To finish the first quarter of the year we get another excellent berlin-school mix from EM master, Erwin Broers. Just like his ECM mix posted last month, Erwin sent me this mix last year but I spaced out and forgot I had until this year. Luckily for historical mixes like this one, the post is evergreen and can be appreciated anytime.

I'll repost what he said about volume 1:

"Here's a follow-up on my mix "Back To The Roots Of Berlin School". As you recall it featured a collection of electronic music tracks from the 1990s, that were inspired by the patterns, sounds and analog instruments of the 1970s and early 1980s. Back then, nobody talked about "Berlin School Electronic Music". That label would only appear somewhere mid 1990s, probably to honour the place where the genre was born. Fans in the early days would rather use the term "Kosmische Musik" (German for "Cosmic Music"). An explanation for the "cosmic" element is to be found in the use of the step sequencer, which made it easy to create hypnotic rhythm loops with up to 32 notes or steps, set a tempo, and mix them over electronic drones, soundscapes, soloing, washes, white noise and space sounds. The effect was to “float” the listener through endless terrestrial or cosmic space. For those not keen on using illicit substances, it was an interesting and harmless alternative "trip"!

I thought about creating a mix of some classic pieces from that first era, but soon found out one mix would not be enough to do justice to all the fantastic "Cosmic Music" that was made back then. So we get two mixes! This post is for volume 2 and you can find volume 1 here - https://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2025/06/kosmische-musik-starters-guide-vol-1.html

Thanks, Erwin, for another great cosmic trip!

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

I was listening to some U2 tunes recently and in the song "In God's Country" there's a line - "Sleep comes like a drug in God's country." I liked the "sleep comes like a drug" part and thought it would make a good title for a sleep mix. So I got right to work and found some great, recent tracks that are perfect for sleeping.

Cue up the mix, climb into bed, and drift off to sleep.

LINKS TO ALL THE MUSIC USED IN THIS MIX:

https://homenormal.bandcamp.com/album/great-plains

https://www.beatport.com/release/glass/5926376

https://aliodie.bandcamp.com/album/vimana-ascensional-waves

https://sixmissing.bandcamp.com/album/drift

https://tonepoet.bandcamp.com/album/radiant-pastures

https://thelonelybell.bandcamp.com/album/time-lost

https://phelios.bandcamp.com/album/dyson-sphere-beta-2

https://steveroach.bandcamp.com/album/sentient-being

https://cosmicleaf.bandcamp.com/album/cellular-universe-6

CHEERS!

T R A C K L I S T :

Whoa nelly we are in for a treat with this guest mix! This new set comes from John McFadden who records as Fragile X. John has done two other mixes for us that you can find here:

https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/aquadream-by-fragile-x/

https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/being-human-by-fragile-x/

I'm kind of jealous of this mix as there are bunch of tracks that I would love to have used in my recent undersea mix. So this is a perfect time for this set because it will play off of my "Alien Sea" mix and lead us into other ambient directions. John has a couple of new EPs out and you can find Fragile X music here - https://fragilex.bandcamp.com/

Here's what John says about "From Dusk Till Dawn"

"I've been getting up early a lot so far this year, especially in midweek, for the day job and I've also been making the most of my weekends by trying to stay up late and be creative when I can.

So, with that in mind, I've put together a mix to soundtrack the wee hours. I tried to make it dream-like and hazy. Like an escape into the hush of night and through to break of morning. Albeit crammed into 70 mins!

It's got some dubby and experimental ambient stuff then slowly unfurls into more melodic ambient pieces over time. Very minimal percussion and the focus more on atmosphere and texture.

Hope you enjoy!" 

Thanks, John, for a great mix!

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :

This mix is the perfect combo of two of my favorite mix themes - sea/ocean motif and ambient dub. I wanted to make an ambient dub mix and while searching for tunes I ran across several that had that great ocean vibe that some ambient dub can have. Then a few more had this odd sort of alien quality to them so I decided on a mix of deep ambient dub that sounds like it should be played in the oceans of Jupiter's moon, Europa.

Mot of the tracks are fairly new, from the last few years. But there are some older tracks from 2013, 2012, and all the back to 2002. Everything combines for the perfect undersea exploration. I really love this one.

LINKS TO ALL THE MUSIC USED IN THIS MIX:

Cheers!

( ( ( T R A C K L I S T ) ) )

Here's what Erwin says about his ECM favorites:

"When LLM published a set of highlights from the revered ECM label back in early Aug '25, https://www.mixcloud.com/lowlight/ecm-favorites/, it just felt like short-selling its 1600+ title catalogue. A second installment seemed only a matter of time. And here it is! 

The mix mostly contains tracks one could characterize as "smooth contemporary jazz", the kind of music you put on to unwind after a busy day. A classic in this genre is John Abercrombie's "Timeless". 

But it also features a very special piece by Stephan Micus, the renowned German multi-instrumentalist, for whom ECM seems to have been created. We hear him singing in an imaginary language and playing several instruments; hauntingly beautiful!

Cover Artwork: Timanfaya National Park, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain, 2017"

Thanks for another wonderful set, Erwin.

Cheers!

( ( ( T R A C K L I S T ) ) )

LINKS TO ALL THE MUSIC USED IN THIS MIX:

Cheers!

When Daniel wrote that he had a new mix based around silence I knew it would be good. Then I saw the tracklist and I knew it would be great. He includes cuts from some of my favorite artists - Halftribe, Innesti, Sonmi451, Loscil, and A Produce. The A Produce track is one of my favorite ambienbt tracks of all time.

Here's what Daniel says about his new mix:

Claude Debussy once wrote: “The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between them”, suggesting that music's emotional impact, beauty, and expression come from the pauses and spacing between sounds.  The first thing I think of is Eno’s classic Music for Airports - man did I fall in love with that album.  Roach’s Dream Circle comes to mind - low and slow - the music just seems to breathe.  Of course you have the steady state drone stuff from Grassow and friends, which I like - but there is no real structure - that’s the point I guess.  I tried to pick work for this mix that had at least a bit of melody, but plenty of silence to define the notes.  There is a sweet spot that when achieved sends me at least into a deep peaceful space.  I’m thinking we all need to spend some time in that space these days to recharge and nurture our sanity.  Hoping this mix might help with that my friends.

 Thanks, Daniel, for another excellent mix.

Cheers!

 T R A C K L I S T :

I bought a new mac mini recently and I have been transferring a ton of music to the new system. While cruising through the old files I discovered a folder called "NETLABELS." It's a fascinating collection of music the 2000s that was released on what were then known as "netlabels". I had a ball listening to some of it so I decided to make a mix. 

There was a lot of music to sort through so I decided to focus on two of my favorite labels - Thinner & Autoplate. Thinner, based in Frankfurt, Germany, released music from 2001 to 2009. They were one of the most consistent and successful netlabels. Thinner’s catalogue includes releases from artists such as Digitalverein, Marko Fürstenberg, Benfay, Pheek, krill.minima, Vladislav Delay, Christian Bloch and many others. As of September 2006, Thinner productions had accumulated over two million MP3 downloads. Thinner had a sublabel called Autoplate, focusing on experimental and ambient music. 

Thinner on Scene.org

Autplate on Archive.org

Autoplate on Scene.org

I hope you get a kick out of this trip back to the aughts. Cheers!

I haven't had much time or been motivated to create new mixes so far in the new year. But there's nothing like sub-zero temperatures and being cooped up indoors to get one in the mood for a good wintry mix. The temperature as I type this is -15 degrees with a wind chill of -40. 🥶

I've done these frigid temps themed mixes before and I'm always surprised at how well they come together. I start by simply searching for tracks with certain keywords - frozen, cold, frigid, ice, wind, winter, etc. and then try to use mostly tunes from 2025. This mix is a bit different than others because it turns toward warmth in the last few tracks - "Warmer Light," "Threads of Warmth," and "Warmth". I hope that by ending the mix on a warmer note that I may manifest higher temps.

Stay warm and cheers!

One of my favorite genre rabbit holes that I went down in 2025 was instrumental rock music. That title covers a lot of styles from post-rock to stoner rock to prog rock to cosmic country to fusion to psych rock etc. I've always listened to music that falls into this category whether it's Khruangbin or Causa Sui or Oren Ambarchi but this year my interest in this genre exploded. 

So I thought I would create a mix of some of my favorite instrumental rock albums from 2025. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the heavy stuff. This mix has a nice blend of a few heavy tunes with some Khruangbin-like tracks, a couple kraut rock style tracks, a jam band cut, a prog tune, even a dub track, and a bunch of other difficult to categorize music. 

>>>LINKS TO ALL THE MUSIC USED IN THIS MIX<<<

01 - https://actiontensionspace.bandcamp.com/album/new-dimensions

02 - https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/yawning-man-pavement-ends

03 - https://ambarchiberthlingwerliin.bandcamp.com/album/ghosted-iii

04 - https://elparaisorecords.com/product/causa-sui-in-flux/

05 - https://piotrkurek.bandcamp.com/album/songs-and-bodies

06 - https://elparaisorecords.com/product/edena-gardens-dispossessed/

07- https://barrywalker.bandcamp.com/album/barry-walker-unit-at-the-13th-moon-gravity-well

08 - https://jeffthebrotherhood.bandcamp.com/album/magick-songs

09 - https://kungensman.bandcamp.com/album/resande-i-rockmusik

10 - https://markusreuter.bandcamp.com/album/truce-3

11 - https://re-stoned.bandcamp.com/album/the-loom-maxi-single

12 - https://townportal.bandcamp.com/album/grindwork

13 - https://holmisanisland.bandcamp.com/album/behind-curtains

14 - https://yuuf.bandcamp.com/album/alma-s-cove

15 - https://eliwinter.bandcamp.com/album/a-trick-of-the-light

Cheers!

T R A C K L I S T :