Back catalogue: Ambient/Drone

Review: Despite what you might assume, O Yuki Conjugate are actually an English duo. Hailing from the country's renowned hinterland somewhere between ambient and industrial, the pair - better known as Roger Horberry and Andrew Hulme - first started the project in 1982, a time in the nation's history that was particularly fertile for sonic experiments of the synthesised kind.

A Tension of Opposites is proof they have lost little of their imagination and creative spark, even decades later. Born in the first year of the pandemic, 2020, both artists worked in isolation and therefore both had different ideas about how a sonic response to the most batshit crazy situation in living memory should sound. The result, then, is a lush, intoxicating, and thoughtful journey through tonalities, resonance, and deep refrains that offers two sides of the same terrifying, traumatic, and life-changing story.

Review: It's been a long time since Halo: Combat Evolved revolutionised the word of first-person shooter video games. Graphically superior to anything that had come before it, the franchise also benefits from a spectacularly gripping storyline in which humans are outgunned and out-teched by a ruthless and uncompromising alliance of superiorly equipped alien races united as The Covenant. The titular Halo adds a kind of Prometheus air of uncertainty, as nobody really knows what it does until attempts to activate the galaxy-destroying weapon reveal something worse than death - a parasitic breed called the Flood. If all that was enough to blow everyone away in 2001, 2004 brought us to a whole new level of immersion in this future scape. Just like its predecessor, a big part of the impact was the visionary score by gaming soundtrack masters Martin O'Donnell and Michael Savatori. Now here it is in all its Gregorian chanting glory.

Review: In the right circles,, Martin O'Donnell and Michael Savatori are living legends. Working with the iconic US video game company Bungie Inc, the pair put their names on the map - or maybe maps? - by creating soundtracks to a number of high profile titles, either as a duo or individually. O'Donnell is arguably the better known, or at least has the bigger online persona, but both composers deserve plenty of credit. Halo: Combat Evolved was the first title in what is now a huge and genre-defining first person shooter franchise, and the score reflects the emergence of video game music as an integral part of the on-screen action. O'Donnell and Savatori's efforts to ensure instrumentation dramatically changed with events in the game, which is by nature relatively non-linear, was a revelation. While their efforts to separate these into individual suites foresaw the rise of playable stories as films in their own right.

Review: Swiss imprint WRWTFWW continues to do deep dives into the forgotten corners of electronic music history, returning with shining sonic pearls of genuine historic significance. Here they deliver a first ever vinyl pressing of early Japanese electronic music producer (and bona fide experimental hero) Yashio Ojima's 1983 album Club, a set that was originally only released on an exceptionally limited cassette. Given its vintage, the album has held up incredibly well, in part because its unique, unearthly blend of minimalist electro, music concrete-inspired loop experiments, off-kilter ambient soundscapes and picturesque, post new-age soundscapes remains as far-sighted and unusual in 2024 as it did 41 years ago.

Review: "The idea was simply to make an ambient album", Dr Alex Paterson has said of The Orb's new album entitled Chill Out, World!. With partner in crime Thomas Fehlmann, the duo resisted looking back and studying their earlier (seminal) recordings and opted for a more spontaneous approach: a focus on where they are at today in 2016. COW is said to have been completed over the course of five sessions in only six months, between a relentless touring schedule which they also credit as being hugely influential on the album's sound. As always, strap yourself in for an immersive sound experience and possibly expect to hear some of the more courageous DJs dropping likes likes of "4am Exhale (Chill Out, World!)" or perhaps "Just Because I Really Really Luv Ya". Oh and the track titles are as baffling as ever too.

Review: Sit back, relax, stick on Albert Alan Owen's new album Chorales and allow yourself to sink into a deeply spiritual and emotional record that is both minimal and intimate. A meditation of piano that is coated in vinyl crackle, and manages to captivate you from front to back with its sheer melodic beauty. Owen's ability to turn you in on your inner self is second to none. As you get lost in deep thoughts you will not want to come back to the real world. Our suggestion? Don't. Simply put it on again from the start.

Review: Ambient music is all about immersion and you'll be hard-pressed to find anything more immersive than this. New York and Iceland-based composer Masaya Ozaki was born in Niigata, Japan and focuses on "the idea of space as a transient entity," which means his work is imbued with astonishing subtlety and beautifully quiet artistry that really draws you and rewards close attention. Mizukara is his fourth such outing and one that melds field recordings, electro-acoustic sounds and lush synth textures into something that is melancholic and utterly absorbing from front to back. Says the artist, ''this album is a reflection of my current life in Iceland. Where does the self begin and where does it end?' Tune in to find out.