One of the pioneers of ambient music, Iasos, is one helluva cheesy, hippie, New-Agey lookin’ bloke, but this early ambient album of his sounds bewilderingly amazing and is miles, miles, miles ahead of its time. It is absolutely unbelievable this stuff came out in 1978, because it sounds as though it could have been released sometime in the mid 1990s. It easily outshines everything Jarre has ever made other than Oxygene perhaps. Nevertheless, Oxygene sounds really dated in comparison as well, probably because of its phase-y string synth sounds that are all over this record and clearly attest to the period of time in which the music was produced. Angelic Music, on the other hand, is both drone-y in the vein of Brian Eno works as well as ethereal by virtue of it being drenched with delays, reverbs and all sorts of effects that endow it with its singularly angelic tone.
That’s the stuff, Mickey. Been loving me some synthwave over the last couple of years. New Model was one of my favourite albums from last year and his previous effort The Uncanny Valley was my absolute favourite of 2016.
Been aware of Carpenter Brut, Perturbator and other aggressive nu-synthwave examples of this nature for some time now. Excellent stuff indeed. Be sure to check soundtracks for both Hotline Miami games, they’re splendid, although I’m sure you’ve already done it. The games in question are top-notch as well and if you’re into gaming, you might want to give them a try.
I’m not much of a gamer anymore, not since the heyday of the ps2, but I love those soundtracks. The first Hotline Miami soundtrack (and, probably, the Drive soundtrack too) got me into this music.
My wife and I went to see Carpenter Brut in London, a little over a month ago. Absolutely brilliant.
It’s funny. While I love the entire Drive soundtrack, it’s the ambient noodlings of Martinez that have stuck with me for all these years and ultimately made me take interest in ambient genre.
It must have been a blast.
That intro has already encouraged me, LOL.
BTW, if you have any more recommendations and some obscure picks, I’m all ears. I find it hard to follow all releases out there and I’m sure I’ve missed many a great synthwave record.
Toxically harsh industrial techno. Not as noisy as some of their other works, but the lo-fi filthiness and aggressive sonic nastiness is here all right.
Cecil Taylor will forever be missed
