By ·
May 29, 2024
Each month, writer, musician, and DJ Ted Davis wanders through the dreamlike outskirts of Bandcamp. Embracing a fluid, forward-thinking approach to ambient, anything deemed worthy of the genre tag is considered fair game for this column. Here are albums that toy with yearning ragas, rugged sound art, ethereal beatmaking, and more.
Mary Lattimore and Walt McClements
Rain on the Road
While Los Angeles is widely known for its sunshine and beaches, in recent years the city’s winters have become increasingly dreary. Rain on the Road—the new album from harpist Mary Lattimore and experimental accordionist Walt McClements—came to life during one such bout of Southern California gloom. The pair met on tour, and eventually holed up in McClements’s apartment to record. Timeless and sprawling, the improvised pieces here feel descended from the heyday of ‘60s freak folk. The album pays homage to the duo’s shared home state of North Carolina, peppered with references to bears and wildflowers. Rain on the Road is both cozy and psychedelic, like a wool sweater adorned with wild patterns.
Arushi Jain
Delight
Arushi Jain uses modular synths and reverberant singing to create soaring electronic music. Her new album, Delight, explores the push-pull of romantic longing and its reward. The record is built on elements borrowed from Raga Bageshri—a melodic framework said to capture the joyousness of reunion. Jain’s use of classical Indian vocal techniques and organic instrumentation offsets the futurism of her patched cables, resulting in tracks that seem to gleefully jump between cottony pink clouds. Where Jain’s past output drew from nature and the outside world, Delight is more introverted and contemplative. Yet even at its stormiest, Jain still heads towards the light at the end of the tunnel.
H To O
Cycle
K-Lone and Facta are stars of the UK club scene, but the records released by their label Wisdom Teeth run the stylistic gamut, but they are united by their slippery, wordless hooks and glittery sonics. The label’s latest comes courtesy of Ho To O, a project made up of Kankyo Records founder H. Takahashi and Kohei Oyamada. The Japanese artists cut their teeth playing together in the act Atoris, and Cycle is their first album as a duo. It initially started as a solo project from Takahashi, but grew into a partnership after Oyamada was invited to tinker with the sketches. Across six tracks, bright, chiming synths conjure a glistening, hopeful atmosphere. The whole thing is utopian and sun soaked—New Age at its bubbliest.
Yayoba
A Maze Of Glass
The best releases from West Coast bohemian staple Not Not Fun feel like forgotten cassettes unearthed in cult-owned thrift stores. That dusty crypticness is especially strong on Yayoba’s A Maze Of Glass. The European group consists of Paul Wilson (f.ampism), Jani Hirvonen (UTON), and Johannes Schebler (Baldruin). Working remotely, the group twists lo-fi field recordings, percussion, woodwinds, and electronics into kaleidoscopic forms. Across A Maze Of Glass, meditative synth pads rest atop layers of cosmic sound effects. It’s as unsettling as it is soothing—as if a band of extraterrestrials covered Iasos.
Leaving
Hidden View
As Leaving, Rupert Thomas beams analog drones and motorik rhythms through layers of intoxicating aural smoke. It’s a formula that has led the Perth-based Erasers member to share stages with the likes of Oneohtrix Point Never and Actress. Thomas’s latest, Hidden View, arrives via eclectic Portland, Oregon institution Moon Glyph. While it appears in the wake of the label’s merriest release to date—a vacation-y record from Turn On The Sunlight—Hidden View presents a surprising left turn. Across eight tracks, moody melodies generated on throaty synthesizers dovetail atop jingling drum machines. It’s dark and wonderfully blocky—heady kosmische painted with broad, dark-red strokes.
ezmeralda
Ruido y Flor
On his last album, En Atomos Volando, Colombian producer Ezmeralda toyed with cumbia rebajada—a sluggish strain of Latin music that was popularized by acts such as Grupo Jejeje and Amantes Del Futuro. But the end result was more delicate, floral, and glitchy than its outward influences suggested. On his new album, Ruido y Flor, Ezmeralda dials back the energy even further. It’s the first release from Ambie Tón—a gentler subsidiary of the brash club institution TraTraTrax. A rumination on what happens after death, the record is centered on aqueous white noise and pearly synths. Neither morose nor celebratory, it’s a misty, inward-looking album that approaches the ups and downs of the afterlife with a sense of open-hearted wonder.
Various Artists
Prah
For those hoping to explore the experimental sounds emanating from Central Europe, Warm Winters Ltd. offers a perfect jumping-off point. Since 2019, the Bratislava-based label has amassed a body that includes gems from artists orbiting Slovakia. On the compilation Prah, Warm Winters taps 12 musicians for pieces that pay homage to uncertainty. The tracklist is graced by contributions from Adela Mede, Enchanted Lands, Orinoko, and others. Prah is defined by chilly, time-forgotten quietude—a snapshot of an intriguing moment for the Slovakian and Czech undergrounds.
Yosa Peit
Gut Buster
Yosa Peit’s music resides somewhere between discordant avant-pop and shifty experimentation. The Berlin-based musician started releasing music in 2015; a major turning point arrived after she was asked to sing on Holly Herndon’s 2019 album PROTO. Peit’s new album, Gut Buster, arrives via Fire Records, and is at once hectic and withdrawn. Distorted guitars, clamoring percussion, and whispery vocals dig their claws in and out at random. At some points, the smeary sonics feel like they’re made of pond water; at others, human entrails. Gut Buster is queasy, yet strangely naive at the same time.
Eamon Ivri
In The Red Eye of the Evening
Eamon Ivri lives in Cork, Ireland and began rolling out electroacoustic sketches as Lighght in 2019. He spent last year further fiddling with his formula under the alias mineral stunting. A few months after dropping a freaky long-form composition as Bless Interior Heart Awash With Flames, Ivri is back with his first eponymous album. In The Red Eye of the Evening is built on bass-boosted field recordings, outlined by gently seared synths and glitchy voices. It’s inspired by spooky, rain-streaked imagery, and the album captures the essence of being inside a muddy puddle struck by fleeting beams of artificial light.
Firnis DC
Firnis der Civilisation
Fergus Jones (aka Perko) seems to gravitate toward sounds that are either extremely catchy or deeply foggy. As a DJ and producer, the Copenhagen-based artist has demonstrated an exceptional command of both crisp basslines and murky soundscapes. But Jones’s label FELT is more consistent, typically platforming dubbed-out ambient. FELT’s latest arrives via Firnis DC, an understated German producer who came as тпсб. Where their prior output was fairly pulsating, Firnis der Civilisation is airy and aloof. Over nine tracks, retro-futuristic basses swell beneath filtered pads and twinkling leads. It’s a smart, and deceptively textured reintroduction to the mysterious artist.
LXV
slip
Philadelphia is arguably best known for being an indie rock town. But the Pennsylvania city has become an ambient hub in recent years, thanks to vibe-y nights like ~SPINDRIFT~ and Making Time. Near the heart of this sphere is LXV, whose work for labels like Umor Rex and Sacred Phrases has been serrated, yet blissful. His latest, slip, arrives via the Hausu Mountain offshoot Blorpus Editions. The album was made using a zip-disc drive and sampler, which prove to be suitably uncomfortable tools. Peaceful pianos and pads stammer between clattering metallic effects—like an etude playing over a phone speaker in a rattling drawer of utensils.
Ludwig A.F.
Halo
Ghostly International first rose to prominence in the early ‘00s thanks to signees such as Tycho and Matthew Dear and, over the last 25 years, has become one of the most influential electronic labels of all time. Its offshoot Spectral Sound provides a home for dancier releases with a dazzling air. The latest arrives via Ludwig A.F.—a cult favorite German producer who found his footing self-releasing beatific tracks and collaborating with Priori in the exceptional duo Chestnut People. The five cuts on Halo summon a hopeful, Balearic world, plucky synths whirring over 2-step shuffles. Halo is a focus-inducer that will still surely be heard blasting from plenty of festival speakers throughout the impending summer.
