Release data: David Parsons – Chakra CD/Digital Download, Gterma, 2019 After “Puja” and “Stupa”, “Chakra” is the third album by New Zealand-based composer David Parsons on the Swedish G-terma label. This time around, the tracks on “Chakra” were very much gear-inspired. David purchased a couple of Synthstrom Deluges, a locally made portable synthesizer, sequencer and sampler from Wellington designed for the creation,…
Release data: Sphäre Sechs – Transient Lunar Phenomenon CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Cryo Chamber, 2019 The quality space-ambient of the German duo Sphäre Sechs stands out for its profound as well as cinematic quality. The result on their 50-minute “Transient Lunar Phenomenon” -recorded live during a studio session in winter 2018- continues the path taken on “Particle Void”. This time around the music…
Release data: Nik Owen-Jones – I/O CD-r/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Ultrakeys Music, 2019 Here’s another example of an artist releasing his music in the end through perseverance, something he wished to do for a very long time. UK-synthesist Nik Owen Jones has had a love of electronic music since the mid 70’s when he heard “Oxygene” for the first time on a tired…
Release data: Jonn Serrie – Azurae CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Valley Entertainment, 2019 With “Azurae”, Jonn wanted to follow up on musical ideas he developed on “Lumia Nights” and present a new perspective on those ideas. “Lumia Nights” envisioned an elegant “old school” romantic ideal with new age flavored contemporary instrumentals and an arrangement of “Autumn Leaves” help set the stage. With “Azurae”,…
Release data: C-Jay – ADEM CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2019 What I got here is the debut album on Groove Unlimited of Dutchman Christian Jansen who works as an experienced producer, composer and dj under his C-Jay moniker. As such he has put out numerous releases on some of the world’s most respected music labels, most notably John Digweed’s Bedrock Records where…
Release data: Simon Lomax – How the Shadow Falls CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Council of Nine, 2019 The inner world explored on “How the Shadow Falls” is one of intense and profound textural ambiences extending further the emotive realm of its predecessors. Applying synthesisers, samples, effects and highly processed guitar, composer Simon Lomax delivered 7 studio improvisations wandering through desolate, dark-shaded aural landscapes…
Release data: Bart Hawkins – 21 Pulse Eclipse CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2019 Bart Hawkins is an analogue gear-head from the US hereby releasing his inspired debut album. The abstract, industrial side of vintage Em (think Nothing but Noise, Node) is explored on the demanding 17-minute title track following in the footsteps of the harmonious, calming “Dream Meditation” kicking off…
Release data: Rudy Adrian – Woodlands CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2019 For me, the biggest part of “Woodlands” is a trip down memory lane and most familiar to my ears. About half of it consists of aural sketches Rudy originally created and intended for the 2002-album “Across the Silver River” (that ended up as a collaborative project with Ron Boots)…
Release data: Max Corbcho – Echo of Longing CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Silentsun, 2019 Majestic, in-depth and beckoning soundworlds keep coming from Barcelona-based ambient-master Max Corbacho. The 73-minute “Echo of Longing” is another example of his great talent featuring three long tracks that immerse and embrace the listener into a myriad of introspective soundwaves of pastel-coloured splendour in just a few minutes.…
Release data: Sysselmann – Ritual of the Aurora Noir CD-EP, Winter-Light, 2019 Fall and wintertime are appropriate periods to listen, enjoy and immerse into dark ambient music. Well, Winter-Light brings us the dark realms of 32-minute Ep “Ritual Of The Aurora Noir”, Sysselmann’s third release to date (though his debut on the Dutch label). The haunting and gothic enter the stage…
Release data: Kelly David – Meditation in Green CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2019 “Meditation in Green” encapsulates the listener into a hypnotizing world of in-depth dream and drone spheres accompanied by a fine assortment of field recordings and percussion. Inspired by David’s personal exploration of various Khmer temples in Vietnam, the slow evolving immersive journey reveals a kaleidoscope of minimalist…
Release data: Mário Raposo – Humanization DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2019 Mário Raposo is an independent electronic music composer hailing from the Azores. His work ranges from electronic/new age to neoclassical and film music but in recent times he’s been composing mostly melodic electronic-space music and ambient-new age. The concept album “Humanization”, roaming in the eletronic-progressive style, focuses on a futuristic…
Release data: Tonal Assembly – Lost and Found in Imaginary Landscapes CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2019 The musician behind Tonal Assembly is Dutchman Taede A. Smedes who I know as a frequent and enthusiast visitor of electronic music festivals. I didn’t know he also made music for various years that sees its official appearance as the album “Lost and Found in…
Release data: Matt Borghi & Loneward – The Still Guardian DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2019 Mike Carss is known as an ambient artist who chooses to work on his own, which applies to almost all his recordings he made under the Altus-moniker. Now here’s the first collaborative effort he took on with musician Matt Borghi for the Loneward project painting an…
Release data: GROBEK – GROBEK I DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2019 Grobek (a word without any meaning) is a project initiated by Jörg Erren and Christian Steffen (both know as one half of the fine German quartet EFSS). Same as on previous EFSS- occasions, they went to the Dutch coastal village Ouddorp, played analogue equipment only and relied fully on improvisation…
Release data: Ian Boddy & Erik Wøllo – Meridian CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, DiN, 2017 Contrary to “Frontiers”, the sonic journey of Ian Boddy and Erik Wøllo third collaborative effort “Meridian” is for those preferring slower evolving, denser and atmospheric electronics expanded with lyrical e-guitar additions. The overall 58-minute cinematic ambience -spread out over 11 tracks- passes through various emotive currents, gentle melodic lines along…
Release data: Thom Brennan – Elysian Fields CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, TMB Soundworks, 2019 This recording was and is one of a few albums Thom Brennan finished but held off on releasing. The nine tracks on “Elysian Fields”, recorded mostly between 2015 and 2016, are what the composer likes to refer to as texture improvisations, meaning they were “lead” by the sound development.…
Release data: Matthew Florianz – Mass Object DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2019 Sketching out the realm of untouched, undiscovered matter and delving into deeper layers are just a few characteristics of the ambient music of Dutch composer Matthew Florianz. “Mass Object” offers a 49-minute cinematic journey into expansive cosmic space made up by strings of ominous, dark soundscapes merged with mysterious…
Release data: Planet of the Arps CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Deserted Island Music, 2019 “Planet of the Arps”, the seventh release on Deserted Island Music, is the first ambient side-project by Dutch synthesist Remy Stroomer that evolved in various stages since he drew its first aural sketches in July 2010. Spyra was asked to join a few months later but the project was…
Release data: Mathias Grassow & Michael Brückner – Polar Vortex CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, DataBloem, 2019 “Polar Vortex” -a magical ambient journey created in 2017 and 2018 leading the listener from mystical regions of the north to realms beyond- is a 75-minute ambient canvas featuring various smooth sliding atmospheres and degrees of intensity while addressing introspective spaces as it unfolds. “The North” and…
Release data: Rudolf Heimann – Die Unendlichkeit des Augenblick CD, Spheric Music, 2019 This concept album by German composer Rudolf Heimann -of which the title translates as The Infinity of the Moment- features a mixture of Berlin School-angled synth music, symphonic-ish (score) elements along a slice of progrock surfacing occasionally in the contemporary instrumental music. The 68-minute result is accessible…
Release data: Craig Padilla – Patterns of Thought (Special Remastered Edition) MC/CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 1998/2019 What I got here is a special remastered -20th anniversary- edition of Craig’s classic release from 1998 which was his last recording that came out on tape as a limited edition double cassette. Much of this music ended up being released on two cd-r’s in…
Release data: Toby Marks & Andrew Heath – Motion CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Disco Gecko Recordings, 2019 “Motion” -the first collaborative album by UK soundscape-artist Andrew Health and Toby Marks (better known as Banco de Gaia)- offers a 60-minute ambient journey of processed and transformed sounds leading into the endless unfolding and deeply meditative. The seed and theme came out of a series…
Release data: Alpha Wave Movement – Polyphasic Music CD-r/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Harmonic Resonance Recordings, 2019 There’s quite a bit of sleep-inducing music around in the ambient and electronic music genre, just think of Altus’ “Sleep Theory” –trilogy, James Johnson, Eno’s “Thursday Afternoon”, Robert Rich’s “Somnium” or the works of Liquid Mind. “Polyphasic Music” is a most calming and balanced 50-minute space to…
Release data: Lauge – Dawn DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Iboga Records, 2019 This is my third encounter with Henrik Laugesen’s down-tempo electronics, who decided to expand the sound of “Dawn” (that also features two collaborations with fellow Dane producer Feeding Spring, aka Morten A. Nielsen) with a hefty dose of smooth-pounding trance vibes. Slow, steady beats and deep bass lines merged with tasty…
Release data: James Johnson – Environment 2 (Music for The Working Space)(CUBE 1) CD-r/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, AtmoWorks/Private Release, 2005 “Music for The Working Space” features one 60-minute track, a collage of slow evolving spheres, gentle textures and occasional piano keys along assorted environmental sounds. The latter enhance the mesmerizing, subdued, minimal impact of the created quietening ambience especially while the brief soft-soaring…
Release data: Boreal Taiga – Iceland DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Polar Magnetic Records, 2018 “Iceland” marks the first album released through Boreal Taiga’s own label Polar Magnet Recordings. It continues the composer’s journey through the splendour of white out conditions and remote, frozen landscapes while exploring each area of this exciting country simultaneously. The very nicely rendered textural ambient mixed with environments…
Release data: Thom Brennan – Soundgardens CD-r/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, TMB Soundworks, 2017 “Soundgardens” was recorded between 2003 and 2005 and was intended originally to build on ideas Thom first explored on “Satori” as well as shorter tracks like “Radiant Ice” (the opening track on the album “Shimmer”). All four tracks, finally mastered in 2019 for this release, are longform, ethereal soundscape…
Release data: Australis – One of Ours CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Essential Noises, 2019 In the five years since his previous release “Adrift”, composer Oscar Aguayo (aka Australis) found he was particularly receptive to the underlying forces behind most of our acts and thoughts as humans. Some of them are emotions (love, hope, fear, anger, etc.), while others are facts (birth, life,…
Release data: Steve Roach – Bloom Ascension MC/LP/CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 2019 Coined as a resplendent expression of elegant futurism, Steve Roach’s “Bloom Ascension” features four minimalist tracks of fractal, gentle spiraling analogue sequencer-driven electronics complemented by smooth yet elevating textural spheres. Being the first release conceptualized for lp since “Desert Solitaire” (1989), the 41-minute outcome proves captivating and vibrant energetic…
Release data: Rising Galaxy – Horizons in the Dark DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Cosmic Leaf Records, 2019 Now here’s an ambient recording featuring music treading similar ground as Vangelis’ “Tegos Tapes” and “El Greco” or some of Roach’s intense soundworlds. It’s a nicely rendered 41-minute soundscape journey by the Greek Nikos Betsimeas, aka “Rising Galaxy”, who has a background as composer and…
Release data: Beyond Berlin – Totem CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2019 From this album on, Dutch EM-band Beyond Berlin has become a trio seeing Oscar van den Wijngaard joining Martin Peters and Rene de Bakker on their fine sonic journeys into vintage aural landscapes. Their 60-minute “Totem” is a melodic, sequencer-driven and emotive recording lacking almost any soloing. It embraces the…
Release data: Neraterrae – The Substance of Perception CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Cyclic Law, 2019 Neraterrae is a dark ambient sonic adventure by Italian composer Alessio Antoni. On “The Substance of Perception” he collaborated with some various names in the genre, delivering a highly atmospheric, in-depth aural journey incorporating dense, alienating, melancholic (the masterful “The Wicked Pulse of Conscience” and “Echoing Scars”),…
Release data: Lambert – Dimensions of Dreams CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spheric Music, 2019 Back in 1995 Lambert Ringlage released his successful third album “Dimensions of Dreams” that’s now available again as a remastered edition including one bonus track. It’s a highly accessible and positive sounding recording featuring ten contemporary melodic tracks incorporating jolly sequences and solo voices. It’s an uncomplicated affair…
Release data: Three-Six (36) – The Lower Lights LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Past inside the Present, 2019 The 10 tracks making up the 59-minute “The Lower Lights” were previously released digitally through 36’s Audio Diary on Patreon.com between April 2018 and April 2019, which has since been discontinued. For this release all music has been fully re-mixed and re-mastered from the original…
Release data: Kloob – Unpredictable Signs CD, Winter-Light, 2019 “Unpredictable Signs” is Kloob’s second album on Winter-Light and again an extensive journey into mesmerizing yet deep soundworlds and beyond. Compared to predecessor “Remarkable Events”, this sonic venture is characterized by more subtle, minimal evolving sets of meandering ambient textures, treated voice-pads and drone sculptures where darkness is imminent. Here strings of…
Release data: Johannes Schmoelling & Robert Waters – Zeit ∞? CD/DVD, Viktoriapark Records, 2019 Here’s a very nice live document I’m sure a whole bunch of EM-fans across the globe have been waiting for: the full concert (and more) Johannes Schmoelling and Robert Waters performed in November 2018 in Oirschot before a sold-out room, the same venue where Groove’s E-Day…
Release data: Thom Brennan – Another Time and Space CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, TMB Soundworks, 2019 “Another Space and Time” is a collection derived from many hours of material recorded over the last two years up to the present time. The meticulously progressing and cosmic-angled travelogue offers four extended tracks crossing through spacious atmospheric realms in vein of Rudy Adrian along slight…
Release data: Char-El – Archives I DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2019 I got nice memories of my first encounter with the electronic music of self-taught synthesist Charles Thaxton, aka Char-El, who sadly passed away in March 2019. After over twenty-five years experience as a composer and keyboardist/synthesist in the progrock scene he decided to pursue a sort of space-voyage pathway around 1996…
Release data: Loneward – Home DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2019 One of the worst fears a musician may have is to (nearly) lose music still in the works or not yet released. This is what happened to Loneward’s second release “Home” where the majority of the music was nearly lost to a severe hard drive issue (the mainboard in the…
Release data: Jos D’Almeida – Aspheres CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, caPe Recordings, 2019 “Aspheres”, a concept album dealing with a period after mass extinction, is the third release by Portugese synthesist Jos D’Almeida who’s residing in Ireland since two years. The almost 80-minute/12-track outcome links to the previous album “Aether” but evokes far more drama as it unfolds intensely before the listeners…
Release data: Thom Brennan – The Path Not Taken (Full album) CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, TMB Soundworks, 2019 Ambient aficionados may remember this release published as part of a 20-minute EP-CD series released by Amplexus back in 1994. Later on in 1997 it was included on the Projekt cd “Amplexus: Collected Works” from the 1995 Ltd Series” along with the music from…
Release data: Radiant Mind & Steve Roach – HelioSphere CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, SteveRoach.com, 2019 The first intent of Radiant Mind (commited to working in anonymity with Steve Roach as his sole producer and interface to the world) for this music has been a process of meditation and healing. He truly believes that with the right tonal and frequency’s in music this can…
Release data: Jorge Reyes – El Costumbre CD, Extreme, 2018 “El Costumbre” -realised in affinity with the customs of the Huichol Indians of Mexico- is an album featuring graceful yet subtle world ambient merging smooth soundscapes by Steve Roach with various native instruments played by Jorge Reyes and Juan Carlos along some guitar work by Mick Franke. The result is…
Release data: Thom Brennan – Imaginary Conquests CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, TMB Soundworks, 2019 After a 10-year hiatus USA synthesist Thom Brennan re-enters the Em scene with three (actually four) new albums. One of them is “Imaginary Conquests” which was supposed to be a release of material recorded under that title before Brennan’s debut “Mountains”. The 71-minute velvet, pastel-coloured outcome was born and…
Release data: PERU – The Return CD, Private Release, 2018 With this album Dutch synth band PERU surfaces after approximately 25 years of absence. Their sonic odyssey now continues with Rob Papen and Ruud van Es leading the way using soft synths & assorted software technology only. “The Return” (of which initial recording sessions started in 2015) contains 10 accessible, versatile,…
Release data: Yagya – Stormur LP/CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, A Strangely Isolated Place, 2019 The heart and soul of Yagya’s “Stormur” is centered round a subtle flow of delicately molded tonal progressions in minimal techno-ambient featuring some occasional dubby sidesteps. It’s a groovy affair overall having an undeniable hypnotizing, trancy effect on the listener as the 10-part/60-minute journey with great deep bass lines…
Release data: Metroland – Mind the Gap CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Alfa Matrix, 2012 Now here’s a Belgian duo leading the sound of Kraftwerk into the modern age of electronic music composing a collection of simple sounding tracks with vocoder/robotic vocals, Kraftwerkian rhythms and field recordings. The outcome -created by Passenger A and Passenger S- though appears more complex and layered at closer…
Release data: Awenson – Hope CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2019 After a hiatus of several years, French synthesist Joël Bernard (aka Awenson) returns to the scene with “Hope”, a 67-minute album of cosmic electronic music with an undeniable “French” twist combined with Berlin School characteristics. The latter applies to the sequencers accompanying the occasional solo voices, warm synth pads and brief…
Release data: Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk – Passage LP/CD, Azure Vista Records, 2017 If I’m not mistaken “Passage” -which came to fruition out of a variety of musical motives and sketches by Jonas- is the second collaborative album by Ulrich Schnauss (synths and effects processing) and Danish musician Jonas Munk (guitar, synths, composition and structure). I’d say some of Jonas’…
Release data: Uwe Reckzeh – Surreal Dreams CD-r/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Mellowjet Records, 2018 The melodic, sequencer-driven Berlin School music with stronger ’80’s TD-characteristics found on “Virtual Minds” is prolonged on the “Surreal Dreams”. The nearly 76-minute album offers a transparent sound design where steady rhythms and beats lead the way as well as the catchy, soft soaring melodies on each of…
Release data: D’Voxx – Telegraph CD/Lp/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, DiN, 2019 Ian Boddy’s DiN label always had and still has a fine ear for alternative electronics and this debut release by D’Voxx – a live electronic music project by Paul Borg and Nino Auricchio- is no exception. On the 55-minute “Télégraph” the duo creates mellow, exciting sounding aural worlds and spherics of…
Release data: Jeffrey Koepper – Transmitter CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 2017 The nearly 60-minute “Transmitter” contains Jeffrey Koepper’s set played live at Chuck Van Zyl’s WXPN’s Star’s End Radio show in June 2016. Using vintage analogues only, the result (featuring six new tracks along one track taken from the previous album “MantraSequent”) mixes percussive-driven stuff and pure ambient excursions wherein…
Release data: Arjen Schat – 一人Hitori DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 Being an avid fan of longform and calming soundscapes I surely like to recommend “Hitori” by Dutch synthesist Arjen Schat. It’s freeform, meditative and slow morphing textural music with subtly played electric piano parts great to escape the speed of life, traveling inward and exercise some soulsearching as the…
Release data: Robert Rich – Tactile Ground CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Soundscape Productions, 2019 Especially the previous four albums by Robert Rich have been demanding above average, sonically as well as thematically. Divided in two parts, “Location” and “Dislocation”, the first disc of the highly introspective double album “Tactile Ground” leads its listeners into a slow evolving, beautifully rendered inner place of…
Release data: Mathias Grassow – Himavat CD/DIGITAL Download, Staalplaat, 1999 I’ve reviewed quite some (more recent) recordings by German drone-master Mathias Grassow, so here’s an older one from his back-catalogue. The cold, the dark and a distinct Tibetan feel are the intriguing ingredients making up the continuous, dense atmosphere of “Himavat”, King of the Himalayan mountains and snow. Mathias’ trusted…
Release data: Mike Griffin – Fabrications CD, Hypnos Recordings, 2008 As far as I know this album is the last solo recording by Hypnos owner, visual artist and minimalist sound sculptor Mike Griffin. This dark ambient work – the follow-up to his 1997-debut “Sudden Dark”- is actually a collage of environmental and location sounds captured with binaural microphones with results…
Release data: Three-Six (36) – C45 Dreamloops 1-2 MC/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, 3 Six Recordings, 2019 Here’s a new series launched by Dennis Huddleston, aka 36, focusing on loop-based tracks made especially for C45 cassette tapes containing two tunes 22:30 minutes in length. This debut plunges into quiet, morphing ambient soundscapes existing in their own sonic cocoon of time and space, an…
Release data: Pillion – Enigmas CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 1980/2019 Here’s one of those pinnacle releases of the past that never saw a cd-release after it came out in 1980. On this 54-minute live-recording, Walter Rothe and Guy Drieghe-D give their best in spacy, classic Berlin School style. Those familiar with the original vinyl recording will be amazed what stunning job…
Release data: ASC – Trans-Neptunian Objects 2 CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Auxiliary, 2018 I only need a few lines for this recording, the final one in the series, which sees James Clements – aka ASC- pick up the sonic trail where the previous album left us. We continue our captivating journey into deep space and far beyond, entering spacious environs where the ethereal,…
Release data: Max Corbacho – Ars Lucis CD, ad21music, 2009 After the gentle ambience of his 2008-release “BreathStream”, Max Corbacho takes us to ambient heaven with his release “Ars Lucis”. Those familiar with his work know what he’s capable of, spending lots of time in his studio sculpturing and harmonizing a continuous flow of expansive textures, which now have ended…
Release data: Etherfysh – The Sundered Sky CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2019 After a lengthy hiatus of 17 years, Etherfysh –aka Chris Christou- returns to the electronic music scene with “The Sundered Sky”, a 5-track release recorded partially in 2007 (backing tracks to: “Sundered Sky”, “Nightsands” and “The Dying Earth”) and the summer/early autumn of 2018. It was originally intended…
Release data: Steve Roach – Electron Birth CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Timeroom Editions, 2018 It’s been a while since a dynamic, energetic as well as electrifying work of electronics by Steve Roach has seen the light of day. From the start the nearly 67-minute album track (created live in concert at the Galactic Center in 2018) propels the listener onwards, merging the…
Release data: Seetyca – Trances CD, Winter-Light, 2019 Here’s one for those who dig long, continuous strings of soundscapes as expansive, inspired and deep drone worlds are on the menu on Seetyca’s “Trances”, a kind of follow-up of “Zwischenwelten”. The 60-minute organic-spiced aural space is long and continuous flow of sound a blend of electronics, wind instruments and acoustic elements immersing…
Release data: Maria Warner – Metamorphosis CD-r/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Neu Harmony, 2018 I don’t have a clue who might be the skilled musician (according the label a musician who has been on the Em-scene for almost 30 years) hiding behind the Maria Warner moniker. But so far all recordings I heard from this guy rank far above average. On “Metamorphosis”–the artists…
Release data: Patrick Kosmos – Mindscapes CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 1987/2019 Originally released privately around 1986/1987 on cassette, “Mindscapes” was later also included in “The Chronicles” cd-r box set. “Mindscapes” is Patrick Kosmos’ second album receiving a long-awaited release as factory-pressed cd. What we got here is a very nicely rendered, slow evolving melodic/atmospheric album with its own cosmic sound signature besides…
Release data: Kurtz Mindfields – Gate to a new Dimension (Trans Aural 3D Xperience) CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Electrik Dream, 2018/2019 Work for the music of “Gate to a new Dimension” started in 2012 with the desire to record a vast range of legendary synthesizers. For this purpose Jean-Luc Briançon (aka Kurtz Mindfields) visited and played the vintage synth collections of Oliver…
Release data: Glyn Lloyd-Jones – Mindmusic DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 1984/2013 In an interview I conducted in November 2008, this composer talked about his first steps in music, finally being able to build a bridge between the electronics side and the musical side in the early ‘80s. Using a self-built modular analogue synthesizer with 16-note sequencer built-in, a self-built polyphonic ‘string’…
Release data: Sequentia Legenda – Over There CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2019 Since his fine debut “Blue Dream” in 2014, French synthesist Laurent Schieber made his own personal journey through electronic music, most notably composing his own extended vision of the classic Berlin School style of the mid 70’s until the mid ‘80’s in particular. “Over There” sees a culmination…
Release data: Massergy – Fire Opal CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2019 As has been the case for all previous Massergy music, Eric Jensen performed, recorded, and mixed the complete outcome entirely outdoors without the use of any sequencers, loops, software, or plugins, applying analogue, digital, and hybrid hardware exclusively. In addition no sound edits or manipulations were made after the…
Release data: Axess – Seashore CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spheric Music, 2018 From the start Axel Stupplich’s album “Seashore” proves to be an overall mellow and relaxing soundscape affair with a soft rhythms accompanying. Sonically the biggest part of the 70-minute result balances between ambient-lounge, chill-out, Schiller’s Einlass Musik series and the calming pieces on Mind over Matter’s early albums. If the third…
Release data: Nigel (John) Stanford – Solar Echoes CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2014 I imagine listeners who enjoyed Nigel (John) Stanford’s 1999 release “Deep Space” (like me) may have similar expectations of this double album. First of all “Solar Echoes” isn’t actually not that new as it contains various newly remastered (and re-arranged, altered versions of) tracks from that fine…
Release data: Vataff Project – Maeoma CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Virtual Worlds Records, 2012 “Maeoma” is the fourth album by Vataff Project, aka Bulgarian musician Victor Marinov, an emotionally-charged project aiming for profound feelings of ecstasy, dance and ritual from the ancient times, the present and the future. To achieve this, Vataff Project offers a unique but also quirky sounding outcome blending traditional…
Release data: Ron Boots – Once the Dust Settles CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2018 “Once the Dust Settles”, surfacing over three years after Ron’s last solo album “Standing in the rain”, is a 60-minute release containing the live-set played at Planetarium Brussels on the occasion of the Cosmic Nights 2018 festival held there. It’s a cinematic, true cosmic space journey unfolding…
Release data: Craig Padilla – Folding Space and Melting Galaxies CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Space for Music/Private Release, 2000/2018 In the year 2000 US-synthesist Craig Padilla joined the roster of Tony Gerber’s Nashville-based Space for Music label with “Folding Space and Melting Galaxies” (voted the “Echoes Listeners’ Top 25”of 2001). The release features two epic tracks of 32 and 28 minutes respectively where…
Release data: Mystical Sun – Music for Supernovas DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Buddhaverse, 2016 With the goal to experience sonorous atmospheres and imaginations, Mystical Sun (aka US sound sculptor Richard Plom) hereby presents his listeners four lengthy deep ambient movements of an overall drone, free form nature. Dwelling into the mystic ancient cosmic, “Music for Supernovas” –created live in the studio with modular…
Release data: Brian Vassallo – Beyond 2 (The Moment of Discovery) DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, BV Music, 2018 This Ep is the sequel of Brian’s 1998 album “Beyond” sticking to the same playing time – 31-minutes- as the first one. The idea behind the album was to create a kind of sonic sci-fi novel or movie where the listener once again can listen…
Release data: Solar Fields – Ourdom CD/LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Droneform Records/Sidereal, 2018 Here’s finally a new album by Swedish electronica artist Magnus Birgersson, released about six years after his last regular album “Random Friday”. Written entirely in his second home base South Africa, the 80-minute “Ourdom” displays Solar Fields unique sound ranging from downtempo beats, dynamic-spiced currents and gentle melodies to…
Release data: Javi Cánovas – One More Day, One Day Less DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 I only need a few lines for this release. Javi’s 4-track “One More Day, One Day Less” is another solid statement of (classic) up-tempo Berlin School electronics. The 65-minute album assembles all usual elements and dynamic currents and blends them masterfully using the same formulae:…
Release data: Numina – The Haunting Silence CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, MP3.com/NuminaMusic, 2001/2005 Around 2000 at the start of his musical career, Jesse Sola (aka Numina) created a couple of albums featuring deep evolving and freeform ambient ranging from mysterious to ethereal and melancholic-angled spheres. The nearly 75-minute “The Haunting Silence” is one of them, mostly filled with rather gentle morphing textural…
Release data: Bluetech – Liquid Geometries CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, DiN, 2018 While sticking to his own sonic signature, Bluetech’s “Liquid Geometries” strays into the terrain of sequencer-driven vintage modular soundscapes with bits of Berlin School thrown in on occasion. Building slowly off a single sequence and revealing more complex structures as the piece unfolded was Evan Bartholomew’s modus operandi on this…
Release data: Lauge & Baba Gnohm – Langbortistan CD-r/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release/Altar Records, 2011 Four years previous to “Pusterum” the Danish duo Kalle Christensen and Henrik Laugesen released “Langbortistan”. The latter is a 7-tracks/72-minute release featuring gentle, slow unfolding down-tempo electronics dressed with a variety of beautifully lush melodies. Back in those days it would have fit nicely in the…
Release data: Al Gromer Khan – Chai & Roses CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Tea Time Music, 1987/2004 If I’m not mistaken Mr Khan released a cassette called “Chai & Roses” back in 1987, but the cd cover states most of this music was recorded in 2003. It’s music from the tea traditions, again roaming in tranquillity & silence. But like on “Turya” there’s…
Release data: Forrest Fang – The Fata Morgana Dream CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 2019 In my opinion composer Forrest Fang has delivered some very well crafted, evocative ambient art the last five years previous to this one. The high quality is extended on “The Fata Morgana Dream” (again mastered expertly by Robert Rich) offering a fine and spacious blend of…
Release data: Andrew Kinsella – Cosmic Dawn CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, MG Music, 2018 Although I personally prefer cosmic ambient music with profound depth, multiple layers along haunting, expansive farscapes, Andrew Kinsella’s “Cosmic Dawn” -a journey back through time to the birth of creation- still is worth listening and enjoying. Despite its distinct lighter touch, simple sonic architecture and undeniable New Age…
Release data: MANU – Sonic Landscapes DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2018 MANU is a project of Helsinki-based sound artist Mauno Tuominen from the band Sigma. His solo-debut “Sonic Landscapes” is an exploration of the interrelationship of landscape and soundscape as well as the exploration of granular-synthesis and its various musical applications. The latter process is based on the same principle…
Release data: ASphäre Sechs – Particle Void CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Cryo Chamber, 2018 The third full-length release by Sphäre Sechs, aka Martin Stürtzer (Phelios) and Christian Stritzel, found an appropriate home at Simon Heath’s cinematic dark ambient label Cryo Chamber. “Particle Void” -created with various analogue gear only- is a deep, intergalactic and cosmic affair displaying a 48-minute warm saturated yet…
Release data: Al Gromer Khan – Turya CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Tea Time Music, 2006 The music of Al Gromer Khan is one of contemplation and meditation. It is shaped of hypnotizing soundscapes, sitar and intimate electronic sound design which at times can be compared to the works of Eno. Khan explains the music of “Turya” (meaning transcendental state) is based on…
Release data: Carbon Entity – Within the Cosmic Void CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Zen Gate Music, 2019 Let’s spend some time in the timeless audio vacuum of the void created by Portland-based Gunter Platz, aka Carbon Entity, who uses hardware synths only such as the Access Virus, the Roland boutique series units and even an old Chroma poly. While personally enjoying more…
Release data: Bruno Sanfilippo – Pianette CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, AD21 Music, 2019 Including twelve original contemporary classical solo piano pieces, “Pianette” (housed in a premium anti-static cover digipack) is the musical expression of Bruno Sanfilippo’s childhood memories of mechanical toys, dolls, circus and puppets. The stunning imagery related to these dreamlike elements provides inspiration for tracks merging minimalism and thoughtful electronica…
Release data: ASC – The Waves CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Silent Season, 2019 I’ve been impressed by various ambient releases by James Clements, aka ASC, so won’t deny I had high expectations for “The Waves”. Well no worries as the 8-track/66-minute recording offers a vast ocean of freeform soundscapes again sounding impeccable, immersive, cinematic and highly atmopsheric. It’s a comforting, remote and rather…
Release data: James Bernhard – Atmospherics CD/LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, High Rising Records, 1994 Let’s take a ride with a fine example of old school ambient-trance classic made with classic instruments such as the Roland TB-303 (bass synthesizer), Roland TR-808 (Rhythm Composer) and Roland TR-606 (a programmable analogue synthesis drum machine). With “Atmospherics” UK-composer James Bernhard, now residing in the USA, brings…
Release data: Axs – Arctic Circle CD-r/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Silent Season, 2011 Axs’ “Arctic Circle”, a project by French composer and dj Alexandre Gouard, is filled with 61-minutes of polar ambiences incorporating hints of dub techno, all moving slowly onward and downstream like a glacier. Prepare for a calm, gentle resonating listen. Pity though the chilled-out music loses bits of impact and…
Release data: Jule Grasz – Earth Feelings DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Beats & Pieces, 2012 Jule Grasz is a female synthesist hailing from Northern Germany who started composing music around 2006. The 73-minute “Earth Feelings” is a spacious, highly emotive chill-out experience inspired by travels through Norway, encounters with its beautiful nature and its population. The theme and feel of travel is present…
Release data: Tim Stebbing – The Atmosphere Factory (Cassette Recordings 1985-1991) LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Ceres Motion, 2018 Synthesist Tim Stebbing was part of the league of UK’s DIY electronic music artists such as Kevin O’Neill, Greg Truckell, Paul, Nagle, Peter Tedstone, Michael Neil, Marvin Wilson and Colin Potter from the mid ‘80s. In those pre-Internet days, everything was still done by post,…
Release data: Chronotope Project – Lotus Rising CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2018 I can’t say the Chonotope Project releases on Spotted Peccary Music affected me as much as the independent (traditional space music inspired) recordings Jeffery Ericson Allen put out prior to signing with the label. It seems to me “Lotus Rising”, a series of musical reflections on foundational themes…
Release data: Three-Six (36) – Fade to Grey CD/LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, A Strangely Isolated Place, 2019 A profound sense of isolation and introspection is found in the pastel coloured textures, gentle melodic curves and rich emotive textures making up the 8-track “Fade of Grey”. It’s a release reflecting on current social paradigms, where social media has become a weak substitute for human…
Release data: Clifford White – Waterworld / The Speed of Silence / Robot Dawn / Cityscape (The Synergy Series) CD, Clifford White Music, 2019 Despite CD sales diminishing year on year, there are still many musicians and labels around the globe who continue to release multiple albums at the same time. Composer and producer Clifford White has just done just this…
Release data: Sensory ++ – Art of Sadness CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Wool-E Discs, 2017 What “Art of Sadness” has in common with releases dealing with the same subject (such as Paul Sauvanet-Tristesse) is the slow progression and calm, emotive impact. The 71-minute outcome –presented in one go on the cd only- is a, sensitive, introspective affair of occasional sequences accompanying a variety…
Release data: Eguana – Invisible Civilisation DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, CosmicLeaf Records, 2017 Calm ambient soundscape music comes in various forms. One arrives at the doorstep of Russian sound artist and producer Eguana (aka Sergey Severin) when you add ethereal, minimalism and imaginative to the aforementioned. Eguana’s enchanting “Invisible Civilisations” (of which the first six tracks appeal the most) leads us into…
Release data: Abbildung – At the Gates of Ouln CD, Winter-Light, 2019 Abbildung is a dark ambient project by Romanian sound artist Casian Stefan. Preceded by “All demons are horned” (2015, also on Winter-Light), “At the Gates of Ouln” is the second release of “The realm of the other dreamers”-series situated in an expansive alien space. The narrative and cinematic outcome…
Release data: Djen Ajakan Shean & Vidna Obmana – Parallel Flaming CD, Multimood Records, 1994 In the first half of the ‘90s quite some tribal-ambient releases saw the light of day. Steve Roach did a bunch, solo as well as together with musicians across the globe. In that period Dirk Serries (aka Vidna Obmana) was a major teamplayer and kindred spirit who…
Release data: Motionfield – The Passage DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 Ambient composers from Scandinavia such as Yagya, Biosphere, Erik Wollo and Boreal Taiga seem to have a special gift transferring and expressing the mood and feel of the beauty and remoteness of the cold weather conditions found in the those regions into enchanting, imaginary music. Motionfield, aka Swedish musician…
Release data: Gleisberg / Grassow / Seviroli – The Fall of the House of Usher DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2018 Released on the final day of 2018, “The Fall of the House of Usher” is the long-awaited follow-up of Nostalgia’s album “House on the Borderland”. It was successful Italian film composer Luigi Seviroli who came up with the idea to…
Release data: Massergy – The Vast Colure DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Arecibo Records, 2013 His impressive album “A Novel Sense of Calm” made me look into the back catalogue of US-synthesist Eric Jensen, aka Massergy. Its predecessor “The Vast Colure” -performed, recorded and mixed in Austin’s outdoors- may sound a slight bit more rustic and unpolished at first listen but the core of…
Release data: Proton Kinoun – Apeiron CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Omnitropic, 2009 I know there are quite some EM-fans out there who love to be catapulted and immerse into the wide expanse of the cosmos. For that purpose, skilled musicians such as Jonn Serrie, Telomere, Thom Brennan, Steve Roach or Michael Stearns have released some very fine albums. Now here’s Danish ambient…
Release data: Nightwalk – Music for Dreamers CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2018 Nightwalk is Spanish ambient composer Óscar Pereira García, also a member of the rock/pop project Meteoro, who refers to Steven Wilson’s Bass Communion, Max Corbacho, Thom Brennan, Max Richter and Numina as some of his musical influences. His debut “Music for Dreamers” came about in a search for…
Release data: Ran Kirlian – Distant Signals CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Altera Orbe, 2018 The first sketches of “Distant Signals” -planned as a personal soundtrack for a deep space exploration, both inner and outer, based on pure electronic atmospheres build on minimal structures- were created during summer 2010 based on live in studio sessions. The recording was shelved thereafter and finally rediscovered…
Release data: Parallel Worlds – Tonal Paintings LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Lost in It Records, 2018 Travelling back to and investigating the early years of a musician is always something special, in my opinion at least. “Tonal Paintings” is a vinyl featuring unreleased tracks by skilled Greek synthesist Bakis Sirros (aka Parallel Worlds) from the period of 1995-97. The 8–track outcome on this…
Release data: Serge Devadder – Taxon CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2018 As for Serge Devadder’s previous cds, the cover of this release features an abstract texture by abstract art painter Birgit Schweimler that somehow reminded the composer of an amphibian organism, which fits perfectly with the concept of the album. “Taxon”, as its name suggests, is heavily influenced by Serge Devadder’s…
Release data: Three-Six (36) – Ego Death DIGITAL DOWNLOAD/LP, 3Six Recordings, 2018 November 2018 marked 10 years since Dennis Huddleston’s finished his (still) excellent 36 debut-album “Hypersona”. From there his highly emotive and most captivating ambient music evolved step by step and invited its listeners into new uncharted territory on more than one occasion. “Ego Death”, a thank-you to his loyal…
Release data: Alpha Wave Movement – Somnus CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Harmonic Resonance Recordings, 2018 Alpha Wave Movement’s “Somnus” delivers a calming and overtly lush sonic canvas, a nice addition to Gregory’s already extensive discography. Drawn on the early ‘80s evolution of ambient music aesthetics, the 6-track outcome offers a warm blanket of gentle and slow unfolding freeform textures along pastel-colored sequenced…
Release data: Andrew Forrest – Freefall (Source Quartet Volume 3) CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2018 A bit longer than expected Andrew Forrest hereby offers his listeners the third chapter of the Source Quartet trilogy. The 60-minute “Freefall”, a musical interpretation and celebration of the mystery of existence, is another ethereal space-ambient extravaganza presented in three expansive pieces (“Freefall into Mystery…
Release data: Telomere – Supergiant CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Evenfall, 2018 For synthesist Christopher Macdonald (aka Telomere), space music is and has always been about inspiring a transportive and meditative experience that is the product of the listener’s own imagination. To encourage this, he attempts to employ sustained and slowly-evolving melodic and harmonic motifs and sonic details that suggest an experience but leave…
Release data: Vangelis – Nocturne CD/LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Decca, 2019 Coined by Decca as a lunar album, “Nocturne” –subtitled the piano album- sees Vangelis turn up the New Age avenue which is a big surprise as the full outcome goes against almost everything he ever said and did about his own music through the years. The album -containing a collection of 17…
Release data: Seifert & Steinbüchel – Abandoned Places CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Pleasure Sound Audio, 2018 After finishing “Reverse Engineering“, Erik Seifert & Josef Steinbüchel decided to compose an ambient album with slow music to relax but demanding attentive listening at the same time. The result is music inspired by wonderful haunting images found on the internet of places, buildings and rooms that nature…
Release data: Ascendant – Meridian CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Synphaera Records, 2016/2018 Soothing, languid, deep and subdued dynamic are just a few keywords to describe the 86-minute ambient-space journey “Meridian” by Ascendant, aka California-based duo Chris Bryant and mastering engineer Don Tyler. Perfect for lucid dreaming and relaxing the mind, the flowing (at some parts also gently sequenced) outcome is celestial, expansive…
Release data: Spyra – Dunst CD/Digital Download, Groove Unlimited, 2018 Referred to as the follow-up album of “Staub” (2014), Wolfram Spyra takes his listeners on a trip of energetic contemporary electronics on “Dunst”, coming up with a fresh approach of the classic Berliner Schule sound of KS and TD for nowadays’ audiences. As such the striking outcome offers various chances to…
Release data: Steve Roach – Return to the Dreamtime -30 years deeper- CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Timeroom Editions, 2018 The music of this double album was created in the slipstream of and inspired by the 30th anniversary of Steve’s standout release “Dreamtime Return”, one of my all-time favorites. While preparing a celebratory concert at the Galactic Center, Tucson Arizona, in February 2018 new…
Release data: Max Corbacho – Horizon Matrix CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Silentsun, 2018 I’ve been following Max Corbacho since discovering his debut “Vestiges” in 1999. It opened a world of passionate ambient sonic splendour unravelling until this very day. A highly atmospheric, enchanting, vibrant and expansive ambient-space is found on the five tracks making up the 73-minute “Horizon Matrix”, an alternate aural dimension…
Release data: Bruno Sanfilippo – InTRO (remastered & expanded) CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, ad21 Music, 2006/2018 In 2006, the beautiful designed “InTRO” marked a new chapter in the nice organic ambient music of Bruno Sanfilippo of which the impact seemed to grow with every new release. The seven tracks on the 50-minute album explore the interest in the unfettered possibilities of dreams,…
Release data: Boreal Taiga – Greenland DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Wayfarer Records, 2017 The ambient music of this release was born out of the composer’s longtime fascination for the beauty and vastness of Greenland with the intent to reflect that in enchanting ambient soundings. A second incentive happened around 2009 – 2010 when New Zealand-based nature photographer and film maker Richard Sidey…
Release data: VelgeNaturlig – Kundalini CD, Winter-Light, 2018 On previous releases, soundscapist VelgeNaturlig (aka Ivo Santos) already took his listeners on a mesmerizing trip to far off places and worlds beyond. The brooding, intense and deep ambience featured on the 75-minute/12-track “Kundalini” is no exception, from the start ascending into a netherworld of darkness with assorted field recordings along vast…
Release data: Loneward – Protection DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2018 Loneward is a new side-project by Mike Carss (aka Altus) launched in August 2018. As the composer elaborates it will exist alongside Altus, however from this point on Loneward will be the source of Carss purer ambient and drone works. Recent examples would be “Innerspace” (2016) and “Komorebi” (2015) as…
Release data: Deepspace – Slow Wave Cathedral DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2011 I’ve been following the ambient music by Mirko Ruckels, aka Deepspace, for quite some years now, and still think he’s a fine talent within and contributor with a unique voice to the genre. After a long hiatus, “Slow Wave Cathedral” was released in November 2011 containing pieces recorded in…
Release data: Mon0 – Colliding Textures DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2012 Somehow I missed out on this album by German synthesist Andre Zufall, aka Mon0, containing four tracks -all clocking over 10 minutes- of imaginary, overtly dense drone tapestries. “Colliding Textures” (52:30 min.) is a slow building and evolving aural travelogue of darker-flavored and remote spherescapes after a long fade in…
Release data: Mooma – Herd Forming DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2006 Imagine dwelling in a spacious, celestial, slow evolving and dreamy world of freeform textures with an overall relaxing impact. It’s an appropriate description for the mesmerizing aural landscape covered on the 61-minute “Herd Forming” by Finnish artist Mooma. The soothing ambience on each of the eight tracks (“They’ve killed our…
Release data: Bluetech – Dreaming into being CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Sounds True, 2013 “Dreaming into Being”, an exploration of expanded states of being, by Evan Bartholomew features seven tracks of pure, deep and spaced-out ambient soundscape bliss with embedded pulses and hypnotizing drones textures. For the composer the whole project proved a complete journey into in his personal dreaming practice and…
Release data: Michael Neil – Atmospheric Moods DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2009 These emotive soundscapes, all composed around the “Maisema” period, were made with the intention of offering music to soundtrack music producers in film and television. But after they had been sent out to a number of companies, none of them showed any interest. Slightly dejected Michael Neil decided to…
Release data: Klangwelt – The Incident CD/Digital Download, Spheric Music, 2018 “The Incident” sees the return of German audio designer Gerald Arend, aka Klangwelt, to the scene of electronic music after a pause of over a decade. The 79-minute result is a fresh vibrant and rather technical sounding display of contemporary electronic sounds and beautifully rendered textures. Still present are Klangwelt’s…
Release data: Pollard / Daniel / Booth – Eight CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Electronic Composers Outlet, 2018 UK-synthesists Brendan Pollard, Michael Daniel and Phil Booth are known for playing classic electronic music inspired by or reminiscent of mid 70’s TD using analogue gear only. In 2017 Brendan Pollard was very fortunate to be offered back to him three of his old modular system…
Release data: Wintherstormer – D.E.S.H. CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Pakusch Project Records, 2018 Since its birth, Terje Winther’s sonic endeavour Wintherstormer stands for none-conventional, totally improvised sequencer-based Berlin School-infused music. Besides a challenging and most peculiar approach, its soundings are also edgier, highly adventurous and overtly rough. The album’s title “D.E.S.H.”, an acronym for diatonic elaboration of static harmony, actually gives a…
Release data: Various Artists – The Sound of Syndae CD, Private Release, 2018 In January 2018 I was approached by Stefan Schulz, host of the German EM-podcast Syndae to join the jury to select music to go on Syndae’s 10th anniversary cd “The Sound of Syndae”, a compilation album scheduled for fall 2018. In total, 94 minutes of music/17 tracks (of…
Release data: Zanov – Open Worlds (live at Synthfest 2017) DVD, Private Release, 2017 This audio-visual release –limited to 100 numbered and autographed copies- documents Pierre Salkazanov’s performance at Nante’s Synthfest 2017 which was accompanied by beautiful cyberworld graphics as backdrop. The 60-minute disc contains tracks from the studio album “Open Worlds” mingled with two new themes. Characteristic Zanov sound design…
Release data: Jeff Pearce – Follow the river home CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 The spacious music on the 7-track “Follow the River Home” continues in Jeff’s signature sound of pastel-coloured guitar ambient paintings. The calming aural impressionist art displayed here by this Indiana-based composer flows onward peacefully and most harmonic while creating distinct atmospheric moods with the use of…
Release data: Parallel Worlds & Dave Bessell – Dystopia CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, DiN, 2018 The title of the duos second distance collaboration already suggests dark electronics -a style Bakis Sirros (aka Parallel Worlds) and Dave Bessell both appreciate a lot- and that’s what the listeners can expect here. As their debut “Morphogenic” already proved, Bakis has quite an intuitive approach to writing…
Release data: Biome – The Shores of Temenos CD-r/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Harmonic Resonance Recordings, 2018 Biome is a new side project of accomplished synthesist Gregory Kyryluk (better known and successful as Alpha Wave Movement since many years) with a sound spectrum far less spacey/Berlin School but roaming further in ambient-soundscape mode. In this respect the listener might pick up traces of ’90s…
Release data: Sayer – Interplanetary CD, Private Release, 2017 The sonic journey US-synthesist Sayer Seely undertook until now has brought the Em-community some interesting stuff. I’d even dare say any fan of melodic sequencing mixed with spiced-up electronics that hasn’t yet digged his stuff should keep an eye on this musician as his output ranks above average. Same as his…
Release data: Ashen Simian – Shambhala Mc/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Retroduction, 2018 Ami Hassinen’s “Shambhala” contains a collection of rather varied tracks -made with analog and digital synths as well as electric and acoustic guitar- intended to let the music take its own shape anyway it wants to. The 12 tracks sound contemporary, feature a slab of Berlin School style (“E Voice Phenomena”),…
Release data: Syn – Fauni-Genus CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 What I got here is a mini-album/Ep by David T. Dewdney aka Syn delivering another very moody and at times dreamy tribute to the classic Berlin School sound of the ‘70’s, most notably the atmospheric work by Tangerine Dream or Edgar Froese solo back then. Some tasty Farfisa organ along…
Release data: Ogre – Murals DIGITAL DOWNLOAD/MC, Private Release, 2017 UK composer, producer and synthesist Robin Ogden, aka Ogre, performed and captured the 30-minutes of music on “Murals” all in one take. Imminent from the start is the imaginary soundtrack flavor as well as a fascinating mysterious current found in two 15-minute long tracks, sonically staying close to spaced-out 1970s…
Release data: Robert Schroeder – New Frequencies Vol. 3 CD, News Music, 2018 The third volume in the series (kicked off in 2010) sees Robert Schroeder moving further into the domain of contemporary up-tempo, melodic electronics with various vocal samples along a distinct groovy as well as loungy touch. Its lushness and airiness also remind slightly of the 12 inches…
Release data: Nothing but Noise – eXistence Oscillation (possible) Future CD/USB-Stick, Private Release, 2018 As was the case with their two previous releases in the eXistence Oscillation trilogy, this third chapter steps out of the ordinary once more, pushing the boundaries as it wanders into the terrain of stark, minimalist and daring vintage electronics. For “eXistence Oscillation (possible) Future”, the duo…
Release data: Brock Van Wey – White clouds drift on and on CD/Lp/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Echospace, 2009 Being an avid fan of emotional-driven ambient music it was just a matter of time before I would run into the postmodern minimalist ambient of musician and dj Brock Van Wey, who seems better known as dub-techno act Bvdub. His debut “White clouds drift on…
Release data: Meg Bowles – Evensong – Canticles for the Earth CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Kumatone Records, 2018 Although the word “Evensong” most often refers to the traditional Anglican Church service, various forms of prayer and song at the end of the day have been practiced by humankind across cultures for thousands of years. On a personal level, US-based composer Meg Bowles…
Release data: Matthew Florianz – Onontgonnen DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 Many of the works of accomplished ambient composer and sound designer Matthew Florianz feature carefully moulded intrinsic and deep ambiences with an adventurous approach. “Onontgonnen” (a Dutch word meaning uncharted) is an aural journey for the slow lane leading the listener into uncharted terrain, a 60-minute atmospheric ambient world…
Release data: Three-Six (36) – Circuit Bloom MC/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, 3Six Recordings, 2018 Dennis Huddleston’s EP “Circuit Bloom” -serving as a companion to an upcoming full-length album to be released in the second half of 2018- contains six piano-based tape loops exploring the themes of loneliness, emptiness and escape. These are peaceful, gentle swirling soundscapes with a profound sense of mournfulness…
Release data: Arc – Arclight DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, DiN, 2015 Similar to bands like AirSculpture, ARC is at their best when they play live in front of a dedicated audience, busy delivering an outcome suitable for release. “Arclight” is another fine testament of that, containing the full, almost 90 minute concert performed in Liverpool’s Capstone Theatre in November 2014. As usual…
Release data: Altus – Pioneer DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2018 A lot of the music released by Canadian composer Mike Carss (aka Altus) has been the sonic companion for travelling inward or into the grand outward expanse. The latter category applies to the 67-minute “Pioneer” where we leave Earth behind and travel beyond our solar system. Altus has come up…
Release data: AirSculpture – Travelling Light CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2018 The AirSculpture guys are still alive and kicking, hereby releasing another most vibrant live document with a 100% improvised outcome as usual. The slightly edited outcome (to bring it down to cd length but without losing any music) is from their sparkling headline set at E-Day 2015 in Oirschot,…
Release data: Dreamfire – Atlantean Symphony CD, Minotauro Records, 2018 This factory-pressed re-issue is a completely remastered and extended version of the original 12-track seamless musical journey released privately by the composer in 2012. This definitive edition features stunning new artwork and booklet design plus two bonus tracks: a 2018 reworking of the original album’s finale, “An Epitaph Engraved In…
Release data: Gert Emmens & Ruud Heij – Galaxis CD, Private Release, 2018 Special recordings come in various form. Gert Emmens & Ruud Heij chose to release this great looking triple cd set on E-Day 2018 to celebrate 15 years of collaboration that started in May 2003. With “Galaxis” as a title it’s obvious we’re invited to join the duo…
Release data: Sequentia Legenda – Renaissance CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2018 Laurent Schieber’s fifth album “Renaissance” (working title “Immersion”) is another dedication and a further attempt to come as close as possible to the core sound of the vintage era of electronic music and the roots of the Berlin School using modern instrumentation and techniques. The latter made it easier…
Release data: Aperus – Lie Symmetry CD, Geophonic Records, 2018 A strange but at the same time intruiging set of accidentally made landscape photographs by a cell phone grace the cover of “Lie Symmetry”, a title derived from the math used to describe the stunning visual patterns that occur when cobalt ions are cooled down to absolute zero. Sonically, this…
Release data: Flames of Genesis – A Bridge to Further Realms CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Minotauro Records, 2017 Flames of Genesis is the name of a project by the same composer -also known as The Voyager- who’s producing music as Dreamfire. It was actually was born out of the creativity going in a totally different direction that didn’t fit the Dreamfire-concept. “A…
Release data: Stefan Erbe – Genesys CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Erbe Music, 2017 With “Genesys” (subtitled: a journey of virtual spacedesign and artificial intelligence) German synthesist Stefan Erbe offers his listeners an album of fresh modern space music, contemporary melodic/rhythmic electronics inspired by and committed to a cosmic theme. The slower, more spherical tracks -mostly found in the first half- don’t stray…
Release data: Chuck Van Zyl – Recitals 2 CD, Synkronos Music, 2018 “Recitals 2”, following in the footsteps of the previous volume, features a selection of live pieces recorded at two late 2017 performances. As happened on the previous volume, Chuck again takes his own turn on the classic/teutonic Berlin School style of the ’70’s most notably the vintage works…
Release data: Free System Projekt & Terje Winther – Spoon Forest CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2018 At the start of the ‘70s Tangerine Dream created some impressive soundworlds and haunting atmospheres on “Phaedra” and “Rubycon”. A similar aural spirit is found on “Spoon Forest”, a 70-minute recording featuring three 20-minute tracks for which Marcel, Ruud and Terje each were in…
Release data: Steve Roach – Molecules of Motion CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 2018 “Molecules of Music” sees Steve Roach venture into thoughtful, rather complex and minimal aural territory through a myriad of Berlin School-infused, carefully unfolding and evolving analogue lengthy pieces which the composer refers to as “meditations upon elegant motion and electro-sensual space”. Created on analog modular -big and…
Release data: MoonSatellite – Strange Music CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2018 While listening to the 65 minutes of music on this album (depicted by the composer as the culmination of “Dark Summer”) I wondered what’s actually “strange” about it as the aural footprint of Jarre’s first two albums is still shining true clearly. Or it might be -compared to Mr…
Release data: Vanderson – Sequenced Thoughts CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spheric Music, 2018 According the composer’s note in the booklet, this album is probably his last one containing classic electronic music. Can’t say I would feel bad about that as Maciej’s Berlin School-infused music hasn’t shown any progress or change for many years. This also goes for the featured four lengthy tracks…
Release data: Cosmic Ground – Cosmic Ground IV CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2018 This is Cosmic Ground’s first release containing a couple of shorter compositions aside lengthier ones which sees Dirk Jan Müller explore the still intriguing electronic sound of the ’70s and beyond further. From the start it’s clear the 78-minute “IV” pulls the listener into intense, dense vintage…
Release data: Peter Challoner – Subsequence CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Ambient Sound Projects, 2018 “Subsequence” was born out of the composer’s wish to do an album that was all sequencer composed tracks just to see if he could do it. This approach applies also to his previous record “Convergence”. So almost gone are the pure ambient textures (although they still linger in…
Release data: Ambiscend – Tranquility CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Imagineer Records, 2018 Ambiscend is composer Darren Rogers hailing from West Texas who started his own label Imagineer Records some 20 years ago to help promote new age and ambient music. As the title of this album already indicates, “Tranquility” is a work that helps to break break away from the high demands,…
Release data: Node – Node Live CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, DiN, 2018 The rare concert that three of the original members of Node assisted by distinguished Hollywood film composer and ambient music designer Mel Wesson gave at London’s Royal College of Music in 2015 offered the audience the unique opportunity to hear the interaction between the musicians happening in real time and…
Release data: [‘ramp] No sleep ’til wilmersdorf CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Doombient, 2018 “No sleep ‘til wilmersdorf” (the Berlin years 1978/79) is a 76-minute continuous aural travelogue through space and time seeing the composer remember and reflect upon his childhood spent in a village near Berlin. Besides the use of a vast range of analogue equipment, the 8-track outcome features profound mood…
Release data: Skoulaman – Next Step in Evolution CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2018 The progress I noted on Hans van Kroonenburg’s previous album “Andros Awakenings” has finally led to his first factory-pressed cd on a major Em-label: “Next Step in Evolution”. Next to a much more structured style and some hints of Vangelis, the Berlin School-based outcome is characterized by…
Release data: Max Corbacho – Nocturnes II CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Silentsun, 2018 This second instalment of the “Nocturnes” trilogy reconnects seamlessly to the deep, gentle and intimate atmospherics of the first album delivering 70 minutes of mesmerizing night (at times even tactile) ambiences incorporating various mysterious, dreamful and visceral aural currents. The strong 20-minute “Celistia” kicking off the 70-minute album already…
Release data: Robert Rich – The Biode CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Soundscape Productions, 2018 Coined by the composer as a surrealist electronic journey through the microbiome, “The Biode” -featuring heavy use of modular synths and the Haken Continuum- harkens back to Robert’s 2001 album “Bestiary”. The two opening tracks are in- your-face abstract-experimental and pretty hard to digest. Fortunately the outcome becomes…
Release data: Erren – Fleissig – Schöttler – Steffen – Tidal Shift CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2018 “Tidal Shift” by the German quartet Jörg Erren, Bert Fleißig, Jochen Schöttler and Christian Steffen appears a four year hiatus. As was the case with their previous releases the outcome was realized during a week of happy jamming and improvising in a holiday…
Release data: Wavestar II – Nightwinds CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2018 Wavestar II sees John Dyson accompanied by accomplished composers and studio-technicians Paul Ward and Stephen Whitlan continuing the sonic quest where Wavestar left us many years ago. “Nightwinds” contains 78 minutes of warm, melodic and accessible electronic music John Dyson had been working on for long (but never was…
Release data: Steen Chorchendorff Jorgensen – Internal Moments CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2010 Steen Chorchendorff Jørgensen, hailing from Denmark, hereby presents 13 tracks of melodic chill-out mood music evaporating a slight resemblance with Tangerine Dream’s “Exit” in the two-part opening track “Mind Journey”, venturing into relaxed ambient-electronic dance after that. Despite the well-meant intentions and efforts, the 58-minute outcome isn’t…
Release data: Patrick Kosmos – Monument CD/Digital Download, Groove Unlimited, 2018 “Monument”, part of the private-released “Chronicles” cd-r box set, sure will jog the memory and stir the appetite of Em-fans around the world, especially those in Europe who were able to see Belgium synthesist Patrick Kosmos (aka Patrick Wille De Wael) live in action in the ’80s and ’90s…
Release data: Jeff Greinke – Before Sunrise CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2018 When it comes to the works of Arizona-based musician, composer, performer, sound sculptor and visual artist Jeff Greinke, music and creative process have always been inspired by his personal visual, aural, and sensual (particularly meteorological) experiences of the world around him. The abstract, emotive-charged and desolate aural…
Release data: Seifert & Steinbüchel – The CERN Concert DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Pleasure Sound Music, 2017 It’s not too farfetched to hear similarities of Schiller, Jarre, modern TD and some Ultimae-artists in Seifert & Steinbüchel’s straightforward, tight and high-tech electronics making up this release. “The CERN Concert”, a 60-minute live recording from 2010, offers some previously unreleased special remixes from their…
Release data: Wanderwelle – Lost in a sea of trees LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Silent Season, 2017 Imagine a lone traveler entering a dark, ancient forest, being lured deep into the woods by something not of this world as he enters uncharted grounds. Step by step his journey is getting darker as he encounters strange phenomena and beings among the trees. This…
Release data: Chihei Hatakeyama – Heavy Snow CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, White Paddy Mountain, 2017 “Heavy Snow” is a tranquil, serene and ethereal soundscape recording by Japanese artist Chihei Hatakeyama. It captures the timeless atmosphere of deep winter and its white expanse. The textures on the five tracks evolve in a dreamy, slow-minimalist fashion with an occasional sparkle or drift of warm…
Release data: Bernd Kistenmacher – Disintegration CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, MIRecords, 2017 The last two decades quite a few EM albums have seen the light of day concerning global environmental problems, the dangers of nuclear power and the ongoing destruction of nature caused by humans. German synthesist Bernd Kistenmacher added his first two cents already with his 2014-album “Paradise” and now with…
Release data: Numina – The Chroma Plateau CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2018 Numina’s “The Chroma Plateau” required a long-term recording process, taking US-composer Jesse Sola about two years to work on. Because of this lengthy process, there are a lot of mixed moments of inspiration, influence and emotion. As there is no particular theme or concept behind the music,…
Release data: Jeff Pearce –From the Darker Seasons CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 Slow, deeper ambient worlds, ethereal synth beds and guitar-based atmospheric spacemusic with a highly emotive thread have graced the works of Jeff Pearce until now. “From the Darker Seasons”, celebrating the hidden beauty in the slow fading of autumn and in the blanketed landscapes of winter, features…
Release data: Kloob – Remarkable Events CD, Winter-Light, 2018 The origin of “Remarkable Events” happened in April 2016 as Barcelona-based synthesist Daniel Ferreira, aka Kloob, planned to assemble a mix of tracks in the same vein as featured on “Solid Foundations”. This time though he wanted things traveling deeper and sounding more intimate while taking full advantage from the ins…
Release data: As Lonely as Dave Bowman – Monolith CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt, 2015 Now here’s a project fully inspired by and related to the cinematic art of Stanley Kubrick. Being named after the astronaut in Kubrick’s “2001, A Space Odyssey”, “Monolith” is also the fully electronic concept album by Sam Rosenthal providing a soundtrack for the final four months of…
Release data: Annemarie Borg – In Nomine Tellus CD, Gterma, 2018 The cover of this 6-panel superfile release is graced by a beautiful panorama pic of the Alaska Range. “In Nomine Tellus”, the second album of a trilogy dedicated to our world by environmentalist/composer/writer/ visual artist Annemarie Borg, follows “In Nomine Cetus” (2014) and precedes “In Nomine Stellae” (scheduled for…
Release data: Kurtz Mindfields & Taj Mahal – Analogic Touch CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Electrik Dream, 2017 Subtitled “From Berlin School to Ambient Electronica”, this release by Kurtz Mindfields (aka Jean-Luc Briançon) and TajMahal (aka Stephane Gallay) looks like a fun project for which various friends (such as Robert Rich, Jean-Michel Zanetti and Oliver Grall) were invited as well. Most of all…
Release data: Juta Takahashi – Light and Shadows CD, Lunisolar Records, 2017 “Light and Shadows”, released on December 6, 2017, is the first double album by accomplished Japanese synthesist Jutaro Takahashi. Jutaro’s 12th release comprises six extended ambient soundscapes, two new tracks (“Tangerine Blue”, “Deeper Skies”) and four others that were featured previously on txt recordings’ Nagual collections. Well, Mr…
Release data: Hemisphere – Now CD, Groove Unlimited, 2001 Accessible, adventurous, darker and slightly unsettling moods all pass by on Ralph Knappe-Heinbockel’s and Thorsten Reinhardt’s fifth album “Now” that -compared to the previous albums- also sounds more contemporary. Besides the groovy-oriented, rhythmic-infused electronics on “Red” and “Black”, also vintage 70’s electronics with slight melodic flavors can be found here as…
Release data: Ascendant – Particle Horizon CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 “Particle Horizon”, the final chapter of Ascendant’s “Source”-trilogy is of particular interest for aficionadosof for faster-paced ‘80s TD-sequencing paired with a captivating, fresh sound design and cracking engineering. I can’t find the proper words to describe the album’s music any further, but I for one think it hard to…
Release data: Forrest Fang – Scenes from a Ghost Train CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Project Records, 2018 Until now, the electronic creations by most talented multi-instrumentalist Forrest Fang have proved a surrealist blend of processed ethnic instruments and minimalist, ambient soundscapes. “Scenes from a Ghost Train” finds its inspiration in the phantom train of urban folklore that appears and disappears without a…
Release data: Michael Neil – In the Stillness of Winter DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2018 “In the Stillness of Winter” is a related work to Michael Neil’s 1999 album “Ikons” in that it again takes Walter Leslie Wilmshurst’s poem “Nox Nivosa” as a source of inspiration. Other inspiration came from canvases made by Michael’s partner Emily, painter of various winter…
Release data: Airwaves – Biomechanical CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Carpe Sonum Records, 2001/2018 Here’s an invitation for a trip out of the ordinary. “Biomechanical” is an archival recording from deceased Mexican synthesist Oscar Menzel, probably composed between 1999 and 2001. The sparkling, crystalline sounding 60-minute/9-track outcome created with analogue equipment only offers a contemporary sounding trip taking the listener into a world…
Release data: Liquid Mind – XII: Peace CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Real Music, 2018 “Peace” is an album for fans of electronic New Age music. It sees a continuation of the very smooth, serene-floating velvet soundscape music found on Liquid Mind’s previous releases. Its concept is to enable conflict resolution through music using a step-by-step where each title of the eight tracks…
Release data: John Vorus – Foot of the Crow DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Ambient Distillery, 2017 “Foot of the Crow”, released over 10 years after his fascinating debut “Transmuting Currents”, is a work of organic-rooted, electro-acoustic, cinematic and dark-tribal ambient assembled of modular analogue drones, nocturnally sourced field recordings, tribal drum machines, didgeridoo and processed vocals along the use of reverb heavy…
Release data: Siddhartha Barnhoorn – Pillars of Light DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2011 At the time I got in touch with and discovered Siddaharta’s album “Structures of Light”, the composer also send me “Pillars of Light” from 2011. The latter is a spacious deep ambient drift in its own right featuring a 34-minute mysterious-atmospheric ambience with captivating currents of tension…
Release data: Peter Challoner – Livescapes_5 Church of ambient sound DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Ambient Sound Projects, 2017 “Livescapes_5” features a 63-minute soundscape created for the Church of Sound Ambient music events in Nottingham September and October 2016, comprising live performance and live studio session recordings by Peter Challoner. The most tranquil outcome is an introspective and gradually evolving tapestry of textural…
Release data: Ambient Joy – Always hold the Light CD, Groove Unlimited, 2017 I can’t deny Ambient Joy’s debut album, a collaboration of German artists Dagmar Hoffman (aka Klaus Hoffman-Hoock’s ex-wife Dagi Daydream) and Harald Nies, appears a different and unusual release on Groove Unlimited. ”Always hold the Light“ features 56-minutes of ambient rock music with lyrics, moodscapes and a…
Release data: Johan Tronestam – Space Collection CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, TeamQuasar, 2017 “Space Collection” (mastered by Johan –Venja- Geens) features 10 accessible tracks of gentle pulsating sequences and lush melodic music with a strong cosmic vibe. Stylistically, quite some pieces carry hints of the solid work of Pyramid Peak along some of Rolf Trostel’s early music, while “A Ninth Member” reveals…
Release data: Alpha Wave Movement – Echoes in the Vacuum CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Harmonic Resonance Recordings, 2017 With “Echoes in the Vacuum”, Alpha Wave Movement’s music takes a turn offering seven shorter compositions of cyclic-rhythmic, melodic, lighter-flavored and accessible electronic mood music. Not only does a dance beat fly by on opener “Herzschlag des Universums”, the album’s overall sphere is mellower…
Release data: Sigma – Worlds within Worlds DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 Welcome to another Sigma-recording of ambient electronics with a stark edge for which only self-built electronic instruments were applied. On “Worlds within Worlds” it involves a Moog Prodigy synthesizer clone, TTSH-2600 synthesizer (a clone of the famous ARP 2600) and the Electronic Music Box (EMB), which is not…
Release data: Three-Six (36) – Further Rooms DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, A Strangely Isolated Place, 2016 What I got here is a hidden album offered initially to every customer who bought a vinyl copy of 36’s “The Infinity Room” which contained an URL plus password etched in to the runout. The 26-minute “Further Rooms” offers another six fine crafted ambient tracks (“Room…
Release data: Simon Lomax – A Strange Light CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Council of Nine, 2017 Simon’s intention for “A Strange Light” was a sonic exploration of the different forms and meanings of light. Well, the album’s eight compositions are vaporous, ethereal and freeform ambient drifts featuring strong emotive (under)currents and occasional senses of yearning. This is expressed most generously through the…
Release data: Red Planet Orchestra – DNA DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Path of Action Productions, 2017 According the liner notes “DNA” features the full score soundtrack for a previously unreleased horror thriller that has been much sought after by collectors in the past, also including music composed for the film but not included in the final cut. This time around the output…
Release data: Colin Rayment – Architects of Orion CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Syngate Records, 2017 The inspiration behind “Architects of Orion” came from time Colin Rayment spent stargazing deep in the British countryside of Lincolnshire, a rural area with little light pollution and amazingly clear night skies. It’s situated very close to where astronomer Isaac Newton was born and grew up. After…
Release data: Akikaze – Solstice CD, Spheric Music, 2017 With Pepijn Courant’s “Solstice” (composed on the occasion of E-Live 2015 festival), German label Spheric Music has added an album fitting their catalogue. The release offers nearly 80 minutes of fresh sounding, sequencer-spiced and melodic instrumental music with additional percussion and very tasteful acoustic guitar at places. “Jacob’s Ladders” makes a…
Release data: Three-Six (36) – Black Soma CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, 3Six Recordings, 2017 A strong sense of the eternal, vast open spaces along a profound emotive current of longing and melancholy are found at the heart of Dennis Huddleston’s velvet ambient project “Black Soma”. The eight tracks set out on a lush, gentle-melodic drift of ethereal, cosmic-infused and minimal-oriented textures calming…
Release data: Remy – The Return of Planet X CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Deserted Island Music, 2017 The outcome heard on “The Return of Planet X” was staged live in concert at a one-off event organised by Remy Stroomer and Ron Boots in May 2012 in the Grote of St.Bavokerk in Haarlem. “Part 2 –Movement VI” also included here was already released…
Release data: Bridge to Imla – The Radiant Sea CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Winter-Light Records, 2017 Bridge to Imla is a project by the German duo Michael Brückner and Hans-Dieter Schmidt who started collaborating occasionally since 2012. At first glance exploration and discovery seem central themes throughout the deep ambient trip making up “The Radiant Sea”. The origins of the latter hail…
Release data: Gert Emmens – Stories from Floating Worlds Vol. 1: The Turbulent Years CD, Groove Unlimited, 2017 Already having a successful back catalogue of solo and collaborative releases, accomplished synthesist Gert Emmens hereby brings us the first chapter of the 2-volume sonic narrative “Stories from Floating Worlds”. During the creative process of shaping the four lengthy tracks, Gert applied…
Release data: Beyond Berlin – Fine Tunes CD, Groove Unlimited, 2017 “Fine Tunes” is the first factory-pressed release of Martin Peters and Rene de Bakker (aka Beyond Berlin) based on musical sketches mapped out during a jam session in November 2016. Both synthesists love vintage Berlin School music, a style also executed with a crisp sound on this almost 73-minute…
Release data: Max Corbacho – Source of Present CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Silentsun, 2017 Being a long time ambient fan myself I’ve reviewed quite a bit of music fitting the bill to slow down the mind and detach from busy modern life, offering a doorway to tranquil spheres for contemplation and introspection. The sphere paintings created by Spanish composer Max Corbacho in…
Release data: ASC – Trans-Neptunian Objects DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Auxiliary, 2017 “Trans-Neptunian Objects”, refering to dwarf planets and asteroids that lay beyond the planet Neptune, is a 73-minute ambient recording of smooth resonating deep space explorations. Sonically it extends on the world of expansive, gentle drifting cosmic waves that made up ASC’s previous album “No Stars without Darkness” though floating off…
Release data: Phobos – Approaching Dark Space CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 Those familiar with Phobos well-crafted dark ambient will find out David Thompson stepped a bit further into the darker side on “Approaching Dark Space”. Simultaneously (and contrary to his previous albums) this voyage into the far reaches of outer space and beyond implements a slice of melody creeping…
Release data: Bruno Sanfilippo – Lost & Found CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, ad 21 Music, 2017 “Lost & Found”, a 5-track/36-minute release with neo-classical piano music, throws new light on some past gems that were buried and lost in other collections but rediscovered in recent times. The whole process has been done in such a way as to inspire the idea of…
Release data: MoonSatellite – Dark Summer CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 It may just be me but I can’t say the gloomy, dark mood shown on the album’s cover matches with the accessible outcome of MoonSatellite’s 64-minute “Dark Summer” , described by the composer as a transitory album between “‘Sessions’” and his future works. The release contains eight variations still…
Release data: Altus – Winter Embrace (15th Anniversary edition) CD, Private Release, 2017 What I got here is the first factory-pressed cd from Canadian sound artist Mike Carss, aka Altus. It’s the definitive 62-minute version of the orchestral-electronic release originally composed in 2002 which influenced future Altus albums such as “Black Trees Among Amber Skies” (2010) and “The Sidereal Cycle…
Release data: Vanderson – Beyond Time Structure CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Mellowjet Records, 2017 Vanderson’s previous album “Vandisphere” sounded quite disappointing to my ears so it is good composer Maciej Wierzchowski is back with the consistent “Beyond Time Structure”. The latter contains a 64-minute mix of exciting, fresh, spacious and driving contemporary electronics moving and shifting easily between Schiller, Jarre, label-owner Moonbooter,…
Release data: Arc – Fleet CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, DiN, 2017 “Fleet” is another powerhouse live recording from Mark Shreeve & Ian Boddy featuring their set played at the E-Scape festival in May 2017 for an enthusiast audience. On their 7th concert recording the duo has pulled up their sleeves giving way to a large array of rich harmonic themes in their…
Release data: Seetyca – Winterlicht CD, Winter-Light, 2017 Slow morphing, cold and profound ambient is on the menu on Seetyca’s concept album “Winterlicht” (a 79-minute effort conceived, played and recorded over three summers between 2014 – 2016) coming up as a continuous odyssey unfolding into a vast white expanse. Helped by an excellent mixing and mastering job as well as…
Release data: Arcane – Live @ E-Day 2017 CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2017 There’s actually not much to tell about this fine release containing Paul Lawler’s 67-minute live set played at E-Day 2017 festival. At the occasion Lawler performed solid while presenting a cross-section of his music from his back catalogue which bears resemblances of TD’s melodic (begin of the)…
Release data: Sequentia Legenda – Ethereal CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 Laurent Schieber is one of the purveyors of classic Berlin School music (most notably late ‘70’s Schulze but without any soloing) executed through long, slow evolving and building tracks. He has a keen eye and ear combining sequencer patterns & rhythms to a mesmerizing minimalist whole. This, combined with…
Release data: Robert Schroeder – D.MO Vol. 4 Harmonic Decadence CD, Spheric Music, 2017 Some long-time and avid Em-fans may remember German synthesist Robert Schroeder once contributed a track called “Harmonic Decadence” to Inkey$ No. 2 cassette (1983). The track is actually just a part of a larger sonic canvas composed in 1979 -for which Robert only used his self-built…
Release data: Michael Neil – Return to the Greenlands DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 It was Michael’s old friend and music colleague Clive Littlewood of Electronical Dreams fame who suggested a kind of commemorative release (“a revisit” in his words) of new material to mark the 30th anniversary of Mr Neil’s classic “Goodbye to the Greenlands”. The core inspiration of…
Release data: Mathias Grassow – Divinations CD, Gterma, 2017 “Divinations”, an almost 80-minute recording featuring five haunting ambient tracks, is a new chapter in Mathias Grassow’s Alchemy Suite inspired by man’s quest for higher knowledge and his taking to mysticism and obscure practices to find it. It’s a minimal, morphing yet spacious soundscape fitting very well to the fall and…
Release data: M. Persson – Sounds: A New Time DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 Here’s another batch of smooth ambient and cinematic soundscapes from the Swedish west-coast by Mats Persson continuing where his previous music left us. It’s still an overall floating affair where strings of ethereal textures come and go in waves, breathing hope, introspection and calmness through the…
Release data: Ran Kirlian – Continuum DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Altera Orbe, 2012 Ambient space aficionados who love to travel into deeper zone worlds may find Ran Kirlian’s “Continuum” an interesting choice. Created from music composed between 2005 and 2010, the album contains eight tracks of freeform, organic-infused, vast and rather intense soundscapes blending both darker-shaded undercurrents and ethereal realms into a…
Release data: Max Corbacho – Arte Magnetica DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, SilentSun , 2017 Extreme weather conditions have been a source of inspiration through the years for various ambient composers, just think of Robert Rich (“Calling down the Sky”) or Steve Roach (“Slow Heat”, “Storm Warning”). With “Arte Magnetica” Spanish sound sculptor Max Corbacho delivers his contribution to the subject painting an…
Release data: Deepspace – The Barometric Sea CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2007 “The Barometric Sea”, the debut ambient release by Australian musician Mirko Ruckels, was initially offered for free on lunarflower.us because the composer wanted to show some support to that label. According the composer the album features score music putting the listener in a deserted spaceship after a cataclysmic…
Release data: ASC – No Stars without Darkness CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Silent Season , 2016 This is a fine recording working well when the weather starts growing colder and in wintertime. With “No Stars without Darkness” listeners enter a far-off world of floating ambient spaces drenched in sorrow, soberness, beauty and dreaminess. Despair, hope and loneliness shimmer evidently through the leaves…
Release data: Howard Givens & Craig Padilla – Being of Light CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2017 With this follow-up to “Life Flows Water”, accomplished composers Howard Givens and Craig Padilla emphasize a visceral and enveloping experience, conceptually envisioning the outcome as a topology of energy where the individual is a single point of light, solitary and self-aware, yet melded…
Release data: Chuck Van Zyl – Recitals CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Synkronos Music, 2016 What I got here is a 140-minute double album featuring sequencer-driven electronic music (extracted from five May 2016 performances) tapping in the pool of German vintage electronics bridged with an own signature. Imagine two 70+ minute highly improvised sonic journeys extending the trajectory of van Zyl’s “MemorySpace” (2010),…
Release data: [‘ramp] Synchronize or Die CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Doombient, 2017 “Synchronize or Die” (celebrating 20 years of unsolicited noise) is the result of a five year sabbatical after the release of “Astral Disaster”. It reveals a much mellower, less stark sounding pack of tracks featuring complex sequencer work along an assortment of multi-layered rhythmical patterns. Stephen Parsick elaborated on the…
Release data: Jim Ottaway – Deep Space Blue CD, Private Release, 2017 “As far as I’m familiar with his catalogue, “Deep Space Music” is the first true cosmic release with lots of freeform soundscapes from Australian synthesist Jim Ottaway. Opener “Astral Voices” takes off with smooth ethereal textures, the following tracks propelling the listener into weightless expanse and toward the…
Release data: Zanov – Moebius 256301 (40th Anniversary edition) CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 1977/2017 Zanov, strongly influenced by his own scientific background, always attempted to connect some scientific concepts such as chaos theory, fractals and complexity theory with his music. Its influence appeared in 1977 while experimenting with some three counts patterns sequencers that changed almost unnoticed to four counts…
Release data: Steve Roach – Nostalgia for the Future CD/MC/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Timeroom Edtions , 2017 “Nostalgia For the Future”, the companion release to “Long Thoughts”, is a calming reverie for the slow lane featuring a deep ambient flow of six interconnected soundworld immersions evoking an echo in time and place. Darker shades are absent in this drifting tapestry of velvet,…
Release data: Pyramid Peak – Roots CD, Manikin Records, 2017 “Roots” is a commemorative release celebrating the 30th anniversary of this successful German band who states the outcome is the essence of all previous albums. At the same time it reflects on a lengthy period of friendship between the members, their ongoing passion for electronic music and the evolution of…
Release data: Walter Christian Rothe – Alice (30th Anniversary edition) CD, Groove Unlimited, 1987/2017 In a way “Alice” could be considered a kind of forgotten work of Belgian synthesist Walter Christian Rothe. Initially released on vinyl in 1987 as a concept album it was followed by a cd release in 1997 on the IC label as “The Story of Alice”.…
Release data: RON BOOTS Derby! CD, Groove Unlimited, 2009 During his decades-long career Steve Roach has composed lots of longform ambient for looped infinite low volume playback mode to wander off gently and disappear in. The completely freeform environment “Long Thoughts” is presented as a vital sanctuary of deep resonance and reflection to us humans as a constant deluge of overstimulation…
Release data: Chronotope Project – Ovum CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music , 2017 Chronotope Project’s seventh album “Ovum” had a long gestation period with seeds slowly starting to grow at the beginning of 2013. The process of (re)shaping, revising and refocusing the outcome turned out satisfactory, as the composer succeeded in balancing many personal and impersonal elements, bringing his emotional…
Release data: Chuck van Zyl – Rituals CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Synkronos Music, 2014 Mr. Van Zyl’s love for and signature style of classic electronic music forms the core of the 57-minute “Rituals”, an album containing two long tracks. The 21-minute “Saturn” kicks things off with a mysterious entrance of sound effects before carrying the listener away on celestial winds with a…
Release data: Yagya – Stars and Dust CD/LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Delsin Records, 2016 “Stars and Dust” is an album full off well-made, attractive and atmospheric down-tempo electronics encouraging the listener to get horizontal and feel at ease. This time around and compared to his previous efforts, tenderness seems the keyword here. The lush, dub-oriented and affective melodic outcome by Islandic creative…
Release data: Broekhuis, Keller & Schönwälder – Red Live @ USA CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Manikin Records, 2017 This double EP-album comprises three long excepts of music by the trio as they crossed the pond in 2012 to play several live gigs in Princeton and Philadelphia at The Gatherings, Star’s End radio show and Echoes radio. The variation I missed on the…
Release data: Llyn Y Cwn – IV DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Manky Music , 2017 For his fourth Llyn Y Cwn release, musician Ben Powell created another set of freeform dark ambient tracks based around a field recording supposed to represent the conditions at Llyn Y Cwn (a small lake in the Glyder mountain range of Snowdonia, North Wales) at that particular…
Release data: Secondface – Transitions CD, Gterma , 2017 The music on this album had a long way coming as composer Frank Vilbæk Jensen lost quite some drafts due to two severe computer breakdowns as he only made a partial back-up of them. Next to starting on new music to add to the recovered stuff Frank also struggled for a…
Release data: S1gns of L1fe – Pathways to Ascension CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Synphaera Records, 2017 “Pathways to Ascension”, cut from a 24bit-44.1 kHz master source, is a down-tempo/chill-out exercise by Chris Bryant (aka S1gns Of L1fe) who hails from California’s Bay Area. Bryant’s emotive ambient-tech music has matured and deepened further with every new release featuring the intrinsic warmth, expert mastering…
Release data: VelgeNaturlig – Opalescent Pust CD, Winter-Light, 2017 Aficionados of haunting and profound organic ambient will find a lot to like on the longform “Opalescent Pust” by Portuguese soundscape artist VelgeNaturlig. It’s a liquid constellation of dark, slow morphing inner dronescapes triggering the imagination from start to fish. The continuous ride makes a fascinating descent into cool, constantly transforming…
Release data: David Helpling – A Sea Without Memory (Ambient Guitar Works Vol. 1) DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2017 What I got here is a typical album of US textural guitar soundscape music using only electric guitar along a range of custom programmed effects processors to achieve an overall drifting outcome. The latter was constructed from a series of…
Release data: Juta Takahashi – Albion CD, Lunisolar Records, 2017 Jutaro Takahashi’s “Albion”, a 73-minute concept album, sees the light of day after a three year hiatus. Still using analogue synths only, Juta brings us five free form ambient compositions clocking between 13 and 16 minutes each inspired by and painting the beauty of Britain through rich, majestic, colourful and…
Release data: Pyramaxx – Move CD, Klangdesign-Records, 2017 On their debut album “Distance” Axel Stupplich, Andreas Morsch and Max Schiefele already presented a fine display of melodic-spiced, solid and mature electronic music. The result on their second endeavour “Move” fits in the same league with again some progressive rock nods showing up in the seven steady sequencer/rhythmic driven tracks of…
Release data: Free System Projekt – Five Suns CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 With the double album “Five Suns” Dutch duo Ruud Heij and Marcel Engels (aka Free System Project) continue their journey through vast Berlin School wastelands. The album concept is based on the Aztecs creation myth, a continuous cycle of creations and destructions called suns. The myth which…
Release data: Lauge – Pusterum DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Sibri29 Records, 2015 Now here’s another strong candidate of highly sophisticated, refined and beat-less ambient soundscape music. Its composer is Danish artist Henrik Laugesen whose 72-minute “Pusterum” (mastered by the capable Huby Sea) is meant as an aid to induce a full and restful night’s sleep. I for one consider it an effective…
Release data: Siddhartha Barnhoorn – Structures of Light CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 What I got here is the second album by Dutch film/game composer and ambient-electronic artist Siddhartha Barnhoorn, who regards Steve Roach one of his heroes. Mainly composed with vintage synthesizers and fx’s, “Structures of Light” features one hour of calming, freeform music most suitable for evening and…
Release data: Quaeschning & Schnauss – Synthwaves LP/CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Azure Vista Records, 2017 Presented as a homage to the electronic music masters of the past yet breathing fresh contemporary and enchanting vibes along an overall post-cosmic sound, Thorsten Quaeschning & Ulrich Schnauss “Synthwaves” is a 53-minute release made with vintage synthesizers, sequencers and drum machines only. The eight track outcome…
Release data: Jeffrey Koepper –MantraSequent CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 2017 As the title already suggest, “MantraSequent” is a series of Mantra-like meditative compositions that flow into each other creating a long sonic sculpture that lives and breathes. This time around, AnalogueJeff found core inspiration in rhythmic chants and analog sequences as well as spiritual places and their special atmospheres. The…
Release data: Cosmic Ground – Live CD/LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Sunhair Music, 2017 “Live” compiles a mix of the best moments of the concerts Cosmic Ground played at E-Live festival 2016 and Psychedelic Network Festival 2016. At both gigs, where Dirk Jan Müller was accompanied on stage by Horst “Sunhair” Porkert, improvised sets of music were played based or expanded upon the…
Release data: Steve Roach – The Passing CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Timeroom Editions, 2017 “The Passing” (a surprise birthday present from Steve to all his fans in February 2017) is a 60-minute contemplation on human life of which the first seeds go back to the late ‘90’s. It contains one longform piece of highly emotive ambient soundscapes and deep atmospheric textures where…
Release data: Constance Demby – Novus Magnificat, 30th anniversary edition CD/DIGIAL DOWNLOAD, Hearts of Space/Valley Entertainment, 1986/2017 For the description and impact of this modern-classic monument, building a bridge between classical and choral music by means of orchestral expressions and symphonic space music I refer to the text I wrote on the original. The 30th anniversary edition of this contemporary…
Release data: Nothing but Noise – eXistence Oscillation PrEsent CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Wool E-Discs, 2017 Whereas “eXistence Oscillation pAst” contained music created in the three years after the duo’s fine debut “Not Bleeding Red”, the 48-minute “eXistence Oscillation prEsent” offers all new material written and produced by Dirk Bergen and Daniel Bressanutti. From the start it’s clear the outcome builds stronger…
Release data: Jaja – Milky Way CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Cyan Music, 2016 Sonically, things continue on “Milky Way” as we know from Jaja’s previous albums with the immense galaxy and Milky Way still as the core inspiration for deep cosmic journeying. This time around Jana Rockstroh delivered a double album with three extended textural drone tracks (Part I – Under the…
Release data: Mario Konrad – Spirit Cave CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2007 Mario Konrad’s second solo album “Spirit Cave” is a tribal-ambient recording that sounds like a light-version of Suspended Memories or a collaborative work by Steve Roach The 54-minute recording contains six atmospheric, rhythm-spiced pieces with a certain darker veil presenting itself only occasionally taking the listener into a…
Release data: Ian Boddy – As Above So Below LP/CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, DiN, 2016 It seems to me things have come to rest and return to a harmonic state on the Ian Boddy’s rather neo-classical oriented, symphonic infused “As Above so Below”. The smooth swirling electronic music structures featured on the 39-minute/6-track album all carry a cinematic, reflective, organic-infused and library-music…
Release data: Red Planet Orchestra – The Human DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Path of Action Productions, 2017 “The Human” is quite a massive release by UK-duo Vincent Rees and Pete Smith, aka Red Planet Orchestra. It features 160 minutes of highly emotive, strong symphonic-flavored and contemporary-classical cosmic music painting a grand picture before the listener’s ears. The sonic content found in each…
Release data: Various Artists – Winter-Light … That First Season CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Winter-Light, 2017 What I got here is an ambient compilation released by Dutch Winter-Light containing 16 exclusive, unreleased tracks by skilled composers hailing from all corners of the globe. The 140-minute double album “Winter-Light…That First Season” (mastered by the notable Simon Heath) actually offers ambient aficionados the opportunity…
Release data: Synchronized – Galaxy CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2017 “Galaxy” by Dutch synthesist Francois ten Have (aka Synchronized) marks the fifth release in Groove’s GR1000 cd series. The 64-minute album consists of eight accessible, melodic, sequencer-spiced and rhythmic tracks inspired by and addressing the cosmic theme. On various passages, with the exception of the rather superficial, too easy-going sixth…
Release data: ASC – Truth be Told CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Silent Season , 2014 The fully beatless “Truth be Told”, the follow-up to James Clements excellent effort “Time heals all”, builds and expands slightly upon the themes and ideas explored on the previous album while trying to retain everything that made the earlier one so special. It has led to a…
Release data: Max Corbacho – Nocturnes CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Silentsun, 2017 “Nocturnes” (the debut release on Max’s own label Silentsun, created exclusively for his solo albums from now on) is the first episode of a trilogy with night landscapes as a theme. The long hours lived on many night-time excursions and capturing the places visited in great photos (see the albums…
Release data: Altus – Sleep Theory Volume 3 DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 This third installment in Altus’ Sleep Theory series (published about four years after the previous volume) contains the extended sessions 7, 8 and 9, all carefully molded and shaped sonic companions to help the listener explore what happens while you sleep. The freeform music featured on each…
Release data: Kevin Braheny – Lullaby for the Hearts of Space MC/CD, Hearts of Space/Valley Entertainment, 1980/1991 For the first time ever on cd, “Lullaby for the Hearts of Space” is commercially available for the first time since its cassette-release on the same label in 1991. The album’s title music, a 35-minute improvisation performed and recorded live for the legendary…
Release data: MoonSatellite – Sessions DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 According the liner notes to this album it appears MoonSatellite has come to a turning point in his musical career, adding one more chapter to his previous releases but also marking the end of cycle simultaneously. The one hour “Sessions” compiles six shelved, none-linked recordings (read: lost tapes) done between…
Release data: Ryuichi Sakamoto – async LP/CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Q-rious Music/Warner Music, 2017 The analog and synthetic “async” (conceived as a soundtrack to an imaginary Andrei Tarkovsky movie) marks Ryuichi Sakamoto’s first solo effort in about eight years, a period in which he was also diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and overcoming the disease. In that respect, the album is…
Release data: Three-Six (36) – Tomorrow’s Explorers EP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, 3Six Recordings, 2017 The four-track “Tomorrow’s Explorers”, the follow-up to 36’s 2015 Ep “Sine Dust”, again draws inspiration from the endless themes of space while giving a beautiful free form ambient voice to its overwhelming, intriguing expansiveness and splendor. This time around the enveloping, gentle morphing walls of sound of synths…
Release data: Rudy Adrian – Sequencer Rarities CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2017 “Sequencer Rarities” is a collection of six lone and special tracks composed between 2000 and 2007 that (unfortunately) never made it to any of the albums released by Groove Unlimited. Those familiar and fond of the driving rhythmic Berlin school sequencing on Rudy’s “Sequencer Sketches” album series or…
Release data: Between Interval – Legacy CD/LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2017 “Legacy”, Between Interval’s fifth chapter in something that was started with “Radio Silence” around 2003/2004, appears after almost eight years of silence. Life caught up with Swedish composer Stefan Strand, leaving him very little time to create new music and compositions for which he needs to immersive totally…
Release data: Darshan Ambient – Skyful of Bliss CD-R, Private Release, 1998 “Skyful of Bliss” is one of the early recordings by Michael Allison, aka Darshan, before he would end up on James Johnson’s Zero Music label. The release contains three long pieces and one short composition of ambient music, all made between 1996 and 1998. The almost 22-minute title…
Release data: James Johnson – The Butterfly Chamber CD, Hypnos Recordings, 2002 The actual release of “The Butterfly Chamber”, James Johnson’s second album for Mike Griffin’s Hypnos label was postponed for one year in favor of Mr. Johnson’s collaborative album “Seed” with MaJaLe. A pallet of self-generating soundscapes form the basic building blocks of “The Butterfly Chamber” to which James…
Release data: Chris Russell – Labyrinth CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2017 Meant as an audio soundtrack for circling to the center of oneself, the spacious, slow evolving, subtle shapeshifting and overtly subdued soundscapes making up each of the six freeform tracks on “Labyrinth”, Mr. Russell’s debut solo on the Spotted Peccary label, represent different twists and turns on the…
Release data: Gandalf – Visions 2001 CD, Sony Music , 2000 It was somewhere in the year 2000, Austrian sound magician and multi-instrumentalist Heinz Strobl (aka Gandalf) looked back on 20 years as a recording artist and decided to record a special album to celebrate this 20th anniversary. He imagined it to be a kind of a homage to J.R.R…
Release data: John Kerr – Embracing the Inevitable CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2016 Facing a life-threatening disease and suffering from the severe physical and mental consequences of it has been what John Kerr’s life has been all about the last few years. In its own way, “Embracing the Inevitable” celebrates the beauty of life along focusing on the positive side…
Release data: Alpha Wave Movement – Cerulean Skies CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Harmonic Resonance Recordings, 2017 From Gregory Kyryluk I learned the fundamentals and framework for “Cerulean Skies” were already laid out somewhere in the later 1990s. Most of the albums music, inspired by the beauty of the ever changing sky, was improvised using loops, minimal hardware and no computer sequencing, while…
Release data: Martin Peters – Angels of Nowhere CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited , 2016 With “Angels of Nowhere”, Dutch synthesist Martin Peters (also one half of Beyond Berlin), presents a fine and moody debut album. The nine track outcome, although inspired by and rooted firmly in the Berlin School territory, vents is own style, sounding overall mellow and emotive while…
Release data: Gandalf – Visions LP/CD, WEA, 1981 “Visions”, Gandalf’s second album, extends further on the moods of fantasy through sound introduced on his debut album “Journey to an Imaginary Land”, painting another sonic narrative inspired by Tolkien’s writings. The entirely instrumental 48-minute outcome offers dreamy and atmospheric, yet melodic compositions with a recurring musical guiding theme which sees Heinz…
Release data: Philippe Emmanuel Gueble – 9 Memories – Tracks DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2014 Besides a continuous search for sonorous beauty and a pursuit for silence in music, the outcome of “9 Memories-Tracks” (which contains two tracks with accomplished zither-player Laraaji) also looks for different perspectives and introspection in the ordinary world of life. Similar to “Fire & Remembrance”,…
Release data: James Johnson & Stephen Philips – Lost at Dunn’s Lake CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Zero Music, 2001 Created for continuous playback, “Lost at Dunn’s Lake” contains one 62-minute ambient sojourn James Johnson made with Dark Duck label-owner Stephen Philips. It’s a contemplative but also slightly mysterious flavoured aural affair blending sustained glacier bell sounds, soft piano and slow unwinding, overtly…
Release data: Javi Cánovas – Exile DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 The four-track “Exile” is a jolly nice and solid album full of spatial, multi-layered sequential electronics accompanied by vintage textures. The musics dynamic and lovely pulsating yet circular patterns along some moody textural parts sketched out here create a recurring tantalizing effect on each piece. This works out especially…
Release data: James Johnson & Robert Scott Thompson – Forgotten Places CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Zero Music, 2001 Next to his solo releases, ambient composer James Johnson also collaborated with several other musicians (such as Vir Unis and Stephen Philips) which resulted in some beautiful results. The 60-minute “Forgotten Places” is a slightly bit harder to chew, as the accompanying musician this…
Release data: Betzler & Brückner – Triplet CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2016 The 76-minute “Triplet” is a collaborative project by Tommy Betzler (drums) and Michael Brückner (synths) joined by Sammy David (e-guitar) on most tracks and Fryderyk Jona (Moog synth) on a few of them. The first three pieces, all clocking between 16 and 22 minutes, are in the same…
Release data: Johan Agebjörn & Mikael Ögren – We Never Came To The White Sea CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2017 “We Never Came to the White Sea” is a soundtrack and (the first) concept album by Johan Agebjörn and his friend/neighbour/collaborator Mikael Ögren to an unreleased (and unedited) road movie filmed in Russian Karelia, where Mr. Agebjörn’s grandfather was…
Release data: Gandalf – Tale From A Long Forgotten Kingdom LP/CD, WEA, 1984 This narrative and emotive album extends on the enchanting, fairytale-like music of its predecessors, especially his debut “Journey to an Imaginary Land” comes to mind on various passages. Moreover “Tale from a long forgotten Kingdom” focuses on calming atmospheres and sacred/dreamy moods than on creating melodies. Accomplished…
Release data: Owann – Eternal Return CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Wool-E Discs, 2016 The 76-minute “Eternal Return”, the second release in Wool-E’s series of Belgian NeuMusik, by Belgium composer Johan De Paepe (aka Owann) is a concept album inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche’s hypothesis of Eternal Return. Lush and light sequences along a subtle melodic line fill the space on the opener “Return…
Release data: Van Zyl, Gulch & Rath – The Sound Museum CD, Groove Unlimited , 2001 The classic electronic and Berlin School-based music featured on the 74-minute “The Sound Museum” hails back to the late ‘80’s when Chuck Van Zyl, Peter D. Gulch and Andrew Rath were making music as Xisle. As the latter they released a double cassette in…
Release data: Robert Schroeder – Velocity CD, Spheric Music, 2017 Although “Velocity” is a release of contemporary and general-melodic instrumental electronics, it also sees Robert wander back to several of his classic roots that marked the start of his EM-career back in 1979. Besides some catchy melodies and a few mellow sounding solos, the 64-minute “Velocity” features seven sequencer-driven and…
Release data: Various Artists – Greenosophy chapter II CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Ultimae Records, 2017 Here’s a second batch of minimal, contemporary, progressive trance and hypnotic electronics by various artists compiled by Swiss dj Mizoo aka Cyril Miserez. What starts out in a lovely tranquil, reflective and dreamy vein by OM and Claudio PRC slowly evolves in a few throbbing rhythmic pieces…
Release data: John Lyell – Planetary Artifacts CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 Although just started, the year 2017 has already seen a few space music releases. With his fourth album “Planetary Artifacts”, mastered by Robert Rich, John Lyell presents his listeners nine atmospheric soundscape pieces that dwell in freeform along sequenced and gentle pulsating cosmic territory for 53-minutes. Mystery, alienation…
Release data: James Johnson – Linger CD-R, Mp3.com/AtmoWorks, 2000 “Linger” contains the live performance of James Johnson as played at The Ambient Ping 2000. This purveyor of tranquil ambient performed some great mood music, taking the whole concept to a new, soft glowing level. The 13-minute highly atmospheric title track kicking things off contains some sounds of thunder and rain.…
Release data: James Johnson – Entering Twilight CD, Hypnos Recordings, 2000 At the time this album came out, the music of the Mike Griffin’s Hypnos label featured quite a lot of dark, abstract and sometimes even experimental-oriented releases. The sonic content of “Entering Twilight” is a completely different story as it features one 66-minute track which follows through on the…
< Release data: Hollan Holmes – Prayer to the Energy CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 In regard to the quality of his previous releases I think it most exciting when a new release from the very talented Texas-based composer Hollan Holmes hits the streets. In Hollan’s words, the double album “Prayer to the Energy” has easily been the most challenging…
Release data: James Johnson – Unity CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Zero Music, 1998/2016 “Unity” is the debut album by ambient composer James Johnson, of which the music at the time of its initial release was compared with Steve Roach’s releases “Quiet Music” and “Structures from Silence”. This certainly applies to the first track “Forward”, a beautiful exercise in tranquil, gentle lingering and…
Release data: James Johnson – Surrender CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Zero Music, 1999 With his second album “Surrender”, ambient composer James Johnson presents an even smoother sound compared to his debut “Unity”. The outcome is a nice introspective album that combines elements of Liquid Mind, Brian Eno, Jeff Pearce and kindred spirits. “Surrender” takes the listener into a quiet environment of somewhat…
Release data: Forrest Fang – Following the Ether Sun CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projektt, 2017 Besides synthesizer, violin and an assortment of hand-based percussion instruments, Chinese-American sound-sculptor Forrest Fang also plays some far lesser known and uncommon stringed instruments on “Following the Ether Sun”, once more blending a refined hybrid of Western and Eastern influences. This time around though (and contrary to…
Release data: Synestem – From Spaceports 3 DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2014 Through the years there have been several musicians, who’ve expressed their inspiration for or tried to mimic the sound, mood and feel of Jarre’s “Oxygene” and “Equinoxe”. The most amazing one until now, and a real discovery is Germany’s Synestem, aka Gerald Wirtz, who’s also an artist of…
Release data: Silentwave – Kilauea CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Hiss Noise Records, 2017 On the 31-minute dronescape “Kilauea” (the youngest and most active Hawaiian shield volcano), Yoshinori Noguchi expresses the beauty of nature in the first half while the second one reflects on the scarier side of nature. The improvised outcome starts out as an overall smooth, drifting affair of gentle evolving…
Release data: Kai Harster – Return to Nature & Other Delights LP/CD-R, Private Release, 1985/2011 The self-produced “Return to Nature & other Delights” by German composer/painter/lyricist Kai Harster (which received some critical acclaim from Hubert Bognermayer of Erdenklang fame) welcomes its listeners to a strange world of collected acoustic visions. In the distance, some of the meditative/avant-garde and rather psychedelic…
Release data: Tangerine Dream – Particles CD-EP, Eastgate, 2016 “Particles”, the third release in The Quantum Years series, contains two cupdiscs in cardboard sleeve featuring a mixture of previously unreleased studio (Muon; 52 minutes) and live material (Tau; 36 minutes). “Muon” kicks off nicely with the fully improvised and edgy sounding 29-minute “4.00pm Session” which sees Thorsten Quaeschning, Ulrich Schnauss…
Release data: Gert Emmens & Ruud Heij – Urban Decay CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2014/2016 The six tracks Gert Emmens & Ruud Heij created for “Urban Decay” were mainly based on and inspired by their well-accomplished performance at the Dutch E-live Festival in 2012 and completed in February 2013. Due to a change in their style of music (ambient atmospherics…
Release data: Jonn Serrie – The Sentinel CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, New World Music, 2017 The six deep space “paintings” making up “The Sentinel” are based on and inspired by Steven Caldwell’s (aka Stewart Cowley) Terran Trade Authority book series published between 1978 and 1980. These (as it seems) were highly influential art /sci-fi story combinations for folks interested in hardware oriented…
Release data: Lav & Purl – A State of Becoming LP/CD, A Strangely Isolated Place, 2017 Aficionados of tranquil, spacious and smooth glistening ambiences dressed with environmental/nature recordings, piano and carefully measured beats will be fond of “A State of Becoming”, a collaborative project by Lav (aka Christopher Landin) and Purl (aka Ludvig Cimbrelius). The 57-minute outcome slowly unfolds its…
Release data: Boreal Taiga – Polar Reflections DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Wayfarer Records, 2016 Here’s (finally!) a very nice opportunity for all ambient fans out there get to know Norwegian’s Boreal Taiga’s sophisticated sound art whose work is dedicated or inspired by the great white outdoors, frozen oceanic environments, (Ant)arctic natural splendor and ancient populations still living in those remote places. “Polar…
Release data: F.D. Project – Timeless II CD, Private Release, 2016 “Timeless II” (which actually has a loud sound level) saw the light of day exactly 10 years after the first album from 2006. This second chapter features a lot of sounds created back then (check “Return of O..part V”) along some infectious sequencing/drums parts and melodic lines. In addition,…
Release data: Brian Eno – Reflection CD/LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Warp Records, 2017 It’s time to submerge in some tranquil soundscapes again. Fans that enjoyed Mr Eno’s long form ambient bliss such as “Thursday Afternoon” and “Neroli” will encounter a similar aural excursion on the 54-minute “Reflection”, Brian’s 19th studio album to date. The thoughtful, patiently crafted one track composition sounds overtly…
Release data: Altus – Below the Root DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 Since I got to know the music of Altus it’s been evident for me many -if not all- of his releases feature a lovely cinematic, imaginary and deeper quality that one enjoys best with quality headphones. To achieve this properly and satisfactory it’s important to dedicate enough time…
Release data: Ashen Simian – Momentum DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Retroduction, 2016 “Momentum”, released a few days before Christmas 2016, was realized using an Ipad along modern desktop synths apart from the usual Ensoniq Fizmo and Korg O1W/fd which Ami Hassinen uses a lot in his music and those of Nemesis. Compared to his previous album “New Horizons”, the character of most…
Release data: Steve Roach – Spiral Revelation CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 2016 Since a couple of years I’ve found it very hard and too demanding to keep up with the high speed of Steve’s releases. Besides serious time constraints to investigate them properly, also the quality of some I listened to didn’t appear as solid and captivating anymore. “Spiral Revelation”…
Release data: Javi Cánovas – The Following Rain DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 Javi’s personal emotions and memories of the first rain in autumn formed the inspiration for the music of “The Following Rain”. The 70-minute outcome delivers a driving and powerful statement of spatial Berlin School sequencers which are tweaked almost constantly along psychedelic-ish soundscapes swirling around them. The…
Release data: Hecq – Night Falls CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Hymen/Ant-Zen, 2008/2016 This deep listening recording is not for the faint of heart. Nocturnal, neo-classical, semi-orchestral and dark cinematic mood music (including a passage with abstract/experimental hooks on “Dis”) is on the menu on Hecq’s fifth album “Night Falls”, a side-project by Berlin-based composer, producer and sound designer Ben Lukas Boysen. Marked…
Release data: Atmosphere Factory – Atmosphere Factory CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Dakini Records, 2016 Here’s another nice find I was pointed at by a good friend from Down Under. The contemporary electronic “Atmosphere Factory” proves another addition of sophisticated, flowing, tranquil but also quite spellbinding ambient music. Its mesmerizing yet hypnotic outcome features eight pieces of music that have been split into…
Release data: Steve Hauschildt – Strands LP/CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Kranky, 2016 With “Strands”, Cleveland-based composer Steve Hauschildt presents his listeners a fascinating analogue trip into spacey and surreal ambient landscapes without wandering in darker territory. The album is a song cycle about cosmogony and creation/destruction myths, its title alludes to the structural constitution of ropes as the artist wanted to approach…
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…
Release data: Vidna Obmana & Alio Die – Echo Passage CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Musica Maxima Magnetica, 1999 Three continuous movements (“Echoes of Light – A slip of darkness – The Passage”), are featured on “Echo Passage”, leading its listeners into minimal, imaginary, deep and introspective sound worlds. The rich, spiritual and immersive ambient journey travels through various layers in a most…
Release data: Gert Emmens – The Last Alien CD, Groove Unlimited, 2016 To record the music of “The Last Alien”, Dutch synthesist Gert Emmens challenged his skills once more, this time selecting some old pre-MIDI synths only that are (and indeed proved to be) hard and demanding to work with. He even had the opportunity to use a huge Moog…
Release data: Frank Specht – Sebastian im Traum CD, Invisible Shadows, 2000 All familiar with the popular German band Rainbow Serpent will know Frank Specht is one half of it. Mr Specht first heard “Audentity” by Klaus Schulze in 1983, which made him decided to name his first son “Sebastian” as he loved the musical story about “Sebastian im Traum”,…
Release data: Mario Konrad – Submerging CD, Musique Intemporelle, 1992 Here’s another nice release on Bernd Kistenmacher’s good old label Musique Intemporelle. Mario Konrad’s debut “Submerging” was achieved with very limited technical possibilities and an extremely low budget, which was and still is the case for many releases in the EM-genre. Basically, it came together the simple way. Mario, an…
Release data: Dave Fulton – Hard Particles CD, Eurock , 1999 Some may know US-musician David Fulton who’s one half of the veteran space music band Dweller at the Threshold. His debut album “Hard Particles” offers a nice display of his retro-ambient spaced-out style, but is not always that accessible or easy at hand. The 52-minute cohesive sound design features…
Release data: Chronos – Helios CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Altar Records, 2013 With “Helios”, Russian composer, DJ and producer Nikita Klimenko (aka Chronos) invites his listeners into the great cosmic expanse out there, implementing some nice Eastern sound samples along the way occasionally. The album starts out painting grand, cinematic, lush and bright textural atmospheres without any rhythm on the first few…
Release data: Elemental Journey – Absolute Ambient.com Volume 2 CD, Green Nuns Music, 2005 What I got here is an album by UK musicians Matt Coldrick and Matt Hillier (aka Elemental Journey) featuring atmospheric and trippy ambient chill-out. It displays quite a varied of styles, all dedicated “to reminding us of our elemental relationship with the planet”. It incorporates frantic…
Release data: Lightwave – Nachtmusik CD, Erdenklang, 1990 It’s time for something special. After some privately released cassettes, French duo Christoph Harbonnier and Christian Wittmann (aka Lightwave) made their official debut in the electronic music scene with “Nachtmusik”. The latter is a classic, still intriguing album featuring two expansive pieces comprising surreal and hallucinogenic soundscapes of 23 and 32 minutes…
Release data: Mark Shreeve – Collide CD, Champagne Lake Productions, 1996 The music of “Collide” was recorded live at EMMA Electric Festival, Derby, UK, March 12th 1994. It sees Mark Shreeve, assisted by James Goddard and Julian Shreeve, perform a fine bunch of electronic-rock on which strong melodic themes and energetic rhythms take center stage. The studio versions are unleashed…
Release data: Ascendant – Source Transmission CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2014 Some cool, contemporary and fresh downtempo electronics make up “Source Transmission”, the full-length debut of Chris Bryant and Don Tyler who both hail from California’s Bay Area. Their 73-minute, positively tuned work of art (an exploration of the edges of reality through the cosmic dream-code) merges sequencer-driven, dreamy, ethereal…
Release data: Spyra – Etherlands CD, Fax Records/Ambient World, 1999 “Etherlands”, dedicated to all pirate radio stations, is one of the well-made albums by German synthesist Wolfram Spyra. Its music merges elements of Berlin School and ambient-techno in a most sophisticated, compelling manner, logically continuing the sonic storyline where “Sferics” left us. While a bit awkward dance-techno kicks in on…
Release data: Free System Projekt – Protoavis CD, Quantum Records, 2004 On “Protoavis”, Dutch trio Marcel Engels, Frank van der Wel & Ruud Heij (aka Free System Project), take the listener back to the vintage sound featured on TD’s classics “Phaedra” and “Rubycon”. During the 75-minute cosmic ride its three expansive pieces -one live excerpt, two studio tracks- we find…
Release data: Jos D´Almeida – Aether CD, caPe Recordings, 2016 Jos d’Almeida composed the music of “Aether” with the purpose to create some meditative songs that would be able to transmit relaxation. For the album’s music, Jos envisioned and realized a complete spatial sonority while leaving space for arpeggiation and sequencers. Well, the 71-minute result offers a rich blend of…
Release data: Jacques Roman – Mélodie Boréale MC, Private Release, 1986 In 1986, Jacques Roman (co-founder and main synthesist of the French band Pulsar), released “Mélodie Boréale”, a cinematic, keyboard-based work of tranquil, harmonic-atmospheric and rather introspective-oriented music. It’s the slow evolving 17-minute title piece with its calm pads and added sounds that illustrates the album’s content best, roaming in…
Release data: Andy Pickford – Terraformer CD, Centaur Discs, 1994 In the mid ‘90’s, Andy Pickford was part of the league of talented and successful UK synthesists producing highly attractive and varied song-like, sequencer-based EM. It stood out for its (then) upfront percussion and profound dose of sequencing. Looking back on “Terraformer”, the follow-up to “Replicant”, can’t hide certain sounds…
Release data: Rick Miller – Starsong MC/CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Vital Body Marketing/Private Release, 1984 “Starsong” is a classic electronic spacemusic album by Canadian composer Rick Miller. Originally called “Limberlost” and initially only released privately on cassette, “Starsong” came about in or around 1981 to 1982 while Mr Miller was living in Toronto and was asked by his good friend Eli Bay…
Release data: Steve Roach – Shadow of Time CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 2016 The aural musings making up “Shadow of Time” mark another return to Roach’s style heard on his classic recordings “Structures from Silence” and “Quiet Music”. We’re talking about expansive and minimal sound worlds of breathing atmospherics and zen-like immersion spaces, all unfolding slowly. These most subtle and…
Release data: Scann-Tec – Facial Memories CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Celestial Dragon Records, 2010 I agree the cover coming with this release is absolutely awfull and doesn’t match with the well crafted down-tempo music featured inside. It remains the only flaw though. This debut by Russian musician Vladislav Isaev, aka Scann-Tec, was mastered by the talented Huby Sea and Aes Dana from…
Release data: Chronotope Project – Passages CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2016 With his album “Passages”, Jeffery Ericson Allen (aka Chronotope project) presents the most introspective of his six releases to date. Again, the Haken Continuum Fingerboard is featured on it prominently. The concept album deals with transitions, referring not only to recent transitions in the composers own life, but…
Release data: Solar Fields – Reflective Frequencies CD, Ultimae Records, 2001 Vibrant, fresh and contemporary electronics with an overall deep sound that inspire ones imagination is what’s on the menu on “Reflective Frequencies”, the debut album of Solar Fields (aka Magnus Birgersson) on the French Ultimae label. The continous ride of atmospheric mood-techno without much melodies merges downtempo and IDM…
Release data: Colin Rayment – Beyond the Aurora CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, SynGate, 2016 The album “Beyond the Aurora” by UK-synthesist Colin Rayment is inspired by sightings of amazing skies while travelling in the far north of Scotland during the summer of 2015. The emotive contemporary music filling the album is well constructed and layered, featuring great underlayments of thick sequencer patterns…
Release data: Mathias Grassow – The Darklight Quest CD, Gterma, 1998/2016 Mr Grassow’s “The Darklight Quest” comes with an “explicit warning” printed on the backside of the booklet “Ambient Nocturnal Expanding Thought”. This line sums up most accurately what the hypnotizing and haunting textural music (mainly based on a same-titled privately released cd-r in 1998 and for this new edition…
Release data: SiJ & Sergey Gabbasov – Perseides CD, Gterma, 2016 “Perseides” is the second ethnographical aural journey by Vladislav Sikach (aka SiJ) and Sergey Gabbasov on the Swedish Gterma label. This time around, the continuous, almost 80-minute outcome is a blend 12 tracks, all travelling on the mystery road to places far away in the Mongol region. The music…
Release data: Various Artists – Star’s End 30th anniversary (anthology cd) CD, Private Release, 2007 Fans (especially those living in the USA),loving atmospheric ambient and Berlin School inspired cosmic music may be familiar with Chuck van Zyl. The latter is producer and host of the renowned radioshow Star’s End and also organizer of the many concerts in Philadelphia’s Gatherings Concert…
Release data: Suzanne Ciani – Seven Waves LP/MC/CD, Finnadar/Victor/Seventh Wave, 1982 “Seven Waves”, expressing the composers love for and fascination with early electronic instruments along a mystically bonding to the sea, was Suzanne Ciani’s first commercial album. Not only took the record two years to produce, it also demanded a long journey to find a record label to release it.…
Release data: Peter Miller – The Violet Flame CD, Archon Music, 1993 Peter Miller is an Australian sound designer, musician and digital image artist whose sonic artistry at first reminded me of the abstract ambient paintings by Andrew Thomas Wilson occasionally. Then again, Peter’s third album “The Violet Flame” fits in its own league of cinematic/orchestral electronic music, featuring surreal…
Release data: Kurtz Mindfields – The Dreaming Void LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Nuage 7 Production, 2016 The 41-minute “The Dreaming Void” by Kurtz Mindfields (aka French synthesist Jean-Luc Briançon) is meant as homage to early Berlin School EM. The outcome sees him play music on a vast and impressive range of vintage gear such as the first ARP 2500, various Moog Modular…
Release data: Mindglide – Tangent DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Altera Orbe, 2010/2013 Rafael De Julián’s “Tangent” is an electronic space album with a slight Berlin School edge, the latter applying to the use of some sequencing. The 36-minute “Vast Dominion” kicks things off with lush but rather bare atmospherics, after nine minutes followed by some sequencers. It can be me, but I…
Release data: Detlef Keller – The Breakfast Event CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Manikin Records, 2016 This album contains the continuous 46-minute live set (and one of his rare solo concerts) performed by German synthesist Detlef Keller at the Schallwende EM-Breakfast in December 2015. I’m not familiar with Keller’s solo music, but it immediately struck how much more melodic, emotive and joyful this…
Release data: Michael Meara – Timeworn DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Aural Films, 2016 When it comes to deep inner journeying, the somber and dark textural ponderings featured on Mr Meara’s dark ambient album “Timeworn” are just that. The two 20-minute explorations, created with processed guitar and synths, are slow morphing and slightly foreboding, drifting inward and descending into deep crevasses where daylight…
Release data: Pollard/Daniel/Booth – Volume 7 DIGITAL DOWNLOAD/CD-R, English Electronic Music Company, 2016 This disc features two lengthy pieces: a studio take from March 2009 and the last concert Pollard/Daniel/Booth played at UK’s Awakenings festival in September 2010. The 24-minute “Red Gryphon Dream State” starts out with psychedelic soundscaping followed by some lovely vintage sequencing surfacing around 8 minutes which…
Release data: Tim Story – Glass Green LP/CD/MC, Windham Hill Records, 1987 Painter of introspective sonic miniatures is a description that fits well to American composer Tim Story. The mood and feel of “Glass Green”, presenting a lovely interplay of piano ands warm synths, is a fine companion for quiet, reflective and thoughtful times featuring ten instrumental musings displaying rays…
Release data: Richard Bone – Aera USB-DRIVE/DIGITAL DOWNLOA, Quirkwork Laboratories, 2016 Electronica/ambient collectors out may be pleased to learn US-synthesist Richard Bone has released “Aera”, a 2-hour collection of 25 rare and obscure tracks released on an engraved rosewood USB drive limited to just 25 copies along a download-version. The work contains Mr Bone’s ambient work (“This Serene Life”), rather…
Release data: Purl – Evighet DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Eternell, 2016 “Evighet” is an Ep by Purl, aka Swedish composer and producer Ludvig Cimbrelius. The four atmospheric, minimalist-ambient dub/techno tracks feature warm, fluid, light-melodic soundscapes set in motion by deep but calming beats, while a slight groovy feel slumbers occasionally under them. Soundshaping and dynamics are in harmony in these unhurried sonic…
Release data: Sine Amplitude – Hypnotized CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, BI-ZA Records, 2016 Sine Amplitude hails from Germany and is made up by Torsten M. Abel, aka TMA (synthesizer, sequencer and programming), Andreas Aulke (drums, cajon and percussion) and Martin Rohleder (acoustic- and electronic guitars, keyboards). Their album “Hypnotized” present 73 minutes of fresh melodic-instrumental music that connects the sound of classic…
Release data: Altus – The Sun Will Rise Tomorrow (Singles Collection Vol. 3) DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 With this almost 80-minute compilation, Mike Carss comprises six tracks written between 2011 and 2015 that were contributions to various netlabel compilations along three unreleased tracks. Opener “Such Fleeting Advancement” (Stoic Mix) kicks off with a much stronger, sequenced/rhythmic sound contrary his…
Release data: Jos D’Almeida – Awaken CD, caPe Recordings, 2014 Jos d’Almeida is a musician hailing from Setúbal, Portugal, who studied at the Regional Music Conservatory in the same town. d’Almeida has always been driven to music for electronic environments and created themes for live shows and advertising. During 2010 and 2013, Jos created his debut “Awaken”, of which the…
Release data: The Gateless Gate – Oceans are moving from the Arctic to the south reflecting the light DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 Allister Thompson’s “Oceans are moving…” is a 65-minute atmospheric and serene ambient journey with tasty use of field recordings. It kicks off with the beautiful 18-minute title track with most pleasant early Tangerine Dream/Pink Floyd influences and…
Release data: Andrew Lahiff – Suspended Twilight DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2008 The entrance to this album (“Unexplained Stillness”) is a very dense, most mysterious and clouded affair, fortunately shifting to gentle sparkling, spacious and more accessible textures after that. The recording offers a selection of tranquil meditations and slow evolving nocturnal soundscapes, wandering into melancholic lands occasionally. Of all…
Release data: Shaded Explorer – Empatia CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Silent Season, 2016 Like in every subgenre of music, there are lots of mediocre recordings floating around. When it comes to electronic ambient-dub, Italian composer Emanuele Pertoldi (aka Shaded Explorer) is one of those positive exceptions. His second album “Empatia” recounts a personal vision of empathy with people and nature who still…
Release data: Kurtz Mindfields – Journey Through the Analog Adventure CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Nuage 7 Production, 2015 Kurtz Mindfields is a vintage synth project by Lyon-based synthesist Jean-Luc Briançon who started out as a jazz player initially. Nowadays he works for three records companies (Cristal Records, Warner, Feverdog Music) and owns a very large and versatile range of analogue hardware synths.…
Release data: Stephen Bacchus – The Keep CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Deep Tracks/Oasis Productions, 2010 The 79-minute “The Keep” is a three decade retrospective featuring tracks by Canadian artist Stephen Bacchus, aka Grant Mackay. According the liner notes it compiles the best unreleased material of Bacchus’ career from 1979-2009, complimented by one new track (“Gratitude”) which is actually from a music soundtrack…
Release data: Scann-Tec – Unyt CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Ultimae Records, 2016 Scann-Tec, aka Russian music composer and sound sculptor Vladislav Isaev, is one of the artists who found a spot on various Ultimae compilations through the years. This time around he offers a full-length recording (his third album) on the same label, a cinematic downtempo soundscape aesthetic with a deep, detailed…
Release data: Radiant Mind – Sense CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, The Periphery/Timeroom Digital, 2012 The title “Sense” is most appropriate to this debut release by US artist Radiant Mind, which no other than Steve Roach helped nurture into being with skilled production and sonic contributions. Radiant Mind’s emotive ambient draws from space music and textures, offering long unfolding drifts and slow suspensions…
Release data: Deutsche Wertarbeit – Deutsche Wertarbeit LP/CD, Sky Records/Bureau B, 1981 When we talk about German electronic Krautrock, one shouldn’t overlook the instrumental, hypnotic/rhythmic synth music of Deutsche Wertarbeit. This solo-project by Dorothea Raukes, who’s better known as leading member of the band Streetmark, was one of the few female characters within the German progressive rock scene. The same-titled…
Release data: Bruno Sanfilippo – The New Kingdom CD, AD21 Music, 1995 “The New Kingdom” is the second album by Bruno Sanfilippo. It’s a medieval/classical work of art that next to synthesizers also features guest musicians on flutes, vocal treatments and violin. Stylistically, the release shows the composer’s preference for classical themes. The cinematic outcome resembles classic Gandalf, Richard Burmer,…
Release data: Andre Alvarez – Picture Music CD, Private Release, 1996 What I got here is another very nice recording full of classic ’70’s cosmic music that synthesist Andre Alvarez created as follow-up to his cassette “Luna”. In eight “Pictures”, Mr Alvarez has succeeded blending the sound of vintage Schulze and TD along evocative atmospheres of Jarre (“Pictures 3”) when…
Release data: Jim Ottaway – Invisible Vortex CD, Private Release, 2015 Energetic-rhythmic synth music is what’s on the menu on Jim Ottaway’s “Invisible Vortex”, revealing the other musical side of this synthesist from Down Under. It’s an album full of song-based, up-beat and sometimes even dancy compositions revealing a commercial and contemporary sound. The album offers totally different stuff compared…
Release data: Sequentia Legenda – Amira CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2015 Sequentia Legenda (aka Laurent Schieber), hereby presents another Berlin School oriented work with lots of emotional currents and sensitivities at its core. “Amira” (a tribute to the composer’s future wife) is featured in a short and a long version. It’s painting a slow evolving, shapeshifting, elevating and rather complex…
Release data: Sabled Sun – 2145 CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Cryo Chamber, 2012 Sabled Sun is a dark, post-apocalyptic and futuristic ambient endavour by Swedish composer Simon Heath (aka Atrium Carceri) started in 2012. The highly cinematic and expansive ambient-drone project features a profound narrative: it sketches out the story of a lonely hero’s quest for life after a long period of…
Release data: Jaja – Stellaris CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Cyan Music, 2016 With “Stellaris”, German synthesist Jana Rockstroh presents her first double album, once more featuring imaginary space music that (like all predecessors) was recorded live-in-the-moment. Next to the subtle female touch she brings to her textural ambient, Jana takes her listeners into most tranquil and enchanting cosmic environs with three long…
Release data: Alpha Lyra – Between Cloud and Sky CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, PWM Distribution, 2016 With his album “Between Cloud and Sky”, French synthesist Christian Piednoir (aka Alpha Lyra) delivers a 60-minute album full of light, warm and heavenly-dreamy soundscapes along a few sequences. In the distance, the gentle outcome with symphonic characteristics, repetive structures and celestial vocal pads reveals influences…
Release data: Purl & Sinius – Oceans of Sound LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, AM4 Productions/Eternell, 2016 The cinematic aural world with deep attention to detail investigated on “Oceans of Sound” (conceived in 2012, completed in 2013 and released in 2016) is one of serenity, gentleness, drifting beauty and blissful magic. The aforementioned is paired with a slice of mellow dub/techno on opener…
Release data: Various Artists – Musique Intemporel – Bernd Kistenmacher, Mario Schönwälder, Rolf Trostel LP/CD, Timeless Sounds/Titan, 1988 It’s time for another trip down memory lane. We’re back in the year 1988 when Bernd Kistenmacher made the decision to release this compilation on his private Timeless Sounds label (a name he would change into Musique Intemporel one year later) with…
Release data: Steve Roach – This Place to be DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Timeroom Editions, 2016 The Bandcamp-exclusive “This Place to be” is a 72-minute longform set of atmospheres in the same spirit as “Invisible” or “Bloodmoon Rising”. It’s offered on a name-your-price basis while simultaneously trying to raise appetite for two purely atmospheric releases scheduled for August 19, 2016 (“Shadow of…
Release data: John Kerr & Ron Boots – Juxtaposition CD, Groove Unlimited, 2015 “Juxtaposition” is the long-awaited follow-up to the duos most successful release “Offshore Islands”, a landmark made 25 years earlier. The highly accessible, neo-classical/symphonic and occasional even romantic flavours from back then are key-references on the new 79-minute album, which kicks off with the 30-minute title piece. Here…
Release data: Filter-Kaffee – 100 CD-EP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Manikin Records, 2016 From the start of the 45-minute “100”, which compiles tracks from 2009-2016, it is clear Frank Rothe and Mario Schönwälder stick to their trade mark of contemporary and overall moody electronics with hindsight on some retro-stuff made in the mid ’70’s. T his time around, the result is an atmospheric…
Release data: Enya – Amarantine CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Warner Music, 2005 Enya’s album “Amarantine” took five years in the making. Although I only know her first two albums, her typical musical signature hasn’t changed when you hear the first sounds of this record. There still are the lush and overall warm symphonic chords, bell sounds and piano, accompanied by Enya’s serene…
Release data: Lee Anthony Norris & Porya Hatami – The Longing Daylight CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Carpe Sonum Records, 2014 If you (like myself) love expansive and deep ambient plus have a preference to immerse into the very heart of soundworlds using headphones, “The Longing Daylight” by Lee Anthony Norris and Porya Hatami will prove a most enjoyable and satisfactory listen. The…
Release data: Hemisphere – Beyond the Darkness CD, Cue Records NL, 1996 Most of Hemisphere’s recordings have a strong cinematic impact, and “Beyond the Darkness” by the combo Ralph Knappe-Heinbockel and Thorsten Reinhardt is no exception. Although kicking off with a rhythmic piece with some progrock guitar, the music descends into deeper atmospheres of synthetic spaces soon thereafter. It’s a…
Release data: Radio Massacre International – Knutsford in May CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Centaur Records, 1997 “Knutsford in May” captures a concert of Goddard, Dinsdale and Houghton live on stage, the one they did in May 1996 at Jodrell Bank Space Research Centre in Cheshire, UK. The usual retro-TD aural suspects (vintage synths, prog e-guitar) are shown-off, but somehow the five improvised…
Release data: Radio Massacre International – Republic CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Centaur Records, 1996 The UK-trio that caused a blast with their debut “Frozen North” hereby presents another winner, lining up very nicely next to to TD’s “Phaedra”, “Ricochet” and “Encore”. In three expansive pieces, Duncan Goddard, Steve Dinsdale and Gary Houghton guide you through a vibrant electronic landscape featuring lots of…
Release data: Vauxia Errante – Primigenia DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Altera Orbe, 2013 The 75-minute “Primigenia” is a highly-atmospheric piece of dark ambient art. It’s a continuous ride tapping deep in the primordial soup, in that respect connecting with Mr Errante’s “La Création du Monde” EP. The intense spacious drone-textures unfolding and evolving slowly before the listeners ears evoke a profound subterranean…
Release data: Vauxia Errante – La Création du Monde DIGITAL DOWNLOAD EP, Altera Orbe, 2013 The 22-minute “La Création du Monde”, mastered by Ran Kirlian, is the third instalment in the Woomh EP series which involves Altera Orbe artists. The concept reminds of the Amplexus mini-album cd series, offering sonic explorations in deep ambient. The long form piece is a…
Release data: S1gns of L1fe – Branches in the Sky CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Arecibo Records, 2013 The emotive music of “Branches in the Sky” is a five track EP (40 minutes in length) picking up the sonic trail where the debut “Language of the Ancient” left us. Once again, Chris Bryant takes his listeners on a subconscious journey using melodic textures,…
Release data: J. Arif Verner – From a Distant Horizon CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2005 The imaginative ambient magic of John Arif Verner has proved to be most satisfying on his previous albums “A Vision beyond Light” and “Through the Timeless”, which applies also to his third release “From a Distant Horizon”. The overtly mellow and quiet outcome is…
Release data: Kebu – Perplexagon CD/LP, Secret Entertainment, 2016 It’s quite easy to understand why the music of Sebastian Teir (aka Kebu) is so popular and appreciated by many. His music is highly accessible, melodic and sequencer/up-beat, bearing hints of Jarre (“Equinoxe”/”Rendez-Vous”), Schiller along a dose of contemporary dance/trance music. Especially the latter plays an important role on his second…
Release data: ASC – Time Heals All CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Silent Season , 2013 What I got here is a double album by San Diego-based composer James Clements, aka ASC, with absorbing ambient soundscapes where time seems to dissolve. I’m confident you’re going to embrace this transcendental mind-music if you have a preference for the freeform, deep and expansive textural works…
Release data: Perge – Aural Coefficients witin a Fractal Plane (The Secret Tapes Volume 1) CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 This time around, the duo Getty and Stringer (aka Perge) has focussed the almost 80 minute outcome on the sound and impact of TD’s classic album “Rubicon”, playing pleasant variations on the Teutonic sequencing, vintage pads and lots of mellow…
Release data: Alpha Wave Movement – Kinetic CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Harmonic Resonance Recordings, 2016 Contrary to his previous soundscape and ambient efforts, AWM’s “Kinetic” sees a switch toward melodic, happy sequencing and more uptempo electronic excursions drawing on classic EM sound tools and composition. The catchy title piece kicking off the album heads into the direction of ’80’s Tangerine Dream among…
Release data: J. Arif Verner – A Vision beyond Light CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 1996 Multi-instrumentalist, J. (John) Arif Verner, one of the many accomplished musicians within the Spotted Peccary stall, published his debut album “Clear Colors” in 1988. His “A Vision beyond Light” blends acoustic and electronic music with MIDI guitar synthesis, a rather unusual and specialized form…
Release data: Robert Rich – What we left behind CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Soundscape Productions, 2016 “What We Left Behind” is concept album labeled as a dreamy travelogue across the Earth long after we humans are extinct. At he same time, the Robert Rich coined it as a celebration of life’s resilience and a meditation on the consequences of human’s heavy footsteps.…
Release data: Vanderson – Vandisphere CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spheric Music, 2016 Vanderson belongs to the league of musicians delivering attractive and accessible electronic music. The outcome of “Vandisphere” (awful title by the way) is no exception, this time though sounding more easy-going, contemporary and groovier than before. Deep bass grooves, sax and vocal samples fly are present on the biggest part…
Release data: Electronic Sound Project (ESP)- The Chernobyl Disaster DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 This 45-minute concept recording commemorates the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster that took place in 1986, its global impact and the many victims of the devastating incident. Dutch recreational music composer and graphic designer Marc van Oers, aka Electronic Sound Project (ESP), has constructed a nearly continuous narrative…
Release data: The Gateless Gate – Sibir CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Offshoot/Psychonavigation , 2014 Here’s another album by the Canadian duo Allister Thompson and Teri-Lynn Janveau commited to cold weather environments, this time on the wild land- and seascapes of Siberia. While the cover art of the 60-minute “Sibir” strongly resembles those of the Glacial Movements label and its sonic content also…
Release data: Syn – The Glass Bridge DIGITAL DOWNLOAD/CD-R, Private Release/SynGate, 2001/2013 Syn’s album “The Glass Bridge” contains three long cosmic pieces from 2001, all featuring those lovely and captivating sounds that are characteristic for and so much appreciated from the classic Berlin School style and classic Vangelis. Next to some fine sequences on the title piece, Scottish composer David…
Release data: J. Arif Verner – Through the Timeless CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2000 “Through the Timeless” is the second album from this American ambient-composer turning out even better than his much acclaimed “A Vision beyond Light” also published by Spotted Peccary. Arif composed and produced all the music himself, but asked some help from fellow-musicians on a few…
Release data: Graham Getty & Stephan Whitlan – Even Higher Green Session CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Retrochet Records , 2016 This 71-minute follow-up to the duos “Higher Green Session”, created on the fly during various sessions on December 30, 2015, still takes its inspiration from the classic Berlin School sound. This time around, spicy sequencer patterns though are a far less important…
Release data: Steve Roach & Robert Logan – Second Nature CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 2016 “Second Nature”, a work of processed grand piano and synth textures, was released simultaneously with the duo’s “BioSonic”. Sonically, it’s a totally different story though as the four tracks feature calming, ethereal ambient travelling into introspective, melancholic and mysterious territory. Lots of reverb and subtle…
Release data: Steve Roach & Robert Logan – Biosonic CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 2016 “BioSonic” puts a new branch onto the long list of collaborations Steve Roach did in his long career, this time meeting up with UK-musician Robert Logan. I learned the hi-tech music has been in the works for a couple of years, first through online collaboration and…
Release data: Jim Ottaway – Southern Cross CD, Private Release, 2016 Jim Ottaway is a composer, producer and studio performer residing at the Gold Coast hinterland of Queensland, Australia who has have released 23 independent albums in his homeland. The concept album “Southern Cross”, his ninth international release, is a work containing six lengthy compositions of cosmic ambient music made…
Release data: Serge Devadder – Cambrian CD, Private Release, 2014 Spacious ambient textures, loops, minimalist patterns, subtle sequencing and some treated guitar are the elements making up “Cambrian”, the first full-length album by Belgium sound artist Serge Devadder, who now resides in Germany. The opening piece with its positive, soft sparkling atmosphere immediately made me think of Erik Wollo, a…
Release data: Hakobune – Tonight is Why CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Psychonavigation, 2013 One single 39-track is the content of “Tonight is why”, and aural drone work by Japanese artist Takahiro Yorifuji, aka Hakobune. Only applying an e-guitar and various effect pedals, Habokune’s dreamy tapestry of textures is a sombre and gentle resonating space where things rise, fall and evolve gradually and…
Release data: Jeffrey Koepper – Terrelektra CD, Air Space Records, 2016 Accomplished US-synthesist Jeffrey Koepper, also known as Analogue Jeff, recalls “Terrelektra” was conceived as a far away planet of sound where the tracks all merge together like an electronic atmospheric journey through this world. In the process of creating the music for the 70-minute recording with analogue gear only…
Release data: Graham Getty – EMP3 CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Retrochet Records, 2009 “EMP 3” is an electronic sketchbook which sees UK synthesist Graham Getty playing around and learning the ins and outs of an acquired P3 sequencer. The 60-minute outcome presented on the six lengthy pieces is for those who have a knack for minimalist analogue sequencing paired with steady beats…
Release data: MoonSatellite – Whispers of the Moon CD-R, PWM Distribution, 2015 The reinterpretation and spirit of classic electronic music, especially those with a vintage Jarre-angle, is in good hands at French composer Marc Perbal, aka MoonSatellite. Although I thought “Low Life” less strong compared to his other works, the outcome on “Whispers of the Moon” is prove he’s back…
Release data: Rhea – Rhea@Cosmic Nights ft. Alien Voices CD-R, Rhea Music, 2014 “Rhea@CosmicNights ft. Alien Voices” comprises four lengthy live sets performed at the Cosmic Nights in 2013 & 2014. It sees Mark de Wit continue his exploration of cosmic environs through ambient and the quiet side of Berlin School-spiced sequencer music. The album kicks off with the 38-minute…
Release data: VoLt – A Day without Yesterday CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2016 The title of this album is an alternative name for the cosmic The Big Bang, while the actual track titles describe aspects of the event, especially when wondering whether there is a Black Hole at the other side of a Big Bang. Both are reflected in the…
Release data: Vanderson – Anything can happen CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, SynGate, 2010 I can be brief about the set of cosmic music featured on “Anything can happen”, as the nine tracks are another example of Vanderson’s style where melodic contemporary electronics blend nicely with spiced and sequenced Berlin School ingredients. These are accompanied by up-tempo beats, some soloing and additional textural…
Release data: Transceive – Exit to Nowhere CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Alles Klar Productions, 2016 As far as I know, the previous Transceive-recording happened in 2011 when Steve Nelson released the digital ep “The Circe Complex”, of which the title track would be part of the soon to be released full-length “The Long Path to Nowhere” (which title now is the captivating…
Release data: Kloob – Solid Foundations CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Relaxed Machinery, 2016 Making ambient soundscape music is one thing, but giving it captivating impact and emotional depth is another matter. Kloob, an ambient project founded in 2010 by Spanish composer Daniel Ferreira, is prove things can work out nicely and satisfying when the right ingredients amalgamate and are layered properly while…
Release data: Michael Stearns – The Soft Touch of Morning Light DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Earth Turtle Music, 2015 While being absorbed in many movie and documentary projects around the globe in the last couple of the years, sound artist Michael Stearns has found time to go through his large library of shelved and unpublished music. One of the rediscoveries is “The…
Release data: Dan Pound – Shadows of the Heart CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, PoundSounds, 2016 “Shadows of the Heart” is a recording of serene, nocturnal and overall dreamy textural ambiences derived from acoustic and electric sources to which composer Dan Pound applied techniques of repeated chord progression motifs. At first, the 7-track/55-minute outcome of drifting and introspective soundwaves seem to head toward…
Release data: Stratosphere – Rise CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Reecords, 2016 I must confess I was rather reluctant to check out this album as I knew Ronald Mariën was very into heavy, harsher sounding distorted guitar drone music and abstract sound design since a couple of years. Fortunately, “Rise” features seven thick layered textural pieces addressing ethereal, melancholic, shadowy and dreamlike…
Release data: E-Musikgruppe Lux Ohr – Tonwald MC/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Sea State, 2016 With this album, Finnish quartet E-Gruppe Lux Ohr started to document live performances of their Kosmische Musik inspired work. “Tonwald”, a C-90 tape which has the same content on both sides along a code for the digital download, contains the 45 -minute one-off live performance played at the…
Release data: Three-Six (36) – Pulse Dive EP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, 3Six Records, 2015 The ambient work of Dennis Huddleston has always been intriguing to my ears, which again proves to be the case for his EP “Pulse Dive”. The title track kicks things off rather energetically in a TD-like “Love on a real train” style, though less melodic. A closer listen…
Release data: Csillagköd – All the Time CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2016 “All the Time” sees a further extension and refinement of the nicely shaped cosmic and amorphous worlds explored on the Csillagköd-debut “Silent World”. To my ears, the spacious ambient soundscapes and drone tapestries making up each of the ten tracks (some were taken from EP’s released on…
Release data: Global Communication – Pentamerous Metamorphosis LP/CD, Dedicated, 1994 At the start of the ’90’s, UK creative minds and producers Tom Middelton en Mark Pritchard was offered the opportunity to remix Chapterhouse’s shoegazer album “Blood Music”. The chill-out result became their debut “Pentamerous Metamorphosis”, a great combo of warm textures, string tapestries and sampling techniques paired with captivating rhythms,…
Release data: Harald Grosskopf – Synthesist LP/CD, Sky Records, 1980 “Synthesist”, the debut by German composer Harald Grosskopf, is one of those cult releases from the golden synth era. It’s an accessible, melodic outing of early synth-pop songs with Mr Grosskopf’s steady drumming and a most pleasant airy, lush feel along an occasional mellow touch. Catchy, positive opener “So Weit,…
Release data: Aes Dana (feat. Miktek) – Far & Off CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Ultimae Records, 2016 This album contains all tracks of the three previously released EP’s “Cut”, “Alkaline” and “The Unexpected Hours”. It started to take shape after a long period of detachment and isolation as a natural answer to nowadays hectic, overkill of information and stimuli surrounding French composer…
Release data: Laudanum – Laudanum (full album) CD, DataBloem, 2016 My wish for an extended version of Amir Baghiri’s & Rüdiger Gleisberg’s EP that saw the light of day in 2001 has finally come true. The original, quiet-atmospheric 21-minute recording of sacred minimalism has been expanded to an almost 77-minute aural work with more dynamics. It’s full of secret gothic…
Release data: Matthew Florianz – Wasteland Signals DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 “Wasteland Signals” is a nine-track/low-volume ambient environment soundscape that addresses introspective spaces and is a perfect for headphone listening. The overall lush and gliding outcome, in development since 2012, takes the listener to a far-off place and inner core where organic along ethereal elements float around to expansive…
Release data: Heavenly Music Corporation – Consciousness III CD, Silent Records, 1994 Let’s journey back to the mid ‘90’s and the techno-ish/chill-out made then. On “Conciousness III”, composer Kim Cascone has found a way to blend chill-out with trance and electronics without sounding obtrusive. The albums mellow/circular and lush-minimalist sound design paired with vocal samples and steady beats and rhythms…
Release data: Rapoon – Song from the end of the World CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Glacial Movements, 2016 Environmental and lifethreatening issues have been the inspiration for several electronic music releases, such as “Annihilation on Earth” (Holle Mangler), “Atomkraft, nein danke!”(Earth Star), “To Another Horizon” (Gandalf) and “Ecotone (Altus) just to name some. The aural world of chilling and glacial ambient sketched…
Release data: David Parsons – Puja CD, Gterma, 2016 “Puja” (started by the composer with nothing particular in mind) is David Parsons’ first album using software synths only, as he decided purchasing a fine collection of soft-synths in years previously eventually making his studio now reside in a Mac Mini. The depth and versatility of a lot of current software…
Release data: Common Ground – Common Ground CD, FlowSpace Music, 2015 Common Ground is a new project founded in spring 2013 after Gary Johnson and Bill Olien (aka Resonant Drift) approached electronic space music synthesist Hollan Holmes to collaborate. From there they spend nearly a year and a half putting together two dozen or so musical song concepts. This proved…
Release data: Frédéric Wurtz – Sequence Time MC, Private Release, 1990 Fans of sequencer-driven, highly TD-influenced electronic music from the late ‘70’s and mid ‘80’s should be pleased with Frédéric Wurtz’s album “Sequence Time”. Better known as AEM – Antike Elektronische Musik in later years, Mr Wurtz has compiled 10 vibrant and melodic instrumentals made between 1987 and 1990 that…
Release data: Various Artists – Sounds of a Universe Overheard CD, Hypnos Recordings , 2007 The music released on the Hypnos label isn’t the usual cup of ambient, as it most often features rather abstract, psychedelic and experimental-angled works not that easy at hand. Their compilations though are nice opportunities to get a bigger scope on what’s happening in the…
Release data: Peter Challoner – Livescapes_3 Sono Luminarium CD-R, Ambient Sound Projects, 2015 The 60-minute composition making up “Livescapes_3 Sono Luminarium” is a commissioned piece for the “Arboria” Luminarium by the architects of air, Nottingham, May 2015. The outcome is a most calming, slowly transforming and evolving string of freeform ambient spheres and pastel aural colors all addressing the ethereal…
Release data: Mike Griffin & Dave Fulton – The Most Distant Point Known CD, Hypnos Recordings, 2000 The 66-minute “The Most Distant Point Known” is an analogue/digital frenzy composed by Mike Griffin (founder of the Hypnos label and member of Viridian Sun) and Dave Fulton (member of Dweller Of The Threshold). The transcendence into the immensity of the cosmic deep…
Release data: Hemisphere – Intruders CD, Cue Records NL, 1995 The first impressions of the cd artwork and the sonic content of “Intruders” are rather dark but not uninviting. The 70-minute instrumental journey features narrative compositions that address gothic flavoured spheres occasionally along three more symphonic/melodic- pieces made in collaboration with Christina Fester. Despite the various darker lands and corners…
Release data: The Ministry of Inside Things – Everlasting Moment CD, Synkronos Music, 2003 This album is my first encounter with The Ministry of Inside Things, aka Chuck van Zyl (synths) and Art Cohen (guitars), although I’m familiar with Chuck’s solo-work. Well, this double cd offers music which is rooted in the vintage music of the early ’70, offering electronic…
Release data: Syn – Remnants CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2015 The music on “Remnants”, a compilation of session recordings David T. Dewdney made between the albums “Aqueous” and “Valles Marineris”, is a pleasant trip down memory lane and a worthy dedication to TD’s atmospheric “Phaedra” plus all who love sequences, mellotron flutes and retro textures. The four tracks (all made…
Release data: The Ministry of Inside Things – Contact Point CD, Synkronos Music, 2006 On “Contact Point”, synthesist Chuck van Zyl and guitarist Art Cohen, aka The Ministry of Inside Things, have come closer to cosmic-themed music. Still relying on live-improvisation, the seven tracks aren’t always that easy at hand. “Serenity Cove” makes a nice entrance, but that doesn’t apply…
Release data: Von Hallgath – Intersection CD-R EP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2013 German composers Jörg Erren and Jochen Schöttler founded von Hallgath in Spring 2013 as a side project next to Erren-Fleissig-Schöttler-Steffen for their live and improvised music. The 37-minute “Intersection” features five compositions of well-tempered analogue electronics made with a fine collection of modular racks with only a few…
Release data: Michael Meara – Zymal DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Aural Films, 2015 The three tracks featured on “Zymal” are long-form psychedelic guitar drone exercises inspired by Pluto’s moon system meant for low level playback on headphones. The atmospheres addressed here are dark, foreboding and dense, sketching an abstract-minimal aural landscape throughout. Desolation and cold radiate from the slow morphing textures, making…
Release data: Schiller – Tal des Himmels CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Universal, 2016 While he stayed at Sky Valley, California, German musician Schiller composed an additional album for the Ultra-Deluxe-Edition of “Future”, which is inspired by and dedicated to the power of nature. “Tal des Himmels” is a fully instrumental electronic music release presented in seven parts sounding completely different from the…
Release data: Zanov – Open Worlds CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Zanov Music, 2016 It is not unusual to put an idea or project on hold with the intent of returning, but when the gap is a three decades long musical hiatus there is no set formula on how to restart the musical journey. For Zanov, the bridging link came in the form…
Release data: Audiometria – Cave Session CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 The idea for this recording came from a cave in Miguel’s house where a comfortable space for approximately 60 people was created along a stage built of a wall of speakers that had been collected over the years. Javi Cánovas and Miguel Justo simply started playing on the fly,…
Release data: Steve Roach – Emotions Revealed CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt, 2016 The music on “Emotions Revealed” is actually “lost” music from the early ‘80s, made just prior to “Structures from Silence”. During that period, Mr Roach was still finding his way, composing both European-oriented melodic/sequencer music with melody along quiet/atmospheric works. The first style applies to the almost 25-minute title…
Release data: Matthew Florianz –Nocturne – Soundtrack for science briefings DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2014 “Nocturne” is the first in a series of specials on science’s unsolved mysteries for which the composer remixed and re-sequenced the music from documentary soundtrack. Opening piece “Why does Time Pass?” proves weary, a bit harsh and abstract to my ears as it evolves. It’s…
Release data: Bouvetøya – Interstellarphonic CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, SynGate, 2014 From Ireland hails another aural vehicle inspired by vintage ‘70’s electronic music. Bouvetøya is the brainchild of one Michael Jones who says he creates his art live in the studio, working with both analogue and digital equipment but applying no VST or any samples. “Interstellarphonic” offers a 60-minute cosmic journey presented…
Release data: Andre Alvarez – Luna MC, Private Release, 1995 Music created in the moment using no computer, sequencer, tapes nor any form of Midi technology. All this applies to the debut album “Luna” of German composer Andre Alvarez, who passed away in July 2008. What you get is a vibrant and melodic album full of classic electronic music and…
Release data: Suzanne Ciani – The Velocity of Love LP/MC/CD, RCA/Private Music/Seventh Wave, 1986 Created during the formative years of adult contemporary instrumental music, Ciani’s second release “The Velocity Of Love” is a example of gentle melodic and classical arrangements among new age flavors, all paired with a feminine approach. Like the outcome on her debut, Suzanne considered the compositions…
Release data: John Sobocan – A Soft Circle CD, DataBloem, 2012 When talking about secluded, Eno-esque ambient soundscapes, John Sobocan’s “A Soft Circle” fits that description very well. The quiet and gently blended textural musings encountered on all 12 tracks by this Toronto-based composer (who also goes by the the moniker Bubble) enter an overall minimal and contemplative underworld while…
Release data: Jaja – Sparkles CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Cyan Music, 2016 Jana Rockstroh’s 46-minute “Sparkles” sees a continuation of quiet and sensitive soundscapes inspired by the cosmos. The trail of mystery and wonder as well as the huge distances encountered in these environs all find a voice in the ten gently unfolding, drone-based compositions that also address certain contemplativeness occasionally. “Sparkles”…