Ghostly International Us Vinyl & CDs

Review: Emeralds really are the gift that keeps on giving. And giving. tTe Cleveland, Ohio-trio have around 40 releases out, which landed in rapid succession over a period of about four years. Many are self-facilitated CDs and cassettes, nodding to a 'record everything' mentality that keeps them front of mind, and invites listeners into their development, wrong turns and staggering successes. Within that insanely long oeuvre, formal releases bookend mini eras, each showcasing a slightly refined, retuned and rethought sound. Does It Look Like I'm Here? is no different, offering the most beautiful and crystalline music this outfit has made to date. Up against the epic-dominated preceding outings, where ten minute tunes abound, things are more 'standard album format here', with a couple of exceptions. But the tracks are not bound by uniformity or rules of this or that, and instead feel just as expansive.

Review: Helios is back with a new album that comes here on CD. He is rather a mainstay of the Ghostly label and someone adept at going deep into immersive worlds of ambient sound, though has always manage to evolve his signature style across his various long players. This one is all about minimal ambient electronics laced with instrumentation. It is his third long player on Ghostly following Veriditas and then Domicile in 2020 - and is a bit of a hark back to his earlier electro-acoustic roots. These are lush sounds with lively leads that unfurl slowly and meaningfully with plenty of emotion.

Review: A Pale Fire, Goldmund, Mint Julep and Helios are just a few of the pies that American composer and multi-instrumentalist Keith Kenniff has their fingers in. The latter, an ambient project started in 2004 with 'Unomia', has received critical acclaim, their formal music training and unique approach to the genre garnering quite the following in the late 2000s. Since then, Helios has been consistently putting out projects, all the while still working on Goldmund and more - 'Espera' feels like it's what Kenniff does to unwind from his busy schedule. It's a deep sigh, a breath of fresh air as a sunbeam bursts through the clouds. Single 'Intertwine' is heavily inspired by the lo-fi hip-hop boom of the 2010s, the gentle rolling percussion, swaying synths and muted snares are meditative and nostalgic. 'Lineoa' takes a more upright approach, a spacious composition and orchestral elements cradle a gentle guitar riff, as blown-up flutes and uplifting strings evoke Eric Barones work on 'Stardew Valley'.

Review: A Pale Fire, Goldmund, Mint Julep and Helios are just a few of the pies that American composer and multi-instrumentalist Keith Kenniff has their fingers in. The latter, an ambient project started in 2004 with 'Unomia', has received critical acclaim, their formal music training and unique approach to the genre garnering quite the following in the late 2000s. Since then, Helios has been consistently putting out projects, all the while still working on Goldmund and more - 'Espera' feels like it's what Kenniff does to unwind from his busy schedule. It's a deep sigh, a breath of fresh air as a sunbeam bursts through the clouds. Single 'Intertwine' is heavily inspired by the lo-fi hip-hop boom of the 2010s, the gentle rolling percussion, swaying synths and muted snares are meditative and nostalgic. 'Lineoa' takes a more upright approach, a spacious composition and orchestral elements cradle a gentle guitar riff, as blown-up flutes and uplifting strings evoke Eric Barones work on 'Stardew Valley'. This version is pressed on a beige and blue gradient vinyl, a picturesque disc that imitates the dusk on the album cover.

Review: Dylan Khotin-Foote is the Vancouver talent who is now very much at home on Ghostly. Back in 2020 he served up his post-rave, post-techno, post-ambient fusion album Finds You Well and now comes an equally new take on drone and ambient across 11 new tracks. The artist's unique hazy downtempo is heightened here by a first ever vocalist appearance - that is Montreal-based Tess Roby who lends a subtle sense of humanity and extra soulful layer that helps bring the tunes alive like never before. Though slower than before, this is another sublime offering from Khotin.

Review: Canada may not shout as loud as the US, UK or Germany when it comes to electronic music, with the exception of Richie Hawtin perhaps, albeit frequently assumed he's American, and is actually part-British. Nevertheless, the larger North American state has a truly remarkable legacy in house, techno, ambient, and synth-y odds and sods.

It's proof the apple never falls far from the tree, given proximity to some of the bonafide birthplaces of those sounds - Chicago and Detroit. Edmonton's Khotin is indicative of the difficult to define tones that emanate from the Maple Leaf and its people. So much texture, pouring with emotion, and fundamentally born of new ideas, or at least different ways of thinking. Release Spirit, his third album on Michigan's Ghostly International, is thoughtful, intelligent, downtempo electronic stuff, crafted with love and attention to detail.

Review: This is what happens when acclaimed Los Angeline harpist Mary Lattimore enlists Slowdive's Neil Halstead fo production duties. A lush, and liquid listening experience that is as graceful as it is confident, blurring the lines between classical and ambient in a way that seems to echo centuries of traditional, almost Medieval tones and contemporary electronic adventures alike.

Lattimore's work has previously been described in terms of 'dreamscapes', and few have been painted more vividly than Silver Ladders. These are deep dive arrangements that expand and contract like breathing, allowing the artist's signature instrument to shine while submerging it in swells of refrain. Movement is constant, and yet the record feels mill pond still. Hardly par for the course, even in the fertile sonic ground she works in. Step inside and prepare to be captivated.

Review: Mary Lattimore is one of the foremost harpists of her generation, a status duly restored with the release of her latest LP, Goodbye, Hotel Arkada. Named after a hotel in Croatia about which Lattimore recalls many blissful holiday memories, the LP laments the oncoming threat of loss, as Arkada now faces plans to be renovated. Through this immediate story, a wider picture of collective mourning is painted - the album is a collaborative affair, enlisting the many famous faces of shoegaze, folk and goth stardom, namely the likes of The Cure's Lol Tolhurst, Rachel Goswell and Meg Baird - producing a sound that is as eerie as it is serene.

Review: Esteemed solo electronic producer Lusine (Jeff McIlwain) is known best for his rich, sizzling, and heavenly production edges, all of which he brings to the more experimental corners of the genre. Now he returns with his 9th full-length record, Long Light, marking twenty years since he first joined the Ghostly International roster. Though his past work has been more experimental, this LP continues a more recent throughline of McIlwain's interest in more pop-oriented song structures, remaining texturally brilliant while channelling straightforward, rapturous beat-backbones, and enlisting the help of Asy Saavedra, Sarah Jaffe, and Sensorimotor collaborators Vilja Larjosto and Benoît Pioulard.

Review: Ten year anniversary? Has it really already been ten years since Recondite's sophomore album 'Hinterland' came out?! Recondite almost single-handedly was responsible in many peoples eyes for the resurgence in techno during the early 2010s. After beating down the doors of Ghostly International for many years, the fans finally get their wish in the shape a new, shiny reissue. Coming on smokey black vinyl this time, nobody has a reason to not have this record in their collection. Included are legendary tracks like 'Stems', 'Clouded' and 'Leafs'. Many think that not only is this the best Recondite album but one of the best techno albums of the year 2013.