ambient Archive
16 May 2018
Jean-Michel Jarre on Making the Most of Music Technology
Jean-Michel Jarre built his music reputation on the strength of a series of groundbreaking 1970s albums. His second release, 1977’s Oxygène pioneered the use of analog synthesizers in a melodic […]
22 Mar 2018
Album Review: Ryan Summers — ii
Picture this scene in your mind’s eye: a desolate, windswept landscape, mostly monochromatic and largely devoid of detail, yet with ominous pockets of darkness that suggest an unknown danger lurking […]
16 Dec 2017
Hundred-word Reviews for December 2017: New Music
As the end of 2017 approaches, it’s time to clear out some of the backlog on my review shelf. Here are ten titles, all new music, that I think might […]
25 Oct 2017
Album Review: Yonder — Pearl Diver
Some music insists upon itself; rock ‘n’ roll, for example – when it’s done right – is designed to be impossible to ignore. So, too can other forms – progressive […]
04 Oct 2017
Album Review: The Undergrowth — Synergy
Asheville-based The Undergrowth isn’t a band. And it’s not a person. Instead, it’s a collective of musicians and producers working nominally under the musical umbrellas of electronica, drum and bass, […]
09 Sep 2017
Album Review: Gel-Sol — Horse Head Bookends
It’s inevitable: the first thing one notices about Horse Head Bookends, the latest album from Andrew Reichel (d/b/a/ Gel-Sol), is its stunningly original album artwork and packaging. The vinyl LP […]
04 Jul 2017
Jean-Michel Jarre: Embracing — Yet Remaining Wary of — Technology
A pioneer in electronic music, French composer-performer Jean-Michel Jarre is as well-known for his stage spectaculars as for his innovations in ambient and new age music. Though he has always […]
18 Apr 2017
A Few Moments with Hans-Joachim Roedelius
German composer Hans-Joachim Roedelius is a synthesizer pioneer, and a leading light of ambient music. Yet acoustic piano is his instrument of choice, and he has little use for the […]
25 Oct 2016
Rhys Fulber Hates Laptops
The ambient electronic music of Rhys Fulber‘s Conjure One is a far cry from the music he made in his industrial group Front Line Assembly. And it’s also not very […]
24 Oct 2016
Conjure One’s Emotional Electronica
Though he initially made his name as part of industrial band Front Line Assembly and as a producer of other artists, these days Vancouver-born Rhys Fulber makes highly melodic electronic […]