Release data: Samsa – The Laurentian Divide CD-R, Dark Winter, 2002 Samsa is Nathan Larson, one of the guys who founded the now defunct ambientlabel GreenHouse Music. “The Laurentian Divide” is his dark-ambient debut, which contains lots of heavy dronespaces with experimental touches and voice-samples, so quite hard stuff actually. But there is space on this cd for more transparent,…
Release data: Klaus Schulze – Kontinuum CD, SPV/Synthetic Symphony, 2007 I wasn’t that impressed by the music on his former album “Moonlake”, although I liked the first few minutes of the opening track very much. Well, the first track of “Kontinuum” made my smile stay on my face all the way through, as “Sequencer” (from 70 to 07) sets out…
Release data: Forrest Fang & Carl Weingarten – Invisibility CD, The Foundry, 2006 While listening to this fine cd, one almost has to think of some form of Fripp/Eno project, but then in a more spaced-out, floating manner. Mr Weingarten contributes some great sliding and well crafted guitar works to the very nice woven ambient textures and soundscapes of Mr…
Release data: Steve Roach – Immersion Two CD, Projekt, 2006 This is the second chapter in the Steve’s Immersion-series, aptly subtitled “Artifact Ghost”. As with all former infinite playback recording, the disc features one uninterrupted track of over 70 minutes. It contains a long atmospheric tapestry of slowly morphing textures and forms breathing calmness and introspection as the journey goes…
Release data: Peter Challoner – Interpolation CD-R, Private Release, 2007 “Interpolation” is the fifth album by the skilled British ambient composer Peter Challoner, bearing the subtitle “Music in Ambient remix”. It contains six extended tracks all breathing a relaxed but this time a bit more active music (compared to his former albums), as the freeform soundscapes are accompanied by some…
Release data: Anomalous Disturbances – HovR CD-R, Private Release, 2003 This is the second long awaited release of the Canadian musician Terry O’Brien who already surprised me with his engaging album “The Spirit Molecule”. Well, Hovr features lots of delicately structured repetitive elements, again created via electronically modified looping guitar and is another masterful recording. E.g. the grand track “Apparitions”…
Release data: Johannes Schmoelling – Images and Memory CD, Viktoriapark Records, 2007 May 31, 2007 saw the release of this beautiful retrospective album, an anthology of Johannes Schmoelling’s work comprising a well chosen list of tracks from 1986-2006, also featuring several new, unreleased pieces. In all, there are 23 tracks, nicely kicked off by “Zeit” and two more tracks of…
Release data: Amethystium – Emblem CD, Neurodisc, 2006 The album “Emblem” is a compilation-cd aptly subtitled “Selected Works I”, comprising tracks from his former three very successful albums “Odonata” (2001), “Aphelion” (2003) and “Evermind” (2004), which form the so called Dragonfly trilogy. All tracks have been digitally remastered and got a personalized narrative of Øystein Ramfjord, the musician behind the…
Release data: Projekt Erde – 11:11 CD, CMS/4U, 1991 Approximately six months after the German duo Hausmann & Stark had finished “Mysterious Vibrations”, the two musicians made a journey to Egypt. After their return they did the same kind of recording as for the previous album and generated the basic tracks for “11:11”. Different from “Mysterious Vibrations”, the music of…
Release data: Various Artists – Analogy 2 CD, Groove Unlimited, 2006 In 2005 under the title “Analogy, Volume 1”, a compilation cd came out with unreleased material from a lot of interesting electronic musicians. The assignment was to create a piece only using analog equipment. This was a success, hence now a second cd is released (well, the title “Volume…
Release data: Lisa Walker – Grooved Whale CD, Private Release, 2001 Canadian-born musician Lisa Walker has a peculiar fascination for humpback whales and their natural environment. So she made lots of recordings with a hydrophone, capturing the amatizing, broad repertoire of communication patterns of these huge animals, combining them with environmental sounds, and integrated all this into some highly inspired…
Release data: Ad van Gerven – Hatching CD, Cue Records NL, 1992 Ad van Gerven was one of the electronic musicians living in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, who participated in the KLEM subsection KLONE at the start of the ‘90. In 1989 he made his first electronic compositions, resulting in two tracks (“Etude” and “Etude 2”) on the Synteam sampler mc…
Release data: The Lab – Homodigitalis CD, Neuronium Records, 2003 “Homodigitalis” is the debut-album of the Spanish duo The Lab, aka Miguel Lázaro & José Corredera, assisted by image-expert Bernardo Rivavelarde. The latter was responsible for the nice visuals on the separately released dvd. This cd contains the music for the same audiovisual show, which is touring through Europe and…
Release data: Jeffrey Koepper – Etherea CD, Air Space Records, 2006 Jeffrey Koepper has been making electronic music since 1985 and has played in two groups, Pure Gamma and Immortal respectively, before starting this solo-effort. During these years he has collected a proper and varied collection of analogue devices and fine synths to finally create this stunning debut. “Etherea” offers…
Release data: Stephen Bacchus – Etherium CD-R, Akasa, 2006 Stephen Bacchus is the alter ego of Grant Mackay, president of the Canadian Oasis label. “Etherium”, released on the Oasis sublabel Akasa, consists of six music meditations for reaching inner space. So await slowly floating layers of soundtextures, tape loops and some high sounding accents, all breathing a sedate and harmonic…
Release data: O Yuki Conjugate – The Euphoria of Disobedience CD, Private Release, 2006 After a hiatus of over ten years, the English band OYC shows up again in their 3rd reincarnation, made up of original members Andrew Hulme, Roger Horberry and new additional member Rob Jenkins. The sound of their fifth studio album “The Euphoria of Disobedience” investigates the…
Release data: Various Artists – Evening Sky CD-R, Oasis Productions, 2003 This is the first cd-r of Oasis’ Music Theme from Canada, a music-database that is supposed to grow over the years and in which a lot of no longer available music is filed and can be bought by request. Music for Stargazing is he subtitle of “Evening Sky”, an…
Release data: Amethystium – Evermind CD, Neurodisc, 2004 With his third album “Evermind”, Amethystium a.k.a. Øystein Ramfjord continues his tradition of accessible, ethnic infused fairy-tale music. For the new album, the third instalment in the “Dragonfly Trilogy”, he invited a few guest-musicians, like the evocative vocals of one Lee Nisbet (from the band Animus Mundi) and Martha Rosbakken plus some…
Release data: Richard Bone – Experiments ’80-’82 CD, Quirkworks Laboratories, 2007 A while back ambient musician decided to revisit some 25- year old cassette tape recordings (composed with a Mini Moog, Korg MS10 and a Roland SH1) and restore them as best as possible. The material comes from two rare cassette only releases, “Quiz Party” and “Life in Video City”…
Release data: Brian Vassallo – Flashback CD, Private Release, 2006 In 1999 this Maltese musician released the very nice atmospheric space album “Beyond”. His new album “Flashback” chooses a new direction as the music (all tracks were composed in 2001) deals with chill-out, more upbeat stuff. “Senses” is a good opener which sends regards to Kraftwerk, followed by the nice…
Release data: Various Artists – Floating Point 3 CD, Iboga/Sofa Beats, 2006 In the world of electronic music it’s always nice to discover new names by means of samplers. This one comes from the Danish Iboga’s sublabel Sofa Beats and is compiled in 2005 by one Michael Banel. The cd features a very nice collection of modern electronic music from…
Release data: Seamus – Forever CD, Silentes, 2005 Seamus is a collaborative project of Amir Baghiri and Stefano Gentile: Amir composed all music while Stefano created the concept and made all photo’s. The music can be categorized as minimal ambient techno, executed in a smooth but rather unusual manner. Next to some vocal samples the album also captures a certain…
Release data: Geodesium – A Gentle Rain of Starlight CD, Loch Ness Productions, 2007 I must confess that although I’m a long-time space music fan I’ve never laid my hands on nor have I heard any music of Geodesium aka Mark C. Petersen until now. Since he started out around 1978, he has provided planetariums all over the worlds with…
Release data: Robert Carty & Sylken – The Endless Vista CD-R, Private Release, 2007 Just a couple of weeks ago I received “The Endless Vista”, the new album by talented ambient musician Robert Carty for which he collaborated with Canadian artist Sylken aka Eric Hopper. The title track starts out with beautiful soothing space textures, leading the way to five…
Release data: Dave Peck – Endo-Spectra CD, Private Release, 2003 I found Peck’s name on one of the many playlists of the US radio stations who broadcast electronic music, and got intrigued by the name of the album. Dave Peck is a synthesist and the creator of several of the factory presets for the new Clavia G2 synthesizer. Well, I…
Release data: Jack Andrews – Electrokinesis CD-R, Private Release, 2007 “Jack Andrews is a writer, visual artist and musician hailing from Arizona’s Sonoran desert , who’s “Electrokinesis” (meaning “creating and manipulating electricity from the mind”) is his debut-album. It is Andrews’ belief that musicians and artists act as some kind of “receiver” for music already present in a pre-existant cosmic…
Release data: Bekki Williams – Edge of Human CD, AD Music, 2007 Those who love accessible & highly melodic music can surely grab this cd, as it holds all strong keys to become a success in the genre of general and contemporary electronic music. Sure, certain comparisons to the work of Andy Pickford can’t be denied, but overall the music…
Release data: A Produce & Ruben Garcia – Early Sessions CD-R, Trance Port Special Editions, 2003 After many years of absence a brand new cd-r has been released on Barry Craig’s own label, Trance Port Special Editions. It features music he himself -using the A Produce pseudonym- recorded with electronics & piano-magician Ruben Garcia in the early ’90’s, and after…
Release data: RON BOOTS Dreamscape CD, Groove Unlimited, 1990/2003 This album always held a special place for me as it marked the real kick-off for Ron Boots into the world of electronic music. In addition, the recording is a perfect example showing how much fun it is to make such quality electronic music, which can stand test of time. Ron…
Release data: John Lyell – Dimensions CD, Private Release, 2006 The music on “Dimensions” is one about the stillness of outer space and its mysteries. Being an musician since 1984, John Lyell formerly made two others space music albums (“Wormholes” in 1998 and “Synthetic Universe” in 2002) with companion Brent A. Reiland. This is his first solo-trip offering 55 minutes…
Release data: Giles Reaves with Aashid Himons – The Deep End CD-R, Space for Music, 2000 Already by seeing the cover of this cd I got this exciting feeling that the music would sound more than nice. And yes: with “”The Deep End”, Giles Reaves again proves himself a mastermusician on spacemusic. Magnificent walls of sound drift on and on,…
Release data: Colin Rayment – Continental Divide CD-R, Private Release, 2004 “Continental Divide” is the second release of the London-based musician Colin Rayment, who has produced his own melodic electronica for several years. The inspiration for the cd came from a recent visit to the Canadian Rockies, of which the outcome is a nice atmospheric work. On a few tracks…
Release data: Arroniz – Contacto CD, Private Release, 2007 “Contacto” is the debut cd of the Mexican musician Miguel Arróniz Castrillón. The eight tracks on this album, which last over 75 minutes, almost all have a sequencer-based up-tempo character. The influences ranch from Kraftwerk to smooth, Schulze-like soloing over swinging sequence-lines. Especially the title-track is well composed, lasting over 15…
Release data: Various Artists – Chasing the Dawn [Ultima Thule Ambient] CD, Ultima Thule Media, 2006 After a very long delay of over three years this long-awaited sampler finally saw the light of day in the middle of 2006. The album is a fund-raiser for the Australia’s FM radio station which broadcasts the radio program Ultima Thule, dedicated to airing…
Release data: Gert Emmens – A Boy’s World CD, Groove Unlimited, 2007 On the concept-album “A Boy’s World”, Gert Emmens tries to capture a bit of the world, ideas, dreams and fantasies of his up growing son Frank. The albums contains six tracks which all breath a warm, positive and at-easy feel. The music is inviting and at times also…
Release data: Syndrone – Blind Date CD, Cuel Records NL, 1996 After a three year break, the album “Blind Date” was released in fall of 1996. The nine tracks on it were recorded during several jam sessions between 1994 and 1996, some of them one-time-only live recordings capturing the spirit of the moment. It is again Ron Boots who was…
Release data: Peter Challoner – Beneath the Ice Flow CD-R, Private Release, 2007 I received this ambient release together with his remix-album “Interpolation”, so I expected something in the same manner. “Beneath the Ice Flow” visualizes a sub aquatic journey in which one enters a world of darkening, mysterious lights and shadows. Altogether, there are three extended tracks on the…
Release data: Syndrone – Being There CD, Cue Records NL, 1993 It was somewhere in 1992 when André Theelen and Harold Teunissen, aka Syndrone, payed me a visit. In those days, I was write reviews and other articles for KLEM, the Dutch electronic music magazine. They wanted my opinion about their debut album “Outer Reaches”. The cassette contained 59 minutes…
Release data: Amongst Myselves – Auburn Silhouette CD, Private Release, 2007 Amongst Myselves is Australian ambient musician Steve Roberts who’s “Auburn Silhouette” (released April 10th 2007) is his fourth album. Like his former album, it’s accompanied by a dvd featuring some great nature footage to three audio tracks. From the start it becomes clear Steve’s music has further grown, although…
Release data: Robert Rich – Atlas Dei DVD, Soundscape Productions, 2007 “Atlas Dei” is a nicely packaged 90-minute dvd-extravaganza of high-resolution motion graphics, in panoramic 3:1 aspect ratio with letterbox. It features released and unreleased ambient music (all presented in 5-channel surround mixes) from Robert which beautifully matches the computer-generated imagery of filmmaker Daniel Colvin. It invites you to a…
Release data: Amethystium – Aphelion CD, Neurodisc, 2003 This is Øystein Ramfjord’s second cd, which again features a great cover. I can be short about the music as its continues where the former album “Odonata” ended. From the opening track the same reminiscent sound and elements fill the room. As such, the album contains 58.58 minutes of masterful sound tapestries…
Release data: Deborah Martin & J. Arif Verner – Anno Domini CD, Spotted Peccary Music, 2007 This release is made by two long time artists of the Spotted Peccary stall. With such an album-title one expects a bit of a sacred record, which indeed is the case. The cd takes off with the beautiful heavenly & sacred soundings of “Kyrie”,…
Release data: Klangwelt – The Age of Numbers CD, Spheric Music, 2003 This is the long-awaited, great looking second cd of Gerald Arend aka Klangwelt. For those who enjoyed his former cd, well prepare yourselves for a treat. Ingenious, catchy compositions, warms sounds and nice up-tempo sequencers and rhythms, it is all here and in balance. Gerald certainly knows how…
Release data: Michael Meara – Abstractus Somnarium: Deep Space Meditations CD-R, Private Release, 2005 A while back, my attention was drawn by a tip of one of the members of EmPortal to this Australian ambient musician I hadn’t heard of. Well, the musician’s website told me Michael Meara put out around 15 self-released cd-r albums next to having contributed single…
Release data: Numina – Live at the Inner Sanctum CD-R, Private Release, 2003 Jesse Sola, a.k.a. Numina, recorded this impressive live-document at the Inner Sanctum in Denver, Colorado on Mai 31 2003, and while listening I would have loved I had been there. The cd contains eight extensive tracks but works for me best as one single track, as it…
Release data: Numina – Sanctuary of Dreams CD, Hypnos Recordings, 2003 The music of Jesse Sola aka Numina has always been special to me, and with his album “Sanctuary of Dreams” he again doesn’t disappoint at all. As the title already suggests, this is sanctuary of ten great tracks filled with drifting and spacy synthesizer washes, an introspective sanctuary for…
Release data: Nautilus – In Search of Castaways CD, BSC/Prudence, 2004 I’m not familiar with this German band nor have I heard any of their music. It’s their fifth cd so far, but their third on the Prudence-label. First of all, the press sheet announces that the line-up of the band has changed: next to the original members Martin Ludwig…
Release data: Maitreya – From the Mothership CD, Council of Nine, 1999 “From the Mothership” is the debut-cd of Simon Lomax aka Maitreya, released on his own small ambient label Council of Nine. The cover states the album is “dedicated to the end of one life and the beginning of another”, some small letters elsewhere made clear that “the artist…
Release data: Jeff Greinke – Weather from another Planet CD, First World Music, 2003 “Weather from another Planet” is the second cd release by Jeff Greinke, but this one is quite different in both nature and sound compared to his Hypnos-recording “Wide View”. First of all, the album offers a daring and adventurous mixture of rather sophisticated beats and samples…
Release data: E=motion – Infinite Motion CD-R, Underwater Music/Syngate, 2002/2003 Electronic music from Polen made by one Jacek Spruch aka E=Motion. “Infinite Motion”” is his debut-cd, which was first released in private, but in 2003 it was re-released as a cd-r by Syngate. Well, fans of rhythmic, powerful and melodic music will surely find something here, as Jacek starts digging…
Release data: Carbon Based Lifeforms – Hydroponic Garden CD, Ultimae Records, 2003 Carbon Based Lifeforms is the Swedish duo Johannes Hedberg and Daniel Ringström of which some music already appeared on the Fahrenheit Project-samplers of the same label. Well, what we encounter here is down-tempo ambient from up north in which spacy textures and tribal ambient grooves are combined, shifting…
Release data: Kevin Bartlett – Near Life Experience CD, Aural Gratification, 2003 “Near Life Experience” is the awesome debut-recording of multi-instrumentalist Kevin Bartlett, offering over 73 minutes of evocative instrumental songs in which influences of Mike Oldfield, Enigma, Peter Gabriel and progressive/symphonic rock can easily be heard. The album kicks off with (my personal favorite) “Gayatri”, with a Celtic kindred…
Release data: AuReality – Sense CD-R, Private Release, 2003 The man behind Aureality is the Dutch ambient composer Paul Swennenhuis, of which “Sense” is his second album. On this cd he uses the Alesis QuadraSynth, Emu Morpheus en de NI AbSynth, and the outcome is above average. AuReality’s music contains nice melodic lines and mixes them quite often with ethnic…
Release data: Ashera & Brannan Lane – Sextant CD, Private Release, 2003 Anthony Wright and Brannan Lane join forces on this disc, offering 69 minutes of exquisite and delightful ambient music. “Sextant” offers five extended tracks of slowly morphing freeform textural ambient carrying a deep sense of introspection and solitude. The delicately shifting sound tapestries with some soft drony passages…
Release data: Atrium Carceri – Cellblock CD, Cold Meat Industry, 2003 Well, fans of dark ambient/industrial musiccan enjoy themselves with this heavy release of the Swedisch label Cold Meat Industry. Atrium Carceri, aka Simon Health, presents 43 minutes of creeping, gruesome and oppressive darkwave ambient, featuring deep drones, soundscapes and heavy fx’s. This is a total audiovisual experience on the…
Release data: Aperus – Tumbleweed obfuscated by camera failure CD-R, Mpath Records, 2003 The music of ambient composer Brian McWilliams -also known as one half of the creative brain behind Remanence -has taken a new shape by the name of Aperus. Aperus brings us a recording inspired by obscured photographs resulting from camera problems during a trip Brian undertook to…
Release data: Aperus – Hinterland EP, Mpath Records / Geophonic Records / Resonant Effec, 2004 “Hinterland” is a multimode EP which contains four alternative versions of tracks which appeared on the formerly released cd “Tumbleweed obfuscated by camera failure” plus one unreleased environmental sketch called “Kaskaskia Canyon”. Of course musically it doesn’t differ much of what was on the original…
Release data: Amongst Myselves – Sacred Black CD, Private Release, 2003 “Sacred Black” is Steve Roberts’ third cd, who’s music caught my attention when I heard his (former) album “Still Life”. The album starts with the slow morphing soundwaves of “Dawn 1958”, delving into intimate reflection, riding the edge between dark and light. This is nicely followed by “Morning of…
Release data: Living Dreamtime – Exploring the Water Element CD, Origo Sound, 2002 “Exploring the Water Element” is an album by Living Dreamtime,a.k.a. the very talented Oslo-based musician Tor Linlokken. The album completely focuses on the world of water, its environment and its species. The album comes in a great looking fold-out digipack with full-colour booklet, presenting the ambience you’re…
Release data: Kwook – Unidentified Feathered Object CD-R, DataObscura, 2003 I wasn’t too fond to review this cd, as the Databloem-label releases some rather different electronic music than I usually prefer. I was wrong, as this Kwook-cd appeared to be more than enjoyable. Kwook, aka Simon Bennett, is an Australian musician who realms in the world of “dubbed ambient”. “UFO”…