In all fairness, I should also warn you that you only get 37 minutes of music for your money on this album, but that shouldn’t stop you from buying it. In fact, nothing should stop you from buying it!

Buy Tangerine Dream – Phaedra @ Amazon

Max Richter – The Blue Notebooks

Conceptually, Max Richter’s The Blue Notebooks– German-born composer mixes contemporary classical compositions with electronic elements in a dreamscapy journalogue featuring excerpts from Kafka’s The Blue Octavo Notebooks as narrated by Tilda Swinton– reads like a relentlessly precious endeavor, as new age music for grad students, the sort of record that sagely pats you on the back for being smart enough to seek it out. And yet in practice, despite the fact that it is exactly as outlined above, Kafka quotes and all, there is absolutely nothing exclusive or contrived-feeling about it. In fact, not only is Richter’s second album one of the finest of the last six months, it is also one of the most affecting and universal contemporary classical records in recent memory.

But how to describe music that relies so completely on seeming familiar? Richter may fancy himself in a class with Philip Glass, Brian Eno and Steve Reich (indeed, his hyperattenuated sense of minimalism owes to all three), but unlike his influences, he’s not remotely interested in subverting the traditional rules of composition. Short of one very beautiful moment that plunges an electronic sublow bassline into a deep sea of harpsichords and violas (see: the literally perfect “Shadow Journal”), there is nothing here to suggest that Richter is concerned with anything other than melody and economy. It’s a formula he singlemindedly exploits with staggering effectiveness for the balance of the album’s 40+ minutes.

Constituted mainly of sparse pieces that lean on string quartets and pianos in equal measure, The Blue Notebooks is a case study in direct, minor-key melody. Each of the piano pieces “Horizon Variations”, “Vladimir’s Blues” and “Written in the Sky” establish strong melodic motifs in under two minutes, all the while resisting additional orchestration. Elsewhere, Richter’s string suites are similarly striking; “On the Nature of Daylight” coaxes a stunning rise out of gently provincial arrangements while the comparatively epic penultimate track “The Trees” boasts an extended introductory sequence for what is probably the album’s closest brush with grandiosity. Richter’s slightly less traditional pieces also resound; both the underwater choral hymnal “Iconography” and the stately organ piece “Organum” echo the spiritual ambience that characterized his work for Future Sound of London.

If, however, there is one piece that fires The Blue Notebooks off into the stratosphere, it’s the aforementioned “Shadow Journal”. Featuring a lone viola, some burbling electronics, a harpsichord and a subterranean bassline, it establishes a simple, keening melody and then gently pulls it wide, like warm string taffy, across its eight minutes. The fourth track on the record, it is nonetheless its centerpiece, and on a larger scale, possibly a gigantic beacon for composers searching for useful ways to introduce dance music’s visceral, body-jarring qualities into the classical sphere.

But make no mistake, this is not Richter’s electronic/classical crossover, nor it is really his concept record. In fact, with songs that similarly forgo the temptations of complexity and choice so as to preserve their core ideas, it’s perhaps better thought of as his four-track demo, his lo-fi recording jaunt. It’s Max Richter testing himself to see what he can produce under restraint. Turns out it’s more than he might have otherwise.

Buy Max Richter – The Blue Notebooks @ Amazon

Eluvium – Copia

Eluvium is the project of Matthew Cooper, who has abandoned many of the conventional instruments used by bands and by him in the past. There is no guitar to be found on this instrumental epic, but varied brass, keyboards, piano, and stringed instruments fill the speakers with beautiful emotive brilliance. Copia is the result of a transformation for Eluvium, and it’s not a bad thing.

“Amreik” begins the journey. Horns are beautifully arranged on top of some keyboard work that is subtle and ambient. The piece is moving and a grand entrance to the rest of the disc. “Indoor Swimming at the Space Station” sets off with soaring, vast soundscapes built on keys and strings. The mood is dark and solemn, perhaps like the emptiness of space. Piano is added for depth as the layers become complex and louder. One has the sense that the track is conveying a feeling of floating, endlessly floating. All that is bright and all that is beautiful is hidden deep within the vastness and melancholy tones of this track. A wind or brass instrument comes in to add texture over the piano and ambient bed of music. Eventually, ambient keys are left to communicate the emotion of the composition. Then, strange sounds fill the speakers as the song works its way to its 10:29 finish line.

“Seeing You Off the Edges” is seamlessly connected to the prior track. Soaring keyboards fill the speakers as walls of sound wash over the listener. The mood is somber and beautiful all at the same time. Moving and spacious, Matthew Cooper paints beautiful pictures with his music. “Prelude for Time Feelers” is a piano piece that is simple and elegant. Light synths come into the background ever so subtly to give depth to the stripped down pianos. Then, in a moment, the piano changes and a brass instrument accompanies the melody. Evoking days gone by and fond memories, this track brings cold fall days and snowy winter days by the fireplace to mind. “Requiem on Frankfort Ave.” is introduced with a beautiful set of horns and violin. Patient and bold, the composition is breathtaking. This entire disc moves like a soundtrack to a grand movie or is akin to a neo-classical set of tracks with ambience in the backdrop.

“Radio Ballet” begins with bright piano. The entire song contains variations on the same melody and is entirely a piano piece. “(Intermission)” has clanking sounds with tiny moments of ambiance. It is brief, but it provides a direct insight into the purpose of the artist. It is certainly a disc that is epic and has movements akin to classical music. The second half of the disc begins with “After Nature.” Bright keyboards fill the speakers with some strings bringing depth to the piece. This brief song leads into “Reciting the Airships.” Piano leads to airy keys that blend to make perfect, soaring compositions. The emotive elements in all Cooper’s tracks are brilliant and convey sadness, melancholy, and at the same time hope.

“Osinato” begins with organ rising in volume steadily. This has a brilliant ambient affect as horns join in to help build a wall of sound. This eventually comes down from its vast sound and fades into “Hymn #1.” Rain fills the speakers with piano playing amidst the downpour. About half-way through, the piano drops out and then comes back in to ease the listener out of the track and into “Repose in Blue.” Strings and keys create an under-layer that is accented with subtle variations. Horns rise in majestic style and grace. The track is patient and is punctuated with what sounds like fireworks. The finale is ringing in the end of the epic journey on which Cooper has taken the listener. Evoking ancient lands and the deepest emotions, Cooper brings his grand album to a close with excellence and perfection.

The new direction for Eluvium is breathtaking and simply impressive. Cooper has crafted a masterpiece that is ambient, deep, complex and meaningful.

Buy Eluvium – Copia @ Amazon

Helios – Unomia

This is the first album from Portland-based ambient artist Helios that I’ve had the pleasure of listening to, and I must say it was an incredibly eye-opening (or should I say, mind’s eye-opening) experience. We use words like “evocative” and “atmospheric” and “captivating” to describe certain kinds of music that elicit emotional responses of serenity and contentment. But until now, I’ve not really found many artists that do this so well. At the very least, Helios has discovered an unique niche in a genre that needs new sounds and aesthetics.

While much of contemporary electronic ambient music is overly manipulated, minimalistic, experimental, or reliant on sampling classical music and nature sounds, Helios takes the best aspects of the genre and mingles them into a complexly layered symphony. I realize this sounds cliché, but it’s truly the best way to describe the unique aesthetic presented on Unomia. The album covers the gamut from gentle instrumental riffs to melodic downtempo to well-integrated synthy electronica to crafty minimalist experimentation. It varies the mood from soothing to slightly dark to upbeat to almost brooding to serene.

Bottom line: this is an album to be experienced. Grab a glass of wine, dim the lights and plug this one in. I can pretty well guarantee you’ll enjoy the ride.

Buy Helios – Unomia @ Amazon

Solar Fields – EarthShine

This is the fifth album from Solar Fields, released on Ultimae, but this in not your usual Solar Fields album, this is TRANCE! I am not going to go into depth about the track, but rather talk about my feelings about this fine piece of work.

Being a fan of Solar Fields, I did not know what to expect, and I rarely listen to samples, cause they dont really tell you whats going on. I did for this album, and I was pretty disappointed to be honest. Not the first time around, but the second and third. Thank god for that, cause it made my more interested in what the final work would sound like. So what about the album?! Well at a first listen, I was at home, and just skimmed through, and it was OK, but then I decided to go out for a walk, give the album some time and listen to it while having my thoughts on the music, rather than sitting here discussing on the forum (haha).

For the psychedelic lover, this is NOTHING, dont even BOTHER if you dont like normal trance or progressive. IF you are into the latter though, you will be into this album. It is VERY atmospheric, very deep and very melodic! Has some acid as well! I came to the third track (Black Arrow) track, while walking and I had to stop and sit down, cause otherwise I would have danced RIGHT THERE on the street. The tracks are rather long, varying from eight and a half minutes to 12 minutes (the longest track). This give time for progression, and this is what this albums is ALL ABOUT. Its about constant changes, progression, melodies and sounscapes that suck you in like the black hole.

Track number five (Spectral Nation) it gets a bit rougher, and you can feel that the course is Changing a bit, and it makes you think about what is to come. Of course, track six (Adjustment) is again very much the upper tempo and driving, just as touched on in track number five (Spectral Nation), but this time a bit more atmosphere. So what started out to be more regular trance transforms into really good scando progg, but still keeps the Atmosphere of the previous tracks! As last track (Cruise) its more trancey again, more atmosphere than the previous 2 tracks, but dont think that it does not have drive!

I love each and every track on this album, its a true masterpiece, and should be rated as 10/10 from me. If it was 1993, this album would have been released on Eye-Q or MFS, that is how much quality this album has!

Now, go and get this one and enjoy the same trip as I just experienced!

Buy Solar Fields – EarthShine @ Amazon

Carbon Based Lifeforms – Hydroponic Garden

A brilliant ambient album, and I’m so happy I randomly as hell downloaded this thing. It was Released on Ultimae in June 2003 and been out for some time before I discovered it. Just glancing at the cover of this, I had a feeling it would be a beautiful experience. This was a true headphones album, but it went one step further…it was a headphones and an eyes closed album. With your eyes open listening to this kind of music, you can get distracted without even knowing it. When you’re listening to rock and the such, you’re too busy, well, rawkin’ out to really focus on the music itself. It’s a form of energy more than anything else. And on an ambient album like this, you need to reduce all other senses except for your auditory sense only. The sound is much more fragile and delicate, and each tiny thing that goes on needs to be absorbed by the human mind as a part of the overall atmosphere.


That’s really where the dividing line of ambient music comes in. You have those who just pass it off as boring background music, which is shame. On the other hand, if you actually set your mind to it and listen carefully, you’ll realize how amazingly intricate these songs are. The album is entirely electronic, and various electronic instruments form wonderfully layered songs that are absolutely stunning. Whether it be a blips in the center of the song, with constant drum beats in the backgrounds surrounded by an overall ambient aura, or just random sounds, almost like they’re taken from nature; it forms the perfect chillout music that takes the very trouble that is hindering your soul, and throws it out deep into the woods somewhere. Electronic psychedelic rhythms are good for the soul.

But the depth of this music is absolutely stunning. The title track was one of the songs that I kept my eyes closed on throughout the entire song. The song starts with the sounds of the ocean, or strong winds or something, and soon a constant synth beat takes over. Then more artificial nature sounds peak in; most of which resemble a bird singing in the morning. With all of these things taken into account, plus a whole ambient atmosphere to top off the whole thing, your mind gets seriously fucked. With your eyes closed, you almost suspect what’s happening less, so you seem more vulnerable. I could feel my heart racing at different points in the song, as I drifted in and out of consciousness. I nearly had an out of body experience, where my other half lept out of my body and aimlessly wandered deep into the unknown. He soon found himself in a jungle, with no clue of where he is, or the way back home. Although he realizes that he is lost, he gets a certain feeling of comfort in his new environment (thank God this is psybient. If this was dark ambient, he’d go into the woods be raped by a gang of gorillas out in the bushes somewhere).

With those types of feelings felt on all of these songs, you get a sense of comfort, and once the music stops playing, you feel afraid of your surroundings. Why do you feel afraid? Because Carbon Based Lifeforms isn’t there to coax you back into your happy place.

Simple as that.

Buy Carbon Based Lifeforms – Hydroponic Garden @ Amazon

Burial – Untrue

I have been listening to various forms of electronic music since I was 8 years old in ‘88 and pedalling to the local record store to buy house 12″s, so perhaps unlike a few here because of that I’m not quite so easily won.

I have seen the ’saviours’ and the ‘geniuses’ come and then fade. All have left thier mark, but few made music beyond a tune or two that has lasted much beyond the time in which it was made for reasons other than nostalgia.

Burial doesn’t fit in to the previous category. What’s on here will almost definitely deserve listening to again in 10 years time, and still sound interesting.

Because of media hype surrounding his identity, Burial has been elevated to a level of status he might not otherwise have attained, but if that brings music of this calibre and innovation to a wider audience, then all the better.
For the more discerning listener though, a lot of what is found here has been heard before: soundscapes, subtle strings for big emotion, heavily processed vocals and plenty of white noise; in some places I’m made to think of early Aphex Twin meets Dubstep…

Apparently Burial comes under the classification of ‘Dubstep’, but a lot of what you hear on here neatly sidesteps easy classification, which as with most music, makes it all the more worth listening, and this definitely is.
Not being a Dubstep fan myself (too much stylisation, too little variation), I dismissed this album before really listening closely and at length, but upon doing so, and continuing to do so, I have been rewarded immensely.
To anyone listening to this for the first time, I’d say Listen again, and again, and again… This isn’t instant access music, like (in my experience) a lot of music that really stays with you, it takes time to grow on you; it’s the kind of music that creeps inside you instead of bludgeoning you with it’s presence.

Standouts for me are ‘Shell of Light’ and ‘Ghost Hardware’, these two alone would justify buying the album.
From 13 tracks, there are perhaps two that have me skipping to the next track, and that’s saying a lot for a single artist dance music album.

Bearing in mind the Burial had no desire to be a part of the media hype that is now attached to him, and his only desire was in his own words ‘to make some tunes’, the one thing this album is, is honest and true, there’s no pretention here; this music comes from the heart.

Buy this, you’ll be humbled by it’s sincerity.

Buy Burial – Untrue @ Amazon

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