Kranky Us Schallplatten & CDs

Review: A curveball for the ambient artist, 'No Highs' represents the longtime Tim Hecker's focus on the present state of the world. Compared to the textural blissouts of his earlier work, the clue for the meaning of this album is in the title. 'No Highs' is rather bleak and unsettling, reflecting the polluted and chaotic state of many parts of the world - all of it if we continue on the same path. Hecker's usual sonics are replaced with distortion, noise and dissonance, using electronics, saxophone and strings. Not intended to soothe or distract, as is often assumed with much 'ambient music', this is an album that succeeds in confronting and challenging instead.

Review: A fresh, atmospheric sound is proferred by South Carolina singer and producer Nancy Blues in the form of her latest vinyl LP Exit Simulation, in which she cuts through the intertwined hazes of childhood memory and personal psychogeography to produce a veritably ultra-ambient dust cloud of sound in 13 tracks. At its core, the album trickles faintly forth from the watershed that is neo-soul - multi-layering her voice; harmonizing; pitting honest, raw rimshots-n'-crackles against contemporary stylistic cornerstones like lo-fi and night-bussy ambient electronica - all to evoke, convincingly, the mood of stasis in which she finds current solace in her current home of Charleston. Evocative of having found a newfound time and place to reflect, Blues conjures up the weekends of her youth, spent mesmerized at the ambient music of the slow-paced devotionals performed by the local Oklahoman church band.

Review: Dustin O'Hallaran and Adam Wiltzie have been dealing in musique concrete for a while now, with releases on some of the most daring labels around. However, this latest work on Kranky is undoubtedly a significant step up for the outfit, with people such as Keith Fullerton Whitman having released on the label. Three extended slices of pure hedonism, each one growing and rising in emotion and momentum with each new melody. "Atmos VII" drops you into a tranquil soundscape surrounded by orchestral swirls of melodies and subtle kick drums, and "Minuet For Cheap Piano Number One" prolongs this journey through paradise thanks to some stunning keys and spine-chilling bursts of ambience. Over on the flip, the Greenhouse re-wiring of the title track is equally pensive but considerably more sinister, with an extra dosage of guitar feedback winding its way into the mix. Stunners.

Review: Husband-and-wife team Carl Hultgren and Windy Weber have been successfully fusing elements of ambient, dream pop and shoe gaze since the early 1990s, keeping up a steady release schedule that has so far resulted in no less than 11 studio albums and a string of inspired collaborative sets. Their latest album, "Allegiance & Conviction", is their first for three years and sees them drowsily drift through a selection of opaque, otherworldly tunes rich in densely layered guitars, hazy aural textures, barely audible vocals and dreamy, delay-laden sounds. It's a hugely enticing set all told, with our favourites including the glistening head trip of "Moth To The Flame", the Labradford style post-rock drones of "Alone" and the slow-burn bliss of "Crossing Over".