Release data: Cyclotimia – Wasteland CD, StateArt, 2002 Cyclotimia is the Russian duo Maks K. and Leonid M., who describe their cross-over soundscapes as “L’Electronique Mondial”. Experiencing the content of “Wasteland” is like entering a world of dark, cold atmospheric ambient soundscapes, where things turn into something quite disturbing and apocalyptic. The first three tracks step into the deep with…
Release data: Thom Brennan – Silver CD -R, Private Release, 2005 It took almost two years before Brennan’s long awaited ninth album “Silver” saw the light of day. The album offers music that nicely follows in the footsteps of predecessors like “Mist” and “Satori”, presenting another collection of slowly morphing textural space music. The title track is divided in six…
Release data: Dolores Castro – Fifth Dimension CD, Musea Records, 2005 As we know since a lot of years, female musicians form a minority in the world of electronic music. To them we can now add Dolores Castro from Spain, who has a background in music theory and piano, composing music based on her intuition. Her output is symphonic kindred…
Release data: Robert Carty & Gerard Geary – Mount Meru CD-R, Private Release, 2003 “Mount Meru” is a collaboration between space musician Robert Carty and Gerard Geary. The latter is reading four mystical poems with his deep voice (which reminds a bit of Vincent Price) on the album. Next to great expansive space textures, there’s also a dynamic angle to…
Release data: Dene De Benedictis – Salvaging the Past CD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2005 This album by ambient musician Dean de Benedictis was composed between 1992 and 2005. The sleeve notes on the concept album state the music is not only a homage to the electronic music of the past, but stretches its meaning to the present. Well, it offers…
Release data: Amir Baghiri & Nimh – Entities CD-R, Silentes, 2003 I discovered this collaborative release through a link on Amir Baghiri’s website, which referred to the site of the Italian ambient composer Nimh (aka Giuseppe Verticchio). “Entities” contains four extended tracks, making up over 70 minutes of ritual-ambient atmospherics spiced with ethnic influences. The drifting textures and dronescapes also…
The Spotted Peccary label already proved to have a good nose for fine ambient music. But this time they really have done a great job by releasing an album by Between Interval, aka the Swedish musician Stefan Jönsson. “Secret Observatory” is Jönsson’s second album, who also handles two other music projects in the techno/trance genre. This album features four extended…
Release data: Australis – Lifegiving CD, Private Release, 2005 Australis is a project of Oscar Aguayo, established in the middle of 2004, which is described as the natural expression of the human heart beyond languages, cultures and distances. Well, “Lifegiving” features 45 minutes of accessible, melodic instrumental songs which feel both emotional and visual at the same time. In a…
Release data: The Amaranth Signal – Penumbra CD-R, Private Release, 2004 Although I’m quite familiar with bands and musicians who operate in the ambient-space genre, I hadn’t heard of The Amaranth Signal. The band hails from Tennessee and consists of Mark Mahoney, Roger Hausmann and Michael D. Peck. “Penumbra” is their second album, containing five tracks (in all 50 minutes).…
Release data: A Produce – Black Sands CD-R, Private Release, 2005 The last couple of years, quite a lot of vault and retrospective recordings have been shown up and released by various e-musicians. The three disc set “Black Sands”, the second release of A Produce’s own Trance Port Special Editions, is a nicely packaged retrospective work exploring the ambient/trance music…
Release data: Valley Forge – Live and Session Tapes CD-R, Syngate, 2005 On this album, Valley Forge is Thomas Bechholds, Michael Seitz, Jurgen Winter accompanied by guest musician Bernd Kistemann. Although the title might suggest something else, “Live and Session Tapes” is not an album filled with leftovers. It captures various tracks from the “Leaving to nothing” concerts and studio…
Release data: Bruno Sanfilippo – Anthology CD, Neuronium Records, 2005 Bruno Sanfilippo’s “Anthology” comprises previously released tracks composed between 1991 and 2004. The tracks are taken from the albums “Sons of the Light”, “The New Kingdom”, “Solemnis”, “Suite Patagonia”, “Visualia” and “Ad Libitum”. The album opener “The Nobles come back” is an intimate, medieval-like track with lots of grandeur. The…
Release data: Stephen Philips – Dagboken CD-R, Hypnos Recordings, 2005 The album “Dagboken” (the word is Swedish for “diary”) is the first release by Stephen Philips and the Hypnos-label. Philips is owner of the ambient label Dark Duck Records and also initiator of the Drone Download project which is linked to it. Well, the album consists of one uninterrupted piece,…
Release data: Remanence – A Strange Constellation of Events CD-R, Mpath Records, 2005 Remanence is the ambient duo John Phipps and Brian McWilliams, who’s new album comes in a beautiful, special designed cd box. “A Strange Constellation…” assembles a long series of musical experiments which began in 1997 soon after their release “Apparitions”. It contains ten deep ambient excursions which…
Release data: Luis Alberto Naranjo – Total Eclipse CD, At-Mooss Records, 2004 Luis Alberto Naranjo hails from Murcia, the south of Spain. He started making his own music in 1993, which led to seven demo releases, so far. Nowadays he also makes music for radio shows and local TV. “Total Eclipse” is his first official solo-release, a concept-album dedicated to…
Release data: Nunc Stans – The Cerulean Suite CD-R, DataObscura, 2005 Nunc Stans, (translation: “The Eternal Now”) hails from the Canadian arctic circle. The album features four extended tracks which range between 11 and 17 minutes, creating an relaxing atmosphere of free form ambient wanderings. The music’s impact is overtly introspective with its nice flow of transparent but complex textural…
Release data: Philippe Emmanuel Gueble – Fire & Remembrance CD-R, Underwater Music, 2003 The album “Fire & Remembrance” by the French composer P.E. Gueble is a perfect example of quiet minimal music. Its smooth freeform soundscapes breath introspection and contemplation as they subtly shapeshift between darker and lighter shades, sometimes combining electronic with acoustic instruments. Not that I’m that fond…
Release data: Tom Heasley – Desert Triptych CD, Farfield Records, 2005 This cd carries the subtitle “three meditations for didgeridoo, voice and electronics”. It contains three live recorded extended soundscapes from 2003, all mixed by Robert Rich. It indeed is quite deep stuff, at times even psychedelic with its slow morphing organic textures, treated vocal sounds and overtone singing. These…
Release data: Global Communication – 76:14 CD, Discotheque, 2005/1994 I thought it might a good idea to focus, again, on this album (originally released in June 1994) as an expanded, remastered version of this classic album came out a short while ago, including a bonus cd. Since its release, “76:14” has always been described as some kind of soundtrack, one…
Release data: Diatonis – Ambient Life CD, Private Release, 2003 The album “Ambient Life” is a 3 cd set by Stuart White, aka Diatonis, which contains 23 tracks. This is a smooth journey through soft atmospheric drones, which seem to be a dedication to life, trying to capture its essence, beauty, remoteness, warmth and profoundness. As for the music, Stuart…
Release data: Richard Bone – Saiyuji CD, Quirkworks Laboratory Discs, 2005 The press sheet states that “Saiyuji” (meaning Dawn), named after the ancient Buddhist temple in Singapore, is the last part of the trilogy begun with “Disorient” and “The Reality Temples”. Bone explains that the foundations of each track were created and shaped on vintage gear, and later some melody…
Release data: Peter Challoner – Music in Suspended Animation CD-R, Private Release, 2004 This is the last title in the trilogy that started with “Music for Cloudwatching”. On the concept of “Music in Suspended Animation”, Challoner states: “it looks towards the future, where everything is man made and synthetic, and so high speed that things seem in slow motion, like…
Release data: Peter Challoner – The Other Side of Time CD-R, Private Release, 2004 I formerly reviewed three other cd’s of the sympathetic UK-based ambient composer Peter Challoner, who’s intriguing soundscape music I cherish a lot. “The Other Side of Time” is a concept album meant to cleanse the mind from the frenzied mental assaults brought about by the impact…
Release data: Amir Baghiri – Rooms CD, Arya, 2001 “Rooms” is a cd-box from this sympathetic German/Iran-based ambient musician, filled with 3 cds, and released in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies. The first pieces and ideas of this music were born in 1996, but have remained in Amir’s mind all that time, until it was time to finish…
Release data: Amir Baghiri – Exosphere CD, Bluebox / Databloem, 2005 “Exosphere” was created between January 2003 and June 2005. The album was already announced years ago by Amir Baghiri, but I guess he couldn’t find any proper label which was interested to release it, so he finally did it all by himself. “Exophere” offers ten tracks making up 68…
Release data: Alpha Wave Movement – Cosmology CD, Groove Unlimited, 2003 On his cd “Cosmology”, Gregory Kyryluk alias Alpha Wave Movement moves into a grand way: the album sounds more massive, dynamic and orchestral than before, with a few references here and there to progressive electronic music of the ’70. Opener “Prologue Sequence” takes off with marvellous sounds and transitions…
Release data: Alpha Wave Movement – Beyond Silence CD-R, Harmonic Resonance Recordings, 2005 Gregory Kyryluk returns with his inviting new solo album full of energizing sequencing and rhythms, warm melodies and a beautiful drive all the way through. The cd features eleven tracks which combine elements of the old and the new Schools of electronic music, nicely pulled off by…
Release data: Alpha Wave Movement & Jim Cole – Bislama CD-R, Harmonic Resonance Recordings, 1999/2005 This is a re-release on cd-r of the album which originally came out in 1999. The difference with the first release, beside a new cover, is the addition of the 15 minute bonus “Bali Twilight”, which is a live track from 2002. Still, the music…
Release data: Nik Tyndall & Bernd Scholl – Dreamspheres CD, BSC/Prudence, 2005 This German duo already knew each other for quite some years through various encounters on festivals. They also did a live-set on the Klemdag 1997 in Nijmegen. According to the press-sheet, “Dreamspheres” (chill out in space) captures their best collaborative works. Well, anyone whose looking or hoping for…
Release data: Dwight Ashley & Tim Story – Standing + Falling CD, Nepenthe Music, 2005 “Standing + Falling” is the duo’s third album, which took eight years to accomplish. Their music is heavy as it finds and explores “aural space”. It rides the experimental, adventurous edge, and the outcome on this album is no exception. It sounds harsh, dark and…
Release data: Dwight Ashley – Discrete Carbon CD, Nepenthe Music, 2004 Dwight Ashley, who I only knew from the music he did with Tim Story, characterizes his work as experimental. This is his first solo-album, containing unreleased ambient pieces from 1999-2003. Although his compositions are rather dark, there’s also a certain expansiveness and intimacy found, as e.g. heard in “It…
Release data: Kelvin L. Smith – The Dreaming Mind CD-R, EMMA, 2005 With such a title one might expect a quiet, light atmospheric work, but things turn out totally different: the content roams in dark ambience and its nature is rather active and rhythmic. I don’t know what Kelvin was thinking while composing this album, but to me the outcome…
Release data: Thought Guild – Continuum CD-R/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Harmonic Resonance, 2005 “Continuum” is the second cd from Gregory Kyryluk (also known as Alpha Wave Movement) and his companion Christopher Cameron. On their debut album “Context” the duo already handled their analogue and digital synthesizers in an inventive manner. The result on “Continuum” turns out even better, offering 56 minutes of…
Release data: Solar Fields – Leaving Home CD, Ultimae Records, 2005 “Leaving Home” is the third album by the Swedish musician Magnus Birgersson aka Solar Fields. It contains almost 80 minutes of high-tech down tempo groove music with occasional some floating textural electronica, although also veena and sitar are applied in the second track “Time Slide”. The third and fourth…
Release data: Steve Roach – New Life Dreaming CD, Timeroom Editions, 2005 The seed for creating “New Life Dreaming” began to germinate in December 2004 as Steve Roach started remastering his epic album “Dreamtime Return” (DR). This new album contains 5 extended tracks, all beautiful examples of freeform dreamy and quiet ambient sound painting, nicely kicked off by “Perfect Dream”.…
Release data: Solar Fields – Extended CD, Ultimae Records, 2005 The album “Extended” is actually a limited edition companion to “Leaving Home”. It’s an almost 80 minute atmospheric extension coming close to space music. The three tracks were used at a Swedish art installation. Overall it sounds very laid back and spacy in nature, and I must say I prefer…
Release data: Off The Sky – Gently Down The Stream CD, DataBloem, 2005 This is my first encounter with the music of the South California-based Off the Sky, aka Jason Corder. He’s one of the new protégées on the Databloem label of which this is his sixth album. The twelve tracks on this minimal sculptured (at times) album consist of…
Release data: Robert Rich – Electric Ladder CD, Soundscape Productions, 2006 The music on “Electric Ladder” is a smooth and sophisticated blend of vintage analogue synthesizers and acoustic tonalities. The latter are created on lap steel guitar, flutes, bassoon, soprano sax and acoustic guitar, played by either Robert or the two skilled session musicians who are his accompanists. I would…
Release data: D Loop – Mystery´s River CD, Ear Waves, 2004 D Loop, aka Dwight Loop, hails from Sausalito and has been performing electronic music since the late 70s in both solo and ensemble settings. Dwight is also a long-time radio host of “Earwaves,” a new and experimental music public radio program heard on public stations in New Mexico for…
Release data: Kevin Kendle – Light from Orion (Deep Skies 1) CD, Eventide Music, 2003 In the days of the former Dutch Em-fanzine KLEM I reviewed a couple of cds by this UK-based musician, who’s music was often categorized as New Age. ” Light of Orion” is the first in the Deep Skies Series, focussing on space music. Next to…
Release data: Cosmic Hoffmann – Electric Trick CD, Heart and Mind, 2005 The album “Electric Trick” is the sixth cd of Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock aka Cosmic Hoffmann. It features recordings made between 1978 and 2003. Stephen Parsick joins him on several tracks of what is described as a 70 minute vintage/psychedelic ride through time and space. The album offers a nice…
Release data: Tim Gerwing – Being to Being CD, Lascaux21, 2002 “Being to Being” is the debut album of the Canadian autodidact musician Tim Gerwing who’s cd offers a simple but very nice looking cover, stating that the musical content concerns “mystical ambiences in the 4th world”. Well, Tim’s approach is quite unusual and very difficult to find the proper…
Release data: Tim Gerwing – The Butterfly Effect CD, Lascaux21, 2004 I must confess that it’s a challenge to listen to this second release (which took over two years to complete) from the Canadian ambient musician Tim Gerwing. Listening to it is an adventure in itself, as it investigates deeper worlds and their meaning. The first five tracks are accessible,…
Release data: Andrew Forrest – Alpha ~ Omega CD, Private Release, 1998 The cd “Alpha~Omega” is the final chapter of the Star-System trilogy, released in the year Andrew Forrest permanently moved to New Zealand. The album contains seven tracks making up 74 minutes of ethereal heavenly music. At times a bit reminiscent to the floating works of Michael Stearns, the…
Release data: Diatonis – Highway 1 CD-R, Private Release, 2005 The album “Highway 1”, inspired by journey’s Stuart White aka Diatonis undertook travelling California’s Highway 1, was conceived between September 2004 and July 2005, and was realized using highly processed synthesizers and guitars. The mesmerizing ambient music is overall relaxed and intimate, reaching out to and reflecting deeper emotions. Melancholy…
Release data: Blue Stone – Breathe CD, Neurodisc, 2006 Blue Stone is a new project on Neurodisc, a label which already released the accessible and successful music of Amethystium and Ryan Farish. Knowing this, one definitely hears clear echoes of these two in the electronic, rather laid-back pop music of Blue Stone, aka Robert Smith (also known as the driving…
Release data: Streamline – Beyond the Horizon CD-R, Private Release, 2005 The man behind Streamline is the American musician Gary Mulford. The album starts off in a dreamy, floating manner with “Ptolemy’s View”, followed by the shorter space track “Adrift”. The music evolves in moody, relaxed way. Overall, the album contains some interesting smooth space ambient and a bit more…
Release data: Soundician – Seven Sisters CD-R, Private Release, 2004 “Seven Sisters” is the fourth album by the English duo Odette and Kit Johnson aka Soundician. The music tracks were written as a suite, inspired by a Neolithic burial site near their home with seven trees on top of the mound (which were used as the title of the album).…
Release data: Steve Roach – Immersion One CD, Projekt, 2006 “Immersion: One” is the first of an ongoing series of infinite playback recordings from Steve’s Timeroom studios intended to be played at low volume. The press-info describes it as steady state “zones” created specifically as tone meditations for the living space. Like the former albums it contains one uninterrupted track…
Release data: Steve Roach – Possible Planet CD, Timeroom Editions, 2005 “Possible Planet” is the zone world album which came to life while Roach was revisiting “Dreamtime Return” before re-mastering it. The outcome is a long-form living-breathing soundscape album with a solid organic foundation, composed on analogue instruments only. The album has three extended tracks, all featuring slowly morphing and…
Release data: Nostalgia – The House on the Borderland CD, Arsbenevolamater, 2005 “The House on the Borderland” is the second cd of Nostalgia, aka Rüdiger Gleisberg and Mathias Grassow, and on this project they are accompanied by the Italian musician Luigi Seviroli. The latter delivered the album concept to the duo, although he already prepared the framework and foundation of…
Release data: Luminous Dimensions – Luminous Dimensions DVD, Numinations, 2004 Well, fans of the ethereal ambient music of Jeff Pearce can rejoice this unique animation video combining the animation of Michael DuBois and Jeff’s transparent soundscapes. The animations on “Luminous Dimensions” attempt to represent the majesty and mystery of worlds within. The main course is the almost hour-long “Luminous Voyage”,…
Release data: Mark Mahoney – If Dreams were Clouds CD-R, Private Release, 2004 Mark Mahoney is one of the members of the ambient space band The Amaranth Signal, who’s album “If Dreams were Clouds” is his solo debut. Although free form and sounding rather chilled-out, there’s also a slight surrealistic/experimental veil penetrating the flowing soundscape music on this album, which…
Release data: Jan Nemeček – Through the Planetary Void CD-R, Private Release, 2005 Jan Nemeček is a native of Belgrade, Serbia, where he works as sound designer and television/film soundtrack scorer. “Through the planetary void” was conceived as a soundtrack to a complete ambient space journey. The free form textural music, with accompanying effects, touches unearthly ground as it goes…
Release data: Kevin Kendle – Lagoon of Eternity (Deep Skies 2) CD, Eventide Music, 2004 This is the second cd from Kevin’s Deep Skies series, on which he attempts to create unique sound landscapes that reflect this feeling of swirling movement. As on the first album, some glissando guitar is once again used, but this time it’s not overdone. The…
Release data: Andrew Forrest – Starseed CD, Private Release, 1997 Andrew Forrest is a visual artist and musician from Cornwall, UK who lives in New Zealand since 1998. “Starseed” is the soundtrack to the esoteric film “Merkabah, Voyage of a Starseed”, and the second part of the Star-System trilogy, a concept-project which was started in 1992. The music on “Starseed”,…
Release data: Karmacosmic – Music for Tantra & Meditation CD, BSC/Prudence, 2004 Karmacosmic is a project of Rüdiger Gleisberg (Solitaire), Carsten Agthe and Mathias Grassow. Well, don’t expect this album to be that quiet, as some live- recorded rhythms are implemented into the music. The trio presents an hour of oriental flavoured music, which, for the most part, is instrumental.…
Release data: Peter Challoner – Abstract Ambient Form CD-R, Private Release, 2005 I previously reviewed an ambient trilogy of this English composer, who’s freeform music I like a lot. “Abstract Ambient Form” contains six “Formations” featuring an ongoing flow of warm freeform textures. Each of the compositions seem constantly evolving, but track 2 seems to be a bit lightweight and…
Release data: Andrew Forrest – Alchemy CD, Private Release, 2002 The year 2002 saw the release of “Alchemy”, Andrews first album after 4 years after finishing Star System Trilogy. The album contains four long tracks all between 15 and 20 minutes and which heads a bit more towards New Age Music. The first track starts with some pleasant piano before…
Release data: U. Kay Hytz – An Acute Sense of the Absurd CD-R, Private Release, 2006 A couple of years ago, in 2002 to be exact, this UK-band released the impressive album “Ambients”, an ambient album next to their more poppy/alternative music. Last year the band unfortunately lost their drummer Nigel Vargeson, which made things very unsure as to whether…