Re:discovery Vinyl & CDs

Review: The recent resurgence in interest in mid 1990s ambient techno has been one of the most positive trends of recent times, primarily because it has resulted in reissues of some long-forgotten and genuinely overlooked gems. A Positive Life's sophomore album Synaethetic, which was originally released by Beyond Records in 1994, falls into that category. Offering a suitably intergalactic, heady blend of undulating, psychedelic acid lines, ambient sound washes, bubbly beats, far-sighted sounds and stretched-out epics, it's an album that's as close to the original ambient techno blueprint as you're likely to find. If you love that style, it's a genuine must-have.

Review: Re: Discovery do us all a favour here by putting out his majestic and dreamy techno album from Deep Space Network. Deep Space Network was a collaborative project by David Moufang aka Move D and Jonas Grossman which explored electronic sounds though a lens of ambient, chill out, sci-f and IDM. It first came on Source Records - Move D's own label - and 27 years later gets vinyl release that it deserves, all with original artwork and a gatefold cover. It's a lush, widescreen affair and album in the truest sense of the word. Would you expect anything less from a master of all styles than David Moufang?

Review: Re:discovery continues to explore the obscure and often-overlooked end of the 1990s IDM and ambient movement. Their latest must-check reissue is a first ever vinyl pressing of the previously CD-only 1998 album Tw0 Zer0s by Grain, a Californian duo whose hybrid sound offered a comedown-friendly fusion of ambient, IDM, and the various aural themes found in a lot of electronic music made on the US West Coast during the period (think dub, breaks, acid and psychedelic). It remains a fine album, with our picks of a very strong bunch including the head-nodding haziness of 'Strangeness of the Kind', the hip-hop-goes-psychedelic-electronica flex of 'Birthson', the dubbed-out ambient jazz of 'The Suspenders of Acrobats' and the hallucinatory ambient weirdness of 'Forever'.

Review: Off The Sky is an alias for Jason Corder, a prolific ambient electronica artist who broke through in the glory days of the clicks and cuts era. Somewhere near the same zone as Fennesz or the music found on City Centre Offices, Corder's delicate constructions found a magical synergy between fragile melodies and pin-rick sound design, perhaps best demonstrated on his 2005 album Gently Down The Stream. Previously confined to a limited CD distribution, now re:discovery have picked up on the release and given it a full double-vinyl pressing, with the resulting warmth of the sound really lending itself to the cosy beauty of Corder's compositions.