The title pretty much says it all - this mix is a field recording mix. I think I've done 3 field mixes in the past but haven't done one in a long time. So I thought it was time for another sonic exploration. The track that got me thinking about doing a new field mix was "El Divisader" by Chris Watson from the excellent "El Tren Fantasma" album. Really a phenomenal track. The mix starts with some church bells that I slowed down & messed with, the we get the Chris Watson track and from there t...
Jun 16, 2013•57 min
More Sunday morning music - this time all the tracks are from the 1970s. In collecting these cuts I discovered two albums that I somehow missed - Kraftwerk - Ralf & Florian and Cluster - Sowiesoso . I have plenty of Kraftwerk & Cluster in my collection but I didn't have those two albums & they are both wonderful. So thanks to Matt for suggesting those two records. Also thanks Matt for suggesting the Nue! track. That one was "new" to me and it fit perfectly. I know the Nick Drake tune...
May 26, 2013•1 hr 13 min
The good folks over at Nocturne Records asked me to do a mix for their podcast . They put out some great music so how could I resist! Most of the time with my mixes I'll stumble upon one or two tunes that spark an idea. In this case I rediscovered an old electronic album that I had in college. It's a compilation called Music from the 21st Century. That album got me thinking about science fiction music, whether it's music used in sci-fi or just tunes that sound like they should be in a sci-fi fil...
Apr 26, 2013•59 min
Cedar Creeek in Cedarburg, WI. This mix ended up in a different place than when it started. I have folder in my prospective mix bin called "just plain old good ambient." It had a few tracks in it & I sat down with it intending to make a mix with that "theme" in mind. But then when I got to tracks #5, the Jasper, TX track, I started to hear something else happening. It was the title of track #5, "Rivers Flow," that gave me the idea of where this mix really wanted to go. I listened to the cut ...
Mar 18, 2013•59 min
Ambient music will never be a popular genre. We all know the kind of looks we get from people when they hear some of our ambient tunes. But over time ambient sensibilities have crept into a lot of modern music. And artists that normally don't do ambient music have dipped their toes into a droning sea. So that's where this mix takes us, to tunes that are fairly to very ambient, by non-ambient artists. Many of the artists on this tracklist aren't exactly big surprises, Sylvian, Bowie, Gabriel &...
Feb 15, 2013•1 hr 4 min
I have to be honest. One of the reasons I've done so many(#5 now) of these Sunday morning music mixes is that they are so popular, especially on Mixcloud. So I'm a sellout, a ratings whore. I admit it. But I like to think that each Sunday mix is a good listen in it's own way. I usually stumble upon a song or two that prompts me to start a new mix. In this case it was the song "Before My Time" which leads off the mix. It's the song that plays during the credits of the film Chasing Ice. When I hea...
Jan 20, 2013•59 min
I love the end of the year because of all the lists that get posted all over the place. I love discovering releases that I knew nothing about. The folks over at Headphone Commute have started their mammoth collection of 15 best of lists here . Over at A Closer Listen they have lists for best field recordings, modern composition, experimental, post rock, overall, etc. and guest lists. Secret Thirteen has a ton of guest lists where I found a bunch of stuff I'd never heard of. There is a nice eclec...
Jan 04, 2013•1 hr 1 min
The awesome folks over at Headphone Commute asked me to do a special mix for them and of course I could not refuse. The mix is special because it is helping promote a fantastic new compilation they have put together. It's called "...and darkness came" and you can find out about it here... Headphone Commute ...and darkness came . The compilation features 80 tracks(yes, 80 tracks!) from great artists in ambient, modern classical and experimental music. Artists like Max Richter, Clint Mansell, offt...
Dec 11, 2012•1 hr 1 min
Looking back over the last six years of mixes, the piano has been the featured instrument in many of the the tracks. I guess it goes all the way back to Ambient #1 : Music for Airports. The piano is a perfect instrument for the contemplative, ambient music in the mixes found here. As far as I can tell, I've done four mixes devoted exclusively to the piano. They are... 1) Piano Mix 2) Piano Mix 2007 3) Antique Sunlight 4) pno 2010 This fifth installment, "asleep at the piano," is very similar to ...
Nov 25, 2012•1 hr 2 min
Oops! It's Sunday night & I'm posting a mix called Sunday Morning Music. Oh well, play it next Sunday while reading the paper with a cup of coffee. This is the fourth in the Sunday morning series. It follows a similar pattern - some ambient, some vocal tunes, some jazz - all of it nice & relaxing. Perfect for a Sunday morning. This morning I was actually able to sip coffee out on the deck(shown in the pic). Not bad for the 11th of November in Wisconsin. Two of my favorite cuts in the mix...
Nov 12, 2012•1 hr
This is a very slow, droney kind of mix. All the music has been stretched or slowed down so much that the tunes are unrecognizable from the originals. I used a great little program called Paul Stretch which you can find here... h ttp://hypermammut.sourceforge.net/paulstretch/ It take music and stretches or slows it down dramatically but still keeps it very musical. I've used the program a few times for mixes in the past but never for creating an entire mix. All the tracks are slowed by at least ...
Nov 06, 2012•1 hr
I wanted to get this mix in while it is still autumn. I originally did this mix last fall for the good folks over at Headphone Commute . If you've not been there, head over to their great site for reviews, news, sound clips & of course mixes. The music in the mix sort of has an autumnal feel to it at least I hope so considering the title is “Illusions of Autumn.” Not sure what qualifies a tune as being autumnal, I guess it’s a case of “I know it, when I hear it.” I was glad to use the Arve H...
Oct 19, 2012•1 hr
There is a new release from Loscil called "Sketches from New Brighton." And of course it's excellent, everything from Loscil is excellent. As I listened to it I figured that Loscil would have to be one of my favorite ambient artists of all time. That got me thinking...what are my top ten ambient artists of all time? The artists on the list are ones I come back to again and again. And also ones that have a decent sized body of work. Scott Solter did one of my favorite ambient albums of all time, ...
Oct 05, 2012•1 hr 4 min
This is a mix I did for my good friends at acloserlisten.com and lostchildrennetlabel.com The mix is called “daylight fades” because as I was listening to “Olancha Farewell” by Harold Budd [off Lovely Thunder ] it made me think of sitting on the front porch watching the sky begin to darken as daylight fades. Once I had that feeling in mind I just kept my ears open for a couple of weeks listening for tracks that would work well with that theme. The cuts are mostly newer music with the exception o...
Sep 20, 2012•1 hr
Back in November I did a mix for the launch of Curiosity, NASA's newest Mars rover. Now 8 months later, Curiosity has arrived at Mars. So this mix is music for landing on Mars, in honor of Curiosity's EDL or entry, descent and landing. As I write this, the landing has not taken place yet. But I wanted to get the mix uploaded on the day of the landing. I'll update the post depending on the result of the EDL. I started off this mix just picking electronic tunes I liked for this theme then quickly ...
Aug 05, 2012•1 hr 3 min
Those of us who are science dorks were fascinated earlier this month when it was announced that the discovery of a new particle was very likely the elusive Higgs-Boson. The particle has been the subject of a nearly 50 year hunt to explain why matter has mass. This mix is a celebration of that discovery. With titles like "Particle," "Sweet Collision," and "Magnetic Fields," all the track titles work very well with a Higgs-Boson, high energy physics theme. Enjoy. [ s t r e a m ] [ d o w n l o a d ...
Jul 23, 2012•1 hr 4 min
Sunday mornings in summer...put on some coffee even though the temps are already climbing. Sunday mornings in summer...are spent on the deck with the paper & the birds. Sunday mornings in summer...slow motion start to a slow motion day. This is the third in my unplanned Sunday morning music series. I hadn't intended to more than one of these mixes but the first was so popular on Mixcloud that I couldn't resist doing more. I was amazed at how many listens it got and to be honest, I liked that...
Jul 08, 2012•1 hr 1 min
A mix in honor of the recent transit of Venus across the face of the sun. It won't happen again until 2117. All the tracks have Venus, sun or transit in the title. Enjoy. T R A C K L I S T : 00:00 Casino Versus Japan - Names on Maps of Venus part 6 01:27 Laurie Anderson - Transitory Life 02:39 Ishq - Diving into Sun 8:33 Glen Velez - In Transit 10:50 Jon Hopkins - The Wider Sun 12:15 Steve Hauschildt - Overnight Venusian 16:15 Paul Ellis - Dialing in the Sun 24:00 Ishq - The Sun Arcs a Smile 26:...
Jun 06, 2012•57 min
Shortwave radio signals spread across the planet, the signal fades in & out, washes of static mix with music & voice, creating an eerie mashup of music & electronics. This is the latest mix in a series, going back years, that utilizes shortwave broadcasts & music that already has a noisy, grainy tone. That combination of sounds creates a strange, other-worldly feel, transporting the listener around the globe and back again. As with the other shortwave mixes, this one makes use of...
Jun 01, 2012•55 min
The music in this mix has a strange, sort of alien feel to it. The pieces are a bit darker, but not creepy or annoying. But they do all have a weird other-worldly sense to them. This started with the first track, "We Swallowed the Night" by Anduin. It just sounded vaguely alien and a bit threatening. So from there I decided to construct a mix around that feeling. When I make mixes I collect tracks over time & toss them into a folder to sort through later. Sometimes I'll bring the folder of m...
Apr 22, 2012•55 min
On Sundays I don't do anything useful until noon. I read the paper, listen to music, read a book, sort & catalog my mp3's, sit out on the deck, etc. This mix is a soundtrack for Sunday mornings. Some instrumental tunes, some vocal tracks. All of it mellow & laid back. Perfect for a lazy Sunday morning. When I did my first Sunday morning mix I wasn't really sure if I even liked it. Then it turned out to be the most listened to mix I've ever had at Mixcloud . Go figure. Vol. 2 starts with ...
Apr 08, 2012•1 hr 1 min
This is my 5th "sea" mix. I guess ambient artists really like the imagery & sounds of the sea. Me too. This one is very similar to the other "sea" mixes. A lot of white noise accompanies you as you drift on the swells of "a further sea." Most of the music is fairly new, especially nice is the new release from 36 - " Lithea ". It's another excellent recording from Dennis Huddleston . Definitely check out all the releases by 36! Also playing a prominent role in this mix is music from Maps &...
Mar 23, 2012•1 hr
I've been on kind of a moon binge lately. It started with watching HBO's excellent series, " From the Earth to the Moon. " Then I read " We Reach the Moon ," a book written in 1969 by John Noble Wilford, the NYT science reporter. Next I moved on to the wonderful film, " For All Mankind. " It's the story of the men who went to the moon, told in their own words. Beautiful images and of course Eno's remarkable soundtrack, " Apollo : Atmospheres & Soundtracks ". So my head has been stuck on the ...
Mar 04, 2012•1 hr 4 min
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 sound...
Feb 23, 2012•52 min
. 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 f...
Feb 13, 2012•59 min
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 ...
Feb 05, 2012•54 min
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,...
Jan 27, 2012•1 hr 7 min
"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. ...
Jan 14, 2012•1 hr 6 min
For such a small country, Iceland has produced a surprising number of excellent artists. From Bjork to Mum to Seabear to Olaf Arnalds to Sigur Ros, it's really extraordinary the amount of wonderful music that comes from that island. This last mix of 2011 is an Icelandic journey. All the music is created by artists from Iceland. The brilliant idea for it came from loyal listener, Kevin. I wasn't sure how much music of Iceland I had in my collection but I was surprised to find quite a bit. Iceland...
Dec 31, 2011•1 hr 1 min
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...
Dec 18, 2011•1 hr 3 min
