Tags: Ambient House

Review: During the late 1990s, Japanese producer Yuji Takanouchi produced a trio of sublime EPs, most of which went largely overlooked at the time. He surprisingly returned to action a few years ago with a handful of similarly dreamy, loved-up productions, prompting R&S offshoot Apollo Records - who famously released his peerless ambient house 12", Southern Paradise, in 1997 - to put together this superb compilation. The genius of his productions, whether dancefloor leaning or more horizontal in ethos, always lay in the hazy colourfulness of his synthesizer melodies and life-affirming chord progressions. It's those traits, coupled with his firm grasp of deep house and intelligent techno aesthetics, which shine through on Brand New Day. "Pacific Jazz", "Nite" and "Ocean In Heaven", in particular, are stunning.

Review: It's testament to the enduring quality and far-sighted nature of Future Sound of London's iconic 1991 single 'Papua New Guinea' that it keeps being 'rediscovered' by new generations of DJs. It has been a while, though, since any new reworks dropped - hence this 'Rebooted' edition. L Major kicks things off with a suitably cosmic, psychedelic and slow-building proto-jungle style offering, before Nishiesque flits between passages of hot-stepping, synth-laden d&b and slo-mo 4/4 chug. House heroes Soul Central reach for vintage hip-house breakbeats, ambient electronics and the original version's most life-affirming elements (the bassline, twinkling synth melodies and heady vocal samples), while Dee Montero re-casts the cut as a proggy, tribal-tinged tech-house roller.

Review: Rebirth invites us to go back, way back, to the Italian underground techno scene of the 90s with this new selection of alternate versions, unheard gems and certified classics. Oneiric & Vortex open up with a tune that brings to mind the warmth of Motor City techno on 'Oasi' before GNMR layer up supersized hi hats and seriously weighty beatdown drums, Populous offers the loopy melodic delight of 'Barragan' and G-Connection heads into the cosmos with the dreamy ambient of 'Free Your Spirit', a perfect mood build if ever we heard one. Two further gorgeously blissed-out post-rave comedown sounds close out this gem of an EP.

Review: Norken is a cult producer with a legendary status. His older works have been reissued in recent times to ensure that they reconnect with newer generations and this time out it is an EP originally out in 1998 that gets reintroduced thanks to the Only One label. It's been remastered for the occasion so it sounds as good as possible, starting with the perfect frictionless 'Just A Phase' with its deft ambient pads. 'Instamatic' slows down to a tripped-out downbeat crawl with lots of liquid pads and 'Motor Breeze' then bends space and time with its warped lines and pixel-thin bits of wispy melodic detail. 'Fragile' shuts down with intriguing ambient designs over twitchy beats.