A light, playful, and melodic album by a Japanese ambient master. Originally recorded in ’87, and only getting a posthumous CD release in ’06, the album is finally getting a global release in 2025. As I listen to the music, it is soundtracking a non-existent indie movie in my head.
Live At The ICA – The Black Dog
Pioneering techno and “home-listening” IDM and ambient British electronic artists performed at a sold-out show in London’s ICA in 2024. The performance starts out slow/ambient before it get’s the party started.
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma has released the first single off of his upcoming full-length Gift Songs (March 21, 2025). Coming in at a hair over 20 minutes, if the The Milky Sea is an indication, Cantu-Ledesma’s new album will be one of the best ambient releases of 2025. Also, if you pre-order the album, Mexican Summer will be donating 100% of Bandcamp Sales to MusiCares that provides crisis relief, preventive care, recovery resources, and need-based financial assistance for people across all music professions.
Koselig – Benoît Pioulard, Viul, From Overseas, zakè, Marc Ertel, Wayne Robert Thomas
To celebrate Zakè Drone Recordings’ 5th anniversary, they released Koselig—a curated collection of long-form compositions featuring Zach Frizzell’s (zakè) close friends: From Overseas, Benoît Pioulard, Wayne Robert Thomas, Marc Ertel, and Viul.
Metals – Scott Gordon
Scott Gordon’s debut album Metals features his custom Spinning Plate Instrument, that he first started experimenting with in 2018, and is a kind of idiophone featuring 9 suspended plates of different sizes that can rotate freely on the vertical axis, modulating the tones produced when struck.
Even The Horizon Knows Its Bounds – Lawrence English
The Art Gallery Of NSW curator Jonathan Wilson invited Lawrence English to create a sound environment, reflecting on the Naala Badu building (meaning ‘seeing water’ in the Gadigal language) that opened in 2022. Even The Horizon Knows Its Bounds is the piece that was offered as an atmospheric tint to visitors walking through the building throughout the year following its opening.
Ways To The Deep Meadow – Ocean Moon
Ocean Moon is one of the aliases of producer and Lo Recordings label head Jon Tye. This release is tranquil, hypnotic, and borders on New Age but is also reminiscent of the ambient lounges of techno’s yesteryear.
Sleep Deprivation [Broadcast channel] – The Black Dog
The Black Dog have created a broadcast project to share new music, share rarities, play live, and feature other artists. They’re broadcasting on YouTube, Twitch, and Kick. They’ve set a goal to get 1000 subscribers on YouTube and reach 3000 watch hours…so go subscribe! They’re still testing the software and bandwidth, so it could be a little rough around the edges, but it has always worked well for me.
The Black Dog have released this 4-track EP to further explore the concept they introduced in their full-length, Sleep Deprivation, that they call Neither Neither, but more specifically the deep, non-REM sleep where the brain restores itself and you lose conscious awareness.
Mosaic – Fennesz
This one got my off guard…new Fennesz? Christian Fennesz used a strict “9-5” work schedule in a new studio space to record this emotional album, without a break, from the end of 2023 to summer 2024.
Paris – Nils Frahm
Recorded at the Philharmonie de Paris, this is Frahm’s first live album. In a recent interview, Frahm called out most classical venues’ “arrogant attitude towards pop music,” how they focused on profit, and how they did not support artists. In contrast, he said the Philharmonie de Paris were verysupportive and charged reasonable rates.
A surprise collab between two of the most lauded non-dance electronic artists, Forever Held is an emotional and cinematic string piece that simultaneously sounds at home in both Jon Hopkins’ and Ólafur Arnalds’ repertoire.
Sleep Deprivation – The Black Dog
A project started in 2006, Sleep Deprivation looks at how the lack of sleep (from gigging and traveling) affects every aspect of life, and sleep’s influence on the The Black Dog’s creative process.
Music for Bus Stations – Rod Modell
A name that references the reference of the ambient genre, with Music for Bus Stations Rod Modell wants you to be transported in a dimension where sound turns into background noise, and functionally, to be soothing music when waiting for the bus.