Thursday, October 13, 2011

AUTUMN IN SLOW MOTION

It hasn't felt much like autumn around here, with temps in the 70's & 80's the last week or two.  But the leaves are still falling and before you know it we'll have snow flying.  

So I figured now is as good a time as any to publish this new mix, "Autumn in Slow Motion."  This is a fairly straight forward mix with a nice blend of old & new tracks.  As you can tell all the tracks have the word "autumn" or " leaves" in the title.  I'm pretty sure I've used the track by Eluder, "Autmun Hips", before but I just had to include it again because it's absolutely beautiful.

Normally I don't use my own pics for these posts, but the last two have been Low Light originals.  This one was taken last fall on a photo hike through a nature park in my neighborhood.  If you shoot a ton of pix one or two are bound to turn out.

Enjoy.




T R A C K L I S T :





Monday, September 12, 2011

future days

I guess you could call this mix "Televison Sky #2".  It's a continuation of the sounds found in that mix.

This has more beats than a normal low light mix, more of an electronica sound.  I think it has a nice mix of old & new material.  The oldest cuts are from Can, Eno & Earthstar, 1973, 1975 & 1981 respectively.  In the middle we have the Casino Versus Japan cut from 1999 & the Aspen track from 2000.  Then there are a few newer tunes like the ones from Tobacco & Maps & Diagrams.

I was happy to sneak in part of a long track from B. Fleischmann called "Take Your Time".  I listened to it recently for the first time in a long while & remembered how much I like it & knew that I had to squeeze it in somewhere.

I was also happy to have done the accompanying pic myself.  It's from a picture I took in New York & then messed with in my video editing software, rather than photoshop, because I don't how to use photoshop. :(   It's nothing great but it was fun to come up with something sort of original.




T R A C K L I S T :
  • 00:00   ATOM™ -  weisses rauschen (zweiter teil)
    02:44    Earthstar - Cafe Sequence
    04:13    Brian Eno - In Dark Trees
    06:15    Can - Future Days
    08:45    Field Rotation - lichtermeer
    14:55    Joey Fehrenbach - Don't Wake me
    19:05    Aspen - Are You that Retail Snob?
    24:05    B. Fleischmann - Take Your Time
    31:03    Black Dog - Rainbow Bridge
    35:07    Tobacco - Stretch Your Face
    37:49    Casino Versus Japan - Warm Windows
    42:25    Maps & Diagrams - Waking Up
    44:25    Digitonal - After the First Death
    49:40    ATOM™- weisses rauschen (erster teil)
    53:22    Boc Scadet - Ganymede
    56:10    end
 




Friday, August 19, 2011

porch music

"Several times I've seen the evening slide away. Watching the signs taking over from the fading day."
- Brian Eno from Golden Hours

This is music for sitting on the porch in the evening, as the day slips into night. The sounds of traffic, lawn mowers & kids fade away as the first stars come out.

I stole the title from a recording by Fognode, which you can find here... Fognode - Porch Music. Brian Siskind is Fognode & he has some fantastic albums that have been released over the years. Definitely worth checking out here... FOGNODE.

Enjoy.


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T R A C K L I S T :



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Saturday, July 23, 2011

graceful silence

"Music is the space between notes."
- Claude Debussy


I found a couple of tunes recently that exemplify that Debussy quote. So I looked for more tracks that had definite valleys between the peaks of synth washes or long pauses between piano chords and then I let the mix take off from there.

The result is similar to the "breathing" mixes I've done before with the lulling ebb & flow that I like so much. This mix differs in it's use of piano & guitar tracks. There is a section in the middle where there really isn't a whole lot of "silence", more of an up & down of synth washes. But like happens so often with mixes, they just go places I didn't expect & then I've got to bring them back.

"Music and silence combine strongly because music is done with silence and silence is full of music."
- Marcel Marceau


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Sunday, July 10, 2011

Marsen Jules mix at ASIP







I'd like to call your attention to an absolutely brilliant mix from the folks at astrangelyisolatedplace .

Ryan has been very kind to low light mixes over the years & I don't think I ever returned the favor. ASIP is a fantastic site for mixes & discovering new music. I especially like finding good, new electronica through ASIP.


This mix from a favorite artist of mine, Marsen Jules. His new release, Nostalgia, is wonderful. For this mix he "tried to assemble the material around the trademark sound of Kompakt's Pop Ambient series." This is a beautiful, flowing mix with one song bleeding into the next. It's is transporting.

Go here...isolated mix 18...to get it.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Multiples


UPDATE: The first "Multiples" file abruptly ended at 57 minutes for some unkown reason. But it has been fixed & the full mix is now online.


I am a chronic procrastinator. Paperwork piles up on my desk until I am forced to deal with it because I can't see the actual desktop anymore. There are to do lists scribbled on scraps of paper all over the house, most of the lists unfinished.


With that in mind I present this latest mix which began more than a year and a half ago. Mick from the music blog, Subversion, had an idea for doing a cooperative mix. The plan was for each of us to do a section of the mix, each one getting longer by multiples of 9. So first two sections are each 9 minutes, next two are 18 minutes each, then 27min(although in the final version section 5 was less than 27).

Mick was good at holding up his end of the donkey but I would just putz & putz between sections. We had some weird pitch problem with a section & the whole mix sat dormant for some time. Then Mick sent me a revised mix with a new section 5 and we decided to just leave it there so it could get posted. If I had to do another section or two it may never be released.

It's kind of interesting hearing the mix after so long because it uses cuts I haven't listened to much since doing that section of the mix. That's a problem with so much good music that is constantly being released, I focus on new music & too quickly forget about music that is barley months old.

I'm glad that this mix will finally make it out into the world.

While you're out in the world looking for some of this music, head over to Entropy Records. The Buddha Machine Music cut used in section 5 is available there.


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T R A C K L I S T :

  • Section 1 - Muttley
  • 01. Stars Of The Lid - Broken Harbours Pt.1 (from "The Quiet Sounds Of Stars Of The Lid", Kranky, 2007)
  • 02. Steinbruchel - Home (from "Home", Slaapwel, 2008)
  • 03. Richard Devine - Murman (from "Idol Tryouts", Ghostly International, 2003)
  • 04. Grouper - Disengaged (from "Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill", Type, 2008)

  • Section 2 - Low Light @ 8:50
  • 05. Strom Noir - Rusty Nails (from "Sen Zimnej Noci", Hibernate, 2009)
  • 06. Fieldhead - I'm Fond Of Maps (from "They Shook Hands For Hours", Home Assembly Music, 2009)
  • 07. Rhythm & Sound - Imprint (from "Rhythm & Sound", Efa Imports, 2001)

  • Section 3 - Muttley @ 18:00
  • 08. Ateleia - Salt Horse Sculpture (from Formal Sleep, Xeric, 2007)
  • 09. Foci's Left - Regurgitated Impulses (Spheruleus remix) (from Spillage, Audio Gourmet, 2010)
  • 10. James Toth, Kerry Kennedy & Jason Meagher - The Time Machine (from Honest Strings, Jack Rose, 2010)
  • 11. David Tagg - Pentecost 1 (from Pentecost, Install, 2010)
  • 12. The Sight Below - Shimmer (from It All Falls Apart, Ghostly International, 2010)
  • 13. Lawrence English - Droplet (from A Colour For Autumn, 12K, 2009)
  • 14. Quosp - Deep Space (from Soundscapes I, U-Cover, 2007)
  • 15. Eluvium - As I Drift Off (from When I Live By The Garden And The Sea, Temporary Residence, 2006)

  • Section 4 - Low Light @ 35:00
  • 16. Loscil - Cello Drone
  • 17. Listening Mirror - Not Yet Ready for the Day
  • 18. Marc Codsi - A white rabbit in a hole
  • 19. Mantsevich Dzenis - November
  • 20. Taylor Deupree(I think) - rough

  • Section 5 - Muttley @ 52:30
  • 21. Heidi Harris - Stolen Child
  • 22 . Helios - First Dream Called Ocean
  • 23. Enuui - Morality
  • 24. Beatsystem - The Sound Of Two Eskimos Kissing(The Sound Of Two Eskimos Kissing LP, Entropy)
  • 25. Fursaxa - Birds Inspire Epic Bards
  • 26. Foci's Left - Ear Nest
  • 27. Foci's Left - Stable Ghosts
  • 28. Jan Linton remixes Fm3 - Zhongruan Ceng Yu (Entropy Records)
  • 29. Danny Saul - My Escape
  • 30. Implodes - Wendy
  • end @ 1:08:00

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

an uncharted sea

"The loneliness you get by the sea is personal and alive. It doesn't subdue you and make you feel abject. It's stimulating loneliness."
- Anne Morrow Lindbergh


So much of ambient music has a beautiful ebb & flow that lends itself perfectly to sea metaphors. Whether its bobbing up & down on the surface or plumbing the depths, ambient music music seems to fit well with imagery of the sea.

I could crank out sea mixes just using tunes with water, ocean or sea references in the track titles. This mix does have a few tracks with obvious sea titles, but in general it's just another collection of tunes that have that "sea sound."


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T R A C K L I S T :
  • 00:00 foghorn
  • 00:20 Stuart Dempster - Standing Waves 1976
  • 01:41 Dolphins into the Future - Memory of Self
  • 04:45 Enrico Coniglio - pastor et nauta
  • 07:40 Brian Eno - Invisible
  • 10:20 Alio Die - Suono Ipogeo(part 1)
  • 12:50 Echospace - Reflection II
  • 15:00 Burial - Night Bus
  • 16:55 Dean Santomieri - The Boy Beneath the Sea
  • 19:35 Andrew Chalk - Ukigiri
  • 21:15 Beautumn - Everfields
  • 27:00 M. Ostermeier - Central
  • 31:30 Deaf Centre - New Beginning(tidal darkness)
  • 34:00 Riceboy Sleeps - Sleeping Giant
  • 39:45 Dolphins into the Future - Lone Voyager
  • 47:35 Enrico Coniglio - Da Mar
  • 52:15 Stuart Dempster - Standing Waves 1976
  • 54:40 end


Wednesday, May 11, 2011

the stars above us

"Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another."
-- Plato (427-347 B.C.)


I realized that I hadn't done a stargazing mix in quite awhile and with the weather getting warmer & spending more time outside, I figured a new star mix was in order.

So here it is...


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T R A C K L I S T :


Tuesday, April 19, 2011

songs for staying in

On the heals of the last mix, which was sort of modern classical, comes another neo-classical type mix.

I started collecting tunes for this mix after I heard Alva Noto's "Argonaut Version" in a Quiet Sounds mix. I like that song & wanted it to find a home in a mix.

Speaking of Quiet Sounds, there are some excellent mixes available for download there. I wish Brian would crank them out more often.

I stole the title for this mix from a song by The Tumbled Sea, which is next to last in the mix. It just sounded like a good title & it fit with the crappy weather we've been having here.

The mix ends with a sort syrupy tune from Anthony Phillips. It may be a bit too sweet but it's one of those tunes that I have always liked, goes back to college days. I don't know if I was hearing it for the first time now, whether I would like it as much. I'm sure a big part of the song's attraction is it's nostalgic significance. Anthony Phillips is the original guitarist for Genesis and back in high school & college I was a HUGE Genesis fan. Actually I still am, but that was how I came to Phillips' music back then. It was nice to sneak that track into a mix.

Make some tea or coffee & enjoy "songs for staying in".


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T R A C K L I S T :




Friday, April 01, 2011

undiscovered soundtrack

I love soundtracks. And if you look at the tracklist for this mix, you'll see that I have a few favorite composers.

At the top of that list are Clint Mansell & Cliff Martinez. They are responsible for two of my favorite soundtracks,
The Fountain & Solaris.

Jon Hopkins, a new composer on the soundtrack scene, could soon join those two as a favorite. His soundtrack for the movie
Monsters, got a lot of play here. I ended up using three tracks from that album in this mix, I just couldn't resist.

Actually I doubled up a few artists in this mix, Martinez, Hopkins, Sigur Ros, Nick & Warren Ellis, Underworld. Normally I don't like to do that but it just sort of happened that way. This is a relatively short mix but I think it works. Sometimes I don't make it to the end of some mixes, this way hopefully listeners are still in to it & focused at the end.


Enjoy this "undiscovered soundtrack".



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T R A C K L I S T :

  • 00:00    Clint Mansell - Winter Ghosts of a Future (Requiem for a Dream)
  • 01:45    Jon Hopkins - Candles (Monsters)
  • 03:35    Cliff Martinez - And We're Here to Listen (Traffic)
  • 05:15    Thomas Newman - Still Dead (American Beauty)
  • 07:55    Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - The Road (The Road)
  • 11:30    Underworld & John Murphy - Searle Finds the Crew of Icarus (Sunshine)
  • 12:20    Explosions in the Sky - An Ugly Fact of Life (Friday Nigh Lights)
  • 14:10    Sigur Ros - síðasta ferð (hlemmur)
  • 16:33    Craig Armstrong - Main Theme (The Clearing)
  • 17:40    Ennio Morricone - Tema di Ali (The Battle of Algiers)
  • 21:32    John Zorn - Family Found(cello) (Family Found(Filmworks XII))
  • 23:50    Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Micro Sucker (White Lunar)
  • 24:25    Underworld - Capa's Last Transmission Home (Sunshine)
  • 26:10    Sigur Ros - fyrsta ferð (hlemmur)
  • 28:25    Hilmar Hilmarsson - I Flew (Angels of the Universe)
  • 30:25    Cliff Martinez - First Drive Home (First Snow)
  • 30:50    Jon Hopkins - Water (Monsters)
  • 31:55    James Newton Howard - I'm Sorry (I am Legend)
  • 33:50    Jon Hopkins - Campfire (Monsters)
  • 36:11 end