the AmbientMusicGuide.com blog

Netlabel Export - son of Ninja Tune and Mo Wax

2012-02-11T15:25:00.000-08:00

Based on Poland, this cool little label is putting out some stimulating sounds that I think fans of breakbeat and trip hop labels like Mo Wax and Ninja Tune will like.
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Must-listen: Cryogenic Encounters by Liquid Stranger (Interchill)

2012-01-12T18:37:00.000-08:00

I dislike most digital glitch music. That's why I've never before warmed to Liquid Stranger's big, crunchy brand of psychedelic breaks because a glitchy, harsh aesthetic usually dominates.

His latest album is different, however.
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Year 2011: Ten great ambient and downtempo albums

2011-12-29T18:09:00.000-08:00

In no particular order, here's ten ambient and downtempo albums from 2011 that I think rate a special mention. Feel free to comment and/or post your own list.

Happy holidays to all AMG readers and thanks for your support. Here's to another year of amazing music in 2012.
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Groovera - brilliant internet radio

2011-10-29T02:49:00.000-07:00

I've been an internet radio addict for the past 10 years and recently I re-discovered the brilliant Groovera, a listener-supported and ad-free station based in the U.S.

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Updated review: Harold Budd

2011-10-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

Now in his 70's, Harold Budd is the father of modern ambient piano music, his sound a descendant of the impressionist tones of early 20th Century composers like Eric Satie and Claude Debussy.

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Updated review: The Future Sound Of London

2011-10-14T16:26:00.000-07:00

Since the early 1990's Gary Cobain and Brian Dougans have appeared on the English music scene in a number of different guises, with The Future Sound Of London being one avenue through which they channeled some highly innovative electronic brain art.

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Pink Floyd: 12 Great Rick Wright Moments

2011-09-22T17:38:00.000-07:00

Richard Wright: ambient rock pioneer. 1943-2008

Last week (Sept 15) marked three years since the untimely passing of Pink Floyd co-founder and keyboard player Richard Wright.

Never did a key member of such a major rock act have such a low public profile as did this quiet, unassuming man. He was nearly always in the background, by no means a media figure in later years like bandmates David Gilmour or Roger Waters, yet his role in the Floyd of the 60's and 70's was absolutely crucial to their music.

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Updated review: Jon Kennedy

2011-09-15T03:31:00.000-07:00

Man, I love instrumental hip hop.

Or downtempo breaks. Or trip hop if you still want to call it that.

The prodigiously talented Jon Kennedy belongs to a family of instrumental hip hop artists that includes Quantic, Bonobo and some of the other artists on UK-based breakbeat label Ninja Tune.

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Updated review: Global Communication

2011-08-18T05:21:00.000-07:00

When I say updated review, you may be disappointed to hear it's not actually another Global Communication album, a rare thing indeed. But it's something just as beautiful for ambient and downtempo fans.

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Pete Namlook interview from 2007

2011-07-31T19:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a great 2-part interview with new-school ambient maestro Pete Namlook, taken from a 2007 edition of e-music magazine Slices.

Interviews with Pete are fairly rare - I think he prefers his music to do the talking - but he has some interesting things to say here, particularly his sharp distinction between his definition of ambient and Brian Eno's.

PART 1:

PART 2:

I think his point about Eno's concept of ambience as wallpaper is only partly true.

Eno's Discreet Music (1975) for example, yes, that's wallpaper and a good example of it.

But not Eno albums like Apollo, Music For Films, The Plateaux of Mirror with Harold Budd, and so on. Sure, they work as background, but I think they're also deeply engaging and beautiful records.

What do you think?

Classic album: Robert Rich - Rainforest (1989)

2011-07-20T03:45:00.000-07:00

I'm holidaying North Queensland this week, home to the stunning World Heritage-listed Daintree rainforest among other many natural wonders.

So it feels like a good time to revisit one of the all-time great ambient albums on the theme: Rainforest (1989) by American artist Robert Rich.

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Updated review: Steve Roach

2011-07-19T03:49:00.000-07:00

Ameican synthesist Steve Roach is a master of what he once called "breathing chords" and "cloudlike forms". Back in the 80's his music was among my first real taste of ambience from a U.S. composer after I broke free of my Pink Floyd and Krautrock fixations.

But during the 90's his music lost me.

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Updated review: Shpongle

2011-07-07T16:58:00.000-07:00

UK act Shpongle (Simon Posford and Raja Ram) makes psytrance-ambient-worldmusic-dub-doof-electronic kind of stuff.

It's hard to describe, impossible to pigeonhole, but they've been an inspiration for loads of psy-chill acts in the last ten years.

I saw their gorgeous live show at The Enmore Theatre in Sydney this year with a 9-piece band, and their forth and most recent album Ineffable Mysteries From Shpongleland is as good as anything they've done.

Read the updated Shpongle review at AmbientMusicGuide.

New review: Ishq

2011-07-03T22:16:00.000-07:00

The talented duo Ishq don't make new age music as such.

But they've given some of the motifs of new age - nature sounds, spirituality - a credible context, something most new age and "relaxation" music fails to do.

Listening to: Bruno Sanfilippo's "Subliminal Pulse" (2011)

2011-07-01T21:19:00.000-07:00

George Cruickshank from the Ultima Thule radio show got me onto this little gem.

I've only given Argentine artist Bruno Sanfilippo's music modest attention in the past (I liked is 2006 release "Intro") but that's about to change.

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Updated review: Woob

2011-06-25T00:39:00.000-07:00

In the 90's UK artist Paul Frankland made two albums of brilliant, subtle, cinema-of-the-mind ambience as Woob, and then seemed to disappear.

Then in 2010 his Woob project reappeared with the new album Repurpose. It's a fantastic trip.

"Dubbed by the composer as the spiritual successor to his debut album, Repurpose is an unexpected delight. Two long new tracks bookend the release and showcase the Woob universe in all its distinctive glory: shimmering, pulsing loops of tonal colour, creepy movie dialogue, lush orchestral and choral samples, slow euphoric crescendos and widescreen sound design."

Read the updated Woob review at AmbientMusicGuide.com.

New review: The Chill Out Or Die series

2011-06-24T05:14:00.000-07:00

Calling old school ravers: does this cover look familiar?

UK indie dance label Rising High (R.I.P.) was responsible for this fab series of ambient techno-trance albums in the early 90's. The music glows with the creativity and wide-eyed wonder that was so typical of the best chillout music from rave and dance music's early days.

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Your 5 great chilled tunes for snogging?

2011-06-22T22:43:00.000-07:00

My good friend DJ Stuart Ridely aka Emagica posted me his list of 5 Great Tunes For Snogging To:

"This Love” – Craig Armstrong featuring Liz Fraser
“If there was no Gravity” – Air Liquide
“Smokebelch II (beat-less)” – Sabres of Paradise
“Sugar Rhyme” - Bonobo
“In To You” – Cinematic Orchestra

Smooooooth.

What's your list of instrumental downtempo smoochers?

Listening to Ishq - Sama (2010)

2011-06-21T04:40:00.000-07:00

Over the past two weeks I've been waxing ears on Sama, the first proper album by Ishq (Matt Hillier and Jacqueline Kersley) since 2001.

It's special. It's beautiful.

I just don't quite know how to write about it yet... ;)

At last...an AMG blog!

2011-06-20T16:00:00.000-07:00

This blog has been a long time coming.

If you've been following my reviews website AmbientMusicGuide.com since the early days (I launched it in 2001) you may have noticed I don't update it as often as I used to.

Since I took a break from radio, DJing and professional music writing, it's true that my music activities have generally wound down somewhat.

However music is still part of my life and my passion for ambient and downtempo remains.

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