Back in stock: Ambient/Drone

Review: Italian techno heavyweight Claudio PRC's fifth album, Self Surrender, is a meditative dive into self-acceptance that comes on Amsterdam's long-running and always top-notch Delsin Records. Claudio delivers a fluid narrative across an exploration of tasteful ambient, dub, minimal house and deep techno here, and it opens with some absorbing introspection before gradually shifting into more kinetic territory. It is driven by pulsing kicks, dreamy textures, acid flourishes and ghostly strings as a refined blend of techno and house sounds all coalesce with the signature depth Claudio has honed over years of his craft. Self Surrender closes on an ethereal note, which encapsulates its core message of letting go.

Review: Richard Fearless, London-based DJ and producer, returns with a daring reinvention of his electronic vision, delivering an unpolished, analogue-driven techno masterpiece. Stripping away any semblance of commercial sheen, he dives headfirst into a world of disintegration and overload, where every track feels like it's teetering on the edge of collapse. Drawing on his deep affinity for the rough textures of underground techno, the work channels influences ranging from the industrial growl of Ramleh to the acidic pulse of TM404, with moments that recall the claustrophobic minimalism of Mika Vainio and the haunting drones of Loop. Fearless is unafraid of pushing boundaries, his machinesifed by years of use and a tangled web of circuitryiemitting strange, almost sentient sounds, as if alive in their own right. What emerges is an album that doesn't simply reflect the artist's influences, but speaks with a distinct, personal voice. Tracks like 'While My Machines Gently Weep' and 'Death Mask' bear the hallamrks of live takes and dub-inspired mixing, creating a haunting, almost otherworldly quality, the machine noise blending with echoes of the past. Fearless has long been obsessed with dub and here, he allows its principles to guide him, distilling decades of musical history into something that feels deeply present. A vivid portrait of an artist grappling with his own sonic ghosts and the fractured landscape of modern dance music, it's quite the spectacular.

Review: Brian Eno and Beatie Wolfe join forces on a dual release infusing two distinct musical visions rooted in shared environmental concern. Their new joint release unfolds across two sides, with Luminal offering a vocal-led collection leaning into alt-pop ambiances and timbres, before Lateral rears itself in counterpart as a seamless ambient composition, making up a study in contrast and connection. Recorded in London, the project reflects Eno's lifelong exploration of mood and atmosphere, alongside Wolfe's ongoing push to blur the lines of digital innovation and tactile experience. The project builds the activist art works of Wolfe, a British-American concept artist based in Los Angeles, named by WIRED as one of "22 people changing the world," and tracks the expression of music beyond language or form.

Review: Green-House is the handiwork of Olive Ardizoni, who finds a sympathetic ear in Leaving Records for her delicate, pastoral strains of ambient reflection. Rather than being static, these are charmingly alive pieces that quiver with sensitivity and plaintive melodies that suggest some inspiration from the iconic Mort Garson record composed for houseplants. If you enjoyed that wobbly ride through sweet-natured synth refrains, you'll love this album too as it interweaves warm tones around bucolic field recordings. This comes highly recommended - a record that leaves you feeling nourished after listening.

Review: Back in 2011, Liz Harris - better known under her artistic alias Grouper - released a pair of albums under the "AIA" banner. The first, "Dream Loss", has already been reissued; here, they offer up the second, "Alien Observer". It partly explores similar sonic territory, where distant-sounding recordings of Harris' voice, synths and evocative guitars are smothered in reverb, field recordings and noise, but also includes a few sharper, more defined moments. Amongst these, we'd suggest checking the sublime title track, a beautifully becalmed and spaced-out fusion of Harris' vocals and delay-laden guitar arpeggio scales, and closer "Come Softly", an even more beautiful and minimalist piece that's nothing less than stunning.

Review: With Heilun, Hyldipi makes a stunning debut on ambient powerhouse Past Inside The Present by presenting seven meditative compositions shaped by his native Iceland's raw, introspective beauty. Crafted entirely with guitar and minimal hardware, each track feels like a gentle conversation with nature, ephemeral and soul-soothing. From the delicate strums of 'Opnun' to the deep serenity of 'Hvild,' the album flows like glacial melt, patient and healing. 'Fadmur' blooms with aching emotion, while 'Kyrrd' closes the journey in subaquatic calm. This is ambient music for deep listening-an improvised, transcendental escape into stillness, where the ego dissolves and all that remains is presence and peace.

Review: French composer Jean-Michel Jarre, world renowned for pioneering electronic music on a grand scale, emerges here in his formative years, already pushing at the edges of sound. Created in 1972 while working at the Groupe de Recherches Musicales, this early studio project captures a young innovator experimenting with an EMS VCS3 and a Farfisa organ. Tracks like 'Music Box Concerto' and 'Synthetic Jungle' weave eerie melodies into mechanical rhythms, while 'Rain Forest Rap Session' and 'Exasperated Frog' embrace playful abstraction. Jarre himself called it a "pirate record," assembled in his student room and smuggled from GRM's studios after hours. A raw, unfiltered glimpse into his early creative instincts, it foreshadows the expansive, cinematic style that would later define his career.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


Still riding high from the success of his superb re-make of Manuel Gottsching on Test Pressing ('A Reference to E2-E4'), Alex Kassian returns to Pinchy & Friends - who released his similarly popular 2021 EP 'Leave Your Life' - after a three-year break. Beginning with the lusciously languid, Balearic, effects-laden and sonically layered title track ('Body Singer', where Jonny Nash style guitars and tumbling sax motifs rise above a sparse drum machine beat and shoegaze-esque aural textures), the Berlin-based producer offers up a loved-up mix of weightless ambient bliss (Kinship), kosmiche soundscapes (the sun-flecked 'Skinship'), revivalist Krautrock (the Can-after-several-spliffs headiness of 'Trippy Gas') and immersive, cinematic excusions (the gorgeous 'Mirror of the Heart').

Review: Hadley Roe is a UK-based artist whose debut album on peerless ambient label Past Inside The Present adds up to a healing sonic journey crafted with electric guitar, synths and software trickery. Themes are drawn from Roe's personal struggles with mental health, trauma and isolation so make for sounds that blend melancholy, bliss and moments of calm and comfort. Take the serene 'The First Day' or the evolving 'No One Ever Touched Me Before You' - both are hugely emotive and absorbing for the way they patiently unfurl. Roe's ability to express herself through intuitive, wordless music is truly standout.

Review: Sleepdial's debut for West Mineral is a mesmerising dive into ambient dub that blurs the lines between vaporous texture and low-end weight. Across nine tracks, the producer crafts smudged soundscapes rich with submerged rhythms and fractal echoes while evoking the spirit of early Pole or Vladislav Delay. Tracks like 'Icarus Rising' and 'Blue August' balance sensual warmth with dubwise grit and maintain a steady pulse through dreamy abstraction. This vinyl-first release feels both aquatic and etheric, with dub used as a method of spatial exploration. It is seriously hypnotic and emotionally nuanced, so is a strong statement from a promising new voice in ambient electronics.

Review: Switzerland and Britain collide on the latest Mental Groove-facilitated collaboration between Sonic Boom and Sinner DC. An ambient record first laid to tape in 2013 to accompany live performances at the Festival La Batie in Switzerland, this six-track LP edition is but one half of a wider audiovisual experience, inspired by the idea of the limits of representation. Already building on both artists' trilling cross-sectional work in ambient ethertronica and shoegaze, this album pairs with visuals generated by Dutch artist Space Is Green using a modified ZDoom game engine.