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Ambient music mixes for a chaotic world
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Thursday Oct 13, 2011
Thursday Oct 13, 2011
It hasn't felt much like autumn around here, with temps in the 70's & 80's the last week or two. But the leaves are still falling and before you know it we'll have snow flying.
So I figured now is as good a time as any to publish this new mix, "Autumn in Slow Motion." This is a fairly straight forward mix with a nice blend of old & new tracks. As you can tell all the tracks have the word "autumn" or " leaves" in the title. I'm pretty sure I've used the track by Eluder, "Autmun Hips", before but I just had to include it again because it's absolutely beautiful.
Normally I don't use my own pics for these posts, but the last two have been Low Light originals. This one was taken last fall on a photo hike through a nature park in my neighborhood. If you shoot a ton of pix one or two are bound to turn out.
Enjoy.
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 wind
- 00:30 Shuttle358 - Dead Leaves
- 04:50 Eluder - Autumn Hips
- 10:10 Need More Sources - Autumn
- 13:15 A Broken Consort - Leaves
- 15:28 Shinichi Hirota - Autumn Loop Rain
- 18:40 The Green Kingdom - Autumn Toadlick
- 23:55 Peter James & Disturbed Earth - Autumnal Nights
- 31:45 Brian Eno - Dunwich Beach, Autumn 1960
- 37:45 Philip Sulidea - Autumn in Town
- 40:40 Spheruleus - Autumn
- 45:45 Jasper, TX - Through Dusk & Falling Leaves(Steinbruchel remix)
- 50:40 Aaron Martin - The Shape of Leaves
- 52:00 Tape Loop Orchestra - A Late Autumn
- 54:35 D RRadio - Leaves
- 58:22 end
Saturday Aug 20, 2011
Saturday Aug 20, 2011
"Several times I've seen the evening slide away. Watching the signs taking over from the fading day." - Brian Eno from Golden Hours
This is music for sitting on the porch in the evening, as the day slips into night. The sounds of traffic, lawn mowers & kids fade away as the first stars come out.
I stole the title from a recording by Fognode, which you can find here... Fognode - Porch Music. Brian Siskind is Fognode & he has some fantastic albums that have been released over the years. Definitely worth checking out here... FOGNODE.
Enjoy.
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Susumu Yokota & Rothko - sentiero (from Distant Sounds of Summer)
- 05:00 Fognode - Verdant (from Porch Music)
- 06:48 Jacob Newman - Whispering Pulse (from Against a Quantized Sky)
- 09:02 Helios - Eclipse and Nafas
- 14:10 Simon Bainton - Sun Settlings (from Sun Settings)
- 16:00 offthesky - waiting to fade (from The Beautiful Nowhere)
- 19:22 Brian Eno - Pour (from Drums Between Bells)
- 22:55 Fognode - West (from Porch Music)
- 26:43 Po - Morning Poem (from The Sound of Summer Silence)
- 28:45 Hisato Higuchi - ai no tanjo (from Dialogue)
- 31;14 Daniel Lanois - New Smoke (from Purple Vista)
- 33:30 Loren Conners & David Grubbs - blossom time (from Arborvitae)
- 37:15 Taylor Deupree & Savvas Ysatis - for a morning when (from The Sleeping Morning)
- 40:40 Frederico Durand - elin (from Elin)
- 43:00 Brian Eno - Real (from Drums Between Bells)
- 49:10 Rain Cloud - Fades Alright (from Kerala)
- 54:20 Fognode - Duquaine (from Porch Music)
- 59:10 end
Thursday Jul 28, 2011
Thursday Jul 28, 2011
"Music is the space between notes." - Claude Debussy
I found a couple of tunes recently that exemplify that Debussy quote. So I looked for more tracks that had definite valleys between the peaks of synth washes or long pauses between piano chords and then I let the mix take off from there.
The result is similar to the "breathing" mixes I've done before with the lulling ebb & flow that I like so much. This mix differs in it's use of piano & guitar tracks. There is a section in the middle where there really isn't a whole lot of "silence", more of an up & down of synth washes. But like happens so often with mixes, they just go places I didn't expect & then I've got to bring them back.
"Music and silence combine strongly because music is done with silence and silence is full of music." - Marcel Marceau
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Antonymes - 311210 (from Like Rumours of Hushed Thunder)
- 01:38 Wixel - Vaarwel (from Somewhere Between The Sun and The Moon)
- 03:50 Danny Saul - Kinison part 2 (from Kinison - Goldthwait)
- 05:30 Good Weather For An Airstrike - Broken (from Winter)
- 11:00 Wixel - 10 minutes (from The End)
- 13:42 World Standard & Moose Hill - Graceful Silence (from Futari - Graceful Silence)
- 17:50 Stuart Dempster - Standing waves 1976 (from In The Great Abbey of Clement VI)
- 21:40 Kyle Bobby Dunn - Tuohy's Theme (from Ways of Meaning)
- 26:00 Celer - untitled #10 (from Compositions for Cassette)
- 36:39 Listening Mirror - Glass Slopes (from Spires, Spirals and Stones)
- 37:15 Jasper Leyland - they carry (from Sediments)
- 41:24 Dakota Suite - One Day Without Harming You (Machinefabriek remix) (from The Night Just Keeps Coming In)
- 42:33 Marsen Jules - Chanson du soir (from Herbstlaub)
- 47:00 Brian Eno - Neroli (from Neroli)
- 51:25 The Dead Texan - Beatrice part 2 (from The Dead Texan)
- 55:08 Antonymes - 291210 (from Like Rumours of Hushed Thunder)
- 57:16 end
Tuesday May 24, 2011
Tuesday May 24, 2011
"The loneliness you get by the sea is personal and alive. It doesn't subdue you and make you feel abject. It's stimulating loneliness." - Anne Morrow Lindbergh
So much of ambient music has a beautiful ebb & flow that lends itself perfectly to sea metaphors. Whether its bobbing up & down on the surface or plumbing the depths, ambient music music seems to fit well with imagery of the sea.
I could crank out sea mixes just using tunes with water, ocean or sea references in the track titles. This mix does have a few tracks with obvious sea titles, but in general it's just another collection of tunes that have that "sea sound."
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 foghorn
- 00:20 Stuart Dempster - Standing Waves 1976
- 01:41 Dolphins into the Future - Memory of Self
- 04:45 Enrico Coniglio - pastor et nauta
- 07:40 Brian Eno - Invisible
- 10:20 Alio Die - Suono Ipogeo(part 1)
- 12:50 Echospace - Reflection II
- 15:00 Burial - Night Bus
- 16:55 Dean Santomieri - The Boy Beneath the Sea
- 19:35 Andrew Chalk - Ukigiri
- 21:15 Beautumn - Everfields
- 27:00 M. Ostermeier - Central
- 31:30 Deaf Centre - New Beginning(tidal darkness)
- 34:00 Riceboy Sleeps - Sleeping Giant
- 39:45 Dolphins into the Future - Lone Voyager
- 47:35 Enrico Coniglio - Da Mar
- 52:15 Stuart Dempster - Standing Waves 1976
- 54:40 end
Friday May 13, 2011
Friday May 13, 2011
"Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another." -- Plato (427-347 B.C.)
I realized that I hadn't done a stargazing mix in quite awhile and with the weather getting warmer & spending more time outside, I figured a new star mix was in order.
So here it is...
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Sonmi451 - Cumulonimbus
- 05:30 Manual - As the moon Spins Around
- 09:35 Cyber Zen Sound Engine & Matt Borghi - Mars Infers
- 15:40 Robert Davies - Beneath Strange Stars
- 24:55 sgnl fltr - kwon
- 25:30 Frederico Durand - Mi Pequeno Mundo De Papel
- 26:25 Frederico Durand - El Mundo Secreto De La Montana
- 29:30 Staffan Wessman - Unison
- 34:50 The Winterhouse - Lost
- 42:50 Jonathan Hughes - Monoline
- 45:15 Kyle Bobby Dunn - Statuit
- 50:05 Loscil - Cheekye
- 55:50 Matt Thomas Wilson - Aviation Jargon
- 58:00 Jonn Serrie - Continuum
- 03:15 end
Saturday Apr 02, 2011
Saturday Apr 02, 2011
I love soundtracks. And if you look at the tracklist for this mix, you'll see that I have a few favorite composers.
At the top of that list are Clint Mansell & Cliff Martinez. They are responsible for two of my favorite soundtracks, The Fountain & Solaris.
Jon Hopkins, a new composer on the soundtrack scene, could soon join those two as a favorite. His soundtrack for the movie Monsters, got a lot of play here. I ended up using three tracks from that album in this mix, I just couldn't resist.
Actually I doubled up a few artists in this mix, Martinez, Hopkins, Sigur Ros, Nick & Warren Ellis, Underworld. Normally I don't like to do that but it just sort of happened that way. This is a relatively short mix but I think it works. Sometimes I don't make it to the end of some mixes, this way hopefully listeners are still in to it & focused at the end.
Enjoy this "undiscovered soundtrack".
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Clint Mansell - Winter Ghosts of a Future (Requiem for a Dream)
- 01:45 Jon Hopkins - Candles (Monsters)
- 03:35 Cliff Martinez - And We're Here to Listen (Traffic)
- 05:15 Thomas Newman - Still Dead (American Beauty)
- 07:55 Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - The Road (The Road)
- 11:30 Underworld & John Murphy - Searle Finds the Crew of Icarus (Sunshine)
- 12:20 Explosions in the Sky - An Ugly Fact of Life (Friday Nigh Lights)
- 14:10 Sigur Ros - síðasta ferð (hlemmur)
- 16:33 Craig Armstrong - Main Theme (The Clearing)
- 17:40 Ennio Morricone - Tema di Ali (The Battle of Algiers)
- 21:32 John Zorn - Family Found(cello) (Family Found(Filmworks XII))
- 23:50 Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Micro Sucker (White Lunar)
- 24:25 Underworld - Capa's Last Transmission Home (Sunshine)
- 26:10 Sigur Ros - fyrsta ferð (hlemmur)
- 28:25 Hilmar Hilmarsson - I Flew (Angels of the Universe)
- 30:25 Cliff Martinez - First Drive Home (First Snow)
- 30:50 Jon Hopkins - Water (Monsters)
- 31:55 James Newton Howard - I'm Sorry (I am Legend)
- 33:50 Jon Hopkins - Campfire (Monsters)
- 36:11 end
Friday Mar 25, 2011
Friday Mar 25, 2011
As the days get longer, I am able to enjoy a bit of sunlight when I get home from work. There have been a few days recently where I stopped during a walk to gaze at the evening sky as the color deepens to indigo & the stars first start appearing.
Being a music geek, I can't help but think of tunes that would make a nice soundtrack for that scene. So while listening to music the last couple of weeks, if I came across a cut that made me think of those walks & the sky, I'd throw them into a folder for later use.
This mix "evening sky" is the result. It's not meant to change musically as the evening sky changes. It's just a collection of songs that reminded me of the sky as it darkens in early evening.
Enjoy.
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 John Murphy - Mercury
- 00:47 The Sleepy Vines - Kelp Forest
- 02:00 Rim - Gusts of Sand
- 04:50 I've Lost - Absence
- 08:00 Emanuele Errante - Made to Give
- 11:45 Pjusk - sus
- 14:55 Brian Eno - Late Anthropocene
- 19:40 Shaula - Night & Green Grass
- 25:15 Marc Barreca - Fish Culture
- 27:50 Federico Durand - Pudu Tu Nombre Es Tobias
- 32:10 Sonmi451 - Green
- 38:51 Alio Die - In the Labyrinth Garden
- 43:30 Mark Rushton - Fieldsketch
- 46:35 Emanuele Errante - Dorians Mirror
- 51:40 Wixel - Cloud Formation
- 1:00:00 end
Friday Mar 04, 2011
Friday Mar 04, 2011
"Distant transmissions flicker and fade, there's a drift on the signal, a ghost in the phase."I've had that phrase on my blog profile for a long time. I've used different parts of it as titles for my series of 'shortwave' mixes(drift on the signal, ghost in the phase, flicker & fade).With this mix I've completely tapped out that slogan because the new mix is called "distant transmissions."I'm not really sure exactly how I came up with that line. I remember going through shortwave terms looking for a title for the first shortwave mix & I came across the phrase "drift on the signal". I liked the sound of that & used it for the first mix. Somewhere along the line I also read the term "ghost in the phase" & then just combined those two with other terms to come up with that short phrase which I liked because it's as close as I'm ever going to get to writing a lyric of any sort.This mix, like the others, makes use of the wonderful shortwave recordings of Myke Weiskopf. Check out his blog here... for lots of streaming audio & downloadable goodies. I've done 5 mixes featuring Myke's work & none of them would have been possible without his documentary series. Huge thanks to Myke for all his fine recordings. Check out the ShortWaveMusic Facebook page too.T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Ionoscatter_Unmodulated_Signal_And_Meteor_Whistles_6-2-58
- 00:30 Radio Bulgaria(stretched & normal)
- 01:33 Max Richter - Infra
- 04:30 Benoît Pioulard - Passenger
- 05:20 offthesky - frozen fountain
- 07:20 upward arrows - ^^^^
- 08:55 Family Radio International
- 09:30 ??? - Traveling Light
- 13:50 The Humble Bee - 07 jan 2010
- 16:30 Christian Fennesz & Ryuichi Sakamoto - kuni
- 18:20 Freescha - baby Maker
- 19:50 Daizok - Shoreline VII
- 24:15 Radio Morocco
- 26:20 Area C - Map of circular thought
- 29:10 Juv - til
- 29:42 Max Richter - Journey 5
- 30:45 Inversz - Home End
- 35:10 Myke Weiskopf - You're Up, You're There, You're D
- 37:40 Christian Fennesz & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Amorph
- 43:22 end
Sunday Feb 13, 2011
Sunday Feb 13, 2011
Yah! A new mix finally! I've been ridiculously busy lately(10 days at the Super Bowl) so haven't been able to do much mixing. Hopefully that will change.
This is another mix where the title says it all...slow & sleepy.
Pretty straight forward ambient with long, stretched out chords, slow motion sounds to suspend consciousness.
Many of the tracks used here are new or fairly new. A lot of good music has been released in the last few months. I'll have to dive in & come up with some new mixes. I'm sort of planning a neo-classical mix, electronic beats, classic jazz, mellow prog rock, etc.
For now I hope you enjoy slow & sleepy.
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Kyle Bobby Dunn - Remnants
- 05:20 Wouter Veldhuis - Satumaa
- 09:30 Celer - A Lifetime of Wasted Breaths
- 14:30 Grasslung - When We Were Young
- 20:45 Wixel - Melsbroek
- 22:15 Simon Scott - Silenne
- 28:00 Gareth Hardwick - London 220109
- 34:45 Alio Die & Zeit - punto di fusione
- 41:45 Danny Saul - kinison (part 2)
- 43:00 Listening Mirror - Cast Off
- 48:30 Hakobune - a yearlong thought
- 52:00 Stephan Mathieu - Minuet
- 1:00:00 end
Friday Jan 07, 2011
Friday Jan 07, 2011
"The passage of time is flickering dimly upon the screen."
I've called this mix "Obscured by Time" because it has that grainy, blurry feel to it, like looking through gauze. The once distinct events in our memories melt together like the washes of sound in this mix.
This collection was inspired by the two 2010 releases by 36, "Memories in Widescreen" & "Hollow". A pair of great releases that are at times haunting & beautiful. As described at 3six.net, some of the tracks "use turbulent sheets of white noise, alongside classical instruments to create an eerie, almost ghost-like quality."
All the tracks have that same noisy, grainy texture to them. Most are fairly new, with the Basinski & Jeck tracks probably being the oldest. I love going back to Basinski & wish I could have snuck in a track from Disintegration Loops. Guess that will have to be used in the sequel.
"Several times, I've seen the evening slide away, Watching the signs taking over from the fading day." - Brian Eno, "Golden Hours"
Enjoy.
T R A C K L I S T :
- [00:00] Ous Mal - Marraskuu
- [03:15] The Fun Years - Makes Sense to Me
- [06:50] Maps & Diagrams - The Modern Century
- [08:48] 36 - Geiga
- [13:52] Erik De Cordier - Spadomur
- [14:35] Tim Hecker - Celestina
- [18:00] Ithaca Trio - Untitled #10
- [21:25] The Humble Bee - 26 jan 2010
- [24:00] Wixel - You're Inside Your Own Shadow
- [27:40] 36 - Equassa
- [31:00] Damian Valles - The Alphabet of Lines
- [34:06] Philip Jeck - Wipe
- [37:35] William Basinski - Melancholia II
- [42:38] d_rradio - Death of the Fair Green Veil
- [43:50] Tape Loop Orchestra - Tokyo Twilight
- [45:50] Philip Jeck - Soaked
- [48:12] 36 - Drifta
- [53:18] END