Andrew Thomas - Fearsome Jewel

Label: Kompakt
Released: 2003
Style: Ambient

"Latest Pop Ambient winner from the side of the Kompakt stable that turns the lights off and soakes itself in a world of ethereal spaces, echoing memories and the sort of aural aesthetics that made the likes of Mike Ink’s Gas project and Thomas Koner so irresistable at the end of the last century. Andrew Thomas hails from the influential New Zealand school, which gave the world works from the excellent Signer on homegrown label Involve and US Car Park, amongst other delicately spun ambience. Andrew has grown entranced with the whole Cologne Pop Ambient scene, and this lovely release is filled with soft breezes and gauzey filmic influence, coloured by the tender moods of someone like Ulf Lohmann, but equally free to offer his own inputs. Gorgeous." - Boomkat

Tracklisting:

1 ...1 (1:59)
2 ...2 (4:36)
3 ...3 (4:27)
4 ...4 (4:24)
5 ...5 (3:44)
6 ...6 (0:43)
7 ...7 (3:30)
8 ...8 (1:48)
9 ...9 (8:37)
10 ...10 (1:13)

Link

Geiom - Island Noise

Label: Berkane Sol
Released: 2007
Style: Dubstep

"Making good use of his extensive musical vocabulary and broad interest in just about as many musical styles as you could bring to mind, Kamal Joory here delivers his latest full-length, and the first for his very own Berkane Sol imprint. As opposed to most of his dubstep brethren, Geiom's musical legacy is loosely rooted in IDM and his releases for the Neo Ouija label, alongside the more organic, hybrid compositions together with Morgan Caney for their excellent "Magic Radios" album. After a period of dormancy, Joory brought the Geiom moniker back to life last year, with a new-found interest in Dubstep. As the sales notes describe perfectly well there's a "tropical melancholy" at the heart of this album, and the melodies at the core of each of these tracks are in the classic Geiom vein - emotive and layered. Drawing as much inspiration from Delia Derbyshire as he does from Kode 9, Geiom enriches his sound sources with a keen willingness to diversify and evolve through each of the 12 tracks here, from the slightly John Carpenter-esque eeriness of the aptly titled "Futurerustic", to the Persian halfstep of the excellent "Farski". In a year that dubstep albums seem to have finally come into their own, Geiom's "Island Noise" is the most organic and possibly the least conventional offering you'll pick up this year, and a timely return to the fray from this clearly talented producer. Recommended." - Boomkat

Tracklisting:

1 Island Noise (4:51)
2 Canopy Desire (5:05)
3 Hydropine (5:16)
4 Six Times Seven (5:29)
5 Everlasting (5:32)
6 Futurerustic (5:33)
7 Farski (4:37)
8 Safety Patterns (5:11)
9 Getaline (5:25)
10 Cardoza (5:18)
11 Inbuilt Chaos (5:06)
12 Pheli Nazir (5:07)

Link

Susumu Yokota - Laputa

Label: Skintone
Released: 2003
Style: Experimental, Ambient, Downtempo

"Internationally reknowned japanese producer Susumu Yokota releases his new album “Laputa” via his own Skintone imprint. Laputa‚ follows on from the themes explored on the hugely acclaimed ambient/electronic albums “Sakura”, “The Boy and The Tree” and “Grinning Cat”. As with previous releases on Skintone (released on THE LEAF LABEL in the UK), Yokota’s new album combines layers of sonic ambience with fragmented rhythmic and melodic patterns. He manages to create an otherworldly, richly textured, organic muiscal experience that flits effortlessly between the spheres of live instrumentation, found sound and electronic music in a way few other producers can match. A beautifully crafted album that doesn’t descend to cliché, absorbing a wealth of sound that makes for perfect, rich, evocative soundscaping. Excellent." - Boomkat

Tracklisting:

1 Rising Sun (4:47)
2 Lost Ring (3:42)
3 Gong Gong Gong (4:25)
4 Iconic Air (4:52)
5 Light Of The Sun (4:08)
6 Grey Piano (1:12)
7 23 Degrees Dream (3:00)
8 Hidden Love (3:50)
9 Trip Eden (4:48)
10 True Story (2:52)
11 Dragon Place (3:51)
12 I Am Flying (3:42)
13 Dizzy Echo (2:19)
14 Heart By Heart (4:04)
15 Hyper On Hyper (4:04)

Link

Tetsu Inoue - Inland

Label: Fax +49-69/450464
Released: 2007
Style: Ambient

"Inland", the new solo album by Tetsu Inoue, is a very personal and unique collection of sound compositions, created in Woodstock, where the natural landscape inspired the Japanese artist to leave his conceptional working method and made him turn towards his initial creation, the minimalistic meditative ambient music, in a completely new manner. Delicate soundscapes and floating tone compositions seem to wander about, appearing to touch each other, they finally disapear in the distance like a breeze, to leave a blissful feeling of warmth and a gentle gleam."Inland" is the perception of beauty. It tracks the majesty hidden beneath the veneer of ordinary existence and invites you to experience the harmony of nature in perfect synergy. Dive right in and ponder the notion that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts . . ." - Label

Tracklisting:

1 Mini Moon (6:22)
2 Tree And Me (5:10)
3 Zen (5:33)
4 Kaze (7:26)
5 Peak (6:32)
6 Symphony H2O (6:53)
7 Wabi (7:05)
8 Overlook (12:12)

Link

The Future Sound Of London - Environments

Label: fsoldigital.com
Released: 2007
Style: Abstract, Experimental, Ambient

"TIME TO TRIP OUT again. 2 parts loads you through darkness and light - through jungles and cities from outer space to inner space - pure FSOL gold." - fsoldigital.com

Tracklisting:

1 Part 1 (27:56)
2 Part 2 (21:14)

Link

Christ. - Metamorphic Reproduction Miracle

Label: Benbecula
Released: 2003
Style: IDM, Downtempo

"The history of the scottish artist Christ has been surrounded by genuine hearsay and much speculation since his appearance on the benbecula sampler "music volume two" in august 2001. What followed was a slew of press speculation about his origins and his musical background in Scotland, as well as a gradual frenzy of anticipation for his debut EP "Pylonesque". Following critical acclaim for the release of the EP and some very special live shows culminating in a headline slot at Japan's metamorphose festival on mount Fuji in front of 20,000 people and a live appearance at this year's Sonar festival, Christ set off to work on his massively anticapted debut album : "Metamorphic Reproduction Miracle". Completed in february 2003, it's obvious that his recording style has matured and evolved beyond the confines of his well-known background. Where "pylonesque" was an EP containing "hits" in their own right, "Metamorphic..." is an intricate jigsaw of styles and textures which combine to form a perfect whole. The album introduces new concepts to the repertoire: "ray breakout" is a mechanical onslaught of the senses, the opening vocal giving you fair warning "please stand by!". Further expansion in style is evident in the sci-fi film soundtrack "medulla oblongata", the heavily filtered "odds evens and primates" or the beautifully pleasing up-tempo "mk naomi". Throughout, Christ. maintains his unique fusion of simple but timeless melodic structures, overlaid with gritty percussion: "skylab one", "a giant bird" and "eezeebreez" being perfect examples of his unique approach. A truly classic album, fans of Boards of Canada or richly layered evocative electronic music of any kind will have discovered a new masterpiece to add to their collection. Fabulous." - Boomkat

Tracklisting:

1 Lazy Daisy Meadow (2:55)
2 Dianoes Nouveau (5:02)
3 Eezeebreez (5:46)
4 Medulla Oblongata (1:15)
5 Odds, Evens And Primates (5:04)
6 Sunart (1:51)
7 Fantastic Light (6:07)
8 Always To Play (2:02)
9 Mk Naomi (4:13)
10 Skylab One (3:22)
11 Pylonesque (Broken Mix) (3:46)
12 A Giant Bird (2:45)
13 Ray Breakout (4:08)
14 School Is Not Compulsory (5:20)

Link