Low Light Mixes: March 2025

Saturday, March 29, 2025

Piano Day 2025

It's World Piano Day! I've made several mixes over the years for Piano Day and each time I wonder if I'll find enough tracks for an interesting mix. And every year it comes together and surprises me with how much I like the finished set.

This mix starts with a tune everyone should be familiar with - Eno's Music For Airports 1/2. This recording is by Bruce Brubaker from his fine EP - Eno Piano 2. To make things interesting I played two tracks from it simultaneously and I think it worked pretty well.

While collecting tracks for the mix I was happy to find a piano album from Daniel Lanois. It's from 2022 and I had no idea it existed. I'm a big fan of the Necks so I was also excited to use one of their tracks for the first time. At least I think I've never used their music in a mix before.

LINKS TO ALL THE MUSIC USED IN THIS MIX:

I hope you enjoy this latest installment in celebration of the piano.

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 Bruce Brubaker - Music For Airports 1/2 and 1/2 (Bows Version) played simultaneously (Eno Piano 2 2024)
06:28 Polaroid Notes - Invitation To A Ghost Seance (Quiet Rooms 2024)
10:53 Jon Hopkins - part viii - nothing is lost (Ritual 2024)
14:40 Tape Loop Orchestra - Voix Figées (PSALM019: Sabbat De Voix 2025)
20:10 Lawrence English - ETHKIBIII (Even The Horizon Knows Its Bounds 2025)
25:10 civic hall - II (the trembling line 2024)
28:12 H-M O - Full Circle (Bark up the Spirit Tree 2024)
33:12 Gallery Six & Lorenz Weber - Dialogue 1 (Distance 2024)
36:19 Duval Timothy - Go Without (Latency alla Villa Medici II 2024)
41:32 The Necks - Bleed (Bleed 2024)
46:25 Daniel Lanois - Sunday Asylum (Player, Piano 2022)
49:15 Ben Lukas Boysen - Prologue (Music for Falling Into Place OST 2024)
51:36 Oliver Patrice Weder - Into Pieces (The Shoe Factory 2024)
54:15 Thomas Lemmer - In The Glow Of Midnight (Dreamscapes 2025)
56:27 Max Richter - On the Nature of Daylight(Piano Ver.)(The Blue Notebooks 20 Year Edition 2025)
62:23 end

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

The Spirit of Talk Talk

Talk Talk is an interesting band. Their musical style evolved significantly over time, moving from synth-pop to a more experimental art rock and post-rock sound, particularly with the albums 'Spirit of Eden' and 'Laughing Stock'. I like every phase of their career but I especially love the album 'Spirit of Eden'.

Those last two albums have grown in stature and influence over the decades, inspiring countless musicians with their innovative use of space, silence, and unconventional song structures. It's no wonder that an ambient focused person like me would glom onto Talk Talk when you consider band leader, Mark Hollis's often-quoted sentiment about the importance of silence in music – "Before you play two notes, learn how to play one note... and don't play one note unless you've got a reason to".

Recently a favorite podcast of mine, Discord & Rhyme, dedicated an episode to 'Spirit of Eden'. It's totally worth a listen. You can find here - https://discordpod.com/listen/155-talk-talk-spirit-of-eden-1988

After listening to that episode I decided to make a mix of tracks with a 'Spirit of Eden' feel. I used a few tracks recommended by the guys in the podcast - Bark Psychosis, Van Morrison, and Mile Davis. And combined those with 7 other cuts that fit the vibe. I always knew that Rain Tree Crow/Sylvian/Jansen/Barbieri would be a perfect fit. I was excited to use one of my favorite albums of 2022 - 'The Great Awakening' by Shearwater. I had forgotten how much I love that record.

Are there any Talk Talk fans out there? What do you think of this collection of Talk Talk inspired tunes?

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 Steve Jansen & Richard Barbieri - Mother London (Stone To Flesh 1995)
05:52 Phil Clemo - Maze (Through the Wave of Blue 2024)
11:07 Bark Psychosis - Street Scene (Hex 1994)
16:20 Van Morrison - When Heart Is Open (Common One 1980)
22:33 Rain Tree Crow - Blackwater (Rain Tree Crow 1991)
26:44 Shearwater - No Reason (The Great Awakening 2022)
32:00 Tuxedomoon & Cult With No Name - Do It For Van Gogh (Blue Velvet Revisited 2016)
36:18 The Blue Nile - From a Late Night Train (Hats 1989)
40:01 Bed - The Whimps (The Newton Plum 2001)
43:10 Miles Davis - He Loved Him Madly (Get Up With It 1974)
62:37 end

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Metallic Memories

Another stellar guest mix comes our way with this excellent set from longtime listener, Daniel Hawkins. He reached with an idea for a mix and once I heard the theme I was all in. Daniel curated a playlist of tracks & I put them together to create this new mix.

Here's what Daniel has to say about Metallic Memories:

"So I've loved world music since before that term existed, and always had an inordinate fondness for the metallophones - gamelan, vibraphone, glockenspiel, Tibetan bowls - should we include tubular bells? Of course! I don't know if the kalimba and marimba are technically in the category, but they are in my mind. Wind chimes, tingshas, koshis, steel drum, handpan, gongs, avant-garde stuff done with trash cans and pipes - it's all good. This playlist leaves out a ton of music that Dave has covered over the years that is near and dear to me - but I wanted to do what he does so well - bring new artists to everyone's attention and still make a killer playlist. I'd thought for a looooong time about putting something together for Low Light Mixes and was so pleased with Dave's gracious response."

Thanks, Daniel, for this excellent collection of metallophone music!

Links to all the music used in this mix:

Tom Green - Music for Tai Chi

T. Raumschmiere

Peter Bark - Astral Ecotone

Ethereal Planes - Moonlit Passage

Willebrant - The Pilgrim

Snufmumriko - Havstrakt

Daniel Lentz - Lascaux

Brian Eno - 77 Million Paintings

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 Tom Green - Centre of your Circle (Music for Tai Chi 2012)
09:45 T. Raumschmiere - Grotznogg (T.Raumschmiere 2015)
13:45 Peter Bark - Bonfire (Astral Ecotone 2020)
18:12 Ethereal Planes - Moonlit Passage (Moonlit Passage single 2022)
25:55 Willebrant - Plateau(Into the Valley) (The Pilgrim 2021)
32:30 Snufmumriko - Skogar av tang (Havstrakt 2023)
39:45 Daniel Lentz - Lascaux (Missa Umbrarum 1991)
47:27 Brian Eno - 77 Million Paintings 1 (77 Million Paintings 2023)
53:08 end

Thursday, March 06, 2025

Fresh Ambient March 2025

This is one of those mixes without a theme. It's just a way to highlight some new ambient tracks from the first two months of the year, although I cheated and used two from the end of 2024.

I ended up using three tracks from the wonderful new label - Driftworks - https://driftworks.bandcamp.com/ I hadn't set out to highlight their new releases, but I'm glad I did because they are worth checking out. They are a sub-label from Whitelabrecs, a label whose artists I have featured in a lot of mixes over the years.

Here are the links to all the music used in this mix:

As long as we are talking about record labels, here are links to some of the labels used in this mix:

Sine Music - https://sine-music.bandcamp.com/music
Driftworks - https://driftworks.bandcamp.com/
Dronarivm - https://dronarivm.bandcamp.com/music
Moolakii Club Audio Interface - https://moolakiiclubaudiointerface.bandcamp.com/
Audiobulb - https://audiobulb.bandcamp.com/
Chitra Records - https://chitrarecords.bandcamp.com/
Projekt - https://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/
Ingrown Records - https://ingrown.bandcamp.com/music

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 Logic Moon - Meld (Music For Film Vol.1 2024)
02:58 Thomas Lemmer - In The Arms Of Night (Dreamscapes 2025)
05:50 Glasbird - 2016 (Glacial Drift 2025)
09:00 Bartosz Dziadosz - Harmony (Theme 2025)
13:27 Pete Kvidera - Scribble (Breathing Space 2025)
16:45 Philippe Deschamps - Remember The Clouds (Remember the Clouds 2025)
20:25 The Lonely Bell - Another Kind of Earth Pt. 2 (Another Kind of Earth 2025)
23:45 Andrew Heath - Documenting Observations (Signals and Codes 2025)
29:30 Flynst - Sea Of Fog (Washed Out Pastel 2025)
31:12 Francis Gri - Bruma II (Bruma 2025)
34:45 OdNu + Ümlaut - Mitochondria (Mitochondria Johatsu 2025)
38:25 Soloi Sounds - Draft (Pictures 2025)
42:22 Dirk Serries - Soft Rain (Treasure Of Stars 2025)
52:40 H-M O - Soul Laundry Day (Bark up the Spirit Tree 2024)
55:18 Dave Luxton - Of The Mist (Collected Ambient Works III 2024)
59:53 end