Back catalogue: Ambient/Drone

Review: The Buddha Bar series is one of the most enduring in all of dance music. It made famous the bars of the same name which started in Paris and are now found throughout the world, all with a signature soundtrack of gentle downtempo, jazzy house and stylish Balearic. French label Wagram attempt to pull together some of the very best bits from the very many cosmos over the years onto this one triple pack. And they do a fine job too with nice horizontal sounds from Ravin, Carlos Campos & David Visan, Consoul Training & Pink Noisy and Panjabi Hit Squad amongst many more, all with a nice worldly feel and cocktail-sipping atmosphere.

Review: Originally released back in 2009, Brock Van Wey's debut album White Clouds Drift On & On gets a long-overdue vinyl edition, coming across a hefty 4 slabs of marbled grey and white wax. A masterpiece of ambient at the time of its release, its power has not diminished in the years that have followed, its freeform compositions having a personal and emotional resonance that many of his peers lack. Also included is the companion Intrusion Interpretation, in which Echospace's Intrusion reworks the entire thing into a mammoth dub techno opus. Essential for connoisseurs of ambient and dub techno alike.

Review: Erased Tapes founder Robert Raths has stated that the objective of 1+1=X was to create a zeitgeist that captured the value of experimenting and reacting to each other as artists. In real time and in the same confines. It marks the tenth anniversary for the imprint, with this collection of exclusive songs from every artist on the label. Originally released on vinyl for Record Store Day 2018 back in April, this features all the original tracks, where they share instruments and each others' capabilities during a residency at Vox-Ton studio in Berlin. Highlights include label staple Nils Frahm's melancholic "Frau Dehlholm", Kiasmos teaming up with Hogni Egilsson on the emotional deep house of "Zebra" and the always impressive Peter Broderick on the bittersweet symphony of "The Perpetual Glow".

Review: The Microcosm: Visionary Music Of Continental Europe, 1970-1986 presents works from 'cosmically-taped' artists; legends like Vangelis, Ash Ra Tempel, and Popol Vuh through to more obscure names in the form of Bernard Xolotl, Robert Julian Horky and Enno Velthuys. According to Washington State label Light In The Attic, the compilation aspires to present these these works of "ambient, new age, neuzeit, prog, krautrock, cosmic, holistic stuff, whatever one calls it - as a pulsating movement unto itself", and they've done a fine job of that when you hear how well curated this album really is. From major label recordings through to limited obscure cassette editions, it unearths some truly captivating and oddly inspiring gems from beatless electronic music's recent past.

Review: Konami Digital Entertainment and Laced Records have teamed up to deliver a meticulously curated selection of music from the legendary Metal Gear Solid series, now available on deluxe double vinyl. This collection features 18 tracks, handpicked from original soundtracks and official arrangements, spanning from the original 1998 game to the 2015 release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Each track has been specially remastered and pressed onto heavyweight black vinyl, housed in a widespined outer sleeve that showcases archival artwork from the series' iconic illustrations. The printed inner sleeves add a touch of elegance to the presentation, making this a visually striking set for collectors. The tracklist includes beloved pieces such as 'Snake Eater', 'The Best Is Yet to Come', and 'Sins of the Father', alongside medleys and remixes that capture the essence of the franchise's epic soundscapes. With contributions from across the Metal Gear timeline, this vinyl set is a nostalgic journey through the series' musical legacy.

Review: Surely one of the greatest horror films of all time, Dawn Of The Dead transcended the zombie format to make some incisive points about human society with more than a few laughs thrown in for good measure. The score is just as brilliant as the on-screen action, made up of cues from the De Wolfe library and peppered with some stand-out tunes like The Pretty Things' 'Cause I'm A Man'. Those songs have been included in this deluxe, triple-vinyl edition housed in a gatefold sleeve featuring artwork from Ruiz Burgos and packing extra booklets, essays and all the high-end extras you expect from a Waxwork reissue.

Review: We're told that inspiration for this bumper new double album of super fresh techno from the young New Palm label came in 2023 when the artists met up on the LA River armed with "a couple of generators, a Klipsch system, turntables, and a modular rig, for a day into night of music centred around various forms of dub." The results are superb, with Charles Edward opening up with the sparse, laid-back dub of 'Bogus August', Lena Deen keeping it deft with the ambient soundscapes of 'Either Ore' and Berndt's 'Solstice' exploring widescreen minimalism dub, with plenty more to love in between.

Review: In Spanish the word "remanso" (backwater) comes from the Latin "remansum"...meaning the action of stopping and remaining in place...especially in an inherently idyllic place, where beautiful music such as this can be heard! As Mario himself says about his new album... "I had some material from past electroacoustic "academic" works that I know would be great to use in my ambient music. These were created through long manipulation processes of real sounds (objects and instruments). In other words they are custom made sounds. My basic inspiration for "Remansum" came from listening to and improvising on this sound material. The improvisations were on a piano, and I tried to find melodic patterns and harmonies that would go well with these sound textures. My music has many influences, and I could point in particular to the Impressionists (Debussy, Satie ...), where the focus in on mood and atmosphere. I aimed to combine these impressionistic elements with sparse minimalistic melodies and distinct electronic sounds." This first deluxe, limited edition version of Remansum, in an edition of only 75 copies, comes in the form of a hand made, 12" lathe cut record in an extensively handworked, heavy weight, recycled chipboard jacket. Each jacket has been uniquely collaged on the front with torn and reassembled photographs from a 100 year old book on travels in Spain, each in the form of an original and architecturally modified and mysterious landscape. Each collage is then surrounded by a frame of tissue thin vellum that has been painstakingly sized, cut out and meticulously applied. The vellum is then stamped with a set of vintage, pastoral French rubber stamps, and each is individually hand titled/stamped as well. On the back of each jacket are other abstracted corner bits of pastoral photos with more extensive floral stamping, and each has adhered to it a black 5' envelope containing the factory pressed CD of the album as well. Centered on this black envelope is a smaller antique envelope, also hand modified, and each of these contains a unique, negative transparency from a museums collection of the arts of antiquity. Each record comes in it's own black poly-lined sleeve. The supremely clean sounding and highest quality lathe cut records were as ever manufactured by Michael Lawrence at Bladud Flies, in Wales, UK...