Review: DJ Panthr is the "shadow self" (or, as we'd put it, alternative alias) of Hunter P Thompson, better known for his genre-bending ambient house and ambient techno releases as Akasha System. 100% Silk describes 'Jade District' as a 'technoid night ride inspired by the fern-shoruded neon streets' of South Tabor in his home city of Portland. It's an atmospheric and fairly accurate description all told, with Thompson combining his usual dreamy chords and colourful sonics with grooves and musical motifs more often associated with electro, acid, sci-fi techno, 'Artificial Intelligence' style IDM and hypnotic dub techno. What unites it all, aside from the colourful stylishness of the whole thing, is a pervasive sense of loved-up, wide-eyed tactility.
Review: Trying to figure out exactly when you'll stick on the soundtrack to Game of Thrones Season 7 isn't easy. But that's not to say Rabin Djawadi's epic score isn't something to behold. From the word go, this is adventurous stuff, rooted in classical but clearly inspired by visions of fantastical beasts, mythical lands and legendary quests. You almost feel like Cersei Lannister or Jon Snow or Daenerys Targaryen are about to knock on for their dinner. Like pretty much everything the Iranian-German film and TV composer touches - Clash of the Titans, Warcraft, Iron Man - there's little here you'd describe as subtle or understated. Even the more sweeping overtures sound like they were born for grand concert halls. So, providing you have the space at home, go for it.
Review: There really is no stopping Ramon Djawadi. The German films score composer, conductor and producer has given us a number of very high profile soundtracks since he first began working professionally in the late-1990s, with the past decade seeing him rise to real prominence. Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, Clash of the Titans, Pacific Rim, Iron Man, Prison Break, Jack Ryan, and a number of video games (Medal of Honor, Gears of War 4 and 5) all feature his name in their credits. Here we are with Westworld Season 3, then, another huge addition to his oeuvre, both in terms of the status of the TV show and the tracks on the record itself. From woozy string overtures we can only imagine complemented death or redemption scenes, to rough and ready metal and hard rock ('Moto'), huge percussive cinematic climaxes ('Start A Revolution') and lush ambient ('Caleb'). Simply put, this is epic sounding stuff.
Review: In the third instalment of Whispers of an Ancient World, the legend that is DMX KREW brings his personal vision to Jorge Luis Borges's story The Library of Babel. Inspired by Borges's universe, DMX KREW explores the library as both a physical and symbolic space and one that houses the vast sum of human knowledge. This library is far from static; it's alive, buzzing with activity and guarded by librarians who are also seekers each interpreting the infinite knowledge within its endless hexagonal rooms. Outside of the concept, the tunes are superbly cinematic, with narrative-field ambient soundscapes and deft synth modulations all triggering plenty of emotional responses.
Review: Veteran electrohead and former artist on the Rephlex Records roseter DMX Krew's Ed DMX takes the well-known story by Jorge Luis Borges of The Library of Babel, said to contain all the different languages of the earth. Some deep philosophical thought has gone into the album's concept, but we'll leave that to Ed to explain. Instead, we'll tell you that from beginning to end there's plenty of the kind of trademark 80s synth playfulness in evidence, with a generally more mellow and soundtrack-related rather than frenetic and dancefloor-filling vibe in evidence, even on faster tracks like 'The Combed Thunderclap'. Still, Ed knows what he's doing when it comes to this kind of leftfield electro gear, and it's a rewarding, never boring listen.
Review: Recorded during a year in which Sholto Dobie spent time in Vietnam, Sweden and Lithuania, 23 lands on Infant Tree and finally lets us know what a full length album from one of the foremost avant-electronic ambient contemporaries would sound like. A startling debut, albeit one that you don't really feel startled by, more absorbed and elevated, it's an amalgamation of tone, noise, and sound, led by compressed air, tubes, reeds, flutes and timers. Physical instrumentals and things that create a tangible sense of space and place. Born in Edinburgh, but now based in Vilnius - a European hotbed of musical innovation, from throbbing techno to weirdo - 23 distills a number of factors into its immersive whole. In some moments, it's as though signals are being picked up from the deepest corners of our known universe. In others, we feel the intimacy of humanity gathered around sacred fires, the near-silence of our world amid vast emptiness beyond.
Review: To say Philippe Doray and his Asociaux Associes finished the 1970s with creative fervour would be an understatement. First we had 1976's Ramasse-Miettes Nucleaires, then two years after that there was the equally potent Nouveaux Modes Industriels. Both were heralded as ahead of their time, at the time, bringing together strange, otherworldly pop, spacey prog, prototypes of Krautrock and impassioned poetry. Le Composant Compositeur followed, and in their own words marked the beginning of a new era in the 'Antisocial Associates' project (to use the English translation). It's a marvellous addition to the collection, too, a series of sharp, edgy, mutant pop tracks, weirdo brass experimentation, compressed electro, dubby ideas, and twisted, acid-spiked fairground themes.
Review: There are some names that genuinely fill you with excitement the moment you even catch wind they've been back in the studio. Dorian Concept is one of them. Revisiting his collaborative project with the Swiss Museum for Electronic Music Instruments for a second outing on the OUS label he runs, the rather logically-titled Music From A Room Full of Synths was inspired by a ten day period in which the artist basically immersed himself in different noise-making machines. Coming out the other end determined to continue down the unplanned, unrehearsed, loose and spontaneous path, his collection was made off-the cuff, as it were, completely live and without sequencing or programming. As you would hope, then it's almost like nothing you've really heard before - jazz, electronica, downtempo, brass-stabbed, freeform, strange and stunning.
Review: Vienna's Johannes Auvinen, aka Tin Man, and Mexico City's Gabo Barranco, aka AAAA, make up DOVS. Their second album together moves in the direction of retro aesthetics, harking back to a time where charting the "out-there" psychogeographic terrains of life might have been simpler. Billed as a "strictly ambient" affair - contrasting to their last collaborative record Silent Cities, and its dance focus - this quaint synth-driven LP is demonstrates how one might use melody and gear-born timbre to flesh out an open, point-blank theme. From allusions to architectural design to nature to the Islamic philosopher Rumi, this record is a soft-spoken yet eloquent dalliance with simplicity, inviting us listeners to step out into the open.
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: Olof Dreijer and Mt. Sims combine their singular sonic minds for Souvenir, an intense and experimental five-track album via Rabid Records. It is centered around the lush harmonic sounds of the steel drum and comes years after the pair first worked together with Planningtorock on the Tomorrow, In A Year album. This project was commissioned by the SFOTE organisation from Trinidad/New York who asked them to make use of a drum made by Trinidad-based legend Ellie Mannette. Over ten years they have developed their own musical language from the drum, always remaining conscious of its colonial history and how it has been so often stereotyped in the West. It is fair to say what they do with it is truly original.
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