Unusual Traveler
A Journal for those who do not take a shortcut
Latest Posts
Eluvium On…
The Music of
Gudjieff / De Hartmann
Words MATTHEW COOPER Choosing a favorite ambient album is a bit of an impossibility for me. There are so many that I enjoy often, or that left an important mark on me while growing and learning about the various worlds of music out there. My initial instinct is to reach for Eno or Satie or […]
2 years ago
Jon Hassell / Brian Eno
Fourth World, Vol. 1:
Possible Musics
(Editions EG, 1980)
This cutting-edge collab between Jon Hassell and Brian Eno doesn’t blend into the background of whatever space it inhabits. It blasts the walls with brightly colored hues, splattering every corner with sounds you’ll have a hard time placing on this particular astral plane. That’s because Hassell’s beloved trumpet is heavily treated, a signature “future primitive” […]
2 years ago
Terry Riley
In C
(CBS, 1968)
A mesmerizing piece of peerless minimalism — arguably the first of its kind — Terry Riley’s In C maintains a sense of forward momentum that can’t be stopped, one that starts with the Pachinko-like pluck of a piano and quickly spirals out of control. No wonder why Adrian Utley’s Guitar Orchestra and Acid Mothers Temple & […]
3 years ago
Claire Rousay On…
Patience
Words CLAIRE ROUSAY Theodore [Cale Schafer] and I first came into contact during the middle of 2018. I was on tour with Jacob Wick and we passed through Santa Fe to play a show that Theo set up for us. This visit was my introduction to Theodore as a person as well as his music. […]
3 years ago
The NRG
Live ’94
(self-released, 2021)
Something’s a little off about The NRG and its newly released Live ’94, LP, from its piss-take song titles (“The KLF,” “Earth Mother,” “Ralph Doesn’t Like Peas”) to its YouTube teaser — a crowd-enhanced clip that was uploaded a little over two years ago and left to lie dormant until today. And then there’s its mockumentary-like […]
3 years ago
Lindstrøm &
Prins Thomas
III
(Smalltown Supersound, 2020)
Don’t let the title of the opening track on III fool you into thinking it’s a full-on “Grand Finale.” Judging by its slow-moving synth lines, blunted drum beats, and lounge pants loops, Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas sound more concerned with setting a “Serenity Now” scene than flooding a dance floor. And while the pace does pick up […]
3 years ago
Windy & Carl
Antarctica
(Darla, 1997)
The need for ambient music isn’t new. Many would argue it goes all the way back to Satie and his singular form of “Furniture Music.” And then there are all the compilations — some crucial (Back to Mine, Late Night Tales), some corny (Buddha Bar anyone?) — that have passed through the pipeline in the […]
3 years ago
Dawn Chorus and
the Infallible Sea
Liberamente
(Azure Vista, 2020)
Liberamente is a reset button record, pure and simple. A way to mute the mistakes of last week and ease into the next with a clear mind and a renewed sense of purpose. Maybe even a little hope — something we all lost sight of in a year unlike any other in recent memory. As […]
3 years ago
Harold Budd
Perhaps
(Samadhisound, 2007)
As Harold Budd’s longtime friends and fans struggle to make sense of his passing this week, we’d like to point out a record that’s held in high regard by completists (see: its triple-digit price tag on Discogs) yet largely overlooked compared to his crucial Eno collabs (The Pearl, Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror) and […]
3 years ago
David Darling
Cello
(ECM, 1992)
When it comes to ECM Records, we’re more familiar with the iconic album covers of label founder Manfred Eicher than the many contemporary pieces he’s released since 1969. Or as New York Times writer Dana Jennings put it in a story about the Haus der Kunst exhibition ECM: A Cultural Archeology…. Most ECM covers these […]
3 years ago
Nailah Hunter On…
Duchenne Smile
Words NAILAH HUNTER Duchenne Smile (Geotic, 2009) was my favorite album to listen to as a young, romantic art-school student living in the suburbs back in 2011. I’d just moved out on my own for the first time and this album was the perfect soundtrack to accompany my newfound feeling that anything was possible. Composed mostly with […]
3 years ago
Otto A Totland
Pinô
(Sonic Pieces, 2014)
Otto A Totland isn’t nearly as prolific as his Deaf Center partner (Miasmah founder Erik Skodvin, a.k.a. Svarte Greiner). Never has been; never will be. In fact, he’s released just two solo records in the 15 years since the group’s stellar debut album Pale Ravine. And that’s okay. Quite appropriate actually, considering how loudly both […]
3 years ago
Eliane Radigue
Trilogie De La Morte
(XI, 1998)
Some people have noise machines. Others go to bat for guided meditation apps. Us, we can always rely on Eliane Radigue. A peerless, multi-faceted pioneer of atmospheric pressure since the early ’70s, Radigue started out exploring musique concrète and electroacoustic music with the two Pierres — Henry and Schaeffer — and shared a Morton Subotnick-built […]
3 years ago
Lisa Lerkenfeldt
Collagen
(Shelter Press, 2020)
We first stumbled upon Lisa Lerkenfeldt’s wild sound world while listening to the latest drop from Longform Editions, a Sydney label that asks guest artists to submit one long song to its series of “immersive listening experiences for the everyday.” According to Lerkenfeldt’s track notes, “29°” captures “the duality of the wind… at a post-industrial […]
3 years ago
KMRU
Peel
(Editions Mego, 2020)
We first stumbled upon Joseph Kamaru’s womb-like world while reading a rundown of the records that helped Patricia Wolf deal with her mother-in-law’s death. “This song is a recent discovery for me,” she wrote of the revelatory KMRU single. “It resonates with the current place I am in with grief. It says to me, ‘Life […]
3 years ago
Kelpe
Run With the Floating,
Weightless Stillness
(Drut, 2020)
Earlier this year, Kel McKeown regained the rights to an old Kelpe record (2010’s Margins 12”) and reissued it on his Bandcamp page with a revealing note: “This is what I used to sound like.” No kidding. While that EP revolves around neon-lit rhythms and laser-cut dance loops, Run With the Floating, Weightless Stillness — […]
3 years ago
Biosphere
Dropsonde
(Biophon Records, 2020)
The latest Biosphere LP to receive a proper reissue through the producer’s Biophon imprint may not be his most iconic effort (Cirque and Substrata land on more far more best-of lists), but that doesn’t make it any less essential. First teased in 2005 on Touch, the record started out as a six-track survey of slow-moving film […]
3 years ago
Concentric Records
On… Insen and
Trans-Millenia Music
In the spirit of Concentric Records’ recent self-titled playlist, Simone Merli (Soundwalk Collective) and Luca Calo (Born In 1986) also broke two of their favorite ambient records down in detail. Both set the scene for the label’s opening gambit (the three-part compilation Profile of the Lines) beautifully, as if they’d just been asked to reveal […]
3 years ago
Andrew Tuttle On…
Playthroughs
Words ANDREW TUTTLE There’s definitely recent albums I could just as easily write about, but I want to allow myself more years with them, so I’m going to write about a record that I’ve had well over a decade to get acquainted with. I couldn’t tell you exactly when I first heard Playthroughs (Kranky, 2002), […]
4 years ago
Steve Roach
Structures From Silence
(Fortuna, 1984)
It doesn’t take long for Steve Roach to lull most listeners to sleep — or at the very least, a semi-comatose state — on Structures From Silence. Originally released in 1984, and expanded into an essential three-disc edition 30 years later, this is as good as the ambient icon gets — three lush, synth-led pieces […]
4 years ago
Roger & Brian Eno
Mixing Colours
(Deutsche Grammophon, 2020)
When it comes to ambient music, there’s often a fine line between dreadful and devastating, boring and beautiful. Brian Eno has ridden it for a while now, beginning with his bedridden 1975 breakthrough Discreet Music. Largely inspired by a hospital stay that left him listening to music at a level so low he couldn’t perceive […]
4 years ago
Nils Frahm
Empty
(Erased Tapes, 2020)
It’s hard to think of a more intimate, and raw-sounding Nils Frahm record than the one he released last Saturday to celebrate Piano Day. Dropped without warning — like a tree falling in a forest with no one around — Empty was originally played on a solo upright piano in the summer of 2012 as […]
4 years ago
Kazuya Nagaya On…
Triodion
Words KAZUYA NAGAYA I’m not really sure if I could call this ambient music. It is essentially contemporary music, but it would be fine to call it that in a broader sense. All of Arvo Pärt’s albums enthrall me with their overwhelming beauty: Tabula Rasa, Alina, Arbos, Te Deum. But I picked Triodion (Hyperion, 2003) […]
4 years ago
Niklas Paschburg On…
Goodbye to Language
Words NIKLAS PASCHBURG When I was asked to pick my favorite ambient album I first thought about Brian Eno. I discovered the ambient genre through his music and he is still my favorite ambient producer. However, in the last couple of years another album slowly took over as my favourite, and it’s called Goodbye To […]
4 years ago
Terekke
Improvisational Loops
(Music From Memory, 2018)
The central piece (“Nuwav2”) on Terekke’s beat-less Improvisational Loops record lasts for nearly 20 minutes, long enough to lose yourself in its formless mist. Which makes sense; the album’s earliest stages actually stem from yoga classes at Brooklyn’s sorely missed Body Actualized Center, which founder Brian Sweeny (see also: the roaming Ambient Church series) once […]
4 years ago
Speaker Music On…
Anima
Words DEFORREST BROWN, JR. I first heard Vladislav Delay’s Anima around 2014. Back then I was a chronic insomniac, and worked closing shifts with a near two-hour commute from Manhattan to the suburbs of outer Queens, which afforded me a lot of time to decompress and catch up on music releases as well as experience […]
4 years ago
Meemo Comma On…
Through the Looking Glass
Words LARA RIX-MARTIN Photo ELEANOR HARDWICK When I was asked to write a review on my favourite ambient album I was stumped at first. What music do I listen to? Least of all in terms of genre. Midori Takada’s Through the Looking Glass album was first released in 1987, three years before I was born. […]
4 years ago
François J. Bonnet
& Stephen O’Malley
Cylene
(Editions Mego, 2019)
When we were kids, there was this infamous ride at Fantasy Island — an amusement park not far from Niagara Falls — called Devil’s Hole. A physics class / lawsuit waiting to happen, it was like a less safe version of a Gravitron, with centrifugal force pulling the most terrifying parlor trick imaginable. Or as […]
4 years ago
Telefon Tel Aviv On…
Big Room
Words JOSHUA EUSTIS This record (Big Room) came out on April 5th of 2019, very quietly. With Ulla Straus being adjacent to [Huerco S’] West Mineral Ltd. [imprint] and having already done some music that I really enjoyed, I put this on my phone before a 15-hour flight and hit play as we were taking off. […]
4 years ago
Joanna Brouk
The Space Between
(Hummingbird Productions, 1981)
If you’re short on time and don’t have the bandwidth to dive into her two-hour Hearing Music compilation, The Space Between is a lovely introduction to the rarified New Age recordings of Joanna Brouk. This particular album was only available in limited tape runs — the last of which went out-of-print in 1984 — until […]
4 years ago
JQ On…
アンドロメダ
Photo ERIAL ALI Words JQ アンドロメダ translates to andromeda, a galaxy two and a half million light years from Earth, and an adequate way of summing up the music made by Telepath. An original founder of Dream Catalogue, Telepath (or t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者) has released dozens of Vaporwave albums […]
4 years ago
Hayden Pedigo On…
Variations: A Movement in Chrome Primitive
Words HAYDEN PEDIGO I have always joked that the best ambient music in the world comes from Texas. I mean, Stars of the Lid and William Basinski both came from this state. I always wondered if it was because of how expansive and vast Texas is. I grew up in Amarillo, which is in the center […]
4 years ago
Carmen Villain On…
Aka / Darbari / Java:
Magic Realism
Words CARMEN VILLAIN The first time I heard Jon Hassell’s music was a kind of eureka moment: “WHAT is this?” It was his 1978 album Vernal Equinox, and I was immediately drawn in by the looseness of it all, the use of percussion (which I’m always a sucker for), and the unorthodox processing of his […]
4 years ago
Sage Caswell On…
A I A: Alien Observer
A I A: Dream Loss
Words SAGE CASWELL There are few albums I’ve come across that paint the kind of picture Grouper’s A I A (Kranky / Yellow Electric, 2012) does. Furthermore, there are few creative contemporaries that put forth the kind of honest, raw emotion found within her offerings (audio or otherwise). To this day, I’ve yet to find […]
5 years ago
Kin Leonn On…
Land
Words KIN LEONN I’m not sure how I stumbled upon this album and Porya Hatami a few years ago. I do remember the phase in my life where I listened to it almost obsessively: in my army bunk during my officer cadet training days in Singapore (a nation which requires all males to serve two […]
5 years ago
36 Launches C45 Dreamloops Series on Limited Cassette Tapes
36 unveiled two very limited releases today: a 200-copy marble blue vinyl edition of last year’s Ego Death LP and the first entry in a new tape series called C45 Dreamloops. According to the UK producer, “Each tune in this series will be 22:30 in length. These are slow, hypnotic tracks, that exist in their […]
5 years ago
Kyle Bobby Dunn On…
Ambient 4: On Land
Words KYLE BOBBY DUNN Maybe some folks would say On Land (EG, 1982) is a typical ambient choice; maybe some are unfamiliar with this title. I honestly find this to be the greatest ambient album in many ways. I have returned to it again and again over the years and get more out of it […]
5 years ago
William Orbit
Pieces in a Modern Style
(Maverick, 2000)
One thing many people missed about William Orbit when he was busy producing left-field LPs for Madonna (the universally acclaimed Grammy winner Ray of Light) and Blur (13) was the electronic musician’s first classical album, Pieces in a Modern Style. Largely overshadowed by a club-ready Ferry Corsten remix of Samuel Barber’s Adagio For Strings, the […]
5 years ago
Laraaji & Lyghte
Celestial Realms
(Spirit Music, 1986)
When Celestial Realms was originally released in a rare cassette run more than 30 years ago, Ramana Das—the music editor of Yoga Journal—called it “the best sustained trance music of the year.” He was quick to add one other thing, however: “[It’s] definitely not for grounding or as background to washing dishes!” Which is really […]
5 years ago
Jonas Munk On…
Gone to Earth
Words JONAS MUNK When Japan disbanded in the early 1980s, lead figure David Sylvian pursued a more atmospheric path—first with some very rewarding Ryuchi Sakamoto collaborations, and later with his first solo album, Brilliant Trees. The latter saw him collaborating with musicians from the minimal/avant-garde school, such as Holger Czuckay, Jon Hassel and Mark Isham, […]
5 years ago
JAB On…
Desert Solitaire
Photo CHRISTINA VANTZOU Words JOHN ALSO BENNETT Edward Abbey, known as the “Thoreau of the American West”, published his most famous book Desert Solitaire in 1968. It’s an influential example of environmental writing, a genuine attempt to engage the desert landscape in a literary dialogue and artistic examination of an environment previously left relatively untouched […]
5 years ago
Celestial Trax On…
In den Gärten Pharaos
Words JONI JUDÉN While the term ‘ambient music’ wasn’t fully conceived until Brian Eno’s eponymous four-part installment of albums that truly opened the floodgates for the genre, it certainly wasn’t born ex nihilo. Of its lineage, the chapter on early German synthesizer experiments and psychedelic drones I find the most fascinating. I’ve always been drawn to the […]
5 years ago
Yagya
Rigning
(Sending Orbs, 2009)
Having already tackled winter on his debut album Rhythm of Snow, Yagya moved onto rainier months with Rigning. Arguably the Icelandic producer’s most self-assured effort, the hour-long opus received a long overdue repress in a remastered triple LP edition last year. Alternating between dub-techno dynamics and beat-less breaks, it seems to reference everything from the […]
5 years ago
Khotin
New Tab
(Pacific Rhythm, 2017)
Painterly keyboard progressions and suspended animation sequences
5 years ago
Stream Jeffrey Silverstein’s How on Earth EP and Read the Stories Behind Its Ambient-Folk Songs
"Something is bound to get you off-center eventually"
5 years ago
Abul Mogard
Above All Dreams
(Ecstatic, 2018)
We’ve given up on trying to figure out if Abul Mogard is, in fact, a real person at this point. Anyone who’s into widescreen electronic music is better off acknowledging the producer’s back story—a former Serbian factory worker, miming the machines of his youth—and head straight for the songs themselves. Above All Dreams starts off […]
5 years ago
SUSS On…
Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks
Words BOB HOLMES When you’re a music lover, one of the best gifts is to rediscover an album that you’d previously written off—especially when it’s from one of your favorite artists. That was the case for me with Brian Eno’s Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks (EG, 1983). Rediscovering an album rewards you in two ways: First, […]
5 years ago
Bitchin Bajas
Bajas Fresh
(Drag City, 2017)
Get lost in 80 minutes of mostly calming music
5 years ago
Thomas Köner
Nuuk
(Big Cat, 1997)
A glacial and gloomy highlight from one-half of Porter Ricks
5 years ago
Tangerine Dream
Rubycon
(Virgin, 1975)
As prolific as Tangerine Dream have been since the late ’60s—they’re still active today, even after founder Edgar Froese’s passing—it’s easy to drill their sprawling discography down to a couple key releases. Namely 1974’s Phaedra LP and its swiftly released follow-up, Rubycon. Essentially one experimental piece spread over two 17-minute sides, the latter drifts through […]
5 years ago
Alex Zhang Huntai
Divine Weight
(NON Worldwide, 2018)
Now available in a much-needed vinyl pressing via Boomkat, Divine Weight is a heavy listen indeed—Alex Zhang Hungtai soundtracking his subconscious over iridescent drones and dovetailing hymns. Nothing is what it seems, either; all five tracks revolve around “‘failed’ attempts of saxophone compositions and recordings” that were “heavily digitally disfigured until [they] no longer resembled […]
5 years ago
Diamondstein On…
Black One
Words DIAMONDSTEIN I can’t remember when I first heard Sunn 0))), but I definitely remember when I first sought them out. I was about 20 years, living in New York and working in set design on bizarre fashion shoots—a completely foreign language to a kid from the Appalachian corners of Southeastern Ohio and West Virginia. […]
5 years ago
Bing & Ruth
No Home of the Mind
(4AD, 2017)
Here’s a surefire hit for numbing the noise of relatives, unsolicited advice, and incessant Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday sales. Centered around the solemn motifs of composer David Moore—and taken to transcendent heights by a tight-knit quartet (bassists Greg Chudzik and Jeff Ratner, clarinetist Jeremy Viner, and tape manipulator Mike Effenberger)—No Home of the Mind […]
5 years ago
Ezekiel Honig & Morgan Packard
Early Morning Migration
(Microcosm Music, 2005)
Ezekiel Honig and Morgan Packard didn’t actually cross paths on the production side of Early Morning Migration. The album’s split between their solo work, but manages to blur any lines between the two by maintaining a sepia-toned mood throughout its 11 tracks. (Good luck guessing who’s responsible for what.) Contrary to their backgrounds in drum […]
5 years ago
M. Geddes Gengras On…
Sea Biscuit
Words M. GEDDES GENGRAS You would be forgiven for expecting something almost completely different not long into “Pressure,” the 10.5-minute opening track of Sea Biscuit (Astralwerks, 1994), the second album by Jonah Sharp under his Spacetime Continuum moniker. Despite a particularly gaseous introduction, a subdued kick/rim shot/lo-fi snare pattern creeps in, establishing a shuffling 108 […]
5 years ago
Eli Keszler
Stadium
(Shelter Press, 2018)
Stadium doesn’t fit any traditional definitions of “ambient music”—Eli Keszler’s red-blooded rhythms are far too restless and erratic for that—but the album’s prevailing mood fits that mold perfectly. Contrary to the pastel color scheme of its abstract cover art, the fully immersive record unfolds like a classic film noir cut in high contrast monochrome. And […]
5 years ago
The Necks
Aether
(Fish of Milk, 2001)
Remember MP3 blogs? Well the same rule of good intentions applies here; we love this hard-to-find LP from The Necks so much we simply had to share a streaming version of it here. (It’s not on Spotify or Bandcamp unfortunately.) Have a listen below, then buy the CD or digital edition straight from the source […]
5 years ago
Anthony Naples
Take Me With You
(Good Morning Tapes, 2018)
While it’s killer Biscuit cover may look like it was lifted from an old rave flyer, Anthony Naples’ newly dropped Take Me With You cassette is actually a concerted after-hours affair. Meant to be consumed like a mixtape—hence the Good Morning Tapes hook, rather than a traditional label—the 12 tracks on here are a tease […]
5 years ago
Kasper Bjørke Quartet
The Fifty Eleven Project
(Kompakt, 2018)
One of 2018’s most ambitious and moving ambient records, The Fifty Eleven Project is a triple LP of expansive new material from Kasper Bjørke and such esteemed guest players as Italian composer Davide Rossi, pianist Jakob Littauer (Jatoma), and keyboardist Claus Norreen. It’s not just any old album, though; it’s Bjørke’s deeply personal documentation of […]
5 years ago
LTO On…
Endless Summer
Words LTO I was at uni in Scarborough, an old seaside resort in the North of England, studying Creative Music Technology. When I arrived in 2002, I was mostly listening to post-rock stuff like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Do Make Say Think and Mogwai, along with the odd emo, post-hardcore and nu-metal record. Starting a […]
5 years ago
Penelope Trappes On…
Essence / Universe
Essence/Universe by Laraaji Words PENELOPE TRAPPES For the past few years, Essence / Universe (Audion Recording Co., 1987) has been my go-to when I need to relax and remember all is well in the universe. Laraaji creates an aural space for me to drift away into. I feel like the title of the album is […]
5 years ago
Felbm
Tape 1 / Tape 2
(Soundway, 2018)
Here’s an example of cover art catching our eye in an era where that sort of thing isn’t supposed to matter anymore. Not in the digital realm, at least, as it’s difficult to draw a direct parallel between scanning the artful shelves of a well-curated record shop and riding the ragged algorithms of Spotify. Having […]
5 years ago
Joakim
The Studio Venezia Sessions
(Vinyl Factory, 2018)
For anyone who missed 2017’s Venice Art Biennale, Studio Venezia was a gorgeous Xavier Veilhan installation that happened to house rare gear (everything from medieval horns and modular synths to a Cristal Baschet and Buchla) and the roaming studio of Radiohead’s sixth man, Nigel Godrich. Joakim was among a select group of experimental/electronic artists asked […]
5 years ago
Shuttle358
Frame
(12k, 2000)
Shuttle358’s second album dropped in 2000, when CD sales were peaking and post-IDM productions began to dominate labels like Mille Plateux (see: their influential Clicks & Cuts series), Raster-Noton, and Taylor Deupree’s 12k imprint. This is where one might find original pressings of Frame, a deeply immersive listen from producer Dan Abrams that melds spare […]
5 years ago
Future Museums Shares the Stories Behind His Cosmic Synth Cuts
In the spirit of the Free Association series at our sister site self-titled, we recently asked Neil Lord to pull the curtain back on his latest Future Museums album. Hitting shops today through Holodeck, Rosewater Ceremony Part II: Guardian of Solitude finds the Thousand Foot Whale Claw/Single Lash member in top form alongside soothing New […]
5 years ago
Martyn On…
Lifeforms
Words MARTYN DEYKERS It’s 1994 and I’m just some student in The Netherlands. My days at uni are filled dragging myself from lecture to lecture, from “Dutch syntax & grammar” to “PR Campaign Writing II”, but the nights and weekends are filled with fantasies about an alternate future world. Inspired by William Gibson’s Neuromancer and […]
5 years ago
Sigur Rós Celebrate Extended Family With ‘Endless’ Mixtape
Jónsi, Alex Somers and Paul Corley have released the second volume of their Liminal series. The “endless mixtape” features rare and previously unreleased material from the sound bath trio and such close friends and influences as Vatican Shadow and Ian William Craig. Among the spoils this time around is a new Jónsi song and the […]
5 years ago
Ashra
New Age of Earth
(Isadora, 1976)
Much like Manuel Göttsching’s dazzling solo debut (1975’s Inventions For Electric Guitar LP), early New Age of Earth pressings were credited to the Krautrock icon and his old group Ash Ra Tempel. This despite its dissolution several years earlier, when bassist Hartmut Enke and synthesist Klaus Schulze left the Tempel’s lone devotee to hold down […]
5 years ago
Rafael Anton Irisarri On…
Orbus Terrarum
Words RAFAEL ANTON IRISARRI When I first heard The Orb’s Orbus Terrarum (Island, 1995), I was a teenager living in the middle of nowhere, playing bass guitar in punk and reggae bands, and had a very vague idea of what electronic music was. Growing up a teen in the mid ’90s meant barely any access […]
5 years ago
Chi
The Original Recordings
(Astral Industries, 2016)
Cut at a communal farm right in the middle of the Regan era, and dusted off three decades later by the London imprint Astral Industries, The Original Recordings sound like something Chi’s new labelmate (Kompakt co-founder Wolfgang Voigt) would listen to while running through Germany’s Black Forest and dreaming up the next GAS album. Hypnotic […]
5 years ago
Bibio
Phantom Brickworks
(Warp, 2017)
When we first got into Bibio during his Mush days, a big part of the producer’s appeal was how close his beats hewed to a kaleidoscopic Boards of Canada template. Stephen Wilkinson’s elusive sound didn’t stay that way, however. For nearly a decade now, the mood-altering multi-instrumentalist has worked psychedelic soul, R&B, folk and pop […]
5 years ago
Robert Haigh
Creatures of the Deep(Unseen Worlds, 2017)
After spending the ’80s writing dark ambient diatribes and working alongside Nurse With Wound, multi-instrumentalist Robert Haigh took a sharp detour into drum ‘n’ bass with his Omni Trio project, only to resurface under yet another glaringly different guise over the past decade. And that is Robert Haigh the melancholic piano man, a minimalist cut […]
5 years ago
Luke Jenner On…
Planetary Unfolding
Words LUKE JENNER I can’t remember how I first found Planetary Unfolding (Continuum Montage, 1981). A friend of mine makes ambient tape music and works at Amoeba Berkeley as the world music buyer. We went to high school together; we used to trade baseball cards. The first time we traded something he ripped me off. […]
5 years ago
JD Emmanuel
Wizards
(North Star Productions, 1982)
Much like the Jordan Sierra album we mentioned last week, Wizards didn’t move too many copies when it first came out in the early ’80s. So what did JD Emmanuel do? He made a color version of its stark black and white sleeve and added titles to five tracks that were originally treated as abstract […]
5 years ago
Jordan De La Sierra
Gymnosphere: Song of the Rose(Unity, 1978)
It took Unity Records less than a year to give up on Gymnosphere as Jordan De La Sierra had envisioned it: nearly two hours of uncut New Age music, produced by broadcaster Stephen Hill and backed by a 20-page booklet of personal writing and art. With its wide release shaved down to a single LP […]
5 years ago
Scott Hull
Requiem
(Relapse, 2008)
Scott Hull is quick to clarify that Requiem is not his first proper solo album. It’s more of a missed opportunity—a film score that was ultimately scrapped and given another go on Hull’s longtime label Relapse Records. “I worked on this quite a long time—the majority of 2006, in fact,” the guitarist/producer explained around its […]
5 years ago
Ellen Arkbro
For Organ and Brass
(Multiverse, 2017)
There’s something about the sustained tones in Ellen Arkbro’s plaintive “For Organ and Brass” piece that reminds us of Sunn O))). Mainly their Monoliths & Dimensions album, which found the drone-on duo fusing their rumble-strip riffs with everything from an upright bass trio to a pair of trombonists. The setup on Arkbo’s first proper full-length […]
5 years ago
Dedekind Cut
Tahoe
(Kranky, 2018)
In case you couldn’t tell by the yoga mat Fred Warmsley sold around $uccessor—his first Dedekind Cut album—or this lengthy, immersive playlist, the producer is essentially an ambient expressionist now. The abrupt transition began when the former Pro Era member was still making beats under his Lee Bannon alias—a move exemplified by 2015’s ego-dissolving Pattern […]
5 years ago
Nick Malkin On…
Vrioon
Words NICK MALKIN Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Vrioon (Raster-Noton, 2002) album seems to be in tune with everything around it—somehow locked into the key of everyday life. It rhymes with all of it. The phase of a passing ambulance, the blurred shouting of someone in the street, birds chirping, chimes moving, tires rushing by […]
5 years ago
Robert Rich
Nest
(Soundscape, 2012)
Critics may not consider Nest the most influential or ‘important’ release in Robert Rich’s immense back catalogue, but we’ve gotta be honest; it’s racked up millions of Spotify plays for a reason. And that is its steadfast position as a more peaceful listen than what we’re used to from a dark-ambient don who once had […]
5 years ago
Daniel Schmidt
In My Arms, Many Flowers
(Recital, 2016)
Sean McCann’s Recital imprint first gave this gorgeous collection of gamelan pieces a proper release in 2016. It’s gone through three blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em vinyl pressings since then, but you can still let the album’s four sublime vibrations reverberate across your living room online. Pulled from the personal 1978-1982 archive of music teacher/composer Daniel Schmidt, In My […]
5 years ago
The Black Dog
Music For Real Airports
(Soma, 2013)
As you can probably tell from the title, The Black Dog wrote this record as a rebuttal to Brian Eno’s most iconic ambient album. Soothing and unsettling in equal measure, it’s a dark but deeply immersive take on just how debilitating airports can be—a Black Mirror episode waiting to happen, rather than Tom Hanks in […]
5 years ago
Lori Scacco On…
The Moon and the Melodies
Words LORI SCACCO “Morning music” is a big thing for me. It’s a descriptor I reserve for beloved records that resonate in that window before the waking mind has fully taken hold. It’s that liminal space in which there is a residue of night logic, and conscious thought remains fluid, expansive, and yet to be […]
5 years ago
Steven Legget
Bathhouse
(Firecracker, 2018)
Already sold out at the source—Edinburgh’s rather excellent Firecracker Recordings—but still available digitally via Bandcamp, this stunning effort is the long overdue solo debut of Steven Legget. Never heard of him? That’s not your fault; while the UK producer has been making electronic music since the mid ’90s (including such collaborative projects as Four Hands […]
5 years ago
Charlemagne Palestine
Strumming Music
(Shandar, 1974)
Long considered a masterful display of pure, unadulterated minimalism, “Strumming Music” is calm for about a minute or two of its album-length running time. The rest is off to the races, with Charlemagne Palestine whipping his Bösendorfer Imperial grand piano into a frenzy without the safety net of notation or a proper game plan. The […]
5 years ago
Tropic of Cancer
Restless Idylls
(Blackest Ever Black, 2013)
On the surface, Camella Lobo’s sole LP under the name Tropic of Cancer lurks in the shadows like an O.G. (original goth) who smokes cloves and quotes Sisters of Mercy. Wrap its lonesome melodies, lean synth lines, and steam-pressed beats around you like a wool blanket, however, and its eight abstract ballads start to feel […]
5 years ago
Daniel Avery Releases First Round of Ambient Music
Photo STEVE GULLICK In honor of his upcoming dates with Jon Hopkins, Daniel Avery has shared a new 46-minute piece loosely inspired by the ambient lulls in his epic DJ sets. Available below via XLR8R, “Visible Gravity” is a slow-burner that revolves around a melancholic, unchained melody and a stunning Hiroki Kikuta sample. “I’ve had […]
5 years ago
Gas
Nah Und Fern
(Kompakt, 2008)
We know what you’re thinking: Nah Und Fern isn’t an album; it’s a box set. And a long-out-of-print one at that. So why is it self | centered’s lead Album of the Day? Well, that’s simple: because the first phase of Wolfgang Voigt’s influential GAS project could double as one long, never-ending LP. It doesn’t […]
5 years ago
Drumcell Makes Us a Therapeutic Mixtape, From Autechre to Alessandro Cortini
Words + Mix MOE ESPINOSA The following playlist is music I have found to be personally therapeutic. It is a collection of compositions that is an exercise in catharsis while providing self-reflection and perspective. There are times that all of us are in dire need of inspiration, and it’s difficult to not be inspired by […]
5 years ago
Eliane Radigue’s
Essential Drone Records,
From ‘Adnos’ to ‘Triptych’
Words MATT CARLSON Why do some people want to sit and listen to one note for 20 minutes? Or one chord for an hour? Successful drone music is actually not about stasis itself. When it works it’s because it allows a shift to occur in the listener, wherein the subject of the music becomes your […]
5 years ago
The Orb Bring Us Back to the Chill-Out Room
In honor of the excellent ambient record The Orb released on Kompakt a couple years back (COW / Chill Out, World!), self-titled asked Dr. Alex Paterson and his longtime collaborator Thomas Fehlmann to cut an exclusive chill-out mix for its Needle Exchange series. Presented in two parts below and recorded in their respective London and […]
5 years ago
Stream XAM Duo’s Self-Titled Debut and Read the Stories Behind Their Ambient-Jazz Songs
When Hookworms bassist Matthew Benn first started fielding live offers for his solo project XAM, he quickly realized how much he missed performing with other people. “It was all very daunting,” explains Benn. “I found traveling to and playing shows by myself quite a lonely experience after having been in bands for the last 10 […]
5 years ago
Kid606 Covers Brian Eno’s “Discreet Music”
Miguel De Pedro has dabbled in ambient music before (see: such introspective Kid606 listens as Resilience and PS I Love You), but he’s never embraced wide open spaces and the power of silence quite like he does on his Bored of Excitement LP. Inspired in part by the recovery process De Pedro went through after […]
5 years ago
Lustmord Discusses Three Decades of Dark Ambient Music
Words ANDREW PARKS This may come as a surprise given how sinister his soundscapes are, but Lustmord’s demeanor on the phone is downright delightful. In fact, he talks so fast–with a thick British accent, no less–it’s hard to follow it all. Here’s what you need to know about him in a nutshell, though: for more than […]
5 years ago
Villette Melds Experimental Techno With Neo-Classical on Exclusive Mix
Photo OZGE CONE As the co-founder of Injazero Records, Abkhazian DJ/producer Villette has embraced her experimental side as of late. It’s something she first explored on 2015’s Crossed Wires EP—a techno 12” haunted by ambient hooks and neo-classical nods—and furthered on its recent follow-up, Hiraeth. And now there’s “Trou Noir”, an exclusive mix for our […]
5 years ago
Liziuz Shares the Ambient Half of His Debut Album
Photo BECKA DIAMOND Hospital Productions is heading into its 21st year with one hell of a debut album: Geschichten des Lebens, a deeply immersive double LP from ambient/techno architect Liziuz. The widescreen effort presents two entirely different versions of the same epic track—one for restless living rooms, and one for the darkest corners of the […]
5 years ago
Watch a Documentary on Nanook of the North’s Stunning Debut Album
While Stefan Wesolowski and Piotr Kalinskí (a.k.a. Hatti Vatti) had long talked about making an LP inspired by the iconic documentary Nanook of the North, a perfect storm of inspiration didn’t strike the pair until a couple years ago. Quite literally, in fact, as that was when they were holed up in Ólafur Arnalds’ Reykjavik […]
5 years ago
Rafael Anton Irisarri’s Rebuttal to Pitchfork’s Best Ambient Albums
As if he wasn’t busy enough playing festivals, manning sound boards, mastering countless albums, and making his own experimental music, Rafael Anton Irisarri became our hero by filing a fantastic retort to Pitchfork’s recent 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time list. It’s a doozy—100 records that represent a full range of sounds that soothe […]
5 years ago
Bvdub Puts Rough Year Behind Him on Rare Ambient Mix
Words + Mix BROCK VAN WEY The past year has been worst than I could ever have imagined on a personal level—a living hell I can’t escape from. Only in recent weeks have I begun to learn to cope with the effects it has had on my psyche, both on my own and with professional […]
5 years ago