Midnight in Tokyo Vol.4
Tsunaki Kadowaki curates the fourth installment of Midnight in Tokyo, themed around Ambient Kayō. The Midnight in Tokyo series by Studio Mule focuses on Japanese music, serving as a soundtrack for Tokyo nights -- whether for home listening, club play, or as a driving BGM, transcending location and space. The fourth volume takes "Ambient Kayō" as its new perspective, compiling genre-defying tracks released between 1977 and 1999 to explore the intersection of Japanese ambient and pop music. The fo…
Lucid Dreams
First Terrace are thrilled to present the new album Lucid Dreams from the prolific Japanese artist Chihei Hatakeyama on January 24th 2025. Renowned ambient composer Chihei Hatakeyama is set to release his latest album, Lucid Dreams, an evocative sonic exploration that invites listeners to drift between the waking world and the dreamscape, to experience “dreams you are aware that you are dreaming”. Known for his deep atmospheric textures and minimalist approach to sound, Hatakeyama’s new project …
闍多迦 = Jātaka
The long-awaited analog reissue of 'Jataka,' a pioneering 1978 album by synthesizer virtuoso Osamu Shoji (also known as Osamu Tokairin), is finally here! Jataka stands as an ambient to experimental synthesizer masterpiece from the late 70s, showcasing Osamu Shoji's prowess as a composer, arranger, and synthesizer player. The album features a total of 8 tracks, with highlights including "Pyramid Yon," where cosmic synth elements shine.
The anticipation for this reissue is palpable, as the album h…
The Air Outside Feels Crazy Right Now
Perila returns with a contemplative spiritual successor to her album »7.37/2.11«, which was also released on Vaagner’s sister label A Sunken Mall back in 2022. Featuring a collection of 8 pieces produced between 2021 and 2023, the album carries a serene vulnerability that underpins each work, drawing the listener in while gently grounding them amidst a drifting, ephemeral motion of echoing voices, droning guitars and sonorous soundscapes. Like a whispered conversation in the quiet moments of the…
Celesta
Tip! 'Celesta’ marks Barbarelle first foray into composing and producing her own music; a debut that reveals the intimate, heartfelt territories of her creative universe. The culmination of years of composing for herself - ‘behind closed doors’ - ‘Celesta’ is a deeply personal, self-guided masterstroke of beguiling, free-flowing ambient soundscapes and DIY electronics. With ‘Celesta’, Barbarelle artfully transitions from ardent music aficionado to fully-fledged artist, unveiling an enchanting so…
From Where You Came
A dynamic and sublime work rich in emotion and sensitivity, From Where You Came unspools as a series of nocturnal transmissions, altered-state refinements, and vivid stories, rich in vibrant, illuminating qualities. Drawing together 19th century programmatic music, mid-’70s jazz, and her distinctively colourful and multi-dimensional approach to composition that embraces improvisation, Coverdale alloys synthesis with live instrumentation in a genreless yet distinctly identifiable gesture of recon…
Antimother
2003 release ** ""Anti Mother is a follow-up from Czech ambient-industrial pioneers The Three, whose works foresaw and predestined the musical algorithms and the development the Czech industrial scene. After their last studio session in 1995, which resulted in seven compositions that blazed the trail later walked by such artists as Steve Roach or Yen Pox, Project the Three’s activity was frozen. After eight years of hibernation they have metamorphosized into Anti Mother.""
Phlegmaticus
1999 release ** "Maurizio Pustianaz is the mentor of Gerstein a one-man sound project that from the mid-80s to the end of the 90s, was creating authentic underground electronic gems. Already in the new century, Pustianaz opted for the most bland and commercial electro, something that he has been doing until now, a real shame. This is his most experimental stage, where he took risks with dense atmospheres, dark electronic sounds, tape treatment, etc... Re-issue of his first cassette released by t…
Solaris
2007 release ** "Debut CD album from Moscow artist Nikita Golyshev. "Solaris" comes in the shape of two long deep ambient pieces with perpetually expanding drones and minimal melodic tones."
Thinking Dust
2005 release ** "After a few CD-R releases, Wolfram's "first real album", released by the newly established Monotype label from Warsaw. "Thinking Dust" develops and exceeds the ideas from "Atol Drone" and "Mind Locations" released over the years - a very personal, calm, but also subconsciously disturbing variety of ambient. Wolfram never explored the sounds of "post-club" or naive el-music, so his work has always been free from rainbow idyll, instead it was disturbing (without evoking ghosts or …
Relic Radiation
Edition of 300. Of my first visit to Earth in 2024 I have only the fuzziest recollection, for here I must fall back on my own mnemonic resources. My chief impression seems to have been of sunlight, the authentic, inimitable sunlight of Earth. Organs that have evolved under particular conditions will naturally be most comfortable where those conditions obtain, and thus no substitute, however artful, can provide just those balances of colour and intensity, those alterations of night and day, summe…
The Rapture Of Metals
1993 release ** "The title of this CD might erroneously suggest something heavy, abrasive and industrial, but The Rapture of Metals is in part an elegant homage to the metallic gongs of the Indonesian gamelan orchestra. The title track is the most overtly Indonesian, with electronic drones and effects enhancing a traditional gamelan gong pattern. But on several other tracks, Paul Schütze (Laughing Hands) further personalizes his use of gongs, capturing the dreamy, otherworldly quality of Indones…
Cavitation
2005 release ** "The interaction between computer science technology and freeform musical creative process becomes a central point in this international collaboration of three artists from Belarus and USA. The abstract soundscapes are obscured by intricate structures, acoustic phenomena and electronic effects, it’s going to infinity and never repeat itself. The finest harmony of soundfield is credited to the principles of intuitive simulation, realised through the system of computer-aided instru…
../Requiem
2004 release ** "Andrea Resch was one of the two members of the legendary Mynox Layh. "Requiem" is a genuinely unusual, sinister work of morbid atmospheres... disorienting as though waking from a nightmare. Immense, striding, sumptuous string arrangements create a majestic and inspiring atmosphere. A highly recommended "opera" in vein of In The Nursery and old Laibach. There are no other words which could possibly describe the endless feeling of the album. This remastered edition features four b…
No Fidelity Audio
1998 release ** Limited edition of 500 hand-numbered copies. "Cut-up, lo-fi electronics. Ambient, drone, modern classical. Foom (no reference to the old Marvel Comics fan club) is a catch-all name for musical projects by Boston's Whitehaus Family peripheral member Chris Lichatz. His solo output dates back to the 1990's, and ranges from the demented blues-based Butthole Surferisms of 1994's Six of My Favorite Turds (Stomachache Records) to the abstract lo-fi electronics of 1998's self-released No…
Slowmotion
2007 release ** "The album starts out with some very slow tempo percussion sounds that are accompanied by synths that come and go and refuse to stick around long enough to develop into anything but further ambiance for the song. I have to point out that the percussion in this song reminds me somewhat of Coil, maybe I’m thinking “Black Light District” or some latter period works… I’m not sure exactly why but the resemblance (for me at least) is most definitely there. The next song starts out with…
Cyber Totem
2007 release ** "Marek Styczyński uses technical achievements to create folk, ethnic music of various kinds - both in recording "in the field", in the studio, and in computer processing. He effectively transfers the world forgotten and rejected by pop culture into the digital sphere, processing it a lot. He writes: "I used sounds as the initial building block for designing sound environments and I completely processed some of them, moving them significantly away from the original". He uses many …
The 5th Anniversary Compilation
2008 release ** "Depressive Disorder, No Name Desire, Gregory and Mastermind are the main drivers of the small but functional label Monopol Records. The first own retrospective simply named after the publisher's name and the addition "The 5th Anniversary Compilation" brings exclusive tracks not only from them, but also from friendly bands or neighbors in the industry such as Aliens from Bratislava. Fifteen tracks across the spectrum of the Czechoslovak underground electro scene are infectiously …
Indistinction #2
“indistinction #2” comes from the same session as ‘indistinction #1’ and creates the same immersive pull. here, too, rsn works exclusively with his bass and a series of effect devices - no overbuds. everything is created live in the flow and reflects the intensity of the moment. often everything sounds deeply distorted, then it clears up again and metaphorically lets light into the scenery. the mixture of drone and ambient gives “indistinction #2” a broad and balanced sound palette that is best …