Review: UK producer Trevor Huddleston aka 36 and the Indiana-based Past Inside The Present label's head Zake return to their Stasis Sounds For Long Distance Space Travel project, a universe that suspends the listener in time across glacial soundscapes and a general sense of cosmic awe. Soft, slow-moving drones and textural washes drift like solar winds through the vacuum, suggesting the boundless calm of deep space. The production is rich, gentle with tonal shifts and barely-there harmonics that evoke both distance and intimacy, wonder and melancholy. It feels like music beamed in from the edges of the known universe. If you fancy a contemplative journey from the edge of Earth's thermosphere into the unknowable beyond, tune into Stasis Sounds on your best headphones.
Review: Alien D is the NYC-based producer Daniel Creahan, and he's back with a debut on Theory Therapy that taps into widescreen worlds of techno immersion. Departing from the ambient abstraction of his previous work, this album as a subtle kinetic pulse with tracks like 'Soil Dub' and 'Sleepy's Gambit' propel listeners forward with dubwise rhythms crafted for deep dancefloors. The album builds on an infectious, steady groove with repeating phrases and subtle shifts that keep the music in constant motion. Conceived in the first days after the COVID lockdown, these sounds exude a hopeful quality and capture the transcendent moments of early-morning parties when the moment is full of unbridled hope for what might come.
Review: Swedish composer Ellen Arkbro's Nightclouds is a deeply introspective and romantic turn that collects five solo organ improvisations recorded across Europe in 2023-24. Departing from installation-based compositions, Nightclouds explores slow, chordal improvisations rich in texture and atmosphere while drawing on sacred music, ECM jazz and minimalism. Along the way, Arkbro creates immersive soundscapes that balance austerity and emotional depth while shifting between meditative stillness and modernist tension with standout recordings like 'Morningclouds' and two variations on the title track. Through meticulous mic placement and tonal clarity, Arkbro draws you in with the intimacy and vastness of her sonic world.
Review: The first recorded meeting of Pierre Bastien (compositeur Parisien) and Casper Van De Velde's (Belgian drummer known for his outings on Qeerecords) documents two days of lowkey live-performed regalia at Werkplaats Walter in Brussels. Set up by Blickwinkel, the residency saw Bastien's "miniature mechanical orchestras" - trumpets, motors, Meccano arms, all of which make up the former artist's trademark live machinic draw - click into orbit with Van De Velde's loose-limbed, textural percussion. Both artists work in detail and gesture before volume, moving gently but unpredictably, index finger tracing part-clockwork, part-creature pattern cuts.
Review: Elizabeth Madox Roberts' The Time Of Man (1926) is an episodic modern novel, tracing the life of Ellen Chesser, the daughter of poor white tenant farmers in rural Kentucky. Roberts treats the main character's movement through different landscapes and seasons waveringly, grappling with poverty, loss, love, and the push-pull between solitude and connection by way of a lytic narrative that shifts and resolves atemporally. Biosphere's new record carries the transmission chain further, naming itself after the novel while interspersing its hiss-topped drum machine actions with vocal snippets from Joan Lorring's radio play version. Slowly transcendent, Biosphere presides with arid royalty over a slow but satiating new six-track release.
Review: Ambre Ciel is a Montreal-based composer and singer known for her dreamy, spacious soundscapes. Drawing from impressionism, American minimalism and contemporary classical music, her work blends layered violins, piano and ethereal vocals in both English and French so is a sophisticated and stylish sound. Coming from a family of artists, she began with violin at six, later experimenting with pedals, loops and harmonies. Her debut album Still, There is the Sea marks a delicate yet bold entry into her sonic world and is a deeply personal, atmospheric journey shaped by strings, acoustic textures and voice. It's an imperfect beginning, as she calls it, but one brimming with intention and beauty.
Review: This new collaboration between Swedish producer Civilistjavel! and Lebanese artist Mayssa Jallad is both a conceptual inversion and a sonic ghost of Jallad's original record. Refracting material from her Beirut-focused album through sparse dub techno, Civilistjavel! transforms narrative-rich compositions into abstract, often beatless forms where Mayssa's voice floats disembodied in a fog of delay and reverb. Tracks like 'Baynana (Version)' and 'Holiday Inn (March 21 to 29) (Version)' feel haunted by memory, with structure hinted at but rarely resolved. It's a remarkable shift in context, but one that remains emotionally aligned. Civilistjavel!'s production avoids spectacle in favour of slow erosionivocal fragments hover, dissolve, re-emerge. Even more rhythmic moments like 'Kharita (Dub)' maintain an eerie restraint, built on slippery grooves and shimmering decay. Both artists are working far from their geographic homesiMayssa in Boston, Tomas in Uppsalaibut the result sounds uncannily unified. It's a record that holds grief and beauty in the same hand, illuminating the quiet force of Mayssa's voice and Civilistjavel!'s deft minimalism. Not so much a remix album as a parallel reality: austere, spectral, and deeply moving.
Review: Italian techno heavyweight Claudio PRC's fifth album, Self Surrender, is a meditative dive into self-acceptance that comes on Amsterdam's long-running and always top-notch Delsin Records. Claudio delivers a fluid narrative across an exploration of tasteful ambient, dub, minimal house and deep techno here, and it opens with some absorbing introspection before gradually shifting into more kinetic territory. It is driven by pulsing kicks, dreamy textures, acid flourishes and ghostly strings as a refined blend of techno and house sounds all coalesce with the signature depth Claudio has honed over years of his craft. Self Surrender closes on an ethereal note, which encapsulates its core message of letting go.
Review: A fourth full length from the Montreal-based enigma. Sarah Davachi's electroacoustic compositions have become the stuff of legend and hallucination-inducing live shows, refrains that bore into your mind then soul, detailed and complex ideas borne out in minimalist moods capable of taking listeners beyond themselves, out to somewhere completely new. Talk about a curveball, then. All My Circles Run features five totally unique compositions which all share one common trait - they eschew synthesisers and instead each focus on a different instrument. Hence the titles. 'For Strings', 'For Voice', 'For Piano', 'For Organ', 'Chanter'. But, although the record's core parts represent a different move for the musician, Davachi's incredible ear for subtly powerful sounds remains at the centre of the experience. So prepare to be blown away again. Gently.
Review: Originally released in 2015, this reissue returns to the stunning debut full-length from Canadian electroacoustic composer Sarah Davachi, who is rapidly becoming a big deal in the world of experimental sounds. Emerging from brief but acclaimed releases on labels like Important Records' Cassauna and Full Spectrum, this album marked her as a unique voice within the world of minimalist and experimental sound. Trained at Mills College, Davachi's work reflects a deep understanding of synthesis and acoustic instrumentation, with a focus on patience, atmosphere and tone over flashy modular theatrics. Rather than overwhelming the listener with density, Davachi builds a deep listening album full of impressive tracks. Vintage synths like the Buchla 200, EMS Synthi and Prophet 5 provide an enveloping tonal palette that reveal the composer's intent to create a more intimate, hybrid sonic language. The opening track 'heliotrope' unfolds like smoke rising into a high ceiling, shimmering with evolving harmonic detail. 'wood green' moves from near-silence to a radiant calm. An album of introspection and careful design in a world of maximalist electronics, a rare piece of compositional grace. Its return in reissue form feels not only deserved but necessary.
Review: Longfound Norweigan friends Erik Skodvin and Otto Totland pair as Deaf Center, a duo whose name plays cleverly on the notion of good hearing depending on a core of silence. Resurfacing from such nucleic muteness after five years, their new pair of extended pieces, Reverie, finds a disquiet daydream drawn from a rare live set transmitted in October 2024 at Morphine Raum, Berlin. Their first publication since 2019, it sees them in the fullest unconscious "zone", improvising, responding, encircling each other in real time. Smears of timestretched piano abound on 'Rev', while 'Erie' shoots for overtonal tension on an implied, rippling lakeshore. The music is at once gargantuan and contained, revolutionarily collapsing binaries of big and small.
Review: Richard Fearless, London-based DJ and producer, returns with a daring reinvention of his electronic vision, delivering an unpolished, analogue-driven techno masterpiece. Stripping away any semblance of commercial sheen, he dives headfirst into a world of disintegration and overload, where every track feels like it's teetering on the edge of collapse. Drawing on his deep affinity for the rough textures of underground techno, the work channels influences ranging from the industrial growl of Ramleh to the acidic pulse of TM404, with moments that recall the claustrophobic minimalism of Mika Vainio and the haunting drones of Loop. Fearless is unafraid of pushing boundaries, his machinesifed by years of use and a tangled web of circuitryiemitting strange, almost sentient sounds, as if alive in their own right. What emerges is an album that doesn't simply reflect the artist's influences, but speaks with a distinct, personal voice. Tracks like 'While My Machines Gently Weep' and 'Death Mask' bear the hallamrks of live takes and dub-inspired mixing, creating a haunting, almost otherworldly quality, the machine noise blending with echoes of the past. Fearless has long been obsessed with dub and here, he allows its principles to guide him, distilling decades of musical history into something that feels deeply present. A vivid portrait of an artist grappling with his own sonic ghosts and the fractured landscape of modern dance music, it's quite the spectacular.
Review: J Trystero's Cantor's Paradis on Fergus Jones' FELT label is a 45-minute drift through ambient dub terrain that leaves you mesmerised. It draws on the spacious design of artists like Huerco S. and Civilistjavel!, and unfolds in a dreamlike haze of blurred melodies, submerged textures and subtle, ever-shifting rhythms. Trystero filters the DNA of '90s dub techno into soft, iridescent tones here to craft soundscapes that feel both ancient and futuristic. Tracks like 'Untitled 6' briefly emerge with dubby definition but the album thrives in ambiguity. It's a deeply immersive record that's hypnotic, calming and subtly emotive so perfect for late-night solitude or introspective mental wandering.
Review: Earth's live performance at KOKO in 2016 captures the Olympia-formed experimental drone crew's evolving sound in its most immersive form. The trioiDylan Carlson, Jodie Cox and Adrienne Davisioffers a slow-burn journey through layers of doom, drone and minimalist textures that feel as weighty as they do precise. The set begins with a familiar depth, the reverberating basslines and crushing guitar tones building a space of deliberate tension. Tracks like 'Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull' unfurl with a vast and spatial quality, while 'Even Hell Has Its Heroes' crawls along in thick, oppressive layers. What's striking is the restraint: Earth never rushes; each note, each pause, is deliberate, serving as a meditation on the slow, heavy force of sound. The minimalist approach feels almost tactile in its quiet moments, as if the silence itself is as profound as the noise. This live offering underlines their mastery of creating music that moves beyond noise, into a deeper exploration of space, sound, and feeling.
Review: Brian Eno, legendary master of ambient music and Beatie Wolfe, the LA-based conceptual artist known for her innovative blend of the physical and digital, unite for a collaborative sonic exploration. Throughout 2024, the two artists recorded material that bridges the boundary between deeply personal emotions and universal experiences, creating an evocative soundscape. The work pulses with the distinctive energy of Eno's ambient prowess, while Wolfe's haunting vocals add a layer of intimacy. On tracks like 'Milky Sleep' and 'Hopelessly At Ease', the listener is swept into a dreamlike state where time feels suspended. These moments of calm are balanced by the more urgent, yet still deeply meditative, 'Suddenly', which sways between serenity and tension. The delicate interplay between light and shadow becomes even more palpable on 'A Ceiling and Lifeboat', where the quiet sense of stillness gives way to a profound sense of rebirth. There's a sense of movement throughout the releaseiparticularly on 'Breath March', where rhythm and texture converge with palpable energy. Eno's atmospheric layers create space for Wolfe's voice to become a thread, guiding the listener through these reflective, almost sacred-feeling sonic spaces, where every note invites introspection and feeling.
Review: Brian Eno, a towering figure in ambient music and a master of sonic landscapes, has shaped the contours of modern music through his production collaborations with iconic artists like David Bowie, Talking Heads and U2. His latest work with Beatie Wolfe, a conceptual artist from Los Angeles, encapsulates a career of endless reinvention. Recorded in London, the collaboration weaves together the worlds of alternative vocals and ambient soundscapes. 'Big Empty Country' serves as a vivid contrast between light and darkiits day and night versions embodying the very essence of Eno's immersive, evolving sound. Much like his work as part of Roxy Music and beyond, this release is both forward-thinking and introspective, grounded in a shared commitment to environmentalism and artistic exploration. It's a meditation on space, sound and feelingian unbroken thread in Eno's enduring legacy of artistic expression.
Review: Southwind from Hachijo is a rare gem from 1990s Japan dug out delightfully by Forest Jams and written by E.S. Island. This reissue of it dives deeper into ambient terrain while embracing tribal and spiritual tones unlike previous works. It was recorded on the remote Hachijo Island and is awash with organic textures and traditional Japanese instruments that effortlessly make for a meditative soundscape. The music is largely performed by the late Eisuke Takahashi and Nene Sanae, whose chemistry channels the island's raw, natural energy into its ever-shifting tones and timbres. It's a deeply personal and atmospheric listen and an ode to place and spirit that takes you there in an instant
These Weeds - The Ones That Do The Impossible (7:06)
The Same Is Different Every Day (3:44)
Saturated Memory Of A Rooftop (6:01)
M Net 103's Impossible Turn (13:37)
Review: "Instead of escaping somewhere else, this time I want to be here." We're not 100% sure if that's Fabiano or E35 Netherlands quoted, and woe betide anyone who thinks they can interpret such cryptic (not to mention borrowed) quips without asking the person who said them what they meant. Nevertheless, Landmarks very quickly presents itself as an ambient beauty born of this planet and nowhere else. At times the sounds are challenging - heavily textured tracks rather than the lush dreamscapes we often associate with the rather reductive 'ambient' label. Sometimes things are quite eerie, like the disquiet that materialises around halfway through 'Flowers On The Hospital Grounds', and the dense static waves of 'Saturated Memory On A Rooftop'. At other moments, tones invoke the mystery of night skies over Earth, or the rhythm of a world filled with enough life to mean we're still finding new species today.
Review: In the wake of unprecedented flooding that devastated Rio Grande do Sul in May 2024 - claiming over 170 human lives and countless animals, and submerging entire cities -local artist Carlos Ferreira created Flux as a means to survive. Composed and recorded in just one week during the height of the crisis, the album began as a personal coping mechanism but soon evolved into something more: a sonic document of a region in trauma. Born of catastrophe, Flux manifests as a twinkling sonic blanket despite it, buoyed by dreams of alterity and belonging, its incredible Max granulations matching the pockets of hope implied therein. Stark, urgent textures mirror the patent despair of the moment, yet embedded within are quiet meditations on endurance, reflecting a labile openness to change from the guitarist-composer and longtime AvantRoots resident.
Review: Recorded in collaboration with Nils Frahm at Berlin's Leiter Studio, Ganavya's fourth album is destined to carve its own path to recognition due to its unique quality. A follow-up to last year's acclaimed Daughter of a Temple, which drew praise from many music outlets, Nilam - probably best known her for her appearance alongside Sault at their recent live show - continues her journey into music as devotion, meditation and memory. Born in New York and raised in Tamil Nadu, she moves fluidly between traditions, channeling pilgrimage trails, harikatha storytelling and jazz improvisation into something uniquely her own. Her voice is unhurried, intimate and full of clarity, conjuring stillness even in motion. It's a sound that invites stillness but never feels static, where every breath carries the weight of generations and each silence says as much as her lyrics. The songs on Nilam feel distilled from years of lived experience, shaped by years of live performance as tracks like 'Sees Fire' blend Eastern tonalities with meditative jazz, fusing introspection with emotional firepower. The album traces the patterns of gratitude, loss and rootedness meanwhile anchoring the listener in a place beyond the physical. Rather than chase genre, ganavya reaches toward essence. Nilam isn't just an album, it's a moment held in reverence. A sonic altar where memory, spirit and sound meet. In her hands, song becomes a ritual of listening.
Review: Producer and guitarist Yutaka Hirasaka enjoyed a peaceful career pitstop with Breath, one of many to top up the beatsmith and cassette artist's now towering discography, and which now comes released on vinyl for the first time. Hirasaka's approach to music covers ambient, beat-driven landscapes, a format which has led him both to immersive live performance work and commercial ends. The homely aesthetic of Hirasaka's sound is heard once more on the wordless, texturally unperturbed Breath, which clears our airways far better than any shop-bought nostrum ever could, be it via the deconstructed guitar pan-plays of 'Orion' or the marzipan piano maunders of 'Amaretto'.
Review: A dream pairing from opposite corners of the sonic world, British synth polymath James Holden and Polish clarinettist Waclaw Zimpel land somewhere deep in the trance zone on this six-track debut. Opener 'You Are Gods' flickers into motion with modular ripples and clarinet spirals, setting a tone that's at once meditative and exploratory. 'Sunbeam Path' floats toward more radiant territory, while 'Time Ring Rattles' and 'Incredible Bliss' channel fast-paced, arpeggiated fervour. 'Sparkles, Crystals, Miracles' cools the system with ambient drift, before the closer melts into layered organ drama and a reverent air. The pair's range of instrumentation-violins, algoza flutes, lap steel, and modulars-gives each piece a handmade feel, but it's their shared commitment to improvisation and trance that binds it all. Rather than chase genre, they zero in on shared instinct-and let the current carry them.
Review: The Expanded Edition of Alan Howarth's They Live brings new life to the cult classic 1988 film's soundtrack. Howarth is well respected, not least for his collaborations with John Carpenter, and here captures the film's eerie tension and anti-consumerist themes with moody synths, bluesy motifs and minimalist sound design that is always hugely evocative. This expanded edition offers remastered audio and additional cues that heighten the mood and deepen the atmosphere. The music's hypnotic, slow-burning energy perfectly mirrors the paranoia and grit of the movie, so it's a landmark score in sci-fi and horror soundtracks.
Review: Recorded live in the Hypnose Room at La Nature 2023, Italian sound artist, live performer, DJ and independent researcher Katatonic Silentio's debut on Fleur Sauvage allows you to relive a riveting improvisational set across two 12"s. The sounds shift between cinematic ambient, abstract experimentation and textured noise in four parts, each of them rigid with tension that builds, breaks and reforms in unpredictable ways. Deep bass swells and granular distortions drift through fragile moments of calm to make for an unstable atmosphere that feels like you're lost in a vast factory after dark, and the hum of the day's industry still echoes through the building. Wonderful.
Review: Legendary video game soundtrack-er Motorhiro Kawashima is best known for his efforts on the iconic Streets of Rage 2 and 3 titles. The latter is remembered as one of the hardest to define scores of all time, certainly in terms of a playable titles, and even 30 years on still amazes and baffles anyone who encounters it. Less well known are the artist's solo and standalone efforts, which came much later. Acrobatizm and Prepared Wave were the first two of those records, and emerged in the pre-pandemic late-noughties. Both draw heavily on the glitch and leftfield experimental techno worlds, which were in rude health at the time, doubling down on staccato rhythms and mind-blowing arpeggiation, with the punchiness and jerky vibes more than nod to the glory days of 8-bit gaming.
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