Kranky Records Archives - Backseat Mafia

Album Review: Ana Roxanne – ‘Poem 1’: A stunning revelation in tender, honest song by this singular ambient musician.

The beguiling voice of ambient musician Ana Roxanne has been gradually revealing itself with each release. Once bathing in a gentle flow of rippling drones and rustling field recordings on…

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Album Review: Isabel Pine – ‘Fables’: An absorbing sonic journey at one with the wilderness.

The quality and concentration of ambient/classical leaning releases these days means that musicians need to create something with a little extra substance to make more than just a ripple. Well…

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Album Review: Earthen Sea –‘Recollection’: Blissful ambient techno with a deeper trip-hop flow.

Jacob Long’s musical journey has wound from seminal Dischord post-hardcore band Black Eyes through the deep dub rhythmics of Mi Ami to arriving, around 2014, in more greyscale/ambient landscapes with…

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Track: Restless ambient artist Earthen Sea announces new album ‘Recollection’ with a luscious and loose double preview.

You may recall the name Jacob Long as a member of the seminal Dischord band Black Eyes, a group who defined post-hardcore’s in-built non-conformity. Such a starting point inevitably embedded…

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Album Review: Belong – ‘Realistic IX’: The illusive ambient-shoegaze duo return, their deceptive power undiminished.

Things may come and things may go but the shoegaze dance still unravels. Thirty years on from a time when Catherine Wheel were possibly the most important thing in the…

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Track/Video : Illusive and illustrious shoegaze duo Belong return to announce new album ‘Realistic IX’.

New Orleans ambient shoegaze duo Belong might come across as determinedly illusive, maybe even deliberately opaque. Their music seems to arrive from nowhere, marked by increasing time voids between each…

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Album Review: Christina Vantzou -‘No. 5’: astonishing ambient-classical story telling.

Visual artist, experimental film-maker and ambient classical composer Christina Vantzou works with a method. Following her beginnings as one half of ‘The Dead Texan’ with Adam Wiltzie (Stars of the…

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Track/Video: Eminent composer and film-maker Christina Vantzou previews album ‘No 5’ with the radiant ‘Reclining Figures’.

If you are looking to explore a ‘body of work’ rather than a plain old back catalogue then Christina Vantzou’s CV will see you right. The composer, artist and experimental…

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Album Review: Earthen Sea – Ghost Poems: subtle, sensitive, soulful electronica.

Jacob Long (aka Earthen Sea) has a musical provenance that inevitably draws you in to take a look. He’s been a member of the Dischord endorsed, post-hardcore agitators Black Eyes,…

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