low light mixes

    We lost Klaus a few weeks ago and now Vangelis. I'm getting tired of doing these tribute mixes. His music was my electronic soundtrack to the 80s. I played the daylights out of Antarctica and Soil Festivities back then. And then of course there is Blade Runner. I am still in awe of that soundtrack today. I don't know what else to say other than I loved his music. Godspeed Evángelos Odysséas Pa...

    Seven years ago I did a mix called "Space Rock" that is unique in the Low Light Mixes catalog. It's a collection of instrumental tunes that are guitar driven and are a bit spacey, a little prog rock, and with some post-rock tossed in as well. You can find to original mix here: http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2015/04/space-rock.html I've always wanted to do a follow-up mix but never got aroun...

    A new album from Tapes and Topographies dropped last week and as expected it is very good. Tapes & Topographies is one of my favorite ambient artists so I asked if they would do a guest mix. And I am happy to present "A Faint Resemblance". I'm stealing this background info from friend of the blog, Harry Towell over at Whitelabrecs. "Tapes and Topographies is US based artist Todd Gautreau, who...

  Klaus Schulze 1947 - 2022 Klaus Schulze, considered to be a godfather figure in electronic music, died this week. I'd say he was one of the big four of early electronic music pioneers which in addition to Schulze would include Jean-Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk, and Tangerine Dream.  I've always enjoyed his music but I was a bigger fan of the other three artists in that group. That being said, somehow...

    Here's the latest in a series of simple, straightforward ambient mixes. It started with Simply Ambient then we also had Always Ambient, Purely Ambient, and Absolutely Ambient. This is a mix with no theme or story or concept. Just excellent ambient tracks. All the cuts used here are from 2022. Here are links to the music used in this mix in the order in which they appear: https://krysalisound.b...

  I love doing these alternative soundtrack mixes. I believe this is the fifth one I made. Sometimes I have the mix take the soundtrack in a different direction and sometimes I simply follow the vibe of the original with all new tracks. This mix takes the later approach. For anyone not familiar with it, Severance is a series on AppleTV+, an eerie dystopia where people can sever their work life fro...

  "Listening in the Dark" is such a great title for an ambient mix. I've listened to a lot of these mixes in the dark - sitting on the deck at night, in bed before sleep, stargazing, etc. I wonder how many folks purposely listen to ambient & electronic music in the dark. I remember playing the Conet Project recordings in the dark and a friend said it was a little too freaky. This mix is definitely...

  International Piano day takes place on the 88th day of the year, in honor of the number of keys on a piano keyboard. In 2022 that day is March 29th. So, as in years past, I have put together a mix of piano tracks to celebrate Piano Dat 2022. This set starts off a bit different from those I've done before. Most are solo piano type mixes but this one starts off with 5 tracks that have more of an e...

  This mix is perfect for spring. Here the rain is the main attraction. It dominates the sound. I purposely mixed the audio from the music fairly low so that it sounds like it's playing in the background somewhere.   I did a similar mix back in August of 2020 - https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/rainfall-meditation/ and this one is the same idea. Enjoy this mix as winter snow turns to spring rain....

   The spoken word in music is a tricky thing. A lot of people really dislike it. And I totally get that. Most of the time I think it's distracting or annoying or cheesy. But obviously someone like Laurie Anderson is able to pull it off successfully. If I use a track with spoken word in an ambient mix it can ruin the mood so I decided to make an entire mix featuring tracks with spoken word. What g...

    The first time I used a track from Altus in a mix was 10 years ago. I've been a fan ever since. Altus is Mike Carss, who also records as Loneward. Between those two musical personas, I've used Mike's music in 10 mixes. https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/music-for-a-mars-landing/ https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/deep-sky-time-music-for-stargazing-2013/ https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/eight-da...

  Ugh, the world sure could use a time out and some meditation to bring the temperature down a notch. So here's a collection of calming tracks for meditation, reading, a bubble bath or just staring off into space for an hour. Here are links to the albums used in this mix in the order in which they appear: https://auralcanyonmusic.bandcamp.com/album/listening-sky https://jonhopkins.bandcamp.com/alb...

    I am a lucky guy. Lucky, because I get to present a second guest in as many weeks. Lucky, because I was able to discover new artists in this excellent mix. And lucky because I am also lazy and these guest mixes allow me to put some beautiful music out there with the heavy lifting done by someone else.  This mix comes to us from J. Gorecki who records as Fragile X, a musician/producer from Glas...

  Friend of the show, Michael McGarrity, offered to create a guest mix and, of course, I jumped at the chance because Michael has been cranking out excellent mixes for several years. You can find his stuff here: https://www.friskyradio.com/show/wander/ https://www.mixcloud.com/michaelmcguk/ Here's what Michael has to say about this mix: "I made this mix to help remember those long summer days and...

    In April of 2020 I posted "Of Reed and Breath" which is an ambient sax mix. You can find that mix here: http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2020/04/of-reed-and-breath.html https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/of-reed-and-breath/   When I created that one I wasn't sure how it would work. Turns out, ambient sax is a great theme to build a mix on. I've been planning on a follow up for a long time and...

A million miles from Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope has arrived at it's parking spot at Lagrange Point #2, the perfect place to search the heavens for faint light from the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe. This mix tells the story of the Webb observatory as it seeks to "Unfold the Universe."   The telescope, like its mission, is big. When expanded to full size, it can’...

  This is a great way to start off 2022. We have an excellent guest mix from Kevin, the man responsible for "Cello Mood Swings" and "Not Seeing a Flower" which you can find here... https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/cello-mood-swings/ http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2021/07/cello-mood-swings.html https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/not-seeing-is-a-flower/ http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2020/07/n...

  I don't do these year-end jazz mixes every year. Most of the time I'm just too lazy. I don't keep close track of what came out and what I liked. At some point this year I started tossing individual tracks into a playlist and that helped me remember what I enjoyed in 2021. So here's my Jazz 2021 mix. It is by no means a "Best of" mix. It's merely a collection of jazz-ish tracks from albums I like...

A few things I noticed from my year-end list - no berlin-school music, very little what I would call 'space' music, a fair amount of dusty, loop music like Maps & Diagrams or Tapes & Topographies, several guitar based albums like Dave Depper, Dave Nelson, SUSS, and Devendra Banhart, and lastly, a lot of modern classical/modern composition albums from Mastrokristo & Alapastel to Max Richter and Vik...

  These year-end lists seem to be getting harder and harder to curate. The sheer number of releases makes it nearly impossible to keep up and listen to all the music. Through Spotify and Bandcamp most of this music is available immediately, which is great, but it can also foster a severe case of FOMO, fear of missing out. Whether it's ambient music or indie rock/pop I am on a constant prowl for ne...

    Between work and Thanksgiving I didn't have time to put together a new mix this week. But then I remembered I had another in the "simply ambient" series waiting in the wings. So here it is - "absolutely ambient." Like the the others in this series there is no overall theme other than a nice collection of excellent ambient music. With so much new music being released every week it's difficult t...

    I kind of overdosed on Native American flute music back in my new age days in the late 80s and 90s. So I don't listen to this style very often. But Paul has pulled me back in with his excellent collection of tracks. It starts off with new music from Sherry Finzer so I'm in automatically. From there Paul uses a variety of artists and styles to carry us through the hour-long mix. Here's what Pau...

    Anyone who regularly follows this podcast and my mixes knows that I am a science fiction dork. So it should come as no surprise that I saw Dune on opening weekend. I loved the film and have been thinking about an alternative soundtrack mix ever since.   There's not much to say other than this mix is a collection of tracks that remind me of the film. Most of the tracks are fairly new but a few...

  I have done several train mixes over the years. They basically come about because I hear a tune and think - Hey, that would be great in a train mix. So it was with this one. I heard the track "A.O.E." by Portico Quartet and I knew immediately that I need to build a mix around it. This mix differs from most of my other train mix(except one) because it's mostly a jazz influenced mix. Berlin-school...

  This is mix #3 in the "simply ambient" series. It started with "simply ambient" then "purely ambient" and now "always ambient." I listen to a ton of new music every month and this series gives me a chance to get some of that new music into mixes without having to wait for an appropriate theme. It's just straightforward ambient tracks, no theme, no big concept no story to tell - just excellent am...