various / 14 tracks

14 tracks: Digital Abduction

We're taken by the pleasures of digital sound this week, exploring strains of cinematic ambient bliss, microtonal composition, and advanced electronica. While there'll always be a place in the world for the warmth and unpredictability of analogue electronics, the possibilities of digital synthesis are shaping the world around us at a much faster pace while allowing the artist to tune ever finer, brighter integers of tone, timbre and non-linear, fractal arrangement. Our selection reaches back to the late '70s with the exemplary soundtrack work of Philippe D'Aram and the outsider Finnish electrojazz of Pekka Airaksinen, leading to the pioneering mid '80s compositions of Maggi Payne and Jean Piche, respectively, and taking in the modern composition of Steve Roach & Loren Nerell, or Harold Budd & Clive Wright, via cutting edge glitch from Matmos, the alien refractions of Team Doyobi, Monolake's hyper-spacious D&B abstractions, and the romantic ambient tone bliss of Pinkcourtesyphone or France Jobin.