Release data: Steve Smith & The Tylas Cyndrome – Phoenix Arising CD, Groove Unlimited, 2011 In the electronic music community, synthesist Steve Smith is best known as one half of the UK band VoLt. “Phoenix Arising” is actually a project that has taken about 40 years in the making, as Steve and the other two musicians involved in it (drummer…
Release data: Altus – Symmetry & Shadow (Singles Collection Vol. 2) DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2011 This is a second compilation by Altus, aka Mike Carss, supposed to fill the gap until the release of his full album “Ecotone” due for mid November 2011. “Symmetry & Shadow”, with nice descriptive linear notes of the composer on the cd-artwork, comprises another…
Release data: John Broaddus – A Strange Mint DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Parnassus Nump, 2011 The linear notes on “A Strange Mint” read as follows: “a title created by mucking about with some recordings of organic and man-made materials interacting; fashioning them into something yet undiscovered, a hybrid of the natural and the synthetic, minting a new sound and form in the…
Release data: Exuviae – The Sum of Zero DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2011 With “The Sum of Zero”, Minnesota-based ambient composer Brooks Rongstad offers his listeners the second and final chapter in Exuviae’s exploration of “End-Time” themes that started in 2009 with “Amnesiascape”. Brooks comments to this second part it “captures the more emotional and less literal side of an…
Release data: Geigertek – Soundtrack for City Living CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, AD Music, 2011 “Soundtrack for City Living” is Geigertek’s sonic sketch of the varied feelings and moods encountered in the vibrant nightlife of an imaginary city. The opening piece “Beyond the Garden” starts out as a cinematic, spherical and warm soundscape composition, nicely spiced with gentle percussion and smooth soaring…
Release data: Mon0 – Monolith DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2011 Mon0’s “Monolith” invites us into a dark and mysterious ambient world with occasional minimal dub-techno beats, in which a strong sense of dynamic is embedded in the slow shifting and precisely tuned textural scapes. This is no scary trip though (with the exception of the entrance to the fifth track…
Release data: Pascal Savy – Liminal CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2011 “Liminal” is a four-track Ep by composer Pascal Savy, made with FM and analog synths, piano, oboe, and an assortment of processed field recordings, offering slow moving minimal and abstract ambient drone movements. Using loops attached to miniature soundscape forms and no melodic lines, the outcome constantly shifts through…
Release data: Steven Grace – Cobalt Blue DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2010 The 62-minute “Cobalt Blue” is an album fully composed with only one piece of gear: Leslie Sanford’s Cobalt synthesizer. The composer of it is Steven Grace, also known as the musician behind the retro-oriented project Logic Gate. The freeform music on “Cobalt Blue” focusses on quiet and moody…
Release data: Al Gromer Khan – Music from an Eastern Rosegarden CD, Aquamarin Verlag, 1989 “Music from an Eastern Rosegarden” by Al Gromer Kahn is a highly spiritual piece of sonic art that will appeal to ambient music fans who like smooth, relaxing electronic soundscapes and spheres with occasional sitar, all gently tapping in the mystic realm of or connecting…
Release data: Carbon Based Lifeforms – Twentythree CD, Ultimae Records, 2011 For this album, the duo Segerstad/Hedberg have chosen to turn the wheel and head into a different music direction, away from the down-tempo stuff of their previous releases. The outcome is the beatless “Twentythree”, moving into vast and spacious ambient territory. Its eight tracks of majestic textural drift music…
Release data: Transceive – Transformation 88:98 CD, Alles Klar Productions, 2006 The music by Transceive, aka Steve Nelson, is typical English melodic power-EM, so expect lots of pumping sequencing and fierce, rattling rhythms. “Transformation 88:98” is what Steve calls a kind of best-of album, containing music he compiled after the release of “Intrigue”. All tracks, except one, were composed between…
Release data: Symatic Star – The Distance DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2011 “The Distance” is the debut release of musician/composer Simon Walsh, aka Symatic Star, who hails from South Western Australia. The album contains two lengthy soundscape ambient pieces of 38 and 30 minutes each, both recorded live during and after the Electro-music.com 2011 Summer Solstice online concert June 18,…
Release data: Transceive – The Circe Complex DIGITAL DOWNLOAD EP, Alles Klar Productions, 2011 “The Circe Complex” is a 3-track/20 minute EP containing the first new tracks by Steve Nelson, aka Transceive, in five years and is meant as an appetizer for Transceive’s full length cd due for 2012. I’m sure those who know the dynamic, rhythmic music of Transceive’s…
Release data: David Wright – The Spirit of Light (Best of Volume 2) CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, AD Music, 2011 The 79-minute “The Spirit of Light” marks the second volume in the “Best of David Wright” series, featuring another selection of smooth-melodic, rhythmic but also light-weight (space)music. I can’t help not being fond of the sweet, profound new age edge and spiritual…
Release data: Numina – Subterranean Landscapes CD, Numina Music, 2011 Jesse Sola’s “Subterranean Landscapes” (inspired by the alien landscapes of the American desert Southwest) is a project of dark-oriented and longform ambient dronescapes, presented in seven imaginative tracks. While ambient musicians Biff Johnson and Nathan Youngblood join Jesse’s work on three separate tracks individually, the whole body of work roams…
Release data: Nebulæ – The Path of White Clouds CD, Hypnos Recordings, 2003/2011 “The Path of White Clouds” is the second release of Nebulae, an Italian/German ambient project lead by Oöphoi, aka Gianluigi Gasparetti. The version reviewed here is a re-release of the album that came out as a limited edition cd-r in 2003. The albums sonic concept is inspired…
Release data: Bob Holroyd – Afterglow CD, Private Release, 2011 “Afterglow” (also the featured album on the Bowers & Wilkins Society of Sound website during July 2011) is the seventh album by UK musician Bob Holroyd, musically turning away from the outcome as heard on his previous recordings. The 45-minute instrumental release features quiet and reflective ambient miniatures with a…
Release data: Alpha Wave Movement – Myriad Stars DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Harmonic Resonance Recordings, 2011 With “Myriad Stars”, Gregory Kyryluk aka Alpha Wave Movement brings us a nice and colourful addition to his existing catalogue of space music, and especially his album “A Distant Signal”. These are ten tracks of atmospheric spaciousness opening a doorway to an expansive, cosmic environment, very…
Release data: Steve Roach – Quiet Music (The Original 3-Hour Collection) CD, Projekt, 2011 It’s finally here: the entire release of “Quiet Music”, Roach’s classic ambient release of the mid ’80’s, presented as a triple cd-set. For a description of all previous versions of this recording plus a bit of background, I refer to the other review of this album…
Release data: Robert Schroeder – Esthétique CD, Spheric Music, 2011 Since Robert Schroeder showed up again several years ago after a long period of silence, he kept up a steady schedule of new releases as if he started a second youth. Like its recent predecessors, the music of “Esthétique” (another 24-bit production) offers vintage-flavoured and sequencer-based elements glued together and…
Release data: Temps Perdu? – Athanor CD, Timebase, 1992/1993 Temps Perdu is an ambient/industrial project by the Dusseldorf-based French/German duo Dirk and Catherine Ledit-Grützmann. Their debut and privately released album “Athanor” is strongly influenced by modern life at the start of the ‘90’s, a period in which lots of communication facilities such as fax, email services, mobile phones and other…
Release data: Michael Brückner – Endless Mind Portal DIGITAL DOWNLOAD/CD-R, Private Release, 2011 For fans of atmospheric ambient and cosmic music, the album “Endless Mind Portal” (released as a download in early August 2011) by German composer Michael Brückner may be a treat. The three-hour recording (a concept album on the discovery and exploration of the universe) features lengthy and…
Release data: Radio Massacre International – Time & Motion CD, Cuneiform Records, 2010 Many Em-fans will haved loved the first batch of albums by the UK-trio Radio Massacre International along several of their privately brewed and released cd-r’s. On those recordings, the band presented energetic and progrock oriented vintage electronics firmly rooted in TD’s ’70’s sound . “Time & Motion”…
Release data: Robert Scott Thompson – The Silent Shore CD, Oasis/Mirage, 1996 “The Silent Shore” is an album of US-composer Robert Scott Thompson, who is associate professor at Georgia State University, School of Music. His electro-acoustic music, split in three separate “modules”, features a darker type of atmospheric ambient. It’s free form, highly textural and slow morphing in nature with…
Release data: You – Laserscape LP/CD, Cue Records, 1986 “Laserscape” is the fourth and last album by You, aka the German duo Albin Meskes and Udo Hanten, from the ‘80’s period. Initially released on vinyl in 1986, only few copies of the recording made it on the market, making it very hard to find for many years. Fortunately, Joerg Strawe’s…
Release data: Markus Reuter & Zero Ohms – The Sun Is Just The Sun, But The Stars They Call The Heavens DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, DiN, 2011 As an avid fan of ambient soundscape music, German touch guitarist Markus Reuter and American woodwind experimentalist Zero Ohms (aka Richard J. Roberts) have added a peculiar one to the genre. Their collaborative 68-minute release…
Release data: Michael Shipway – Voyage to Venus CD, MSL Music, 2011 Most fans of electronic music will probably know Michael Shipway as one half of the successful UK project VoLt. Since their last album “HJVI” they both have spend their time on own projects. “Voyage to Venus” is the follow-up on Michael’s cd “The Spirit of Adventure”, released in…
Release data: Steve Brand – Avatara CD, Hypnos Recordings, 2011 If you’re looking for a contemplative ambient release with a minimal framework, Steve Brand’s “Avatara” (inspired by the various avatars of various ages and cultures) could be an appropriate choice. I for one would classify it as high-quality contemplative music, due to its ongoing gentle flow of textural pads with…
Release data: Javi Cánovas – Aureal DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2011 With “Aureal”, Javi again brings us a very attractive and highly inspired sounding sonic canvas. The music itself features a wealth of expansive and vibrant textures all the way, but what fascinates me the most is that the whole arc of evocative and sounds paints a grand cinematic scenery…
Release data: Wintherstormer – Ground Connection CD, Bajkal Records, 2011 For me, expect the weird and unexpected has always been the case when I encountered a recording of the Norwegian quartet Wintherstormer, led by Terje Winther and Erik Stormer. The music on their fourth release “Ground Connection” is no exception on that with is mixed bowl of analogue synths, sequencers,…
Release data: Dave Luxton – Dreams Ghosts and Parallel Universes CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Wayfarer Records, 2011 With “Dreams Ghosts and Parallel Universes”, US synthesist Dave Luxton brings us an album offering twelve atmospheric space music tracks, making up almost an hour of listening pleasure. During the spacious ride with minimal use of rhythm or sequences, Dave keeps things drifting in a…
Release data: Erik Wøllo – Silent Currents (Live at Star’s End) CD, Projekt Records, 2011 Those who have seen Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Erik Wøllo perform live know that he is able to create impressive and highly cinematic spheres with a symphonic/prog-rock touch. The double album “Silent Currents” contains two different live sets of 52 minutes each, both performed at Star’s End…
Release data: Bernard Weadling – Out of Time CD, Private Release, 2009 French artist Bernard Weadling started playing electronic music at the age of 14, using a Korg MS 10 as his first synthesizer. When he was 16 years old, he had built his own home studio which contained various synthesizers along an SQ 10 analogue sequencer and a 4-track…
Release data: Robert Fox – Short Stories CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, AD Music, 2011 The music captured on “Short Stories” proves Mr Fox is further continuing the sonic path taken on his album “Evergreen”. The outcome again is a tad lighter and almost easy-listening when one hears the ten storytelling tracks too gently unfold in an almost new age kind style. Sadly…
Release data: A Produce & Loren Nerell – Intangible CD, Hypnos Recordings, 2011 “Intangible” is the outcome of a collaboration between Barry Craig (aka A Produce) and Loren Nerell, both known as skilled ambient composers for many years. Composed between 2007 and 2010, the seven moody tracks on their debut album are a journey into warm textural drone paintings and…
Release data: Paul Ellis – From Out Of The Vast Comes Nearness CD, LotusPike, 2011 About two years after his last hard-copy release “Last Hiding Place of Beauty”, synthesist Paul Ellis brings us the 74-minute “From Out Of The Vast Comes Nearness” (working title “Watch the stars come one by one”) of which the music is especially dedicated to Steve…
Release data: Numina – Dawn of Obscurity CD, Numina Music, 2011 After being absent for a while in the electronic music scene due to personal circumstances, Colorado-based musician Jesse Sola (aka Numina) fortunately brings us not one but two brand new ambient albums in July 2011. One of them is “Dawn of Obscurity”, in the press-sheet described as “six songs…
Release data: Robert Fox – Asfafa -a journey- CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, FXMusic, 1991 Many consider “Asfafa” as the debut album of UK-composer Robert Fox (a drama teacher in daily life), but it was actually preceded by no less than two albums (“Voices from the Inner Ear” and “Far Distant Shore”). Starting out with lush, spherical choirs pads, the accessible music of…
Release data: Tuu – Mesh CD, Hearts of Space/Fathom, 1997 For “Mesh”, the UK-band TUU consisted of Martin Franklin, Mykl O’Dempsey and Nick Parkin along two guest stars. The band were able to get their album released in the flow of tribal-infused and darker shaded string of releases that appeared on the Hearts of Space sublabel Fathom in the mid…
Release data: John Flomer – Night in the Vapor Jungle CD, Spotted Peccary Music, 1999 “Night in the Vapor Jungle” is the second release of visionary artist and sound designer John Flomer, that again is marketed as an album filled with fantastic and dreamy, almost romantic flavoured electronic music. The red line on the 50-minute album are lush new-age piano…
Release data: Richard Bone – XesseX (The Palindrome Project) CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Quirkwork Laboratory Discs, 2011 The eight compositions on the ambient album “Xessex” are the outcome of Richard Bone’s lifelong fascination with directional sound. Not the direction from which it emanates, but rather the direction in which it flows. The depth and density within a reversed sound is totally different…
Release data: Grindlestone – Tone CD, Noh Poetry Records, 2011 Grindlestone, founded in 1999, is an ambient/experimental project that brings together US-musicians Don Falcone and Douglas Erickson. Their release “Tone”, mastered by Robert Rich, offers nine minimal-oriented sonic creations with a raw edge, assembled from found sounds and manipulations of music performances. The 53-minute creepy outcome is no easy and…
Release data: Optical Image – Treasure Point CD, Bargain Productions, 1993 Optical Image is a project by Dutch composer Tom Habes, who developed quite an original, cinematic and overall fresh sounding style of electronic music. Tom refers to the music of his debut “Treasure Point” as a journey of images and moods allowing the listener to generate his own impressions.…
Release data: Arnold Mitchem – Desert Dreams CD, ADM Music/Earthsong, 1998 The instrumental music on the album “Desert Dreams” by guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Arnold Mitchem is inspired by the national treasures and overall beauty of the American desert Southwest. At certain spots, Mitchem’s acoustic six-string guitar playing is accompanied by lush and warm electronic string pads, bass and flutes. Desert…
Release data: Tim Story – Shadowplay CD, Hearts of Space Records, 2001 Ambient musician Tim Story doesn’t need a lot of introduction, being an accomplished contemporary instrumental composer of ambient chamber music for many years. While bridging old and modern classical music, Tim has creates 49 minutes of reflective, soundtrack-like and overtly intimate instrumental music miniatures that touch the heart.…
Release data: Santé – Into Light CD, Santé Music, 2000 Stephanie Santé belongs to the very small league of female musicians in the genre of electronic music. With her debut “Into Light” she offers an emotive and accessible album, nicely kicked off by the inviting “Airstream”. Stephanies smoothly sequenced and highly imaginative music is airy and relaxing, featuring slight symphonic…
Release data: Rüdiger Gleisberg – Baktun CD, Musique Intemporelle, 1993 “Baktun” by German synthesist Rüdiger Gleisberg musically follows a classical approach. Here, Gleisberg displays a nice range of dynamic, overall creative sonic creations that mix classic strings and orchestrations with percussion, plus occassionally some ethnic elements. The music is vibrant and expressive, a kind of modern symphonies in a nutshell…
Release data: Emmanuel Tuts-Schiemsky – Rust voor de Stilte CD, Arya, 1996 Belgian musician Emmanuel Tuts-Schiemsky was part of the range of ambient musicians who were offered the possibility to release their music on the Italian Amplexus-sublabel Arya. “Rust voor de Stilte”, inspired by fading memories and unattainable desires and released as a limited edition of 100 copies, was Emmanuels…
Release data: Enterphase – Phase One CD, AD Music, 1994 On “Phase One”, Enterphase is an electronic space project made up by the American duo Fred Becker and Jeff Filbert. The duo came with the group of import electronic music from the US such as Mark Dwane, Geodesium, Jonn Serrie and Michael Stearns. Enterphase found a most welcome ear in…
Release data: Nebulous – Synthetica III CD, Private Release, 2000 “Synthetica III” is -according to the musicians site- the official (and final) cd release of Synthetica material, created by the Canadian musician Jared (Nebulous) Brookes. For years, the latter designed and built his own analogue gear, followed by an extensive period of experimentation and sound design, a process in which…
Release data: Dweller at the Threshold – No Boundary Condition CD, Eurock, 1996 Dweller at theThreshold is a retro-project founded by Paul Ellis and Dave Fulton, helped out by Jeff Vasey. The project’s music, firmly rooted in the classic Berliner School style, is complex and while not always clearly heading into a certain direction, there’s this intruiging thread running underneath…
Release data: Harold Budd – The Serpent (In Quicksilver) / Abandoned Cities CD, Opal, 1991 This cd-release comprises two albums made in 1981 (“The Serpent”) and 1984 (“Abandoned Cities”) respectively. “The Serpent” is actually a 20-minute Ep containing six short ambient miniatures, taking off with some pedal steel guitar and treated piano on “Afar” followed by the drifting spheres and…
Release data: Anandra Nidra – Blissful Sleep CD, Projekt, 2011 “Blissfull Sleep” –subtitle: two sensual meditations for awakening ecstacy- is the first meditation cd on the US-Projekt label. Inspired by a traditional Tantric practice known as Yoga Nidra, the double-cd set features spoken-word meditations by Tantra teachers and authors Mark A. Michaels and Patricia Johnson. Both 44-minute meditation sessions (followed…
Release data: Tom Habes – Sudden Exposure CD, Optical Image Records, 1995 Tom Habes is a Dutch composer who started making music in the middle of the ‘80’s. Many may know him as as the guy behind the Optical Image project. “Sudden Exposure” is one of the two electronic music cds released under his own name on which Tom has…
Release data: Paul Sauvanet – Time Dreaming CD, Les Volies Dór/Oreus, 1991 Recorded at the Centre International de Recherche Musicale in Nice, “Time Dreaming” (officially entitled “Le Songe Du Temps”), offers two lengthy tracks and one short piece of reflective and quiet ambient music. Any rhythm is absent in the slow flow of warm and spacious textures that make up…
Release data: Harmonics of Frequency Modulation – Vibe’s CD, Katharsis, 1997 The musician behind Harmonics of Frequency Modulation is the Island-based musician Marteinn Bjarnar Thordarson. He writes the music of “Vibe’s”, which is dedicated to the human spirit, should not necessarily been seen or heard, but felt. In addition, its Marteinn’s belief sound harmonics are a wonderful metaphor for understanding…
Release data: Satsuma Nightmare – Plugged CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2003 Well, the cover image of “Plugged” isn’t very appealing, but the music on it will be appreciated by those who cling to the stuff TD played at the beginning of the ’80’s. The project Satsuma’s Nightmare was founded in 1983 by Leicester-based musician Alan Stocker and some others. The…
Release data: Robert Jíša – The Egyptian Book Of The Dead CD, NextEra, 2011 The concept-album “The Egyptian Book of the Dead” is based on the fascinating collection of ancient documents contained in the famous book of the same name. Actually, many forms, beats and intervals featured on the albums music are a musical translation of symbols of that period,…
Release data: Jerome Froese –Nightshade Family (live) CD, Moonpop, 2011 “Nightshade Family” is a release put out by the Moonpop label after a long period of popular demand for a live document, here presented as a complete live set with outtakes from various concerts in 2005 and 2006 without overdubs or audience noise. Creator of so-called “guitartronica”, multi-instrumentalist Jerome Froese…
Release data: Star Sounds Orchestra – Kosmophonon CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Mellowjet Records, 1992/2007 Originally released in 1992 on CMS Music, “Kosmophonon” is a symphonic ambient/space music album by Star Sound Orchestra, aka Jens Zygar and Steve Schroyder (who briefly was part of Tangerine Dream in the early 70s). The album features seven planetary tuned pieces, apparently based on the cosmic octaves,…