Turning Hopeful

This is the perfect mix to close out 2018 and look forward to 2019. "Turning Hopeful" has a more hopeful, positive vibe than most of my mixes. Which is why it should be no surprise to find out that it was curated by the one and only Paul Asbury Seaman.

I like working together with Paul because he takes mixes in slightly different directions than I usually do. These collaborations bring a nice breath of fresh air to this 12 year old mix blog.

Here's what Paul says about this mix:

"This mix features melodic ambient tracks with a hopeful feeling, including some early New Age classics guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Also, brand new tracks from Byron Metcalf and Remote Vision, a solo project of Don Tyler (Ascendant). The theme was inspired by the title song from John Hiatt’s 1988 album, “Slow Turning.” Redemption means turning from one way of being to embrace another, a recurring process, fueled by hope."

Thanks Paul, in 2019 I hope we can all turn hopeful.

Cheers and Happy New Year!



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T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Scott August - New Horizons(Radiant Sky 2010)
• 06:09    Jan Garbarek - In Praise of Dreams(In Praise of Dreams 2004)
• 11:24    Ulrich Schnauss - Knuddelmaus(Far Away Trains Passing By 2001)
• 17:54    Kitaro - Caravansaray(India 1983)
• 22:08    Richard Burmer - The Turn Again(Bhakti Point 1987)
• 27:12    Mark Isham - On The Threshold Of Liberty(Vapor Drawings 1983)
• 34:20    Vic Hennegan - Aqua Donna(Aqua Vista 2008)
• 40:30    Erik Wøllo - Wind Journey 2(Wind Journey 2001)
• 45:25    Oystein Sevag - Miles Near(Link 1993)
• 47:00    Vangelis - Hymn(Themes 1989)
• 49:37    Detlef Keller - Last Step(Harmonic Steps 2005)
• 53:30    Remote Vision - The Glittercliff(Into Light 2018)
• 59:34    Byron Metcalf - A Naturally Occurring Heart(Inner Rhythm Meditations, Vol. II 2018)
• 68:37    end

Best Non-Ambient of 2018

As hard as it is to keep up with the flood of ambient/electronic releases every year it's equally as difficult to stay on top of my indie feed.

This list is fairly eclectic going from prog rock of King Crimson to the pop of Janelle Monae. From Appalachian folk in Mountain Man to the noisey, distorted album from Low.

Check out some of the artists in this list and let me know some of your favorite releases from 2018.

Cheers!


B E S T  O F  2 0 1 8:
1. Damien Jurado - The Horizon Just Laughed
2. Frank Turner - Be More Kind
3. Low - Double Negative
4. Khruangbin - Con Todo El Mundo 
5. Decemberists - Be My Girl
6. Dobet Gnahore´ - Miziki
7. Mountain Man - Magic Ship
8. Wye Oak - The Louder I Call
    The Faster It Runs
9. Lo Moon - Lo Moon
10. The Low Anthem - The Salt Doll...
11. Angelique Kidjo - Remain In Light
12. Amen Dunes - Freedom
13. Dead Horses - My Mother the Moon
14. Big Red Machine - Big Red Machine
15. Rival Consoles - Persona 
16. Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer
17. Snail Mail - Lush
18. Brazilian Girls - Let's Make Love
19. La Luz - Floating Features
20. Beach House - 7
21. Wooden Ships - V.
22. Joni James - Musical Moments
       to Remember
23. Waxahatchee - Great Thunder
24. Versio Curs - How Are You
25. King Crimson - Meltdown
26. Tom Gallo - Tell Me the Ghost
27. Geotic - Traversa
28. Phosphorescent - C'est La Vie
29. Noname - Room 25
30. Skinshape - Filoxiny
31. Jon Hopkins - Singularity
32. Frank Bretschneider - Lunik
33. Various Artists - The Power
       of Latin Music

Best of the Rest - Ambient 2018

Right after I posted my Best Ambient of 2018 mix I started diving into a bunch of other year end lists. Of course I discovered some excellent releases that I would have included in my mix/list if I had known about them in time. I found enough music that I decided to create a second Best of 2018 mix.

I could probably make a third mix but I've got to stop sometime. What were your favorite recordings of 2018?

2019 is just around the corner and it will start with a mix curated by the very talented Paul Asbury Seaman.

Cheers!



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 T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Francis Harris - St. Catherine and the Calm(Trivial Occupations)
• 12:00    Luca Longobardi - Marte(The Garden)
• 17:38    Off Land - Zircon(Mineral Echoes)
• 26:40    Kenji Kihara - Sunny Spot(Scenes of Scapes)
• 31:50    Innesti - In Currents(In Currents)
• 39:45    Umber - Harvest(slow)(This Earth To Another)
• 48:55    Cremation Lily - Outlined Expanse(In England Now, Underwater)
• 53:12    Okomotive / Joel Schoch - Warmth in the Cold(Lone Sails)
• 56:10    James Murray - Old Friend(Falling Backwards)
• 61:20    The Gentleman Losers - Bend Low, Sweet Branch, Bend Low(Make We Here Our Camp Of Winter)
• 65:53    Okomotive / Joel Schoch - Bridge(Lone Sails)
• 67:13    Spheruleus - Saturday Drones(Saturday Drones)
• 77:44    end

Ambient Xmas

Even though Christmas music has gotten more interesting than Dean Martin and Bing Crosby, there is not an awful lot of ambient Christmas music out there. So I've only attempted an xmas mix one other time and it was just okay. Until this year.

Thanks to a wonderful album from Matt Borghi I decided to give a holiday ambient mix another shot. Matt's album is called simply - "Ambient Guitar for Christmas." 

https://mattborghi.bandcamp.com/album/ambient-guitar-for-christmas

And it's exactly what it sounds like - slow, ambient guitar with tons of reverb playing recognizable tunes that drift in and out of recognizability. From there everything else flowed pretty easily with a combination of classic xmas tunes to winter and snow songs.

Cheers and Happy Holidays!



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T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Matt Borghi - The First Noel(Ambient Guitar for Christmas)
• 03:40    Fuzzy Lights - Snowstorm in a Snow Globe
• 06:12    Dollboy - Look Darling, It's Starting to Snow
• 08:22    Clem Leek - Away in America
• 14:40    Rachel's - NY Snow Globe
• 17:00    Voces8 - Winter
• 20:15    The Green Kingdom - Sleep, Snow
• 28:20    Casino vs Japan - Christmas Morning
• 28:43    Matt Borghi - Shchedryk
• 31:35    Wil Bolton - Coventry Carol
• 33:54    Bill Nelson - The Christmas Gift
• 35:05    Sara and Adam - Wonderful Christmastime
• 38:35    Takahiro Kido - Christmas Song
• 44:04    Helios - Sunes Christmas
• 47:52    John Zorn - Christmas Time is Here
• 52:22    Voces8 - For Now I Am Winter
• 56:40    Matt Borghi - Silent Night
• 69:00    end

Best Ambient of 2018

As much as I like end-of-the-year lists, I also get a bit anxious about them. As I compile them I keep thinking that I've missed something. Then as I'm re-listening to albums I start thinking "Is this one really that good?" and "Maybe this one deserves a slot...or this one...or this one..." Eventually I realize that these lists aren't anything definitive that I'll be judged on. Unless there's an ambient god in ambient heaven who will let me in or cast me out based on a lifetime of music choices. In that case I will pay for having listened to so much Enya in the 90s. ;-)

So after that meandering introduction, here is my Best of 2018 list and mix. As you'll see, the list is longer than the mix. That's mostly due to not wanting a 4 hour mix and also to some stuff just not fitting sonically. 

It was another good year for music. Between my ambient/electronic fandom and my continued obsession with indie music, I barely have time to breathe sometimes. I'll post some links to Spotify playlists that kept me going this year.

In alphabetical order, here's the list of my favorite ambient albums of 2018:

1. A Strangely Isolated Place - Full Circle
2. Albrecht La'Brooy - Tidal River
3. Christina Vantzou - no. 4 
4. Dean McPhee - Four Stones 
5. Delia Derbyshire Appreciation Society - Wow and Flutter 
6. Eli Keszler - Stadium
7. Frank Bretschneider - Lunik
8. From the Mouth of the Sun - Sleep Stations
9. G. B. Beckers - Walkman
10. GiGi Masin - kite
11. Halftribe - For The Summer - Or Forever
12. Helios - Veriditas
13. Hibernis - Middle of the Meds
14. Joseph Shabason - Anne
15. Kasper Bjorke Quartet - The Fifty Eleven Project
16. Khruangbin - Con Todo El Mundo
17. Klangriket & Sjors Mans - The Amsterdam Sessions
18. Leon Vynehall - Nothing Is Still
19. Lost Tribe Sound - We Stayed The Path That Fell To Shadow
20. Luton - Black Box Animals
21. Markus Guentner - Empire
22. Monty Adkins - Empire
23. Ocoeur - Inner
24. Olafur Arnalds - Re;member
25. Rival Consoles - Persona
26. Robert Davies - Elemental Shimmer
27. TAYLOR DEUPREE - Fallen
28. The Advisory Circle - Ways of Seeing
29. Triac - departure
30. William Selman - Musica Enterrada

And here's the mix:

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T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Leon Vynehall - From The Sea It Looms(Nothing is Still)
• 04:12    The Advisory Council - The Soft Dissolve(Ways of Seeing)
• 07:20    Ocoeur - Mother(Inner)
• 12:50    Halftribe - Balm(For The Summer-Or Forever)
• 16:07    Helios - Harmonia(Veriditas)
• 19:30    Delia Derbyshire Appreciation Society - She Brought The Sun(Wow & Flutter)
• 26:28    Klangriket & Sjors Mans - Prinsengracht(The Amsterdam Sessions)
• 31:47    William Selman - The Island Before The Internet(Musica Enterrada)
• 36:11    Eli Keszler - Which Swarms Around It(Stadium)
• 38:46    Taylor Deupree - The Lost Sea(Fallen)
• 43:51    Need A Name - Road to Berlin(A Strangley Isolated Place - Full Circle)
• 49:00    William Ryan Fritch - Burrow(Lost Tribe Sound - We Stayed The Path That Fell To Shadow)
• 53:24    Olafur Arnalds - Undir(Re;member)
• 58:15    Frank Bretschneider - Optik(Lunik)
• 1:01:28    Kasper Bjorke Quartet - Os(The Fifty Eleven Project)
• 1:12:48    Rival Consoles - I Think So(Persona)
• 1:16:58    Markus Guentner - Refraction(Empire)
• 1:25:20    Christina Vantzou - No. 4 String Quartet(no. 4)
• 1:28:02    Robert Davies - Tangled Undergrowth(Elemental Shimmer)
• 1:35:28    Monty Adkins - Empire(Empire)
• 1:41:31    Triac - departure three(departure)
• 1:45:32    Luton - Ice Museum(Black Box Animals)
• 1:49:22    G.B. Beckers - Klandschwaden(Walkman)
• 1:54:19    Albrecht La'Brooy - Datbreak(Tidal River)
• 1:59:24    end

And here are some Spotify playlists in case you're interested:

Mixcloud Select

I've been posting mixes to this blog for over 12 years. Yikes!  And I have been sharing these same mixes on Mixcloud for 9 years. Yikes again!  

The Mixcloud community has really grown. I'm proud to be a part of that growth. So I'm very excited to announce that I am a Mixcloud Select Creator.

Mixcloud Select is the new way to connect Creators with their biggest fans. Subscribers directly support me, plus the music and artists I play.  Subscribers can listen offline, get upfront tracklists, unlimited playback and more exciting features in the near future.

I'm not sure how many of the folks that regularly visit this blog also hang out at Mixcloud. But if you like these mixes and you like the community that has developed at Mixcloud and you'd like to support me and the music I play the please consider heading over to my Select page and subscribing.


mixcloud.com/lowlight/select


Thanks!

The Dreamer Descends - InSight Lands on Mars

After six months of travel from Earth, NASA's InSight spacecraft is on a precise trajectory to land on Mars. If all goes well it should be touching down on the surface of the red planet about 6 hours after this mix is initially posted.

The tracks for this mix have all been selected to tell the story of InSight and its journey to Mars. The track titles take us chronologically from Farewell, O Earth to Between Two Worlds to Arrival to Descent to Landing to Sunrise on Mars.

Godspeed InSight!

Cheers!



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T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Murcof & Vanessa Wagner - Farewell, O World, O Earth
• 07:15    Warmth - Insight
• 14:50    Moon Wiring Club - Between Two Worlds
• 15:52    Rival Consoles - Untravel
• 21:10    Johann Johannsson - Arrival
• 23:27    Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Mars
• 27:05    Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Mars Theme
• 28:40    Ohrwert - Angle of Incidence
• 30:05    Pye Corner Audio - Descent
• 31:15    Steve Roach - The Dreamer Decends
• 35:30    Seabuckthorn - Blackout
• 38:08    Tonepoet & Cloudfall - Free Falling Through Life's Cavernous Atmosphere
• 43:25    Porya Hatami - Landing
• 45:25    The Future Sound Of London - The Dust Settles
• 48:25    Dirac - Elysium
• 51:56    Lights Out in Asia - All Is Quiet In The Valley
• 55:18    Heavenchord - Sunrise on Mars
• 60:13    Julien Marchal - Insight XIV
• 62:45    end

Breathe Deep

I work in TV news so as you can imagine with the midterm elections, wildfires, mass shootings, presidential tweets, etc., things can get pretty crazy. Sometimes you need to step back and take a breath. That's where this new mix comes in.

This collection is called "Breathe Deep" because all the tunes have a pace to them that sort of mimics breathing. In and out, back and forth, ebb and flow. It's similar to three other mixes I've done that follow the same path. This works very well as a sleep mix because it follows the slow breathing of a sleepy human(and dog).

Breathe deeeeeeeep.

Cheers!



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T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Helios - Mulier
• 06:25    Deepspace - Dark Dark Blue
• 14:25    Max Corbacho - Starlight Grace
• 20:12    Chequerboard - A Field of Night
• 26:07    Tonepoet & Cloudfall - A Recollection of Distances
• 34:08    Time Rival - Thorn Bird
• 40:04    Billow Observatory - Montclair
• 44:20    Steve Roach - Magnificent Gallery
• 52:45    Laraaji - Introspection
• 63:16    end

Shimmering Land

I have collaborated with Paul Asbury Seaman and several mixes and I look forward each and every one. Paul's mixes tend to be more ethereal, spiritual than mine and that's why I enjoy them so much. they take me on journeys I would go on otherwise.

They way Paul and I work on these mixes is he sends me his well thought out tracklist in order. Then I just mix them together so they flow well. Essentially, Paul does all the heavy lifting.

So here is our latest collab - Shimmering Land. Paul had this to say about it:

"Meg Bowles is one of the few (prominent) female artists working in the ambient/electronic genre. She has only released five albums, including Evensong earlier this year, seven years after her last one, so there’s cause for celebration. All her albums are top-notch ethereal/soothing journeys similar to the tracks by other artists featured here. This mix includes a beautiful piece by Deborah Martin from her recent compilation."

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Cheers!


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T R A C K L I S T :
00:00    Meg Bowles - Into the Gloaming (The Shimmering Land 2013)
08:25    Sherry Finzer & Tom Moore - Infinite Space (Whispers From Silence 2016)
14:30    Alio Die - Radiance Revealed (Time Zone Portal 2017)
22:25    Ishq - Scielienta (Lyght 2018)
27:30    Jeff Greinke - High Flyers of the Night Sky (Before Sunrise 2018)
35:50    Meg Bowles - The Forgotten Valley (From the Dark Earth 1999)
42:55    Zero Ohms - Glimpsing the Eternal (Process of Being 2014)
55:00    Deborah Martin - Blue Lake (Selections 2018)
61:10    bvdub - Rainless [R]ivers (A Different Definition of Love 2018)
72:07    end

Shadowland Diaries

I stumbled upon the song "Was The Singing Bellowing" by Eli Keszler while listening to Spotify at work and I immediately knew I wanted to make a Halloween mix. The tune creates this great odd feeling without being too dark.

As I have stated here before, I'm not a fan of dark ambient. Especially the dissonant, droney kind of dark ambient. So when I've made Halloween/dark mixes before they have tended to be more off kilter than straight up dark. This mix leans more towards acoustic arrangements than electronic. It also leans heavily on new music with all but 3 or 4 songs having been released in 2018.

Grab a bowl of candy, a Dead Guy Ale and sit on the front porch with this mix blaring from the speakers as you wait for the trick-or-treaters to show up.

Cheers!


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T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Eli Keszler - Was The Singing Bellowing
• 03:25    Luton - Step Into The Void
• 06:25    Gamardah Fungus - Actus Fidei
• 11:52    Christine Vantzou - Doorway
• 17:18    Seabuckthorn - Blackout
• 19:55    Grouper - Wind & Snow
• 23:15    Sarah Davachi - Evensong
• 26:26    Spheruleus - I Could Live Here
• 29:33    The Caretaker - Advanced Plaque Entaglements
• 30:55    High Plains - The Buttes
• 35:05    Fred Frith - No Birds
• 37:00    Ólafur Arnalds - Before the Calm
• 38:00    Tim Hecker - Boreal Kiss 3
• 39:25    Wil Bolton - A Garden Lost
• 42:25    Peter Gabriel - In Doubt
• 43:38    Luton - Black Concrete
• 48:25    Peppermoth - Underground
• 52:25    Stars of the Lid - F*cked Up 3:57am
• 57:25    From the Mouth of the Sun - Risen, Darkened
• 61:38    end

mental medication

My hometown baseball team, the Milwaukee Brewers, had a fantastic finish to close the regular season. They captured the central division title and are now in the playoffs. I am loving every minute of it but it's also stressful as heck! I am definitely too old for this kind of roller coaster ride.

I went to the first two games of the playoffs and between standing for half the game, clapping on every pitch, screaming my head off and the adrenaline rush of close games, I am exhausted! I don't know if I'll last the whole post-season.

So I figured I needed a little "mental medication" and came up with this mix. It's even more soothing than my normal ambient mix. This is music for meditation. Music for contemplation. Music for concentrating...on destroying the Dodgers. Oops! See that's exactly why I need this mix. Haha! This mix actually is a meditative type of mix that you could almost play in a spa. If that spa was way cooler than a normal spa and it played good music.

Cheers and Go Brewers!



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T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Sonmi451 - Angel
• 05:22    Bengalfuel - Arcs
• 09:40    Julia Rovinsky - An Arc of Doves
• 15:40    Ruven Nunez - As Above, So Below
• 26:05    The Heart is Awake - Ec
• 30:35    Spheruleus - Saturday Drones
• 37:35    Hiroshi Yoshimura - Clouds
• 42:30    Alex Crispin - Rosewater
• 47:00    Raul Lovisoni & Francesco Messina - Prati Bagnati Del Monte Analogo
• 58:45    Eternell - Resting On The Surface Of A Stream
• 74:30    Ruven Nunez - As Below, So Above
• 96:00    end

Memories are an old film

The idea for this mix came from a track by Andrew Sherwell on his wonderful new album, Orthodox Tales, released by the excellent label Whitelabrecs.





The song, "And the Smoke of the Incense," starts off with the sound of a film projector. That sound is strangely evocative and I love how it sounds in that cut. After hearing that tune I created a folder called "My Life is an Old Film" and I would occasionally toss in similar sounding tracks. Eventually I collected enough cuts for a mix and decided to change the name to "Memories are an Old Film."

Many of these tracks have a bit of noise and scratchiness that one would associate with an old 8mm film. I added a few film projector sound fx here and there to continue the vibe.

Cheers!



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T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Andrew Sherwell - And the Smoke of the Incense(2018)
• 03:15    L. Pierre - 1948 part 2(2017)
• 08:45    Ghost And Tape - Eostre(2017)
• 13:25    Luton - Spectres of Mark(2018)
• 15:38    Masaya Kato - Desensitization(2018)
• 18:05    Max Richter - Old Song(2004)
• 19:55    The Caretaker - Synapse Retrogenesis(2018)
• 21:30    Parallelism - Tapes(2018)
• 25:30    Lusine - drip(2004)
• 27:25    Clem Leek - Rogers Park(2018)
• 30:50    Aaron Martin - Memories are Drifting Bells(2018)
• 32:15    Ashlar - Same Fate(2018)
• 36:15    Tape Loop Orchestra - Inner Voice(2018)
• 43:30    Time Rival - Carbon Fever pt. 3(2018)
• 49:55    Max Richter - Shadow Journal(2004)
• 52:10    The Caretaker - Advanced Plaque Entanglements(2018)
• 53:55    Kilchhofer - Nihic(2018)
• 57:41    Dakota Suite - De Ziekte Van Emile(2018)
• 61:04    end

Rivers & Roads

I'm not sure where this mix started but I've had a playlist on Spotify called "Rivers & Roads" for awhile. It's mostly acoustic, folk tunes dealing with, you guessed it - rivers and roads. I figured it might make for a nice change of pace.

The mix alternates between vocal tunes & instrumentals. All of which have the typical Low Light Mixes feel.  It also works nicely as a soundtrack for fall.

Easily my favorite song is the one from Damien Jurado. "Over Rainbows & Rainier" is from his wonderful 2018 album, "The Horizon Just Laughed." If you like this tune check out the rest of the album.

I hope everyone enjoys this vocal diversion. We'll be back to electronics soon.

Cheers!



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T R AC K L I S T :

• 00:00    Damien Jurado - Over Rainbows & Rainier
• 04:05    Explosions in the Sky - To West Texas
• 07:50    Nick Drake - River Man
• 11:52    Phil Cook - Old Hwy D
• 14:58    Neil Halstead - Sleeping on Roads
• 19:05    Phosphorescent - This Land is Your Land
• 22:30    Bill Frisell - Small Town 
• 23:25    Lowland Hum - Nightdriving
• 27:16    John Fahey - Sunflower River Blues
• 27:47    Adam Torres - Mountain River
• 30:52    M. Ward - Slow Driving Man
• 35:10    Clem Leek - Burlson,TX
• 37:38    Sun Kil Moon - Like the River
• 40:32    Western Skies Motel - Empty Rooms
• 44:05    Mountain Man - River
• 46:15    Gillian Welch - Apache Tears(reprise)
• 49:01    The Lumineers - Long Way From Home
• 51:27    Daniel Lanois - Dusty
• 52:45    Tallest Man on Earth - Rivers
• 56:30    A.A. Bondy - Highway Fevers
• 61:08    The Head & The Heart - Rivers & Roads
• 65:40    end