An early work from sound artist Douglas Benford, Beauty Reports is a collection of extended electronic improvisations influenced by the pioneering ambient music of Brian Eno, specifically Ambient […]
Ambient
“One of the most beautiful voices on earth,” Sheila Chandra first rose to prominence as the singer of raga-based UK pop band Monsoon. In 1982, the group’s debut […]
Featured on Osaka-based DJ Mori-Ra’s popular Japanese Breeze mix series, Ultra Hyper Cosmic Voice by Nami Hotatsu is a hidden gem of Japanese ambient house that was once […]
Daniel Aged’s Bass Improvisations, Pt. 1 is a recording to luxuriate in, an immersive set of four pieces that the accomplished musician laid to tape as a creative […]
Es Geht Der Tag (The day goes) is a set of contemporary devotional music composed with a mixture of ancient and modern tools: two pianos, bowed percussion, strings, […]
Highly recommended for fans of Robert Ashley and Lovely Music Ltd., The Beat My Head Hit is a beautiful exploration of voice and text by a NY-based 4-piece […]
Virtuoso German jazz drummer Klaus Weiss is probably mostly known for his supergroup project Niagara, which was an orchestra made entirely of drummers and percussionists, and the various […]
Cycle is a collection of dreamlike ambient compositions from H TO O, a new collaboration from Japanese ambient artists H. Takahashi and Kohei Oyamada. “Earth” sounds like contemporary […]
A balearic ethno-jazz masterpiece, Kaunis Maa is the debut album by Italian guitarist, film composer, and philosophy student Riccardo Giagni. Giagni worked for years as a cultural curator […]
A minimalist, clicks-and-cuts masterpiece by experimental guitarist Christian Fennesz, Endless Summer is a wild, breathtaking guitar record unlike anything released before or since. Multiplying six strings to infinity […]
Refracted memories between two LA heroes: Tim Koh, a multi-instrumentalist (Animal Collective, Hieroglyphic Being, DJ Harvey, and No Age) and visual artist, and Sun An, a graphic designer, […]
Our favorite Akron multi-instrumentalist Gabe Schray’s fourth full-length arrives as a spacious and pensive affair. Schray said he “set out to make something strange and ugly and somehow […]
A 2024 Record Store Day Japan exclusive, Kaoru Inoue’s latest album Dedicated to the Island is a collection of compositions based on field recordings captured at the World […]
Seep into the tranquil calm of a Japanese garden with the latest release on Organic Music founder Chee Shimizu’s always quality 17853 Records. Garden of Time features two […]
Originally released on CD-only on Hosono’s own Daisyworld Discs, Quiet Logic features Haruomi Hosono alongside ‘90s UK electronic legends Mixmaster Morris and Jonah Sharp. Morris, aka the Irresistible Force, […]
Recorded on an island off the coast of Queensland, Australia, Hayman Island Sessions is a spiritual set of long-form improvisations featuring the Chinese guzheng, a 16-string zither that […]
Maria Somerville’s self-released breakthrough 2019 album All My People is a beautiful distillation of Irish motifs and traditional folk forms originating from her roots in Connemara, Western Ireland. […]
Featured in the “Spiritual” section of Chee Shimizu’s Obscure Sound disc guide, 風の使者 (Messenger of the Wind) is the masterpiece debut album by acclaimed Japanese taiko drummer Eitetsu […]
Mexican musician and composer Eblen Macari has been actively developing his unique musical style for more than 40 years, from the 1970s to the present. He is most […]
A mostly instrumental love letter to texture featuring washes of midrange noise, meditative deepness, ambient spaciousness, rhythmic thumps, and various muffled tidbits, Seefeel’s Quique grows in stature with […]
The first Orb album to feature Berlin producer Thomas Fehlmann, Pomme Fritz is a bass-heavy techno dub exploration that pushed sample culture into deep new directions. Drawing from […]
“If Surround can be listened to as music that’s as close to air itself, allowing us to enter each listener’s sound scenery, or as something that exists within […]
Brazilian guitarist Fabiano Do Nascimiento explores Hermeto Pascoal’s concept of Universal Music, “a rejection of nationalistic tendencies in order to express all of one’s musical influences all at […]
A classic from Haruomi Hosono’s late ’80s and ’90s abstract electronica period, Medicine Compilation From The Quiet Lodge is a sublimely inviting ambient album with touches of acid […]
Sublime, ethereal minimalism: the first drawing together of Hiroyuki Onogawa’s soundtrack compositions, plotting a decade of music for films by cult filmmaker Gakuryū Ishii. Sequenced into an album […]
A companion album to Michael Bierylo’s cult classic solo debut Lifeline, which was featured in the “Organic” section of Chee Shimizu’s Obscure Sound disc guide, Cloud Chorus adds […]
Mesmerizing debut solo full-length from Manchester based multi-instrumentalist John Haycock. Having trained with Gambian griot and kora master Jali Kuyateh, Haycock takes the 21 string African harp and […]
Certainly one of the most influential records of the last 50 years, Ambient 1 (Music For Airports) is the first of three Brian Eno albums released under the […]
A UK chillout room classic from The Irresistible Force aka Morris Gould aka Mixmaster Morris, Global Chillage is a deeply transportive ambient trip for the mind. While this […]
After working in the avant-garde scene with Kaoru Abe and Takehisa Kosugi, Japanese percussionist Yas-Kaz went to Indonesia to study Balinese gamelan music. Following the trip, Yas-Kaz would […]
Two keyboard maestros from different musical worlds, UK jazzman Greg Foat and Italian ambient hero Gigi Masin, meet for the first time on this amazing new LP released […]
Bristol multi-instrumentalist, producer and nature freak Will Yates aka memotone arrives on the always excellent NYC-based label Impatience with a collection of singular balearic ambient, left-field grooves, and […]
The latest from Munich’s Squama Records is a debut from multi-instrumentalist Julian Klaas. Centered around an old Wurlitzer piano gifted from his sister, Klaas’ Impromptu is a quiet offering […]
Two of the best in the modern ambient game, Philadelphia’s Ulla Strauss and Moscow’s Perila, continue their connection with another collaborative project, this time landing on Special Guest […]
The Gerogerigegege is the legendary Japanese noise/experimental project founded in 1985 by Juntaro Yamanouchi. The group became well-known for their disturbing early concerts which revolved around 千摺り senzuri (male […]
Transformative deep listening from percussionist Yohei Yamaura composed in memory of those who lost their lives in the East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011. WaNoWa was previously […]
Kevin McCormick’s unreleased bedroom studio tape material (1982-1984). Following the release of Light Patterns in 1982, Kevin recorded a series of songs onto tape that explored the sonic […]
Fibonacci ambient from Los Angeles based engineer and synthesizer player Dan Morehouse. “Patterns of Music and Nature: Artists seek to reproduce the spatial forms of nature that most […]
We’ve been big fans of Canadian electronic artist Dylan Khotin-Foote since his debut album, Hello World, landed on 1080p in 2014. His lush, self-released 2018 album Beautiful You was a big […]
In the mid and late 1990s, the esteemed New York label Matador, which had earned acclaim for indie classics by Pavement, Liz Phair and Cat Power, commenced releasing […]
For much of the 1980s and 1990s, volume was the go-to signifier for musical rebellion. Louder and faster had been accepted as the only sonic way to express […]
Under the right circumstances – pure focus, full volume and in the proper headspace – Tabula Rasa is among the deepest, most profound recordings you’ll ever experience. Released […]
The sophomore release for Portland-based artist Patricia Wolf, See-Through weaves together a balmy sonic chamber that’s womblike. The release is transportive, and each track acts as a separate […]
Inspired by Weather Report, Brian Eno, Steve Reich, Tangerine Dream, Frippertronics, Indian classical music, and seminal German label ECM, Picture Music was a small collective of like-minded musicians […]
Ambient pioneer Steve Roach teams up with Santana percussion virtuoso Michael Shrieve and ECM Records’ David Torn on this classic ’80s ambient / new age album. Quite a […]
The lost Ernest Hood album recorded between 1972 and 1982 in Western Oregon (the same era as his proto-ambient cult classic Neighborhoods), Back To The Woodlands is more zither, […]
Italian hypnotic techno master Donato Dozzy Plays Bee Mask transforming the experimental electronic artist’s 13-minute epic “Vaporwave” into a suite of seven time-stopping ambient tracks. White noise, bell […]
Meditative, ambient minimalism from influential new age composer Steve Roach… “Floating like the breath of a sleeping child, Steve Roach’s third recording of quiet music evokes the high, […]
DIY electro-acoustic experiments from Seattle based composer Kerry Leimer. Produced with a Minimoog, an Oberheim module, piano and home-made electric guitar on two TEAC 3340 4-track machines, the […]
Mostly piano, vocals, efx and unconscious arrangements make up Laila Sakini’s “Vivienne” on Total Stasis. It asks, what if things were different? Tender symbols – flowers, butterflies, potion […]
One of the great success stories of the reissue age, Japanese composer Midori Takada now tours the world sharing her singular take on ambient and minimal percussion music. […]
Philadelphia-based electronic artist Ulla Strauss follows up 2019’s excellent Quiet Time Tapes release with 8 tracks of fuzzy, smudged out ambient tracks. Deep and melancholic textures seemingly suspend […]
Chinese sound artist Li Yilei envisions an organic electronic dreamscape on her second full-length project for UK label Métron Records. Born out of a 16-day quarantine alone in […]
The essential ambient masterpiece from Titanic and Avatar composer Michael Stearns… “I imagined myself shot out of the Earth’s resonance. We were Earth sensors sent out to bounce […]
It’s hard to pick a favorite between Fripp & Eno’s pair of mid-70’s proto-ambient albums on Island Records. Both prominently showcase the duo’s early experiments in their trademark […]
The music made by the duo of Alice Hansen and Chuck Blazevic (aka Slow Attack Ensemble) harnesses negative space, echo and restraint to create sublimely dynamic songs. Like […]
A perfectly sequenced “post-modern mixtape of 12 micro-genres” created by The Numero Group’s Ken Shipley, Reach takes listeners through morning bird songs, afternoon new age, evening soul jazz, […]
A future classic released on ISC favorite Growing Bin Records, 69 is the debut LP from friends and mutual seafood lovers Andrew Wilson (Andras) and John Tanner (Eleventeen […]
Released on K. Leimer’s Palace of Lights, Marc Barreca’s debut album Twilight is a collection of improvised ambient compositions using techniques and methodologies pioneered by Brian Eno on […]
Originally released in Japan on JVC’s excellent Music Interior series but also later in Germany on Klaus Schulze’s Innovative Communication, Seigén Ono’s debut album is a minimal masterpiece […]
When music speaks to both the past, present, and futures to come, it invites listeners to take pause and cherish the moment. Contours’ recent release Balafon Sketches does […]
Champagne In Mozambique is a mind blowing private press find by Isle of Jura, Kevin Griffiths’ Adelaide-based reissue label. Originally released to just 100 cassette copies in ’93, […]
Considered by many to be one of the crowning achievements in the ambient genre, Structures From Silence was a dramatic departure from Roach’s previous heavily sequenced Berlin-school favored […]
Founded in 1984 in Brazil’s federal capital of Brasília, Finis Africae features a cast of rotating musicians around the core members Juan A. Arteche, Luis Delgado, and Javier […]
Released in early 2021 and without a doubt a frontrunner in our “Best of the Year” list is the lowkey, self-titled debut LP from Ireland based graphic designer […]
The debut solo LP from Italian saxophonist/composer Gianni Gebbia is a beautiful contemporary jazz masterpiece that we first discovered circulating around Japanese shops like SHE Ye, Ye and […]
Safe Trip once again unearths recordings from Japanese brothers Satoshi & Makoto’s archive of experiments with the Casio CZ-5000. From the first few notes of A1 Closer, the […]
We came across this one randomly while digging in a $5 and under bin… Inspired School Of Astral Music is the ambient side project of Portland-based experimental producer […]
Originally self-released on cassette in 2018 and later repressed the following year to vinyl by Ghostly International, Dylan Khotin-Foote’s third full length album stands as his finest work […]
A daytime favorite at the In Sheep’s Clothing hi-fi bar, First Meeting is the first archival release of Belgian composer Dominique Lawalrée’s exquisite minimalist piano works. Compiled from […]
Walter Bachauer’s solo debut under the alias Clara Mondshine is a brilliant example of early ambient music born out of the 70’s Berlin School movement, an offshoot of […]
Another brilliant release from Glasgow-based experimental electronic label 12th Isle, Pataphysical’s Periphera is an immersive, ambient journey into cosmic highs and subterranean lows. Quite minimal in approach, the […]
Generally regarded as a landmark electronic music statement, A Strangely Isolated Place is a study in multi-genre lushness. With its melodic swathes of blissed out guitars washes, and […]
Under the moniker Fools, Chris Bear (the longstanding drummer/multi-instrumentalist of Grizzly Bear, and composer for HBO’s High Maintenance) recently released his first solo album on the Music From […]
Vernal Equinox’s New Found World is the DIY synth manifesto of two Ontario-based electronic enthusiasts Timothy Rempel and Steven J. Brenner. The duo worked together at a keyboard […]
Some albums are like a dropper full of CBD – you ingest the content and your muscles start to relax, your face softens, the tension leaves your body, […]
Nothing Nil is the vinyl debut of Shanghai-based electronic producer / DJ Knopha on new label Eating Music. Knopha is part of a small but growing underground electronic […]
Jason Kolàr’s Modified Perspectives is one of the very few contemporary offerings on Nosedrip’s (mostly) reissue imprint STROOM and an In Sheep’s Clothing listening bar classic… The Barcelona-based […]
By 1970, composer Harold Budd’s work had become increasingly minimalist and after releasing a long-form solo gong piece, Budd decided to minimalize even further and stopped composing completely. […]
A split release between two titans of the Italian avant-garde movement with production coming from electronic pioneer Franco Battiato, Prati Bagnati Del Monte Analogo is one of the […]
Los Angeles-based singer / ambient musician Ana Roxanne’s debut EP ~~~ is a sacred work of astral ambient music that lands perfectly on local favorite Leaving Records. Through […]
A Warp Records classic, The Campfire Headphase is a defining record in the Boards of Canada discography in that it saw the duo adding acoustic and electric instruments […]
Woo is the beloved experimental UK sibling duo of Clive and Mark Ives who released a slew of dreamy introspective folk / ambient records in the 80’s and […]
Compiled and reissued by the ever reliable Efficient Space, Waak Waak ga Min Min presents the contemporary works of Indigenous Australian outfit Waak Waak Djungi, a group of […]
An early contender for best of 2020, R_R_’s Train of Thought is the debut of Latvian composer, sound artist, and lecturer, Reinis Semēvics. Released on the always dependable […]
Time Capsule’s third release is the first-time vinyl reissue of 2003’s Illuminated Audio by Gigi (or rather: producer, bassist and spouse Bill Laswell). It’s essentially a remix album […]
As a possible ode to Mort Garson’s Plantasia, Olive Ardizoni designed their first record as Green-House to communicate with plant life and the people who care for them. […]
After a making his way playing guitar and pedal steel in several different psych-rock and modern country groups over the last two decades, Raymond Richards debuts his first […]
Essential ambient pop album on Amsterdam-based label Melody as Truth from ISC favorite Diego Herrera aka Suzanna Kraft aka SK U Kno. Talk from Home was recorded over […]
Bit under the radar 2018 release from Swiss guitarist Pablo Color featuring Italian ambient legend Gigi Masin and renowned Japanese record collector Chee Shimizu. La Calle Roja is […]
From RVNG Intl. comes a 2017 anthology of self-released trans-temporal new age music by Bay Area composer/synthesist Pauline Anna Strom, assembled from seven albums composed and recorded between […]
Germany’s Cass. and Gianni Brezzo turn in their first collaboration with Masala Kiss via Hamburg based label – a one we love – Growing Bin. Combining Gianni’s taste […]
The long-awaited reissue of Ernest Hood’s private press masterpiece is a must-have for any ambient music fan. Released in 1974 before the term “ambient music” was even coined, […]
Recorded in Mols, a remote peninsula region located in the eastern coast of Denmark with ambient producer DJ Sports at the controls, “Petersminde” is a dubbed out, effortless […]
It’s not every day that you listen to a record where jazz and ambient genres can meld so cohesively that they form another thing altogether. On Lemon Quartet’s […]
Go Hirano’s 2004 Corridor of Daylights sees a first time vinyl reissue thanks to Los Angeles label Black Editions. An outlier in Tokyo’s P.S.F. catalogue, a label known […]
Bit of a hidden gem from one of our favorite new labels Last Resort, G.S. Schray’s “Gabriel” is a warm, ambient trip through the suburban streets of Akron, […]
Canadian electronic collective New World Science (made up of Ramzi, Priori, Ex-terrestrial, and Emmanuel Thibau) follow up their heady debut, New Atlantis, Vol. 1, with this full length. […]
In 1979, Laraaji was hammering away at his zither in Washington Square Park alone, in a lotus position, eyes closed, filling the air with his stream-of-consciousness harmonics only […]
From the expert curation of Numero Group comes an extensive anthology of rare cassette releases, deep cuts and previously unreleased gems by prolific electronic music pioneer Joanna Brouk. […]
The debut release from NYC based artist Chester Raj Anand serves as something of an audio diary retelling the experience of a solo trip to Tokyo. The story […]
Released in 2017 and built to stand the test of time, Async was Japanese master musician and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto’s first solo album in eight years, following his […]
Picture the delight of meeting one of the most interesting people you’ve ever encountered, spending an impromptu afternoon with them over a long cup of coffee, picking their […]
Talk Talk’s commercially disastrous, cult classic Spirit of Eden is an absolute must listen for any music fan. Recorded over three years in “an endlessly blacked-out studio, an […]
E2-E4 is a one hour long improvisational piece split into two sides. Recorded in one take at Göttsching’s home studio in Berlin, the album is an accidental masterpiece […]
Italian multi-instrumentalist and composer Pepe Maina describes his music as “ambient & prog rock music for dreams and illusion.” His debut album Il Canto Dell’Arpa e Del Flauto […]
American composer and multi-instrumentalist Alvin Curran’s fantastic debut Canti E Vedute Del giardino Magnetico, which translates to Songs and Views from the Magnetic Garden, consists of two sidelong […]
The aptly titled Traveller is an icy ambient journey through the harshness of a midwestern winter. Enveloped by nature and snow, Sampson recorded the Traveller entirely alone in […]
Another fourth world adventure, this time into a sunny Portuguese imaginary island. Carlos Maria Trinadade and Nuno Canavarro were respected veterans in the 80’s Portugal pop-rock scene. When […]
Commissioned by Japanese toy maker Bandai in 1984, the Hosono-composed Mercuric Dance is the soundtrack for a contemporary ballet piece of the same name. Each track is inspired by […]
Compiled from two mysterious private-issued cassettes from 1986 and 1987, this Yoga Records discovery introduces us to the beautiful and isolated work of Peter Thomas Kardas. The music […]
A highly sought after release in digging circles, the sole release by the mysterious Aragon was finally reissued in 2016 by the great Chee Shimizu on his Japanism […]
Virginia Astley’s conceptual debut is a collection of tone poems meant to represent the sounds and mood of an innocent summer day. The album is notable for its […]
“Kankyō ongaku,” Japanese for “environmental music,” was a popular genre of functional ambient music in Japan in the 80’s led by electronic artists Hiroshi Yoshimura, Takashi Kokubo, Joe […]
A daytime favorite at ISC, John Carroll Kirby’s solo piano album Tuscany on NYC label Patience is music inspired by a time and a place. The Los Angeles-based […]
