Autumn of Communion, Carpe Sonum, and other '90s-inspired ambient

[purlieu]

OK, so I know there are at least a handful of fans of the '90s ambient / ambient techno stuff that came from FSOL, Global Communication, Orb, Warp's Artificial Intelligence series, Pete Namlook & FAX, etc. back in the day around here. So I thought I'd start up a thread about this kind of thing as I've been listening to quite a bit of new music loosely in this vein lately and it's a sound and style that I think gets a bit overlooked these days.

Background:
Ambient in general seems to have gone through several stages, starting with highly experimental electronic minimalist stuff in the '70s, moving into new age territories in the '80s, and being attached to post-rave electronica in the early-to-mid '90s. This was arguably ambient's commercial peak, in name at least - The Orb's UFOrb was a number 1 album, FSOL's Lifeforms number 6, and plenty of other records from the era launched careers and seem to have retained a lot of commercial stature in the intervening years. In the late '90s, ambient generally moved away from the psychedelic excesses of that sound towards colder, more minimal laptop music - for quite a while, ambient stuff seemed to exist largely in processed acoustic sounds, in sounds related to the clicks & cuts styles of labels like Mille Plateaux and Raster Noton. Labels like Kranky put out a lot of excellent drone-based ambient in the early '00s, with labels like Kompakt adding in beats to the sound to bring a new, much more minimal form of ambient techno. Around the same time, maybe the only remaining label of the '90s ambient boom, Pete Namlook's FAX +49-69/450464, was largely focusing on similar things, the minimal techno boom coming from Germany obviously appealing to Namlook at the time, while his solo stuff was increasingly based around minimal drone. During the late '00s, there began a bit of a revival of sequencer- and arpeggio-based new agey synth music, bizarrely born from the underground noise cassette scene in the US, with artists like Oneohtrix Point Never, Emeralds and Pulse Emitter, and from this seems to have grown a huge interest in analogue and modular synths, with other styles such as synthwave splitting off from it, leading to a lot of Tangerine Dream-esque TV and film soundtracks in recent years.

I spent a lot of the '00s focusing largely on guitar music, for one reason or another, and it wasn't until around 2009 that I really went back to listening to electronic music as an ongoing concern (rather than simply following a handful of favourite artists). Having always loved the kinds of artists mentioned in the first paragraph, I began looking for music in a similar style. I spent hours trawling YouTube and Discogs and blogs to find '90s records I'd not heard before (coming across some great stuff on the em:t label, as well as artists like HIA, Biosphere, Heavenly Music Corporation, etc.), but when it came to finding new music and contemporary artists creating the same kind of music - both melodic and rhythmic, but still focusing heavily on atmosphere, with maybe some analogue warmth and acoustic sounds and/or field recordings - it proved next to impossible. Shoulders?!-Stomach and I were both unemployed at the time and we chatted a lot about music over a period of months, sharing interesting findings, but we both struggled to find newly released ambient music that wasn't drone-based, or ambient techno that wasn't very repetitive and minimal. France's Ultimae label came closest, but even then it was only really Carbon Based Lifeforms and, to a lesser extent, Solar Fields who really managed to create anything truly memorable.

Autumn of Communion and Carpe Sonum:
In 2012, Pete Namlook died at the untimely age of 51. His FAX label, in the '90s, was probably the most prolific outlet of ambient and ambient techno, with solo and collaborative albums from the likes of Tetsu Inoue, Mixmaster Morris, Biosphere, Higher Intelligence Agency, Spacetime Continuum, Richie Hawtin, Bill Laswell, Klaus Schulze, Speedy J, and countless others, spanning genres from acid-laced ambient techno to spacey synth music and ethnic-tinged ambient dub. In the '00s, as previously mentioned, he moved the label to a more contemporary minimal techno sound (notably avoiding releasing albums that sounded too much like 'classic' FAX records for not wanting to repeat himself). However, in the years approaching his death, around the 20th anniversary of the label, he released two albums that were much more in line with earlier releases: Mick Chillage's FAXology, and Autumn of Communion's Autumn of Communion. This, coupled with reverting to the artwork format of the label's early years, suggested Namlook was at peace with his past and interested in incorporating some of those sounds into the label's output again. Autumn of Communion would be the last release on the label, with Namlook dying three days after its release.

FAX was distributed in the US by EAR/Rational Music, an online store and mail order company who have been in business since the start of the '90s. They put together an 8CD boxset of music in tribute to Namlook: four CDs of FAX artists, four CDs of fans, all new tracks. Following the success of the box (all three editions sold out very quickly), they realised that there were several artists who'd been promised releases on FAX, whose releases would never see the light of day. After a successfully crowd-funded first release (a self-titled album by the wonderfully / awfully named Indiana Drones), they decided to open up Carpe Sonum as a full-time record label. The primary focus of the label was, and still is, releasing music by 'orphaned' FAX artists: the earliest releases on the label were all those expected to come out on FAX, and many, many artists from the label have released through Carpe Sonum in the five years since its inception. The label does also accept demos, however, and as the label is run by huge FAX fans, it's perhaps of no surprise that, while many of the releases are on the more minimal techno end, there are also a lot of excellent '90s-inspired ambient and ambient techno releases on the label.

Autumn of Communion is a project by ambient artist Mick Chillage, and Lee Norris, who originally found success in the late '90s with his IDM project Metamatics and his Neo Ouija Label, as well as other projects such as Norken and Nacht Plank. AoC's second album, due for FAX, came out before Carpe Sonum was up and running, on the similarly-themed label of the time, Anodize. The label began in 2013, and only lasted two years, but in that time put out a lot of excellent albums by artists such as Robert Rich, Ishqamatics, Rapoon, Lingua Lustra and plenty of other excellent ambient artists. For the third AoC album, Lee turned his small CDr label ...txt into a bigger label, pressing proper CDs and with some wider distribution. Since then, the label has picked up a number of ex-FAX artists, such as Move D and Dr. Atmo, as well as plenty of other excellent contemporary ambient artists like Ishq, Arovane, Porya Hatami, Alio Die and Hakobune. Autumn of Communion have released a large number of studio albums, which were recently collected in a 20CD boxset which pretty much sold out its entire run on pre-order. Norris recently started up a new label, Fantasy Enhancing, which focuses on more rhythmic ambient / electronic music, while ...txt has been taken over by Dennis from Databloem, a Dutch label who have been releasing a lot of great stuff very much under the radar (their website is simply a distro and doesn't even have a catalogue of their own releases) for a number of years now. ...txt is closely linked with Virtual, the label run by Ishq for his countless projects, and both Norris and Ishq's Matt Hillier have a few side projects of their own, such as the pure analogue kraut-esque experimentalism of the Zeit label (think early Klaus Schulze and Conrad Schnitzler).

The truth is, however, for a number of reasons - many of the artists on these labels aren't so young, they don't tour, they release on CD rather than more fashionable formats, and they have tiny-to-non-existent promo budgets - none of these artists or labels really get coverage in independent electronic media, other than the occasional review on the Igloo Mag website. It would be very easy to imagine that this kind of electronic music is incredibly thin on the ground these days, and yet between them, ...txt, Carpe Sonum, Virtual, Fantasy Enhancing, DataBloem, Zeit, Anodize and a few closely related labels have put out hundreds of albums in the past few years.

Music
Some recommendations from the catalogues of the aforementioned labels, then...

Autumn of Communion - Autumn of Communion 4: https://autumnofcommunion.bandcamp.com/album/autumn-of-communion-4-2
Probably the best of the duo's initial run of six self-titled releases. As with the other five, the music here is generally slowly drifting, with gentle, mid-tempo rhythms and huge sweeping synths. The opening 20 minute track moves through several sections, all connected, before bringing them all together at the end. Second track, 'Through the Motion', highlights the pair's emphasis on melody rather than simply aimless droning synth pads. 'Animated Religions' is a spacier piece with a touch of Berlin-School sequencing to it.

Autumn of Communion - Sycorax - https://autumnofcommunion.bandcamp.com/album/sycorax
After the numbered series, AoC worked on a trilogy of more beat-based works, with Sycorax being a highlight. The mixture of metallic rhythms and huge, drifting synth melodies is somewhat reminiscent of Warp's Artificial Intelligence series, and artists like Higher Intelligence Agency: the beats are very much 'IDM', but the overall feel is still atmospheric and ambient. Opener 'Zeneet' is a corker.

The Angling Loser - Arena of Apprehension - https://theanglingloser.bandcamp.com/album/arena-of-apprehension
Norris again, with a group of friends, notably acclaimed Iranian sound artist Porya Hatami. Gorgeous autumnal ambience, with acoustic guitar and piano melodies. Probably one of my all-time ambient favourites.

Robert Rich - Morphology - https://anodizesound.bandcamp.com/album/morphology
A live album from longtime ambient stalwart Robert Rich. While his sleep concerts and extended DVD albums have made him known for more drone-based works, Morphology is a great example of his more fleshed out work, an ethnic-tinged ambient / downtempo record, with synths, flute, guitar and acoustic drum loops.

Massimo Vivona - Breathe - https://carpesonum.bandcamp.com/album/breathe
A recent Carpe Sonum release and one of my favourite albums of the year, Vivona sculpts wonderfully epic soundscapes from synth sequences and pads.

Moss Garden - In the Silence of the Subconscious - https://mossgarden1.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-silence-of-the-subconscious
Another of Lee Norris's projects, this time a collaboration with Dimitar Dodovski. Beautiful, soft ambient with gorgeous, pensive melodies and field recordings. In a similar area to Biosphere's Substrata, but with a slightly warmer, more human touch to that album's chilly landscapes.

Ishqamatics - Earthbound - https://ishqamatics.bandcamp.com/album/earthbound
The final entry from Lee Norris in this list (although under various aliases and collabs he has produced an absurd amount of great music), Earthbound is the first of five collaborative albums recorded with ambient artist Ishq (whose 2001 debut Orchid is an oft-underappreciated ambient masterpiece in the Orb / Woob / FSOL vein). Perhaps the most overtly nostalgic '90s album here, with big post-rave synth chords and laid back beats.

Mick Chillage - Saudade - https://mickchillage.bandcamp.com/album/saudade-2
Icy ambience with reverberating sequences and melodies. 'Solitude' is a particularly beautiful piece. Mick has a great ear for lovely chord changes.

Ambidextrous - Echoes of Science - https://fantasyenhancing1.bandcamp.com/album/echoes-of-science
Melodic, synth-led IDM, with plenty of complex drum work, but not so much that it detracts from the atmosphere. Another excellent 2018 release.

Mick Chillage - Paths - https://mickchillage.bandcamp.com/album/paths
One of Mick's two releases on Databloem, Paths fits that label's slightly colder, mechanical sound. This double CD is expansive and diverse, with everything from ambient drones to sequence-led tracks, guitar ambience, ambient techno and IDM.

Aythar - Astronautica - https://aythar.bandcamp.com/album/astronautica-2
Aythar is an artist who combines Berlin-School space music with more contemporary synth sounds, making it sound far less overtly 'retro' than other artists working with sequence-based stuff. 'Alien Worlds Part 2' is a real highlight here, and exceptionally beautiful piece of music with all sorts of weird squeaking and squelching noises.

Off Land - On Earth - https://stasisrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/on-earth
Off Land has released music on both Carpe Sonum and ...txt, but his album that is most applicable to this thread is on Stasis Recordings (a label whose output tends to veer closer to chilled house for the most part). Off Land's most melodic work to date, with a beautiful, airy atmosphere. 'Amethyst' and the dubby 'Aegirine' are my favourites here.

Motionfield - Luftrum - https://motionfield.bandcamp.com/album/luftrum
Beautiful downtempo electronica. All tracks here are lovely, but 'Luftrum 6' is a particular highlight.

These are only a tiny selection of the music released on the various labels I mentioned. There are also other labels such as No., DiN, n5mD, Time Released Sound, Silent Season, DataObscura and many others whose catalogues overlap with this area

tl;dr - for ambient / downtempo electronic music with strong melodies, grooves, and a mixture of analogue, digital and acoustic sounds, reminiscent of '90s FSOL / Global Communication / Namlook / etc. but with a contemporary edge, listen to the albums listed above and explore the labels I've mentioned.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Wow, great post! Lots to discuss there but to add to the Background section it seems to me Vaporwave opened the door for the warm synth/pop culture samples format to return, albeit in a rather knowing way. Huge differences in the care and effort that have gone into Vaporwave records as well, ranging from "god this took you 15 minutes didn't it you slack bastard" to "why didn't you just make a normal Ambient electronic record, you are 95% of the way there"

It seems to me that electronic music is falling into the trap of pop music and becoming overly referential and failing to innovate. I find texture is often unexplored and under appreciated by people with far better compositional skills than me. When I made Vale the software I had was really texture focused and playing with those different sounds and harmonising them was the spirit behind how that record was made. Orbus Terrarum is a texture based and focused record but gets little attention vs Adventures and UF Orb because... less pop culture and spacey toking? And I still enjoy personal records where things don't sound perfect but you can tell someone's soul went into making it.

[purlieu]

There are definitely some records that stemmed from vaporwave that would probably be appropriate in this thread, particularly those on Dream Catalogue. Nmesh's side of his split with telepath is close to FSOL's more ambient sound collage moments, and 2814's Rain Temple is a great epic melodic downtempo record that could easily have been on a label like Ultimae.

And yes, sometimes "sounds like music I like" ends up turning into "just copying old stuff with no new ideas". Youth's ambient dub label Liquid Sound Design really feels like it's just churning out the exact same albums that were around in that scene in 1996, which I find off putting. What I think works about these labels is they definitely have the spirit of lots of those older records, but also have their own sounds which aren't simply referential or nostalgic.

Texture is hugely important to me, and although some of the albums I've recommended here are very polished and electronic, quite a few of them have field recordings and acoustic sounds which definitely remove the flatness that often comes with purely electronic sounds. Field recordings in particular, whether they're raw or treated, have the unpredictability and variance in sound that immediately give music a lot more 'life'. Autumn of Communion's debut is a beautifully textured album, lots of field recordings, samples, voices, beautifully filtered and occasionally overdriven synth pads, and rhythms made from unusual / not typical 'drum machine' sounds. It's not Orbus Terrarum level, but it's got a really organic feel to it.

[Enzo]

This is a bookmark to go through this at a later date. Looking forward to it!

[BlodwynPig]

A lot to take in here, but I think Autumn of Communion was mentioned on here and I subsequently became a fan.

Also Jack Anderton's Vale, the pinnacle of undiscovered real-world ambient.

[BlodwynPig]

Ambidextrous is another artist that doesn't seem to put a foot wrong.

I'm a massive fan of Bvdub, but recent releases seem a bit retreading tired ground. And I didn't realise the story behind Ishqmatics, although the clue is in the name. I discovered Norken (like many artists) by picking up interesting looking bargain bin CDs in Windows Arcade in Newcastle in the mid to late 90s. He has released or remastered some stuff recently if I recall.

As for Fax kind of stuff, Dreamfish has to be the pinnacle for me. I think I must have heard that in 1993 before I even went to University, some friend of a friend played it in a musty old study and when I saw the vinyl on sale years later I nabbed it straightaway and got to appreciate it from a maturing musical angle. Radio 3's mixing it (which did the FSOL with Robert Fripp show, and played Aphex Twin before anyone really knew him) was also a good source of unusual but great ambient and experimental music.

[BlodwynPig]

At the turn of the Millennium there was an internet music site where you could download real audio files of many independent ambient/IDM artists like Planet Boelex, Mosaik and others (can't remember the site name). Many of them have established careers now, but I think they were heavily promoted on Soulseek if memory recalls correctly.

Although I don't really like vocals in my ambient, I think Darshan Ambient have several tracks that work well with vocals (sung or alien spoken)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ-fA4KthyE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV88XINfSW4

and not an opportunity goes unmissed to post some Detroit Escalator Co. tracks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-N7ruKSW_s

(and surely the soundtrack of our life times)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2V6XDFqm5A

[chveik]

Hecq is great

0000
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EnWF1NB4Kc

Some recent stuff that I like:

Varg - Nordic Flora Series Pt. 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMhECCaZy8U

Loscil - Monument Builders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jqsmo-O7HQU

[BlodwynPig]

following my post in that what are you listening to argument thread...

I had a little pocket sized book on IDM/90s ambient techno that featured a lot of my favourite artists, can't remember much about it other than its size and that it was just a page or two for each artist - mini biographies.

There are plenty of books on Krautrock (Crack in the Cosmic Egg being similar to the above), Space Rock (a book accompanying the Space Daze compilation), Prog Rock and Techno. However, does anyone know of any equivalent for the music discussed here - so not IDM/Techno, but 90s ambient and its legacy? Maybe covering IDM as well.

I don't want a book that covers my favourite artists in scant detail and then ramble on about Chemical Brothers and Paul Oakenfold, or the ambient equivalent, like they've defined a genre.

Edit: if not, perhaps we can all write one?

[purlieu]

Ambidextrous is another artist that doesn't seem to put a foot wrong.

Yeah, he's pretty great. That new one is amazing. Very lucky to have him do a remix for a forthcoming collaborative album I've done with a friend.

I'm a massive fan of Bvdub, but recent releases seem a bit retreading tired ground.

His stuff's lovely, but I began to feel he was retreating tired ground a long time ago. He's not quite a one-trick pony, but he might only have three tricks. Which is so often the case with people who put out so much music.

And I didn't realise the story behind Ishqmatics, although the clue is in the name. I discovered Norken (like many artists) by picking up interesting looking bargain bin CDs in Windows Arcade in Newcastle in the mid to late 90s. He has released or remastered some stuff recently if I recall.

Lee's a busy guy. Unlike Bvdub, he seems to be able to put tons of material out without repeating himself too much. AoC is still my favourite project of his, but I know he's been working on some new Norken and Metamatics stuff which I'm looking forward to. His most recent Nacht Plank album, Nemmit Con, is pretty good, a mix of '90s sounds and '70s kosmiche on it.

As for Fax kind of stuff, Dreamfish has to be the pinnacle for me.

It's a highlight, along with the first From Within album (Namlook & Richie Hawtin), Namlook's first two Air albums, and Spacetime Continuum's Sea Biscuit. That said, Namlook's interest in improvisation (I think he had a jazz background, which would explain it) means there are a lot of FAX albums that noodle on without doing much - I think it was Daniel Pemberton who said he told Namlook he should actually do albums with more than one track on rather than just one 60 minute improv. I have the two Ambient Cookbook compilations, which select a lot of excellent tracks from countless releases on the label, and due to their nature don't focus on the album-length tracks (often taking excerpts of the strongest moments), meaning they actually play better than some of the albums on the label.

Radio 3's mixing it (which did the FSOL with Robert Fripp show

The FSOL / Fripp show was actually on Radio 1's Essential Mix show, which they did a few days after the Mixing It broadcast. Those 1994 ISDN performances were magnificent.

However, does anyone know of any equivalent for the music discussed here - so not IDM/Techno, but 90s ambient and its legacy? Maybe covering IDM as well.

Not that I know of, and it's a shame. Mark Prendergast's The Ambient Century: From Mahler to Trance is a superb book that basically covers experimental music from the start to the end of the 21st century, and has sizeable sections on Global Communication, FSOL, Namlook, as well as Eno, Tangerine Dream, Jarre, and all the others. But there's not been a big look at the scene in general, which is indeed a big shame. I stumbled across a wonderful article about the Oscillate night that HIA put on in Birmingham back in the day - Autechre, Orbital, Biosphere and loads of other people played there over the years - which made it seem like such an amazing time. Bobby's putting Oscillate back on these days, there was that film about The Orb not so long back, and I'm noticing many of these artists are being name-dropped more often these days, so I'm hoping there will be more of an obvious re-evaluation of the scene soon. A book about it all would be amazing, starting with The Orb in the late '00s, through to the rise of big-beat and trance in the late '90s that replaced it. I'm very tentatively putting together ideas for a book on FSOL, which would involve talking to a lot of people who knew them back in the day, so maybe that could lead somewhere. But then as with almost all of my ideas it'll probably not get off the ground...

[BlodwynPig]

Thanks for that - I actually have that Ambient Century book, but like so much these days I forgot all about it!

An FSOL book would be great - please mention the Ozrics connection ;)

Writing books is really a daunting task unless you have a sudden creative burst and are probably not weighed down with other commitments.

I'm pretty sure I taped the FSOL/Fripp performance direct from Radio 3, but may be mistaken.

[BlodwynPig]

I think the IDM/techno book I was talking about was this one (although I am sure there was a small pocket book with blue cover)

[purlieu]

I'm pretty sure I taped the FSOL/Fripp performance direct from Radio 3, but may be mistaken.

It's definitely Radio 1 - listen to Pete Tong's intro: https://www.mixcloud.com/jahthecat1/future-sound-of-london-essential-mix-14-05-1994/ (a much better quality recording exists but omits the intro).

[BlodwynPig]

It's definitely Radio 1 - listen to Pete Tong's intro: https://www.mixcloud.com/jahthecat1/future-sound-of-london-essential-mix-14-05-1994/ (a much better quality recording exists but omits the intro).

Two days before the beginning of the 3D Headpace Tour FSOL did a 30 minute mix for Robert Sandel's music show called Mixing It, on BBC Radio 3. This is actually a promo mix for Lifeforms which will come out a week later. Wonderful fluent mix, almost all the pieces are unreleased yet (from Lifeforms), except Mountain Goat (from the Tales of Ephridina). Tired ended up on the ISDN album - I think they planned it for Lifeforms but when Lifeforms came up too long a few of the darker pieces like Tired and Dirty Shadows ended up on ISDN. Also, a few unknown pieces, the one from the Lifeforms A/V (at 07:48) that's been torturing us for years, and two more as listed below.

Tracklist:
00:00 Robert Sandell Interview
03:45 Lifeforms A/V - (from the Lifeforms VHS)
- 03:45 Sound samples: Lifeforms (Path 1), Lifeforms (Path 5), Among Myselves
- 04:55 Dead Skin Cells
- 06:45 Sound samples: Ill Flower, Cascade
- 07:48 Untitled piece from the Lifeforms A/V VHS
10:00 Bird Wings - (from Lifeforms)
11:02 ????? - the only 'real' unknown track here... reminds me of Aphex Twin in the Selected Ambient Works era...
14:07 Omnipresence - (from Lifeforms)
14:48 Vit - (from Lifeforms)
16:14 ????? - some kind of environment piece, might as well not be a track, but we don't know...
16:58 Lifeforms Path 4 - (from Lifeforms Paths)
20:56 Among Myselves - (from Lifeforms)
21:45 Mountain Goat - (from Tales of Ephidrina)
26:39 Excellent Sunrise - (unreleased)
29:00 Tired - (from ISDN)
31:40 Transmission end

This transmission has never been released officially, to date, the bootleg is from the now defunct Disenchanted FTP.

[BlodwynPig]

although no mention of Fripp there.

[purlieu]

No, that show definitely doesn't feature Fripp. It's one of the few FSOL boots that doesn't appear to be online anywhere at the minute (hopefully should change soon - they're uploading their whole backlog to Mixcloud).

[BlodwynPig]

No, that show definitely doesn't feature Fripp. It's one of the few FSOL boots that doesn't appear to be online anywhere at the minute (hopefully should change soon - they're uploading their whole backlog to Mixcloud).

Im sure i have that on tape (self-recorded)

[purlieu]

I've got a copy on mp3 somewhere. It's a great show.

[BlodwynPig]

For lack of places to post it, have some Halloween IDM from the normally-ambient Wisp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgr9TzwccCY

[purlieu]

Nice new album released on ...txt yesterday, Imaginary Rivers by Joel Tammik. https://txtrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/imaginary-rivers
Slightly IDMish glitchy downtempo beats, analogue synth work, a few dubby hints on some tracks.

[purlieu]

Varg - Nordic Flora Series Pt. 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMhECCaZy8U

This is great. I like a fair few releases on Northern Electronics, they seem to have a good ear for pulling out some of the more distinctive artists working in atmospheric / ambient techno. Might have to see if I can track a copy of this down.

Loscil - Monument Builders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jqsmo-O7HQU

An artist I'm still a relative newcomer to. This was less minimal / droney than I expected, will have to check out some more stuff.

For lack of places to post it, have some Halloween IDM from the normally-ambient Wisp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgr9TzwccCY

That's strange, everything I've heard of Wisp's has been very much IDM. On the whole I've not paid that much attention to him as I'm not a particularly big fan of the Aphex / Squarepusher hyper-breakbeat sound. What ambient stuff could you recommend?

[hermitical]

Varg is at the Arnolfini in Bristol later this month

[BlodwynPig]

Wisp's has been very much IDM. On the whole I've not paid that much attention to him as I'm not a particularly big fan of the Aphex / Squarepusher hyper-breakbeat sound. What ambient stuff could you recommend?

ah, you are quite right. I was getting mixed up. He does have scattered ambient pieces (The Christmas EP he did with Mrs Jynx, the Nrthndr album), but even they have an IDM feel.

[purlieu]

Although I generally wanted to keep this thread about contemporary stuff, it seems like a pretty good place to post this article on the Red Bull Academy website today about Namlook and FAX: http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2018/11/fax-pete-namlook

[chveik]

purlieu, you might also like this:

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Ears
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUxM7KrUTOA

[purlieu]

Yes, she's someone I've been meaning to have a proper listen to for a while, thanks for the reminder!

[Colin Sanction]

Although I generally wanted to keep this thread about contemporary stuff, it seems like a pretty good place to post this article on the Red Bull Academy website today about Namlook and FAX: http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2018/11/fax-pete-namlook

Thanks for sharing, very interesting read.

[purlieu]

Lee who runs Fantasy Enhancing has just started up a lovely new label focusing entirely on drifting, beatless ambience, called Neotantra. The Ambidextrous release on the front page at the moment is gorgeous.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Scion - Arrange and Process (basic channel tracks) is what you need, lad.