low light mixes

The Stars Appear Like Diamonds

 

 

As is well documented in this blog, I am a space nerd. Over the years I have posted a ton of mixes related to the cosmos. Whether it's a stargazing mix or a celebration of the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle or a requiem for a dying space probe, ambient/electronic music is the perfect companion for turning your gaze to the heavens.

Over the last couple of months we've been treated to beautiful views of Mars, Jupiter & Saturn. Mars has been visible just after sunset in the eastern skies and has looked terrific with it's red/orange color easily setting it apart from the rest of the celestial objects.

Jupiter and Saturn are headed for a "Great Conjunction." Jupiter is usually one of the brightest night objects, but in recent months it has stood out even more than usual because of the presence of bright Saturn trailing just off to its left (east).

 

Jupiter & Saturn on Nov. 1, 2020

 

The two planets will continue to get closer and closer until Dec. 21 when they will be about one-tenth of a degree apart, appearing as a single star in the night sky. This will be their closest approach since 1623.

 

I thought about collecting a bunch of tunes with Jupiter and Saturn in the titles for a themed mix but instead I decided to go with a general stargazing mix because I had so many excellent new tracks from this year that fit perfectly. So all the cuts in this mix are from 2020 except for one random track by Altus from 2007.

 

Get outside and watch as the stars appear like diamonds and look for Jupiter and Saturn as they come together over the next month. And be sure to bring some space music with you.

 

Cheers!

 

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Alva Noto - Xerrox Neige (Xerrox Vol. 4 2020)
• 04:44    Loneward - Ethereal Glow (Moongate 2020)
• 10:25    In The Branches + Bluetech - Celestial (Portals 2020)
• 15:15    Thom Brennan - Night Lights Part 3 (Night Lights 2020)
• 20:01    Machinefabriek - Waqur (To Yemen With Love 2020)
• 23:12    Tatsuro Murakami - Inevitable Silence (Between 2020)
• 28:46    Echoflex - 50°21'40"N 4°09'44"W veering S (Echoflex II 2020)
• 33:55    Pulse Emitter - Winds (Calming Winds 2019)
• 44:50    Lauge - Floating (Latitudes 2020)
• 49:10    Altus - Dust Lanes (The Grand Expanse 2007)
• 55:41    36 & zakè - Stasis Sounds for Long-Distance Space Travel Reduction 3 (Stasis Sounds for Long-Distance Space Travel 2020)
• 64:22    end

 

The Night Absolves

 

 

Off-kilter, strange, a bit askew, weird, oblique - are all ways to describe this mix. It's a little creepy too which makes for a perfect mix for Spooky Season.

To create a Halloween mix it would be easy to grab some dark, dissonant ambient but as I've said before I'm not a dark ambient fan. So I went for the same feel I have used in the past - tunes that are a bit off-center. Tunes that make you think of midnight, distant headlights in the fog, street lamps and cigarette smoke.

I hope you enjoy the mix and play it during dias de los muertos.

Cheers!

 

 

T R A C K L I S T :

 

• 00:00    Seabuckthorn - It Will Be Dark By Then (Other Other 2020)
• 03:11    Brombaer - Triangle of Land (2013)
• 07:44    Coti - Sine Shadows (Metamemoria 2020)
• 11:55    Luton - Spectres of Mark (Black Box Animals 2018)
• 14:05    Shadowdream - The Obsession Begins Tomorrow (The Sunsettler's Motel 2016)
• 19:06    Labradford - G (Mi Media Naranja 1997)
• 22:30    Pjusk - Dempet (Sart 2007)
• 25:25    Several Wives - End Song (Veil on Veil 2020)
• 26:30    Arve Henriksen - Recording Angel (Cartography 2008)
• 28:24    Mikael Lind - Piano Says Goodbye (Give Shape to Space 2020)
• 32:00    Harold Budd with Zeitgeist - Emboldened/My Dreams Perish (She Is A Phantom 1994)
• 34:08    Arms And Sleepers - Atelier (The Organ Hearts 2011)
• 36:13    Shadowdream - The Hour of the Wolf, Alfa and Omega (The Sunsettler's Motel 2016)
• 38:34    William Ryan Fritch - Unraveling (The Letdown 2020)
• 40:07    Wanderwelle - Decay (A State of Decrepitude 2020)
• 44:00    The Insects - Ad Infinitum Ad Nauseam (Devs Original Series Soundtrack 2020)
• 45:28    Several Wives - An Intermission (Veil on Veil 2020)
• 46:05    Grails - Bad Bhang Recipe (Black Tar Prophecies Vols 1, 2, 3 2006)
• 47:54    Eli Keszler - We Live In Pathetic Temporal Urgency (Stadium 2018)
• 53:41    Calexico - Longboard (The Thread That Keeps Us 2018)
• 56:18    Daniel Lanois - Sketches (Belladonna 2005)
• 60:30    end

 

Stay Inside

 

photo courtesy of https://unsplash.com/@coleito

 

 

I started this mix on a cold, rainy fall day with no theme or plan. The first track I laid down was from Progressions by Anthéne and Andrew Tasselmyer on Constellation Tatsu. Listening to it, the track seemed perfect for a grey autumn day. 

Now I had my theme or vibe. From there I just browsed my new releases folder to come up with an ambient accompaniment for sitting inside with a good book, while outside it's cold and wet.

Cheers!

 

 

T R A C K L I S T :

 

• 00:00    Anthéne and Andrew Tasselmyer - Progressions Pt. 5 (Progressions 2020)
• 06:13    Christopher Bissonette - Overature (Wayfinding 2020)
• 09:33    Halftribe - A Clearing (Cloud Dreaming and Shadows 2020)
• 12:15    Andrew Heath - The Night Walker (The Alchemist's Muse 2020)
• 19:30    Moss Covered Technology - Untitled Quiet Loops #6 (Quiet Loops 2020)
• 25:25    thme - until then (that's what it will be like 2020)
• 29:05    't Geruis - 002 (Que tu es belle, au revoir en douceur 2020)
• 32:25    Seabuckthorn - I haven't Seen Tunis Since (Through A Vulnerable Occur 2020)
• 35:47    Hainbach - Before We Break (Light Splitting 2020)
• 39:33    Jörgen Kjellgren - Infinite Portals (Hollawood 2020)
• 42:27    Innesti - Apples Appear in All the Old Fables (Apperception 2020)
• 48:40    Zoltan Fecso - As Much As You Need (Daylight In An Empty Room 2020)
• 52:00    Max Ananyev - Images in Time (Midday 2020)
• 56:27    Wodwo - Suzuki-Miyaura ( Chematica 2020)
• 59:02    Ian Hawgood - Modulations (You Lose Yourself, and That's OK 2020)
• 60:56    end

 

Strange Beauty - 4th Excursions Vol. 2

 

 

 

sounds swim all around

drifting in the warm embrace

of this strange beauty

 

This my second 4th world mix and it's similar to the 2018 version. It still follows the Jon Hassell esthetic of  "a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques."

Most of the tracks are new, 10 of the 17 tracks being from 2019 or 2020. I was almost done with the mix when an excellent new album from Halftribe dropped on the 24th. Listening to the first track I knew I had to buy it and sneak that cut into the mix somewhere. It fits perfectly.

https://shimmeringmoodsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/cloud-dreaming-and-shadows

The two recordings that got me going with this mix are Andrew Pekler - Sounds From Phantom Islands and Romeo Poirier - Hotel Nota.

https://andrewpeklerfaitiche.bandcamp.com/album/sounds-from-phantom-islands

https://sferic.bandcamp.com/album/hotel-nota

One of my favorite parts of this mix comes at the 24:30 mark. There two tracks playing simultaneously. One from Eli Keszler is mostly percussion and the other by Walt Rockman is shimmering electric piano with under water vibe. I didn't intend on those two going together, I just accidentally left one of the tracks on my timeline and when they played together I knew I had to keep it. 

I don't know if this type of mix works in the middle of autumn but I just couldn't put it off any longer. I hope you enjoy this Indonesian fever dream.

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Andrew Pekler - Hy Brasil (Sounds From Phantom Islands 2019)
• 04:00    Roméo Poirier - Du rocher (Hotel Nota 2020)
• 07:45    Lemongrass - Bamboo House (Papillon 2012)
• 10:40    MNO - Souce (Ambient Marimba - MNO Sleeps 2020)
• 12:35    Wild Card - Under A Steel Gray Sky (Patterns In Cooperative Labor 2017)
• 15:25    Halftribe - Hiking With Eve (Cloud Dreaming And Shadows 2020)
• 20:25    Vieo Abiungo - A Branch Gave Way (The Dregs 2019)
• 22:45    unkown - mbira with drone (2018)
• 24:30    Eli Keszler - Which Swarms Around It (Stadium 2018)
•              played simultaneously with Walt Rockman - reflections under water
• 26:45    Ross Alexander - Albert Plays the Flute (Memorias, Vol. 1 - Bugandan Sacred Places 2017)
• 31:12    Wu Cloud - Weh Island (Pulsa Rimba 2020)
• 34:42    Luis Miehlich - Klock (Currents 2020)
• 38:10    Meitei - Utano (Komachi 2019)
• 41:50    the volume settings folder - i will not go now on the pastures to walk (Home Diaries 017 2020)
• 46:15    Terje Isungset - Float (Floating Rhythms 2000)
• 47:50    Forrest Fang - Water Village ambient remix (Letters To The Farthest Star 2015)
• 55:00    Aglaia - Offline views (Offline views 2019)
• 60:54    end

 

Lighting Out for the Territories

 

This mix came about because I wanted to find a vehicle for some of the great music coming out of Lost Tribe Sound and their Fearful Void series. The bundle of releases includes 15 albums to be released between June 2020 and June 2021. You can find more info here...

 

https://losttribesound.bandcamp.com/album/fearful-void-series

 

Like the website says Lost Tribe Sound "specializes in organic and exploratory music that transcends genre, technique, or trend." The music in this new series is both grounded and otherworldly. I wanted to take that mostly acoustic, organic sound and spread it throughout this mix. There are a lot of wind instruments in this set. I find myself more and more drawn to sound and texture of sax, alto clarinet, oboe, trombone, etc. and this mix presented a great way to include some of that music.

 

The title doesn't really mean anything, I just like the sound of it. It's the title of a Laurie Anderson track on a live album from the 80s. I have it on a list of mix titles I keep in a google doc that I use for ideas and inspiration.

 

Cheers!

 

 

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00    Vieo Abiungo - A Cold Calculus (At Once, There Was No Horizon 2020)

06:27    Iñigo Ugarteburu - Tomodachi (For The Unknown 2013)

11:35    Esmerine - Sweet Surrender Be True (If Only A Sweet Surrender To The Nights To Come Be True 2003)

16:16    Seabuckthorn - Clears (Through A Vulnerable Occur 2020)

19:19    William Ryan Fritch - What's Left Unfilched (The Letdown 2020)

21:12    Mette Henriette - in circles (Mette Henriette 2015)

24:30    Clariloops - Part 1 (Mindful Movement 2020)

30:30    Claire Deak & Tony Dupé - the rain (the old capital 2020)

33:55    Michel Banabila & Joshua Samson - Unfinished Business (To Yemen With Love 2020)

38:15    Microwolf - Mara Instrumental (My Cauliflower Ears Instrumentals 2020)

43:53    Laurence Pike - Prophecy (Prophecy 2020)

47:49    Claire Deak & Tony Dupé - from a rooftop (the old capital 2020)

52:18    Spheruleus - Hollow Bloom (Home Diaries 006 2020)

54:54    Wodwo - Karenia (Chematica 2020)

56:11    Brambles - Pink & Golden Billows (Charcoal 2012)

58:30    William Ryan Fritch - Devi's Last Deal (Album: TBA)

 

 

 

Rainfall Meditation

 

 

Sometime in the last couple of weeks we got a good downpour here at Low Light headquarters. As I stood at the front door smelling the rain, listening to the cloudburst, I realized that I had some music playing softly in the background and it blended perfectly with the storm. I stood there for a good twenty minutes taking it all in. This mix is based on that experience.

 

The main idea here is to mix the music below the rain and thunder. Sometimes it is very low so that it sounds like it's coming from another room. Other times the music is more upfront. Some of the tunes already have rain fx in them and others do not. Most of the rain and thunder you hear I added. They came from recordings I did or my son did or from sites like freesound.org. I also snuck in some Blade Runner ambience around the 1 hour mark.

 

Cheers!

 

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    rain
• 01:40    Segue - Rain Drone
• 05:00    Snufmumriko - Rainfall Diary
• 09:00    Cyber Zen Sound Engine & Matt Borghi - Endless Rain
• 13:22    Echoflex - 50°21'14"N 4°10'12"W Veering ENE
• 21:10    John Luther Adams - In The Rain
• 30:15    Yo La Tengo - Rainy Night In New York
• 32:20    Paul Vnuk Jr. - Silence Speaks In Shadow
• 44:10    Music for Deep Meditation - Wind Chimes, Thunderstorm, and Rain
• 56:50    Robert Davies - Dew-Drenched Hours
• 62:00    Lindsheaven Virtual Plaza - Rainforest Hill
• 75:15    Echoflex - 50°19'11"N 4°12'03"W Veering S
• 85:48    end

 

simply ambient

 

This mix, like the title, is simple. It's straight forward ambient music. Nice and relaxing, beatless, drifting ambient music.

All of the music is new - 9 of the 12 tracks are from 2020. Other than that there's not much else to say except I hope enjoy the tunes.

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00    Andrew Chalk - Mikhail (One Long Year 2019)

09:00    Ylowknfe - Gamma (= 2014)

15:55    Innesti - Ideas Not Considered (Apperception 2020)

22:20    Carlo Giustini - Ascensione(a Tandura) (Custodi 2019) [Lontano Series]

28:09    Eternell - Centuries Apart (Imagined Distances 2020) [sound in silence]

34:12    Echolog - Reflection (Conte 2020) [Polar Seas]

37:55    Scanner - Wefte (Warp & Weft 2020)

43:30    Hainbach - Light Splitting (Light Splitting 2020) [Seil]

48:05    Robert Farrugia - Days (Worn 2020) [Lontano Series]

54:05    36 - Fifth Sequence (Wave Variations 2020) [Past Inside the Present]

56:20    Mikael Lind - Give Shape to Space (Give Shape to Space 2020) [Whitelabrecs]

57:50    Andrew Heath - Undertow (A Trace of Phosphor 2020) [Disco Gecko]

 

Fragmented Dialogue

image by Thomas Park

This mix was a lot of fun! 

Back in April, Peter van Cooten, of Ambientblog, created the awesome mix, Lockdown. After it posted we talked about doing a collaboration mix. As Peter is in Holland and I am in the States we would send files back and forth to each other adding more tracks with every pass. We had to decide on a theme and a format. In the end the format became the theme.

 

It worked like this:

We each take 5 minute turns and increase the sample count with each turn. So in the first turn we each start with a 5 minute track. Next turn we each use two samples, next turn 3, then 4...until we get to the final turn where each 5 minute turn contains 6 samples each. When all is said and done we end up with 42 samples used in a 60 minute mix.

Peter is the master of layering multiple tracks or samples to create interesting mixes. I generally don't use quite that number of cuts in my mixes so I knew it was going to be a challenge. I worried that it would turn into a situation where it sounded like a good idea at the time until I had to actually do it.

 

I think it turned out great! It was really cool trying to match of the outro of the previous segment to my new tracks but still make my own segments unique. Somehow this crazy format produced a fascinating mix.

After finishing the mix Peter came up with the title "Fragmented Dialogue" which fit perfectly with how this beast was put together.

 

I'm excited to have this mix published in three places at the same time - Low Light Mixes, Ambientblog & Headphone Commute. Both Ambientblog & HC are my favorite places to go for ambient reviews and mixes. Here are their posts about this mix...

 

https://www.ambientblog.net/blog/2020-07/fragmented-dialogue-mix/

 

https://headphonecommute.com/2020/07/28/fragmented-dialogue-low-light-mixes-ambientblog-mix/

 

I hope you enjoy listening to this mix as much as we enjoyed creating it.

 

Cheers!

 

 

T R A C K L I S T :  -  Ambientblog = Red    Low Light Mixes = Green

 

00:00    Yair Elazar Glotman/Mats Erlandsson - Procession (Emanate 2020)

 

05:10    William Ryan Fritch - Dream Glitch-Fugue State-Broken Barriers (The Letdown 2020)

 

09:45     Apparat - Suicide (Soundtracks: Stay Still, 2020)

11:18     Biosphere - You Want To See It Too (Departed Glories, 2016)

 

15:00    Ashlar - The First Saturday (Saturday Drones 2012)

18:45    echospace - Fallen Tribes Reduced (echospace [detroit] presents echoes in space 2014)

 

19:31    Sonologyst - Planetary Warning (Unexplained Sounds (New Edition), 2020 )

20:26    Michael Begg & Clodagh Simonds - Witness 3 (Witness 3, 2020)

22:36    Alva Noto - Xerrox Apesanteur (Xerrox 4, 2020)

 

24:55    Max Richter - Encounter (Ad Astra 2019)

25:38    Mono-Poly - Maanreflectie(Hainbach remix 2020)

27:21    cinchel - porch swings (A House Once Lived That Never Was 2014)

 

29:30 Carmen Villain - Affection In A Time Of Crisis (Affection In A Time Of Crisis, 2020)

31:18 Stephen O'Malley - Géante 4 - Layer 5 Mix (Géante 4, 2020)

32:30 Abul Mogard, Quiet Dreams (Above All Dreams, 2018)

33:35 Black Glass Ensemble & Friends - Be Mine In Patience: An Embrace in B Minor (Be Mine In Patience: An Embrace in B Minor, 2020)

 

34:55    Halftribe - Fader (Archipelago 2020)

36:20    Radio Bulgaria

37:03    teleferick - i.history favours the winners (sixteen frames 2017)

38:15    Test Card - Monochrome Dreaming Softened The Broadcast (Music For The Towers 2020)

 

39:40 Michel Banabila - Scripts of the Lagoon (Scripts Of The Lagoon - Exploratorium, 2020)

41:04 Kamila Govorcin - Rito De Muerte (Anima, 2020)

41:15 Chris Watson - Gobabeb (Touch Isolation, 2020)

43:04 Gia Margaret - Body (Mia Gargaret, 2020)

43:10 Aleksi Myllykoski with Tapani Rinne - Lost Marbles (Dark Days, 2020)

 

44:48    Masaya Ozaki - subtlety in reverse (Fluid And Dreaming Of Stripes 2015)

46:12    Andrew Pekler - Nocturne 3 (nocturnes, false dawns & breakdowns 2004)

47:05    The Focus Group - Hazy Time (Stop-Motion Happening 2017)

48:00    Les Halles - K (World 2012)

49:24    Sonmi451 - Umi Bear (Eilean 100 2019)

 

49:50 Radiomentale - Gotlander (I-Land (Redux), 2020)

51:54 Ian William Craig - Comma (Red Sun Through Smoke, 2020)

52:50 Sylvain Chauveau - Q (Life Without Machines, 2020)

53:29 Sample, THX 1138 (THX 1138, 1971)

53:34 Elegi - Lys & Lykte (Gap In Time, 2020)

54:26 The Future Eve feat. Robert Wyatt - 04.02 (Kitsune / Brian the Fox - Kitsune Ring Version, 2019)

 

55:00    The Insects - This is Where You Say Goodbye (DEVS soundtrack 2020)

55:30    Seabuckthorn - Unforeseen (Other Other 2020)

56:21    Alva Noto - Xerrox Voyage (Xerrox Vol. 4 2020)

57:10    Laurie Anderson - Life Lived Backwards (Heart of a Dog 2015)

58:21    Laurie Anderson - The Cloud (Heart of a Dog 2015)

59:01    Helios - All You Are (Remembrance 2016)

60:00    end

 

 

Not seeing is a flower

 

This mix came about from an idea by a listener, Kevin. He suggested a mix based on artists from Japan. I asked for track recommendations and Kevin came back with an entire list. That list fills out most of this mix. I added tracks by Hiroshi Yoshimura, Geskia!, Sawako and Akira Kosemura.

Kevin also suggested the title - "Not seeing is a flower" which means that reality can't compete with imagination. The mix itself is a fairly straight forward mix of ambient tracks from Japan.

Thanks to Kevin for doing all the heavy lifting on this mix. I think it turned out great.

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Minamo - Zeitraum
• 05:58    Takashi Kokubo - Memory of summer
• 12:36    Yoshiaki Ochi - Ear Dreamin'
• 16:59    Fumio Miyashita - See The Light(Abridged)
• 19:48    Hiroshi Yoshimura - Water Copy
• 22:54    Geskia! - Lampland
• 27:52    Sawako - Incense Of Voice
• 32:00    Takahiro Kido - Rust Summer in Tokyo
• 37:25    Mokyow - Small Small Flag
• 44:20    Chihei Hatakeyama - Starlight And Black Echo
• 48:54    Hakobune - Letter Forgotten
• 53:35    Masashi Kitamura & Phonogenix - Variation III
• 56:27    Satoshi Ashikawa - Still Space
• 58:08    Akira Kosemura - Hicari
• 60:00    end

 

Dub Train Dub Station

 

I have been planning on a new dubby mix for a while and I have been planning for a mix with a slow-ish train vibe. Somehow those two concepts merged and became this new mix - Dub Train Dub Station.

There's not much else to say about this mix. It's pretty much what you'd expect - a collection of mostly dubby tracks that have a definite train feel, combining two of my favorite vibes in one mix.

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Ryan James Ford - Eiliat Tirrayl (Stone Mountain Red 2016)
• 04:15    Yagya - Snowflake 2 (Rhythm of Snow 2002)
• 09:10    Martin Goodwin - Nekoya (Hearth 2017)
• 14:15    Topdown Dialectic - A1 (Topdown Dialectic 2018)
• 18:54    Fluxion - Down the Line (Perspectives 2020)
• 24:45    Loscil - Steam (Plume 2006)
• 30:30    Gacha Bakradze - Sun Watch (We Must Be Woods 2017)
• 33:54    Dub Tractor - Pull Dub (Delay 2000)
• 38:12    Dino Sabatini - Follow Me (Omonimo 2016)
• 41:20    Jun Fukamachi - Breathing New Life (Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990  2019)
• 45:50    Beatrice Dillon & Call Super - Fluo (Inkjet / Fluo 2017)
• 48:35    Jonny Nash & Suzanne Kraft - Crushing Indifference (MATstudio 3 2020)
• 53:15    Time Rival - Loopback Caravan (Home Diaries 018 2020)
• 59:10    Heavenchord - Endless Worlds (Infinity From The Inside 2018)
• 69:55    end