by Ben Hogwood
A full appreciation of the visionary producer William Orbit will follow tomorrow, but for now here is one of the most effective tracks from his album recasting classical music, Pieces in a Modern Style. In it he takes two of Henryk Górecki‘s Pieces in the Old Style, of which this is the first:
Published post no.2,978 – Sunday 8 August 2026
by Ben Hogwood
Michael Brook’s Cobalt Blue album from 1992 has just been re-released by 4AD, bringing his form of studied guitar ambience to new audiences, while reminding those who listened the first time around just how good it is.
Brook played the ‘infinite guitar’, an instrument he created that could sustain notes indefinitely. He was joined by ambient music royalty, with Brian and Roger Eno contributing, along with Daniel Lanois. The result is a rather beautiful long-form composition dividing nicely into 12 parts. The second, Breakdown, is particularly blissful:
Published post no.2,972 – Friday 6 August 2026
by Ben Hogwood
James Braddell has been remarkably prolific under this pseudonym – so with plenty more to explore, I’ll leave a high point from his Fast Asleep album on Ninja Tune from 2002. Very deep indeed…
The Funki Porcini Bandcamp page appears to be fully up to date, and has a very impressive discography
Published post no.2,968 – Tuesday 4 August 2026
by Ben Hogwood
The mid-90s saw something of an ambient house boom, with a large number of quality productions crossing over from the underground to the mainstream.
One of these tracks was Salt Tank’s Eugina, which I still remember hearing on Pete Tong’s Essential Selection in 1996, and which acted as the perfect start-point for a deep dive into their output, which consists of some quality ambient EPs.
Sadly their vocalist and drummer Andy Rose died in November 2012, and the band no longer appear to be a going concern. Listen to the whole of Eugina, though, and its rather beautiful evolution over ten minutes, and you’ll get a very good idea of what the fuss was all about:
Published post no.2,967 – Monday 3 August 2026
by Ben Hogwood
One of the benefits of social media is the opportunity to share music we love, to get new perspectives on music we know, and to discover whole new pathways and music we haven’t heard before.
This used to be one of the best things about Twitter, but for obvious reasons I’ve closed that particular door and now enjoy BlueSky, where a welcoming community share music challenges from month to month. I’ve enjoyed a few challenges, but the latest one is definitely worth sharing with Arcana readers.
Without further ado, welcome to #AmbientAugust – with thanks to Coinneach Rooney (@coinneachrooney.bsky.social), whose idea it was. The guidelines are:
“Post an ambient track each day in August. Modular synths, lo-fi guitars, digital landscapes, or whatever feels right to you. There are rules, but you’ll only find out what they are after breaking one. 😂 Use #AmbientAugust when you post.”
My contribution for day one is Aphex Twin‘s Xtal, one of the very first bits of music we heard from Richard James back in 1992, when it was released as the first track of his Selected Ambient Works Vol. 1 anthology for Apollo Records. It samples Evil at Play, a production music track by Steve Jefferies, Mary Carewe and Donald Greig, and Apache by Incredible Bongo Band.
The track has special significance for me, as the Selected Ambient Works Vol. 1 album played a part in helping me through glandular fever at university. Here it is – very simple, and blissful:
Published post no.2,965 – Saturday 1 August 2026
