Review: So what happens when a European post-punk outfit meets an American 'ambient country ensemble'? The answer: A Nanocluster. In fact, three. This being the third. Immersion first met SUSS in September 2021, and the results were mesmerising. Three years on and the impact was no less staggering. Originally landing in September 2024, part tres takes us into the kind of musical places we're used to finding Spiritualized or Mogwai, and even then the references are misleading. For as many times as Nanocluster Vol. 3 sucks us into a thick soup of ambient and atmosphere, inviting us to get lost in opiate cloud formations, it also asks us to jump on board a stream train of rolling and driving rhythms, juggernauts gathering depth and complexity as they forge ahead. A stunning collection of highly evocative and incredible musical instrumentals.
Review: Kaoru Inoue's latest EP continues the journey of his acclaimed long player Dedicated to the Island, which was recently released for Record Store Day 2024. This six-track sequel features a series of self-reworked tracks from the LP, a first-time vinyl release and previously unreleased material as well as a remix by Argentina's SidiRum, who is a leading tastemaker in the tribal and slower house scenes. True to its title, the EP emphasises enhanced rhythmic elements and delivers a blend of organic, left-field electronic sounds. Inoue's talent for crafting atmospheric, innovative sounds will only improve with this superb 12".
Review: Those with a passion for early new age music should know all about Iasos, a California-based musician who has been serving up deliciously meditative ambient and new age albums since 1975. Here he offers up a new edition of his sought-after 1978 set "Angelic Music", a warm, dreamy and luscious blend of slowly shifting chords, sustained notes and slow-burn melodies that increase in prominence as each of the two 30-minute tracks progress. Interestingly the versions showcased here are longer than the edited versions initially released, with the flipside - where recordings of crickets rise and fall around swelling synthesizer chords - being our pick of a very strong pair.
Review: Few producers in the Nigerian capital, if any, sound like Ibukun Sunday. Marrying West African tones with Western ambient sensibilities and form, on Harmony Balance the juxtaposition between the two is perfectly measured. Not just a nice album title, then. Partly based on the ideas of Swami and Hare Krishna founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta, and particularly his work Bhagavad-Gita (English: As It Is), which focuses on the duality of human nature and existence, according to the notes we have this plays out as a tension between arrogance, envy, and the pursuit of power versus self control, humanity and devotion to others. Less conceptually, the album is just really, really nice, a soothing embrace that sounds mournful, hopeful, optimistic, and reflective all at once.
Review: To date Wata Igarashi has released most of his work as singles. The Japanese techno producer has steadily risen in profile thanks to releases for the likes of The Bunker New York, Nidgar, Bitta and Delsin, but now his trajectory shifts into a different gear as he offers up his first fully-fledged artist album outside of Japan for the mighty Kompakt. It's clear from the offset he's relished the opportunity to stretch out on an album and we're treated to some stunningly rendered ambient and downtempo soundscapes - just listen to the slow rise and fall of 'Searching' and you'll be instantly sold. There's space for drama and accomplished composition as on 'Ceremony Of The Dead', jazzy exploits on 'Burning' and much more besides, showcasing the unbridled imagination of one of Japan's brightest talents.
Review: Corey Fuller and Tomoyoshi Date are the Illuha duo but for this new Tobira album they link with percussionist Tatsuhisa Yamamoto. He is a skilled drummer who has worked alone on Black Truffle but has also collaborated with Jim O'Rourke, Eiko Ishibashi, Keiji Haino, Phew and Oren Ambarchi among others. This new record focusses on electro-acoustic sounds that are run through with all manner of precise sonic details and are carried by Yamamoto's unique playing style and singular sense of groove which were recorded over two sessions. That playing style finds him playing very lightly with closely mic'ed drums so plenty of softness is captured and then interwoven with layers of Rhodes, piano, distant synths and metallic murmurations.
Review: Simon Huxtable's alias Inhmost returns to Tonight's Dream Records with a new album, Breaks & Dreams, a continuation of his 2022 release Space & Awareness. Playing on the trend of atmospheric breaks that has risen in popularity over the last decade or so, Huxtable nonetheless pushes the boundaries of the sound, his latest eight offerings providing ample glimpses into the complex structures behind our fascination with this beatified genre. Opener 'Light Haze' is a hypnagogic one, its oceanic feeling marred by a decided swing pattern in the break line itself, suggesting an essential imperfection even in the amniotic returns to oneness so suggested in this kind of music heard elsewhere. The albums steers itself in an ever-more immersive direction by the time it reaches the B-side too, with 'Signs From The East' treating its great washy ambiences like against-the-wind zephyrs against which we cannot fight and to which we must give ourselves over.
Review: Beyond A Moonless Night, a collaboration between Simon Huxtable's Inhmost project and Pierre Nesi's Owl alias, epitomizes chillout bliss. Highlights include 'Autumnal Dew,' a picturesque, nature-infused soundscape perfect for stargazing. Its beauty is awe-inspiring and evocative. 'Zodiacal Clouds' is another standout, shimmering with soft, floaty ambient tones that are simply delightful. On Side-2, 'Infinite Pathways' gives us feelings of being hopeful in a serene enviorment, offering a sense of tranquility and calm. Both artists bring their expertise in ambient music, creating a rich palette of soothing tones and textures. This collaboration is an exciting collaboration we hope to see more from. This is a must for ambient and drone followers.
Review: Japanese duo Inoyama Land's "Danzindan-Pojidon" is a cult experimental ambient classic from 1983. It has been reissued a number of times but always sells out fast, and for good reason: it's a beautifully crepuscular, pastoral musical landscape with sustained minimal synths hypnotising you with delicate keys bringing oriental flavours to gently propulsive ambience. It's organic, environmental and new age music with none of the cliches and will bring a smile to you face as well as warmth to your heart. "Glass Chime" is a particularly standout track of real melodic joy, while "Mizue" is gorgeously melancholic.
Review: "In 1987, a Japan-only Laserdisc was published by intermission. It showcased one our of works created by renowned German environmental artist NILS-UDO with specially commissioned music by Japanese Kankyo-Ongaku group Interior... Soon after, the world vanished." As a label, WRWTFWW Records have done a stellar job at setting the scene and establishing the perfect atmosphere for Sculpture of Time: Apocalypse. Released on vinyl for the very first time since it was made, almost 40 years ago, it's a lush, tranquil, and reflective slice of earthly ambient that sounds as though someone has just walked out of the jungle and picked up a synthesiser. You can almost reach out and touch the blue and green spaces the soundtrack evokes. Transportive in the truest sense.
Review: Stephen Hitchell's debut under his Intrusion moniker follows the dub techno blueprint of his previous project, Echospace's The Coldest Season. While that album drew on Basic Channel's icy soundscapes, The Seduction of Silence incorporates reggae influences particularly through the collaboration with Paul St. Hilaire (aka Tikiman), whose vocals add a unique twist. The album balances intense rhythms and serene moments with tracks like 'Montego Bay' and 'Seduction' demonstrating Hitchell's rhythmic creativity. With a warm, celestial atmosphere, the album's spiritual quality sets it apart from typical dub techno. Remastered here for even better sound, it is a classic that should be added to your dub cannon immediately.
Review: Melodies In The Sand is another vital album from Melody As Truth. It collects together the works of Czech artists Irena and Vojt?ch Havlovi, a husband and wife pair who made music int he 80s as part of experimental collective Capella Antiqua e Moderna. Their style spanned various styles of European classical music and was never less than unorthodox yet beguiling. This record really shines a light on these talented artists and brims with an emotional honesty and vulnerability that will impact anyone who hears it. The delicate keys, the vocal whispers and way they drift in and out, the rippling chords -these are always empty, subtle tracks but they leave an inedible mark.
The Only Things That Belong To Us Are Memories (6:14)
Forever Ago Is Now (6:33)
Dispersion Of Belief (4:40)
Red Moon Tide (feat KMRU) (6:22)
Review: Rafael Anton Irisarri's latest work, Facadisms, is an introspective exploration of drone music that encompasses eight atmospheric compositions. Crafted during a tumultuous period marked by social and political upheaval, the album serves as a reflection of contemporary sentiments, blending musicality with thematic discourse. Irisarri primarily utilizes guitars rather than synthesisers, creating an acousmatic texture that permeates the album. While drone elements dominate, identifiable guitar sounds occasionally pierce through, enhancing the overall experience. The collaborative tracks stand out, with contributions from Julia Kent's cello and Hannah Elizabeth Cox's ethereal vocals on 'Control Your Soul's Desire for Freedom', forming a dense, shimmering wall of sound. KMRU's presence on 'Red Moon Tide' introduces oscillating structures and haunting vocalisations, gradually building a riveting soundscape. The concept of Facadisms emerged during Irisarri's 2016 Italian tour, inspired by the stark contrasts of brutalist architecture and the superficiality of Potemkin villages. The album captures a late capitalist lament, echoing the cyclical nature of political disillusionment through repetitive motifs. Each track flows between moments of absence and melancholy, creating a mournful haze infused with cavernous guitar tones. Closing with the collaborative 'Red Moon Tide', the album crescendos into unsettling realms of celestial disquiet and bristling noise, evoking the sensation of a soul's departure into a void. The cover, depicting a decaying structure in La Perla, Puerto Rico, poignantly symbolises the themes of loss and disintegration woven throughout the music.
The Only Things That Belong To Us Are Memories (6:14)
Forever Ago Is Now (6:33)
Dispersion Of Belief (4:40)
Red Moon Tide (feat KMRU) (6:22)
Review: The seeds of composer Rafael Anton Irisarri's latest LP were first planted during his 2016 tour in Italy, months before that Autumn's unexpected presidential election. The linguistic glitch of an innocuous diner in Milan named "il Mito Americano" - meant as "The American Dream" but translated literally to English as "The American Myth" - sparked a series of ideas, both conceptual and musical. Thus was Facadisms born, a mesospheric meditation on the world's many shared fictions and fantasies, essential and inessential. Listening to this ambient record is like standing naked on the outside terrace of a mountain aerie, blustery winds disturbing but not stopping our staring out over the miniature civilisations clustered below. With gnomic titles like 'A Little Grace Is Abundance' and 'Control Your Soul's Desire For Freedom', Irisarri compels the psyche to exward attention; his thickly packed, subliminal walls of ambience act as vessels through which to meditate on the injustices that puncture, and self-sever, the integrity of the American fundamental fantasy. Even going so far as to decry the concept of freedom itself (au contraire), Irisarri states in support of the record: "The impoverished peoples of the Americas have known all along that 'freedom' is a cruel illusion crafted by the elites, akin to Potemkin's fake villages designed to impress Catherine the Great," Irisarri indicates. "Facadisms illustrates a twisted inversion where the rulers deceive their subjects with illusions of safety, democracy, and free speech to create a grotesque mirage of control over their own lives."
Review: Since 2007 Rafael Anton Irisarri has been imparting his grandiose ambient explorations with the world via labels like Room40, Immune, Uzor Rex and Miasmah. Amidst a steady uptick in output in recent years he shared the acclaimed Midnight Colours via Geographic North in 2018, originally confined to a cassette and digital release. Given the towering sonics contained within, it feels appropriate the album now gets a wider physical release on this magenta coloured vinyl reissue courtesy of Irisarri's own Black Knoll Editions. If you dig the kind of tundra scapes conjured by classic Tim Hecker, you'll certainly enjoy this album.
Review: Midnight Colours originally came out on noted ambient label Geographic North in 2018, arriving in the midst of a flurry of activity for accomplished drone navigator Rafael Anton Irisarri. Irisarri's work has graced plenty of scene leading experimental labels from Room40 to Umor Rex, sometimes given the lavish ceremonial release treatment and other times tucked away in the furtive folds of the tape world. One listen to the monolithic icebergs of sound drifting through this album, and you'll agree it was too large a work to not make it onto a full vinyl release. Now Irisarri has done the right thing and pressed this spectacular album up via his label, Black Knoll Editions.
The Only Things That Belong To Us Are Memories (6:14)
Forever Ago Is Now (6:33)
Dispersion Of Belief (4:40)
Red Moon Tide (feat KMRU) (6:22)
Review: Rafael Anton Irisarri's Facadisms, presented on striking "clear petrol" vinyl, delves into the depths of drone music through a collection of eight immersive tracks. This album, conceived during a time of significant social and political unrest, highlights contemporary experiences while intertwining musical exploration with profound thematic narratives. Irisarri's use of guitars takes center stage, favoring them over synthesiwers to establish a rich, acousmatic atmosphere throughout the album. While the drone elements predominantly shape the sound, distinct guitar melodies occasionally emerge, adding layers to the listening experience. Collaborative highlights feature prominently, particularly in 'Control Your Soul's Desire for Freedom', where Julia Kent's cello and Hannah Elizabeth Cox's ethereal voice converge to create a lush, enveloping soundscape. KMRU's contribution on 'Red Moon Tide' introduces intricate oscillations and ghostly vocal layers, gradually constructing a compelling sonic journey. The album serves as a poignant commentary on late capitalism, reflecting the repetitive cycles of political disillusionment. Each composition transitions through moments of absence and reflection, crafting a mournful soundscape infused with cavernous guitar textures. As the album culminates, it leads listeners into unsettling territories filled with celestial disturbances and resonant noise, evoking the feeling of a soul's exit into an expansive void. The album cover, showcasing a crumbling structure in La Perla, Puerto Rico, powerfully embodies the themes of loss and decay that permeate the music, making Facadisms a haunting yet deeply resonant experience.
Review: Ken Ishii's 1994 album, Reference to Difference, is a crucial, yet often overlooked, masterpiece in the world of techno, ambient and electronic music from Japan. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of Musicmine Records, this album is now reissued and remastered, available on vinyl with its original track-list for the first time. Born in 1970 in Sapporo, Ishii's journey into electronic music began with arcade games and pioneers like Yellow Magic Orchestra and Kraftwerk. The discovery of Detroit techno in the late 80s shaped his artistic vision, blending with influences from British and American IDM and ambient techno. Reference To Difference is a futuristic blend of ambient atmospheres, techno rhythms, and minimalist compositions. It transports listeners back to the mid-1990s, a golden era for Japan's unique techno culture. This era saw Tokyo's clubs like Maniac Love becoming essential hubs for the underground scene, where Ishii and peers like Susumu Yokota thrived. Ishii and Yokota set benchmarks for Japanese techno with their early works. Ishii's Reference to Difference and Yokota's Acid Mt. Fuji, released simultaneously on June 29, 1994, were pivotal in putting Japan on the global techno map. Martyn Pepperell's new liner notes accompany this reissue, shedding light on Ishii's influence and the album's significance. Rediscover this gem and experience a landmark moment in electronic music history.
Review: Alan Myson returns once more as Ital Tek, continuing a not-so-well-cited yet important sound. There's never been much of a name for it, maybe thanks to its appearance in the meting-potty post-dubstep era - but Tek's is a sound of minimal aesthetics and glossy-wonky beats. Other artists might include Kuedo, Lorn or MssingNo (but it's not wave, witch house or purple). Genre-mindedness aside, Timeproof is Myson's fifth album for Planet Mu, following 2020's Outland for a long meander through the fluid timey-wimey nature of time, and how it varies depending on its perceiver(s)' mental states. Beaty sublimers like 'Phantom Pain' and 'One Eye Open' make this a staggering time-dilating journey, one whose appeal, true to its name, will surely last for electronic music fans decades into the future.
Review: Passepartout Duo is formed of Nicoletta Favari and Christopher Salvito, whom since 2015 have been on a continuous journey travelling the world's corners, engaged in a creative process they term "slow music". Their most recent record, in collaboration with fellow duo and peers Inoyama Land, Radio Yugawara is the latest reaffirmation of this affinity with the global slow movement, an increasingly, wilfully pan-resistant lifestyle umbrella. This record was recorded in 2023, in the latter duo's Makoto Inoue's hometown of Yugawara, where his family runs a kindergarten, and whose space then doubled up as a recording studio. Made largely with children's instruments - handbells, a glockenspiel, a xylophone, recorders, melodicas, and harmonicas - an obvious association of naif innocence might be taken away from this record, but this is of course a surface interpretation. By the time we've hacked past the surface thickets of 'Abstract Pets', we enter much murkier territory, the slow unfurling of 'Simoom' and the monoized ambient assemblages of 'Mosaic' among the most notable. Through its formative rooting in themes of childhood and play, and titular reference to radio, this dyadic double date portray an effective rep of the act of 'tuning in' - something we can only really do at all in a slower-paced environment.
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