Release data: Vic Hennegan – Desert God CD-R, Space for Music, 2004 The album “Desert God” is the second album sent to me by this American musician, which investigates a complete different world of music, the realms of the ambient/space genre. “Gaya” is a haunting free floating track with great textures, but sadly enough this atmosphere and impact is withdrawn…
Release data: Vic Hennegan – Pure Creative Spirit CD-R, Private Release, 2004 In the huge pile of promo cds I encountered “Pure Creative Spirit” from the North Hollywood-based musician Vic Hennegan. He says to combine influences of the old (Schulze, TD) and new school of artists (Moby, Paul Oakenfield, DJ Sasha) in his music. Well, it’s a techno-trance album with…
Release data: Michael Stearns – The Storm CD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2001 The content of this album by ambient master Michael Stearns is not as new as one might think. In fact, half of the twelve tracks on the album are really new, and contain music Michael composed for various films and documentaries. Nevertheless, it’s always a great joy to…
Release data: Jeff Pearce –Bleed CD, Hypnos Recordings, 2002 With “Bleed”, his seventh album on Hypnos recordings, ambient guitarist Jeff Pearce present us a very personal piece of work. Inspired by recently-revisited entries to his teen-age journal, the outcome represents moments of remembrance, exploration, and a catharsis. In an interview with Instrumental Weekly, he said the album is quite the…
Release data: Jeff Pearce – The Light Beyond CD, Hypnos Recordings, 2001 “The Light Beyond” is a live album, recorded at Chuck van Zyl’s Star’s End radio show after string master Jeff Pearce did a concert at The Gatherings in Philadelphia. The outcome is a engaging, continuous flow of freeform textural soundscapes, all created with a guitar and various processing…
Release data: Jeff Pearce – Vestiges CD, Private Release, 1998 “Vestiges”, the third album of the skilled American ambient musician Jeff Pearce, comes in the typical trademark cover of Hypnos recordings. Pearce composed and recorded all music at night with his beloved e-guitar, using a whole range of studio magic and reverb techniques to let the outcome sound like pure…
Release data: Jeff Pearce – To the Shores of Heaven CD, Hypnos Recordings, 1999 “To the Shores of Heaven” is the fifth album by Indiana-based ambient musician Jeff Pearce, by many better know as composer of “spacious music for strings”. There were some darker and foreboding passages to be found on his previous albums, so it’s a surprise to find…
Release data: Mantaray – Numinous Island CD, Silent Records/Demon Tea, 1995/1999 This is in fact a re-release of an album that already came out in 1995 on Silent Records, but I found out it was also re-released in 2003. Mantaray is the duo Ray Castle and Susumo Yokota, who hereby present an intriguing hour of ambient/chill out music. There’s only…
Release data: Galactic Anthems – Galactic Anthems CD, Private Release, 2002 The musician behind Galactic Anthems is Glenn Adams. He attended Berklee College of music for several years and later on graduated in music composition at California State University. This is his debut cd, which looks solid and nice from the outside. The music inside is best classified as space…
Release data: Force Majeure – Total Eclipse CD, Periferic Records, 1999 Force Majeure, aka Laszlo Kovacs and Zsolt Vidovenyecz, hails from Hungary. “Total Eclipse” is their debut cd, dedicated to the solar eclipse of August 11, 1999. The music shows some distinct traces from the Berliner School, especially Tangerine Dream. The latter applies to the use of sequencers used on…
Release data: Stephen Parsick – Cryotainer – music for gasometers CD-R, Private Release, 2007 As the titled already suggests, the 64 minutes of long form music found on “Cryotainer” is of a frosty and cold nature. It is in fact a live recording of a concert performed in Oberhausen at the Gasometer (an abandoned industrial gas tank) in November 2007.…
Release data: Deep Imagination – Gemstones CD-R, Syngate, 2008 “Gemstones” is Deep Imagination’s second release, a project by Thorsten Sudler-Mainz and friends. The album starts out with “Planetary System”, followed by four live tracks. They all start out rather nice in a cosmic atmosphere, but after that there’s not much going on, as I couldn’t detect any real develop in…
Release data: Various Artists – Future Memories CD, Interchill Records, 2008 “Future Memories” is the first Interchill release of 2008 and continues in the musical tradition as the previous compilations such as “Interior Horizons”, “Infinessence” and “Bliminal”. The cd, compiled by Interchill label DJ/A&R Nathalie Edell, holds ten previously unreleased tracks by top ambient and down tempo producers. Although the…
Release data: John Foxx & Harold Budd – Translucence & Drift Music CD, Edsel Records/Metamatic Records, 2003 Ambient fans who love to listen to delicate, introspective music should make sure to find a copy of this brand-new delicacy. Packaged in a beautiful designed double gatefold digipak, Foxx and Budd present “Translucence + Drift Music”, a double-cd with 47 and 50…
Release data: Dan Pound – Return to Other Worlds CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, PoundSounds, 2012 “Return to Other Worlds” is a commemorative retrospective double-album by US-composer Dan Pound, and also his third re-master project based on older material . This package covers the six albums (“Other Worlds”, “Return”, “In a Hummingbird´s Dream”, “Heart´s Core” , “Horizon” and “Door Beyond Time”) that were…
Release data: Numina – Evolving Visions CD-R, Private Release, 2001 “Evolving Visions” is an adventurous audio-excursion which ambient composer Jesse Sola, aka Numina, has put together. In my opinion, the outcome doesn’t disappointed at all. Imagine you take a dive into an ocean filled with vast, encompassing ambient soundworlds. The sonic scenery, which contains elements of Brian Eno or Harold…
Release data: Art of Infinity – Dimension Universe CD, BSC/Prudence, 2004 Art of Infinity is a German band founded by Thorsten Sudler-Mainz and Thorsten Rentsch. The concept album “Dimension Universe” is their second release, described as their endless journey into space. Well, my first impression of the music was that it had a slight IC-flair from the old days (but…
Release data: Cyber Zen Sound Engine – Moonscapes: How Stones become enlightened CD, N-Light Records, 2000 “Moonscapes” is the debut album of the Houston based duo Cyber Zen Sound Engine, aka the anonymous duo GraceNoteX and Smith6079. The music contained on this album is what I would describe as progressive, cinematic ambient with a slight high-tech touch. On several occasions,…
Release data: Cyber Zen Sound Engine & Matt Borghi – The Intercepted Transmissions CD, N-Light Records, 2001 For their second cd, the duo CZSE have successfully worked together with Houston-based ambient composer and writer Matt Borghi. The overall music gives a cinematic feel, which the composers themselves describe as “a sonic exploration of an emotional place”. Well, they succeeded in…
Release data: Cyber Zen Sound Engine – Ausländer CD, N-Light Records, 2002 “Ausländer” is the third album of the mysterious American duo Smith6079 and GraceNoteX, aka Cyber Zen Sound Engine. The concept album is “dedicated to everyone who know how it feels to be an outsider”. The duo describes the outcome as a more “active” form of ambient music which…
Release data: Paul Avgerinos – Muse of the Round Sky CD, Hearts of Space/ Round Sky Music, 1992/2002 This album by Greek bass player Paul Avgerinos has stayed unnoticed for many for a long time, but when it was given extensive radio play on Hearts of Space radio at the start of the ’90, it soon became a classic in…
Release data: Paul Avgerinos – Words Touch CD, Round Sky Music, 2001 “Words Touch” is the follow-up to Paul’s album “Sky of Grace”, which again blends soft-symphonic and tribal-kindred ingredients. It’s done in a keen way, as things stay overall accessible, but overall sound more fluid and introspective compared to his previous record. Again, Paul is joined by some guest…
Release data: Paul Avgerinos – Sky of Grace CD, Round Sky Music, 1998 Greek/American musician and producer Paul Avgerinos hails from Redding, Connecticut, where he started his own professional analogue/digital Unicorn studio in 1984. Some might know him from his previous album “Muse of the Round Sky”, released on Hearts of Space in 1992. This album, which has been re-released…
Release data: Jeff Pearce – Lingering Light CD, Private Release, 2005 Back in 1993, ambient musician Jeff Pearce released his first album “Tenderness and Fatality”, after which he continued to impress me by releasing beautiful, floating and meandering ambient music on his following albums. Here we find more melodic, short compositions compared to the free form electronic ambient washes of…
Release data: Stephen Parsick – Deltaplan – muziek voor polders CD-R, Private Release, 2006 Stephen states in the press sheet that the music (he actually calls it his “water album”) for this cd began to take shape as he was rehearsing with Phelios for the live music which later would end up on “It always rains in Wuppertal”. The lap…
Release data: Phelios & Parsick – It Always Rains In Wuppertal CD-R, Private Release, 2006 This recording contains the live concert these two musicians gave in Wuppertal on November 24, 2006. Phelios, a dark ambient project by Martin Stuertzer, and Stephen Parsick (who got to know each other through a German synthesizer forum) both played one solo set and ended…
Release data: Erik Seifert – Aotearoa CD-R, Syngate, 2006 I think I’m one of the many who were impressed by Seifert’s album “Trust Avis”, and listening to his new concept album “Aotearoa” even gives me more thrills. It’s a well produces concept-cd on New Zealand, the land of the long white cloud, on which Erik mixes harmonious chords, and great…
Release data: Erik Seifert – Astronomical Unit CD, Spheric Music, 2008 “Astronomical Unit”, Erik Seifert’s fourth album (but his first on Spheric Music), was officially released February 8th 2008, and actually is a live album. The music of the concept album, dealing with the astronomical unit that refers to the distance between the sun and the earth, contains some great…
Release data: Various Artists – The Other World CD, Hypnos Recordings, 1998 Hypnos owner Mike Griffin again has succeeded in a great effort: he managed to select an extraordinary cast out of today’s best ambient- composers, who contribute to this double cd sampler of over 142 minutes. The listener can step stones in sonic explorations ranging from space and trance…
Release data: Hans-Joachim Roedelius & Tim Story – Inlandish CD, Grönland/Rough Trade, 2008 I’ve never been a fan of the rather experimental sounding works of former krautrock musician Hans-Joachim Roedelius, and I also had a rather hard time after Ohio-based composer Tim Story started putting out abstract/experimental ambient in various collaborations in the last decade. So for me it was…
Release data: Stephen Parsick – Schwartzschild – music for planetariums CD-R, Private Release, 2007 I’ve always been a fan of space music, so when Stephen Parsick send me a copy of his very limited release “Schwartzschild”, I almost knew I would love it (and in fact I wasn’t the least disappointed). The album was recorded in January/February 2007 at Stephen’s…
Release data: Soundician – Still CD-R, Private Release, 2007 “Still” is the sixth release by the duo Odette and Kit Johnson, which was officially released on the January 25th, 2008. The album is an almost 40-minute trip of slightly darkening and contemplative soundscapes compositions. After all these years their style is still quite hard to pinpoint, although one always recognises…
Release data: Vangelis – El Greco – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD, Universal Music Greece/Polydor, 2007 December 2007 saw the release of the soundtrack “El Greco” to the motion picture by Iannis Smaragdis, for which Vangelis collaborated with The Choir of the Greek Radio and Television. The album is divided in 18 parts of very nicely sculptured musical miniatures, making…
Release data: Stephen Parsick – Tektonik – music for earthquakes CD-R, Private Release, 2006 Many will know German musician Stephen Parsick as one half of the dark ambient duo [‘ramp]. Between September 2004 and January 2006 he created the first recordings of the 57 minute, deep ambient album “Tektonik” in his private studio, a concept album of slow morphing ambient…
Release data: Stephen Parsick – Gronland – music for glaciers CD-R, Private Release, 2006 While Stephen Parsick was finishing up his album “Teknonik” in January/February 2006, he decided to use the remaining tracks for a second “geological album”: “Gronland”. This concept album contains 65 minutes of improvised, highly cinematic soundscape music, composed in a period Stephen was checking out some…
Release data: FutureMusicCorp – Etoile Nord CD-R, Private Release, 2006 FutureMusicCorp is a studio-bound, one-man project which started in 1999. “Etoile Nord” is the first proper album release of Mike65, aka the Irish musician Michael Carter, of which I knew some tracks from his previous recording “Lost in the Stars”. “Etoile Nord” holds twelve ambient/space tracks which nicely starts off…
Release data: John Lakveet – The Force of Reason CD, Groove Unlimited, 2004 John Lakveet’s “The Force of Reason” contains some vintage electronic music, presented in shorter tracks than is common in the genre, in which the sequencer plays an important role. The album kicks off with the sparkling, up-tempo sequencing of “Leibniz And Contingency” in which quite some retro…
Release data: Heavenly Music Corporation – Lunar Phase CD, Silent Records, 1995 The musician behind the project Heavenly Music Corporation is sound designer and musician Kim Cascone, who founded his own label Silent Records around the mid ‘80s. For “Lunar Phase”, he compiled material composed especially for St. Giga, Japan, a satellite broadcast radio station that transmitted ambient music 24…
Release data: Something Completely Different – Book Of Love CD, Invisible Shadows, 2003 Almost around the same time as “The Last Gate” was released, the album “Book of Love” also came out on the same label. This cd contains 78:30 minutes of vintage music, divided over 14 accessible tracks. Again, the musical approach is quite original, as Boele Gerkes’ output…
Release data: Steve Roach – Arc of Passion CD, Projekt, 2008 Although Steve Roach has been around such a long time in ambient space music, he’s still able to suprise me after all these years. The origins of the double album “Arc of Passion” came forth from a three month period of intensive touring and studio sessions, in which Steve…
Release data: Markus Reuter & [‘ramp] – Ceasing to Exist CD, Doombient, 2000/2007 The album “Ceasing to Exist” is what I would call a beautiful but intensive journey into the darkening lands of ambient music. For this 63-minute release, Frank Makowski & Stephen Parsick (aka [‘ramp] ) collaborated with experimental guitarist Markus Reuter. The latter delivered some great touch guitar…
Release data: Erik Wøllo – Wind Journey CD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2001 This is Erik’s second cd on Spotted Peccary’s sublabel Wanderings, and this time the content is much more electronic. “Wind Journey” contains 70 minutes of beautiful instrumental music, divided over 23 tracks. It indeed feels like a great journey as we take off with great uplifting textures, lyrical…
Release data: Erik Wøllo – Guitar Nova CD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2000 “Guitar Nova” came out in the middle of October 2000 and is the first release of the Norwegian musician Erik Wollo on Spotted Peccary’s sublabel Wanderings. As the albums title suggests, the music on this cd isn’t that electronic, but still very well executed. All tracks on this…
Release data: Deep Sky Divers – Momentum CD, Any Robinhood, 2001 Deep sky Divers are the Scottish duo John Short and David Jones, who have previously released three other albums (“Natural Power”, “Every Generation” and “In the Northern Sky”). “Momentum” contains a selection of tracks from these ’90 albums plus a couple of unreleased pieces. The cd nicely kicks of…
Release data: Thom Brennan – Vibrant Water CD-R, Private Release, 2001 “Vibrant Water” is Thom’s next album after “Mist”, and again is a beautiful sound and listening experience. The disc contains three extended soundscapes, all filled with transparent, slow drifting textures. The slightly melodic sonic tapestries feature very nice vibrant effects and would be a proper soundtrack to a film…
Release data: Thom Brennan – Shimmer CD-R, Private Release, 2001 On “Shimmer”, Thom Brennan continues his quest for nature-inspired music. It kicks off with the short piece “Radiant Ice”, which returns at the end of album in a longer version. It is followed by the engaging soundings of the 15 minute “Cavelight”, which also contains some modified e-guitar and several…
Release data: Thom Brennan – Satori CD-R, Private Release, 2002 “Satori”, originally released on James Johnson’s Zero Music-label, contains music in line of what is featured on “Mist”. “Satori” (which is Japanese for Spiritual Enlightment) is part of Thom Brennan’s live improvisations, and contains 71 minutes of drifting and ongoing textural sound worlds. The deep, but always transparent soundscapes with…
Release data: Tangerine Dream – Phaedra 2005 CD, Eastgate, 2005 For this project, father and son Froese took the music of the classic “Phaedra” album and reworked and remixed (read: tangenitized) it to make it fit in a more modern jacket. This, by TD-fans, much feared treatment meant it would wash away the strong sense of mystery and magic from…
Release data: John Lakveet – Epikus CD, Groove Unlimited, 2003 The Spanish musician John Lakveet is one of the members of the band At-Moos, who decided to pursue a solo career like his band companion musician Dom F. Scab. “Epikus” is Lakveet’s debut cd on the Dutch label Groove Unlimited, and is a beautiful example of Berliner School inspired electronic…
Release data: Zero Ohms & Brannan Lane – Soundfall To The Infinite CD-R, Space for Music, 2002 “Soundfall to the Infinite” is a well composed ambient space album, divided in three parts. It originated from the Space for Music festival in 2002, where both musicians did a solo performance, but after they heared each others music they decided to do…
Release data: Various Artists – Fahrenheit Project Part 3 CD, Ultimae Records, 2002 This is the third compilation from the small French label Ultimae, which continues releasing some fine “panoramic music for panoramic people”. The cd contains “a selection of ambient downtempo soundscapes and ethereal rhythms”, presenting ten unreleased tracks (with the exception of the piece by Mystical Sun) by…
Release data: Gaylene – Journey to the Surface CD-R, Private Release, 1995/2001 Gaylene is a synthesist from Norwalk, Connecticut, and one of the few female musicians within nowadays electronic music scene. Her album “Journey to the Surface”, which was already released on mc in 1995, was originally recorded as a soundtrack for an exhibit at the Norwalk Maritime Center. The…
Release data: Astrogator – Dreamlight CD-R, Private Release, 2007 “Dreamlight” is the second release of the duo Astrogator, aka Stephen Humphries (aka Create) and his musical pal Jez Creek, which initially appeared as a limited edition cd-r of only 50 copies. Later on, and after popular demand, the duo decided to do a re-release I fall 2007 with full colour…
Release data: Frank Klare – Digitalic CD, Groove Unlimited, 2007 Frank Klare describes “Digitalic” as the musical successor of the his album “Analogic”, containing six recordings made between 2003 and 2007. Mr Klare has an energetic way of composing electronic music, which overall is strongly sequencer based and rooted in the modern Berliner School of music. The outcome on “Digitalic”…
Release data: The Nightcrawlers – Traveling Backwards CD, Manikin Records, 1997 The Nightcrawlers was a US-band from New Jersey, consisting of Peter and Steve Gulch and David Lunt, who by now are regarded as composers of classic electronic music. The trio applied vintage analogue gear to compose three albums between 1982 and 1987: “The Nightcrawlers” (1983), “Space Walk” (1985) and…
Release data: Spyra – Excerpts 1 CD, Ricochet Dream, 1992/2004 “Excerpts 1” comprises eight tracks Wolfram Spyra composed between 1986 and 1992. This version is actually the cd version of an album which originally was released as a limited edition mc back in 1992, now complemented with one bonus track. I’ve always considered Spyra as one of the innovators in…
Release data: Jean Michel Jarre – Oxygene (New Master recording) CD & DVD, EMI/Capitol, 2007 To celebrate the 30th anniversary of his classic album “Oxygene”, Jean Michel Jarre had the plan to completely re-record the original music with the original instruments. The outcome on the cd is great, as Jarre sticked to the original music, which still shines in all…
Release data: The Speed of Dark – The “Dark Water” Edition CD-R, Private Release, 2007 Frank Makowksi started The Speed of Dark project after [´ramp] (the dark ambient project with Stephen Parsick) had reached a dead point from an artist point of view. I’m glad he decided to continue and further investigate his own musical pathways, of which “Dark Water”…
Release data: Steve Joliffe – Poland CD, Ricochet Dream, 2006 What I got here is actually a live recording made at the Ricochet Festival in September 2004. “Poland” contains three long tracks, kicked of by the strange mixed bag “Spring ‘67”. It starts out with solo piano with quite some discordant notes, later on even getting experimental with some awful…
Release data: Robert Fox – Touching the Serpent’s Tail CD, AD Music, 2007 By whatever reason, I lost touch of the music by the English musician Robert Fox after his third release or so, although I liked his music quite a lot. In the meanwhile he has become a member of Code Indigo, but also continued releasing solo music. “Touching…