imaginary soundtracks

I guess you could say that all the music I listen to is a soundtrack of one sort or another.  Soundtrack for cleaning the house, soundtrack for sleeping, for biking, for reading, for living.  Most of my mixes could be considered to be mini soundtracks.  

So what makes this one different?  I guess the tracks collected here just sort of had that "soundtrack" feel when I first heard them.  I imagined a scene from a film with the tune as the soundtrack.  The tracklist then becomes a set of "imaginary soundtracks."

Some of the cuts, such as those from Cliff Martinez & Clint Mansell, are from actual soundtracks.  The others just seemed to fit the mood.

Enjoy.

[ s t r e a m ] | [ d o w n l o a d ] | [ i t u n e s ] 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Cliff Martinez - First Drive Home
• 00:40    James Murray - Greenlands
• 04:25    Vieo Abiungo - Insincerity peeked through Cloudlessly...
• 06:51    Roly Porter - Caladan
• 09:20    Jacaszek - Orszula
• 12:22    Olafur Arnalds - lag fyrir oemmu
• 15:45    Craig Armstrong - Starless
• 20:00    Max Richter - Fictions & Data
• 21:40    Popol Vuh - Grab der Mutter
• 23:55    Jon Hopkins - Opalescent
• 25:10    Emanuele Errante - Memoirs
• 30:25    Ryan Teague - Cell Cycle
• 34:16    Clint Mansell - We're Not Programs Gerty
• 36:55    Peter Broderick - No More Space
• 37:36    Johann Johannsson - They Being Dead yet Speaketh
• 40:35    Biosphere - Iberia
• 44:07    Maya Beiser - Only Breath
• 45:50    Cliff Martinez - See You in Four
• 47:33    Jon Hopkins - Fairytale
• 52:15    end

Imaginary soundtracks by Lowlight on Mixcloud

dubby & dreamy

My son the dubstep DJ(he had nothing to do with the mix, but the pic went with the music).

Ambient dub, minimal dub, ambi-dub, whatever you want to call it, is something that I listen to every now & then.  I like making mixes with this music because the tracks flow so well together.

I've done three previous dub mixes and while they are all laid back, this one may be more so.  It collects some dubby cuts & weaves in some noise & washes of field recordings from the fantastic ambi-dub recording, "DeepChord presents Echospace - Liumin."  The bonus cd for that album is all the field recordings that were the source material for the tracks on the other disc.

Not all the cuts are straight up dub tracks, but they do all fit together nicely.  Almost all the tracks are new with the exception of the krill.minima & Plastikman tunes.

Enjoy.

[ s t r e a m ] | [ d o w n l o a d ] | [ i t u n e s ]


T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Andy Stott - Submission
• 01:10    Sven Schienhammer -  Sound Signals for Other Planets
• 04:15    Bop - My Heart in a Freezer
• 06:10    Demdike Stare - Matilda's Dream
• 09:50    Resoe - Edith's Serenade(r.i.p)
• 13:52    Overcast Sound - Devil's Mountain
• 14:25    Robag Wruhme - Brucke Eins
• 14:25    Deepchord - Untitled #1 (runs concurrently)
• 15:50    Vatican Shadow - missing hmm364 squadron purple foxes assassins
• 18:05    Moritz Von Oswald Trio - Pattern #4
• 20:35    Demdike Stare - Nothing But The Night 2
• 22:50    Marow - Iridescence
• 24:15    Coppice Halifax - Sunken Dancehall
• 29:35    Sven Schienhammer - Being Immersed in Another World
• 35:55    Deepchord - Untitled #7
• 36:40    krill.minima - Princess of the Undersea Gardens
• 40:35    Koss - Monday Conversations
• 42:55    Coppice Halifax - Luxury
• 47:50    Plastikman - cor ten
• 50:10    Sven Schienhammer - Back Into The Here & Now
• 54:30    krill.minima - sommerdellen
• 57:45    end 

 

Dubby and dreamy by Lowlight on Mixcloud

Space Station Time Lapse

This post is a bit different.  No mix this time, instead a video that I edited Saturday afternoon.

I saw a post at Wired about a new time lapse video shot on the International Space Station.  I have always loved those fly over vids so I decided to collect some of the best & edit them to some music.

Actually, picking out the music was the hardest part.  There were a number of directions I could have gone...berlin school space music, drifting ambient,  electronica that builds to an emotional crescendo, a vocal tunes perhaps?  I couldn't decide!  I ended up with this piece by Ryan Teague called "Neo".  It works well because it's easy to edit to.  However, the images are so beautiful that I could have picked just about anything and it would be fun to watch.

Hope you like it.

sunday morning music

I absolutely love NPR music.  The host of their All Songs Considered podcast is Bob Boilen.  I've heard him describe music as "Sunday morning music."  I'm not exactly sure what that is but I think I know when I hear it.

I'd been thinking about doing a Sunday mix for some time and then I heard Wilco's song "One Sunday Morning" & immediately loved it & had to start a mix so I could use that tune in it.

This mix is a collection of both vocal & instrumental tunes, that hopefully will work well with sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee & reading the paper.  Sunday mornings always make me think of jazz so I included a couple of jazz tracks in the mix.

Time to go brew another pot.

[ s t r e a m ] | [ d o w n l o a d ] | [ i t u n e s ]



T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Chandanam - Silk
• 02:00    Bon Iver - Perth (the Polish Ambassador remix)
• 08:23    Wilco - One Sunday Morning
• 16:53    Daniel Lanois & the MDH Band - The First Time(reprise)
• 18:55    Nick Drake - From the Morning
• 21:17    Keith Jarrett & Jack DeJonette - Pastel Morning
• 23:12    Charlie Haden & Hank Jones - Going Home
• 27:12    Gem Club - Twins
• 31:20    Harmonia 76 - When Shade was Born
• 32:35    Harold Budd & Clive Wright - Sunday After the War
• 36:15    Marsen Jules - Lazy Sunday Funerals #3
• 38:12    Dizzy Gillespie - Come Sunday
• 41:00    Leonard Cohen - Going Home
• 44:10    S. Carey - Move
• 46:52    Seu Jorge - Life on Mars(Bowie Cover)
• 50:12    Charlie Haden & Hank Jones - Come Sunday
• 53:43    end

Sunday morning music by Lowlight on Mixcloud

The Mellow Side of Prog

Back in 2007 I did a Prog Rock mix that is still one of my favorite low light mixes.  You can find the original post & download here...PROG ROCK '07.

I've always wanted to do another prog mix.  While on a pro rock binge I came across "For Absent Friends" by Genesis and that gave me the idea of doing a mellow prog mix.

In the original mix I tried to stay away from prog rock mainstays like Genesis & Yes & King Crimson.  This time I couldn't resist some big names like Pink Floyd, Genesis, Brian Eno & Crimson.  Those well known artists combine with some Cantebury scene music from National Health, Soft Machine & Hugh Hopper and Al Gowen.  Most of the tunes are vintage 70's music, with only a couple newer tracks from Willowglass & David Gilmore.

I included kind of an oddball cut from Tony R. Clef.  It's an acoustic cover of Genesis' "Undertow."  He has a few other Genesis tunes that he covers on his YouTube channel here.

I know this mix is a bit different than the usual Low Light Mixes fair, but it was fun to put together and I hope you enjoy it.

[ s t r e a m ] | [ d o w n l o a d ] | [ i t u n e s ]

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Genesis - For Absent Friends
• 01:40    Pink Floyd - If
• 06:05    Soft Machine - Carol Ann
• 09:33    Genesis - Hairless Heart
• 11:45    Strawbs - You & I(when we were young)
• 15:40    Phil Manzanera - Diamond Head
• 19:57    Willowglass - The End
• 21:09    David Gilmore - The Blue
• 26:25    King Crimson - Starless
• 30:54    Brian Eno - Golden Hours
• 34:30    Genesis - Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats
• 36:42    Anthony Philips - Which Way the Wind Blows
• 42:25    National Health - Arriving Twice
• 44:35    Hugh Hopper & Al Gowen - Morning Order
• 50:57    Chris Squire - Lucky Seven
• 57:45     Soft Machine - Virtually Part 4
• 1:01:02    Tony R. Clef - Undertow(acoustic Genesis cover)
• 1:05:54    Pink Floyd - Pigs on a Wing, Pt. 2
• 1:07:18    end

The Mellow Side of Prog by Lowlight on Mixcloud

starry starry night

"I, the fiery life of divine essence, am aflame beyond the beauty of the meadows, I gleam in the waters, and I burn in the sun, moon and stars."

               - Hildegard von Bingen

Electronic & ambient music seems perfectly suited for stargazing.  So you really could use just about any ambient mix for night sky viewing and it will work just fine.  But sometimes it's nice to do a mix specifically geared towards astronomical awe.

It's always interesting to see how the song titles match the theme of the mix.  Sometimes I pick tunes precisely because the titles match but most of the time it's accidental.  In this mix we have titles like "Alpha Centauri", "Polaris", "After Midnight", "One Starry Starry Night" and "Encounter in an unexplored nebula."

As usual the music is a mix of old & new, with most tunes being from the last couple years.  I was happy to sneak in an old track from Jean-Michel Jarre.  Different from his normal berlin-school stuff, this one is a nice long ambient cut from 1990.

As with a lot of stargazing mixes, this one works well as a sleep mix too.  I can testify to it's effectiveness.

On a side note...thanks to anyone who voted for Low Light Mixes in the Mixcloud best of 2011 poll.  We came in 78th.  Doesn't sound like much but considering they have thousands of "cloudcasters", coming 78th was great.  Thanks for all your support last year & over the last 6 years.

[ s t r e a m ] | [ d o w n l o a d ] | [ i t u n e s ]


T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Lunar Testing Lab - Paaliaq (I, Absentee)
• 01:35    Sonmi451 - Alpha Centauri (Time Released Sound)
• 04:40    Digitonal - Polaris (Leaves)
• 07:20    Diatonis - One Starry Starry Night (Diatonis)
• 12:15    The Winterhouse - Clearing (DataObscura)
• 18:00    Frederico Durand - El Mundo Secreto De La Montana (Spekk)
• 21:30    A Produce & Loren Nerell - Intangible (Hypnos)
• 28:20    Maps & Diagrams - The Infinite Delay (Handstitched Recordings)
• 30:45    Thom Brennan - Pulse
• 31:55    Aglaia - After Midnight (Hic Sunt Leones)
• 37:30    Sonmi451 - Blue (U cover)
• 43:05    Biosphere - Warmed by the Drift (Touch)
• 48:20    Jean Michel Jarre - En Attendant Cousteau (Disques Dreyfus)
• 55:10    The Civilized Electrons - Encounter, In an Unexplored Nebula (Databloem)

Starry starry night by Lowlight on Mixcloud

I can hear the snow fall

For some reason,when I think of falling snow, the instrument that comes to mind is the piano.  Maybe it's from years of listening to Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown Christmas album.  So it's no surprise that there is a fair amount of piano music in this "snow" mix.

We didn't have any snow yet but I had been thinking about doing a "first snow" mix for awhile & decided to throw one together Friday night.  Then I woke up Saturday morning to a light dusting of snow on the ground.  Maybe next I should do a mix for winning the lottery. ;)

 As I said there is a lot of piano music in here.  Led by Nils Frahm, from his excellent Felt album.  A release that will end up on my best of the year list & one which everyone needs to hear.  I think this mix works well as an early season "snow" mix versus the more bleak mid winter drones that will show up later.

I expect to crank out at least one more mix before the end of the year.  Plus I'll have a year-end top 20 list, so start thinking of your own lists if you'd like to contribute.

Enjoy.

[ s t r e a m ] | [ d o w n l o a d ] | [ i t u n e s ]

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Nils Frahm - less [erased tapes]
• 05:20    Bernocchi, Budd, Guthrie - Heavy Heart Some More [Rarenoise Records]
• 09:35    Deepspace - Whisper
• 12:50   The Humble Bee - Sky Litter [cotton goods]
• 15:22    Willamette - Echo Park [infraction]
• 18:10    Pleq + Lauki - II (antonymes remix) [somehow recordings]
• 24:44    Cliff Martinez - Wrong Floor [lakeshore records]
• 25:45    Max Richter - eternal flowers question stars [Metropolis Movie Music]
• 27:48    e and i - Pearls for Alma [cotton goods]
• 29:40    Isnaj Dui - Always Close [hibernate]
• 32:48    I've Lost - in this cold, empty place [future sequence]
• 36:35    Diatonis - Whiring Above Our Heads
• 40:00    Nils Frahm - Pause [erased tapes]
• 44:25    Cliff Martinez - He Had A Good Time [lakeshore records]
• 45:39    Harold Budd - Three-Fingered Jack [darla]
• 47:40    Maps & Diagrams - Groghe(fort) [nomadic kids republic]
• 51:00    S. Carey - Rothko Fields [jagjaguwar]
• 54:50    Part Timer - seed collection [mobeer]
• 58:20    Nils Frahm - Keep [erased tapes]

I can hear the snow fall by Lowlight on Mixcloud

Vote

Mixcloud has started taking votes for Mixcloud Cloudcaster of the year.  So I'm basically shilling for votes.

If you click on the link it will take you to my Mixcloud page.  Unfortunately there is no simple "vote" button.  You have to "share" on Facebook to vote.  I hate that.  There are probably other cloudcasters I'd vote for but I don't like cluttering up my Facebook with random stuff like that.

Anyway, if anyone doesn't mind the Facebook sharing aspect, I'd really appreciate any votes you can throw my way.  Last year Low Light Mixes finished surprisingly high.

Thanks for your support.

Launch of Curiosity

This past Saturday NASA launched the Mars Science Laboratory known as "Curiosity" on a 9 month journey to the planet Mars.  As I was watching video of the launch, I was thinking about music that would work well with a launch & space voyage.  I quickly collected some appropriate tune & cranked out this mix at escape velocity speed.

The tracks are all electronic/electronica cuts that I thought seem to fit the theme.  As it turns out, many of the tunes have titles that are perfect for a mix like this.  Titles such as "Towards Unknown Space", "Solar Sailer", "Born to Fire", "Your Wings Make You Fly" and of course "Phobos & Deimos Go To Mars".

That "Phobos & Deimos" tracks was one of my absolute favorite tracks in college.  I had a clear vinyl version of the Synergy album "Cords".  There aren't going to be too many times that I can sneak that cut into a mix so I'm glad I got that one in here.

The NASA audio is all from the actual launch of the Curiosity Mars rover mission.

In the coming months maybe I'll do "Flight of Curiosity" & "Curiosity Lands" mixes.

[ s t r e a m ] | [ d o w n l o a d ] | [ i t u n e s ]

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    M83 - Another Wave from You
• 01:55    Boards of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy
• 04:40    Saul Stokes - Greys
• 08:25    Pinch & Shackleton - Monks on the Rum
• 13:07    Synergy - Phobos & Deimos Go To Mars
• 17:40    Brad Smith - Any Colour You Like (8-bit Pink Floyd cover)
• 21:05    Balam Acab - Apart
• 23:30    Jumpel - Lissabon
• 26:20    Daft Punk - Solar Sailer
• 28:25    Steve Roach & Vir Unis - Born to Fire
• 36:15    Delta M45 - Towards Unknown Space
• 41:00    Winterlight - Your Wings Make You Fly
• 46:20    Jumpel - Arles
• 49:25    Rena Jones - Helix
• 54:28    Plumbline - 66 w12
• 58:51    end




Launch of Curiosity by Lowlight on Mixcloud

drowsy

I recently had surgery on a broken collarbone & had to spend a fair amount of time laying around, recuperating, sleeping.  So I decided to make a mix that would work well with Percocet & Vicodin.

I've produced other sleep mixes before, "I fell asleep at my desk making this mix", "slo mo", "slow & sleepy", and have often relied on them for nighttime listening.  Of course most of the mixes found here could work as "sleep" mixes. 

This new mix, "drowsy", fits right in with those others.  It's a soothing mix of drones & synth washes that will put anyone to sleep.

[ s t r e a m ] | [ d o w n l o a d ] | [ i t u n e s ]

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Benoît Pioulard - Drowsy
• 04:15    Ex Confusion - Bloom
• 09:45    Peter James & Disturbed Earth - A Descending Calm
• 13:45    Steve Roach - Slow Heat (excerpt)
• 21:05    Aglaia - Milosis
• 30:45    David Tagg - Wolf Suite II
• 34:40    Alio Die - Innamorato
• 42:35    Kyle Bobby Dunn - New Pures
• 45:35    Loscil - Stave Peak
• 51:15    Nest - Koretz's Meteor
• 55:55    Ursula - Un final decepcionante
• 01:01:01    end
• 
  

Drowsy by Lowlight on Mixcloud