ambient
Crotocosm – Setting The Scene For An Island Battle EP [RHD-034CROTO]
Crotocosm is an occasional collaboration between Jordan GCZ and Willie Burns . Tracks were recorded together live in Amsterdam and Brooklyn between 1996 and 2017.
Khotin – New Tab [PR002]
Khotin returns to Pacific Rhythm with a much anticipated vinyl adaptation of his 2017 cassette only release ”New Tab”. 10 deeply personal tracks that build and breathe stretched across 2 lovingly mastered and heavily considered LPs. A wonderfully restorative listening experience for everyone out there on planet E that enjoys interesting audio.
The Conservatives – Terrorama [V007]
Olds friends I-F and Intergalactic Gary revisit old material from their longtime alias The Conservatives. Appearing first time on vinyl. The film tells the story of six mental cases, trying to get rid of society’s norms and values by kidnapping, a well-known TV host. Delivering the soundtrack, The Conservatives (I-F & Intergalatic Gary) are setting down the perfect mood for this cult classic.
VA – Jura Soundsystem Presents Transmission One [ISLELP003]
The first in a series of compilations by Jura Soundsystem is a blend of Dub, Ambient, Downtempo, Boogie and Proto House with a focus on music never before released on Vinyl, sought after out of print titles and some special versions edited specifically for the album. The intention with this project was to delve deeper into the reissue pond and unearth some lesser known tracks and artists. Highlights include Smackos (AKA Legowelt) Ambient epic ‘We Can Watch Alf In The Hotel Room’, never before released on Vinyl, the Dub / Psych hybrid of Minus Group’s ‘Black Shadow’, Kash’s sought after ‘Percussion Sundance’ and special edits of Ken Dang and Tabou Combo. The end of the album includes some soothing Ambient tools.
ENA – Bridge [FIELD027]
Dutch label Field Records is back with another special album project, this time from Japanese producer ENA aka Yu Asaeda. Bridge is an introspective soundtrack for a documentary also called Bridge – out this Spring – which is about the Dejima bridge, a reconstructed symbol of the Dutch-Japanese trading history in Nagasaki, Japan. The album finds the producer stepping outside of his usual remit of dark ambient and experimental music, and instead comprises ten shorter tracks that touch on abstract and rhythmic sounds that define the essence of Japanese culture. Although he has worked with the director before, this is ENA’s first Original Sound Track and finds him freely inspired by the movie and heading in exciting and unknown directions. Hugely atmospheric throughout, there is hypnotic repetition of sounds, strange audio design and a mixture of melancholic moods with more dreamy synths. Sometimes gloopy rhythms gently ripple beneath soothing harmonies and at others times a micro-rhythm appears through the constantly shifting and evolving found sound loops. It’s a compelling and unusual album that seamlessly mixes human emotions with a mechanical sense of industry.
Trux – Untitled [OFFICE13]
Trux’ second EP on Berlin based record label Office is a bow to the many outstanding moments in the history of Ambient music. Allusions to Brian Eno are just as recognisable as to the charming concepts of Pop Ambient or Clicks & Cuts. It’s between these poles that the four tracks on the a-side oscillate and manage to capture the listener with vibrant and diverse soundscapes. The flip side sees Trux drop a stunning melodic breakbeat tune besides remixes by Workshop’s premier Techno chef Lowtec as well as a freestyle Electronica version by O$VMV$M. The much loved Super Quiet tops the record artwork off with another remarkable example of his casual and airy black and white photography.
Plant43 – From Deep Streams [SHIPLP07]
Emile Facey (Plant43) has been at the forefront of electronic for more than twelve years. During that time the British producer has released on a host of seminal labels, expanding his style and sound in new directions. Although Plant43 is typically classified as a purveyor of electro, behind those driving rhythms and steely percussion a tenderness has always been present, an emotion expressed in lilting melodies and complex harmonies. It is these melodies and harmonies that come into focus on Plant43’s debut ambient album. On “From Deep Streams” is a rich and textured tapestry of synth work, a soundtrack that organically unfurls from nightime woodland walks and city stargazing to mindful solitude. The eight tracks offer the listener a calming journey into stillness, an excursion through gentle audio currents and a moment to pause and take in an inspiring vista of sound. Recorded over the space of 3 months, this album gives the quiet, the subtle and the sometimes underappreciated centre stage whilst casting light on yet another side of Emile Facey’s ever-evolving music.
Vactrol Park – Music from the Luminous Void [MTLP003]
Vactrol Park continue surprising, this time with a full LP in the shape of ‘Music from the Luminous Void’. The album sees them delve much deeper into more atmospheric realms. Using modular synths and unexpected drum machine sequencing they leave the 4X4 beats behind in favor of off-world rhythms and ever growing bass.
Pasiphae – Drifter
DJ Richard – Dies Iræ Xerox [DIALLP040]
Following 2017’s ‘Path of Ruin’, DJ Richard returns to Dial with his much-anticipated sophomore LP, ‘Dies Irae Xerox’. Undoubtedly one of the most distinctive and fully-formed electronic producers in recent memory, DJ Richard imprinted the sound of a bubbling US underground with his label, White Material, founded in 2012 alongside Young Male. Now firmly settled once more in his hometown of Providence, ‘Dies Iræ Xerox’ is a personal and uncompromising journey that finds the Rhode Island native in reflective form, journeying without compromise into both his creative influences and personal psyche.
Morphology – Traveller [FS011]
The Finnish duo Morphology joins FireScope Records for their 10-track ‘Traveller’ LP, a vision of travel to destination unknown. Morphology’s third album continues their intensive deep-space exploration at the intersection of electronic/electro music and scientific discovery. Awash in the beautiful sounds of hardware-derived music direct from Morphology’s command center, the album takes listeners into their skilfully crafted universe. Each track is a new world in itself of crisp beats, deep basslines and melancholic melodies. Interspersing the frenetic pace of hyper-speed travel with ethereal landings, ‘Traveller’ is an intergalactic trip without taking off your headphones.
Tomaga – Music For Visual Disorders [MEA023]
Tomaga’s Music For visual Disorders comprises nine tracks of intuitive automation, compiling compositions that have been used by different artists and curators within the context of works of visual art, dance and exhibitions. Tomaga members Valentina Magaletti and Tom Relleen use a multi-instrumental palette, conjuring up a musical sphere that touches on industrial music, minimalism, ambient and a gentle, at times inward, at times outward, take on krautrock’s motorik. Tomaga’s music is deceptively moderate as its core revolves around intuitive and gentle pulses. Its experimentation lies in its development as it is often driven by abstract images and intentions and even allows moments of soft-spoken absurdity. Music For Visual Disorders is a highly contemporary take on avantgarde and classic contemporary music.
VA – Flowers From The Ashes: Contemporary Italian Electronic Music [SALP006]
‘Flowers From The Ashes’ is the latest multi-artist project to bear the acclaimed Stroboscopic Artefacts imprimatur. There is a sensibility of decadence and corroded grandeur etched within its four album sides, reminding us that historically ‘decadent’ times have nonetheless resulted in some of the boldest acts of individual and collective creativity. Like the ‘floral’ theme that has remained a consistent feature of S.A.’s graphic presentation, the music here equally presents fragility and intensity in a way that really drives home this visual metaphor for good, while still holding out the promise that similar creations will be seeded in the near future. Though many of the artists involved have set of residence outside of their native Italy, all contribute here to make a captivating portrait of a shared spirit and cultural memory. Tracks from Silvia Kastel, Andrea Belfi, Marco Shuttle, Ninos Du Brasil, Alessandro Adriani, Chevel, Lucy, Lory D, Caterina Barbieri and Neel.
Sammy Osmo – Schaduw Horizon [NW017]
Digital re-issue coinciding with the tape release of this 2007 Strange Life CDR DX7 drenched cult spywave album. Very much influenced by real locations in the vicinity of the The Hague dune studio where this was recorded – this imaginary soundtrack scores a hypothetical story of a Cold War animal parapsychologist living in an abandoned zoo.
XOR Gate – Conic Sections [TRESOR299]
XOR Gate is the brainchild of Heinrich Mueller, one half of Drexciya and Dopplereffekt. In linguistic or electronic logic, the XOR Gate designates a device, digital or grammatical, which outputs a value only when two di ering inputs are fed into it. This can be summed up with the formula ‘one or the other but not neither, nor both.’ A conic section is a shape created as a plane intersects a cone. This can result in di erent figures such as a circle, an ellipse, a parabola or a hyperbola. Conic Sections is here composed of eight themes, or shapes, over which waveform and synthesis entirely merge with human emotions. The line is blurred. These eight themes are intertwined, forming one long musical string. The line is forever blurred.
VA – Trame Due [MROME031]
“Eux sont de ceux qui trament en accordant desseins sur dessins.” MinimalRome is back with the second volume of Trame compilation. A full lenght 2xLP release gathering Legowelt (as Phalangius), Heinrich Dressel, Alessandro Adriani, Ian Martin, Teslasonic, Polysick, C-34, Iron Blue and David Kristian among others. Traveling through these eighteen ambient cosmic tracks from true heirs of library music, you’ll expand the surrounding space.
Polochord – Concretions [L2M005]
Original Soundtrack to ‘Summer’s Over’ (2017).
Severnaya – Polar Skies LP [FAUXPAS024]
Boris Bunnik is no stranger in the world of electronic music. Fauxpas Musik welcomes him for a new project called Severnaya. Originally hailing from the Island of Terschelling. the most Northern and remote part of the Netherlands he now made a piece of music dedicated to this special place. Severnaya means north in Russian and refers to the bright frozen landscapes of the northern archipels. Boris often plays with the influences and elements of ambient in his music. If we have to believe the man himself. Polar Skies is his most personal sound trajectory to come from his mind. Drum programming is scarce and what remains is a lush and profound listening experience floating on scapes and melodies. Things sound spacious and life is at ease in these melancholic compositions. Crispy crackling percussions and icey pads place you in the midst of a resonant arctic landscape. The tracks were composed over a couple of years (2015-2017) in a more contemplative mindset.
Jonny Nash / Lindsay Todd – Fauna Mapping [IOTG003]
Jonny Nash (Guissian Curve / Melody is Truth) and Firecracker’s Lindsay Todd get barefoot and turn out a stunner of an LP. Over the course of twelve compositions we find the pair utilising their recordings in a whole host of ways, avoiding the well-trodden cliches of the “exotic” and instead attempting to achieve a personal interpretation of the flora, fauna and climate of the island. Spending time amidst the insects, rice fields and scorching sun, the pair gathered a library of found sounds which were then taken back to a studio space to be stretched, mangled and manipulated alongside a variety of electronic and acoustic instruments. The outdoor studio itself became a living instrument, with the duo setting up multiple microphones for durations of up to 12 hours around the space, layering and processing the results in tracks such as “Fauna Mapping” and “A Series Of Small Frogs.
The Hipodrome Of Music 