Though my review comes awfully late, let's say that this sampler (assembled by the Ex Ovo imprint, run by Mirko Uhlig/Aalfang mit Pferdkopf and Tobias Fischer/Feu Follet) is one of the best assorted collections of drones released last year, and grows with every new spin. The subtitle says "a collection of drone music and dulcet atmospheres", which pretty much sums it up, but possibly doesn't convey its variety. All tracks are unreleased and their quality-wise goes from good to excellent, so this is surely worth your time and money. Contributions range from the angst-ridden stasis of Keith Berry, Dronaement (a brilliant piece, this one!) and Paul Bradley, to the guitar-generated soundscapes of Fear Falls Burning and Troum, from the painful string scraping of Column One (sounding like Organum on a terrible mood), to the well-assembled remix of Jeffrey Roden's bass sounds by Feu Follet. Add two illustrious guests like the former Tangerine Dream member Steve Jolliffe, with flute tones revised by Uhling, and Moog-music pioneer Richard Lainhart, with a remix of his "White Nights", and you'll get a brilliant collection, not necessarily aimed at die-hard drone fans only.

As we first notice with the nice artwork and some titles of the songs, the new album by Dronaement is inspired by Indian culture and more precisely by Indian meditation music. The pace and repetition of the minimal rhythm section with ethnic instruments is added to the layering of sampled field recordings which is a constant in many of Obst's works. "Ezoterick Muzick" is similar to Storey's experiments with ethnic sounds and loops (late Zoviet France/early Rapoon) and the mind expanding synthlines have a deep connection with Tangerine Dream's and Popol Vuh's first works and maybe this album is even a tribute to some Kosmische masterpieces inspired by South-Asian culture (or hippy heritage...) like "Lord Krishna Von Goloka" by Cosmic Courriers feat. Sergius Golowin or the even more obscure "Crawling to Lhasa" by Kalacakra. For the cosmic travellers all over the world.

Marcus Obst/Dronaement's second release of AFE, after the brilliant "Yr" (2002), is a remastered edition of a tape self-released on his own Nauze [Muzick] back in 1999 - and a very worthwhile one, since this is a little gem. The 24-minute long "Allein...", using only sounds from an electric organ, is a powerful static drone played on the G tone, reminding of some early works of La Monte Young's or Charlemagne Palestine's. The original flipside, "...Unter Menschen", is a lengthy composition of field recordings taken in a Leipzig railstation, with the use, I suppose, of some editing and effects like delay or reverb, but in a minimal and unobtrusive way. The sounds (people talking, train noises, and a final tune) are very well assembled, and the piece maintains a kind of mysteryous atmosphere throughout. The bonus track is a very short (less than 4 minutes) drone, which is more in the vein of later works of Obst's - a shame it's so short, as I'd gladly have listened to it for much longer.

New release from Marcus Obst on his own Field Muzick, open and closed by two tracks using basic sounds by Andrea Marutti (Amon, Never Known, AFE Records etc.) and Aidan Baker. Unlike previous recordings by Dronaement, I'm afraid I can't really get into this, though. It has a lot of analogue synth sounds and, much like his track on "Muzick out of open windows", electronic beats show up here and there as well. "The deepest point on the moon" even sounds like a kraut-rock outtake of sorts, with minimal but upbeat "motorik" rhythm. Mind it, these elements are generally used well, but I'd just stick to the droning side of the project, well represented by tracks like "It's the same as the last year - great". This is just too spacey for my taste.

Field Muzick is a new-born label run by Marcus Obst of Dronaement fame, and is focused on, surprise surprise, field recordings and music. Hardly a new concept these days, as the idea of mixing sounds with what one can hear out of his/her window. This said, the sampler is really good, offering strong pieces by all projects involved. I have to say the phonography aspect is not that remarkable to me - you basically hear very similar sound phenomena throughout, but that's unavoidable I guess. The musical aspect, on the contrary, is much more interesting, sometimes brilliant. Oddly enough, Dronaement doesn't use the drones he's rightly known for, offering a piece of rhythmic, spacey electronica, and along with Frz w/ Imagho's acoustic guitars it's the only non-droning track here. Some great, sombre ambiences come from Aalfang mit Pferdekopf, Alio Die, Andrea Marutti (aka Amon/Never Known etc.), Logoplasm and The Infant Cycle. Sébastien Roux seems to reduce everything to pure frequencies and digital crackles, and offers a powerful throbbing soundscape. A very cohesive and rewarding sample, as all projects are well represented and surely offer no filler.