I've mentioned many times that a mix often starts with a single track that interests me and takes off from there.  In the case of this classical mix, the track is "In Spe" by Arvo Part.

I first heard the piece via YouTube & loved it right from the start.  As far as I can tell it has not been recorded for official release so the version in this mix is the performance I heard on YouTube.  You can find the original ten minute track here... In Spe, Arvo Pärt, Georgian Sinfonietta

Creating a classical mix right now works nicely because I just bought the excellent new piece by John Luther Adams - Become Ocean.  It's basically an orchestral drone piece & it's beautiful.

One of my favorite recordings of 2014, Atmos by A Winged Victory for the Sullen, makes two appearances in the mix.  It's a gorgeous record that fits perfectly in this mix.

A couple of other tracks that I was happy to squeeze into the mix are "Odi Et Amo" by Jóhann Jóhannsson and The Dublin Guitar Quartet's version of Philip Glass' "String Quartet No. 3 Mishima V."  I've always loved the Philip Glass soundtrack "Mishima" and this guitar quartet version is sublime.

I guess this will be my last mix for 2014.  I'll start a new mix right off the bat in 2015.  

I'd like to thank everyone who has been following this blog for almost 9 years now.  I've always said that I'd make mixes just for my own amusement, even if nobody else ever heard them.  But when other folks get some enjoyment out of them it makes it more fun and meaningful.  Plus it's just plain cool to have connected to people all over the world through these mixes.  Thanks!

Enjoy & Happy New Year!

• 00:00    Jonny Greenwood - Overtones(The Master OST)

I am very excited about this mix.  It comes from Josh Furey, the man the excellent indie label Nocturne Records.

The mix consists of ambient and slower vintage 8-bit video game

Thanks to Josh for his work on this fantastic mix.  Check out is excellent latest album PETALS.

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00 • Disasterpeace - Beacon [FEZ]

I love the music of Loscil.

I have been listening to Loscil for ten years and I look forward to new releases more than ever.  Loscil made it into my mix of favorite ambient artists and my mix of favorite ambient albums of all time.  I consider Loscil music to be perfect ambient/electronic music.

Scott Morgan is the man behind Loscil & he has just released a new album - "Sea Island".  I knew I was going to like it even before I heard it and I was right.  This new recording is everything you'd expect from a Loscil album with some new twists.  In addition to the familiar electronics, the tracks here also utilize vibraphone, voice, violin and piano.

You can stream the album here... SEA ISLAND STREAM.

You can buy it here... SEA ISLAND at KRANKY RECORDS.

The first track on the mix is from "Sea Island".  I only included 3 Loscil tunes because posting on Mixcloud only allows 3 tracks from the same artist per mix.  So to get around that, sort of, I included a bunch of Loscil remixes in addition to songs that just sounded like they fit.

I hope you like the mix & if you do, support Scott by buying a shitload of his music.

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Loscil - Catalina 1943

Here's another entry in the Sunday Morning Music series.  This follows the template fo earlier mixes - mostly instrumental, some vocals, some jazz, some old some new.  I called it Fall Back because it was intended to be posted last weekend when daylight saving came to an end but stuff always seems to get in the way.

• 00:00    Bill Frisell - Lift Off

This mix grew out of a collection of vacation songs.  I wanted to put some tunes together for relaxing on the pier or around the fire.  Once I started finding songs I decided to make all of them vocal acoustic tunes and the rest just fell into place.  The whole mix is nice and slow and quiet.  And of course acoustic.

There are a few great covers here, like the Sarah Jarosz & Phosphoerscent covers.  I used some all-time favorite artists in here - Avetts, Sufjan, Andrew Bird, Iron & Wine, Paul Simon.  Mostly this is a mix of older songs with some new-ish cuts.

There's not much else to say other than I really like this mix, and I can see listening to it for years to come.

Enjoy.

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    J. Tilman - Under The Sun

Back in July I featured a guest mix from halftribe. 

This

Also swing by Ryan's halftribe pages:

Halftribe Bandcamp

• 00'00 Steiner - Happiness And The Longing For Repetition (Unfinished)

• 00:00    Tangerine Dream - Love on a Real Train

You're driving,

and it's dark and it's raining,

and you're on the edge of the city

and you've been driving all night.

And you took a turn back there

but you're not sure it was the right turn.

But you took the turn anyway,

just kept going in that direction.

And somehow it looks sort of familiar,

so you just keep driving.

Hello. Excuse me.

Can you tell me where I am?

You've been on this road before.

You can read the signs.

You can feel your way.

You can do this in your sleep.

This is a mix I did for the good folks at Intergalactic.FM.  Head over there for this and a ton of other mixes and radio shows.

Like most of my mixes there is a starting point or inspiration that gets the ball rolling.  In this case it was the Laurie Anderson track "Lighting Out For The Territories" from her United States Live album.  The cut is so atmospheric and moody.  It immediately conjures up images of lonely highways, lonely songs and tires thumping on the pavement.

I had a hard time deciding between cuts that have a lonely country, twangy feel and songs that are more pulsating, driving electronic in nature.  In the end I ended up with a little bit of everything.  The two tracks with vocals definitely have a lonely, plaintive quality.  That same feel is also present in the Daniel Lanois tunes and the instrumental from The Antlers(whose new album is fantastic by the way).

The tracks from Prins Thomas and Brian Reitzell are of the more electronic driving type.  Both have an old kraut rock feel to them that I love.  A totally different feel is found in pieces by Terminal Sound System and Talvihorros, sort of weird Twins Peaks vibe.  Which makes sense because the Talvihorros track is actually the Twin Peaks theme.  Most of the rest of the tunes just sort of felt right for a theme of night driving.

Laurie Anderson makes 4 or 5 appearances in the mix.  All are variations of the opening track. Usually with other rhythms or road sounds added in.

Enjoy.

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Laurie Anderson - Lighting Out for the Territories

This is one of those mixes where the title pretty much says it all...Summer Sleeps.  I found that if I keep titles fairly straight forward and clear that plays on Mixcloud go up a bit.

I listen to music every night when I go to bed.  And lately I was getting bored with old sleep mixes so of course the solution is to make a new one.  There's not much else to say about this mix, just lay back and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00'00    Stephen Vitiello and Taylor Deupree - From the Fish House

• 00'00   Halftribe - Excursion 40