Max Corbacho & Bruno Sanfillippo - Indalo

Although this album has recently been re-released and credited to Max Corbacho via his Bandcamp page, I think of it as jointly credited with Bruno Sanfilippo - that's the CDr version I have. Who exactly did what remains unclear but for me this is the best album I have heard by Max Corbacho. 

(Max informed me that Bruno Sanfilippo asked for his name to be removed, hence the re-release on Bandcamp).

It is a hugely expansive work, with stark vistas and large soundscapes, evocative of the arrid lands of Spain where the Indalo symbol can be found. Long swathes of synth notes circle around passages of gentle percussion creating an inspiring, primal and ancient space. Deeply relaxing and calm, welcoming but mysterious in tone. Sounds often unidentifiable moving through the air, forming a warm peaceful atmosphere.

There are occasional bird calls and rustling sounds, what might be voices calling across a distance, water.

A particular favorite moment is Lava Atmospheres - a slowly pulsing drone which emanates from a deep cavernous place, gives me goose bumps every time.

This new version on Bandcamp contains two previously unreleased tracks.

Some good information here http://www.groove.nl/cd/8/87197.html

Original Artwork

Thom Brennan - Vibrant Water

This is a warm, sumptuous album, despite it's slightly cold title. Created purely from gentle synth tones gliding gently between each other, it has a subtle melodic quality without playing tunes as such. It is more like the exploration of a tonal centre and I can imagine this being the result of real time improvisation. It comprises 3 tracks, each around 20 minutes long and includes detailed sounds in a huge, enveloping reverb.

This album is perfect for relaxing, drifting away and letting the mind wander or even falling asleep (that's no bad thing in my book- in fact it's a top qualification for any ambient music). It is a prime example of self-restraint as being a key ingredient for ambient music, less is most definitely more and this demonstrates it beautifully.

http://www.thombrennan.com/home.html

https://soundcloud.com/thombrennan

Fripp & Eno - No Pussyfooting

This album has probably been raved about thousands of times as a classic ambient work from 1973. I wont try and cover the recording or composition techniques which have been well documented elsewhere https://www.elsewhere.co.nz/essentialelsewhere/1970/fripp-and-eno-no-pussyfooting-1973-and-evening-star-1975/ or Eric Tamm's Eno biography - Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound (1995).

And let's not forget the amazing cover photo 

http://www.paulgormanis.com/?p=4844

I heard "Evening Star" first, probably in the mid-eighties and was enamoured by its abstract ambient subtlety. I was just getting to know Fripp who would become my favourite guitarist, due to his totally unique, un-rock approach to raucous guitar. In "Evening Star" he showed his experimental side, willing to think in purely sonic terms. Eno was already familiar as someone who could take the sounds of others and warp them into lush, sonic landscapes. His work with Fripp pre-dated his ambient albums by a few years.

No Pussyfooting has two parts - The Heavenly Music Corporation - a perfect title - which is Fripp's drone notes, overlayed with his unique soloing, more reminiscent of classical violin than anything rock or blues based. The tones have harsh overdriven edges but they seem rich and golden as they echo and roll around between the speakers.

Part two - Swastika Girls - is slightly stranger and less accessible, but equally enjoyable to my ears. Similar approach of sound-on-sound, echo tape loops, long drone notes dissolving slowly into each other but this time less melodic, more abstract, beginning with the sound of laughing insects and drifting into bright sunlight, more delicate, picked guitar notes cascading around each other.  In comes full-on Fripp guitar, hard to describe but completely wonderful to me. At 18 minutes 42 seconds it seems to finish all too soon.

Highly recommended. Not as relaxing as some, but beautiful as hell.

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17849252