Dean De Benedictis - “Salvaging The Present” CD

Inventive surrealist sound

Veteran composer De Benedictis has been around for some time, and “Salvaging The Present” is a unique melding of elements from various musical streams, gelled into an immersive and uniquely inventive and personal mix that would easily function as a soundtrack to a playful surrealist film.

Opening with the curious “To The Ends Of Elation”, which joins elements of prog-rock with immersive ambiance, De Benedictis brings together unusual and often disparate elements into his hallucinogenic sound stew. “Micro Souls Anthem” has a similarly upbeat and lively vibe with nicely deep mixing. “Pagoda Tiempo” uses a sampled and effected slice of dramatic orchestral strings before drifting into a more celestial ambience. Just beautiful and so very effective. “Never The Sacred Stretch” could easily function as an electronic soundtrack to a surreal interpretation of “Alice In Wonderland”. “The Purity Of Season 279E” brings to mind a rolling Western desert landscape, somehow, whereas “Whisper County” is a gentle reverberation from times past, as remembered from a wooden porch and a rocking chair. “Regret In G (The Sky Remembers)” closes it out with a drifty, almost shoegazey haze. 

De Benedictis isn’t afraid to cross genre boundaries, and calling this an “ambient” album is a disservice. Aspects are there, but “Salvaging The Present” is a modern electronic music journey that doesn’t have limits or boundaries. It’s a journey that I’ll want to make again.

Spotted Peccary Music

De Benedictis site

John Gregorius - “Still Voice” CD

Wonderful ambient guitar pop

Veteran guitar player and producer Gregorius has found his niche with this collection of melodic, ambient guitar works that generates a warm and pastoral existence, uncluttered by trends or genre. The opener, “Grounded In Mystery” is simply a beautiful and gentle wisp of soft harmonics and fleeting guitar. 

Gregorius’s songs are essentially heart-lifting soundtracks to films that don’t (yet) exist. His soft guitar melodies are placed simply atop beds of electronics and processed guitar, crafting an instrumental pillow of dreamily introspective ambient “pop”. “Benevolence” picks up a wafting rhythm, but remains a positive and reflective tone. “True Self” brings an almost droning post-rock, shoegaze vibe and works amazingly well. 

“Still Voice” is a lovely, heartfelt, and emotive album of gentle ambient guitar compositions that I very much appreciate after too much angry noise and cluttered sounds. It’s the perfect album to wind down to, and Gregarius is a highly skilled composer who I’d love to hear more from. Bravo!

Spotted Peccary Music

John Gregorius site

Chronotope Project - “Dawn Treader” CD

Lovely selection of exotic, diverse soundscapes

This is the first I’ve heard of Jeffrey Ericson Allen, whose Chronotope Project has been active for several years releasing evocative and often cinematic electronic music. “Dawn Treader”, inspired by the C.S. Lewis story, is an intensely visual and sometimes playful listening experience, with plenty of twists and turns. 

Opening with the percolating sequencer sounds of “Dawn Treader”, the music gives way to the languid and introspective track, “The Scent Of Evening Flowers”, which gradually works itself into a bleepy outer-space soundtrack. “Basho’s Journey” brings an Asian influence to the table, no doubt due to the prominent use of the traditionally-tuned 13-string Japanese koto. “Ocean Of Subtle Flames” is a spiritual journey, complete with light rhythms and flutes punctuating the otherwise fleeting ambient textures. “Canticle For The Stars” is a kind of space music/classical hybrid, with blippy synth sequences alongside electronic strings. “She Who Hears The Cries Of The World” brings it all together into a wonderful melange of exotic textures, fleeting melodies, and evocative world music-meets-ambient vibes. It’s a celebration of all things musical, artful, and worldly.

Spotted Peccary

Chronotope Project

Time Being - “A Place To Belong” CD

Lovely minimalist ambient

The second album from micro-ambient composers Phillip Wilkerson and Jourdan Laik begins with the icy digital drone tones of “The Wind Has Called”. “Every Memory” is a more ethereal trip into the clouds at daybreak, and “From Where We Are” brings a piano element alongside the fragile drones. If any album release were tailor-made for the wee hours, or for the waking dream state, this is it. Wilkerson and Laik’s gentle and unobtrusive ambiences are both soothing and narcotic.

“Farther Worlds” is an awakening of sorts, with big ominous bass drones amongst the shimmery tones. “Here Is Life” is more typically ambient, with a shifting juxtaposition of darker elements with lighter, lilting fields of cinematic sound, and the finale, “An Infinite Home”, reminds of a superb Eno piece, a seamless and refined statement in minimalist ambiance. 

A beautiful release of gentle and evocative sound.

Spotted Peccary

Time Beingbook

Phil Wilkerson wordpress

Zero Ohms - “Process Of Being” CD

Quiet, minimalist ambience

Veteran ambient composer Richard Roberts is Zero Ohms, and his catalog goes back nearly 20 years with a deep selection of work both solo and in collaboration. “Process Of Being” examines Roberts’ realization that “Being is not a static state, It is not ‘becoming’ anything. It is a process, through which we each exist”. That in mind, the album begins with the ultra-hushed drones of “The Present Perfect Tense Of Being” — 14 minutes of barely-perceptible drones that set up this contemplative and subtle release of gentle, receding ambient music.

“Glimpsing The Eternal” brings flutes and a semblance of structure to the proceedings, though it’s still a minimal and fragile exercise in restraint and elegance. “The Dream Dreaming You” is another flute-led piece of fragility, with a singular string drone floating just overhead. 

On this album, Zero Ohms produce a very gradual and quiet set of evolving sound-sketches, echoing the ever-so-subtle motion in which we exist from moment-to-moment, second-to-second. As a concept, it’s fascinating, and as a recording, this is a fine work.

Spotted Peccary

Zero Ohms Bandcamp

Phillip Wilkerson and Chris Russell - “Vague Traces” CD

Subtle ambient dreamscapes

Two ambient artists combine forces here for “Vague Traces”, a subtle and dreamlike album of lucid waking-dream textures and deliberately amorphous sound washes. The opener, “Far Past”, is a gauzy drone that summons hypnagogic states quite nicely, as does “The Diamond Sky”, which layers gentle wafts of gentle tones into a swirl of fragile sound-clouds. “Across The Sun” sounds almost more urban, with distant dreams of automation in the background, like a narcotic awakening in an urban soundscape pre-dawn.

The rest of these tracks fall nicely in line with this feeling — drifty, narcotic, and softly-enveloping clouds of sound. But fairy dust or window dressing this ain’t — Wilkerson and Russell’s music is edgy and realistic, with hints of darkness alongside the contemplative fragility. 

“Vague Traces” is a sublime and beautiful work of art, and one that can be enjoyed best at late night or during early morning hours. I am impressed.

Spotted Peccary

Wilkerson site

Wilkerson bandcamp

Chris Russell site

Csillagkod - “Silent World” CD

Deep and mysterious ambient

Transylvanian-born Oliver Dombi is Csillagkod (Hungarian for “Nebula”), and this is his debut full-length release of deep and evocative space/ambient music. The opener, “The Communication System Between Civilizations Of The Universe” is a fairly static collage of cloudy, layered drones and darkened rumblings, like a less-focused Lustmord, almost, Being a longtime fan of classic “industrial” sounds, I have no problem with that, but luckily Dombi moves along from there on “Silent World”.

“Empty Galaxies” lightens up a bit, moving outwards into the celestial heavens. Dombi really hits his stride with the evocative space music of “The Birth Of The Solar System”, which brings a melodic slant to his drifty and cinematic universe. “Water From Another Planet” is a sublime and beautiful journey, with swells of dramatic strings and tender plinkings, while “Kettoscsillag” is 4 minutes of reverberated chimes and dark undercurrents.

“Silent World” is a surprisingly mature and subtle debut, packed with mystery, emotion, wonder, and majesty. Csillagkod is an artist to watch, and this is a wonderful album.

Spotted Peccary

Csillagkod site

Paul Ellis - “Moth In Flames” CD

Light sequencer meanderings

Vancouver, Washington-based veteran ambient electronic composer Ellis’s 2015 release begins with the deceptively-titled “In Flagrante Delicto”, a light and airy ambient sequencer tune whose casual and decidedly non-threatening tones have nothing to do with any sort of offense, the least of which being sexual, as that title implies! Not sure if Ellis is being ironic here, but it’s a pleasant track, nonetheless. “Moth In Flames” is another casual and gauzy analogue synth exercise, as is the almost synth poppy “Birds Migrating Over The Prison”.

Ellis admittedly pays homage to the classical Berlin sequencer sound founded by folks like Tangerine Dream, Edgar Froese, and Klaus Schulze, and that vibe permeates his work on “Moth In Flames”. He brings a well-defined melodic slant to his spacey, drifty electronics, oftentimes bringing a blippy, retro kinda vibe that recalls the eighties synth pop heyday.

I find “Moth In Flames” to be a pleasant, if rather forgettable work of analogue ambient synth work, not adding a whole lot to the stew, but not offending, either.

Spotted Peccary

PEllis Bandcamp

DeeperNet - “Impossible Landscape” CD

Superb electro grooves

Portlander Andrew Miles’ second album as DeeperNet continues the deep and dark electro grooves of his fine debut of a couple of years ago. Opening with the exotic “Aether” (which could almost be a trippy Coil outtake, and that is high praise), the album then pursues a more dubby trance groove with the pulsing “Fractal Dimension”.4

The rest of the album is a diverse set of quality electronic sounds, from the melodic “Fluid In Blue” (featuring the ethereal vocals of Zefora) to the upbeat synthpop of “Illuminated By Ultraviolet”. Other standouts include the percussive yet tender “Falling Through” (again featuring the soft vocals of Zefora) and the 10-minute finale, “Quantum Teleportation”, which flows in an astral trajectory with deep near-goa beats. A fine and more than enjoyable album by an artist who knows few boundaries.

Spotted Peccary Music

DeeperNetbook

Green Isac - “Passengers” CD

Smooth ethno-electronica

Norwegian duo Green Isac have been producing worldly, ethno-tinged electronica for some time, but “Passengers” is their first release in 10 years. It all begins with the Eno & Hassell-inspired “Ormen Lounge”, which is a subtle, mysterious piece with trumpet. That piece flows into “Particle Talk”, which is a pulsing ambient piece with sounds evoking a Middle Eastern radio transmission intercepted and placed atop a bed of smooth shuffling beats. Very nice, transformative, and evocative indeed!

The remainder of the album continues in this path — inspirations from around the world are woven seamlessly into Green Isac’s smooth electronic ambience. “CSA” even draws in some synth pop to their web, and it works well. “Zakopane” brings an air of futuristic mystery, manipulating more Middle Eastern sounds around a bed of subtle synthetics. “Na Tariko” could be a less angry Muslimgauze, whereas “1034” is a reflective, haunting slice of piano and electronics. 

All said, “Passengers” is a superb, warm, and invitingly subtle album that weaves together world influence into a modern sound travelogue.

Spotted Peccary

Green Isac site

DeeperNET - "One" CD

Top-shelf electronica

Portland, Oregon-based sound designer Andrew Miles here presents his debut release, as DeeperNET, and it's a well-done mix of trance techno and ambient electronica. Opening with the 9-minute deep goa pulses of "Elementary Particles", the psy-trance elements of "Mind At Large" even harbor some industrial elements alongside the steady 4/4 beats and celestial sequences.

"The Eagle Has Landed" is a nearly 9-minute techno-goa beast, while "Tiny Paper Squares" is another insistent rhythmic pulse, with percolating analogue sequences and intricate programming. "Moksha" opens with a lovely deep-space ambiance, and "Neptune" is darkened black light electro that would fit perfectly well on a club floor sandwiched between Front Line Assembly and some hypnotic trance thumper.

"One" is a perfectly realized album of extended deep club cuts that don't approach any outward commerciality, thankfully. Miles' powerful and clean electro-trance is dark, edgy, and more than enjoyable to these (usually) jaded ears.

Spotted Peccary

DeeperNETbook

Darshan Ambient - "Little Things" CD

Sweet and swirly ambience from a master

Prolific composer Michael Allison here presents his 17th album (and 7th overall for the impeccable Lotuspike label), and it's a lovely set of 12 ambient tracks with a decidedly melodic and rhythmic imprint. 

"The Mystery Of Sleep", for example, uses a lilting mix of swirly, dreamlike voices and strings alongside floating percussion and piano. In fact, fans of so-called shoegaze will find much of this album quite enjoyable, as it does manage a similar foggy, gauzy sweetness. "Shadow Country" unearths a bit of mystery, and even hints at a vaguely Southwestern-meets-Middle-Eastern vibe. "Soft Portrait" is a plaintive and gentle piano-based study, while "Slow Drum" is a gradually-building proto-rock entry.

Allison is a master of moody and emotive ambience, and "Little Things" highlights his approach to warm and inviting, and ultimately human electronic music. Superlative!

Darshan Ambient site

Lotuspike/Spotted Peccary

Shane Morris & Mystified - "Emergence" CD

Organic ambient soundtracks

The second release in a trilogy of sonic soundtracks to the dawn of life on Earth, Morris and Mystified (aka Thomas Park) here craft "Emergence" around the appearance of mammals on the Earth. It's a lovely and mysterious primordial ambience that showcases the duo's skill at creating vast, organic-sounding environments. 

Beginning with "From The Primordial Night", this album conjures magical images of a world teeming with wonder and life. "To The Icy Peaks" is a mysterious, fleeting, and haunting drift, whereas "Feet On The Ancient Forest Floor" sparkles with life on what sounds like a rainforest. Insects, drips of rain, unidentified creatures, wind, and distant rumblings -- all stunning worlds within a singular soundscape. 

A large part of "Emergence" was composed with organic instrumentation (woodwinds, trombone, and acoustic percussion figure prominently), and this "third world" vibe is proof-positive that Morris and Park are masters at discovering ancient spirits encased in sound.

Spotted Peccary/Lotuspike

Darshan Ambient - "Falling Light" CD

Veteran composer Michael Allison has been a staple of the ambient/electronic scene for many years, and "Falling Light" shows him moving ever closer to well-structured songs, rather than simply mood pieces. The title track opens this 12-song, 60-minute journey, and it's an upbeat, even rhythmic bit of light and airy ambient pop. "Small Blue Ones" brings some trumpet and mystery, all the while remaining optimistic. "A Boat Beneath A Sunny Day" sums it up well, another magical and wondrous journey with lovely swells of guitar, synth bass, and piano. "Clothed In Wakefulness" could be a lullaby of sorts, while "The Immense Window" is a drowsy, gorgeously fleeting moment that lasts 7 minutes, complete with choral voices and piano.

"Falling Light" is an album of proto-ambient pop songs, and this set of mature instrumental tunes do well to illustrate that times of hope and positivity need not be sappy nor saccharine. Well-done.

Lotuspike

Darshan Ambient

Paul Ellis - "I Am Here" CD

Taking cues from the analogue electronic space music of Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, and Jean-Michael Jarre, veteran American composer Ellis here crafts a series of three extended soundscapes that honor the ancient Chinook people and a small island Ellis recently discovered that holds a very mystical allure.

Beginning with the 20-minute "She Who Watches", Ellis' constructs complex and shimmery rhythmic electronic spaces -- percolating sequences, deep synth textures, and dabblings in melody that don't point to pop-song structures, but to celestial expanses. "Chinook Wind" follows, and is another 20 minutes of wispy and fleeting synth-strings, bells, and chimings that are simultaneously elegant, mysterious, and amorphous. At about the 12 minute mark, it opens up to lovely strings and flowing water. This, for me, is a crescendo of "I Am Here". Just lovely.

The final track, the 29-minute "I Am On An Island In The Columbia River", evolves from flowing Berlin-style sequencer-driven sounds to space ambience. It's a beautiful journey that Ellis has created with "I Am Here", and I'm glad to have taken a ride.

Lotuspike

Paul Ellisbook

Craig Padilla and Zero Ohms - "When The Earth Is Far Away" CD

The third collaboration by these ambient masters goes into uncharted sonic spatial realms, mapping out new terrain beyond the cosmos. 

With 6 tracks of opulent, rhythm-less bliss, "When The Earth Is Far Away" is a relaxing and wonderful soundtrack, full of shimmering celestial harmonies and amorphous sound. "Timelessness", at nearly 17 minutes, is a prime example of the gorgeous atmospherics that Padilla and Zero Ohms focus on. The lovely and flute-laden "Blue Distance" is pure ambience, almost receding it's so subtle. Other tracks echo this direction. A beautiful album here, ideal for drifting off to.

(Lotuspike)

Craig Padilla site

Zero Ohmsbook

Northcore - "Desatero" CD

The premiere full-length from this UK-based duo opens with the atmospheric and mysterious "Looking Glass", which combines a whimsical electronic melody with the sparse spoken words of members Jana Tillotson and Carl Gibbons. From there, the upbeat prog-synth "Jupiter" recalls the German sequencer melodies of Tangerine Dream. "Nocturne" uses Middle Eastern vocals to good effect alongside dubby electro textures. "Green Fridge" is icy ambient electronica ala Biosphere before erupting into a clubby techno beast, while the closer, "Min Ros" is a traditional Swedish song with lovely vocals by Maja Eriksson and a misty ambient backdrop.

"Desatero" isn't an ambient album, nor is it a techno album. It does, however, mix up those styles with elements of ethnic music, classic sequencer sounds, and plenty of unusual found sources. It's a stylishly confounding and surprising mix that works well. (Spotted Peccary)

Northcore site

Craig Padilla - "The Heart Of The Soul" CD

Idaho-based electronic musician Padilla has been a prolific member of the ambient community for some time, and this solo album is one of understated beauty. These sensitive and melodic analogue instrumentals are delicately infused with piano, strings and percolating electronic sequences, and the effect is one of warmth and passion. Expect no ominous or dark-tinged vibes here, as Padilla is definitely going for another angle. The title track, for example, is lovely and elegant, based around a circular piano melody. "Lost In You" summons a rolling drum rhythm to accompany the piano and electronics. The expansive 13-minute "Midnight Encounter" is more mysterious and ambient, while the closer, "Divine Embrace", brings it all back down to Earth with a cloud of gauzy strings and guitar. "The Heart Of The Soul" is a gorgeous and tender album of lilting melody and fragile soundscaping. Quite enjoyable! (Spotted Peccary Music) Craig Padilla site

Justin Vanderberg - "Synthetic Memories" CD

Composer Vanderberg's second album is a delightful and wistful collection of deep ambient electronic sounds that gently ebb and flow in a relaxing manner. It's an ambient album with depth and clarity, combining the best of modern electronics with a timeless, Eno-esque quality that works equally as well as background listening or immersive contemplation.

"When I Walk" is a droning, meditational piece with celestial inclinations, while the title track brings a gorgeous collage of serene strings alongside percolating sequencers, like classic Vidna Obmana meeting Vangelis somehow. This is a standout, being simultaneously majestic and mysterious. "The Path" ushers in a heavy rolling rhythm of an almost trip-hop or industrial nature, which works well alongside the crystalline strings."Dusk" shows a hint of darkness around the edges, but remains true to the album's gentle overall vibe. "Synthetic Memories" is a superb work from a composer I'll be curious to hear more from. (Spotted Peccary)

Vanderbergspace

Paul Ellis - "From Out Of The Vast Comes Nearness" CD

Over 70 minutes of shimmering and rhythmic electronic space music from veteran composer Ellis. Tracks like "The Click And Chime Of Passing Time" are far more linear and melodic than ambient, though. Imagine a melding of Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream and you won't be far from this pleasant extended 5-song collection. "Firefly Rising Outshined By The Moon" is sonic wallpaper, I'm sorry to say, not engaging in the least. The title track brings a little more depth (and darkness) to the party, though, with swells of ominous drone and wispy electronic effects. "Watch The Stars Come One By One" is vivacious and lively, with piano-like melodies and angular rhythms creating a music box-like effect. A solid set of meditational tunes, not without fault, but worth a listen for space music heads. (Lotuspike)

Paul Ellispace