Juno Recommends Ambient / Drone: November 2022

Review: "The Box" is a collection of the earliest and perhaps most cherished recordings by UK producer Dennis Huddleston, better known as 36. Written between 2005 and 2012, it compiles the albums Hypersona (2009), Hollow (2010) and Lithea (2012) into a 6LP boxset, alongside a bonus LP of exclusive and unreleased tracks titled Orphans. Originally written as a triptych, The Box showcases an incredibly eclectic, deeply emotional range of tracks, bridged together by that optimistic melancholy, which has since become the hallmark of the 36 sound.

Review: Though he was already in our top 10, 'Foreverandevernomore' might just be the album that makes Brian Eno one of electronic music's top 5 greats. Reflecting on the conundrum that is Earth's increasingly precarious climate, it for the first time ever features Eno singing on nearly every one of the featuring 10 tracks. Briefly, we need to fall in love again, but this time with Nature, with Civilization and with our hopes for the future, opines Eno. The sonic manifestation of this is a blue, metallic drone album that pits influences as far back as Greek mythology against those as modern as aviation, sonically reconciling old and new.

Review: Anyone who's cast even the most casual eye over their ever expanding catalogue will have realised that one thing Past Inside The Present do best is bring artists together for unexpected and inspired collaborations. Departing in Descent is the first collaboration between James Bernard and Bvdub but their creative conversation effectively started as far back as 1994 when the latter bought Bernard's Atmospherics album in 1994 when it was "mistakenly stocked" in his local house music store. He says it was and remains his favourite ambient album, so when the pair found themselves crossing paths for one night in LA years later, a collaboration was the only logical conclusion. The results are more organic and friendly on the ear than some ambient offerings, with real instrumentation meshed with walls of woozy synths and delays, but no less fantastical and ambitious for it.

Review: For fans of downtempo electronica and deep techno, the renewed activity from enigmatic Scottish producer Pub has been a welcome treat in recent years. Seminal releases have been reissued, including 2000's Summer 12", and now we appear to have a logical follow-up in the form of Autumn. It's not clear whether this is an archival dig or something freshly brewed, but it shimmers and dances with the same vitality that has always marked out Pub's music as something truly special. There's a joyous lilt to the melodic composition here, but not without that melancholic undercurrent which has always defined the emotional impact of Pub's considered, elegant take on home-listening electronics.

Review: With a split title like this there's a very good chance you already know what to expect. A minute or so into the opener, 'Shishi-Odishi', or 'Poly-Time Soundscapes', and the titular number certainly lives up to those presumptions. It's that warm, floating-on-bubbles in a bath of ether kind of ambient that really soaks through the ears and mind, radiating calm and inner beauty.

From there the vibe continues on similar tangents. 'African Buddhist Temple' is more of a minimalist affair, giving us a central tone to latch onto while the melodies lilt, shift, dissipate and re-emerge. 'Miyadaiku (Forest of the Shrine)' ditches the watery atmosphere for something fittingly wooden, long refrains contrasting simple, loosely-tempo'd percussive elements. We could go on, but ultimately there's only one thing to take from this babble: listen to this and life's problems feel far less urgent.

Review: Apparently concerned with humankind's relationship with nature, arguably the most fraught and sadly toxic love affair in the history of love affairs, like a passionate obsession that long-since turned nasty and really at least one party should kick the other out to save themselves, Terrain is Joachim Spieth's fourth long form release on his own celebrated Affin label.

An imprint that's always had a reputation for both grand techno and deep ambient, this eight track offering is firmly camped in the latter, although the ingredients here are similar to those you might hear on dance floor work. Deep and mysterious, oozing atmosphere and - fittingly - a variety of sonic textures, while there's an expanse of sound happening it's also very intimate stuff. Best heard in the dark, basically.

Review: Unfurled Works is a collection of back-catalogue zake tracks that have been lengthened for this new cassette, which is a slow-moving cascade of ambiance that washes over you in a delightful fashion. It's an album of frayed edges and lo-fi production, of dream-like haziness and heart-warming subtlety. The five carefully layered tracks on it slowly and stylish shift from one to another with meditative pads and organic drones that are gently peppered with sombre keys. Some pieces are light and airy, others are more moody and heavy, and all of them are perfect for daydreaming and re-setting your mood. Silence takes on all new potency and the beauty of the barely-there grows ever more striking.

Review: The life and times of Delia Derbyshire continue to be a fascination for anyone with even a passing interest in electronic music. And rightly so, for she was at the vanguard of music technology working in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Silva Screen are committed to presenting her pioneering works with the due reverence and ceremony they deserve, and so it goes for the two pieces of incidental music she composed in the 1960s, pressed onto this beautifully packaged gatefold 7". A-side piece 'The Delian Mode' has become something of a byword for Derbyshire's work, and listening to this record, there's nothing else in musical history quite like it.