Back in stock: Ambient/Drone

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: Widely regarded as Boards of Canada's finest hour, Music Has The Right To Children finds itself the subject of a well-deserved 2LP gatefold reissue from Warp Records. One of the most defining records of what was known for better or worse as IDM still sounds as timeless as it did in 1998, as the library tones of "Wildlife Analysis", thick downtempo rhythms of "Roygbiv" and out of focus melodies of "Olson" prove. Essential!

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: The Savage Planet is a masterpiece of French science fiction. An adult animation, the plot asks what would happen if the human race was essentially abducted by an alien species, taken to another world, and either kept as pets or allowed to roam free in the wildness, unharmed save for when the population starts to become too unwieldy and a cull is needed. Suffice to say, things don't stay in this strange disharmonious bondage for too long, but rather than spoil things we implore you to track it down and watch. Alain Goraguer's soundtrack only adds to the strength of the viewing experience, and although hearing it alone isn't quite the same thing, the quality of what's here makes for a great listen. Spanning moments that sound a little on the Pink Floyd side of life, strange surrealist circus fanfares, floatation tank fodder, psychedelic rock, jazz and funk, suffice to say it has proved a sampler's delight over the years.

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: 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: The 1990s was arguably the first 'golden age' of ambient - a time when the inherently atmospheric and laidback style not only exploded in popularity, but also became the post-club soundtrack of choice for a whole generation. This personal survey of the 90s ambient scene from journalist and author Jon Savage does a good job in gathering together a representative selection of genuine gems and overlooked classics, drifting between the bubbly, deep space brilliance of Richard H Kirk's Sandoz project ('Limbo'), bleeping ambient house ('Calm' by 2 Cabbages on a Drip), early progressive house (React 2 Rhythm), electronic psychedelia (the tabla rhythms and swirly noises of Rapoon), ambient blues (Underworld), IDM (U-ziq), and glacial, slow-motion bliss (Biosphere).

Review: When will Alex Paterson, the Dr, run out of ideas? Here joined by fellow originator of The Orb, Andy Falconer, the pair's Sedibus project takes all of the serenity of the legendary UK electronic act and then walks it up onto the nearest mountainside in the middle of the night, sets up camp, and invites you to join in a stargazing odyssey. You can almost feel the cosmos appearing around you as the work unfolds. Just like the great blanket of stars, energy and matter above, there's complexity here, even if it often feels deceptively simple. Layers, textures, passing noises, background harmonies, all these elements subtly create this deep and incredibly immersive soundscape that pulls you in like a black hole, before showing you what the spread, retreat, and expansion of energy might sound like.

Review: After a two-decade interlude, Jim O'Rourke's Moikai returns with Spectral Evolution, a major new work by Rafael Toral. Making his name in the mid-1990s with influential guitar drone platters like Sound Mind Sound Body and Wave Field (both reissued by Drag City in recent years), Toral has never been one to rest on his laurels repeating past glories. In the early years of the 21st century, Toral began his "Space Program", a 13 year investigation of the performance possibilities of an ever-expanding set of custom electronic instruments, played with a fluid phrasing and rhythmic flexibility inspired by jazz. Dedicated to honing his skills on these idiosyncratic instruments, Toral founded his Space Quartet, where his mini-amplifier feedback integrates seamlessly into the frontline of a classic post-free jazz quartet rounded out with saxophone, double bass, and drums. Since 2017, Toral's work has been entering a new phase, often still centred around the arsenal of self-built instruments developed in the Space Program, but with a renewed interest in the long tones and almost static textures of his earlier work; he has also, after more than a decade, returned to the electric guitar. Spectral Evolution is undoubtedly Toral's most sophisticated work to date, bringing together seemingly incompatible threads from his entire career into a powerful new synthesis, both wildly experimental and emotionally affecting.