Review: Verdant's tenth release is another meandering and mystic trip through ambient electronic sounds that leaves you a million miles away from wherever you started. All four artists here excel with electro producer Reedale Ris kicking off in languid, far-sighted fashion with their mournful synths and distant cosmic designs. Out.Lier's 'Track 2' is another one cast adrift on deepest space with smeared pads and floating aural details suspending you in mid air. Jo Johnson's cascading synth motifs are pure and innocent and cathartic and Romanticise The World's 'Track 4' is mellifluous and hopeful.
Sleep: Tranquility Base (Alva Noto Remodel edit) (5:37)
Sleep: Tranquility Base (Kelly Lee Owens remix) (4:03)
Review: Max Richter's latest work Sleep: Tranquillity Base first arrived on Deutsche Grammophon for World Sleep Day. Ot is a thirty minute work split across two parts and are inspired by the moon landings. It is music that "functions as a vessel that disconnects and travels through the body of work, allowing art to provide something which resembles peace within ourselves." It also comes with a couple of belting remixes from much loved contemporary innovators Alva Noto and Kelly Lee Owens. There is a reason Max Richter is so well revered and his music has had over three billion streams and this EP is one of them.
Review: Roy Of The Ravers takes a break from his mischievious outings on Acid Waxa et al to lay down some of his braindance tackle on Emotional Response. White Line Sunrise II.I (Le Roy Soleil) can rightly be considered a follow-up to White Line Sunrise II and indeed it represents a similar kind of spectrum of electronica. Roy's sound is edging further into the kind of 'artist' territory where slower, softer tracks, odd vocal diversions and some pop sensibilities merge with the acid, electro, breakbeat and other well-established tropes of his sound. It's the kind of record which could easily broach this quirky fringe operator of UK electronics to a broader fan base, and there's no doubt he's got the melodic, emotional heft on tracks like 'Versace 101624' to get everyone on board.
Review: The state51 Conspiracy label comes very much correct early on in the New Year with this two-track grey marbled vinyl 12" in a fancy spot-varnished sleeve. It takes the form of two fresh Santaka reworks of original compositions by Rytis Mazulis and avant-garde choir Melos Collective which were first released back in 2020. Santaka, which means "confluence" in Lithuanian, is the coming together of DJ and producer Manfredas and drummer and producer Marijus Aleksa and here they layer up disembodied vocals and dark jazz melodies on 'Ramybe' and then 'Autoportretas' is a textural ambient exploration packed with fascinating sound designs.
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: Joao De Bruco and R.H. Jackson come together here for what is said to be one fo the first proper fusions of electronic sounds with Brazilian percussive music. Synths, samplers and sequencers were a novelty in Brazil in the 1980s but this avant garde masterpiece showed the way forward. It's stuffed with references relevant to the ties and is both audacious and inventive with its off balance rhythms and woozy melodies. The original small pressing sold-out in 1989 and has been expensive and much sought after since. Remastered from the original tapes, this new reissue is an absolute must.
Review: For Left Ear's 35th release, the label revisits the archives of Spanish musician Jesus M' Catalan and his project, Respuesta Alternativa. Unlike his previous release, these tracks, which were created between 1987 and 1990, were recently discovered in a forgotten shoebox. While working as a sound technician, Jesus crafted atmospheric tracks in his bedroom, later refining them with collaborator Julian C. Perez. Their music evolved from simple themes with guitars to incorporating vocal samples. Influenced by his Asturian roots, Jesus blended serene and stormy elements, reflecting the contrasting seas of the Balearic and Asturias Islands, creating unique, enduring soundscapes.
Review: Since returning in 2015 following a two-decade long hiatus, post-punk experimentalists The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus has offered up a trio of admired albums. Even so, The Dream We Carry is still the multi-media-loving Liverpool collective's first new full-length for four years. It's an inspired set all told, with the band shrouding their beautiful neo-folk and ethereal compositions in simmering strings, dusty sound design, oodles of effects, and all manner of samples and field recordings. It's quietly picturesque and exquisitely crafted, providing a mixture of musical melancholy and hopeful positivity. It comes highly recommended.
Review: Lukid & Tapes combine their scuzzy sounds once more as Rezzett for this new and sonically fucked up outing on The Trilogy tapes. It's lo-fi music full of perfect imperfections and dusty sound sources, cruddy rhythms and distant cosmic noise that sounds both as if dug up from under many layers of ancient soil but also somehow sent back from the future. It is now a decade since this pair made their first outing but their sound remains fascinatingly original. For loose genre references, imagine breakbeat hardcore, 90s jungle, granular Detroit techno and raw Chicago house all chucked into a blender.
Review: Finish dub techno powerhouse Joachim Spieth welcomes UK artist Rhubiqs to his well-regarded Affin label for a debut appearance that sinks you into a widescreen world of ambient lushness. His Aegis of Silence album takes cues from divergent sounds like post-rock and soft ambient as well as drone and even modern classical. It's an ever-shifting soundscape with smeared pads and nostalgia dreams, half-remembered thoughts and a sense of mood that ranges from escapist and blissed out to more ominous and paranoid.
Review: Marlene Ribeiro's cult status has already guaranteed copies of this will be flying out faster than you can say "first album under own name after years as Negra Branca, a member of GNOD, and collaborations with luminaries from Valentina Magaletti to Thurston Moore". And her first offering as herself, as it were, rockets straight to the pinnacle of career highs to date, a record that's so full of ideas yet consistent and complete.
Produced between Ireland, Portugal, Madeira and Salford, partly inspired by Ribeiro's grandmother, Emilia, introducing her to the concept of "recording things, here and there". The result is this incredible combination of hallucinatory dream pop, found notes and captured moments, resulting in a vivid tapestry of hook-laden songs that are meditative yet catchy, late-night but bright and breezy.
Review: Richard Fearless is back on his Drone label with a logical follow up to his 2019 solo album Deep Rave Memory. The Death In Vegas chap has been exploring plenty of interesting paths in recent years, and his label has become a hub for evocative and provocative electronics from the likes of D'Marc Cantu and Container. Now he's presenting a second long player slipping into redolent nostalgia for time spent under strobe lights, albeit nostalgia for parties yet to take place. You can hear subtle hints of loops and grooves worming their way through Future Rave Memory, but this is primarily an ambient excursion populated with billowing clouds of melody and texture, subtly haunting but ultimately cosy and comfortable to lose yourself in.
Review: It's hard to believe that Steve Roach's landmark space ambient exploration is now four decades young. Emphasis on the young, considering we're getting new releases through that sound pretty similar. No disrespect to those that do - the point is Structures From Silence was so massively ahead of its time it still feels like the rest of us are catching up. Floating on a dust ring somewhere close to Saturn, maybe, this is lush, dreamy, cosmic synth stuff to lose yourself in. Just be sure there's a yurt close by, because this one's all about lying down and staring into your own thoughts. An exercise in escapism, without needing to move a muscle. In 2025, there's plenty of off-world talk as Earth buckles under the weight of capitalism. Little do they know some of us left that place behind decades ago.
Review: Robert Rental is back on the mighty Dark Entries as the cult label reissues his Mental Detentions album as an expanded double pack. Rental is a Scottish pioneer of DIY electronic music who played a key role in shaping the UK's countercultural sound alongside collaborators like Thomas Leer and Daniel Miller. Though he released little solo music, his 1979 cassette Mental Detentions was a standout of the era that featured raw demos made with budget equipment like a Roland drum machine and Stylophone keyboard. Tracks like 'Stuck' offer a distorted take on the classic motorik sound, while 'Vox' delivers an 18-minute ambient journey in which it is easy to get lost. Rental's work captures the spirit of experimentation and innovation in the face of limited resources.
Review: Twenty nine years ago (can you believe it) Alexander Robotnick released his first album, Ce N'Est Q'Un Debut, featuring what's arguably his most defining track "Problemes D'amour" with the Harajuku-cute vocals of Martine Michellod. It's this album that has influenced countless French synth pop acts and a horde of old school electro lovers, and all this time later it's been repressed (again) by the label that first released it, Medical. Keeping the sacredness of this LP firmly intact by sticking with the keyboard-head artwork, Ce N'Est Q'Un Debut - along with Man Parish's 1982 self-titled debut - should be in all of our record collections.
Review: Samuel Rohrer's stylish new solo album is a fine advert for his expertise as a multi-instrumentalist as it blends percussion, modular synths and keys into lovely downtempo grooves. The title may suggest romantic simplicity, but the music delivers nuanced emotional and tonal complexity and is dedicated to "brave lovers" seeking truth. Tracks like 'The Parish Bell' reveal Rohrer's focused, unhurried style with ephemeral sounds emerging and fading gracefully and guest contributions like Nils Petter Molvaer's muted horn on 'The Gift' add layers of warmth at a record which rewards attentive listening.
We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you've provided to them or that they've collected from your use of their services.