low light mixes

Remember Tomorrow

I was listening to music from Lunar Testing Lab the other day.  The album, "Space Program", has a sort of retro/space/electronic feel to it.  Boards of Canada in space? I thought a whole mix of music with this kind of feel would be fun, so the result is "Remember Tomorrow".  I tried to use tunes that had that retro, space program vibe without being too kitschy or cheesy.  It's fine line & I hope I walked it successfully. Lunar Testing Labs of course makes several appearances in the mix and of course Board of Canada had to be included.  I am especially happy about being able to squeeze in the track "Cowboy" from The Units.  I remember listening to it in college and absolutely loving the tune, so it was was fun to get it into a mix.  I am also happy to have two Bowie cuts in there, "V-2 Schneider" & "Weeping Wall". I found some sound from a recording called "Bob & Betty go to the Moon" and I used a couple clips from that old, corny recording.  I tried not to use too much as it can easily distract from the music.  I ended up using 4 samples, the coundown open & three other quickies.  Using sound samples can be very tempting,  tt's fun to use some but they can quickly get in the way of the music. Although this mix is more beat-oriented than the typical Low Light offering, I think it's a fun trip. Download(right click/save as) :   93mb,  51:00 min Remember Tomorrow T R A C K L I S T I N G :

• 00:00    Countdown from "Lunar Adventure in 1985"
• 00:13    Belbury Poly - Adventures in a Miniature Landscape
• 06:05    Harmonic 33 - Departure Lounge
• 10:30    Lunar Testing Lab - Lunar Radio control
• 11:30    EU - New Osc's
• 13:00    Boards of Canada - Wildlife Analysis
• 13:50    Freescha - The Sun is Still
• 16:00    Lunar Testing Lab - Orbiting Lunar Observatory
• 16:40    TRS-80 - moon Patrol
• 22:30    David Bowie - V2 Schneider
• 25:10    Bochum Welt - interlude
• 28:25    Lunar Testing Lab - Phantom Cosmonaut
• 30:50    Signaldrift - Children of the 70's
• 32:20    Harmonic 33 - Planet 54
• 35:50    Frank Comstock - Music from Outer Space(when you wish upon a star)
• 37:50    Boards of Canada - Nova Scotia Robots
• 38:50    Bernard Szajner - A Kind of Freedom
• 41:30    Talvihorros - A Rural Place
• 43:35    David Bowie - Weeping Wall
• 46:35    Boards of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy
• 51:05    end

a solitary sea

I haven't had time to do anything new lately but today I'm home sick so I had some time in between naps.

I was listening to "Nautica" by krill.minima, and it got me in the mood for some "sea" music.

A few things came to mind immediately, such as Eluder, Loscil & a new track by Intrusion. From there I just searched for tunes with 'sea', 'water', 'ocean' or other watery words in the titles. I think the tunes work pretty well together. The first 20 minutes has a great ebb & flow, breathing-like quality which I love. Enjoy. Download(right click/save) :  110mb, 60:00 min. a solitary sea T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    krill.minima - Submarine Poetry
• 07:00    Intrusion - Under the Ocean
• 10:00    Eluder - The Most Beautiful Blue
• 14:30    Rod Modell - Cold Watery Depths
• 21:30    Jim Cole - Ocean Depths
• 25:00    Adam Pacione - Buoy
• 31:10    Loscil - Pressure
• 35:00    Thomas Koner - 31.46.n.35.13e(hour ten)
• 36:20    Milieu - Christening Ships at port
• 43:20    krill.minima - Surface from the Groundless Oceans
• 50:30    Shaula - Sea of Trees
• 53:30    Jeff Greinke - Over Water
• 1:00:00    end

Beyond this window

Generally I like autumn.  I don't mind the colder temps, colors are great, don't have to mow the lawn anymore, etc.  But this year the weather has been nasty, too cold too soon & lots of rain. So I set out to do a bleak, cold October mix.  But as usually happens with mixes, they take on a life of their own and lead you in different directions.  I realized, as I was collecting tunes, that I didn't want the mix to turn into some dark, Halloween-ish affair. Ultimately I turned to all new music as source material.  While most of it is not all bleak & depressing, neither is it all sunny & bright.  I'm glad to have worked some currents favs into the mix, such as Leyland Kirby, Sufjan Stevens, Loren Dent & Volcano Choir. Even though today was a beautiful, sunny fall day, I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities for a hot cup of coffee, listening to this mix & gazing beyond this, or any, window. T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    wind
• 00:30    Solo Andata - Beyond this Window (from the album Solo Andata)
• 04:00    David Tagg - Wind Blown Guitar (from the album Wind Blown Guitar)
• 07:50    Aidan Baker - Explosions (from the album Dry)
• 11:30    Segue - October (from the album Grey)
• 16:00    Ian Hawgood - Shore Peotry (from the album Snow Roads)
• 16:30    Isnaj Dui - That whgich was lost (from the album unstable equlibrium)
• 22:00    Leyland Kirby - Memories live longer than dreams (from the album sadly the future is no longer what it was)
• 27:20    Sufjan Stevens - Postlude - Critical Mass (from the album The BQE)
• 29:30    Talvihorros - Handwriting Pt. 1 (from the album Some Ambulance)
• 34:20    Loren Dent - Ecstasy of Morning (from the album Anthopology extras)
• 40:50    Ave Maria stretched
• 42:50    Billy Gomberg - Verse (from the album Days)
• 47:50    Volcano Choir - Husks & Shells (from the album unmap)
• 51:00    Chihei Hatakeyama - Landscape on a Hill (from the album Saunter)
• 59:22    end

revenants of the past

One of my favorite mixes from last year was Sustain & Decay. It was fun digging up old recordings & mixing them with new releases.

So I decided to do a follow-up, with the result being "revenants of the past". It follows the same basic formula of last years mix(which was also released in October). I browsed through a ton of files at archive.org, looking for things like old vinyl records & Edison cylinder recordings from as far back as 1888. I mixed these recordings with current music that either sounds old or in some cases actually uses old recordings as a sound source to be manipulated into something new. In the last mix The Caretaker figured prominently and here too there is an extended track in the middle of this sequel mix. The track is an excerpt from a mix James Leyland Kirby, AKA The Caretaker, did for Fact Magazine. I think "revenants" is a good mix of familiar & unfamiliar artists here. I had to get William Basinksi's Disintegration Loops in somewhere & so the mix closes with a track from Loops #2. Enjoy the entropy. T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00 Around the world on a phonograph 1888
• 00:15 Szilágyi Imre Zenekara - kurucz motak (from 78rpm record)
• 02:25 SIGHUP - city heart (from the album "end of")
• 05:20 Cylon - 4feb1912pt12 (from the ep "winter")
• 12:30 Joe Belov - Air for G String 1920 Edison cylinder
• 12:30 Krzysztof Orluk - the girl the melody in the head (from the album "blurred reflection")
• 16:00 Glim - puszta (from the album "music for field recordings")
• 19:00 Okkyung Lee - sky (from the album "nihm")
• 25:30 Montauk - Tranquility (from the album "the moment lasts a second but the memory lives on forever")
• 26:15 Skye Boat Song (from 78rpm record, Edinburgh, Scotland)
• 26:30 The Caretaker - Fact Mix #45, May '09 (excerpt from Fact Magazine mix)
• 35:40 Asher - Minatures #11 (from the album "minatures")
• 38:00 Rae Eleanor Bal - Gypsy Love Song 1927
• 40:20 Lucky Pierre - velbon (from the album "touchpool")
• 42:40 Jaudas Society Orchestra - Beautiful Ohio Waltz 1919 Edison cylinder
• 43:10 Philip Jeck - 1986(Frank was 70 years old) (from the album "surf")
• 44:00 relmic statute - 1rhet ednalnge (from the album "sitting under the lantern's glow")
• 47:30 Bronnt Industries Kapital - maggots in the rice (from an untitled cd)
• 49:50 Alessandro Moreschi - Ave Maria 1904 Edison cylinder
• 51:50 36 - signal (from the album "Hypersona")
• 53:00 Sub Loam - ohr (part 3) stones, sunlight, morning (from the album "Ohr")
• 55:50 William Basinksi - dlp 3 (from "The Disintegration Loops")
• 1:00:00 end

gravity

I have been very busy this summer and I haven't had time to even think about a new mix.  So it's perfect timing that I have a new guest mix to present.

"Gravity" is a fantastic new mix by Jason O'Gorman.  Jason did a mix called "Satellite" for us in March of last year.  I really enjoyed that mix & was always hoping he'd do another and here it is.

About the mix, Jason says...

"Think I'll call it "gravity", my head's stuck into plenty of books about quantum mechanics, parallel universes and all that at the moment - so gravity fits - or does it? :-p LOL. The vast majority of the tracks are fed through lots of reverb and eq feedback - giving a nice wash of sound during the crossover stages of the mix, therefore "blurring" the boundaries, so to speak. And I've selected tracks which are pretty much "in key", or work musically. Suffice to say, Im pretty happy with the final result :-)"

I think everyone will be happy with the final result.   One look at the tracklist & I knew it was going to be good then I heard the long, wonderful segues & I was hooked.  Jason added this about the segues & start times...

"One thing, the track times listed - are the times they start, that doesn't necessarily mean you'll "hear" them at that time, but they're there, creeping in. Sometimes they're are 4 tracks playing together -  the transitions are pretty long!"

Enjoy!

t r a c k l i s t :

• 00.00 Like The Foot Prints Of An Invisible Man - Jasper TX & Anduin
• 00.20 A Box of Wood in the Storm - Jasper TX
• 05.00 Excerpt 2/3 - ww.lowman
• 05.10 Cosmos 1 - Murcof
• 08.30 Pillar - David Daniell
• 11.40 Everything Disappears In A Tunnel Of Light- Jasper TX & Anduin
• 15.20 In a Stony Place - Mira Calix
• 18.45 Still Upon the Ocean Floor - Loscil
• 20.00 Invocation - Gregg Kowalsky
• 20.10 Auf der Gasse - Stephan Mathieu
• 23.15 Stele - David Tagg
• 28.00 Mulm Og Mørke - Mulm
• 31.40 Untitled 3 - William Basinski & Richard Chartier
• 35.10 Opening Sky - Steve Roach
• 37.00 Nocturne - Stephan Mathieu + Taylor Deupree
• 37.30 Pictures from Airplanes - David Tagg
• 41.45 The Sirens - St. Kilda
• 45.40 Filitosa - Melodium
• 47.15 A Stop at the Chord Cascades - Tim Hecker
• 47.33 V - Gregg Kowalsky
• 49.15 Vi-Vii - Gregg Kowalsky
• 52.00 Monochrome 1 - Tu M'

I fell asleep at my desk making this mix

I listen to ambient music every night when I go to bed. I usually browse my recent acquisitions to find something for sleep music. There are a few recordings which get used more than others.

Two recent releases by Steve Roach get regular airtime here at Low Light Mixes. Last year's "A Deeper Silence" and this year's "Dynamic Stillness".

There was a time when I played Deeper Silence in the background all around the house everyday for a week. It created this strange feeling like I was on a spaceship. Mostly this 73 minute-long tune gets used for sleep music. The same goes for "Slowly Revealed" off of "Dynamic Stillness". I have fallen asleep to this track many times.

Another nighttime favorite...the "Beautiful Land of Nod" mixes from Mr. Asphalt Eden(aka - Brian Bieniowski). I played these two mixes quite a bit when I first downloaded them & still return to them often. I remember Brian saying he liked sleep music that seemed to rise & fall like breathing. It was that idea that inspired a mix that I did called "breathing music". I use this mix fairly often for drifting off to sleep.

This brings us to the new mix. I wanted to do a new sleep mix so I could incorporate the Steve Roach cuts. So I dumped some tracks to a portable hard drive, brought it to work & starting mixing in between "real work". I had 4 or 5 tracks laid down & I was listening to one of the transitions & literally fell asleep at my desk, hence the title of the mix. A lot of the tracks sound very much like each other which I guess is good in this case because one track stretches into another, in a long, trance inducing, ambient lullaby.  At 90 minutes, the mix is longer than most, but I thought the length worked a bit better for sleeping. Sweet dreams... T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    St. Kilda - You are in every dream
• 03:30    Steve Roach - Slowly Revealed
• 12:20    Scott Solter - Cypress Road
• 16:00    Stars of the Lid - The Kraut
• 23:30    Ashera - Fellini's Cat
• 28:30    William Basinski - 92982.1
• 33:20    Ten and Tracer - Falling asleep in sadness
• 36:40    Irezumi - Endurance
• 42:50    Jasper, TX - This Barren Land
• 47:30    Hammock - 3 sisters
• 51:15    Manual - Last Light
• 56:40    James Johnson - In then Out
• 1:06:00  Brian Eno - Discreet Music
• 1:15:00  Steve Roach - A Deeper Silence
• 1:30:00  end

Drone in Duality

My last mix was done for SubVersion and now Mick was kind enough to return the favor with a mix for Low Light Mixes. It's an excellent mix which Mick describes this way... "Drones In Duality" is the first in a series of mixes dedicated to Bridewell Gardens, which I visit every week to engage in therapeutic conservation and decorating work. The name is a reference to the double meaning properties of each track title, and the transference of a gesture in two different timeframes - before mucking in, and after a days' graft. For instance, Bibio's "Cherry Blossom Road" encompasses the ability to walk down roads adorned with flowers, to and from the bus trip to Bridewell, while "Sleep In The Eyes" identifies the product of doing much work on the premises, or getting cobwebs out on the journey in. Hammock's "We Will Say Goodbye To Everyone" nods to the friendly atmosphere I've encountered, and the desire to wish well each person I meet there. Pan American's "So That No Matter" curtails an extended metaphor for "so that no matter what problems I face, I can get through the day, with help from my friends and family". This is segued into Hakobune's "Realization At Dusk", which symbolises the enjoyment factor I weigh up the evening prior (getting sorted to make a stop) and heretofore the welcoming in of darkness (post-assignments and seeing everyone off). Oophoi's "Beyond These Skies" is the subsequent result of thinking forward, to what can be sentimental gold beyond nostalgic trifles. Then "Diamonds In The Sky" arrives to calm the listener: "They shine in the night / The diamonds in the sky / The sweet dreaming girl's paradise". "Softkiller" harks back to my relationship with the woman I've been so preocuppied with. Incomprehensible lyrics act as the undertow to ethereal guitar noodling and hushed chants. Grouper is juxtaposed with the grainy metamorphosising of Evangelista to end, "The Frozen Dress" a direct correlation to the freeze-frame behaviour of "Heavy Water / I'd Rather Be Sleeping". All in all, "Drones In Duality" is a 23-minute endeavour into fresh ground for me. There's lots of drones, granted, but these are counterbalanced with an accessibility from the vocals and brimming harmonies. Next up: "Time Heals All Wounds".

I Love the Rain

The transition from spring to summer brings two new mixes from Low Light Mixes central command. We've had a fair amount of rain lately so both mixes are "rain" mixes. Rain evokes so many memories & emotions, it's a great theme for mixes. Using field recordings really helps hold the mix together. I try not to over do it with the rain sounds, hopefully it works well. This first mix is a vocal mix, well mostly vocal, there are three instrumentals hiding in there. All the tunes have the word "rain" in the title. It was fun discovering tunes I did not know very well, like The Decemberists track & the cut from Susanna & The Magical Orchestra. The second rain mix is an instrumental mix and it will be posted over at the Subversion blog. Mick will be posting it there soon. And I will be posting a drone mix from Mick here at Low Light Mixes soon as well. I've also got a "sleep" mix in the works. DOWNLOAD : 77mb 40:00min I Love the Rain T R A C K L I S T : 00:00 Susanna & The Magical Orchestra - It's Raining Today 04:40 The (real) Tuesday Weld - I Love the Rain 08:37 Asche & Spencer - A Walk in the Rain 09:49 The Handsome Family - Famous Blue Raincoat 14:40 Daniel Lanois - Rain Weather 18:20 The Decemberists - Raincoat Song 20:40 Joe Purdy - I Love the Rain the Most 25:00 Oblong - Rain Over the Deverils 28:54 REM - I'll Take the Rain 34:15 Rivulets - Rain All Winter Long 40:00 end

Cinematica

I got the idea for this mix over at the Hypnos records forum. In the "Now Playing" thread, someone posted several entries in a row about listening to various soundtracks. Some favorites of mine, Cliff Martinez's "Traffic" & "Narc" and Clint Mansell's "The Fountain", were on the list. It got me thinking & listening to soundtracks for a week or two and this new mix, "Cinematica", is the result. There are 25 tracks in this mix, so it keeps moving pretty well I think. I realized after I was done that a few of the tracks appear in other low light mixes. Oh well, that's bound to happen with so many mixes and fewer and fewer brain cells. I would say my favorite soundtracks from the past 10 - 15 years would have to be "Solaris" from Cliff Martinez & "The Fountain" by Clint Mansell. I purposely used a lesser known Martinez cut from "Wicker Park" but one that had the same "Solaris" feel to it. Then of course I discovered that I'd already used the same cut in an earlier mix. Duh! This mix was easy & fun to put together so I'm sure I'll be doing another one in the future. Any suggestions for essential soundtracks that I should check out? T R A C K L I S T : 00:00 Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - The Proposition #2 (The Proposition) 02:00 Graeme Revell - Cue 34 (Until the End of the World) 04:10 Thomas Newman - Drive Away(End Title) (Lemony Snicket) 06:50 Cliff Martinez - What Shoe Size (Wicker Park) 08:05 Andrey Dergatchev - Port (The Return) 10:05 Max Richter - Shadow Journal (Valse Avec Bachir) 12:15 John Murphy/Chrales Gounod - Taxi(Ave Maria) (28 Days Later) 14:07 Mogwai - 7-25 (Zidane, a 21st Century Portait) 18:20 Clint Mansell - Death is a Disease (The Fountain) 20:40 Explosions in the Sky - From West Texas (Friday Night Lights) 22:26 Brian Eno - Always Returning (Apollo) 25:35 Corker/Conboy - First Crossing (3 Degrees Colder) 27:05 David Byrne - Canal Life (Lead Us Not Into Temptation) 29:20 Peter Gabriel - A Sense of Home (Long Walk Home) 30:50 Sigur Ros - #3 untitled (Hlemmur) 33:05 Andrey Dergatchev - Georgians (The Return) 35:13 Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson - Ars Moriendi (Children of Nature) 37:20 Philip Glass - Organic (Koyaanisqatsi) 42:10 Gabriel Yared & Underworld - Mending Things (Breaking & Entering) 44:20 Cliff Martinez - Helicopter (Traffic) 46:05 John Murphy - Red Dresses (28 Days Later) 46:43 Devotchka - The Winner Is (Little Miss Sunshine) 49:35 David Byrne - Dirty Hair (Lead Us Not Into Temptation) 52:06 Peter Gabriel - Passion Extras #4 (Passion) 53:55 James Newton Howard - I'm Listening (I am Legend) 55:45 Brian Eno - an ending(ascent) (Apollo, 28 Days Later, Clean, Traffic) 59:50 end

refuge

I was inspired by my daughter's mix cd's to do my own vocal mix. She does great mixes that I listen to in the car and I thought I'd do a similar one of my own. Of course the finished product is not as uptempo as hers. This being an ambient mix blog, most of the tunes are fairly quiet. There is no unifying theme here, other than I like these tunes. The Martin Grech tunes are from "March of the Lonely" which made it on my best of 2008 list. I could have put in a ton of David Sylvian tracks but ended up with just two. Hmmm, maybe I should do an all Sylvian mix someday. There are two new songs in there, "Another World" by Antony & the Johnsons and "Foreground" from the new Grizzly Bear. The rest are a mix of old & fairly new cuts. I did cheat a little bit by sneaking in one instrumental track. It's "Bell Toll by Daniel Lanois from his fantastic Omni series box. Somehow it just fit right. I also cheated on the graphic. I took an album cover by Dan Deacon and wiped out his title & put my own in. The pic just worked so perfectly with the title of the mix. I called the mix "Refuge" because I think of music as a refuge and this mix as an escape from from other crappy music...from work...from laundry...from the economy...from normal, crazy life. I hope this mix can be a refuge for you too. TRACKLIST: 00:00 Canyon Country - Dead or Dreaming 03:50 David Sylvian - Maria 06:15 Martin Grech - Kingdom 09:30 Sufjan Stevens - Holland 12:50 Grizzly Bear - Foreground 15:54 Antony & the Johnsons - Another World 19:35 Peter Gabriel - Father, Son 24:20 Roxy Music - Spin Me Round 28:50 REM - Star Me Kitten 31:45 Daniel Lanois - Bell Toll 33:00 David Bridie - Sad 36:30 David Sylvian - When Poets Dreamed of Angels 41:00 Martin Grech - Ashes Over Embers 46:30 P.G. Six - Lily of the West 51:35 Trespassers William - Love is Blindness 58:31 end