Release data: Gert Emmens & Ruud Heij – Silent Witnesses of Industrial Landscapes CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2008 This is the fourth release of the duo Emmens & Heij, which was officially released on September 20th, 2008 at Electronic Circus in Bielefeld. As on their previous albums, the album features a blend of attractive vintage-oriented electronic music that made its…
Release data: Synth.nl – AtmoSphere CD, Groove Unlimited, 2008 October 11th, 2008 saw the release of the second album of Dutch synthesist Synth.nl, aka Michel van Osenbruggen, a concept-cd inspired by the layers of air in the atmosphere surrounding our globe. Listening to the 12 tracks (ranging between four and seven minutes) feels like an relaxed journey, offering a nice…
Release data: Cosmic Hoffmann – Outerspace Gems CD, Manikin Records, 2008 This is the second release of vintage rarity recordings (1978-1985) from Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock, aka Cosmic Hoffmann, now put out as a pressed cd on the established Berliner-based Manikin label. Retro fans will find lots of their liking here, already set in good mood with the energizing, vintage sequencing and…
Release data: Ron Boots – Mea Culpa CD, Groove Unlimited, 2008 “Mea Culpa” is the unexpected, quick follow-up to “See Beyond Times, Look Beyond Words”, the latter being released in Spring 2008. Although the music on this new album shows the trademarks of Ron Boots, it also chooses new pathways. After a quiet opening, “Mea Culpa part I” fires all…
Release data: Craig Padilla – Vostok CD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2002 I remember playing and reviewing this album at the time it came out in 2002. At that time, I was kind of disappointed by its outcome, finding it rather dull and not varied enough. Now, ten years later, I’ve given Craig’s first longform album “Vostok” some new spins, and…
Release data: Diatonis – Invisible Order CD-R, Private Release, 2001/2008 This is actually a re-release of the same album from 2001, for which California-based musician Stuart White completely remixed the original music next to adding the two-part piece “Devine Shadow” as a bonus. On the album, Diatonis combines spoken word, poetry and floating, ambient textures, for which he extensively applied…
Release data: Juta Takahashi – Remembrance CD-R, Lunisolar Records, 2008 Juta(ro) Takahashi is a Japanese ambient musician residing in Sendai, Miyagi, who prefers using analogue gear. “Remembrance” is his third official album, of which the improvised music shows distinct influences of Brian Eno and Harold Budd. The three extended pieces of 18, 20 and 17 minutes on the cd feature…
Release data: Emanuele Errante – Humus CD, Somnia, 2008 Emanuele Errante is a Napoli-based Italian ambient composer, of which “Humus” is his second album. The cd contains 11 tracks, forming a slowly unfolding symphony of quiet soundscapes and carefully crafted sonic intermissions. The outcome is assembled from elegantly meandering and slowly cascading organically flavoured string tapestries, textures and subtle micro…
Release data: Diatonis – Pond CD-R/DVD-R, Private Release, 2008 Diatonis, aka Stuart White, describes his album “Pond” as “a mildly dark ambient album with moments of intense sound”, consisting of eight songs (of which four of them have music videos), which uses real percussion, synths and guitar. The album, lasting just over an hour, continues in the same style as…
Release data: Near the Parenthesis – L’Eixample CD, n5MD, 2008 Near the Parenthesis is the musical (dis)guise of San Francisco-based musician Tim Arndt, of which “L’Eixample” is his third full length release. Arndt himself describes his compositional style as “melancholic aesthetic”. The album, which was inspired by the overall impact and environment of the city of Barcelona, contains nine ambient…
Release data: Food for Fantasy – Fruits of Fantasy CD, Spheric Music, 2008 This cd is the third album release of Food for Fantasy (of which each album release has a certain fruit as a theme). Food for Fantasy is the follow-up of Robert Schroeder’s project Double Fantasy. Under the latter moniker, Robert was playing together with Charly Buchel (aka…
Release data: Mythos – Surround Sound Offensive CD, Private Release, 2008 Mythos, aka Berlin-based musician Stephan Kaske, has come up with the idea to revive surround sound, which was introduced several years ago in hifi-world, but also rather quickly abandoned by the major manufacturers of audio equipment. “Surround Sound Offensive” offers a range of 11 accessible, contemporary electronic tracks which…
Release data: Dan Pound – Trance Meditation CD, Private Release, 2008 This version of “Trance Meditation” is actually a re-release of most of the music from the same album, which California-based ambient composer Dan Pound put out in 2006. This time, ambient legend Steve Roach gave a hand by lending his expertise on the sonic enhancements, arrangement and mastering of…
Release data: Johan Agebjörn – Mossebo CD, LotusPike, 2008 The album title “Mossebo” is named after the house where the actual music was composed and recorded. Composed and played by Swedish electronica producer Johan Agebjörn, it marks his ambient debut, as Johan seems to best know as the creative mind behind a dance project called Sally Shapiro. “Mossebo” contains a…
Release data: Various Artists – Din 30 Index 03 CD, DiN, 2008 For the third time, label owner Ian Boddy has put together an almost 74 minute compilation, on which he has nicely cross-faded and mixed two tracks of titles DiN 21 – 29. It all makes a perfect companion to stroll through and discover new artists in both the…
Release data: Gandalf & Friends – Live in Vienna CD & DVD, BSC/Prudence, 2008 The material contained on this release celebrates the 20th anniversary of Austrian multi-instrumentalist Heinz Strobl, aka Gandalf, as a performing artist. The nicely designed and documented digipack features a live cd and dvd. The latter contains the concert in the Ronacher Theatre in Vienna (which Gandalf…
Release data: Thom Brennan – Stories from the Forest CD, TMB Soundworks, 2008 “Stories from the Forest”, is the long awaited tenth release of Thom Brennan, which was delayed as material was not hitting the mark Thom had envisioned. As was the case on his previous albums, the music is inspired by the living biomass that makes up the old…
Release data: Steve Roach – Empetus CD, Projekt, 1986/2008 This is the long awaited re-release of the classic album from 1986, which now comes as a collector’s edition double cd with brand new artwork. The first disc contains the original, fully remastered album in all its glory, featuring a great bunch of dynamic sequencing and electronic drums with strong minimal…
Release data: Ian Tescee – A Traveler’s Guide to Mars CD, Private Release, 2007 “A Traveler’s Guide to Mars”, Ian Tescee’s fourth release, was inspired by the same book by space scientist and friend William K. Hartmann. The writings of the latter led to a phone call from the Buhl Planetarium in Pittsburgh to create a full-dome digital Mars show,…
Release data: Mark Rownd – Painting Twilight CD, Spotted Peccary Music, 1998 The title of this 1998-release on the ambitious, high-quality label Spotted Peccary, pretty well describes the overall atmosphere and feel of the music. The type of music covered on “Painting Twilight” (the second album by Los Angeles-based musician Mark Rownd) is “tribal ambient-space music”, for which an assortment…
Release data: Create – Lost on an Island of Adventure CD, Groove Unlimited, 2008 As Stephen explained in a previous interview, he wanted to push the Create sound further and offer something new whilst at the same time making sure the tracks flowed well together. In addition, the track titles reflect the music and mood more than ever and this…
Release data: Harold Budd – The White Arcades CD, Opal Records, 1988 “The White Arcades” is the follow-up to Harold Budd’s critically acclaimed album “Lovely Thunder”, offering 42 minutes of soothing ambient bliss. Especially the opening (title) track and the following two pieces already show why this work still stands the test of time: the stunning beauty and stillness captured…
Release data: Harold Budd & Clive Wright – A Song For Lost Blossoms CD, Darla, 2008 “A Song for Lost Blossoms” (74:52) comprises the best music composed between 2004 and 2006 by minimal ambient musician Harold Budd and guitarist Clive Wright, both residing in the beautiful and remote Southern California desert community of Joshua Tree. The highly reflective piece smoothly…
Release data: Giles Reaves – Wunjo CD, MCA, 1986 Giles Reaves has working in the music business in Nashville since 1984, mostly in the studio. Around 1986 he was a staff engineer at a studio where country music was being mixed, working with synthesizers in a back room. This is where producer Tony Brown often heard these “strange and beautiful”…
Release data: Giles Reaves – Sea of Glass CD, Hearts of Space, 1992 This classic space music recording by Nashville-based synthesist Giles Reaves is one of those milestones that can stand the test of time for decades, as it still sounds fresh and inspiring after all these years. After the immense success of Giles debut-album “Wunjo”, Stephen Hill of Hearts…
Release data: Deepspace – The Barometric Sun CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2007 A few months back, my first encounter with the music of Brisbane-based musician Mirko Ruckels, aka Deepspace, was a pleasant one with the flowing textural work “Another Empty Galaxy”. “The Barometric Sun” is an almost 71 minute kindred album, offering a collection of 11 non-rhythmic, well-balanced ambient excursions…
Release data: Ruben Garcia – Colors in Motion CD, Close Tolerance Music, 1992 “Colors in Motion” is the debut album of New Mexico-based minimalist composer, self-taught pianist, engineer, and producer Ruben Garcia, whose also a close friend of A Produce. This album is the most electronic compared with his later albums, which more and more featured extensively modified piano sounds.…
Release data: Green Isac – Groundrush CD, Spotted Peccary/Wanderings, 2001 “Groundsrush”, the second release on Spotted Peccary’s sublabel Wanderings, is made by the Norwegian duo Andreas Eriksen and Morten Lund, aka Green Isac. The cd-box has a sticker with the text “ethno-techno trance dance”, which covers quite some musical territory for sure. The almost fully instrumental album clocks a bit…
Release data: David Wright – Dreams and Distant Moonlight CD, AD Music, 2008 Although I’m not into the music of David Wright nor his side project Code: Indigo, I had a pleasant introduction to his music when I encountered his album “Momentum”. “Dreams and Distant Moonlight”, which is supposed to be a cross of styles of his previous albums “Walking…
Release data: Darshan Ambient – From Pale Hands to Weary Skies CD, Spotted Peccary, 2008 This cd by Michael Allison, aka Darshan Ambient, is a positive, uplifting work of both rhythmic and free form textural ambient, initially inspired by the art of surrealist painter Yves Tanguy. But while working on the music, life came in the way: Michael became deadly…
Release data: Mara’s Torment – MT96061 CD-R, Private Release, 2007 Mara’s Torment is a project that was brought to life back in 1997 by Toronto-based musican Rik MacLean, who’s also an active member of the Canadian Ping Things ambient music community. “MT96061” is a limited edition double retrospective work, comprising tracks from the past ten years, to which some new…
Release data: Mathias Grassow & Jiří Mazánek – Inner Path CD, NextEra, 2008 As the press sheet to this meditative album explains, the idea of the music was “combining pure hand played acoustic instruments with modern electronics, samples and nature-sounds. With a spiritual sight behind, “Inner Path” is open for free direction and interpretation nevertheless with a strong focus inside…
Release data: Resonant Drift – Resonant Drift CD-R, Private Release, 2004 This album is the debut release of California-based musician Bill Olien. The almost 64 minutes of music, divided in ten tracks, offers a blend of ambient soundscape and sequencer-oriented music accompanied by tribal oriented percussion. Although the album starts out nicely with the Steve Roach-kindred “Towards”, offering gliding textures…
Release data: Amethystium – Isabliss CD, Neurodisc, 2008 Almost four years after Øystein Ramfjord concluded his Dragonfly-trilogy, he now returns with “Isabliss”, which sound wise was to travel in a new direction. More concise sound experiments and sketches have been implemented in the relaxed music of “Isabliss”, which features more pronounced rhythms/beats and wordless female vocals complimenting warm synth and…
Release data: Altus – Macro DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Private Release, 2008 “Macro” offers 22 short “behind the scenes” sounds covering a broad range of sounds, from melodic ambient to atonal soundscapes, and a few oddities in between. As explained by Mike, they are the outcome of the things found after he starts noodling with different sounds while working on new music,…
Release data: Exuviae – Setting Density CD-R, AtmoWorks, 2003 Exuviae is actually Brooks Rongstad, one of the guys who participated in the now defunct Greenhouse label. In fact, “Settling Density” goes on where his debut-cd “Echoes in the Emptiness” (2000) left us: it’s another fine collection of freefloating ambient driftmusic, bathing the listener in harmonious synth washes of electronic bliss.…
Release data: Exuviae – The White Underneath CD-R, AtmoWorks, 2008 “The White Underneath” is the long-awaited fourth album by Brooks Rongstad, aka Exuviae, also know as co-founder of the Greenhouse ambient label that -sadly enough- had to be shut down several years ago. The new album, described by Brooks as an experimental Ep featuring remixes of each track by fellow…
Release data: Robert Jíša – Space Voices CD, NextEra, 2007 This cd is a continuation of a series, as I found out on Robert’s website he previously released albums such as “Sea Voices”, “Forest Voices” and even “Rain Forest Voices”. The initial idea for “Space Voices” started after Robert Jíša had heard the NASA recordings of the “sounds” of the…
Release data: Chris Armstrong – A.I. Awakens CD, Private Release, 2007 This is the first album in the Spaceage Furniture Music series by L.A.-based musician Chris Armstrong. The concept album on the evolution of artificial intelligence contains furniture music, a term coined by Erik Satie, which refers to music used as a sonic backdrop rather than as the primary focus…
Release data: Ishq – Timelapse in Mercury CD, Virtual, 2001/2007 “Timelapse in Mercury” is the fourth release on the UK-based Virtual-label and the first in a new deeper series called “Virtual Space” which is all about deeper and more outer space inspired music and explorations and music to float to. From the press sheet I learned the album was written…
Release data: Resonant Drift – Flow Mingled Down CD, Private Release, 2006 Resonant Drift is a music project of the USA-based musician Bill Olien, who mentions in the cd-booklet he was inspired by Steve Roach, Robert Rich, Jonn Serrie, Paul Ellis, Brian Eno and even TD. The 55-minute disc takes off with the peculiar, heavy sequencer-based “Until”, thereafter shifting to…
Release data: Various Artists – Dreams of My Space Vol. 1 CD, Spheric Music, 2008 This compilation is an initiative of Robert Schroeder to promote some artists from MySpace, with the aim to attract the attention from record labels. The 67-minute album contains 13 tracks with accessible music, but I doubt the statement that these are “very talented artists”, certainly…
Release data: Jonathan Hughes – Circumflex CD-R, AtmoWorks, 2008 Ambient musician Jonathan Hughes might be known by some as the man behind SubSpace. Under the latter moniker, he previously released a handful of releases which he put out privately, later on releasing two other projects through The Foundry using his own name. The tracks on “Circumflex”, his first album for…
Release data: Steve Brand – SoulSpiral CD-R, AtmoWorks, 2008 Steve Brand’s album “SoulSpiral” contains two expansive textural zone worlds, both clocking over 31 minutes, of which the music was inspired by stunning Hubble/NASA space footage and channelled writings. The meandering, freeform sound worlds of the opening title track have a deepening, hypnotizing but most of all a time shifting impact.…
Release data: Steve Roach – Landmass CD, Timeroom Editions, 2008 The music on “Landmass” was especially composed and played live in the studio in May 2007 by Steve Roach for Chuck Van Zyl’s Star’s End radio program. In Steve’s words, the surreal shape shifting adventure recording “transcends the idea of what a live recording can be”. Those familiar with his…
Release data: Vir Unis & Disturbed Earth – Drawn from the Well CD-R, AtmoWorks, 2008 “Drawn from the Well” is the first chapter of a collaborative series between Vir Unis (aka John Strate-Hootman) and Disturbed Earth (aka Dean Richards). The lengthy album of 78 minutes contains only three tracks, kicking off with the 49 minute “Flicker”, which roams in quiet,…
Release data: Marconi Union – A Lost Connection CD-R, MU Transmissions, 2008 Marconi Union are the Manchester-based duo Richard Talbot and James Crossley. “A Lost Connection” is their third release, the outcome being a concept album shaped around themes of isolation and disconnection, inspired by images of withdraw from the world. In all, there are seven tracks with a mellow…
Release data: Robert Jíša – Signs of the Zodiac CD, NextEra, 2007 Musician Robert Jíša, a graduate from Berklee College of Music, hails from Prague, Chech Republic, and has established himself as a mature soundtrack composer for the last couple of years. The title of this concept cd can be translated as “The Signs of the Zodiac”. The 12 symbols…
Release data: RON BOOTS Derby! CD, Hearts of Space Records, 1988 As Michael explains in the cd booklet, this album –subtitled a journey in the key of space- is the first to focus on space as a theme, while his previous albums had been written and recorded in the flavour of space. The music on this cd easily takes the…
Release data: Akikaze – The Age of Deception CD-R, SynGate, 2008/1995 The musician behind Akikaze is the Utrecht-based Dutch musician Pepijn Courant, who studied classical music for over seven years. The concept album “The Age of Deception”, Pepijn’s seventh by now, was already finished in August 1995, but only saw the light of day as physical release due to Lothar…
Release data: David Wright – Momentum CD, AD Music, 2008 Next to being one of the driving forces behind the successful project Code: Indigo, Suffolk-based musician David Wright is also pursuing a solo-career since 20 years. “Momentum” contains a studio re-imagining of new, mainly improvised music David performed at the USA Gatherings Series concert in September 2007. The 70 minutes…
Release data: Steve Brand – Bridge to Nowhere CD-R, Hypnos Secret Sounds, 2008 Steve Brand is an US-based musician who previously released music in the experimental genre using the name Augur. Brand considers music not only a way of looking inward and expressing one’s self, but a way of reaching out to others and ultimately expanding the boundaries of the…
Release data: Jon Mark – A Celtic Story CD, White Cloud, 1995 “A Celtic Story” is Jon Mark’s fourth album, this time released on his own White Cloud label. In just an hour, the listener is taken on a sonic journey through the rough times and overall history of Ireland, which is nicely sketched in the cd-booklet. Again, Jon’s music…
Release data: Jon Mark – Land of Merlin CD, Kuckuck Schallplatten/Celestial Harmonies, 1992 Paying another tribute to his English heritage, Jon Mark’s “Land of Merlin” descends a level deeper, exploring the “time” of his stunning debut album “The Standing Stones of Callanish” once again. “Land of Merlin” contains the translation into melodic music of the King Arthur story and the…
Release data: Jon Mark – Alhambra CD, Kuckuck Schallplatten/Celestial Harmonies, 1992 Concept wise, this third album by New Zealand-based musician Jon Mark, takes a different direction compared to the previous two concept albums “Standing Stones of Callanish” and “Land of Merlin”, as it’s dedicated to character and history of the Spanish Alhambra region. Again, Jon has delivered a masterpiece of…
Jon Mark is best known as one half of the Mark-Almond band, session guitarist and producer, who now resides in New Zealand. Situated on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, the Callanish Stones (also called the Stonehenge of the north) is a megalithic site that inspired composer Jon Mark to compose this classic ambient album on his Celtic…
Release data: Daniel Blanchet – L´Harmonie des Mondes CD, Editions Rubicon, 1991 Daniel Blanchet is a Canadian musician hailing from the Quebec area, who began experimenting with synthesizers in 1985. The concept album “L’Harmonie des Mondes” is inspired by the treatise “Harmonies of the Worlds” by German astronomer Johannes Kepler, to which it’s also a homage. Produced and mixed by…
Release data: Peter Challoner – Lunar Tide CD-R, Private Release, 2008 As Peter tells on the cd-sleeve, the ambient long form piece “Lunar Tide” is the outcome of an experiment in applying extreme sound processing to a piece of music to produce sonic textures contrasting radically to the nature of the original source recording. Well, the 60-minute meandering soundscape is…
Release data: Paul Haslinger – Planetary Traveler OST CD, Third Planet Entertainment, 1998 This is the original soundtrack album former TD-member Paul Haslinger composed for “Planetary Traveler”, the brainchild of two-time Emmy award winning director/producer Jan C. Nickman, noted for such projects as the computer animated hit “The Mind’s Eye”. The twelve dynamic tracks feature a powerful blend of symphonic…
Release data: Synco – Evolution of Events CD, Cue Records, 1991 The Berliner band Synco (short for SYNthesizer COoperation) was founded in 1984 by Frank Klare and Mirko Lüthge. In 1985 Werner Brandt (nickname Chaos) joined them. “Evolution of Events” is a amazing recording as it contains 70 minutes of well executed highly melodic and rhythmic music. The tasty outcome…