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"Reserve" is euphorically sonorous gem... A highly recommended recording!!! Well-done, Andrea!!!👍

Richard

Peter Edwards Ambient "temporal.Divergence" CD

Peter Edwards, an ambient/dark ambient experimental soundsculptor based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, recording as Peter Edwards Ambient, landed on my radar screens only during the summer of 2018, shortly before releasing his third full-length CD album "temporal.Divergence" as the next chapter of dark ambient pentalogy. Available in digital formats since August 18th, 2018, stunningly designed 6-panel digipak was released a few weeks later through Peter's own Caffeinated Monk Production label, the home of his previous two impressive CDs, "suspended.Lucidity" (May 2015) and "binary.Abstractions" (July 2017). To me, this was a huge discovery indeed!!!

Perfectly described as "ambient music for time travellers", this thrillingly immersing odyssey is ignited by shorter "Prelude", which immediately sets the spatially tenebrous atmosphere. 6-plus minutes long title track "temporal.Divergence" is fuelled by bouncing cyber-tech pulses juxtaposed by industrial outbursts, razor-sharp beats and heavenly hissing solitariness. A truly jaw-dropping introduction to distinguishably transporting realms by Peter Edwards!!! "quantum.Flux", at 7:33 the longest ride on the album, amalgamates massive drone reverberations with transcendentally helixing meridians and ear-tickling glimmers. Another aural spectacle! "revolution.Induction" masterfully merges hypogeally enigmatic stratums with perpetually ascending galvanic beacons and eerily rumbling fractals. Sonorously mindblowing! "gravField.Theory" dives into gargantuan depths, which are persistently illuminated by eternally galloping oscillations and piercing sci-fi narrations by Randy Savage, who also contributed voice on the opening "Prelude". "dark.Matter" sails through unfathomably breathtaking realms, where intangibly thundering, yet tenaciously ambiguous magnitudes commingle with inconspicuously emanating desolations and transmogrifying resonant vertexes. Beyond the gates listening splendor continues also through "causal.Continuum", when mesmerizingly barren heavy-duty beats collide with remotely roaring perplexes. "tempo.Kinetix", as indicated by its title, shifts into vigorously driven scenario, perforated here and there by outbursting strikes, while immensely panoptic layers are guarding above. "time.Machine" merges abysmally engulfing murmurs with translucently flickering fragments and clandestinely arising oracular ephemerons. On "The Quantum Mechanics Of Time Travel Through Post-Selected Teleportation" mysteriously nuanced drones are reinforced by the narrations of a "quantum mechanic" Seth Lloyd of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Short epilogue "Gate.22180818" closes the album, but there is hidden also a 4-minute untitled bonus track, which remains in fascinatingly enveloping monochromatic cosmic zones, percolated by gossamery evanescent traceries and ear-bending numeration.

Peter Edwards Ambient is a truly staggering exploration, which shifts each listener into magnificently adventurous portals, uniquely sophisticated, meticulously crafted and intriguingly rewarding. 64-minute "temporal.Divergence" album is an all-inclusive magnum opus, both sonic and visual (design by Savage Internet Media), with deeply focused content and superb presentation. A vast display of artistic brilliance, which is, unfortunately, still hidden to a bigger audience within the ambient drone soundscaping. On the science note, this must be some kind of a call I received only several months after experiencing the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, a Radio Astronomy Observatory located on the Plains of San Agustin in central New Mexico. I really wish I knew this gifted sound designer when passing by Albuquerque. Grab your headphones and immerse yourself into this exquisitely monumental futuristic journeying!!!

Richard Gürtler (Oct 20, 2019, Bratislava, Slovakia)

False Mirror "SIGINT" CD

Sure, it took a hell of a lot of time before German sonic architect Tobias Hornberger, known as False Mirror, released a follow-up to his unforgettable epic installment "Derelict World". But all the good things are worth the wait. Although this sonic and visual miracle still deeply resonates, even after 8 years, it's time to dive deeply into "SIGINT". The album was released through US dark ambient connoisseurs Malignant Records at the end of July 2018 and the CD comes in a 6-panel digipak with an additional 12-page cryptographic manual. Stunning front cover image entitled as "Flying Front" is captured by Ralf Wendrich, while additional credits include Steve Jurvetson ("Nuclear Missile Silo" back cover), Zach Zurn ("Concrete texture" on the background), Eric Martin ("Blue Streak" texture) as well as Axel Baune, Dieter Trüstedt and Tarek Mansur for their sound contributions. The artist himself took care of conceptualization and design.

Focusing on the secret communication signals (SIGINT = Signals intelligence), a 65-minute album unfolds with "Perimeter", a 6-plus minutes long piece, which immediately sets uniquely immersing atmosphere False Mirror is known for. Enigmatic horizons, intangible cyber-tech beacons, magmatic drone hums, razor-sharp eruptions, intriguing reverberations, ear-tickling glimmers..., it's evident, False Mirror is back in full bloom. More, please!!! "Transmission" quiets the adventure a bit with the more monochromatic scenario, although craftily multi-dimensional, where perpetually buzzing stratum is pervaded by sinuously gliding and warmly evocative meridians. Another monstrous beauty! "Antenna", at 9:21 the longest track on "SIGINT", keeps firmly on mysteriously nuanced, yet serenely engulfing path with some additions of flute-infused vistas. Balmily prodigious exploration! "Trajectory" straightly shifts into tenebrously mindscaping spheres, where persistently traversing vertexes juxtapose with inconspicuously ascending choir-driven drone perplexes. Lachrymosely enveloping and spellbindingly transporting, what a voyage!!! And "Fallout" masterfully amplifies the climaxing infiniteness and unlocks the gates... "Corona" commingle hissy transcendental dissonances with poignantly narrative tides and glimpses of rumbling debris and quietly drifts into awe-inspiringly enveloping barren solitariness. Enter now the Pantheon of epic sonic milestones!!! "Leviathan", as indicated by its title, sound layering gets abundantly magnified. Tremendously monolithic drone billows continuously collide with other-worldly roaring spectacles. "Troposcatter" relieves the tension with infinitely rising and falling sheets coalesced with slowly percolating heavenly blankets and exquisitely sonorous moments of silence. "Aether" floats effortlessly towards magnificently panoramic ethereal sceneries while the closing shorter "Message" invites the listener to examine this track and find hidden navigation points, which might lead you with the help of cryptographic manual into decoding some concealed mysteries... If you are familiar with False Mirror soundworlds, then you should remember Tobias has offered such "bonus" also on his previous "Derelict World" album.

Although False Mirror's discography features since 2007 only four full-length albums (plus few live recordings and EP's in digital formats), Tobias Hornberger certainly belongs to the most crafted soundscapers within the ambient/dark ambient genre. "Derelict World" shifted him to the forefront back in 2010 and "SIGINT" only confirms this honor. Yeah, 8 years was a really long time, but with another magnum opus, everything is forgiven. Spectacularly rewarding journey awaits here, "SIGINT" is one of the undisputable pinnacles of 2018!!! Bravo and thank you, Tobias!!! And by the way, the first two albums by False Mirror, "Chronostatic Scenes" (May 2007, DataObscura) and "North" (November 2007, Thonar Records), are strongly recommended too!!!

Richard Gürtler (Oct 14, 2019, Bratislava, Slovakia)

Quote from: chris23 on September 02, 2019, 07:35:42 AM
James Bernard - Fragments
I fell in love with this right away: Slow moving soundscapes that suspend, glide, and levitate. New, on the impressive PITP label.
https://pitp.bandcamp.com/album/fragments

Yeah, Chris, agree 100%, "Fragments" is a true masterwork by James Bernard, just ordered a CDr copy from PITP. I simply couldn't miss this beauty!!! All the best and keep on creating!!!

Richard :)

Sōzuproject "Terra Australis" CDr

I came across Sōzuproject quite unexpectedly during the first days of 2019, when browsing Bandcamp collection by a guy named Scott (thanks, man!!!), saw his brief review plus few pictures of "Terra Australis" CDr and I was immediately convinced something special will happen soon in my listening room. Yes, I never regretted this exploration!!! Paolo Mascolini, the enigmatic sole protagonist behind this Italian project, is releasing his dronescaping endeavors since 2013 and I still have no idea how could I miss such creative force. Please don't ask me! "Terra Australis" album was originally released February 2014, followed by a physical CDr edition on UK's label Vent Sounds in August 2014. The album I am reviewing is a remastered edition with a brand new packaging in a metal tin, limited to 15 hand-numbered and signed copies and released by the artist himself during December 2018. French amateur photographer Dominique Filippi gets credit for his photographs and field recordings.

"Terra Australis Nondum Cognita" (translating as "The Southern Land Not Yet Known"), the opening piece, which clocks over 7 and a half minutes mark, immediately dives into ultra expansive monochromatic solitudes, meticulously juxtaposed by balmy organic symphonies, warmly embracing panoramic quietudes and indistinctly flashing flickers. Gracefully euphonious! "Flight 901" was an Antarctic sightseeing flight and it serves as a narrative tribute to an aircraft accident known as the Mount Erebus disaster from November 28th 1979. Circling magnifying hums persistently coalesce with ethereal meridians and inconspicuously keep on crescendoing into disastrous vertexes. High-pitched turmoil abruptly erupts and evanesces into eternal silence... "Impermanence" carves infinitely oscillating serenities, masterfully reinforced by poignantly meandering desolations and ear-tickling flimsy traceries. Harmoniously enrapturing beauty! "Last Beats", at 5:28 the shortest track on "Terra Australis", bridges intangibly mesmerizing pulsations, evocatively enveloping introspections, glancing translucent fragments and glimmering gentle dissonances. "Katabatic Wind" gets over 12 and a half minutes and it quickly transports the listener into the ice-cold, vastly awe-inspiring drone terrains suddenly invaded by unsettling, gradiently magnifying sheets of blowing wind. And all that intensely augmented by misty, yet titillating stringed glimpses. Immensely infinite horizons continuously collide with intriguingly rougher tapestries. An epic listening paragon!!! Nearly 11-minute "Metamorphism" firmly keeps on the path of monumentally engulfing and monochromatically panoptic sceneries, relentlessly amplified by subterraneanly illuminating gossamer signals, deep bass beacons and ephemerally piquant outbursts. A jaw-dropping aural bliss awaits here, unquestionably a Hall of Fame composition, bravo, Paolo!!! "Terra Australis Reliquendum", a 15-plus minutes long piece, closes this breathtakingly immersing expedition with powerfully poignant layers, tranquilly spiralling and exquisitely intertwining with moving piano subtleties, remotely bizarre barks, frighteningly rumbling squeaks and warmly elegiac, yet disturbingly captivating electric strings. A grand finale to a true sonic monument!!!

What to add? Many compliments have been already expressed, but that's what this album deserves! Yes, once again, nearly 66 minutes long "Terra Australis" is a truly phenomenal work by enormously gifted soundsculptor, who unfortunately remained unknown to me for several years. My mistake is now fixed and I can fully enjoy and celebrate all virtuosic insignias of Paolo Mascolini. I invite all of you, who don't know him yet, to share the same delight, trust me, you won't be disappointed! Sōzuproject's discography counts 9 titles, including one collaboration with Bartholomäus Traubeck, 8 CDr editions plus one cassette release for Naviar Records. You can't go wrong with any of these gems, as all CDr editions come in a hand-made packaging with stunningly attractive design, all created by the artist himself. Distinguishably authentic craftiness, both aural and visual, is displayed on each album. Hats off to Paolo Macolini aka Sōzuproject, who is always able to deliver something uniquely special on each of his recordings!!! Grazie, Maestro!!! And by the way, the new album "Icarus" is in the pipeline, it should be out around October or November...

Richard Gürtler (Sep 09, 2019, Bratislava, Slovakia)

Pascal Savy "Colour Fields" cassette

I have noticed the name of this French soundscaper, based in the UK, during summer 2018, when his "Dislocations" CD landed on my radars. Released by Experimedia label during May 2018, Pascal Savy had already on his credit several CDr releases, albums and EPs, on labels like Hibernate, Feedback Loop Label, Twisted Tree Line and Eilean Rec., all published from 2011 to 2014. "Colour Fields" cassette album was released October 5th 2018, through Belgian Audio. Visuals. Atmosphere. label in a limited edition of 55 copies. Although I am not a huge fan of this format, I simply couldn't resist as this was the only available physical edition and I was already blown away by Pascal's previous "Dislocations" recording. Now, the cassette is listed as a sold-out item, but of course "Colour Fields" album is still available as a digital download.

"Shapes Of A Mirage", clocking over 3 and a half minute mark, ignites the album with tenebrously monochromatic drone reverberations, meticulously coalesced with serenely arising evocative meridians. Fascinatingly transporting prologue, so it's quite obvious that "beyond the gates" listening experience fully unfolds!!! 5-plus minutes long "Phantom Absence" dives deeply into spellbindingly unfathomable depths, where ear-bending, monolithically humming desolations collide with balmy organic streams and intangibly enigmatic signals. Transcendental droneforging odyssey at its most sonorous!!! The next track, "A Solarised Vortex", which is slightly shorter than its predecessor, intensely follows the path and tickles the ears with ultra ponderous flatlined vertexes, when persistently carving rising and ebbing stratums, massively engulfing and thrillingly multi-dimensional. What a journey!!! "No Ends On The Sides" incorporates into infinitely thick layers an array of distant piquant buzzes, perpetual hissy undercurrents and inconspicuously crescendoing and diminuendoing roaring vistas. Shorter "At The Coming Of Twilight" merges oracularly sturdy drone zones with mesmerizingly diaphanous beacons and pinnacling dense plateaus. "Lost In A Mesh Of Time" closes the A-side with bizarrely colored patterns, where massively humming cascades commingle with eerily secluded howls. A spectacularly hallucinogenic ride! The B-side is comprised of "Three Moons Aligned", a long-form soundscape getting over 28 minutes. Continuously undulating colossal splendor keeps on drifting, nuancing, traversing, peaking, dissolving... The gates of abysmally breathtaking realms are unlocked, enter now!!! Intricate magnitudes, amplifying helixes, resonating phenomenons, venturesome metamorphoses, dissonant subtleties, nebulous quietudes... an all-inclusive soundcarving exhibiting Pascal Savy at the very top of his genius dronescaping!!! Bravo!!!

57-minute "Colour Fields" album is a must-have sonic adventure and a staggeringly mindscaping listening delight carved for all connoisseurs of tenaciously deep dronesculpting. With "Colour Fields" Pascal Savy enters the Pantheon of triumphant heavy drone spectacles! Big respect, Maestro!!! Who knows, maybe one day this masterwork will be reissued on a glass mastered CD format, I really wish that! In any case, Pascal Savy is a true master of his craft and I will make sure to keep a focused ear to the fissure. And last but not least, big kudos to Audio. Visuals. Atmosphere. for releasing this gemstone, it's highly recommended to check out the merch of this label counting since 2015 over 70 cassette releases!!!

Richard Gürtler (Sep 07, 2019, Bratislava, Slovakia)

Steve Brand "Leaving The Hive" CDr

Returning back to 2016, this year was very busy for Kansan dronescaper Steve Brand, who released except several reissues of his older albums in new packagings also two brand new recordings, "The Path Of The Heart" (May, out on relaxedMachinery) and "Leaving The Hive" (September, released on Steve's Pioneer Light Music). The first CDr edition of "Leaving The Hive", limited to 25 copies, comes in a 5"x7" bi-fold booklet featuring additional poem card and signed art card. The cover image is stunningly delightful.

Subterranean gossamer flickers and meandering buzz of the bees reveal the title composition, nearly 22 minutes long "Leaving The Hive". The listener is immediately taken into the lushly colorful wild garden, yet surrounded by all mysteries of the natural environment. Then transmuting into calm cascades of longing quietudes, silently peaking vistas and fascinatingly embracing moments of stillness. But intensifyingly mindscaping drone spirals keep on permeating across the mesmerizingly organic stratum. Aural bliss!!! The 20-minute piece, "A Light Spinning In A Valley Somewhere", immerses the ears with a nocturnal symphony, but the stage is quickly stolen by high-pitched twists. Earwarming tranquillity is juxtaposed by traversing piquancy, but then hypnotically galloping laid-pack pulses join the scenario, occasionally supported by Miette's meows. And after evanescing through soothingly engulfing contemplative path. Another rewardingly chameleonic composition, a thrilling beauty! The next track, "Simple Things", glides through enigmatically expansive sceneries, where lachrymosely humming blankets commingle with poetic piano glimpses. Ambrosial listening experience awaits here! The closing "Climbing A Mountain That Never Was" gets just over the 22-minute mark. An array of translucently glimmering tinkles persistently interact with sinuously soaring meridians, balmy natural insignias and intangibly diaphanous hang drum traceries. Meditatively euphonious and intriguingly gratifying conclusion!

74-minute "Leaving The Hive" is undoubtedly another tour de force recording by Steve Brand, an ambient composer extraordinaire. "Leaving The Hive" might be a bit more experimental, maybe a bit more unsettling at times, but that's how it reflects the theme about the phenomena of Mother Nature and our presence in it. At the same time, this album is exquisitely transporting, exceptionally profound and significantly guiding with the hallmarking amount of peculiarly authentic mysteries thrown in. A true masterwork indeed!!! And by the way, I am way behind my review schedule, so it's not surprising Steve Brand has released in the meantime a bunch of new albums, for example three chapters of "Near Series" (all CDrs via Pioneer Light Music during 2017), "Spiritual Science" 2CD with Ishq (October 2017, reissue) and "Near Series:Glow" CD (April 2018), both on ...txt recordings or two CD albums on Dutch label Datableom, "Upwelling: Emergence" (January 2018, a compilation) and "Graduated" (May 2019). And most recently since August on Pioneer Light Music, the newest "Counterintelligence" CDr is available. It's quite obvious, all these sonic gems get my highest recommendation!!!

Richard Gürtler (Sep 03, 2019, Bratislava, Slovakia)

Quote from: Antdude on September 05, 2019, 07:57:00 PM
Discovered via The Hypnagogue Podcast...

Kelly David: Meditation In Green

https://spottedpeccary.com/shop/meditation-in-green/

Beautiful, ephemeral stuff, mixing subtle electronics, field recordings and Vietnamese instruments.

I was begging for this one since "Angkor", my dreams came true...

Richard

Chris Russell "Echo" CD

In Illinois based soundcarver Chris Russell debuted on Spotted Peccary roster with applauded collaborative CD album "Vague Traces" in 2014, where he teamed with Phillip Wilkerson. Active since 2009 with around 14 albums, almost all digital, both solo and collabs, released on various labels like relaxedMachinery, earthMantra, Kalindi Music, aatma, Exosphere and his VoidMusic imprint. Chris Russell's solo debut for Spotted Peccary came in March 2017, but "Labyrinth" album was released in digital formats only. It followed by "Echo" in August 2018, the album, featuring attractive design by Daniel Pipitone, comes in a 4-panel eco wallet. The mastering credit goes to Ben Cox of Lotuspike gang.

The shorter title piece "Echo", clocking to only 3 minutes, starts quite unexpectedly for Spotted Peccary when the listener straightly dives into unfathomably transcendental depths, where humming drone zones collide with ear-bending industrial outbursts. As much immersing as pungent, engulfing intro indeed!!! 6-minute "Radium" keeps its abundantly experimental feel with more cacophonous, sharply glittering sonic escapades. But around the middle, the track transmogrifies through scintillating bell titillations into slightly calmer buzzing traces. "Orix" definitely settles down the scenario, when Chris Russell masterly incorporates into his gracefully gliding and spiralling stratums glimpses of poignantly meandering introspection. Beauty! "Varuna" exhibits with its organically fragranced piquancy juxtaposed by contemplatively enveloping quietudes. Intriguingly reverberating mindscapes are occasionally illuminated by subdued reflections. An epic ride!!! Rather briefer "Nilium" safely keeps on drifting through powerfully spellbinding realms, where exquisitely sculpted harshness encounters celestially expansive meridians. Oracularly monumental opus fully unfolds all its magic!!! Ephemeral, yet the more intensifying, bravo, Chris!!! 11 minutes long "Sparse" finds its way into relatively calmer terrains with mildly galloping and mesmerizingly enveloping tapestries. "Odjek" delves ultra deeply into hypogeally venturesome sci-fi labs. Wow, what an odyssey!!! "Transverter" bridges serenely longing helixes with glancing subterranean perplexes and intangible cyber-tech beams. "Abandoned", at 13:20 the longest composition, closes this thrillingly rewarding album with evocatively billowing and sinuously nuanced layers coalesced with balmy biotic and eerily rumbling reminiscences. Along the way, warmly ethereal horizons inconspicuously sneak in. A magnificent ending!

61-minute "Echo" is an all-intensive journey filled with a rich palette of awe-inspiring insignias, it really left me breathless and I won't hesitate to describe "Echo" as Chris Russell's magnum opus. As much thrillingly transporting as dissonantly challenging, undoubtedly a superb album by a very gifted kindred spirit!!! Hats off to you, Chris, you have left with "Echo" a strongly significant and distinguishably stalwart earmark in Spotted Peccary catalog, keep on creating and expanding your sonic visions!!!

Richard Gürtler (Aug 30, 2019, Bratislava, Slovakia)

['ramp] "No Sleep 'Til Wilmersdorf" CD

It took me almost ages before Stephen Parsick aka ['ramp] landed on my radars and as I already have mentioned somewhere, I still feel really ashamed of this mistake. Fortunately, since summer 2017 I stay deeply focused on this German virtuoso of profoundly nebulous and vigorously sequenced insignias. The end of August 2017 also marked a big return of ['ramp] with "Synchronize Or Die" CD, after 5 years of silence. Its follow-up "No Sleep 'Til Wilmersdorf" is out since May 2018 in a limited edition of 222 copies on Stephen's Doombient Music label.

The album is a journey back to the childhood days in the late 1970s, when Stephen Parsick lived in Wilmersdorf with his parents, at that time a village near Berlin. These memories are precisely displayed also by a 12-page front insert (designed by Bernhard Wöstheinrich). 11-plus minutes long "Compact Phasing A" unlocks this strikingly attractive ride with intensely evocative arrangements, languidly meandering and introspectively narrating. Beauty! "No Sleep 'Til Wilmersdorf", the title composition clocking to nearly 17-minute mark, swiftly shifts into hauntingly elevated sequencer realms, where persistently pulsing signatures commingle with sinuously reflective traces. Soulfully kicking Berlin School reminiscences at its most hypnotic!!! The next piece, "Clouds Should Say", as indicated by its title, moves into serenely floating spheres persistently permeated by remotely ambiguous meridians and intangibly glimmering traceries. 8-minute "Haunted Hills" quickly returns to vividly textured sonic blissfulness, propelled by mesmerizingly sparkling sequences bridged with picturesquely evocative cascades. Perpetually oscillating and euphoniously magnificent performance showcasing ['ramp] at the very top of his musicianship!!! Bravo, Stephen, this is a Hall of Fame composition!!! "Salomon's Road" attracts with its joyful scenario, where pulsing vintage glitters relentlessly juxtapose with euphorically traversing storytelling. Another strikingly melodious masterpiece! "Oedipus" directly dives into enigmatically subterranean domains and nearly 11 minutes long "Orphelia" safely keeps venturing through these terrains, although reinforced by resistantly curlicue helixes. "The Last One To Leave Is To Turn Off The Lights" closes the album in gorgeously serene solitude.

76-minute "No Sleep 'Til Wilmersdorf" needs to be explored and celebrated for its outstanding artistry, where a lush array of retro Berlin-School ingredients and sinuously darker time-lapses ignite an all-inclusive ride driven by unmistakably earmarking arrangements of its solitary spirit. A headphone listening is highly recommended for a fully rewarding sonic pleasure!!! "No Sleep 'Til Wilmersdorf" album ranks among many of my fave ['ramp]'s and Stephen Parsick's gems including "Oughtibridge", "Return", "Ceasing To Exist" (with Markus Reuter), "Synchronize Or Die", "Cambrium: Music For Protozoa" or "Hoellenengel" for example. Big applaud for ['ramp]!!!

Richard Gürtler (Aug 29, 2019, Bratislava, Slovakia)

Solaris "Aeon V" CDr

Highly sympathetic Californian label Synphaera Records, run by Chris Bryant and Don Tyler, quickly became an important voice on the map of ambient and electronic related genres with several top-notch sonic and visual gems resonating since 2015. Solaris "Aeon V" CDr, packaged in a 4-panel digipak and released in a limited edition of 150 copies during March 2017, is no exception. The project features Serbian soundsculptor Strahinja Maletić, one half of Fourth Dimension, and above mentioned Don Tyler, who is together with Chris Bryant the force behind Ascendant project. Sten Backman of Great Big Container gets credit for transporting cover image while Don Tyler is responsible for the mastering wizardry at his IO Mastering Studio.

Gossamery tinkles announce 7-plus minutes long "Ritual" and shift it into contemplatively embracing sceneries, where mesmerizingly invading monochromatic drones amalgamate with balmily organic serenities and quietly paced traceries. A very strong introduction of Solaris' soundworlds!!! Nearly 6-minute "Levitation" unfolds suitably to its title, but soon it metamorphoses into intangibly sequenced terrains, pervaded by enchanting cinematic glimpses. "Inward" masterfully bridges gracefully sinuous vistas with illuminating traces. "Waiting" maintains its evocative scenario, yet again juxtaposed by anodynely marching patterns. "Roundabout", at 5 minutes the shortest piece on the album, glides towards intensely engulfing horizons, exquisitely nuanced and meticulously permeated by intriguingly nebulous solitudes. Pure aural elixir!!! Shimmering introspections with mysteriously flatlined meridians riding atop and persistently glittering scenic motifs carve truly magnificent imageries, "Intrinsic" is obviously another exceptional composition, bravo Strahinja & Don!!! "Circular" arises from heavenly stratums, but fragilely translucent cyber-tech sparkles quickly steal the forefront. "Dominant" drifts into ambiguously immense zones, where grandiosely towering vertexes masterfully commingle with remotely obscure claps. "Reception", the longest track clocking over 8-minute mark, precisely merges glancing, yet awe-inspiring mesas with hypnotically perpetual and animately magnified sequences and flickering biotic embellishments. The closing "Contemplation" enters halcyon panoramas, where enveloping heavenly magnitudes counterpoint with spellbindingly trembling tapestries. Sergey Severin is credited on the end for his "Transmission from the future" epilogue. As much enveloping as piquant, a genuinely rewarding conclusion!!!

68 minutes long "Aeon V", inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky's adaptation of the novel Solaris by Stanisław Lem, is a true masterwork and undoubtedly one of my fave Synphaera releases!!! On this timeless journey, Strahinja Maletić and Don Tyler triumphantly reveal their creative talents. High five for both of you guys, you can be really proud of this strikingly immersing and intricately sculpted debut!!! In the meantime another album by Solaris was released, "Chimera" is out on Synphaera's dark cinematic sub-label Exosphere since October 2018. It's a pity this recording is not available on a physical format, nuts like me certainly would love it on a CD/CDr...

Richard Gürtler (Aug 07, 2019, Bratislava, Slovakia)

Michael Stearns "The Soft Touch Of Morning Light" CDr

Iconic master of cinematic ambience Michael Stearns has returned after long silence with a brand-new release "The Soft Touch Of Morning Light". Yeah, in the meantime there was breathtakingly transporting "Samsara" score released in 2012, but as far I remember, Michael's last CD "The Storm" on Spotted Peccary is dated back to 2001. To be honest, I have been always dreaming of reviewing Michael Stearns, now I have finally this opportunity. And on the top of all this, during 2018, I was a truly fortunate to visit one of my true heroes of ambient at his own studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and several months later experienced his unforgettable live show at B-Wave festival in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. Both these events still deeply resonate, so the more I am fascinated by all audible insignias of this ingenious artist. "The Soft Touch Of Morning Light" CDr is out since October 15th, 2015, on Earth Turtle Music and is available through Michael Stearns website as a CDr release, manufactured on demand by TrepStar.

The album is comprised of three archival pieces from 1979 recorded on three different Serge Modulars. On the opening 14-minute track "Dark Passage In The Night" Michael Stearns performs on Kevin Braheny's Serge Modular as well as on his unique instrument called The Beam, which later played important role on score to the IMAX film "Chronos". It was recorded at Emilie Conrad's Continuum studio in Los Angeles. The composition floats and traverses serenely through various, shimmeringly immersing undulations and dramatically infused vistas, which later became true signature sounds of Michael Stearns. Spectacularly nuanced with monumental grace, glorious piquancy and narrative profoundness. What a beauty, pure magic fully reveals here! "The Soft Touch Of Morning Light", the title piece clocking just over 20 and a half minutes, masterfully displays its name, where calmer breezy horizons keep on rising and ebbing and perpetually commingle with gently meandering and persistently illuminating traceries. Performed on Michael's own Serge Modular at his and Susan Harper's Continuum Montage studio. Continuum Montage was also a record label, which produced Michael's early music, it stared with "Ancient Leaves" in 1977, continued through with groundbreaking "Planetary Unfolding" in 1981 and later completed with "Lyra Sound Constellation" in 1983. "Space Travel On The Wings Of Breath", 14 minutes long track closes this unique compilation with meticulously droning splendor, where nebulously gliding stratums exquisitely interact with unfathomably engulfing realms and mind-bending transcendental vertexes. A pure eargasm is delivered here, welcome to the Drone Pantheon, this must be the place where it all originated!!! Recorded on Craig Huxley's Serge Modular at his The Enterprise studio. By the way, Craig Huxley was also the founder of Sonic Atmospheres label, where Michael released several of his albums between the years 1983 and 1987.

"The Soft Touch Of Morning Light" is a very strong bundle of three hidden gems, some of them a truly visionary. Obviously a must-have album by one of the true pioneers of the genre, indeed, a sonic phenomenon!!! I really hope this collection will be reissued one day on a proper glass mastered format, a genius explorer like Michael Stearns certainly would deserve this. And most recently, Michael's debut "Ancient Leaves", as mentioned above, originally released on LP and cassette through Continuum Montage in 1977 and later remastered and reissued via Groove Unlimited in 1999, is scheduled on Infinite Fog Productions, July 10th, as a limited digipak and 12" vinyl or as a collector's wooden/metal box with LP, CD and cassette. This one is limited to 20 copies.

Richard Gürtler (Jun 27, 2019, Bratislava, Slovakia)

Jeff Pearce "From The Darker Seasons" CD

As indicated by its title, US ambient guitar virtuoso Jeff Pearce reveals on this album the magic of late autumn and early winter sceneries. Released on September 22nd, 2017, the album comes in a dazzling 4-panel digipak designed by Matt Strieby and mastered by Tom Eaton at Imaginary Road Studios.

"A Walk Through The Leaves" is a 4-plus minutes long opener, which immediately transports the listener into balmily enveloping landscapes, infused by gently titillating stringed insignias of its sole Maestro. Intimately delightful and heartwarmingly delicate sonic elixir!!! Shorter "Sun On Frost" only proves this soothingly engulfing scenario, where piquantly glittering and evocatively narrative riffs exquisitely juxtapose with tranquilly gliding majestic rays. Absolutely enchanting images! The next piece, "Constellations", instantly shifts into magnificently expansive realms guided by infinitely serpentine e-Bow meridians. Awe-inspiring grace guarded by crepuscular stillness meets longing choir-imbued driftscapes. Pure magic!!! "The River In Late Autumn" moves back to lyrically lush terrains, hauntingly resonant, spiritedly embracing and introspectively profound. "Downdrift", clocking to 10 and a half minutes, quickly transforms into grippingly full-bodied, panoramically immense and harmoniously engrossing realms navigated by undeniable e-Bow wizardry!!! This is Jeff Pearce at the very top of his ingeniousness, conjuring masterpiece like "No Matter How Far" for example. My arms are again filled with goosebumps, obviously another Hall of Fame performance!!! By the way, this is a shorter version of the full 20-minute long form original. Due to enough space I could easily imagine this longer version on the album. "Midnight Snow" is propelled by iridescently meandering strings, one more ambrosia masterfully displaying silent wintery night walk. "A Long Winter's Sleep", at 17:45 the longest composition on the album, shifts into thrillingly ethereal zones, where voluminously nuanced and tenebrously pinnacling tides persistently commingle with warmly reflective quietudes. A large dose of aural bliss is served here by Jeff Pearce! Luminously ear-tickling strings of the fleeting "Cold Comfort" are exquisitely encircled by graciously sweeping blankets. A truly gorgeous conclusion!

Over 54 minutes long "From The Darker Seasons" album meticulously mirrors Jeff Pearce's passion for his favorite seasons. His sonic canvas are carved in spellbinding beauty, all of them are impeccably euphonious, sonorously emotional and intensely immersing. I will be always deeply fascinated by Jeff's gifted sonic wizardry, a true musicianship extraordinaire!!! His highly acclaimed discography, counting 14 solo albums and one collaboration with vidnaObmana, showcases many milestones. "From The Darker Seasons" recording is undoubtedly one of them!!!

Richard Gürtler (Jun 05, 2019, Bratislava, Slovakia)

Bridge To Imla "The Radiant Sea" CD

Although collaborated since 2010 on various occasions, Michael Brückner and Hans-Dieter Schmidt, created Bridge To Imla project during 2017. But the initial idea for this album is dated back to 2013, when Michael Brückner recorded the track "All The Weight Of The Sun" for a compilation released by Jack Hertz' label Aural Films entitled "Fukushima Drones". "The Radiant Sea" CD was released on sympathetic Dutch Winter-Light label at December 1st, 2017 and it's packaged in deeply immersing glossy 6-panel digipak, designed by Winter-Light's Midnight Sun Studio. Another applause, this time for the mastering wizardry, goes to Robert Rich.

"Prologue: The Kuroshio Current", named after a north-flowing ocean current, reveals with gossamery click-clacks and Japanese spoken words, but the listener soon dives into unfathomably mindscaping depths, where nebulously nuanced dronescapes masterfully commingle with glimpses of shimmering traceries and shortly lasting, yet devastatingly arising vistas. Subtle piano motifs navigate towards "Tsushima Basin", which glides through gracefully expansive and serpentinely enthralling zones. Ear-tickling illuminations keep on emerging here and there. A blazingly transporting odyssey fully unfolds all its magic!!! "Shatsky Rise" (Earth's third largest oceanic plateau) keeps on the intense route, when amalgamating more vigorous passages with poignant tapestries of weeping bowed strings. Shorter "The Aleutian Current" merges longing ethereal climaxes with swells of harsher piquancies. "Hikurangi Plateau" crescendoes into breathtakingly magnificent and panoptically immense meridians. Fleeting, yet thrillingly engulfing!!! "Mariana Trench" pinnacles, drifts and descends through balmy piano quietudes into titillatingly reverberating domains. "Louisville Ridge" attracts with its vintage-driven high-pitched patterns delightfully juxtaposed by intangibly warmer piano narrations. "The California Current", at 1:34 the shortest piece on the album, moves through flatlined layers and enigmatic undulations towards the hadopelagic zone of "Richards Deep". Clocking over 7-minute mark and surrounded by an array of clinks, tinkles, rumbles..., yet as much minimal as the hostile living conditions in these realms. "Raukumara Plain", with 7-plus minutes the longest track on "The Radiant Sea" serenely returns into more textured terrains, where emotively persistent traverses continuously commingle with charmingly echoed glimmers. "Emerald Fracture Zone" is imbued by all these flickering fragments, while ambiguously colored and sinuously obfuscated layers inconspicuously emanate and steal the core of this profoundly intriguing scenario. "Fobos-Grunt" thus arrives surreptitiously and shifts into nearly transcendental realms propelled by metallic-charged embellishments and spaciously intensified sheets. "The Humboldt Current" merges mesmerizingly infinite helixes with introspective flute motifs and lachrymosely enveloping blankets. "Galathea Depth" glides effortlessly into the most extreme and shadowiest depths of high pressure territories, where eerie drone stratums and phantasmal guardians riding atop collide with piercing clickety-clacks. Opiating, nearly ear-bending spirals and overtone voice infused driftscapes of "Epilogue: Ring of Fire" are occasionally percolated by galloping glimpses. A grand finale to splendidly sophisticated recording!!!

"The Radiant Sea", a 74 minutes long album, excels with its creatively peculiar insignias, venturously captivating arrangements and superb sound quality as well as with its meticulously deep concept. This masterwork exquisitely focuses not only on Fukushima nuclear accident and ecological impacts of existing environmental pollution, but also on the mind-blowing mysteries and majestically grandeur beauties of the Pacific Ocean depths. What a journey, bravo, gentlemen!!! I should also mention a limited special 2CDr edition of 60 copies, not for sale, entitled "The Radiant Sea - Additions & Variations" was created by this German duo. It was only available as a free giveaway with little donations to all customers, who ordered the artist copy of Bridge To Imla "The Radiant Sea" CD directly from Michael Brückner or Hans-Dieter Schmidt. Regarding Bridge To Imla project, recommended is also their live 2CDr "One January Evening" presenting additional guests Volker Lankow and Ralph Baumgartl and containing concert, jam session and bonus tracks. Back to "The Radiant Sea" CD, kudos to all involved, this is certainly one of my fave releases on Winter-Light!!!

Richard Gürtler (May 19, 2019, Bratislava, Slovakia)

Al Gromer Khan "The God Perfume" CDr

Famous German instrumentalist, sitarist, composer and novelist Al Gromer Khan has released "The God Perfume" CDr during November 2017 through his Rasa Music label. The album comes in a 4-panel digipak, featuring on the cover art a painting by the Maestro himself.

The opener "God Perfume X" immediately sets oriental fragrance with piquantly serpentine sitar patterns and soothingly cadenced percussions, while cushions of ethereal chants are guarding above. Intangible voices sneak here and there. Pristinely titillating texture! "Bulbul" masterfully blends stringed exotica with calm organic subtleties. But the center stage is inconspicuously invaded by laid-back high-tech electronica, as much elusive as authentic, occasionally permeated by transient tribal fragments. Aural splendor, although rather shorter! "Beat Of The Ancients" keeps on ear-tickling, distant jazzy flavors commingle with sitar tapestries and translucently rattling halcyon glimpses soothe listener's ear and soul. Gossamery embracing ride!!! "Zu Meiner Seele Ehren" reveals with female chants, but soon nebulously infused sitar minimalism sneaks to the foreground with vaguely intense downtempos glimmering above. "A Way In The World", at 9:26 the longest track on the album, opens with remote choirs, but it's again the pellucid sitar moving to the core, then quickly metamorphosing into much quieter, celestially enveloping realms. "Procession For The Great Black Goddess" follows the contemplative path of its predecessor, before diving into uniquely colored sceneries, where sharper stringed vistas are continuously juxtaposed with mesmerizingly relaxed rhythm passages and calmly gliding meditative meridians. Balmily immersing! "Turandot" is as much lyrical and curlicue as transporting and serene. Shorter "Toledo" is propelled by filigree arrangements, meticulously bridging delightfully transcultural instrumentations. Pure magic!!! Brief "Odeon" attracts with its cinematic feel, enchantingly narrative and ambrosially expansive. Another beauty! "Blues For A Muted Sitar", the title speaks for itself on this piece, Al Gromer Khan's stringed virtuosity exquisitely merges with persistently opiating pace and distant quietudes. "Chaikhana" precisely blends sublime beauty of stringed brilliance with spaciously engrossing stratums, gracefully drifting choirs and glancing diaphanous traceries. Weeping bowed strings of "Wayco" navigate this album into its conclusion, when magnificently interacting with tranquilly floating blankets and dissonant fractions.

55-minute "The God Perfume" is a truly luminous jewel and after "Chakra Noir" album (April 2016) another milestone in Al Gromer Khan's extensively applauded discography. His electro-acoustic wizardry is always filled with infinite spirit, finesse and uniqueness. A thrilling listening experience not to be missed!!! Unfortunately, the aural perfection, including superb sound quality, is not justified by unstable duplicated CDr edition, so I hope in the future Al Gromer Khan will return again to a glass mastered format. "The God Perfume" album really deserves such format!!! The options nowadays are really wide at quite reasonable prices. And last but not least, in the meantime another three albums by Al Gromer Khan are available, "Sky Worship" (May 2018), "Durga Avenue" (November 2018) and the newest one entitled "In High Places", released during April 2019.

Richard Gürtler (May 11, 2019, Bratislava, Slovakia)

Quote from: thirdsystem on May 10, 2019, 03:51:34 AM
As ever, thanks for the tip on this one Richard. Superb album I have been listening to on Spotify all week. Really beautiful, atmospheric stuff. I will have to get this.

Cheers
Paul

Thanks a lot, Paul, for your kind words, it's much appreciated!!! All the best and keep on exploring and enjoying!!!

Richard :)

Quote from: chris23 on May 08, 2019, 06:31:25 PM
Thom Brennan - Soundgardens
The best news of the year so far: Thom Brennan is on Bandcamp! And he's released three new albums. One of those, Soundgardens, is my favorite thus far. Blissful, meditative washes of sound. Love it.
https://thombrennan.bandcamp.com/album/soundgardens

And the 4th new release by Thom Brennan is "The Path Not Taken", a track from the legendary Amplexus mini CD series, released in 1995, now remastered and expanded into a 70-minute, four part CDr edition!!! All tracks recorded in 1994, released by TMB Soundworks, CDr edition available via Kunaki!!!

http://kunaki.com/accounting/ShowproductDetail.asp?PID=PX00ZBFQIT
https://thombrennan.bandcamp.com/album/the-path-not-taken

Richard ;)

Lingua Lustra "Gentle World" CDr

Although Dutch ambient soundscaper Albert Borkent recording as Lingua Lustra (also Sol Tek) has been active on the scene since 2005 with numerous CD/CDr releases for various labels such as Databloem/Practising Nature, Anodize or Psychonavigation, it took me hell of a lot of time before this respected project landed on my radars. Shame on me!!! Fortunately, all this ended with Lingua Lustra's CDr edition "Gentle World", released at the beginning of November 2017 on Berlin based Rohs! Records. Packaged in a simple 2-panel slimline card case, the CDr album was limited to 100 hand numbered copies. Unfortunately, the info on Rohs! Bandcamp site declares this title as a sold out item already, but of course it's still available digitally. "Gentle World" was recorded during the autumn of 2016 and the mastering work was provided by Rohs! label owner Andrea Porcu.

"Coral Memory", which clocks to 10 and a half minutes, unfolds with multi-dimensional, balmily intangible drones, meticulously wrapped into hazily embracing curtains. Ethereally driven with permeating sharply titillating glimpses. What a beauty!!! I remember clearly, this was the triggering point for me and since then I keep a focused ear to ground when it comes to Lingua Lustra. "Soft Tissue", only slightly shorter than it's predecessor, is propelled by panoptic drifts, again rather nebulous, quietly nuanced and reinforced by occasional crescendos with intensified ear-tickling shimmers. The title "Gentle World" composition immediately strikes with its weeping layers exquisitely coupled with poetic piano motifs and profoundly evocative meridians. Glancing translucent organic traceries, subtly immersing reverberations and sinuating chant vistas shift this piece into a gorgeously enveloping sceneries. Magnificently sweeping 9-minute aural splendor awaits here, bravo, Albert!!! "Tone Shower", at 5:36 the shortest piece on "Gentle World", merges potpourri of diaphanously flickering tinkles with longing drone expanses and ambiguously hypogeous currents. Elusively peculiar, yet contemplatively transporting! Nearly 14 minutes long "It's Raining Flowers" incorporate gracefully engulfing horizons with invading litany fragments and breathing biotic cushions. Monochromatic spirals continuously commingle with gossamer clickety-clack embellishments and persistently vivid piano patterns. Deeply mindscaping finale! And I love the track title too!

Truly a top-notch recording by Lingua Lustra, showcasing the gift and potential of its sole mastermind, who splendidly reveals on "Gentle World" the delicacies of our lives. An intricate soundcarving, where amplifying drone zones euphoniously juxtapose with pellucid or piquant curiosities, both ephemerally arising or constantly emanating. Lingua Lustra gets my highest recommendation!!! Time flies fast and since "Gentle World" Lingua Lustra released few more physical albums on different labels, for example "Truth Rings Like A Bell" CDr (Shimmering Moods Records, November 2017), "Cygnus" 2CD (Kosmos, April 2018), "Portal" CD (Carpe Sonum Records, April 2018) and "Everything Is Thought" CDr (Lagerstätte, November 2018). And most recently, a newest CD album "Emotive Motifs" was just released today on Databloem, so connect and explore!!!

Richard Gürtler (May 01, 2019, Bratislava, Slovakia)

Numina "The Chroma Plateau" CD

Numina's discography is quite extensive, featuring since 2000 mostly self-released CDr albums via Numinamusic.com or through the original MP3.com site, but also several CD albums on Hypnos. Roughly, I am talking about 30 or so solo and collaborative releases (with IXOHOXI, Stephen Philips, Caul and Zero Ohms). Jesse Sola, the lone creator behind Numina, based in Denver, Colorado, has released his last album "Through The Gate To Nowhere" in 2015 on relaxedMachinery. Three years have passed since and Numina returns with "The Chroma Plateau" on respected Spotted Peccary Music, where also "Broken Stars Through Brilliant Clouds" album with Zero Ohms was released in 2015. "The Chroma Plateau" CD is packaged in a catchy 4-panel eco wallet designed by Spotted Peccary's visual mastermind Daniel Pipitone, while the mastering artistry is delivered by Howard Givens.

6 and a half minutes long "Beaming Up The Fossils" ignites the journey with gracefully expansive and tranquilly undulating drifts exquisitely amalgamated with introspectively titillating vistas. Spellbinding serenities in full bloom! Longer "Bringer Of The Beings", clocking over 9-minute mark, maintains the gliding scenario, again spiced by gently nuanced motifs, while intangibly evocative native glimpses are riding atop. Another superior track! Gossamery minimal and glossy liquid sequencer charm with strong cinematic feel announces "Intergalactic Traveller" and soon commingle with warmly embracing celestial blankets. What an odyssey, pure aural balm is delivered here in huge doses, bravo, Jesse, this is a Hall of Fame piece!!! The next track "Where All The Creatures Are Dreaming" dives into mysteriously colored realms, where helixing patterns bridge with humming subterranean stratums and occasionally permeating gentle dissonant meridians blend with ambiguous reverberations. Stunningly enrapturing exploration! "Mosaic Of Whispers", backed by nebulously ethereal layers, conceals the listener inside of the fascinatingly hypogeous cyber-biotic domains. The gates to peculiarly transcendental Eden are unlocked... Kudos for guest appearance on this, rather shorter masterpiece goes to kindred soul Nathan Youngblood, who provided sonic loops and drones. High five, Jesse & Nate!!! But please add few more minutes next time... Nearly 10-minute "When The Sea Disappears From Me" is carried by panoptically traversing drifts, but later inconspicuously ascending sequences steal the center stage and keep on propelling the core along with glancing harsher piquancies. Infinite drones are insistently guarding above. "Sky Descender" is carved with oracularly minimal and weirdly enchanting rumbles, while languid cadences pervade, evolve and towards the end interact with remotely gliding and enthrallingly deserted expanses. "Living In The Clouds", at 11:22 the longest piece on the album, is silently amplifying with constantly illuminating high-pitched particles. Clandestinely heightening into a truly monumental, yet placidly sweeping vertexes. An epic soundscape! "The Chroma Plateau", the title composition serves a very strong conclusion with meandering vintage-infused sequencer insignias, reinforced by spirals of sharper outbursts. Nostalgic melodies quietly awaken, support and finalize this profoundly reflective ride.

More of deep listening surveys are needed, but then "The Chroma Plateau" fully reveals all its magic, this is a really all-inclusive monster album by Numina, no question about this!!! 71 minutes of pure aural adventure awaits here, no matter if intensely immersing, bizarrely mindscaping or emotionally transporting, "The Chroma Plateau" is relentlessly driven by skilled and refined wizardry of its sole sonic architect. Bravissimo, Jesse Sola!!! For all connoisseurs of physical editions, Jesse has still available around 12 of his solo and collaboration CDs/CDrs via his Bandcamp site. It's a highly recommended merch indeed!!!

Richard Gürtler (Apr 28, 2019, Bratislava, Slovakia)