I remember the first time I heard the Daniel Lanois tunes From Eno's Apollo album, I didn't really care for them. I didn't like the pedal steel guitar. I absolutely hated country music back then and I associated the sound of pedal steel with country and nothing else.
Eventually, the tunes grew on me and I've come to love the sound of pedal steel guitar. I also came around on country-tinged music as I fell in love with indie-folk which can make great use of traditional instrumentation minus the pickups trucks, girls & booze of crappy country.
This brings me back around to pedal steel in ambient. There's not a ton of it out there but definitely enough for a good mix. There are four main practitioners of ambient twang - Daniel Lanois, Chuck Johnson, Bruce Kaphan and Chas Smith. I think they all have appeared in earlier Low Light Mixes. All four are in this mix as well as Eno/Lanois tunes, some oddball selections, and some YouTube recordings. Many of the tracks here use an actual pedal steel guitar and some use lap steel.
Up next - synth sequencer heaven.
Cheers!
[ s t r e a m ] [ d o w n l o a d ] [ i t u n e s ]
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Brian Eno - Weightless
- 04:15 Bruce Kaphan - Outpost
- 11:55 Chas Smith - Santa Fe
- 14:00 Chuck Johnson - Balm of Gilead
- 21:05 Daniel Lanois - In Crystal
- 24:22 Will Van Horn - Aphex Twin - Avril 14 on pedal steel
- 26:18 Joe Carolino - Ambient drone with lap steel & guitar
- 32:53 Youth - Lotus Rhubarb(Colliding Sky Whale Dub)
- 34:18 The National Pool - Solace
- 36:15 Ryan Lutton - Ambient Improv XXIII
- 39:03 Brian Eno - Deep Blue Day
- 42:28 Xploding Plastix - Ritalin For Four Pedal Steel Guitars
- 49:05 Chuck Johnson - Eye on the Sparrow
- 55:42 Brian Eno - Last Step from the Surface
- 59:31 end
I'm not sure exactly where this mix started. I heard a few tunes that had a wistful, almost melancholy feel to them and began collecting tracks.
The result is this new mix of mostly modern classical music but with a good dose of electronics and atmospherics. Most of the music is new with 10 of the 15 tracks from 2019. I think this mix would also work well as a soundtrack for fall.
Cheers!
[ s t r e a m ] [ d o w n l o a d ] [ i t u n e s ]
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Glåsbird - Isbjørnøya(Svalbarð 2019)
- 04:44 Halftribe - Maybe(Backwater Revisited 2019)
- 07:40 William Ryan Fritch - Time Curves So Subtly(Deceptive Cadence 2019)
- 10:56 Slow Meadow - You Felt Like Home(Those Who Rush Across the Sea 2018)
- 15:12 Caminauta - Almost Home(Fragments 2018)
- 21:12 Emanuele Errante - Old Summer Afternoons(This World 2019)
- 25:56 36 - Lahaina Noon(Healing Sounds: A Compilation for Hurricane Recovery 2019)
- 28:39 Sven Laux - Being Too Optimistic(The Writings 2019)
- 35:05 Christoph Berg - Coda(Day has Ended 2013)
- 38:45 Dakota Suite - Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You(What Matters Most 2018)
- 42:22 Dan Romer & Saul Simon MacWilliams - Goodbye Lizard Island(Chasing Coral 2017)
- 45:37 James Murray & Mike Lazarev - Living Treasure(2019)
- 48:57 Loneward - Memories Past(Home 2019)
- 56:02 Porya Hatami & Aaron Martin & Roberto Attanasio - Xakelewe(Sallaw 2019)
- 65:33 Mikael Lind - Ending WithThe Beginning(Contingencies 2019)
- 69:54 end
Two years ago I did a mix called "A Distant Pulse" which featured a lot of tribal ambient sounds. I've been meaning to do a sequel and now it's here with "A Rhythmic Passage."
What finally got the ball rolling for a new mix is a new album from Louigi Verona called "Nocturnal Creatures." Recommended by my ambient collaborator, Paul Asbury Seaman, the album is similar to classic Steve Roach tribal albums. But the drum sound is huge with deep, booming low end to shake your speakers and rattle the windows. Add in some drones and subtle arpeggiated electronics and you've got an excellent album.
The rest of the mix is a collection of old(Tibbetts, Craig Leon, Biosphere) and new(Spheruleus, Pike, Keszler, Kilchhofer, Selman) tunes.
Enjoy the rhythms. Cheers!
[ s t r e a m ] [ d o w n l o a d ] [ i t u n e s ]
T R A C K L I S T :
- 00:00 Louigi Verona - Darkening(Nocturnal Creatures 2019)
- 07:38 Biosphere - Ancient Campfire(Shenzhou 2002)
- 09:50 Byron Metcalf - A Perfect Place(Inner Rhythm Meditations 2016)
- 18:18 Dino Sabatini - And It All Ends Here(Omonimo 2016)
- 22:30 Steve Tibbetts - Full Moon Dogs(The Fall Of Us All 1994)
- 27:37 William Selman - The Island Before The Internet - Borne's Snail Mail Shimmer(Interpretations Vol II - Musica Enterrada 2018)
- 36:10 unknown - Cloudless(2007)
- 41:20 Laurence Pike - Holy Spring(Holy Spring 2019)
- 44:25 Eli Keszler - Fifty Four To Madrid(Stadium 2018)
- 47:36 Craig Leon - One Hundred Steps(Early Electronic Works 2014)
- 51:20 Spheruleus - Intercoastal(Light Through Open Blinds 2019)
- 53:55 Benjy Wertheimer & John de Kadt - Underwater(One River 2012)
- 61:01 The Heart Is Awake - Os(Echosphere 2017)
- 64:25 Kilchhofer - Leng(The Book Room 2018)
- 71:23 end
