Review: When it comes to a reissue such as this it can't be understated just how arresting the work of Boards of Canada can be in the right situation. This EP, that came to light in between Music Has The Right To Children and Geogaddi, represents the enigmatic duo at their most powerful, channeling their energy into four long-form tracks that draw on all of their combined strengths. "Kid For Today" is haunting and dark but utterly heartbreaking, whilst "Amo Bishop Roden" heads into more mysterious territory. "In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country" is eerie in its titular invitation to join a cult, and "Zoetrope" tips its hat to Terry Riley et al in its looping phrases, but really there's no describing the magnificence of these gems, pleasingly reissued on vinyl to beat the Discogs chancers.
Review: You'll probably already be acquainted with the name Manuel Gottsching - and you should be - but just in case you aren't, he was a pillar of Ash Ra Tempel's golden years and, among other of his contemporaries, was a pioneer of the genre that is often dubbed 'new age'. E2-E4 was a 1984 solo album from the man, and is certainly up there with the likes of Steve Reich's best minimal material, although it has often gone relatively unnoticed. MG Art from Germany have done us the favour of reissuing this monumental release, and we're utterly awestruck by how contemporary and fresh this album still is. In fact, one could say that a tune like "31'38" is the basis for the sound championed by new labels like Mood Hut, where a significantly danceable beat is laid above placid, warm harmonics. Similarly, "23'00" is just as balearic and phased out but, once again, we just can't believe how great this music still sounds more than thirty years later. Warmly recommended.
Review: James Blake's debut album is undoubtedly one of 2011's most keenly awaited releases, and its arrival via his own (major label funded) Atlas imprint ensures their is no lull in momentum for a producer who enjoyed a watershed 2010 with releases on Hessle Audio and R&S. The results here differ wildly from his previous sonic excursions - gone are the shimmering R&B soaked melodies of "CMYK" and the sheer experimentalism of the Klavierwerke EP, which saw the young Londoner depart from the confines of the dancefloor and enter a realm where there was only a passing reference to rhythm-based music. Instead we are treated to Blake's own yearning, raw voice, delicate pianos and an underlying sense of melancholy. Ubiquitous single "Limit To Your love" and the crackly sonic terrain evoked on "The Wilhelm Scream" are among the most immediately pleasing moments, but there is much to explore here. It's a fascinating opus and surely the catalyst to a long and fruitful career at the top.
Hands, No More Mosquitos, Calamine, Tangle (live in Copenhagen)
Review: Released back in 2003, Rounds was the third LP from Kieran Hebden as Four Tet and perhaps the first long player that widely established him as a pioneering voice within electronic music. Though it doesn't feel like a decade since it was released, Domino celebrate the album's tenth anniversary in requisite fashion here, reissuing it in double LP format and slipping in a CD of Four Tet performing live in Copenhagen in 2004. Listening back now, it's easy to understand why Rounds is viewed as an early classic in the Four Tet canon, transferring his love for free jazz records to a beat template that's more palatable on the ear (Fact pickers might want to know that Hebden recently revealed to Pitchfork the LP was made entirely from samples) "She Moves She" still sounds absolutely haunting too!
Review: Given that it's been eight years since the last Boards of Canada album, Tomorrow's Harvest should, by rights, push Daft Punk's Random Access Memories in the hype stakes. Certainly, it's a fine set. During their sabbatical, Marcus Eoin and Michael Sandison have lost none of their power to amaze and impress. Chords drone, samples hiss, synths shimmer and beats swing. There are intense ambient moments and intoxicating, post-IDM dreamscapes. It is in turns icy, warm, introspective and blindingly picturesque. Throughout, Tomorrow's Harvest is impeccably atmospheric, conjuring images of windswept Scottish moors, becalmed Cornish bays and maudlin pagan ceremonies. As comeback records go, it's pretty darn good.
Review: Following up last year's production with Baltimore techno legend Maurice Fulton on 'Jigoo', the next release on Gudu is the first of two songs by label boss Peggy Gou that she will release over the coming months. Her first single in over two years, it translates to 'Butterfly' and is another collaboration. This time with fellow Korean sensation OHHYUK who is the lead singer and guitarist in the band Hyukoh. 'Nabi' is a downtempo, pop-inflected number said to be inspired by '80s synth classics and '90s Korean songs that Gou's mother used to play at home during her childhood.
Jon Hopkins - "I Remember" (exclusive Yeasayer cover version) (4:16)
David Holmes - "Hey Maggy" (4:54)
Alela Diane - "Lady Divine" (5:09)
Last Days - "Missing Photos" (1:55)
School Of Seven Bells - "Connjur" (4:36)
Peter Broderick - "And It's Alright" (Nils Frahm remix) (4:32)
Four Tet - "Gillie Amma I Love You" (5:45)
Bibio - "Down To The Sound" (2:30)
A Winged Victory For The Sullen - "Requiem For The Static King" (part One) (2:40)
Helios - "Emancipation" (2:31)
Rick Holland - "I Remember" (exclusive spoken word piece) (3:17)
Review: The Late Night Tales mix series - going strong since way back in 2003 - never ceases to both amaze and please our eardrums when they're in need of a sonic massage. With legendary artists such as Fatboy Slim, Jamiroquai, Groove Armada, MGMT and many others on their roster, you just know it's going to be quality throughout. This time it's up to Domino man Jon Hopkins to give us an outlook onto his own tastes and musical influences. The selection is vast and varied, with everyone from Four Tet to Darkstar and even Peter Broderick featuring within. An incandescent blend of sci-fi electronica, tropical bass nuggets and lighter shades of drone-fuelled house. Quality.
Review: Released to coincide with Japanese musical Goliath Ryuichi Sakamoto's 70th birthday, To the Moon & Back was almost inevitable. Even without worrying reports about the maestro's health, there's no way anyone can have such a significant impact on global music for so long and not have people wanting to pay tribute upon reaching septuagenarian years.
And what a tribute it is. Taking elements from a huge back catalogue that stretches back to the mid-1970s, contemporary greats including Thundercat, Alva Noto, Hildur Guonadottir, The Cinematic Orchestra, and David Sylvian offer new versions and remixes of the master's stuff, with each track here chosen by Sakamoto, which is about as significant a seal of approval as you could hope for. Like the man himself, it's widely varied, consistently innovative and just really, really good.
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: The Avidya label arrives with a bold new concept that sees it push itself to "step out of comfort zones to release a series of EPs of broad, challenging and deep music." The first affair is a fine one from four artists, the first of which is Lyon based procure A Strange Wedding from the Worst label. His slow trance locks you in and then Gothenburg trio Datasal come through with a prog rock and post funk and dance fusion. 84PC's contribution is peak time gold and Barcelona's Iro Aka arrive with another debut to round out this fine offering.
Review: RECOMMENDED
Even the most determinedly understated chin-strokers will likely have emitted a squeal of delight when this one was announced. Everyone's favourite electronic producer-cum-contemporary composer (or vice versa?) releasing his latest works of art across two media - namely an album on cult hero label Erased Tapes, and a movie available on highbrow streaming service Mubi.
This is the audio, and while nobody who caught the video when it was available to view on-demand could argue this is just as powerful on its own, the solo sound is still an intoxicating and compelling ride. 'The Dane' is classy piano bliss, '#2' sits in the big room electronica end of things, 'Fundamental Values' is a scatty, broken ambient journey to the edges of drum 'n' bass, 'Enters' opens on long, ambient refrains.
Hjalmar Larusson & Jonbjorn Gislason - "Jomsvikingarimur - Yta Eigi Feldi Ror." (1:15)
Julianna Barwick - "Forever" (5:30)
Koreless - "Last Remnants" (4:22)
Odesza - "How Did I Get Here" (instrumental) (2:00)
Anois - "A Noise" (4:10)
Samaris - "Gooa Tungl" (4:08)
Olafur Arnalds - "RGB" (4:36)
Rival Consoles - "Pre" (5:14)
Jai Paul - "Jasmine" (demo) (4:11)
Four Tet - "Lion" (Jamie Xx remix) (6:52)
James Blake - "Our Love Comes Back" (3:39)
Spooky Black - "Pull" (4:13)
Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld - "And Still They Move" (2:55)
Olafur Arnalds - "Say My Name" (feat Arnor Dan) (5:38)
Kiasmos - "Orgoned" (5:57)
Olafur Arnalds - "Kinesthesia" (1:44)
Hjaltalin - "Ethereal" (6:32)
David Tennant - "Undone" (3:51)
Review: Icelandic classical, experimental and soundtrack composer Olafur Arnalds steps away from the loops and Broadchurch OSTs to conjure yet another sublime LNT saga. Carefully balancing between contemporary odysseys ("Jomsvikingarimur"), dense futuristic electronic weaves ("Last Remnants"), fuzzy 22nd century pop ("A Noise") sludgy cosmic funk ("Jasmine") and introspective soul ("Our Love Comes Back"), Olafur blows wave after woozy wave of soft sonic conjurations in a way that's broad, detailed and cleverly considered. Good night.
Review: Once the leader of iconic and legendary Japanese New Wave rockers EX, Shigeru Umebayashi's Music For A Film compilation showcases the better-known work (in today's terms at least) of this multifaceted and multi-talented composer. 21 tracks of absolute beauty, all of which are taken from his 30-strong-plus oeuvre of movie scores, built over time since he first began writing tracks for screens in 1985, after said band called time.
Opening with what may be his most famous work of all time, 'Yumeji's Theme' (title piece from Siejun Suzuki's critically acclaimed 1991 movie, Yumeji) the playlist here really showcases the vision and musicality Umebayashi is renowned for, and removed from the context of movies the work is elevated to new heights. Classical, choral, quiet epics, and romantic mini-overtures rarely sound so good.
Lord Of The Isles - "Meet Me At The Portal" (3:04)
Review: This new one on Secrets of Sound has a rather grandiose title but the music is suitably accomplished to live up to it. Johnny Jewel gets things underway with a lavish and jazzy ambient scape turned gentle broken beat bliss-out. Elsewhere RAMZi's singular grasp of rhythms shines through with the rickety drums and cosmic moods of 'Existenz' and synth magician Legowelt cooks up a curious and whimsical sound on the escapist 'Nebia Vera Pelliccia'. Elsewhere, Lord Of The Isles slows things right down to late-night contemplation with 'Meet Me At The Portal.' A tasteful collection indeed.
Review: Under the Jaz alter-ego, John Zahl has been serving up laidback, Balaearic-minded edits of musical obscurities since the mid 2000s. Initially, that was for Claremont 56 offshoot Sixty Five, but in the last decade he's also appeared on Passport To Paradise, Rotating Souls and, most recently, Pinchy & Friends. Here he returns to the latter label with four more rubs of atmospheric cuts from the dusty corners of his record collection. He begins with the wonderfully throbbing, solo-heavy dancefloor synth-scape of 'Cloud Worship', before successfully tinkering with a tactile, semi-organic proto-house gem on 'Pick a Toy'. Over on side B, 'Puzzle' is a tidy revision of a cosmic-minded, French language Balearic synth-pop gem, while 'Friday Night' is an eccentric, off-kilter slab of new wave disco oddness.
Review: What goes around, comes around, at least when it comes to dance music culture. The rise in new productions informed by early psy-trance and hallucinatory ambient techno jams has led to a swathe of reissues of long-forgotten releases from the 1990s. Here's another, and a chance to cop London outfit Shpongle's 1998 debut album, Are You Shpongled. As an LP, it's very much of its time, with the pair brilliantly blurring the boundaries between spacey ambient, dub, chill out room-ready downtempo grooves, intergalactic-sounding drum & bass, flute-sporting soundscapes and the kind of bustling rhythms and shroom-fuelled electronics that were once the preserve of new age travellers in brightly coloured trousers and slightly damp woolly hats.
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: 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!
Tour 5 Modern Blue Asia Soundscapes For Ocean Therapy (Like A Music Therapy) (5:07)
Healing Moon - Tsuki No Iyashi Umi No Mahou (4:10)
The Genesis: Yoga (New Age Ambience) (6:49)
Voyage (Dive To The Future Sight) (8:18)
Iruka Tachi To Asonda Kioku/Under Water (8:05)
Rain (5:50)
LEA (Mirror Coordinate mix) (6:06)
The Rebirth/(Jinsei Nante Konnamono) Sou Omotta Shunkan Ni Jinsei Wa Owaru (4:37)
Cosmic Blue (5:47)
Image-Respect-Love Anata Ga Jiyu Ni Naru Toki/Into The Blue (Haha Naru Umi Ga Rhythm De Oshiete Kureru Koto) (5:05)
Love Ate Alien (3:37)
Daichi No Uta (7:13)
Island Humming (6:48)
Review: A fantastic introduction to a Japanese electronic artist who has simultaneously influenced many while flying well under the radar, Gaia: Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works presents a deep dive into the world of Dream Dolphin, a producer who began releasing music under this moniker at the age of 16 and was brought up on classic Italian songs before discovering the likes of PIL, Yellow Magic Orchestra and The KLF. Amazingly, even thought there's a good chance you'd never heard of her before now, Dream Dolphin, also known as Noriko, released a staggering 20 albums in just eight years, and 18 of the tracks from that catalogue are here now. The vast majority never available on vinyl before, they span IDM, ambient, downbeat, trance, organic experimental and more, making this a real trove.
Review: Depeche Mode member Alan Wilder is Recoil. This musical project found him landing on Mute with a great series of albums including the likes of Liquid and Unsound Methods as well as his sixth LP, subHuman. This one dates back to 2006 and came after a 6-year break from recording. It is dark and broody electronic music "which sets the listener a challenge to analyse what makes us human and subHuman." It's a collaboration with bluesman Joe Richardson who served up guitars as well as harmonica and eerie vocals. Themes in the record include murder, death, and religion while guest singer Carla Trevaskis did a fine job of serving up ethereal sound on 'Allelujah'.
Review: Before he signed with Tru Thoughts 21 years ago, and many years before he became one of Ninja Tune's most popular artists, Simon Green AKA Bonobo was merely a bedroom DJ/producer knocking up tracks in his Brighton home. The two tracks showcased on this limited-edition "45" date from that period and have never before seen the light of day. A-side 'Brighton Tapes 01' is warming and hazy, with toasty chords, drowsy flute and female vocal samples and deep bass rising above crunchy, loose-limbed MPC-driven drums. Flipside 'Brighton Tapes 02', which contains the same high level of vintage cassette hiss, is similarly warming, with a sweet female vocal sample, snaking sax samples and rich Rhodes chords wrapping around a head-nodding hip-hop beat.
Review: Royksopp declared their 2014 album The Inevitable End to be the last time they would release a traditional album, and after eight years they lived up to that promise this year with a new audio-visual approach titled Profound Mysteries. The first instalment appeared in April, while the second volume landed in late summer, and now they're underlining the project with this appropriately epic conclusion. Drawing on collaborators such as Alison Goldfrapp, Susanne Sundfor and Jamie Irrepressible, we get another 10 slices of glittering, melodious synth pop magic from one of the finest duos to do it.
The Aquatic Garden Of Extra-celestial Delights (11:40)
Juggling Molecules (9:16)
Further Adventures In Shpongleland (6:15)
The Epiphany Of Mrs Kugla (6:37)
Ticking The Amygdala (8:35)
Review: Sphongle continue to gift their fans with these exquisite reissues of their illustrious catalogue, catching up to more recent times with the richly dynamic sound of Museum Of Consciousness. This 2013 epic leant in on every dimension of Simon Ponsford and Raja Ram's sound, at once bristling with kinetic electronica energy while keeping their much-loved mysticism front and centre. It's a trip, like a Sphongle album should be, but it's also got a certain bite which more than stands up to the rigours of the modern dancefloor. One of the group's great skills has been in moving with the times while staying true to a certain deep-rooted, festival-friendly playfulness. Grab a slice of cosmic delight, freshly remastered for your brain to happily feast on.
Review: Canada may not shout as loud as the US, UK or Germany when it comes to electronic music, with the exception of Richie Hawtin perhaps, albeit frequently assumed he's American, and is actually part-British. Nevertheless, the larger North American state has a truly remarkable legacy in house, techno, ambient, and synth-y odds and sods.
It's proof the apple never falls far from the tree, given proximity to some of the bonafide birthplaces of those sounds - Chicago and Detroit. Edmonton's Khotin is indicative of the difficult to define tones that emanate from the Maple Leaf and its people. So much texture, pouring with emotion, and fundamentally born of new ideas, or at least different ways of thinking. Release Spirit, his third album on Michigan's Ghostly International, is thoughtful, intelligent, downtempo electronic stuff, crafted with love and attention to detail.
Review: British psy-trance oddity Sphongle have been traversing the highways and byways of transcendental music culture since the late 90s, and they remain as adored within the scene as ever. Their third album, Nothing Lasts - But Nothing Is Lost is considered one of their great opuses - a twisting and turning fever dream of exotic passages, mind-warping synthesis and lysergic grooves from the studios and brains of Simon Posford and Raja Ram. Split into 20 tracks, but supposedly formed of eight phases in a cohesive dream sequence, it's the ultimate trip, and it's finally getting a repress on vinyl via Posford's legendary Twisted Records, one of the true bastions of psy-trance culture.
Review: Electronic pop trailblazers, Royksopp, announce the second part to their expansive Profound Mysteries project, Profound Mysteries II. They declared their 2014 album The Inevitable End to be the last time they would release a traditional album, and after eight years they lived up to that promise this year with a new audio-visual approach titled Profound Mysteries. This second instalment of three is the andante-minuet of said electro-symphony, in which the band unveil a gargantuan selection of self-generated tunes, in contrast to the totally collaborative third part).
Review: David Shire has one hell of a back catalogue. Active within music since the 1960s, and specifically theatre and film soundtracks in the 1970s, while many of the biggest names behind movie scores have a tendency to explore the same avenues, and therefore wind up creating tunes for relatively similar flicks, in this case that's not really true. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (the original, of course), All The President's Men, and parts of Saturday Night Fever give some idea as to the breadth of his mastery.
The Conversation slips right in there in terms of period and genre, but is, of course, a very different classic to a movie about a New York subway train getting hijacked or social tensions in Brooklyn at the height of the disco era. While largely focused on piano solos, we also get late night dance floor jazz, tense drone, and moody avant-garde, just in case the on-screen action wasn't brooding enough already.
This Version Of You (feat Julianna Barwick) (2:33)
Wide Awake (feat Charlie Houston) (3:37)
Love Letter (feat The Knocks) (4:17)
Behind The Sun (4:22)
Forgive Me (feat Izzy Bizu) (3:31)
North Garden (2:59)
Better Now (feat MARO) (3:15)
The Last Goodbye (feat Bettye LaVette) (6:00)
All My Life (3:10)
Equal (feat Lapsley) (4:02)
Healing Grid (3:15)
I Can't Sleep (3:00)
Light Of Day (feat Olafur Arnalds) (6:42)
Review: Ninja Tune's Odesza return with a brand new album (and not to mention world tour), 'The Last Goodbye', owning their long-held standing in the progressive, ambient house netscene they occupy. Every end of musical history is traversed in this emotive future downtempo release; the title track is emblematic of this straddling, sampling and licensing an incredible old recording of soul vocalist Bettye LaVelle against a funking, flourishing instrumental backdrop.
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: You can never really pin down what the excellent Emotional Repose label does and that is exactly the sinking behind the title of its superb All Trades show on NTS. The sheer eclecticism of that show is now reflected in this new two-part compilation, also called All Trades, which offers up little morsels of what they do, something like a sonic tasting menu at a fancy restaurant. There is chugging electronic dub from Apiento & Tepper, industrial clatter from Black Bones, cosmic ambient breakbeat from Paperclip Minimiser and blissed out dub from Yamila & SoFa Elsewhere amongst many more highlights.
Hildur Gudnadottir: For Petra (Recording Session - orchestral) (8:44)
Hildur Gudnadottir: Tar: 2) Allegro (4:12)
Johnny Burke & Jimmy Van Hausen: Here's That Rainy Day (2:42)
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No 5 In C Sharp Minor: 1) Trauermarsch, 2) Sturmisch Bewegt & 4) Adagietto (Rehearsals) (7:44)
Edward Elgar: Cello Concerto In E Minor Op 85: 4) Allegro (Recording Session) (12:37)
Elisa Vargas Fernandez: Cura Mente (2:19)
Review: It's not often you get to talk about a classical supergroup. It's debatable whether the term supergroup really exists in the classical realm, although Tar, or, to use the full title, Tar (Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture) is probably as close as you'll get to proving that it does. Evidence is coming, so don't worry.
The work of Academy Award, two-time Grammy Award, and Primetime Emmy Award-winning Icelandic composer, cellist and general shapeshifter Hildur Ingveldardottir Gudnadottir (who has recorded with Throbbing Gristle and Pan Sonic, and toured alongside Sunn O))) and Animal Collective), she's only gone and blown the bloody doors off/drafted the Dresden Philharmonic, London Contemporary Orchestra, and London Symphony Orchestra for this incredible outing, which not only offers sublime tracks but glimpses of the record process itself.
Review: Romance with a capital 'R', as they say, ivory key doyen Gia Margaret returns with another spectacular and spellbinding collection of beautiful movements and pieces that sees her invoke a sense of peace, tranquility and solitude. Reflective arrangements that seem to straddle both a sense of loss, or at least melancholia, and acceptance and comfort in oneself. "I wanted to make music that was useful," Margaret says of the record. "Romantic Piano is curious, calming, patient and incredibly moving - but it doesn't overstay its welcome for more than a second." Running between fairytale like 'Sitting On The Piano' to the opiate, neo-pop of 'City Song', its a rare beast that can simultaneously feel tripped out and surreal, but also grounded in the world we are so luck to experience.
Review: The Disintegration Loops man William Basinski has linked up with acclaimed experimental composer Janek Schaefer for this new collaborative record on Temporary Residence Limited. What they cook up is a suite of very unassuming songs that are all dedicated to the late and great avant-garde composer Harold Budd. The record was eight years in the making and is as timeless as ambient gets with 42 minutes of gently undulating sonic terrain gently and quietly detailed with subtle skill and placid melodies. It is as beautiful as it is absorbing once you really give yourself over to the sounds.
Review: UK artist David Duncan recorded only one EP as Ability II and it recently got reissued and soon snapped up. Now, much to the delight of fans of the man behind the classic tune 'Pressure Dub' he is back. This album features an exclusive collection of tunes he made back in his heyday in the 90s, none of which were released at the time, and none of which you will have ever heard before anywhere. They feature his signature sound designs across seven cuts that sound as futuristic now as they ever could as they combine jacked-up house, techno and tech into scintillating and dub-weighted sounds for the club.
Eleven Thousand Six Hundred & Sixty-Nine Died Of Natural Causes (0:53)
They Leave Everything Behind (1:07)
They Fed The Sparrows Leftovers & Offered Grass To Scherfig's Turtle (2:32)
An Eiffel Tower By The Lakes (1:06)
Three Thousand Five Hundred & Ninety One Benches (1:42)
The Jewish Cemetery On Mollegade (2:36)
They Dream They'll Get There (1:20)
A Memorial Garden On Enghavevej (4:12)
A Six-Lane Highway (1:31)
He Hit Her On The Head With The Wind In The Willows (1:49)
He Says It's The Future (1:58)
There's No Harm Done (2:08)
They Had To Work It Out Between Them (1:04)
The Song About The Hyacinths (2:13)
It Will Take Some Time (1:42)
She Loves To Ride The Port Ferry When It Rains (2:54)
A French School On Vaernedamsvej (1:27)
Here, They Used To Build Ships (3:34)
They Imagine The City Growing Out Into The Ocean (4:28)
Review: Director Max Kestner's documentary film portrait Copenhagen Dreams is a tribute to the Danish capital. That also happened to be the place acclaimed composer Johann Johannsson was living at the time he was asked to score the movie. As always he does so with real aplomb and devastating emotionality. This now classic soundtrack features celestial keyboard sounds, emotive string quartets, clarinet, subtle electronic and plenty of melodic magic that both swells and breaks the heart. Academy Award winner Hildur Gudnadottir plays on the soundtrack with various other of Johann's favourite Icelandic talents.
This Version Of You (feat Julianna Barwick) (2:30)
Wide Awake (feat Charlie Houston) (3:42)
Love Letter (feat The Knocks) (4:11)
Behind The Sun (4:17)
Forgive Me (feat Izzy Bizu) (3:31)
North Garden (2:59)
Better Now (feat MARO) (3:09)
The Last Goodbye (feat Bettye LaVette) (6:06)
All My Life (2:58)
Equal (feat Lapsley) (4:13)
Healing Grid (3:13)
I Can't Sleep (3:04)
Light Of Day (feat Olafur Arnalds) (6:38)
Review: Ninja Tune's Odesza return with a brand new album as well as a massive world tour to match. 'The Last Goodbye' is another record to heighten the band's their long-held standing in the progressive and ambient house netscene they occupy. Every end of musical history is traversed in this emotive future downtempo release which sinks you into deep to its mellifluous world of sound. The title track is emblematic of this as it straddles, samples and licenses an incredible old recording of soul vocalist Bettye LaVelle against a funking, flourishing instrumental backdrop. It is one of the many gems that make this so essential.
Fullness Of My Heart (Tolouse Low Trax Scissor Jazz Hat mix) (8:11)
Disco (TBZ Weired Disco) (4:26)
Universal Sucker (3:54)
Moon Metal (7:42)
Review: Dusseldorf-based trio Folie 2 return on Themes For Great Cities to follow up their debut long-player from earlier this year. Eingriffe features yet more genre bending experimental pop by Gregor Darman, Marlene Kollender and Sebastian Welicki. Local legend Tolouse Low Trax kicks things off with his Scissor Jazz Hat mix of 'Fullness Of My Heart' before they get stuck into some low-slung cosmic funk on 'Disco' (TBZ Weired Disco) and on side B there's the neon-lit night moves of deep cut 'Universal Sucker'.
Review: Motor City great Omar S is not just a don when it comes to programming drums and laying down his irresistible synth lines and heart aching melodies. He can also play a wide array of instruments, and in fact does just that here as he plays all instruments played you can hear across all three cuts of this new one on his FXHE label. Things kick off with the wonderful 'Featuring Omar S (instrumental)' and then 'Sayoungaty Nig' is a hazy, lo-fi ambient sound with occasional synth smears and a barely-there rhythm implied by the odd kick drum sound. 'Featuring Omar S' is a signature deep house joint with bristling metal hi-hats, rickety drums and edgy drones that keep you on edge as more soulful chords rise up through the mix.
Southern Coastline (Jack Lever Northern mix) (4:05)
Southern Coastline (Inhmost Coastal mix) (6:27)
Southern Coastline (Synkro remix) (5:39)
Review: Inspired by "slow and quiet life on the southern coasts of England", the debut from CVOIA - a new collaboration between producers and Captured Visions label founders Adam O'Hara and Tom Parker - offers gorgeously lolloping, lazy beats and expansive, cinematic orchestration. There's the brittle, slow motion breakbeats and woozy instrumentation of the duo's original, then remixes from four of their favourite acts: Awakened Souls, Inhmost, Jack Lever and Synkro. All the tracks are about as strenuous as an afternoon on the beach, and equally nourishing, with Synkro's rich, synth-soaked near-ambient mix a dramatic, undisputed highlight. Jack Lever's Northern Mix, meanwhile, wouldn't sound out of place nestled somewhere in Mo'Wax's first dozen or so releases. High praise indeed, but much deserved.
Review: With a string of soundtrack credits as long as your proverbial arm, it's no surprise Yellow Magic Orchestra man Ryuichi Sakamoto was top of the list when it came to scoring this "sumptuous romantic melodrama" from director Ann Hui. This is his first score for a Chinese film, however, and he pulls out the emotional stops to betray the tense, tumultuous stirrings going on beneath the surface of tight lipped manners and suppressed feelings. Many of the themes are explored through simple piano playing before returning in the form of complex string arrangements, a clever trick that proves Sakamoto was worthy of his Best Original Film Score prize at the 40th Hong Kong Film Awards for this work.
Review: The Lower Lights is well known as one of the most emotionally potent ambient records of recent years. It is a collection of 10 tunes from a busy period in which 36 undertook a year-long 'Audio Diary' project. The sounds are immediate and direct, demanding of your full focus and a mix of dark and urgent, cyberpunk-inspired and emotionally charged ambient sounds that bring all new thinking to the genre. Nice work.
Review: Ryuichi Sakamoto has penned many soundtracks over the years, but few are as stirring, tender and emotionally laden as his soundtrack to 2021 Chinese movie 'Love After Love'. The film is described as an "erotic romance drama" set in the 1930s, about a young woman who travels to Hong Kong to further her education, but ends up working for her aunt, seducing "rich and powerful men". Sakamoto's score mirrors the unfurling, highly emotive drama, using reverb-laden piano pieces and string-laden orchestral movements to wring maximum emotion from each scene. It's a brilliant score all told and undoubtedly one of the former Yellow Orchestra Man's greatest works for cinema - and that's saying something!
Per Enrico, Riccardo E Roberto (alternative take) (1:12)
Review: This exclusive Record Store Day Limited Edition of Ennio Morricone's score to The Blue-eyed Bandit has been restored and remastered from the original tapes, preserved in the historical CAM Sugar archives. It is the first time the soundtrack has been released on vinyl since its original release in 1982, and quite possibly the only chance to listen to the genius of Morricone engaging with the world of jazz. He was famously suspicious of jazz improvisation, yet let his musicians be free in this setting, allowing them to add their solos to the original structure. The band featured his friend and collaborator Enrico Pieranunzi on piano, drummer Roberto Gatto and double bassist Riccardo Del Fra.
Review: Sexo Y Fantasia previously released one EP of brilliantly eccentric music on Glossy Mistakes - in the press release accompanying their debut album, Oneirotic, they're described as a 'Belgian-Italian aural freak show', a fantastic description in anyone's book. It's certainly an inspired, hard-to-pigeonhole set that sees them cloak sparse, shuffling rhythms, tongue-in-cheek spoken word vocals, sun-splashed synth-sounds, baked acid lines and memorable melodies in plenty of delay and reverb. It's a little bit Balearic, a touch new wave, and undeniably quirky. As you can see, we're struggling to accurately describe it, but the key thing is that it's really good - one of the most imaginative, entertaining and off-kilter albums we've heard in 2022.
Would You Like A Vampire (feat Bridget St John) (8:01)
Storm Rips Banana Tree (19:33)
Review: CS + Kreem have a hard job on their hands to follow up the magnificent Snoopy but they do it admirably with Orange. This is another intriguing album on The Trilogy Tapes that pairs suspenseful emptiness with fresh instrumental interjections, creepy spoken words with atmospheric found sounds to make for an album that is part sound collage, part experimental rhythms and part ambient storytelling. Acoustic guitars, nervy cellos, tentative xylophones, woozy flutes and lazy drum sounds all colour the airwaves in this most deep, compelling and pensive of records.
Review: Past Inside the Present, Healing Sound Propagandist and Fallen Moon Recordings mark an outstanding year with Past/Present 2024, a new three-hour compilation that spans serene ambience, deep drone and experimental sounds. Featuring scene legends like 36, bvdub, ASC and James Bernard alongside talents like Slow Dancing Society and Black Swan and rising artists such as Innesti and Angela Winter, the collection captures a rich blend of modern ambient music and showcases just how strong these imprints are. Opening with a 71-minute live mix by LA's Inquiri, this compilation has been curated by label founder Zach Frizzell aka zake and highlights like T.R. Jordan's 'Swapped' and Black Swan's 'Perhaps We Never Were' making a lasting impression.
Review: Past Inside the Present label head and ambient powerhouse zake aka Zach Frizzell has collaborated with several of his renowned peers over the years, not least From Overseas aka Kevin Sery and James Bernard. Their collaborative album Flint showcases them all their peak with an immersive blend of their own sounds making for a rich soundscape full of subtle depth and warmth. Beginning with 'Conifer,' the record evokes autumn's crisp air with understated drones and field recordings while the title track layers electronics, bass and guitar into a lush, Fripp & Eno-inspired sound. Together with other widescreen standouts like 'Fir' and 'Thistle' they create a beautifully cohesive and reflective ambient trip.
Review: Mike Lazarev drops his first album on Past Inside the Present and it's one that reminds us why he has such a great reputation as being one of modern ambient and classical's finest composers. After exploring notions of time on previous records, for this one, he embraces the here and now and that lends itself to a record steeped in mindfulness and meditation. As such, Sacred Tonalities is a perfect accompaniment to introspective moments with textural soundscapes placing you at the centre of them. The harmonics range from soft to gritty, the moods occasionally hint at trance and the layers of bass, piano and arps bring subtle and ever-shifting rhythms.
Review: Past Inside The Present has really gone to town with the re-release of this 36 album The Lower Lights: it comes in several different formats and vinyl versions with this one being a limited, numbered and opaque red vinyl including a download code. Musically it is just as essential as a collection of tracks from a year-long 'Audio Diary' project undertaken by 36 between April 2018 and April 2019. It first came back in May 2019 and soon sold out, such is the quality of the vibrant and eclectic ambient sounds within. This is not sleep-inducing background material, but rather emotionally charged soundscaping with a mix of dark, futuristic and urgent pieces all making the cut.
Review: Dark Entries returns with Remote Dreaming, the ambient masterpiece by The Ghostwriters aka Philadelphia duo Buchla master Charles Cohen and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Cain, with proceeds benefitting SOSA (Safe from Online Sex Abuse). Formed in 1971 as Anomali, the duo adopted their Ghostwriters moniker and blended improvisation with structured composition. Following their debut Objects in Mirrors Are Closer Than They Appear, they crafted Remote Dreaming over nine months across various studios. Cain played electric and acoustic pianos, the Juno 106, and the Mirage sampler, while Cohen used his Buchla 200 Series. This double LP has been freshly remastered and includes five additional tracks, four of which are previously unreleased.
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