low light mixes

Headphone Commute ...and darkness came

The awesome folks over at Headphone Commute asked me to do a special mix for them and of course I could not refuse. The mix is special because it is helping promote a fantastic new compilation they have put together.  It's called "...and darkness came" and you can find out about it here... Headphone Commute ...and darkness came. The compilation features 80 tracks(yes, 80 tracks!) from great artists in ambient, modern classical and experimental music.  Artists like Max Richter, Clint Mansell, offthesky, Julien Neto, Ólafur Arnalds, Dakota Suite, Christopher Willits, Loscil, Lawrence English, Maps And Diagrams, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Nils Frahm, Talvihorros, Bersarin Quartett, Antonymes, Simon Scott, Dustin O’Halloran, Machinefabriek, :papercutz, and many, many, more. 100% of the proceeds are donated to two charitable organizations, Doctors Without Borders and The Humane Society, to help all those affected by Hurricane Sandy. Please head over to Headphone Commute and think about picking up this excellent compilation. T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Yuki Murata - Prologue
• 04:34    James Murray - Still Waters Rise
• 08:55    Monolyth & Cobalt + Évo Lüthi - Dust Off
• 13:25    riverrun - Maallinen Kuu
• 16:00    Antonymes - Elegy IV
• 20:05    Julien Neto - Los Cien Enamorados
• 23:15    M.Cadoo - a.m.
• 26:45    Jóhann Jóhannsson - Melodia (iv) (Live at Ancienne Belgique)
• 28:15    Brambles - Reflected Consciousness
• 30:45    Tomoyoshi Date, Corey Fuller, Marcus Fischer and Simon Scott - Quartet(intro)
• 33:20    Simon Scott - For Betty
• 35:15    offthesky - Still Breathing
• 38:50    Dakota Suite - Now I Am Lost
• 44:20    Christoph Berg - Silence
• 46:56    Erik K Skodvin - Amber & Glass
• 49:05    Honig + Templeton - Reginald Cousins
• 52:10    Takahiro Kido - Sweet Silince
• 55:45    Minus Pilots - Illuminating The Dark Fields
• 58:30    Dustin O'Halloran - Fragile #2
• 1:01:15    end

asleep at the piano

Looking back over the last six years of mixes, the piano has been the featured instrument in many of the the tracks.  I guess it goes all the way back to Ambient #1 : Music for Airports.  The piano is a perfect instrument for the contemplative, ambient music in the mixes found here.

As far as I can tell, I've done four mixes devoted exclusively to the piano.  They are...

1) Piano Mix

2) Piano Mix 2007

3) Antique Sunlight

4) pno 2010

This fifth installment, "asleep at the piano," is very similar to the others.  Although this one may be a bit more ambient in nature.

I was happy to squeeze in two tracks related to Harry Towel, the man behind the brilliant net label Audio Gourmet.  The first by Talvihorros is from the 2011 Audio Gourmet release "Just a Moment" which you can find here...Just a Moment.  The other cut is from Harry's recording artist guise, Spheruleus.  The track, Blueprint, is from his album on Tessellate Recordings called Cyanometry.  You can find that one here...Cyanometry at Bandcamp.  You can find some of Harry's excellent mixes on Mixcloud here...Spheruleus on Mixcloud and here...Groundingsounds on Mixcloud.

Enjoy.

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Sissors & Sellotape - untitled #1
• 01:51    Cepia - Malcesine
• 03:23    Jon Hopkins - water
• 04:20    Cluster & Eno - ho renomo
• 07:45    Ruben Garcia - Rainy Day
• 13:15    Tim Hecker - sketch 1
• 17:20    Tomoyoshi Date - the sound of the moon
• 20:10    Antonymes - 301210
• 24:50    Loscil - City Hospital
• 28:28    Willitts & Sakamoto - Reticent Reminiscence
• 32:00    Talvihorros - Hallowed
• 33:15    A Winged Victory for the Sullen - minuet for a cheap piano
• 36:00    The Beautiful Schizophonic and Yui Onodera - nubian clouds over Saskia
• 41:00    Spheruleus - Blueprint
• 44:25    Janek Schaefer - eyrie of the phoenix
• 45:30    Harold Budd & John Foxx - After all this Time
• 50:25    Sissors & Sellotape - untitled #4
• 52:15    Tape Loop Orchestra - the word on my lips is your name
• 57:25    Jon Hopkins - the end
• 02:06    END

s t r e t c h e d beyond recognition

This is a very slow, droney kind of mix.  All the music has been stretched or slowed down so much that the tunes are unrecognizable from the originals. I used a great little program called Paul Stretch which you can find here... http://hypermammut.sourceforge.net/paulstretch/ It take music and stretches or slows it down dramatically but still keeps it very musical.  I've used the program a few times for mixes in the past but never for creating an entire mix. All the tracks are slowed by at least 10x to 15x.  The slowed down result is perfect for meditation, sleeping or daydreaming.  It's kind of amazing to me how it was possible to create something entirely new from the source material. Enjoy. T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Cliff Martinez - First Sleep
• 05:30    Steve Reich - Six Marimbas
• 12:15    Noto & Sakamoto - By This River
• 21:00    Anonymous 4 - medie noctis tempus
• 21:40    Tangerine Dream - Tangram
• 34:45   Steve Reich - Six Marimbas
• 52:50    Budd & Eno - A Stream with Bright Fish
• 1:00:00    end

illusions of autumn

I wanted to get this mix in while it is still autumn.  I originally did this mix last fall for the good folks over at Headphone Commute. If you've not been there, head over to their great site for reviews, news, sound clips & of course mixes.

The music in the mix sort of has an autumnal feel to it at least I hope so considering the title is “Illusions of Autumn.”  Not sure what qualifies a tune as being autumnal, I guess it’s a case of “I know it, when I hear it.”

I was glad to use the Arve Henriksen tune, I love his stuff but sometimes it doesn't fit in a straight ambient mix.  But it works well here, it really has a nice fall color feel to me.

Enjoy autumn while you can, winter is will be here soon.

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Nils Frahm - Old Thought
• 04:00    Cliff Martinez - Rubber Head
• 06:25    Benoît Pioulard - Malick
• 08:45    Daniel Lanois - Matador
• 13:05    King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - First Watch
• 15:10    Harold Budd - Come Back to Me in Dreams
• 16:55    Arve Henriksen - Sorrow and It's Opposite
• 19:00    Steve Tibbetts - Nine Doors Breathing Space
• 20:55    Arve Henriksen - Sorrow and It's Opposite(continuation)
• 21:40    Andrey Kiritchenko - Agravic Illusion
• 26:50    Animal Hospital - Nostalgia
• 28:00    The Fun Years - Fucking Milwaukee's Been Hesher Forever
• 31:15    Bexar Bexar - n.r.o.t.
• 34:05    Daniel Lanois - Sketches
• 38:00    Antonymnes meets Slow Dancing Society - A Feeling of Being Closer
• 46:55    Maps & Diagrams - When the Night Came
• 50:15    Emanuele Errante - Counterclockwise
• 55:40    Cliff Martinez - Wrong Floor
• 57:05    end

Favorite Ambient Artists

There is a new release from Loscil called "Sketches from New Brighton." And of course it's excellent, everything from Loscil is excellent.  As I listened to it I figured that Loscil would have to be one of my favorite ambient artists of all time. That got me thinking...what are my top ten ambient artists of all time?  The artists on the list are ones I come back to again and again.  And also ones that have a decent sized body of work.  Scott Solter did one of my favorite ambient albums of all time, "One River." But that was pretty much it from him.  So to make the list it was important to have a fair number of releases. Well, here's the list, in no particular order:

1. Stars of the Lid
2. Brian Eno
3. Steve Roach
4. Loscil
5. Harold Budd
6. Maps & Diagrams
7. Alio Die
8. Sonmi451
9. William Basinski
10. Kyle Bobby Dunn

This mix is a collection of tracks from each of those artists.  The cuts used in the mix are not necessarily my favorite track from that artist, just tunes that worked well within the mix.  I did want to use something new from Loscil but something old from Eno & Harold Budd. Honorable mentions might be:

• Marconi Union
• Robert Rich
• Taylor Deupree
• Saul Stokes
• Gas
• Hammock
• Aglaia
• Marsen Jules
• Spheruleus
• Windy & Carl
• David Tagg
• A Produce
• 36

If any listeners would like to leave their lists in the comments that would be very cool. T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Loscil - Prairie Trains
• 07:15    Steve Roach - Tranquility Base
• 13:55    Stars of the Lid - The Atomium, part 2
• 21:00    Harold Budd - Balthus Bemused by Color
• 25:25    Brian Eno - Slow Water
• 28:00    Maps & Diagrams - Secrets of the Shore
• 30:45    Kyle Bobby Dunn - The Tributary(for voices lost)
• 38:03    Alio Die - Ultima Latet
• 50:40    William Basinski - 92982.3
• 55:30    Sonmi451 - Ruis
• 1:03:33    end

daylight fades

This is a mix I did for my good friends at acloserlisten.com and lostchildrennetlabel.com The mix is called “daylight fades” because as I was listening to “Olancha Farewell” by Harold Budd [off Lovely Thunder]  it made me think of sitting on the front porch watching the sky begin to darken as daylight fades.  Once I had that feeling in mind I just kept my ears open for a couple of weeks listening for tracks that would work well with that theme.  The cuts are mostly newer music with the exception of a couple Harold Budd tunes.  I’ve be digging through my collection of Harold Budd music & kind of re-discovering pieces that I haven’t heard for years. I really like this mix and hope you all connect with it like I did.  I'm working on some new mixes, a piano mix, sustain & decay vol. 3 and one of ambient music from non-ambient artists.  Hopefully  those will come to fruition in the next month or so two. T R A C K L I S T :

· 00:00  Harold Budd - olancha farewell

· 02:04    *AR - Inception

· 03:45    Vieo Abiungo - Insincerity Peeked Through Cloudlessly (Upward Arrows Remix)

· 06:15    Wolfgang Voigt - Fresko 1

· 09:08    Willits + Sakamoto - Completion

· 13:30    d_rradio - Falling Light

· 16:30    Alessio Ballerini - Night in Day

· 19:10    Plinth - the sunken carillon

· 23:45    Harold Budd with Zeitgeist - I blink and she's gone

· 25:20    Marconi Union - part 4(from weightless)

· 32:00    Chihei Hatakeyama - Road After Rain

· 37:12    Willamette - images dune longueur de cheveux

· 43:40    Kyle Bobby Dunn - An Evening with Dusty

· 47:05    36 - Levitate

· 51:10    Christopher Willits - Olancha Hello

· 53:42    Brian Eno - For Real

· 1:00:24    end

on the behavior of radio waves

Shortwave radio signals spread across the planet, the signal fades in & out, washes of static mix with music & voice, creating an eerie mashup of music & electronics.

This is the latest mix in a series, going back years, that utilizes shortwave broadcasts & music that already has a noisy, grainy tone. That combination of sounds creates a strange, other-worldly feel, transporting the listener around the globe and back again.

As with the other shortwave mixes, this one makes use of source material from Myke Dodge Weiskopf & his website of shortwave recordings found here... http://www.myke.me/wordpress/

Enjoy.

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    The Humble Bee - Titles
• 00:46    William Basinski - Particle Showers
• 02:40    BSKSA Saudia Arabia 11785 kHz, 8_14_10 (1610UTC)
• 04:10    Andrew Chalk - Violin by Night
• 07:00    Andrew Pekler - Nocturne 3
• 09:00    Je Suis Le Petit Chevalier - Main Jungle
• 10:50    The Caretaker - The Quilter Standard
• 11:55    Markus Mehr - Komo
• 13:50    Ran Slavin - Wayward Initial
• 14:24    Call to Prayer at Dawn, Sultanahmet Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey
• playing under the Ran Slavin cut
• 16:48    Depatterning - Instow, SK. Bone Creek No. 108
• 18:50    Pawn - untitled(from Islet)
• 24:05    Maps and Diagrams - Looks Simple Enough
• 26:23    unknown time & frequency (2002)
• 27:10    The Humble Bee - The Collecting Plate
• 28:00    WEWN:Radio Catolica Mundial 5810kHz
• 28:40    Mokira - Harold Dubb
• 33:05    Radio Bulgaria 5800kHz
• 34:04    Stephan Mathieu - Gabriel
• 37:55    Gultskra Artikler - Vsegda Krasni Cvetok
• 39:30    Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Reverso
• 45:15    Kane Ikin - short wave fade
• 47:12    Quinn Walker - The Quiet Passage
• 50:40    Melton - Northern Fields
• 53:05    I've Lost - A Study in Departure
• 54:27    end

alien architecture

The music in this mix has a strange, sort of alien feel to it.  The pieces are a bit darker, but not creepy or annoying.  But they do all have a weird other-worldly sense to them. This started with the first track, "We Swallowed the Night" by Anduin.  It just sounded vaguely alien and a bit threatening.  So from there I decided to construct a mix around that feeling. When I make mixes I collect tracks over time & toss them into a folder to sort through later.  Sometimes I'll bring the folder of music to work with me & make the mix there(shhhh, don't tell anyone).  The problem with doing that is I have to convert the mp3's to wav or aiff files and in the process the tracks can lose the artist identifier.  So I only know the track title but not the artist.  That's how I ended up with 4 tracks from Robert Rich & Ian Boddy in one mix.  I usually don't like to have that much from album or artist.  That's also how the mix ended up with two Pjusk cuts back to back.  Oh well, Guess I'll just have to be more careful next time. I didn't want to go the Lustmord "where black stars hang" route and have the mix be scary alien.  I just wanted unearthly alien.  Hopefully I hit that tone pretty well. T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Anduin - We Swallowed the Night
• 01:56    Harold Budd - Dark Star
• 04:16    Hecq - aback
• 06:23    Pjusk - Kram
• 11:44    Robert Rich & Ian Boddy - Threshold
• 12:28    nebulo & druc drac - rive nord - rive sud
• 14:30    EU - 60 Planets
• 16:37    Monolake - phenomenon
• 19:10    Robert Rich & Ian Boddy - Methane
• 22:10    Anduin - The Voyeurs Wall of Glass
• 25:25    Lights Out Asia - All These Worlds Are Yours
• 27:15    Jon Hopkins - Cold Out There
• 30:16    Pjusk - Granitt
• 33:33    Pjusk - Flint
• 37:15    Loscil - Pressure
• 39:55    Roly Porter - Arrakis
• 42:05    Loren Connors - Red Mars
• 43:15    Robert Rich & Ian Boddy - Ice Fields
• 48:05    Saul Stokes - We Resolve
• 53:10    Robert Rich & Ian Boddy - Last Outpost
• 55:04    end

a further sea

This is my 5th "sea" mix.  I guess ambient artists really like the imagery & sounds of the sea.  Me too.

This one is very similar to the other "sea" mixes.  A lot of white noise accompanies you as you drift on the swells of "a further sea."

Most of the music is fairly new, especially nice is the new release from 36 - "Lithea".  It's another excellent recording from Dennis Huddleston.  Definitely check out all the releases by 36!

Also playing a prominent role in this mix is music from Maps & Diagrams - "Get Lost".  I love this album from Time Released Sound.  The whole recording is like an ambient sea voyage.

The "sea" mixes are some of my favorites and I hope you enjoy this addition to the series.

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Vieo Abiungo - A Sad Swell (Humble Remix)
• 03:15    Maps & Diagrams - Floating Sculptures
• 07:45    M. Ostermeier - Underwater Drifting
• 10:20    Jeff Greinke & Rob Angus - harbor island
• 15:30    36 - Lithea
• 19:00    the humble bee/e and i - Pearls for Alma
• 25:35    Willamette - un court thme pour lyla
• 26:55    Maps & Diagrams - Timelines
• 29:30    Radere - Lost at Sea
• 36:33    Vieo Abiungo - Feast Before Havest (Green Kingdom - greenfeast Remix)
• 38:38    36 - Susurrus
• 44:44    Willamette - portrait of a sleeping girl with radio
• 47:45    Maps & Diagrams - Unordinary People
• 49:30    Marcus Fischer - Span
• 53:25    Loscil - Fromme
• 1:00:04    end

1969 - trans lunar injection

I've been on kind of a moon binge lately. It started with watching HBO's excellent series, "From the Earth to the Moon." Then I read "We Reach the Moon," a book written in 1969 by John Noble Wilford, the NYT science reporter. Next I moved on to the wonderful film, "For All Mankind."  It's the story of the men who went to the moon, told in their own words.  Beautiful images and of course Eno's remarkable soundtrack, "Apollo : Atmospheres & Soundtracks".

So my head has been stuck on the moon in 1969.  And that is the genesis of this mix, 1969. All the music used in this mix is either from 1969, related to the moon or both. I know it may a bit of a cliche to start with Kennedy's moon speech at Rice University but I love that speech & that part still gives me chills.  11 of the tunes are actually from 1969 :

1. Bowie - Space Oddity
2. King Crimson - Moonchild
3. Miles Davis - Sanctuary
4. Pink Floyd - Sysyphus
5. Terry Riley - Poppy Noggod
6. Genesis - In the Beginning
7. Soft Machine - Spaced
8. Don Cherry - Man on the Moon
9. Philip Glass - Music in Contrary Motion
10. Mort Garson - Walking in Space
11. Beatles - Across the Universe (covered by Phosphorescent)

It's interesting how many of them had moon or space themes.  I guess that is where everyone's mind was at the time. I just had to include a couple of cuts from Eno's "Apollo:Atmospheres & Soundtracks" and from the new Air release, "Le Voyage Dans La Lune."  It's a soundtrack Georges Méliès’ short classic, "A Trip to the Moon."  It was originally released in 1902 & has been restored in color with Air's new soundtrack. Also included in the mix are three tunes from a netlabel album by Re-Drum called "1969".  All the tracks on the album were made by using sampled music from the year 1969.  These are the cuts that I used & the source material used to make those cuts... 1.  Time : King Crimson - Moonchild Including The Dream And The Illusion Herbie Hancock - The Prisoner (Alternate Take) Sly & The Family Stone - You Can Make It If You Try Quincy Jones & Bill Cosby - Hikky-Burr Frank Zappa - The Gumbo Variation Booker T & The MG's - Michelle Zephyr - Hard Chargin' Woman Lou Donaldson - Donkey Walk John MacLaughlin - Pete The Poet Herbie Hancock - The Prisoner The Doors - The Soft Parade 2. The Last Breath : The Moody Blues - Eyes Of A Child, Part 1 Zephyr - Somebody Listen Isaac Hayes - By The Time I Get To Phoenix (voice) Internet Anticipation 1969 3. Armstrong : Lonnie Smith - Eleanor Rigby Kool And The Gang - Give It Up Pink Floyd - The Narrow Way (Part 3) The Rolling Stones - Live With Me Voice: First Moon Landing This was another fun mix to put together, I hope it's a fun listen as well.

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    John Kennedy - "We choose to go to the moon" speech
• 00:00    Apollo 11 l- anding on the moon
• 00:58    Boards of Canada - 1969
• 04:47    David Bowie - Space Oddity (Sébastien Bédé Remix)
• 07:20    David Bowie - Space Oddity continues (demo version)
• 09:50    King Crimson - Moonchild
• 13:25    Miles Davis - Sanctuary
• 18:00    Air - Moon fever
• 21:12    Pink Floyd - Sysyphus part 4
• 23:20    Terry Riley - Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band
• 28:25    Genesis - In The Beginning
• 31:55    Soft Machine - Spaced Seven
• 33:10    Re-Drum - Time
• 36:45    Don Cherry - Man on the Moon
• 39:10    Air - Seven Stars
• 42:50    Re-Drum - The Last Breath
• 46:15    Philip Glass - Music in Contrary Motion
• 48:10    Mort Garson - Walking in Space
• 50:10    Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois - Silver Morning
• 52:26    Phosphorescent - Across the Universe(Beatles cover)
• 57:21    Re-Drum - Armstrong
• 1:00:03    Eno - Always Returning
• 1:03:46    end