Outer Space At Juno Download

Review: Spectrum Spools have had a year that's been nothing short of stellar, and we've only just reached the half way point. Competing with The Motion Sickness of Time Travel's self-titled album in our affections for Spectrum Spools release of the year, Outer Space land with Akashic Record. An ensemble led by label curator and Emeralds member John Elliott, the record resembles the arpeggio led soundscapes of his more well known group, but sans guitars, with music that both ripples with the hypnotic pulse of the universe's unseen workings and resembles the best synth based soundtrack work of the 80s and early 90s. Fans of John Carpenter and Tangerine Dream take note.

Review: Earlier this year, New York-based synthesizer fetishist John Elliot delivered this first instalment of the Outer Space trilogy, a set of decidedly spacey tracks created almost entirely with modular synths. The second instalment, created alongside friends (and fellow synth-cadets) Andrew Veres, Philip Whiteside, Drew McDowall and Adam Miller, offers a far less intense listening experience. "3332", for example, sounds like classic experimental synthesizer ambience - Tangerine Dream with a touch of the Orb, perhaps - given a modern twist. The same could be said about the gorgeous "Vanishing Act", which bubbles away impressively for 12 minutes. Perhaps most impressive of all, though, is the far-out, intergalactic voyage of "Liquid Systems Functions", 25 minutes of starry, soundscape ambience.