In 2022, I seemed to do a lot of “deep listening”, while either walking the dog through the hills at the foot of Mount Asamayama, or soaking in the bath once my chores were done. The latter providing a sort of sensory deprivation, allowing me to focus only on the music. The former causing references to the striking, seasonally changing, landscape to weave their way into my reviews. Both were / are escapes, and, I suppose, forms of meditation. I guess I should be pretty chilled. I’m not sure what went wrong : )
Over the years I’ve written a lot about this sort of stuff, but I can`t really say why some it works, and some of it doesn’t, other than in my case at least it’s totally subjective. Completely dependent on my surroundings, mood, and the medicine I might need at that moment. Here are a “few” favourites that have eased symptoms over the last 12 months. Compositions and improvisations that cut through any anxiety and uncertainly, to provide a calm from which, perhaps one day, some clarity will come.
(Watch out for the vinyl reissue this April)
Clair / Body Blossom Revelations
Ian William Craig / Music For Magnesium_173
Kenny Dickenson / Les Rivieres
Nils Frahm / Music For Animals
Troels Hammer / An Introduction
IKSRE / Awake Within The Dream
Simon James / Electronic Breeze
OG Jigg / The Land Dictates The Lay Of The Stone
Flore Laurentienne / Volume II
Damian Lazarus / Beijing Spring
Emilie Levienaise Farrouch / Ravage
Kyoto Connection / The Flower, The Bird, And The Mountain
Log(M) & Laraaji / The Onrush Of Eternity
Other Lands / Matter Reshaped
Pye Corner Audio / Lets Emerge
Steve Queralt & Michael Smith / Sun Moon Town
Set Fire To Flames / Sings Reign Rebuilder
Christina Vantzou, Michael Harrison, & John Also Bennett
Nina Walsh / Music To Fall Alseep To: Delta Waves
Andrew Wasylyk / Hearing The Water Before Seeing The Falls
There are few things listed above that I didn’t manage to write about, but that are amazing records / albums all the same. A special mention must go to the Advanced Public Listening compilation, On In Out. The inaugural release on the imprint, founded by Miho Mepo, it’s the definition of a labour of love. Miho has just returned to Japan, after spending the last 2 or 3 decades in Europe. With Berlin as a base, Miho became something of a legend on the electronic music scene, involved in running labels, clubs, and artist management. A little of Miho’s story can be found in the accompanying extensive, expansive, sleeve notes. The 22 tracks on the collection – either double CD, or 4X12” vinyl box, where no expense has been spared – are all exclusives, provided by super talented friends that Miho’s made along the way – a cast that includes a whole load of “household” names, such as Atom™, Thomas Brinkman, Tyree Cooper, Thomas Fehlmann, Roman Flügel, Matthew Herbert, Move D, Patrick Pulsinger, Roedelius, and Ricardo Villalobos. Everything thing on offer is pretty chilled. While the second half is a little more beat driven, to give you feel for the proceedings, The Irresistible Force’s IDM-esque MULTIBALL represents the set at its most “banging”.
Of the musicians that were new to me, Takeshi Nishimoto’s ambient guitar pieces, collaborations with saxophonist Roger Doring leapt out. I was lucky enough to catch a stunning solo performance by Takeshi at the first Zim Zam Zu! event at the beginning of last year. At the same gig I also had the pleasure of meeting the mighty force of nature that is Ms. Mepo.
The next Zim Zam Zu!, by the way, is this Saturday…
Track-lists
Part 1 / In A Wonderland
Snowdrops – Nostalgia de la Luz
Clarice Jensen – Love
Flore Laurentienne – Navigation IV
Vince Pope & Dmitry Evgrafov – Everything Matters
Log(M) & Laraaji – Sundog Suite
Ozan Tekin – Sunsick
Andrew Wasylyk – The Life Of Time
IKSRE – Mire (Winter, 9:27pm)
Kasper Bjorke – Miocene
Other Lands – Open Sea
Clair – Body Blossom (Euan Dalgarno Remix)
Seaming To – Proneandsupine
Ian William Craig – Sentimental Drift
Tenka – This Is The Treatment…
COH Meets Abul Mogard – Fire And Hold
Simon James – A Sound Has An Inside
Christina Vantzou, Michael Harrison, John Also Bennett – Harp Of Yaman
David Harrow – Icelander
Steve Queralt & Michael Smith – In A Wonderland
Set Fire To Flames – Fading Lights Are Fading
Seahawks – Forever Now
Gigi Masin – Marilene (Somewhere In Texas)
Part 2 / Let’s Emerge!
Nils Frahm – Right Right Right
Kyoto Connection – Mindscape I
Pye Corner Audio – Sunstroke
Suso Saiz – El Espejo
Kenny Dickenson – Pour Marthe
Robin Guthrie – The Faraway
Troels Hammer – Memorial Mountains
Other Land – Matter Reshaped
Emilie Levienaise Farrouch – Ravage (solo piano)
Mark Barrott – Icarus
Kenny Dickenson – Les Rivieres Vont A La Mere
Suso Saiz – Looking At You In Silence
OG Jigg – The Land Dictates The Lay Of The Stone
Troels Hammer – Unika
Kyoto Connection – A Night At Kumano Kodo
Damian Lazarus – Forest Of Forgotten
Pye Corner Audio – De Hibernate
Mark Barrott – Kyoto
Kyoto Connection – The Flower The Bird And The Mountain (Part 1)
Troels Hammer – Bogota
Suso Saiz – Changes And Reality
Pye Corner Audio – Luminescence
Robin Guthrie – Another Part Of Nowhere
Damian Lazarus – Oath
Julie Marghilano – Human
Takeshi Nishimoto – Dream
Emilie Levienaise Farrouch – Tendrils
Hania Rani & Colin Stetson – In All This
Kenny Dickenson – Trilogy 3: Phoenix Rouge
Ban Ban Ton Ton 
I’ve listened to a lot of ambient over the last few years- it started with Richard Norris stuff, his Abstraction albums which helped me chill out during the Brexit/ Trump years when the world was going to shit. You’re spot on about not knowing why some of this stuff works and some doesn’t other than it being totally subjective.
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