Affin Germany Schallplatten & CDs

Review: German pair Markus Guentner and Joachim Spieth rightly got plenty of acclaim for their 2023 ambient album Overlay and now it gets revisited with a top selection of remixes that breathe new life into the original compositions. Prominent ambient and experimental artists such as Hollie Kenniff, Rafael Anton Irisarri and Pole all show their class while newer names like Abul Mogard smears synths into a misty wonder on 'Scope', Galan/Vogt layer in angelic vocal tones to 'Valenz' and Leandro Fresco brings a lightness of touch that fills with optimism on opener 'Apastron. Guentner and Spieth themselves provide two alternate versions of their originals that bring new emotional and sonic depth.

Review: Finish dub techno powerhouse Joachim Spieth welcomes UK artist Rhubiqs to his well-regarded Affin label for a debut appearance that sinks you into a widescreen world of ambient lushness. His Aegis of Silence album takes cues from divergent sounds like post-rock and soft ambient as well as drone and even modern classical. It's an ever-shifting soundscape with smeared pads and nostalgia dreams, half-remembered thoughts and a sense of mood that ranges from escapist and blissed out to more ominous and paranoid.

Review: Affin Records label head and long-time techno maker and sound designer Joachim Spieth is back with a new album project called Retrace. It is one that finds him blending dub with ambient electronics into seven "complex, aqueous soundscapes" packed with great textures and crystalised melodies. Opener 'Recall' sets a fine tone for the record then 'Shine' sinks into hazy and lo-fi static-laced tundras, 'Longing' is delicious dub techno from the bottom of the ocean and 'Drain' follows suit but with a little more propulsion. Many more such tracks follow on what is an intriguing album full of evocative narratives and heady pads.

Review: A cross-hemispheric exchange gave rise to Nocturna, the first collaboration between New Zealand composer Andrew Thomas and German sound artist Joachim Spieth - the former's first for Affin after long-held stints Kompakt. Beginning with Thomas's piano sketches, composed during a Southern Hemisphere summer, the material was passed to Spieth just as light returned to the North. A subtle transformation ensued; Spieth preserved the piano's fragile warmth as its edges came sculpted across ambient textures and restrained sound design. A peek-a-boo of presence and absence is scripted, where each decision to withhold a note feels as resonant as those included. Clipped reverb gargantuans contrast to crystal clear piano scales on our favourites, 'Lumina' and 'Amethyst'.

Review: Long-time European techno innovator Joachim Spieth has hooked up with Agustin Mena aka Warmth for a debut collaborative album that blends their shared love for expansive soundscapes and atmospheric compositions. Warmth is the Spanish ambient producer who is also behind the SVLBRD alias so these two know a thing or two about how to get the most out of their machines and so they prove here across an album of seven immersive tracks. They are rife with organic textures and evoke a sense of space and timeless longing, all with a gently persuasive sense of movement.