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This debut Solo-CD of Lorenzo Montanа is a fascinating mixture of IDM/Glitch and Chill-Out/Ambient combining different styles and modern production technologies. The sound is fresh and unassimilated,futuristic and "80s" at the same time. Using this unique music mixture Black Ivy describes the microcosmos of flora, lakes, ancient landscapes… the sound of the sap and microscopic life forms. Debut CDs often have this special magic that comes from years of collection and dedication to the best sounds and compositions the artist was able to find to finally release them. "Black Ivy" has this kind of magic and FAX is proud to present this music to you.

This is a marvelous effort by two newcomers to the Fax label. Sometimes light and melodic, and other times dark and trippy, there is a bit of everything here. "Hinuit" best exemplifies the free-floating musical side while "The Cage" offers up some serious "sparsed-out" trance. Minimalistic in its approach, yet engaging in its results, only carefully-tuned ears will notice the subtle sonic hues and tonal dynamics of this record.

Modula Green is a collaboration between redruM and Mark P. (Peter Prochir and Mark Pfurtscheller), who created eerie, hypnotic experimental music in the 1990s. A Fax release which remains in relative obscurity, "Shellground" is an excellent, underappreciated ambient techno album. It's filled with layered organic sounds and deep, enigmatic synth-lines, along with tribal-influenced drum programming. It all makes for a grade A level ambient techno record. It is every bit as good as some recognized classics.

Melodic, meandering synths, thick bass, live down tempo drums and percussion - Re:sonate brings together the smooth analog mastery of Pete Namlook and the dubby, exploratory 'home grown' sounds of Gaudi. The result is one with an ambient aesthetic veering off on a truly unique tangent. Repetition of the dominant patterns on Re:sonate creates a hypnotic familiarity, different layers dropping in and out, echoing congas, various peripheral effects enlivening the surface.

Both tracks start off with slow waves of ethereal sounds. During the 50 minute track, "Time - Cage," much evolution occurs. The slow melodic opening becomes a darker atmosphere. In the darker part, which takes up the majority of the song, low drones provide a foundation while wisps of air and (for a lack of a better term) spacey computer sounds flow by. There is a quiet percussion line with a cricket-sounding element that adds a sleepy characteristic. Eventually lighter or higher pitched background elements return providing a more ethereal sound late in the song. This gives way a short while later with the song ending with nothing but echoed electronic sounds surrounded in thick reverb. In every part of the song (the background drones, subtle percussion, foreground melodies and noises) there is constant, slow change…

"Car music for the Ambient-Vehicles of our days…" 4 long tracks starting at a slow 88 KMH with a nice slow dubby swinging beat. It grooves nicely. Then pops in a pulsing tone. Nicer. Then things start go get a bit more mysterious- especially with a woman giving the usual speech a stewardess gives before a plane takes off. Neato. 88 KMH picks up a bit more with some bubbly squirts and a nice beat about halfway into the track. Very nice. This cd has some really nice bass in it- deep and dubby. Very trancey. 90 KMH…faster and faster we go starting with a melody that continues in this track and the next. Again, the bass..getting more and more trancey. 130 KMH starts out with some low booming and then into some nice trancey stuff, clocking in around 130 (surprise!) or so.

Four Seasons is a collection from Pete Namlook's individual cds dedicated to the seasons. This series started early 1994 with "Seasons Greetings =Winter=" and since then evolved to a successful series of all four seasons. This very balanced and unique product contains Peter's real definition of the word Ambient in a very explicit way. Following the path of the great impressionist composers of the late 19th century, he improvised on the impressions that came to him during the four seasons. Of course these were brought to life with the instruments of our time: synthesizers, ringmodulators, incorporating environmental sounds.

'Kooler' is supposed to be the first in a series of collaborations between Peter Namlook and jazz musicians. This is an interesting move, to say the least, and not without it's potential for controversy. 'Urban Isolationism' has Pete Namlook on his usual arsenal of electronics, and what sounds to be electric bass & acoustic guitar. Robert Sattler plays saxophone, and someone called 'Cacciatore' plays trumpet.

The tracks on this album were created by Peter Namlook and Steve Stoll and are very much in the atmospheric, ambient, minimalist mould consisting of music which builds carefully with sonic ingredients added slowly and meticulously to the mix. Take the eponymous title track for instance, which takes over eighteen minutes to reach its conclusion, Namlook and Stoll begin with an oscillating bass sequence and gradually draft in various pulses and rhythmic textures which echo, fade and die and are then reborn in subtly different forms with different emphasis given to key rhythms or pulses, with some vaguely unsettling effects added for good measure.

Pete Namlook was one of the most influential protagonists of ambient music during the 1990s. Inspired by Oskar Sala, one of the pioneers of electronic music, Namlook focused on the untapped potential of analogue synthesizers, often developed or extended in his laboratory. This album is dedicated to Klaus Kuhlmann who died on the 14th of November 1995.