VARIOUS ARTISTS
Ambient Pop 2010
KOMPAKT77
Kompakt 2010
13 Tracks. 75mins07secs

Amazon UK: CD Amazon US: CD Boomkat: CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD

Kompakt’s Pop Ambient series has become an unavoidable feature in the music calendar, each year delivering a new contingent of ambient tunes carved by some of the masters of the genres, yet, despite gaining much praises, these collections have at times proved something of a lacklustre affair, and this tenth edition in the series is no different. Gathering a number of Kompakt regulars (Mikkel Metal, DJ Koze, Jürgen Paape, Dettinger, Thomas Felhmann) and occasional contributors (The Orb, Triola, Popnoname), with label boss Wolfgang Voigt curating the project and contributing, this latest display delivers its fair share of hopeful twists and forgettable turns over its seventy five minutes. Continue Reading »

NEST
Retold
SERE001
Serein Limited 2010
11 Tracks. 54mins45secs

Boomkat: CD

Five years ago, Norwegian duo Deaf Center released an EP, Neon City, and an album, Pale Ravine, on Type, which defined the dawn of a new era in electronic music, one influenced by classical music and sombre atmospherics. Much has been written and said about the consequent work of one half of the pair, Erik Skodvin, as both head of the seminal Miasmah imprint and for his solo projects, most prominently Svarte Greiner. Otto A. Totland on the other hand has remained more elusive, with no known projects apart for Nest, a collaborative project with British music Huw Roberts. The pair released an eponymous debut digital EP on Roberts’ Serein imprint in 2007.

The appropriately titled Retold, the first CD release on Serein, compiles the six tracks from the original Nest EP and five new compositions. Continue Reading »