Release data: Alquimia & Rüdiger Gleisberg – Garden of Dreams CD, BSC/Prudence, 2005 “Garden of Dreams” is a collaborative effort of the female singer Alquimia and German symphonic keyboarder Rüdiger Gleisberg (known from Solitaire and his solo-albums). It’s a poetic rendered vehicle featuring angelic choirs and lots of classic string-arrangements in all eleven tracks. Sometimes, the music turns rather fairytale-like,…
Release data: Alemis – The Music of Alemis Vol. 1 CD-R, Private Release, 2002 “The Music of Alemis Vol. 1” is a collection of eight soundscape miniatures by ambient musician Peter Salemi. The first four have an emotive yet slight new-age feel, but never getting too soft. Opener “The Enchanted Brook” is a introspective track combining bubbling water sounds with…
Release data: AirSculpture – Quark Soup CD, Neu Harmony, 2001 This is a double cd from the English trio Airsculpture, which only contains live material. What they acchieve live-on-stage is always something surprising, as their Berliner School inspired music relies a lot on improvisation. The first cd of “Quarksoup” contains the complete, very strong live set they performed on E-Live…
Release data: Rudy Adrian – SubAntarctica (Atmospheric Works Vol.1) CD-R, Private Release, 1999 This cd-r contains the original soundtrack for the national exhibition “Art in the Sub-Antarctic”, which Rudy Adrian composed as a commissioned work for the Southland Art Gallery & Museum. The project involved sending a dozen artists to the uninhabited islands halfway between New Zealand and the South…
Release data: Amir Baghiri – Dreamresources CD, Neuronium Records, 2002 On “Dreamresources”, released on Michel Huygen’s (aka Neuronium) Spanish label Neuronium records, Amir Baghiri tried to melt relaxing, rather strange and mystic natural (re)sources of sound into a kind of background music. The general response on his performance at E-Live 2002 festival was his music sounded a bit too much…
Release data: Amir Baghiri – Yalda CD-R, Vivo Records, 2003 This time, it’s the Polish Vivo-Records that has put out Baghiri’s album “Yalda” on de market. “Yalda” is Persian for the longest, darkest night of the year, in which various religious ceremonies take place. Amir himself describes the album as “a new trip in the mystic and hidden world of…
Release data: Amir Baghiri & Mathias Grassow – True North CD, Arya-Amplexus, 1998 On this concept cd, Amir Baghiri joined forces with his musical pal Mathias Grassow, who already made music together on the nice album “Arcanum”. Mr Grassow is known for his extensive use of ongoing, minimal, drone-like soundscapes, which he again presents on this album. These are counter…
Release data: Amir Baghiri – Time CD, Arya-Amplexus, 1998 “Time” is the second solo cd from Amir Baghiri. Again, the outcome is an interesting one, proving he’s not a one-day fly. His tribal ambient music is often compared to the music of Steve Roach and Vidna Obmana, but when one listens more carefully there’s a strong personal trademark as well.…
Release data: Amir Baghiri – Cages CD, NO-CD, 1997 “Cages” is the debut album by German/Iran musician Amir Baghiri. I remember I’ve seen his name appear as guest musician on a Solitaire album, beside the fact he made the impressive cd “Arcanum”, a joint venture with his musical companions Mathias Grassow en Rüdiger Gleisberg. Well, “Cages” is a professional piece…
Release data: Amir Baghiri – Bluebox Collection CD, Arya-Amplexus, 2000 “Bluebox Collection” is the long-awaited cd box from the sympathetic German/Iran ambient musician Amir Baghiri. It contains four cds, all clocking over 70 minutes, which all reflect their own character and sphere: “City”, “Live”, “Night” and “Sleep”. The first cd “City” (also the oldest recording of the set) is a…
Release data: Amir Baghiri – Winterscape CD, NO-CD, 1999 For “Winterscape”, Amir again has chosen the ambient-oriented path in which he succeeded in reminding me of some tribal/soundscape material of Steve Roach’s “Dreamtime Return” in some parts. “Winterscape” has an overall organic feel, beginning with thrilling sequencers and catchy soundscapes, before moving into deeper dwellings and darker atmospheres, in which…
Release data: Stephen Bacchus – Pangaea CD, Oasis Productions, 1990/1991 “Pangaea” is the debut cd of Stephen Bacchus on the Canadian Oasis-label. Stephen, who plays synthesizers, is joined by quite a list of fellow-musicians (one of them is Ron Korb on flute) who play a variety of exotic instruments. The music on this album is no pure electronic music, but…
Release data: Stephen Bacchus – Ambient Origins CD, Oasis/Mirage, 1998 This cd, subtitled “Collected early works 1983-1987”, was released in The Time Capsule Series of the ambitious Canadian Oasis sub-label Mirage. It’s an retrospective work out of the kitchen of Stephen Bacchus, who has released three other cds on Oasis, but this one has undergone the 20-bit Technology treatment. From…
Release data: Michael Thomas Berkley – Images from Earth CD, Numinous Records, 1998 To me, the 26- year old Michael Thomas Berkley who hails from Oregon, is a new name in the genre of contemporary instrumental and electronic music. It seems this debut album “Images from Earth” created quite a fuzz on the other side of the ocean when it…
Release data: Brendan Pollard – Flux Echoes CD, Private Release, 2007 “Flux Echoes”, the second release of Brendan Pollard, premiered at “E-Live 2007”, which again is prove of a solid recording. Fact is, that all who love TD’s great analogue music from the’70 (as heard on “Rubicon”, “Richocet” and “Encore”) will surely get their hands on a copy of “Flux…
Release data: Rudy Adrian – Kinetic Flow (Sequencer Sketches Vol. 1) CD, Groove Unlimited, 2000 Rudy’s two sequencer pieces on his previous overall atmospheric album “Twilight” must have made quite an impression at Groove Unlimited , as they have released “Kinetic Flow” (subtitled Sequencer Sketches Vol. 1). Well, I’m sure this sequencer album will please a wide range of music…
Release data: Rudy Adrian – Twilight (Atmospheric Works Vol. 2) CD-R, Private Release, 1998 David Parsons was kind to get me in touch with this musician hailing from New Zealand’s south island, whose full name actually is Rudy Adrian Hueting. Originally, “Twilight” (Atmospheric Works Vol. 2) was only meant for friends and relatives, but it appeared there was some distinct…
Release data: Nathan Youngblood – Asunder CD, SteveRoach.com, 2007 This the second cd in Steve Roach’s series devoted to bringing high-quality essential cd releases from the deep end of the soundcurrent. It is composed by one Nathan Youngblood, who got the opportunity to release this non-rhythmic ambient sound dwelling under the wings of this ambient master. If I’m correct, some…
Release data: Brian Parnham – Mantle CD, SteveRoach.com, 2007 “Mantle” is a 73 minute atmospheric ambient work from talented ambient musician Brian Parnham, which music has been privately released by Steve Roach, and who also did the refined, exquisite production of it. As a matter of fact, it is the first cd in Steve Roach’s series devoted to bringing high-quality…
Release data: A Produce & M. Griffin – Altara CD, Hypnos Recordings, 1999 After quite a period of radio silence, Barry Craig (aka A Produce) re-enters the ambient stage with “Altara”, a collaborative project with Hypnos owner Mike Griffin. Well, the music on the album follows what has become some sort of tradenmark of the label: dense, slightly macabre sound…
Release data: Cosmic Hoffmann – Space Gems CD-R, Heart and Mind, 2007 As vintage electronic music is very popular the last couple of years, several musicians and band have released stuff from their archives. Well, the same goes for Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock, aka Cosmic Hoffmann, who started composing electronic music around the middle of the ’70. “Space Gems”, subtitled “vintage rarities…
Release data: David Parsons – Shaman CD, Celestial Harmonies, 1999 This world/ambient project had been announced for long time, fortunately in the same form as David Parsons originally had it mind. The album, inspired by the major shamanic traditions on the globe, breaths a heavy ethnic flavour from cultures like Central Asia, North Africa and the Middle East. These are…
Release data: A Produce – White Sands CD, Private Release, 1995 This cd bears the subtitle “An Anthology 1988-1994”. It contains a nice selection of tracks taken from his previous four albums, to which five unreleased and slightly changed pieces have been added. Listening to the music shows that Barry Craig’s trance-kindred music remains something special: it ranges from spacey…
Release data: A Produce – Smile on the Void CD, Hypnos Recordings, 2000 This is the first solo release from Barry Craig, aka A Produce, since four years (his previous album “Inscape and Landscape” came out in ’96), although 1999 saw “Altara”, a joint-release with Hypnos owner Mike Griffin. Barry’s former trance-inducing music always held something special, but as he…
Release data: A Produce – Reflect like a Mirror, Respond like an Echo CD, Trance Port, 1997 This cd by A Produce, aka Barry Craig, is a special re-release from his first album from 1992, which comes with a cd-cover like those of Vidna Obmana. This new edition is a completely remastered version of the original album, to which three…
Release data: A Produce – Inscape and Landscape CD, Private Release, 1996 First of all, the “post-processing & digital preparation” of “Inscape and Landscape” was in the capable hands of no other than Robert Rich. A Produce’s chosen concept for the cd was “to contrast the individual’s interior with his or her exterior environment, to explore that idea in sound”.…
Release data: Create – Space Time Continuum CD, Groove Unlimited, 2007 Stephen Humphries, aka Create, explains in the booklet he found it time to release an album of shorter tracks as the previous two cds contained only very long tracks. Well, the five tracks on “Space Time Continuum” continue in the characteristic Create-tradition, featuring both prominent and more hold back…
Release data: Vir Unis – The Drift Inside CD, Greenhouse Music, 1999 This is the second release of the new Minneapolis-based ambient soundscape label Greenhouse Music, made by John Strate-Hootman aka Vir Unis. Since his fantastic collaborative projects with Steve Roach & MaJaLe, he has become someone to expect a lot from. With this first full length solo excursion Vir…
Release data: Rising Star – Totally Space CD-R, Private Release, 2001 “Totally Space” is one of the quite remarkable creations of American musician Marc Handschuh aka (Marc) Rising Star. The last twelve years he has been focussing to implement serenity, relaxation and (most of all) Space in his music to establish inner harmony and healing. This album features eight lengthy…
Release data: Steve Roach & Vir Unis – Body Electric CD, Projekt, 1999 With the cd “Body Electric”, a new chapter was opened in the ongoing list of co-operations Steve Roach has done with various kindred musicians through the years. The name Vir Unis (aka ambient musician/composer John Strate-Hootman) may be familiar to some listeners of ambient music, as he…
Release data: Various Artists – Analogy 3 CD, Groove Unlimited, 2007 This is the third volume of the “Analogy”-series, which started about three years ago as sort of “fun project” on EMForum. Since the first album, it appeared there were far enough enthusiastic contributors from all over the globe who were more than willing or daring to find out if…
Release data: Rising Star – …By Imagination CD-R, Private Release, 2002 “… By Imagination” is acompilation album of exactly 48 minutes, for which Marc Handschuh, aka Rising Star, selected seven tracks from four previously released albums. The first two tracks, taken from his album “Destination”, sound very new-age, which also partly goes for the third piece (from the album “Meditation…
Release data: Steve Roach – Slow Heat CD, Timeroom Editions, 1998 Here’s another fine addition of ambient wallpaper intended for infinite playback. The continuous 71-minute soundscape making up “Slow Heat” is inspired by the desert environment and severe heat conditions surrounding Steve’s habitat. Imagine slow morphing textural spheres interacting with and sustaining each other in a constant minimal framework where…
Release data: Dan Hartman – New Green Clear Blue CD, Private Music, 1989 A while back, my long-time review colleague Bill Binkleman pointed my attention to this release, which appeared to be sadly out-of-print since quite some years. I think that’s a real pity, as “New Green Clear Blue” is an excellent ambient release. It cannot be denied Brian Eno…
Release data: Ian Boddy – Ron Boots – Harold van der Heijden – Phase 3 CD, Cue Records / Something Else Records, 1997 “Phase 3” (of which the actual working title was “Bad Boys”) is a live recording of over 70 minutes comprising the best qualities of three great musicians, who only used analog electronic equipment for this performance. Tracks…
Release data: Hemisphere – Liquid Mirror CD, Musique Intemporelle/Groove Unlimited, 1991/1999 “Liquid Mirror” is the first album of Hemisphere (aka German musician Ralph Knappe Heinbockel), which originally came out years ago on Bernd Kistenmacher’s label Musique Intemporelle. The original version was sold out for a long time, and hardly sought after by many collectors of nice electronic music. Therefore, it’s…
Release data: Erik Wøllo – Emotional Landscapes CD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2003 “Emotional Landscapes” is Erik’s third cd for Spotted Peccary’s-sublabel Wanderings, and again it’s an excellent one. In the first few minutes you remember the overall impact of his former awesome album “Wind Journey”. Hearing the beauty of these new serene sound textures makes clear that a lot of…
Release data: Zhu – Inner Sanctuary CD, Private Release, 1998 According to the press-sheet, “Inner Sanctuary” is the second release of the Vancouver-based Reiki master & musician Robert Jennings, aka Zhu. Subtitled as “soothing music complementing the healing arts”, the album immediately gives a new-age impression, which is even emphasized by the cd cover. The disc contains twelve tracks from…
This follow-up to Char-El’s critically acclaimed debut album “Worlds Without End” is divided in two sections: a space-trip and an overall symphonic tour-de-force. “Heaven” offers more capturing space music in the tradition of Charles’ former album, moving further on into unknown regions of our galaxy. But then there’s “Earth”: which is something different. Here we encounter more rhythmic, symphonic music…
Release data: Char-El – Worlds without End CD, Private Release, 1996 “Worlds Without End” is the debut cd of Ohio-based musician Char-El aka Charles Thaxton. He is convinced that his music has a positive influence on both spiritual health and the soul. I must confess Charles has released some very nice space music that can compete with some of Jonn…
Release data: Telomere – Astral Currents CD, Evenfall, 1998 Well, well, here we have a cd which features some music which is perfectly in line with those made some years ago in the classic tradition of spacemusic. The musician behind Telomere is one Christopher John Macdonald, who’s “Astral Currents” is his first release. Christopher owns a nice piece of electronic…
Release data: Telomere – Zoetosis CD, Private Release, 2001 “Zoetosis” is the second cd of space-music composer Christopher MacDonald, inviting the listener to another fascinating virtual trip into space. Like his previous album “Astral Currents”, “Zoetosis” is primarily made on the Mighty Serge Modular (which almost immediately still remind of Michael Stearns’ masterpieces “Planetary Unfolding” and “Chronos”), offering handsfull of…
Release data: Mark Mercury – Music of the Domes CD, Private Release, 1992 Mark Mercury is an American composer of electronic music with a strong cinematic feel. The music on this cd is actually real planetarium music, split into five long tracks. Listening to it is a special experience as the descriptive, light symphonic angles and orchestral timbres shapeshift on…
Release data: Mark Mercury – Music from the Cycles of Spheres CD, Private Release, 2001 This album is actually a rebuilt version of the “Deep Spaces” album that space and planetarium composer Mark Mercury had in the works for quite a while. Now it is being used for the identically-titled art exhibition of Mary Edna Fraser, carrying the subtitle “Mapping…
Release data: Ashera – Colour Glow CD, Private Release, 2000 “Colour Glow” is the third album from Australian-based ambient musician Antonio Asher Wright aka Ashera. Again,the same two female vocalists on his former album contribute in a marvelous way to a few of the eleven tracks available. Was I a bit remembered of the music of Eno in the past,…
Release data: Rob Essers – Raincolors CD, Groove Unlimited, 1994/2002 Rob Essers debut album “Raincolors” was originally released in 1994 on Cue Records NL. A couple of months before that, Rob gave me a demo of the album, which resulted in quite some goosebumps when I heard the extraordinary music on it. The music on it is made in the…
Release data: Kees Aerts – Slices of Time CD, Groove Unlimited, 1997 What I got here is the every first Groove Unlimited-release. With “Slices of Time” Kees Aerts (at that time business partner of Ron Boots’ Groove Unlimited label) also presents his debut. His name appeared previously on various “Truth” cds. The album -dedicated to the function that allows events…
Release data: The Circular Ruins – Empathy Test CD, DataBloem, 2003 I’m not that familiar with the music of Anthony Paul Kerby, aka The Circular Ruins, although I’ve heard his album “Confluence”. In a different way than usual, his organic-flavoured ambient creations on “Empathy Test” (containing works from late 2002 and 2003) are a slow drift, but one accompanied by…
Release data: Brian Vassallo – Beyond CD, Private Release, 1998 Well, what is got here is electronic space music from the Maltese (!) musician Brian Vassallo, who steps forward with an album he already seems to have released back in 1998. It’s a pity it remained so long in whatever vault, as this is a real gem for fans of…
Release data: Steve Roach – Fever Dreams CD, Projekt, 2004 A short outtake of this cd (announced as part one of a trilogy) could already be heard on the sampler “Space and Time” from end 2003. Well, “Fever Dreams” contains four extended tracks (the press-sheet describes them as hypnotic groove meditations) , which starts very nice with the 18-minute “Wicked…
Release data: Rasal.Asad – Space.Scape CD, Thisco, 2002 “Space.Space” comes in a simple, single-sleeve envelope, containing electronic soundscape music without rhythm made by one Fernando Cerqueira from Portugal. Fernando is owner of the Tisco-label and has made at least ten CD’s using the moniker Ras.al.ghul, but he considers Rasal.a’sad a “side-project”. The opening track “Ur” has a floating nature, sounding…
Release data: Rasal.Asad – Asuna CD, Thisco, 2003 “Asuna” is the second album of the Portuguese electronic project Rasal.Asad, aka Fernando Cerqueira, which contains eight quite active, repetitive and slow evolving soundscapes. In a way, you might call it almost dream-like, but the outcome is rather abstract, also due to the use of some philosophical and literal spoke words and…
Release data: Dorian Przystalski – Antimatter CD-R, Underwater Music, 2003 Dorian hails from Poland, and found his first home at Underwater music, but by now he has set up his on website. “Antimatter” contains of 45 minutes of rather traditional, accessible EM in which tasty ingredients as up-tempo sequencers, groovy basses, warm sounds and some solo’s make up the whole.…
Release data: Randel Osborne – Celestial Mechanics CD, Redshift Digital Audio, 1995 Randel Osborne is a recording studio manager of Redshift Digital Audio, hailing from Connecticut, who’s also half of a band called Parallax. The cd begins with the heavy symphonic title track, which sounds rather familiar to the stuff Synergy did years ago, but then in a more freaky…
Release data: Redshift – Last CD, Distant Sun, 2007 “Last” features music which Redshift played live on Hampshire Jam 5 in October 2006. For this concert, Redshift performed as a trio, as no other than Ian Boddy joined Mark and Julian Shreeve on electric piano, synthesizers, software and sampler. For years, Redshift is known for their strong retro music (with…
Release data: Ixohoxi & Numina – Starfarer’s Tales Vol. 2 CD-R, Private Release, 2004 This is the second chapter of the collaboration between these two ambient musicians, so I was expecting some kind of continuation of the previous album. Well, “Volume 2” is definitely a more darker-shaded free form ambient trip taking up 51 minutes. The opening track “Dark Matter”…
Release data: Ixohoxi & Numina – Starfarer’s Tales Vol. 1 CD-R, Private Release, 2002 This is the first collaboration between these two distinguished American ambient composers, both known for their remarkable soundscape music. They now joined forces which have led to this album (which has Poul Anderson sf-novel “Starfarers” as core inspiration) that won’t disappoint any fan of long-drifting textural…
Release data: Loren Nerell – Taksu CD, Soleilmoon, 2003 As far as I know, this is the sixth cd of Loren, his previous cd (“The Venerable Dark Cloud”) was released on Amplexus in 2000. “ Taksu” contains one uninterrupted, cinematic track of 69:17. It’s a slowly evolving, flowing blend of environmental soft drone sounds and Balinese/gamelan instruments, rather soundtrack-like atmospheric…
Release data: M. Griffin – Sudden Dark CD, Hypnos Recordings, 1997 Mike Griffin, owner of Hypnos recordings, hits the spot with his first solo effort “Sudden Dark”. The beautiful cd cover (which later on would become a trademark of the label) and title give a promise of what the listener can expect: ten tracks in all which head for darkening…
Release data: Laudanum – Laudanum CD-EP, ArcHana, 2001 “Laudanum” is a cd-ep by the German duo Amir Baghiri and Rüdiger Gleisberg, aka Laudanum, which was released on ArcHana, a sublabel of Stefano Gentile’s Amplexus-label. Rüdiger already had the idea for this album for quite a while, as he wanted to melt Medieval mystics with electronic music, which finally brought him…