Constellation Tatsu US レコード& CD

Review: Landmarks remains among one of the most eminent ambient albums of our time, and this isn't the first time it's been reissued since its first release in 2018 either. Something in the way the album presents itself, and was formed and marketed - the easygoing simplicity of the artists' real names Will Long and John Daniel; the inspiratory inputs of Peter Weir and Paul Theroux; the visionary character of its track titles, such as 'The signs are everywhere', 'Indistinguishable from magic' and 'S-shaped isthmus' - have all likely lent to its enduring success. However, all these factors are but mere orbital ejecta around its core appeal, which is the soul-quelling ambient music at its center. Only occasionally peppered with the odd bosomy vocal sample - through which allusions to innovation, exploration and the dangers of inner contemplative adventure are heard - we are once again reminded of the boundless wells of beauty unearthed by the Japan resident maestro of chill and the ambient verderer, in combo.

Review: Russian titan Monokle is back to once again traverse many different sound worlds with his new album Ultraflowers. It is one of a number of superb albums landing on Constellation Tatsu this summer and one defined again by its warmth. The title track is a lo-fi, scruffy and deep opener with persuasive breakbeats, while 'Glassy Eyed' is an ambient jungle trip that drips with watery melody. 'Night Objects' offers some introspection and 'Moths' is a glitchy future techno cut with smeared synth soul. '1000Work' layer sup more breaks with elegant ambient melodies and 'Predteche' casts you admit in the deepest corners of space.

Review: One Million Eyes, previously known as Templehof, return with a new album of balearic ambient, previously heard on two excellent releases for A Strangely Isolated Place. This time appearing on legendary cassette label Constellation Tatsu as part of their fall combo, anyone familiar with their previous work will know what to expect. Dreamy, sun hazed analogue synth lines mix with deep fourth world soundscapes that wouldn't sound out of place on 90s labels such as Pete Namlook's Fax or Instinct Ambient. The first half of Signal begins slowly, eyes wide shut, with 'Nickel', a slow pulsating jam of chilled out psychedelia. 'Marea' blends organic instrumentation with distant, processed voices. 'Koala', the deepest cut on the album, leads to a mood shift in 'Opalescent' that will sound eerily familiar to any Gaussian Curve fans. 'Polaris', 'Solstice' and highlight 'Landscape' close out the album in style. For fans of anyone from Music From Memory, Jonathan Fitoussi & Ishq, there are few better ways to relive your memories of later summer.

Review: Constellation Tatsu welcomes US artist Brendan Principato aka Saapato for what is a hugely conceptual new album based around decomposition. It was sparked when Saapato saw a dead fox lying by the side of the road on his way home from a job in a local warehouse. He used that as a jumping-off point to interrogate "transformation, interconnectedness, and renewal" and the five stages of decomposition, namely fresh, bloat, active decay, advanced decay and dry/remains. Several collaborators help him on his way as he sketches out various instrumental textures which variously have occasional shards of light, lingering melancholy and a subtle sense of hope.

Review: Glasgow-based, Rome-born Loris S. Sarid, like many during the pandemic, found himself placing his focus in all new places once he was locked down with little to do. As such his close care for a little tomato plant, grown on a windowsill in his flat, gave him an unusual spark of inspiration which led to this album, Music for Tomato Plants. It is his homage to "the unapparent courage of simplicity, and the beauty and lightness of the most ordinary things." In real terms, it is a lush ambient exploration with melodies that are optimistic and hopeful. Sustained chords unfurl like new growth, fresh percussive lines emerge like ripened fruit and the whole thing is beautifully pure and innocent.

Review: Julius Smack collaborated with a fictional AI assistant to create the new album which explores his origins. It is set in a near-future Earth where artists and AI share a symbiotic bond and aims to reflect a world where beauty and violence intertwine. Artists are the last human survivors in this place and they mine their memories and dreams with AI in order to generate art which sustains them but also produces toxins that must be expelled with each new creation. Starlight then is an album which challenges AI's role in creativity and labour, and blurs the lines between art and reality, all while giving rise to a thoughtful and immersive album of innovative ambient.

Review: Portland's Paul Dickow, the man behind the Strategy alias, is back with a new album that has been created with a 1989 model sampling keyboard. Exploring its limitations, he plays the sampler by hand and abandons sequencers for a more organic approach which apes a guitarist's connection to their instrument. The record delves into glacial, pensive soundscapes where experimental, ambient and dance music elements all come together with deliberate intention. Though Dickow crafts a sound rooted in ambient techno futurism it is one open to serendipitous, experimental outcomes which makes it a gently unpredictable listen and otherworldly charmer.