Release data: Michael Stearns – Chronos CD, Sonic Atmospheres, 1985 The original soundtrack recording “Chronos”, a predecessor to the Imax-movie “Baraka”, is a classic space music album by Michael Stearns for which he once again used the (Mighty) Serge analogue modular synthesizer. The album features 40 minutes of highly and in-depth atmospheric music aptly accompanying the mind-blowing journey through time…
Release data: Loren Nerell – Slow Dream CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 2012 As some may know, the music of Los Angeles-based composer Loren Nerell always had firm roots in the music from Indonesia, especially when it concerns sounds that were from a gong’s perspective (in that culture, a gong is regarded a thinking spirit). The deep, dense and cinematic ambient…
Release data: Odyssey – Music for Subway (Symphony for Analogues) CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Generator.Pl, 2012 The last couple of years have seen a large amount of recordings that are referring to or highly inspired by vintage electronic music and their classics. Odyssey’s double-album “Music for Subway” is another one that can be added to that range of releases. According to the…
Release data: Solar Ocean – Enter Serenity CD, Gterma, 2011 Solar Ocean is an ambient drone project by a 19-year old Russian musician called Eugene, residing beyond the Urals. The 37-minute mini-album “Enter Serenity” ties emotion, drone textures and a sense of comfort together in four uninterrupted parts. It offers the listener a highly minimal and slowly evolving soundscape journey…
Release data: Phobos – Live on Earth (Live at Awakenings) CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2012 This is my first encounter with the music of Phobos, aka UK-composer David Thompson. He previously had been creating music using his own name in the general melodic sequencer-based style in the ‘90’s. After 2000 he took a break from making music, but decided to…
Release data: Steve Roach & Dirk Serries – Low Volume Music CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt, 2012 This year, it’s about 10 years ago Steve Roach and vidnaObmana did their last collaborative work. With “Low Volume Music”, Dirk Serries returns to re-energize their fine collaborative efforts, but by going with his own name instead. What we got here is almost an hour…
Release data: Bruno Sanfilippo – Urbs CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Hypnos Recordings, 2012 On “Urbs”, Bruno Sanfilippo introduces the listener in the amazing world of city soundscapes and its vast array of noises. Bruno tried to merge this mysterious alchemy from a punctual approach, discrete in elements and discourses. “Urbs” offers a spacious, mysterious and above all hypnotizing sonic ride through the…
Release data: Michael Meara – Contemplation 1: Void in Form DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2011 As one can imagine with such a title, this is an album of overall quiet and calming soundscape musings. It’s also the first in an ongoing series of subliminal drift pieces by Australian ambient musician Michael Meara. “Contemplation 1: Void in Form” contains one 51-minute…
Release data: Vanderson – Synthetic Breath CD, Generator.Pl, 2012 Already with the first track “A Tribute to Tangerine Dream”, Polish synthesist Maciej Wierzchowski (aka Vanderson) once more shows who has been and will remain the core inspiration for his music since several years: in exactly six minutes he comes up with some catching sequencing along vintage pads and solo voices…
Release data: Rigel Centaurus – Area of Habitat DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, United Studios Corp., 2012 What we got here is deep space music from Russia. “Area of Habitat” is the debut album by Andrey Hlybov, aka Rigel Centaurus, who has been doing this kind of music since five years or so. The floating and highly spacious sounding “Area of Habitat” reflects…
Release data: Sleepresearch_Facility – Stealth CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Cold Spring, 2012 “Stealth”, a project commissioned for Cold Spring-label, is the long overdue project by UK sound sculpture Kevin Doherty, aka SleepResearch_Facility. It’s another deep ambient journey committed to the exploration of sound, this time inspired by one of the most mysterious aircraft of the twentieth-century. The outcome is basically a hack/remix…
Release data: Somnarium – The Fourth Presence DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Dark Winter, 2009 Somnarium’s 50-minute “The Fourth Presence”, inspired by the works of Dante and Lustmord, takes its listeners on an otherworldly trip into dense and darker spaces. The outcome are six free form pieces of headphone music with slow evolving, textural landscapes linked by processed guitar experimentations, featuring the occasional…
Release data: Emmanuel Tuts-Schiemsky – Muze in de Storm CD-R, Private Release, 1998 The almost 51-minute “Muze in de Storm” is alchemy of tribal-organic music, mostly driven by cyclic rhythms and shakers. Electronics are almost absent here, and have been replaced by flutes, bells, soaring monk chants, Tibetan bowls and spacious environmental sounds. These ingredients all end up in an…
Release data: MoonSatellite – Earth Gravity CD-R, Private Release, 2010 Fans of spherical and unhurried electronic music will be delighted to listen to “Earth Gravity”, another fine work by Marc Perbal, aka MoonSatellite. The album subtitle is Sequencer Prelude, and marks the first album in MoonSatellite’s Sequencer Trilogy. Although the echo of Mr Jarre’s ’70’s music is vaguely noticeable on…
Release data: Pyramid Peak – Evolution CD, Private Release, 2007 With the studio-album “Evolution”, the German trio Andreas Morsch, Axel Stupplich, Uwe Denzer (aka Pyramid Peak) has composed another fine melodic and Berliner School inspired release. The distinct style of Tangerine Dreams “Underwater Twilight” and “Tyger” is running smoothly through the five lenghty and spatial sounding tracks. Proof of that…
Release data: Undara – Traveller CD, Gterma, 2012 Undara (the name is derived from a track by Steve Roach & David Hudson that refers to the lava tubes of Undara, Australia) is a Portugese organic-ambient project founded in 2008 by J. A. (Wolfskin, Karnnos), and A. Coelho (Sektor 304, Sparagmos, Profan). Both musicians meant it as a way of exploring…
Release data: Urenga – Seafloor DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Entropy Records, 2011 “Seafloor” is an ambient work of art by Hungarian composer Andras Kiss, aka Urenga. The project draws inspiration from nature and projects an aural sensation of a living, breathing world somewhere in the borderlands between dub techno and ambient. The Ep “Seafloor” contains two lengthy tracks of 15 and 14…
Release data: Geodesium – Music from Space Park 360 CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Loch Ness Productions, 2010 With “Music from Spacepark 360”, Mr Geodesium (aka US-synthesist Mark C. Petersen) invites his listeners to a quite different sonic ride than the stuff usually found on his space music releases. The 32-minute (!) release is more dynamic, up-tempo and features more spiced-up instrumental tracks,…
Release data: Nattefrost & Matzumi – From Distant Times CD, Groove Unlimited, 2012 “From Distant Times” is the first full-length album by Nattefrost (aka Danish synthesist Bjørn Jeppesen) and Matzumi (aka German composer Kathrin Manz), realized between September 2010 and February 2012. Starting out in a symphonic manner on the first track, the music already shifts to an accessible type…
Release data: Pjusk – Tele CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Glacial Movements Records, 2012 Pjusk is a deep ambient project by Rune Sagevik and Jostein Dahl Gjelsvik, both residing on the Norwegian west coast. The music of “Tele” (which is also Norwegian for frozen underground water) is inspired by the hard, enduring and harsh weather conditions found in Norway, its vast arctic wilderness…
Release data: Dead Beat Project – R’Evolution CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, AD Music, 2011 “R’Evolution” is a soundtrack to a visionary instrumental opera and musical play to elevate your consciousness. The creator of this surprising and multi-faced electro-acoustic foray is Dead Beat Project, aka French composer, sound-designer and multi-instrumentalist Olivier Goyet. Its music mixes fascinating sounds and structures merging elements from ethnic/world…
Release data: Peter Challoner – Optimum CD-R, Private Release, 2011 With “Optimum”, UK synthesist Peter Challoner presents a 75-minute ambient ride revealing a progressive, more dynamic style compared to his previous works. It starts out in a contemplative manner on the first two pieces, featuring a marriage of piano, environmental sounds and gliding textural pads. It’s smooth, slow evolving and…
Release data: Havdis – Clouds into Sea DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Mixgalaxy records, 2011 “Clouds into Sea” is the debut album by Norwegian composer Odd Jensen, aka Havdis. Mr Jensen, an ordinary fisherman in daily life, started dabbling with some new and wonderful creating/recording technology about 10-12 years ago, but only found the courage and guts taking his sonic creations online only…
Release data: Seren Ffordd & Oöphoi – The Martian Chronicles CD, Hypnos Recordings, 2011 “The Martian Chronicles” is a 74-minute longform album inspired by Ray Bradbury’s short science fiction story by the same name. It is the first collaborative album between Oöphoi (aka Italian drone expert Gianluigi Gasparetti) and Welch soundscape composer Seren Ffordd (aka Andy Benford). What we got…
Release data: Parikrama – The Silent Bōn CD, GTerma, 2011 Parikrama can be translated as “the path surrounding a holy place”. It’s a collaborative project by German composers Seetyca (who has been doing experimental music since 1992) and his regular sound technician Artin Mucht, who have dedicated the album’s outcome to the highly spiritual works of David Parsons. Previous to…
Release data: René Splinter – Singularities CD, Groove Unlimited, 2012 On his previous albums, Dutchman René Splinter already proved he has a lot of talent to offer. So it came to no surprise, for me at least, that this release is now put out as a factory-pressed release by Groove Unlimited. Oncemore, René doesn’t hide his core inspiration in his…
Release data: EternalKeys – EternalKeys 2 DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2011 EternalKeys is a one-man project by Mimmo D’Ippolito, residing in Brindisi, Italy. The 40-minute “EternalKeys 2” contains a mixed and unbalanced bag of instrumental music, ranging from simple but effective piano work (heard at the start of the album), but soon hitting the Goth-Rock oriented and soundtrack-oriented avenue. The…
Release data: AirSculpture – Burn CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2008 “Burn” is a vibrant and atmospheric live album by the energetic trio AirSculpture, aka John Christian, Adrian Beasley and Peter Ruczynski. The outcome was recorded at the UK’s second Hampshire Jam festival, held in November 2002, where the three musicians played a glowingly set of highly improvised music as some…
Release data: Robert Schroeder – TimeWaves CD, Racket Records/daMusic, 1986 “TimesWaves”, Robert’s eight release, is considered a worthy album within the Schroeder discography by many. It leads the German musician in a contemporary instrumental style in which new digital technology and the digital sound of the ’80’s play an import part. First released on Direct Metal Mastering vinyl only, the…
Release data: Kebu – To Jupiter and Back CD, Private Release, 2012 “To Jupiter and Back” is the debut album by Finnish musician Sebastian “Kebu” Teir. As a matter of fact, it made quite a surprising and succesful entrance at E-Day 2012, where the nicely designed, factory-pressed cd was offered for only 10 euro. Fully executed on analogue equipment and…
Release data: Caul – Let the Stars Assume the Whole of Night CD, Hypnos Recordings, 2012 Kansas City-based composer Caul, aka Brett Smith, is a purveyor of dark, cinematic ambient music. Some may know him from the 2004 collaborative effort “Inside the Hollow Realm” with Numina. “Let the Stars Assume the Whole of Night” contains 12 structured and composed ambient…
Release data: Ron Boots & MorPheuSz – From the forgotten rooms of a lonely house CD, Groove Unlimited, 2011 “From the forgotten rooms of a lonely house” is a limited edition album of only 400 copies, offered as a free gift to visitors of the concerts held on December 30, 2011 and January 8th, 2012. The first three tracks on…
Release data: Gandalf – Gallery Of Dreams • plus live! CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, BSC/Prudence, 2012 “Gallery Of Dreams • plus live!” is the anniversary edition of the classic album by Austrian multi-instrumentalist Heinz Strobl, aka Gandalf, that first came out in 1992. For this special occasion, the release has been expanded to a 3-disc set. The first disc contains the original…
Release data: Solar Fields – Random Friday CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Ultimae Records, 2012 AWith “Random Friday”, Mr Solar Fields Magnus Birgersson brings us an energetic album with music that continues where his 2007-release “[Earthshine]” left us. Although it opens atmospheric and lush with “Light Control”, the heavy beats and deep downtempo bass lines present themselves as soon the second (title) track…
Release data: Shane Morris & Mystified – Epoch CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2012 From the liner notes on the cd, I learned the four-part “Epoch” is the first installment of a trilogy entitled “Inspired Evolution”. The latter is a concept-triptych about prehistoric time and evolution. To create the four lenghty tracks making up “Epoch”, Shane Morris and Mystified (aka…
Release data: Mon0 – Monolog DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2011 The journey into vast and sombre textural landscapes continues on Mon0’s album “Monolog”. This time, Mon0 (aka German composer Andre Zufall) has created an even deeper chill-out/dubtech release: repetitive bass beats, spatial dronescapes, sequencer parts and an assortment of minimal structures and shapes lead the listener into dark, hypnotizing shades…
Release data: Craig Padilla – The Heart of the Soul CD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2012 “The Heart of the Soul”, created during a series of major life-changing events, marks the return of American synthesist Craig Padilla into the world of contemporary electronic music after a four year hiatus. The outcome is an intense, detailed and emotional effort celebrating the great…
Release data: Awenson – Saphonic CD, Dreaming/Musea Records, 2007/2012 “Saphonic” (released in 2007 as a privately released cd-r under the Awen-moniker) is the second album of Awenson, aka French composer Joël Bernard. It now sees a proper re-release as factory-pressed cd with new cover art, and has been aptly overhauled sonically. The album takes off with the 22-minute longform “Le…
Release data: Daren Keck – Quiet Hillside CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Wayfarer Records, 2012 “Quiet Hillside” is the second studio release by Oregon-based ambient composer Daren Keck. The music of the 51-minute album, created while being in retreat, is meant to convey the high and lows of solitude and a state of peace. As such, it is an intimate work of art…
Release data: VoLt – Circuits CD, Groove Unlimited, 2012 After a long wait of about four years, VoLt (aka Michael Shipway and Steve Smith) finally released its sixth album “Circuits” in April 2012. One might ask what caused the delay, as their previous albums followed rather swiftly after each other. Well, the duo basically started work on the structure and…
Release data: Richard Burmer – On the Third Extreme CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, American Gramaphone, 1988 This album is another example of Richard Burmer’s visual mood music. There are some great pieces “On the Third Extreme”, such as the spine-shivering opener “Magellan”, the euphoric/medieval atmosphere created by the symphonic “Celebration in the Four Towers” or the simply beauty of the heart-felt “Turning…
Release data: Richard Burmer – Mosaic CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, American Gramaphone, 1984 “Mosaic” is the debut release by American synth-wizard Richard Burmer, who sadly passed away in September 2006. Considered a sparkling New Age release in his homeland, the almost 48-minute musical travelogue counts 11 varied tracks which sees a keen synthesis of melodic electronics with world music elements, sophisticated percussion…
Release data: Richard Burmer – Bhakti Point CD, Groove Unlimited, 2009 Richard Burmer’s second album “Bhakti Point” contains eight compositions offering a fascinating musical journey to imaginary worlds. Next to vibrant and symphonic landscapes, Richard also excels in composing more melodic, structured tracks along more intimate, feel-good soundscapes, all telling their own story. My personal and all-time highlights on this…
Release data: Bill Vermette – Galaxies IV CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Horizon Music, 2012 “Galaxies IV” is a double album of cosmic and at times sequenced electronics by Chicago-based synthesist Bil Vermette. Bil has been playing electronic music for 30 years or so and has released four cds, a vinyl recording and a couple of cassettes previous to this one. As a…
Release data: Vanderson – Earth Moving CD-R, SynGate, 2009 “Earth Moving” is a live album by Polish synthesist Maciej Wierzchowski, aka Vanderson. The cd contains two lengthy pieces of 25 and 23 minutes, recorded in August and September 2008 respectively. Maciej’s music is an attractive blend of long solos and rhythmic / sequenced Berliner School, with several breaks tying things…
Release data: Robert Schroeder – Computer Voice CD, DA Music, 1994 The music on Mr Schroeder’s “Computer Voice” is a good example of still fresh sounding contemporary electronic music blending themes of space and earth into a lush and transparent formula while also implementing bits of experiment. Most of the album’s spacious and technological sounding music, that’s actually a concised…
Release data: Beehive Plains – Tape CD, Ad Inexplora/Xenophone International, 2012 The Swedish electro-experimental band Beehive Plains is a side project initiated by Twice a Man-member Karl Gasleben, who is joined by Peter Davidson and Olle Niklassen. The musical journey “Tape”, a unique sounding fusion of electronic and acoustic instruments, found its starting point by means of a found cassette…
Release data: Geodesium – Stella Novus CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Loch Ness Productions, 2011 “Stella Novus”, the tenth release by Geodesium (aka Mark C. Petersen), is an album filled with beautifully rendered cosmic music. Following in the footsteps of planetarium show music Geodesium is best known for, the interstellar music unfolds in a spacious, graceful, dreamy and unhurried fashion. Warm textural tapestries…
Release data: Raygun Ballet – World That Wasn´t CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2012 Raygun Ballet is the persona of Los Angeles based creative director John-Mark Austin, whose name some may remember from Immersion Theory’s excellent space album release “The Icarus Foray”. Its music though is a different story: it focusses on downtempo and IDM, and if you’re familiar with the…
Release data: Lamp – The Three Towers CD, Groove Unlimited, 2012 Lamp is a collaboration of Michael Shipway (also known as one half of VoLt) with guitarist/friend Garth Jones. Michael and Garth are actually former work colleagues and after a number of studio and live sessions together, they agreed that the combination of Garth’s melodic guitar with Michael’s synthesizer soundscapes…
Release data: Javi Cánovas –Transfiguration DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2012 The music on Javi Cánovas’ 2012-release “Transfiguration” sees a return to the comfortable realm of the classic Berliner School style. The spatial (sometimes even restless and smoothly pumping) sequencing on the five extensive tracks is in optima forma as are the various synth pads, solo lines and mellotron textures kicking…
Release data: Alio Die – Deconsecrated and Pure CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt, 2012 “Deconsecrated and Pure” by Alio Die (aka Italian ambient-acoustic composer Stefano Musso) is a work of minimal sonic art where electronic music meets infinite loops, acoustic drones, sounds of metal and glass, bagpipe, stringed instruments, sacral voices and field recordings. It enters a profound liturgic but also timeless…
Release data: Three-Six (36) – Lithea CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, 3Six Records, 2012 “Lithea” is the third and final part of the triptych that 36 (aka UK-based ambient/experimental composer Dennis Huddleston) kicked-off with “Hypersona” and “Hollow” previously. The 77-minute album is an intense ambient journey, creating warm and profound emotive textural landscapes based on extensive, yet melodic loops and choir pads. It’s…
Release data: Aurom – Secret Garden DIGITAL DOWNLOAD EP, Kahvi Collective, 2010 Aurom is a down-tempo ambient project by Australian composer Nicholas Buchanan. The five tracks on “Secret Garden” are presented in one continuous mix, and have a spacious sound along a pleasant groovy undercurrent and an organic rim. The opening-piece “Gaiam” takes off with great textures, followed by the…
Release data: John Lyell – Eternity CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2012 Six years after his first solo album “Dimensions”, Minneapolis-based -synthesist John Lyell (also known from two collaborative albums with Brent A. Reiland) brings us his long-awaited second album “Eternity”, mastered by Robert Rich. The new album, best listened to with some good headphones, proves John has made another step…
Release data: Havdis – The Hidden Islands CD, Gterma, 2012 Havdis is an ambient project by Odd Jensen, who resides in the remote coastal area of northern Norway. If I’m not mistaken, “The Hidden Islands” is his second release, put out by Johan Rehn’s quality ambient label Gterma. Mr Jensen’s soundscape music is profoundly inspired and influenced by nature and…
Release data: John Stanford – Deep Space CD, White Cloud Records, 1999 “Deep Space” is an ambient-dub album by New-Zealand based composer John (Nigel) Stanford, released on Jon Mark’s small White Cloud-label (part of the Naxos classic brand). It contains six tracks of spacious, melodic trance music merging highly sequenced trancy rhythms with expansive, almost symphonic themes. It all ends…
Release data: Wellenfeld – The Big Bang CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Mellowjet Records, 2011 The 66-minute “The Big Bang” is the sixth album by Wellenfeld, aka the German duo Andreas Braun and Detlef Dominizcak. The melodic and highly accessible music comprised on the ten interconnected songs merges spatial/minimal sequencing with choral/string pads, dancy rhythms and beats nicely. Beside a certain Jarre-esque/Kraftwerkian touch…
Release data: Chronos – When Mars Meets Venus CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Altar Records, 2012 Chronos is a project by Moscow-based musician Nick Klimenko who used analog gear and hardware synthesizers exclusively for this recording. Nick’s fifth album “When Mars Meets Venus” is split in two parts: the first is the factory-pressed cd “Mars” featuring nicely crafted down-tempo electronics, while the second…
Release data: moonbooter – World of Apes 2 CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Mellowjet Records, 2011 The second chapter of “World of Apes” (subtitled The Madness Continues) offers 75 minutes of fresh, contemporary and at times even danceable Em. Featuring less sampled sounds compared to it predecessor, Mr Scholl also didn’t use any witness-samples. Beside quite some loungy undercurrents through the various tracks,…