Back catalogue: Experimental/Electronic

Review: After five years apart, Italian composer Eraldo Bernochi and Japanese violinist, electronica producer and current Tangerine Dream member Hoshiko Yamana return with a sequel to their much-loved 2020 album Mujo. Described by the pair's label, Denovali, as "a deeply cinematic experience", Sabi cannily combines the slow-burn, trance-inducing synthesizer sequences of Tangerine Dream, the intergalactic electronic expressiveness of ambient techno, the thematic movements of modern classical, Yamana's emotive violin motifs and the spaced-out ambient iciness often associated with Geir Jensson's Biosphere project. It's a genuinely brilliant album all told, with the pair smartly sashaying between hazy melancholia, string-laden creepiness and picturesque aural colour.

Review: With a title inspired by the utterances of The Oracle of Delphi, a cult of female priestesses who reportedly "changed the course of civilisation" by inhaling volcanic vapours, it's clear that Lee Burtucci and Olivia Block's first collaborative album is rooted in paganistic visions and experimental mysticism. It's comprised of two lengthy tracks, each accompanied by edited 'excerpts', and combines Burtucci's experimental synth sounds and tape loops with Block's processed vocalisations and hazy field recordings. Dark and suspenseful, with each extended composition delivering a mixture of mind-mangling electronics, creepy ambience and musical elements doused in trippy effects, it sits somewhere between the charred "illbient" of DJ Spooky and the deep space soundscapes of the late Pete Namlook.

Review: Robert Smith has always treated remixing less like revision, more like ritual i a habit that's followed him since his days in Crawley, West Sussex and then surfacing officially on the first Cure remix album, 1990's Mixed Up. This triple-disc release of reworkings from the band's latest LP Songs of a Lost World feels assembled with obsessive care, mapping out every possible mood lurking beneath the surface. There are club-ready flips, yes i Sally C, Danny Briottet and Gregor Tresher all push the rhythm forward i but they sit beside glacial pieces that feel more like haunted sketches than reworks. Mura Masa's take on 'All I Ever Am' is disintegrated almost beyond recognition, its vocal a flickering memory. Mogwai's 'Endsong' feels like the end of the world in slow motion. Even Chino Moreno turns in something striking i 'WarSong' morphs into a sludgy howl with heat-warped edges. But it's the sequencing that surprises: these aren't bolted together, but grouped in arcs, as though Smith were arranging the bones of an old idea into something still alive. Four Tet's version of 'Alone' is a high point i deeply textured but featherlight. Like all The Cure's output, what really matters is the feeling of being drawn somewhere, and Smith's hand never letting go.

Review: More than four decades after he first appeared in smudged eyeliner and a mop of jet-black hair, Robert Smith is still finding new ways to pull his music apart and stitch it back together. This new remix collection i assembled and curated by Smith himself i feels less like a victory lap and more like a restless dissection of a legacy he's still actively shaping. The collaborators here are hardly incidental: Four Tet, Orbital, Ame, Chino Moreno, Mura Masa, Trentemoller, Mogwai. It reads like a list built by someone still hungrily tuned into the present, not stuck in the past. And true to form, the results are all over the place i a feature, not a flaw. Some tracks lean into grandeur: Paul Oakenfold's take on 'I Can Never Say Goodbye' opens with all the sweeping melodrama you'd expect, while Daybreakers stretch 'WarSong' into widescreen synthwork. Elsewhere, Shanti Celeste and Ex-Easter Island Head bring a strange intimacy to 'Alone', teasing out its ache with a different kind of spaciousness. At times, you wonder if Smith enjoys seeing how far his work can be bent before it breaks. But it never does i even filtered through others' hands, his sense of tension, drama and deep emotional unease holds everything together.

Review: Deepspace's 'Neon Blue Utopia' is the 16th album from the Brisbane-based artist is a heady brew of ambient electronica, spacewave and post-rock, conjuring a dreamlike world like a cyberpunk film score filtered through a kaleidoscope. 'Utopia=Visions' sets the tone with its expansive soundscapes and shimmering textures, evoking a sense of awe and wonder. Tracks like 'Parkour on Lazarus Heights' and 'Rainy... Precinct' paint a vivid picture of this futuristic metropolis, with their pulsating rhythms and otherworldly sounds capturing the city's vibrant energy and neon-lit glow. 'Entering Aquarium Prefecture' and 'Bubble Echolalia District' delve into the surreal, their off-kilter rhythms and disorienting soundscapes suggesting a world where reality is fluid and dreams are tangible. The album's second half continues the exploration, venturing into darker and more experimental territories. 'Floor 426-B' and 'Empty Office Space' hint at the city's hidden depths and the lurking shadows beneath its gleaming facade. A proper journey through a world of sonic imagination, this is an immersive and evocative soundscape-fest.

Review: A groundbreaking document of avant-garde music from Romania, originally released in 1981 under Ceaucescu's oppressive regime, that's grown in reputation enough over the years to now necessitate a reissue. This compilation, featuring Dumitrescu and three other visionary composersiOctavian Nemescu, Stefan Niculescu and Corneliu Cezaridefies both the political climate and conventional musical boundaries. Opening with Dumitrescu's 'Movemur Et Sumus', the album immediately plunges into uncharted sonic territory. Strings are transformed through radical processing, oscillating between shimmering abstraction and visceral intensity. Nemescu's 'Combinatii In Cercuri' marries intricate ensemble writing with electronic textures added in 1980, creating a circular, evolving soundscape. Niculescu's 'Sincronie' combines composed and improvisational elements, culminating in a hauntingly dramatic exploration of stasis and movement, with Dumitrescu contributing both piano and conducting. Finally, Cezar's 'Rota' blends Balkan and Romanian folk influences with startling electronic effects and prepared instruments, evoking natural sounds like wind and waves alongside experimental timbres. Recorded in a Bucharest radio studio against all odds, this album showcases the revolutionary potential of Dumitrescu's Ansamblul Hyperion, a daring chamber group he founded in 1976. Newly remastered from the original tapes, the reissue preserves the original cover art and reintroduces these boundary-pushing works to a global audience. With its fusion of spectralism, acousmatic exploration and Eastern traditions, this release remains as daring and relevant as ever.

Review: Unheard Of Hope - one prominent tine of the holy trinity / label supergroup known as TAR/MM/UOH - specialises is that all-too-rare subsection of music, the avant-garde. Theirs is a seedier aesthetic, preferring the more traditional, yet grimmer and demurer ends of this hotly contestable musical "approach", and perhaps emblematic of this is the latest record by Guatemalan cellist and vocalist, Mabe Fratti. Out on every format - tape, CD, vinyl - Sentir que no sabes ("feel like you don't know") hears Fratti's crystalline vocals glint like life-giving liquids, and sound too to effuse from the same fruitful source as its watershed cello lows and occasional blossomy arp-pop structures (ballad 'Pantalla azul' is by far the poppiest moment). The evident confidence brought to the record lends it an element of surprise, too, when we discover that it is entirely thematically rooted in doubt. In the words of the artist, this is a record born of the "moment when you feel you don't know anything and you are soft like jello and any fork can go through you." When one finds strength in permeability, one embraces what is normally registered as a pure antagonism, and all seemingly rigid particulars are changed for ever.

Review: The Future Sound Of London are well-known for their intense sectioning-off of various albums into sagas. Conceived as far back as the late 1990s, the 'Environments' album series has been routinely topped up on a slow but steady basis, and has thus far manifested as a grand total of seven psychedelectronic odysseys. 'Environments Seven', which came out earlier in 2022, is testament to the duo's madcap penchant for sagaizing; indeed, this seventh instalment in the LP is split into a trilogy, and 'Environments 7.02' is the second in said trilogy.

Review: German pair Markus Guentner and Joachim Spieth rightly got plenty of acclaim for their 2023 ambient album Overlay and now it gets revisited with a top selection of remixes that breathe new life into the original compositions. Prominent ambient and experimental artists such as Hollie Kenniff, Rafael Anton Irisarri and Pole all show their class while newer names like Abul Mogard smears synths into a misty wonder on 'Scope', Galan/Vogt layer in angelic vocal tones to 'Valenz' and Leandro Fresco brings a lightness of touch that fills with optimism on opener 'Apastron. Guentner and Spieth themselves provide two alternate versions of their originals that bring new emotional and sonic depth.

Review: Irish producer Iglooghost continues to redefine electronic music with a conceptually rich and sonically dense third album. Drawing from the desolate landscapes of a coastal UK town overrun by primordial detritus, the record fuses UK garage, coldwave, drill and more into a visceral, cinematic experience. Created while squatting in a Kent coast garage near a sewage plant, Iglooghost's surroundings heavily influenced the album's dark, aquatic tone. Blending relentless percussion with eerie melodies, the album unfolds like a near-future sci-fi soundtrack. Tracks like 'Germ Chrism' deliver pummeling trap-meets-IDM chaos, while slower cuts like 'Spawn01' evoke the hushed intimacy of early Portishead. Iglooghost's vocals take center stage, ranging from snarling hooks to delicate whispers, imbuing the music with a surreal humanity. Thematically cohesive yet wildly experimental, the album's soundscapes mimic waterlogged radio transmissions, stuffed with textures, rhythms and cinematic interludes. Despite its grim undertones, a cartoonish, surreal charm runs throughout, melding genres and abstract storytelling into relentless, goosebump-inducing club music. This record reaffirms Iglooghost's mastery of world-building and his ability to craft a vivid, otherworldly atmosphere from the interplay of sound and narrative.

Review: Loraine James continues to trust her instincts and serve us some of the most honest and original music within the leftfield electronic sphere right now. Having recently paid tribute to the work of Julius Eastman on Build Something Beautiful For Me, now she retunes to Hyperdub with the record she claims the teenage version of her would have made. The label text makes explicit reference to the likes of DNTEL and Telefon Tel Aviv as well as math rock, but James is also way out in her own zone metabolising such influences into unique expression. There are some wonderful guest spots from the likes of RiTchie, Marina Herlop and Eden Samara, while James herself centres her voice for some of the album's most poignant moments. Gentle Confrontation is another outstanding chapter in James' ever-intriguing story.

Review: Midway through the last decade, Bureau B reissued a kosmiche curiosity from cult synthesiser composer Rudiger Lorenz, Southland - a set inspired by idle daydreaming about the island nations of the southern pacific and the south Atlantic. Here, they return to the late artist's catalogue, presenting their pick of the music featured on the DIY tapes and records he self-released (usually in very small quantities) between 1981 and '83 - IE the period before Southland was recorded. Larger darker and moodier than that set, Lorenz delivers a synthesizer-heavy musical blend of contemporaneous influences that consistently delivers the goods. Our picks of a very strong bunch include the sparse and warped 'Chabomilla Sabinae', the Tangerine Dream-esque beauty of 'Dreaming of Saba', the electronic ambience of 'Independence' and the star-gazing drift of 'Anigre'.

Review: Second time around for David Sylvian's inspired full-length collaboration with German mastering engineer-turned-electro-acoustic experimentalist Stephan Mathieu. Wandermude won plenty of plaudits on its initial 2012 release, with critics highlighting the immersive beauty and sonic detail of the duo's hybrid drone and ambient works. It still sounds superb all these years on, too - all evocative aural textures (often provided by Sylvian on guitar or synth, though Mathieu did contribute some organ sounds), impeccable sound design (Mathieu is a master at this and reportedly constructed most of the showcased tracks) and sustained sound-washes. If you love ambient music, you need it in your life.

Review: Even by the standards of the late, great Bryn Jones AKA Muslimgauze - an artist whose enormous catalogue has only grown since his death in 1999 - Rhiza Coil of Resin is something of an obscurity - a set previously only available as part of a rare box set. It was reportedly recorded at some point following the release of Narcotic (1997) and explores many of the same sonic themes. Here available as a standalone CD for the first time, the five tracks variously touch on lo-fi, delay-laden drum & bass ('Deceive For Yourself'), redlined bass and mangled breakbeats (both takes on the suitably heavy 'Arab Quarter'), experimental electronic noise meets ambient acid ('Why Iraq') and deep, dubbed-out trip-hop ('Effendi') - all peppered with his usual Arabic spoken word samples, field recordings and found sounds.

Review: This expansive 2CD collection from Nurse With Wound compiles a range of experimental works from 2008-2011, offering a glimpse into their cut-and-paste sonic universe. Opening with the jarring 'Cruisin' For A Bruisin'', the set quickly plunges into a diverse array of sound, blending drones, rhythms and odd vocal samples. The first disc is split into 'The Bacteria Magnet' and 'Rushkoff Coercion', while the second features 'Erroneous, A Selection of Errors,' likely showcasing unreleased material. The music constantly shifts, moving from chaotic big band absurdity to African-inspired polyrhythms, cold techno and smoky ambient passagesiall within moments. Though the collection lacks a unifying theme, its disorienting patchwork of textures offers plenty of intriguing moments. As with any NWW release, it's difficult to categorise, but it's a skilful, unpredictable exploration of sound that keeps listeners engaged despite its ever-changing nature.

Review: On 2013's History of The Future, Alex Paterson looked back at The Orb's most productive and critically acclaimed period, between the ever-changing band's formation in 1989 and the end of their 'major label adventure' at the tail end of the '90s. This second instalment - released ahead of a new album in the summer - brings the story bang up to date, gathering together Paterson and company's best productions since the turn of the millennium. For the most part, it's business as usual, with the former Killing Joke roadie and longtime production partner Thomas Fehlman joining the dots between sample-heavy downtempo grooves, dub, melodious techno and '90s style ambient house (the second disc, which focuses mostly on this style, is particularly enjoyable).

Review: While not as widely known or celebrated as those who came in his wake (and cite his work as an inspiration), Rephlex alumnus Bogdan Raczynski makes music every bit as alluring - and, like one of those he influenced, Richard D James, a fan of playful press releases and eye-catching interview quotes. He's variously described his amusingly new title as an AI-made attempt at EDM, the soundtrack to a rejected Tesla infomercial, a collection of ten-year-old tracks and a bid to crack "the lucrative coffee shop playlist market". Whatever the truth, it's a melodious, warm and ear-catching collection of cuts that flits between cheery electronica, off-kilter IDM, immersive and maximal club cuts, joyful ambient soundscapes and short, sweet numbers that refuse to outstay their welcome. Another winner from a master of his craft.

Review: Via their Rubbish Music project, Kate Carr and Ian Chambers use sound to, in their words, "investigate the journeys, transformations and impacts of everyday objects". In the case of their 2022 debut album Upcycling, that meant creating new experimental sound worlds from all manner of discarded things. On sophomore set Fatbergs, they turn their attention to the oily, greasy clogs that form in our sewage system. In practice, that means a mixture of ghostly electronics, gurgling and effects-laden noises of unknown origin, creepy and immersive soundscapes, echo-laden bells, dystopian new-age compositions and unusual - but surprisingly meditative and heady - ambient epics.

Review: Although widely celebrated as a pioneering and influential work, the original Japanese version of Ryuichi Sakamoto's third solo album, Hidari Ude No Yume, has long been hard-to-find. Helpfully We Want Sounds has secured the rights to reissue it in Europe, pairing the Yellow Magic Orchestra man's original set - complete with sung and spoken Japanese vocals - with a partner disc of entirely instrumental versions. Musically, it remains as vibrant and otherworldly as it did at the turn-of-the-80s, with the great Sakamoto combining elements of jazz, traditional Japanese music, new age, ambient and new-wave with rubbery synth-pop and proto-electro sounds. The fact that it still sounds like nothing else is not only proof of Sakamoto's genius, but also why you genuinely need it in your life.

Review: The 20th-anniversary edition of Squarepusher's Ultravisitor showcases Tom Jenkinson's groundbreaking blend of live and studio recordings, remastered for new depths of sound. Spanning frenetic breakbeats, jazz-funk explorations and atmospheric fusion, this album captures the complexity and eclecticism of Jenkinson's work. Tracks like 'Iambic 9 Poetry' deliver sunlit jazz tones, while 'Tommib Help Buss' brings serene electronic bliss. Although Ultravisitor might feel overlong at nearly 80 minutes, its sprawling length doesn't diminish its innovation. The title track encapsulates Squarepusher's signature drum-n-electro-pop, while pieces like 'Circlewave' and 'I Fulcrum' balance virtuosity with thematic exploration. Jenkinson's improvisational drumming and bass solos, such as on 'I Fulcrum', demonstrate his command over both instruments and composition. Jenkinson's eccentricity shines through, making Ultravisitor an essential listen for both long-time fans and newcomers. This edition reaffirms Squarepusher's pioneering role in electronic music, blending technical brilliance with intriguing, if at times chaotic, compositions. It's a record that intrigues and impresses, pushing the boundaries of beat-driven electronic music.

Review: Way back in 1995, Sun Electric (AKA Berlin-based twosome Tom Thiel and Max Loderbauer) released one of the greatest live ambient albums of all time, the stunning 30.7.94 Live, on R&S offshoot Apollo. Live at Votivkirche Wien is a follow-up of sorts - a previously unreleased recording from 1996 of the pair's show at Vienna's neo-gothic Votivkirche Wien concert hall, at which the duo made great use of the venue's natural reverb. Mixing their usual unfurling melodies and deep space chords with a mixture of gentle beats, sumptuous sound design and dubby basslines, the set ebbs and flows attractively before concluding with an inspired, stretched-out ambient techno re-interpretation of 1994 single 'Aaah!' In a word: brilliant!