Abul Mogard

Review: Although Abul Mogard has made some stunning albums over the years, in recent times it's his reworks that have been celebrated most. It's perhaps for that reason that Houndstooth has decided to offer up this retrospective of the shadowy artist's most admired remixes. The most notable inclusion is the producer's previously unheard revision of Becoming Animal's "The Sky Is Ever Falling", a stunning, stretched-out soundscape that re-imagines the song as a heart-aching ambient epic. It's almost as good as Mogard's jaw-dropping interpretation of Fovea Hex's "We Dream All The Dark Away", whose fragile folk vocals, ever-intensifying modular synthesizer cycles and layered electronic drones deliver a stunning climax to an impeccable collection of inspired ambient soundscapes.

Review: If you've ever wondered what the soundtrack to post-Brexit Britain would be, Abul Mogard is here to help. A couple of years ago, he was asked to provide a suitable soundtrack to an experimental film by Duncan Whitley that was filmed on the small island of Portland, off the Dorset coast, in the months following the 2016 referendum. Like the film, Mogard's score - created using modular synthesis, manipulated field recordings and layered organ sounds - is dark, atmospheric and inward-looking, offering a particularly bleak sonic appraisal of the United Kingdom's naval-gazing descent over the last few years. Musically, it's highly impressive and thoroughly absorbing, though we can't see Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson buying copies any time soon.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: Schleissen 1 marks the beginning of a major, four-part project from Stuart Leath's Emotional Response label; an in-depth exploration of the "outer reaches" of drone and ambient. It's a grand scheme, highlighted perfectly by the grandiose scale of Serbian maverick Abul Mogard's opener - a hypnotic, 19-minute exploration of modular drone music that's as freaky as it is beautiful. Stefan Schwander dons his now familiar Harmonious Thelonious alias on the flip, laying down two brilliantly melodious synthesizer pieces inspired by the cyclical compositions of acclaimed minimalist composer Steve Reich. Both pieces are borderline stunning, and more than worth the admission price.