Ambient / Drone Recommendations March 2015

Review: When it comes to a quantity of quality ambient music, the Further label has set itself up to be a major port of call. The Dose LP was the second by co-founder Chloe Harris aka Raica, originally released on tape in 2012, and even though full-lengths on Digitalis and Gretta Cottage Woodpile followed, this still remains one of her best. Synthesised textures and low end pulses mixed with fluttering clusters of busy sound design and effects make Dose a dreamy and at times surreal listen, with tracks like "Harchone" the most challenging. It's album opener "Satmor", "Slep_Non", "Watr Dragn", "Skrt" and the concluding "Entridam" that will appeal most to ambient enthusiasts.

Review: **Repress** The Music From Memory label was launched by Redlight Records founders Tako Reyenga, Abel Nagenast and Jamie Tiller earlier this year, sporting a proud mantra of "giving overlooked and unreleased music that we love a second chance". The focus of attention for Music Of Memory's second release falls on the works of celebrated ambient composer Gigi Masin. Born in Venice, Masin's work has been sampled by the likes of Bjork and To Rococco Rot and his albums attract feverish acclaim, with Wind, Masin's privately pressed debut LP a desired rarity for the only the most well-heeled of second hand collectors. It's from this album and a selection of Masin's other released works that Music From Memory draw from for this stunningly meditative double LP retrospective Talk To The Sea, which also includes a healthy amount of unreleased material.

Review: Ivic may be an unknown talent but the producer is also clearly adapt at Vainio-style abstract techno on the evidence of In Your Rosary. Both cuts on this 12" are brimming with originality and analogue wizardry. "Track 1" creates a semi-half-step beat from stripped but intricate synthesized beats below a backdrop of stunning pads and meditative atmospherics. On the B-side, "Track 2" darkens the skies considerably by adding raucous, metallic drones underneath another alluring groove structure. Hotly recommended, we'd like to see more of both the Ivic project and Germany's JSME imprint.

Review: Ricardo Donoso is all over the place at the moment, releasing mind-bending bursts of sonic warfare on the incorrigible Denovali label, left, right and centre. We're big fans of his latest LP for the label, so another EP is very much welcomed at this point! Picking up where he left off, we have five new tracks spanning the full circle, and much like the majority of Donoso's output, there's a distinct nod to the elements. The sounds on tracks such as "Simulated Charity" or "Prisoner's Dilemma", although most probably processed on both software and hardware, have an ethereal feel about them, and one can almost hear the gusts of wind and the tidal waves circulating amid the drones and aural landscapes. Donoso is a truly underrated character. This is electronic music at its finest.