The Angling Loser, The Sight Below, Christian Kleine, Atomnation

The Angling Loser - Ocean Song

Forthcoming on ...txt, Lee Norris, Gordon Jones, Porya Hatami and Shintaro Aoki combine in this stunning track, taken from an upcoming album called Arena of Apprehension. An additional, more piano-centric track called Lady Of The Stream, is also available to preview.
...txt have previously responsible for Arovane's, dwell_tevvel_structure and look to be going from strength to strength.

port-royal - Heisenberg (The Sight Below remix)

There's an apparent port-royal remix album in the works titled You Ware Nowhere, and given it's at the hands of n5MD we can likely expect some quality output and some ASIP favorites to turn in a track. Proof in point, The Sight Below...

Christian Kleine - Coreal

You should know by now that we were big fans of City Centre Offices and its notorious electronica early 00's output. One of the artists involved in that movement was Christian Kleine, also known for being one half of the infamous duo Herrmann & Kleine (alongside label co-founder Thaddeus Herrmann). Christian returns with a new album titled, Coreal, self-released on Bandcamp, and it's a straight-up nostalgic trip back to the sound that helped define the infamous label. Beautiful, melodic, IDM/electronica - a certain style we haven't heard in quite some time. Available on Bandcamp.

Atomnation - 2015 Compilation

Applescal's label, Atomnation, had another great year on the release front, following a powerful 2014 including the release of Gidge (a firm favorite here at ASIP). And they're celebrating it by pulling together some sublime edits from their quality roster, including a new edit of Gidge's, You, a new track by Fran Seven and quite possibly one of the best house remixes I've heard in a while by Henry Salz. Unmissable and available on Bandcamp.

Dextro - In The Crossing

There's a unique style that exists in Dextro's music and it's one I've appreciated since I first heard his 2009 album, Winded. Ewan's combination of longing piano, euphoric drums and ambient textures is a rare recipe that straddles post-rock, downtempo, experimental and in many instances, ambient music. His upcoming album, In The Crossing, is his latest production capturing this enigmatic sound and we're lucky enough to hold an exclusive stream of the album prior to release.

Some of you may know Dextro from his inclusion on ASIP's Europe, in 2015, and it was everything I could have wished for to best depict his brilliant style I had followed for years. A swirling texture built to a crescendo of drums portraying the ascent of the Isle Of Barra. 

Dextro's upcoming album, In The Crossing, is another dive into a dramatic landscape. What starts as an unsettling and confident assault in Evacuate, soon transcends into a deeper journey. Perhaps the awakening was the rocking of the boat, the sinking of the ship, the crash on to shore, with a sudden realisation that survival is now your primary goal, amongst a barren and desolate land.

Dextro's gently rolling guitar follows the evacuation on Amor Fati, with crushing guitar drones caressing, then threatening and dancing in the background. Introducing the uptempo breaks and jagged synths of Break Off.  By now, the journey has picked up pace, and Ewan's experience with live performances dictating the flow of the recording, embracing a narrative and juxtaposing approaches to each track - Ewan's armory on full show just four tracks in, as Clearing, signals the melancholic piano we loved in his previous EP, Zero Circle.

One of my favourite tracks on the album, Clearing, is a crashing of energy, a realization of sorts and a chance to reflect before a more lively, brilliant, Silent. A swirling synth backed by a gentle chant, grows into a euphoric palette of glistening colors - a break in the sky. 

Sharp drums define a more downtempo-esque style in The Passage, with some lovely attention to detail in the guitars, as the track ascends into the powerful, climbing drones of Sum Poly; a slow post-rock style lullaby. Dextro saves his most epic treatment for last in Occupy, as heavy drones drown out an ominous string melody, immersing a tinkering beauty into a slowly sinking plateaux. 

Dextro has spent time narrating this album and developing the story, rather than trying to fit together individual pieces. Each track has an extremely distinct mood, a tangible feeling that's at times, extremely dark, or alternatively distinctly up-lifting. Either way, Dextro's strength with the album comes with his multitude of moods, told through his signature instruments and style. Brooding atmospheres, puncturing drums, melancholic pianos and just the right amount of electronic injection here-and-there, paint a beautiful, wet, windy landscape that screams adventure, drama and danger.

Embrace it with everything you've got.

In The Crossing will be pressed on limited 180g vinyl (200 copies) and 1000 Gatefold CD's through Bandcamp and available in all good record stores.

Anonymous Various Artists - Covert

Martin Boulton, the man behind the label, Touched, is doing the music world a favor in every sense of the word. Not only is he dedicating his label and any profits to a good cause, but he's also enlisting help from some of the best electronic musicians in the world along the way.

Past Touched compilations have featured everyone from Arovane, Autechre, Ulrich Schnauss, 808 State, Bibio, Christ, Loscil, FSOL, U-ziq, Hecq and Orbital to name just a few recognizable faces. So you'd be forgiven for getting extremely annoyed at the latest Touch release as this time, contributors have been kept a purposeful secret...

What does that leave us with? Well, it's an IDM/electronica affair. A sincerely great one, at that. The compilation is quickly becoming a guessing game amongst the die-hard and various names from IDM/electronica eras of great are being thrown out for consideration. Christ, Aphex, Boards of Canada, Mike Paradinas, Plaid, Autechre ... you name them, there's a sound, synth, analog glitch or ghostly drum pattern in here that will make you dig through your late 90's, early 00's CD's to try match the signature sounds.

It's hard to pick a favorite from such a solid bunch. The breaks of Streetscape sent me rocking. Charm, sent me back to the hey-days of the many big-beat Orbital parties I went to. Doloxan, Northwest Territories and Even If I Lose Everything made me revisit BoC's 'Tomorrow's Harvest' once again for a dark, nostalgic trip. 

Whether it's imitators of the real-thing, names shouldn't matter at this point. It's some of the best electronica you'll be hearing for a while. 

CD+ Digital available on Bandcamp.

Neel, Donato Dozzy, Just Music, Dewtone

Neel - Live at Free Rotation '15

From one of our favorite producers comes a rare live set recording, featuring tracks from WNDFRM, Global Communication and a host of other warm, driving atmospheric techno artists. My experience seeing VFTL a few years back was still one of my most memorable gigs of all time and Neel is still evidently pushing the magic far and wide. Available to download on Soundcloud.

Phonatic - Dozzy Dives under 120

You can't really have Neel, without Dozzy, so here's a tribute mix by Phantic that captures some of Dozzy's more subdued (<120bpm) ambient productions as himself, in remix mode and as half of Voices From The Lake. Available to download on Soundcloud.

Ambient Zone 2: Just Music Café Vol 5

Just Music have been around for over ten years now and are solely responsible for introducing the world to Jon Hopkins, and ASIP friends and favorites, Echaskech. Just Music's newest compilation shouldn't simply be glanced over as your average chill-out compilation simply because of the rather cliché title. Melancholic ambience from Digitonal, an individual piano piece from Jon Hopkins, driving atmospheres from Xspance, and that infamous ethereal-Schnauss sound from Echaskech grace this compilation, curated by the mighty Chris Coco. This is the type of music that I used to write about when I first started this site, and it makes me happy to know it's still going strong today. Available on Bandcamp.

Dewtone - Reflections

Dewtone have been relatively quiet recently, but that hasn't stopped Dustin and his collective from piecing together some of their finest work over these two Reflection compilations. Remastered and edited for re-release, the compilations capture the very essence of the label with tracks from some of their most notorious releases of recent years including Purl, Deflektion, Martin Nonstatic, Alveol, Sven Laux and ASIP's Halo. Available on Bandcamp.

Martin Nonstatic - Granite

Sometimes, you get to see one of your favorite artists continue to strive for beautiful music and sometimes, they land exactly where you hope they would. This is one of those instances.

Martin Nonstatic has featured on our good friends Silent Season and Dewtone with several EP's before this, his coming-of-age album, and undoubtedly his finest piece to date. There's no greater platforms than the aforementioned labels for this type of organic music and Martin has never failed to lull us into his warm tones on each occasion. After several EP's, we were all wishing for a full-length album one day.

Granite, has landed, and on Ultimae Records no less. A favorite label of mine for years, playing host to the likes of Solar Fields and Carbon Based Lifeforms, it's a fitting home for Martin, but one that raised an eyebrow in terms of how Martin's music may present itself on such an esteemed, atmospheric label, often home to the more trance-like or psychedelic sound.

It's a natural progression to say the least. Martin's gracious warmth and appreciation for slow-burning melodies have evolved to reach new atmospheres - more space, more angst, and more definition in his sound. A unique balance of dub-techno, ambient, psy-trance and electronica - a sound that Ultimae have continued to push forward since early 00's, And in Martin Nonstatic, they've found the best of the bunch.

Available on Bandcamp.

We have a very special Martin Nonstatic isolatedmix dropping in December...