Past Inside the Present US Vinyl & CDs

Review: Thanks to this lovingly presented reissue from Past Inside The Present, you can own The Lower Lights by 36 in just about whatever coloured vinyl you wish: This is the Past Inside The Present translucent red version with others also available on Juno. It's an album first put together by the label back in 2019 shortly after 36 had finished a year-long 'Audio Diary' project. Not all of the tracks they wrote in that time make the cut, but the best 10 do. They are direct, absorbing and energetic ambient soundscapes that are emotionally charged and demanding of your attention.

Review: The Lower Lights is well known as one of the most emotionally potent ambient records of recent years. It is a collection of 10 tunes from a busy period in which 36 undertook a year-long 'Audio Diary' project. The sounds are immediate and direct, demanding of your full focus and a mix of dark and urgent, cyberpunk-inspired and emotionally charged ambient sounds that bring all new thinking to the genre. Nice work.

Review: Past Inside The Present has really gone to town with the re-release of this 36 album The Lower Lights: it comes in several different formats and vinyl versions with this one being a limited, numbered and opaque red vinyl including a download code. Musically it is just as essential as a collection of tracks from a year-long 'Audio Diary' project undertaken by 36 between April 2018 and April 2019. It first came back in May 2019 and soon sold out, such is the quality of the vibrant and eclectic ambient sounds within. This is not sleep-inducing background material, but rather emotionally charged soundscaping with a mix of dark, futuristic and urgent pieces all making the cut.

Review: Another 18 chapters "of aural anaesthetics" from 36 and Zake, following up their epic work Stasis Sounds For Long Distance Space Travel Part 1, or "continue their journey through the outer reaches of space in hypersleep" as they'd put it. The album comes on unique solar flare coloured vinyl, and as for its contents, well, they're grainy and immersive, widescreen and cinematic, immediately transporting you out into the farthest reaches of space. Perfect for zoning out of everyday life and enjoying some mindful moments to yourself.

Review: Hot on the hells of the epic work Stasis Sounds For Long Distance Space Travel Part 1 comes the second instalment, seeing 36 and Zake "continue their journey through the outer reaches of space in hypersleep" as they have it. There's a healthy 18 track selection to lose yourself in, as these experts of the sublimely chilled ambient get to work - in a typically gentle fashion, obviously.

Review: The ambient husband-and-wife duo is an effective formula, one which here reawakens in the form of Awakened Souls. James Bernard and Cynthia Hall Bernard join forces for the making of Unlikely Places, a mini-album of Californian swells, field-recorded wonderments and guitar-drenched accompaniments - ultimately a washed-out ode to the creative possibility in all things. Centring on the idea that inspiration can be found anywhere, this is an album of relentless, gazy, waterfally gushings, from the hopeful 'It Could Be Wings' to the moodier 'Moonbeams'.

Review: California's James Bernard is a much-loved regular on this label as well as being a veteran of the wider ambient scene who has been hard at it for more than three decades. His latest outing on Past Inside The Present with Anthene (aka Brad Deschamps of Toronto) is Soft Octaves, an album that finds them crafting a series of sounds using electric six-string bass. It has a huge range from the deepest depths to the wispiest of highs and each of the tracks here was recorded in one single take. The results are spellbinding indeed and the range of the bass's sonic ability is astonishing as it sounds at times like a cello, at others woodwind and is always intriguing.

Review: Barely a week seems to go by without us hearing from zake, the US ambient producer who is hugely prolific and also unwaveringly creative with each new project. For this latest in a long line of many essential albums on his own Past Inside The Present label he links with From Overseas for the sublime sounds of Demain Des L'aube. This is a 160-gram audiophile vinyl version that sinks you deep into his widescreen and sweeping crepuscular synth work. It is delicate and spare but hugely impactful and never less than utterly comforting, even when the moods can be heavily introspective.

Review: This is a special audiophile vinyl version of Live Improvisations, an album featuring two sides of music, one the response to the other. The A-side is a recording of a 2014 session between Hakobune and Chihei Hatakeyama that was made with the colours of autumn and rural Japan in mind. Both of these artists have composed dozens of works that have established them as leaders in their field and this is no different. On the flip, zake and From Overseas craft 'Live Improvisation II' and 'forge an intercontinental bond' as they recorded the music in one take with no editing afterward. It's a gorgeous listen that shows a real mastery of tone and texture.

Review: Daljit Kundi and Ludvig Cimbrelius have Indian and Swedish backgrounds but actually came together in the UK music scene and specifically ambient jungle. They set off to explore that world totters and did so with aplomb across several great albums and EPs. This new album was actually nearly done many years ago but was shelved owing to struggles with record labels. When Past Inside The Present heard it though they encouraged the album to be finished and so here it is. It's an emotional work which "attempts to represent a psychic darkness that is as deeply restful as it is ripe with creative potential." It's absorbing, beautiful ambient from a pair of real dons.

Review: Tyresta's Small Hours album (a direct follow-up to 2020's All We Have) comes on beautiful 180-gram splatter green vinyl via Past Inside The Present and is another majestically subtle and intimate ambient work that explores "impermanence, grief, loss, healing, and growth". It's an album that reveals more with each listen as the carefully layered-up synths and melodies intertwine harmoniously to make for a perfect late-night soundtrack. There's plenty of soul searching to be done while lost in the midst of this album, but it will be a rewarding task as you cannot fail to find "solace, rejuvenation, and a rekindling of the unfettered spirit," as the label puts it.

Review: It has been some five years since US ambient maestro zake dropped the first volume of his Orchestral Tape Studies. We're glad to finally have the second instalment in the series available because there has rarely been music as cathartic and soothing as this on our shelves. It's made from drones, field recordings and richly layered movements of fragmented orchestral loops. It is heavily inspired by the sound of the greatest minimalist symphonic composers and orchestras of the last 100 years and comes in several different colours. This version is a transparent rose vinyl LP and download code.

Review: Back in February, the prolific Past Inside The Present label boss Zake hooked up with Marc Ertel, James Bernard, and From Overseas at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis for a very intimate live show in a historic Gothic Chapel. A vast array of instruments were used including a Fender Telecaster, Meris Mercury 7, Eurorack modular synthesizer, Stingray bass guitar and literally tens more tools and toys and the resulting eight tunes of absorbing ambient are all presented here. It is another mystic and mystifying release from this label that reaches sublime new emotional highs.

Review: Past Inside the Present label regulars zake and Tyresta at long last come together for a well-overdue collaboration. This collection of sounds is called Drift and is all about reflective mood music that will send you deep inside yourself. It's a typically immersive listen from two of ambient's finest practitioners with lots of wide open spaces for you to sink into, slowly shifting timbers to gaze at and poignant atmospheres that cannot fail to leave an indelible impression. As usual, the sound design is top-notch here and the attention to detail second to none. It was well worth the wait, then.

Review: Another week, another new release from the unstoppable ambient powerhouse that is zake. His latest full-length LL has two new cuts by the American maestro with remixes from a hefty selection of equally prolific producers all served up on his home label Past Inside the Present and no fewer than six sides of vinyl. Across this immersive two hours of music, there is a mix of ambient, drone, drum & bass, electronica, and deep techno from Warmth, Aural Imbalance, ASC and Bvdub. It is yet another essential release from zake and co.