low light mixes

Almost Home

 

I'm not sure exactly where this mix started. I heard a few tunes that had a wistful, almost melancholy feel to them and began collecting tracks.

The result is this new mix of mostly modern classical music but with a good dose of electronics and atmospherics. Most of the music is new with 10 of the 15 tracks from 2019. I think this mix would also work well as a soundtrack for fall.

 

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Glåsbird - Isbjørnøya(Svalbarð 2019)
• 04:44    Halftribe - Maybe(Backwater Revisited 2019)
• 07:40    William Ryan Fritch - Time Curves So Subtly(Deceptive Cadence 2019)
• 10:56    Slow Meadow - You Felt Like Home(Those Who Rush Across the Sea 2018)
• 15:12    Caminauta - Almost Home(Fragments 2018)
• 21:12    Emanuele Errante - Old Summer Afternoons(This World 2019)
• 25:56    36 - Lahaina Noon(Healing Sounds: A Compilation for Hurricane Recovery 2019)
• 28:39    Sven Laux - Being Too Optimistic(The Writings 2019)
• 35:05    Christoph Berg - Coda(Day has Ended 2013)
• 38:45    Dakota Suite - Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You(What Matters Most 2018)
• 42:22    Dan Romer & Saul Simon MacWilliams - Goodbye Lizard Island(Chasing Coral 2017)
• 45:37    James Murray & Mike Lazarev - Living Treasure(2019)
• 48:57    Loneward - Memories Past(Home 2019)
• 56:02    Porya Hatami & Aaron Martin & Roberto Attanasio - Xakelewe(Sallaw 2019)
• 65:33    Mikael Lind - Ending WithThe Beginning(Contingencies 2019)
• 69:54    end

 

A Rhythmic Passage

 

Two years ago I did a mix called "A Distant Pulse" which featured a lot of tribal ambient sounds. I've been meaning to do a sequel and now it's here with "A Rhythmic Passage."

 

What finally got the ball rolling for a new mix is a new album from Louigi Verona called "Nocturnal Creatures." Recommended by my ambient collaborator, Paul Asbury Seaman, the album is similar to classic Steve Roach tribal albums. But the drum sound is huge with deep, booming low end to shake your speakers and rattle the windows. Add in some drones and subtle arpeggiated electronics and you've got an excellent album. You can find it here...

 

https://louigi.bandcamp.com/album/nocturnal-creatures

 

The rest of the mix is a collection of old(Tibbetts, Craig Leon, Biosphere) and new(Spheruleus, Pike, Keszler, Kilchhofer, Selman) tunes. 

 

Enjoy the rhythms. Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Louigi Verona - Darkening(Nocturnal Creatures 2019)
• 07:38    Biosphere - Ancient Campfire(Shenzhou 2002)
• 09:50    Byron Metcalf - A Perfect Place(Inner Rhythm Meditations 2016)
• 18:18    Dino Sabatini - And It All Ends Here(Omonimo 2016)
• 22:30    Steve Tibbetts - Full Moon Dogs(The Fall Of Us All 1994)
• 27:37    William Selman - The Island Before The Internet - Borne's Snail Mail Shimmer(Interpretations Vol II - Musica Enterrada 2018)
• 36:10    unknown - Cloudless(2007)
• 41:20    Laurence Pike - Holy Spring(Holy Spring 2019)
• 44:25    Eli Keszler - Fifty Four To Madrid(Stadium 2018)
• 47:36    Craig Leon - One Hundred Steps(Early Electronic Works 2014)
• 51:20    Spheruleus - Intercoastal(Light Through Open Blinds 2019)
• 53:55    Benjy Wertheimer & John de Kadt - Underwater(One River 2012)
• 61:01    The Heart Is Awake - Os(Echosphere 2017)
• 64:25    Kilchhofer - Leng(The Book Room 2018)
• 71:23    end 

Mostly Flute: Ambient New Age by Paul Asbury Seaman

 

I've been heckin' busy this summer. First of all, it's summer so beer gardens, baseball games, northwoods vacations, beer gardens, yard work, beer gardens, etc. Plus I've been doing a ton of freelance work. And lastly, my daughter is getting married in a month and I'm editing a video for the reception. I have not been able to get any new mixes going in a while.

 

So it's Paul Asbury Seaman to the rescue! Thankfully this excellent mix from Paul will fill the void. It's another great collection from my partner in ambient crime. Here's what he has to say about it:

 

“This is a crossover mix, as the title suggests, and may be the sweetest one I’ve ever done. I’ve kept the emphasis on an atmosphere of tranquility, tailor-made for going-to-sleep music. All of the tracks here are from the fairly-new Heart Dance Records. I discovered this label while looking on Bandcamp for an album recently featured on Hearts of Space. As I dug deeper, and contrary to my stereotypes about “uplifting” (read: new age) music, it became obvious that there was plenty here for space fans to like, or if you’re looking for something calm for meditation. Feel the flow around the stillness. (Cover image for this mix courtesy of Sherry Finzer, from the album LET THERE BE LIGHT.)”

 

Definitely check out more music from Heart Dance Records here...

https://heartdancerecords.bandcamp.com/

  

Thanks, Paul!

 

 

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00    Sherry Finzer & Darin Mahoney - White Sky In November(Transformation 2013)

04:32    Tom Moore & Sherry Finzer - Star Trails(Sound Currents 2019)

10:05    Paul Horn - Mumtaz Mahal(Inside 1969)

12:20    Ivan Teixeira - Abundance(ALLAYER Project One 2019)

16:37    Monica Williams - Wandering(Journey Of Tears 2018)

22:43    ANAAMALY - A Peaceful Drift(Fileds Of Light 2018)

29:18    Tom Moore & Sherry Finzer - Midnight Mystique(Sound Currents 2019)

34:48    Monica Williams - Love From A Distance(Journey Of Tears 2018)

38:18    Majestica - Aurora Australis(In the Midst of Stars 2016)

48:26    Sherry Finzer - Breathe(Acceptance 2018)

64:47    end

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lost Tribe Sound: The Western Divide

 

I can't tell you how excited I am for this mix. Well, actually I'm telling you right now so that first line was bullshit. Suffice it to say I love this mix. It comes from our good friends at Lost Tribe Sound, an amazing record label that is having a hell of a year. Of course, last year was pretty darn good as well.

 

Ryan Keane, the man behind Lost Tribe Sound, has put together a mix that is interesting and varied. It's cohesive without sounding all the same. This is a wonderful collection of tunes. 

 

Here's what Ryan has to say about this mix:

 

Rarely do I get the chance to work on creating mixes of music, but I’m definitely more inspired to do so when I can ground the mix in a solid theme or concept.  When I was given the chance to create one for the highly-esteemed Low Light Mixes, I figured, it better be decent.

 

‘The Western Divide,’ my latest mix, is a grab bag of emotions, sort of manic, nostalgic, playful, with the ever-present tinge of dread and uncertainty that really mirrors how I’ve been feeling about life and society as a whole lately.  I partly wanted to see how bizarre the music I mixed together could get while still remaining palatable. Honing in on some pieces of music that come across as somewhat otherworldly spaghetti western sounding, I set about juxtaposing them with odd forms of jazz, electronic, hymn-like horn and organ pieces. It may have a bit of that Ennio Morricone score to some dystopian future General Hospital sort of vibe to it.  

 

I’ve been infatuated as of late with unique uses of horns in experimental music, it seems that most of the time horns can easily be a pitfall in many styles of music. Either from overstaying their welcome, riding too long on what I like to call the “Dad Chords,” where it just gets cheesy, or simply becoming too noodly and irritating that the song would be better off without them. So hopefully I’ve combined some enjoyable uses of horns into the mix that avoid these situations, but who knows, I’m quite possibly out of touch.

 

In full disclosure, I run the label Lost Tribe Sound, so a few of the selections in the mix are from recent or upcoming albums on the label.  The opening piece is from a brilliant electro-acoustic Danish trio, Skyphone, which we’ve have the honor of putting out two albums for this August.  Kali Malone follows with her perfect use of a church organ as the ultimate drone machine. Next, a very odd find from a Spotify suggestion of all places, Jeremy Krinsley and Greg Heffernan’s only album together, ‘Material Culture 9.19.15’ is some left-field electronica, filled with loads of charming moments.   

 

Next, Hampshire & Foat kick in, their ‘Saint Lawrence’ album from this year is an instrumental masterpiece for those into dim-lit jazz fueled folk. Sailcloth up next, also blew my mind, primarily an experimental upright bassist, the featured selection works more off of a droning horn and subdued bass notes than some of the other more pronounced tunes on the EP, ‘Close Keeping.’  Then, Danny Scott Lane who’s recent album on Shimmering Moods is about as perfectly refined an example as one could hope for from an experimental drone/classical album. Hoera is a mixed bag of tricks as well, bizarre combos of electronics, jazz, ambient and folk somehow fold into a very satisfying whole, definitely recommend all three of their albums. Drombeg, another tasty discovery, thanks to the Thesis label, an intense focus of melody and progression make this breed of classical well worth checking out.

 

Working in his way slowly into the tail end of Drombeg is a new piece from Ben McElroy, a highly emotive and creative songwriter, his whole catalog is sublime.  Mute Forest, a long-time favorite, lent me an exclusive song from his upcoming album for this mix, introducing “The Riven Sun.”  Followed that with a rising master of primitive guitar experimentalism, Seabuckthorn, from his new album, “It Can Ashen” is a droning genius.  Next up, Spheruleus with his title track from his brand new and highly engaging electro-acoustic album for my label Lost Tribe Sound. Zakè follows with some seriously delicious droning classical string and tape experiments from this year courtesy of Past Inside The Present. Kinbrae’s album, ‘Landforms’ from earlier this year totally destroys me, and is a great example of how to use those horns properly.  After that, Federico Mosconi delivers beautiful finger-picked guitar, bathed in the most melancholic waves of static and synths one could ask for! 

 

MALK comes next with ‘Re-treat’ and delivers one of the most offbeat, original albums Lost Tribe Sound has ever produced, just give in to it. The penultimate piece comes from Offthesky, who’s had a hugely impressive year with two new albums that I’d consider among the best of the year. “Future Fire” provides another gorgeous example of how horns can work so beautifully in ambient music.  Finally, the mix closes with one of my favorite artists of all time, Geir Sundstøl. Geir’s newest genre-bending album on Hubro, is beyond genius.  I’ve got give a special thanks to Hubro, who’ve finally uploaded their entire catalog to Bandcamp, making it far easier to enjoy, definitely go explore the music they put out.

 

Hope you enjoy these tunes. Thanks for listening and having a read.

 

Thanks, Ryan!

 

 

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00    Skyphone - Les Clouds(Marsh Drones)

04:00    Kali Malone - Sacrificial Code(The Sacrificial Code)

06:56    Jeremy Krinsley / Greg Heffernan - Material Culture 9.19.15, Pt. 1(Material Culture 9.19.15)

08:00    Hampshire & Foat - The Undercliff(Saint Lawrence)

13:04    Sailcloth - Year Long Storm(Close Keeping)

15:04    Danny Scott Lane - Four(How To Empty A Cup)

18:08    HOERA. - Jin(Jaunu)

21:20    Drombeg - The White Raven(Thesis Drive 2/3)

27:52    Ben McElroy - They Told Us Not To Wonder(They Told Us Not To Wonder)

29:50    Mute Forest - The Riven Sun(Riders Storm)

33:20    Seabuckthorn - It Can Ashen(Crossing)

37:20    Spheruleus - Light Through Open Blinds(Light Through Open Blinds)

39:44    Zakè - 000425978 OTS1[pure violet](Orchestral Tape Studies)

42:24    Kinbrae - Meander(Landforms)

48:04    Federico Mosconi - Melody Not Melody(Light Not Light)

51:20    MALK - Re-Treat(WMAIDIT)

54:08    Offthesky - Future Fire(Illuminate)

57:36    Geir Sundstøl - Waterloo(Brødløs)

62:28    end

 

 

Stranger Synths 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
  

 

Levitate by Innesti

 

One of my favorite discoveries over the past year has been Innesti. The last album, released in February, is called Formless and that describes perfectly the music of Innesti. The tunes have a hazy, meandering feel that I love in ambient music.

 

Today Innesti releases a new album - Between Worlds, which I am very excited about. To celebrate this new release we have a new mix from Innesti created for Low Light Mixes. The new mix is called Levitate and here is what the artist has to say about it:

 

"This mix is designed to showcase some recent ambient releases from 2019. The soundscapes are introspective, quiet, and restorative, and should be ideal for reading, sleeping, or meditating."   

 

Check out Innesti music here:

 

https://innesti.bandcamp.com/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6vjQzIlQxwDP0miO2oGoXE 

 

I'm playing the new album for the first time as I type this and it's wonderful! 

Thanks for the great music and beautiful mix!

 

Cheers!

 

 

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00    Innesti - Oars Divide the Ocean (Between Worlds)

05:03    anthéne - Lost Channel (Lost Channel)

08:40    Bzaurie - Flight of Pollen (Floral Patterns)

13:50    Tabard - Garden Palace (Garden Palace)

17:45    扎克 - Radiance (扎克)

21:35    Eternell & endlesstrains - Elevation (Autumn Sky)

25.19    Kenji Kihara - Hayama Ambient 001 (Hayama Ambient 001)

30:00    end

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whitelabrecs 2019(so far)

 

I made a list of my favorite ambient albums of the first half of 2019 and noticed that there were 6 releases from the Whitelabrecs label on it. Harry Towell, who records as Spheruleus, runs Whitelabrecs and he has done a great job expanding the roster of artists and getting better and better every year.

 

So to celebrate all these excellent recordings I decided to make a mix using all 2019 Whitelabrecs releases. You can find Whitelabrecs on Bandcamp here...

 

https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/music

 

Here are all the albums used in this mix...

https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/album/odd

https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/album/the-other-gold-side

https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/album/suspended-in-silence

https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/album/any-given-moment

https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/album/asymmetry

https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/album/vihne-2

https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/album/gr-nland

https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/album/sleeplaboratory10

 

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    anthene - lucky(asymmetry 2019)
• 03:12    Jens Pauly - Staub(Vihne 2019)
• 08:00    Samsuo - Still Trees(The Other Gold Side 2019)
• 13:48    Hipnotic Earth - And Then She Smiles(Suspended in Silence 2019)
• 18:30    Sven Laux - ODD I(ODD 2019)
• 26:38    Glåsbird - Tundra(Grønland 2019)
• 32:45    Ben Rath - Wait For It(Any Given Moment 2019)
• 41:44    Daniela Orvin - Wide Ocean(Sleeplaboratory 1.0 2019)
• 45:10    Jens Pauly - Nacht(Vihne 2019)
• 49:34    Hipnotic Earth - Afterthe Rain, Moss(so) Alive(Vibrant)(Suspended in Silence 2019)
• 53:35    Sven Laux - ODD IV(ODD 2019)
• 61:00    end

 

Sunday Morning Music vol. 18 - Sun Room

 

The 18th installment in the Sunday Morning Music series is here.  It starts with one of my favorite albums of the year - Spirit by Rhye. It's so beautiful and intimate. From there we get some more pretty tunes because that's what I want on Sunday morning - no dark ambient drones here, just pretty and calm.

 

All the tracks are fairly new - the oldest being from 2016, while most are from this year.

 

Sunday morning musings - the cover pic of a cup of coffee reminded me of something. I've noticed in a lot of the science fiction I read that coffee is very important to a lot of characters in sci-fi stories. Many times it's in a post-apocalyptic world and coffee has become rare, a character finds a stash of coffee and it's like striking gold. Or a character is in space and has been traveling for a long time and finally gets to a location that has coffee and again it's like they have found the holy grail. This type of thing happens more often than I would have expected. I wonder if it's because writers drink lots of coffee as they write and they know that coffee is the world's most wonderful liquid(right behind beer).

 

Grab some coffee, interstellar or not, and take a listen to this latest mix.

 

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Rhye - Awake(Spirit 2019)
• 03:39    Marty Hicks - Alnum Hymn 56(Olreilion 2019)
• 06:55    Lullatone - Waking Up On A Picnic Blanket(Music For Museum Gift Shops 2019)
• 09:29    Ann Annie - Wander Into(wander into 2019)
• 15:00    Wilson Tanner - Sun Room(69 2016)
• 19:30    Joseph Shabason - 1517(Anne EP 2019)
• 25:05    High Tides - Tidal Movement(Paradise Daze 2019)
• 28:36    Kryshe - Meditation(Hauch 2019)
• 31:31    Meitei - Nami(Komachi 2019)
• 35:00    Andrew Heath - Headland(Soundings 2017)
• 36:31    Nicholas Britell - The Children of Our Age(If Beale Street Could Talk 2018)
• 37:47    Corey Fuller - Lamentation(Break 2019)
• 40:22    Wilson Tanner - Odd Low(69 2016)
• 43:22    Rhye - Green Eyes(Spirit 2019)
• 45:37    The Phonometrician - Poppy Meadows(Mnemosyne 2019)
• 50:48    The Hardy Tree - After The Rain(Stagale EP 2019)
• 56:30    Lullatone - Morning Coffee(Music For Museum Gift Shops 2019)
• 59:30    end 

The Gentle Space Music of Hollan Holmes curated by Paul Asbury Seaman

created by and through the courtesy of Hollan Holmes

 

 

I am excited to bring you another beautifully curated mix from Paul Asbury Seaman. Anyone who has been to this blog in the last couple of years should be familiar with Paul's excellent mixes. The most recent of which was a train mix from a couple of months ago...

 

http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2019/03/places-ive-never-beenode-to-high-speed.html

 

This collection of tunes is a tribute to one of Paul's favorite artists, Hollan Holmes.

 

https://hollanholmes.bandcamp.com/

 

Here's what Paul has to say about this mix:

 

“The Hearts of Space radio program wasn’t named after Hollan Holmes, but it could have been. His music is infused with both awe and a tenderness not often found in space music, which is all the more impressive given that he uses no acoustic instruments. This mix, in honor of Holmes’s soon-to-be-released seventh album, includes two tracks by Richard Burmer, a primary influence on Holmes, and two by fellow Spotted Peccary artist, Massergy. (Note: Cover artwork for this mix was created by and through the courtesy of Hollan Holmes, from his forthcoming album, MILESTONES.)”

 

Thanks Paul!

 

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Hollan Holmes - Darkness and Light(Prayer to the Energy 2017)
• 05:00    Richard Burmer - Solarsex(Mosaic 1984)
• 10:30    Hollan Holmes - That Ephemeral Spark(Prayer the the Energy 2017)
• 17:46    Richard Burmer - Winter on the Wind(Mosaic 1984)
• 21:54    Hollan Holmes - A Precarious Trajectory(Phase Shift 2013)
• 27:35    Massergy - Cold White Smoke(Fire Opal 2019)
• 36:15    Stellardrone - Breathe In The Light(Between The Rings 2017)
• 40:56    Massergy - The Shepherdess(Fire Opal 2019)
• 50:42    Hollan Holmes - Enduro(The Spirits of Starlight 2014)
• 57:12    Hollan Holmes - Interstellar Lullaby(Incandescent 2015)
• 62:45    end

An Alternative ARRIVAL Soundtrack

 

I love the film, Arrival, so I should have thought of this myself. But a listener commented on my Blade Runner alternative mix that I should do an alternative mix for Arrival. Yes!

 

So here it is - An Alternative Arrival Soundtrack. I absolutely love Johann Johannsson's original soundtrack, probably one of my top two or three soundtracks of all time. So this mix is not attempting to make something that I think is better than his score. It's sort of a supplement to the original, a collection of tracks that fit with the style of the original.

 

 All of the tunes are newer than the original soundtrack, which came out in 2016. All the tunes except On The Nature Of Daylight by Max Richter. That amazing track was used to open and close the film. Here I use it in an unusual way - it plays backward then forward at the end of the mix. The film messes with the concept of the passage of time and the Richter track bookends the film to bring events of the end back around to the beginning. So playing it backward then forward kind of does the same thing. And it's crazy how much the track still sounds the same while playing backward.

 

If you haven't seen the film, go see it. It is definitely one of my top three favorite films of all time. Here's a link to the Blade Runner alternative mix...

 

https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/alternative-blade-runner-2049-soundtrack/

 

Cheers!

 

PS - the tune @ 15:00 is from my son. He did an excellent track for the Blade Runner mix and so I went to him immediately for this mix as well.

 

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00    Tale Of Us - Alla Sera

04:00    Skamoto - Solari(Johannsson rework)

09:12    Nils Frahm - Kaleidoscope

10:08    Hibernis - The Grape Leaves

15:00    Just A Human - Heptapod(version 1)

17:12    Sakamoto - Disintegration(Alva Noto remodel)

22:10    Ocoeur - Embers

26:05    Ital Tek - Cipher

31:03    Caleb Burhans - Early Music (For a Saturday)

35:20    Vieo Abiungo - The Dregs

36:50    r beny - overgrowth

41:30    Sven Laux & Daniela Orvin - Friends

46:38    Max Richter - On the Nature of Daylight(backward)

52:45    Max Richter - On the Nature of Daylight(forward)

58:56    end