Juno Recommends Ambient / Drone: May 2022

Review: Following on from the excellent "Scene In Mirage" reissue that broke O Yuki Conjugate to a whole new crowd, Emotional Rescue return to the archives of the over-looked Nottingham "dirty ambient" outfit. Their second LP "Into Dark Water", originally released in 1987, is just as powerful as the first - a hypnagogic journey fuelled by a global stew of sound, feeding into elegant, evocative pieces. Fans of classic Jon Hassell will find much to enjoy here, but equally those appreciating the exotic post punk undercurrents of 23 Skidoo et al will easily find themselves drawn to the likes of "Ba-makala". Stunning, borderless musings from a hidden treasure of the UK's post-industrial heritage.

Review: Despite what you might assume, O Yuki Conjugate are actually an English duo. Hailing from the country's renowned hinterland somewhere between ambient and industrial, the pair - better known as Roger Horberry and Andrew Hulme - first started the project in 1982, a time in the nation's history that was particularly fertile for sonic experiments of the synthesised kind.

A Tension of Opposites is proof they have lost little of their imagination and creative spark, even decades later. Born in the first year of the pandemic, 2020, both artists worked in isolation and therefore both had different ideas about how a sonic response to the most batshit crazy situation in living memory should sound. The result, then, is a lush, intoxicating, and thoughtful journey through tonalities, resonance, and deep refrains that offers two sides of the same terrifying, traumatic, and life-changing story.

Review: Nils Frahm once told us that he practices his piano every single day whether he likes it or not. we imagine that, given the huge amounts of music he puts on out the regular, he must record most of those sessions with a view to pressing them to wax. This month alone his has two albums out, for example, both on the LEITER label. This one is not new though - it is a vinyl return for Streichelfisch in its original 2055 form but with a couple of extra tracks from his 2006 digital only EP My First. It is material that has all aged well.

Review: Redscale and Greyscale label founder and dub techno production don and master DJ Grad U takes us on a killer trip here into widescreen worlds of ambient sound. The textures are lo-fi and fuzzy around the edges as per most ambient albums, and the synths are heady and smeared to perfection. Some pieces are filled with a subtle sense of hope and optimism, others are more darkened drones that turn you in on yourself, but all of these tracks are fantastically realised and immersive pieces of ambient art.

Review: Alister Fawnwoda is one of ambient's greatest practitioners, and a true artist. Spending his time either painting, producing in the studio, or DJing, this myriad of outlets has given him a wide lens with which to view what he does, and what others do or could achieve. Nowhere is this more evident than in his choice of collaborators, ranging from emerging refrain specialists to dance music titans like Omar S.




Milan is both his latest extended play outing, and more compelling evidence to back that point up. Enlisting the mighty and legendary Suzanne Ciani, another ruler of ambient and the avant garde, alongside pedal steel maestro Greg Liesz, the result is something that's peaceful but purposeful, the crooning harmonies creating a sense of melancholy and reflection, while background notes and noises life us into a place of hope. It's really quite beautiful.

Review: The late, great Susumu Yokota made many terrific records, though few are quite as revered as 2004 set Symbol, which up until last year had only ever been available on CD. It got a limited vinyl pressing in Japan in late 2021 and is now available worldwide thanks to this white vinyl pressing from Lo Recordings. The album itself is simply stunning: a perfectly pitched fusion of neo-classical orchestration, melancholic piano motifs, ambient textures, sampled vocal refrains and beats that variously touch on instrumental hip-hop, IDM and soft-focus Latin grooves. Atmospheric, evocative, melodic and impeccably produced, it remains Yokota's most musically expansive and cinematic release. It's the sort of set that everyone needs in their life, whether or not they're a confirmed admirer of the Japanese artist's other work.

Review:  Zaheer Gulamhusein (Xvarr, Waswaas) and Justin Tripp (Georgia) are String and they make the sort of ambient music that is so absorbing you lose all concept of space and time. This latest limited edition pouting comes on tape and vinyl and will suck you in deeper than ever to w world of subtle pulses, sonar bleeps, distant machine hiss and cancerous ambient that is like a beatless counterpart to the most sci-fi work of Detroit don Jeff Mills. Sounds are elusive as they come and go, rhythms only implied, and horizons the work of your own imagination.