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Ambient music mixes for a chaotic world
Episodes
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Sunday Sep 25, 2022
Sunday Sep 25, 2022
On September 7, NPR dropped an episode of All Songs Considered about an enormous new compilation album called "For The Birds: The Birdsong Project." It's a massive collection of original songs and poems about birds and inspired by birdsong. Artists range from Alice Coltrane, Nick Cave, Laurie Anderson, and The Flaming Lips to Sam Prekop, Devendra Banhart, Yo Yo Ma, and of course Andrew Bird & Jeff Tweedy.
Here's a link to the episode - https://www.npr.org/2022/09/06/1121237661/this-episode-is-for-the-birds
As I listened to the collection for a few days at work, my ambient brain thought of using some of the instrumental tracks in a mix. So for this mix all the tracks come from The Birdsong Project. Most of the cuts have worked bird sounds in with the music.
Unfortunately this collection is not available on Bandcamp. So it's very expensive to buy the full compilation, with the vinyl box set selling for $400 and the mp3 downloads going for $38 per volume. So I would suggest listening to the collection on Spotify which you can find here - https://www.audubon.org/news/the-birdsong-project-box-set
Here's one more link to check out - https://www.thebirdsongproject.com/
Cheers!
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Shearwater - Kwitaro Backbone
- 05:33 Sam Prekop - Stations Parallel
- 10:12 Aska Matsumiya - Tori No Uta
- 12:57 Paul Cantelon - Hymn for Four Birds
- 18:41 Makaya McCraven - For The Birds
- 21:27 Elliot Bergman - Crow Dialectic
- 25:27 Andrew Bird - Rare Birds
- 32:22 Joachim Cooder - Carolina Turtledove
- 34:55 Carla dal Forno - Morning Maggie
- 37:04 Devendra Banhart - Ka
- 40:20 Dexter Story - Wefoch(Birds)
- 43:40 Stuart Bogie - Far Rockaway
- 49:11 Woodkid - Altamira Oriole
- 51:57 Marcelo Zarvos - Nightbird
- 55:39 Cosmo Sheldrake - Evening Chorus(Live in the Bluebell Woods)
- 60:27 end
Sunday Sep 11, 2022
Sunday Sep 11, 2022
I love the strange exotic sounds of artists such as Jon Hassell, Andrew Pekler, and William Selman. Their music can take you on an audio journey to imaginary places halfway around the globe. My first 4th World Excursion mix was 4 years ago and I've only done one follow up, which is weird considering how much I enjoy this style.
Here are the first two in this series:
https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/folding-water-fourth-world-excursions/
https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/strange-beauty-4th-world-excursions-vol-2/
And here is the new follow up - 4th World Excursions - Slow Water.
This new mix follows a similar pattern and feel as the other two - using a combination of field recordings and the sounds of bells, drums, vibraphone, various mallet instruments, the vibe creates a feeling of floating in a small wooden boat in a lagoon somewhere in Indonesia. As the waves lap against the boat you can hear distant drums, crickets, jungle birds, frogs, and odd instruments lulling you to sleep. Of course there are electronic elements to keep things interesting.
Here links to all the albums used in this mix in the order in which they appear:
- https://summerrecreationcamp.bandcamp.com/album/liquid-rhythm
- https://vagueimaginaires.bandcamp.com/album/l-le-dor
- https://riteshindi.bandcamp.com/album/animas-k
- https://ulyssa.bandcamp.com/album/rio-nilo-66
- https://huinalidub.bandcamp.com/album/early-horizons-hnl008
- https://graphicalrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/ocean-front-property
- https://mikecooper.bandcamp.com/album/oceans-of-milk-and-treacle
- https://andrewpekler.bandcamp.com/album/palimpsests
- https://williamselman.bandcamp.com/album/naming-before-names
- https://handstitched.bandcamp.com/album/teygja-part-b
- https://paulineannastrom.bandcamp.com/album/angel-tears-in-sunlight
- https://hawsepiper.bandcamp.com/album/red-knot-returns
- https://andrewpekler.bandcamp.com/album/sounds-from-phantom-islands
- https://www.sargasso.com/product/felipe-otondo-mombasa/
- https://real-soon.bandcamp.com/album/the-sun-in-the-east
Cheers!
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Jason Kolàr - Bells (Liquid Rhythm 2022)
- 04:00 Vague Imaginaries - Montagnes Flottantes (L'île D'or 2020)
- 07:50 Jarguna - Shuar Tales (Animas-k 2021)
- 10:20 Thunder & FX
- 11:40 Ethan Braun & Sam Gendel - 1/2 Sculpture (Rio Nilo 66 2021)
- 14:40 David de la Haye - The Pond Listener (With Ears Underwater 2022)
- 15:20 David de la Haye - March Towards the Light (With Ears Underwater 2022)
- 16:05 Inhmost - Waters Edge (Early Horizons 2021)
- 20:10 Mark Templeton - Channel Shifting (Ocean Front Property 2020)
- 22:00 Mike Cooper - Towards Great Piles Of Masonry (Oceans Of Milk & Treacle 2022)
- 23:45 Andrew Pekler & Giuseppe Ielasi - Baden-Baden (Palimpsests 2021)
- 26:12 Jason Kolàr - Magic Random Exotism (Liquid Rhythm 2022)
- 29:15 Vague Imaginaries - Mais (L'île D'or 2020)
- 34:40 William Selman - Realgar Bay (Naming Before Names 2020)
- 40:18 Maps and Diagrams - One Day (Teygja Part B 2021)
- 42:35 Pauline Anna Strom - Tropical Rainforest (Angel Tears in Sunlight 2021)
- 47:25 Hawsepiper - Air Stones (Red Knot Returns 2021)
- 51:15 Andrew Pekler - Tuanahe (Sounds From Phantom Islands 2019)
- 55:15 Felipe Otondo – Mombasa (Mombasa 2022)
- 57:25 Loren Nerell & Mark Seelig - Kayon (Tree of Life 2014)
- 58:45 Ultramarine - Signals Into Space (The Sun in the East 2020)
- 65:00 end
Sunday Aug 28, 2022
Sunday Aug 28, 2022
The Handpan, or Hang, is a percussion instrument related to the Caribbean steelpan instrument. It is like a convex version of a steel drum with the two halves attached together. The instrument has been used in a lot of new age music and faux new-age eastern mysticism. Like a lot of new age music instrumentation there is a fine line between enjoyable, relaxing ambient and new age schlock. Unfortunately, many time use of the handpan falls into the latter category.
That being said, I do occasionally like the sound of the handpan and I don't care about healing energy and mystical power crapola. I just like the sound. While relaxing outside on my deck I came across Musical Incense vol. 1 by Laura Inserra. It became my go to music for zoning out in a chaise lounge while doom-scrolling Twitter, a habit I really need to break.
I decided to make an all handpan mix. The vibe is slow and relaxing. Sometimes handpan players can show off with their hands racing around the instrument to create intricate patterns. That style has its place but not in this mix. I tried to keep the pace slow and the vibe relaxing.
I can imagine some folks complaining that it all sounds the same. But that's what I like about this mix - it feels like one long handpan track. I can really zone out to it.
Here are links to all the albums used in this mix in the order in which they appear:
- https://laurainserra.bandcamp.com/album/musical-incense-vol-1
- https://www.amazon.com/Rhythms-Sleep-Music-Deep-Rest/dp/1622034368
- https://www.amazon.com/Pure-Ceremony-James-Hood/dp/B01AXMDN5I
- https://whaleloryb.bandcamp.com/track/awaken-earth-handpan-journey
- https://laurainserra.bandcamp.com/album/musical-incense-vol-1
- https://www.amazon.com/Reiki-Healing-Music-Christopher-Wolves/dp/B004H1Z31Y
- https://www.amazon.com/Pure-Ceremony-James-Hood/dp/B01AXMDN5I
- https://ravidgoldschmidt.com/product/calm-upon-you/
- 00:00 Laura Inserra - Passage I (Musical Incense vol. 1)
- 05:40 Christopher Of The Wolves - Dream Sequence (Rhythms Of Sleep)
- 13:52 James Hood - Stereoscopic Mindgasm (Pure Ceremony)
- 18:10 Calm Whale - Awaken Earth - Handpan Journey
- 30:45 Laura Inserra - Passage III (Musical Incense vol. 1)
- 40:15 Christopher Of The Wolves - Surrender (Reiki - Healing Music)
- 51:12 James Hood - 12 Uses of Time (Pure Ceremony)
- 59:00 Ravid Goldschmidt - Calm Upon You(hang solo) (Calm Upon You)
- 63:45 end
Sunday Aug 21, 2022
Sunday Aug 21, 2022
I have been making stargazing and space themed mixes for a long time. But I realized that I haven't posted a straightforward stargazing mix for almost two years. So this mix fixes that.
All the tracks are fairly new, with half of them being from this year. Some tracks are from low light mixes regulars like Loscil, Loneward and Hipnotic Earth alongside new discoveries like RIKAAR, Tone Color and Audio Obscura.
Here are links to all the albums used in this mix in the order in which they appear:
- https://triplicaterecords.bandcamp.com/album/malin-1
- https://altusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/our-unyielding-sky
- https://dronarivm.bandcamp.com/album/starfish-giant-foams
- https://www.amazon.com/Xerrox-Vol-4-Alva-Noto/dp/B087SDHPRK/ref=tmm_acd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
- https://hrresonance.bandcamp.com/album/infinite-realms
- https://dewtonerecordings.com/album/dwelling-in-light
- https://motionfield.bandcamp.com/album/evolve
- https://tapesandtopographies.bandcamp.com/album/modalities
- https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/album/moments-of-immersion
- https://triplicaterecords.bandcamp.com/album/triplicate-tapes-vol-2-space-invaders
- https://banabila.bandcamp.com/album/to-yemen-with-love-2
- https://loscil.bandcamp.com/album/lifelike
Cheers!
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 RIKAAR - Future Hope to Past Lightyears (Malin 1 2022)
- 12:15 Loneward - Star Portal (Our Unyielding Sky 2022)
- 11:58 Hipnotic Earth - Full of Stars (Starfish and Giant Foams 2021)
- 16:45 Alva Noto - Xerrox Neige (Xerrox Vol. 4 2020)
- 20:40 Alpha Wave Movement - Timeless Starfields(Infinite Realms 2021)
- 27:50 Tone Color - The Beauty of Not Knowing (Dwelling in Light 2022)
- 30:50 Motionfield - Evolve (Evolve 2022)
- 36:00 Tapes and Topographies - The Worn Surface of Heart (Modalities 2022)
- 41:40 Pruski - Moment V (Moments of Immersion 2022)
- 46:00 Audio Obscura - The Quiet Night (Triplicate Tapes Vol. 2 Space Invaders 2021)
- 49:50 Machinefabriek - Waqūr (To Yemen With Love 2020)
- 53:14 Loscil - Swipe Enforce (Lifelike 2019)
- 58:11 end
Sunday Aug 14, 2022
Sunday Aug 14, 2022
Here's a new mix in the "Simply Ambient" series. There is no theme, no story, no big concept - just straightforward ambient music. All the tracks are from 2022 and all the tracks are...Undeniably Ambient.
Cheers!
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Innesti - A Collection of Ideas (Folding, A Study 2022)
- 04:50 Andarctica - Basalt (Basal 2022)
- 09:00 Gylden - Into The Night (Island Friend 2022)
- 13:15 Jogging House - Low (Fiber 2022)
- 20:22 S. van der Toorn - vervlogenheid v (vervlogenheden i-xi 2022)
- 22:30 halftribe - Concept of Happiness (Elegant, Golden 2022)
- 26:55 Christopher Hanlon - Light Returning (Dreaming of Summer in Winter 2022)
- 29:41 Loris S. Sarid - Yellow Lines (Seabed-Sunbath 2022)
- 32:20 Toàn - Ambre (Phonolite 2022)
- 36:46 Pruski - Moment III (Moments of Immersion 2022)
- 41:05 Erik Wøllo - Inversion, part 5 (Inversions 2022)
- 45:25 ASC - Solitude (Ultimae Records - Isolated 2022)
- 50:55 David Cordero - Snoqualmie Falls(feat. Carlos Ferreira) (And Stillness Came 2022)
- 55:20 Alio Die & Dirk Serries - The Shadow Is Slow, The Hour Is Fleeting (The Chapters Of The Eclipse 2022)
- 64:29 end
Sunday Jul 31, 2022
Sunday Jul 31, 2022
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About a month ago I presented a guest mix of sleep music from Brian Bieniowski, whom I knew from the heyday of the Hypnos Records forum in the mid 2000s. "That Beautiful Land of Nod" is indeed a beautiful sleep mix.
Thankfully, back in 2007 Brian created two Land of Nod mixes. So here is volume 2 for your listening and sleeping pleasure.
Here is what Brian said about the Land of Nod mixes back in 2007:
"It wasn't until the early nineties when I discovered real ambient music suited for the purpose of lying down and listening. It felt finally natural to take to my bed after starting the CD player and allowing the soft music to carry my mind forth for a while until sleep took hold. This mix, That Beautiful Land of Nod, is the product of over twelve years of "field research" in ambient sleep music. All of the selections, new and old, on these two discs, are pieces of music I have personally played in the times before and during sleep. Each track is special to me, these soothing zones, as they have not only brought me hours of comforted sleep, but also tantalizing, never-lasting minutes of wild and wonderful imagery in those moments before unconsciousness occurs. Each track maps a route across my consciousness over twelve years of sleep listening. It is my honest hope that this becomes the mix you never fully listen to—if you are at all like me, you'll be asleep by track five or six every time. So, please, draw the shades, relax, pleasant dreams...."
Cheers!
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Jochem Paap - Dx-Snth (Vrs-Mbnt-Pcs 9598 2)
- 05:45 Jason Sloan - The Color of Wind 1 (Still)
- 11:45 Sam Rosenthal & VidnaObmana - Dark Mist, Rain (Terrace of Memories)
- 16:15 Bill Nelson - Crimsworth(edit) (Crimsworth)
- 22:30 James Johnson - Surrender(edit) (Surrender)
- 26:20 Aphex Twin - #19(edit) (Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 2)
- 29:10 Rod Modell & Michael Mantra - Vitamin K(edit) (Sonic Continuum)
- 33:30 Ruxpin - Autocaz (Midnight Drive)
- 38:30 Never Known - Spheres (On the Edge of Forever)
- 43:10 Oöphoi - Let the Nightsky Envelope Us (Hymns to a Silent Sky)
- 49:40 Mathias Grassow - Through the Void (The Fragrance of Eternal Roses)
- 55:12 Aloof Proof - The Ghost Ship(edit) (Expo Two: Piano Text)
- 58:55 David Sylvian - Approaching Silence(edit) (Approaching Silence)
- 65:00 Steve Roach - Towards the Blue (Quiet Music)
- 68:23 end
Sunday Jul 24, 2022
Sunday Jul 24, 2022
Peter van Cooten runs the excellent Ambientblog website which has great reviews and, of course, wonderful mixes. Anytime Peter reaches out with a mix idea or a a set he'd like to cross-post on both of our platforms, I will always jump at the chance.
As I said on Peter's last guest mix, his sets are different from mine in that they are more intricate. He does not use full tracks, instead opting for excerpts and samples piled on each other, sometimes 2, 3, or 4 tracks play simultaneously, to create a new sound collage.
Here's what Peter says about this mix:
"Apart from its opening sample – ‘It is time to stop seeing. It is time to stop speaking. It is time to listen’, from David Cronenberg’s Crimes Of the Future – this mix has no central theme or story. It’s up to you, the listener to take the time to listen and go with the flow. Let your fantasy tell you the story. And, after you did, I’d love to hear what you heard.
This mix is created using many fragments and samples from longer pieces of music, often presented in multiple layers. Check the original compositions using the tracklist below."
Here's a map of the mix, layer upon layer of the 31 tracks used in the collage.
Check out Peter's work here:
https://www.ambientblog.net/blog/ He also does surround sound mixes, which you can find here: https://www.ambientblog.net/blog/the-surround-mix-versions/
And Peter is on Mixcloud - https://www.mixcloud.com/ambientblog/
Sunday Jul 03, 2022
Sunday Jul 03, 2022
Set the wayback machine to 2007.
I started creating ambient mixes back in the mid-2000s. Those were the days before social media had taken over our lives, before Bandcamp was such a great resource for ambient music. Back then I spent a lot of time on the Hypnos Records forum. There, a bunch of like-mined music nerds shared comments about new recordings, gear, movies, books, tv, music trends, etc.
We also shared mixes. That was one of the first places I tried to promote my mixes online. Back in 2007 fellow forum member, Brian Bieniowski, created a couple mixes under the Asphalt Eden moniker. These mixes, The Beautiful Land of Nod 1 & 2, are some of my all-time favorites and I've used them as sleep soundtracks for years.
With that as background, a few weeks ago a loyal listener reached out with this request - "Could you post some of the Asphalt Eden super-classics like The Beautiful Land of Nod I and II to your Mixcloud as guest mixes/classics in the field/inspirations to your mixes please? I think your fans would be overjoyed by this, and it would be sheer cultural maintenance."
I contacted Brian and he was kind enough to give the thumbs up to posting these classic mixes. He did not have the original tracklists but somehow was able to reconstruct them by listening to each set. Impressive! Thanks Brian for the mixes and for your memory. Here's a link to his website - https://www.handsometechnologies.com/
So kickback and remember a time before credit default swaps almost cratered the economy, before a reality show host became president, before a coronavirus swept around the globe, before....ugh...I'll stop now. Just sit back and drift away to The Beautiful Land of Nod 1.
Cheers!
T R A C K L I S T :
- Robert Rich -Seascape (Trances/Drones)
- Koda - Where the Morning Light Exits (Movements)
- Scott Solter - Wave and Sepia Wire (The Brief Light)
- Thom Brennan - Raingardens (Mist)
- Robert Fripp and Jeffrey Fayman - The Sky Below (A Temple in the Clouds)
- James Johnson?
- MLO - Noodle #1
- Heavenly Music Corp - Ambient to Be Here (In a Garden of Eden)
- Tetsu Inoue & Pete Namlook - 2350 Broadway 2 - Art of Dream
- Klaus Wiese - Soma
- Rameses III - Queens Road Cemetery - 28th March 2005 (Matanuska)
- Brian Eno - Discreet Music (Discreet Music)
- Jonn Serrie - Stratos (And the Stars Go With You)
Sunday Jun 05, 2022
Sunday Jun 05, 2022
For a while now I've been planning on a drum/percussion mix similar to A Distant Pulse - https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/a-distant-pulse/ and A Rhythmic Passage - https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/a-rhythmic-passage/
In my search for tracks I came across a track by Vidna Obmana called "The Transcending Quest." It made me nostalgic for the heyday of tribal ambient in the 1990s with artists like Vidna Obana, Steve Roach, O Yuki Conjugate and Thom Brennan. So I decided to make this whole mix a trip back to the 90s for some hang drum and rain stick sounds.
The first thing you may notice is that not all the tunes are from the 1990s. Two are from 2001 and one is from 1989. I say close enough.
The other thing you may hear as you listen is that the tracks all definitely sound very similar. That was purposeful. I wanted the whole set to have a trance-like feel to it.
Sitting right in the middle of all this is one of my favorite ambient tracks of all time - "The Path Not Taken" by Thom Brennan from 1995. When I looked for a Bandcamp link I found he had an entire album by that name and it's only $4. An edited version of part is what was released in 1995 and the whole album remained unreleased until 2019. You can find it here... https://thombrennan.bandcamp.com/album/the-path-not-taken
Links to all the albums used in this mix in the order in which they appear:
- https://cosmicguitartronics.bandcamp.com/album/seed
- https://vidnaobmana.bandcamp.com/album/the-transcending-quest
- https://steveroach.bandcamp.com/album/early-man
- https://oyukiconjugate.bandcamp.com/album/equator-2
- https://thombrennan.bandcamp.com/album/the-path-not-taken
- https://www.amazon.com/Maps-Without-Edges-Stillpoint/dp/B000006BYU
- https://algromerkhan.bandcamp.com/album/tantra-drums
- https://steveroach.bandcamp.com/album/the-desert-collection-volume-one-2014
- https://vidnaobmana.bandcamp.com/album/the-spiritual-bonding
Cheers!
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Ma Ja Le & James Johnson - Yaquona(Part 2) (Seed 2001)
- 09:00 Vidna Obmana - The Transcending Quest (Amplexus 1995)
- 14:55 Steve Roach - Walking Upright (Early Man 2001)
- 21:10 O Yuki Conjugate - Insect Talk (Equator 1995)
- 26:25 Thom Brennan - The Path Not Taken (Amplexus 1995)
- 37:20 STilLPOiNT - Maps 2&3 (Maps Without Edges 1996)
- 43:57 Al Gromer Khan - Unmoved Mover (Tantra Drums 1998)
- 51:10 Steve Roach & Michael Stearns - Flatlands (Desert Solitaire 1989)
- 55:42 Vidna Obmana - The Nebulous Pathway (The Spiritual Bonding 1994)
- 60:00 end