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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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]