A glitch in time

Sometime around 2001 I discovered the album Tides by Arovane.  I'm not sure if it qualifies as "post-digital" or "blip hop" or "micro" music but it was through that album that I began a brief love affair with the style of music known as "glitch."

I have always loved electronic & ambient music but at the end of the 1990s I had lost interest in berlin style electronics and mostly listened to straight ambient.  But with the emergence of glitch, and it's use of complicated beats, noise and samples, I found a new rhythmic electronic music to dive into.

The biggest purveyor of glitch music back then was the Mille Plateaux label.  With their Click & Cuts series they introduced me to a whole new range of sound in music.  There is definitely a lot of music from that time period that, while interesting, could become annoying as well.  I'm not a fan of loud and aggressive glitch.  I definitely am more in tune with the sort of stuff put out by 12k.

Over time I grew tired of much of the glitch scene and the never ending little pops & clicks & wee little sounds intruding on the music.  Although I still enjoy much of 12k music.

Recently I was organizing some of my collection & revisited some old glitch material.  I found that I am still very fond of some of it.  I started collecting tracks for this mix and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

So this mix is a little step back in time to the early 2000s.  A small glitch in the passing of time to when glitch ruled, for me anyway.

Btw, I made the clock gif myself!  Woo hoo!  Can't wait to try more.

Enjoy.


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T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Arovane - Tides (2000)
• 04:45    Carpet Musics - Phone Lines (2001)
• 08:24    Clickits - No Clickedy (2003)
• 11:35    Xela - Impulsive Behavior (2002)
• 15:30    offthesky - Down the Stream (2005)
• 20:50    Shuttle358 - I'm Not Afraid (2003)
• 25:05    Twerk - From Brown to Green (2003)
• 29:55    Jan Jelinek - Facelift (2003)
• 34:55    Bexar Bexar - Kt (2002)
• 38:30    Christopher Willits - The Seaweed Machine (2003)
• 40:45    Christian Kleine - Several (2002)
• 47:15    Arovane - Ambelio (1999)
• 52:20    Shuttle358 - Calty (2000)
• 57:11    end

A glitch in time by Lowlight on Mixcloud

Movement & Location - music for biking

This mix is completely different from anything that I've posted here.  It's not ambient, or electronic or Sunday morning jazz.  This is music for motion.

This is a mix I made last summer to listen to while biking.  I liked it so much that I added some new tunes this year and made it longer.  All of the songs have a propulsive, forward-moving feel to them.  There are some oddball choices in there but generally most of the music would fall under the heading of indie rock.  Artists include Yacht, Vampire Weekend, Japandroids, Lord Huron, Rural Alberta Advantage, Jonathan Boulet, Underworld, Shearwater, Givers, etc.

I like the fact that it's 2 hours long so I can go out on an hour long ride and still have enough left for the next ride.  The mix also works well on a treadmill.  I wanted to post this before now so anyone who downloads it hopefully can make good use of it before summer disappears.

Enjoy.


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T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Patrick Watson - Blackwind
• 03:45    Punch Brothers - Movement & Location
• 06:45    Willy Porter - Breathe
• 10:15    Mumford & Sons - Little Lion Man
• 14:09    Givers - Up up up
• 18:30    Jinja Safari - Mermaids
• 22:22    Benny Goodman - Sing, Sing, Sing
• 27:20    Mother Falcon - Dirt Summer
• 30:35    The Killers - Human
• 34:30    Yacht - Utopia
• 37:30    Shearwater - Animal Life
• 40:55    The Rural Alberta Advantage - Tornado '87
• 44:32    Matt & Kim - Don't Slow Down
• 47:33    The Boxer Rebellion - Organ Song
• 50:50    Lord Huron - Time to Run
• 55:20    Underworld - Dark & Long
• 1:02:15    Tilly And The Wall - Heavy Mood
• 1:05:20    Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Can't Hold Us
• 1:09:35    Vampire Weekend - Unbelievers
• 01:12:55    Jonathan Boulet - You're a Animal
• 01:16:20    Underworld - Downpipe
• 01:23:30    Jens Lekman - An Argument With Myself
• 01:27:10    Kate Bush - Cloudbusting
• 01:32:10    Jon Hopkins - Open Eye Signal
• 01:39:52    Avett Brothers - Kick Drum Heart
• 01:42:30    Jonathan Boulet - Mangle Trang
• 01:45: 55   Japandroids - The House that Heaven Built
• 01:50:35    The Rural Alberta Advantage - Barnes' Yard
• 01:52:48    Vampire Weekend - A Punk
• 01:55:00    Andrew Bird - Fitz and the Dizzyspells
• 01:58:20    faltyDL - She Sleeps
• 02:02:38    Talking Heads - This Must Be The Place
• 02:07:31  end

Under Eno's Covers

At the suggestion of a listener/downloader I set out to do a mix of ambient covers.  Not so easy.

But I did find a bunch of Brian Eno cover tunes.  Some I was familiar with, Bang on a Can & Sakamoto, but many of the others were new discoveries made by cruising the web. 

The mix starts with probably the most covered Eno tune - An Ending (Ascent), from Apollo.  The cover of that song comes from a new album by Icebreaker & BJ Cole which covers the entire Apollo album.  It's excellent and any Eno fan will definitely enjoy it.

About a third of the way through the mix, the tunes shift to a few vocal songs. I wasn't sure at first if I wanted go this route but the more I listened to these vocal covers the more I liked them.  From there we switch back into ambient mode.

I think this turned out pretty well and makes for a nice change of pace in the land of Low Light Mixes.

Enjoy.


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T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Icebreaker & BJ Cole - an ending (ascent) ii
• 03:50    Teen Daze - Always Returning
• 07:55    Dan Piccolo - Music for Airports 1.1
• 13:30    Bang On A Can - Music for Airports 2.1
• 17:30    Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto - By This River
• 21:15    Ida - Golden Hours
• 25:35    Irene Coco & Giovanni Sala - And Then So Clear
• 29:00    St. Vincent - Some of Them are Old
• 31:55    Unknown - Spider & I (ona banjo ukulele)
• 33:15    Band On A Can - Music for Airports 2.2
• 38:00    Doron Diamond - Music for Airports 1.1 (acoustic)
• 41:15    AcousticLabs - And Ending (Ascent) (solo guitar)
• 45:00    Icebreaker & BJ Cole - Drift
• 47:45    Nathan Fake - Music for Airports 1.1
• 53:00    Ryosuke Tomita - Becalmed (acoustic)
• 56:52    end

Under Eno's covers by Lowlight on Mixcloud

New Marconi Union

I love Marconi Union.  I have ever since their first album , Under Wires and Searchlights.  So I like to notify folks any time they have a new release.

Their new record is Anomic, which they recorded with Jah Wobble.  As with all MU music this is another fine album.  I stink at reviewing music so I'll just let the sample below speak for itself.

You can buy it here...
30hertz records

Marconi Union website here...
MU

BTW, a couple new mixes coming very soon.

Fixed links

Just a quick note to say that I fixed a bunch of bad links to old mixes.

Anything earlier than Feb of 2009 was questionable.  So I went back & re-linked the mp3s.  Hopefully everything is in place.

Some of the really old files are hosted on Mediafire & hopefully those are still good.  If not please let me know so I can correct it.  Someday I'll replace all those old mediafire links with podbean links.

I've started using cinemagraphs for the pix on some posts.  I love the look of a good, subtle cinemagraph.  Do they work?  I know sometimes certain browsers don't load animated gifs well.  So if they don't work I'll stop using them.  Maybe I'll try to make my own someday.

infinite ambient

I usually keep different folders of music for different types of mixes.  I have a "sea" folder.  And one called "dub & stuff."  Another is "piano."  And of course several "Sunday morning" folders as well.

The folder for this mix was called "just plain old good ambient."  And that's a pretty darn good description of this mix.  There's no special theme or concept other than the fact that these cuts are all excellent ambient tunes.

The mix has a classic sound, classic feel.  However, only one track is old - that's the Aphex Twin song.  I love how the cuts flow together, making it a perfect mix for sleeping if you use these mixes like I do.  I can also see listening to this while sitting on the front steps watching the sun set(unfortunately now instead of my nice farm across the street I have a subdivision of McMansions :(

Five or six of the tracks in this mix came from Bandcamp, which I love for buying music & discovering new things via collections.  I really have to control myself when I'm on that site or I'd be spending all sorts of money.  My collection there is not really that large, partly because I really don't buy as much ambient music as I used to.  If you're interested, here's a link to my Bandcamp collection... Dave's Collection

Enjoy the mix!


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T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Marsen Jules Trio - Œillet Parfait
• 04:34    Harold Budd - Jane 8
• 09:20    Caught in the Wake Forever - Chopin's 2 Nocturnes op. 48 no. 2 in F sharp minor
• 11:22    Taylor Deupree - Shutter
• 16:45    Aphex Twin - stone in focus
• 23:00    Dakota Suite - Things We Lost Along the Way (Loscil remix)
• 27:20    Maps & Diagrams - Utgores
• 29:15    Infinite Coil - Transmit 2
• 32:40    Unrecognizable Now - Two Rooms - One
• 39:50    Wouter Veldhuis - Side-effects of diversity
• 44:00    33 Bowls - Morning
• 46:00    Slow Dancing Society - After Twilight Takes Us
• 50:40    Ten and Tracer - By Twirling the Strong History
• 56:35    Cyber Zen Sound Engine - Mottomo Kodokuna Basho
• 1:00:00    end

Infinite ambient by Lowlight on Mixcloud

a leaf on the wind - field recordings & ambience 2013

The title pretty much says it all - this mix is a field recording mix.  I think I've done 3 field mixes in the past but haven't done one in a long time.  So I thought it was time for another sonic exploration.

The track that got me thinking about doing a new field mix was "El Divisader" by Chris Watson from the excellent "El Tren Fantasma" album.  Really a phenomenal track.

The mix starts with some church bells that I slowed down & messed with, then we get the Chris Watson track and from there the mix uses a variety of artists a field recordings to make an interesting(I hope) journey through various sonic landscapes.

I'm not going publish a formal tracklist because there is just too much stuff going on to keep track of. There are lots of other sounds and recordings mixed through out this collage.  Some are mine, some are just random things I found.  I hope it all flows well together.


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This is a list of the artists, and approximate times, that have tracks appearing for more a few seconds:

03:35  Chris Watson - el divisadero
10:30  Forrest Fang -  home in exile
15:00  Vangelis - Nocturnal Rain
18:00  David Chapman - an east wind through bomb ballistics and lab 2
21:00  Collin Thomas - blackjack afternoon
31:30  Moniek Darge - solstice sample
35:00  Rapoon - Melancholic Songs of the Desert
38:30  Chris Dooks - For Wolfgang Voight
40:00  Field Rotation - watermusic
45:20  Simon Scott - sealevel.6
50:00  Chris Dooks - Sola
53:45  Linda Aubry Bullock - near

There are lots of other sounds and recordings mixed through out this collage.  Some are mine, some are just random things I found.  I hope it all flows well together.

Enjoy.

A leaf on the wind - field recordings 2013 by Lowlight on Mixcloud

Sunday Morning Music - 1970s Recollections

More Sunday morning music - this time all the tracks are from the 1970s.  In collecting these cuts I discovered two albums that I somehow missed - Kraftwerk - Ralf & Florian and Cluster - Sowiesoso.  I have plenty of Kraftwerk & Cluster in my collection but I didn't have those two albums &  they are both wonderful.  So thanks to Matt for suggesting those two records.  Also thanks Matt for suggesting the Nue! track.  That one was "new" to me and it fit perfectly.  

I know the Nick Drake tune was technically not the 1970s but I had already fallen in love with it & put it in the mix before I realized that it was released in 1969.  Oh well.  

I went back and forth about using the Ralph Towner cut.  It's a bit too pretty, almost new age-like, but I used to love that song.  Along with Eberhard Weber, Towner's Icarus was my introduction into the wonderful world of ECM records back when I was in college.  So I had to include it for nostalgia sake.  I'm glad I did because it really is a beautiful tune.

I wasn't able to squeeze in all of the great suggestions from listeners so I'm definitely going to have to do a second mix with this theme.  I really want to work that Kris Kristofferson tune into the next one.  And I didn't get a chance to work in Josh's suggestions of electronic library music.  I sought out the Monkman album & it's so cool, it just has to be included next time.  Too many good tunes left on the cutting room floor!  I better get started on the next mix.

Enjoy.


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T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Kraftwerk - Heimatklange[1973]
• 03:31    King Crimson - Peace a Theme[1970]
• 04:40    Nick Drake - Riverman[1969]
• 08:50    Cat Stevens - The Wind[1971]
• 10:22    Ralph Towner - Icarus[1974]
• 16:27    Nue! - Leb Wohl[1975]
• 24:50    Cluster - in ewigkeit[1976]
• 31:25    Miles Davis - Recollections[1970]
• 38:25    Kraftwerk - ananas symphonie[1973]
• 45:30    Brian Eno - Julie With[1977]
• 50:30    Eberhard Weber - Moana I[1976]
• 55:22    Genesis - Horizons[1972]
• 56:55    Loudon Wainwright III - Lullaby[1973]
• 59:45    Steve Tibbetts - The Secret[1977]
• 04:25    Heldon 2 - In the Wake of King Fripp[1975]
• 08:30    Brian Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain[1974]
• 13:20    end

Sunday Morning Music - 1970s Recollections by Lowlight on Mixcloud

Infinite Coil

This is just a quick post to bring attention to a fine ambient release that you can find on Bandcamp.

The recording is transmit by infinite_coil and it's a wonderful example of guitar based ambient.  I've been using this as sleep music for the last week or so, works perfectly.

The music comes to us from Tom Lindsey, the curator of the excellent Spaceman's Transmissions mix blog.  You can also find Tom's mixes on Mixcloud here... tonepoet.

Tom also has a recording he did with a friend under the name harmony & decay.  It's on Bandcamp as well & is definitely worth downloading.  I'm sure I'll be working both of these recordings into future mixes.

Enjoy.

Sci Fi Adventures - All These Worlds

The good folks over at Nocturne Records asked me to do a mix for their podcast.  They put out some great music so how could I resist!

Most of the time with my mixes I'll stumble upon one or two tunes that spark an idea.  In this case I rediscovered an old electronic album that I had in college. It's a compilation called Music from the 21st Century.

That album got me thinking about science fiction music, whether it's music used in sci-fi or just tunes that sound like they should be in a sci-fi film.

This mix uses two tracks from the 21st Century album along with several other old electronic cuts.  A couple of those older cuts are from another college favorite, Synergy - Cords.  I loved that album back then & still go to it occasionally for a nostalgia hit.  The whole album definitely has a sci fi movie soundtrack sort of feel to it.  The mix isn't totally old electronics, there is also some newer material mixed in. 

Enjoy.



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T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Vangelis - Blush Response
• 04:00    Synergy - A Presuming to be Modern I
• 06:50    Richard Pinhas - L' Ethique
• 11:20    Lights Out Asia - All These Worlds are Yours
• 13:15    The Black Dog - Lounge
• 14:15    Frank Comstock - On the Dark Side of the Moon
• 16:00    Michael Garrison - Escape (music from the 21st century)
• 18:20    Synergy - Disruption in World Communications
• 22:00    David Bowie - Abdulmajid
• 25:10    Elf Machine - Evolutions Arrow
• 29:00    Underworld & John Murphy - Capa Meets the Sun
• 30:45    Vector Lovers - Girl + Robot
• 32:50    Maps & Diagrams - Skynet
• 35:30    Bruce Courtois - Inside the Black Hole (music from the 21st century)
• 37:10    Vangelis - Longing
• 38:35    Solar Fields - Blue Moon Station
• 45:00    Cliff Martinez - First Sleep
• 47:30    Rena Jones - The Problem of Time
• 49:50    Schengen - Me n' U
• 50:30    Lopside - To the Point of Obscurity
• 55:50    Vangelis - Fading Away
• 59:00    end 

 
 
 

Sci Fi Adventures Vol. 1 - All These Worlds by Lowlight on Mixcloud