ACL 2016: Top Ten Ambient

There will always be hard days.  We will always need to be soothed.  But there is also great beauty in the world, which is where this genre makes a (quiet) impact.  The irony: some of this year’s ambient albums get loud.   Perhaps

Koen Holtkamp ~ Voice Model

The word “percolate” is used to describe the year that passed between recording and release, but it’s also a fine word to describe the beginning of this bubbling album.  The opening minutes sound like waking up, stretching one’s arms, and

Electronic Observations 2013 #2

It’s that time again – I’ll be honest, this would have been a lot earlier if February had a sensible number of days like the other months.  Or maybe if I hadn’t been sidetracked by Autechre’s radio shows which dominated