PBK & Telepherique - "Noise-Ambient Connections" CD

This joining of forces of the American sound painter PBK and veteran German experimental group Telepherique here encompasses a fertile creative ground, and is titled more than appropriately, being a playful mesh of softly textural, bizarre and sometimes playful sound compositions. It all begins with the oddly surreal "Twilight Cue", which sounds like an electro-acoustic collage with samples and recordings of raw metal and primitive percussions (though perhaps more ambient than that description implies). "In Ecosystem Interrupt" is a mysterious set of sounds that evoke a dramatic cinematic scene in a plastic baggie factory (with strings)...on vinyl! "My Rare Dreams (Of The Future)" is a more structured, rhythmic mix of atmospheric guitars/bass and skittering, looping sounds, like an old 4AD band being mixed by Stefan Betke/Pole. "You Only Fade" soundtracks a late-night haunting in a factory, through a pixel haze, whereas "Seen Through Cloud Cover" closes it out with a spacious ambience. Overall, a heady and quirkily pleasing collision of sounds and abstracted textures. (Monochrome Vision Russia)

PBK site

Christopher Bissonnette - "In Between Words" CD

Sweeping, cinematic urban ambience from this Canadian composer, 'In Between Words' utilizes field recordings (including bits of orchestral work) and electronic processing to dazzling effect. Initially inspired by both visual sound and the legendary Detroit electronica scene, Bissonnette's compositions effectively synthesize these influences into floaty, glacial seas of static, drone, and pulse. 'The Colonnade' is an especially effective track, plunging into a dark swath of melodic strings both sad and strident. The closer, 'Jour Et Nuit' sounds like a late-night cityscape re-tooled into chunks of tonal ambient sound. Beautiful and wonderful work here, tailor-made for inobtrusive reading or solitary reflection. (Kranky)