low light mixes

    Not much to say in this post other than here is part two of my favorite ambient albums of 2025. I'll also repost the full list here with links. Alexander Knaifel - Chapter Eight Almost An Island - Almost An Island Andrew Heath - Signals and Codes Anthéne & Simon McCorry - Wellspring Bill Brennan and Andy McNeill - Dreaming In Gamelan Byron Metcalf - Spiral Exchange Clarice Jensen - In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness Dictaphone - Unstable Emily A. Sprague - Cloud Time Erik M - Soft Wish Florian TM Zeisig - A New Life Lab's Cloud and Flavio Salvaje - Kalima Loneward - Musings of a Painted Sky M. Sage - Tender / Wading Martin Stürtzer - Nexus-6 offthesky - form.radio offthesky - Nocturnas Peter Gregson - Peter Gregson Rod Modell - Northern Michigan Snowstorms Seabuckthorn - A Path Within A Path Six Missing - Without Mind Steve Roach - The Reverent Sky Taylor Deupree & Zimoun - Wind Dynamic Organ, Deviations Xu - Murmurs of the Machine Yorkshire Modular Society + Peter Digby Lee - Beneath the Hanging Sky zakè - Silentium Here's to more excellent ambient music in 2026.   Cheers!     T R A C K L I S T : 00:00   Lab's Cloud and Flavio Salvaje - Sandwhistle (Kalima) 04:12   Byron Metcalf - Voices Of Vision (Spiral Exchange) 09:25   Seabuckthorn - Shadow Of The Land (A Path Within A Path) 12:15   Steve Roach - The Nuturing  Ground (The Reverent Sky) 20:10   Bill Brennan and Andy McNeill - Reverie (Dreaming In Gamelan) 23:35   Almost An Island - Perfume Gloves (Almost An Island) 27:40   Andrew Heath - Delegate 24 (Signals and Codes) 33:00   Anthéne & Simon McCorry - Summer's Glow (Wellspring) 37:20   Taylor Deupree & Zimoun - Deviation V (Wind Dynamic Organ, Deviations) 42:55   Xu - Echoes from the Ether (Murmurs of the Machine) 45:50   offthesky - form.radio 3 (form.radio) 50:12   zakè - Pax Animi [ft. Tyresta] (Silentium) 53:20   Loneward - Shrouded Sighs (Musings of a Painted Sky) 59:48   end

When end-of-the-year list season began I wasn't sure if I was going to do a favorite ambient albums list. I wasn't as locked into ambient as much this year as in the past. I spent most of my listening time in indie, jazz, and berlin-school. I had several ambient albums that would for sure make my list so I started with those and the next thing I knew - I had a list of 26 albums that are my 2025 favorites. Here are my favorite ambient albums of 2025, in alphabetical order: Alexander Knaifel - Chapter Eight Almost An Island - Almost An Island Andrew Heath - Signals and Codes Anthéne & Simon McCorry - Wellspring Bill Brennan and Andy McNeill - Dreaming In Gamelan Byron Metcalf - Spiral Exchange Clarice Jensen - In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness Dictaphone - Unstable Emily A. Sprague - Cloud Time Erik M - Soft Wish Florian T M Zeisig - A New Life Lab's Cloud and Flavio Salvaje - Kalima Loneward - Musings of a Painted Sky M. Sage - Tender Wading Martin Stürtzer - Nexus-6 offthesky - form.radio offthesky - Nocturnas Peter Gregson - Peter Gregson Rod Modell - Northern Michigan Snowstorms Seabuckthorn - A Path Within A Path Six Missing - Without Mind Steve Roach - The Reverent Sky Taylor Deupree & Zimoun - Wind Dynamic Organ, Deviations Xu - Murmurs of the Machine Yorkshire Modular Society + Peter Digby Lee - Beneath the Hanging Sky zakè - Silentium I made two mixes so it will be a little easier to digest. This post is for part one. I hope you enjoy this look back at 2025. Cheers! T R A C K L I S T : 00:00   Erik M. - Tall as Grass (Soft Wish) 03:55   Offthesky - Poised Above A Place (Nocturnas) 08:06   Rod Modell - Snowstorm In Munising (Snowstorm In Munising) 13:40   Emily A. Sprague - Osaka (Cloud Time) 19:23   Florian T M Zeisig - Earth Loop (A New Life) 21:00   M. Sage - Fracking Starlight (Tender / Wading) 26:18   Dictaphone - 122 (Unstable) 29:50   Six Missing - Sit Down and Play (Without Mind) 35:38   Peter Gregson - Prism (Peter Gregson) 38:37   Clarice Jensen - From A to B (In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness) 44:05   Alexander Knaifel - Chapter Eight: Stanza XXIII-XXXII (Chapter Eight) 49:15   Martin Sturtzer - Nexus-6 (Nexus-6) 55:30   Yorkshire Modular Society - Beneath the Hanging Sky (Beneath the Hanging Sky) 01:09:28   end

This is a mix I originally created back in December of 2006, during my first year of posting mixes online. This one never made its way to Mixcloud so I figured, with all the cold and snow I'm getting in my neck of the woods, now would be a good time to resurrect this set. The original post here on the blog has a bad link to the mp3 so I wanted to post it her as well. It's interesting to see the artists that I was listening to at the time. Such as Freescha, Svalastog, Yellow 6, Klimek, and the track by Clint Mansell from the soundtrack to The Fountain, which I was absolutely obsessed with for a few years. Every tune has one of these words...snow, winter, cold, frozen, ice, or freezing, in the title. Btw, the pic is my mom, taken in the mid 1970s. :-)  Cheers!   T R A C K L I S T : 00:00 Scott Solter - The Great Cold 04:20 Klimek - Snowfall 1 13:15  Greg Haines - Snow Airport 14:20  Corker & Conboy - Colder 17:20  Clint Mansell - First Snow 18:20  Library Tapes - It was a cold day in February... 20:15  Loren Connors - Falling Snow 24:40  Yellow 6 - (The First) Of Winter 30:00  Svalastog - Snow Tracer 35:20  Taylor Deupree - Snow Sand 39:00  Last Days - Snowing 42:30  Outputmessage - Snow 47:20  Trentemoller - While the cold winter waiting 49:20  Brian Eno - Cold 50:40  Freescha - Frozen Stiff 54:15  Hammock - Winter Light 56:45  Forrest Fang & Carl Weingarten - Freezing Days 60:10  Boc Scadet - Ice Shelves & Glaciers 65:20  Stuart Busby - Snow Fall  

    I have a special treat for everyone with this new mix. It's a guest mix from friend of Low Light Mixes, Andy McNeill. Andy records as Maple Mountain Sunburst and has created two previous mixes for LLM and they are both excellent. You can find them here: http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2024/10/a-moon-full-of-stars-and-astral-cars-by.html https://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2025/01/we-did-it-again-by-andy-mcneillmaple.html Andy has a new album out, under his own name, that is a little different from his other recordings. That new album is the inspiration for this new mix which is really something special. I'll let Andy tell you about it: "Mallets, gongs, tintinnabulations, things that go ping. Here we have a mix of percolating exotica to float away on for an hour. I’ve included three tracks from a recent collaboration with percussionist and fellow composer Bill Brennan. Our album Dreaming In Gamelan blends West Javanese gamelan traditions with contemporary ambient electronics. Recorded with traditional hand-forged bronze instruments, the tracks were then augmented and treated in the studio. Also joining us was the brilliant electric violinist and sonic explorer Hugh Marsh. The album was mixed for immersive Dolby Atmos by Ron Searles (Atmos version available on Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon)." https://lnk.to/dreamingingamelan https://brennanmcneill.bandcamp.com/album/dreaming-in-gamelan   Thanks to Andy for curating and mixing this great collection tracks. And thanks for the excellent new album.   LINKS TO ALL THE MUSIC USED IN THIS MIX:   Bill Brennan and Andy McNeill - Tunnels of Light https://lnk.to/dreamingingamelan another fine day - Child’s Play https://anotherfineday.bandcamp.com/album/a-good-place-to-be Peter Gabriel - Slow Marimbas (from Birdy soundtrack) https://open.spotify.com/album/6ZTQcgutsPhQ50FRZk3BYl?si=Af0sn6YnTaq84N4kJPk1ug Thomas Newman - Bullet (from White Oleander soundtrack) https://open.spotify.com/album/76i4SD0LNBtIZtAumvcJsS?si=mAj14pOYTYqT8_QS-S8h1Q Genesis - The Waiting Room (excerpt) https://open.spotify.com/album/49BxISwAbZZfmlhqD6Vh88?si=91fRitQ_QPK6Uh5GHyNb7w Wanderwelle - An Offering of Gratitude https://silentseason.bandcamp.com/album/gathering-of-the-ancient-spirits Bill Brennan and Andy McNeill - Morning Beams https://lnk.to/dreamingingamelan Thomas Stronen - Confronting Silence https://open.spotify.com/album/6xEg7P0N3edYKhptbNxo5c?si=ZCwZBplZRdeT_vaWWooXnQ Michael Brook - Distant Village https://open.spotify.com/album/7t48EroHL8dzsBTdUS3pRp?si=Q7PfBPDGQxCfXI-wvtXv0w Connecta Quartet - Madeira River (P.Glass) https://open.spotify.com/album/4h0827roLiZ3IDt4UK6MfS?si=7hAx96RaQnSn-i42L3bUBA another fine day - green thought (in green shade) https://anotherfineday.bandcamp.com/album/life-before-land Bartosz Kruczyński - Dream 1 https://earthtraxonline.bandcamp.com/album/dreams-whispers Shuta Yasukochi - Sakura https://shutayasukochi.bandcamp.com/album/harmonies-of-flowers Marilyn Masur - Bell-Painting https://open.spotify.com/album/5HZk4QJRTXSQaauqz5SHAL?si=WbplnlyZRYydr9vaWBiTSw Four Tet - Lush https://fourtet.bandcamp.com/album/new-energy Jon Hassell - Time and Place https://open.spotify.com/album/6p97ys8xZeV60gh427TwMz?si=o8f6zwf7SNiDkBdp-IYnGw Boston Modern Orchestra Project - Suite for Violin with American Gamelan - III. Air (Lou Harrison) https://bmopsound.bandcamp.com/album/lou-harrison-la-koro-sutro Pierre Favre Ensemble - Frog Songs (excerpt) https://open.spotify.com/album/4i3JU3zB3PfVceKEq89mx7?si=GI0PfPDbRsG4pHCXpCdOgw Marilyn Masur - Spirit Of Air (excerpt) https://open.spotify.com/album/5HZk4QJRTXSQaauqz5SHAL?si=WbplnlyZRYydr9vaWBiTSw Four Tet - You Were There With Me (excerpt) https://open.spotify.com/album/2BKXRpAaq7jZStXo6A10qK?si=kfBOKOGwR_-uWyseYAk-kQ Bill Brennan and Andy McNeill - Reverie https://lnk.to/dreamingingamelan     Cheers!     T R A C K L I S T : 00:00   Bill Brennan and Andy McNeill - Tunnels of Light (Dreaming In Gamelan 2025) 02:35   another fine day - Child’s Play (a good place to be 2015) 07:03   Peter Gabriel - Slow Marimbas (Birdy soundtrack 1985) 10:01   Thomas Newman - Bullet (White Oleander soundtrack 2002) 10:31   Genesis - The Waiting Room excerpt (The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway 1974) 11:15   Wanderwelle - Her Name is Vairumati (Gathering of the Ancient Spirits 2018) 16:13   Bill Brennan and Andy McNeill - Morning Beams (Dreaming In Gamelan 2025) 19:07   Thomas Stronen - Confronting Silence (Relations 2024) 19:23   Michael Brook - Distant Village (Hybrid 1985) 23:15   Connecta Quartet - Madeira River (P. Glass) (Pulse And Echoes 2024) 28:10   another fine day - green thought (in green shade) (life before land 1994) 34:18   Bartosz Kruczyński - Dream 1 (Dreams & Whispers 2024) 37:20   Shuta Yasukochi - Sakura (Harmonies of Flowers 2024) 39:47   Marilyn Masur - Bell-Painting (Elixir 2008) 40:19   Four Tet - Lush (New Energy 2017) 43:40   Jon Hassell - Time and Place (Last Night The Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes In The Street 2009) 47:17   Boston Modern Orchestra Project - Suite for Violin with American Gamelan - III. Air (Lou Harrison) (La Koro Sutro 2014) 50:37   Pierre Favre Ensemble - Frog Songs excerpt (Singing Drums 1984) overlayed with Marilyn Masur - Spirit Of Air excerpt (Elixir 2008) 52:02   Four Tet - You Were There With Me excerpt (Everything Ecstatic 2005) 55:22   Bill Brennan and Andy McNeill - Reverie (Dreaming in Gamelan 2025) 1:05:29   end

      Between Erwin Broers & Paul Asbury Seaman I have been exposed to a ton of excellent berlin-school music over the last couple years. Erwin continues his great string of mixes with this new one featuring the music of Wolfram Spyra. I was totally unfamiliar with this music before hearing this mix and now I'm thankful for the introduction. Here's what Erwin says about this mix: "In the mid-1990s, when interest for 'Kosmische Musik' (German)/'Cosmic Music' (English) regained, some Electronic Music artists chose to dig deeper into that first highly creative era, hence starting the 'Retro Berlin School' subgenre. Other artists merely borrowed certain elements (multi-facetted sequencing, layered soundscapes, space fx, Mellotron choirs,...) and then added their own spices to the sauce.  One of the artists that managed to create his own style of contemporary "Berlin School Electronic Music" is the German Fine Arts student (then), and musician, inventor and sound designer (now, dixit his own website) Wolfram Spyra (Kassel, 1964), aka "Der Spyra" or simply "Spyra". His style is somewhere between floating, rhythmic, meditative, downtempo and groovy, yes almost danceable. A very interesting blend of old skool and modern electronic ingredients! This mix is a chronological overview of 20 years of releases from 1997 till 2018." More information: Discogs: www.discogs.com/artist/13462-Spyra Website: www.derspyra.de Bandcamp: wolframspyra.bandcamp.com     Thanks for another great mix!   Cheers!   T R A C K L I S T : 00:00:00   Future Of The Past (2000 remix)(Homelistening Is Killing Clubs, 1995) 00:07:15   Non Disperdere Nell' Ambiente Part 1 (Future Of The Past, 1997) 00:17:20   Seeds (My Little Garden Of Sounds, 1997) 00:28:55   Sferics (Sferics, 1998) 00:36:18   Monotonous Stereo Part 1 (Etherlands, 1999) 00:41:50   Ωmega Est αlpha (Phonehead, 1997) 00:56:16   Mentalized (Elevator To Heaven, 2001) 01:10:24   We Don't Mind The Rain (Virtual Vices IV (w/ Pete Namlook), 2003) 01:16:10   Aireals (Orphan Waves, 2006) 01:23:38   Last Train To Philadelphia (High Phidelity, 2007) 01:32:44   Below (Gasoline 91 Octane, 2008) 01:43:16   SeQuest (SeQuest (w/ Christian Lang), 2010) 01:50:21   Staub Part 2 (Dunst, 2018) 02:01:20   end