Review: One of the most legendary female producers in history of electronic music brings out her sixth solo album - not to mention her numerous seminal recordings as part of Throbbing Gristle and Chis & Cosey - and the first in three years. 2t2 is an intimate yet electrifying statement, a dualistic journey through rhythmic propulsion and meditative introspection across nine tracks entirely composed, performed and produced solely by Cosey herself. With 2t2, she expolores personal loss and global upheavalm transforming them into a defiant sonic odyssey, weaving raw energy and introspective depth together. The beat-driven tracks pulse with kinetic urgency, echoing her industrial and electronic roots, while the ambient passages invite deep contemplation. Lead single 'Stound' exemplifies this balanceiCosey's overtone chanting evokes resilience and catharsis, grounding the record in both personal and universal strength. 'Threnody' pays tribute to Delia Derbyshire and Andy Christian, weaving echoes of past creative dialogues into Cosey's present explorations. Even in its darker moments, there's a lightness, a refusal to succumb to despair, in evidende and Cosey seemingly embraces sorrow as a path to joy, a reminder that resistance and resilience are acts of creation. With 2t2, Cosey Fanni Tutti once again defies convention, crafting an album that is personal and powerful.
Review: The most aptly-named record label in the world, Light Sounds Dark present another collection of wildly experimental bits and pieces cultivated in the lab of things that you simply don't hear in other places. Suitably christened 'Track 1', 'Track 2', and so on until 'Track 29', this is a huge point of entry for newcomers to the LSD realm and an excellent deep dive for veterans alike. Winds howl and thunder crashes before beautiful harmonies change the vibe from cold to warm, Gregorian chants echo in and out above dubby, stubby beats, and post punk guitars lunge forward beneath jerky, naive melodies. And that's just the first few parts here. A journey to the outer reaches of the musical universe, then back again, turning left at the industrial jazz and continuing through shoegaze, soundtrack, field and weirdo pop. Mind you don't get lost, now.
Review: And the award for best box set idea of the year goes to Ghostly International, who've recognised the untapped crossover market potential between tape culture and architecturally minded 3D sandbox gaming. Both Minecraft and cassettes offer unequivocal home downtime experiences, so what better way than to celebrate such ingenious associations than with a mammoth expansion of Daniel Rosenfeld's original soundtrack under the name C418? After many vinyl and CD reissues became fanatic cult favorites, with several sold-out color variants, now both volumes Alpha and Beta appear in opaque green; assuming the rewind button functions properly and the reels haven't garbled round the spools, you're in for a degradable lo-fi treat and analogue alternative listening experience; mute the laptop output and fire up the Nakamichi, you wally.
Review: Ambient Classics From Japan on Mukatsuku features two lush filled classics from the label Form@ Record label from the land of the rising sun....First up, Shuichiro Nakazawa under the guise of Modern Living from 1998 - initially taken from the CD only Art Form 2 compilation although it also popped up on Music From Memory's excellent Virtual Dreams collection - now gets a whole side on loud cut 180 gram vinyl to itself. On the flipside comes Virgo aka Yasutaka Sato with his gorgeous deep techno ambient gem 'System For Zodiac piece, taken from the Landform Code CD, of which only 30 copies were ever made and has never seen light of day to vinyl until now. No repress hand numbered to 300 copies and first 100 come with Japanese Origami paper crane + sticker.
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: 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: Given his long-held love of fusing elements of different musical cultures from around the world, Auntie Flo (real name Brian D'Souza) is almost the perfect Multi-Culti artist. It's something of a surprise then to find that this is only his second outing on the label. He begins in confident mood with 'Esperanto', a delightfully melodious, bubbly and synth-heavy slab of chugging sonic joy, before wrapping waves of mind-altering electronics and sun-bright synths around a slipped Afro-tech beat on 'Unua Libro'. Over on side two, D'Souza takes us to a deeper and more immersive place on 'El Heine', explores hybrid cosmic/ambient soundscapes on 'Ho Mia Kor', and doffs a cap to the new age ambient pioneers of times gone by on blissful closing cut 'Mia Penso'.
Review: The twelfth studio release from Manchester duo Marconi Union reaffirms why they remain such a quietly vital force in ambient music. Formed in 2003, the pair's latest work arrives after a two-year process of reorientation i one that saw them scrap old habits, test new material live, and ultimately return to the atmospheric instinct that first defined them. The result is a seamless 55-minute composition split into nine movements: fluid, immersive, and full of emotional nuance. It's a brand new release that spans sequencer-driven passages, low-lit drone work and impressionistic electronics, all stitched together with an elegant sense of pacing. 'Eight Miles High Alone', the first piece completed and shared publicly, sets the tone with a solitary pulse and slow-building tension i its clarity and weightlessness shaping much of what follows. The music unfolds without force, evoking both disquiet and release. Though wordless, the journey speaks volumes. A sense of modern anxiety hovers throughout, yet it's counterbalanced by warmth, space and stillness. After years of refining their sound across acclaimed releases and multimedia collaborations, Marconi Union deliver some of their most affecting work to date i not by reinventing themselves, but by rediscovering the beauty of doing less, slowly, and with purpose.
Review: Serbia's Abul Mogard inaugurates his Soft Echoes imprint - after many a career-spanning stopover with Ecstatic, VCO and Light-years - with Quiet Pieces, an inward-looking suite unearthing stillness and submerged emotions scraped from the edges of memory. Assembled from archival sketches and fragments inspired by a late uncle's collection of 78rpm classical and opera records, the album reimagines faded moments through manipulated samples played at altered speeds, filtered through effects, and folded into new compositions. The result is a dream-static fusion of past and present, where Mogard's own recollections blur with an avuncular other's. The pieces shimmer with spectral density and tactile distortion, edging into abstractions influenced in part by Phill Niblock's Boston Tenor Index; Mogard pushes into rawer and rawer dissonances over the record's course. Marja de Sanctis's cover photograph, taken at the Temple of Jupiter Anxur, captures that same interplay of decay, reverence, and resonance.
Review: Still riding high from the success of his superb re-make of Manuel Gottsching on Test Pressing ('A Reference to E2-E4'), Alex Kassian returns to Pinchy & Friends - who released his similarly popular 2021 EP 'Leave Your Life' - after a three-year break. Beginning with the lusciously languid, Balearic, effects-laden and sonically layered title track ('Body Singer', where Jonny Nash style guitars and tumbling sax motifs rise above a sparse drum machine beat and shoegaze-esque aural textures), the Berlin-based producer offers up a loved-up mix of weightless ambient bliss (Kinship), kosmiche soundscapes (the sun-flecked 'Skinship'), revivalist Krautrock (the Can-after-several-spliffs headiness of 'Trippy Gas') and immersive, cinematic excusions (the gorgeous 'Mirror of the Heart').
Review: To mark the one-year anniversary of Reveries, Sonic Cathedral drops a new two-tracker that brings a Detroit reimagining to 'Vale' and 'Cadere'. Produced by John Hanson, aka Saltbreaker, the project features live improvisations by saxophonists Yali Rivlin and Thalamus Morris and cellist Jordan Hamilton. Each of them did their thing in a single take with Hanson composing around their performances, and the result is a graceful blend of serene melancholy and rhythmic sophistication. Oodles of warmth and organic textured is added to the originals and these interpretations act as a fine tribute to Detroit's enduring uniqueness.
Review: In line with the timely reappraisal of all things R&S related, the resurgent Apollo have seen the opportunity to bring one of their most celebrated records back for another round. Aphex Twin's ambient recordings mature magnificently with age, sounding ever richer and more emotive as the rest of electronic music continues to play catch up all around. From the gentle breakbeats of "Xtal" to the aquatic techno lure of "Tha", the airy rave of "Pulsewidth" to the heartwrenching composition of "Ageispolis", every track is a perennial example of how far ambient techno could reach even back then. It's just that no-one quite had the arm-span of Richard D. James.
Review: We Carry Eden is an album so deep you can plunge right into it and forget the real world entirely. It comes from Son Of Chi, the latest project by Dutch ambient pioneer Hanyo van Oosterom, and it melds drones, field recordings, dub, jazz and fourth world influences across a two-part composition that features storytelling by West African vocalist Omar Ka. A founding member of CHI and Chi Factory, van Oosterom crafts textured soundscapes rooted in meditative grooves and spiritual depth and is inspired by Patmos and Hopi wisdom. He also weaves nature, myth and memory into a unified sonic journey with fine artwork by Michael Willis underlining the message of harmony.
Review: Javier Marimon returns with a set of amb-immersers shaped by architecture, memory, and the shifting continguities of sound and physical space. Made during his time in Saigon in 2018, the tracks lean into absence, with subtle, bass-free constructions predominating over a musical space that exists to be inhabited. A further remix from Vand , meanwhile, reinterprets the original material through a thinner lens, offering a contrasting perspective without overwhelming the source. A quiet but affecting punctuation mark in an already rather grand artistic discography.
Review: Warp's 'Artificial Intelligence' compilation, a ground-breaking and wildly popular collection of "home listening music" that helped introduce the world to ambient techno and IDM, turns 30 this year. As this remastered anniversary reissue proves, the release has lost none of its charm in the three decades that have passed since it first appeared in stores. Highlights appear thick and fast throughout, from the immersive ambient techno creepiness of The Dice Man's 'Polygon Window' (an early Richard D James production) and deep space electro shuffle of Autechre's 'Crystel', to the bleeping bliss of Speedy J's gorgeous 'De Orbit', the acid-flecked Detroit-isms of 'Spiritual High' by Up (a barely used alias of Richie Hawtin) and the horizontal headiness of Dr Alex Paterson's 'Loving You Live', an alternative pass on the Orb's ambient house masterpiece 'A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain'.
Review: Brian Eno's career has always been about explorationiof sound, technology and the emotional power of music. After pioneering ambient music, Eno has consistently sought out new ways to blend different genres and voices and his latest collaboration with Beatie Wolfe continues this tradition. Wolfe, a British-American artist with an innovative approach to music and activism, complements Eno's atmospheric world with her emotive, alternative vocals. Their work, recorded in London, moves seamlessly from the meditative to the experimental, with tracks like 'Big Empty Country' offering stark contrasts between the brightness of the day and the shadows of the night. This release is not only a nod to Eno's sonic experimentation but also a testament to his lasting influence as an artist who always seeks to connect art with broader societal issues, especially the environment.
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: The next level beat maker and sound designer that is Skee Mask returns to long-time home label Ilian Tape with another bold and brilliant album, Resort. It's an album that expands on the artist's usual sound with fusions of celestial ambient, IDM sound design and lithe, rhythmic techno drums. There are breakbeats on 'Reminiscrmx' backlit by heavenly pads, 'Schneiders Paradox' is marbled with zippy pads and raw drum hits, 'BB Care' glistens with a futuristic glow and 'Holzl Was A Dancer' slips into a shuffling, UKG tinged dub house pumper. It's a wild, wonderful ride that reaches all new levels for this already accomplished producer.
College - "A Real Hero" (feat Electric Youth) (4:27)
Riziero Ortolani - "Oh My Love" (feat Katyna Ranieri) (2:49)
The Chromatics - "Tick Of The Clock" (4:45)
Cliff Martinez - "Rubber Head" (2:58)
Cliff Martinez - "I Drive" (2:00)
Cliff Martinez - "He Had A Good Time" (1:29)
Cliff Martinez - "They Broke His Pelvis" (1:52)
Cliff Martinez - "Kick Your Teeth" (2:30)
Cliff Martinez - "Where's The Deluxe Version?" (5:12)
Cliff Martinez - "See You In Four" (2:28)
Cliff Martinez - "After The Chase" (5:23)
Cliff Martinez - "Hammer" (4:37)
Cliff Martinez - "Wrong Floor" (1:26)
Cliff Martinez - "Skull Crushing" (6:02)
Cliff Martinez - "My Name On A Car" (2:14)
Cliff Martinez - "On The Beach" (6:42)
Cliff Martinez - "Bride Of Deluxe" (3:37)
Review: OK. Let's face some facts. The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Drive is up there with one of the best scores ever put together. And that goes for the compositions of Cliff Martinez as much as the guest bands and artists drafted for the other songs. Where else are you going to hear Riziro Ortolani and Katy Ranieri's operatic overture, 'Oh My Love', and The Chromatics' low sung, mood-building electro tracker 'Tick of the Clock', side by side? The answer is, of course, nowhere. And that's just skimming the surface. Deeper inspection take us to some stunning pieces of ambient and drone. 'I Drive' is a remarkable example of gong bath on record, 'Skull Crushing' is overwhelmingly heavy thanks to its use of distant sound and up front quiet. It feels like you're in a pressurised chamber. We could go on, but that wouldn't save any room to mention the trophy piece - College and Electric Youth's spectacularly emotive synth stunner, 'A Real Hero'.
Martin Hannett & Steve Hopkins - "Space Music" (5:32)
Tom Recchion - "Space Ship" (2:16)
Wooden Shjips - "Space Clothes" (3:07)
Mr Fingers - "Distant Planet" (5:17)
Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan - "Moon Maid" (3:10)
Sun Ra - "Outer Space Plateau" (2:24)
Biosphere - "Startoucher" (5:04)
Lothar & The Hand People - "Space Hymn" (7:04)
Hawkwind - "Space Is Deep" (6:18)
US 69 - "2069 A Spaced Oddity" (10:22)
Tim Buckley - "Starsailor" (4:35)
Review: Few have the depth and breadth of knowledge about music that Anglesey-based punk historian and author Jon Savage has, so to delve into the themed compilation he has put together is an education. Sticking to the idea of doing a musical voyage through the theme and idea of Space, Savage has clearly hit the brief. The Byrds 'C.T.A' sounds like an alien encounter; Devo's 'Space Junk' is quite timely in a lyrical sense, since experts are saying space is becoming a new frontier for war and there's satellite jams. There are some classics that you'd expect here - like Sun Ra - and it's great seeing leftfield icons Wooden Shjips included with their mesmerising cut 'Space Clothes' as theirs is contemporary psychedelia at its finest.
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: Cape Town ambient producer Jason van Wyk pares his sound down to its barest, most expressive elements, doing sound justice to the name Inherent (though he's always interested in ideas of transparency and simplicity, with the similarly themed Opacity dropping on Home Normal in 2017). He now leans into stillness in motion, folding ghost-traced piano lines and gauzy drones into long, slow exhalations, where just when things threaten to dissolve entirely, he rejigs the frame. Brittle guitars now creak in, synth arps flicker like faulty neon, rhythms emerge with princely precision. It's not a departure so much as a consolidation, as van Wyk revisits old tools with rewed restraint, preferring unembellished ambiences. Like the innate returns of close reading, we're invited to closely listen here, since glints of detail glister just below the surface.
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
Review: Built as a continuous 55-minute suite split into nine movements, Marconi Union's The Fear Of Never Landing hears the duo recapture a state of exhilarating levity. Their 12th studio album, it finds them in refreshed head and soundspace, having come a heck of a long way since their 2003 debut Under Wires And Searchlights. The record emerged slowly over two years, during which the Manchester duo (Jamie Crossley, Duncan Meadows) grappled with creative uncertainty, reconnecting with their foundations through live experimentation. The catalyst came while scoring the cult 1975 film Downhill Motion, an experience that rekindled their affinity for cinematic composition and set the tone for this surefire introspection aid. From 'Eight Miles High Alone', a hypnotism which finds its inducer in sequencer-driven pulses, evoking isolation, weightlessness and quiet tension.
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: There are immersive experiences that inspire artists to do great things. Then there's Aboutface heading to the Wampis Territory, in the Peruvian Amazon, to live with the local community, learn a little of how they live and their relationship with the Lungs of the Planet, capturing field recordings collaboratively with those people, and trying to articulate their world through an electronic-organic deep dive album. After you've got over the jealousy about how life-changing that trip was, let's focus on the fundamentals. This is seriously escapist stuff that seems to have been made using every root, branch, and animal encountered during those weeks. The synthesised elements are audible, but take a backseat to what was and is actually there. Or here. Quite unlike anything we've heard this year, it's a stunning way to raise awareness and support for Indigenous-led conservation and initiatives trying to stop illegal deforestation and ecocide.
Review: Widely regarded as Boards of Canada's finest hour, Music Has The Right To Children finds itself the subject of a well-deserved 2LP gatefold reissue from Warp Records. One of the most defining records of what was known for better or worse as IDM still sounds as timeless as it did in 1998, as the library tones of "Wildlife Analysis", thick downtempo rhythms of "Roygbiv" and out of focus melodies of "Olson" prove. Essential!
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: Nitechord is an enigmatic ambient-tech duo that makes a striking debut here with Lume having previously released only two remixes. It was a demo tape from 2022 that impressed the Past Inside the Present label with its raw allure and it is that work which appears here nearly unaltered but for mastering from James Bernard. The opener unfolds with atmospheric guitar loops anchored by a steady kick and bass, 'Near' brings a hint of twang to expansive guitar tones and in 'Dim,' layered drones and melodies rise and fall like petals. Add in the suspensory sounds of 'Absent' and 'Carry' which blooms into a full orchestral swell and you have an immersive, introspective suite of sonic bliss.
Review: Last October, acclaimed saxophonist Pharoah Sanders turned 80 years young, and his input on this album is testimony to the fact he has clearly aged like a fine wine. Not that this is to suggest preceding outings were anything less worthy than this collaborative project, which sees Sam Shepherd, the British electronic artist better known to most as Floating Points, write nine spectacular arrangements which are then performed by said brass legend, alongside The London Symphony Orchestra.
The results are spectacular, and wildly far-reaching, albeit firmly rooted in jazz with classical undertones. From the movements that made this final cut, some are whisper quiet and delicate to the point of risking breaking off if you were handling haphazardly. Others are booming loud, musical jumbo jets landing at the end of another great crescendo. Whether hushed or monumental, though, we can feel every note and bar of this masterpiece.
Review: In typical Music From Memory fashion, their latest archival release shines a light on one of the UK's lesser-known bands of the early 1980s. The System released a lone single in 1981, followed by a now incredibly rare debut album, Logic, in 1983. Three of the cuts here are taken from that set, including the dreamy, downbeat Balearic-pop opener "Almost Grown" - a wonderfully evocative six minutes, all told - and the far-sighted, spacey, proto-techno shuffler "Vampirella". This EP also includes one previously unreleased track, "Find It In Your Eyes", which was rescued from long-forgotten master tapes during the licensing process.
Review: French electronic icon Laurent Garnier returns with the FABRICLG4 EP to celebrate the 25th anniversary of London's legendary club. This release showcases Garnier's signature range and opens with 'Playing with the Low-End,' a fierce 2-step track that nods to the heritage of UK club sounds. The journey then shifts to techno with 'Resonances from the D' barrelling along with great force and then on the flip side, 'Odyssee Maison' features deep house grooves with Dan Diamond and last but not least 'On the Way Home' rounds out the experience with ambient sounds. This one comes with "augmented reality artwork" by Atelier 14 and is another doozy from the already untouchable Garnier.
Review: Rod Modell's Music For Bus Stations is, as it says on the tin, a "generative sonic backdrop for bus stations". We hope that that includes Milton Keynes Interchange, or else us Brits will have no music to help us through the bleakness next time we're headed up North! Building on a 25-ish-year-long career's worth of similar stuff, the Detroit sound-e-scape artist serves up a profound, yet measured set of pieces here, all of which are untitled, and each of which deliver slightly different takes on a fibre-optic, refractive sound, echoing something between Global Communication, Arpanet and Celer in combining implied themes of travel and telecoms.
Review: Clarinet and synclavier collide on The Universe Will Take Care Of You, an expansive arp odyssey through freeform new age trance sequences and orgastic blooms. British producerJames Holden and clarinetist Waclaw Zimpel's take joint reins, but they swap roles with uninformed confidence, with Holden adventurously stepping into violin and hand percussion away from his usual synth spell cantations, and Zimpel moving beyond reeds to electric ivories. Vast biennales of trance extend like ravenous, roided plants, suggesting an overcurrent of carnivorousness in all that bliss. Moroccan Gnawa and Indian classical music fed the album's electroacoustic pedigree, producing the seemingly effortless fusional glut of sound you hear before you.
Review: The 1990s was arguably the first 'golden age' of ambient - a time when the inherently atmospheric and laidback style not only exploded in popularity, but also became the post-club soundtrack of choice for a whole generation. This personal survey of the 90s ambient scene from journalist and author Jon Savage does a good job in gathering together a representative selection of genuine gems and overlooked classics, drifting between the bubbly, deep space brilliance of Richard H Kirk's Sandoz project ('Limbo'), bleeping ambient house ('Calm' by 2 Cabbages on a Drip), early progressive house (React 2 Rhythm), electronic psychedelia (the tabla rhythms and swirly noises of Rapoon), ambient blues (Underworld), IDM (U-ziq), and glacial, slow-motion bliss (Biosphere).
Review: German pair Markus Guentner and Joachim Spieth rightly got plenty of acclaim for their 2023 ambient album Overlay and now it gets revisited with a top selection of remixes that breathe new life into the original compositions. Prominent ambient and experimental artists such as Hollie Kenniff, Rafael Anton Irisarri and Pole all show their class while newer names like Abul Mogard smears synths into a misty wonder on 'Scope', Galan/Vogt layer in angelic vocal tones to 'Valenz' and Leandro Fresco brings a lightness of touch that fills with optimism on opener 'Apastron. Guentner and Spieth themselves provide two alternate versions of their originals that bring new emotional and sonic depth.
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: While he may well be best-known for his nostalgic, synthesiser-powered Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan project, Gordon Chapman-Fox has also put out some fine music under his given name - not least 2023's ambient opus on Castles In Space's 'Subscription Library' offshoot. On Very Quiet Music To Be Played Very Loudly, Chapman-Fox delivers four expansive ambient soundscapes. He sets the tone with the Vangelis-esque synth suspense and spacey creep of 'Components', before opting for sustained, almost neo-classical sweeps and delay-laden electronic string sounds on 'Fringe'. 'Emphasis' is immersive and quietly picturesque, while closing cut 'Singular' is dark, moody and quietly paganistic - a kind of imaginary soundtrack to a 21st century folk-horror movie.
Review: A reissue of the third LP from Brian Leeds, an American DJ and producer based on Brooklyn, originally from Kansas City, if this is your first time coming across his work then prepare for a pretty deep dive into lush, dreamy soundscapes, otherworldly drone, and adventurous aural effects, all of which are realised with a musicality that goes well beyond many digital composers.
First unveiled to critical acclaim back in 2016, proof of concept is in the pudding here - one earful and you realise just how much here stands up to new productions today, explaining a little about why people were painting Huerco S as something of a visionary when the debut long form, Colonial Patterns, first arrived. Building on the blueprint laid out then, For Those Of You... is a rich and captivating ambient listening experience that's more than worthy of the spotlight second time round.
Review: Global Communication's 76:14 stands out as a quintessential ambient album, often overlooked in favour of more hyped releases but in recent years has cemented itself as one of the most important and beloved electronic releases of the 1990s. Tom Middleton and Mark Pritchard, under their Global Communication alias, expertly fuse ambient, Berlin-School and new age influences with beatcraft and dub elements. The album's tracks range from pure ambient pieces reminiscent of early Eno to funk-hop infused rhythms and minimalist dub pulses. Its strong songcraft and unique sonic identity have earned it a dedicated following - richly textured soundscapes and engaging compositions have made it a favourite.
Review: Yellowstone is an American neo-Western drama centered on the Dutton family, whose massive cattle ranch borders Yellowstone National Park, the Broken Rock Indian reservation, and land developers. Kevin Costner, Luke Grimes, and Kelly Reilly play the crossfire-caught Dutton family, and composer Brian Tyler, influenced by his experience in a Native American music group, evokes such turmoil and unchecked exploitation, through traditional Native American sounds and Western elements; percussion, woodwinds, and exotic instruments alongside cellos and basses are all incorporated, invoking the harrows of modern factionalism.
Review: As Autechre set out on an extensive live tour, Warp has decided the time is right to reissue their 1994 classic, Amber, on vinyl. Given that it's been unavailable on wax since then, and second hand prices have shot through the roof, this is undoubtedly a good thing. It remains one of the legendary duo's standout albums: a peerless collection of brilliant IDM tunes offering a perfect balance between the glistening, atmospheric melodiousness of their early work, and the crunchy, mathematical rhythms of their later releases. There are moments of eyes-closed calm ("Silverside"), bubbly, melody-led workouts ("Montreal", "Slip"), far-out electro missives ("Glitch"), and the odd icy epic (the brilliant "Further").
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