Release data: Chuck van Zyl – The Relic CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Centaur Discs/Industry8, 1995/2018 Despite not being a collector, while owning the original “Celestial Mechanics”, I’ve always regretted not having a hardcopy of Chuck van Zyl’s “The Relic”. Fortunately, Industry8 did a limited physical re-release of it in 2018 (for which the full recording was remastered), which is the one reviewed…
Release data: Venja – Galactic Underground Volume Two CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Art for Ears, 2020 Accomplished Belgium composer Venja, aka Johan Geens, has been around in the EM scene for some 30 years or so, but I confess missed out on quite a lot of his music. I’m not familiar with the first volume of his project Galactic Underground, but having…
Release data: Hollan Holmes – Emerald Waters CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2022 With his second album on the Spotted Peccary label, accomplished composer Hollan Holmes takes his listeners into the magical world of the aquatic element. Inspiration came by a trip Hollan took as a youngster with his father in 1979, driving through Del Rio, Texas, a border town,…
Release data: Dirk Serries & Trösta – Island on the Moon CD/LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Consouling Sounds, 2022 The covid lockdown caused many musicians to compose music under restricted conditions, in search of solace as well as expressing despair or the longing for how things used to be. “Island on the Moon” by Dirk Serries (ambient guitar, outboard effects) and saxophonist…
Release data: Juta Takahashi – Miyabi CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Lunisolar Records, 2021 “Miyabi” is an album containing brand new music after an environmental approach (“Music for Urban Promenades I & II”) and a collection of tracks (“Gems”). Gentleness and tranquillity still graces Juta’s textural music, a sophisticated blend of electronic and acoustic sounds with ethereal, drifting, and dreamy qualities. The latter…
Release data: Max Corbacho – A Connection to the Wonder CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Silentsun, 2021 The title of this album is well chosen as it’s an entrance into a magical world of expansive, serene textural vistas and alternate realities. An abundance of velvet, overtly smooth evolving tapestries is already on display on the 39-minute title track kicking things off, an…
Release data: Synth.nl – Time Travel CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2021 With the fine compilation album “Time Travel”, Michel van Osenbruggen offers his audience 12 tracks that appeared on various samplers -most notably those in the Schallwende’s Schallplatte series- through the years as well as a few lost pieces. For the occasion, all compositions were attentively remixed and remastered.…
Release data: Vidna Obmana – Revealed by Composed Nature LP/CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Hic Sunt Leones, 1990/1993 “Revealed by Composed Nature” is the fifth album released on Stefano Musso’s Hic Sunt Leones label, featuring intimate ambient music of a repetitive, overall soothing nature. It was initially released on LP in 1990 on Vidna’s own Decade Collection label intended as a sequel to…
Release data: Orbifold C – Apeiron CD/Digital Download, Groove Unlimited, 2020 If I’m not mistaken, it was longtime Russian Em-aficionado Anton Uraletz who paved the way for this music to be released through Groove Unlimited. I’m glad Anton persisted in keeping this guy’s music in the loop since he first discovered a snippet of it in 2007 and followed it…
Release data: Bruno Sanfilippo – Piano Textures 5 CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, ad 21 Music, 2020 From the start of the 38-minute “Piano Textures 5”, moods are sensitive, lush and elegant while a lovely sense of optimism and freedom takes off and spreads its wings gently on each of the 11 introspective tone poems. The melodic, airy outcome merges prepared piano…
Release data: Thorsten Quaschning – AMA CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Protanopia, 2021 The musicianship of Thorsten Quaeschning has many faces, and with “AMA” he has outdone himself offering another solid production to his audience. It’s a concept album featuring nearly 76 minutes of new music composed for the contemporary dance theatre production AMA Japanese Pearl Divers. Stylistically, the excellently mixed and…
Release data: Robert Schroeder – Pyroclast CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spheric Music, 2021 With “Pyroclast”, Robert Schroeder -though taking a different sonic road- has delivered a cosmic-angled recording keeping the quality on par with his previous release “C’est Magique”. Robert even revisits the sounds and enchanting atmospheres of his early works occasionally throughout the quite ambient-oriented album, something I appreciate especially.…
Release data: Bruno Sanfilippo – Tangible CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, ad21, 2021 The influence of social media and the way we connect/relate to each other on a natural and human basis has changed the world rapidly and significantly over the last two decades. The sonic narrative making up Mr. Sanfilippo’s “Tangible” aims to evoke the strength and purity of the tangible…
Release data: Skoulaman – Byssed CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2021 After Ron Boots, Skoulaman was another electronic musician who found his way to Bas Broekhuis’ Byss Studio during the Covid lockdown. Despite the latter troubled situation, this live album finds Hans van Kroonenburg in very good and inspired spirits, resulting in a lovely display of sensitive, cosmic-infused Berlin School…
Release data: Space Art – Entrevues CD/LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Deserted Island Music, 2020 EM aficionados will know Space Art (aka Dominique Perrier/synths and Roger Rizzitelli/drums, percussion) is part of the league of pioneers of French electronic music. The two made the classic albums “Trip in the Center Head” and “Space Art” (containing the big single hit “Onyx”) in the late…
Release data: Awenson – Floating CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2021 With “Floating”, French multi-instrumentalist Joël Bernard brings his audience a work of non-Berlin School art that isn’t like any of his previous releases. This time around he’s come up with pure spaced-out result (something he had delved into briefly on the 2009-album “Beyond the Galaxies”) fitting in the league of…
Release data: Tonal Assembly – No Solid Ground CD/Digital Download, Private Release, 2021 The contemporary electronics Taede A. Smedes brought his audience with “Lost and Found in Imaginary Landscapes” is now extended with the richly coloured sonic universe with some groovy bits making up “No Solid Ground”. From the start, there’s a pleasant driving element as well as a happy,…
Release data: vidnaObmana – The River of Appearance CD/Digital Download, Projekt Records, 1996 When we talk about elegant and graceful ambient milestones, Dirk Serries’ “The River of Appearance” fits the bill perfectly. Until this very day, the 59-minute release filled with ethereal, shimmering electronics still feels like a full immersion in uplifting, contemplative ambiences with a touch of melancholy. It…
Release data: Interconnected – Grainophonics CD-r/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD/LP, Móatún 7, 2021 “Grainophonics” by Bakis Sirros and Ingo Zobel (aka Interconnected) is an ambient work full of surreal, adventurous atmospheres and organic soundscapes created with big analogue modular synths with granular, additive, physical modeling synthesis, and assorted field recordings. These foreboding textural plains/drones as well as the sights on barren land…
Release data: Pyramid Peak – SymmetryCD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2020 After quite a busy year in 2018, the German band Pyramid Peak took a well-deserved creative break. With the 67-minute “Symmetry”, Axel Stüpplich and Andreas Morsch offer another most attractive work of contemporary, spiced-up electronics, a feast of catchy melodic lines merged with strings of powerful, pulsating, and…
Release data: Wavestar II – Two CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Soddett Hall Music, 2021 On their second release, the trio Dyson, Whitlan, and Ward extend on the fine music of their debut, offering a 71-minute batch of highly accessible music rich of melody, peppy sequencing, easy-going solos as well as some symphonic hints graced with emotion. “Pauper’s Ransom” already makes a…
Release data: Eleon – Cerulean CD-r/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Heart Dance Records, 2020 I just need a few lines for Eleon’s release “Cerulean”, a very easy-going 47-minute/7 track recording where groove, chill-out, and lounge electronics as well as a Balearic-realm melt. The latter applies to “Once there was a place like this” and “Migration” while others are simply beat-driven, happy tunes.…
Release data: Steve Roach & Michael Stearns – Beyond Earth & Sky CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 2021 Soundsculptors Steve Roach and Michael Stearns are both electronic music veterans with an extensive list of solo and collaborative releases under their belt. Their last collaboration (“Kiva”) though saw the light of day some 26 years ago, so what a joy to see…
Release data: Mathias Grassow – Isola CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Gterma, 2021 The sacred, the expansive, the mystic, and the introspective are imminent and most present on “Isola”. The 79-minute release features four extended tracks by Mathias Grassow composed between 2009 and 2012 of which the music was inspired originally by the islands of Spitsbergen and their eventful history. Expect a…
Release data: Rhea – Close to Moving IceCD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Littl’ Antenna Records, 2020 For whatever reason, I missed out on this album by Belgian synthesist Mark de Wit, aka Rhea. “Close to Moving Ice” contains one 35-minute track (a sonic tribute to the massive eternal ice of Greenland) performed live in October 2018 at PostX, Merelbeke, Belgium. The…
Release data: Sequentia Legenda – Celestial CD-r/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2021 With “Celestial”, Laurent Schiebert adds another chapter to his extended vision of classic Berlin School music while prolonging the cosmic style explored on his previous album “Beyond the Stars”. This time around though, drummer Tommy Betzler isn’t joining him on “this entrance into a new horizon” that features…
Release data: Altus – Hypoxia CD-r/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2021 The initial music of “Hypoxia” was created over the course of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic as the composer’s way to process isolation, loneliness as well as channel lots of profound, negative emotions and thoughts upon him during that time. Well, the expansive, textural waves and atmospheres…
Release data: Kloob – Parallel States CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Winter-Light, 2021 Shorter, colder, and darker days are upon us once again, a proper period to enjoy some dark ambient. Kloob’s “Parallel States” is a haunting, gloomy drift into deeper lands expanding on themes and ambient-drone landscapes explored in previous releases. As such it makes another fine candidate for attentive headphone…
Release data: Ian Boddy – Nevermore CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, DiN, 2021 “Nevermore” -representing the 100th DiN release- features Ian Boddy’s live set created at the DiN studio on March 27th, 2021 as part of Steve Roach’s Soundquest Festival. With the exception of the two beautifully moulded, slowly unfolding rhythmic excursions “From Here To There” and the melodic-spiced title track, the 60-minute…
Release data: Uni Sphere – TempUS CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2021 Some 6 years ago Eric van der Heijden and Rene Splinter surprised the EM scene with their project Uni Sphere and its fine debut “EndLess EndeavoR”. The latter proved a solid, well-made, and highly emotive work of sonic art sketching out various moods and atmospheres. After a lot…
Release data: Craig Padilla & Skip Murphy – Waveforms CD-r/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Sea Peace Music, 2020 More than once an artist digs through his archive and finds something tucked away in there, a discovery bringing back fond memories. This is the case with “Waveforms”, featuring two live performed long-form tracks (the 22-minute “Waveforms” and 27-minute “Glaciers”) made back in 1993…
Release data: Ben Swire – Equilibriums CD-EP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, The Foundry/Hypnos Recordings, 2002 In collaboration with the ambient label Hypnos, Michael Bentley’s Foundry label started releasing cd ep’s in mid-August 2002, a mini-cd with a playing time between 15 and 30 minutes. San Francisco resident Ben Swire kicks off the series with “Equilibrium”, featuring four tracks that all clock around 4-5…
Release data: Martin Stürtzer – Illumination Cycle CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Synphaera Records, 2021 Any fan of captivating and smooth sequencing in new Berlin School style paired with spacious, cinematic atmospheres should have a go at Martin Stürtzer’s “Illumination Cycle”. The consistent high quality and transparent sound design known from Martin’s previous releases is prolonged here as is the attention to creating…
Release data: Max Corbacho– Lost Links II (The Complete Collection) CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, SilentSun, 2021 In 2011, Max Corbacho released “Lost Links”, a set of atmospheric and space music tracks that were shelved although they were composed initially to fit on a concept album, compilation or project that fell through. Those tracks are now found on the second disc of “Lost…
Release data: Lyonel Bauchet – The Diver CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, DiN, 2021 “The Diver” by French library music composer Lyonel Bauchet -released a decade after his download-only album “The Secret Society”- is a tactile, highly imaginative ambient concept album. It centers on the exploration of the hidden vistas and dark spaces of the deep sea, a fascinating world holding many secrets.…
Release data: Carbon Based Lifeforms – Refuge (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Leftfield Records, 2014 After they left their label Ultimae around 2014, the experienced Swedish ambient music producers Johannes Hedberg and Daniel Segerstad (aka Carbon Based Lifeforms) continued their passion firmly, creating captivating yet soothing psyambient that touches the soul. They spend over a year remastering and re-releasing…
Release data: Eleon – Dreams beyond Terra CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Heart Dance Records, 2018 Let’s turn to some music with a vibrant, uplifting and contemporary sound design as well as expert mastering and production that I ran into as was investigation David Helpling’s discography. It appeared David helped producing as well as contributed two tracks of Eleon’s debut album “Dreams…
Release data: Man from Mars – A Dream of Mars DIGITAL DOWNLOAD EP, Valley View Records, 2021 “A Dream of Mars” is a short story about the beauty of life and Mars, the planet on which humanity plans to continue human life. The tracks on this 16-minute space music Ep are imagined as healing music tuned to 432Hz, made mostly…
Release data: Tacit Blue – Dreamland CD/Digital Download, Private Release, 2000 The year 2000 saw the release of “Dreamland” by Tacit Blue, a.k.a. the Missouri-based duo Chris Crabtree and Jim Rogers. They’ve dedicated the band to the exploration of space in all its forms with the aim to discover and capture a moment in a kind of musical impressionism.…
Release data: Oar – Adrift CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Gterma, 2021 Oar is a side-project by Norwegian artist Odd Jensen, who was released previously under the Havdis moniker. Havdis’ music was inspired by nature and the sea as well as the sound/silence surrounding the composer at his home at the arctic coast of Norway’s Nordland. That inspiration also applies to Oar’s darker-flavored…
Release data: David Helpling – Sleeping on the Edge of the World CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 1999 This is the second album from accomplished ambient-electronic artist and film composer David Helping which -like almost all of SP’s releases- is graced by a beautiful cover. Predecessor “Between Green and Blue” on the whole reminded quite a bit of the fine…
Release data: Ruben Garcia – I can feel the heat closing in CD, Close Tolerance Music, 1998 On his fourth album “I can feel the heat closing in” (for which Harold Budd provided the title) New Mexican artist Ruben Garcia manages to find a beautiful balance between minimalism, piano, and synths, so again a comparison with the music of…
Release data: Sayer – Future City CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, New Territory Records, 2019 Sayer’s music I got to know so far has been contemporary, dynamic and fresh. With the 75-minute “Future City” -a themed release accompanied by a short story- he brings his audience a mix of dreamy, uplifting and uptempo pieces (of which a few carry on bit to…
Release data: Keith Richie – Ambient Highways CD/LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Other Worlds Than These Music, 2015/2021 Keith Richie is an ambient, electronic, and soundtrack composer hailing from Mesquite, Texas. Keith has been releasing soundtrack-ish stuff since 2006 after he became obsessed of electronic music in the early ‘80’s when he ran into the music of John Carpenter and Tangerine Dream. Mr…
Release data: Mychael Danna & Tim Clément – North of Niagara CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Hearts of Space Records, 1995 “North of Niagara” (subtitled “Impressions along the Bruce Trail”) is actually a sister release to Mr Danna’s solo effort “Skies”. It makes an appropriate companion for anyone in a bit somber, melancholic state of mind while it will also slow down and…
Release data: Ruben Garcia – The Gatekeeper CD, Close Tolerance Music, 1994 “The Gatekeeper”, Ruben Garcia’s second release, is dedicated to both Claude Debussy and Erik Satie featuring “11 improvised piano pieces for a simpler life”. No electronic music, but rather an album that showcases beautifully understated acoustic compositions in which the musician builds an interesting bridge between classical…
Release data: Ian Tescee – IO MC/LP/CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, E-N Records, 1984/2004 The music of Ian Tescee was among the range of talented electronic musicians from the US that slowly found their way to Europe when import channels and European distribution opened up in the heydays. Like many others it was inspired by the beauty and magic of the cosmos, more…
Release data: Rainbow Serpent – Futuregate CD, Ardema Musik, 1995 A great off-shoot of cosmic Berlin School-spiced electronics was founded in 1994 by German synthesists Gerd Wienekamp and Frank Specht as Rainbow Serpent on the occasion of their concert at the 1st Astrofest Sittensen, Germany. For their debut “Futuregate” they found a home at Arndt Maschinski’s Ardema-label (who labeled it…
Release data: Create – Reflections from the inner light CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2004 Ok, let’s have some further nostalgia. In 2004, Groove added a new artist to their roster who composed well-crafted Berlin School music: Create (a.k.a. UK-synthesist Stephen Humphries) who instead of any hardware synths used Reason software technology only to realize his sonic creations. On his strong…
Release data: Rainbow Serpent – Mosaique CD, Ardema-Musik, 1997 The musical development of the German act Rainbow Serpent, aka Frank Specht and Gerd Wienekamp, has always been strongly influenced by the available technology as well as gained experiences over the years and other musicians. After “Futuregate” and “Voyager”, the duo once again manages to convince with this beautifully produced “Mosaique”,…
Release data: Steve Roach Stephen Kent Kenneth Newby – Halcyon Days CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Hearts of Space/Fathom, 2018 It’s time for another heavyweight from the past. This particular collaboration between Steve and the aforementioned duo is definitely foddering for fans of Suspended Memories and Newby’s solo album “Ecology of Souls.” Kent and Newby have already made their mark in groups…
Release data: David Helpling – Between Green and Blue CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 1996 A great discovery I made in the mid-90s comes from Southern California musician and producer David Helping, who was nominated for the NAIRD (National Association of Independent Record Distributors and Manufacturers) Indie Award in the US in 1997 with his debut “Between Green and Blue”…
Release data: Erik Wøllo – North Star CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 2021 With “North Star”, accomplished musician Erik Wollo brings his audience a highly emotive and imaginary journey inspired by The North Star, the beacon up in the sky which guided human travel for many years. It’s another quality recording with a lush, expansive sound design, most of all guitar-oriented as…
Release data: Ruben Garcia – Room full of Easels CD, Close Tolerance Music, 1996 In the mid-’90s I was fortunate to be introduced to New Mexican artist, sound engineer, producer & self-taught pianist Ruben Garcia by Barry Craig (aka A Produce) with whom he collaborated on and off at the time. Ruben didn’t like computers, e-mail, and stuff, so instead…
Release data: Aes Dana – (a)period CD/LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Ultimae Records, 2021 Vincent Villuis, operating under the Aes Dana guise for many years by now, is composer, sound designer, Dj & co-owner of the French Ultimae-label. “(a)period” is a 72-minute cinematic aural canvas, an extended echo of longing, conceptwise going a similar road as Steve Roach travelled for “As it is”.…
Release data: Frank Makowski – Canon der Finsternisse CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2019 Ambient music comes in many forms, and several of them are not suitable for the faint of heart. The major of the works by German composer Frank Makowski (former member of [‘ramp], the musician behind Speed of the Dark, Tranquility and various collaborations in his 30-year musical…
Release data: Stephen Bacchus – The Memory Tap CD-r/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2021 With “The Memory Tap”, Canadian musician Stephen Bacchus (aka Grant Mackay) delivers his 10th album, a release tapping into Grant’s most distant sound and music memory with the aim to integrate earlier sound and music explorations (that started in the mid ‘’80s) into his overall composer…
Release data: Michael Brook – Hybrid LP/CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, EG Records, 1985 “Hybrid” is the solo debut by Canadian Michael Brook –featuring Eno and Lanois as backing musicians-, a 42-minute album full of organic, none-dynamic, trance-inducing yet thoughtful ambient music. Mood and darker-shaded atmospheres take center stage on each of the eight instrumental vignettes, all airing distinct ethnic-world flavors due to…
Release data: Damm – Nautical Dawn LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, A Strangely Isolated Place, 2020 “Nautical Dawn” (inspired by majestic cloud formations at nature’s finest hour when the sun is 12 degrees below the horizon) is an electronic chill-out release by Damm, an early ’90 alias of Swedish techno artist Joel Mull, featuring a personal selection of after-hours morning portraits. Sonically…
Release data: Nigel Mullaney – The Navigator LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Behind The Sky Music, 2021 Here’s a recording about (personal) exploration and discovery as well as seeing beyond the mind’s eye. “The Navigator” is a concept album inspired by the mythical voyage of St. Brendan, an early Irish monastic saint and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland (who’s also known as The…