Back in stock: Ambient/Drone

Review: Andrew CS, a multimedia artist and creative programmer from the American Midwest, delves into recursive time loops through digital memories on this new album which blends recorded spaces with synthesised loops improvised on custom software. After discovering a field recorder as a teen, Andrew began archiving moments of tranquillity, creating a dialogue between present textures and a future self. Caught in Pointers, weaves a non-linear coming-of-age narrative from six years of altered field recordings and collages data from Andrew's rural youth and Chicago's urban oscillations and envisions their past as a navigable, four-dimensional digital space.

Review: The debut album by Big Hands (aka Andrea Ottomani), is a deeply immersive and dream-born odyssey that blurs the boundaries between electronic and acoustic sound. Conceived during a stormy Mediterranean voyage and built from field recordings, tuned percussion and collaborations with a tight circle of musicians, Thauma is an emotional and textural triumph that takes in Palestinian artist Bint Mbareh’s haunting vocals and Buster Woodruff-Bryant’s serpentine sax lines. Each moment brings real spiritual depth while merging modular synths with bells, balafon and bamboo drums to evoke a mythic, place-bound nostalgia that is organic and otherworldly.

Review: Brock Van Wey is bvdub, a towering ambient figure and venerated veteran who continues to find newness in his work. He's back on Past Inside The Present here with 13 (on vinyl for the first time) which, he says, "represent one edict or idea from chapter 13 of the Tao Te Ching" which are about putting focus on humility and freedom from desire as a way to lead a peaceful life. Flickering melodies and slowly shifting harmonies set the tone from the off with track two introducing pulsing keys and low-end distortion. Elsewhere, layers of propulsive patterns and dubby motifsweave together with soft distortion and tracks ten and 11 build to great intensity and the finale brings delicate strings. Listening is an easy way to ensure a peaceful escape

Review: The cult-classic debut album from Florida-raised singer-songwriter and producer Hayden Silas Anhedonia, who goes by the stage name Ethel Cain. The album draws on her personal experiences, including growing up homeschooled in a Southern Baptist family. She channels that it into tender, balladic indie pop that's connected with millions. Anhedonia is reportedly no longer religious and so her lyrics are more of an exploration of those themes and hold an irreverence. In heartbreaking ethereal tones, reminiscent of Lana Del Rey, she sings: "God loves you / but not enough to save you", on 'American Teenager'. The album took four years for Anhedonia to make and she claims to have made nearly every inch of it herself. This painstaking attention to detail shows in the mixes, which feel like pop but are subtly avant-garde and make you feel in the company of a true artist.

Review: Croatian Amor's new full length is a homage to "youth and the delicate metamorphosis that occurs as childhood trips into maturity." The Danish group bring the sort of restless energy you would associate with those young years as well as nostalgic sun-kissed moments like the title track. Each one is a mini sound collage as has always been the way with this band and diffuse electronic music traditions are mixed with fantastical synthetic sounds and heavy rhythmic structures. It is another fine work that stands in its own unique musical world.

Review: J Trystero's Cantor's Paradis on Fergus Jones' FELT label is a 45-minute drift through ambient dub terrain that leaves you mesmerised. It draws on the spacious design of artists like Huerco S. and Civilistjavel!, and unfolds in a dreamlike haze of blurred melodies, submerged textures and subtle, ever-shifting rhythms. Trystero filters the DNA of '90s dub techno into soft, iridescent tones here to craft soundscapes that feel both ancient and futuristic. Tracks like 'Untitled 6' briefly emerge with dubby definition but the album thrives in ambiguity. It's a deeply immersive record that's hypnotic, calming and subtly emotive so perfect for late-night solitude or introspective mental wandering.

Review: The Koner Experiment comes on like a heavyweight supergroup outing into leftfield, dubby electronics. It was presented in 1997 on celebrated label Mille Plateaux as the fourth album from Pete Kember's offshoot project beyond his psychedelic sound design work in Spacemen 3, but when you look at who was involved the album is much more than a solo venture. The clue is in the title, as Kember linked up with Porter Ricks' Thomas Koner and Andy Mellwig as core collaborators, hence the magnificent chasms of metallic, spatial world-building which define the album. Beyond Kember and Koner, though, My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields lends guitar, Kevin 'The Bug' Martin shreds in some heavily processed sax. It's a monumental work, now repressed on white vinyl via Space Age.

Review: Recorded in collaboration with Nils Frahm at Berlin's Leiter Studio, Ganavya's fourth album is destined to carve its own path to recognition due to its unique quality. A follow-up to last year's acclaimed Daughter of a Temple, which drew praise from many music outlets, Nilam - probably best known her for her appearance alongside Sault at their recent live show - continues her journey into music as devotion, meditation and memory. Born in New York and raised in Tamil Nadu, she moves fluidly between traditions, channeling pilgrimage trails, harikatha storytelling and jazz improvisation into something uniquely her own. Her voice is unhurried, intimate and full of clarity, conjuring stillness even in motion. It's a sound that invites stillness but never feels static, where every breath carries the weight of generations and each silence says as much as her lyrics. The songs on Nilam feel distilled from years of lived experience, shaped by years of live performance as tracks like 'Sees Fire' blend Eastern tonalities with meditative jazz, fusing introspection with emotional firepower. The album traces the patterns of gratitude, loss and rootedness meanwhile anchoring the listener in a place beyond the physical. Rather than chase genre, ganavya reaches toward essence. Nilam isn't just an album, it's a moment held in reverence. A sonic altar where memory, spirit and sound meet. In her hands, song becomes a ritual of listening.

Review: ML Buch's new album pushes her experimental pop into new realms and ably builds on the expansive guitar work and catchy melodies introduced in her 2017 debut EP, 'Fleshy'. Her distinctive sound combines synthetic MIDI textures with heartfelt songwriting and ethereal vocals that evoke the fluidity of intimacy in a digital world. Through tender tracks like 'I'm A Girl You Can Hold IRL' and 'Can't Get Over You With You,' the artist takes listeners beneath the skin and explores a visceral, surreal world. Panoramic visuals captured via a pill camera mirror this exploration in a blend of technology and human emotion this is truly unique.

Review: Rod Modell's Music For Bus Stations is, as it says on the tin, a "generative sonic backdrop for bus stations". We hope that that includes Milton Keynes Interchange, or else us Brits will have no music to help us through the bleakness next time we're headed up North! Building on a 25-ish-year-long career's worth of similar stuff, the Detroit sound-e-scape artist serves up a profound, yet measured set of pieces here, all of which are untitled, and each of which deliver slightly different takes on a fibre-optic, refractive sound, echoing something between Global Communication, Arpanet and Celer in combining implied themes of travel and telecoms.

Review: Rod Modell's Music For Bus Stations, released by Silentes, is a compelling blend of ambient and dub techno, perfect for those who appreciate a deep sonic journey. Modell, known for his Detroit origins and his creative use of vintage recording methods like tape loops and echo devices, has crafted an album that harmonizes beautifully with modern architectural spaces. This work is designed not to overpower but to enhance environments, particularly bus stations, with its evolving and organic soundscapes. Drawing inspiration from avant-garde bus station designs by Domitianus Arquitectura and Bluck & Morgen, Modell's compositions create a calming atmosphere filled with polyrhythms and shifting sonic layers. These elements together generate a reflective and serene auditory experience, turning ordinary spaces into extraordinary ones. Music For Bus Stations is a dynamic, ever-changing auditory backdrop that breathes life into the mundane. This vinyl release offers a unique, unpredictable sound environment that elevates everyday moments into something profound. Given Modell's dedicated fanbase, this vinyl edition is likely to be highly sought after.

Review: "Raw Composed Peacemaking Electrons" are the four words which came with delivery of the latest from Munich tastemakers Ilian Tape in regards to this latest drop in their ITX Series. 'Raw' certainly fits for an album of hazy, misty, melancholic ambient soundscapes that often convey moods of sadness and loss. There are moments of hope, such as with the gently twinkling synths of 'Goodbye,' while 'Oberheim Junction' is insular and tender and 'PEACEmaker' has hints of optimism in the delicate, waifish synth motifs that float above a hum of cosmic static. 'NurMKS70' is another quiet but life-affirming ambient work in what is an immersive listen.

Review: Jim O'Rourke handles the soundtrack for Hands That Bind, a Canadian drama film directed by Kyle Armstrong and starring Michael Shannon, Elisabeth Moss and Willem Dafoe. The American musician and producer is known for his eclectic and experimental work in a deluge of genres, spanning rock, folk, jazz, ambient and electronic - all shine through with equal gravitas on the OST, reflecting O'Rourke's talent for creating atmospheric cinematics that perfectly complement the film's theme of a local land scandal, and its conspiracy-level implications.

Review: There's much to admire about Andrew Wilson and John Tanner's second collaborative full-length, which sees them build on the fluid and atmospheric ambient of 2016 debut "69". Utilizing a relatively small array of instruments - mainly piano, acoustic guitar and a few choice synthesizers - the pair serves up ear-catching soundscapes wrapped in atmospheric field recordings and just the right amount of processed effects. For the most part their compositions are summery and seductive, emphasizing unfussy combinations of melodic refrains and positive chord progressions. There are, though, one or two more experimental cuts, with the tipsy, slow-motion shuffle of "Idle" and spaced-out "Safe Bird" standing out.