Echospace US

Review: It's been five years since Echospace man Stephen Hitchell donned the Phase90 alias for "Infinitati", a suitably dark and dubbed-out debut album that remains one of his most mesmerizing releases. All these years on, he's decided to rework three of the album's most potent tracks under one of his other aliases, Intrusion. The heart of the EP is undoubtedly his A-side "Possession Dub" of "Vinci", a quiet, contemplative and effortless spacey dub techno revision that bubbles away for almost 16 minutes. He switches focus on the B-side opening "Remake" of "Infinitati", re-imagining the track as a cloudy and slowly pulsing ambient soundscape, before offering up a "Metamorphose" revision of "Ango" that's as deep and ambient as dub techno gets.

Review: For some reason, the world's foremost ambient explorers have always been prolific. Take the sadly departed Pete Namlook, who released 10 albums in 1994 alone. Brock Van Wey is cut from similar cloth. It was only last week that he delivered an album under his BVDub pseudonym; here, he returns to his given name for a similarly tactile, two-CD voyage into the world of beatless dreamscapes. The Namlook comparisons are understandable; like the once mighty German, Van Wey specializes in creating sprawling pieces based around gradual shifts in long, drawn out chords, slowly shifting melodies (check the Satie-inspired "Can't Go Home Without You"), delay-laden instruments and epic atmospherics. When he gets it right - as he does on Home - there are few greater exponents of the art of ambient.

Review: Originally released back in 2009, Brock Van Wey's debut album White Clouds Drift On & On gets a long-overdue vinyl edition, coming across a hefty 4 slabs of marbled grey and white wax. A masterpiece of ambient at the time of its release, its power has not diminished in the years that have followed, its freeform compositions having a personal and emotional resonance that many of his peers lack. Also included is the companion Intrusion Interpretation, in which Echospace's Intrusion reworks the entire thing into a mammoth dub techno opus. Essential for connoisseurs of ambient and dub techno alike.