FENNESZ 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Although the past several years have seen ambient musician Christian Fennesz collaborating with a number of high profile figures - Ryuchi Sakamoto to name one - as well as release an EP, cassette, and soundtrack, the Austrian's last full solo LP was 2008?s Black Sea, making Becs very eagerly awaited indeed. A conceptual follow-up to 2001's seminal Endless Summer, Becs supposedly eschews the drone-based productions of Black Sea and sees a return to the "more florid pop mechanisms" of Endless Summer, something evident across the searing yet colourful textures that make up the album.

Review: Ryuichi Sakamoto and Christian Fennesz came together to stunning effect on their collaborative album Cendre. Now, for the first time ever, Touch are releasing it on vinyl. It was initially recorded between Vienna and New York in 2004 and 2006 with each artist responding to the other's compositions. Accompanying text says that the record fuses "unstructured and imaginative qualities of improvisation with the satisfying sculpture of composition." In short, it is a powerful ambient album with a quiet but devastating artistry. Heavy chords linger in the air, distant shakers take your mind away, foggy atmospheres are run through with gentle winds. It is beautifully melancholic.

Review: You can always trust Ninja Tune to deliver the goods in style, and this latest collaborative project is testament to their perennial vision and flair. Who would have thought to combine the mutant sci-fi approach of Hyperdub's King Midas Sound with the ethereal drones and hollow electronics of the mythical Fennesz? Only these guys. Being a solely instrumental work, all nine tracks are perfectly representative of the artists' respective styles, and tunes like "Mystery (version)", "Mind (version)", or even the more beat-centric "Leaving (version)" are a gorgeous blend of subtle atmospherics with something grittier, more street-wise and charged. It's not a surprise when you've got one of the most famous experimental ambient producers (Fennesz) coupled with a highly energetic and forward-looking London duo. Recommended.

Review: Kevin 'The Bug' Martin and poet Roger Robinson join forces for another King Midas Sound tale and this time they've brought company: Experimental guitarist Fennesz. Exploring his vaults for textures and tones, and reinterpreting them into their own tonal brand of immersiveness, Fennesz's sounds act as a canvas for Roger's measured messages and Kevin's wizard-like ability to conjure up sense-arresting atmospheres... Just as the next collaborators will later on in this album series. With added evocative soul subversion from vocalist Kiki Hitomi, the result sits somewhere between Blue Lines, Kryptic Minds, Nils Frahm and David Lynch. We're looking forward to Edition 2.

Review: Textural-drone throne-dwellers, Ozmotic and Fennesz, have collaborated on many a prior occasion - but their latest album, Senzatempo, is their first to explore the concept of timelessness. Senzatempo means 'without time' in Italian and the album reflects this idea by creating immersive and hypnotic soundscapes that quite literally attempt to transcend the boundaries of space and time. Presumably this can only occur in the imagination of the listener, not in reality - but some ontological arguments might argue, 'what's the difference?' Across four sizzling, shifting and billowing tracks from 'Floating Time' to 'Motionless Image Of Eternity', the pair use a variety of instruments and sources to put the music in an impossible state of self-perpetual stasis - a sonic time crystal.