CROSSOVER ALBUMS:
FRIPP & ENO: The Equatorial Stars CD
First album for thirty years and the trademark drones of the classic seventies albums have been replaced with a more ethereal atmosphere, and the result is an album that, until the seven minute 'Ankaa' leaves you guessing as to who the music is by, in a blindfold test. That said, the spacey and spacious feel conjured by the duo's brew of loops and chords is quite spellbinding and more often than not you get the feel of something more akin to Tangerine Dream's 'Zeit' than anything the duo did previously, although on the album's 7 tracks, there's a lot more variation than before ranging from the aforementioned 'Ankaa' that is the closest thing to what went before, to the five minute 'Altair' which puts the ethereal soundscaping and slowly rising Fripp guitar chords to a foot-tapping, electro-percussive ambient dub rhythm, the combination working a treat and giving the album some drive. At nearly ten minute, the longer on the album, the final track, 'Terebellum', is one of the most "electronic" sounding pieces, very much an exercise in textural soundsculpting to provide a composition that is completely cosmic. Overall, a more varied and a lot more cohesive than I'd expected.
GROBSCHNITT: History Of Solar Music Vol 5 DBLCD
It's hard to believe that this series does this, but it's just getting better and better in all sorts of ways. We now have five - count them - FIVE!!!! - double CD's, each containing versions of the greatest undiscovered rock epic track of all time, 'Solar Music', and every single one is simply amazing, each in its own way, with versions ranging from just over thirty minutes to darn near sixty minutes in length. The track, if you hadn't gathered by now, is a largely instrumental track centred around the band of lead guitar, synths, bass and drums, and is an emotional rollercoaster of epic proportions, constantly building and building then dropping down only to go even higher thereafter, and so on - the sort of thing that makes a track such as Camel's 'God Of Light Revisited' or any of the epic tracks by the likes of Yes, Genesis, etc, all look positively weak and tame in comparison.
So, to 'Vol 5' and it opens with one of THE most EXPLOSIVE versions of 'Solar Music' (from 1975) yet to be unleashed, with a volume that has the needles over in the red and a power of playing that bores holes in your skull at vast distances. It sounds almost like an audience recording until you realise that it's just sheer music force that is wiping out everything in its path, including your ears. The interplay from the band is simply staggering and the way the piece just steamrollers from dizzy height to dizzy height, is nothing short of mind-blowing. Around thirty three minutes, the dust settles as you reach a musical pause for breath, but then it all starts to build once more as the guitars ring out the rhythm section fires up, the synths provide the backdrop and then this awesome lead guitar bellows out a solo that is positively incandescent as the band become a mass of sonic soup that leaps into the airwaves like a musical nuclear mushroom cloud, the guitar spiralling out of sight as the band powers up and the whole thing is like a depiction of the world ending - and you sit there with dry mouth, spine tingling and adrenaline racing, loving every last second of it - it just doesn't come better than this, and when it all suddenly drops around the thirty eight minute mark, you feel like you've just run a marathon as you pause for breath and wait - knowing it's not over yet - but instead of rising up once more, the track slowly cruises to its final resting place on a gorgeously tranquil sea of gently chiming guitars, hushed rhythm section and soaring string synth - the perfect end and as close to the musical equivalent of lovemaking as you'll find. Incredible!!!
But then you realise there's more - on CD1 you get a ten minute rendition of 'Razzia from 1983 that really powers ahead with some steaming riffing and fiery rhythms, nearly six minutes of 'Poona Express', nine minutes of 'Mary Green' that has some superb synth-guitar duelling in the mid section instrumental passages, ending with a sizzling ten minute version of 'Illegal', all decidedly audience recordings on a bootleg scale but actually sounding so raw and energetic, you genuinely feel they are presented at their best, and you can see why they've been included, based on the sheer genius of playing - one of those nights in concert where the sparks just flew!!
Then, it's over to CD2 - continuing the Dortmund '83 tracks with a couple of shorter pieces, before a near sixteen minute '12 Jahre Grobschnitt…' that really presents all sides of the band in one track. Finally, as you'd have guessed, they keep a version of 'Solar Music' to last, this time also an audience recording, from the same Dortmund '83 concert - opening with the audience chanting the title - and, as the earlier '75 performance, around forty-two minutes long, this time opening with piano and vocals before it's right into the opening sea of riffs and chanting with the needles so far into the red, the thing actually distorts as the energy levels immediately rise to incendiary. Eight years on from the previous version and you hear that a lot of the explosive power, while still there, is now more dramatic and dynamic, so that rather than bursting your brain cells, the music caresses them slowly, wrapping them up in waves of sonic delight as guitars soar into the brainwaves and synths journey to your soul, vibrant bass almost poetically solid, as the piece cruises rather than drives for the first seventeen minutes, quite one of the most gorgeous starts to a version of this epic that you'll hear. But then, around the eighteen minute mark, things threaten to become unleashed as this monster passage of dirty guitar riffing and crunching rhythm section start to power up as you wonder where the track is heading before the riffing drops into the background to allow the synths to take centre stage, the crowd becoming a part of the piece, as the band come to the fore and climb, only then to drop back to allow the bass more solo room above the synths and start to duel with them too, as the drums roll all around the mix, a passage where the guitar is almost absent, more textural, and yet another different take on the epic piece ensues. It isn't until you reach the last seven minutes that you become aware that this is the perfect complement to the earlier version - in that there is going to be no explosion, no nuclear force playing - instead this, you realise, is one of THE most symphonic versions of the track you've heard to date. Again, as good as it gets and just so different that you immediately return to hear it again, just so you can really relive what this version is all about.
Overall, another winner - beware the recording quality for fans for whom that sort of thing matters, but don't be put off by it for the music loses nothing and, if anything, is actually enhanced by it - simply stunning and no mistake.
JAMES LABRIE: Elements Of Persuasion CD
Well, I'm not sure - apart from the answer "not a lot" - what I was expecting out of this album, never having been a fan of his band or solo work up till now - but I have to admit I wasn't expecting what I heard on the opening six minutes of 'Crucify'. Thrash-prog anyone? I thought I'd walked mistakenly into a new Metallica album, only I knew I was wrong because it's heavier than Metallica - but it's got synths in it - and acoustic guitars - but is dominated by skull-crunching bass and drums, thickly riffing, molten electric guitar and Labrie's vocal doing a Hetfield & Dio according to which part of the song you're at. Just sensational!! It made me want to stick with it, just to see what would happen. The five minutes of 'Alone' did not disappoint - not quite as raging, but equally monstrously heavy, it carved out a huge-sounding, stomach-churning morass of rock mayhem that just soars into the skies on its way to heavy metal prog heaven - thickly riffing chords and punishing rhythms falling down like discharged spacecraft parts, as the vocal once again erupts into life and soars into outer space. Stunning! Then it's five and a half minutes of 'Freaks', another thrashingly heavy slice of molten rock-prog that will leave your skull in smoking ruins with yet another mix of riffing guitars, a sea of synths and steaming rhythms all surrounding another sterling vocal performance, this time ranging from eerily hushed to out and out rock attack. Form there on in, a cross a sea of mainly one-word titles (they've been taking a leaf out of Pearl Jam's songbook), we hear a riveting album of raging rock, molten metal and powerful prog that sounds like it's been plugged into the grid before it began, exuding enough electricity and energy to power a small nuclear reactor. Way way better than ever I could have imagined, this is one seriously amazing album. You won't regret buying this - your head might not thank you - but, trust me, it's worth every brain-blasting minute.
MIX CITY: On Track CD
It sounds seventies, but was recorded in 2003 and it's thirteen tracks from a trio of which the guy taking the lead role is primarily an organist, so that the music is mainly organ, electric bass and drums - not particularly progressive in the Nice sense, more early Tony Williams Lifetime without guitar or Gilgamesh with a decidedly French connection., even touches of Hugh Hopper and hints of old Soft Machine in there too. As long as you don't mind relatively short tracks (the album lasts fifty-one minutes), it's actually a seriously fine album with tracks that come in and out, state their case and are gone, but in the realms of Canterbury-esque music, for which form this is the closest, it's really rather good.
PARALLEL WORLDS: Insight CD
Ten tracks that mix slow, languid electro-percussive beats and rhythms with a more ethereal brand of spacey synth backdrops, crossing paths that include ambient dub, melodic synth, sinuous techno and more, as the journey progresses. Some of the rhythms veritably boom out of the speakers and most of them are of what you'd call a more "contemporary" nature, with beefy beats from erupting electronic drums, sometimes taking on a more industrial stance especially on a track like 'Dark And Blue' where there is very little else other than the clanking and juddering rhythms that appear to dominate, the presence of distant space synths at the back of the mix merely a far-off texture. Then you move to 'Detailed Matter' to find that the melody side of things has been greatly enhanced and that now dominates although the meaty rhythms are still there. From there on, the CD manages to mix the more techno/industrial rhythmic side of things with a more exotic set of melodies that include rippling piano lines, high-flying space synths and soaring lead synth melodies that even venture towards actual tunes. So, in essence it's a meeting of the two eras or styles but performed in a more ambient environment in terms of the pace of the tracks, but still with heady and heavy industrial flavoured beats at the heart of every track.
PEAS: Filters CD
Depending on how you look at things, this one is even stranger for the Kitaro fans than the 'Reinterpretations' CD reviewed elsewhere. What this one consists of is a set of songs each performed by a female lead vocalist, while the music on each track revolves around a core thematic sample from a Kitaro track, different on each track. But there's no getting away that you buy this album because you like the songs. So, what are the songs like? Chunky! Yes - just like the 'Reinterpretations' CD, we're in chilled-out, downtempo ambient dub territory only this time songs instead of instrumentals. As a set of songs they are all actually rather excellent with a decided feel of modern Delerium to them, only if anything, more ambient and less trancey. The rhythms throughout are, once again, absolutely addictive, while the female vocalists are all of the "Heavenly Vocal" way of doing things, with some gorgeously high-flying, dynamic and serene vocal performances on tracks that range from atmospheres and rhythms to forceful lush ambience. A couple of tracks feature male vocals but even here the treatments and harmonies are just superb. Overall, it's so infectious, you'd be hard pressed to stop playing it - once again, it's only for a Kitaro fan with a seriously open mind, but as a down-tempo album of brilliantly played, composed and delivered songs, it's wonderful stuff.
V/A: Reinterpretations - Inspired By The Works Of Kitaro CD
Ooooo errrrrrrr………..it's one of THOSE albums. OK - straight down to it - this is nothing like Kitaro. There's a lot of his music on here, although in some cases you'd never know it, as the individual artist get down to some serious composing that uses the Kitaro themes as a kind of framework around which to revolve, weave and build, their own musical worlds. All of which means that this is very much a meeting of worlds - Kitaro's melodic spirit and thematic flow crashing head on with the nineties ideas of chill-out, downtempo and ambient - the result being a largely rhythmic album of instrumentals revolving mainly around beefy electro-percussive drums and occasional resonant electric or synth bass or both, as a whole slew of tracks come sailing out of the speakers on a wave of addictive, largely downtempo, chilled-out, ambient dub rhythm foundations - and for me, the results are absolutely spectacular. This is seriously good stuff - the rhythms are so addictive, the Kitaro templates are used to provide lush territories into which the main body of electronics and synths can flow, while all around the atmospheres are a meeting of high-flying synths splendours and foot-tapping, addictive meaty percussive rhythms, the two working splendidly in the hands of all the assorted remixers and musicians who've created music especially for this project. There's not a bad track on here - although whether it's too contemporary - even though it's still seriously gorgeous stuff - for the Kitaro audience, only time will tell, but as a set of flowing, infectious, atmospheric and inventive slices of music, it's just superb - the chunky rhythms are perfect in this context and I loved every minute of it - but then I'm not a big Kitaro fan, so make of that what you will.
AMBIENT/TRANCE/TECHNO, etc:
APPOGEE: Unconscious Ruckus CD
Despite the fact that this album is predominantly rhythmic, it's actually quite forceful in parts, and is a set of songs and instrumentals, there's an air of melancholy and sombre moods that hangs over a good deal of the album like dark clouds on a summer's day, threatening to rain but never actually doing so. The music is full of lush atmospheric textures and layers from a variety of well placed flowing synths, strings and guitars, all delivered with very much a "shoegazing" feel as you get those wistful melodies, drifts and spacey backdrops all wrapped up in a relaxed and reflective manner, yet so full of feeling at the same time. Then there is the rhythmic element, largely fairly languid and chunky, occasionally the levels will go up a notch on the power stakes, but largely remaining solid and chilled-out. The few vocals are delivered with wondrous effect when it comes to the harmonies and the whole thing has all the gorgeous feel of early Air but more dreamy and less commercial, yet still totally hypnotic at the same time. Overall, it's gorgeous stuff that you really should check out.
EAT STATIC: Alien Artifacts CD
Sub-titled "a collection of unreleased rarities from '88-'92", this is a ten tracker that's full to bursting with rhythm - whether, electronic, electro-percussive, programmed or sequenced, this is early ambient techno/trance at its finest. The solid nature of the percussive rhythms allied to the sparkling layers of synths rhythms, space swooshes, soaring melody lines and samples, provides a set of tracks where it becomes ever more impossible just to sit down, as you find yourself with that inexorable urge to get up and leap about the room as wave after wave of rhythmic strength hit your shores, every track possessing such a solid feel and so infectious you'd think there should be a government health warning on each one. Every track revolves around its core rhythms and, turned up loud, will have you stomping your feet and moving restlessly from cheek to cheek, as an armchair listener, at the very least, while the soaring leads that are featured over the top are choc full of melody but even these in a more rhythmic way. As mesmerising as they come, with excellent and not over-used voice samples appearing on several tracks, this is an addictive experience and a valuable addition to the works of this exceptional band.
HERMIT: Wonderment CD
The Canadian Nettwerk label has been releasing quality music of an ambient-heavenly vocal-industrial nature for three decades and from Moev to Delerium has released music of the finest calibre on an alarmingly regular basis. Now, I'm happy to report, they've done it again, with this second album from a Canadian drummer-ambient artist who's created an album consisting of four instrumentals and six songs - all the songs delivered by female vocalists - that is totally and utterly gorgeous while, at the same time (and hardly surprising considering this multi-instrumentalist's first instrument is drums) is solid and rhythmic but in such a magical way. In many ways, that's the key to the success of the album - the attention to detail on the rhythmic side is just awesome, with electronic drums, deep bass and electronic rhythms all booming out to astoundingly beautiful effect while over the top of the rhythmic heart of the album, all manner of textural, spacey, melodic and galaxian electronics, synths, keyboards, guitars and fx are poured over the mix with the loving attention of a chef preparing his signiature dish. The songs are sublime - not one less than utterly engaging with Machlachlan-esque vocals so prevalent, the higher register voices soaring out like birds in flight, over backing that range from delicious ambient to chunky downtempo, multi-layered masses of synths and strings and guitars coming in and out at intervals to remarkable effect on a track such as 'Flutterbye' as the solo and harmony vocals rise up to heart-racing extent - and just magnificent. 'Won't Fall Apart' is a more dubby song featuring male and female vocal while 'Sir Real' is a magical, chunky, full-sounding song full of strings, lilting beats, huge expansive soundscapes and delightfully strong female vocals that take lead and harmony roles to seeming effortless and natural effect, as the track intensifies and layers in magnificent sounding fashion. The five minute 'Galaxies Collide' is a truly sublime song, full of layers and textures, with a jazzy ambience, a dubby flavour, as chilled-out beats of dynamic strength vie with all manner of instrumental textures to create a truly heavenly track. The song 'Clear Voyage' is the most uptempo track on the album with a gorgeous female vocal half-buried in the mix on the harmonies and gorgeously upfront on the lead sections, as this combination of rhythms, synths and huge-sounding expanses of instruments just takes off to high-flying effect. Overall, a stunning album that you simply can't fault.
H.U.V.A. NETWORK: Distances CD
This project is actually a collaborative venture between two of the artists that record for the label under the names of Solar Fields and Aes Dana The fruits of their labours are nothing short of sublime, the first three tracks and over twenty minutes of music starting off as deep, solid and flowing ambient cosmic bliss with loads of shifting layers and gorgeous synth backdrops and surrounds, eventually leading to the emergence of a solid electro-percussive and throbbing electronic sea of rhythms as the strains of melodic acoustic guitar waft over the mix. Then the rhythms die away - as with the Solar Fields album, all tracks leading into one another to form a giant organic epic - as more space music unfolds, only for this to lead into the evolution of a giant electro percussive, rolling rhythm, perfectly in keeping with the chilled-out, classic early nineties ambient, flavour of the music as a mass of warm analogue strings and flowing rivers of synths wind easily along the undertow of the rhythmic dominance and the whole thing rises up in spectacular but chilled-out fashion, only once more to fall back to the sounds of the sea on the shore against a distant almost distant foghorn-style synth, as the layers and textures beging to assemble once more and you see a whole new soundscape form and build in front of you, so magical in its construction, so fluidly delivered and sounding just fantastic, as deep thunderous echoed electro-percussive rhythms shudder and shake to the sound of eerie synths rivers and cosmic bliss. Following the album's first pause for breath, the near seven minute 'Indigo Room' consists of yet more solid rhythms that surround acres of spacey synths and languid lead layers, the whole thing flowing purposefully and steadily onwards in gorgeous atmospheres of driving downtempo rhythmic brilliance and you can't imagine anyone into the likes of early, classic Banco, Orb, Global Communication and beyond, not liking this. With a further thirty-five minutes out of a total of seventy-eight, to go, and all of it absolutely superb, this has to rank as one of the finest "real ambient music" CD's around right now, if anything, even better than the Solar Fields albums - and they're superb to start with.
MIMETIC TALE: Personal Plot CD
Neatly packaged 3", 4-track, twenty minute CD and it's got real atmosphere running through its veins - starts off with a slice of deep, dark, droning, resonant, multi-textured electronic cosmic music before the mood continues into the second track and here things pick up in the rhythmic department with crunching electronic drums that sound really solid, deep, rumbling rivers of bass, while the solid drone runs through the heart of the track, and all around, sparse synth melodies, more percussive layers and electronic layers, all combine to drive the piece forward on a solid sounding, seven minute voyage that just booms out at you. Track three is similar, only here the rhythms are even more powerful with giant percussive and electronic beats belting out as the main focus of attention, almost like an ambient drum 'n' bass, only better as three and half minutes of intensity leave your head in smoking disarray. Finally, track four continues the rhythmic assault and mixes it with space synth swoops and swirls to complete a decidedly massive and quite superb 20 minutes of music that doesn't put a foot wrong from start to finish.
SOLAR FIELDS: Reflective Frequencies CD
It's not often these days that you hear a genuine "ambient music album in the sense of how things used to be back in the days of Planet Dog label, early Orb, Pentatonik, Banco De Gaia and similar, let alone one that sounds every bit as good as those and other class acts. But this is that album - and it's seventy-two minutes of utter luxury. With its huge, expansive production, downtempo rhythms, deep rivers of rumbling electronic bass, swooshing space synths, multi-layered synth backdrops, wondrous melody structures and breathtaking arrangements and compositions, this CD oozes quality and ensures maximum enjoyment, not only from start to finish but with every play. There are sections of space music where, in typical ambient fashion, there is plenty going on with all sorts of synth layers and sonic delights, occasional samples, hinted rhythms, cosmic soundscapes - and that's just the spacey bits - leading into some highly addictive rhythms, from slow ambient dub through solid downtempo rhythms to slowly travelling space electronic rhythm patterns. The cosmic sections are so deep and resonant, so full of feeling and filled with towers of synths and space synths, occasional electronic drums or deep bass a perfect fit with all that is going on around. But the construction of the compositions and the way that they all flow into one another to create one magical epic piece of music is also part of what makes this such special listening. When you put all the parts together as well as this, the end result is way greater - and your listening delight is absolutely assured. This is ambient music for those that love it, those that think they might love it and those that think they won't love it - it's just brilliant on every level as gorgeous, solid and heart-warming electronic and electro-percussive music, everything that a phenomenal ambient, downtempo, chilled-out and blissful electronic music album should be.
302 ACID: 302 Acid 0005 CD
There can surely be no other label around right now producing such consistently amazing electronic music albums that can be said to be the perfect combination of addictive, enjoyable and groundbreaking, but the reborn EM:T label is exactly that. Forget Fax - Fax is yesterday's thing - the future is EM:T - and the future is looking bright.
This new one is the work of a trio of musicians playing samplers, electronics and bass, included in the line-up the musician Andrew Reichel who records under the name of Gel Sol. OK - on with the music - the opening track is a cyclical piece that gradually adds layer upon layer upon layer, becoming this amazing amalgam of lurching electro-percussive beats, cyclical electronic rhythms, flowing electronic choral textures, all manner of melodies from a variety of keyboard-derived sources, deep, resonant electric bass and a whole panorama of glorious soundscapes that really fills your head with wonderment as to how anything could sound this good. From there via a brief, more spacey but almost eerily atmospheric mix of swirling textures and melodies, it's directly into the six minute 'Six', opening with a sea of searing cosmic electronics as an almost clanking electronic rhythm starts, echoed from speaker to speaker, with the space synth noises all around. Suddenly out of nowhere, emerges this strident downtempo electro-percussive rhythm, then suddenly disappears as a hail of feedback reigns down, the atmosphere then becomes altogether the sound of space with NASA samples adding to the feel, as the rhythm returns, stronger, more layered and altogether more purposeful, as assorted electronic layers and textures emerge and take over in a glorious canvas of electronic soundscapes and chilled-out beats, with an industrial undercurrent providing the necessary edge to it all - magnificent. The five minute 'Mortariggus' is essentially gorgeous rich-sounding layers of electronic space-music flows but with all manner of subtle edges, undertows, eerie textures and more that drift and drone but with a sound that is utterly sublime and completely addictive, sucking you into some vast organic cloud of electronic textures that is simply breathtaking to experience as, once again, we go directly into the six and a half minute 'Push Button' starting with clattering, purposeful drum rhythms as all around the layers of sound and electronics are created, built, arranged and embellished, the whole thing billowing out like an accelerated cloud formation, the river of driving electric bass clearly heard as an additional driving force while, by now, the huge swirls and layers of the multi-textured electronic sound just take off and carry you with it. With a further 7 tracks between one and seven minutes long, the whole feel and sound of this amazing album is maintained at a creative peak throughout. It's unlike any other album around right now and that's just one of the joys of buying it - you'll hear not only something completely different from what you know, but something that is so good, it may change your listening patterns and musical tastes to a much greater degree than you could envisage. "Brilliant" is a word that is so appropriate here.
V/A: EM:T 0003 CD
No - your eyes are not deceiving you - it really is a new album on the, now-legendary, Em:t label, that just disappeared all of a sudden all those years ago, right at the height of its success. Now, back once more with the same styled packaging, this a fresh collection of all-exclusive tracks from the likes of Radium 88, Beatsystem, Brannan Lane, International Peoples Gang, Andy Hughes, Mia and more. The surprising thing for me is its consistency, with nothing less than a riveting track throughout. Sure, there are things that still have a certain "eclecticism" about them, but it wouldn't be "Em:t" if it didn't. From celestial, flowing space/cosmic synths through melodic ambient dub with a highly celestial flavour and weaving moog-like synths to more uptempo tracks, there is a feel of warmth and passion, a flow, that is the heart and soul of all the music created on here. The 8 minute Beatsystem track is a fine example of this, throwing in a good many synths, strings, chunky beats and samples, sometimes the mix so serene, sometimes a little more "edgy" but always hypnotic as it all unfolds - superb stuff and something that sums this up. The next couple of tracks stay in a more spacey and spacious, full-sounding vein of ambient discovery, while the 5 minute Chushen & Cugin track is an altogether beatier affair, with twinkling synth melodies, phased electronic drifts and wickedly chunky but laid-back electro-percussive rhythms. With plenty more to go at of equal quality, this is a 100% return to form, one that will delight existing fans and be a great place to start for those who've never dipped their toes into the warm waters before now.
V/A: Farenheit Project Part 5 CD
Spacey bliss, spacious soundscapes and solid addictive rhythms all wrapped up in a cocoon of ambient synth music heaven - it's the sort of ambient music CD that would appeal to all walks of electronic music fans from Tamgerine Dream to Timeshard. Most of the tracks - exclusives from the likes of Jaia, Solar Fields, Ae Dana, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Cell, Sync 24, Aural Planet, Hol Baumann & H.U.V.A. Network, seventy-two minutes of music overall - revolve around endless miles of space synths and flowing synth galaxies allied to solid electro-percussive and/or solid sequencer rhythms, all combined with more synth backdrops and effects to provide the thematic flow that makes this album such a staggering feat of brilliance. Every track is a gem, all mostly well solid, constantly evolving and changing, rhythmically addictive and foot-stompingly brilliant, the mix of synths and rhythms nothing short of sbsolutely spectacular, track after gloriously ambient track. As an album in its own right, it's flawless, as well as being a great guide to everything on the label, and easily as good as the four that preceded it, if not better. Simply divine, this is stunningly solid ambient downtempo music at an all-time high.
