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Ambient music mixes for a chaotic world
Episodes
Sunday Sep 07, 2008
Sunday Sep 07, 2008
This is a mix from our annual trip to the Wisconsin northwoods. As the title suggests it's a mix for star gazing.
As I have mentioned in other posts, Rick, who runs the Hydrogen Cafe blog, and I sit out at the end of the pier and watch for shooting stars and satellites. We each make a soundtrack for the experience. Rick's are usually much more thought out than mine(he mix this year was great!).
I limited myself to fairly new music, stuff I have been listening to a lot lately. I knew I wanted to include new music from Area C - Sea of Rains. It was commissioned by the NASA RI Space Grant Consortium and the Museum of Natural History in Providence, RI as an original score for their "Mission Moon: past, present, future" exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. It has some Nasa recordings mixed in with the music so it was a natural for this mix.
After that the other tracks are just tunes that are kind of new, sound a bit spacey and flow well together.
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
- 56:15 Shirk - Riesal
- 00:09 Le Chat Blanc Orchestra - She Left This Morning
Tuesday Aug 26, 2008
Tuesday Aug 26, 2008
I made this latest mix for our annual trip to northern Wisconsin. I usually try to make one stargazing mix & one morning mix. The stargazing mix will be posted soon. This is the morning mix, to be listened to while drinking Intelligentsia coffee & reading the morning paper.
At our northern cabin we didn't have daily newspapers so I made due with coffee, crossword puzzles & science fiction. To go with the morning coffee & sunlight reflecting off the calm lake waters, this music is suitably light. The majority of the tunes are new, most are from 2008. Some old favorites with new music make the mix, including Max Ritcher, Yellow 6, Milieu & Goldmund. New discoveries include Shirk, bvdub & Segue.
So grab a cup, put your feet up & enjoy.
T R A C K L I S T :
Saturday Jul 05, 2008
Saturday Jul 05, 2008
There is no clever theme to this new mix. I noticed a similar feel to much of the new music I was listening to so I decided to cobble some tunes together in a mix.
All of the music in this mix is new, either 2007 or 2008, except for the Andrew Deutsch cut which is from 2005(although it is new to me).
The music in this mix has a sort of subdued, orchestral fell to it. I started thinking about this mix listening to the new Deaf Center release. Layers of strings create a beautiful, melancholy experience. That pretty much describes the rest of the music in this mix.
T R A C K L I S T :
00:00 Emanuele Errante - leaves
01:25 Deaf Center - Vintage Well
06:10 Bersarin Quartet - es kann nicht ewig winter sein
09:45 mwvm - context where
17:50 Andrew Deutsch - untilted #1(from cd "The Sun")
26:00 Svarte Greiner - kobbergruve....
29:20 Jasper, TX - things could stay
37:30 Emanuele Errante - lucus
49:10 Deaf Center - ashes
50:30 Stars of the Lid - slight on the childproof
55:00 Bersarin Quartet - Inversion
Sunday Jun 29, 2008
Sunday Jun 29, 2008
I listen to music every night when I go to sleep. Most of the time I keep a small stack of recent cd's on the nightstand for nighttime listening. I was getting tired of the selections so I dug into the back catalog & pulled out Steve Roach's Structures from Silence. Wow, it was great to hear that recording again!
That lead me to pull out a couple of other oldies, which then lead to this mix. All the music in this mix, retroact 1.0, is at least 10 years old. Structures from Silence is from 1984! The Aphex Twin cut is from 1994. I cheated with a couple of tracks, such as Tollefson & Vidna/Pearce, that are from 1999.
It was wonderful to listen to albums I hadn't heard in years. I had forgotten just how great Saul Stokes Washed in Mercury is. I am very happy to have worked in Thom Brennan's The Path Not Taken, one of my all-time favorite ambient tracks. This mix is not supposed to represent a certain time period or demonstrate evolving styles. It's just a bunch of older cuts that I sort randomly pulled out & thought would work well together. I hope you enjoy this ambient trip down memory lane.
T R A C K L I S T I N G :
- 00:00 Brian Eno - Sparrowfall 1 [1978]
- 01:00 Aphex Twin - rhubarb [1994]
- 08:00 Steve Roach - Structures from Silence [1984]
- 17:20 Biosphere - Chukhung [1997]
- 23:55 Saul Stokes - Sweet Parafin [1997]
- 26:40 Brian Eno - Sparrowfall 2 [1978]
- 28:05 Vidna Obmana & Jeff Pearce - A Scattering Flock [1999]
- 31:35 David Tollefson - Maja [1999]
- 36:10 Paul Schutze - Sleep 2 [1995]
- 43:30 Thom Brennan - The Path Not Taken [1997]
- 55:40 Jeff Greinke - Glacial Returns [1988]
- 01:21 Brian Eno - Sparrowfall 3 [1978]
Friday Jun 06, 2008
Friday Jun 06, 2008
I was having a tough time coming up with an idea for a new mix. The shortwave mix, a drift on the signal, is one of my favorite mixes so I decided to do a sequel.
And thus, through ionospheric transit, comes...a ghost in the phase. The formula is pretty much the same as before, a nice mixture of real shortwave radio recordings & ambient music with shortwave elements. Most of the shortwave stuff comes from the Shortwavemusic blog. That's the same source I used for the last shortwave mix. It's run by Myke Weiskopf. Here are a couple of his other sites... Myke Weiskopf & Myke's Live Journal
Lots of cool sounds at all three sites.
After the last shortwave mix a listener said it reminded him of Tetsu Inoue's World Receiver. How could I have forgotten that disc?! This time I made sure to include it. It's such a fantastic recording. You can buy it from Infraction records . Another excellent release that made it into the mix is the new one from Steven Mathieu called Radioland. Check it out.
The Entia Non & krill.minima & Unproduct cuts are all available for free download.
The times in this tracklist are just approximations. Sometimes there are several cuts playing at once, things fading in & out, etc.
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 - Pulse Wave FX & JBO Tokyo Radio
- 00:16 - Entia Non - Cultural Plagiarism
- 01:28 - Fennesz - A Year in a Minute
- 04:33 - Myke Weiskopf - Shortwave Condensation
- 05:55 - Djivan - dle yaman
- 06:56 - Cairo Radio
- 07:45 - Punkt - Speechless
- 08:24 - Cairo Radio
- 09:13 - Rod Modell - Aloeswood
- 12:38 - Tetsu Inoue - Elevator Drops
- 19:05 - Steven Mathieu - Aufder Gasse
- 22:45 - Fennesz & Sakamoto - Aware
- 26:37 - Radio RASD
- 26:54 - My Fun - Signal Drift
- 29:06 - Felicia Atkinson with Sylvain Chauveau - Aberdeen
- 34:11 - Chris Bissonnette - Traveling Light
- 40:00 - WEWN
- 40:46 - Post-Soviet Melancholia Pt. V: "Мой Рок и Ролл" via Russian International Radio
- 42:40 - krill.minima - Projektor
- 45:34 - Myke Weiskopf - The Grotesque
- 46:23 - Unproduct - Radio Canvas 3
- 46:52 - numbers
- 47:40 - pulse transmission
- 50:30 - Rameses III - Origins IV May 25, 2007
- 53:20 - Steven Mathieu - Radioland
- 02:30 - Pulse Wave FX
Saturday Mar 29, 2008
Saturday Mar 29, 2008
Last year I discovered British drone master Paul Bradley. This year it's the beautiful drones of David Tagg. I have two of his recordings now, "Expanding Electronic Diversity" & "Waist Deep Seas Of Milk". Two excellent albums.
So because I've been listening to more drones than usual I've decided to do a drone mix. Nothing extraordinary here, just one drone slowly slipping into the next.
Most of the music here is fairly new. Almost all of it released this year or last, except of course for the Aloof Proof, which almost counts as new because of the reissue last year. This was fairly easy to put together but it flows nicely. Should be excellent for sleeping.
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Paul Bradley - Irenic
- 05:45 Stars of the Lid - Virgina
- 09:00 Andrew Chalk - Suspended in Air
- 14:00 David Tagg - Waist Deep in Seas of Milk #6
- 20:30 Emeralds - arbol del tule
- 28:05 Belong - Vowel
- 35:00 Nelson Foltz & Tom Lynn - still life interlude
- 43:00? David Tagg - The 25th Door
- 49:30 Aloof Proof - The Last Leaf
- 59:30 Paul Bradley - Chroma #1
- 02:30 The Beautiful Schizophonic - cantiques la gloire du soleil
Sunday Mar 16, 2008
Sunday Mar 16, 2008
This new mix is something different. It is a guest mix courtesy of a listener/downloader in Ireland. Jason is an electronic music producer who discovered new artists such as Tim Hecker, Fennesz & Murcof through some Low Light mixes. He said "Stunning artists, I never knew music could sound so minimal yet full." It is an excellent mix. Jason has put together an hour-long mix of "some of my favorite trax from a few of the artists I've grown to love over the past year." It starts out nice & dreamy then gets a bit noisey, but in a good Tim Hecker way. It smooths out again then brings back some Hecker & Murcof noise before ending quietly with Fennesz & Sakamoto. A fine mix from start to finish. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. T R A C K L I S T :
- 00.00 "amb" Rafael Toral
- 1.20 "the Mouthchew" Stars of the Lid
- 4.28 "Reciting the Airships" Eluvium
- 8.00 "Crossing Signals" Manual
- 9.23 "Faces (Where Are You Now)" Stendeck
- 12.47 "Going Dark" EchaSkech
- 13.24 "Fractales Pt.2" Apparat
- 14.48 "Blood Rainbow" Tim Hecker
- 17.32 "Remove the Inside" Belong
- 22.56 "Junitaki" Manual
- 24.50 "Dizzy Sun" Manual
- 27.57 "I'm too Sleepy, shall we swim?" Belong
- 32.05 "Even (out) +" Stars of the Lid
- 35.00 "Chimeras" Tim Hecker
- 36.50 "Pillowcase" Dntel
- 39.00 "The Point of it all" Fennesz
- 42.33 "Radio Spiricom" Tim Hecker
- 44.45 "Cosmos II" Murcof
- 53.30 "Kuni" Christian Fennesz & Ryuichi Sakamoto
Wednesday Jan 23, 2008
Wednesday Jan 23, 2008
I have been interested in doing a mix of field recordings ever since I did the shortwave mix last year. I've been collecting field recordings from various sources & even bought a digital recorder so I could do my own phonography.I haven't really had the time to seriously record anything but I did manage to squeeze a few of my own things into this new mix.
There is very little proper music in this mix. It's mostly field recordings that I downloaded from sites like Quiet American and SoundTransit. Some of the recordings are from cd's that I own. Most of the music is music that already has field recordings built into the track. I used two tracks from a great cd by Emanuele Errante called "Migrations". a few other tracks came from Geir Jenssen 's "Field Recordings From Tibet". A couple of other cuts came from "Classifields - Trips 6" on Tripostal. One of the Tripostal tracks is "A Sunday Walk" by Nim is a Tree, which I already used in the Netlabel Mix. It's such a great cut that I had to use it again. I also sneaked some loops into the mix here & there.
Some of my favorite field sounds are trains, so you'll hear various train sounds a few times. I also like empty train station reverb, so that fades in & out a couple times. The sounds range from a resonant pipe in a rain storm to foghorns to church bells to chanting to arrival anouncements to piano and an open window. I know that some field recordings may be interesting but really listenable, not musical enough. I think this mix works pretty well & is easy to listen to. Sorry there is no track list. It's nearly impossible to keep track of what's playing & when in this mix. Most of the time there several tracks playing at once.
It was a lot of fun putting this together and hope you enjoy the trip.
Friday Dec 07, 2007
Friday Dec 07, 2007
- 00:00 - 04:30 Stars of the Lid - Even(out)
- 04:30 - 07:30 Paul Bradley - untitled #1
- 07:30 - 09:40 Adam Pacione - Warming Trend
- 09:40 - 15:30 Emeralds - arbole del tule
- 15:30 - 20:30 Alio Die & Luciano Daini - Crucibulum
- 20:30 - 24:24 Fennesz & Sakamoto - Aware
- 24:24 - 25:45 Library Tapes - Snowleaf
- 25:45 - 31:54 Dakota Suite - Because our lie breathes differently
- 31:54 - 35:20 Wes Willenbring - While my lungs fill with water
- 35:20 - 41:20 Sonmi 451 - Outer Shell
- 41:20 - 46:05 Kiln - Flycatcher
- 46:05 - 50:45 Rameses III - Theme 5
- 50:45 - 54:20 Meursault - Ivy
- 54:20 - 58:50 Alio Die & Zeit - Raag Drone Theory
- 58:50 - 06:20 Taylor Deupree - Landing
- 06:20 - 10:45 Tim Hecker - Norberg
- 10:45 - 14:30 Northern - Cinema
- 14:30 - 19:53 Stars of the Lid - Even if you're never awake
- B E S T O F 2 0 0 7
- Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline (kranky)
- Alio Die & Luciano Daini - End of an Era (hic sunt leones)
- Alio Die & Zeit - Raag Drone Theory(hic sunt leones)
- Tetsu Inoue - Inland (fax)
- Taylor Deupree - Landing (room40)
- Adam Pacione - from stills to motion (infraction)
- Paul Bradley - Chroma (twenty hertz)
- Emeralds - Allegory Of Allergies (gods of tundra)
- Fennesz & Sakamoto - Cende (touch)
- Northern - Drawn (infraction)
- Tim Hecker - Norberg (room40)
- Rameses III - Honey Rose ( important)
- sonmi451 - probes & prisms (u-cover)
- Meursault - Sleeping Debris (students of decay)
- Wes Willenbring - Somewhere someone else (Aquarius Records)
- Library Tapes - Sketches (make mine music)
- Kiln - Dusker (Ghostly Int'l)
- Iron & Wine - The Sheperds Dog (sub pop)
- Trespassers William - noble house ep
- various - Box of Dub (soul jazz)
- Once - soundtrack (columbia)
- Canon Blue - Colonies (Rumraket)
- Dakota Suite - Waiting for the dawn to crawl through and take your life (glitterhouse)
- P.G. Six - Slightly Sorry (Drag City)
Sunday Nov 18, 2007
Sunday Nov 18, 2007
I am starting to repeat myself. I've done two piano mixes, two string theory mixes, two winter mixes and now a second guitar mix. I decided to do a new guitar mix because I seem to have come across a lot of good guitar music lately. All the tracks on this mix are new, from either 2006 or 2007. The music ranges from electric to acoustic. Originally I intended to do a feedback-filled guitarscape like a long Peter Wright song. But in the end the music in this mix is fairly straight forward. Some is ambient, some is pretty, some is droney(is that a word?). I hope you enjoy it. T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 - 00:50 Peter Broderick - Balloon Bomb
- 00:50 - 02:00 twinsistermoon - I wish I could drown the world in reverberation
- 02:00 - 08:20 Robert Fripp - Tallinn
- 08:20 - 20:30 Meursault - Sleeping Debris
- 20:30 - 23:30 Origamibiro - Gathers in Puddles
- 23:30 - 25:30 Wooden Spoon - Untitled #10
- 25:30 - 30:20 Wixel - Nowhere
- 30:20 - 33:40 Brian Grainger - wind calmly bends our hair
- 33:40 - 36:20 Hisato Higuchi - Kizauto
- 36:20 - 40:30 øjeRum - tonerum
- 40:30 - 41:40 Area C - Daymarks
- 41:40 - 45:10 Peter Wright - Folk Song for Contradiction
- 45:10 - 49:20 Christopher Flores - Farewell Son
- 49:20 - 53:30 Oren Armbachi - fever, a warm poison
- 53:30 - 59:20 Meursault - Mirror
- 59:20 - 02:20 Six Organs of Admittance - Goodnight
- 02:20 - 04:30 Wooden Spoon - Untitled #1