Sunday, October 18, 2009

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.


D o w n l o a d : (right click/save as) 81mb, 59:22
Beyond this window



T R A C K L I S T :

6 comments:

Petersen said...

A beautiful mix, Dave. I like it very much.

Cantino said...

this mix is so good! totally just stumbled upon this. love the kirby, tagg, and baker. wanted to contact you to send you our record that's out next month because i feel it fits perfectly with the theme of this mix. couldn't find an e-mail but check this out if you're interested, or maybe just send me an e-mail. http://www.mediafire.com/file/zzwmnc42n1x/Saudade - Lookouts' Journal (ARRCO, 2009).zip

La Fint' said...

brillant selection!

Andi said...

Very nice mix, thanks very much. I especially enjoyed the last quarter of an hour; Hatakeyama is great and I will be checking out the Volcano Choir album as soon as my eMusic subscription updates!

one technical question: do you use equipment for mixing that will allow you to vary speed and therefore pitch? I just noticed one or two of the crossovers (especially piano ones) were slightly off key which I would fix by pitching one of the records up or down.

of course, if that's a feature, please tell me to shut up. I'm glad you're doing the mixes and doing the work to put them out there, I know how hard that is to persist in.

best wishes

Andi

Low Light Mixes said...

Andi,

Thanks for your nice comments.

The main program I use for mixing does not allow for varying pitch. It's a straight forward mp3 mixer. I have another program that does do some pitch shifting but I've never used it in a mix. Mostly because I don't trust my own ears to make the proper adjustments.

Thanks again for listening.

Harry Towell said...

Hi! I wrote a short review about this mix on my blog, which is largely about Ambient music too...

It is between two Ambient mix blogsites that I am to attribute my intense obsession with this mellow, relaxing and lazy style of music that we call Ambient. One is The Hydrogen cafe and the other is Lowlight Mixes. Both provide long form mixes of sublime and gentle ambient music that got me hooked on this whole idea of Ambient music and made me want to find out more and eventually come to start writing my own material and exploring my own ideas. Mixes are a different experience to albums, E.Ps and tracks in the way they collaborate many different artists work together as a collage for the ears. The true talent of course lies within the individual artists' works, but the ability to assemble a mix of these works in a tasteful and ordered manner is an artform within itself. Here, Dave from Lowlight Mixes assembles his latest offering, including electro-acoustic pieces, drones dark and light, delicate piano pieces and underscoring field recordings. He's put together several classic mixes over the months and years but I think I shall be giving this a regular listen on long walks or periods of rest when I have time to soak into this wonderfully programmed listening experience.