Category Archives: Switched On

New music – Black Dog Productions featuring Ofra Haza – Babylon (Remastered)

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posted by Ben Hogwood, with text from Bandcamp

This poignant re-release of a long-lost track is a fitting memorial to Ken Downie, the much-missed founder of The Black Dog.

Its Bandcamp commentary, from The Black Dog members Martin and Richard Dust, reads as follows: “I don’t remember talking to Ken about this album very much. I do remember his manager sending me the album and singles, along with a bit of chat about the quality of Jimmy Cauty’s remixes. Beyond that, it was one of those records that quietly appeared and then slowly disappeared again.

Looking back, this feels like Ken’s second solo Black Dog album. It has always sat slightly outside the main Black Dog story and, because of that, it never seemed to receive the attention it deserved. Over the years it became increasingly difficult to find, and for many people it simply vanished.

We’re making it available again because it deserves to be heard. We also want Ken’s work to remain available as a complete archive, rather than leaving important releases scattered across deleted CDs, out of print vinyl and disappearing digital services.

One thing that has always puzzled us is why the release ended up consisting mostly of remixes of Ken’s original recordings. We’ve spoken to people involved at the time, but nobody seems able to remember exactly how or why that decision was made. The original DAT tapes are still safely stored away and, one rainy day, we may return to them and finally release the original versions as they were first recorded.

Originally released on Warner ESP in 1998, Babylon became one of the last projects that Ofra Haza worked on before her untimely death on 23 February 2000. Her voice, combined with Ken’s production, created something that still sounds unlike anything else from that period.

A few years after its release, Ken reflected on the project and said: “Out of everything I’ve ever done, I think the Babylon project is the one thing that I’m most proud of.” 

Published post no.3,008 – Saturday 5 September 2026

Switched On: Christian Prommer: Rhythmique Nocturne (Compost Records)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Rhythmique Nocturne is the first solo album from Christian Prommer in over ten years, picking up from the successes of Drumlesson Zwei and Übermood, complementing his work as part of Trüby Trio, Fauna Flash, Drumlesson and Voom:Voom.

Prommer, in the words of his Bandcamp, “distils ten years of Berlin into a twilight drift between order and abandon. Daytime studio sketches are pulled apart at night, reshaped by shifting perspectives that swing between jazz harmony, textural experimentation, and the heavy gravity of techno basslines and analog drums. Intimately close-mic’d piano, drums, percussion, cello, and strings are constantly recontextualized—dropped into new rooms, resonances, and imagined spaces—so their meaning keeps mutating. Room noise, human breath, and accidental sounds are folded into the pulse, turning spill and imperfection into rhythm. Even a piano lid thudding shut on Dark Matter is claimed as part of the beat, underscoring an album that embraces freedom, spontaneity, and the beautiful lack of accountability that defines this city at night.”

What’s the music like?

The extended quote shows everything that this album is about, rhythm being the prime focus but with instrumental colour always carefully considered and imaginatively sourced.

What strikes the listener is the forward momentum Prommer enjoys on each track, the fusion between jazz and dance that working extremely effectively, the grooves driven by the lower end of the piano working a treat.

The likes of Algorhythmic and Dark Matter reach thrilling highs, powered by sharp piano stabs and quick beats, their lean and wiry kinetic energy getting the foot tapping straight away. Black Mamba adds deeper feeling, a darkly glinting track that builds effectively, while Bosss lets Kelvin Sholar’s piano run free. Tryin’ Times harks back to the Truby Trio, sashaying into the room in the company of Justine Hoerwarth, whose vocal timing is ideal.

Providing contrast is the deep Struck, vocalist Leona Berlin multitracked on a smoky slower jam, and Night Society, whose orchestral palette grows in poise and power.

Does it all work?

It does – and with atmospheric slower tracks complementing quickfire missives, the contrast is ideal.

Is it recommended?

Yes. An album that fizzes and pops in all the right places!

For fans of…St. Germain, Brandt Brauer Frick, Truby Trio, Jazzanova, Kyoto Jazz Massive

Listen / Buy

Published post no.3,006 – Thursday 3 September 2026

Switched On: Abul Mogard & Rafael Anton Irisarri – Where Light Pauses in the Silence of the Sun (Black Knoll Editions)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

This is the second collaboration between Abul Mogard and Rafael Anton Irisarri, created during a three-day residency at Berlin’s Morphine Raum. The duo recorded their performances live while also reshaping their work, using rotary speakers, modular synthesizers and bowed guitar. All were captured through a vintage (1970s!) mixing console and microphones placed around the room.

As the pair returned to their home studios, Mogard manipulated the existing material through his studio in Rome, while Irisarri added guitar textures and treatments in New York. Then, passages recorded by cellist Martina Bertoni and violinist Andrea Burelli in Berlin added new layers to their work, after which Mogard reassembled everything into the final versions.

What’s the music like?

Like a slow-moving swan, this album proceeds serenely with no hint of the process going on underneath. Heard on headphones, there are moments of heart-shifting beauty as the slow moving but firmly set musical processes make their mark, and the harmonies make telling turns when led by the bassy drones.

This is the case for In the Eastern Wild, a descriptive number that grows in stature to become an awesome presence, a wall of sound complemented by Over The Domes, held exquisitely in suspension.

The centrepiece of the album is A Blue Descent, where immersive ambience takes on new levels with the help of Bertoni’s long-breathed cello phrases, brooding yet uplifting, and In A Quiet Radiance, which goes through a similarly pronounced crescendo. Here Burelli’s violin sits above with a wordless vocal, all beautifully judged and woven together.

The comedown from this is the huge space found by Of Blessed Ages, then the wall of outdoor white noise that is Among Shadows, with a drone you could happily dive into.

Does it all work?

Yes. The pair work as one throughout, the music unfolding with a natural beauty and stature rare in ambient music.

Is it recommended?

With great enthusiasm. This is music that can calm the fevered brow, but also warm the cold heart, for there are great emotional depths found through the smallest movement. A deeply impressive achievement.

Listen / Buy

Published post no.3,005 – Wednesday 2 September 2026

#AmbientAugust no.27 – Erland Cooper & William Doyle – Murmuration

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by Ben Hogwood

Murmuration is the companion album to Erland Cooper’s debut as a solo artist, Solan Goose. It was written with William Doyle, and shows off the ability of both in a ‘less is more’ musical environment, with sonorous drones for each of the three movements, known as migrations.

Here they are, designed for continuous listening – and with Doyle’s comments in mind: One of the most enjoyable collaborations I’ve been involved in. Murmuration drifts in and out of consciousness. It’s a seamless sonic poem that not only evokes the place and memory of Erland’s original compositions, but hopefully of the new frontiers we pushed it towards together.” 

Published post no.2,997 – Thursday 27 August 2026

#AmbientAugust no.26 – Jean-Michel Jarre – Oxygène, Pt. 2

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by Ben Hogwood

It is rather sobering to think that Oxygène, the original album, is now 50 years old. Listening to it remains a transporting experience, Jean-Michel Jarre‘s remote and often extremely calming world seemingly high above the clouds.

I remember hearing Oxygène for the first time in 1987, the day after a huge storm had wreaked havoc in southern England. There was an eerie calm outside, and the music matched it perfectly, reassuring in the face of unrest:

Published post no.2,996 – Wednesday 26 August 2026