Release data: James Johnson – Linger CD-R, Mp3.com/AtmoWorks, 2000 “Linger” contains the live performance of James Johnson as played at The Ambient Ping 2000. This purveyor of tranquil ambient performed some great mood music, taking the whole concept to a new, soft glowing level. The 13-minute highly atmospheric title track kicking things off contains some sounds of thunder and rain.…
Release data: James Johnson – Entering Twilight CD, Hypnos Recordings, 2000 At the time this album came out, the music of the Mike Griffin’s Hypnos label featured quite a lot of dark, abstract and sometimes even experimental-oriented releases. The sonic content of “Entering Twilight” is a completely different story as it features one 66-minute track which follows through on the…
< Release data: Hollan Holmes – Prayer to the Energy CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 In regard to the quality of his previous releases I think it most exciting when a new release from the very talented Texas-based composer Hollan Holmes hits the streets. In Hollan’s words, the double album “Prayer to the Energy” has easily been the most challenging…
Release data: James Johnson – Unity CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Zero Music, 1998/2016 “Unity” is the debut album by ambient composer James Johnson, of which the music at the time of its initial release was compared with Steve Roach’s releases “Quiet Music” and “Structures from Silence”. This certainly applies to the first track “Forward”, a beautiful exercise in tranquil, gentle lingering and…
Release data: James Johnson – Surrender CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Zero Music, 1999 With his second album “Surrender”, ambient composer James Johnson presents an even smoother sound compared to his debut “Unity”. The outcome is a nice introspective album that combines elements of Liquid Mind, Brian Eno, Jeff Pearce and kindred spirits. “Surrender” takes the listener into a quiet environment of somewhat…
Release data: Forrest Fang – Following the Ether Sun CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projektt, 2017 Besides synthesizer, violin and an assortment of hand-based percussion instruments, Chinese-American sound-sculptor Forrest Fang also plays some far lesser known and uncommon stringed instruments on “Following the Ether Sun”, once more blending a refined hybrid of Western and Eastern influences. This time around though (and contrary to…
Release data: Synestem – From Spaceports 3 DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2014 Through the years there have been several musicians, who’ve expressed their inspiration for or tried to mimic the sound, mood and feel of Jarre’s “Oxygene” and “Equinoxe”. The most amazing one until now, and a real discovery is Germany’s Synestem, aka Gerald Wirtz, who’s also an artist of…
Release data: Silentwave – Kilauea CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Hiss Noise Records, 2017 On the 31-minute dronescape “Kilauea” (the youngest and most active Hawaiian shield volcano), Yoshinori Noguchi expresses the beauty of nature in the first half while the second one reflects on the scarier side of nature. The improvised outcome starts out as an overall smooth, drifting affair of gentle evolving…
Release data: Kai Harster – Return to Nature & Other Delights LP/CD-R, Private Release, 1985/2011 The self-produced “Return to Nature & other Delights” by German composer/painter/lyricist Kai Harster (which received some critical acclaim from Hubert Bognermayer of Erdenklang fame) welcomes its listeners to a strange world of collected acoustic visions. In the distance, some of the meditative/avant-garde and rather psychedelic…
Release data: Tangerine Dream – Particles CD-EP, Eastgate, 2016 “Particles”, the third release in The Quantum Years series, contains two cupdiscs in cardboard sleeve featuring a mixture of previously unreleased studio (Muon; 52 minutes) and live material (Tau; 36 minutes). “Muon” kicks off nicely with the fully improvised and edgy sounding 29-minute “4.00pm Session” which sees Thorsten Quaeschning, Ulrich Schnauss…
Release data: Gert Emmens & Ruud Heij – Urban Decay CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2014/2016 The six tracks Gert Emmens & Ruud Heij created for “Urban Decay” were mainly based on and inspired by their well-accomplished performance at the Dutch E-live Festival in 2012 and completed in February 2013. Due to a change in their style of music (ambient atmospherics…
Release data: Jonn Serrie – The Sentinel CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, New World Music, 2017 The six deep space “paintings” making up “The Sentinel” are based on and inspired by Steven Caldwell’s (aka Stewart Cowley) Terran Trade Authority book series published between 1978 and 1980. These (as it seems) were highly influential art /sci-fi story combinations for folks interested in hardware oriented…
Release data: Lav & Purl – A State of Becoming LP/CD, A Strangely Isolated Place, 2017 Aficionados of tranquil, spacious and smooth glistening ambiences dressed with environmental/nature recordings, piano and carefully measured beats will be fond of “A State of Becoming”, a collaborative project by Lav (aka Christopher Landin) and Purl (aka Ludvig Cimbrelius). The 57-minute outcome slowly unfolds its…
Release data: Boreal Taiga – Polar Reflections DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Wayfarer Records, 2016 Here’s (finally!) a very nice opportunity for all ambient fans out there get to know Norwegian’s Boreal Taiga’s sophisticated sound art whose work is dedicated or inspired by the great white outdoors, frozen oceanic environments, (Ant)arctic natural splendor and ancient populations still living in those remote places. “Polar…
Release data: F.D. Project – Timeless II CD, Private Release, 2016 “Timeless II” (which actually has a loud sound level) saw the light of day exactly 10 years after the first album from 2006. This second chapter features a lot of sounds created back then (check “Return of O..part V”) along some infectious sequencing/drums parts and melodic lines. In addition,…
Release data: Brian Eno – Reflection CD/LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Warp Records, 2017 It’s time to submerge in some tranquil soundscapes again. Fans that enjoyed Mr Eno’s long form ambient bliss such as “Thursday Afternoon” and “Neroli” will encounter a similar aural excursion on the 54-minute “Reflection”, Brian’s 19th studio album to date. The thoughtful, patiently crafted one track composition sounds overtly…
Release data: Altus – Below the Root DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2017 Since I got to know the music of Altus it’s been evident for me many -if not all- of his releases feature a lovely cinematic, imaginary and deeper quality that one enjoys best with quality headphones. To achieve this properly and satisfactory it’s important to dedicate enough time…
Release data: Ashen Simian – Momentum DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Retroduction, 2016 “Momentum”, released a few days before Christmas 2016, was realized using an Ipad along modern desktop synths apart from the usual Ensoniq Fizmo and Korg O1W/fd which Ami Hassinen uses a lot in his music and those of Nemesis. Compared to his previous album “New Horizons”, the character of most…
Release data: Steve Roach – Spiral Revelation CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 2016 Since a couple of years I’ve found it very hard and too demanding to keep up with the high speed of Steve’s releases. Besides serious time constraints to investigate them properly, also the quality of some I listened to didn’t appear as solid and captivating anymore. “Spiral Revelation”…
Release data: Javi Cánovas – The Following Rain DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 Javi’s personal emotions and memories of the first rain in autumn formed the inspiration for the music of “The Following Rain”. The 70-minute outcome delivers a driving and powerful statement of spatial Berlin School sequencers which are tweaked almost constantly along psychedelic-ish soundscapes swirling around them. The…
Release data: Hecq – Night Falls CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Hymen/Ant-Zen, 2008/2016 This deep listening recording is not for the faint of heart. Nocturnal, neo-classical, semi-orchestral and dark cinematic mood music (including a passage with abstract/experimental hooks on “Dis”) is on the menu on Hecq’s fifth album “Night Falls”, a side-project by Berlin-based composer, producer and sound designer Ben Lukas Boysen. Marked…
Release data: Atmosphere Factory – Atmosphere Factory CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Dakini Records, 2016 Here’s another nice find I was pointed at by a good friend from Down Under. The contemporary electronic “Atmosphere Factory” proves another addition of sophisticated, flowing, tranquil but also quite spellbinding ambient music. Its mesmerizing yet hypnotic outcome features eight pieces of music that have been split into…
Release data: Steve Hauschildt – Strands LP/CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Kranky, 2016 With “Strands”, Cleveland-based composer Steve Hauschildt presents his listeners a fascinating analogue trip into spacey and surreal ambient landscapes without wandering in darker territory. The album is a song cycle about cosmogony and creation/destruction myths, its title alludes to the structural constitution of ropes as the artist wanted to approach…
Release data: Sverre Knut Johansen – Antarctica DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Origin Music, 2016 This is a concept album containing contemporary and quite joyous, at times even neo-classical-infused, electronic music dedicated to and inspired by the vulnerable Antarctic region that’s under attack of pollution, global warming issues and other threats. Despite these serious concerns, Sverre Knut Johansen has come up with nine…
Release data: Spyra/Lang – Achtundsechzig 24 (Live@Toskana-Therme) CD, Manikin Records, 2003 With this release the duo Spyra/Lang has come up with a fine work of long form, sequencer-driven and rather trancy Berlin School music carrying the spirit of both vintage and contemporary Schulze as a kind of torch throughout the whole outcome. Compared to Klaus’ modern work, there’s actually no…
Release data: Jim Ottaway – Timeless e-Motion CD, Groove Unlimited, 2009 The title of this album wants to reflect the ‘almost’ endless motion of life along some of the emotions that we experience as we go through life’s journey. As such, Down Under-based composer Mr Ottaway came up with a quite energizing, rhythmic-oriented but not too busy outcome featuring various…
Release data: James Murray – Eyes to the Height CD-DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Ultimae Records, 2016 Mr Murray’s seventh full-length solo album “Eyes to the Height” is a work of contemporary ambient poetry centred on the fragile beauty of life and loss. Next to a certain cinematic quality it features a strong pastoral, velvet and intimate feel. Still I don’t think this…
Release data: AirSculpture – Vanishing Point Volume Two CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 This follow-up to Volume 1 features the music played live in concert at The Gatherings 2011 concert in Philadelphia USA. What strikes quite a bit is the imminent cinematic yet darker quality embedded in the highly improvised often abstract-oriented ambient/soundscape outcome on the first disc contrary to…
Release data: Stefan Erbe – Selectronique Debussy CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Erbe Music, 2016 What you get on this recording is Debussy’s classical music taking the Tomita-avenue but executed in a contemporary “German” fashion. I actually gave the release several extra spins to make up my mind as it puzzled me the first time, but proved doing the same later on. There’s…
Release data: Nothing but Noise – eXistence Oscillation Past CD/DIGITAL DOWWNLOAD, Wool E-Discs, 2016 The Belgian Wool-E label has coined Belgian NeuMusik (Belgian ambient, Berlin School and other experimental-instrumental EM) to label Nothing but Noise’s album “eXistence Oscillation Past”, the first part of a brand new series. The intense aural journey of five long tracks, ranging from sequenced ambient to…
Release data: Mathias Grassow – The Nightquest Sessions CD, Gterma, 1998/2016 Looking at the range of releases on Gterma its clear label owner John Rehn is an avid fan of the darkening ambient-drone works of German musician Mathias Grassow. This version, a slightly altered and edited version of the album Mr Grassow released privately on cd-r in 1998, is a…
Release data: Ulrich Schnauss – No Further Ahead Than Today CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Scripted Realities, 2016 This album is a kind of journey down memory lane as the impact of the nine complex and emotive songs making up “No Further Ahead Than Today” strongly echo the style, approach and aural design of Ulrich’s first releases “Far Away Trains Passing By” (2001)…
Release data: Andrew Forrest – Stillness Moving ~ Source Quartet Volume 2 CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 Andrew Forrest’s “Still Moving”, a title pointing to how everything we humans experience through our senses arises out of stillness or ‘no-thing’ or emptiness, is a musical interpretation of the ultimate non-dual reality where all movement is seen as an expression of stillness…
Release data: Jean Michel Jarre – Oxygene 3 LP/CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Sony Music, 2016 Mr Jarre keeps busy the last couple of years and even set himself a deadline to compose a third chapter of “Oxygene” for its 40th anniversary. Well, the nearly 40-minute album –still without any drums- turns out a minimalist work with lots of sound experimentation on analogue…
Release data: Various Artists – Spheric Music: Silver CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spheric Music, 2016 With the compilation album “Silver”, Lambert Ringlage’s label Spheric Music celebrates its 25th anniversary offering ten exclusive tracks by established and forthcoming artists on the label. The opening track by Frenchman Joel Fajerman (who seems to have a release forthcoming on Spheric) is a very nice vintage…
Release data: Bruno Sanfilippo – Piano Textures 4 CD/LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, AD21 Music, 2016 “Piano Textures 4” sees a continuation of Mr Sanfilippo’s journey through refined electro-acoustic aural realms. It contains nine narrative compositions of intense piano minimalism, treatments, field recordings and sophisticated electronics evoking both mystic and dreamy moods. The timeless, at times even fluid character of the outcome is…
Release data: Rene de Bakker – Almost Human CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 Rene de Bakker’s “Almost Human” was launched on “E-Live 2016”, another album of sequencer-based, Berlin School inspired electronic music. Several interesting moves and sounds are present on each of the seven tracks on the 79-minute album, but (as noted on previous recordings) I again discerned several superficial,…
Release data: Silentwave – Daiyuzan CD, Gterma, 2016 Welcome in the immersive world of Yoshinori Noguchi, aka Silentwave, a Japanese composer from Yokohama working most exclusively in the ambient field or drones music while addressing themes of nature, consciousness and unconsciousness. The 70-minute “Daiyuzan” features three slow evolving longform ambient pieces of a minimalist, improvised, drifting and profound introspective nature…
Release data: Arcane – Automaton CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2016 Arcane aficionados -including myself- who have been following and appreciating this artist’s accessible vintage sequencer works should now be very cautious. Mr Lawler’s “Automaton” proves a hard nut to crack with its profound experimental/abstract approach and sound (meant to mimic the nature of the Automaton) built from layers of self…
Release data: Seetyca – Zwischenwelten CD, Winter-Light , 2015 “Zwischenwelten”, worlds in between, starts out with mysterious whispers and blurred, expansive dronescapes. It’s an entrance into another deep ominous and ghostly world made by of e-maschinen, samplers, ocarina, recorder, zither, voice, trombone, flute and various environmental recordings and sample food where the dark-atmospheric atmospheres reign. This time around though, experimentation…
Release data: Matthew Stewart – A world bathed in sunlight CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2016 American multi-instrumentalist Matthew Stewart previously made appearances on albums and live performances of Spotted Peccary artists David Helpling, Jon Jenkins and Deborah Martin. The concept of Stewart’s debut album “A world bathed in sunlight” addresses a kindred theme as Robert Rich’s “What we left…
Release data: Bertrand Loreau (feat. Lambert) – In Search of Silence CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spheric Music, 2016 The switch to other analogue instruments than his regular gear proves beneficial to the sound of the outcome of Bertrand Loreau’s “In Search of Silence”, who invited Lambert Ringlage in a later stage to add some contributions. Still firmly rooted in vintage Berlin School…
Release data: Serge Devadder – Ganda CD, Groove Unlimited, 2016 At first glance, “Ganda” (Gent), of which the most part was recorded live in concert during Cosmic Nights in spring 2016 and taken straight from the mixing desk, seems to head toward Loren Nerell’s Gamelan-inspired music. That resemblance pops up a few more times later on, but there’s much more…
Release data: Steve Moore – Light Echoes CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Cuneiform Records, 2012 From the start it’s clear the music found on Steve Moore’s album “Light Echoes” doesn’t hide being inspired by classic German Kosmische Schule by the most notable Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and alike. The six tracks are made up of warm, gentle soaring analogue synth washes as well…
Release data: Three-Six (36) – Seconds & Forever LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, 3Six Recordings/Mystic & Quantum Records, 2016 “Seconds & Forever”, part-influenced by the late 70’s Tangerine Dream style lp’s, features two 18-minute pieces. Sonically a cross between the 36-releases “Sine Dust” and “Void Dance”, both tracks offer multiple textural movements of velvet, beautiful meandering and evolving kind. As Dennis Huddleston (aka…
Release data: M. Persson – Sounds: Hydra DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2015 Some may know I’m an avid and long-time fan of well-made textural and ambient-space music. Back in 2007, I got to know the fine sound art of “Strange Skies” (re-released in 2012 as download by Free Floating Music) by Swedish composer Mats Persson through the Altus website. Unfortunately,…
Release data: Robert Rich – Vestiges CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Soundscape Productions, 2016 “Vestiges” began as the unspoken corollary to the strong concept album “What We Left Behind” and proves even more up close and personal. While traveling forward in his own imagination to experience the earth after human extinction, Robert Rich needed to push aside the brooding sense of melancholy and…
Release data: Perge – Pleonasms (The Secret Tapes Vol. 2) CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2016 Despite taking off in a psychedelic fashion, Perge has been able raise the bar even higher in this next, fully succeeded attempt to celebrate the analogue Berlin School sound of ‘80’s TD. As a matter of fact, on “Pleonasms” Matthew Stringer and Graham Getty go…
Release data: Nautic Depths – Submental Vol. 1 CD-R, Private Release, 2012 On their first chapter in the Submental series, ambient duo Thomas Weiss and Mathias Grassow take us on a minimal and deep journey inward. The 50-minute uninterrupted outcome is a blend of nature soundscapes and expansive, minimal and thick dronescapes morphing along, addressing slightly gothic atmospheres occasionally. Although…
Release data: Johannes Schmoelling – A Thousand Times part 2 CD, Viktoriapark, 2016 Six years after its initial release, Johannes Schmoelling (joined by Jonas Behrens on a few tracks) brings us a second batch offering a mix of styles but staying true to his distinct yet evocative signature sound. Once again, piano and warm textures play an important role in…
Release data: Walter Christian Rothe – Let the night last forever LP/CD, Groove Unlimited, 1985/2016 Belgian composer Walter Christian Rothe lived in the heart of the city of Brussels when he composed his classic album ‘Let the night last forever”. Comprising of nine parts it tells the story of his love for the night in the city especially the loneliness…
Release data: Three-Six (36) – The Infinity Room LP/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, A Strangely Isolated Place, 2016 This time around, UK sound sculptor and ambient artist Dennis Huddleston, aka 36, presents us another lovely mellow project to please the ears. Sonically, “The Infinity Room” incorporates the realm of “Sine Dust” and “Hypersona” and 36’s overall hallmark of subtle, shifting repetition. Inspired by…
Release data: Vidna Obmana – Eternal Circulation DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 1993 I can be brief about the music on this release, referred to as a “soundtrack composed for a never-materialized art installation”. It was made in the period when Dirk Serries, aka vidnaObmana, sticked to creating overall calm, amorphous, introspective and expansive textural ambient soundpaintings. The continuous 73-minute, highly…
Release data: Loren Nerell – The Venerable Dark Cloud CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Projekt Records, 2016 “What would it be like to be a soul or spirit inside a gong?” You would not think in human ways but maybe in gamelan tones. It’s a question Loren Nerell thought about around 2000 when he was approached to contribute a project to Amplexus mini-cd…
Release data: Nothing but Noise vs Prothese – MusicForMutedTV 2 MC, Wool-E Tapes, 2016 Here’s something stepping quite of the ordinary, presenting its own version of intense, adventurous and progressive krautrock electronics. This time around, Nothing but Noise, aka Daniel Bressanutti (Daniel B. of Front 242-fame but also known as Prothese), Dirk Bergen (one of the first Front 242-members) and…
Release data: Howard Givens & Madhavi Devi – Source of Compassion CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2016 I imagine the meditative exercise with Craig Padilla on “Life Flows Water” must have triggered Spotted Peccary veteran Howard Givens to explore that realm even further, as the most subtle electronic-ambient making up “Source of Compassion” dwells further in overall quiet, serene and…
Release data: Tom Eaton – IndeSterren (Into the Stars) CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, River Wise Records, 2016 Those music fans out there enjoying the intimate, emotive ambient musings of Jeff Pearce, Tim Story and Patrick O’Hearn should take notice here. Tom Eaton spend most of his life as co-producer and engineer working with American guitarist Will Ackerman (also founder of the Windham…
Release data: Arrocata – Moments of Grace CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Sonoran Winds Music, 2011 The sonic content of Arrocata’s “Moments of Grace” is a mix of atmospheric Roach-like desert ambience and reflective/melancholic aural paintings. In both, emotive currents and streams are at play, glowing gently but steady. Opener “Moments in Grace” is a strong exercise (expressing the true state of grace…
Release data: Zanov – Green Ray CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 1976/2016 The mid seventies experienced the emergence of electronic music from the progressive soundscapes with those (short) keyboard solos or before unheard sound effects evolving into interesting full length albums. Although not pigeonholed yet, the new music attracted the attention of a new generation of creative talents keen to explore…
Release data: Remy – Fears CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Deserted Island Music, 2016 After five years, Dutch accomplished synthesist Remy Stroomer hereby presents us his new solo: the concept album “Fears”. Remy didn’t take the easy road for this one, expressing the universal theme of fear, an unpleasant emotional state to a real external threat or danger in seven compelling, highly emotive…