Monday, June 21, 2010

breathe in, breathe out

Breathing is a rhythmic process of expansion and contraction, in & out, inhale & exhale. Breathing is one example of the cycles we see in nature such as night and day, wake and sleep, seasonal growth and decay, tides going in & out. And like waves in the tides, the rhythmic nature of breathing can be very calming.

Some of my favorite sleep music has this cyclic, breathing quality to it. I made my first breathing mix almost three years ago. Wow! Has it really been that long? I can't believe I've been posting these mixes for 4 years. Anyway, back to this mix, I had a few breathing tunes that I'd been meaning to use, some old some new, and the result is "breathe in, breathe out".

On many of these mixes, there are sections where two or more pieces are playing simultaneously. But this one may have the longest section of combined playing. At about 4:30 into the mix, Bang on a Can's version of Music for Airports 1-2 comes in over the peter Broderick piece. The two continue playing at the same time until somewhere around 10:00, when Airports fades out and the Broderick cut goes solo for a minute or two. I wasn't planning on doing it that way, the two tracks just blended nicely.

There's a track from Foci's Left in the middle of the mix that is from a new netlabel, Audio Gourmet. The label has been running for less than two months but already they have 7 fine releases. Definitely take some time & download some these excellent EPs.


Download (right click/save as) : 87mb, 60min
breathe in, breathe out



T R A C K L I S T :
  • 00:00 Peter Broderick - Music for a sleeping sculpture of Peter Broderick
  • 04:30 Bang on a Can - Music for Airports 1-2
  • 10:00ish Music for a sleeping sculpture comes back to the fore
  • 11:45 Panoptique Electrical - Glacier Show 1
  • 20:00 Porzellan - Rosen
  • 25:45 Lucette Bourdin - Through Empty Heaven
  • 31:00 Robert Rich - Never Alone
  • 35:40 Foci's Left - Regurgitated Impulses(David Tagg remix)
  • 37:10 Olan Mill - Country
  • 40:30 St. Kilda - You are in Every Dream
  • 43:20 Language of Landscape - Contemplating Departure In Wake of Clear Light
  • 47:45 Austere - Lid
  • 54:40 Lexithimie - Another Minute for a Never Ending
  • 1:00:00 end

Sunday, June 13, 2010

lost at sea

What the heck? Two sea/water mixes in a row? I didn't plan it this way. It just sort of happened that I collected a few sea songs, then the library/soundtrack mix got done, then I found a few more sea songs and this mix happened.

"lost at sea" is very similar to
"a solitary sea" from last year. Some nice drifting, flowing tunes with a definite sea/ocean feel to them. And of course all the tunes have the word "sea" in the title. The mix works really well on foggy mornings, standing out on the deck letting the music flow all around you.

There's not much else to say except that I hope you enjoy this latest collection.



Download
(right click/save as) : 75mb, 54:30

lost at sea



T R A C K L I S T :

  • 00:00 Milieu - the singing waters of an endless sea
  • 07:30 Aless - inborn sea flowing
  • 12:30 offthesky - sea ghosts
  • 17:50 Jonsi & Alex - Daniell in the sea
  • 25:40 Duncan 'O Ceallaigh - the sea and the sand
  • 27:35 The Humble Bee - a century of sea stories
  • 29:20 Sawako - april from sea shell
  • 32:10 Arovane - seaside
  • 35:30 Aglaia - the sea hides his secret selves
  • 45:00 Seas - blue dub
  • 53:15 Milieu - seashell breeze
  • 54:30 end

Saturday, June 05, 2010

beneath the surface


Right off the bat, I have to come clean. I stole something. I stole the idea for this mix. But I'm glad I did because I'm very excited to post this new track.

Over at SoundCloud I ran into some mixes by Astromatt. He uses sounds from music libraries and soundtracks of '60's and '70's to create great underwater themed mixes. I love the sound of these old tracks & how they work together in a mix.

Who knew that these old library albums even existed?!
After some research & digging, I decided to try my hand at a similar mix.

With a lot of this music, it's very easy to cross the line into cheesy/kitchy territory. I tried to find tunes that had that old 70's undersea soundtrack feel but were still listenable by today's ambient standards. I think it works pretty well as an ambient mix, very relaxing, with a cool watery vibe.

It was a lot of fun discovering some of these old albums & I'm sure I'll visit them again.


Download (right click/save as) : 53mb, 36:53
beneath the surface



T R A C K L I S T :
  • 00:13 Amedeo Tommasi - Acque Tranquille
  • 02:20 Eugene Thomass - Magic World of the Sea
  • 04:50 Michel Redolfi - Music for Fresh Water
  • 08:40 Franco Tamponi - Submarino
  • 10:35 Gaston Borreani - Cirrus
  • 13:40 Gaston Borreani - Entrelacs
  • 17:16 Franco Tamponi - Stelle Marina
  • 20:05 Amedeo Tommasi - Correnti Sottomarine
  • 21:45 Piero Umiliani - Eliogabalus
  • 24:00 Gaston Borreani - Rave Abyssal
  • 26:10 Patchwork Orchestra - Brumes sur Mars
  • 28:00 Franco Tamponi - Profundita
  • 30:05 Fabor - Angelo di Mare
  • 33:25 Gaston Borreani - Port Cross
  • 36:53 end