Ambient / Drone Recommendations November 2015

Review: Oh Lord! These days there are even reissues of albums from a few years back on different labels! That just shows the state we're in right now: everybody's just vinyl hungry. Imre Kiss' 2013 cassette excursion on Farbwechsel, the aptly named Midnight Wave, is given the vinyl treatment by London powerhouse Lobster Theremin, and the artwork has been given a good makeover, too. Many of you are probably familiar with the release already, but this is the perfect joint if you're looking for house music that spans onto the bizarre and the abstract; you'll find nine tracks of meditative dancefloor delight and, as Ron Morelli would label it, it's certainly club music for shut ins. For fans of everything from Opal Tapes to Berceuse Heroique.

Review: Recorded last year at Rome's contemporary art museum, MAXXI is as graceful and noble as the environment in which it was created. "Intro" sets the tone for this work with its understated pulses and chilling synths. This leads into the deeper, more textured depths of "Sonia Danza" and the aptly named "Dreamscape Generation", which features warbling streams and rivulets of sound, squelches and chatter, like a moist riverbank on a spring morning. "Orange Steps" and "Scintille" are serene and more reflective, after this veritable flurry of musical activity. The release finishes with "Max", a cover of a piece by Italian composer Paolo Conte, but its chimes and layered textures are unmistakably Neel and Dozzy's.

Review: A man of many aliases, Ulf Schutte has at times been Alien Radio, Diamond Lemonade and Shivers as well as this current project Phantom Horse. Appearing on the ever-excellent Mexico City label Umor Rex, he delivers an engrossing album of engaging, dynamic synthwave business after last dropping an LP for Dekoder back in 2012. Different Forces stands out from the crowd for its clearly produced layers of interweaving synthesisers, swerving percussion in favour of undulating basslines and cascading top end to create the well-defined rhythms. It wouldn't be right to call this an ambient release, but rather it exists in the intriguing hinterland between beat-driven electronica and more abstract, esoteric fare, and it sounds all the stronger for it.

Review: There is only one king when it comes to ambient and drone sculptures, and his name is Tim Hecker. The American producer is, and always has been, an outside thinker, through and through, breathing life and surrealism into his minimal sonic landscapes. By now, Hecker has released numerous albums and LP's on many different imprints, but in the last few years he's chosen to be sparing with what he puts out. This latest slab of wax from the man is actually a reissue, two tunes that have already been released on Australia's Room40, that is "Norberg" and "Apondalifa", respectively. The former is a deep and melancholic gust of crystalline ambient walls, while the latter filters in sparse and loose guitar strings into the airy sonics circling the air. Both are true masterpieces of the genre, and they're the perfect soundtracks to just chill out to. Recommended.

Review: Earthen Sea goes by the name of Jacob Long when he's out of the studio, and out in the real world. This is for good reason, too, as his alias is just about as dreamy and hazy as one can get without taking a heavy load of tranquillisers. He's back on Ital's Lover's Rock label - the man himself has featured on Workshop, just in case you didn't know - with eight pieces of foolproof electronic psychedelia. "Entrance" sets the seen with cinematic drones, and opens up the doors to a rugged and loose collection of pseudo house tracks. Not really for the dancefloor, but equally not tame enough to be listened to on headphones, Earthen Sea's mood is energetic yet melancholic. Ambient and abstraction is mixed up with steely percussion, and locked grooves. We love this stuff, it's for the dreamers...

Review: Canada's Scott Morgan has been making cinematic soundscapes on the Kranky label for almost fifteen years now, and while others at the time were focussing on dancefloors and beats, this guy was in a world of his own, one that's become more and more popular in recent years. "Plume", his fourth album from 2006, is here released for the first time on vinyl, and it's a truly visceral experience, where Morgan's use of sonics and distortion is manipulated into giving an impression of electricity and industrial power. "Rorscach", for instance, feels like a shot of static running through your body and mind, and both "Steam" and "Bellows" are surrounded by a layer of fuzz, while still retaining a rich musicality and instrumentation. It's a 'zone-out' album, and it's the perfect kind of score for your more meditative hours. Excellent stuff.

Review: Multidisciplinary artist Philip Jeck releases his twelfth album on the legendary Touch imprint. The album features revised recordings from London, New Jersey, Athens and Krems over the last few years. The shorter compositions featured being more recent works completed in his own Liverpool studio. There are some truly haunting yet breath taking moments captured here such as on the chilling, near glacial feeling soundscapes of "Bend The Knee Part 1..." and "...Bend The Knee Part 5" and "Station View" taken from Octopus Collective's Full Of Noise Festival in 2014. Highly recommended.

Review: Sunn 0)))) mainman and one half on KTL Stephen O'Malley is back with more of his signature darkside atmospherics, but this time focusing more on modular synthesis in a commission for the score of Paris based choreographer Gisele Vienne's performance. The haunting yet seductive soundtrack also features the efforts of Steve Moore, Daniel O'Sullivan, Peter Rehberg, Jesse Sykes, Bill Herzog & Randall Dunn. The sounds of metal tearing through ice, reverberating through the hall and accompanied by the most haunting and, quite figuratively; chilling instrumentation suited to such a concept.