Low Light Mixes: May 2024

Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Focus on Tranquility

Time for some fresh ambient tracks. This is a simple, straightforward mix featuring all very new music. These new tracks work very well together to create a nice, flowing listening experience. There's not much else to say other than enjoy the peace and tranquility.

Links to all the music used in this mix, although the Braulio Lam album & the einwandeins album have not been released yet so you'll have to keep your eye on Bandcamp for those releases.

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 David Cordero - Segunda Generación (Abstract Lights 2024)
01:30 Ancient Astronaut - A Long Way (Expanding Flows 2024)
05:38 Runaway Horses - House in the Woods (Recollected in Tranquility 2024)
09:20 Feeling Flying - Shimmer 7 (Feeling Flying 2024)
13:18 The Green Kingdom - Arcadian Skies (Arcadian 2024)
18:40 anthéne - second guess (stray light 2024)
23:21 Vagantpoesi - Music Plays Flowers Bow (Unmetrical 2024)
26:33 Braulio Lam - XR 50 (Redscale 2024)
31:18 einwandeins - revolt of silent reverie (revolt of silent reverie 2024)
41:08 Ghostloop & Atmøsphäre - Forgotten Memories (Exosphere 2024)
45:14 Loneward - Submerged (Beyond the Sea Part Two 2024)
57:48 Jogging House - Reporter (Rendezvous 2024)
62:20 end

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

More Train Tracks by Paul Asbury Seaman

I love getting a sequencer mix from Paul! I don't seek out Berlin school, sequencer based music very much anymore which is strange because I really enjoy it when I hear it. But I don't need to seek it out because I know the best sequencer music researcher - Paul Asbury Seaman. And he regularly provides me with my Berlin school fix.

Every track included in this mix is top notch sequencer bliss. I knew a few of the artists but most are new to me which is why I love these mixes. Paul turned me on to Gert Blokzijl earlier this year so it cool to a track from him in the mix. And also nice to see a couple of tracks from Frank Dorittke (F.D. Project). There will be a track featuring Frank's guitar in an upcoming guitar mix.

Here are Paul's thoughts on this mix:

"In the U.S., Memorial Day marks the traditional start of summer. So a good time for another train mix to stir your holiday dreams. This one favors rhythmic continuity over musical diversity, so while fast-paced, should still have a relaxing, even hypnotic effect. My guiding image was long-distance high-speed rail, with lots of time for drifting thoughts as you glide through the endless European lowlands, across the rice fields of Japan, or the open prairies of the US and Canada.

In that spirit, this extended-length mix gives the longer tracks (mostly in the second half) time to stretch out as they were intended.”

Thanks for the great tunes, Paul.

Here are the 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 F.D.Project - Harmonie in Space (F.D.Project Live 2004 Electric Visions)
04:40 State Azure - Valkyrja (Valkyrja 2024)
18:00 Nuell Martin - Dreams of Motion (Assemblage - Dreams of Motion 2023)
24:37 Side Liner - We Stand Up Together (Missing Pieces Of A Puzzle Vol. 6 2024)
29:00 Gert Blokzijl - Wide Fields 1 ( Wide Fields 2020)
35:42. Robert Rich - Salamander Quay (Medicine Box 2001)
42:50 P'Faun - Sequencer improvisation (sp'roque 2018)
54:00 Ascendant - Unveiled Sky (Starfall 2024)
1:01:12 Transponder - Starlane (Starmaps, Vol. 1 2022)
1:08:52 John Christian - Fragrant (Jerechoes 2023)
1:22:25 La Mansarde Hermétique - Lo-Fi Ponyhof (THE ATTIC DIARIES- Episode 7 2024)
1:34:47 F.D.Project - ATMOS - Two Faces (ATMOS - Two Faces 2024)
1:48:26 end

Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Khôra - Grammars Of Emanation

We've had more guest mixes than usual the last 6 months and that is a great thing because it means we all get to hear some amazing music and amazing mixes like this one.

This new mix comes from Matthew Ramolo, who records as Khôra. There is a new Khôra album that just dropped in April called "Gestures of Perception" and is described this way - "The album weaves ritualized instrumentals with alien textures and resonant melodies, inviting listeners to transcend into uncommon consciousness."

You can find the new album here - https://khora.bandcamp.com/album/gestures-of-perception-3

I was unfamiliar with the music of Khôra, but one listen to the new album and I was all in for a guest set. This mix is so very propulsive, it draws you in and drives you forward with layer upon layer of rhythmic intensity.

Here's what Matthew says about this mix:

"This assemblage of material was selected primarily on the basis of substantiating the sonic and conceptual universes that my most recent Khôra release is in lineage with. The vast majority of the pieces presented are percussive or propulsive, but also circular in nature and in one respect I was seeking a fundamental rhythmic presence or energy among my troves of collected music that could be traced across various artists and presented as a single typology or modality that tenders itself in various guises through a cast of contemporary and historical voices. Functionally, the mix pursues a particular genealogy of percussive music across various genres, cultures, histories, technologies, and interpretations which initiates a kind of meditative dancing. Within the outline of this non-linear genealogy, ancient ritualistic and tribal tendencies flower within the unconscious regimes of the body even as the mind and body are provoked to find new appreciations and applications for these emboldening forms of musical intelligence which persist through time but are mutated, conditioned, and understood by the nuances of the listener and their temporal circumstances."

Thanks to Matthew for putting together this unique journey. His album is out on the Marionette label and you can find more of their fine releases here - https://marionettelabel.bandcamp.com/

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 Khôra - Flux and Hieroglyph (Gestures Of Perception 2024)
06:45 Cyclopean - Fingers (Cyclopean 2013)
12:21 The Dwarfs of East Agouza - Resinance (Bes 2019)
15:12 The Comet Is Coming - Journey Through The Asteroid Belt (Channel The Spirits 2016)
20:30 Muslimgauze - Caste the First Stone - (Salaam Alekum, Bastard 2020)
24:44 Love-Songs & Ulf Schütte - Dumpfes hämmerndes Dröhnen (Spannende Musik 2021)
29:29 Various - Radio Delhi #1 (Radio India: The Eternal Dream Of Sound 2004)
32:04 Uwalmassa - Belit (Malar 2022)
36:00 Kilchhofer - Karon ( The Book Room 2018)
39:28 De Leon - A2 (De Leon 2018)
44:44 Khôra - In Petrified Light (Gestures Of Perception 2024)
49:50 Joyfultalk - Kill Scene (Plurality Trip 2018)
53:42 Jon Iverson Meets Prins Emanuel, Golden Ivy & Inre Kretsen Grupp - Drum Steel (Jon Iverson Meets Prins Emanuel, Golden Ivy & Inre Kretsen Grupp 2023)
58:21 D.K. - Going Into Trance (The Goddess Is Dancing 2019)
1:04:15 Antonio Zepeda - Danzando en El Templo Mayor (Templo Mayor 1982)
1:07:30 23 Skidoo - Coup De Grace (Urban Gamelan 1984)
1:09:07 Holden - Blackpool Late 80s (The Inheritors 2013)
1:17:24 Autechre - known (1) (Oversteps 2010)
1:22:00 Stephan Micus - Passing Cloud (The Garden Of Mirrors 1997)
1:27:07 Tomaga - Idioma (Intimate Immensity 2021)
1:31:10 Shabaka - Ital Is Vital (Afrikan Culture 2022)
1:35:35 Roberto Musci - Claudia, Wilhelm R, and Me (The Loa Of Music 1984)
1:38:38 Khôra - Golden Femur (Gestures Of Perception 2024)

Wednesday, May 08, 2024

Top 20 Electronic Albums Of All Time

This was a tough list to compile. What criteria do I use? Influential albums? Ones I play the most? Critics favorites? Do I include ambient albums? Vocal albums? Oof, this was hard.

The list I came up with was sort of a bit of everything. All these albums are personal faves but I also couldn't help thinking about things from a historical standpoint. Also, I couldn't help but view them from a personal historical standpoint - such as albums that turned me on to a different style or sound(DJ Shadow, Underworld). Including a few vocal albums might be a bit controversial, I flip flopped on that several times but finally said screw it, it's my list and I can do whatever I want.

Of course there is also the question of what constitutes an "electronic" album? Some on this list are obviously electronic(Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk) while others are not quite as clear(Air, Postal Service). It would be easy to get pulled into that debate and end up like the "what is ambient music" debate. I decided that I would approach it the way Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart described his test for obscenity - "I know it when I see it." So I just went with whatever I felt worked.

A few other notes on this list - I like how the list spans five decades. I ended up with albums from every decade other than the 2020s. That just feels right. It also felt right to leave off strictly ambient albums. That genre can have it's own list.

I constructed the mix chronologically because it was easier that way and it's cool to listen to the tracks evolve over 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 Tangerine Dream - Stratosfear (Stratosfear 1976)
07:42 Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene part 1 (Oxygene 1976)
13:33 Kraftwerk - The Robots (Man Machine 1978)
22:12 Synergy - Phobos & Diemos Go to Mars (Cords 1978)
29:03 Roedelius - Wenn der Südwind weht (Wenn der Südwind weht 1981)
32:57 Tangerine Dream - Hyperborea (Hyperborea 1983)
37:09 Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 (E2-E4 1984)
45:25 Aphex Twin - Actium (Selected Ambient Works 85 - 92 1992)
52:37 Vangelis - Blade Runner Blues (Blade Runner 1994)
57:18 Underworld - Air Towel (Second Toughest In The Infants 1996)
1:04:43 DJ Shadow - Midnight in a Perfect World (Entroducing 1996)
1:09:34 Air - Le femme d’argent (Moon Safari 1998)
1:16:07 Boards of Canada - Roygbiv (Music Has The Right To Children 1998)
1:18:30 Plastikman - Consume (Consumed 1998)
1:23:00 Saul Stokes - Greys (Outfolding 2000)
1:27:00 Jan Jelinek - Drift (Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records 2001)
1:32:00 Yagya - Snowflake 3 (Rhythm of Snow 2002)
1:37:57 Postal Service - Brand New Colony (Give Up 2003)
1:42:06 Loscil - First Narrows (First Narrows 2004)
1:50:54 Jon Hopkins - Sun Harmonics (Immunity 2013)
2:00:00 end

Wednesday, May 01, 2024

Aboreal Ambient

I am a big fan of the ambient artist Robert Davies. You can find his music here... https://dataobscura.bandcamp.com/

Most of his music is connected to nature which you can see in the album titles such as A Distant Glade, Lakeside Haven, Earthen Burrows, Tide Pools, Forest Mosaic, and on & on. The tracks are immersive, pastoral ambient journeys that sometimes use subtle natural sounds mixed in with the synths. Highly recommended.

There was an album released in 2022 that reminded me of the music of Robert Davies by Atmøsphäre & Bålsam which was called "Arboreal." I set that album aside in a future mix folder with some of Davies' music and called it Arboreal. Yes, I know, very creative title. After collecting tracks I finally decided that spring was a good time to create an arboreal mix.

This set is very meditative with slow drifting synths and nature sounds already baked into the tracks. I like how the natural sounds are not obtrusive. They mesh perfectly with the music.

Here are the 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 Atmøsphäre & Bålsam - Blossoming (Arboreal 2022) [Atlantea Records]
04:10 Robert Davies - Fragrant Briar (Solitudes 2024) [DataObscura]
10:40 Daou - Fireside (Reverie 2023) [Lontano Series]
14:19 Ben Seretan - Cicada Waves 2 (Cicada Waves 2021)
20:53 Lee Anthony Norris & Porya Hatami - And The Birds Flew In A Different Direction (Every Day Feels Like A New Drug 2022) [Neotantra]
28:20 Mount Shrine - Forest Fire (All Roads Lead Home 2022) [Cryp Chamber]
34:04 Arborescence & Robert Davies - Bowing Stems (Coalescent Sketches 2022) [Hic Sunt Leones]
43:43 Gallery Six - Hogaraka (Richness of the Heart 2024)
47:27 Cloud Opacity - Noshine Coast (Imaginary North Transmission 004 2023) [Imaginary North ]
50:33 Robert Davies - Arboreal (Arboreal 2012) [DataObscura]
60:00 end