low light mixes

A couple of tunes were the inspiration for cranking out another Sunday Morning mix. First is the lead-off track - A Sunday Kind of Love from Etta James. It's simply a great tune that I'm surprised I haven't used before. Next is an track from 1971 that I'd never heard of until a few weeks ago. I stumbled on an Instagram reel that talked about the gentle beauty of "Curry Rice" by Kenji Endo. I immed...

    Hmmm, what kind of mix do you think this one might be. I believe the gaudy cover art gives it away. This is essentially a continuation of my "Simply Ambient" series. A nice, straightforward mix of new ambient tunes. I got tired of coming up with variations of "simply ambient" such as absolutely ambient, purely ambient, totally ambient, etc. So I decided to ripoff the over-the-top "Now That's W...

    This mix started with the track "Light & Grace" by Schneider TM. When I heard it I was reminded about how much I like the sound of a vocoder. I also realized that I never did a follow-up to the the vocoder mix I did all the way back in 2010 - http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2010/10/vox-electronix.html So here is a new collection of vocoder tunes. I'm not sure how many of these tracks actuall...

    Fire up the Epstein Drive, get settled in your crash couch and set forth on a tour of the solar system. We'll travel from the sun past the inner planets and through asteroid belt out to the gas giants, into the kuiper belt and oort cloud, and finally reaching interstellar space. All the track titles make it clear where we are on this journey. Incidentally, there is a comet, C/2022 E3, that hop...

    This mix is much more straightforward than the Antarctica set. This mix follows my "dubby & dreamy" formula of ethereal ambient dub tracks with a few gentle beats and lots of synth washes. Here are the links to all the music used in this mix:   https://richiehawtin.bandcamp.com/album/consumed-in-key https://ultimae.bandcamp.com/album/onwards-system https://ultimae.bandcamp.com/album/isolated h...

  A couple of years ago I watched and read a ton on Ernest Shackleton, the English Explorer who went to Antarctica 3 times. One of those was a journey that saw his ship, Endurance, get stuck in the ice and then crushed by the ice, leaving the crew of 27 adrift on an ice floe. After 6 months of drifting they made their way in the ship's boats to Elephant Island. Shackleton and five crewmates set sa...

    I usually listen to jazz at work while doing some computer maintenance or slogging through emails. I don't keep as close track of standout albums like I do with ambient and indie. So this is a collection of tracks that I happened to enjoy this year and of course they had to fit with the vibe of the whole mix. My top 5 jazz albums are: Charles Lloyd - Trio Of Trios Makaya McCraven - In These Ti...

    I can't decide which of these Best Ambient mixes I like the most. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to listen all 3 all day, every day until the end of the year. Then the journey starts all over again. As another year comes to a close, it's hard to believe I've been at this for 17 years. Yikes! I'm not sure how long I'll keep creating these mix but I at least have to make it to 20 years, right?...

    Not much to say other than here is Best Ambient 2022 part 2.  Cheers!   T R A C K L I S T : 00:00    Snufmumriko - Langt under noll (Radio Mnemosyne - Dronarivm) 06:10    Heavenchord - Field Recordings #19(Field Recordings #4 - Secret Domain) 12:00    Austin Rockman - Muter (Our Own Unknown - Krysalisound) 13:27    Alio Die - Il Lievito Dell'anima (Distillation Of Time - Hic Sunt Leones) 18:25...

    Man, these lists are tough to assemble. So why do I does this? Mostly because I enjoy the exercise of reviewing the tons and tons of music that is released over the year. It's a more active and intentional listening mode that I switch to at this time of year. I love checking out other lists to see what I may have missed. But mostly I'm just a music dork who likes lists. So here it is my favori...

    I have been a casual fan of Manuel Gottsching for a long time but I never really dug into his discography until the last few days with the news of his passing. I don't have time to write much about him so I'll cut & paste a few things from Pitchfork. "Manuel Gottsching, the Ash Ra Tempel bandleader who went on to compose the electronic cornerstone album E2-E4, died last Sunday (December 4). Gö...

photo by Paul Asbury Seaman This is the perfect mix to offset the hustle & bustle of the holiday season. Skip the shopping and make some tea and chill the f*** out to this wonderful meditation mix from Paul Asbury Seaman. Here's what Paul says: "Native American flutes. A bit of Ireland, a bit of acoustic guitar (with echoes of India), interspersed with Tibetan bells, wind chimes, and a recent trac...

    A couple of weeks ago I posted the Numinoustrings mix which featured a track by Seabuckthorn. I like the vibe of that mix and how the Seabuckthorn cut fit in. So I reached out to the man behind Seabuckthorn, Andy Cartwright, to see about him creating a guest mix. I was psyched when he said yes! I am happy to present Transcendental Freq. Similar to Numinoustrings, it falls into the ambient/mode...

  I was going to say - "...and now for something completely different" because this mix is louder than normal. But having recently posted a Robert Fripp mix I guess this isn't "completely different." However, this mix is, as the title says, a little louder than a normal Low Light ambient mix. As per usual the mix started with one album in particular - Mox by Mox from 1998. I absolutely loved it wh...

    Many times a new mix is inspired by a track or album. In this case it was the new album, The Road Not Taken by Ecovillage. The album is full of long, deep string vibrations that carry you along from track to track, place to place, and memory to memory. This is one of my favorite albums of the year. So I went looking for, not just string based tunes, but tracks that had a similar slow, reflecti...

    Well, Christ on a bicycle, this midterm election season was a shit show. So here is a mix of beautiful ambient tracks to help us all heal and recover. Here are links to all the albums used in this mix in the order in which they appear: https://uthermoads.depthsoundrecordings.co.uk/album/uther-moads https://www.amazon.com/FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE-Brian-Eno/dp/B0B784PGSY https://slaapwel.bandcamp.co...

    I wasn't planning on making a Halloween themed mix but a couple of days ago I heard a new album called "Xiuxiuejar" by Hekla and I knew I had to use some tracks in a mix. Hekla is an Icelandic musician who use the theremin to create haunting, other-worldly soundscapes. Perfect for a Halloween mix. Some of the other tracks follow a similar vibe I have used for creepy mixes in the past, sort of...

    As we are getting closer to the end of the year I figured it was time for some quiet indie tunes from 2022.  This collection goes from the slow pop of Monica Martin to the ambient vocals of Brian Eno to the simple folk sound of Phosphorescent to a Joni Mitchel cover. My favorite track is "This Is How It Works" by Angel Olsen. It will probably be in my top three songs of the year. Enjoy these v...

    A few months ago a friend and I were talking about King Crimson & Robert Fripp. He is not as familiar with Fripp's work as I am so I started a playlist of not just Crimson tracks but also other excellent Fripp guitar work with other artists such as Brian Eno, David Bowie, David Sylvian, Hall & Oates(yes, Hall & Oates!) & others.    This week I decided to finally make a mix of some of the track...

  s o l a c e g a t h e r s   t h e   s i l e n c e o f   t h e   s e a   Anyone who has followed this mix blog for more than a minute knows I like sea themed mixes. I like the ebb & flow, the washes of synth sounds and especially echoing sounds, like a bell or buoy pinging in the distance or underwater echolocation.   So this mix continues that vibe. Lots of new music and lots of echolocation.  ...

    Certain instruments seem suited for particular settings or seasons. I've always thought that piano works well as a winter accompaniment. Twangy guitar goes well with hot weather. And trumpet feels right at home during autumn.  Which brings us to the latest collection from Paul Asbury Seaman - Autumn Trumpet. The mix sets the mood perfectly. Here's what Paul has to say about it: “No Scandinavia...

    On September 7, NPR dropped an episode of All Songs Considered about an enormous new compilation album called "For The Birds: The Birdsong Project." It's a massive collection of original songs and poems about birds and inspired by birdsong. Artists range from Alice Coltrane, Nick Cave, Laurie Anderson, and The Flaming Lips to Sam Prekop, Devendra Banhart, Yo Yo Ma, and of course Andrew Bird &...

    I love the strange exotic sounds of artists such as Jon Hassell, Andrew Pekler, and William Selman. Their music can take you on an audio journey to imaginary places halfway around the globe. My first 4th World Excursion mix was 4 years ago and I've only done one follow up, which is weird considering how much I enjoy this style.  Here are the first two in this series: https://www.mixcloud.com/l...

    The Handpan, or Hang, is a percussion instrument related to the Caribbean steelpan instrument. It is like a convex version of a steel drum with the two halves attached together. The instrument has been used in a lot of new age music and faux new-age eastern mysticism. Like a lot of new age music instrumentation there is a fine line between enjoyable, relaxing ambient and new age schlock. Unfor...