Review: One of three Seefeel re-releases arriving together - shining light on the band's mid-90s 'Warp years' - St/Fr/Sp is the only one of these that has really never existed in the past. Comprising two EPs, Starethrough and Fracture/Tied, the outing also brings in a very rare Autechre remix of 'Spangle', making for a package that's got collector's item written all over it.
Musically, this is around the moment when Seefeel began to fully embrace the abstract and electronic, having just signed to Warp, and while the shoegaze of their past remains audible there are so many influences here plucked from beyond that spectrum. Embracing ambient, drone, rave chill-out, dub, acid, and psychedelia, this edition reflects two ends of that world - the blissful and largely astral first EP, and beat-driven and highly rhythmic second.
Review: Throughout is a new and exciting label out of Kyoto that impresses once more here with a brilliantly cool new collaboration between Jungle Brothers' Sensational and the producer Unbuilt. The former has laid down endless amounts of interesting sounds over the years and Poiesis now joins those hallowed ranks. It is aptly described as "a paranoid party-starter cast against a menacing greyscale backdrop of impressive dystopian grandeur." The production from Sensational is on point and a mix of basted and dubbed out while the bars remind of early underground rap greats - like Def Jux rewired through a more contemporary sound.
Review: Joseph Shabason, Matthew Sage, and Nicholas Krgovich form a harmonious triangle, both musically and geographically. Hailing from Toronto, Colorado, and Vancouver respectively, they converged at Sage's barn studio nestled at the foot of the Rockies to explore their shared talent for finding beauty in life's mundane moments. Shabason, known for blending late 80s adult-contemporary and smooth jazz aesthetics into ethereal soundscapes, joins forces with Sage, who combines instrumental prowess with synthesis and field recordings to evoke the natural world's whimsy and profundity. Completing the trio is Krgovich, whose observational poetics add a relatable touch to their calm expressionism. Their collaborative album, warmly Shabason, Krgovich, Sage extends the wry and melancholic micro-miracles established in their previous works.
Review: Shed's Towards East was originally made for Berlin's Dussmann store back in 2022. It's a very personal project that now gets reissued by The Final Experiment and it sounds superb. The Polish producer weaves in plenty of foggy and lo-fi ambient pads into these tracks, whether they are beatless vignettes or more low-end driven soundscapes such as 'Absolute.' On 'In Between (Fur Geli), yearning strings and a lonely motif amongst walls of melancholic synth done and 'September 5th' is another hazy memory with nostalgic overtones and loads of frayed edges and buried melodic wisps. It's techno, but not as we know it.
Review: British psy-trance oddity Sphongle have been traversing the highways and byways of transcendental music culture since the late 90s, and they remain as adored within the scene as ever. Their third album, Nothing Lasts - But Nothing Is Lost is considered one of their great opuses - a twisting and turning fever dream of exotic passages, mind-warping synthesis and lysergic grooves from the studios and brains of Simon Posford and Raja Ram. Split into 20 tracks, but supposedly formed of eight phases in a cohesive dream sequence, it's the ultimate trip, and it's finally getting a repress on vinyl via Posford's legendary Twisted Records, one of the true bastions of psy-trance culture.
The Aquatic Garden Of Extra-celestial Delights (11:40)
Juggling Molecules (9:16)
Further Adventures In Shpongleland (6:15)
The Epiphany Of Mrs Kugla (6:37)
Ticking The Amygdala (8:35)
Review: Sphongle continue to gift their fans with these exquisite reissues of their illustrious catalogue, catching up to more recent times with the richly dynamic sound of Museum Of Consciousness. This 2013 epic leant in on every dimension of Simon Ponsford and Raja Ram's sound, at once bristling with kinetic electronica energy while keeping their much-loved mysticism front and centre. It's a trip, like a Sphongle album should be, but it's also got a certain bite which more than stands up to the rigours of the modern dancefloor. One of the group's great skills has been in moving with the times while staying true to a certain deep-rooted, festival-friendly playfulness. Grab a slice of cosmic delight, freshly remastered for your brain to happily feast on.
Review: Swedish duo SHXCXCHCXSH distort club music by using a refined, idiosyncratic palette that challenges functionality. As logophiles, they twist language into fragmented, barely recognisable sequences, reflecting their experimental process. Their new album marks their debut for Northern Electronics and showcases a broader exploration of sound. Spanning 15 tracks in style, it combines drone elements, shredded vocals and chaotic melodies to make for a dark, intense atmosphere. Interspersed with brooding yet effervescent breaks, ......t is their most focused and comprehensive work to date and it also pushes their sound into new territories.
Review: These Charms May Be Sung Over A Wound is Richard Skelton's first for Phantom Limb and the latest in a long line of standout releases from the cultured British star. It features plenty of the hallmarks of his signature sound - strings, pianos and acoustic instruments all mired in audio dust and dirt to make for tense pieces of electronic experimentation and ambient that can freak you out or calm you down depending on his mood. The artist again here uses signal-degradation "as a means of reflecting the processes of decay and transformation in the natural world" and the results are compelling.
Review: Polish composer Aleksandra Slyz is back with a second album, a first on Warm Winters, that sees her "finding connections between acoustic and synthetic sounds, creating rich drone structures, slowly but intensely pulsing and resonating within the surrounding space and within each listener." The physicality of the instruments used in the record also defines its sound, from the way fingers press down on bows to the air pressure of each sax note. Across three pieces, it makes for an emotionally impactful record in which you can almost see the musician at work as you listen, such is the palpable playing style.
Review: After being commissioned to produce several 'interlocking' ambient pieces for an art gallery piece in LA, Brian Foote and Sage Caswell decided to take the concept of 'audience crossfading' to the next level, creating an entire ambient album using a particular sonic technique. Over five long pieces from 'Waterwheel' to 'Smiley', their aim was to evoke the feeling of bodies moving in thoroughfares. The tracks are long-exposed movements captured in ambient space, blending rhythms and soundscapes for chillout rooms that exist only in memory now.
Review: This first album from Sons proves them adept at a range of techno soundscapes, It was written as the soundtrack to a movie that does not exists and it plays out with a great sense of narrative because of that. It tells the story of Anna and her escape from earth to a new planet, Seylanide. The record features well-received singles such as 'Identity' (ft. Sun) and 'Eternity' (ft. OCB), complete with plenty of rich layers of emotive pads, deep basslines and melodic vibes that have your mind cast adrift in a cosmic abyss.
Review: The first release on SOS Gunver Ryberg's own imprint, Arterial Recordings, is a great example of how wrong assumptions and presumptions can be when based on labels. And no, we don't mean record labels. Ryberg is an award-winning sound artist, but what do we mean when we say things like that? Is it the dense theoretical and conceptual sonics designed solely as installations within the institutions of art itself, or something more tangibly recognisable as 'music' itself? Maybe it's neither. It can definitely be both. Spine proves that last point wonderfully. Yes, this is electronic music at the bleeding edge, strange aural worlds crafted from noises and gadgets that could be the controls of a space craft from the future for all the average person might know. But the tracks here are definite and deliberately designed to be heard as tracks, whether that's the serene, floating-past-the-cosmos ambience of 'Sensuous Sky', or the frantic breakbeat tension of the title track.
Review: Soundwalk Collective's their latest project is released by Ubi Ku, a new imprint focused on Buddhism, spirituality and contemporary creation. This immersive album draws inspiration from Tibetan deities and the Himalayan Plateau and is marbled with field recordings made in Upper Mustang, Nepal, in 2016. The collection blends natural sounds, bells, drones and vocals into spine-tingling sermons that also include a Patti Smith contribution to 'Chasing the Demon.' It makes for an expansive, emotive sonic tale that draws on deep research and fieldwork to make for a sublime intersection of sound, environment and spirituality that is utterly profound.
Review: Originally from Rome, Italy, Marco Antonio - the man behind the mask, or the MaSpaventi moniker - relocated to Amsterdam in 2007. A switch from one historic and stunning city to another, in doing so he landed himself smack bang in one of the most vibrant and pro-active electronic music communities and industries on the planet. Suffice to say, then, he's both in the right place and the wrong place to get noticed, with a healthy scene also meaning lots and lots of noise to shout over.
As Vicino Lontano proves, the man in question - who also teaches electronic music production software Ableton alongside other lessons at music schools, including Abbey Road Institute - isn't really up for shouting at all. His work speaks volumes and much louder than most anyway, through sci-fi-hued cosmic dance floor stuff, space age drone, off-centre Italo, and futuristic ambient of the highest possible order.
That Wisnae A Microdose/Melon Farmer/Epsilon/Sheep To Shepherd (21:33)
Review: Mad-heads, rave veterans and lovers of having their brains rewired by previously unexplored sonic realms unite, because here comes the first of four, yes four, new albums from the fantastic freak of nature that is Special Request. His 'What Time Is Love? Sessions' arrives in several different formats this month and across six sizzling tracks that re-wire the KLF's hit of that name, he taps into everything from "ephemeral ambiance to barnstorming hardcore, pummelling house to pointillist trance" and does so with a mix of the surreal and the psychotic, the psychedelic and the downright ridiculous. It's mental, and we love it.
That Wisnae A Microdose/Melon Farmer/Epsilon/Sheep To Shepherd (21:33)
Review: As you know if you have followed the work of Special Request aka Paul Woolford, it often comes in huge bursts and across several releases at once. So it is that this year the one-man production machine is to drop not one but a four-album run over the next 12 months, all independently. Quite what he runs on we do not know but we need some because once again on this limited clear vinyl version of his 'What Time Is Love? Sessions' he taps into the future as he rewires the musical DNA of rave, techno, bass and jungle into tracks that make your brain fizz and your body move. Unreal work once more from this unstoppable force.
Review: Florian TM Zeisig's latest project has been created with perfumer Angel Paradise so blends scent and sound into a multi-sensory experience rooted in the Bavarian Alps. While living in the rural village of Hinang, Paradise studied alpine plants to craft natural perfumes while Zeisig composed Spool, a reflective suite inspired by nostalgia, landscape and the duo's impending departure. Combining field recordings, ambient loops and blurred instrumental vignettes, the music has a wonderfully dreamlike, pastoral atmosphere that has your head lost somewhere beautiful. Paired with the fragrance that comes with it and captures the oily, floral essence of their environment, this is a poignant meditation on memory, nature and the fleeting beauty of physical presence that is unlike anything else you will experience this year.
Review: If you're not familiar with Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan's SQURL project, then it's time to rectify that. Over the past eight years, the two interdisciplinary creatives have been touring some of the most prestigious venues in the world (Art Institute of Chicago, Elizabeth Hall, London, Center Pompidou, Paris), presenting live scores to the experimental films of Dadaist pioneer Man Ray. Can you guess where this is going? As Logan puts it: "It's a journey we want to take the audience on, illuminating themes throughout these films. They are discrete, but there are also recurring echoes throughout the whole programme". Music For Man Ray presents some of those spellbinding ideas-as-soundtracks in an album form. Tunes and noises created and developed to accompany the film Return To Reason, when experienced as standalone audio it emphasises just how captivating the tones are.
Review: Zaheer Gulamhusein (Xvarr, Waswaas) and Justin Tripp (Georgia) are String and they make the sort of ambient music that is so absorbing you lose all concept of space and time. This latest limited edition pouting comes on tape and vinyl and will suck you in deeper than ever to w world of subtle pulses, sonar bleeps, distant machine hiss and cancerous ambient that is like a beatless counterpart to the most sci-fi work of Detroit don Jeff Mills. Sounds are elusive as they come and go, rhythms only implied, and horizons the work of your own imagination.
Review: You don't need to know that Craobh Haven was made during a one week residency at a tiny cabin in a remote Scottish village of the same name. One play through of the latest stunner to land on the ever-excellent ambient institution SWIMS and it'll feel like you were there in person. A witness to the creation of this strangely natural-feeling, highly technically-crafted, six tracker. Everything about the work by London-based musician and visual artist Loz Keystone and Glaswegian synth explore and jazz trumpeter Christos Stylianides feels in the right place. Its warm and fuzzy but vast and windswept. It's avant garde and abstract, but rounded and complete. It's incredibly inviting and slowly hypnotic. Distant samples of inaudible chatter and looped melodic refrains. Distorted walls of noise masking the patient power of aching brass. You get the point.
Review: Japanese ambient owes a great debt to Masahiro Sugaya, whose work has been re-assessed and taken on all the more importance in recent years. The now cult musician and composer released his The Long Living Things album in 1988 for the performing arts company he belonged to, Pappa Tarahumara. Though it was overlooked for many years, it is now in sharp focus and gets a deserving reissue on vinyl for the first time ever by P-Vine which he also belonged to, and has long been overlooked by all but a few enthusiastic music lovers. One track from it was Grammy-nominated and rich of the record is minimalistic, with soft interwoven sequences that keep you afloat amongst the warming pads.
Review: Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones head back into the studio and fire up the Eurorack modular synth for a third adventure into the great unknown of sounds and noises seemingly once heard in another dimension before being brought back to planet Earth with the hope of recreating whatever the rumbling or bleeping was. Electronic Music Improvisations Vol.3 is exactly that, building on the self-imposed musical parameters that guided the preceding two parts. Deep, otherworldly, vast, and unique, the beauty of Miller and Jones' Sunroof project is how it's also the opposite of all those words. Sparse, pared back, familiar, very much born of manmade machines, since these endeavours began we've crossed through the looking glass into a world that often feels like it's spinning out of human control, not least with the advent of music entirely made by AI. Here's proof people can still take complete charge of their creative process.
Review: A new chapter in the 'zen music for disturbed souls' series, Erik K. Skodvin adds to his legacy as alter-ego Svarte Greiner with another stunning EP that has plenty of layers to dive into, albeit on the surface seems constructed in an ultra-minimalistic way. Understanding the nuances takes a little background reading, but before that let's talk sounds - reverse out fragments of cello, electric-acoustic improvisation, sparse, dark, almost bleak and certainly a little but eerie. If that sounds intriguing enough, the process behind it should seal the deal. 'Devolving Trust' is actually a live recording, captured in the depths o the Schneider Brewery, Berlin. A setting the producer himself describes as "wet and hollow" with "long reverb", it's aural effect defines the music that's here. 'Devolve' then takes those tones and rethinks, retouches and reorganises them with similar gravitas.
Review: This reissued gem offers meticulously crafted aural rituals that delve into sensual electronic music and human sexuality. Founded by Adi Newton in 1978 to merge art, science and sonology while embracing innovative, multidisciplinary approaches, The Anti Group served as a platform for exploring psycho-acoustic research and this 1994 album was recorded over three years. It is among their more accessible works - never more so than now when it debuts on vinyl after 30 years. As well as the original pieces, it comes with four bonus tracks including a film soundtrack and a remix.
Review: Breton artist Yann Tiersen's new album is divided into two distinct parts, each with its own identity. Rathlin from a Distance features eight introspective piano pieces named after locations Tiersen visited during his 2023 sailing tour, such as the Fastnet Lighthouse and the Faroe Islands. The music evokes introspection and tranquillity throughout and creates a meditative atmosphere that makes a lasting and cathartic impact. In contrast, The Liquid Hour is an expansive blend of electronic and psychedelic rhythms born from Tiersen's reflections on political and social change during his time at sea. The section's haunting melodies and Emilie Quinquis' vocals make a great counter to part one.
Review: Mille Plateaux and Raster hero Andreas Tilliander meets Fire! Orchestra's Goran Kajfes somewhere deep - and we mean DEEP - in the jazz cosmos. The farthest reaches of a universe far, far away, but one that still seems to understand how joyful vast can sound when pierced by the haunting yet strangely alluring sound of brass. But simply defining this as jazz misses a point, then throws us well beyond the pale. In Cmin would be nothing without the electronic tricks and gadgetry that first made us feel as though we'd space-walked off the edge of the known galaxy, out past the Milky Way's stardust. Echoes, tape delays, things that add mood and timbre without necessarily shouting their presence. There's magic at work here. And, contrary to the 21st Century's obsession with under-the-hood, not knowing the how is the reason why you want this.
Review: The second album from Stefano Ghittoni and Bruno Dorella following 2019's Estatico. The duo again explores a rich soundscape blending experimental techniques with elements from both popular and underground music. Beginning with ethereal electroacoustic tones, the album evolves with delicate rhythms, arpeggiations and broken beats that cook up a moody, introspective atmosphere. Textural depth comes from the well worked samples, tape manipulations, field recordings and other unconventional sounds that are all seamlessly interwoven with traditional instruments. Drawing from electronic experimentation, psychedelic minimalism and shoegaze, this is a complex, immersive beauty.
Review: RECOMMENDED
With sounds that might remind some of the USS Discovery's spore hub jump drive in Star Trek: Discovery, it should go without saying Tobias' Hall Ov Fame sits in the futurist end of ambient and drone music. But that's not to suggest there isn't also plenty of humanism happening here, too. The lush, perhaps ironically warm tones of 'Abandoned' come with added, inaudible vocals, albeit even these sound like they might be reeling off departure times for the day's starship flights.
Geeking out aside (blame the producer's clear knack for realising the kinds of noises that transport you directly into the cosmos), this is a record of deep layers, texture upon texture seeming to move in tandem, moments of harmony dissipating into simple refrains, before the next movement begins. Stunning.
Review: Shopping-as-hallucination was the idea behind Omega Mart, an immersive exhibition created by Meow Wolf in the capital of capitalistic pomp and OTT living, Las Vegas. A comment and scathing critique of a world that has convinced us of autonomy and individual agency but in feels more militant in its demand for consumption than the 1980s and 1990s ever were. Which is saying A LOT. One of the true auteurs of electronic music, Amon Tobin, was drafted for the score. A Living Room is an excerpt from that vast, blissful yet dystopian soundtrack. Calling on influences such as Jean Michel-Jarre, Vangelis and Brian Eno, this is an homage to synthetics in every possible way - its very beautiful and captivating existence reliant on the kind of inhuman instruments that are part and parcel of a society that no longer understands what is and isn't natural.
Review: Immortal Ventures is a magnificently well-rounded new album from Torn on the mighty Samurai Music. All 13 of the cuts are fantastically well crafted and mix up a range of moods from broody and mediative to deep and hypnotic. 'Knowledge' kicks off with dark and unsettling ambience and 'Reckless' then melts the mind with deft percussive loops over groaning sounds of a depraved underworld. There is more cinematic atmosphere to 'Invisible Turmoil' with its creepy sense of open space and 'Inner Battle' is a kinetic jungle cut with thunderous energy and dystopian eeriness. This is the sort of music that works as well away from the club as it does in it.
Review: Dutchman Tom Trago has somehow been away from what was once his home label for a full decade now. He makes a welcome return like a long-lost son on new album Deco, a superbly accomplished record that takes its name from a sauna he frequented when he needed to decompress. Eventually, he put his musical career on hold and went to speed time with his young family and so this album was recorded after a long time away from club dance floors. It is delightfully whimsical with airy melodies, curious chords and majestic synth craft all drifting over barely-there rhythms. It's an album that provided musical therapy for Trago, and now us.
Review: Brighton-based Australian vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Penelope Trappes drops her fifth full length album and invites us on a bare bones, spiritual journey. Making herself incredibly vulnerable in the process, these are the kind of tracks that induce meditative and psychedelic trains of thought, haunting and beautiful, blissful and tense. Cello drones, gothic aesthetics, a king of futurist folk, at least some of the inspiration for which has come from time spent in isolated corners of Scotland. You can almost feel the wind blowing through the room as A Requiem lures and entices, breaks and mends hearts. Ambient, neo-classical, trance inducing works of wonder. This is the kind of record that can help make you see the world for what it is, and realise just how lucky we are to be here at the same time.
Review: Troekurovo Recordings is a production team made up of Toki Fuko, Vadim Basov and Evgeny Vorontsov and they have been hidden away deep in some enchanted Russian forests recording music. Now they are putting out the results on this superb double pack. This project started back in 2016 as a live experimental jam and is now an annual tradition made on loads of analogue gear on the banks of a canyon that was formed many years ago by a melting glacier. The locale provides inspiration - from the fresh country air to the meteor showers often visible overhead - for the music making which is strictly "no preparation, no pre-programming - hardware, friends and live improvisation only."
Review: Hugh and Jackson performed together as Tunnel Dancers at Good God's 'Soft Future Piano Bar' at the Sydney Opera House in 2017. It was a year that was pivotal for both them and the Sydney music scene because the same year was when Mad Habitat hosted a DIY party in a tunnel near Sydney Airport, possibly the same tunnel that inspired Tunnel Dancers' name. Seven years later, the pair serve up this album which is a tribute to patience and understanding. They took their time, enjoying laksa lunches and quiet moments at The Babylon Sauna & Spa, and the lovely resulting sounds are warm, inviting, deftly derailed with rhythm and found sounds and as good for the mind as they are the body.
Review: You don't often see a clavichord credited on the list instruments used on an album. The stringed, rectangular keyboard found favour in the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras, and while commonplace during the Middle Ages is, today, pretty obscure. That is, unless you're a musician with a penchant for recreating those historical periods in sound, or someone like Tori Amos or Bjork, both of who are among the
Review: Unchained is the longstanding solo project of Nathaniel Davis. Gabbeh is his latest offering to the world, a suite of blissfully introspective tracks that envelop the soul in a blanket of soft, delicate moods, their sole purpose to comfort aching heads. Remarkably, dedicated fans will know you can trace the artist's lineage to noise mix tapes on CD-R, although more recent excursions into Bossa nova influenced tones perhaps help bridge the gap between then and now. Recorded at home over a three year period, from 2020 to 2023, Grenoble, Switzerland, played a big part in end results here. "I think certain songs reflect, in ways, Grenoble's natural surroundings. 'Drac' is named after the river that flows from the mountains down to the city - 'Dru' is the name of a well-known peak near Chamonix," Davis has explained. That as may be, nevertheless there's something more transportive than that here - songs feel as though they would be at home anywhere green, slow and thoughtful.
Review: This sophomore album from Istanbul-born, Berlin-based electronic composer and sound artist Huma Utku explores psychological phenomena through a series of sonic essays. Drawing on her background in Psychology, Utku combines her academic and artistic practices in this ambitious release and includes recordings from her Elektronmusikstudion residency in 2020. The album also features synth intrigue, electroacoustic, experimental techno, industrial and spoken word all brought to life with piano, strings and vocals. Utku creates a dramatic, unsettling soundworld here while exploring themes of grief, consciousness, dream analysis and psychological symbolism. It's a truly intimate exploration of the human condition.
Review: Albert Van Abbe impresses with his new full-length Olodumare Who Is which is an exploration of deep, hypnotic techno with profound spiritual undertones. Drawing inspiration from his diverse cultural background and the Yoruba religion, the album blends dark, atmospheric soundscapes with intricate rhythms and deep basslines while Van Abbe's meticulous approach to production makes for a mysterious journey where each track weaves together minimalist percussion, tribal influences and eerie melodies. The result is an immersive sonic experience that evokes a sense of both tension and release while fusing ancient traditions with modern techno.
Review: Belgian techno mainstay Peter Van Hoesen - currently based in Ho Chi Minh City - has always been a master of many things - tone, timbre, texture, tempo. He has crafted some of techno's finest long players as well as most destructive club tracks over the last 20 odd years and now he returns with Towards the Center of Time and Surrounded by Spirits on Vlek. It is his first long player in over a decade and is a superbly contemporary work of techno that leads up to the magnificent avant-garde finale, 'Twilight Static Dilemma'.
Review: This is the latest outing in a strong string of releases from Polymorphism, a label that embraces and works with artists from across the world in a bid to turn back catalogue into a kind of cultural map. A record of the differences we should celebrate, from one corner of the globe to the next, and the ties that bind despite the two ends being thousands of miles apart. For February 2025, the imprint looks to Danish artist Vanity Productions. One of many highly skilled and creative names working in the country's ambient-electronic scene, here we're given two beautiful originals worthy of that sunrise in your mind, and a pair of remixes keeping up the international concept. The first from Italy's Ireen Amnes, the other Iranian studio type Farzane.
Review: Originally released in 2013 on Periferin, former Mayhem man Varg's debut album, Skaeliptom is a ride and a half. A ride to where is the question. It's dark and mechanical, but at the same time freed of Earthly constraints - the ambient techno equivalent of becoming uncoupled from the mothership during a space walk and calmly residing yourself to enjoying floating away into the eternal darkness. Even if there's a sense nobody comes back. It's not that there's a sinister vibe here, more of an unknown quantity. It's sparse and strangely quiet, patient yet edgy and always moving us onto new, previously unexplored soundscapes. Vast and somehow also very personal, Skaeliptom is a curious experiment in electronics that gives us perspective on just how much there might be out there waiting for us to find.
JD Emmanuel - "Cruising In The Dimension Of A Shenandoah Backyard" (9:00)
Cool Maritime - "Climbing Up" (Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith mix) (4:56)
Lauren Doss - "Integer" (3:56)
JQ - "Lighthouse" (1:06)
Brain Machine - "Crystal Clouds" (Gigi Masin remix) (9:14)
David Casper - "Dawn Poems Part 2: Awakening" (6:01)
Ariel Kalma - "Space Forest" (6:06)
Precipitation - "Night, Tall Grass" (7:17)
IKSRE - "Giant Kingfisher Of Paradise" (Ocean Moon mix) (5:11)
Vague Imaginaires - "Le Sillage Du Vaguarti" (5:38)
Don Slepian - "Earth To Venus" (5:24)
Suzanne Ciani - "The Third Wave: Love In The Waves" (5:18)
Circle Moon - "New Flow" (3:15)
Mary Lattimore - "A Unicorn Catches A Falling Star" (Ocean Moon Redux) (6:46)
Review: The Spaciousness series looks to "explore the connections, the overlaps, the roots and the future" of overlapping genres of music that include new age, downtempo, ambient, world and post-classical. The first volume was exceptionally well done and this second one is too. Plenty of heavy hitters feature including new age legends Laraaji and Iasos, Coil member Michael J York, Ulrich Schnauss and modern mainstays like Andras Fox and Seahawks. Between them, they help make for a widescreen selection of sounds that will uplift, bring a tear and soothe, sometimes all at once.
James Hoff - "A Cha A I Feel Like A Ghost Uh" (3:02)
Eric Frye - "Plague Chain" (2:23)
Maxwell Sterling - "Xiahe Tears" (4:26)
Muein - "Creep" (3:56)
James K - "Sketch 4" (4:30)
Review: The brilliantly cultured 29 Speedway is a Brooklyn-based record label and performance series founded in 2020 by Ben Shirken that features cutting-edge improvisational music and multimedia performances. It has hosted shows at venues like Pioneer Works and Public Records and worked with artists like James Hoff, J. Albert, Flora Yin-Wong, and Kamran Sadeghi. This new compilation UltraBody showcases artists exploring the intersection of self, technology, and spirituality and that results in a 13-track collection of out-of-this-world ambient, dub and techno fusions with an avant-garde edge.
Brightness Shallan Davar - "Words Of Radiance" (Prologue) (3:23)
Stratusphere - "Forest Fortress" (3:16)
State Azure - "Sapper's Dilemma" (2:30)
All India Radio - "Ancient Invocations" (3:25)
Mason Bee - "Sunu" (2:03)
Carbon Based Lifeforms - "Suburban Tessellation" (interlude I) (2:42)
Segerfalk - "Where We Never Left" (3:21)
Digitonal - "Sparrow" (3:40)
Ochre - "Intrinsic Grey" (2:43)
Review: Initially released exclusively in digital format two years ago, the already cult favourite Whispers Of An Ancient World finally makes its way to vinyl courtesy of Mystic & Quantum but in highly restricted numbers. Featuring artwork by Kilian Eng, this red edition offers a mesmerising auditory journey. Ambient landscapes and evocative ancient ceremonies coalesce with explorations through lush jungles, tranquil acoustic melodies, and edgier dub motifs hinting at a looming dystopian future. Contributions from artists such as Diagonal, Mason Bee, and State Azure enrich its allure as the whole thing adds up to a cinematic tapestry that captivates with atmospheric depth.
Brad Oberhofer - "I Hugged A Clown In My Dream" (3:20)
Alan Wyffels - "Intermezzo" (3:25)
Laraaji - "Waltz Life" (4:14)
Alice Boman - "17" (2:49)
ML Buch - "Getting To Know Each Other" (3:21)
The Kimba Unit - "Three Sundays" (2:42)
Mark William Lewis - "Josh, This Is Lin, I Accidentally Left My Documents In Your Car Yesterday" (2:02)
Matthew Tavares - "Cool Piano Vibe" (2:17)
Hand Habits - "Not Worth The Lie" (4:58)
Youth Lagoon - "The Harvest" (2:18)
Ichiko Aoba - "2024-06-13" (5:51)
Review: The first in a series of solo piano compilations curated by section1 designed to celebrate the beauty and versatility of piano music. Blending contemporary classical, experimental and ambient styles, these pieces highlight raw emotions like joy, sadness, doubt and certainty. Artists were guided by two rules throughout the process: the piano was the primary instrument and no vocals. All 12 tracks are immersive and showcases the unique creative relationship each artist has with the piano while demonstrating how 88 keys can evoke drastically different moods. It works equally well for active or passive listening with calm and introspective results.
Review: This latest Semantica compilation sees the cultured Spanish label continue to shine a light on the familiar sonic paths explored by Svreca's label, all while maintaining its signature refusal to be confined by any one specific sound. But of course, despite this resistance to labels, there is still a recognisable core that defines the label's sound and that is deep, heady techno. Iridescent builds on this heritage as he smoothly transitions from ambient and electronic textures to more driving techno. This release really stands out amongst this label's already fine array of quality EPs and LPs.
Morgen Wurde - "Weiht" (feat Maria Estrella) (4:21)
Thore Pfeiffer - "Isola" (5:07)
Max Wurden & Pepo Galan - "Seis Minutos Mas" (4:38)
Andrew Thomas - "Kiss The Horizon" (4:56)
Review: RECOMMENDED
It's hard to imagine anyone with ears and an understanding of 'how things should be done properly' not having about a million years' worth of time for Kompakt Records and the bossman Michael Mayer. Both have endured rises and falls in electronic music, and remain emblems of quality within house, techno, electro and electronica. In more recent times, though, you could argue the label has never been on better form than when dealing with tracks which are not necessarily focused on the dance floor.
From that end of things comes the appropriately titled Pop Ambient compilation series, each instalment a masterclass of lush, thoughtful production work. Here we're treated to efforts from Markus Guentner and Joachim Spieth, Triola, Andrew Thomas and Black Gloss, with the combined effect equivalent to what it might feel like to physically walk into a tapestry of vivid, soft, relaxing colours.
Vessel & Rakhi Singh - "It Can't Be Helped (There Is Nothing In The Sky)" (2:50)
Review: It's the first ever compilation from Do You Have Peace?, the celebrated Bristol label spearheaded by Jabu. Originally intended as a project that would link together disparate dream pop artists, things have naturally evolved into a far broader sonic spectrum. There are ties that bind, though, like the 'half awake' vibe running through every track here. On the list, then, you'll find DIY chamber music, cinema-worthy grand arrangements, intimate confessionals, and strange, otherworldly immersive love letters. Vocals dominate the early half, while the second allows us to escape into a mind unfettered by language, presenting sublime instrumentals without voices. Aside from a few half-heard utterances, motifs and fragments. Lush, engrossing and genuinely beautiful, it should be on everyone's list.
Dead Connection/Corpse On The Stairs/Ben Arrives (1:11)
Panic (2:19)
Blood From The Landing (1:08)
Smashing The Headlight (1:44)
Tire Iron Attack (2:19)
Don't Look At It! (1:02)
Back Porch Bonfire (0:40)
Searching The House (0:45)
The Music Box (0:22)
Boarding Up The House (3:03)
Fireplace & Torch (0:36)
Kocked Out (1:33)
Lounge Chair Bonfire (1:15)
The Cellar Door (0:30)
Finding The Rifle (2:44)
Ben Comforts Barbara (0:24)
Cleaning Upstairs (2:03)
New Arrivals (0:19)
Attack At The Window (1:36)
Grasping Hands (4:00)
Ghouls Approach The House (0:35)
Down To The Cellar (1:08)
Up From The Cellar (1:36)
Escape Plan (1:32)
Tom & Judy (1:04)
Unboarding (1:16)
Molotov Cocktails (1:48)
Escape From The House (1:52)
Truck Escape (1:14)
Truck On Fire (1:20)
Feeding Frenzy (2:30)
Lights Out (1:22)
Finale Siege (2:16)
Breakthrough (2:18)
Helen's Death (2:18)
Ghouls Overrun (2:18)
Cellar Nightmare (2:18)
The Posse (2:18)
Bonfire (2:18)
End Credits (2:18)
Bonus Night Of The Living Dead 1968 Radio Spot (1:43)
Review: Waxwork Records presents another superb OST here in the form of the complete Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead. Released originally in 1968, this groundbreaking independent horror film follows seven strangers trapped in a farmhouse and besieged by flesh-eating ghouls. Made on a modest budget by a group of Pittsburgh-based filmmakers, it became a cultural phenomenon, earning over 250 times its cost and redefining the horror genre. Acknowledged as a cult classic, the film is preserved in the National Film Registry for its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance and the soundtrack is just as compelling.
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