Release data: Michael Neil – Maisema CD, Private Release, 2008 The album “Maisema” (the Finnish word for landscape) is a project conveying Michael Neil’s experience of living in Finland for almost a year, which affected him enormously. The 55-minute album is filled with eight tracks of minimal but contemporary ambient music with an abstract edge. “Slow gestating music in an…
Release data: Ma Ja Le & James Johnson – Live Under a Harvest Moon CD-R, Zero Music, 2000 “Live Under a Harvest Moon” came out in January 2000 on the small Zero-Music label. It offers a unique live-concert of Chicago-based Eno-oriented musician James Johnson and the peculiar ambient-duo Ma Ja Le (aka Chris Short and Paul Vnuk Jr.), which took…
Release data: Martin/Klamt/Rownd – Convergence CD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2002 “Convergence” is the imaginative outcome of live concert performances of three accomplished musicians who all release their music through Spotted Peccary Music: Deborah Martin, Greg Klamt and Mark Rownd. The 55-minute album features some quiet, lush and ethereal textural pads which are nicely blended with Taos drums, various flutes and…
Release data: Pollard/Daniel/Booth – Volume Two CD-R, English Electronic Music Company, 2010 For years, Steve Jenkins’ Hampshire Jam festival is known as one of UK’s finest EM-festivals, which had the privilege to welcome the Pollard/Daniel/Booth trio on stage during its eight festival in October 2009. The occasion was made even more special as the three musicians were joined by no…
Release data: Ishq – Fluid Earth CD-R, Virtualworld, 2010 Back in 2001, the Interchill/Dakini-label released Ishq’s album “Orchid” as a double cd limited edition in Japan and throughout Asia. As many people are still unaware of the second cd of this version of “Orchid” or missed out on it due to its limited availability, Matt Hillier (aka Ishq) decided to…
Release data: Peter Mergener – Passage in Time CD, Cue Records, 1991 After his first successful solo-album “Creatures”, Peter’s second album – which followed very quickly after his debut cd- is again one dealing with a concept. The musical story of “Passage in Time” involves the matter of time, the history of mankind and transitoriness. Once more, Peter is able…
Release data: Pollard/Daniel/Booth – 3 CD-R, English Electronic Music Company, 2010 “3” contains the multi-track recording of the dynamic vintage set played by the trio Brendan Pollard, Michael Daniel and Phil Booth during E-Live 2009, only missing the encore (which will be featured on a forthcoming album). All who were present that day found the three performing musicians in great…
Release data: Various Artists – Joint Efforts – The Album CD, EM Productions, 2010 Joint Efforts- “The Album” is the outcome of an idea born several years ago on the EM forum emportal.info. I’m personally not a fan of compilation-albums, and like only those, which feature unique tracks. Fortunately, “The Album” is an exception, as this double album contains all…
Release data: Three-Six (36) – Hollow CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, 3six Recordings, 2010 “Hollow” is the second studio album by 36, also marking the second part of a trilogy (as the cd cover states Part 2 of 3) which was started by the impressive “Hypersona”. Well, at first glance it seemed the sonic journey continued in a similar manner, but here the…
Release data: Kinesis – Beyond the Galaxy CD, Morningstar/Geomagnetic Records, 2010 Kinesis is a Psy-Trance project by Salvador, aka Dj Salva, an artist of Spanish origin who initiated the project in 2005. “Beyond the Galaxy” is his second release, and the outcome is a well-produced and overall steamy dance excursion. What we got here is a powerful 74-minute instrumental ride…
Release data: David Michael Matuch – Before Reality CD, Infinite Monkey Productions, 1997 “Before Reality” is David’s second album, bearing the well-chosen subtitle “Mind Movie Music and other Ambient Electronic Experiments”. And yes, cinematic electronic dreamscapes we sure get on this recording, for which David used the Kurzweil K2000RS on two tracks, mostly to create loops, samples and appropriate sequencer…
Release data: Mike Andrews – Time & Science CD, Neu Harmony, 2002 “Time and Science” is one of the only two factory pressed cds by synthesist Mike Andrews, who currently seems to reside in The Netherlands. The release actually contains all music of his “Tides Of Time” album, to which a few others tracks are added, which makes it a…
Release data: Tom Hackl – Terra Australis CD, Blue Sunshine, 1992 While running over my cd-collection, I stumbled upon this album by Australian musician Tom Hackl, which I remember I bought from Joerg Strawe’s Cue Records. The cd lacks any further background info on Mr Hackl though. But a look upon the cd-cover and the track titles on this 62-minute…
Release data: Peter Mergener – Creatures CD, Cue Records, 1991 I’m glad German musician Peter Mergener decided to start a solo career after he quit the collaborative project Software with Michael Weisser. I I always found the overall sound of the high-tech project far too synthetic and distant. Mergener’s own music though has a human and warm touch, which is…
Release data: Phaenon – His Master’s Voice CD, Malignant Records, 2010 First I’d like to mention the beautiful and evocative but also rather disturbing and scary cover art that graces this 6-panel digipack release. It seems this nightmare scenery doesn’t predict much good for the second cd-album by Phaenon, aka Szymon Tankiewics. The concept album “His Master’s Voice” is inspired…
Release data: Human Metronome – The Child Set Free CD, Private Release, 2010 Human Metronome is Eindhoven-based ambient musician and visual artist Eelke van Hoof. In his opinion, composing music is a spontaneous, etheric process which can be a means to reach the intuition within a human being. In addition, the press-sheet states: the setting of “The child set free”…
Release data: THIS – Zone CD-R, Private Release, 2010 THIS (soulful sonic excursions extruding hypnotic-ambient-space overture, healing and spiritual) is a project initiated by Kentucky-based musician Bill Chelf, whose career spans over fifty years. He started work on “Zone” after he heard Hearts Of Space Radio in the 80’s, so this outcome has been approximately two decades in the making.…
Release data: moonbooter – Orbit Number 2 CD-R, Mellowjet Records, 2006 On “Orbit Number 2” Bernd Scholl brings us 62-minutes of overall groovy and highly sequenced electronic music, spread out over eight lengthy tracks. The album is actually the audio companion to a dvd of the same name with 5.1 Surround Sound featuring some old Nasa visuals. The outcome is…
Release data: Geigertek – The Timeless Mind CD-R, AD Music, 2010 Geigertek is a project by classically trained synthesist Neil Fellowes, who hails from Norwich, UK. In January 2009, Neil was recruited as member of Code Indigo and live session keyboard player for electronic music project Callisto (as Dave Massey still doesn’t want to do “live”). “The Timeless Mind” is…
Release data: A Produce – Urbanisation CD, Generator.pl, 2010 Aairria (whose motto I read is the insignificance of time) is a project by the Polish ambient musician Marcin Drabot. He already put out several minimal and longform releases through various internet labels using multiple aliases. “Urbanisation” was previously available through his own Rain netlabel, but now has received a proper…
Release data: Megabyte – Powerplay CD, Innovative Communications, 1987 This is, in my opinion, one of the most peculiar electronic releases put out in the second half of the ’80s. Megabyte is Billy Byte and Amanda Mega, but the actual musicians behind it are no other than Thilo Rex (who sadly passed away at the age of 51 in 2009)…
Release data: Yanni – Keys To Imagination CD, Private Music, 1986 This instrumental album is the debut release of Greek-born American musician Yanni (aka Yiannis Hrysomallis) on Peter Baumann’s Private music label. Although clocking at only 38 minutes, the cd offers eight classical-edged tracks featuring some appealing compositions, melodies, elaborate cross-rhythms, and a dash of romantic flavours. Despite starting out…
Release data: Michel Bekkering – Cosmopolitan Dances CD-R, Private Release, 2010 “Cosmopolitan Dances” is the second album by Dutch synthesist Michel Bekkering, who’s also a member of the band Modular White. According to the press-sheet, the music (which was already finished in 2007) takes on a vintage-oriented approach. The first and last section of the 23-minute “Tango Hypnotique” occasionally reminds…
Release data: Mark Shreeve – Thoughts of War CD, Champagne Lake Productions, 1981/2000 Mark Shreeve’s album “Thoughts of War”, was released in 2000 on cd in a limited and numbered edition of 300 copies, although the original came out on vinyl back in 1981 on the Norwegian Uniton label. The recording contains four lengthy compositions which features a great interplay…
Release data: Robert Schroeder – Galaxie Cygnus-A LP, Innovative Communications, 1982 In my opinion, the cosmic symphony “Galaxie Cygnus-A” is the most remarklable project German synthesist Robert Schroeder did in the ‘80’s. In it, visual artist Michael Weisser (who later on would found Software with Peter Mergener) was also involved. The “Musik-Computer-Sinfonie” project, as it was adapted, was commisioned for…
Release data: Brian Eno – Thursday Afternoon CD, EG Records, 1985 The long form music on Brian’s Eno’s “Thursday Afternoon” (composed as the soundtrack to an art installation video of the same name) is by many regarded as one of the pinnacles of ambient wallpaper music. It’s also proof of Eno’s theory: slowing things down makes things sound so much…
Release data: Mark Dwane – The Monuments of Mars CD/Mc/Digital Download, Orbian Music, 1988 Going through my collection, I stumbled upon this classic recording of Ohio-based synthesist Mark Dwane, which I purchased right after its release in 1988. The 39-minute “The Monuments of Mars” is Mark Dwane’s first cd-album, and it was also the first of its kind completely made…
Release data: Greg Klamt – Fulcrum CD, Spotted Peccary Music, 1993 “Fulcrum” is the debut album of American synthesist and visual artist Greg Klamt, which offers a rich blend of symphonic-flavoured, cinematic music with occasional powerful percussive elements. Created from intuition and through experimentation, Greg’s classic / symphonic compositions are assembled of gentle flowing textural spaces, which he gradually unfolds…
Release data: Parallel Worlds – Far Away Light CD-R, Shima Records, 2005 For fans of vintage analogues, the music of Bakis Sirros (aka Parallel Worlds) is something special. His output is retro music with a modern twitch, for which he intelligently applies his assortment analogue step sequencers and analogue modulars. In my opinion, Bakis’sonic adventure through a landscape of slow-tempo…
Release data: Schiller – Atemlose Klangwelten CD, Universal Domestic, 2010 “Atemlose Klangwelten” is the bonus album which comes only with the Limited Ultra Deluxe Edition of Schiller’s “Atemlos”, and in a way you might compare it with the “Einlass” cd-series which he releases privately. The bonus cd, which is all instrumental, contains six ambient “Klangwelten” (Soundworlds), and here Mr Von…
Release data: Stefan Erbe – Driver CD, Erbe Music, 2010 This is my first encounter with the music of German synthesist Stefan Erbe, who describes the music as “a soundtrack for a special night drive”. From the cd booklet, I also learned the physical version of “Driver” is an extended version, containing 74-minutes/15 tracks, while the download edition contains 12…
Release data: Dave Luxton – Portal CD-R, Wayfarer Records, 2010 With this release, Mr Luxton brings us an ambient album with an overall lush and harmonic cosmic music, this time taking a more cinematic approach. Drawing from his experience as a film composer, he presents eight textural tracks of spacious music that really takes you “out there”. Its impact makes…
Release data: Tangerine Dream – Winter in Hiroshima CD, Eastgate, 2009 This cd marks part four in the five atomic seasons, and musically sees a continuation of the Nagasaki/Hiroshima story of Mr. H.T. Solely composed and played by Edgar, the music fortunately moves back to the period the TD-sound still had Soul (which hasn’t been the case for too many…
Release data: Remotion – Between Fiction and Reality CD, Groove Unlimited, 2001 Remotion is the Dutch duo Richard Stuij and Arjan Steenbergen, who recorded the music of this album live in the studio without using computer sequencers. Richard took care of composing and performing the music, while Arjan did the engineering job next to adding additional drums and effects. Although…
Release data: Cadenced Haven – Peregrination CD, Groove Unlimited, 2010 Cadenced Haven is a project by Bangladesh-based female artist Laila Quraishi, who got some great help from accomplished Dutch synthesist Gert Emmens on her debut-release “Peregrination”. The CH-project itself is a mind soothing, New Age based art form with the goal to reach the listener’s inner soul, hidden mind and…
Release data: Michael Whalen – Nightscenes CD, Alchemy Records, 1996/2004 This cd, on the original release subtitled “Music for the Evening”, is made by the accomplished American musician Michael Whalen. This Emmy award winning composer and music supervisor has made numerous tunes and commercials for radio and television next to a whole range of soundtracks. This brilliant disc offers a…
Release data: Stephan Whitlan –Stephan Whitlan – Map Reference CD, Fairy Nuff Records, 1996 With “Map Reference”, Irish synthesist Stephan Whitlan delivered his debut album on his private Fairy Nuff label back in 1996. Looking back, it’s a great example what a whole bunch of analogue gear and some keen musicianship can lead do (although the story in the cd-booklet…
Release data: Rogier – From the Shadow to the Sun CD, Quantum Records, 2004 “From The Shadow to the Sun” is the first official record by Dutch professional composer, arranger, producer and musician Rogier van Gaal, aka Rogier. The outcome on this cd indeed sounds upper-class and very rich, and the first name that jumped in my mind was Vangelis.…
Release data: Phillip Wilkerson – Interplay EP, Private Release, 2010 “Interplay” is an Ep containing five tracks of freeform, textural music. For almost 40 minutes, Mr Wilkerson takes a dip into smoothing, deep ambient spaces, which occasionally contain deep bass pulses As can be expected, there’s nothing challenging found in this airy soundscape work, a quiet sonic backdrop of harmonic…
Release data: Astrovoyager – Symphotronic Lunation CD, Dreaming-Musea, 2010 AstroVoyager is a project by French electronic musician Philippe Fagnoni, whose sonic art (according to the press-sheet) seeks connection to contemporary soundtrack composers such as Hans Zimmer, Eric Serra on one side and genre-specific artists as Vangelis, Era, Enigma and Jean-Michel Jarre on the other. “Symphotronic Lunation”, his second release which…
Release data: Przemysław Rudź – Cosmological Tales CD, Generator.pl, 2010 With “Cosmological Tales”, Polish synthesist Przemysław Rudź present us his second album, a recording graced with a fresh, melodic, vibrant and well-produced sound. The cd fires off with a fine combination of well-tempered sequencers and rhythms building a bridge with pads of warm digital and analogue sound, with some infectious…
Release data: Bernd Kistenmacher – Beyond the Deep CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Mellowjet Records, 2010 After many albums dedicated to or inspire by outer space, “Beyond The Deep” takes a dive into the inner space world and wonders of sea life. The album and its music were premiered at Planetarium Bochum on June 12. So what does this fictional musical exploration of…
Release data: Steve Roach – Sigh of Ages CD, Projekt Records, 2010 With “Sigh of Ages”, ambient master Steve Roach brings us a grand and highly reflective work or art, a soft dweller into spacious textural realms. To compose the music, Steve once more returned to some beautiful analogue synthesizers, which included the classic 40-year-old Arp String Ensemble. The six…
Release data: Michael Neil – Silent Light CD-R, Private Release, 2010 The album “Silent Light” began life as part of an ongoing series of works around the theme of Memory, Migration, and Mortality, which was set in motion with Michael Neils film “The Brownstone Trilogy” and the installation “The Breath of Exhaling Ghosts”. Moreover, the particular inspiration for this album…
Release data: Callisto – Nyx CD, AD Music, 2010 “Nyx” is the long overdue second album of Callisto, aka David Wright and Dave Massey. The 76-minute factory-pressed disc offers four long pieces ranging between 17 and 22 minutes. They pair atmospheric parts with rhythmic/sequenced and melodic sections in which one can also notice an occasional analogue angle. At first glance…
Release data: Nattefrost – Live in Germany CD, Groove Unlimited, 2010 The last couple of years, Bjørn Jeppesen aka Nattefrost has established himself as an accomplished electronic musician, which was even “accelerated” when he was contracted by the established Groove Unlimited label. The well-tempered “Live in Germany” contains excerpts of two live sets played in Wuppertal in 2008 (where Bjørn…
Release data: Robert Beau Michaels – Zero Point – Music to Disappear In CD-R, Private Release, 2010 Listening to “Zero Point –Music to Disappear in”– is as entering a slow and harmonic world, an escape from the busy life most of the modern humans live nowadays. The 40-minute non-rhythmic ride, presented in nine separate tracks, radiates a sense of wonder.…
Release data: Spyra – ADSR Remixed CD MAXI, Ricochet Dream, 2010 This 25-minute EP (a limited edition of 500 copies) contains the track “ADSR” in four different mixes. Three are by Spyra, the other is done by Ashra’s Steve Baltes. The remix version at the start is the one that connects the most to contemporary electronic music in the catchy…
Release data: Daniel Bloom – Event Horizon CD, Ricochet Dream, 2010 Daniel Bloom is a Polish synthesist who has been joining Vic Rek’s Ricochet Gathering meetings since a few years, and he also showed up on the “Keep On” tribute cd of the same label. Daniel composed the seven tracks on “Event Horizon” in 2002 and 2003 using only analogue…
Release data: Spyra/Lang – SeQuest CD, Ricochet Dream, 2010 “SeQuest” is a 66-minute album by Chris Lang and Spyra assembling four lengthy live tracks played on different occasions. The outcome though follows nicely in the footsteps of Spyra’s latest releases, being overall expressive and lively, creating lots of atmospheres on the way. To me, the album most of all is…
Release data: Brian Parnham – The Broken Silence CD, Floating Point Records, 2000/2010 This edition of “The Broken Silence” is an expanded version of the originally cd-r album, which was released in 2000. That one was put out as privately released cd-r of only 100 copies, being out-of-print almost as soon as it saw the light of day. Celebrating the…
Release data: Dan Pound – Interlace CD, Pound Sounds, 2010 With “Interlace”, California-based musician Dan Pounds adds another chapter to his series of ambient electronic, shamanic space music, which he likes to call musical medicine for the soul. The outcome is an ambient voyage beyond the tangible world of matter while simultaneously reaching into the inner depths of ones personal…
Release data: Ricochet Gathering – Keep On CD, Ricochet Dream, 2010 “Keep on” is a limited edition release featuring a live and improvised recording in Transylvania on 11 November 2008, marking the Silver Anniversary celebration of Michael Mann’s cult-movie “The Keep” for which Tangerine Dream produced the original soundtrack. Ricochet’s 9th Gathering event this time featured Spyra, Steve Schroyder, Paul…
Release data: Gert Emmens – The Nearest Faraway Place Vol. 3 CD, Groove Unlimited, 2010 This final chapter of the “Nearest Faraway Place” trilogy is brought to an end in a fashionable, but also expected manner. For many years, Gert’s output is known as typical and well-rendered mood music blending the warm sounds of analogues with vintage drums and encompassing…
Release data: Cosmic Hoffmann – Astral Journey CD-R, Heart & Mind, 2010 Here we got another archival release, Volume 4 in the Vintage Rarities from the 70’s-series, entitled “Astral Journey”, which also marks the final part of this series. No surprise we again get a good portion of highly improvised and emotionally driven retro music on the seven pieces, which…
Release data: Johannes Schmoelling – Early Beginnings CD, Viktoriapark Records, 2008 The anthology “Early Beginnings” comprises a range of previously unreleased recordings, rough drafts and demo’s Johannes Schmoelling recorded between 1979-1985, giving a nice insight in the musician’s process on finding his own voice and signature in music. When Johannes joined Tangerine Dream between 1980 and 1985, he was able…
Release data: Ben Swire – From Here to There CD, Preservation, 2010 “From Here to There” is the first full-length release of San Francisco-based composer Ben Swire, who I knew from his “Equilibrium”-Ep, out in 2002 on The Foundry. The album features eight tracks melting processed electro-acoustic instrumentation, densely layered field recordings, and sophisticated electronics with occasional glitchy bits, minimal…
Release data: Irezumi – Endurance CD, Snowblod, 2008 This album has been on my wish-list for quite some time, as I just knew it would be right up my alley. Irezumi is a project by the young French composer Manuel Mesdag (also known as trance/dance dj MANUEL-M). “Endurance” is a concept album inspired by the Ernest Shackleton’s tragic Antarctic expedition.…
Release data: Arkha Nous – Tria CD, Arkha Sound, 2009 Arkha Nous is musician and composer Rodolfo Garza, hailing from Monterrey, Mexico. In the past years he collaborated with ambient musician Jorge Reyes (who sadly passed away 2009). As Barbelo, he released released the album “Ethnoaural” in 2008, a project together with Jorge Reyes and Susan Lincoln. The 54-minute “Tria”…
Release data: Cyscape – Deep Sea Explorer CD-R, Private Release, 2003 Cyscape is the UK ambient musician Phil Riches, of which this album seems to be his second one. Yes, with such a title we’re entering some deep cinematic atmospheres, a 65-minute collage of smooth evolving dreamscapes with distinct use of rhythmic beat elements. Not that it’s that easy music,…