Because I am a Reviewer of A Certain Age, one of those who was young when the Berlin School was new, Phillip Wilkerson was able to hook me immediately with the first track–no, make that the first few notes of his new release, The Stars and Afterward. The open-throttle sequencer pulse of “Monoceros” sent a jolt of joy through my analog-loving heart. But this isn’t simply a Berlin-style outing. Rather, Wilkerson places a couple of these beat-potent excursions among softer, more Wilkerson-esque drifts to shuttle the listener easily back and forth. “Among the Nebulae” reduces the beat to a barely felt pulse, a suggestion running under pads that he gives a metallic, church-organ tone. You’ll notice it, but even when it’s at its most apparent it’s still modulated well into the mix. A nice touch. “Seven Degrees North of Castor” is another piece on the pulse-enabled side of the equation, and is just a fun, cool track to kick back with. There’s a lounge-like timbre to it, patched in with the retro vibe. What makes it work is the play between a striding bass line and a whistling, high melody–perfectly balanced. The drifting/droning tracks, like the lush and moving 21-minute “Radiance” are handled with Wilkerson’s practiced and, quite honestly, breathtaking grace. Wilkerson imbues his ambient flows with a feeling of pure patience and unhurried tonal observation. His “ambient mix” of “Among the Nebulae” and the title track, which ends the disc, carry this sense. “Among the Nebulae” is drone-based, a hypnotic wave of gently moving sound. “The Stars and Afterwards” is flush with a bit of star-romance, coming in on a somewhat dramatic rising tone before leveling off into a relaxed ambient drift. As is often the case with Wilkerson’s music, a through-line of optimism seems to thread itself into the work. The listener comes away feeling good, the spirit lightened just a tad. And that’s a very good thing. The Stars and Afterward is another superb release from one of ambient’s most consistent performers.

Available at Bandcamp.

Good things come to those who wait. The latest collaboration between ambient masters Oöphoi and Paul Vnuk, Jr. began its life in 2005 when Vnuk sent Oöphoi (Gianluigi Gasparetti) a series of improvised loops. That back-and-forth eventually produced their first album. Then, in 2009, Oöphoi returned to those source loops and began creating something new. Three years later, with both artists adding their signature touches and machinations, we are treated to Dreamfields, four long tracks of spacious, shadowy ambient constructs. “North Field: Axis” arrives bearing big, bass-heavy synth pads that bully open a real sense of space and distance, of an unspeakable vastness ahead. My own personal frame of reference takes me to Steve Roach’s “symphonic ambient” works like Magnificent Void; this track has that same building majesty under it. There’s also a sound early on that I can’t help but liken to a core sound in The Dream Circle. Oöphoi and Vnuk build this one to a gorgeous density, then spiral it back the way it came, paring to silence. This is the longest track of the four, and it acts as a gateway into the other, different spaces. With your brain suitably salved you can move into “South Field: Khyber”–a decidedly grimmer affair, awash in tenebrous swirls of dark sounds and a sense of dislocation. This track is thick with ghosts and whispers, both passing in a constant, vaporous stream. A snippet of Vunk’s son reading poetry slides in under the sounds later in the track and ups the creepy ante. A great atmosphere overall. The duo widen the space back out and lighten it slightly in “East Field: Helikum.” There’s more breathing room here, although the memory of shadows still curls up around the edges. Those rich undertones from “Axis” rise up in places; the mix of textures here is superb, and the drift is warm and enveloping. The disc closes with “West Field: Awua.” Here the duo spread their sounds to a thin and breathy wash. A sense of slow motion takes over. Chimes sound in the darkness to guide you back home–all the more effective for their being the only “solid” sense for the better part of an hour. Gently, Oöphoi and Vnuk guide the piece to a close. The sensations, however, linger. Dreamfields gets better and deeper with every listen. There’s no doubting the alchemy at work here, and no doubt that you are in the hands of a pair of ambient masters. This is a disc to set aside time for. The rewards begin immediately and just continue. This is music you will feel. One of the best ambient releases of the year.

Available from Projekt.

In what must be taken as a departure for two artists known for their dense, rich ambient atmospheres, Bruno Sanfilippo and Max Corbacho’s Bioma relies more on actual atmosphere–field recordings made in the fields and forests of Tarragona, Spain–to create a quiet, fully immersive soundspace. The field recordings, birdsong, water, wind, take the forefront throughout much of this 59-minute nature walk. Sanfilippo and Corbacho weave their electronic textures through the space like wind in the leaves. Around the halfway point, however, the sound takes a turn. The electronics slide more forward. Bells and chimes clatter, not entirely pleasantly and with a touch of discord. It’s like we’ve come to an uncertain place in the forest where something less than pastoral hangs in the air. Toward the end of the disc, the birdsongs that fill the early parts give way to crickets and distant nightsounds. Bioma is an interesting experiment. It’s clear that the two principals are not afraid to push their boundaries. The underplaying of the electronics early in the disc is nicely balanced with their stronger, darker presence later. This is a good low-volume listen that takes on new, deeper life in headphones. One caveat: if the sound of birdsong wears thin on you quickly, this is not the disc for you.

Available from AD21.

I must admit, there is a point in “Thy Last Flower,” the first track on the new Eternalkeys release, Eternalkeys 2, that made me laugh the first time I heard it. It was a laugh of unexpected joy, a feel-good moment in the music that made me recognize that composer Mimmo D’Ippolito wasn’t just offering up a New Age piano album.  The downside to this story is that just when he had me hooked with an interesting twist, the disc turned out to weight heavily on the side of overly bold and bombastic constructs that push for a sort of neo-symphonic feel but instead land with sort of a thud. “Thy Last Flower,” which succeeds with both its New Age side and the perfectly played metal-edged rephrasing that comes after, moves into “Ancient Doll,” and the contrast is, to get right down to it, disappointing. “Ancient Doll” thunders along with self-impressed bravado and no subtlety. Sometimes it feels like D’Ippolito doesn’t know when enough is enough. “Angel Soon” should be a perfect example of what he can do on piano. It begins as a soft and expressive New Age piece with light touches of synth in the background, and it’s lovely. Just when it could and should end quietly and on a fine, reflective note, D’Ippolito kicks it into a Yanni-type swell, overloads the background, and finishes with a hammer what should have completed with a sigh. On the other side of the coin comes “Forgotten Objects.” The first 90 seconds of this piece seem to be born from a different thought than the rest–and the rest, everything that comes after those 90 seconds, is pretty good, catchy electronica. The worst offense here is the closing track, “Strange Flight.” Here, the electronic beat that stumbles its way through the song apparently wants nothing to do with the music behind it. It’s conflicted and confusing and, to be honest, comes off amateurish. Eternalkeys 2 would be a complete miss for me if it wasn’t for the first track.

As always when I don’t care for something, I suggest listeners check out samples, which are available at Eternalkeys’ ReverbNation page.

If you’re looking for a bit of eclectic listening, you’ve come to the right place. From trippy space-jazz to charging prog to freeform funk and various points in between, the broad collective called Astralfish touch a number of musical bases on the rightly titled Far Corners. Fronted by Bridget Wishart, who spent some time in Hawkwind, and Don Falcone, last seen around these parts as half of Grindlestone, Astralfish call on a number of side musicians (including Gong guitarist Daevid Allen) to help snap out 16 tough-to-classify tracks in under an hour. As much of a mixed bag as it is, it works well–especially if you have a short attention span or have your i-Whatever set to shuffle. With the longest track barely clearing five minutes, Far Corners is a small-plates kind of disc, but the sounds are so dense and well packed that you get a lot of unique flavor in each bite. This varied crew can handle a straight-up, rock-edged piece like “Cloud Gather,” which begins slowly but kicks into wild, prog-guitar overdrive at the whump of a bass drum, just as well as it can coolly glide through the lounge-worthy, Middle Eastern airs of “Pacifica”–which also has its moment of guitar glory, all the more delicious for the way it flails against the watery rhythms behind it. The group’s soft side is showcased in “Riding the Seasons,” a piece that carries a strong dramatic/narrative feel without having to really raise its voice. “Lil Utbird” is a playful piece that starts out wearing a symphonic mask, which it whips off to reveal a tight, techno-style electronic side. Rich bass runs lay down an anchor as this one takes off on spirals of glitch. Falcone and Wishart are well known in prog circles for their work as Spirits Burning (which I confess I have not heard); with Astralfish, they may be able to bring their talent to a broader audience; there’s certainly enough variety here to catch your attention, whether you’re prog-ish, ambient-ish, or just good music-ish. Well worth a listen.

Available from CD Baby.

For his new release, Amongst Myselves (aka Steve Roberts) pulls some older tracks off the shelf to remix, along with three new tracks, to go with a DVD of his time-lapse-based visual art. The result, musically, is a mixed yet quite acceptable bag of styles that bring the listener through various spaces. Aided by Bernard Hasseloff on guitar synth and Garry Roberts on electronic percussion, Amongst Myselves keeps his creations mostly on the spacier side of things, with a couple of forays into dark zones. (Like the effectively creepy and aptly titled “Interlude – The Dark and The Cold.”) “Greybox Shadow (Into the Light Mix)” kicks the disc off with bass-heavy space-tones–a very classic sound that represents Roberts’ stronger side here. “Argo Navis (Blinded Mix)” does a great job of straddling the border between smooth ambient and interesting experimental. A buzz carves its way through rising ambient waves as wayward, warbling notes mark the passage. The roughness of the buzz, and its persistent presence, makes a nice counterpoint. I also like the heavy tribal drive at play in “Southern Lights (Black Hole Mix)” and way Roberts pairs it off against cavernous, shadow-shrouded drones. A very nice 10-minute ride that’s as effective when the percussion is pounding as it is when it widens out  and sets the listener loose. Speaking of drifts, Roberts is at his best here on the long, quiet washes of “Up Into the Air and Over the Edge (Between the Trees and Clouds Mix),” which starts out with soft rushes of cool wind that nudge along a patient melody. It’s quieting and reflective and simply slows things down as it passes. Take out the 51 seconds of “Interstellar Message,” which has done nothing but drill unpleasantly into my skull any time it comes on, and Ambient, Landscape and Space makes for another pleasing sonic ride from Amongst Myselves.

Available from CD Baby.