low light mixes

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

 

Sea of Stars 2020

photo by Wil Stewart https://unsplash.com/s/photos/wil-stewart

 

I've been working from home for a couple of months and you'd think I might have some extra time to work on some mixes with being locked down and all. But nope, I seem to have fallen farther behind with a lot of things.

I wanted to get a mix up onto Mixcloud so that I don't go too long in between uploads. But I hadn't done anything new so I was looking through some old mixes that were posted here but never made it to Mixcloud. And I found one from 2008 called Sea of Stars. I still listen to it occasionally as sleep music so I decided this would be a good one to share on Mixcloud. But I couldn't pass up the chance to tweak it a bit so I hacked off the last two tracks and added 5 new tunes. The new mix is now an hour & a half long, perfect for sleeping or laying out under the stars watching for satellites.

This mix was originally posted in 2008 so think of it as the light from many of the stars in the sky in 2008 is just now reaching earth so playing this mix fits perfectly. I plan on posting another revised version in 2032.

Cheers!

 

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
• 55:45    Lauge - Floating
• 60:15    36 & zakè - Stasis Sounds for Long-Distance Space Travel (Stage 2)
• 65:30    Innesti & Jacob Newman - Moon Machine
• 71:18    North Atlantic Drift - Lost Years
• 75:27    The Winterhouse - A Long Way From Here

 

Sunday Morning Music vo. 20 - Exhale

 

I haven't posted a Sunday Morning mix since January and with how much things have changed since then I figured we could all use a mix with that Sunday morning vibe.

So here it is #20 in the Sunday Morning Music series. It's mostly new music, with 13 tracks from 2019 & 2020. One of the oddball old cuts is from 1980, John Martyn's "Sweet Little Mystery." I've always liked the tune but I hadn't heard it in a long time until it made an unlikely appearance in the show DEVS. As soon as I heard it I knew I need to include it in a mix.

A couple of vocal tracks in the middle seem to fit perfectly with the Sunday vibe but also fit with the messed up times we are living through. The Shards tune has this appropriate lyric -

 

"We know not yet what the future brings

But a bird's still a bird without its wings

Each day, each day is a curious thing

If I can't take flight then inside I'll sing"

 

And then there's Jonsi reminding us to breathe in and breathe out in "Exhale."

I've been drinking a ton of coffee as I work from home so maybe I'll say go grab a nice cup of Jasmine tea, a good book, play this mix, and...exhale.

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    morning walk
• 00:30    Mute Forest - Morning Guitar (2020)
• 03:40    Mountain Man - slow wake up sunday morning (2019)
• 07:23    Opitope - A Quiet Morning Arriving to the Valley (2007)
• 09:23    Zachary Hay - untitled 7 (2019)
• 13:10    Mute Forest - Atoms Falling (2020)
• 17:22    The Heart Is Awake - Full of Stars pt II (2020)
• 21:30    Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Tides IX (2019)
• 23:34    King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Your Own Spell (2011)
• 26:09    Shards & Isolation Choir - Inside I'll Sing (2020)
• 30:16    Jonsi - Exhale (2020)
• 34:10    Ecovillage - She Walks In Beauty (2020)
• 37:03    Roger Eno & Brian Eno - Spring Frost (2020)
• 40:34    John Martyn - Sweet Little Mystery (1980)
• 45:45    Lounge Lizards - Bob the Bob (1989)
• 47:48    Alabaster DePlume - I Hope (2020)
• 53:08    log(m) & Laraaji - Pear Strings (2019)
• 59:34    Albrecht La'Brooy - Healesville (2019)
• 65:36    end

 

Serenity, Hope & Grace by Paul Asbury Seaman

I can always count on Paul for a good palate cleanser. After the bizzaro world of DEVS & the continuing covid crapola, I think everyone is in need of a little positivity.

Paul and I have talked often about how a lot of ambient music has a melancholy vibe. I know I definitely gravitate toward that end of the spectrum. Paul figured we could use something hopeful in these strange days. Here's what he says about this mix:

“I think authenticity is a precursor to authentic redemption. Thus, we honor our grief and fears and all the losses of this time we’re living through. There is pain alongside, not canceled by, the tranquility we seek. And there is a mysterious grace that gives us the strength to remain clear-eyed and truthful as we embrace hope.”

Thanks to Paul for another well-thought-out mix. Thanks to the folks at Kaya Project for letting us use the artwork from their latest album as the cover art for this mix. That art is from Suzybee - https://www.suzybee.buzz/ .  And thanks to all the artists that continue to crank out lovely music which helps us through the quarantine. 

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Shoshana Michel - Quietly, Gently, Peacefully ( Impressions 2020)
• 04:16    Eguana - Deep Sleep (Invisible Civilization Vol. 3 2019)
• 11:05    Tonepoet - The  Grieving Soul Begins To Awaken (Kaleidoscope 2020)
• 15:15    Kaya Project - Finding Balance Ambient MIx (body.mind.soul 2020)
• 20:00    Sigesmundsen & Gregory Paul Mineeff - Forgotten Borders (Crrossing Worlds 2020)
• 23:55    Darshan Ambient - A Day Within Days (A Day Within Days 2010)
• 28:25    Slow Meadow - Clouds, Not Clocks (Clouds, Not Clocks / Rara Pluma 2018)
• 32:35    Kit Watkins - Tranquility (This Time and Space 2008)
• 36:20    Jeff Pearce - Sun On Frost ( From The Darker Seasons 2017)
• 38:30    Endeleas - Forgotten Shore (Forgotten Shore 2019)
• 42:12    Bruno Sanfilippo - Unity (Unity 2018)
• 50:45    Slow Dancing Society - How Life Was Meant To Be Lived (The Sound of Lights When Dim 2020)
• 58:46    end