by Ben Hogwood
The ground breaking Lifeforms album from 1994 was one of the standout works of a prolific time for ambient music in Britain. It is effectively a single track, progressing over an hour…and Cascade sets the tone. See if you can listen to the whole thing, though!
Published post no.2,981 – Friday 14 August 2026
by Ben Hogwood
Some lovely blue sky musical thinking here…a track you can literally dive into, from an album full of bright lights, which I reviewed for DMC World on its release in 2016.
Do seek this out if you haven’t heard it before!
Published post no.2,980 – Thursday 13 August 2026
by Ben Hogwood
A direct quote from a review I wrote for DMC World, around the release of this album:
Moby is fundamentally a composer of ambient music, proficient in the form ever since the release of 1993’s Ambient album, which made a great deal from the smallest cells of melody, harmony and rhythm.
Long Ambients is cut from the same cloth, thought there is little to no rhythm here as this is music designed for yoga, sleep, meditation – or even the calming of panic. Moby himself swears by this music, and has made it available for free. There are eleven tracks, all longer than 15 minutes and one as long as 35, but they are essentially timeless.
Moby employs slow, broad loops that repeat with little or no variation, but they are recognisably his because of the voicing he uses, giving the first track in particular a subtle majesty. When heard in the right environment each of the pieces takes on the appearance of a ritual, with an intimacy to appeal to the private listener but a broad sound scape that can reach a bigger audience too. These pieces can subtly enhance your mental condition and are well worth the outlay – which is nothing!
Published post no.2,979 – Wednesday 12 August 2026
by Ben Hogwood
I have always admired the ability of Anthony Gonzalez to paint expansive musical pictures in his work as main writer for M83. However he is an extremely effective ambient writer too, as he showed on the largely instrumental release Digital Shades Vol. 1 in 2007, writing almost completely without beats. Coloring The Void is a completely unhurried example from the album’s core, scaling the peaks of euphoria as it progresses:
Published post no.2,980 – Monday 9 August 2026
by Ben Hogwood
The work of Andrew Weatherall is greatly missed, not least because he managed to include so many different forms and genres in his writing. We don’t always associate him with ambient music, but Sabres of Paradise, the group he was part of with Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns, wrote an absolute beauty with this heat-soaked track:
Published post no.2,979 – Monday 9 August 2026
