Refuge

I was inspired by my daughter's mix cd's to do my own vocal mix.  She does great mixes that I listen to in the car and I thought I'd do a similar one of my own.  Of course the finished product is not as uptempo as hers.   This being an ambient mix blog, most of the tunes are fairly quiet.

There is no unifying theme here, other than I like these tunes.  The Martin Grech tunes are from "March of the Lonely" which made it on my best of 2008 list.  I could have put in a ton of David Sylvian tracks but ended up with just two.  Hmmm, maybe I should do an all Sylvian mix someday.  There are two new songs in there,  "Another World" by Antony & the Johnsons and "Foreground" from the new Grizzly Bear.  The rest are a mix of old & fairly new cuts.

I did cheat a little bit by sneaking in one instrumental track.  It's "Bell Toll by Daniel Lanois from his fantastic Omni series box.  Somehow it just fit right.  I also cheated on the graphic.  I took an album cover by Dan Deacon and wiped out his title & put my own in.  The pic just worked so perfectly with the title of the mix.

I called the mix "Refuge" because I think of music as a refuge and this mix as an escape from from other crappy music...from work...from laundry...from the economy...from normal, crazy life.  I hope this mix can be a refuge for you too.

download :

r e f u g e

TRACKLIST:

00:00    Canyon Country - Dead or Dreaming

03:50    David Sylvian - Maria

06:15    Martin Grech - Kingdom

09:30    Sufjan Stevens - Holland

12:50    Grizzly Bear - Foreground

15:54    Antony & the Johnsons - Another World

19:35    Peter Gabriel - Father, Son

24:20    Roxy Music - Spin Me Round

28:50    REM - Star Me Kitten

31:45    Daniel Lanois - Bell Toll

33:00    David Bridie - Sad

36:30    David Sylvian - When Poets Dreamed of Angels

41:00    Martin Grech - Ashes Over Embers

46:30    P.G. Six - Lily of the West

51:35    Trespassers William - Love is Blindness

58:31    end

Enosification

This is another new kind of mix for the blog.  This is an all Eno mix.

I came across the Eno tune "Spider & I " in a recently downloaded mix & I was reminded of how much I like Eno's voice.  So I thought why not collect some favorite vocal tunes together in one place.

For the first half of the mix I alternate between vocal tunes & instrumentals.  I thought this might be nice to break things up a bit.  About half way through I realized I'd run out of time so I went to all vocals.  I love singing along with his songs & it is nice to have some favorites all together. 

The title comes from Genesis' "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" album, where Eno is credited with "enosification."  Which he described this way..."I would take existing instruments and feed them through various devices to 'weird them up'."

I mentioned that I heard Eno in a mix, of course I can't remember which mix it was, but I do want to mention a coiple fine mixes that I've downloaded recently.  One comes from Brian Bieniowski & can be found here...asphalteden.   The other is called "Utsura-Utsura" and can be found here DREAMSCENES

I hope you enjoy the all-Eno mix.....

Download  :  110mb  60:00min.

Enosification

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00  By This River (Before & After Science)
• 02:51   Music for Glitterbug - track 10 (music for glitterbug)
• 05:37  Everything Merges with the Night (Another Green World)
• 09:20  Marine Radio (Spinner)
• 14:05  And Then So Clear (Another Day on Earth)
• 19:25  Summer Ride (Curiosities vol.2)
• 23:21  Spider & I (Before & After Science)
• 26:55  Dunwich Beach, Autumn 1960 (On Land)
• 28:55  Taking Tiger Mountain (Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy)
• 34:00  Zawinul Lava (Another Green World)
• 25:36  Julie With (Before & After Science)
• 41:00  Golden Hours (Another Green World)
• 44:44  This (Another Day on Earth)
• 48:04  On Some Faraway Beach (Here Come the Warm Jets)
• 52:25  No Orders w/ J. Peter Schwalm (Musikain)
• 56:23  Bottomliners (Another Day on Earth)
• 1:00:00  end

shadows at midnight

The inspiration for this mix came from the new Jon Hassell album.  If you haven't picked it up yet, do so.  It's called "Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street".  It's already in my best of 2009 folder.

It's very moody, very ambient, just a little jazzy.  Very much like the wonderful release from Arve Henriksen last year.  I wanted this mix to have a moody, melancholy, late-night jazz feel.  Although I have used some of these artists in other mixes this is the first jazz mix for Low Light mIxes.  I wasn't sure what to expect when I began but it turned out fairly well.  

It didn't take long to put together because it's not a sound collage like the last mix.  But I think the tunes flow nicely together.  Sometimes sitting around with a good scotch, you need soemthing with a jazzy flavor & I hope this works for that while remaining true to the Low Light feel.  Next up...an all Eno mix.

Download : 110mb 60:00min

shadows at midnight

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Arve Henriksen - Migration
• 05:21    The Necks - Black
• 10:35    Mort d'un Pourri - Valerie
• 13:50    Slowhill - Nikos Dream
• 17:59    boren & der club of gore - Midnight Walker
• 24:45    Jon Hassell - Courtais
• 29:40    Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
• 33:35    Nick B. Ronin - Modul 42
• 39:30    Duke Ellington - Melancholia
• 42:25    Arve Henriksen - Recording Angel
• 48:20    Jon Hassell - Last Night the Moon Came
• 58:17    Mort d'un Pourri - tout est tranquille
• 1:00:00    end

in_transit - an ambient field mix

I have been wanting to do another field mix almost since the moment I finished the last one.  So here it is, a new mix entitled "in_transit".

I like field recordings but not as much nature recordings.  I'm not wild about birds chirping & water flowing.  I like mechanical sounds or crowd noise or as you'll hear in this mix, trains.  I used train sounds in the last mix & they play a prominent role here too.  

I had planned on doing more of my own field recording but I just never seemed to find the time.  I did manage to sneak two of my recordings in, one occurs at about 8:50 in the mix.  It's a recording of the telephone pole at the end of my driveway.  The pole hums when it gets windy, so I just went out there, stuck the mic right up to the pole & froze my arse off.  I then fattened up the sound a bit.  

The other recording is of my daughter playing piano, but you'd never guess that's what you're hearing.  It happens at about the 19:10 mark.  I had her play about 40 seconds of chopin or schubert.  Then I used a simple little program to stretch that 40 seconds into 12 minutes & 40 seconds.  The result sounds nothing like classical piano.  You can find the program here...Paul's Extreme Sound Stretch.  Give it a try.   Works great on piano & classical music.  It makes the human voice sound very creepy.

Most of the other sounds used in the mix are a combination of music, field recordings from all over the web & music that already has field recordings built in, like the last cut by RF.  There is new music from sleepy town manufacture & unit 21, elegi, Loren Chasse & terje isungset.

Two tracks used in the mix are from a cd that I got from Rick over at Hydrogen Cafe. Years ago he burned some ambient background sounds from Blade Runner.  At the 6:20 mark we get ambience from the Tyrell Coporation & at about 23:50 we hear sounds from Blade Runner Chinatown.  I'll definitely be using more of these in future field mixes.

Well I guess that's enough for now.  I'm not making a tracklist as the cuts are playing all over each other, many times 2 or 3 at the same time.  If you are curious about certain sounds or tracks just email or comment with the time of the mix & I'll do my best to get info back to you.

Download : (72.5mb, 39:35)

in_transit

Enjoy the trip!

searching for objects

The original name for this mix was "noisy, droney, scratchy".  Very catchy title.  That's a pretty good description of how I wanted this mix to sound.

I don't like too much noise, however.  Most of the tunes have some grit, some distortion, some white noise, some scratches but not too much.  I still wanted the mix to be very ambient, not annoying or distracting.  

I guess the Fripp & Eno cut isn't very noisy or scratchy but could be considered droney.  I'm just happy to have squeezed into a mix.  I hadn't listened to it in years & had forgotten how much I loved that track.

Of course now that I just posted the mix, Tim Hecker comes out with something new that would have fit perfectly.  And the next Infraction release from Sleepy Town Manufacture sounds like it would be a good fit too.  Oh well, I guess I'll have to save those for volume 2.

Download :

searching for objects

T R A C K L I S T I N G :

• 00:00   Jasper, TX - home
• 04:15    Chris Bissonnette - orffyreus wheel
• 12:15    Rain Cloud - keeping a low profile
• 17:40    Belong - same places (slow version)
• 27:40    Eluder - the most beautiful blue
• 33:25    Fripp & Eno - heavenly music corp.
• 41:00    Rameses III - origins IV
• 49:20    Forestflies - processed vocals & strings
• 52:35    Erstlaub - sinking together
• 58:40    Milieu - burnt rust
• 1:00:13 end

Antique Sunlight

I am crossing familiar territory here with another piano mix.  I think this is the third I've done.

There's no particular reason for doing a piano mix other than I happened to run into a few nice piano tunes & figured I'd slap together a short mix.

As usual this is fairly quiet music, good for reading the paper on a Sunday morning.(when newspapers disappear I'll really miss doing that)    I'll be sending this one to Mick & his "15 Minutes of Fame" mix series which you can find here...15 minutes.

Enjoy.

Download :

Antique Sunlight

TRACKLIST:

• 00:00    Milieu - antique sunlight
• 05:00    Ryuichi Sakamoto - ropa
• 10:00    Taylor Deupree & Kenneth Kirschner - may
• 15:11     Library Tapes - fragment VIII
• 18:30    Con Cetta - ker
• 22:46    Jeanne Moreau - un entretien avec
• 24:14    NIN - ghosts 11
• 27:20    Kosik - lastly empty
• 30:40    Goldmund - Threnody
• 35:00    United Bible Studies - sea of rains
• 35:46    end

Best of 2008

It was another good year for music, a lot of which made it's way into the mixes posted here. I put up about 14 mixes this year which is a good number, I'd like to post at least one per month. I already have two in the can which will be posted in January. I'm sure there will be another field mix this year, as well as a new shortwave mix & Sustain & Decay part 2. If anybody has any requests or ideas pleae let me know.

I lack the mental discipline to limit my year end list to a top ten list. So somehow this year I ended up with the random number of 24 in my "Best of" list. What are some good albums that I left off this list? What does your list look like? Here is the 2008 list in alphabetical order...

• Alio Die - aura seminalis - alio die released some great music this year. I guess I could group all of them together here but I'll list this as my favorite. The cd "tries to recreate the solemn atmospheres of the courts of the Italian Renaissance", and amazingly it comes off as transcendent instead of cheesy. Stefano Musso's recent releases all do this very well, like his collaboration with vocalist Martina Galvagni, Elusian Lullaby. He takes concepts, that would not work in the hands of another, and makes them work beautifully.
• Arve Henriksen - cartography - a beautifully layered recording from trumpeter henriksen. Texture is more important than virtuosity here. A melancholy, tranquil landscape works perfectly with Henriksen's vocal-like trumpet.
• Belong - Same Places (Slow Version) - crushing, shimmering drones dissolve & decay in a wonderful wall of sound.
• Bersarin Quartett - bersarin quartett - actually this is a one man show of cinematic music. Strings, ambience, some occasional beats combine for a lush, melancholy trip.
• bvdub - dreams of red chambers - a release that is more ambient than the usual dubby sound form bvdub.
• David Tagg - Waist Deep Seas Of Milk - gorgeous, expansive guitar-based drones. His “Stele” split release was excellent as well.
• Deaf Center - vintage well - More great cinematic music. I guess there was a lot of fantastic cinematic music this year.
• Disturbed Earth - Butterfly - An excellent ambient release from Atmoworks. From a live "living room" concert in August 1977. The album
• was recorded live with no overdubs using a double neck guitar
• and a violin bow on the 12-string and playing the 6-string. He
• used two tape decks set up about 8 feet apart in a continuous loop. A classic ambient feel that is even more amazing knowing how & when it was recorded.
• Elbow - Live from London – Beautiful, intimate, live iTunes only release. Any fan of Elbow MUST own this.
• Elbow - the seldom seen kid – There isn’t any other band that evokes beauty, melancholy & joy like Elbow. This is an absolutely fantastic recording.
• Eluder - the most beautiful blue - deep layers that never get too dark or too light. A just right mixture of drifting textures & aquatic sounds.
• Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up A Hill - a good collection of eerie folk songs wrapped in reverb & hazy ambience.
• Hakobune - melting reminscence - an excellent release for lovers of guitar-based drone.
• Hans-joachim Roedelius & Tim Story - inlandish - I love how this release sounds old & new at the same time. Some of the tunes just have this indescribable retro Roedelius feel to them, like the song "Beforst". A warm, melodic beauty.
• Jacaszek – treny – Real instruments played by real musicians with some electronic manipulation make this a stellar release in a year filled with great cinematic music.
• Jeff Pearce - Rainshadow Sky – I know this one is a bit too close to New Age for some regular forumites, but I found it to be beautiful without being too sappy.
• Johann Johannsson – fordlandia – This cd from Johannsson takes the cinematic/orchestral theme of this year to another level. He does it with a 60 piece orchestra, piano, organ, choir & electronics. The music is lush and intense.
• Marconi Union - a lost connection – more dubby ambient music. I listened to a lot of dubby stuff this year & Marconi Union does this style wonderfully.
• Martin Grech - march of the lonely – this one actually came out in 2007 but I discovered it right at the beginning of this year and I listened to constantly from then on. From an online review “…a moody acoustic delicacy, dreamlike calm and layered vocals which recall monastic plainsong or a lovelorn choir.”
• quantec - unusual signals – great dubby ambient-ish beats.
• Rameses III – Basilica - A double cd of live recordings & remixes, the two discs contain some beautiful, quiet, and moving instrumental compositions.
• Rod Modell - incense & blacklight - noisy, shifting dub rhythms, and way deep bassy goodness.
• Steve Roach - a deeper silence – I played this for days all through the house, the slow washes & low bass hum rumbling from room to room. I felt like I was on some inter-stellar spacecraft. Great sleep music too.
• the caretaker - Persistent repetition of phrases - Similar to his other releases in that it sounds like he is channeling the haunting atmospherics of The Shining. However, this one is a bit more ambient.

---- I know these don’t count as actual releases, but I think I listened to the guitar mixes of Alan Lockett more than anything else this year. You can find them here… http://albient.livejournal.com/2468.html]http://albient.livejournal.com/2468.html . These mixes are a great collection of ambient guitar meanderings that introduced me to a lot of new artists & music.

Honorable mentions :
stephan mathieu – radioland
Bohren & der Club of Gore – Dolore
taylor deupree - sea last
The Winterhouse - Lost
jasper tx - this quiet season
the caretaker - recollected memories from the museum of garden history
emanuele errante - humus [2008]
Richard Skelton - Marking Time
Hammock, ‘Maybe They Will Sings For Us Tomorrow
sigur ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Sans Serif - Tones For LaMonte

a northern holiday

The mixes keep coming fast & furious.  

Last year I downloaded a very cool holiday compilation.  It's called "That Fuzzy Feeling".  It looks like they still have downloads available but are sold out of the cd's.  You can have find it here...

http://lorecordings.greedbag.com/buy/that-fuzzy-feeling-0/?tab=description

That release was the starting point for this mix.  There are three cuts from the compilation in the mix....Brave the Cold by Vincent Oliver and Isan...Family, Giving by Peter Broderick...Snowstorm in a Snow Globe by Fuzzy Lights.  From there I just looked for other tunes that fit the theme.

So grab some hot coco & trim the tree with some ambient goodness playing in the background.  Happy Holidays from all of us(actually just me) here at Low Light Mixes.

Download :

a northern holiday

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Vincent Oliver and Isan - Brave the Cold
• 02:35    Freescha - Holiday Frost
• 07:25    Takahiro Kido - Christmas Song
• 12:50    Chris Abrhams - Christmas Island
• 19:10    Stuart Busby - Snowfall
• 22:13    Peter Broderick - Family, Giving
• 25:30    Dakota Suite - December 8, 1980
• 27:40    Maps of the Heart - Skating Away
• 31:40    July Skies - Holidays to Wales
• 33:00    Fuzzy Lights - Snowstorm in a Snow Globe
• 35:50    Northern - December
• 39:57    end

motion for relief

I thought I'd try something a bit different...a mix that is beat driven.  Of course it's not going to be some house music mix or techno dance trax.

The mix is sort of in the same vein as the ones done

by Alan, of Great Axescapes fame.  He has a fantastic mix called "nowthatswhaticallmnmlambidubtechno! vol.1".   You can find it here...vol. 1.

This mix is similar in that dubby, ambient way.  Only one artist, Quantec, in common though.  

I wasn't sure how the mix would work but I like the results very much.  I'm listenbing to it as I type this, nice & loud so the low dubby bass lines reverberate around the house.  Excellent.

The other different thing about this mix is it is shorter than the others.  An online friend, Mick, is running The "15 Minutes Of Fame’ Mix Series" & he asked me to do some mixes.  The only requirements are up to 40 minutes in length & no more than 10 tracks.  That should help with some experimentation, may be an idea will work in a 30 minute mix but not for the usual hour-long mix. Here's the link to Mick's thread at Dogs On Acid...http://www.dogsonacid.com/showthread.php?threadid=602380&highlight=muttley+minutes

I should be able to crank out 3 more mixes by the end of the year.  Next up...a piano mix, a noisy-droney-scratchy mix and a best of the year mix.

d o w n l o a d  :  (right click/save as)

motion for relief

t r a c k l i s t :

• 00:00    Plastikman - consumed
• 04:44    Marconi Union - buildings without people
• 08:05    Trentemoller - miss you
• 11:50    Yagya - rhythm of snow #5
• 17:55    Underworld - pizza for eggs
• 20:20    Quantec - unusual signals
• 25:25    Ontayso - procesamiento 2.05
• 28:45    Tiki Obmar - ankeney, iowa
• 39:30    end