Back catalogue: Ambient/Drone

Review: Hania Rani has a knack for blending the ethereal with the intimate, and her latest offering, Nostalgia, captures that perfectly. This is her first live album, but it's much more than just a performance recording. Filmed at the Polish Radio studios in Warsaw, it feels like a love letter to a place steeped in history and meaning for her. The space itself, with all its ghosts and hidden stories, becomes a character in the album, lending an air of mystery and depth to Rani's signature mix of piano, voice, and electronics. Nostalgia moves through delicate melodies and cinematic arrangements, with Rani's touch feeling both familiar and experimental. She brings the studio's spirit alive, layering sound and memory in a way that feels both spontaneous and deliberate. This isn't just a snapshot of a live show; it's an immersive, intimate dive into Rani's creative world. With its mix of lush textures and haunting vocals, Nostalgia solidifies her status as an artist who can create both in the moment and with timeless grace.

Review: Was there anyone who combined soul and synth pop this well with such expert instrumentation as this band?! This collection captures two iconic sessions for the John peel show recorded during the early 1980s, showcasing a beloved band at their creative peak. Remastered for a fresh listen, the album highlights their ability to craft memorable melodies and intricate synth-driven soundscapes. The funky, melodic opener boasts a strong chorus and infectious groove, setting the tone for an engaging journey through soulful pop. An upbeat, feel-good gem in 'Some People I Know To Lead Fantastic Lives ' follows, blending frenetic rhythms with shimmering synth textures that radiate warmth and optimism. An important hit for the band, 'Wishful Thinking' demonstrates clever songwriting and a catchy structure that's impossible to resist, solidifying its place as a synth pop classic. The collection also includes a stunning downtempo track with 'Watching The Rainclouds' , rich with soulfulness and unique instrumentation, showing the band's range and ability to evoke deep emotion through delicate melodies and expressive keyboard work. This compilation is a fantastic snapshot of their evolution and a reminder of their enduring influence. Fans old and new will find much to love in this expertly curated and beautifully remastered release. China Crisis continues to be more respected as time goes on.

Review: Finish dub techno powerhouse Joachim Spieth welcomes UK artist Rhubiqs to his well-regarded Affin label for a debut appearance that sinks you into a widescreen world of ambient lushness. His Aegis of Silence album takes cues from divergent sounds like post-rock and soft ambient as well as drone and even modern classical. It's an ever-shifting soundscape with smeared pads and nostalgia dreams, half-remembered thoughts and a sense of mood that ranges from escapist and blissed out to more ominous and paranoid.

Review: A quadruple box set spanning recordings made between 1968 and 1980 on two-track Revox tape, these previously unreleased works showcase the hypnotic cycles and textural explorations that define kosmische musik. Using his signature Farfisa organ and Echolette tape delay, the pieces evoke the spirit of Roedelius' Selbstportrait series and collaborations with Dieter Moebius and Michael Rother. Rather than a strict retrospective, 90 feels like a timeless sound journey, blending cascading minimalist loops with the organic warmth that has inspired generations. Tracks are unnamed and unmoored from chronology, allowing the listener to experience them as fluid expressions of Roedelius's artistry. The music recalls the meditative brilliance of contemporaries like Terry Riley, while firmly rooted in the experimental ethos of early German electronic music. Released to celebrate Roedelius's 90th birthday, this collection is both a celebration and a rediscovery, offering a vivid portrait of a visionary artist. 90 is a masterclass in innovation and introspection, essential for fans of kosmische and beyond.

Review: In a collaboration for the ages, we hear German kosmische musician Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Cluster, Harmonia) team up with Japanese flutist Yuko Matsuzaki and Berlin Philharmonic analog musician sound engineer Onnen Bock for a nacreous improv blast. Spanning soft, pearly electronica and neoclassical, Moon Garden comprises five works, incorporating techniques and fragments of songs already released. A mythical aura unfurls through synth koto and organic harmonics; 'In The Forest Of Syrinx' establishes a singing bowled, new age aesthetic, segueing into the purely vocal threnody 'Sapphire Jellyfish'. Bridging electronic washes, piano and female vocals, this is a borderless soundscape of exciting proportions.

Review: Via their Rubbish Music project, Kate Carr and Ian Chambers use sound to, in their words, "investigate the journeys, transformations and impacts of everyday objects". In the case of their 2022 debut album Upcycling, that meant creating new experimental sound worlds from all manner of discarded things. On sophomore set Fatbergs, they turn their attention to the oily, greasy clogs that form in our sewage system. In practice, that means a mixture of ghostly electronics, gurgling and effects-laden noises of unknown origin, creepy and immersive soundscapes, echo-laden bells, dystopian new-age compositions and unusual - but surprisingly meditative and heady - ambient epics.