Low Light Mixes: May 2023

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

The Lonely Orbit

A few months ago I stumbled across two tunes called "Lonely Satellite" & "The Lonely Orbit." Those titles intrigued me and I thought they would make a great theme for a mix. I started collecting tracks, not knowing when the mix would come to fruition.

Then this past week I heard the new album from Alva Noto called "Kinder der Sonne (From "Komplizen")" and I knew immediately that I had to make this mix. I could have included 4 or 5 tracks from the Alva Noto album but Mixcloud only allows a maximum of 3 songs from one album. I ended up using two cuts.

As usual the mix leans heavily on new tunes, with 11 of 18 tracks from 2020 - 2023. That includes the two "lonely" cuts that started this whole thing.

Funny side note - there has been a lot construction in my neighborhood lately and as I was putting the mix together I would hear the beeping of a backhoe reversing or some other truck backing up. It got to be annoying because sometimes I couldn't tell if the beeping sounds were from the music or the construction outside. Haha!

Links to all the music used in this mix:

Cheers!

[ s t r e a m ] [ d o w n l o a d ] [ a p p l e _ p o d c a s t s ]

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00 Alexandre Navarro + Letna - Psamathe (Redfish 2013)
03:15 Alva Noto - Kinder der Sonne(Intro) (Kinder der Sonne (From "Komplizen") 2023)
06:15 xu - this illusory continuity (slicing space-time into objects 2022)
07:55 Scanner - Wing Pinger 02 (Wing Pinger 2021)
09:14 Loscil - Estuarine (Endless Fall 2010)
17:10 Lunar Testing Lab - Lunar Radio Control (Space Debris - Space Transmission 2008)
18:17 Hainbach - Izmir (Voice Magnetic 2023)
19:40 Brian Eno - Cavallino (The Shutov Assembly 1992)
22:20 Saros Sky - Lonely Satellite (Ambient Oceania 2021)
25:47 Loscil - Bipolar, Pt. 2 (Lifelike 2019)
28:57 Hans Zimmer - Atmospheric Entry (Interstellar 2014)
30:17 Steven Price - Aurora Borealis (Gravity 2013)
31:22 Alva Noto - Die Untergründigen (Kinder der Sonne (From "Komplizen") 2023)
39:18 Peter Kvidera - Popping (Verism 2022)
44:30 State Azure - Prism (As The Dawn Fades 2023)
50:23 Brian Eno - Kazakhstan 4 (Kazakhstan 2023)
55:12 Aethernal - The Lonely Orbit (Exile 2022)
58:49 arovane - laap (gestalt 2020)
60:30 end

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Between Interval: Instrumental gems (mostly) from 70s rock - by Paul Asbury Seaman

Two guest mixes in a row - I am a lucky guy! This one comes to us from LLM regular contributor, Paul Asbury Seaman. It's a great collection of instrumental tracks that, as the title says, leans heavily on music from the 1970s.

My brain has been stuck in the 70s for a while as I collect tunes for the Electronic Music of the 1970s series(1971 is coming soon). So I was excited about the coincidence of Paul coming up with a 70s(mostly) mix. Some tracks I was familiar and others I was hearing for the first time, which is the wonderful thing about these guest mixes - they go in directions that I would not have taken them. This one turns into a great journey of nostalgia and discovery.

Here's what Paul has to say about this mix:

“Something old, something new. Something cheerful, something blue. Some great instrumental tracks that might have slipped between the cracks. So, no “Colour My World.” Yes to Black Sabbath. Plus a couple of mellow vocal numbers, chosen for their melodies that were just too pretty to leave out. The selections here span more than fifty years, though most are from the 1970s.

The title of this mix comes from the working name (one of my all-time favorites) of Swedish ambient electronic artist Stefan Jonsson.”

Thanks, Paul, for another excellent set. Cheers!

[ s t r e a m ] [ d o w n l o a d ] [ a p p l e _ p o d c a s t s ]

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00 Agitation Free - First Communication (2nd 1973)
05:57 Jeff Greinke - Losing Time (A Thousand Year Flood 2023)
11:23 Between Interval - Portals in Time (The Edge of a Fairytale 2009)
14:38 Vangelis - Love Theme, Blade Runner (Nocturne: The Piano Album 2019)
20:35 Mike Oldfield - Incantations - part four(excerpt) (Incantations 1978)
24:50 Pierre Moerlen's Gong - Faerie Steps (Time is the Key 1979)
30:10 Moody Blues - Visions of Paradise (In Search Of The Lost Chord 1968))
34:15 Genesis - Horizons (Foxtrot 1972)
35:50 Rick Wakeman - Summertime (Rhapsodies 1979)
40:08 Neal Schon - Midnight Express (Electric World 1997)
45:15 Iron Butterfly - Slower Than Guns (Metamorphosis 1970)
48:53 Black Sabbath - Laguna Sunrise (Vol. 4 1972)
51:37 Ian Anderson - Boris Dancing (The Secret Language Of Birds 2000)
54:40 Pink Floyd - It's What We Do (The Endless River 2014)
59:50 Bill Frisell - Bird On A Wire (Here It Is: A Tribute To Leonard Cohen 2022)
63:35 end

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

In Praise of the Saddest Chord

What is the saddest in chord in music? I didn't know there was such a thing until Peter van Cooten, of Ambientblog fame, told me about his new guest mix. He searched his collection for tracks that are all in the key of D minor and put them together is this amazing mix.

Here is what Peter says about the mix:

"Could this be ‘the saddest mix of all time’? I don’t think so myself, I would rather call it melancholic – in a pleasant way. But it’s a fact that all of these tracks are in D minor (Dm), which is said to be ‘the saddest chord.’

“The D minor chord (often written as Dm) is a chord that evokes a sense of melancholy and contemplation on the negative side of situations. Like many other minor chords, Dm can create a heavy, serious atmosphere — and sometimes even creates an almost otherworldly sense of drama.”

There are many ambient moments, but (like most Ambientblog mixes) this is not a pure ‘ambient’ mix, since it includes many ‘post-classical’ strings and piano moments.

One advantage of selecting fragments based on the chord is that the tracks are selected regardless of the release year. Which feels like ‘as if time were the easiest thing to walk’ (The Dwindlers)."

In typical Peter van Cooten fashion, there are a lot of tracks squeezed into this hour-long mix - 33 of them. And because they all revolve around Dm, they flow together perfectly.

To download the mix go to https://www.ambientblog.net/ or better yet check out the mix on Mixcloud - STREAM ON MIXCLOUD

T R A C K L I S T :

Start time - Sample length - Artist - Title - Album Title - Year - Label

00:00 0:38 Erik K Skodvin & Rauelsson - The Return

A Score For Darling, 2018,Sonic Pieces

00:30 4:47 Erik Wøllo & Michael Stearns - Ruins Of The Past

Convergence, 2020, Projekt

03:49 2:19 Zoviet France - Amber Rose Hand

The Tables Are Turning, 2013, Soleilmoon Recordings

04:40 2:28 Monolake - Allure Publison

Archaeopteryx, 2020, Imbalance Computer Music

05:56 2:42 Mark Tamea - Tower Ch1 Rearranged

Five Augmented Locations (Vol. 1), 2014, EQ:RA

06:51 3:52 Trans Alp - Gymnopédies No.1

Après Quatre Pièces D'Erik Satie, 2013, Camomille Music

09:32 1:59 Luc Ferrari - Presque Rien No. 2 Ou Ainsi Continue La Nuit Dans Ma Tête Multiple

L'Oeuvre Électronique, 2009, INA-GRM

10:14 2:15 Madeleine Cocolas - And Then I Watch It Fall Apart

Spectral, 2022, Room40

10:40 03:53 Chihei Hatakeyama & Good Weather For An Airstike - Lost In The City

Falling Sun, 2014, Rural Colours

12:42 3:26 Luke Howard - The Closing Of The Gates (with Budapest Art Orchestra)

All Of Us, 2022, Mercury KX

15:01 3:55 Jacob Kirkegaard - Chasm Chant

Pod Tune, 2018, Not On Label

16:20 5:19 Mendel Kaelen - Light Of Nature

Remembering What Was Forgotten, 2010, Self-released

20:12 4:33 Jon Hopkins - How I Live Now

How I Live Now OST, 2013, Just Music

24:02 2:37 The Dwindlers - Dekuji Praha

Beautiful Unfamiliar, 2019, self-released

26:04 2:13 Simon Fisher Turner - Nanda Devi

The Epic Of Everest, 2013, Mute

27:26 1:51 Jeremiah Cymerman - From The Metaphysical To The Trancendental (for Bill Smith)

Citadels & Sanctuaries, 2021, 5049 Records

28:52 1:40 Don Hill (with Blast Theory) - WRGO (Lunar Lander)

WRGO (What's Really Going On), 2019, self-released

29:48 4:54 Roger Eno & Brian Eno - Obsidian

Mixing colours, 2020, Deutsche Grammophon

34:09 3:17 Mike Lazarev - When You Are

When You Are, 2022, Slowcraft Records

36:37 4:11 London Docks - Violin Improvisation - La Lluvia

Tangaróa, 2014, self-released

38:47 3:43 Agate Rollings - 1.12 AM - On The Fingers Of A Heat Which Is Burning Out

Meantime/Elsewhere, 2021, Midira Records

41:31 3:52 Gareth Davis - Stone

Souvenirs Van De Woeste Grond, 2014, Esc.Rec

41:38 2:11 Endless Melancholy - Broken

An Introduction To Soft, 2014, Soft Recordings

44:21 1:57 Arve Henriksen - First Life

Chron, 2012, Rune Grammofon

46:12 5:01 Ketil Bjørnstadt & Svante Henryson - Reticence

Night Song, 2011, ECM Records

48:09 1:26 Loscil - Ma.Org (Seque) Re.Mx

Ma.Org Pa.Git.Re.Mx, 2015 Crónica

48:11 2:36 Ben Lukas Boysen & Sebastian Plano - Glacial Sunbeam

Everything, 2017, Erased Tapes Records

50:38 2:54 Anne Chris Bakker - Droesem

Reminiscences, 2014, Dronarivm

52:51 01:23 Greg Haines - Birthday Scene

Touched 3, 2016, Touched

53:26 1:01 Clara Engel & Bradley Sean Alexander - Sleeps Again

Ghost Bird, 2021, Polar Seas Recording

54:26 1:42 Eleni Karaindrou - Adagio

Concert in Athens, 2013, ECM Records

55:59 1:49 Hans Zimmer - The One

Dune OST, 2021, WaterTower Music

57:31 4:00 Voces8 - Ola Gjeillo Still (Arr. Lawson)

Infinity, 2021, Decca Classics

Wednesday, May 03, 2023

Remember Tomorrow V.2

This is a repost of an old mix from 2009. The is a retro synth mix with a sort of old space program vibe. I realized that I'd never posted it to Mixcloud so I thought I would haul it out of space dock and update it with a few more cuts added to the end. It's great to hear tracks from Freescha, Lunar Testing Lab, Bochum Welt and others for the first time in a long time.

Enjoy this trip backward and forward in time.

Cheers!

[ s t r e a m ] [ d o w n l o a d ] [ a p p l e _ p o d c a s t s ]

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00 Countdown from "Lunar Adventure in 1985"
00:13 Belbury Poly - Adventures in a Miniature Landscape
02:00 The Units - Cowboy
06:05 Harmonic 33 - Departure Lounge
10:30 Lunar Testing Lab - Lunar Radio control
11:30 EU - New Osc's
13:00 Boards of Canada - Wildlife Analysis
13:50 Freescha - The Sun is Still
16:00 Lunar Testing Lab - Orbiting Lunar Observatory
16:40 TRS-80 - moon Patrol
22:30 David Bowie - V2 Schneider
25:10 Bochum Welt - interlude
28:25 Lunar Testing Lab - Phantom Cosmonaut
30:50 Signaldrift - Children of the 70's
32:20 Harmonic 33 - Planet 54
35:50 Frank Comstock - Music from Outer Space(when you wish upon a star)
37:50 Boards of Canada - Nova Scotia Robots
38:50 Bernard Szajner - A Kind of Freedom
41:30 Talvihorros - A Rural Place
43:35 David Bowie - Weeping Wall
46:20 Michael Garrison - Escape (Music From The 21st Century 1986)
48:42 Iguana Moonlight - V (WIld Palms 2017)
53:06 Stratis - By Water (Soul Jazz Records presents Space, Energy & Light 2017)
58:27 Chris Carter - Moon Two (Chemistry Lessons Volume 1 2018)
60:47 end