoes in space 2014)

 

19:31    Sonologyst - Planetary Warning (Unexplained Sounds (New Edition), 2020 )

20:26    Michael Begg & Clodagh Simonds - Witness 3 (Witness 3, 2020)

22:36    Alva Noto - Xerrox Apesanteur (Xerrox 4, 2020)

 

24:55    Max Richter - Encounter (Ad Astra 2019)

25:38    Mono-Poly - Maanreflectie(Hainbach remix 2020)

27:21    cinchel - porch swings (A House Once Lived That Never Was 2014)

 

29:30 Carmen Villain - Affection In A Time Of Crisis (Affection In A Time Of Crisis, 2020)

31:18 Stephen O'Malley - Géante 4 - Layer 5 Mix (Géante 4, 2020)

32:30 Abul Mogard, Quiet Dreams (Above All Dreams, 2018)

33:35 Black Glass Ensemble & Friends - Be Mine In Patience: An Embrace in B Minor (Be Mine In Patience: An Embrace in B Minor, 2020)

 

34:55    Halftribe - Fader (Archipelago 2020)

36:20    Radio Bulgaria

37:03    teleferick - i.history favours the winners (sixteen frames 2017)

38:15    Test Card - Monochrome Dreaming Softened The Broadcast (Music For The Towers 2020)

 

39:40 Michel Banabila - Scripts of the Lagoon (Scripts Of The Lagoon - Exploratorium, 2020)

41:04 Kamila Govorcin - Rito De Muerte (Anima, 2020)

41:15 Chris Watson - Gobabeb (Touch Isolation, 2020)

43:04 Gia Margaret - Body (Mia Gargaret, 2020)

43:10 Aleksi Myllykoski with Tapani Rinne - Lost Marbles (Dark Days, 2020)

 

44:48    Masaya Ozaki - subtlety in reverse (Fluid And Dreaming Of Stripes 2015)

46:12    Andrew Pekler - Nocturne 3 (nocturnes, false dawns & breakdowns 2004)

47:05    The Focus Group - Hazy Time (Stop-Motion Happening 2017)

48:00    Les Halles - K (World 2012)

49:24    Sonmi451 - Umi Bear (Eilean 100 2019)

 

49:50 Radiomentale - Gotlander (I-Land (Redux), 2020)

51:54 Ian William Craig - Comma (Red Sun Through Smoke, 2020)

52:50 Sylvain Chauveau - Q (Life Without Machines, 2020)

53:29 Sample, THX 1138 (THX 1138, 1971)

53:34 Elegi - Lys & Lykte (Gap In Time, 2020)

54:26 The Future Eve feat. Robert Wyatt - 04.02 (Kitsune / Brian the Fox - Kitsune Ring Version, 2019)

 

55:00    The Insects - This is Where You Say Goodbye (DEVS soundtrack 2020)

55:30    Seabuckthorn - Unforeseen (Other Other 2020)

56:21    Alva Noto - Xerrox Voyage (Xerrox Vol. 4 2020)

57:10    Laurie Anderson - Life Lived Backwards (Heart of a Dog 2015)

58:21    Laurie Anderson - The Cloud (Heart of a Dog 2015)

59:01    Helios - All You Are (Remembrance 2016)

60:00    end

 

 

Not seeing is a flower

 

This mix came about from an idea by a listener, Kevin. He suggested a mix based on artists from Japan. I asked for track recommendations and Kevin came back with an entire list. That list fills out most of this mix. I added tracks by Hiroshi Yoshimura, Geskia!, Sawako and Akira Kosemura.

Kevin also suggested the title - "Not seeing is a flower" which means that reality can't compete with imagination. The mix itself is a fairly straight forward mix of ambient tracks from Japan.

Thanks to Kevin for doing all the heavy lifting on this mix. I think it turned out great.

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Minamo - Zeitraum
• 05:58    Takashi Kokubo - Memory of summer
• 12:36    Yoshiaki Ochi - Ear Dreamin'
• 16:59    Fumio Miyashita - See The Light(Abridged)
• 19:48    Hiroshi Yoshimura - Water Copy
• 22:54    Geskia! - Lampland
• 27:52    Sawako - Incense Of Voice
• 32:00    Takahiro Kido - Rust Summer in Tokyo
• 37:25    Mokyow - Small Small Flag
• 44:20    Chihei Hatakeyama - Starlight And Black Echo
• 48:54    Hakobune - Letter Forgotten
• 53:35    Masashi Kitamura & Phonogenix - Variation III
• 56:27    Satoshi Ashikawa - Still Space
• 58:08    Akira Kosemura - Hicari
• 60:00    end

 

Dub Train Dub Station

 

I have been planning on a new dubby mix for a while and I have been planning for a mix with a slow-ish train vibe. Somehow those two concepts merged and became this new mix - Dub Train Dub Station.

There's not much else to say about this mix. It's pretty much what you'd expect - a collection of mostly dubby tracks that have a definite train feel, combining two of my favorite vibes in one mix.

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Ryan James Ford - Eiliat Tirrayl (Stone Mountain Red 2016)
• 04:15    Yagya - Snowflake 2 (Rhythm of Snow 2002)
• 09:10    Martin Goodwin - Nekoya (Hearth 2017)
• 14:15    Topdown Dialectic - A1 (Topdown Dialectic 2018)
• 18:54    Fluxion - Down the Line (Perspectives 2020)
• 24:45    Loscil - Steam (Plume 2006)
• 30:30    Gacha Bakradze - Sun Watch (We Must Be Woods 2017)
• 33:54    Dub Tractor - Pull Dub (Delay 2000)
• 38:12    Dino Sabatini - Follow Me (Omonimo 2016)
• 41:20    Jun Fukamachi - Breathing New Life (Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990  2019)
• 45:50    Beatrice Dillon & Call Super - Fluo (Inkjet / Fluo 2017)
• 48:35    Jonny Nash & Suzanne Kraft - Crushing Indifference (MATstudio 3 2020)
• 53:15    Time Rival - Loopback Caravan (Home Diaries 018 2020)
• 59:10    Heavenchord - Endless Worlds (Infinity From The Inside 2018)
• 69:55    end

 

Sea of Stars 2020

photo by Wil Stewart https://unsplash.com/s/photos/wil-stewart

 

I've been working from home for a couple of months and you'd think I might have some extra time to work on some mixes with being locked down and all. But nope, I seem to have fallen farther behind with a lot of things.

I wanted to get a mix up onto Mixcloud so that I don't go too long in between uploads. But I hadn't done anything new so I was looking through some old mixes that were posted here but never made it to Mixcloud. And I found one from 2008 called Sea of Stars. I still listen to it occasionally as sleep music so I decided this would be a good one to share on Mixcloud. But I couldn't pass up the chance to tweak it a bit so I hacked off the last two tracks and added 5 new tunes. The new mix is now an hour & a half long, perfect for sleeping or laying out under the stars watching for satellites.

This mix was originally posted in 2008 so think of it as the light from many of the stars in the sky in 2008 is just now reaching earth so playing this mix fits perfectly. I plan on posting another revised version in 2032.

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    bvdub - You'll miss me when I'm gone
• 06:19    Area C - Mare Imbrium
• 11:30    Kyle Bobby Dunn - Furthest From It
• 18:10    Emmanuel Errante - Radio Hopes
• 23:40    Parks - Trains
• 29:50    Kode - Movements #6
• 35:30    Shirk - Itchytime
• 38:55    Deaf Center - Close
• 40:55    The Caretaker - Lacuna Amnesia
• 44:05    Area C - Sea of Clouds
• 51:15    Kabana - dubru
• 55:45    Lauge - Floating
• 60:15    36 & zakè - Stasis Sounds for Long-Distance Space Travel (Stage 2)
• 65:30    Innesti & Jacob Newman - Moon Machine
• 71:18    North Atlantic Drift - Lost Years
• 75:27    The Winterhouse - A Long Way From Here

 

Serenity, Hope & Grace by Paul Asbury Seaman

I can always count on Paul for a good palate cleanser. After the bizzaro world of DEVS & the continuing covid crapola, I think everyone is in need of a little positivity.

Paul and I have talked often about how a lot of ambient music has a melancholy vibe. I know I definitely gravitate toward that end of the spectrum. Paul figured we could use something hopeful in these strange days. Here's what he says about this mix:

“I think authenticity is a precursor to authentic redemption. Thus, we honor our grief and fears and all the losses of this time we’re living through. There is pain alongside, not canceled by, the tranquility we seek. And there is a mysterious grace that gives us the strength to remain clear-eyed and truthful as we embrace hope.”

Thanks to Paul for another well-thought-out mix. Thanks to the folks at Kaya Project for letting us use the artwork from their latest album as the cover art for this mix. That art is from Suzybee - https://www.suzybee.buzz/ .  And thanks to all the artists that continue to crank out lovely music which helps us through the quarantine. 

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Shoshana Michel - Quietly, Gently, Peacefully ( Impressions 2020)
• 04:16    Eguana - Deep Sleep (Invisible Civilization Vol. 3 2019)
• 11:05    Tonepoet - The  Grieving Soul Begins To Awaken (Kaleidoscope 2020)
• 15:15    Kaya Project - Finding Balance Ambient MIx (body.mind.soul 2020)
• 20:00    Sigesmundsen & Gregory Paul Mineeff - Forgotten Borders (Crrossing Worlds 2020)
• 23:55    Darshan Ambient - A Day Within Days (A Day Within Days 2010)
• 28:25    Slow Meadow - Clouds, Not Clocks (Clouds, Not Clocks / Rara Pluma 2018)
• 32:35    Kit Watkins - Tranquility (This Time and Space 2008)
• 36:20    Jeff Pearce - Sun On Frost ( From The Darker Seasons 2017)
• 38:30    Endeleas - Forgotten Shore (Forgotten Shore 2019)
• 42:12    Bruno Sanfilippo - Unity (Unity 2018)
• 50:45    Slow Dancing Society - How Life Was Meant To Be Lived (The Sound of Lights When Dim 2020)
• 58:46    end

 

Alone Time - music for self-isolation

 

I have to come clean. I stole this idea. Dennis Huddleston, who records as 36, posted a Spotify playlist a couple of days ago and I thought it sounded like a good theme for a mix. Here's his playlist...

 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4JYOGGauPlBZJ6fGliNC8l?si=WccLv7aASuSlzznfwpLKKA

 

All the tracks in this mix have quarantine/isolation appropriate titles such as "Stay Home," "Return to Self" and "Being Alone Never Hurt Anybody." 

Working in tv news it was crazy watching email after email come in sating another school system closed, another performance canceled, another event postponed, another business shutting down. It was nuts! We went from virtually no school districts closed to essentially all of them closed in a couple of hours. 

Stay home, stay chill and enjoy some music.

 

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T : 

• 00:00    Justin Hurwitz - Quarantine (2018)
• 02:06    William Ryan Fritch - Separation (2019)
• 05:45    Pulusha - Isolation (1997)
• 12:30    Heavenchord - Infinity From The Inside (2018)
• 19:15    Warmth - Home (2017)
• 22:40    Gray Acres - Return To Self (2018)
• 28:25    Hildur Guðnadóttir - Alone (2019)
• 31:47    Max Richter - Dream Solo (2019)
• 38:24    Arovane & Mike Lazarev - Us, Inside (2019)
• 41:35    Sean Curtis Patrick - Being Alone Never Hurt Anybody (2019)
• 44:57    Dalot & Sound Awakener - Inside (2018)
• 47:36    Dub Tractor - Stay Home (2017)
• 51:15    Neil Cowley & Ben Lukas Boysen - Solitary Refinement (2019)
• 56:00    R Beny - And Fall, Standing Alone Again (2019)
• 62:53    Justin Hurwitz - Home (2018)
• 64:28    end

 

Music for Meditation - healing vibes for election season

 

It's hard to believe there are still 9 months until the presidential election here in the US. It feels like the 2016 campaign never ended. Working in TV news I need to remind myself to step back, log off Twitter, turn off the tv, and listen to some ambient music, especially meditative music.

 

I know most ambient music is good for meditation but for this mix, I was looking for formless music that's not dark, something that wouldn't be too out of place at a spa but also not too gooey new agey either.

 

Most of the tracks used in this mix are new with three each being from 2020 and 2019 and one each from 2017 and 2013. This year is shaping up to be another excellent year for ambient music.

Cheers!

 

T R A C K S :

• 00:00    Albrecht La'Brooy - Afternoon Carafe (Healesville 2019)
• 08:02    Laraaji - Ocean Flow Zither (Bring On The Sun 2017)
• 14:35    Sphontik - Late Summer Blue (2019)
• 20:20    Raul Lovisoni & Francesco Messina - Prati Bagnati Del Monte Analogo (Prati Bagnati Del Monte Analogo 2013)
• 31:00    Kenji Kihara - Hayama Ambient 010 (2019)
• 36:52    Luis Miehlich - Flows (Currents 2020)
• 43:50    Lindsheaven Virtual Plaza - Ember Valley (Rainforest Hill I + II 2020)
• 53:57    zakè - Gaffney Fields (Carolina 2020)
• 60:09    end

 

Guitarscapes 2020

This mix doesn't need a lot of introduction or explanation. It's a collection of ambient guitar tunes. The kind with swells of sound and long, slow washes of beautiful ambient guitar.

 

Some of the tracks came from ideas found in this thread on Mixcloud. Feel free to add any other tracks to the discussion.

 

https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/posts/ambient-guitar/

 

Enjoy the ambient guitarscapes.

 

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Wayne Robert Thomas - A Grey Morning, Later Lovely Sunshine (2019)
• 06:29    Wil Bolton - Night Paths (2017)
• 10:22    Stijn Hüwels - untitled IV (2016)
• 13:18    Sean Curtis Patrick - If This (2019)
• 16:50    Chihei Hatakeyama - Wilderness (2018)
• 21:45    Ben Rath - Wait For It (2019)
• 30:45    Noveller & thisquietarmy - Reverie 1 (2014)
• 35:23    The Green Kingdom - Dripstone (2019)
• 39:39    Pan American - Nightbirds (2019)
• 46:53    M. Grig - h (2019)
• 51:36    Pausal - One Watery Lens (2010)
• 56:40    Wayne Robert Thomas - Well Now You Know (2019)
• 60:20    end

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Morning Music Vol. 19 - Rhodes to the 70s

This mix started with an interesting album I came across this past weekend, Ernest Hood - Neighborhoods. It was originally released in 1975 but was recently rediscovered and rereleased. It's a curious combination of field recordings and early ambient noodling. The result is captivating.

https://freedomtospend.bandcamp.com/album/neighborhoods

I picked the track "Saturday Morning Doze" as the starting point for a new Sunday morning mix. I noticed it had Fender Rhodes piano type of sound going on. I'm not sure if there is a Fender Rhodes playing or not but it definitely reminded me of the Rhodes sound from the 70s that I love so much. 

So then the mix changed from a normal Sunday morning mix to a Fender Rhodes 1970s mix. Each track is from the 70s(duh) and has the sound of Fender Rhodes piano in it. While digging up tunes I realized that all the electric piano sounds in this mix might not all be a Fender Rhodes. They could very well be some other vintage electric piano. But I don't care, it's the sound and feel that's important.

Longtime listeners will notice a few tunes that I've used before from Steve Hillage, Harold Budd, Brian Eno, and Daryl Hall(yes, that Daryl Hall). I generally try to stay away from using songs in multiple mixes but these cuts fit so perfectly that I couldn't resist. The other odd thing about this mix is the first 45 minutes are instrumental then we go to vocal tunes for the final 17 minutes. It wasn't planned, it just sort of worked out that way.

Enjoy this trip back to the 70s.

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

 

• 00:00    Ernest Hood - Saturday Morning Doze (1975)
• 07:05    Steve Hillage - Garden of Paradise (1979)
• 10:43    Camel - Rhayader Alone (1975)
• 12:28    Gilgamesh - Lady And Friend (1975)
• 15:45    Harold Budd - Bismillahi 'Rrahmani 'Rrahim (1978)
• 21:05    Penguin Cafe Orchestra - The Sound of Someone You Love (1976)
• 28:28    Soft Machine - E.P.V. (1973)
• 30:57    Lilienthal - Gebremster Schaum (1979)
• 36:32    Hugh Hopper & Alan Gowen - Waltz For Nobby (1979)
• 45:22    Joni Mitchell - The Hissing Of Summer Lawns (1975)
• 48:15    John Martyn - One World alt. version (1977)
• 51:51    Brian Eno - By This River (1977)
• 54:35    Roxy Music - Spin Me Round (1979)
• 59:10    Daryl Hall - The Farther Away I Am (1979)
• 61:50    end