low light mixes

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Ambient music mixes for a chaotic world

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Wednesday Dec 14, 2022

A Tribute to Manuel Gottsching

Wednesday Dec 14, 2022

I have been a casual fan of Manuel Gottsching for a long time but I never really dug into his discography until the last few days with the news of his passing. I don't have time to write much about him so I'll cut & paste a few things from Pitchfork.

"Manuel Gottsching, the Ash Ra Tempel bandleader who went on to compose the electronic cornerstone album E2-E4, died last Sunday (December 4).

Göttsching made his name in the West Berlin underground scene in the late 1960s and early ’70s. He was a core member of Ash Ra Tempel, a krautrock linchpin with revolving members including Tangerine Dream’s Klaus Schulze. The loose, shapeshifting outfit released five influential albums between 1971 and 1973. Göttsching’s solo debut, 1975’s Inventions for Electric Guitar, was subtitled Ash Ra Tempel VI; from then on he mostly produced records under his own name or as Ashra, such as the 1976 classic New Age of Earth.

In 1981, after a visit to Schulze, Göttsching improvised the composition that became known as E2-E4, hoping to throw together some listening material for an imminent trip. That mysteriously perfect hourlong exercise, which combined Prophet 10 synth pulses with waves of electronic percussion and electric guitar, came to define his post-krautrock output. After composing the track, Göttsching later recalled, the billionaire and Virgin Records owner Richard Branson invited him to his houseboat and, upon hearing the track, advised Göttsching that it could make him a fortune. But Göttsching decided to release the full improvisation on his friend Schulze’s label, without overdubs, in 1984, and it appeared to have little impact.

Though E2-E4 sold poorly, it had—unbeknownst to Göttsching—made its way across the Atlantic and into Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage sets, as well as the collections of key electronic music innovators. As Pitchfork’s Mark Richardson wrote in a 2016 review, the improvisation “wound its way across the world, morphing and changing with formats and remixes, finding new contexts, a music that is constantly in the process of becoming.”

It was a nice trip through Gottsching's music making this mix. I hope he is improvising with his buddy Klaus somewhere.

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00 Ash Ra Tempel - Traummaschine (Ash Ra Tempel 1971)
11:37 Manuel Göttsching(Ash Ra Tempel VI) - Echo Waves (Inventions for Electric Guitar 1975)
24:35 Ashra - Slightly Delayed (Blackouts 1977)
30:55 Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 (E2-E4 1984)
47:00 Ashra - Deep Distance (New Age Of Earth 1976)
52:12 Manuel Göttsching - Halensee(Excerpt) (The Best Of The Private Tapes 1998)
58:24 Manuell Göttsching(Ash Ra Tempel VI) - Quasarsphere (Inventions for Electric Guitar 1975)
64:52 end

Sunday Jun 12, 2022

Soothing Sequencers by Paul Asbury Seaman

Sunday Jun 12, 2022

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I am always pleased to present a new mix from Paul Asbury Seaman and this one is no exception. It's a great collection of sequencer tracks that hits the ideal vibe. Coming on the heels of my Stranger Synths mix, I was still in a electronic, sequencer mood and this mix kept me in that zone perfectly.

Here's what Paul says about this mix:

“For a lot of people, the term ‘electronic music’ still brings to mind the chaotic synthesizer experiments of its early years, highly abstract and moody ‘space music,’ or the techno dance music that grew out of a merger of ‘70s disco with ‘80s pop. Or the characteristically propulsive textures associated with em godfathers Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream, where a simple sequence of repeating notes provided both rhythm and melody. But some artists (including the aforementioned two) are able to infuse their beeping machines with warm emotions and heartfelt melodies, as presented here—a softer side of the electronic universe. If you like a steady, waterwheel flow and bell-like tones, this one’s for you.”

Paul mentions Klaus Schulze which is appropriate because we timed this mix to be posted just days after the release of the final Klaus Schulze album. I grabbed the last track from that album and made it the final track in this mix as one last tribute to Klaus.

Links to the albums used in this mix in the order in which they appear:

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00 Andy Pickford - Temple of the Wonklord (RadioSilence: Objective Linearity 2022)
07:52 Lars Leonhard - Moon Gravity (Gravity 2022)
15:35 Mac of BIOnighT - Auralities (Auralities 2017)
20:36 Klaus Schulze - Fm Delight (En=Trance 1988)
28:00 Hollan Holmes - The River (Emerald Waters 2022)
33:22 State Azure - Ricochet (Dreams 2020)
41:45 Steve Roach - We Continue (Spiral Revelation 2016)
48:45 SpiralDreams - Pearl in the Sand part1 (Journey to Infinity II 2021)
54:30 Fritz Mayr - North Coast Night Lights (Milky Way 2021)
59:42 Johan Tronestam - Home Sweet Home (Next Step 2021)
66:06 Klaus Schulze - Der Hauch des Lebens Pt. 5 (Deus Arrakis 2022)
71:14 end

Sunday May 29, 2022

Stranger Synths 2022

Sunday May 29, 2022

It's been three years since the last season of Netflix's Stranger Things. Now with the 4th season upon us it must be time for a new mix - Stranger Synths 2022. Similar to previous version of Stranger Synths, this takes the retro vibe of the show's soundtrack and collects tracks that sound like they would fit perfectly in the TV series.

I wasn't planning on doing a mix this time around until I stumbled on the opening track Cybernaut by Jonny Fallout. The track can be found on a compilation from Triplicate Records called "Protozoa." As soon as I heard the track I was hit with a great Stranger Things vibe so I knew I had to gather more tracks and put together another mix.

I ended up going back to Triplicate Records three more times for this mix, using tracks from Hverheij, BVSMV, and Willebrant. Check the links below for these artists' album and bandcamp pages.

Here are links to the albums used in this mix in the order in which they appear:

Artist links:

Well, I guess I should go start season 4. Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00 Jonny Fallout - Cybernaut (Protozoa 2021)
03:20 Nils Frahm - #2 (All Melody 2018)
10:20 Pye Corner Audio - Leaf Mould (Entangled Routes 2021)
13:04 Belbury Poly - ffarisees (The Gone Away 2020)
17:01 Foam and Sand - Circle 13 (Full Circle 2022)
19:42 Michael Garrison - To the Other Side of the Sky (Soul Jazz Records presents Space, Energy & Light: Experimental Electronic And Acoustic Soundscapes 1961-88)
23:30 Cliff Martinez - Landscape Gardener (The Foreigner 2017)
26:00 Boards of Canada - Come to Dust ( Tomorrow's Harvest 2013)
29:20 Pye Corner Audio - Decade Counter (Prowler 2015)
34:30 Graintable - Vision Quest (UnIVersal Ash 2019)
38:09 Hverheij - Becoming (Afterlight 2022)
40:42 The Belbury Circle - No Cat's Eyes (Outward Journeys 2017)
45:07 BVSMV - Rubicon (Triplicate Tapes Vol. 1: Datacap 2021)
49:07 Peter Baumann - The Blue Dream (Machines of Desire 2016)
50:48 Paul Haslinger - Dreamers and Misfits (Halt and Catch Fire Vol 2 2019)
53:10 Willebrant - This Day (Music for Dotted Lines 2022)
56:34 Wolfgang Riechmann - Abendlicht (Wunderbar 1978)
60:55 end

Thursday May 19, 2022

Tears in the Rain - A Tribute to Vangelis

Thursday May 19, 2022

We lost Klaus a few weeks ago and now Vangelis. I'm getting tired of doing these tribute mixes.

His music was my electronic soundtrack to the 80s. I played the daylights out of Antarctica and Soil Festivities back then. And then of course there is Blade Runner. I am still in awe of that soundtrack today.

I don't know what else to say other than I loved his music. Godspeed Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou.

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00 Vangelis - Theme from Antarctica (Antarctica 1983)
07:23 Vangelis - Movement 1 (Soil Festivities 1984)
24:46 Vangelis - Blade Runner Blue (Blade Runner 1994)
33:20 Vangelis - Opening Titles (The Bounty 1984)
37:11 Vangelis - L'Enfant (Opéra Sauvage 1979)
42:00 Vangelis - Pulstar (Albedo 0.39 1976)
47:06 Vangelis - Movement 4 (Mask 1985)
54:21 Vangelis - Juno's Echoes (Juno to Jupiter 2021)
57:50 Vangelis - Heaven & Hell pt. 1 (Heaven & Hell 1975)
62:04 end

Sunday May 02, 2021

>_+_here::::comes::::my::::data_+

Sunday May 02, 2021

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A year or two ago I read a sci-fi novel in which some of the main characters were sentient robots. When two of them would meet they establish secure channels with dialog such as "I am Paladin. You are unknown. Here comes my data. We want information about a pirate named Judith Chen. She goes by Jack … That is the end of my data." For some reason the line "Here comes my data" stuck with me.

I immediately wrote it down as a possible title for a mix. I thought it would fit well with a slightly more upbeat electronic mix. And so this mix was born, or more like artificially grown in a lab.

The mix starts with a track from Saul Stokes. I haven't listen to Stokes in years but when I stumbled on his album "Local Crowd," I knew I had to include it. He still has a unique sound which comes from, I believe, the fact that most of his synths are built from scratch.

The rest of the mix a a nice combo of new music with some older tracks, some from as far back as 2003. Oops! One short track is from 1987.

I think the whole mix hangs together quite well, with the vibe of a digital handshake.

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00 Saul Stokes - My memory I hope you remember (Local Crowd 2017)
04:12 Time Rival - Vaporous (Vertigo Sessions 2021)
08:22 Joel Vandroogenbroeck - rock program (Digital Project 1987)
08:57 Hannah Peel - Fir Wave (Fir Wave 2021)
12:45 Polypores - Fairy Rings (Shpongos 2021)
17:03 Coti - Tiptoe (Metamemoria 2020)
19:49 Zoltan Fecso - Wave (Silken Wave EP 2019)
28:55 Robert Lippok - Schemes Like These (Falling Into Komëit 2004)
31:15 Jan Jelinek - B1. ICE 897 (Ice Compositions 2021)
32:40 Nalepa - Porcelain (Beneath The Surface 2006)
36:55 Hainbach - Amtsweg (Landfill Totems 2021)
38:40 Pye Corner Audio - Phase B (Where Things Are Hollow 2 2020)
42:38 Belbury Poly - ffarisees (The Gone Away 2020)
46:37 Frank Bretschneider - Optik(For Yen-Ni) (Lunik 2018)
50:53 Atom™ - Computermusik (This Is Computermusik 2021)
54:25 Johnny Woods - Secret Commonwealth (Behind The Sky Presents: Portals 2020)
58:31 Komet - Blau (Gold 2003)
63:30 end

Sunday Mar 28, 2021

Blade Runner Pop Soundtrack

Sunday Mar 28, 2021

What if the original Blade Runner film had a pop music soundtrack? You know how some films have an instrumental score but also an album of pop/rock tunes that were used in the film or inspired by the film. If Blade Runner had such a collection maybe it would sound like this mix.

This all started when I was listening to Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond part 1 and I thought that it sounded like it would sort of fit with the Blade Runner score we are all so familiar with. That got me thinking about the question posed at the top of this post. As I started collecting tracks the first place I went was Gary Numan & Tubeway Army - Replicas. How could I not use a song called "Replicas"? Likewise from the same album, how could resist the track "Are Friends Electric?"

I got some great recommendations from Mixcloud listeners in this thread - https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/posts/pop-tunes-for-blade-runner/ Tracks from Public Image Ltd., John Foxx, Quieter Than Spiders and New Order came right from those suggestions. There were also some great ideas in that thread which will work perfectly in a Blade Runner alternative score mix. I'm hyped to do that mix but I should probably wait a bit after this BR mix.

This was a lot of fun to put together. I hope you enjoy it.

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00 Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond pt. 1
03:36 Tubeway Army - Replicas
08:25 Air - Kelly Watch the Stars
12:00 Public Image Ltd. - The Order of Death
16:26 John Foxx - A New Kind Of Man
19:58 Kuedo - Memory Rain
23:23 Ultravox - Your Name Has Slipped My Mind Again
27:34 Air - Remember
29:52 Kraftwerk - The Robots
35:20 Ultravox - Mr. X
41:45 Quieter Than Spiders - The Signs of Life
46:52 Brad Mehldau - Paranoid Android
48:23 Metric - Artificial Nocturne
52:31 Tubeway Army - Are “Friends” Electric
57:45 New Order - Elegia
61:43 end

Sunday Nov 22, 2020

Keeping Time in the Golden Hour

Sunday Nov 22, 2020

I'm in the process of making lists of my top 5 instrumental albums for each year from 1970 to the present. Yeah, it's going take a while. So I was digging around in my music hard drive looking for music that would fit those lists and I stumbled upon the track Tulpa Ovi by Robag Wruhme. I immediately loved the feel of tune and knew I needed it in a mix.

The cut has a feeling of motion similar to others I've used in train themed mixes. But it was more gentle, almost wistful. It made me think of traveling during sunset or the golden hour. Hence the title "Keeping Time in the Golden Hour."

From there I collected tracks, new and old, with a similar vibe. In addition to the cut by Robag Wruhme my other favorites in this mix are "St. Catherine and the Calm" by Francis Harris and "Ankeney, Iowa" by Tiki Obmar. I like all the tracks in this mix but those two really get me.

Normally I'd say this would be a perfect mix for traveling during the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday but it's 2020 so stay home. Put this mix on and do some virtual traveling.

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T I N G :

00:00 Francis Harris - St. Catherine and the Calm (Trivial Occupations 2018)
08:25 Robag Wruhme - Tulpa Ovi (Thora Vukk 2011)
10:42 Night Sea - Cherry (Still 2020)
16:18 Tiki Obmar - Ankeney, Iowa (High School Confidential 2003)
28:18 Ghosting Season - Through Your Teeth ( The Very Last Of The Saints 2012)
32:43 Saphileaum - Soft Warming (In Distant Terra 2020)
37:37 Sven Laux - Grass-Covered Plain (We Were Here 2013)
46:08 Halftribe & Spinnet - Mr & Mrs Everywhere (Patterns of Sync 2020)
53:14 Robag Wruhme - Prognosen Bomm (Thora Vukk 2011)
56:25 vau - Nightfall (ways of stillness 2018)
63:43 end

Sunday Nov 03, 2019

Blade Runner Is Now

Sunday Nov 03, 2019

I wasn't planning on doing this mix. But then on Friday, someone on Twitter posted that we have caught up to the time when the film, Blade Runner supposedly takes place. I knew immediately that I had to make a mix.

This collection is pretty straight forward - all the tracks sound like they fit into the Blade Runner soundtrack universe.

Enjoy!

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00 Pye Corner Audio - Prismatic Gateway (2019)

01:22 Jean Michel Jarre - The Watchers (2018)

04:15 Tale Of Us - Alla Sera (2017)

08:32 SaffronKeira - Aesthetic of Surrealism (2019)

14:15 Ryuichi Sakamoto - Fullmoon SURVIVE version (2017)

17:20 36 - Origin Beach (2018)

20:46 Steve Hauschildt - Cloudloss (2019)

24:00 Johnny Jewel - Candlelight Burns (2015)

26:40 Ben Chatwin - Black Castle(Sevendeaths Remix) (2019)

31:01 Vector Lovers - Long Wave (2007)

33:36 Trevor Jackson - Off World (2018)

35:51 Time Rival - Cambrian Explosion (2019)

39:58 Mac Quayle - 1.0_1-hellofriend.wav (2016)

40:40 Lázaro Pereira - Follow The Leader (2017)

44:41 MUUI - Cinematic Structures (2019)

51:03 Abul Mogard - Half Light Of Dawn (2018)

56:30 Fennesz - In My Room (2019)

67:27 end

Thursday Jul 04, 2019

Stranger Synths 2019

Thursday Jul 04, 2019

In honor of the third season of Stranger Things dropping today, Low Light Mixes presents Stranger Synths 2019. This a retro synth mix that falls right in line with the synth sounds of Netflix's Stranger Things series.

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00 Just A Human - Stranger Things Remix
01:33 Pye Corner Audio - Deep Space Probe
03:54 Sinoia Caves - 1983 Main Theme
06:22 The Belbury Circle - Heading Home
11:15 Locust - I'll Be There
14:40 Rheyne - Live Jam #169
20:03 David Trevelyan - Car Crash
22:37 Chromatics - Yes(Symmetry Remix)
26:25 Jean Michel Jarre - The Heart Of The Noise Pt. 1
30:22 PYLOT - Blurred Vision
33:09 ASC - Sequence 2
36:56 Merrin Karras - Void
44:50 Frank Bretschneider - Motorik
49:01 The Advisory Circle - Be Seeing You
53:57 Kasper Bjørke Quartet - The Antiphon(Epilogue)
66:03 end

Sunday Apr 28, 2019

Set The Controls

Sunday Apr 28, 2019

And now for something completely different. This latest mix is almost, dare I say, dance music. Yikes! Actually it's not like this is EDM/Dubstep with ridiculous drops and autotune vocals. But all the music in this mix definitely has 4/4 time signature.

One of my favorite discoveries over the last couple of years has been the music of Kiasmos, a minimal techno duo comprised of Ólafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen. The music has the 4x4 beat but it's more gentle than full on techno or house music. It's great for keeping pace when out walking the dog.

https://kiasmos.bandcamp.com/

A few of my other favorites appear in this mix such as Christian Löffler, Recondite and a fantastic cover of Pink Floyd's "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun."

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00 Christian Löffler - York
03:00 Emmit Fenn - Halo 22
06:16 Kiasmos - Blurred
10:20 Steve Hauschildt - Alienself
15:35 Ben Bohmer - Flug & Fall
21:37 Stavroz - The Finishing
24:45 Bedouin - Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
31:50 Dominik Eulberg - Sansula(Max Cooper mix)
36:18 Recondite - Levo
40:43 Isolee - Allowance
46:40 Prins Thomas - Fra Miami til Chicago
51:15 Purl - Vuela
57:25 Loscil - Le Plongeur
61:17 end