Floatation

Those who remember the good old days of Brian Eno's Discreet Music and Music for Airports or Jon Hassell's more highbrow ambient excursions on the Editions E.G. label, or those who harbor a secret jones for the Higher Octave back catalog, will be sure to fall in love with this compilation album from the always-interesting Interchill label. The cuts on Floatation have, according to the press materials, "been placed in a careful and intentional order that guarantees the maximum chill-out quotient." And sure enough, maximum chillage is exactly what it delivers, from the vaguely South Asian ambience of Neil Sparkes' "Miramar" to Makyo's vaguely funky (and also vaguely South Asian) "Clarity (Melting Snow Mix)." Mystical Sun contributes the extremely abstract "River Goddess" and Steve Roach weighs in with a typically trance-inducing composition entitled "This Life." This is a new-school update on old-school ambience, and it fulfills its stated purpose admirably. ~ Rick Anderson|