low light mixes

breathe in, breathe out

Breathing is rhythmic process of expansion and contraction, in & out, inhale & exhale. Breathing is one example of the cycles we see in nature such as night and day, wake and sleep, seasonal growth and decay, tides going in & out. And like waves in the tides, the rhythmic nature of breathing can be very calming. Some of my favorite sleep music has this cyclic, breathing quality to it. I made my first breathing mix almost three years ago. Wow! Has it really been that long? I can't believe I've been posting these mixes for 4 years. Anyway, back to this mix, I had a few breathing tunes that I'd been meaning to use, some old some new, and the result is "breathe in, breathe out". On many of these mixes, there are sections where two or more pieces are playing simultaneously. But this one may have the longest section of combined playing. At about 4:30 into the mix, Bang on a Can's version of Music for Airports 1-2 comes in over the peter Broderick piece.  The two continue playing at the same time until somewhere around 10:00, when Airports fades out and the Broderick cut goes solo for a minute or two.  I wasn't planning on doing it that way, the two tracks just blended nicely. There's a track from Foci's Left in the middle of the mix that is from a new netlabel, Audio Gourmet. The label has been running for less than two months but already they have 7 fine releases.  Definitely take some time & download some these excellent EPs. T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Peter Broderick - Music for a sleeping sculpture of Peter Broderick
• 04:30   Bang on a Can - Music for Airports 1-2
• 10:00ish Music for a sleeping sculpture comes back to the fore
• 11:45   Panoptique Electrical - Glacier Show 1
• 20:00   Porzellan - Rosen
• 25:45   Lucette Bourdin - Through Empty Heaven
• 31:00   Robert Rich - Never Alone
• 35:40   Foci's Left - Regurgitated Impulses(David Tagg remix)
• 37:10   Olan Mill - Country
• 40:30   St. Kilda - You are in Every Dream
• 43:20   Language of Landscape - Contemplating Departure In Wake of Clear Light
• 47:45   Austere - Lid
• 54:40   Lexithimie - Another Minute for a Never Ending
• 1:00:00 end

lost at sea

What the heck?  Two sea/water mixes in a row?  I didn't plan it this way.  It just sort of happened that I collected a few sea songs, then the library/soundtrack mix got done, then I found a few more sea songs and this mix happened. "lost at sea" is very similar to "a solitary sea" from last year.  Some nice drifting, flowing tunes with a definite sea/ocean feel to them.  And of course all the tunes have the word "sea" in the title.  The mix works really well on foggy mornings, standing out on the deck letting the music flow all around you. There's not much else to say except that I hope you enjoy this latest collection. Download (right click/save as) :  75mb,  54:30 lost at sea T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Milieu - the singing waters of an endless sea
• 07:30     Aless - inborn sea flowing
• 12:30    offthesky - sea ghosts
• 17:50    Jonsi & Alex - Daniell in the sea
• 25:40    Duncan 'O Ceallaigh - the sea and the sand
• 27:35    The Humble Bee - a century of sea stories
• 29:20    Sawako - april from sea shell
• 32:10    Arovane - seaside
• 35:30    Aglaia - the sea hides his secret selves
• 45:00    Seas - blue dub
• 53:15    Milieu - seashell breeze
• 54:30    end

beneath the surface

Right off the bat, I have to come clean. I stole something. I stole the idea for this mix. But I'm glad I did because I'm very excited to post this new track. Over at SoundCloud I ran into some mixes by Astromatt. He uses sounds from music libraries and soundtracks of '60's and '70's to create great underwater themed mixes. I love the sound of these old tracks & how they work together in a mix. Who knew that these old library albums even existed?! After some research & digging, I decided to try my hand at a similar mix. With a lot of this music, it's very easy to cross the line into cheesy/kitchy territory. I tried to find tunes that had that old 70's undersea soundtrack feel but was still listenable by today's ambient standards. I think it works pretty well as an ambient mix, very relaxing, with a cool watery vibe. It was a lot of fun discovering some of these old albums & I'm sure I'll visit them again. T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:13 Amedeo Tommasi - Acque Tranquille
• 02:20 Eugene Thomass - Magic World of the Sea
• 04:50 Michel Redolfi - Music for Fresh Water
• 08:40 Franco Tamponi - Submarino
• 10:35 Gaston Borreani - Cirrus
• 13:40 Gaston Borreani - Entrelacs
• 17:16 Franco Tamponi - Stelle Marina
• 20:05 Amedeo Tommasi - Correnti Sottomarine
• 21:45 Piero Umiliani - Eliogabalus
• 24:00 Gaston Borreani - Rave Abyssal
• 26:10 Patchwork Orchestra - Brumes sur Mars
• 28:00 Franco Tamponi - Profundita
• 30:05 Fabor - Angelo di Mare
• 33:25 Gaston Borreani - Port Cross
• 36:53 end

Concerto for this & that

Modern-classical, neo-classical, acousmatic, electro-acoustic, ...whatever you want to call the genre, I think this mix fits.

You'll hear lots of strings, some piano, some beats and more strings.  It has a vague sort of chamber music feel to it.  The mix takes a detour about halfway through with the Pjusk track.  It's a good tune but doesn't necessarily fit the modern classical theme of the mix.  But I think it flows well with the other tracks around it.

A lot of music I have been listening to sort of falls into this neo-classical/acoustic category so this was just a chance to get some of it out there in a mix.

Enjoy.

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Panoptique Electrical - Framed by Clouds
• 07:23    Bersarin Quartet - Was uns Bleibt
• 10:45    Murcof - Rios
• 18:40    Olan Mill - Flume
• 21:00    Talvihorros - Thoughts of Violence
• 24:45    M. Ostermeier - Competing Memories, Both Correct
• 30:00    Part Timer - Orchard (scrumped)
• 31:00    Pjusk - Sus
• 35:25    M. Ostermeier - September Again
• 39:20    Danny Norbury - Speak, Memory
• 44:00    Panoptique Electrical - The Free Form
• 50:40    Loscil - Endless Falls
• 58:06    end

always returning

I've been listening to a lot of older music lately. Been on a big progressive rock kick, King Crimson, Steve Hackett, Willowglass, Pink floyd, Phil Manzanera, Strawbs, etc. This lead me to dig up some older ambient tunes, which lead to this mix. Listening to Michael Brook's "Hybrid" from 1985 brought back memories of how wonderful that album is. So I grabbed other ambient recordings from around the same time period and the result is the new mix, "always returning". I stole the title from the Eno tune which finishes the mix. It's appropriate because this is music that I will return to often. Most of the recordings are from the 1980's, with two fo them from '77 & '78. There's a fair amount of Eno in here, whether it's his own tracks or his production. I guess that appropriate because in the '80's, Eno was an ambient god. I hope you enjoy this quick bit of time traveling. Download (right click/save as) : 73mb, 53:19 always returning T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00 Michael Brook - Distant Village 1985
• 04:00 Jon Hassell - darbari extension 1 1983
• 08:15 Penguin Cafe Orchestra - numbers 1 - 4 1981
• 13:40 Bill Nelson - Ringing True 1989
• 15:00 Harold Budd - Bismillahi Rrahmani Rrahim 1978
• 22:40 Laraaji - Essence 1988
• 28:20 David Sylvian - The Wooden Cross 1986
• 31:45 Cluster & Eno - Fur Luise 1977
• 36:30 Bill Nelson - Almost Unchanging 1989
• 38:00 Peter Gabriel - Slow Water 1985
• 40:00 Brian Eno - Unfamilar Wind (leeks hills) 1982
• 44:30 Michael Brook - Ocean Motion 1985
• 49:30 Brian Eno - Always Returing 1983
• 53:19 end

thru the field

I recently was given a box of old sound effects records like the one in the picture. These albums brought back a lot of memories. As a kid I would go to the public library down the street and borrow their sound effects records. I guess that was an early sign that I'd end up with music tastes that were a bit different. This new mix is perfect for my new vinyl sound effects collection, unfortunately I finished the mix before I got the records. So I'll have to save them for the next installment in the field mixes. For this mix, the 3rd in the field music mixes, I tried to use more natural sound and less music. There are definitely musical elements here, thanks to Spheruleus, Nigel Samways and others. I tried to pick field sounds that weren't too obtrusive. There are many sounds that are interesting to listen to, but don't work as ambient "music". After a nice quiet section of wind blowing through bamboo, hearing fireworks exploding wouldn't work for me. I'd like to bring attention to to releases used in this mix. They both come from a new netlabel, Audio Gourmet. "Rust" by Spheruleus & "Momentary" by Darren Harper are the first two releases. They are excellent recordings & they are free so check them out. Each one has a cut in the new field mix. The tracklist is a bit vague, as the times are even more nebulous than normal. I hope you enjoy this latest field mix. Download (right click/save as) : 82mb, 60min thru the field T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00 Chihei Hatakeyama - Distant Sound of a Bustle
• 04:00 Loren Nerell - Wind Through Bamboo Forest
• 06:00 The Black Dog - M1
• 08:30 Jason Kahn - Transit
• 10:00 Framework podcast 11-5-09 excerpt
• 13:30 Seattle Phonographers Union - Hollow Earth Radio(excerpt)
• 15:30 Nigel Samways - City of Gas Street Lamps
• 19:00 Spheruleus - it sits on a shelf inside my skull
• 25:00 Mister Vapor - Rain 1
• 31:00 Chihei Hatakeyama - Dance of the Sea
• 33:00 Chris Watson - Vatnajokull
• 35:00 Quiet American - Khulna Station
• 37:00 Thomas Koner - 45_26n, 12_20e (hour three)
• 40:00 Steve Bradley - SO2 Emissions
• 41:30 Cecile Le Prado - Passages
• 43:30 Spheruleus - Rusting
• 47:30 Richard Chartier - Fields for Recording (excerpt)
• 52:00 Chris Watson - Bucaneve
• 53:00 Spheruleus - A Hindered View
• 55:30 Darren Harper - Field & Glass
• 60:00 end

driftage

Drifting...floating...coasting...gliding...swimming... Whatever word you choose, all would describe this mix perfectly.  It's just a nice collection of mostly new tunes, all with a drifting, floating feel.

This mix works great for sleeping, enjoy. T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00 Moustache Mountain - poisonoussnake
• 05:50 Ben Fleury Steiner - Purple as the Dawn
• 09:45 Pausal - Midshipman
• 12:40 Back to Comm - Hotel Freund
• 16:00 Aglaia - A Boat Hunted the Edge of the Sea
• 22:40 Dirk Serries - microphonics v
• 28:35 Windy & Carl - I Have Been Waiting to Hear from You
• 34:40 Fabio Orsi - part 2 from Winterreise
• 40:15 Hildur Gudnadottir - Iridescence
• 49:15 m. ostermeier - Lost Weekend
• 53:00 Spheruleus - Orchid
• 57:00 end

eppur si muove(and yet it moves)

The mixes are coming fast and furious!  I'm trying to crank out a few more than normal.  This one seems to be fast paced compared to the usual mixes found here. This creation is similar to a mix I did in 2008 called "Motion for Relief".  Ambient dub would be the best way to describe this installment.  Not all the tunes are "dub" but most have beats, some more prominent than others.  The feel is still pretty laid back, with just enough going on to give a sense of movement.  Hence the title, "eppur si muove(and yet it moves)", which is apparently a phrase uttered by Galileo. Enjoy T R A C K L I S T :

• • 00:00 Pan American - B esso
  • 04:30 Deepchord - Vantage Isle (echospace reshape)
  • 08:50 Aardvarck - bloom 4
  • 11:45 Marconi Union - Shibuya
  • 14:45 Porter Ricks - Redundance 3
  • 20:40 Rhythm & Sound - Hit You Version ??
  • 27:40 Kiln - Royal Peppermint Forest
  • 30:50 Rena Jones - Indra's Web
  • 33:40 Rod Modell - beach
  • 37:20 Shuttle 358 - Calty
  • 40:50 Marconi Union - We Travel
  • 47:25 Jonathan Hughes - Dieresis
  • 49:40 Basic Channel - Radiance i edit
  • 53:30 James Murray - eleven (decades mix)
  • 59:57 end

flicker & fade

This is the third mix I’ve done with a shortwave radio theme. Many of the tunes have noise & static already built in. Sometimes radio washes have been added. As with past shortwave mixes, the actual shortwave recordings come courtesy of Myke Dodge Weiskopf. He runs a great site dedicated to shortwave music. This mix was originally posted on MixCloud by folks at Fluid Radio.  I am honored that Fluid Radio posted one of my mixes among their growing list of great music.  I'm posting here to allow direct download.  That's one feature I wish MixCloud had, the option of downloading the mixes.   It's a great community over at MixCloud that would be even better with downloads. I hope you enjoy vol. 3 in the shortwave series. T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Myke Weiskopf - Test Transmission
• 00:40    Tim Hecker - Arctic Loner's Rock
• 03:50    All India Radio
• 05:20    Andrey Dergatchev - Culmination
• 07:45    Karlheinz Stockhausen - realization 6 (from spiral)
• 08:50    Tu M' - monochrome 3
• 14:20    Library Tapes - The Fragile Tide
• 16:30    Radio Slovakia Int'l
• 17:20    36 - Juliet
• 19:20    Maps & Diagrams - Mold
• 23:45    Marihiko Hara - modena
• 26:05    WNOH - Runyon's Gospel Descent
• 27:40    Ous Mal - Viime Talvi
• 29:40    Myke Weiskopf - Into the Telemetry Haze
• 30:50    Brian Grainger - untitled
• 34:10    Helios - Vargtimme
• 37:30    random noise fx
• 38:20    36 - intercept
• 39:00    BNR Radio Bulgaria
• 40:30    Drowning the Virgin Silence - We Twist the Sun & Sea
• 44:20    Krzysztof Orluk - over the sky (bright sphere)
• 46:30    Motion - dispersal patterns
• 48:00    atom - wellen and felder II
• 49:10    Xela - An Abandoned Robot
• 51:45    Eluvium - As I Drift Off
• 54:30    end

cloud mapping

I have no idea why I called this mix "cloud mapping". It started off as something about the sky, then aerial views of something, then blah blah blah...then it ends up as "cloud mapping". Most of the music is new or new-ish.  There is no big time theme in this mix, just good, drifting ambient music.  I guess you could picture yourself flying over clouds while listening to this.  My favorite track in the mix is from Christopher Willits' release "Live on Earth Vol.1".  It's the track, "Stars and Plants (live) – Kyoto, Japan – June 19, 2008". Enjoy some good 'ole floaty ambient. T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    in the field - rising
• 03:30    Christopher Willits - Stars and Plants (live) – Kyoto, Japan – June 19, 2008
• 12:45    Maps & Diagrams - Shuffle
• 17:50    Relmic Statute - a test for tapes & memories
• 22:10    Jannick - Schou - Night
• 26:50    Itaca Trio - Dragon Sleeps Well
• 30:55    Markus Guenter - Doppelgaenger
• 38:05    Terje Isungset - a glimpse of light
• 40:00    Cluster - lerandis
• 41:30    Akira Kosemura - 9 Guitar
• 42:20    Chihei Hatakeyama - light drizzle
• 46:30    Kyle Bobby Dunn - Empty Gazing
• 52:10    Christopher Willits - Golden Yarrow
• 55:00    Simon James French - Misery
• 59:23    end