Ambient – 7th Level Music

Review: Lonnie Holley – Tonky

Lonnie Holley is singer, songwriter, artist, educator, and poet…and, surprisingly to me, a trip hop artist. I knew that his new album, Tonky (named after his nickname from growing up in and around honkytonks), would be full of gripping tales from his life and views on the current American landscape. I didn’t expect it to be layered with found sounds, electric beats, and trip hop touches.

The opening track, “Seeds,” is the longest at over nine minutes and has Holly telling about how fields he worked as a child until he was exhausted or often beaten so bad he couldn’t sleep. The string instruments strum out growing tension while simple synth chords are like the hums of spectres watching from the other side of the veil. “Life” is a short poem of hope with Holley encouraging us to use small actions to grow big change.

“Protest with Love” is the most punk rock song I’ve heard in a long while, and it’s wrapped in a lush trip hop track. “If you’re gonna protest, protest with love…Let love do its thing,” Holly advises. Loving thy neighbor, heck, just being nice, is one of the most rebellious acts you can do in 2025. In the jazz and post-funk (Is that a thing?)-inspired “The Burden,” Holley tells us all that it’s on us to remember those who came before and how we need to honor them (“The burden is like a spell that’s been cast upon you. Burdens of our ancestors to unravel and clarify in history.”).

“Let those who have ears, let them hear…We might not have it all together, but together we have it all,” Holley preaches in the beginning of “The Stars” — a powerful track about how people brought over on slave ships saw the same stars we now see, but how much have we progressed since then? The included rap by Open Mike Eagle is so slick it might drop you to the floor.

Holley makes sure you’re paying attention on the growling (and slightly funky) “We Were Kings in the Jungle, Slaves in the Field.” “Strength of a Song” has some of Holley’s strongest vocals on the record as he sings about finding hope and power in music. Near-industrial drums make “What’s Going On” sound like a roaring muscle car engine. “I Looked Over My Shoulder” is psychedelic jazz mixed with dark-wave synths.

“Wait a minute…” Holley says at the beginning of “Did I Do Enough?” Good heavens, haven’t we all thought that at some point — especially if you’ve been through a tragedy, or someone close to you has? The song is just Holley’s heartfelt vocals above ambient synths that build to gospel-like grandeur and it’s a stunner. “That’s Not Art, That’s Not Music” has Holley firing back the criticisms aimed at black music and culture upon their detractors.

The album ends with the hopeful “A Change Is Gonna Come,” but Holley asks, “Are we ready for something to happen?” One has to recognize the signs, when to stand up, and when to take flight. We have to be willing to accept change from divisiveness to inclusion. “How can I love God without loving you?” a woman asks not only herself, but also all of us. It’s the main message Holley wants to convey, and one we all must hear.

This is already one of the best albums of the year.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe.]

[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Photay releases “Jet Stream” from an upcoming extended version of his “Windswept” album.

Nearly six months after the release of his album Windswept, Photay (Evan Shornstein), returns with Windswept: Expansions, out March 28, 2025 via Mexican Summer. The expanded album features two new tracks from the album’s surplus of exceptional sound alongside the producer’s own remix of standout single “Air Lock.” The first of these new tracks, “Jet Stream,” is out today.

“Pushing past the dynamic ceiling of Windswept, ‘Jet Stream’ peaks in our upper atmosphere, and as a result, it didn’t fit on vinyl,” explains Shornstein. “At the start of 2025, on the other side of Windswept tours, I lost my home and studio to the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles. Although this piece (and Windswept) were made well before this disaster, for me they grow in relevance. I use sound to understand the greater elemental forces and our vulnerability to them. I believe music will continue being a source of uplift and clarity amidst intensifying weather and atmospheric conditions.”

Following headline tours in the US and Asia in 2024, Photay will perform at London’s Polygon Live LDN Festival this May.

Photay’s Windswept is, in the producer’s own words, a nine-track sonic exploration of the wind as a “powerful, deep, unpredictable and at times overwhelming spirit.” Traversing IDM, ambient-techno, and jazz funk electronic modes in unpredictable, undeniable ways, Windswept blew away those familiar and new to Photay’s music, even being named the #1 album of 2024 by Juno Daily.

The album is primarily reliant on Shornstein’s fresh, home grown electronic textures and acoustic drumming. Numerous friends also add instrumental touches including Randall Fisher, Will Epstein, Carlos Niño, Laraaji, Nate Mercereau, and Mariana Bragada. Windswept’s compositions were largely written-out and specifically produced, though a couple were also turned into “songs” out of improvised sections. But all were under the spell of the wind, of climate change and weather phenomena — from their titles on down.

One reason that Windswept may especially feel like an organic solo statement is that the previous handful of projects Photay had been involved in were all explicitly collaborative. There was the new age improvisation albums with Niñoand friends; there was the album he produced for London-based Indian-American drummer Sarathy Korwar; and there was WEMA, a kind of studio supergroup involving members of the Afro-Latin dance band Penya and Tanzanian gogo master Msafiri Zawose. Each of those projects took Shornstein in very specific directions he did not dictate. Windswept was a response to those experiences, an opportunity to reconnect with his own vision, and apply newfound lessons.

There is admittedly a higher quotient of direct-towards-dance-floor energy to Windswept than recent Photay recordings have featured. Stretches of tracks are moderately home-rave-ready, but there is a thematic balance with moments of reservation as well, and of Evan’s voice embracing the moment. These songs — gorgeously sweet melodies and tart textures, layered synths and instruments, off-kilter rhythms and treated voices, all gliding from structure into another — contain much of the warmth and fresh-air that’s made Photay’s various sounds so distinctive and unified through the years.

Keep your mind open.

[Jet over to the subscription box!]

[Thanks to George at Terrorbird Media.]

Big Thief’s James Krivchenia’s new solo single, “Probably Wizards,” is out now.

James Krivchenia (drummer and producer of Big Thief) announces his new album Performing Belief, out May 2nd via Planet Mu, and shares its lead single, “Probably Wizards.” This spring, Krivchenia will play his first ever live show on Tue. June 17 at Elsewhere in Brooklyn, NY (tickets are on sale this Friday and will be available here).

Featuring contributions from electric bassist Sam Wilkes (Wilkes/Gendel) and double bassist/multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams (Natural Information Society), Performing Belief builds rhythmic thickets from gathered sounds interwoven with synths, drum machines and other samples. At the core of Performing Belief is a lush, opulent matrix of percussion ranging from the familiar—hand claps and drum machines—to the mysteriously verdant, sampled largely from Krivchenia’s own field recording collection. Lead single “Probably Wizards” was created alongside Wilkes and carries a profoundly fresh sense of time, blurring the edges of the quantized grid and the boundaries of electronic music.

Listen to “Probably Wizards”

Krivchenia’s previous release, 2022’s hyperkinetic Blood Karaoke, was composed mostly from hundreds of tiny samples of unwatched YouTube videos. Performing Belief sees Krivchenia turning from online realms to the natural world. For years, Krivchenia would record his musical encounters with natural objects: performing on a particularly resonant log on a hike, throwing rocks into a pristine pond, tap dancing in the mud. This archive of sounds became the fertile soil out of which the tracks on Performing Belief grew. Having built these rhythmic nests, Wilkes and Abrams bring the presence of a grounding human witness to the undergrowth, providing a centering and even at times melodic voice to the gathering. This rhythmic language, set in Krivchenia’s long-fermenting electronic musical palate, feels like a revelation — it calls back not only to his wonderfully elastic timekeeping behind the kit, but also to his prior work in computer music as well as his deep study of the vast human archive of drumming.

Performing Belief is in good company in the rank and file of the legendary Planet Mu label. From the foundational early releases of the likes of Jega and Venetian Snares, to the contemporary envelope-warping work of Jlin and hundreds of brilliant releases in between, Planet Mu has been a beacon of forward-thinking rhythmic music for decades, informing Krivchenia’s own sense of the weird metaphysics of musical time since he was a kid. Krivchenia’s contribution to this history calls to mind the principle of organic danceability that subtends Mu’s whole catalogue, while bending our sense of rhythm in new and gracious dimensions.

Pre-order Performing Belief

Keep your mind open.

[You probably should subscribe.]

[Thanks to Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Lust for Youth & Croatian Amor – All Worlds

Lust for Youth & Croatian Amor looked to the stars for inspiration on their new album, All Worlds. Specifically, they focused on the idea of the “Golden Record” set into outer space by NASA in 1977 to greet anyone who might find it. They wanted to create a portrait of a world in where each song evoked a sense of place and time.

Starting with “Friendzone,” the album gets off to a trancey-dancey start with arpeggiating synths and thumping bass. A lot of the songs on All Worlds are about belonging and the quest to find community and kinship. “Friendzone” is a wake-up call for those put in it. The smart ones accept the assignment. “Passerine,” with guest vocals from Emma Acs, adds shoegaze guitars to snappy electric beats as Acs sings about being disconnected to the world around us.

“Dummy” reminds us that “It’s all right. These hearts were built to fight.” It’s an uplifting track. “Everything changes,” they say. Things can turn around if you give them the chance. “Akkadian” reminds me of early Orbital tracks with its vocal loops, trip-hop beats, and clockwork synth riffs.

“Lights in the Center” adds Alan Watts Zen philosophy to soft synthwave. A woman claims, “I don’t know where I went.” at the beginning of “Kokiri.” She might’ve gone to the dance floor, judging from the great house beats in it. “Nowhere” feels like a cat stretching in the sunlight beaming in from a living room window as it dreams of strolling through a park as busy humans run to and fro.

“Fleece” would be a good song to play while drifting along the Voyager spacecraft carrying the Golden Record, because it feels like zero gravity under your feet. “Velella Velella Wind Sailors” is minimalist techno as a woman speaks about animals washed up on a beach and schools of jellyfish that resemble blue coral. Closing with “Still Here,” the song reminds us that we can persevere. We can survive. We can thrive.

It’s a neat experiment by a cool team. Each track has its own pulse. They paint several pictures for you. It’s easy to get lost in them. Go ahead and try it.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to Kate at Sacred Bones Records!]

set dressing release atmospheric, mysterious single – “class valedictorian.”

Today, Fire Talk Records debuts set dressing, a new side project from Mandy, Indiana, “one of the decade’s best new bands” (Bandcamp). set dressing expands upon Mandy, Indiana’s “transfixing blend of violence and transcendence” (Pitchfork), translating the “visceral and strange” (The Quietus) industrial palette for one of swathing instrumentals.

set dressing is not credited to any individuals and is represented only by an avatar. The debut single “class valedictorian” sets a deeply atmospheric introduction and soundtracks a venture into the dark unknown. Written, recorded and produced by set dressing, the instrumental “class valedictorian” is haunted by droning synths that instantly transport listeners somewhere uncanny and preternatural. It’s an extension of the distinct world building displayed across i’ve seen a way — Mandy, Indiana’s acclaimed debut, named one of 2023’s best albums by The New York Times, Pitchfork, Guardian, Loud & Quiet, Crack, DIY, UPROXX, Line of Best Fit and more — and marks the beginning of an unsettling journey.

Listen to set dressing’s “class valedictorian”

set dressing will make their live debut in Manchester on April 12th at 𝐏𝟑 𝑨𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑬𝒗𝒆 {formerly 𝑶! 𝑷𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅} (Basement), followed by a performance at Sounds From the Other City Festival in Salford on May 4th. Be on the lookout for more from set dressing this year via Fire Talk.

set dressing Tour Dates
Sat. April 12 – Manchester, UK @ 𝐏𝟑 𝑨𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑬𝒗𝒆 {formerly 𝑶! 𝑷𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅} (Basement)
Sun. May 4 – Salford, UK @ Sounds From the Other City Festival

Keep your mind open.

[You’ll be a valedictorian in my eyes if you subscribe.]

[Thanks to Jon-Carlo at Firetalk Records.]

Lust for Youth & Croatian Amor share “Kokiri” from upcoming album.

Today Lust For Youth and Croatian Amor share a second look at their forthcoming collaborative album ‘All Worlds’, which is set for release on March 7th via Sacred Bones. Lust For Youth have also announced tour dates across Europe, including a UK run in March.

In June 2023, Lust For Youth and Croatian Amor shared the stage at the iconic Sydney Opera House during the Vivid Live Festival. This encounter reignited their creative partnership, laying the foundation for ‘All Worlds’.

Loke Rahbek, who used to be a member of Lust For Youth, left the group to focus on his solo project Croatian Amor and the Posh Isolation record label. His departure coincided with the release of Lust For Youth’s self-titled album in 2019. With ‘All Worlds’, Rahbek’s collaboration with Lust For Youth marks a poignant reunion for the band’s core creative forces, where the differing sonic palettes of the Lust For Youth and Croatian Amor projects meet again in the form of a full-length album.

Drawing inspiration from the Golden Record sent into space as humanity’s message to the unknown, ‘All Worlds’ mirrors this longing for connection and understanding. Each track captures a fragment of emotion, culture, or memory, offering a kaleidoscopic view of the human experience.

Following the release of first single “Dummy” – a pivotal track borne of the creative spark set between the three in Australia – today they share a second look at the album with new track “Kokiri“. Taking it’s name from the forest in video game series The Legend of Zelda, “Kokiri” builds layers of luminous, earthy atmospherics and samples to an energised, heady, beat-based crescendo.

Along with the original version of the track, they also share an ethereal remix by Fatshaudi, commenting: “Rachel had made a cover/version of Armida, that she posted on her social media. We really liked her version and asked if she was into make something for All Worlds. She gave back this stripped down and beautiful version of Kokiri.”

“Kokiri” on YouTube:https://youtu.be/rXVUxY2Vp4Y
Other “Kokiri” listening links:https://lnk.to/LFYKokiri
“Take Me Home (Kokiri remix)” by Fatshaudi: http://lnk.to/TakeMeHomeKokiri
‘All Worlds’ pre-order info:https://lnk.to/AllWorlds

Lust For Youth have also confirmed new European tour dates, taking in the following shows:

March 11th @ La Station, Paris France
March 12th @ The Lexington, London UK
March 13th @ Lubber Fiend, Newcastle upon Tyne UK
March 14th @ The Flying Duck, Glasgow UK
March 26th @ Rust, Copenhagen Denmark
April 16th @ Hus 7, Stockholm Sweden
April 18th @ Plan B, Malmö Sweden
May 28th @ Rote Fabrik, Zürich Switzerland
May 30th @ Stream Festival, Linz Austria

The new album’s title ‘All Worlds’ reflects the idea of collecting fragments from disparate places, feelings, and stories. Each song unveils a unique “world,” contributing to overarching themes of exploration and introspection. These “worlds” represent the inner landscapes we carry, shaping our identities. The title also gestures toward connection—as if these worlds float through space, waiting to be discovered and understood. Ultimately, ‘All Worlds’ embodies the quest for belonging and meaning.

Through a sonic journey of isolation, resilience, and wonder, introspective lyrics intertwine with lush, evocative soundscapes. Retaining the dreamy atmospheres characteristic of both Lust For Youth and Croatian Amor, the album’s reverb-drenched production lends it an ethereal, nostalgic quality. While themes of melancholy and longing are central, energetic beats and uplifting arrangements introduce a bittersweet harmony that oscillates between vulnerability and euphoria.

The album marks a shift in tone, moving away from Lust For Youth’s synth-driven post-punk roots. Instead, ‘All Worlds’ embraces a dance-oriented aesthetic, weaving pulsating rhythms and techno-inspired motifs with layered vocal samples. The result is a textured soundscape—an exploration of emotional fragility through shimmering production and introspective melodies.

Celebrating twelve years since their 2013 ambient-industrial album ‘Pomegranate’, ‘All Worlds’ reflects the evolution of Lust For Youth and Croatian Amor. This album serves as both a response to their earlier work and a progression informed by a decade of growth and change. It deepens their exploration of sound and meaning, speaking directly to the present moment.

Like the Golden Record adrift in space, ‘All Worlds’ is a collection of moments waiting to connect with those who choose to listen.

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe while you’re here?]

[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]

Barker releases first single, “Reframing,” from his new album out April 04, 2025.

Berlin-based producer and DJ Barker (aka Sam Barker) announces Stochastic Drift, his new album out April 4th via Smalltown Supersound, and presents its lead single, “Reframing.” Following 2023’s Unfixed EP and his first full-length release since his 2019 debut album Utility, Stochastic Drift builds on Barker’s singular process to capture life’s chaos and reflect on just how much has changed. If his previous records showcased the artist “using ambient materials to remake techno” (Pitchfork), Stochastic Drift pushes Barker’s approach even further into harmonic chaos and dreamy freeform float.

Utility, the fullest expression of the beatless techno experimentation Barker excavated on his cult classic Debiasing EP, arrived to critical fanfare from The Quietus, DJ Mag, Resident Advisor, and Mixmag (who named it their Album Of The Year). The years since the release of Utility have been marked by intense unpredictability: Barker’s own shifting attitudes towards production, moments of professional transition and, not least, a global pandemic, necessitated somewhat of a reinvention.

Stochastic Drift sees Barker creating tracks with a fresh deftness and appreciation for the unexpected. “I’d been working with an approach that was quite deliberate and goal-oriented before, but I realised this wasn’t so helpful in the context of uncertainty. Being suddenly unemployed and stuck at home for an indefinite amount of time, with one disruption after another, it was like the target kept moving and I didn’t know what to aim at,” Barker reflects. “I noticed this unpredictability starting to creep into what I was making, and tracks were ending up a long way from the intentions they started with. So the challenge for this record was to try to embrace that process, to let go of expectations.” The serotonin-spiking lead single “Reframing,” titled after psychological technique for reinterpreting a situation in a positive way, unfolds like a brittle reimagining of Sasha’s eternal prog trance standard “Xpander” until it begins to drift through uncharted territory.

Listen to Barker’s “Reframing”

Throughout Stochastic Drift, Barker dives deeper into the world of mechanical instrumentation. Barker explains: “My interest in mechanical instruments is not to replace a human performer, but to explore the tool in a different way, maybe dehumanize it a little bit and look for the potential outside of what humans have already perfected.” Addressing anxiety about the influence of automation in music making head on, Barker emphasizes that, regardless of the technology implemented and how this might enable the artist, machines of all sorts, be they robots, synths or instruments, are simply tools. It’s the creative act that remains resolutely human.

“I wanted to explore the link between my internal and external realities, between the chaos of the time and how that was manifesting in my music and ideas,” Barker says of Stochastic Drift. “It’s a transition between lots of shifting realities, describing a process in a window of time that was full of change.” As though finding comfort in unpredictability, the artist pieces together a new sound and in so doing finds a salve for uncertainty.

Pre-order Stochastic Drift

Barker Tour Dates
Sat. Mar. 15 – Dublin, IE @ The Complex (Live)
Sun. Mar. 23 – Berlin, DE @ Berghain Panorama Bar (DJ)
Sat. Apr. 5 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso (Live)
Sun Apr. 13 – Berlin, DE @ Berghain Panorama Bar (Live)
Fri. May 2 – Basel, CH @ Sudhaus Basel (Live)
Thu. June 5 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound (Live)
Sun. June 29 – Berlin, DE @ Berghain Panorama Bar (DJ)
Sat. July 19 – Berlin, DE @ Berghain Panorama Bar (DJ)
Sun. Sep. 7 – Berlin, DE @ Berghain Panorama Bar (DJ)
Sat. Nov. 1 – Berlin, DE @ Berghain Panorama Bar (DJ)

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Rontronik – Zero Nine

Ron Croudy, otherwise known as Rontronik, has been crafting soundscapes and experimental electronic music for a few years now, and his latest album, Zero Nine blends lush atmospherics with field recordings and even dance beats.

“Zero Nine One” layers birdsongs over day spa synths. “Zero Nine Two” is like being a long tunnel while riding in a neon-accented car driven by a robot. “Zero Nine Three” is like following a falcon in flight over a desert and around a giant red rock formation before it lands to face the rising sun. The rattlesnake beats at the end of it become industrial crunch doubled with throbbing bass on “Zero Nine Four.” It’s jarring at first, but it becomes somewhat hypnotic.

The first half of “Zero Nine Five” continues the industrial feel, but it switches to trip hop in the second half. “Zero Nine Six” is a calm track perfect for meditations with floating, lava lamp synths that take their time to massage you. If that doesn’t work, then the final track, “Zero Nine Seven,” will because it’s over nine minutes of birds singing and a river flowing across smooth rocks that lead into synths that sound like they were recorded in a mountain temple somewhere.

It’s a lush record, and one you’ll probably pull more from with each listen.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to George at Terrorbird Media.]

Joan Arnau Pàmies brings us a hopeful new single – “Esperança.”

Joan Arnau Pàmies is a composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who was born in Catalonia. His career spans fifteen years of highly diverse work, encompassing live electronics, acoustic instruments, unusual forms of music notation, electroacoustic pieces, and free improvisation. An artist who unhesitatingly walks uncharted aesthetic paths, Pàmies has never been comfortable working within the boundaries of specific musical genres and traditions. For him, music is a liberating space where elements of classical and electronic music, free jazz, modernism, noise rock, and experimental music coexist and can be combined to generate unique results.

Today he announces his new album Guidelines/Fonaments, set for release on April 4th via Protomaterial Records, a label he founded in 2022. On the new album, he weaves together influences that have shaped his artistic voice over the years, from classical and modern music to jazz, from glitch to avant-garde pop. It balances structure with freedom, precision with spontaneity, and reflects a commitment to creating music that engages both intellectually and emotionally.

The first single “Esperança” is out today, which features the vocals of Martina Perpinyà, a former student of Pàmies, over heart-beating electronics that provide a comforting backdrop. In Catalan, “esperança” means hope, and “this song is precisely about that,” Pàmies says. Spoken from the perspective of humanity, the words suggest that humanity will prevail.

Listen to the new track on YouTube, and pre-save the album here.

Guidelines/Fonaments represents a significant moment in his artistic journey as a composer and performer, blurring lines of solo piano music, ambient, contemporary classical music, and free improvisation. “It is an intensely personal exploration, inviting listeners into a meditative state to reflect on the synthesis of diverse sound worlds and experience yet-to-be-known aesthetic perspectives,” he says.

Pàmies was introduced to music at a very early age. At home, his father, a professor of Catalan literature, would often play records by Miles Davis, Lester Young, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and Glenn Gould. At age three, his mother, a public school teacher, gave him a toy saxophone as a birthday gift. A few years later, Pàmies started learning the piano at a local music school.

His artistic journey has thus far unfolded in three distinct periods: his youth in Boston, where he was shaped by the Second Viennese School and early modernism; his graduate studies in Chicago, where free jazz, improvisation, and extremely demanding music for acoustic instruments informed his approach; and now, a return to his homeland of Catalonia. This current period represents a creative maturity, where he performs his own music and integrates improvisation and electronics into his practice.

He adds some additional background on the new album: “The album’s title, Guidelines/Fonaments, reflects the principles I’ve developed since returning to Catalonia—foundations for what I see as a groundbreaking evolution of my aesthetic. The bilingual title—in English and Catalan—is deeply personal, a reflection of my own life (my wife is American and my kids are dual citizens), and a metaphor meant to express how I see music: a historical product in constant struggle between past traditions and present aesthetic concerns. The pieces that form this record are my “guidelines” as well as my “foundations”: they present ideas that have been important to me for many years but also show new principles upon which to create future music.”

Pàmies performed, recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered Guidelines / Fonaments himself, ensuring that every detail reflected his vision. It was created in the span of four years, during downtimes between parenting, composing, performing, and producing for other artists. The album was recorded in a wide variety of places, from apartments where he had lived to professional recording studios.

Keep your mind open.

[I hope you’ll subscribe.]

[Thanks to George at Terrorbird Media.]

Review: Ben Lukas Boysen – Alta Ripa

Ben Lukas Boysen decided to change things up a bit on his new album, Alta Ripa. He wanted to reconnect with the countryside of his youth, but also embrace Berlin-inspired dance music. So, he combined ambient electro with EDM as well as jazz and classical sounds his father often played for him as a kid. He took those elements and grew an album more than he designed it.

“Ours” starts with soft synths that evoke images of birds gliding over meadows and then landing atop the Tyrell Corporation’s replicant factory as the electro-beats drop. The choppy synths of “Mass” remind me of a string quartet playing fast, low-end notes, and then the bass drop adds an interesting sense of danger to the whole thing.

“Quasar” builds to what you think is going to be a good-sized bass drop, but instead takes the mellow approach and keeps the song soothing. The title track is even more hypnotic and will be a great addition to your mediation playlist.

The bumping bass of “Nox” makes you want to put on dark sunglasses and matching trenchcoat and then find the nearest goth dance club. “Vineta” is synthwave bliss suitable for floating in a zero-gravity pool of saltwater. “Fama” pulses and snaps like a grumpy robot doing a spin bike workout. The album ends with “Mere” – which floats you along a slow river while android birds sing to you and warm winds drift through ancient ruins.

This album will take you to another place, possibly one you’ve been craving for a while.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to George at Terrorbird Media.]