Monday, January 08, 2007

The Dharma Bums

A new year brings a new mix. The first mix for 2007 is called The Dharma Bums. The title is taken from a book by Jack Kerouac which covers his exploration of Buddhism and the search for Truth. With this new mix I wanted to expand on the ethno-ambient feel of one of my other mixes, Tea Time at Brian Eno's House. The Dharma Bums was also greatly inspired by the amazing field recordings done by The Quiet American and the superb ethno-ambient music of Loren Nerell. Loren Nerell uses his own field recordings from Java and Bali in his work. My hope was to create a Pan-Asian soundworld using music inspired by, or artists from the Middle East, India and Indonesia.

This is the most complex, multi-level mix I have ever done and I am quite proud of the results. If you look at the music mix score (a jpeg contained in the Cover Art and Score Zip file you can download below), you will see that at any given time, there are at least two and sometimes up to seven different pieces of music or field recordings playing simultaneously. I used a total of 32 different Quiet American field recordings in the mix (on the music score, all Quiet American field recordings start with "QA"). I even made a small field recording myself. I hope you enjoy it.

I would like to dedicate this mix to The Quiet American and Loren Nerell.




Lightbright Dharma Bums soulwalk through old time. Gamelan Buddhas sing wailing cries of joyful sunsand. Stone cities appear like ghosts from rivers of ancient karma. Sitars sing Salaam songs soulsung with the first voice. Monks chant the way of higher truth in rainforest insect soundscapes. Ancient future cities team with peoplestreams that vibrate Kama Sangha dreams. Sheiks ride horses of sound across desert moonwaves. Duduk birds glide among templespires, passionwings stretched toward enlightenment.

Downloads (right click, save link as):

MP3 [69:01m] (192k) (95 mb)
T R A C K L I S T I N G

1. Numerous Quiet American field recordings
2. Brian Eno + David Byrne - Arabic Sample #1
3. Gamelan Madu Sari - Dreams He is a Ball of Fire...or a Hummingbird (ii)
4. Alio Die & Festina Lente - Movimento Nel Cielo Sotto
5. Soundtrack - Little Buddha - Raga Kirvani
6. Loren Nerell - Indonesian Soundscapes Track 2
7. Ravi Shankar - Raga Malkauns Alap
8. Al Gromer Khan - Mumtaz
9. Daniel Lentz - Lascaux
10. Alio Die & Festina Lente - L'orlo, La Fune, Il Niente
11. Jon Hassell - These Times
12. David Parsons - Lahaul Valley
13. Djivan Gasparyan - Apricot Tree
14. Loren Nerell - Hiasan (Ornament)
15. Peter Gabriel - Open
16. David Parsons - Darshan
17. Jon Hassell - Emp
18. L. Subraminiam - Wandering Saint
19. Soundtrack - Little Buddha - Nepalese Caravan
20. Steve Roach and Loren Nerell - Texture Wall
21. The Year of Living Dangerously Soundtrack - Kwan
22. Jim Cole and Spectral Voices - Nuage
23. Peter Gabriel - Disturbed
24. Jon Hassell - Power Spot
25. Jon Hassell - Malay
26. Gamelan Madu Sari - Thinly Roundly
27. Robert Rich - Calling Down the Sky
28. Marsen Jules - Eillet en Delta
29. Mawlawiyah Music of the Whirling Dervishes - Na't-i Sherif
30. nrvnet field recording
31. Michael Stearns - Baraka Finale

Winter Mix at Low Lights

My friend Dave has put together another great mix over at his music mix blog Low Light Mixes. It's called: First Snow - An Ambient Winter Mix. A great mix of tunes for frigid winter days. Go have a listen.