low light mixes

Sunday Morning Music vol. 10 - To Heal

Here's the latest in the Sunday Morning Music series.  And as usual it follows a similar path to its predecessors - little bit of quiet vocals, little bit of jazz, little bit of classical, little bit of everything.

The first track in the mix is from DeYarmond Edison, which is Justin Vernon's first band from 2005.  Vernon is the man behind Bon Iver.  He's a fellow Wisconsonite that hit the big time with his For Emma album back in 2007.  I discovered the DeYarmond Edison album while doing some Bon Iver research and found that it is an excellent album.  Vernon is also a member of Volcano Choir, which has a cut in this mix as well.  I have a Justin Vernon mix in the works.  It will feature his music along with music from the many artists he has connections with.

As much as I like that first track, the highlight of this mix for me is the Kate Bush tune, Snowflake, from her wonderful album, 50 Words for Snow.  She sings the song from the point of view of a snowflake,  I only used about half of the song in the mix.

A couple of others favorite tunes in this mix are Ladder in Place from rf, very bright and happy.  I have always loved the Underworld cut, To Heal and used it as part of the title for this installment of the Sunday series.  And finally, the Daryll Hall tune at the end from his offbeat collaboration with Robert Fripp is another fav.

Other mixes on the horizon include a space rock mix, ambient dub, breathing, time dilation, Americana,  sea music and the previously mentioned Justin Vernon Family Tree mix.

Enjoy

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    DeYarmond Edison - Time to Know
• 05:56    Pink Floyd - Things Left Unsaid
• 08:27    Underworld - To Heal
• 10:15    Black Elk - III_IV
• 15:05    Kate Bush - Snowflake
• 19:55    Gem Club - Red Arrow(john)
• 22:40    rf - Ladder in PLace
• 26:15    Kjell Anderson - Broadway Valetine
• 28:57    Volcano Choir - Husks and Shells
• 32:00    Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Air
• 35:50    Piers Faccini & Vincet Segall - A Half of Me
• 40:00    Dublin Guitar Quartet - Mishima V
• 43:28    Moon Ate the Dark - She Swimming
• 46:30    Labradford - P
• 55:25    Daryl Hall - Without Tears
• 58:17    end

fripp_2015 by Ambient Landscape

A couple of posts ago I mentioned a favorite new ambient blog - Ambient Landscape.  I visit quite often, usually finding new music, interesting links and good mixes.

I reached out to Gene, who runs the blog and asked if he would do a guest mix for Low Light and I'm happy to say that he agreed.  The result is this Robert Fripp themed mix - "fripp_2015."

I love listening to well done mixes where I'm not entirely familiar with all the tunes.  That way everything just blends seamlessly, one track into another, I can't tell where one begins and another ends.  Being a long time Fripp fan, any mix that features his music immediately gets my attention and this one does that and more.  This is a great collections of tunes whether you're a Fripp fan or not.

Check out the Ambient Landscape Mixcloud page as well.

Enjoy

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Marcus Fischer - Nearly There
• 04:43    1605_Munro - Oscila34 (feat. Robert Fripp)
• 12:33    Microvolt - Dissipate
• 16:12    Theo Travis & Robert Fripp - Improvisation.1
• 19:51    Illuha - Relative Hyperbolas of Amplified and Decaying Waveforms
• 28:25    Marcus Fischer - Monocoastal (Part 2)
• 34:23    Metropole Orkest & Robert Fripp - Pie Jesu
• 43:37    Johan Troch - The Enlightened
• 47:05    Peter Davidson - Grand Theft Saucer 1960
• 50:29    Robert Fripp - My Mother's Birthday
• 53:40    Frore - A Name On The Wind
• 61:25    Robert Fripp - Affirmation_Imac
• 67:18    Robert Fripp - Let The Power Fall/1987
• 78:27    Memnon Sa - Titans Sleep
• 83:08    A Produce - The Golden Needle
• 89:36    end

Into the fog

http://instagram.com/jnsilva

This mix started with two discoveries.  First I found a great ambient blog called Ambient Landscape.  I have found lots of music through the site, most notably the fantastic album by Dylan Howe, New Designs on Bowie's Berlin, which made it on to my year end lists.

The second discovery that inspired this mix was a series from Aural Films called Fog Music.  I believe they up to 25 releases which you find here...FOG MUSIC.  There's some nice stuff in there & I liked to whole concept of "Fog Music," not too far off the "sea" mixes I've done before.

So that's where this started.  From there I looked for other foggy tunes.  I'm not a big fan of dark, dissonant ambient that might typically get used for fog music.  I think the collection here works pretty well.

Enjoy

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    foghorns & stuff
• 01:00    Todd Peck - Into the Mist
• 03:30    Optical Frameworks - Surrounded Fog
• 06:20    Maps & Diagrams - Fog Signalling
• 07:55    echospace - Vector Vapor
• 09:00    36 - Mist
• 11:30   Chihei Hatakeyama - A House in the Fog
• 13:10    Loscil - Vapor
• 17:06    Brian Eno - Events in Dense Fog
• 20:45    Laocoon - Mist
• 26:20    Wolfgang Gsell - February Fog
• 32:00    Shaded Explorer - Sea Mist
• 37:10    Sam Rosenthal and vidnaObmana - Dark Mist, Rain
• 40:30     Thomas Koner - Vasabron, Stockholm
• 44:10    James Johnson - House of Mist
• 47:50    ASC - Behind the Veil
• 53:50    Jeff Greinke - Over Water
• 1:01:12    end

Cartridge - an ambient 8-bit adventure

I am very excited about this mix.  It comes from Josh Furey, the man the excellent indie label Nocturne Records.

The mix consists of ambient and slower vintage 8-bit video game music.  It starts off with a cut from Disasterpeace from the album FEZ.  I had just recently bought the album and was thinking about doing an 8-bit type of mix myself when Josh sent me his Cartridge mix.  Wow, am I glad I didn't bother with my mix because Josh's blend of 8-bit music and video game sounds and tunes is perfect.

Thanks to Josh for his work on this fantastic mix.  Check out is excellent latest album PETALS.

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00 • Disasterpeace - Beacon [FEZ]
• 02:34 • Pixel - Balcony [Cave Story]
• 04:03 • Martin Galway - Green Beret [Green Beret]
• 06:08 • Magyari András, Brian Coburn, Spencer Nilsen - Medusa Bay [Ecco The Dolphin]
• 08:03 • Brain Wash - Stage Four [Pulseman]
• 10:04 • Motoi Sakuraba - Map [Arcus Odyssey]
• 11:29 • Koji Kondo - Forest Temple [Ledgend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]
• 11:29 • Rob Hubbard & Ben Daglish - Auf Wiedersehen Monty [Auf Wiedersehen Monty]
• 15:48 • Tim Follin - Ghouls n Ghosts [Ghouls n Ghosts]
• 16:39 • David Wise, Eveline Ascher & Robin Beanland - Aquatic Ambience [Donkey Kong Country]
• 19:57 • Kenji Yamamoto & Minako Hamano - Lower Brinstar [Super Metroid]
• 22:56 • David M. Hanlon - Druid II Enlightenment [Druid II Enlightenment]
• 25:47 • Michael Land - Goodsoup Family Crypt [Curse Of Monkey Island]
• 27:28 • David Wise, Eveline Ascher & Robin Beanland - Misty Menace [Donkey Kong Country]
• 29:43 • Hiroki Kikuta - Innocent Sea [Seiken Densetsu 3]
• 30:56 • Martin Galway - Wizball [Wizball]
• 34:29 • Wally Beben - Darkside [Darkside]
• 37:09 • Disasterpeace - Spirit [FEZ]
• 38:58 • Kev Bruce - Stage Atlantis Ruins [Porky Pigs Haunted Holliday]
• 41:14 • Kazunaka Yamane - Doppelganger [Double Dragon II]
• 42:58 • Junko Tamiya - Ichirou's Death [Sweet Home]
• 44:32 • Neil Brennan - Way of the Exploding Fist [Way of the Exploding Fist]
• 45:13 • Masami Ueda - The Second Floor [Resident Evil II]
• 48:04 • Masaki Hashimoto - Title Screen [Kabuki Quantum Fighter]
• 49:56 • Naoki Kadaka - Mothership Defeated (Game Clear) [Fester's Quest]
• 50:24 • Masaki Hashimoto - Opening [Kabuki Quantum Fighter]
• 50:56 • Mitsuhiko Takano - File Select Screen [Ledgend of Zelda: Minish Cap]
•  

 
 
 

Fluid Sketches - a Loscil tribute

I love the music of Loscil.

I have been listening to Loscil for ten years and I look forward to new releases more than ever.  Loscil made it into my mix of favorite ambient artists and my mix of favorite ambient albums of all time.  I consider Loscil music to be perfect ambient/electronic music.

Scott Morgan is the man behind Loscil & he has just released a new album - "Sea Island".  I knew I was going to like it even before I heard it and I was right.  This new recording is everything you'd expect from a Loscil album with some new twists.  In addition to the familiar electronics, the tracks here also utilize vibraphone, voice, violin and piano.

You can stream the album here... SEA ISLAND STREAM.

You can buy it here... SEA ISLAND at KRANKY RECORDS.

The first track on the mix is from "Sea Island".  I only included 3 Loscil tunes because posting on Mixcloud only allows 3 tracks from the same artist per mix.  So to get around that, sort of, I included a bunch of Loscil remixes in addition to songs that just sounded like they fit.

I hope you like the mix & if you do, support Scott by buying a shitload of his music.

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Loscil - Catalina 1943
• 06:20    Rezo Glonti - Sun of Tibati
• 11:00    Heathered Pearls - Beach Shelter(loscil grind remix)
• 14:15    Loscil - Zephyr & Zephyr with strings
• 18:50    Anjou - Readings
• 23:40    Fieldhead - I'm fond of maps
• 26:30    Benoit Pioulard - Florid(Loscil remix)
• 31:35    Marconi Union - Weightless #2
• 38:00    Deep Chord - Red Lantern part 3
• 40:55    Dakota Suite - Things We Lost(Loscil remix)
• 46:50    Ethernet - Into The Woods(Loscil remix)
• 52:05    Loscil - Endless Falls
• 59:08    end

halftribe September Ambient Mix

Back in July I featured a guest mix from halftribe.  It was an excellent mix & a nice break for me.  Well, Ryan Bissett(halftribe) has kindly offered another mix and I jumped at the chance to post it.

This mix is absolutely pure ambient bliss.  A beautiful collection perfect for any time of year or any time of day.  I've been listening to it at work and have used it as sleep material as well.  Give it a listen/download, I'm sure any ambient lover will enjoy this mix.

Also swing by Ryan's halftribe pages:

Halftribe Bandcamp

Halftribe Soundcloud

Halftribe Mixcloud

 T R A C K L I S T :

• 00'00 Steiner - Happiness And The Longing For Repetition (Unfinished)
• 05'30 SandStars - Finally Night (Original mix)
• 12'07 Stabilo - Viridity
• 19'00 Brandon Hurtado - Merci Et Bonne Nuit
• 21'50 Massergy - Baptisia
• 27'48 Halftribe - Holy Ground
• 33'25 Rdei - Untitled
• 36'16 SandStars - Cold Voice (Original mix)
• 41'21 Masaya Ozaki - Alkaline Days
• 45'17 Halftribe - The Secret Garden
• 51'10 Gareth Dickson - Harmonics
•  

 
 

Driving All Night

You're driving,

and it's dark and it's raining,

and you're on the edge of the city

and you've been driving all night.

And you took a turn back there

but you're not sure it was the right turn.

But you took the turn anyway,

just kept going in that direction.

And somehow it looks sort of familiar,

so you just keep driving.

Hello. Excuse me.

Can you tell me where I am?

You've been on this road before.

You can read the signs.

You can feel your way.

You can do this in your sleep.

This is a mix I did for the good folks at Intergalactic.FM.  Head over there for this and a ton of other mixes and radio shows.

Like most of my mixes there is a starting point or inspiration that gets the ball rolling.  In this case it was the Laurie Anderson track "Lighting Out For The Territories" from her United States Live album.  The cut is so atmospheric and moody.  It immediately conjures up images of lonely highways, lonely songs and tires thumping on the pavement.

I had a hard time deciding between cuts that have a lonely country, twangy feel and songs that are more pulsating, driving electronic in nature.  In the end I ended up with a little bit of everything.  The two tracks with vocals definitely have a lonely, plaintive quality.  That same feel is also present in the Daniel Lanois tunes and the instrumental from The Antlers(whose new album is fantastic by the way).

The tracks from Prins Thomas and Brian Reitzell are of the more electronic driving type.  Both have an old kraut rock feel to them that I love.  A totally different feel is found in pieces by Terminal Sound System and Talvihorros, sort of weird Twins Peaks vibe.  Which makes sense because the Talvihorros track is actually the Twin Peaks theme.  Most of the rest of the tunes just sort of felt right for a theme of night driving.

Laurie Anderson makes 4 or 5 appearances in the mix.  All are variations of the opening track. Usually with other rhythms or road sounds added in.

Enjoy.

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Laurie Anderson - Lighting Out for the Territories
• 02:20    Sparklehorse - Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain
• 07:00    London Grammar - Wicked Game(cover)
• 10:30    Laurie Anderson - New Jersey Turnpike
• 11:53    Brian Reitzell - Auto Music 2
• 18:20    Calexico - Hair Like Spanish Moss
• 22:05    Cowboy Junkies - 200 More Miles
• 27:25    Bexar Bexar - n.r.o.t.
• 30:30    Watter - Rustic Fog
• 35:25    Daniel Lanois - New Smoke
• 37:30    The Antlers - Jupiter
• 42:00    Terminal Sound System - Duchamp Falls
• 46:10    Hidden Orchestra - Strange
• 52:30    Prins Thomas - Kavaler
• 57:45    Cliff Martinez - Driving to the Bonaparte
• 58:40    Daniel Lanois - Bell Toll
• 59:55    Talvihorros - Twin Peaks Theme
• 1:03:20    end

Summer Sleeps

This is one of those mixes where the title pretty much says it all...Summer Sleeps.  I found that if I keep titles fairly straight forward and clear that plays on Mixcloud go up a bit.

I listen to music every night when I go to bed.  And lately I was getting bored with old sleep mixes so of course the solution is to make a new one.  There's not much else to say about this mix, just lay back and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00'00    Stephen Vitiello and Taylor Deupree - From the Fish House
• 06'00    Manual - Last Light
• 10'50    Moon Eye Lids - My Only Moon...
• 18'30    Sonmi451 - Ruis
• 25'20    Budd and Eno - Against the Sky
• 29'00    James Johnson - Entering Twilight
• 37'50    Steinbruchel - Home
• 44'15    Kyle Bobby Dunn - Powers of None
• 48'22    Ruben Garcia - Rainy Day
• 52'20    Tom Heasley - Ground Zero
• 1'00'50    St. Kilda - You Are In Every Dream
• 1'03'53    Tonepoet - So Gently We go
• 1'11'20    Tiny Isles - With Thanks Petal
• 1'15'00    Alio Die and Saffron Wood - The Sleep of Seeds
• 1'18'10    33bowls - Morning
• 1'24'10    James Johnson and Stephen Phillips - Lost at Dunn's Lake
• 1'40'44    end

Halftribe ambient mix

The timing on this could be better.  I've been very busy lately and haven't been able to do a mix.  So it's the perfect time for a guest mix.

This mix comes to us from Ryan Bissett who produces ambient music as Halftribe.  What I love about guest mixes is that I'm usually unfamiliar with many of the tracks.  And this mix does exactly that.  Only two artists were known to me before I heard this mix.  Thanks to Ryan for introducing me to even more new music that I'll never have enough time to listen to. LOL!

Halftribe music is one of the discoveries in this mix.  Any ambient music fan will appreciate the music of Halftribe.  Here are some useful links to Ryan's music...

Halftribe Bandcamp

Halftribe Soundcloud

Halftribe Mixcloud

Thanks for the mix!

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00'00   Halftribe - Excursion 40
• 06'48   Pines - Dowsing Rod
• 09'06   Letna - Koritnik
• 13'22   Ex Confusion - Two Things 
• 15'19   Lost Trail - A Stained August For The Jetcrash
• 18'36   Moshimoss - Homeland
• 21'30   Letna - Mokra Gora
• 24'50   Halftribe ft OJWoods - Sleep Song
• 29'10   Sandstars - Separation Anxiety (original mix)
• 32'15   Izzard - Airways
• 35'15   Caught In The Wake Forever - Meditation In Exile #2
• 37'15   Linear Bells - L'Oisseau
• 48'36   Ben Woods - No Word From Above, 
• 50'00   Easychord - With Your Feet On The Dash
• 53'20   Tone Color - Drone, 55'09 Milkky Wayy - Drone Me
• 57'52   Zudi - Thank You Mr Karoshi

Favorite Ambient Tracks Of All Time

I've already done a "Favorite Ambient Albums" mix and a "Favorite Ambient Artists" mix so it makes sense that there would eventually be a "Favorite Ambient Tracks" mix.  And here it is.

Ambient music is definitely not a song based genre.  I like to remember works as a whole or an artist's work as a whole.  There are artists that I absolutely love but can't name more than a handful of specific tunes.  So it sort of goes against form to make a list of fav ambient tracks.  That being said, when I sat down to make a list there were a few cuts that I immediately knew I wanted in the mix, like Structures From Silence.

This is a looong mix, clocking in at 2 hours and 9 minutes.  I wanted to let some of the longer tracks breathe, even if I couldn't play the entire 28 minutes of Structures.

Here's a few thoughts on the tunes that made the cut...

The first track in the mix is a beautiful watery tune, Submarine Poetry, from krill.minima.  I used this one as the first cut in my first "sea" mix and every time I play that mix I marvel at how perfect this tune is.

Next up is Lantern Marsh by Brian Eno.  I could have filled this entire mix with Eno favorites but I had to try and limit myself somehow.  I love On Land and this cut pretty much sums up that wonderful album for me.

Track number three is Lear by Stuart Dempster, Panaiotis and Pauline Oliveros.  I'm curious as to how widely known the album Deep Listening is.  This is not classic Eno or Roach ambient.  The recording took place inside a huge cistern which is responsible for its tremendous reverb.  The unusual instruments of accordion, trombone, didgeridoo and voice use the acoustics of the cistern to create long sustained drones.  The effect is hypnotic & beautiful.

The fourth cut is the previously mentioned Steve Roach track, Structures From Silence.  A lot of ambient music doesn't really have a recognizable melody but this song is about as close as you'll get.  I've been listening to this one for a loooooong time and never seem to tire of it.

Next is Peter Gabriel's The Nest That Sailed The Sky from the Ovo album.  The album is pretty hit and miss but this tune is gorgeous.

Another Eno tune drops next and its Drift from the Apollo album.  There several cuts on this album that could make a lot of great ambient lists but I just like this song because it reminds me of the scenes it was used with in the film For All Mankind.  If you haven't seen the film do so asap!

The next cut has been a sleep time favorite for years.  It's A Smooth Surface by A Produce.  I love all the space between notes.  It doesn't really change much over the course of a long track, but that's what I love about it.

I have a special place in my ambient heart for the eighth track, Silence Speaks In Shadows, because it was recorded not far from where I live here in Wisconsin.  Paul Vnuk Jr. recorded environmental sounds near his studio in Cudahy.  Those sounds included thunderstorms, street noise, trains and even a police siren wailing in the night.  Combine those field recordings with some droney synths & you've got a great night time atmospheric piece.

The Most Beautiful Blue by Eluder is the next cut.  This is a track that I didn't realize how much I liked it until I realized that it kept showing up in mixes & playlists.  Similar to Submarine Poetry, it has that great ocean/sea feel to it that I love.

This next cut, Diamond Cove, is from a favorite artist of mine, Kyle Bobby Dunn.  It's from his album Bring Me The Head Of Kyle Bobby Dunn.  Just like Eno I could pick a bunch of KBD songs to put in this kind of mix but I settled on this one because I like its simplicity.

The KBD song segues nicely into the Olancha Farewell by Harold Budd.  I didn't know how much I loved this track until I recently heard for the first time in years.  Normally when I think of Harold Budd I think of piano but this track is just too beautiful to keep out of this mix.  It's similar in feel to the KBD song that precedes it and to Rhubarb by Aphex Twin.  Olancha Farewell is from the album Lovely Thunder.

The Marsen Jules song, Oeillet Sauvage, is similar in feel to the A Produce track from earlier in the mix.  It has lots of space in between notes, which I love.

The third Eno song in the mix shows up next.  It's 1/1 from Music for Airports.  I remember buying this on vinyl the day it was released back in 1978.  I had come to Eno through David Bowie so I knew of some of his quieter stuff on Low and Before and After Science.  But I was unprepared for the deliberate repetition and slowness of Music for Airports.  It blew me away.  This album has remained a favorite to this day.

After Eno we move on to Mark Rownd - Painting Twilight.  I hesitated to put this track in because the album as a whole treads very close to new age territory.  But I sort of fell for this album back when it was released in 1998 and it has stayed with me.  Especially the title track, Painting Twilight.  Its got that ebb and flow, breathing quality that I go for.

Next up is the classic Aphex Twin cut, Rhubarb from Selected Ambient Works, Vol.II.  I read somewhere once that this cut should be the theme song form the monolith in 2001:A Space Odyssey.

The next cut is even more Eno music, this time in the form of the Budd/Eno tune, An Echo Of Night from The Pearl.  A great atmospheric tune that would fit well on Eno's On Land.

One of my favorite ambient albums of the last ten years is Butterfly by Disturbed Earth.  First released on Atmoworks in 2012, it was originally recorded in 1977 using a Fripp-style two reel to reel set up.  I love ambient guitar in general and this one just hits the sweet spot of ambient guitar, ebb and flow, and classic sound and fell.

I'm not sure how many folks would put this next track on their best of all time lists.  If I were hearing this cut, The Path Not Taken by Thom Brennan, for the first time today I'm sure if I would like it as much as I do.  I know that part of my love for this track is wrapped in the time I discovered it back in the mid 90s when tribal ambient was a big deal.  I've pretty much stepped away from the tribal stuff now, but this track still gets me every time.

We reach the end of this epic mix with Fripp & Eno - Evening Star, the title track from Evening Star.  I know, more Eno.  But I couldn't resist this one.  Beautiful cut, perfect end for a favorite mix.

Wow!  That's easily the most I've ever written for a mix post.  Hope that didn't bore you to death.  I wasn't planning on a track by track essay but I started talking about a few and it just took off.  Anyway I hope you enjoy this mix I much as I did.

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00 krill.minima - Submarine Poetry
• 07:25 Brian Eno - Lantern Marsh
• 11:50 Stuart Dempster & Panaiotis & Pauline Oliveros - Lear
• 20:15 Steve Roach - Structures from Silence
• 28:40 Peter Gabriel - The Nest That Sailed The Sky
• 33:00 Brian Eno - Drift
• 35:25 A Produce - A Smooth Surface(deep meditation version)
• 46:15 Paul Vnuk - Silence Speaks in Shadows
• 53:30 Eluder - The Most Beautiful Blue
• 58:15 Kyle Bobby Dunn - Diamond Cove
• 01:01:20    Harold Budd - Olancha Farewell
• 03:20 Marsen Jules - Oeillet Sauvage
• 09:00 Brian Eno - Music for Airports 1/1
• 19:00 Mark Rownd - Painting Twilight
• 24:30 Aphex Twin - Rhubarb
• 31:00 Budd & Eno - An Echo of Night
• 33:05 Disturbed Earth - Butterfly
• 45:30 Thom Brennan - The Path Not Taken
• 02:01:30    Fripp & Eno - Evening Star
• 02:08:54    end