Release data: Todd Fletcher – Star CD, Arya, 1996 A lot of quality stuff can be found in the genre of ambient soundscape music next to loads of mediocre and amateurish work. This 1996 release by Arizona-based composer Todd Fletcher is one of the few from his catalogue that made it to a factory-pressed cd. Although “Star”, a fine aural…
Release data: Todd Fletcher – Byzantium CD/CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 1994/2002 “Byzantium” was originally put out as a real cd, and saw a re-release as the fourth cd-r album on the Mr Fletchers own Microrelease label (which appears defunct now). “Byzantium” is a 69-minute instrumental album clearly reflecting the composers growing fascination with Middle Eastern music. Singular sound atmospheres, samples…
Release data: Soundician – Wise Trees DIGITAL DOWNLOAD EP, Private Release, 2015 Since the beginning of 2000, the UK-duo Soundician writes and produces their own style of electronic music, a perculiar as eclectic mix of electronic minimalism and experimental/classical alongside a touch of ambient/space and lush melodic EM. According to the liner notes, the EP “Wise Trees” is a sonic…
Release data: Lambert – Drachenreise CD, Spheric Music, 2015 When you’re a fan of general-melodic, highly accessible synth music, Lambert’s newbie “Drachenreise” (his first new album after almost 20 years) will most surely be of your liking. The composer considers his music an outlet to express his personal life and feelings, an inner flight within two worlds: the one on…
Release data: Alpha Wave Movement – System A CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Harmonic Resonance Recordings, 2015 The beauty, mystery, grandness and awe of the solar system have been an inspiration for many albums by Gregory Kyryluk’s project Alpha Wave Movement, founded in 1992. “System A”, influenced by enigmatic cosmology, adds another fine chapter to the journey in these ever fascinating environs. The…
Release data: Bruno Sanfilippo – Inside Life CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Ad21 Music, 2015 “Inside Life” is a contemporary classical work of art built upon piano and strings, which see Bruno Sanfilippo continue his quest through the quiet sonic landscape of minimalist piano and electro-acoustic music. Piano, cello, treatments and voice (on two tracks) form the heart of the 44-minute recording, a…
Release data: Jamacaru – Nebelland DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2014 I became aware of this album through the site of Johannes Schmoelling, which mentioned German visual artist Peter Uhlig (known for the pictures on the cover of Johannes “Instant City”) had released his debut album of electronic music using the moniker JamaCaru (named after a type of cactus). In the…
Release data: Audiometria – Somewhere CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2014 Audiometría is the synth-duo Javi Cánovas and Miguel Justo. Both musicians already know each other since the mid ‘80s, but it took until spring 2014 before they founded Audiometria eventually. The project incorporates the philosophy and spirit of the Berlin School and was created with the aim to fill a…
Release data: Alio Die & Parallel Worlds – Elusive Metaphor CD, Hic Sunt Leones, 2015 Compared to the duos previous recording “Circo Divino”, the listener will run into a much more ambient-oriented outcome on “Elusive Metaphor”. Then again, the sonic outcome of their previous effort wasn’t really matching my taste, proving quite a challenge to listen to and find appreciation…
Release data: Johan Agebjörn – Notes LP/CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Paper Bag Records, 2015 Those who know the previous music of Johan Agebjörn (Swedish songwriter and producer of Sally Shapiro) will hear a different sound on “Notes”. The almost drumless 47-minute album, that heavily features the Casio MT-52 electric piano along other sounds, opens with the joyful and melodic “The Right to…
Release data: Dave Bessell – Black Horses Of The Sun CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, DiN, 2015 The title of Mr Bessell’s second album comes from a Navaho myth about the sun: each day the sun rides across the sky on a horse, on a clear sunny day the horse would be blue, on a cloudy day white, and on a stormy day…
Release data: Erren – Fleissig – Schöttler – Steffen – Ouddorp Tapes CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2011 This debut release of the German quartet started the journey of alchemy where good old Berlin School style was executed and graced with new, unusual sonic splendor. The 79-minute outcome happened in November 2010 when Jorg Erren, Bert Fleissig, Jochen Schöttler and Christian…
Release data: Phillip Wilkerson – Wondrous Encounters CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2014 “Wondrous Encounters” invites you to an imminent world of gentle sonic streams offering a collection of space music, atmospheres, and soundscapes suitable for stargazing, cosmic sightseeing or cloud watching. Imagine calm, freeform and overtly drifting textures, swelling smoothly and carrying on to occasional elevating effect. This is what…
Release data: Robert Rich – Filaments CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Soundscape Productions, 2015 “Filaments” is an album roaming in the same league as Robert’s sonic endeavors “Electric Ladder” or “Geometry”, where he explores some of the cyclic interlocking patterns he always has been intrigued about since. The 60-minute ambient effort seems an attempt to get closer to some of the language of…
Release data: Arcane – Revenants DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2014 Cinematic and progressive retro-power is just one of the thoughts that crossed my mind when I sat down and had a focused listen to the sonic narrative “Revenants”, Mr Lawler’s last album for the year 2014. Not sure if the album’s music is inspired by the same-titled French and US…
Release data: Node – Node 2 CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, DiN, 2014 It’s been a very long wait, but what a joy it is to finally see a new release by the legendary vintage collective Node since its debut in 1995. “Node 2” is the culmination of two recording sessions of Ed Buller, Flood (aka Mark Ellis), Dave Bessell and new member…
Release data: Steve Roach – Invisible CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2015 Released on Bandcamp the first day of 2015, “Invisible” is Steve’s New Year’s gift and gesture to his loyal fanbase. Created in the last week of 2014 during a few cold and rain infused days, Mr Roach came up with a continuous 58-minute longform piece. The latter is a…
Release data: Javi Cánovas – Eunomia DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2015 Canary Islands based synthesist Javi Cánovas kicks off 2015 with a work of sonic art showing resemblances of his 2009 release “In this moment, in this place”. Four long tracks, culminating in 70-minutes of accessible and contemporary e-music, open with atmospheric intros, later replaced by dynamic, multi-layered sequencer patterns,…
Release data: Ron Boots – Standing in the Rain CD, Groove Unlimited, 2014 From the beginning, movies, tv series and books have always been an important source of inspiration for the music of Ron Boots. Just check out “Bookworks” or “The X-Files”-series, while almost all other solo albums contain a few cinematic tracks of their own. “Standing in the Rain”…
Release data: Polaris – Way Out CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Ricochet Dream, 2014 The 55-minute album “Way Out” contains tracks which aka Polaris (aka Polish synthesist Jakub Kmieć) recorded between 2009 and 2013. The energetic, in-your-face “Entrance” already makes a great kick-off with its massive bass line and slight ’80’s TD-flavor. The groovy-oriented feel continues on the next, always bright and transparent…
Release data: Ian Boddy – Slide CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, DiN, 2008 The electronic music found on the upbeat, abstract-oriented “Slide” is pure and definitely of analogue origin, featuring the usual gear-suspects like the massive Roland 100-M and Doepfler A-100 systems. One should not be put off by the ghostly spheres of the experimental opening piece “The Probability of Doubt”, as what…
Release data: Spyra – Staub CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Butterfly Collectors, 2014 With his 16th album “Staub”, Wolfram Spyra presents the electronic community a different yet daring sonic experiment. What initially started out as something organized, logical and back-to-basics ended up more and more chaotic, deranged and unpredictable as the project evolved. There’s no sign of compromise on anything on the 50-minute…
Release data: Deborah Martin – Under the Moon CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 1995 Deborah Martin is one of the talents within the Spotted Peccary community who would create an atmospheric ambient world of her own in later years. Previous to this debut-album, which further expresses her ongoing passion to visualize and create music that takes each listener on a…
Release data: Alpha Wave Movement – The Edge of Infinity CD, Groove Unlimited, 1997 Thoughtful yet subtle ambient with a distinct mysterious angle would be a appropriate description in a nutshell for the music making up “The Edge of Infinity”, the second album by Gregory Kyryluk, aka Alpha Wave Movement. Compared to his debut “Transcendence”, the music has matured a…
Release data: Llyn Y Cwn – III: Ka DIGITAL DOWNLOAD EP, Manky Music, 2015 Since I ran into the environmental ambient by Welsh composer Ben Powell (aka Llyn Y Cwn), I’ve become quite fascinated by the in-depth outcome he delivers each time. The aim of the Llyn Y Cwn-project is to try and emulate the type of environment encountered at…
Release data: Spacecraft – Hummel CD, Lektronik Soundscapes, 1998 On “Hummel”, Tony Gerber, Diane Timmons and John Rose (aka Spacecraft) persue their journey through the fantastic and the cosmic, clinging to improvised, unstructured space music with psychedelic, rough edges. The 70-minute recording is the outcome of a live performance at the Hummel Planetarium at Eastern Kentucky University, USA, firmly addressing…
Release data: Simon Slator – The Lake DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2014 “The Lake” is the first brand new release by UK composer Simon Slator (who some might know as Cold Sun) after an 8-year break.The digital-only ambient release contains three tracks dealing with solitude/isolation from two different points of view, yet addressing an ultimately positive view upon it. The…
Release data: Radio Massacre International – Frozen North CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Centaur Records, 1995 “Frozen North” is the (still) amazing debut official album by synthesists Duncan Goddard, Steve Dinsdale and guitarist Gary Houghton aka Radio Massacre International (RMI), who were at the forfront of the EM retro-revival in the ’90’s together with Airsculpture and Node. The band’s name and music both…
Release data: Brian Eno – The Shutov Assembly CD, Opal Records, 1992 Dedicated to Russian artist Sergei Shutov and his fine art installations, the outcome on this album hails back to Eno’s thoughtful ambient explorations from the mid ’70’s. On “The Shutov Assembly”, a lush and elusive charm is key in each of the ten slightly experimental flavoured and quite…
Release data: Darshan Ambient – Songs from the Deep Field CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2014 Inspired by one of the most famous images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, “Songs From The Deep Field” ranges from pure space to kinetic free fall – from weightless drift to rhythmic power, and the result is a heavenly blend of ambient synth…
Release data: Altus – The Time Collection CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2015 With “The Time Collection”, Mike Carss (aka Canadian composer Altus) has delivered another monumental ambient work with narrative soundscape music travelling far into distant lands, the heavens and beyond. The two-disc release (part I: “Ghost of Time”, part II: “Time Forgotten”) is an arc of grand, lush, highly…
Release data: Hemisphere – Early Reflection 1980 – 1990 CD, Cue Records, 1997 This album of previously unreleased material came out in a period a lot of retrospective recordings by others saw the light of day. Still, I find it most interesting to dig into the sonic origins of a musician, in this case the first steps by Ralf-Knappe Heinbockel…
Release data: Gert Emmens – Outland CD, Groove Unlimited, 2014 An assortment of typical Emmens-sounds makes up the sound pallet of “Outland”, an album which excels especially when it comes to sequencing. Although there are some melodic passages present on the 78-minute sonic narrative, the accessible outcome is far less song-structured while it contains lots of interesting, fresh details. Moreover,…
Release data: Andy Pickford & Paul Nagle – S.T.D.M. – Ramayana CD, Neu Harmony , 2002 UK’s Jodrell Bank Planetarium has been a venue where quite some electronic music live concerts have taken place in the last few decades. It’s also the spot where the music of “Ramayana” was played live in concert in May 2002 by Andy Pickford &…
Release data: Ian Boddy – Continuum CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Something Else Records , 1996 “Ian Boddy goes ambient” could have been an appropriate subtitle for this album, which contains a selection of a continuous 7-hour improvised ambient performance at the Comic Art Festival, Newcastle in June 1996. The long string of quiet and slow evolving spherics on the 140-minute recording gives…
Release data: Dedast – Banished From The Realm DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Cosmicleaf Records, 2013 “Banished From The Realm” is a relaxed trip into emotive ambient music, revealing a range of minimalist and neo-classical elements along cinematic farscapes.The contemporary, overtly transparent sound design constructed by Vasilis Miamis (aka Dedast) also features some hints of down-tempo, while the piano notes add a sense…
Release data: Tangerine Dream – Josephine the Mouse Singer CD-EP, Eastgate, 2014 I’m not a follower of the big names anymore since 1,5 decade or so, but now and then try to scratch the surface on a few releases here and there to keep an eye on what’s happening. The 33-minute cupdisc “Josephine the Mouse Singer” is a limited edition…
Release data: Jaja – Endless DIGITAL DOWNLOAD EP, CYAN Music, 2014 Jaja is Germany female synthesist Jana Rockstroh, who plays, arranges and records all her inspired ambient space music live in the moment. The outcome always consists of emotive sound worlds with deep currents and stream, with the peaceful result making up “Endless” adding a nice and moody addition to…
Release data: Radiant Mind – Strands CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Steve Roach.com, 2014 Radiant Mind is an American synthesist who chooses to work in anonymity with Steve Roach as his sole producer and interface to the world. Over time, Steve encourages him and helps with the creative process. Once he has a collection of pieces he trusts Steve to take the raw…
Release data: Phillip Wilkerson & Chris Russell – Vague Traces CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2014 Harmonic and multi-dimensional music roaming gently through vaporous, tranquil spheres is an apt description for this album by synthesists Chris Russell and Phillip Wilkerson. The free form textural outcome on “Vague Traces” is a kind of stress-relief but non-meditative music addressing the intimate and…
Release data: Dweller at the Threshold – Full Boundary Condition CD, Quantum Records, 2004 All who missed out on the original DATT’s albums “No Boundary Condition” (1996) and “Generation-Transmission-Illumination” (1998) can simply catch up by buying the 3-cd set “Full Boundary Condition”. Next to the already mentioned albums (but now presented in full glory as 24-bit remasters) comes a third…
Release data: Ambientium – Life DIGITAL DOWNLOAD EP, Private Release/Kahvi Collective, 2013 “Life” is an Ep by the Lubomir and Lucie Cyrk, aka Ambientium, offering nicely chilled and atmospheric music complementing their predecessor “Fractal Philosophy”, although turning out less ambient. To a certain degree, a comparison with the sophisticated down-tempo released by the French Ultimae label again comes to mind,…
Release data: Rene de Bakker – Rene de Bakker CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2012 Rene is a previous member of the band AKS and currently one half of the Dutch EM retro project Beyond Berlin. It won’t be a surprise his 78-minute debut contains Berlin School inspired instrumental EM, featuring lush pads and textures along slow-paced, nicely interlocking sequencer lines.…
Release data: Michael Daniel – Henglers Circus CD, English Electronic Music Company, 2014 What I got here is a firm piece of energetic progressive rock solely made and played by Michael Daniel, one of the members of the EM-retro project Pollard-Daniel-Booth. The 58-minute “Henglers Circus” -presented as a mini gatefold album- is a vibrant melting pot of music featuring many…
Release data: Mark Isham – Tibet LP/CD, Windham Hill, 1989 “Tibet” belongs to those albums that I have overlooked at the time it was initially released, and also never tracked down in the decades thereafter. It’s a majestic 48-minute soundtrack in five parts for the Windham Hill video of the same name, which provides a look at the place that’s…
Release data: Carola Kassner – Planetary Voyage CD, Orion Productions, 1994 “Planetary Voyage (a voyage through the solar system – and beyond)” is a 66-minute live recording by German visual artist and composer Carola Kassner at Zeiss Planetarium Berlin in December 1994. Although sounding quite a bit compressed and not too bright, the 18-track solar voyage pairs a distinct New…
Release data: Dweller at the Threshold – Generation – Transmission – Illumination CD, Eurock , 1998 On their debut album “No Boundary Condition”, Dweller at the Threshold (DATT) already proved they could expand very nicely on the classic analogue music made in Germany’s ‘70’s by TD, Schulze and the likes, carefully avoiding the trap of being a copy-cat. “Generation-Transmission-Illumination” shifts…
Release data: BySenses – Frigments-Fragments CD, Private Release, 2014 “Frigments-Fragments” is the full-length debut by Belgium synthesist Didier DeWachtere, aka BySenses, whom I also know due to his longtime passion for EM. The 77-minute recording is a solid effort, showing a lot of guts, presenting a sensitive mix of evocative ambient and contemporary, occasional sequencer-driven EM. The latter is already…
Release data: Csillagköd – Silent World CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2014 Csillagköd, Hungarian for Nebula, is an ambient-space project started by Olivér Dombi in 2011 with the aim to transfer his profound interest in the philosophical side of time, space and the cosmos into soundscape music. On “Silent World”, we hear slow morphing and broadening drone-based textures roaming through…
Release data: Berlin Heritage – Phoenix DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2014 Berlin Heritage is Berlin-based musician Robert Sigmuntowski, who some may know from his 2012 cd-release “Land of the Rising Sun”. The download only album “Phoenix” features three long tracks of which the still Berlin School-flavored music came about after lots of travels by train between Hannover and Berlin, eventually…
Release data: Chris Russell & Eyes Cast Down – Memory Palace CD-R, Void Music/Kalindi Music, 2014 The origins for “Memory Palace” go back to Christmas 2010, when Greg Moorcroft (aka Eyes Cast Down) approached Chris Russell with the idea of starting a groove-based collaboration. Greg would take are of the rhythmic side of things while Mr Russell would be in…
Release data: Dilate – Octagon CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Hypnotic Records, 1997 Dilate’s fine space/ambient effort “Cyclos” already made quite an impression on me, so what a surprise to learn Victor Wulf was able to raise the quality bar even higher with the follow-up “Octagon”. The spacious and meticulously mastered/produced yet entrancing soundtrack to the mind pairs ambient blissfulness with repetitive synth-chord…
Release data: Steve Roach & Jorge Reyes – The Ancestor Circle CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 2014 Here’s a shamanic recording from the vaults using material recorded before Reyes’ death in 2009, sonically hailing back to the times of Suspended Memories, the tribal trio Roach/Reyes/Saiz and the organic period of Mr Roach. “The Ancestor Circle”, also the first recording from Roach…
Release data: Synaesthesia – Embody CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Cleopatra Records/Zoth Ommog, 1995 “Embody” is the debut-album of the Canadian project Synaesthesia (aka Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber) introducing ethno-rhythmic-driven ambient featuring lots of (world music) samples and weird klangspielerei, all executed and molded into an almost 60-minute eclectic form. The duo’s darker-shaded sci-fi/cinematic electronics contain groovy bass notes and occasional dance-like…
Release data: Rainbow Serpent – The 8th Nerve CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Manikin Records, 2005 For “The 8th Nerve”, Frank Specht and Gerd Wienekamp (aka Rainbow Serpent) have created a very fine sonic alchemy of exiting contemporary electronics, featuring a great pulse and drive in its core. The almost 79-minute versatile recording stands out due to beautiful emotive atmospheres, sophisticated effects, samples,…
Release data: Front Line Assembly – Airmech CD, Metropolis Records, 2012 What I got here is the fully instrumental soundtrack to the real-time strategy videogame “Airmech” created by Bill Leeb (Skinny Puppy, Noise Unit, Delerium, Synaesthesia), assisted by a bunch of trusted musicians. The outcome is solid, contemporary, cool and stark electronic music with a darker edge. Think in-your-face electro-industrial…
Release data: Dilate – Cyclos CD, Cleopatra Records, 1996 Dilate is an ambient project by musician and sound explorer Victor Wulf, who previously collaborated in the experimental/industrial project Vampire Rodents. His 77-minute debut “Cyclos” (quite a rare find these days) tells a different story though, as it immerses the listener in a vast and deep spacious realm. Drawn from his…
Release data: Asura – Radio Universe CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Ultimae Records, 2014 According to Ultimae’s press release, the 78-minute “Radio Universe” is as a musical odyssey that presents a renewed vision of the seventies space music legacy. I agree to that, as the ambient project by French composer Charles Farewell (aka Asura) tells a narrative story while taking the listener into…
Release data: Skoulaman – Dreaming of the Future reflecting the Past CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2014 The aftermath of leaving the Dutch Berliner School-trio AKS was a very hard and frustrating period for Hans “Skoulaman” van Kroonenburg. Most importantly, he had to make up his mind how to continue while not losing faith in what he was capable of and…
Release data: Lamp – Scales of Fortune CD, Groove Unlimited, 2014 Both Michael Shipway and his musical partner Garth Jones were quite amazed by the many positive and enthusiastic responses on their Lamp-debut “The Three Towers”, so it was just a matter of time before a follow-up would materialize. The outcome became “Scales of Fortune (Tales from Bernodine – Volume…