Release data: Sverre Knut Johansen – Antarctica DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Origin Music, 2016 This is a concept album containing contemporary and quite joyous, at times even neo-classical-infused, electronic music dedicated to and inspired by the vulnerable Antarctic region that’s under attack of pollution, global warming issues and other threats. Despite these serious concerns, Sverre Knut Johansen has come up with nine…
Release data: Spyra/Lang – Achtundsechzig 24 (Live@Toskana-Therme) CD, Manikin Records, 2003 With this release the duo Spyra/Lang has come up with a fine work of long form, sequencer-driven and rather trancy Berlin School music carrying the spirit of both vintage and contemporary Schulze as a kind of torch throughout the whole outcome. Compared to Klaus’ modern work, there’s actually no…
Release data: Jim Ottaway – Timeless e-Motion CD, Groove Unlimited, 2009 The title of this album wants to reflect the ‘almost’ endless motion of life along some of the emotions that we experience as we go through life’s journey. As such, Down Under-based composer Mr Ottaway came up with a quite energizing, rhythmic-oriented but not too busy outcome featuring various…
Release data: James Murray – Eyes to the Height CD-DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Ultimae Records, 2016 Mr Murray’s seventh full-length solo album “Eyes to the Height” is a work of contemporary ambient poetry centred on the fragile beauty of life and loss. Next to a certain cinematic quality it features a strong pastoral, velvet and intimate feel. Still I don’t think this…
Release data: AirSculpture – Vanishing Point Volume Two CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 This follow-up to Volume 1 features the music played live in concert at The Gatherings 2011 concert in Philadelphia USA. What strikes quite a bit is the imminent cinematic yet darker quality embedded in the highly improvised often abstract-oriented ambient/soundscape outcome on the first disc contrary to…
Release data: Stefan Erbe – Selectronique Debussy CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Erbe Music, 2016 What you get on this recording is Debussy’s classical music taking the Tomita-avenue but executed in a contemporary “German” fashion. I actually gave the release several extra spins to make up my mind as it puzzled me the first time, but proved doing the same later on. There’s…
Release data: Nothing but Noise – eXistence Oscillation Past CD/DIGITAL DOWWNLOAD, Wool E-Discs, 2016 The Belgian Wool-E label has coined Belgian NeuMusik (Belgian ambient, Berlin School and other experimental-instrumental EM) to label Nothing but Noise’s album “eXistence Oscillation Past”, the first part of a brand new series. The intense aural journey of five long tracks, ranging from sequenced ambient to…
Release data: Mathias Grassow – The Nightquest Sessions CD, Gterma, 1998/2016 Looking at the range of releases on Gterma its clear label owner John Rehn is an avid fan of the darkening ambient-drone works of German musician Mathias Grassow. This version, a slightly altered and edited version of the album Mr Grassow released privately on cd-r in 1998, is a…
Release data: Ulrich Schnauss – No Further Ahead Than Today CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Scripted Realities, 2016 This album is a kind of journey down memory lane as the impact of the nine complex and emotive songs making up “No Further Ahead Than Today” strongly echo the style, approach and aural design of Ulrich’s first releases “Far Away Trains Passing By” (2001)…
Release data: Andrew Forrest – Stillness Moving ~ Source Quartet Volume 2 CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 Andrew Forrest’s “Still Moving”, a title pointing to how everything we humans experience through our senses arises out of stillness or ‘no-thing’ or emptiness, is a musical interpretation of the ultimate non-dual reality where all movement is seen as an expression of stillness…
Release data: Jean Michel Jarre – Oxygene 3 LP/CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Sony Music, 2016 Mr Jarre keeps busy the last couple of years and even set himself a deadline to compose a third chapter of “Oxygene” for its 40th anniversary. Well, the nearly 40-minute album –still without any drums- turns out a minimalist work with lots of sound experimentation on analogue…
Release data: Various Artists – Spheric Music: Silver CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spheric Music, 2016 With the compilation album “Silver”, Lambert Ringlage’s label Spheric Music celebrates its 25th anniversary offering ten exclusive tracks by established and forthcoming artists on the label. The opening track by Frenchman Joel Fajerman (who seems to have a release forthcoming on Spheric) is a very nice vintage…
Release data: Bruno Sanfilippo – Piano Textures 4 CD/LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, AD21 Music, 2016 “Piano Textures 4” sees a continuation of Mr Sanfilippo’s journey through refined electro-acoustic aural realms. It contains nine narrative compositions of intense piano minimalism, treatments, field recordings and sophisticated electronics evoking both mystic and dreamy moods. The timeless, at times even fluid character of the outcome is…
Release data: Rene de Bakker – Almost Human CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 Rene de Bakker’s “Almost Human” was launched on “E-Live 2016”, another album of sequencer-based, Berlin School inspired electronic music. Several interesting moves and sounds are present on each of the seven tracks on the 79-minute album, but (as noted on previous recordings) I again discerned several superficial,…
Release data: Silentwave – Daiyuzan CD, Gterma, 2016 Welcome in the immersive world of Yoshinori Noguchi, aka Silentwave, a Japanese composer from Yokohama working most exclusively in the ambient field or drones music while addressing themes of nature, consciousness and unconsciousness. The 70-minute “Daiyuzan” features three slow evolving longform ambient pieces of a minimalist, improvised, drifting and profound introspective nature…
Release data: Arcane – Automaton CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2016 Arcane aficionados -including myself- who have been following and appreciating this artist’s accessible vintage sequencer works should now be very cautious. Mr Lawler’s “Automaton” proves a hard nut to crack with its profound experimental/abstract approach and sound (meant to mimic the nature of the Automaton) built from layers of self…
Release data: Seetyca – Zwischenwelten CD, Winter-Light , 2015 “Zwischenwelten”, worlds in between, starts out with mysterious whispers and blurred, expansive dronescapes. It’s an entrance into another deep ominous and ghostly world made by of e-maschinen, samplers, ocarina, recorder, zither, voice, trombone, flute and various environmental recordings and sample food where the dark-atmospheric atmospheres reign. This time around though, experimentation…
Release data: Matthew Stewart – A world bathed in sunlight CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2016 American multi-instrumentalist Matthew Stewart previously made appearances on albums and live performances of Spotted Peccary artists David Helpling, Jon Jenkins and Deborah Martin. The concept of Stewart’s debut album “A world bathed in sunlight” addresses a kindred theme as Robert Rich’s “What we left…
Release data: Bertrand Loreau (feat. Lambert) – In Search of Silence CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spheric Music, 2016 The switch to other analogue instruments than his regular gear proves beneficial to the sound of the outcome of Bertrand Loreau’s “In Search of Silence”, who invited Lambert Ringlage in a later stage to add some contributions. Still firmly rooted in vintage Berlin School…
Release data: Serge Devadder – Ganda CD, Groove Unlimited, 2016 At first glance, “Ganda” (Gent), of which the most part was recorded live in concert during Cosmic Nights in spring 2016 and taken straight from the mixing desk, seems to head toward Loren Nerell’s Gamelan-inspired music. That resemblance pops up a few more times later on, but there’s much more…
Release data: Steve Moore – Light Echoes CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Cuneiform Records, 2012 From the start it’s clear the music found on Steve Moore’s album “Light Echoes” doesn’t hide being inspired by classic German Kosmische Schule by the most notable Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and alike. The six tracks are made up of warm, gentle soaring analogue synth washes as well…
Release data: Three-Six (36) – Seconds & Forever LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, 3Six Recordings/Mystic & Quantum Records, 2016 “Seconds & Forever”, part-influenced by the late 70’s Tangerine Dream style lp’s, features two 18-minute pieces. Sonically a cross between the 36-releases “Sine Dust” and “Void Dance”, both tracks offer multiple textural movements of velvet, beautiful meandering and evolving kind. As Dennis Huddleston (aka…
Release data: M. Persson – Sounds: Hydra DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2015 Some may know I’m an avid and long-time fan of well-made textural and ambient-space music. Back in 2007, I got to know the fine sound art of “Strange Skies” (re-released in 2012 as download by Free Floating Music) by Swedish composer Mats Persson through the Altus website. Unfortunately,…
Release data: Robert Rich – Vestiges CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Soundscape Productions, 2016 “Vestiges” began as the unspoken corollary to the strong concept album “What We Left Behind” and proves even more up close and personal. While traveling forward in his own imagination to experience the earth after human extinction, Robert Rich needed to push aside the brooding sense of melancholy and…
Release data: Perge – Pleonasms (The Secret Tapes Vol. 2) CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 Despite taking off in a psychedelic fashion, Perge has been able raise the bar even higher in this next, fully succeeded attempt to celebrate the analogue Berlin School sound of ‘80’s TD. As a matter of fact, on “Pleonasms” Matthew Stringer and Graham Getty go…
Release data: Nautic Depths – Submental Vol. 1 CD-R, Private Release, 2012 On their first chapter in the Submental series, ambient duo Thomas Weiss and Mathias Grassow take us on a minimal and deep journey inward. The 50-minute uninterrupted outcome is a blend of nature soundscapes and expansive, minimal and thick dronescapes morphing along, addressing slightly gothic atmospheres occasionally. Although…
Release data: Johannes Schmoelling – A Thousand Times part 2 CD, Viktoriapark, 2016 Six years after its initial release, Johannes Schmoelling (joined by Jonas Behrens on a few tracks) brings us a second batch offering a mix of styles but staying true to his distinct yet evocative signature sound. Once again, piano and warm textures play an important role in…
Release data: Walter Christian Rothe – Let the night last forever LP/CD, Groove Unlimited, 1985/2016 Belgian composer Walter Christian Rothe lived in the heart of the city of Brussels when he composed his classic album ‘Let the night last forever”. Comprising of nine parts it tells the story of his love for the night in the city especially the loneliness…
Release data: Three-Six (36) – The Infinity Room LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, A Strangely Isolated Place, 2016 This time around, UK sound sculptor and ambient artist Dennis Huddleston, aka 36, presents us another lovely mellow project to please the ears. Sonically, “The Infinity Room” incorporates the realm of “Sine Dust” and “Hypersona” and 36’s overall hallmark of subtle, shifting repetition. Inspired by…
Release data: Vidna Obmana – Eternal Circulation DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 1993 I can be brief about the music on this release, referred to as a “soundtrack composed for a never-materialized art installation”. It was made in the period when Dirk Serries, aka vidnaObmana, sticked to creating overall calm, amorphous, introspective and expansive textural ambient soundpaintings. The continuous 73-minute, highly…
Release data: Loren Nerell – The Venerable Dark Cloud CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 2016 “What would it be like to be a soul or spirit inside a gong?” You would not think in human ways but maybe in gamelan tones. It’s a question Loren Nerell thought about around 2000 when he was approached to contribute a project to Amplexus mini-cd…
Release data: Nothing but Noise vs Prothese – MusicForMutedTV 2 MC, Wool-E Tapes, 2016 Here’s something stepping quite of the ordinary, presenting its own version of intense, adventurous and progressive krautrock electronics. This time around, Nothing but Noise, aka Daniel Bressanutti (Daniel B. of Front 242-fame but also known as Prothese), Dirk Bergen (one of the first Front 242-members) and…
Release data: Howard Givens & Madhavi Devi – Source of Compassion CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2016 I imagine the meditative exercise with Craig Padilla on “Life Flows Water” must have triggered Spotted Peccary veteran Howard Givens to explore that realm even further, as the most subtle electronic-ambient making up “Source of Compassion” dwells further in overall quiet, serene and…
Release data: Tom Eaton – IndeSterren (Into the Stars) CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, River Wise Records, 2016 Those music fans out there enjoying the intimate, emotive ambient musings of Jeff Pearce, Tim Story and Patrick O’Hearn should take notice here. Tom Eaton spend most of his life as co-producer and engineer working with American guitarist Will Ackerman (also founder of the Windham…
Release data: Arrocata – Moments of Grace CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Sonoran Winds Music, 2011 The sonic content of Arrocata’s “Moments of Grace” is a mix of atmospheric Roach-like desert ambience and reflective/melancholic aural paintings. In both, emotive currents and streams are at play, glowing gently but steady. Opener “Moments in Grace” is a strong exercise (expressing the true state of grace…
Release data: Zanov – Green Ray CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 1976/2016 The mid seventies experienced the emergence of electronic music from the progressive soundscapes with those (short) keyboard solos or before unheard sound effects evolving into interesting full length albums. Although not pigeonholed yet, the new music attracted the attention of a new generation of creative talents keen to explore…
Release data: Remy – Fears CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Deserted Island Music, 2016 After five years, Dutch accomplished synthesist Remy Stroomer hereby presents us his new solo: the concept album “Fears”. Remy didn’t take the easy road for this one, expressing the universal theme of fear, an unpleasant emotional state to a real external threat or danger in seven compelling, highly emotive…
Release data: Takla Makan – Technicollage DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release , 2016 This album is my first encounter with the music of UK-synthesist Tony Allgood, aka Takla Makan. “Technicollage” contains two 20-minute sets, the first one starting out with a simple but engaging melody on which things slowly start to build. Almost halfway the first set, Mr Allgood introduces a…
Release data: Peter Baumann – Machines of Desire LP/CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Bureau B , 2016 I must confess I’m impressed the way Peter Baumann has been able to implement and continue the style of his fine 1979 classic “Trans Harmonic Nights” on his newbie “Machines of Desire” 30+ years later. Sound and techniques on the newbie are led into a more…
Release data: Rumforskning – Fremtiden CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, dataObscura, 2005 “Fremtiden” is an abstract/experimental and darker style ambient work offering organic-based constellations of immersive and foreboding soundscapes along gritty particles. Rumforskning, aka the Danish duo Danny Kreutzfeldt and Mads Weitling, have created six deep, contemporary drone atmospheres with deep rumbling sounds and mysterious resonance riding the chilling cold ridge between the…
Release data: ASC – Fervent Dream CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Silent Season, 2015 A beautifully rendered and overtly tranquil soundscape journey through time and space is what’s found on ASC’s “Fervent Dream”. James Clements, aka ASC, has outdone himself another time by this meticulously crafted pallet of heart-felt, minimal farscapes and pastel textural colours full of emotion. Each of the eight morphing,…
Release data: Rudy Adrian – Coastlines CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2016 “Coastlines” can be regarded as sister album to Rudy’s previous album “Atmospheres”. The range of reflective ambient soundscape music making it up are mainly works composed between 2000 and 2010 along a few dating back to the 1990/“SubAntarctica”-period (“Clouds Over The Horizon”, “Theme From SubAntarctica”). In there are…
Release data: Seetyca – Nemeton CD, Winter-Light, 2015 Seetyca’s recording “Nemeton” is named after and/or inspired by a sacred space in ancient Celtic tradition, primarily situated in natural areas, often sacred groves of trees. It’s recommended to all who love deeper listening and immersing in reflective, ongoing expansive aural vistas. The broadening, highly atmospheric, gloomy and dark drone ambiences and…
Release data: Hoshin – Path of Dissolutions CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, CryoChamber , 2016 Hoshin is an ambient composer hailing from Belgium who connects opposites in his deep aural creations using an analog modular synthesizer, sound effects and many field recordings of remote locations such as forests and temple complexes. His full-length debut “Path of Dissolutions”, assembled of tracks made between late…
Release data: Cosmic Ground – Cosmic Ground III CD/LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 A thorough journey into analogue heartland would be a perfect subtitle for Cosmic Ground’s third album, offering a 71-minute outcome once more loaded with a wealth of warm retro textures and sequencers and just a few glimpse of melody. “Ground Control” kicks things off with a myriad…
Release data: Vangelis – Rosetta CD/LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Decca, 2016 With “Rosetta”, dedicated to ESA’s Rosetta probe Mission, Vangelis finally offers us an album fully made with synthesizers. Since 2014, three tracks presented through ESA’s YouTube channel had been floating around, which were all in the classical yet lighter orchestral style. This full outcome extends on that style offering a 53-minute/12…
Release data: Craig Padilla & Skip Murphy – Planetary Elements CD-R, Space for Music, 2003 The two 30-minute pieces making up “Planetary Elements” happened live on the fly during two performances at the California’s Schreder Planetarium in 2002. It sees both musicians sketch out expansive and varied aural canvasses where a mélange of Berlin School sequencing and lush cosmic atmospheres…
Release data: The Elf Machine & Vir Unis – Tokyo Highway CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, AtmoWorks, 2004 Here’s a work that has affinity with the fractal groove releases of Steve Roach, Vir Unis and the collaborative works they did together. “Tokyo Highway” incorporates “fractal” computer-generated beats, oriental/tribal percussion and high-tech electronics without much melody. The 44-minute/six-track release offers a myriad of clean,…
Release data: Baffo Banfi & Matteo Cantaluppi – Frontera CD, AMS Records, 2016 Some older EM-fans might have wondered whatever happened to Italian musician Giuseppe ‘Baffo’ Banfi, who’s also former keyboard player of the Italian progressive rock band “Un Biglietto per l’inferno”, after he made three solo albums (two of them produced by Klaus Schulze) and then vanished from the…
Release data: Martin Nonstatic – Nebulae Live at the Planetarium CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Ultimae Records, 2016 In February 2016, some artists from the French Ultimae label did a live performance under the dome of the Zeiss Planetarium in Bochum, Germany. Martin van Rossum, aka Martin Nonstatic was one of them. The continuous set played can be regarded a totally spaced out…
Release data: Purl – Deep Ground CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Silent Season/Eternell, 2011/2014 What I got here is a minimalist ambient-dub release by Ludvig Cimbrelius, aka Purl, which I believe is his second album on the Canadian Silent Season label. “Deep Ground” is fully built around airy, warm and deep calming atmospheres and thick, foggy textures, dressed subtly with soft pounding beats…
Release data: Secondface – In the Distance DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 The five tracks making up “In the Distance” were played live in the studio with an organic approach in mind and only minimal editing to it afterwards. In addition, Danish composer Frank Vilbæk Jensen focused on achieving a relaxed atmosphere and mindfulness mood across the dub-downtempo and floating…
Release data: Ran Kirlian – Isolated Landscapes DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2001/2003 “Isolated Landscapes” is a 77-minute collection of early tracks, demos and unreleased long form ambient from 1999-2001 that Ran Kirlian released privately on cd-r’s or remained unpublished. The slightly tribal-infused album offers four expansive ambient pieces, the first two composed in 2001. The 27-minute opener proves the toughest,…
Release data: Tim Story – Wheat and Rust LP/CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Cicada/Uniton, 1987 Quiet, unhurried observations in pastoral ambient could have been the subtitle of Tim Story’s album “Wheat and Rust”. The music itself, composed with piano, synthesizers and a bit of guitar, creates contemplative, dreamlike and imaginary spheres where slices of melancholy creep in occasionally. Of the 12 tracks, I…
Release data: Altus – Innerspace DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 Canadian ambient composer Mike Carss, aka Altus, started out on “Innerspace” with his mind set to write something very slow-moving, very ambient/ignorable in nature. It turned out a bit different though, as every time he sat down to write, he somehow lost sight of that goal and came up with…
Release data: Nostalgia – Beyond Horizon CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Practicing Nature/DataBloem, 2007 With Nostalgia’s third album “Beyond Horizon”, German composers Rüdiger Gleisberg and Mathias Grassow present a new, more differentiated chapter of slow morphing and evolving deep ethno-ambient music with occasional choir samples. The 65-minute outcome -best listened to with headphones- blends expansive, subtle manipulated textural dronescapes (courtesy of Mr Grassow)…
Release data: Tetsu Inoue & Carlos Vivanco – Zenith CD, Fax , 1994 The four subtle, minimalist, overtly mellow electro tracks (ranging between 11 and 19 minutes) making up Inoue’s and Vivanco’s “Zenith” evokes a kind of time machine-like feel. Cyclic sequencer patterns are surrounded by haunting, yet otherworldly textural atmospherics with a mesmerizing hypnotic current running through. The fluid…
Release data: AirSculpture – Doom Bar CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2009 “Doom Bar”, recorded at a band retreat in Cornwall in the spring of 2008, is totally commited to abstract and more experimental ambient music lacking any of the band’s sequences. The 48-minute title track, recorded in one take, is a mysterious, slow morphing and evolving liquidish ambience of textures,…
Release data: Vir Unis & James Johnson – Easting CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, AtmoWorks, 2004 “Easting” is another live-in-the-moment piece of long form ambient, featuring deep atmospherics and minimal organic-flavored drift textures. It was made in the heydays when both composers were still at the helm of their label Atmoworks. The continuous 58-minute outcome is one of tranquility and dreaminess, at first…
Release data: John Vorus – Transmuting Currents CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Ambient Distillery, 2006 The primary influence on Jon Vorus’ “Transmuting Currents” was the element of water, and how existing in environments in and around water has a subtle but powerful effect on the state of consciousness. While shaping and molding the album’s music in a later stage, ambient master Steve Roach…