Release data: David Gerard – The Realm of Knowing CD-R, Orbiting Orion Records, 2010 Boston-based synthesist David Gerard began composing at age twenty-four, after studying photography and graphic art in New York City. Later on, he studied multi-track recording and started recording his own original work. In 1984, he produced “A Piece of the Desert”, an electronic/ambient suite he admits…
Release data: Matthew Florianz – Maalbeek CD, H/S Recordings, 2008 Years back, I got to know some of the fine crafted ambient music of The Hague-based musician Matthew Florianz. In 2008, he released the concept album “Maalbeek”, which again shows his great talent of painting slow morphing, highly atmospheric landscapes. Named after a forest area near the Holland/Germany border, the…
Release data: Schiller – Tag und Nacht CD, Universal Domestic, 2005 Schiller’s stunning album “Sehnsucht” made me decide to investigate his back catalogue a bit further, which brought me to “Tag un Nacht”. Again, this album presents a balanced mix of vocal and instrumental tracks, with even some great pop songs such as “Miles and Miles” and “Falling” (both with…
Release data: Zeit – Waves from the Sky CD, Hic Sunt Leones, 2008 Zeit is Italian ambient musician Tommaso Cimò, who recorded his debut-release “Waves from the Sky” during nightly sessions in his home studio “The Mag” between April and August 2007. The album contains six moody, environmental and overall melancholic ambient pieces, which dwell in a world of introspection…
Release data: Collapsar – Beyond the Event Horizon CD, Malignant Records, 2009 ans of well-produced dark ambient music will find much of their liking on “Beyond the Event Horizon”, a project by the French musician Thibaud Thaunay, aka Collapsar. This recording of overall spacious form is actually a 47-minute journey into the far depths of the vast and unknown realms…
Release data: Alio Die & Parallel Worlds – Circo Divino CD, Hic Sunt Leones, 2010 “Circo Divino”, which comes in very nicely designed digipack, is a collaborative project between Alio Die (aka Italian ambient composer Stefano Musso) and Greek vintage synthesist Parallel Worlds (aka Bakis Siros). Both these musicians have already proved what they are capable of in previous years,…
Release data: Stu Jenks – The Three Surrenders (Soundtracks for Photographs) CD, Fizziweg Music, 2003/2010 “The Three Surrenders” (Soundtracks for Photographs, Volume One) is the debut album of Tucson-based photographer Stu Jenks, who composed the music as a sonic backdrop for his 2002 photographic installation at Tucson’s Museum of Contemporary Art. About his visual work he says: “I learn a…
Release data: Justin St. Vincent – The Spiritual Significance of Music BOOK, Xtreme Music, 2009 The anthology “The Spiritual Significance of Music” is a book that investigates the relationship between music and spirituality by means of a series of interviews with worldwide writers and musicians. Music can open up the mind and soul, establish an emotional connection or even be…
Release data: Bruno Sanfilippo & Mathias Grassow – Cromo – piano & drones CD, ad21music, 2010 For this work of art, Mr Sanfilippo and Mr Grassow have teamed up a second time, together creating a smooth and quiet sonic soundscape to follow-up their critically acclaimed “Ambessence”. The six “chapters” on “Cromo” offer 62 minutes of intimate soundings which sees a…
“One Night in Paris” is a studio recording made by Walter Christian Rothe back in 1993. This recording, portraying some of the many Parisian landmarks, finds Mr Rothe in good spirits, excelling in offering a melange of lively, emotional and well-composed tracks to please any contemporary listener of electronic music. Overall, it sees a nice interplay of drums, guitars and…
Release data: Phelios – Astral Unity CD, Malignant Records, 2010 Phelios is a dark ambient project by German musician Martin Stürtzer, who’s an acquaintance of Stephen Parsick. With the latter, Martin collaborated on “It always rains in Wuppertal”. “Astral Unity”, which comes in a beautifully designed 6-panel deluxe digipack with gold foil stamping, shows a further maturation of his highly…
Release data: Michele Ippolito – In the Clouds CD-R, Penrose Records, 2009 “In the Clouds” is the second independent release of Illinois-based Michele Ippolito, who started out as a classically trained pianist. What we actually got here is a new age recording in a kindred vein as the music of e.g. Liquid Mind or Robert Haig Coxon’s “The Silent Path”.…
Release data: Clifford White – The Healing Touch (Ascension II) CD, MG Music, 2010 “The Healing Touch” is the follow-up to Clifford White’s new-age album “Ascension”, a landmark release in the genre of new age music back in 1985. Clifford has come up with a similar kind of release, but also one sounding contemporary and fresh. The outcome harkens back…
Release data: Steve Rose – Twin Earth: Collected Ambient Works CD-R, Private Release, 2009 “Twin Earth: Collected Ambient Works” is a 62-minute compilation of lush ambient/space tracks by Canadian musician Steve (Austin) Rose, with pieces dating back to 1994. The release offers seven smooth, unhurried soundscape pieces made with synths and ambient guitar treatments. Melody plays a minor role, it’s…
Release data: Yarek & Friends – Spirits of the Dust CD, Generator.pl, 2010 “Spirits of the Dust” is the third album of Polish synthesist Yarek (aka Jaroslaw Degorski), for which he revisited some shelved electronic pieces from the past. For this release, Jaroslaw completely re-arranged and re-recorded them with a bit of help from some friends. At first glance, the…
Release data: Harald Nies – Earthcreator CD-R, Mellowjet Records, 2010 In the past, I stumbled on various releases of German Harald Nies, which were never able to please me in a satisfying way. Now there’s “Earthcreator”, his seventh album if I’m correct, which contains five lengthy pieces. The outcome is general melodic music in the German electronic music style with…
Release data: Byron Metcalf, Dashmesh Khalsa & Steve Roach – Dream Tracker CD, Dr Bam\’s Music, 2010 The organic music of “Dreamtracker” is a culmination of high spirits, contemporary and ancient trance-induced shamanic rituals and groovy world music, or in the words of the press-info: “a full-blown dreamtime alchemy of all the elements”. After Mr Metcalf mapped out the trance-groove…
Release data: Altus – Black Trees Among Amber Skies DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2010 With his release “Black Trees Among Amber Skies”, Canadian musician Mike Carss (aka Altus) returns to his classic free form style of music, who describes the outcome as ambient music for night-time winter walks in the city. As fans of his music know, Mike is an…
Release data: Mythos – Unabsteigbar! CD-R, Mellowjet Records, 2010 Unabsteigbar!” by Stephan Kaske, aka Mythos, is a limited edition EP in a special amaray-case. It contains 44-minutes of groovy music performed live at Em-Breakfast in December 2009 in Bochum, Germany. The five tracks found here contain all dynamic new music, and sees vocoder fragments interact with beat-driven melodic and rhythmic…
Release data: Walter Christian Rothe & Friends – Two for Green: Bulgaria DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 1996/2010 “Two for Green – Bulgaria” is an album in a series of collaborations between Walter Christian Rothe and Herwig Duchateaux (ex-Scooter drummer). The concept recording, a journey through the Balkan region, its culture and folklore, contains lots of world music and ethnic influences,…
Release data: Przemysław Rudź – Summa Technologiae CD, Generator.pl, 2010 Przemysław Rudź is a Polish musician living in Gdansk, who’s “Summa Technologiae” is a musical interpretation of Stanislav Lem’s book translated into a language of synthetic and mysterious sounds. After a deep atmospheric intro, “Dilemmas” kicks off with complex, clear sequencer patterns. They don’t evolve any further though, staying too…
Release data: Hybrid Leisureland – Scroll Slide CD, Ultimae Records, 2010 Hybrid Leisureland is the alias of Tokyo-based musician Hidetoshi Koizumi, who made his first steps into music around 1995. While he made his debut on the Ultimae sampler “Oxycanta” release, his sonic output seem to reflect his personal observations of the world he lives in. Mr Koizumi creates original…
Release data: Chad Kettering – Voices of the Ancients CD, Soniclayers Music, 2010 After two years of hard work invested in sculpturing, layering and refining music for his second release, Chad Kettering has come up with a great successor to “Into the Infinite”. The outcome on “Voices of the Ancients” is an intensive sound experience which can be put next…
Release data: moonbooter – World of Apes 1 CD, Mellowjet Records, 2010 “World of Apes 1” is a very personal and thought-provoking concept album by Bernd Scholl, aka Moonbooter, addressing the nuclear treat, cold war activities and related themes which keep affecting nowadays global societies and civilization. On this behalf, I remember similar topics were previously explored by Holle Mangler…
Release data: Epiphany – Sonica CD, LB Music Production, 2007/2010 After a leap of almost 10 years, Epiphany (aka Erik Teljeur) finally brings us a new album with imaginary, dark ambient electronics. Erik describes the outcome as his most intimate work to date, as the music inhabits a lot of personal emotions. “Sonica”, which comes in a very nice digipack…
Release data: Schiller – Atemlos CD, Universal Domestic, 2010 Schiller impressed me with his previous album “Sehnsucht” (“Desire”), which was followed by the even better double dvd of the “Sehnsucht”-tour. So expectations among his fans were high for the new album “Atemnot” (“Breathless”) and the outcome Christopher von Deylen, aka Schiller, would come up with. But I must disappoint all…
Release data: Cell – Hanging Masses CD, Ultimae Records, 2009 “Hanging Masses” is the second full length release by French musician Cell, aka Alexandre Scheffer. Cell previously contributed single tracks to various compilations in the genre of down-tempo electronica, but now bit by bit reveals his own identity with this cohesive album. “Hanging Masses” consists of eight pieces of overall…
Release data: Computerchemist – Aqual Measure CD-R, Private Release, 2009 Computer Chemist is one Dave Pearson from Hungary, who previously lived in England, whose “Aqual Measure” is described as “Berlin-school-style jazz-rock, perfecting a blend of raw guitar work and uber-precise sequencer lines”. Well, his output sure can be classified as progressive and energetic electronics, topped by e-guitar. The albums starts…
Release data: Broekhuis, Keller & Schönwälder – Repelen 3 CD, Manikin Records, 2010 After more than 15 years and a lot of live recordings, the trio Broekhuis, Keller & Schönwälder comes up with “Repelen 3”. The outcome was recorded at Detlef’s studio in October and November 2009, and sees the trio accompanied by Thomas Kagermann (violin) and Raugi Ebert (e-guitar),…
Release data: Hurry Hurry – Life CD-R, Substantial Brothers Productions, 2010 Hurry Hurry is a collaborative project of the brothers Wayne and Rob Hurry, who hail from Lake Heights, Western Australia. They run a business in film music, but decided to start a different project in their spare time, dedicated to composing commercial music releases as Hurry Hurry. “Life” (in…
Release data: Llyn Y Cwn – Llyn Y Cwn DIGITAL DOWNLOAD EP, Manky Music, 2009 Llyn Y Cwn is a dark ambient project of Ben Powell, also known as Mank. Those familiar with the deep and dense ambient soundscaping heard on the last track of Mank’s album “Isbjorn” will absolutely love the output of Llyn Y Cwn’s two Ep’s. Part…
Release data: Ambientium – Fractal Philosophy CD-R, Private Release, 2009 Ambientium is the Czech-duo Lubomir and Lucie Cyrk, who have devoted their project Ambientium to their fascination for the world, universe, nature, beauty and love which inspires them to create atmospheric music and which takes you into this story of the cosmos and being. The album “Fractal Philosophy” is inspired…
Release data: Javi Cánovas – Behind the Shadows CD-R, Private Release, 2010 For “Behind the Shadows”, Mr Canovas decided to try something different musically, as the sonic content on this album heads into ambient spaces. The twelve non-rhythmic tracks, ranging between four and seven minutes, move along as introspective, overall quieting but also quite varied soundscapes, which occasionally take a…
Release data: Arc – Rise CD-R, DiNDDL, 2010 The vintage powerhouse duo Mark Shreeve and Ian Boddy, aka Arc, made a trip to the USA in November 2009 to play their debut concert at Chuck van Zyl’s famous Gatherings Concert Series in Philedelphia. The three lenghty tracks on the 57-minute “Rise” are taken from that performance. The album takes off…
Release data: Robert Rich – Ylang CD, Soundscape Productions, 2010 After several collaborative albums, Robert Rich returns with the sonic perfume project entitled “Ylang”, a rather complex album which sees him blend “languid polyrhythms with infusions of South Indian Karnatic music, post-ock, jazz and minimalisms”. But most of all, the organic flavoured outcome of “Ylang” is one that clearly holds…
Release data: Steve Roach – Live at Grace Cathedral CD, Timeroom Editions, 2010 In June 2007, Steve was given the opportunity to play an ambient concert in the sacred space of San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral. This allowed him to use the natural, expansive reverent ambience of the performance space predominant in the sound mix. At that occasion, Steve played a…
Release data: Andymian – In the Garden of the Rainy King CD, Private Release, 2005 “In the Garden of the Rainy King” is a (sponsored) album by Polish musician Andrzej “Andymian” Miersynski. I did do some troubles to find some background info on the music and the musician, but all I could find was written in Polish language. This leaves…
Release data: Glenn Main – Ripples CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, AD Music, 2012 This is in fact my first encounter with the output of Norwegian synthesist Glenn Main, aka Glenn Henriksen, who hereby delivers an almost 59-minute album displaying a mellow/melodic style of cosmic music. “Ripples”, Glenn’s fourth album by now, contains 12 structured and highly accessible feel-good compositions with…
Release data: The Tangent Project – Surface CD-R, Private Release, 2009 Tangent Project is the American duo Jeff Coulter (synths) and Harrison McKay (guitars), both based in the Philadelphia suburbs. On several occasions, they had the honour to play live on Chuck van Zyl’s Star’s End radio show. “Surface” though is a studio recording they have been working on since…
Release data: Nemesis – Gigaherz CD, Origo Sound, 2010 After a long struggle, the definite and official version of “Gigaherz” was released on January 10th, 2010 by Origo Sound. Initially, only a few pre-release copies of it were made available in 2008 to test the waters for the music. In addition, the current one is not the same either as…
Release data: Thamnos – WIR CD, Sound Claim, 2009 Thamnos is a music project of musician/producer/composer Tomas Weiss and UK-based singer-songwriter Annemarie Borg, started in 2007. “W I R” (World In Remission) is another recent album that expresses its worries about the destroyed balance of life on earth, painting the atmosphere of today, through the many styles and means of…
Release data: Remy – Exhibition of Dreams (10th anniversary edition) CD, AKH Records, 2010 With the release of “Exhibition of Dreams”, fans of Remy Stroomer’s music are given the opportunity to hear the remarkable musical development this Dutch musician and his music has undergone since he made his first steps in the genre of electronic music. While celebrating the 10th…
Release data: Juta Takahashi – Hymn CD-R, Lunisolar Records, 2010 With “Hymn”, his seventh release by now, Japanese ambient composer Jutaro Takahashi brings us 60-minutes of smooth, gentle and gracious cosmic soundscapes, which seem to dissolve in time. The three tracks of 20 minutes each evolve gradually and very slowly, which I imagine can make them too long form and…
Release data: Pillion – Halcyon CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2006/2010 Pillion’s “Halcyon” is an album that was shelved after it was recorded in 2006, taking another two years before it was remastered. The concept album tells a story about the changes in life one has been forced to do, if you have no choice, confirming what Pillion was all about:…
Release data: Erik Seifert – Core CD, PleasureSoundMusic, 2009 “Core” is a concept album on the Large Hadron Collider (a huge particle accelerator in Switzerland used for high-energy physics research), which took Erik Seifert three years of work to complete. For the music, he envisioned to capture the power, energy and the technical beauty of this momumental project, while also…
Release data: Interconnected – Current Flow CD-R, VU-US, 2010 Those of your who like vintage electronics with an abstract edge while taking things out of the ordinary, should check out the sonic worlds of Interconnected. It’s a a collaborative electronica/ idm/ experimental effort between Greek synthesist musician Bakis Sirros (of Parallel Worlds, Memory Geist) and Ingo Zobel (known of Dron,…
Release data: Mon0 – Proficisci CD-R, Kreislauf, 2009 “Proficisci”, is not a full mon0-album, but an Ep containing two high-atmospheric tracks. As known from his previous work, Andre has come up with some thick, expansive, multi-layered soundscape textures which gently get things started on the 13-minute “Follow Me…”. This cinematic and immersive sonic journey into the vast unknown vaporizes an…
Release data: Arcane – The Shelter CD-R, Private Release, 2009 Shortly after “Tomorrow’s Tuesday”, Paul Lawler brings us another vintage release, the Ep “The Shelter”. The latter is the name of a strange, big, deserted and spooky house (yes, the one on the cover!) owned by Steve’s grandparents, who used it as a place for destitute animals. The three music…
Release data: Michael Stearns – Sustaining Cylinders CD, Earth Turtle Music / Groove Unlimited, 1978/2001 The music on “Sustaining Cylinders”, originally released on the Continuum Montage label in 1978, belongs to the earliest recordings by ambient musician Michael Stearns. Its sonic content was not designed to play as music, to engage the mind and emotions, but rather as textural meditative…
Release data: Michael Stearns – Lyra (Sound Constellation) CD, Earth Turtle Music/Groove Unlimited, 1983/2001 Originally released on lp and cassette on the Continuum Montage label back in 1983, “Lyra (Sound Constellation)” is another (but this time far more extreme) ambient experiment of Michael Stearns, now executed together with his friend George Landry. But what a hard one it appeared to…
Release data: Fripp & Eno – Evening Star CD, EG Records, 1975/2008 “Evening Star”, the second album by the duo Robert Fripp and Brian Eno, can nowadays be regarded a classic album in the genre of minimal drone ambient. The tape looping system, already featured on their previous release “No Pussy Footing”, has been further improved, while Fripp’s guitar sounds…
Release data: Robert Schroeder – New Frequencies Vol. 1 CD, Spheric Music, 2010 The flow of Schroeder-releases is still strong at Spheric Music, as February 2010 brings us “New Frequencies Vol. 1” after two other albums in the previous year. This studio project, exclusively produced using only a pc and a midi keyboard, focuses on modern electronic grooves. The strong…
Release data: Walter Christian Rothe & Friends – Centillion 303 CD, Groove Unlimited, 2009 In June 2006, when I and some collegues were producing E-dition magazine, I did an interview with Walter Rothe and his Pillion partner Guy2D. Then, the “new” album “Halcyon” was mentioned. As far as I knew, it never was released afterall. After a long wait, something…
Release data: Johannes Schmoelling – A Thousand Times CD, Viktoriapark Records, 2009 The first impression the music on “A Thousand Times” left on me is that it contains many beautiful TD references of the ‘80s. This isn’t strange, as Johannes joined the band during the “Poland” tour and beyond. I think his contribution to the sound of the band was…
Release data: René van der Wouden – Numerus Fixus CD, ReWo Records, 2009 “Numerus Fixus” by Gouda-based electronic musician Rene van der Wouden, is a concept album dedicated to the various interlinked ecosystems on our blue planet. The fact that we use and rely on them almost regardless every day, makes them also gradually becoming more and more limited and…
Release data: Mister Vapor vs Altus – Falling Out Of Orbit CD-R, Just Not Normal netlabel, 2010 I’m not familiar with any music of Mister Vapor (aka Thomas Park, who’s also known as ambient musician Mystified), but the fact that Altus (aka Mike Carss) has decided to remix two of his tracks makes it even more interesting. Well, “Falling Out…
Release data: Shaped Signs – Nature’s Odyssey CD, Invisible Shadows, 2004 “Nature’s Odyssey” is the debut-album of the German duo Volker Kaufmann and Ron Grahnert. Some rumours shortly after the release spoke of instrumental Mike Oldfield-like music. Well, what we got here is 60+ minutes of nature-inspired symphonic music which offers a lot of detail next to the use of…
Release data: Alpha Wave Movement – Cosmic Mandala CD-R, Harmonic Resonance Recordings, 2009 In contrast to what I thought, “Cosmic Mandala” is not a full length release but a 32 minute Ep (although Mr Kyryluk informed me a full length AWM-cd is on the way). As Gregory put it, the music is a fusion of ambient atmospheres, dub syncopations and…
Release data: Jon Jenkins & Paul Laekey – Continuum CD, Spotted Peccary Music, 1995 “Continuum”, the only album to date by Jon Jenkins and Paul Leakey, comes in a stunningly beautiful fantasy cd-cover. Shortly after its release, Dream’s Word magazine called it “the perfect marriage of classical, ambient, and world music that defies classification”. Well, the 55 minutes of highly…
Release data: Sayer – 1st Encounter CD, Invisible Shadows, 2003 “1st Encounter” is the first commercially released and factory pressed cd of US-musician Sayer, who’s also dealing with various other dance, techno and other electronica projects (such as Dream Quest). Sayer’s musical goal is not to re-create what has been done before, but to take these influences and expand upon…