Projekt US Vinyl & CDs

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: Space ambient stalwart Steve Roach first released Dreamtime Return in 1988, seemingly a long time ago, yet in a galaxy not so far away. It's since earned its reputation as a genuine classic; the two-CD magnum opus is one of the most important, widely known and highly respected releases in Steve Roach's vast body of work. Emergent from Roach's travels in the Australian outback, along with studies of the Aboriginal dreamtime, and his desert walkabouts in California, all such influences were the key threshers of this recording, which even today sounds like a transmission from both the near future and the very distant past. A fortnight's worth of tracks hear Roach hankering after a rhythmick, spatio-temporal everywhen, musing on suspended time and desert wanderings through scape-spanning chords and boundlessly exponential decays via a distinctly 80s drum bank. He takes only a few relatively muted, percussive and turbid detours on redoubts like 'Songline' and 'Red Twilight With The Old Ones'.

Review: Projekt celebrate the 40th anniversary of Structures From Silence, the groundbreaking space ambient record by genre mastermind Steve Roach. This sea blue and ultra-clear vinyl edition begets just a single LP, and keeps faithful to the original run's glistening harlequin design. First released in 1984, the album's atmospheres struck an immediate c(h)ord with its target electronica obsessed audience, whereby three long-form tracks mirrored the simultaneous growth of fellow ambient bands like Tangerine Dream. Forty years later, Roach's work is still cherished alongside Iasos and Stephen Halpern for its alleged emotional and healing qualities; Steve reflects on its tranquil resonance, remarking: "over 40 years ago the pieces on this album were created from my sole (soul's) desire to live within a sonic space that would provide a sense of safety, soul nurturing comfort and time suspension."