Release data: Circular – Substans CD, Ultimae Records, 2009 With “Substans” (which as all Ultimae releases comes with expert photo footage in the cd-booklet), the Norwegian duo Bjarte Andreassen and Jostein Dahl Gjelsvik aka Circular, deliver their long awaited fourth album. The 13 tracks on the cd (which took four years in the making) offer a collection of cinematic and…
Release data: Gandalf – Sanctuary CD, Real Music, 2009 “Sanctuary” is Gandalf’s fifth release on the American Real Music label, the latter being a haven for contemporary relaxation and wellness music for many years. Over one and a half decade ago, Gandalf’s distinct music has undergone a slowly but surely transformation to a more reflective, meditative and new age kind…
Release data: Megatone – Pure Land CD-R, Private Release, 2008 The musician behind Megatone is DJ and classically-trained electronic composer Marcel Gherman, who hails from Moldova Republic. “On Land”, inspired by one of Gherman’s recent fantasy literary projects, contains 18 tracks of highly cinematic and neo-classical music, which at times slightly reminds of the visual music of Vangelis, having the…
Release data: Mark Isham – Film Music CD, Windham Hill, 1985 Composer Mark Isham is regarded as skilled synth programmer, a pioneer in electronic music, as well as an accomplished trumpet player, but most of he has become an important soundtrack composer in the last two decades. His album “Film Music” collects some of Isham’s earliest soundtracks, proving his expert…
Release data: Airwaves – Second Shift CD, Opcion Sonica, 1995 This album is the second and (last?) release by Oscar Menzel, aka Airwaves. Having enjoyed his first one, “Ambient Tracks”, it’s nice to hear Mr Menzel has further explored his own style on this successor, this time blending his atmospheric, slightly minimalist style with a sparse dose of rhythms. This…
Release data: Paul Ellis – The Last Hiding Place of Beauty CD, Groove Unlimited, 2009 Those who love rather complex and dynamic sequencer music with an acoustic edge and an occasional high-tech feel should check out the music Paul Ellis’ has put down on his amazing album “Last Hiding Place of Beauty”. The cd contains four long tracks, all making…
Release data: moonbooter – Cosmoclimax CD, Mellowjet Records, 2009 With “Cosmoclimax” by Moonbooter, aka Bernd Scholl, adds another chapter to his growing catalogue of what he likes to call “hybrid electronic music”. With one exception, the whole cd features the studio version of Moonbooter’s live concert “Sun, Moon and Stars”, performed at Planetarium Bochum in February 2009, although the sequence…
Release data: F.D. Project – Timeless CD, Private Release, 2006 F.D. Project is a project of the German musician Frank Dorittke, whose accessible instrumental music has proven to be quite a success until now. “Timeless”, his fourth release if I’m not mistaken, contains nine tracks, of which the 15-minute opening track “Time Traveler” almost instantly creates a warm and inviting…
Release data: Uwe Reckzeh – Unnatural Light CD, Mellowjet Records, 2009 The accessible music of Uwe Reckzeh’s “Unnatural Light” (of which all tracks were composed and arranged between 2007 and 2009) is still firmly rooted in the style of the Berliner School, but this time Uwe’s output has been further valvanized and smoothened, ending up in a nice groovy, and…
Release data: Steve Roach – Dynamic Stillness CD, Projekt Records, 2009 Steve Roach has brewed another inner sanctuary of quietetude which has ended up as the double cd “Dynamic Stillness”, which has been in the works in his Timeroom studio over the past three years. Those familiar with his expansive longform textural works can hereby welcome another chapter to his…
Release data: Free System Projekt – Narrow Lane CD, Private Release, 2008 The album “Narrow Lane” by Free System Project contains two long vintage pieces, both played live in the UK. The 29-minute “Narrow Lane Part I”, recorded in 2006 during the bands concert at the National Space Centre in Leicester, is performed by the trio Frank van der Wel,…
Release data: Paul Sauvanet – Nomad CD, Hearts of Space, 1997 This is the third cd of the skilled French musician Paul Sauvanet, of which both the cd-cover and overall atmosphere are slightly similar to the album “Nomadic Impressions” by Open Canvas (aka Gregory Kyryluk). On the five tracks, Paul plays his digital symphony orchestra of synthesizers expertly, taking the…
Release data: Create In the Blink of an Eye CD, Groove Unlimited, 2009 Stephen Humphries’ (aka Create) “In the Blink of an Eye” contains five long tracks, of which two are live-in-the-studio improvisations, making up almost 70 minutes of retro-inspired electronic music. The 22-minute “No Inhibitions” is a good example of a progressive retro style, put together of various sequencer…
Release data: Odyssey – Syntharsis CD, Generator.pl, 2001/2009 Odyssey is a project of the Polish electronic media artist and contemporary electronic music producer Tomasz Pauszek, who previously published the track “The Space Inside” on the “Awakenings 2007 vol. 1″ compilation. The Generator.PL version of „Syntharsis” is actually a special re-edition of Odyssey’s debut album (which appeared in 2001), as it…
Release data: Scamall – A World behind the Silence CD, Generator.Pl, 2009 Scamall is a project of Jakub Kmiec, who found the main inspiration for this album in desolated places in Sweden and Ireland. “A World behind the Silence” is a 49-minute work of adventurous music that “consists of soundscapes incorporating abandoned and originally useless noises”. Neurotic break beats, harsh…
Release data: John Dyson – Darklight CD, Soddett Hall Music, 2009 After a big hiatus, John Dyson returns one more time to the EM-community to bring a final (?) album featuring his distinct, gracious and accessible style which comes as an overall retrospective and reflective sound document. The ten tracks of “Darklight”, having some smashing space images from the Hubble…
Release data: Between Interval – The Edge of a Fairytale CD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2009 After a hiatus of three years, there’s finally another album by Between Interval, the musical moniker of Stefan Jönsson, who as of November 2008 is known as Stefan Strand instead. The outcome of “The Edge of a Fairytale” sure has been worth the wait, offering…
Release data: Nemesis – Trajectory of Sound (Live Archive Vol. 3) CD-R, Retroduction, 2007 “Trajectory of Sound” (Live Archive Vol. 3) is the last third and final part of the Nemesis live archive trilogy (focussing on the more recent years when the live sets featured more improvisation than before) by the Finnish trio Hassinen, Kastman, Virtanen. For this album, music…
Release data: Juta Takahashi – Moonlit Flowers CD-R, Lunisolar Records, 2008 Three long ambient tracks fill Juta(ro) Takahashi’s fourth release “Moonlit Flowers”. “Sadder Shore” starts out with nice drifting analogue and soaring textures and a more pronounced synth lead, to which an accompanying choir soundscape shows up now and then. This immersive, reflective space lasts over 15 minutes. The 17-minute…
Release data: Phillip Wilkerson – Early Works CD-R, Private Release, 2009 As the title already suggests, this is a compilation album of archival tracks originally composed between 2005 and 2007, representing Phillip’s first successful steps in creating ambient/space music. The seven free form ambient space tracks create an introspective, warm and spacious ambience of fluid and dreamy synth textures. Highlights…
Release data: Syndromeda – The Twilight Conjunction CD, Ricochet Dream, 2009 “The Twilight Conjunction” is the 18th album by Belgian electronic musician Danny Budts, aka Syndromeda, released as a limited edition of 300 copies. The 18-minute “Inside the Lophophora”, a mature piece of rhythmic space music taking its time to unfold, kicks off nicely with captivating and varied sequencing patterns,…
Release data: Antrilon – Mind Erase CD, Dead Earnest, 2008 Antrilon is a project of American musician Greg Kozlowski, whose also guitarist of the progressive and spacerock bands Architectural Metaphor and Secret Saucer. His debut album “Mind Erase” is a work of abstract, mind-altering, disorienting and psychedelic ambient electronics. “A soundtrack from a 60’s sci fi B movie”, as Kozlowski…
Release data: Airwaves – Ambient Tracks CD, Opcion Sonica, 1994 Due to the kind gesture of Gregory Kyryluk I was able to get to know this album of quiet ambient/space music, which was composed by the (Mexican?) composer Oscar Menzel, aka Airwaves. “Ambient Tracks” –which seems to be hard to find these days- contains seven electronic music pieces creating a…
Release data: H.U.V.A. Network – Ephemeris CD, Ultimae Records, 2009 H.U.V.A. Network, aka Magnus Birgersson (also known as Solar Fields) and Vincent Villuis (aka Aes Dana) have come up with another collaborative project, in which their ambient sound architecture keenly combines elements of groovy down tempo and textural electronic music. The ten instrumental tracks of “Ephemeris”, described by the label…
Release data: Phillip Wilkerson – Still Point CD-R, Earth Mantra, 2008 “Still Point” (inspired by the poetry of T.S. Eliot) is an ambient project by Phillip Wilkerson, spanning almost 60 minutes, published by the Earth Mantra netlabel. It’s a collage made up of eight free form textural pieces and lossless dronescapes that make up nice evening and night music. Sombre…
Release data: Romerium – Pharaoh’s Immortality CD, Private Release, 2008 “Pharaoh’s Immortality” is the debut album by Rene Montfoort, aka Romerium, who’s a member of the Dutch electronic project Modular White. All tracks were composed, played, mixed and mastered between May 2005 and February 2008, for which (according to the linear notes) Rene mainly used the SY99 synthesizer next to…
Release data: Ideation – Adrift CD, Ricochet Dream, 2009 “Adrift”, the 40th release of the label Ricochet Dream, is a collaboration between Paul Nagle and Pete Ruczynski (of Air Sculpture), aka Ideation, who’s motto is to compose music “to float your mind” and make you smile. I couldn’t detect much structure in the improvised sounding 9-minute “Function and Disorder”, which…
Release data: Jeffrey Koepper –Radiate CD, Ricochet Dream, 2009 “Radiate” is the first live cd of “AnalogueJeff” Koepper, documenting the concert he did at The Gatherings on 14th April, 2008 in Philadelphia. Well, the outcome is an 71-minute energetic, analogue feast, featuring all tracks (except “Near Machinery”) from his album third album “Sequentaria”, to which “Byzantine Machine” (the opening track…
Release data: Schiller – Sehnsucht CD/DVD, Universal Domestic, 2008 Schiller, named after poet Friedrich Schiller, is the musical moniker of German electronical composer and producer Christopher von Deylen. Von Deylen is inspired by electronic bands like Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and Jean-Michel Jarre, and started to create his own universe of new electronic, and overall emotionally charged music somewhere round 1998.…
Release data: Various Artists – Shapes and Phases of Ambience CD, Ghost Sounds, 2008 This peculiar, limited edition compilation (which seems to be the first one in a series) by the Scandinavian label Ghost Sounds, comprises music from three different ambient projects: Quantec (aka Sven Scheinhammer), Deer (aka Martin Hirsch) and Relapxych.0(aka Anders Peterson). Moulded around drone and rhythm, the…
Release data: Dan Pound – Esoterica CD, Private Release, 2009 “Esoterica” is the first release of ambient musician Dan Pound in 2009. What this album especially reveals for me, is the fact that Dan has been further refining and shaping is own sound. The cd contains the title track, divided in eight parts, in which sequenced parts are mingled with…
Release data: Stephen Parsick feat. Cosmic Hoffmann – Blasters of the Universe CD-R, Private Release, 2008 “Blasters of the Universe” is a compilation of eight live and improvised tracks from the vaults of Mr Parsick from the period 1999-2001, in which he collaborated with Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock, aka Cosmic Hoffmann. Created during various spontaneous sessions and rehearsals, I consider it a…
Release data: Juta Takahashi – Seabound CD-R, Lunisolar Records, 2009 “Sea Bound”, released at the beginning of March 2009, is the fifth album by Japanese ambient composer Juta Takahashi. Juta himself describes the sonic content as “tunes from the ocean, painted with synthesizers, acoustic pianos and voices”. The three extended tracks (23, 17 and 20 minutes respectively) offer overall calming,…
Release data: Azul y Negro – Deja Vu CD/DVD, Vaso Music, 2008 “Déjà Vu” is a limited edition cd/dvd release by Spanish musician Carlos Vaso, aka Azul Y Negro, containing electronic synth & techno pop music created between 2005 and 2007. The 50-minute instrumental albums starts with the 12-minute “Flash-Back”, featuring up-tempo electronics, catchy melodies and rhythms plus some bass…
Release data: Altus – Excursion Two DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2009 As one might expect, the music of “Excursion two” nicely continues where the first one left us. Again, Mike Carss offers a beautiful sonic painting that breaths total relaxation and peacefulness. The recording consists of two lengthy, cinematic soundscape tracks of 27 and 38 minutes, made up of velvet,…
Release data: Craig Padilla/Zero Ohms/Skip Murphy – Beyond the Portal CD, Lotuspike, 2009 February 10th, 2009 saw the release of “Beyond the Portal”, which is the follow-up album to the 2005-cd “Path of Least Resistance”. This time, Craig’s collaborator Skip Murphy joins the duo Craig Padilla and Zero Ohms (aka multi-flutist Richard Roberts) on an elegant and smooth sonic journey.…
Release data: Stephen Parsick – Rhizophora -music for mangroves- CD-R, Private Release, 2009 “Rhizophora” is another atmospheric and overall deep ambient recording by Stephen Parsick, again released as a very limited edition. From his notes I learned the music was originally premiered and performed by [‘ramp] at the geräuschwelten festival in April 2006. As the live performance didn’t work out…
Release data: Ashen Simian – Omicron in Ostrobothnian Finsternis CD-R, Retroduction, 2009 This cd is actually the first solo effort of Nemesis-member Ami Hassinen, who decided to use the pseudonym and anagram Ashen Simian for this purpose. The release compiles archival and unfinished compositions from several years, which Ami has edited, re-recorded, and mixed at the end of 2008. The…
Release data: Martin Carradus – Analog CD-R, Toffeetones, 2009 English musician Martin Carradus is the lucky owner of an extensive range of vintage synthesizers and effects, who is describes as a guys who brings the golden age of analogue back to the future. One might expect some nice things will be happening when one has such a collection, so how…
Release data: Patrick O’Hearn – Between Two Worlds CD, Private Music, 1987 “Between Two Worlds” is the second album of contemporary electronic composer and musician Patrick O’Hearn, whose debut album “Ancient Dreams” received lots of airplay and positive responses from the electronic music community. This time, the cd has an acceptable playing time of 48 minutes, of which the further…
Release data: Patrick O’Hearn – Ancient Dreams CD, Private Music, 1985 “Ancient Dreams” is the debut album by bassist and synthesist Patrick O’Hearn, which would soon become a favourite of many fans in the electronic music genre, together with its follow-up album “Between Two Worlds”. Nicely kicked of by the lovely soundings of “At First Light”, the dynamic music, in…
Release data: Patrick O’Hearn – So Flows the Current CD, Private Release, 2000 After being out of sight for quiet some years (except being a contributor to Steve Roach’s concept cd “The Ambient Expanse”), composer and multi-instrumentalist Patrick O’Hearn shows up again with a new, privately released album. In contrast to the overall electronic works on Private Music and Deep…
Release data: Parallel Worlds – Shade CD, DiN, 2009 “Shade” is the fifth release of Greek electronic musician Bakis Sirros, aka Parallel Worlds, which is the studio follow-up to the album “Obsessive Surrealism”. Bakis himself considers the outcome as his “most technically-advanced work” in terms of the use of his large collection of modular synths. Although there is a distinct…
Release data: Stephen Parsick – Cambrium – music for protozoa CD-R, Private Release, 2009 The biggest part of the dark dronescape music on “Cambrium” was played live by Stephen Parsick during a concert at Bochum planetarium on December, 13th, 2008, although the concept and the shape of the music had been in his mind for a couple of years. For…
Release data: Various Artists – Soundscape Gallery 2 CD, Lektronik Soundscapes, 1998 This is the second instalment of the small American Lektronik label, which nicely follows in the footsteps of its predecessor. The outcome is a well-balanced collection of ambient/space music by Michael Stearns, Alpha Wave Movement, Jeff Pearce, Meg Bowles, Michel Huygen, the trio Gleisberg/Grassow/Baghiri, Caul, Hans Christian en…
Release data: Various Artists – Soundscape Gallery Series One CD, Lektronik Soundscapes, 1996 “Soundscape Gallery Series One” comprises some excellent, not previously released ambient/space tracks by Jonn Serrie, Todd Fletcher, A Produce, Giles Reaves, Vidna Obmana, Robert Rich, Tony Gerber en Steve Roach. Although sticking to their own style, all musicians give their best to deliver an atmospheric, introspective and…
Release data: Michael Garrison – Point of Impact CD, Windspell Records/ Garrisongs Music, 1983 I personally feel the album “Point of Impact” is the best and most versatile album by Oregon-based musician Michael Garrison, who sadly died on March 24, 2004. His energy-powered, strong analogue-flavoured and sequencer-dominated music has its own trademark, although one can hear influences by Klaus Schulze…
Release data: Steve Roach & Vidna Obmana – Cavern of Sirens CD, Projekt Records, 1997 “Cavern of Sirens” is the follow-up of the duo’s previous album “Well of Souls”, again nicely packaged in a fold-out digipack containing beautiful artwork by Dirk Serries wife Martine Verhoeven. The overall atmosphere on the 72-minute “Cavern of Sirens” is one of darker textures and…
Release data: Steve Roach – On this Planet CD, Hearts of Space/Fathom, 1997 After several collaborative albums, “On this Planet” is a solo-release by Steve Roach, whose goal it was to capture the live-spirit and “on-the-edge concert explorations” in the studio. Well, the 73-minute outcome (featuring material developed for and through Roach’s 1997-tour) is overwhelming and well done, as one…
Release data: Peter Challoner – Deconstructing Silence CD-R, Private Release, 2009 Peter’s short line about the album on his website says “live studio recordings of improvisations. Chilled ambient textural layers of sound”. As one can imagine with such a title, the Eno-esque music of “Deconstructing Silence” is of a serene, quiet, retrospective nature. In all its offers 78 minutes of…
Release data: Claude Chemin – Esthésies CD, Crystal Lake, 1994 This is one of the two self-released releases by the French electronic music community Crystal Lake. “Esthésies” offers eight long form tracks of slightly experimental oriented ambient music in which flavours of Brian Eno (“On Land”) vidna Obmana, Robert Rich and Steve Roach are apparent. The slowly moving free form…
Release data: Steve Roach – The Magnificent Void CD, Hearts of Space/Fathom, 1996 “The Void,” wrote metaphysician Stanislav Grof, “exists beyond form of any kind. While being a source of everything it cannot be itself derived from anything else. It is beyond space and time.” This idea became the core concept of the vast interior landscape album “The Magificent Void”,…
Release data: Ian Boddy & Bernhard Wöstheinrich – Hemispheres CD-R, DiNDDL, 2009 On invitation of the German Schallwende Club, 27th September 2008 saw Ian Boddy & Bernhard Wöstheinrich perform together for the first time at the Bochum Planetarium, Bochum, Germany. Both musician previously collaborated on “Moiré” (2005) while Mr Wöstheinrich appeared on the DiN releases “Blast” by Centrozoon and “Präposition”…
Release data: Polaris – Background Stories CD, Ricochet Dream, 2008 Polaris hails from Poland, and is an electronic music studio project by Jakub Kmieć. The accessible and overall energetic music of his fourth album “Background Stories”, which is released as a limited digipak edition of only 300 copies, pays tribute to the sound of the Berliner School with its bright…
Release data: Don Slepian – Sea of Bliss CD-R, Private release, 1980 This in fact is a fully remastered version of the classic album Don Slepian made at the start of the ‘80s. At that time, it created quite a buzz in the electronic music scene as is was played a lot at Stephen Hill’s Music from the Hearts of…
Release data: Slow Dancing Society – Priest Lake Circa ’88 CD, Hidden Shoal Recordings, 2008 Slow Dancing Society is a project of Washington-based musician and producer Drew Sullivan, who’s music is released through the Australian independent music label Hidden Shoal Recordings. “Priest Lake Circa ’88”, his third full-length album, is filled with gentle and warm ambient music and glistening guitars,…
Release data: Robert Carty – Starlight Volume 1 CD-R, Deep Sky Music, 2008 Ambient/space musician Robert Carty has started a new series of musical explorations under the moniker Starlight, which (as he writes) began with an attempt to create a work with a “space” theme. Well, he has succeeded well, as this eight-track album (composed in December 2008) offers some…
Release data: Steve Roach – Pure Flow CD, Timeroom Editions, 2001 “Pure Flow” (Timeroom Editions Collection 1), the seventh release on Steve Roach’s own label Timeroom Editions, offers “an essential flow of atmospheric soundscapes” made over the years. Initially provided as a free gift until the end of 2001 to all fans who ordered music through his site, the cd…
Release data: Steve Roach – Structures from Silence CD, Fortuna Records/Projekt Records, 1984/2001 “Structures from Silence” was recorded in 1983 and 1984, a time that Steve Roach was living in Culver City, California. The mood music on this classic recording (originally released on audio cassette, soon attracting the attention of Fortuna Records) is perfectly suitable to put the busy mind…
Release data: Steve Roach – Darkest before Dawn CD, Timeroom Editions, 2002 The press-sheet described this music as a “minimal, immersive sound environment” and “a deep zoneworld of glacial movement and magma-like flow”. In my opinion it most of all is a kind of introductory portal to Steve’s album “Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces”. Created in The Timeroom in September…