Juno Spacecraft - Mission to Jupiter

I'm a space science dork.  I have NASA t-shirts, a large print of the moon in my office, read sci-fi and I make space/science themed music mixes.  Here are links to a few that I've done in the past:

http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-god-particle.html
http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2011/11/launch-of-curiosity.html
http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2012/08/music-for-mars-landing-curiosity-edl.html
http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2013/12/deep-sky-time-music-for-stargazing-2013.html
http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2008/09/sea-of-stars.html
http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-stars-my-destination.html
http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2006/03/
http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2017/01/sci-fi-soundtracks.html
http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2015/08/music-for-perseid-meteor-shower.html

Yikes, that was more than I thought and I may have missed a few.

This new mix fits right in with my love of all things NASA and my love of electronic music.  What sets this one apart is the sequencing of the tracks.  The titles of the tracks take you on the Juno mission from start to finish.  Going from "We Launch Tonight" to "Arrival" to "Ganymede" to "Cloud Shaping" to "The Last Message."

The Juno Spacecraft was launched in 2011 and arrived at Jupiter in 2016.  It's been taking amazing pics and gathering data while in orbit.

After completing over a years worth of orbits and close fly bys, Juno will plunge into Jupiter's atmosphere and burn up, sending data back for as long as possible.

This mix attempts to tell the story of Juno on it's mission to Jupiter and it's moons.

Cheers!

[ s t r e a m ]   [ d o w n l o a d ]   [ i t u n e s ]

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Saul Stokes - We Launch Tonight
• 01:20    Tycho - Ascension
• 05:20    Lunar Testing Lab - Inertia
• 06:30    Robert Scott Thompson - Trajectory
• 08:10    Tangerine Dream - Astral Voyager
• 14:00    Johann Johannsson - Arrival
• 16:15    Erstlaub - Jupiter
• 19:35    36 - Drift Orbit
• 23:45    Lights Out in Asia - All these worlds are yours
• 26:04    Lights Out in Asia - Except Europa
• 30:00    Lights Out in Asia - Attempt no landings there
• 36:00    Amon Tobin - Encounter On Io
• 38:08    Harold Budd & Clive Wright - Procession of Moons
• 39:40    Boc Scadet - Ganymede
• 42:10    Wally Jericho - Callisto 1.0
• 44:45    Sufjan Stevens, James McAlister, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly - Tides
• 45:30    Saul Stokes - Cloud Shaping
• 49:45    Lunar Testing Lab - Ocean of Storms
• 51:10    Unknown - The Great Red Spot
• 51:55    David Wenngren & Christopher Bissonnette - Burn Like a Meteor and Leave No Dust
• 53:36    Echolab - Secrets of Jupiter
• 54:15    John Murphy - The Last Message
• 55:47    end

Stranger Synths

I'm sure by now that most of you have seen or heard about the TV show "Stranger Things" on Netflix.  If you haven't seen it, definitely check it out. It totally rips off Close Encounters, ET, Poltergeist, Stand By Me, Firestarter, etc. but it doesn't matter because it's ripping them off in a loving way.

The same is true for the soundtrack.  It's got a great analog synth sound reminiscent of Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter soundtracks.  The minute I heard the Stranger Things theme I knew I had to make a mix featuring the new retro sound.

Even though the music in this mix sounds like it's from the 70s or 80s all of it is new, with most cuts being from 2015 and 2016.  In addition to the Stranger Things theme I of course had to include the Tangerine Dream remix of it. Thanks to Mike of Ambient Music Guide for the heads up on the soundtrack from Halt & Catch Fire by Paul Haslinger. It's fantastic!  Another soundtrack that made it's way into the mix is from Mac Quayle music for Mr. Robot - more analog loveliness.

I hope everyone enjoys the mix, I know had a ball putting it together.

Cheers!


[ s t r e a m ]   [ d o w n l o a d ]   [ i t u n e s ]


T R A C K L I S T:

• 00:00    Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein - Stranger Things
• 01:04    Tangerine Dream - Stranger Things Theme Remix
• 03:17    Harry Gregson-Williams - Hexadecimals
• 05:30    Paul Haslinger - Macmillan Utility
• 06:55    Pye Corner Audio - Approach
• 08:40    John Carpenter - Utopian Façade
• 12:04    Mac Quayle - trustyourself
• 15:15    Prins Thomas - B
• 22:30    The Analog Roland Orchestra - Lay Down
• 24:36    20SIX Hundred - Collapse of Classical Reality
• 27:07    Panabrite - Sunlight Dive
• 29:33    Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein - Hanging Lights
• 30:48    Nonkeen - Happy Juno
• 33:15    Paul Haslinger - A Wolf in Unix
• 34:21    Jean Michel Jarre - The Heart of the Noise
• 36:54    Mac Quayle - m0rphine
• 38:40    Pye Corner Audio - Vorsicht
• 41:02    Cliff Martinez - Son of Placenta Previa
• 43:15    Qluster - von weiter ferne ganz nah
• 49:45    Pye Corner Audio - Sleep Chamber
• 52:00    Bop - Odd Meaning
• 55:21    Panabrite - Dune
• 59:15    Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein - Cops are Good at Finding
• 60:12    Paul Haslinger - It Speaks
• 64:15    end

Unfurling Forces

As with so many mixes this one started because of a great tune. In this mix that great tune is Existence in the Unfurling by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith from her spectacular new album Ears. The track is a wonderful mixture of analog electronics, fluttering woodwinds and ethereal vocals. It's my favorite song of the year so far and I just had to share it in a mix. 

The other tracks are a combination of electronic tunes & some post-rock.  All the music is new with the exception of the 3rd track.

Enjoy


[ s t r e a m ]   [ d o w n l o a d ]   [ i t u n e s ]


T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Existence in the Unfurling
• 11:05    Mogwai - Ether
• 15:40    The Maple Mountain Sunburst Triolian Orchestra - Age of Steam
• 18:40    36 - FIVe Eyes
• 21:40    Explosions in the Sky - The Wilderness
• 25:44    Prins Thomas - A2
• 32:20    Shaded Explorer - When I Decided to Live
• 40:54    Underworld - Santiago Cuatro
• 44:15    Brian Eno - The Ship
• 52:25    Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Rare Things Grow
• 55:24    end

Points of Departure

http://bloknayrb.deviantart.com/

a beginning

an expedition is launched

springs into being

the journey begins

This is a follow up to an earlier mix Leaving the Station, which had a train theme.  I had several people ask if I was planning on a follow up and, well, here it is.

My favorite track in this mix is El Divisadero by Chris Watson from his wonderful field recording album, El Tren Fantasma.  I've used this track before but it's so awesome I just had to use it here.

Another track in this mix that I've used before is Dialing in the Sun by Paul Ellis.  It's an excellent berlin school cut that has this great clicky-clack sound that works perfectly here.

The rest of the mix is a collection of old(Richard Pinhas) and new(Andy Stott) cuts.

On a side note, I don't know if anyone has noticed but embedded in each mp3 for download is the mix tracklist.  So if you're playing it on your phone or on some pc players, you should be able to see the tracklist when the mix is playing.

Other mixes coming soon, or maybe I should say sometime this year, a sort of jazz mix, a new age massage mix, a sci fi mix, a dubby mix, a space rock mix, guest mixes and many more I haven't even thought of yet.

Enjoy


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T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Edinburgh - City Streets and Train Station
• 00:40    The Elf Machine - Asymmetric Transition
• 03:27    Arovane - Passage to Nagoya
• 05:15    Locust - I'll Be There
• 08:57    Forrest Fang - Bothered
• 12:27    Paul Ellis - Dialing in the Sun
• 17:45    Chris Watson - El Divisadero
• 22:00    Circular - Synchronus
• 29:00    The Black Dog - Exhibit 1.1
• 33:20    Function and Vatican Shadow - Things Unknown
• 40:20    Dub Tractor - More or Less Mono
• 44:08    The Field - Arpeggiated Love
• 48:55    Richard Pinhas - Melodic Simple Transition
• 52:15    Andy Stott - Science and Industry
• 57:57    Torn Hawk - She Happens
• 1:02:55    Ten and Tracer - Figure and Ground
• 1:06:05    Deepchord - Day's End
• 1:08:11    end

Points of Departure by Low Light Mixes on Mixcloud

Leaving the Station

cinemagraph by Julien Douvier - http://juliendouvier.tumblr.com/

Sometimes I go through phases of music listening.  I'll listen to a bunch of old prog rock for two weeks then move on.  I pull out some old Cantebury Scene stuff from the 70s for awhile.  Then I'll go on an early 80s new wave binge.  Then Americana.  Then ECM jazz.

This mix came out of one such binge.  I've been listening to a lot of Jean Michel Jarre & Tangerine Dream lately.  Jean Michel Jarre was a college favorite of mine.  My girlfriend in college loved JMJ.  Which is probably why I married her - how many college girls like Jean Michel Jarre?!

While bingeing on JMJ & TD I knew that I wanted to use them in a mix and the train theme just seemed to flow naturally from there.  So the first two JMJ tunes I chose specifically because of the train sounds in them.  I think I'd like to do another berlin school mix with all artists and music from the 1970s.

Enjoy.

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T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Tangerine Dream - Love on a Real Train
• 03:40    Jean Michel Jarre - Magnetic Fields pt. 3
• 06:33    Dadub - Arrival
• 09:10    Miktek - Elsewhere(fade edit)
• 14:40    Evan Marc + Steve Hillage - Resurface
• 16:30    Tangerine Dream - Rain and Thunder(Sorcerer Cinematographic Score)
• 23:00    Jean Michel Jarre - Ethnicolor II
• 25:55    Grumbling Fur - Eyoreseye
• 31:33    Mark McGuire - The Instinct
• 37:25    ??? - ???
• 41:20    Mohn - Saturn
• 48:45    Plastikman - Locomotion
• 52:45    Jean Michel Jarre - Equinoxe VII
• 59:10    Tangerine Dream - The Dream Is Always The Same
• 1:02:24    end

Leaving the Station by Low Light Mixes on Mixcloud

on the behavior of radio waves

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 source material from Myke Dodge Weiskopf & his website of shortwave recordings found here... http://www.myke.me/wordpress/

Enjoy.

[ s t r e a m ]  |  [ d o w n l o a d ]  |  [ i t u n e s ]

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    The Humble Bee - Titles
• 00:46    William Basinski - Particle Showers
• 02:40    BSKSA Saudia Arabia 11785 kHz, 8_14_10 (1610UTC)
• 04:10    Andrew Chalk - Violin by Night
• 07:00    Andrew Pekler - Nocturne 3
• 09:00    Je Suis Le Petit Chevalier - Main Jungle
• 10:50    The Caretaker - The Quilter Standard
• 11:55    Markus Mehr - Komo
• 13:50    Ran Slavin - Wayward Initial
• 14:24    Call to Prayer at Dawn, Sultanahmet Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey
•                playing under the Ran Slavin cut
• 16:48    Depatterning - Instow, SK. Bone Creek No. 108
• 18:50    Pawn - untitled(from Islet)
• 24:05    Maps and Diagrams - Looks Simple Enough
• 26:23    unknown time & frequency (2002)
• 27:10    The Humble Bee - The Collecting Plate
• 28:00    WEWN:Radio Catolica Mundial 5810kHz
• 28:40    Mokira - Harold Dubb
• 33:05    Radio Bulgaria 5800kHz
• 34:04    Stephan Mathieu - Gabriel
• 37:55    Gultskra Artikler - Vsegda Krasni Cvetok
• 39:30    Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Reverso
• 45:15    Kane Ikin - short wave fade
• 47:12    Quinn Walker - The Quiet Passage
• 50:40    Melton - Northern Fields
• 53:05    I've Lost - A Study in Departure
• 54:27    end

On the behavior of radio waves by Lowlight on Mixcloud

alien architecture

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 music to work with me & make the mix there(shhhh, don't tell anyone).  The problem with doing that is I have to convert the mp3's to wav or aiff files and in the process the tracks can lose the artist identifier.  So I only know the track title but not the artist.  That's how I ended up with 4 tracks from Robert Rich & Ian Boddy in one mix.  I usually don't like to have that much from album or artist.  That's also how the mix ended up with two Pjusk cuts back to back.  Oh well, Guess I'll just have to be more careful next time.

I didn't want to go the Lustmord "where black stars hang" route and have the mix be scary alien.  I just wanted unearthly alien.  Hopefully I hit that tone pretty well.



[ s t r e a m ] | [ d o w n l o a d ] | [ i t u n e s ]




T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Anduin - We Swallowed the Night
• 01:56    Harold Budd - Dark Star
• 04:16    Hecq - aback
• 06:23    Pjusk - Kram
• 11:44    Robert Rich & Ian Boddy - Threshold
• 12:28    nebulo & druc drac - rive nord - rive sud
• 14:30    EU - 60 Planets
• 16:37    Monolake - phenomenon
• 19:10    Robert Rich & Ian Boddy - Methane
• 22:10    Anduin - The Voyeurs Wall of Glass
• 25:25    Lights Out Asia - All These Worlds Are Yours
• 27:15    Jon Hopkins - Cold Out There
• 30:16    Pjusk - Granitt
• 33:33    Pjusk - Flint
• 37:15    Loscil - Pressure
• 39:55    Roly Porter - Arrakis
• 42:05    Loren Connors - Red Mars
• 43:15    Robert Rich & Ian Boddy - Ice Fields
• 48:05    Saul Stokes - We Resolve
• 53:10    Robert Rich & Ian Boddy - Last Outpost
• 55:04    end

Alien architecture by Lowlight on Mixcloud

1969 - trans lunar injection

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 moon in 1969.  And that is the genesis of this mix, 1969.  All the music used in this mix is either from 1969, related to the moon or both.

I know it may a bit of a cliche to start with Kennedy's moon speech at Rice University but I love that speech & that part still gives me chills.  11 of the tunes are actually from 1969 :

1.        Bowie - Space Oddity
2.       King Crimson - Moonchild
3.       Miles Davis - Sanctuary
4.       Pink Floyd - Sysyphus
5.       Terry Riley - Poppy Noggod
6.       Genesis - In the Beginning
7.       Soft Machine - Spaced
8.       Don Cherry - Man on the Moon
9.       Philip Glass - Music in Contrary Motion
10.       Mort Garson - Walking in Space
11.       Beatles - Across the Universe (covered by Phosphorescent)

It's interesting how many of them had moon or space themes.  I guess that is where everyone's mind was at the time.

 I just had to include a couple of cuts from Eno's "Apollo:Atmospheres & Soundtracks" and from the new Air release, "Le Voyage Dans La Lune."  It's a soundtrack Georges Méliès’ short classic, "A Trip to the Moon."  It was originally released in 1902 & has been restored in color with Air's new soundtrack.

Also included in the mix are three tunes from a netlabel album by Re-Drum called "1969".  All the tracks on the album were made by using sampled music from the year 1969.  These are the cuts that I used & the source material used to make those cuts...

1.  Time :
    King Crimson - Moonchild Including The Dream And The Illusion
     Herbie Hancock - The Prisoner (Alternate Take)
     Sly & The Family Stone - You Can Make It If You Try
     Quincy Jones & Bill Cosby - Hikky-Burr
     Frank Zappa - The Gumbo Variation
     Booker T & The MG's - Michelle
     Zephyr - Hard Chargin' Woman
     Lou Donaldson - Donkey Walk
     John MacLaughlin - Pete The Poet
     Herbie Hancock - The Prisoner
     The Doors - The Soft Parade
 
2. The Last Breath :
    The Moody Blues - Eyes Of A Child, Part 1
     Zephyr - Somebody Listen
     Isaac Hayes - By The Time I Get To Phoenix
     (voice) Internet Anticipation 1969
 
3. Armstrong :
    Lonnie Smith - Eleanor Rigby
     Kool And The Gang - Give It Up
     Pink Floyd - The Narrow Way (Part 3)
     The Rolling Stones - Live With Me
     Voice: First Moon Landing


This was another fun mix to put together, I hope it's a fun listen as well.

[ s t r e a m ] | [ d o w n l o a d ] | [ i t u n e s ] 




T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    John Kennedy - "We choose to go to the moon" speech
• 00:00    Apollo 11 l- anding on the moon
• 00:58    Boards of Canada - 1969
• 04:47    David Bowie - Space Oddity (Sébastien Bédé Remix)
• 07:20    David Bowie - Space Oddity continues (demo version)
• 09:50    King Crimson - Moonchild
• 13:25    Miles Davis - Sanctuary
• 18:00    Air - Moon fever
• 21:12    Pink Floyd - Sysyphus part 4
• 23:20    Terry Riley - Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band
• 28:25    Genesis - In The Beginning
• 31:55    Soft Machine - Spaced Seven
• 33:10    Re-Drum - Time
• 36:45    Don Cherry - Man on the Moon
•  39:10    Air - Seven Stars
• 42:50    Re-Drum - The Last Breath
• 46:15    Philip Glass - Music in Contrary Motion
• 48:10    Mort Garson - Walking in Space
• 50:10    Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois - Silver Morning
• 52:26    Phosphorescent - Across the Universe(Beatles cover)
• 57:21    Re-Drum - Armstrong
• 1:00:03    Eno - Always Returning
• 1:03:46    end

1969 - trans lunar injection by Lowlight on Mixcloud

 

eppur si muove(and yet it moves)

The mixes are coming fast and furious! I'm trying to crank out a few more than normal. This one seems to be fast paced compared to the usual mixes found here.

This creation is similar to a mix I did in 2008 called "Motion for Relief". Ambient dub would be the best way to describe this installment. Not all the tunes are "dub" but most have beats, some more prominent than others. The feel is still pretty laid back, with just enough going on to give a sense of movement. Hence the title, "eppur si muove(and yet it moves)", which is apparently a phrase uttered by Galileo.

Enjoy

Download (right click/save as) : 82mb 59:57
eppur si muove(and yet it moves)

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00 Pan American - B esso
• 04:30 Deepchord - Vantage Isle (echospace reshape)
• 08:50 Aardvarck - bloom 4

• 11:45 Marconi Union - Shibuya
• 14:45 Porter Ricks - Redundance 3
• 20:40 Rhythm & Sound - Hit You Version ??
• 27:40 Kiln - Royal Peppermint Forest
• 30:50 Rena Jones - Indra’s Web
• 33:40 Rod Modell - beach
• 37:20 Shuttle 358 - Calty
• 40:50 Marconi Union - We Travel
• 47:25 Jonathan Hughes - Dieresis
• 49:40 Basic Channel - Radiance i edit
• 53:30 James Murray - eleven (decades mix)
• 59:57 end