Diario

I listen to ambient music every night when I go to bed. I usually browse my recent acquisitions to find something for sleep music. There are a few recordings which get used more than others.

Two recent releases by Steve Roach get regular airtime here at Low Light Mixes. Last year's "A Deeper Silence" and this year's "Dynamic Stillness".

There was a time when I played Deeper Silence in the background all around the house everyday for a week. It created this strange feeling like I was on a spaceship. Mostly this 73 minute-long tune gets used for sleep music. The same goes for "Slowly Revealed" off of "Dynamic Stillness". I have fallen asleep to this track many times.

This brings us to the new mix. I wanted to do a new sleep mix so I could incorporate the Steve Roach cuts. So I dumped some tracks to a portable hard drive, brought it to work & starting mixing in between "real work". I had 4 or 5 tracks laid down & I was listening to one of the transitions & literally fell asleep at my desk, hence the title of the mix, "I fell alseep at my desk making this mix". A lot of the tracks sound very much like each other which I guess is good in this case because one track stretches into another, in a long, trance inducing, ambient lullaby. At 90 minutes, the mix is longer than most, but I thought the length worked a bit better for sleeping.

Sweet dreams...

download : (129mb, 90 min.)
I fell asleep at my desk making this mix

T R A C K L I S T :

00:00 St. Kilda - You are in every dream
03:30 Steve Roach - Slowly Revealed
12:20 Scott Solter - Cypress Road
16:00 Stars of the Lid - The Kraut
23:30 Ashera - Fellini's Cat
28:30 William Basinski - 92982.1
33:20 Ten and Tracer - Falling asleep in sadness
36:40 Irezumi - Endurance
42:50 Jasper, TX - This Barren Land
47:30 Hammock - 3 sisters
51:15 Manual - Last Light
56:40 James Johnson - In then Out
1:06:00 Brian Eno - Discreet Music
1:15:00 Steve Roach - A Deeper Silence
1:30:00 end

Two new mixes are up at Low Light Mixes.

They are both "rain" mixes that make generous use of field recordings mixed in with the music. Of course some of the tunes have their own rain sounds mixed in. Every cut in each mix has the word "rain" in the title.

One mix is a vocal mix called "I Love the Rain".
Download it here...
I Love the Rain

t r a c k l i s t :
00:00 Susanna & The Magical Orchestra - It's Raining Today
04:40 The (real) Tuesday Weld - I Love the Rain
08:37 Asche & Spencer - A Walk in the Rain
09:49 The Handsome Family - Famous Blue Raincoat
14:40 Daniel Lanois - Rain Weather
18:20 The Decemberists - Raincoat Song
20:40 Joe Purdy - I Love the Rain the Most
25:00 Oblong - Rain Over the Deverils
28:54 REM - I'll Take the Rain
34:15 Rivulets - Rain All Winter Long
40:00 end


The other mix is an instrumental mix, more like a traditional Low Light mix.
Download it here...
still falls the rain

t r a c k l i s t :
00:00 August Stars – Inland Rain
04:25 Part Timer – Rain on My Window
06:50 Letna – Raining Day
09:30 Jon Hassell – Delta Rain Dream
12:55 Manual - After the Rain
14:00 Mark McGuire – A Pocket Full of Rain
15:20 Sense - Early Rain
19:00 Cyber Zen Sound Engine & Matt Borghi – Endless Rain
22:10 Foxx & Budd – Raindust
27:55 Jeff Pearce – Rainshadow Sky
30:37 en

I got the idea for this mix over at the Hypnos records forum. In the "Now Playing" thread, someone posted several entries in a row about listening to various soundtracks. Some favorites of mine, Cliff Martinez's "Traffic" & "Narc" and Clint Mansell's "The Fountain", were on the list. It got me thinking & listening to soundtracks for a week or two and this new mix, "Cinematica", is the result.

There are 25 tracks in this mix, so it keeps moving pretty well I think. I realized after I was done that a few of the tracks appear in other low light mixes. Oh well, that's bound to happen with so many mixes and fewer and fewer brain cells.

I would say my favorite soundtracks from the past 10 - 15 years would have to be "Solaris" from Cliff Martinez & "The Fountain" by Clint Mansell. I purposely used a lesser known Martinez cut from "Wicker Park" but one that had the same "Solaris" feel to it. Then of course I discovered that I'd already used the same cut in an earlier mix. Duh!

This mix was easy & fun to put together so I'm sure I'll be doing another one in the future. Any suggestions for essential soundtracks that I should check out?

Download : 110mb 59:50min
Cinematica

T R A C K L I S T :
00:00 Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - The Proposition #2 (The Proposition)
02:00 Graeme Revell - Cue 34 (Until the End of the World)
04:10 Thomas Newman - Drive Away(End Title) (Lemony Snicket)
06:50 Cliff Martinez - What Shoe Size (Wicker Park)
08:05 Andrey Dergatchev - Port (The Return)
10:05 Max Richter - Shadow Journal (Valse Avec Bachir)
12:15 John Murphy/Chrales Gounod - Taxi(Ave Maria) (28 Days Later)
14:07 Mogwai - 7-25 (Zidane, a 21st Century Portait)
18:20 Clint Mansell - Death is a Disease (The Fountain)
20:40 Explosions in the Sky - From West Texas (Friday Night Lights)
22:26 Brian Eno - Always Returning (Apollo)
25:35 Corker/Conboy - First Crossing (3 Degrees Colder)
27:05 David Byrne - Canal Life (Lead Us Not Into Temptation)
29:20 Peter Gabriel - A Sense of Home (Long Walk Home)
30:50 Sigur Ros - #3 untitled (Hlemmur)
33:05 Andrey Dergatchev - Georgians (The Return)
35:13 Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson - Ars Moriendi (Children of Nature)
37:20 Philip Glass - Organic (Koyaanisqatsi)
42:10 Gabriel Yared & Underworld - Mending Things (Breaking & Entering)
44:20 Cliff Martinez - Helicopter (Traffic)
46:05 John Murphy - Red Dresses (28 Days Later)
46:43 Devotchka - The Winner Is (Little Miss Sunshine)
49:35 David Byrne - Dirty Hair (Lead Us Not Into Temptation)
52:06 Peter Gabriel - Passion Extras #4 (Passion)
53:55 James Newton Howard - I'm Listening (I am Legend)
55:45 Brian Eno - an ending(ascent) (Apollo, 28 Days Later, Clean, Traffic)
59:50 end

I've done several mixes so far in 2009 but haven't posted anything about them here at LastFM. So here are links & info on the 4 mixes I've done so far this year all of which can be found at Low Light Mixes.

Right click/save as on any of the titles to direct download an mp3 of the mix.

1) Antique Sunlight - an ambient piano mix featuring artists like Goldmund, Library Tapes, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Taylor Deupree, Milieu, NIN, Con Cetta & more.

2) Searching for Objects - an ambient mix of dusty, gritty tunes. Not too noisey, just enough scratches & white noise to make it interesting. Features artists such as Jasper, TX, Belong, Eluder, Chris Bissonnette, Erstlaub, Rameses III and more.

3) in_transit - a mix of field recordings & ambient music. 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. Artists include sleepy town manufacture, elegi, rf, Loren Chasse, terje isungset & more.

4) shadows at midnight - an ambinet, late-night jazz excursion. I love the new Jon Hassell release and so I wanted to do something that had a moody jazz feel to it. Artists include Jon Hassell, Arve Henriksen, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Slowhill, The Necks, boren & der club of gore and more.

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, 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.

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, called A Northern Holiday. 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

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. When I get a link to the mix series I'll post it here.

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

This mix is called November Buddha in honor of the new Buddha Machine 2.0 which was just released. Mine is on it's way right now. There's not much of a theme here, just a bunch of new tunes that I've been listening to lately.

The Lullaby League & Sleep Robot tracks are new discoveries thanks to the fantastic mixes from Alan, an online friend. You can find the mixes here Great Axescapes: an Archaeology of Drone-gaze Tone-haze Guitar-wranglings.
I probably have listened to these mixes more than anything else this year. Just an absolutely fabulous collection of guitar ambient.

Most of the artists in this mix can also be found in Alan's Axescapes mixes. A couple exceptions are Eluder, which is a brand new Infraction release. And Disturbed Earth, an excellent recording on Atmoworks.

Download(right click/save as) : 153mb, 64 min.
november buddha

T R A C K L I S T :
00:00 buddha machine 2.0 loop construction
05:30 Apalusa - Obadiah
10:30 Sleep Robot - Prayer Wheel
15:40 Eluder - Autumn Hips
21:30 Shirk - Mocked
27:45 Fabio Orsi - Pure Love
31:40 The Lullaby League - Cantus
38:00 Disturbede Earth - Butterfly
44:30 Hakobune - Melting Reminiscence
47:00 The Fun Years - Garbage Man, Poet
50:30 David Tagg - Stele