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Ambient music mixes for a chaotic world
Episodes
Sunday Sep 06, 2015
Sunday Sep 06, 2015
As usual with these mixes there is one song in particular that gets the ball rolling and in this case it's the title track from the album The Thompson Fields by the Maria Schneider Orchestra. The whole album is wonderful collection open, airy jazz tracks and the title song is just stunning. Definitely one of the most beautiful songs released this year, second only to Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell.
The rest of the mix is your standard Sunday morning mix. Maybe a bit more jazz in this one. Other than the Davis Sylvian tune most of the cuts are fairly new.
Enjoy
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 David Sylvian - September
- 01:11 Maria Schneider Orchestra - The Thompson Fields
- 08:00 Bosques De Mi Mente - El amanecer reflejado en tus ojos
- 10:38 AXX - Interstellar Ambient
- 14:10 Patrick Watson - Love Songs for Robots
- 17:11 Kenny Reichert Band - Cascades
- 22:20 Bill Seaman - A Dark Thought
- 26:40 Ben Lukas Boysen - Sleeps Beat Theme
- 30:31 Anouar Brahem - Tunis at Dawn
- 37:03 Cliff Martinez - Placental Repair
- 39:11 Hidden Rivers - September Sun Memory
- 42:52 Olan Mill - Tallole
- 46:33 Maria Schneider Orchestra - Walking by Flashlight
- 51:33 end
Friday Aug 21, 2015
Friday Aug 21, 2015
The pic above is of the hammock in my backyard. My kids got it for me for Father's Day and I love it. I can't figure out why I didn't have one before. On many nights this summer I grab my kindle and a beer and lay contentedly under our big birch tree.
Of course as a true music
obsessive I have speakers out on the deck that I control remotely. So
whenever I head out to the hammock to read or just space out, I cue up
some ambient, classical or jazz and just drift away.
That's where I got the idea
for this mix. I needed a new collection to keep me company while I sway
in the cool evening air. For some reason when I think of "porch music"
or evening music, I think of ambient guitar. So most of this mix is
guitar based, some more ambient than others. A lot of it is fairly new
and all of it works well with bug spray and a beer. I couldn't resist ending the mix with a tune from...Hammock.
Enjoy
- 00:00 Nathan Amundson - More Horses
- 05:18 Jakob Bro - Lyskaster
- 09:00 CFCF - A Various Language(from the same hill)
- 12:25 Daniel Lanois - Space Love
- 14:00 David Tagg - Comanche
- 20:20 Josh Mason - Petals Too Tired To
- 23:00 Dirk Serries - Disorientation Flow
- 31:15 Christopher Willits - Now
- 35:35 Tonepoet - Headspace
- 41:50 Brian Eno - From the Same Hill
- 44:24 Matt Borghi - Homage to Dave Liebman
- 47:54 Alessio Ballerini - Night in Day
- 51:21 Tone Color - City of Three Rivers
- 56:45 Hammock - Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow
Wednesday Aug 12, 2015
Wednesday Aug 12, 2015
The title of this one pretty much says it all.
So download the mix, grab some bourbon, a blanket and head outside to witness the 2015 version of the Perseid meteor shower.
Enjoy
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Moesko - Stargazer
- 03:55 Marconi Union - Still
- 07:35 36 - Sky Fire
- 11:11 Alio Die - nuvole di palissandro
- 12:25 Alva Noto - Solphaer
- 17:55 Julio Di Benedetto - Original Light
- 26:26 Robert Davies - Nightshade
- 35:20 Klowknfe - Gamma
- 42:30 Horizon Fire - Earthlight
- 44:55 Moesko - Cloudgazer
- 47:55 Donnacha Costello - You Are Not Here
- 51:05 Marconi Union - Fading
- 57:15 end
Wednesday Jul 08, 2015
Wednesday Jul 08, 2015
At the end of May I posted an excellent mix from Mike G of the Ambient Music Guide. We agreed to do guest mixes for each other and that the starting point would be a title that each of us would give the other. We sent each other a few title ideas, we each chose one and got to work.
Mike chose "Lapse into Reverie" and the result was his beautiful mix that you can find here...
http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2015/05/lapse-into-reverie-complied-mixed-by.html
And here...
Mike gave me about 4 or 5 title ideas and my attention was immediately drawn to one in particular... "Ghosts of the Future."
The first thing that comes to mind is the film "Interstellar", which I had just re-watched right before this project. With its time dilation and Murph's "ghost" communicating from the future, the soundtrack is the perfect launching point for this mix. I like soundtracks but Hans Zimmer usually isn't a favorite. However with this film he strikes a perfect balance. At times the music has a Philip Glass feel to it.
I also thought of snippets of voices as ghosts and so I worked in some spoken word excerpts here & there, as well as using tracks that had voices or vocoder. Overall I hope the mix conveys a strange, otherworldly feel to it.
Thanks again to Mike G for doing the mix swap with me and thanks for a great mix title.
Enjoy
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Ian William Craig - Before Meaning Comes
- 00:35 Hans Zimmer - Where We're Going(Interstellar OST)
- 05:52 Eskmo - Spvce
- 07:55 Robert Rich - Premonition of Circular Clouds
- 13:15 Intrusion - Static Waves & Shuttle358 - Fissure(played simultaneously)
- 16:30 Echospace - Viola's Ghost Hamonix, Beyond Gravity, Astral Dreaming, Beyond The Drone(played simultaneously along with Static Waves)
- 19:10 Disasterpeace - Formations
- 20:55 Shuttle358 - Warm
- 25:10 Kraftwerk - Endlos Endlos
- 25:50 Chris Dooks - Antifoni
- 26:45 Bon Iver - Woods(remixed)
- 28:40 Hans Zimmer - s.t.a.y.(Interstellar OST)
- 33:45 Adlib - Hoffnung
- 34:25 Steve Roach - It's All Connected
- 39:50 Vangelis - Tears in the Rain
- 42:36 Cliff Martinez - We Don't Have To Think Like That Anymore
- 45:15 Transcient - My Last Goodbye
- 48:39 Simon Bainton - Range
- 50:43 Public Broadcasting Service - Tomorrow
- 55:55 end
Sunday Jun 28, 2015
Sunday Jun 28, 2015
Here's the latest Sunday Morning Music installment. The mix starts with cuts from two of my fav albums of 2015 by Aero Flynn & Sufjan Stevens.
Aero Flynn is fronted by Josh Scott, a product of the same Eau Claire, Wisconsin music scene that gave us Justin Vernon(Bon Iver). Scott was in a band called Amateur Love that shared a couple of members with a band that Vernon was in, DeYarmond Edison. According to Chris Porterfield, who was in DeYarmond & would later form Field Report, Josh Scott was the most talented guy in that scene.
Just as Amateur Love was about to break Josh Scott got spooked and broke up the band and fled to Chicago. Since then he has flirted with comebacks but mental and physical illness always got in the way.
Now he is back with a fantastic new album released this past spring. The record was recorded in Justin Vernon's Eau Claire studio and was produced by Vernon. The sound is very different from Amateur Love, more electronics involved, the vocals more ethereal. The best way to describe the music is a cross between Radiohead & Bon Iver.
The Amateur Love album was re-released in 2012 by Vernon. He started his own record company just so he could release that album. And it's a wonderful recording, so full of promise. I wish there had been more.
Here are some links related to the Aero Flynn story...
Listen to all 9 Aero Flynn tracks
 |
| Sufjan in Milwaukee |
Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell on Amazon
Excellent Pitchfork interview with Sufjan
After those opening cuts it's all downhill. Haha. Actually there is much more good music in the rest of the mix. Most of it is new & it fits with the laid back Sunday morning feel of past mixes.
Enjoy
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Aero Flynn - Moonbeams
- 06:12 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July
- 10:41 Bill Seaman - Another Day
- 13:15 Casino versus Japan - Scenic Loop
- 15:45 David Holmes - Hey Maggy
- 20:15 Julian Lynch - A Day at the Racetrack
- 22:50 San Fermin - Astronaut
- 26:12 Johann Johannsson - A Model of the Universe
- 28:55 Helios - Emancipation
- 31:15 Jakob Bro - Gefion
- 38:15 Andrew Bird - Rising Water
- 42:30 Alva Noto - Isola
- 45:35 Evan Chapman - Angels(The xx cover)
- 48:10 Jose Gonzalez - Vissel
- 51:20 Jon Hopkins - How I live now
- 55:47 end
Friday Jun 12, 2015
Friday Jun 12, 2015
I have a confession to make. Back in the 80s & early 90s I used to listen to a lot of New Age music. Stuff like Enya, Andreas Vollenweider, anything on Windham Hill, etc. Even though much of the general public thinks of ambient music as new age music, real ambient fans know the difference. It can be difficult to articulate that difference. I use a "I know it when I hear it" approach. I guess I'm still wary of the new age label so that's why I called the mix "Music for Meditation."
Even though I moved away from new age music long ago, I still have a soft spot for certain sounds that can be considered new age staples. Two of my favs are Tibetan singing bowls & the Fender Rhodes keyboard. Actually anything with a bell-like sonic signature usually gets me.
Last year I came across the re-release of an album called "Gymnosphere, Song of the Rose" by Jordan De La Sierra. It was recorded in 1977. It has been called a long lost new age masterpiece. I guess it is sort of new age-ish, although I think it has more in common with Brian Eno, Terry Riley & Steve Reich than Yanni or Steven Halpern. It's a fine album and it got me thinking about new age music and the parts that I still enjoy. Find out more here...
Once I decided to do this mix I knew for sure that Steven Halpern would make the final cut. I remember buying a cassette of his album "Spectrum Suite" from a shop in Madison, WI that had floatation tanks. I booked a half hour in one of the tanks and played that music while I floated around, literally & figuratively.
The Harold Budd track that follows Halpern, I have always thought sounded very new agey. But I have always loved it. I like that the mix has both old and new cuts in it. I think it does a good job giving off a meditation vibe without being too sickly sweet. Good for meditation or sleeping.
Enjoy
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Somni451 - Yellow
- 06:30 Jordan De La Sierra - Music for Gymnastics
- 12:30 Field Recording - Wind Chimes & Thunderstorm
- 14:20 Michael Stearns - As the Earth Kissed the Moon
- 18:25 Peter Davison - Glide V
- 23:50 Porya Hatami - After the Rain
- 31:40 eternell - Kalimba I
- 37:33 Halftribe - Shashlik
- 42:12 Steven Halpern - Keynote C Red
- 44:54 Harold Budd - Bismillahi 'Rrahmani' Rrahim
- 52:36 Jeff Pearce - Through Darkened Halls
- 56:14 33 bowls - Morning
- 58:51 Jim Cole - Light Shines In Your Heart
- 65:21 end
Sunday May 31, 2015
Sunday May 31, 2015
- 00:00 David Parsons - Himalaya(edit)
- 08:52 Michael Stearns Twin Flame
- 12:00 Lisa Gerrard & Patrick Cassidy - Elegy
- 18:17 Max Richter - Horizon Variations(edit)
- 21:38 Mychael Danna - Phoenix Anastasis
- 25:52 Aeoliah - Mahavira
- 32:28 Heavenly Music Corporation - Consciousness III(edit)
- 38:42 Carbon Based Lifeforms - Silent Running(carbonator remix)
- 44:15 Xerxes - Angelina
- 53:28 Cliff Martinez - Will She Come Back
- 58:15 Connect.Ohm - Snow Park
- 66:28 Max Richter - On the Nature of Daylight
Sunday May 03, 2015
Sunday May 03, 2015
Benoît Pioulard has two new albums out & they are both wonderful. It was after hearing "Sonnet" that I decided to make a mix that featured the same sort of dusty, slightly noisy ambient tunes.
You can find his album "Sonnet" on Amazon here...
And his latest, "Stanza" here...
https://pioulard.bandcamp.com/album/stanza
Stanza is a companion piece to Sonnet. I didn't even know about it until I went looking for links for this post. I'm so glad that I found it but I wish I'd found it sooner, then I could have worked a track from it into this mix.
Basically the mix is a collection of tunes that falls in line with the sound of those two Benoît Pioulard albums - kind of hazy and dusty.
Enjoy.
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Benoit Pioulard - Shut-ins on Sunday See
- 03:03 Heezen - 3 hrs
- 07:24 36 - Neon Sunset
- 10:30 The Green Kingdom - untitled(remix by segue)
- 15:00 Assembler-Responder - Palmer Station
- 17:40 Taylor Deupree - thaw
- 25:05 Otto A Totland - Flomé
- 27:27 Janek Schaefer - Unfolding Honey
- 32:20 Porya Hatami - White Forest
- 34:30 Letna - deliblatska pescara
- 36:17 Maps And Diagrams - Tauragnas
- 38:10 Alva Noto - Exoshpere
- 40:20 Jon Hassel - Map of Dusk(stretched & remixed)
- 44:25 Caught In The Wake Forever - Sun Downing
- 46:00 Solo Andata - At Commissure
- 50:00 Benoit Pioulard - Reliquary(Benoit Pioulard remix)
- 54:54 Lissom - Hollow of Winter
- 58:28 Shortwave Music - stretched
- 60:39 end
Wednesday Apr 15, 2015
Wednesday Apr 15, 2015
Every mix has it's own unique starting point. And this mix definitely started in a unique place - my dishwasher.
One day my dishwasher was making some weird noises, it kind of sounded like an alien playing a didgeridoo was trapped inside. So I recorded a little bit of the sound and then processed it using Paul's Extreme Sound Stretch. And whaddya know - it actually sounds pretty good.
I've used Paul's Extreme Sound Stretch in mixes before and it's a fun little program for non-musicians like me.
I posted the stretched version on the Hypnos Recordings forum just for kicks. A couple folks asked to hear the original source as well. Then the next thing you know some of the artists who frequent the forum took that original dishwasher sound & used it as a source to come up with their own original takes.
I was pretty darn excited. These are artists that in some cases I've been listening to for years. And they were going to make music from my freakin' dishwasher. Pretty cool.
Here's the Hypnos forum dishwasher thread... HYPNOS
We ended up with five pieces created from the original dishwasher sounds. I also asked my son, who produces EDM music as AXX, to also make an ambient dishwasher tune, which he did and I gotta say I love his version. Throw my stretched version in there and we have 7 dishwasher tunes, enough for a whole mix. Pretty cool again.
I started the mix with the original sound and let it morph into the different versions. They all flow together very well.
Here are the links to each individual piece used in the mix in order of appearance...
https://soundcloud.com/low-light-mixes/dishwasher-original
https://soundcloud.com/forrest-fang/daves-dishwasher-zen-cycle-021815
https://soundcloud.com/low-light-mixes/dishwasher-drone-axx-rework
https://serenffordd.bandcamp.com/track/rin-se
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Dishwasher original sound
- 00:17 Dave Michuda - Dishwasher Stretch
- 01:00 Forrest Fang - Dave's Dishwasher(Zen Cycle)
- 02:42 AXX - Dishwasher Drone AXX Rework
- 05:15 Igneous Flame - Chthonic Cycles
- 09:25 Castleview - Cavewasher
- 11:20 The Circular Ruins - The Circular Ruins Over Dave's Dishwasher
- 15:00 Dave Michuda - Dishwasher Stretch part 2
- 16:55 Seren Ffordd - Rin-Se
- 20:43 end
Wednesday Apr 15, 2015
Wednesday Apr 15, 2015
Every mix has it's own unique starting point. And this mix definitely started in a unique place - my dishwasher.
One day my dishwasher was making some weird noises, it kind of sounded like an alien playing a didgeridoo was trapped inside. So I recorded a little bit of the sound and then processed it using Paul's Extreme Sound Stretch. And whaddya know - it actually sounds pretty good.
I've used Paul's Extreme Sound Stretch in mixes before and it's a fun little program for non-musicians like me.
I posted the stretched version on the Hypnos Recordings forum just for kicks. A couple folks asked to hear the original source as well. Then the next thing you know some of the artists who frequent the forum took that original dishwasher sound & used it as a source to come up with their own original takes.
I was pretty darn excited. These are artists that in some cases I've been listening to for years. And they were going to make music from my freakin' dishwasher. Pretty cool.
Here's the Hypnos forum dishwasher thread... HYPNOS
We ended up with five pieces created from the original dishwasher sounds. I also asked my son, who produces EDM music as AXX, to also make an ambient dishwasher tune, which he did and I gotta say I love his version. Throw my stretched version in there and we have 7 dishwasher tunes, enough for a whole mix. Pretty cool again.
I started the mix with the original sound and let it morph into the different versions. They all flow together very well.
Here are the links to each individual piece used in the mix in order of appearance...
https://soundcloud.com/low-light-mixes/dishwasher-original
https://soundcloud.com/forrest-fang/daves-dishwasher-zen-cycle-021815
https://soundcloud.com/low-light-mixes/dishwasher-drone-axx-rework
https://serenffordd.bandcamp.com/track/rin-se
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Dishwasher original sound
- 00:17 Dave Michuda - Dishwasher Stretch
- 01:00 Forrest Fang - Dave's Dishwasher(Zen Cycle)
- 02:42 AXX - Dishwasher Drone AXX Rework
- 05:15 Igneous Flame - Chthonic Cycles
- 09:25 Castleview - Cavewasher
- 11:20 The Circular Ruins - The Circular Ruins Over Dave's Dishwasher
- 15:00 Dave Michuda - Dishwasher Stretch part 2
- 16:55 Seren Ffordd - Rin-Se
- 20:43 end