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Toby Marks (of Banco de Gaia) & Andrew Heath - Motion

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Toby and Andrew started making extensive field recordings on trips to the four corners of Britain during 2018. They went deep into Llechwedd Slate Caverns in Wales, explored Suttle Stone Quarries in Bournemouth, hopped on the Swanage Ferry to Poole Harbour, took to the air with the Yorkshire Gliding Club, floated down the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and rode the Bure Valley Railway in Norfolk. By the end they had a staggering hundred hours of audio in total, which they processed and transformed, blending piano, guitars and electronics, to produce a deeply meditative, endlessly unfolding collection. (https://andrewheath.bandcamp.com/album/motion)

I used to run down that canal when I lived in Leeds. Maybe I ended up in the field recordings.

I feel like I burned myself out on Andrew Heath. Bought his (proper) first four albums, got quite sated on his 'lowercase' brand of field recordings and piano doodling, but the guy just kept on releasing more and more. Even the allure of a Toby Marks collab' wasn't enough to draw me back in.

That said, his remix of BdG's China is lush:

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Originally posted by SYSTEM-J I used to run down that canal when I lived in Leeds. Maybe I ended up in the field recordings.

There was what sounded like an annoying little glitch precisely in that part.

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Originally posted by Sykonee Even the allure of a Toby Marks collab' wasn't enough to draw me back in.

Frankly, I can't say there was a very good, specific reason to post precisely this one. Name-dropping Marks might make just a little more sense than dropping any other random ambientist on here.
There is so, so, so much (good) ambient available, in all possible shapes, from the field recording-based soundscapey to the whatever shape it might take. And there is so much of it I enjoy. But ask me for a release that really, *really* stands out and might excite even the Js and the Sykonese... tough.

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Originally posted by Midlothian Frankly, I can't say there was a very good, specific reason to post precisely this one. Name-dropping Marks might make just a little more sense than dropping any other random ambientist on here. There is so, so, so much (good) ambient available, in all possible shapes, from the field recording-based soundscapey to the whatever shape it might take. And there is so much of it I enjoy. But ask me for a release that really, *really* stands out and might excite even the Js and the Sykonese... tough.

It's kinda' why I never ask for recommendations. My own explorations have yielded so many wonderful releases that I'm never left floundering trying to find something new. Even when I think I've finally tapped every well, oh look, here's a label called ARCHIVES for you do dive into (as one example).

The ol' Discogs/Bandcamp combo has proved far more effective than whatever Pitchfork might say I should listen to.

Very true. Although some decent music has come to my attention through certain blogs and even discogs comments recently. In fact, just the other day while googling something I chanced upon some old blog by someone who shall remain nameless and isn't a music journalist - even there I found one or two interesting things. Immediately recognised the writing, too (like your review brother).

Small world, I guess.

The search for originality is pleasant and rewarding and the amount of great and/or spine-tingling music is huge but ambient in 2022

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... a little struggle in coming up with fresh things to say about ...'s style of ambient music. For sure it's quite lovely, soothing, haunting ... and each ... their own distinct themes, but much ... has remained rather similar in execution

My friend Lisaya just released his 3 hour 30 minutes ambient album under his Roan Portman alias, took him six months to finish:

I listen to Stellardrone often.
For now, The Divine Cosmos is my favorite.

Release of some older ambient, which is something re:discovery records specializes in. This one specifically sounds like one of the best record pressings I own, amazing sound quality and no surface noise.

Speaking of old ambient being collated and re-released, MLO - Oumuamua is a retrospective of the mostly forgotten early '90s ambient dons which came out late last year on Dutch label Music From Memory, who seem to have a new line in packaging up classic flotation tank era ambient and introducing it to a new generation. Some really beautiful stuff on here.

Also, and this is just plain old, but digitised and available on Spotify, I recently discovered Journeyman - Mama 6 from that golden year of ambient, 1994. Released on Ninja Tunes sub-label Ntone and almost totally forgotten today, this stands up to any of the classic ambient albums of the early '90s in my opinion.

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Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Released on Ninja Tunes sub-label Ntone and almost totally forgotten today, this stands up to any of the classic ambient albums of the early '90s in my opinion.

Ntone, y'say?

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Originally posted by Silky Johnson Does it have to be electronic music? Because I really love Erik Satie. I bought Gymnopedies, Gnossiennes, et Sarabandes played and recorded by Hakon Austbo. Just gorgeous (piano) music which I guess could qualify as ambient?

It should qualify I guess as the music comes from the ambient precusor himself. As an early 20th-century French composer, Erik Satie used such Dadaist-inspired explorations to create an early form of ambient/background music that he labeled "furniture music" (Musique d'ameublement). Brian Eno's "Ambient 1: Music For Airports" is undoubtedly inspired by such pieces as splendid "Gymnop�dies"

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Originally posted by Sykonee Ntone, y'say?

It was actually from listening to the first Tone Tales Of Tomorrow comp on Spotify that I discovered Journeyman. Looks like the whole label is digitised and there are a few forgotten ambient gems on there, although Journeyman definitely stands out as the best I've heard so far. Paul Frankland, who was one half of the duo, was also the man behind Woob, which should convince any seasoned ambient veteran of their credentials.

As a side-note, the Tone Tales... compilations come out all fucked up on Spotify. Some of the tracks are the mixed versions from the original CD and segue continuously, but others are the full length versions from the original albums and break up the continuous mix. This seems to be a long-standing issue with Spotify and mix albums: sometimes it seems to pull the same tracks from different sources so they're not mixed in with the rest.

Picked this release up last year, finally gave it a listen. A mixture of ambient and downtempo plus nice artwork. Digital is available as well

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