drone / ambient / folk

electronic / ambient/ synthwave

bandcamp

bandcamp

acoustic / folk

post punk

post punk

funeral doom

shoegaze / dreampop

electronic / house / synth

hard rock

math rock / alternative rock / experimental / noise rock / punk

​Serge

ambient / post rock / classical

An often recurring theme in the world of literature and movies is the sudden disappearance of humans, the "last person on earth" experience. 'Earth Without People' is a fascinating documentary series about how the earth will react after all people are gone. 'The Stand' by Stephen King uses the same theme to build up to a final battle between good and evil. It happens to be a theme from one of my own stories-in-the-pipeline, and it also seems to be the starting point for this new album by Indian one man project Mixtaped Monk. In this story Arka finds himself all alone on the planet. Everybody else is gone. With those emotions and questions he recorded a splendid soundtrack.

Musically, Arka Sengupta travels in the worlds of downtempo music, including classical piano melodies, post rock compositions, classic rock ballads and ambient tunes. Opener 'Chronicle of the Ending' mostly seems to function as a calm and rather impending intro. Here, the artist finds himself alone, here the questions and fear appear and here this long journey begins. The first real highlight comes with 'Sunshine on a Desolate Road', something the might be inspired by listening to Brian Eno jamming with Pink Floyd.

The album continuously drives on this slow, gloomy paste with serene rhythms and looping soundscapes. Yet, there is also a certain amount of unpredictability here. Although calm and introvert, sometimes eerie melodies appear, sharp and uncomfortable. In a way that perfectly resembles the overall theme of the album. You're alone in a vast world. It sure is silent and tranquil, apart from the often scary sounds of nature, the collapse of building structures and your own heartbeat when panic strikes.

On 'Distant Stars' we see the last human gazing into the night skies, to the twinkling of the stars. I wonder what he is thinking? The song makes way for another Pink Floyd inspired anthem, 'From Loneliness to Solitude'. I guess it's clear what he is thinking now. Being the last man on earth can't be a very happy and joyful occasion, but is sure comes with beautiful music. Perhaps that music is a bit too sweet and easy digestible at times but it is an excellent soundtrack for one of the earlier mentioned movies and documentaries.

I can imagine elaborate drone images over an empty city while 'Birds, Seas and Mortals' is playing. I can see the man sitting down in despair and loneliness during 'Maybe a Bright Future Waits'. This album is based on a dream. After listening, I would like to see that dream, see what happens, see how the last person on earth copes with that destiny. No doubt that this album would make an interesting and well varied soundtrack.


​Serge

electronic / ambient

Definitely a cosmic and compact work, Synchro is an album by Denmark based electronic music artist Jesper Skovgaard, released under the alias of Noosfære. A more concise album – only forty-one minutes long – the record has six tracks: Horizon, Mnemosyne, Synchro, Beings, Demiurg and Remembrance. A very introspective and minimalist work, the style of the artist can be described as somber, cautious and extremely whimsical. Its sagacious and inherently proverbial overtones redirects its rhythmic longitudinal devices to the epicenter of a concentric atmosphere, where its own harmonically devised frontiers determine the continuous pulse of the sound. Departing from the latent perennial quest of its own lust for symptomatic disintegration, the overall sound of Noosfære – despite its allegorical density – is strictly organic, and while it can be vastly appreciated, certainly doesn’t leave too much space for interpretation. 

While the sound is stagnant for most of the time, there is a precocious beauty on its abrasive and comprehensively elaborated rudeness. The music of Noosfære departs from a dispersive darkness, centered in a personal universe that never sees any light. Moreover, while there is a natural flow that creates a vivacious sonority in the crest of its own melancholy, the most prominent quality of the music is a discreet and passive beauty, that understands and creates the volatile intensity of an ephemeral universe of frivolous sensibility, that never feels the necessity to locate the horizon of its own creational infinity. 

The music of Noosfære is definitely intricate, delightful and intense. At first, it doesn’t impress, but gradually – as the music penetrates deeply into the deranged vastness of your soul –, its monumental consistency engraves into the most hidden abscesses of your perceptions the greatest abysses of its congenital possibilities, presenting to elegiacally elected affections an effervescently poetic elegance, that reiterates the logic principles of a fundamentally expansive creativity, that never loses the trail of its gracefully obscure redemptive authenticity. 

While the album is not a masterpiece, it certainly has cohesive, sophisticated and perceptive merits, and the exceptional originality present in the work emphasizes its magnificent, insinuating and imposing style. With a strength that is more compromised with reticent, but overtly sensorial musical artifices, Synchro definitely can be qualified – at least, to a certain degree – as a splendid album, that will evidently reshape your impressions about electronic ambient music.


Wagner 

post rock / ambient

Oblivion is an album released by an amazingly talented Malaysian post rock duo, called Gespenst. A somewhat concise record, Oblivion has ten tracks, that are generally brief, albeit with a few exceptions: Mass, Ikiru, Oblivion, Sphere I, Moon, Terra, Magna, Sphere II, Mercury, Decay, Ignis and Sphere III, Venus. The style of the duo can be described as exceedingly punctual and precise, as well as very elegant and beautiful. Despite its rustic simplicity, there is a gracious and soft tenderness in the sound, that definitely floats throughout the bitter oceans of melodious grace of its notes, ostensibly preeminent at the sweet flavor of its innocent and sagacious beauty. Definitely, the listener is marvelously captivated by the sincere galaxy of splendor that drives the soul out of its rotating axis of frivolous commonalities.     

Flirting with a minimalist structure, the musical proposal of the work is simple, but filled with a delicate and original premise. Oblivion has a prevalent degree of authenticity deeply engraved at the conscious obliquities of its tempestuous notes, although there is also the prevalence of traditional genre elements on its overall musical atmosphere. The album do fall in some major ordinary monotonous ordinances – which is somewhat inherent to a musical symphony that is entitled to a magnificent level of grandeur –, but there is a splendid, indeed, an exponentially calm, gregarious and cohesive grandiosity attached to its rhythmic eloquence, that is hyperbolic and energetic, but serene and quiet at the same time, that extrapolates its salutary and dense exhilarations on a stable platform of mordacious veracity, so it becomes impossible not to feel immediately overwhelmed by the wonderful artistry unveiled by this beautiful work of humane, sensible and peaceful vastness of omniscient infinity.   

Oblivion is quite a gigantic and peripheral work; its structure is simple, but the essence beneath the music is a complex diagram of emotional and technical alliances. Definitely, there is a monumental and profound congenital originality, that explores in the vivacity of its harmonious spheres the gracious musical benevolence of its creative sonorous potential.  

Undoubtedly, this album deserves the greatest score possible. There is a formidable degree of originality on all the levels of its melodic splendor, not a single moment that is generic or predictable, any impatience on the surface of its musical layer, and the general authenticity present in the work corroborates the genuine audacity of its perennial quest for an underground true cosmic innovation. Gespenst is a fantastic duo, and Oblivion is an album that has all the qualities necessary to be qualified as a milestone of the genre. 


Wagner

doom / sludge metal / drone / dark ambient

This EP, or single, is long, seventy minutes but in that timespan Boobs Of Doom takes you on a trip through your own darkest imagination. Just download the album, because this is a full length, turn the volume knob to neighbour levels and drift away. Carrie will appreciate it, Boobs Of Doom will appreciate it.

drone / ambient

death metal

gothic rock

bandcamp

drone / dark ambient

Sombre Soniks

drone / dark ambient

dark ambient / ritual / drone

death metal / black metal

drone / dark ambient

ambient / experimental / downtempo

dark rock / art rock / blackgaze

traditional / folk 

ambient / experimental

I'm not sure if Troum really needs an introduction. Formed in 1997, these Germans have been paving the path for ambient, dark ambient and experimental drone acts for twenty years. Armed with a wide array of instrumentation, Troum inspired thousands of people to explore the world of drones and soundscapes. 

So it's no wonder that, for Troum's twentieth birthday, an international bunch of likeminded people have decided to remix, rework and transform the band's sounds. Nineteen acts appear on this compilation, each one of them honoring Troum in their own way.

The whole thing opens with a gloomy, minimal and droning remix of 'Times' by Allseits. This track plunges the compilation right into the darkest regions of the ambient scene. 'The Silent Fish' by Contrastate adds heavy percussion and an almost violent atmosphere. Inade answer with another cinematic ambient piece, one quite typical for both Inade and Troum, which obviously is a good thing. So three tracks into this tribute compilation and I'm already sold. There are sixteen more to go, with well known names like Nadja, Raison D'Etre, Cisfinitum and Reutoff patiently awaiting their turn.

One of the longest tracks is 'Giascei' by Vance Orchestra (the longest one being the vast droning experience of Mutler). This one is a pitch black river of meandering drones, haunting soundscapes and intense noises. Halfway through it becomes rhythmic and repetitive while maintaining that angsty atmosphere. That being said, it will probably be quite clear that there is few percussion and even fewer beats to be expected on this compilation. Tarkatak's rendering of '_vs_brinnan' has percussion but not in a danceable kind of manner. This nudges more towards the ritualistic side of the soundscapes spectrum.

Looking for highlights on this album is not an easy task. Every track has its own identity, depending on the character of the respective artists. Yet, what Raison D'Etre did with 'Ananke' is brilliant. He turned the track into a classic dark ambient piece, perfectly capable of standing next to many Cold Meat and Cold Spring releases from back in the day. Also bringing out their classic sound is Nadja, who calmly sail on the everlasting drones of 'Mirrored in You'. The masters themselves appear too, along with Martyn Bates. Together they bring the song 'An Untitled Protest', a blend of neo folk and ambient soundscapes.

Disc two opens with 'Kapotte Muziek by Troum', remixed by QST. At first there is noise. Then glitchy beats appear, turning the track into the most danceable yet. This is one of my favorites, perhaps because it adds the necessary amount of variation to this compilation. I mean, most of this album can be categorized as dark ambient. Acts like Ure Thrall, V.O.S., Dual and Bad Sector have delivered splendid version of Troum classics. Supplementing that, the earlier mentioned QST and Θ16 vs. Myrrman add electronic beats. In the end, Markow C., Cisfinitum, Reutoff and Moljebka Pvlse deliver some more beautiful ambient pieces. More of the same? Yes, but also more of the same high quality.

So, what to think about this album? I guess it's quite clear. 'Troums Transformation Tapes' is an excellent tribute to a groundbreaking band. Most of the contributing projects stayed quite loyal to the original sound and to their own. Some stepped outside of the genre's boundaries, with nice results too. For Troum fans, this is an absolute must-have and for aspiring dark ambient aficionados, this is a fantastic introduction into the genre. I can only recommend this album to all fans of dark, lingering and hypnotic music, that's for sure.


​Serge

ambient / post rock

Northern Constellation is an album released on August 2, by Polish post rock group Fading Tapes. Sixty four minutes long, the record has only three very extensive tracks: North Pole, which lasts ten minutes and a half, Leo Minor, the longest, which is more than half an hour, it lasts thirty two minutes and fifteen seconds exactly, and the last, Northern Constellation, the title track, that lasts twenty one minutes and thirty five seconds. The record has a proverbial density, and although requires a certain amount of patience from the listener, the album definitely is worthwhile listening. Very peaceful, quiet and introspective – working the ordeals of a subtle, allegorical and serene atmosphere –, the harmonies dive through an exponential and sensible existential quasi-minimalism. Nevertheless, it is absolutely required for the audience to have greater passion for the genre, as the risk of monotony do exist, especially on the course of the longest track.  

The album works brilliantly as ambient or background music. On it, the musical textures are emphasized, and the stability of the harmonies become a major mainstay. Nevertheless, the rhythm of the melodies – and its inherent structure – never change. The ethereal and vague surreal commonalities of the music fades away slowly, although there is a lucid beauty subtlety diluted at the pervasive pellicle of its expansive universe of solemn and somnolent serenity. 

The lethargic nature of Northern Constellation has a rudeness that overcomes the axial system of its own sensibility. Despite the rigid stability that testifies little to no variations, the music has a subjective ordeal that highlights the ostensible paralysis of its analytic conglomeration of soundscapes. The work definitely has its incontestable merits, and the group has a very distinct and singular style. But its unchangeable nature makes it somewhat difficult to fully appreciate the album with energetic enthusiasm, although the band definitely achieves the objectives of its musical proposal, and you can’t say they are really excellent on the execution of their placid and fugacious form of artistry.

With an ephemeral, surreal and serene atmosphere that characterizes the music, and becomes its central qualities, Northern Constellation is an interesting and rather peculiar album. While you cannot expect anything marvelous nor extraordinary, the work definitely is a decent exemplar on the genres of post rock and ambient music, as you definitely have an intricate set of qualities, that can lead you through a solitary, peaceful and humane sonorous journey. 


Wagner

ambient / drone / post rock

Hymn of a Voyage Wander is an album released on August 4, by American musician Damien Duque, under the alias of City of Dawn. Almost fifty-three minutes long, the record has eight tracks: Abditory, The Quiet Explosion, My Spirit Dances with your ghost, As Petals turns to Ashes, Capturing the pattern of your silence, Saudade, I See you for the last time... and Slowly Dancing Away.... With very calm, serene and transcendental harmonies, the music of City of Dawn is simple, driven by a peaceful, sentimental and resigned melancholy, that achieves at the diagram of its sonorous resilience a slow and robust, but embracing fatuity, upon which its sensibilities discreetly collide with its own expansive atmosphere of everlasting oblivion. 

A very interesting ambient musical work, whose thin pellicle of sound hides a profound continuous transcendence, the methodic, intrinsic and quasi-minimalist nature of the work is noteworthy. Nevertheless, given the fact that the album has little melodic variations, its placid and lethargic uniformity gives to its gracious density almost a frozen anatomy, a sonorous paralysis where an ephemeral dimension of dreams cast shadows over the real world, in an interchangeable sensibility of surreal atmospheres, where everything is placed underneath a fog of introspective grace.     

While the sonorous atmosphere is intelligently elaborated and profoundly  consistent, the work  suffers from a certain degree of predictability. Despite its serene and poetic tone, the album resents itself from lack of audacity and innovation, and eventually falls into a generic mainstay, which is somewhat inherent to the genre. 

Evidently, there is a lucid and cautious degree of creativity here. The musical style is solid and cohesive, and – following the structural pattern of the genres in question – the artist stay loyal to its sonorous proposal, that nevertheless is genuine, although, as the album progresses, it’s hard not to feel sleepy, as the work do possess somnolent, calm and quiet elements, that relaxes the soul, and cease all the restlessness of the spirit. Maybe, this is the greatest triumph of Hymn of a Voyage Wander, although the album do exhibit a level of technical and methodic proficiency that highlights its undisputable virtues and qualities.

 
Wagner

post rock / drone / post metal

Ever since the first days of Merchants Of Air, I have been fascinated by one man projects and their often surprising output. Not only noise and ambient artists but also musicians in the fields of post rock, black metal, classical music and doom. There are heaps of talented people out there and most of them rarely get the attention they deserve.
So when I saw this album by Polish project Noche Oscura in my mailbox, I immediately became interested. The project, formed by Wojciech Szachowski also seems to roam in the post-rock/metal regions. Besides, the artwork by Michał Szymański is pretty stunning too, so I just had to check this one out.

It was coined as a post rock, post metal album but the first tones seemed to pour directly out the noise scene. Opener 'End' is strange, something between noise, guitar drones and post rock. I'm not sure if it is an intro but it is a quite unique tune. There is a drummer, Mateusz Mazur, but his work seems to be rather limited. The post-scene is far away but somehow that doesn't matter. Besides, the true beauty of Noche Oscura still has to bloom.

And that happens on 'Suspension', a song that contains violins by Katarzyna Gronowska and seems to be inspired by many of today's drone-ambient acts (Syndrome, Thisquietarmy, N) but also by Mike Oldfield. What? Well, much like Oldfield, Noche Oscura doesn't limit itself to elaborate droning ambient tunes. Here, the artists tried to tell stories, mainly with the narrative sound of the guitars. It's different, it's nice and it's certainly interesting.

My personal favorite here is 'Before', an ambient drone tune that also borrows elements from the music of Amenra or Neurosis but also the dark folk of Barn Owl and the post rock of God Is An Astronaut. Mind you, all still without the drums, making me wonder how massive this track would sound with a full live band. That must be bloody impressive, if you ask me. Same goes for closer 'Gate', an impending track, nudging to the doom scene.

Although coined as something for fans of Sunn O))), Amenra, Ulver and Neuroris, I'd probably place this album in my ambient/dark folk collection. That is not a bad thing, on the very contrary. I enjoyed every second of this album, even the confusing chaos of the opener. I'm just afraid that this artist limits himself a bit too much. If he forms a full blown band with this material, they'll be on big ass stages in no time, but for now, let's all enjoy these sounds in the quiet comforts of our own homes...


​Serge

ambient

While Europe is being crushed by an unseen heatwave people are basically migrating to places with massive bodies of water. Like thousands of other people, I spent yesterday at the Belgian coast, enjoying the cool seabreeze and the fresh sand. The beach was crowded with people. Children  were building sand castles, couples were rubbing one another with sunscreen yet most people just laid down and sunbathed the day away. Inland, temperatures are scorching and here too, people jump in pools, ponds, streams and rivers. Right now, I can clearly imagine myself on a rubber boat, far away from all those people, listening to this new album by North Atlantic Drift.

Canadian duo North Atlantic Drift somehow manages to cool down my eardrums with their friendly waves of minimal ambient. Inspired by acts like Stars Of The Lid and Boards Of Canada, Mike Abercrombie & Brad Deschamps deliver soothing soundscapes, not too dark and far from obtrusive. The music resembles the calm tides of the water, hence perhaps the rubber boat reference in the previous paragraph. 'Empty' and 'Carousel' drive on gentle electronic loops, somewhat rhythmic but without any form of percussion. For minimalists, this album certainly comes close to ambient perfection.

Most of the tracks on this album remind me of my early adventures in ambient music, the time when I got acquainted with the music of Laraaji, Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Eluvium and Biosphere. It's no wonder then that this album fits perfectly well between these. And it's probably no wonder that I will recommend this beautiful release to all of you, not only the ambient fans but also the people who need to lay down, relax and feel comfortable once in a while. With highlights like 'Formation' and 'Mountain Spectre', 'Departures Vol. 2' is an excellent safe haven in a stressful world.



​Serge