As far as electronic music releases go, Rami Moscovich does a nice job straddling Eno-esque ambient with Berlin School vibes reminiscent of 70s-era Tangerine Dream. The jewel of the crown of this release is the track My Grandmother’s Apartment, where it sounds like Rami’s grandmother is reminiscing about old times in what sounds like Hebrew. Enjoyable.
learningtodive · Norwegian Pop (Album) learningtodive hail from New Zealand and made a lot of waves with this, their debut EP. This is a nice blend of post-punk, post-rock and synth-based music. For those who prefer to stream this, I point you to their Spotify page. I’d much prefer to see them on a platform where I could download their music, but as it stands, I’m pretty happy having the chance to hear this on any format. Quite good stuff.
Saturday afternoons tend to be a great time for me to let my mind wander a bit while I’m doing minor chores. This Saturday’s release comes from Joachim Spieth, DJ extraordinaire, remixer and owner of Affin Records, one of my favorite modern techno labels. This album is a departure from his normal oeuvre. We have 57 tracks, most less than a minute in length, of ambient music which can be shuffled for hours of truly easy listening. It’s not audible wallpaper like most ambient music is supposed to be, but it serves as a good soundtrack for drifting the day…
I don’t do top-ten lists, and I don’t ever plan on doing that in the future, but things can change at any moment. Still, if I had to nominate a favorite record label at this moment, there’s no doubt it would be Italy’s Unexplained Sounds Group. Each compilation is a tour guide of experimental music from select parts of the world. This one is near and dear to me, as China was and shortly will be my home for quite a while, and Raffaele Pezzella does yeoman’s work documenting what is happening in the Middle Kingdom experimental-music-wise. Here are some…
This was a happy surprise. Manne Skafvenstedt is a Swedish pianist, composer and producer who works in the fields of jazz, ambient, electronics and sound design. His latest album, Archway, is a calming experience. There is a sort of sweetness to this music, where the listener actually feels good enjoying these sounds. It’s not the sugary nonsense one hears in lower quality New Age or modern ambient music. This resonates, and it might be because he is also a professional sound designer while he’s not busy composing. I have no doubt that those who enjoy the works of Robert Rich,…
Today is the Ides of March, once a day of celebration during Rome’s peak (and a deadline for settling debts), now remembered as the anniversary of the assassination of Julius Caesar. Former Siouxsie & The Banshees bassist Steven Severin makes available his ambient experimental work commemorating the event.
Composer, radio presenter, label owner, philosopher and old friend Toni Dimitrov has released a new album on the ever-interesting Kalamine Records. Here are some of the details regarding the release, courtesy of their Bandcamp page: Performance at SlovoKult literARTour 2020 in Gevgelija, as a part of Bosh Festival. SlovoKult literARTour is a small international festival of contemporary art, text and poetry, taking place in Skopje and Gevgelija, Macedonia and Berlin, Germany. www.slovokult-literatur.de
Chinese-Canadian composer Yu Su produces an album that left me pleasantly surprised by. Though I found this download under “ambient” music, it turns out that it may have more to do with the motorik music of Neu! quietly subdued by elements of dub, dance music and wee touches of Chinese traditional music buried underneath. She has launched her own record label, bié Records, which is based in my working location, Beijing, China. As I plan to return in June, provided the government there opens the doors again, I’ll have to look the label up and see what else is coming…
This collection of ambient music is curated by British record label Mailbox Records. From their Bandcamp site: About this release: This compilation has been put together in order to raise awareness and/or raise money for the UK charity, Refuge. This means 100% of proceeds from all sales will go to them (after the standard deductions from Bandcamp and PayPal). It was 1971 when Refuge opened the world’s first safe house, so this year marks the 50th year they’ve been helping women and children escape a life of abuse and violence; the first to make the point that violence in the…
Coagulant hail from Uruguay, a country not known for a deep experimental music scene. This release, however, should attract attention to those who enjoyed those ritualistic post-Industrial music cassettes of the 1980s. There’s a heavy B-movie soundtrack vibe to this release mixed with electroacoustic music. Quite enjoyable.