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…
Release data: Various Artists – Oxycanta – Winter Blooms CD, Ultimae Records, 2007 “Winter Blooms” is the second compilation under the Oxycanta-monniker, compiled by labelmanager, musician and dj Mahiane. It features over an hour of new, modern electronics by the musicians Hybrid Leisureland, Solar Fields, Amos, Antonio Testa & Maurizio Piazza, Malik Trey, Aes Dana, Sgnl_Fltr, Subgardens, bOb tracKer, James…
Release data: Inade – Aldebaran CD, Cold Spring, 1996/2007 I received this cd together with the re-release of Sleep Research Facility’s “Nostromo”. “Aldebaran” appears to be the debut album of Inade, aka the German duo Knut Enderlein and René Lehmann . They have the intention “to go beyond the in part static and often repetitive working principle of Ambient Music…
Release data: Sleepresearch_Facility – Nostromo CD, Cold Spring, 2007 “Nostromo” is actually a re-release of an album by Sleep Research Facility, aka Kevin Doherty, which was already put out in 2001. It’s a concept album inspired by the spaceship Nostromo from the sf-movie “Alien”, and especially the mindblowing interior of it, which is featured in the first five minutes. Kevin…
Release data: Solar Fields – EarthShine CD, Ultimae Records, 2007 November 2007 saw the the release of the fifth Solar Fields album “EarthShine”. This time, the Swedish composer Magnus Birgersson presents eight lenghty tracks which are firmly rooted in atmospheric trance music. There’s plenty of melody implemented in the uptempo groove tracks with powerful, straightforward sequencers, pulling the listener deep…
Release data: Alpha Wave Movement – Terra DVD-R, Harmonic Resonance Recordings, 2006 The audiovisual production “Terra” is a journey into the hidden natural landscapes of New Zealand, which comes with an exclusive ambient soundtrack by Alpha Wave Movement. The dvd contains 37 minutes of beautiful nature footage by Rudy Adrian, who shot some tranquilliscapes” of mountains, forests, and various water…
Release data: Evan Bartholomew – Caverns of Time CD, Somnia, 2007 “Caverns of Time” is the first release on the new Somnia-label, founded by Evan Bartholomew, aka Bluetech. Evan explains the music “explores a mythical journey into subconscious realms, and is an attempt to explore the deep waters through an experience of sound”. The cd contains six free form tracks…
Release data: Deep Sky Divers – Highlands & Skylands CD, Any Robinhood, 2002 “Highlands & Skylands” by David Jones and Jon Short, aka the Brittish duo Deep Sky Divers, is a haunting album filled with highly cinematic music inspired by the beauty and landscape of the Scottish Highlands. The almost hour-long cd contains nine compositions which reflect the passion and…
Release data: Kerry Leimer – The Useless Lesson CD, Palace of Lights, 2007 Mr Leimer explains this cd is comprised of constructed and deconstructed pieces juxtaposed to disclose the contrasts and commonality of organizing and recognizing sound into music. Well, I don’t have the slightest clue what he means by that, but the result is a remarkable form of precision…
Release data: Sunya Beat – The Jelenia Gora Sessions CD, Ricochet Dream, 2005 The music of this cd was recorded live in Jelenia Gora, Poland at Teatr Jeleniogorski during the Ricochet Gathering September 10, 2004. It features Harald Grosskopf and Steve Baltes (from Ashra and Ash Ra Tempel fame)on percussion and synthesizer, plus Axel Heilhecker on guitar. The seven tracks…
Release data: Mark Jenkins – This Island Earth CD, Ricochet Dream, 2006 The 66 minute cd “This Island Earth” comprises music recorded and composed on analogue and digital equipment on various locations on our globe, presented in three suites. For Mark himself, the album is an over flight of compositions and recordings methods which made evolve the art, since the…
Release data: Conrad Schnitzler – Conviction CD, Ricochet Dream, 2006 “Conviction” is a limited edition cd of only 300 copies, released on the American label Ricochet Dream. It’s my first encounter with the hypnotizing, industrial sound experiments of Mr Schnitzler, also known from the Krautrock days of the German band Cluster. Although the cd-sleeve lists 18 different tracks, the music…
Release data: Various Artists –Various Artists – The Collective, Vol. 2 CD-R, SynGate, 2006 “The Collective Vol. 2” is actually the 100th cd-r of the German SynGate label, a double-disc release with 24 different (often unreleased) pieces of music from various musicians. For all fans of modern electronic music, a nice range of music is put forward by e.g. Keller/Schönwälder…
Release data: Telomere – The Stellar Sea CD, Evenfall, 2007 Six years after his second release, Christopher MacDonald aka Telomere presents us his long awaited album “The Stellar Sea”. Like the previous recordings, it is merely composed with the Serge Modular synthesizer (which many in the genre know so well through the music of Michael Stearns and Kevin Braheny), although…
Release data: Harald Nies – Dual Systems CD-R, Syngate, 2007 This album is my second encounter with the music of German musician Harald Nies. I wasn’t satisfied by his 2004 album “Space in Everywhere”, but this time things have improved considerably on behalf of sound and production. “Spacejuggler” begins with tasty, melodic music and a nice sequence, later followed by…
Release data: Realtime – Lights of the Universe CD-R, SynGate, 2007 “Light of the Universe” is the second album of Realtime, aka the Cologne-based musicians Thomas Bock and Norbert Hesnellek, who are joined by Thorsten Sudler-Mainz (aka Deep Imagination). The well composed melodic music on this album offers a nice dose of well proportioned sequencers, which takes the listener “out…
Release data: Stockman – Future Science CD-R, SynGate, 2007 Stockman is actually the Belgium musician Godfried Stockmans, who’s third album “Future Science” is a concept album about the wonders of science. It begins with the 11-minute, two-part “Electricity”, which overall hypnotic sound is bit repetitive to my ears. Fortunately, things improve from the second track on, as the listener steps…
Release data: Michael Meara – The Last Days of Autumn CD-R, Private Release, 2007 Michael Meara’s “The last days of autumn” is an ep of 25 minutes, containing one uninterrupted free form ambient track. The album starts out with warm string textures, which is soon accompanied by nice violin, soft piano and flute. It’s a slow moving piece with a…
Release data: Eric van der Heijden – Da Capo CD, Groove Unlimited, 1998 After seven long years of waiting and ongoing requests from fans for new music, October 1998 finally saw the release of Eric van der Heijden’s second album “Da Capo”. The music on “Da Capo” shows a far stronger influence from the warm music by Vangelis, who’s output…
Release data: Eric van der Heijden – Cosmic Flight No. 3 CD, Groove Unlimited, 2003 “Cosmic Flight no. 3” is Eric’s third album, which was released five years after his great cd “Da Capo”. It actually premiered on E-Live 2003, where Eric also performed live. The music shows a more own style, although his roots can still be detected in…
Release data: Eric van der Heijden – Universal Time Zone CD, Synteam/ Groove Unlimited, 1991/1998 Musician Eric van der Heijden is a close friend of Ron Boots, who met each other at the Klemdag 1989, which actually was the start of a long-time friendship which lasts until today. Ron invited Eric at his home and encouraged him to make more…
Release data: Thomas Ronkin – Symmetric CD, Tristissima Records, 2009 Four years after his very nice debut album “Within: Distance”, Thomas Ronkin presents us the double cd “Symmetric”, featuring strong musical contrasts and nice stereo effects. It also reflects the composer’s fascination with illusions of parallel, alternate realities and visual effects, which is also expresse in the artwork of the…
Release data: Thomas Ronkin – Within; Distance CD, Tristissima Records, 1997 Thomas Ronkin hails from Manhattan Beach, California, who’s music was recommended to me by “Mr A Produce” Barry Craig. Thomas, who seems to have worked with Steve Roach at the begin of the ‘80s, has a background as a classic pianist and video artist, but since quite some time…
Release data: Free System Projekt & Dave Brewer – Ricochet Gathering Okefenokee 2000 CD, Ricochet Dream, 2007 This is actually some kind of re-vamped edition of the same titled cd which was released in 2000 on Groove Unlimited. It now comes as a limited edition digi-pack of only 300 copies from Ricochet Dream, a label started by Vic Rek not…
Release data: Hypnosphere – Magnetism CD, Spheric Music, 2007 This is my first encounter with the music of the German project Hypnosphere, aka Lambert Ringlage (electronic musician and owner of Spheric Music) and Wolfgang Barkowski (aka Alien Nature). The duo describes the 76 minute “Magnetism” as a thematical follow up to their 2003-debut album “Within the Whirl”, which both deal…
Release data: René van der Wouden – Pro Sequentia CD-R, Private Release, 2005 The music on “Pro Sequentia”(which is Latin for the sequential hymns sung by monks and musicians at around the year 1100) of Dutch synthesist René van der Wouden shows a few musical steps forward. Above all, it features a warmer, better produced sound, which makes the general…