SUSO SAIZ Vinilo y CD

Review: It's the seventh studio album from Suso Saiz, and the Spanish producer has never been on better form. Once again raising the musical bar, expanding into new ambient territories. Or, as he puts it himself: 'A body vibrates producing a sound that reaches another body and makes it vibrate and generate a new sound that makes another body vibrate that generates another sound...

'Imagine an infinite orchestra of bodies multiplying their sound vibrations creating the symphony of RESONANT BODIES. Resonance as a principle of COMMUNICATION; sound as a builder of ties and interrelations between men.' Take from that what you will, we're going for slightly different terms - tracks here are serene but never background, beautiful and thought provoking, a work of art that doesn't need to shout for attention, and instead invites you in deeper by the minute.

Review: "Nothing Is Objective" is Spanish ambient and new age veteran Suso Saiz's second album of new material for esteemed Dutch imprint Music From Memory. It's every bit as beguiling as his previous outing, 2017's "Rainworks", though it does feel a little richer, warmer and more humid. At 16 tracks deep, it's something of an epic, with Saiz exploring a range of musical moods with the aid of undulating electronics, ethereal chords, meandering melodies, chiming sounds, droning aural textures and occasional sun-bright instrumentation. There are far too many highlights to mention, but we're particularly enjoying the loopy hypnotism of "Mexican Bells (For Jorge Reyes)", the delay-laden guitars of "Minimal Distance", the slowly unfurling movements of "Frogs In Love" and the Pat Metheny style positivity of "Meccano".

Review: Having introduced Spanish ambient pioneer Suso Saiz to a wider audience via last year's superb Odisea retrospective, Music From Memory has scored a new album from the long-serving musician and composer. Rainworks was recorded over a two-month period in early 2016, and sees Saiz evocatively join the dots between Jonny Nash style guitar-led ambience, gently undulating, piano-driven mood pieces, evocative collages of found sounds and field recordings (see opener "From Memory & The Sky"), and ghostly, effects-laden ambient. He also finds time to pay tribute to Steve Reich style American minimalism on the cyclical brilliance of "They Don't Love Each Other".

Review: Having introduced Spanish ambient pioneer Suso Saiz to a wider audience via last year's superb Odisea retrospective, Music From Memory has scored a new album from the long-serving musician and composer. Rainworks was recorded over a two-month period in early 2016, and sees Saiz evocatively joining the dots between Jonny Nash style guitar-led ambience, gently undulating, piano-driven mood pieces, evocative collages of found sounds and field recordings (see opener "From Memory & The Sky"), and ghostly, effects-laden ambient. He also finds time to pay tribute to Steve Reich style American minimalism on the cyclical brilliance of "They Don't Love Each Other".

Review: Expanded 2CD edtiion: Having introduced Gigi Masin to a wider audience via the brilliant Talk To The Sea compilation back in 2014, Music From Memory is now attempting to do the same with Suso Saiz. Like Masin, Saiz was a new age/ambient pioneer in his country (in this case, Spain), releasing a smattering of obscure solo albums between 1984 and the present day. The material on Odisea - dreamy, stripped-back, evocative, occasionally breezy and largely built around vintage synthesizers and his own, Steve Hillage-like guitar work - is taken from those albums, as well as an obscure cassette-only release. As usual, the Amsterdam diggers have also included a number of previously unreleased tracks, drawn from the musician's extensive archives. It all ads up to another must have compilation from Europe's premier Balearic archivists.

Review: Having introduced Gigi Masin to a wider audience via the brilliant Talk To The Sea compilation back in 2014, Music From Memory is now attempting to do the same with Suso Saiz. Like Masin, Saiz was a new age/ambient pioneer in his country (in this case, Spain), releasing a smattering of obscure solo albums between 1984 and the present day. The material on Odisea - dreamy, stripped-back, evocative, occasionally breezy and largely built around vintage synthesizers and his own, Steve Hillage-like guitar work - is taken from those albums, as well as an obscure cassette-only release. As usual, the Amsterdam diggers have also included a number of previously unreleased tracks, drawn from the musician's extensive archives. It all ads up to another must have compilation from Europe's premier Balearic archivists.

Review: They say good things come to those who wait. Suso Saiz has been waiting more than a generation for Suzanne Kraft to come along and re-contextualise his work. Finally, then, acclaimed new age guitarist who emerged through the La Orquesta de las Nubes and Musica Esporadica projects, meets his match with the precise but organic sound designs of one of electronic music's finest contemporaries, and the result is magnificent.

The whole thing feels like it should be heard in some kind of sensory deprivation tank - floating on the water's surface, blissfully allowing the drones, tones, chords and loose harmonies to wash our minds. Of course work like "Beloved Din" comes with more of a determined impact, its tribal drums and woodwind accents creating an otherworldly vibe, or at least a sense of the exotic. For the most part, though, this is lush, tranquil, mystical and wholly inviting stuff.