Acoustic landscape paintings. 4 variations on their themes, smooth and cold, yet warm at the same time.
I seem to be in an ambient review mood lately. So let me make the most of it and bring you yet another rather old gem of the good old days of the genre.
Where other ambient artists fall into the trap of simply sounding dull and repetitive, Motionfield adds just enough progression to keep the soothing tracks interesting.
Continue reading “Motionfield – [2005] Music for Pictures”Blend of Blade Runner & Star Trek. Although the artist never mentions it, to me this sounds like a tribute.
This review is an advertisement to look out for good review writers: user electrocelt’s list of reviews is a splendid little collection of mostly ambient electronica.
And under their upload tab, I found this little 4-track EP. Still with the joy of having found it, I write this little review:
Continue reading “Travis Noble – [2006] Outerspace Introspection”Soothing ambient goodness. Almost acoustic bubble-bath
This ambient masterpiece has been released by still active netlabel Dewtone back in 2005, but has dropped out of their official back catalogue since then.
Fortunately, archive.org did, well, archive this gem for us. 2 of the 9 relaxing tracks make it into my review. But it is the full release you should be treating yourself with. As another reviewer there put it:
Continue reading “(Val)liam – [2005] Early Reflections”In all, an absolutely beautiful work to be placed along with your finest ambient recordings.
electrocelt on archive.org
Intense drone music. Slowly pulsating synth chords; delivering loads of spacey space sound.
Drone music is a dish best served at low to medium volume in a dimmed room. Headphones are a plus, but not necessary. Relaxing or comforting activities become twice as effective. I generally can recommend Stellardrone’s other works if you are a friend of this genre. Continue reading “Stellardrone – [2010] Sublime”
Friendly ambient electronica. If Minecraft would have another soundtrack, this EP could set the style.
Ambient music is hard to discover for me: while I am in the mood for exploration, I tend to favour louder and more immediately “gratifying” productions. This EP released at a Portuguese netlabel focused on Japanese music – yes, apparently that’s a thing – MiMi Records. Here, calm bleeps create an ambience very conducive to relaxing activities. Continue reading “Seki Takashi – [2016] Night City”
Spacetime drones. Long-stretched synthy soundscapes for late-night orbital flights.
Put this onto your ears if you want to beat silence, yet not distract you from whatever you are doing otherwise. The album does a great job of catching you mid-thought, making you realise how cool the sounds sound that you were not listening to, and letting you of the hook not a full minute later. Best consumed after sunset, in a darkened room, while you shake off a busy day. Continue reading “Derek Nigell – [2017] Heartbeat of the Universe”
Frosty ambient IDM with class. Very versatile EP with fully ambient to almost danceable tracks. A real classic, published at Kahvi.
Back in 2009, I started this series of reviews with Coax’s The Ice Garden. Ever since, I was hesitant to write another review on the same artist. But I have done so multiple times over the years now, so it’s time to finally break the spell and give Coax their second review. Their music deserves it, after all: frosty, ambient IDM, released at the notorious Kahvi netlabel, well known for delivering quality electronica by truck. Continue reading “Coax – [2008] Aeons”
Juicy electronica bleeps. Sound like fresh orange juice, familiar yet fresh.
This review is a friendly reminder to myself to go through Bump Foot‘s back catalogue more often to fish for classic netlabel gems. If you are into friendly electronica, you might consider going for a hunt there for yourself. But back to today’s catch: Continue reading “Mikk Rebane – [2017] Deviations”
Minimal bleep sounds. Very experimental science fiction movie backdrop.
Sound samples and single notes from vintage science fiction movies, put together. I would expect to encounter this a) in a over-the-top artsy Scifi movie on ARTE, or b) in a museum for modern art, next to a… interesting piece of metal or unwatchable video montage. Still here? Great, because those tracks are very well put together. Let me give you two samples: Continue reading “Ryukau – [2015] Muryoku”
Excellent quiet ambient.
There are times you need punchy beets, strong rhythm, catchy tunes and a sing-along chorus. This album has none of these. Instead, it features lack of beats, only subtle rhythm, uncatchy, drawn-out tunes and no chorus. In short, this music is not intended to be listened to as a primary activity. Rather, it is perfect to accompany situations in which most other music would be distracting: concentrated reading, meditation, or — now that I think of it — writing blog posts… Read on for almost two hours of such music Continue reading “Wings Of An Angel – [2016] Vain Crescent”
