Back catalogue: Classical

Review: Current scene favourite Nils Frahm teamed up with Icelandic multi-instrumentalist Olafur Arnalds on three breath taking excursions through lush ambient textures on "Stare" as a surprise release back in 2012 for label founder Robert Rath. "A1" features Frahm's entrancing irresistible melody over some gorgeous all-consuming strings and glacial soundscapes courtesy of Arnalds. "A2" with its heavenly, transcendental beauty has just got to be heard while "B1" explores darker territory with its excavating soundscapes accompanying the most hauntingly delicate cello notes. Exquisite!

Review: Louis Johnstone is known for his mischievous and anti-art approach and here he teams up with Trilogy Tapes for Dracula Completo, an unhinged, chaotic release that defies conventional music. Operating under multiple aliases including Wanda Group and A Large Sheet of Muscle, Johnstone's work blends concrete electronics, warped samples and dark, often distorted spoken-word pieces. Dracula Completo embodies his subversive style and is a mix of absurdity, mutant poetry and rebellious energy. Though Johnstone's work challenges norms and provokes, it remains surprisingly accessible and engaging.

Review: Federico Albanese's Blackbirds and the Sun of October is a deeply personal album inspired by his native Monferrato in northern Italy, where it was entirely written and recorded. Returning home in autumn 2022 after years in Berlin, Albanese found creative inspiration in the region's landscapes, history and legends and he describes the album as a reflection on origins, heritage and the freedom that comes with returning home. Unlike his previous works which explored memories and imaginary worlds, this album embraces the tangible beauty of nature and history with a newfound sense of positivity and connection to his surroundings.

Review: Tin Iso and the Dawn has been a four part journey from the New York based composer and puppeteer Tristan Allen. It has brought to life a whole world of fantastical characters who share "universal longings" with us mere mortals. The opening part of the fine series showcases some meticulous sound design and alluring leitmotifs that all try to make sense of loss and what comes after. The album is loosely based on Wagner's three act opera Tristan und Isolde and was written over the course of seven years from 2105 with plenty of field recordings and a mix of acoustic instruments that were processed and arranged electronically. It's a transfixing listen, for sure.

Review: Vrioon was the first ever collaboration album between Alva Noto and legendary synth man and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. 20 years after it became the first instalments of V.I.R.U.S.'s five records together it gets the full reissue treatment. The original tracks from the album are joined by an all new composition 'Landscape Skizze' which was laid down in 2005. The record is defined by alternate piano chords, lush electronic tones and quivering timbres that are delicate yet impactful.

Review: Leading British composer Craig Armstrong truly broke through with his second studio album As If To Nothing in 2003. It came five years after his 1998 debut The Space Between us and now celebrates its 20th anniversary with a deluxe reissue treatment that sees it get remastered at half speed for extra loudness and clarity. This special edition also comes with heavyweight villa and an embossed sleeve making it the ultimate collectors' package. The modern classical sounds contained within have more than stood the test of time, too.

Review: Iceland's Olafur Arnalds (Kiasmos) and German multi-instrumentalist Nils Frahm team up again for some breathtaking excursions in classical/ambient crossover bliss. Frahm's sombre piano passages gently dance over Arnalds' serene soundscapes and eerie field recordings on this bittersweet and emotive journey. What was meant to be a one hour video recording of the duo in action turned out to be an eight hour long improvisation session and these are some of the segments of the wonderful marathon recording. We particularly enjoyed the gorgeously haunting electronic soul captured on "23:52" where those analogue synth strings just rise and rise to an epic climax.

Review: Arv & Miljo's new album delves into radical environmental activism and draws from the Swedish Plogbill movement's early 90s actions alongside Earth First! and Earth Liberation Front. Mixing monologues, interviews, protest songs, and site recordings with raw kosmische synth music, the pair crafts a mesmerising audio collage. Chaotic yet harmonious, disorienting yet soothing, the album reflects dedication, passion, and the spirit of change. Originally a limited CDR release in 2021, it quickly became a highlight in Arv & Miljo's discography. Now on, Jorden Forst offers a multi-faceted journey through environmental activism and the human spirit's resilience.

Review: After two albums on A Strangely Isolated Place as Comit, James Clements returns under his ASC alias and does so with yet another brilliantly fresh and introspective approach. Original Soundtrack shifts focus to the piano and so invites you to construct your own interpretations within an imaginary cinematic framework. Known for his mastery across genres from autonomic and jungle to ambient, techno and IDM, Clements narrows his focus here with great results. Crafting eight evocative pieces centred on the piano is not something he has done before but it results in another deeply personal and immersive work that adds a new dimension to ASC's artistry.

Review: Emerging from the ether in July 2024, Surfacing is the third collaborative long player from ASC and Sam KDC. Producers known for their ability to create and set moods with comparatively abstract ambient soundscapes, their latest is no exception. A collection of work which opts for an un-rushed approach to creating big feelings and moments from relatively consistent sounds and noises. Not much seems to happen, until you realise how much has been happening. In many ways, it's a maximalist thing - attempting to pick apart tracks like 'Mirage' and 'Shimmer' reveals the density of these sonics. Walls of sound that are acoustically and melodically light enough to float on air, yet actually so thick they swallow the listener hole, with little hope of escape until the final refrains fade.

Review: Originally released in the mid 80's on UK cassette label Bite Back!, this nearly lost gem finds new life 30 years later on Cocktail D'Amore Music. Steve has cobbled together a superbly melancholic electronic concept album. Wistful melodies often evoke sentiments of a lost childhood and hazy English mornings. Each song within remains untitled allowing full perceptive freedom as to what they all communicate, a language for the feelings that have no name. Untitled A1 - A6 leads one along intimate soundscapes of pattering drums and tinkering piano, a sense of closeness and trust develops with the introduction of each new idea much like the beginning of a bed time story. Untitled B1 - B3 then begin to breathe more openly awash in angelic colours before abruptly turning downward on B4, a wall of booming drums and atmospheres from the furthest reaches of the galaxy before the last trio of songs settles gently back on Earth.

Review: Zake's Drone Recordings label offers up this heartfelt collection in celebration of the label head's wife on a milestone birthday. Next to the man himself, awakened souls and Benoît Pioulard also feature with the former offering 'Valleys and Peaks' from Julia's poem which blends Cynthia's ethereal vocals and James Bernard's bass with swirling synths and guitar. Benoît Pioulard's lo-fi folk-pop 'A Heart Mirrored' and dreamy 'Our Era' reflect his signature style while Zake's cinematic pieces, including 'I Saw An Angel,' pay tribute to the inspiration of his wife. A lovely listen with a great concept

Review: California's James Bernard is a much-loved regular on this label as well as being a veteran of the wider ambient scene who has been hard at it for more than three decades. His latest outing on Past Inside The Present with Anthene (aka Brad Deschamps of Toronto) is Soft Octaves, an album that finds them crafting a series of sounds using electric six-string bass. It has a huge range from the deepest depths to the wispiest of highs and each of the tracks here was recorded in one single take. The results are spellbinding indeed and the range of the bass's sonic ability is astonishing as it sounds at times like a cello, at others woodwind and is always intriguing.

Review: Wind Rust is the debut collaboration between zake (Zach Frizzell) and Almost Silent (Guy Teixeira). True to their signature sounds, it's a melange of ambient drone with elements of weather, erosion and decay. Teixeira used the Lyra-8 synth to generate natural, living sound textures while Frizzell deconstructed his stems through random selection creating a unique, evolving soundscape. The four tracks feature tactile, organic elements, like 'Thence' with its powerful string and field recording interplay and 'Dross' where synth harmonies build and vanish. Closing track 'Quell' crescendos with chaotic intensity. In capturing the essence of nature's unpredictable forces, Wind Rust makes for an arresting listen.