Experimental Electronic Music
The tracks assembled for this annual aural treasury are all highly crafted ambient electronic instrumentals, each illuminated and uplifting, with an evident deep moral seriousness and an artistry which expresses a very conscious and deliberate assumption of spiritual ecstasy in which our mind is suspended.
Neau records tranquil surroundings, filled with birds and a bit of water, which he combines into soundscapes. He superimposes the material, and along with that, he adds some electronics.
Across the album, Toh Imago finds inventive ways of opening a dialogue between nature and machine, both literally and metaphorically, creating a soundscape that both feels like and was created by the natural world…
Such a powerful ambient excursion dips and dives through the unknown and offers a captivating treasure-trove we should all experience.
While the theme on Book of Needlecraft, and its track titles, are centered around embroidery and needlepoint, the vast electrical tapestry stitched together on this proverbial audio quilt is subtle and warm.
Exit Language Translator finds itself standing alone as a beacon for others to locate; its mysterious yet cleverly soft distortions and vintage soundscapes are both surreal and serendipitous.
Meanwhile, back in the chilly vastness of space, through the cosmic field recordings and analog electronics is felt the beating heart of the human, as syntheticopia continues to hum with hushed hymnals for stargazing souls.
At a distance of nearly two decades, Herbstlaub resonates with the same melancholy magic, a-fizz with fertile experimentation with the tropes of two musical modes once thought incongruent via shiny new tools, ending up transcending its conceptual start-point.
When you dive into these analogous time capsules, the soundscapes and soundtracks seamlessly come to life, as if only a few machines were massaged to create such audible treasures.
The whole naturally transcends reductive description in deeper listening mode, from which arises a tenor marked by a kind of wistful unease.
Tranquilized piano keys brush up against downtempo sonic peripherals as an organic flow transpires from start to end.
