Ambient – 7th Level Music

Rebelski takes you down some lovely “Roads” with his new single.

Unfolding from a place of quiet familiarity into widescreen cinematic scope, established composer and producer, Rebelski unveils his latest emotive single, “Roads.” A richly layered and immersive track that stands among the most expansive in his catalogue, the long-standing collaborator with artists including Doves, Peter Hook and The Light and Echo and The Bunnymen releases the single, rooted in cinematic, jet-age nostalgia, as he moves closer to the release of his latest album, Algorithms, on March 13, 2026.

Opening in recognizable Rebelski territory, “Roads” begins with a gently unfolding piano motif, intimate and reflective in tone before passing into territory built upon by a lineage of electronic and cinematic greats. Playing into stated late-20thCentury influences, Rebelski hints at David Axelrod’s orchestral soul, Boards of Canada’s hazy electronica and John Carpenter’s deeply affecting, narrative soundtracks in pushing forward Algorithms’ own, structured story.

Having previously light—touch released the first of the album’s singles, “Today,” in late 2025 (subsequently supported with attention from BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 3) and followed-up with the motorik “Momentum” at the turn of the year, Rebelski detailed Algorithms as the final album in a considered trilogy. Recorded in studios and outdoor spaces across Manchester, Barcelona, and Shropshire, the album follows 2023’s Simplicity and 2024’s Monochrome to form a document of artistic preoccupation, musical experimentation and human connection to vibration, tone and timing.

In releasing “Roads,” Rebelski’s music reads like the soundtrack to an unseen film, playing along to journeys spooling through memory, landscapes seen and moments remembered. Working towards a body of work that challenges the narrative of inevitable technological takeover and leaves untied edges where robotized perfection could attain ‘perfection,’ human-first recording techniques ensure organic detail sits at the heart of each composition.

Rebelski says: “The music on Algorithms tries to occupy the spaces in between motion and stillness and action and pause, taking up its own territory with quiet but definite, assertive confidence. Various influences, from film soundtracks to groundbreaking synth composition have been woven into a framework that’s relevant to the present, trying to balance out feelings of retro warmth and the need to document human presence in the music with recognition of contemporary recording practices.”

Pursuing personal solo endeavors in between meeting the uncompromising demands of international touring, Algorithms was completed in stolen periods off the road while absorbing the influence of each country Rebelski counts himself lucky to pass through.

Keep your mind open.

[Travel over to the subscription box.]

[Thanks to Rob at Perspective.]

Review: Nick Schofield – Blue Hour

Inspired by Miles Davis‘ In a Silent Way, Nick Schofield‘s Blue Hour comes along just when we need it most. In a time when everyone is screaming (inward and outward, for right and wrong reasons depending on the individual) and everyone could use some grounding, Schofield helps us all stand still for a bit.

As the story goes, Schofield improvised and recorded the drum and synthesizer parts for the album in one day as he made his own riff of Davis’ classic album. Schofield then teamed up with trumpeter Scott Bevins who also improvised and recorded his parts in one day and without hearing anything Schofield had made beforehand.

The result is another stunning, beautiful record from Schofield. “Sky Cafe” and “Magic Touch” swell, soar, and soothe. The snappy, crisp beats of “Dream On” and its bright synths belong in a meet-cute scene from your favorite lost 1980s romantic comedy. “Goodnight Sun” and “Imagine Space” are almost krautrock-jazz with their looping synths and echoing trumpet.

“Natural Wonder” is like a lone trumpeter is playing across the street from a New Age bookstore that’s playing meditative synth music through their outdoor speakers. “Hidden Corner” will make you want to curl up in one with the song in your ears and a good book. The looping synths of “Hotel Cloud” relax you as Bevins’ trumpet carries your luggage while you chill out at the bar. “Kyoto Kiss” sends you from a hotel in the sky to a nice, modern spa in Japan where you’re in hurry to leave.

The album ends with the simply named “Times” to remind us that time can stretch if we let it. Time can become meaningless and nothing to worry about if we let it. The whole album reminds us of this in a time when we’re all rushed, grumpy, or just plain exhausted. We need albums like this to settle us.

Keep your mind open.

[I dream about you subscribing.]

[Thanks to Gabriel at Clandestine Label Services.]

OHYUNG puts you into a dream state with “Nevada.”

OHYUNG, the solo project of Brooklyn artist, DJ, and film composer Lia Ouyang Rusli, today shares “nevada,” the second single from her forthcoming album IOWA, arriving March 6. The track opens with a massive boom—”whether thunder or gunshots, the sound is an awakening of the spirit,” Rusli says. The field-recorded sample loops throughout the piece as a glacial melody pulses and swells beneath, intertwined with choral voices and wailing synths.

Of “nevada,” Rusli says the track evokes “open land and a holy reverence for space and openness. And in that space there may be a painful memory, but that memory is softened by time, letting beauty in.” The track is paired with a one-take visual that picks up where the video for lead single “all dolls go to heaven” left off. Among its early praise, Paste recognized that track as one of their “5 Songs You Need to Hear This Week,” describing it as music that “sweeps through the sea-level holy, uncouples from its textures, and climbs into the mouth of a liberated afterlife.” Together, these tracks signal OHYUNG’s anticipated return to ambient music—cinematic snapshots of their year in the Midwest.

WATCH: “NEVADA”

IOWA follows last year’s You Are Always On My Mind, praised by Pitchfork as “an extraordinary burst of pop,” and marks Rusli’s first ambient album since her 2022 breakout imagine naked!, which was named one of NPR Music’s Best Albums of the Year. An evocation of Rusli’s year living in Iowa City between 2023 and 2024, the album documents a time when she became embedded in the local DIY music scene and made between composing scores for the acclaimed films Happyend (dir. Neo Sora) and Sorry, Baby (dir. Eva Victor).

Rusli describes IOWA as “an ode to the vast beauty of the Midwest, fields of corn, rolling hills, harsh winters, tornado sirens, and the trans people that survive despite the threat of right-wing christofascism. IOWA is my love letter to Iowa City and the Midwest, my experimental trans Bruce Springsteen Nebraska.” The album is a stripped-down, self-produced album that foregrounds atmosphere and restraint. The record pares back earlier maximalism to reveal ghostly textures built from field recordings, manipulated devotional samples, and restrained synth pads, with moments of rupture interrupting otherwise serene compositions.

Following upcoming DJ sets in Tokyo, Japan, and Seoul, South Korea, OHYUNG will celebrate the album’s release with a performance at Stone Circle Theatre in Ridgewood, New York, on March 6. Presented in partnership with Trans Music Archive, the event will feature an opening performance by YATTA, a DJ set from Bitepoint, and food by Jessie Yuchen, and will serve as a fundraiser for the Iowa Trans Mutual Aid Fund. A physical vinyl edition of IOWA will also be released via Trans Music Archive, with all proceeds benefiting the fund.

Check out “nevada” above, and stay tuned for more music from IOWA ahead of its March 6 release.

Keep your mind open.

[Float over to the subscription box.]

[Thanks to Cody at Terrorbird Media.]

Review: Grandbrothers – Elsewhere

Grandbrothers, the duo of pianist Erol Sarp and engineer / software designer Lukas Vogel, create a lovely blend of classical, jazz, electronica, and ambient music together. Their newest album, Elsewhere, is designed to take you to such a place…wherever it may be.

The duo decided to add more vintage synths, drum loops, and other electronic oddities to their newest album. The simmering intro of “Famara Dust” swirls like a slow whirlpool into the trip hop-inspired “Fable.” The funky drums of “We Collide” sizzle and snap while Sarp’s piano keeps you buzzing. The way Sarp’s piano loops (which remind me a bit of some Ennio Morricone compositions) and curls with Vogel’s programmed beats on “Where Else” is slick.

“Liminal” thumps and bumps in all the right places. “Velvet Roads” starts off as smooth as the fabric in its title and then drops a gorgeous house beat on you. “Cypress” might be your new favorite chill house track. “Rex Machina” does indeed sound like it uses samples, loops, bleeps, and bloops from various machines to accent the piano and alter field recordings (Thunder? Breaking ocean waves? Wind through trees?) and loosen that stress headache you’re enduring.

I can’t help but think Grandbrothers got the title for “run.run.run.run.run” – a snappy electro track that sounds like it’s mixing in steel drums at some points – from seeing it on some vintage synthesizer or computer they used to process the sounds of it. Ending with “NOWHERE,” the album has taken us to a place that’s nowhere yet everywhere, here and now, then and when.

The album is a journey for Grandbrothers, who were exploring new ways to make new music with Elsewhere, and for us. We all come through it with a fresh look on the world.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to George at Terrorbird Media.]

Rewind Review: Klangphonics – Songs to Try (2021)

The cover of Klangphonics‘ 2021 album Songs to Try takes an image of a forest and the sky above it, flips it, blurs it, and makes it something intriguing. The album does much the same with our perception.

In case you didn’t know, “deep house” is a thing, and Klangphonics might be the best proponents of it. The German trio eschew traditional DJ methods (How weird is it to write that?) and opt to create live electronic music from a blend of acoustic and electronic instruments (or sometimes household objects, tools, and even a riding lawn mower).

“Great Plains” starts off the record with dance grooves and drums that feel right at home in a night club or the Grand Canyon. The switch halfway through to the meditative song become a straight-up house banger is stunning. “Holocene” brings in Anna Metko on guest vocals that give the track a brightness that’s difficult to describe but lovely to experience.

“Dendrometry” (the study of the sizes and shapes of trees) is perfect for your morning run through the woods with its bumping beats, “wind through the leaves” synths, echoed birdsong, and encouraging bass line. “White Flower” takes off like a race car and doesn’t look back. “Heliosphere” uses Carl Sagan’s speech about all of us living on a speck of dust in a sunbeam to excellent effect and sends us out on an uplifting note.

The whole record is uplifting and intriguing…and danceable. These three are high on my must-see list now.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Go Kurosawa – Soft Shakes

If you’re Go Kurosawa, former drummer and singer for psych-kraut-who knows? rockers Kikagaku Moyo, what do you do after your band’s final tour and album? You create an album on which you play and write everything and it becomes Soft Shakes.

It’s a lovely record of Kurosawa exploring his stunning talent to play anything by ear and to create whatever was in his head at the time without having to shape it with other people. “Moon, please” is a fun yet slightly haunting track layered with hand percussion, clarinet, and other stuff hard to define. “Sada no umi” mixes, I think, found sounds with trippy synths and Kurosawa’s vocal sounds.

Both “Soredesho?” and “Green Thing” show us how well Kurosawa can play acoustic guitar and mix them with various hand percussion instruments to create a relaxing effect perfect for zoning out like Kurosawa seems to be on the album’s cover. “Autowalk” is a good example of krautrock / kraut-electro’s influence on Kurosawa. The looping synths, robotic beats, and mantra-like vocals are already cool enough, but when the trumpet hits? Forget it. It’s almost not fair.

“Jungle Cooking” is downright groovy and would fit onto any trip-hop or 1990s rap album you’d like. Cypress Hill could easily drop several bars on this. “Rice Harvesting Day” almost feels Middle Eastern, and Kurosawa’s electric guitar work takes the main stage this time. Is there anything this guy can’t play well? “Cloud Rock” ends the album with a floating groove.

It’s a great solo debut from Kurosawa. I look forward to more.

Keep your mind open.

[Autowalk over to the subscription box before you leave.]

[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]

Top 25 concerts of 2025: #’s 15 – 11

More great live shows for you from last year! Who’s in the top half of the list?

#15: Johnny Jewel – September 25, 2025 – Levitation Austin, Austin, TX

Mr. Jewel opened for his own band, Desire, and, for my money, put on the best show of the night at the first day of Levitation Austin last year. It was a showcase of his film scores and covers of other film music ranging from his score to Drive to a David Lynch tribute and giallo-horror tracks.

#14: The Black Angels – September 28, 2025 – Levitation Austin – Austin, TX

The Black Angels always play Levitation. It’s their festival, after all. They help curate it. It was another fine set from them that included many tracks they don’t play often – one of the advantages of not having to promote a new album.

#13: Yin-Yin – September 27, 2025 – Levitation Austin – Austin, TX

These Dutch funk-rockers played their first gig in the U.S. ever at Levitation Austin last year and had the entire place jumping by the end of it. This was easily the grooviest show of the entire weekend, and everyone was buzzing the rest of the day afterwards.

#12: DITZ – June 27, 2025 – Levitation France – Angers, FR

This was blistering post-punk in a heat wave that had gripped almost the entire county. You can see the dust being kicked up from the mosh pit in that photo due to the arid conditions of the park in Angers where Levitation France took place last year. The lead singer had run off-stage, into the nearby lake, and returned covered in seaweed by the end.

#11: A Place to Bury Strangers – September 28, 2025 – Levitation Austin – Austin, TX

The Palmer Event Center in downtown Austin, where Levitation Austin took place last year, is a big venue…and it still wasn’t big enough to keep the volume of APTBS from flattening you as soon as you entered the place. Lead singer and guitarist Oliver Ackermann used the high ceiling to his delight by tossing his now-famous “half-guitar” sky high multiple times. Two friends who’d never seen them until now were left stunned by the end. “That’s like an assault,” my friend Wes said, wide-eyed and not knowing how else to describe it.

Who’s in the top ten? Come back tomorrow!

Keep your mind open.

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Top 25 albums of 2025: #’s 15 – 11

We’re now halfway through my list of favorite albums from last year. Who’s here? Read on!

#15: Lammping – Never Never

Take a trip-hop duo (Lammping) and combine them with a Canadian rockabilly one-man-band who was described by John Waters as “Roy Orbison with a head injury” (Bloodshot Bill), and you get the neat Never Never EP. It sounds like something you’d find in a dusty record bin among “2000s Music – Misc.”, and is well-worth seeking out. It’s the first of four EPs from Lammping, so they’re off to a good start.

#14: King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard – Phantom Island

Would it be a “best of” year list without a King Gizz album by now, since they release at least one album a year? Phantom Island combines the Aussie psych-rock / thrash metal / rave music giants with an orchestra because…why not? It’s a lush album with as much mystery as its cover.

#13: pôt-pot – Warsaw 480km

Here’s a post-punk band that emerged from seemingly nowhere to knock me back into my chair. “Damn, that’s good,” was my first thought after hearing it. I’m delighted that so many good post-punk bands are still appearing, and this is one of them.

#12: John Also Bennett – Ston Elaióna

This is a lovely ambient record mostly made of synths and field recordings John Also Bennett made around Greece. One song is inspired by the oldest known written song found on a stone pillar.

#11: Paddang – Lost in Lizardland

It’s a French psych-rock concept album about a future world dominated by evil lizard people and a lone heroine in the wasteland trying to defeat them. What more do you need to know?

Come back tomorrow to see who made the top ten!

Keep your mind open.

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James Adrian Brown releases first single, “Generator,” from upcoming debut solo album.

Today James Adrian Brown, former Pulled Apart By Horses guitarist, announces his debut solo album ‘Forever Neon Lights‘ out Jan 30th via Castles In Space. After achieving chart success, touring the world, and releasing four critically acclaimed studio albums with PABH, Brown has begun paving a new path in instrumental electronic music and composition. New single “Generator” is online now and Brown will be touring the UK and Ireland throughout November.

Forever Neon Lights is inspired by Brown’s formative memories of visiting the Blackpool Illuminations as a child. Those bright lights by the sea became a personal symbol of hope, possibility, and escapism, shaping the creative vision Brown now brings to his solo work.On the new single, Brown says ” ‘Generator’ is about creating your own momentum and powering through life’s challenges. Just as the illuminations need a generator to shine, we all have to find and build our own energy source to keep moving forward. For me, it’s about resilience, staying true to your dreams, and making them real.”

“Generator” on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-S3w9ILL2I4
“Generator” on other streaming services:: https://ffm.to/generatorjab

Brown’s solo work is heavily electronica-based, utilising analogue synths alongside tape machines, piano, strings, and immersive ambient atmospherics. His focus lies in the analogue process of capturing and creating sound using physical hardware. Taking inspiration from artists such as Boards of Canada, Rival Consoles and Thom Yorke, Brown is exploring, evolving, and pushing his songwriting into bold new sonic territories.

Hot off the heels of producing Benefits’ critically acclaimed album Constant Noise earlier this year, and following a continual flow of live shows, singles, EPs, collaborations and remixes by the likes of Hayden Thorpe, Blood Red Shoes & Benefits.

A deeply personal yet outward-looking debut, Forever Neon Lights is a conceptual record that draws on memory, imagination, and transformation. Across its tracks, Brown reflects on childhood wonder, the excitement of possibility, and the struggles and triumphs of chasing a creative life. The Blackpool Illuminations serve as both literal and metaphorical inspiration: dazzling, unending, and powered by unseen energy.

Sonically, the album finds Brown pushing into new territory with long-time producer James Mottershead, weaving pulsing electronics, immersive textures, and evocative melodies into a dynamic, shifting instrumental landscape. It marks a bold evolution from his guitar-led past into a fully realised electronic vision.

Speaking about making the record, Brown says:

“This album is me laying everything out, the things I’ve carried since being a child, the hopes, dreams, and doubts I’ve felt as an adult, and the stubbornness to see things through. Writing and recording it felt like reconnecting with that wide-eyed version of myself who thought the lights back in Blackpool wrapped right around the entire country every Christmas and went on forever. It’s about taking that feeling and turning it into something lasting and real.”

Forever Neon Lights will be released January 30th, 2026, on one of Britain’s most essential electronic record labels, Castles In Space. The album will be available on limited 12” gatefold vinyl and across all streaming platforms.

See James Adrian Brown live:
20th Nov – Preston – Mad Ferret
21st Nov – Leeds – Headrow House
25th Nov – Manchester – 33 Oldham Street
27th Nov – Belfast – Black Box
28th Nov – Dublin – Crowbar Terrace

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Frankie at Stereo Sanctity.]

Review: John Also Bennett – Ston Elaióna

Take some flute, add synthesizers, mix them with early morning sun bouncing off the Partheon in Athens, Greece, and have it served up by a former noise rocker. What do you get? Ston Elaióna, a beautiful ambient album from John Also Bennett.

I’m not sure how to describe this album, or even if I should. It’s something best experienced. The opening title track is like falling into a dream. “Gecko Pads” is inspired by a lizard Bennett saw on the wall of his apartment studio. “Hailstorm” mixes soft synths and flute with the quiet ticks of the titular storm Bennett recorded in Athens.

“A Handful of Olives” almost ventures into drone music with its long synth notes, but Bennett’s flute turns the song into a lovely stroll through a grove. “Sacred House” refers to the home of the Oracle of Dodoni (as does the mist-like track “Oracle” later on the record) and sounds like a record played by a ghost. Heck, “Seikilos Epitaph” is a composition found carved on an ancient pillar (the oldest known complete musical composition to exist).

“First Lament” is a song Bennett has been performing for years in different forms. Here it’s like something you’d hear drifting over a mountain path as you approach a temple you’ve been climbing toward for days. “Easter Daydream” is, I think, the only song on the album with percussion…and that is a field recording of a church bell across the street from Bennett’s apartment during Holy Week. Finally, if you buy a physical copy of the record, you also get “Lonely Melody.” Remember that ghost playing a record earlier? Well, now he’s doing spectral tidying of the haunted house to keep his mind off the fact that no one comes around to listen to his spooky records.

Again, it’s better to experience all of this than to read about it. Grab a copy of it, sit with it, and let it drift around and through you.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Cody at Terrorbird Media.]