Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Best of 2007

There were some excellent releases in 2007, so I thought I'd feature some in a new mix.

My favorite ambient recording of the year was Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline. I know there are quite a few people who didn't care for the cd, but I love it. I like the more orchestral feel. I like that SOTL relies less & less on synths. A beautiful record.

My favorite vocal record was PG Six - Slightly Sorry. Snips from the Boomkat review..."a collection of quite unashamedly gorgeous 'proper' songs...'Slightly Sorry' is an album without tricks...'The Dance', the second track on the record - there's nothing necessarily modern about the song itself, it could have come out any time since 1969 and nobody would have batted an eyelid, but it's great music, pure and simple." I played this probably more than any other record this year.

As far as this mix is concerned, I pretty much stayed away from vocal tunes, with one exception in the middle of the mix. The mix opens with four drone tracks, including Paul Bradley, a new discovery thanks to the folks at the Hypnos forum. Some of his stuff gets a bit dark & dissonant for my taste, but his 2007 release "Chroma" features gorgeous, wide open drones. Th drones gradually giveway to piano based tunes which morph into electronics with a little beat then back to ambient to finish it off.

My full best of 2007 list follows the tracklisting for the mix. What were your favorite releases this year? Please leave some comments, I'd love to hear what you think.

Here's the mix...
Best of 2007


T R A C K L I S T :

  1. 00:00 - 04:30 Stars of the Lid - Even(out)
  2. 04:30 - 07:30 Paul Bradley - untitled #1
  3. 07:30 - 09:40 Adam Pacione - Warming Trend
  4. 09:40 - 15:30 Emeralds - arbole del tule
  5. 15:30 - 20:30 Alio Die & Luciano Daini - Crucibulum
  6. 20:30 - 24:24 Fennesz & Sakamoto - Aware
  7. 24:24 - 25:45 Library Tapes - Snowleaf
  8. 25:45 - 31:54 Dakota Suite - Because our lie breathes differently
  9. 31:54 - 35:20 Wes Willenbring - While my lungs fill with water
  10. 35:20 - 41:20 Sonmi 451 - Outer Shell
  11. 41:20 - 46:05 Kiln - Flycatcher
  12. 46:05 - 50:45 Rameses III - Theme 5
  13. 50:45 - 54:20 Meursault - Ivy
  14. 54:20 - 58:50 Alio Die & Zeit - Raag Drone Theory
  15. 58:50 - 06:20 Taylor Deupree - Landing
  16. 06:20 - 10:45 Tim Hecker - Norberg
  17. 10:45 - 14:30 Northern - Cinema
  18. 14:30 - 19:53 Stars of the Lid - Even if you're never awake

B E S T O F 2 0 0 7
  • Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline (kranky)
  • Alio Die & Luciano Daini - End of an Era (hic sunt leones)
  • Alio Die & Zeit - Raag Drone Theory(hic sunt leones)
  • Tetsu Inoue - Inland (fax)
  • Taylor Deupree - Landing (room40)
  • Adam Pacione - from stills to motion (infraction)
  • Paul Bradley - Chroma (twenty hertz)
  • Emeralds - Allegory Of Allergies (gods of tundra)
  • Fennesz & Sakamoto - Cende (touch)
  • Northern - Drawn (infraction)
  • Tim Hecker - Norberg (room40)
  • Rameses III - Honey Rose ( important)
  • sonmi451 - probes & prisms (u-cover)
  • Meursault - Sleeping Debris (students of decay)
  • Wes Willenbring - Somewhere someone else (Aquarius Records)
  • Library Tapes - Sketches (make mine music)
  • Kiln - Dusker (Ghostly Int'l)
  • Iron & Wine - The Sheperds Dog (sub pop)
  • Trespassers William - noble house ep
  • various - Box of Dub (soul jazz)
  • Once - soundtrack (columbia)
  • Canon Blue - Colonies (Rumraket)
  • Dakota Suite - Waiting for the dawn to crawl through and take your life (glitterhouse)
  • P.G. Six - Slightly Sorry (Drag City)

12 comments:

Tom Critchlow said...

This looks lovely! On the download now :-)

Unknown said...

Thanks Dave,

Looks great as ever, some fine picks for 2007.

Greetings from London!

Nick

Anonymous said...

Great list as always. I'm still working on mine ... probably be done with it next week!

David said...

Nice! I also liked the more orchestral feel of Stars of the Lid. It's beautiful. Will definitely check out Paul Bradley and PG Six too. My Best-of-2007 is in the making. It's hard work, I'll tell you. I'll give your mix a go, and thus undermine the completion of my own list once again. Thanks...

v.chungath said...

keep going!!!
i've been downloading your mixes
for sometime now..and your selections
rock!!!

Low Light Mixes said...

Hey everybody,

Thanks for the feedback and thanks for a great 2007. It still just kills me that there are people in other parts of the world listening to these mixes.

I've got a few ideas for new mixes, now it's just a case of finding the time.

Peace(ambient peace) to all this holiday season,

Dave

David said...

Alright, my Best-of-2007 list is up and running, check it out:
www.ljudlandskap.blogspot.com
Happy holidays Dave! The mix was bliss, by the way. Keep 'em coming.

Anonymous said...

Your mix was great!
Have a listen to The Funeral Album by A Journey Down The Well. I think it is one of great albums of 2007

Anonymous said...

superb as ever (my fave of yours is the stars our destination but they all "rock")
oh i'm from manchester england

Low Light Mixes said...

Thanks again for the nice comments. Hopefully I'll have a new mix to post soon. Been too busy with homework lately...my kids homework, not mine.

El Hector said...

Beatiful selection, great download
Thx

Anonymous said...

Just stumbled across this - what a cracking mix, thanks so much.

Cheers

Matt