Tags: Ethereal Ambient

Review: Current scene favourite Nils Frahm teamed up with Icelandic multi-instrumentalist Olafur Arnalds on three breath taking excursions through lush ambient textures on "Stare" as a surprise release back in 2012 for label founder Robert Rath. "A1" features Frahm's entrancing irresistible melody over some gorgeous all-consuming strings and glacial soundscapes courtesy of Arnalds. "A2" with its heavenly, transcendental beauty has just got to be heard while "B1" explores darker territory with its excavating soundscapes accompanying the most hauntingly delicate cello notes. Exquisite!

Review: Fresh, cruddy electro dreamatics from mysterious production outfit Lazer Worshippers here, joining the Atmosphere label to stake their claim to their very own 'theme'. A name like Lazer Worshippers gives off vibes of a apparent machine cult with a penchant for building sonic monuments to our AI-mech overlords. The music is similarly vaunting and numinous, with its synthetic choirs and trilling arps dancing between the left and rights like heavenly visions of a mechanized future. B-siders 'On A Rise' and 'Free Flight' are just as teary-eyed, yet bleepy, recalling the entrancing, oldskool breaksy trance work of Spooky or Digital Justice.

Review: ANNA is a Brazilian-born, Lisbon-based DJ and producer whose disposition towards music runs in her blood. The daughter of a Sao Paolo nightclub owner, ANNA seemed destined solely for a life behind the decks; but expectations were much upended after a nascent flair for composition also made itself clear. Despite bloodthirsty demand for her slamming DJ chops, Intentions is her debut album, rebelliously choosing to explore the world of ambient healing electronics instead. Paralleling ANNA's self-realisation journey, which led to a change in the way she makes music, the LP funnels collaborations and remixes from/with fellow therapeutic music aficionados like Jon Hopkins and Laraaji.

Review: Nitechord is an anonymous "ambient-tech duo" that impresses with this fine debut, Lume, which is a meditative exploration of the calmness and mystery of the night as distilled through mid-tempo rhythms and atmospheric whispers. These sounds were first submitted as a raw, uncredited cassette demo in 2002 and have hardly been changed from that state but for the mastering. Tracks like 'Reflect' and 'Near' blend shimmering guitar loops, sub-bass and subtle twangs over dancefloor beats. 'Dim' breathes with layered drones, while 'Absent' offers mournful serenity and last but not least, 'Carry' blossoms into orchestral harmony. A sublime soundscape.

Review: Mary Lattimore's standing as one of the foremost harpists in active service is without doubt at this stage, but even by her considerable reputation this record is a standout moment in a glittering career. Over the course of two years, the dedicated improviser committed herself to focused sessions and collaborated with an impressive cast of characters from The Cure's Lol Tolhurst to Slowdive's Rachel Goswell. The over-arching theme is one of the inescapable nature of change, as crystallised in the crumbling Croatian hotel Lattimore references in the album title. It goes without saying the musical results are achingly beautiful, nuanced and fathoms deep.

Review: G.Teixeira is an artist based in France and someone with a multi-faceted sound. His Almost Silent alias now turns out Undisclosed Fields Vol.1, a first release on Healing Sound Propagandist that takes the form of eight movements and six reworks. It's as dense as ambient gets, frankly, with heartbreaking melodies passing by and disappearing before your ears. Fizzing synth drones are layered up over crepuscular chords and the whole thing has you gazing off into the distance, your eyes glazing over as you happily get absorbed in the subtly shifting sounds, tones and timbres. This, then, is another high class album from both artist and label.

Review: Josh Dahlberg is The Valley and the Mountain aka TVTM and is an artist who has made a big move recently from the deep westside of Detroit all the way across to the far reaches of the Pacific Northwest. He he arrives on Central Scientific for its inaugural release with Detroit-based producer and Akka & BeepBeep founder, Jo Rad Silver, taking care of the flip. Next to an array of hardware, there is plenty of improvisation with guitars in this EP - 'Experiment Obscura' is a widescreen and dramatic ambient cut with a meditative feel and 'Immersion Theatre III' is another empty but inviting piece with curlicues, wispy pads, distant guitar echoes and moodiness to spare.

Review: Alex Israel's new 'Uncertainty Manipulated' release on Somnambulant Drift features generative music he has crafted by "building elements of arbitrary length that work together melodically but do not correspond in time. As the individual components replay, they overlap coincidentally, resulting in music that makes itself." The result is four tracks of sublime and escapist ambient with no beginning and no end but plenty of heart-aching piano chords, harp strums, hazy drones, mindful synth smears and meditative moods that offer comfort but also encourage inward reflections. It's a perfect coming together of man, machine and absorbing minimalism.

Review: Ludvig Cimbrelius, a multi-alias artist donning other guises Alveol, Eternell, and Rust, reserves the Purl name for his more ambient, dubby techno creations. After a goosebump-inducing debut on the British Columbia-based Silent Season label in 2010 with Deep Ground, Stillpoint marked his first release with them in five years, following a series of records on Dewtone and Post Global. Now again reissued on vinyl ten years later, Stillpoint inflects balmy dub soundscapes and dewey techno sweats, evoking tearful rain shadows and humid canopies. Like a hidden biome where ethereal animals graze and gambol, the ambient sound-world evoked through 'Inre Sken' and 'Melora' is truly something else. Please be aware that this re-press concurs with a tenth anniversary crowdfunded campaign, which, by buying the record through us, you are helping support.

Review: Swedish producer Purl's Stillpoint was originally released in 2015 via Silent Season, a label known for its handcrafted, small-batch editions. Quickly selling out, it has since resonated with listeners like surface ripples on water, redounding to fans calling on a new vinyl pressing. In conjunction with another PURL crowdfunding campaign, we're now firmly re-poised to take in this wash of ambient rerubs again, relishing them like monsoons on baked skin. From Moshimoss' strange dub inflections to Ecovillage's 'Land Of Dreams' revisit, every track here on this CD edition is a depth-swill of ambiance.