When you release your own music on your own record label, you end up having to introduce yourself on your own blog, which is more than a little strange! But this blog post for me was something I have wanted to do for a while and I've been working on it for quite some time. I wanted to share some of the stories behind how I got into Ambient music in 2007 and my journey over the years with this amazing genre of music.

First and foremost, I love music and I'm constantly on the hunt for interesting records across many genres. So I have set this blog post apart from the 'Grounding Sounds' format that you may have seen used in other posts. Instead, this one is just about my personal relationship with Ambient music.

Below you can follow the story chronologically through 27 records that have been an important part of my Ambient music journey. Starting with some of the masters of the genre and the netlabel scene, onto when I started to collect physical albums. There's a section on the Hibernate Recordings label and one on my discovery of Modern Classical music. Then I share some selections from my first record label, Audio Gourmet before introducing some key moments in Whitelabrecs history. I've included a couple of records of my own which represented quite a leap for me as an artist. I'd just add that in locating some of the physical records for this blog's cover image, I saw just how many incredible records I missed out. There's no way I could possibly condense my obsession with Ambient music into such a small list!

If you've time to read through all my waffled personal stories, then you might want to put the kettle on and hit the play button below...

The Ambient Icons

Brian Eno & Harold Budd - Late October

After lugging a discman around for a few years, I got my first iPod Classic in 2007 after entering a Coca Cola competition very late one night. I had no laptop to load up iTunes and so I got a free laptop from my boss whom I worked for at the local pub. I was quickly hooked once I started scouring iTunes for weird and wonderful music. That year I was still DJing, playing Dance music at gigs and I was usually out until the early hours surrounded by unhealthily loud sound systems. I’d often get tinnitus and would feel unable to sleep despite being exhausted. That year I discovered Ambient music after checking out some blogs, including the Hydrogen Cafe and.. a certain Low Light Mixes (still going strong today Dave!). Those guys effectively introduced me to Brian Eno and Harold Budd and I found that Ambient music was the perfect early morning companion after playing loud House and Techno in clubs. I then found it was great to listen to in the day too, and would take my iPod out on long walks in the countryside. I was hooked to the point where I felt torn between Dance music and Ambient music. The more Ambient I discovered, the more I wanted to immerse myself in it. The sense of calm was comforting, life-affirming. Eno and Budd’s The Pearl was made before I was even born, yet back then it felt so relevant to me. I was particularly fond of ‘Late October’ as coincidentally, that was the time that I discovered Ambient music and felt a strong connection to it, through my walks, and the colours of the trees, the grey misty afternoons, the nostalgic scent of wood fires burning. Perfect.

Steve Roach - Something In Tears

Another artist I discovered at a similar time was Steve Roach; I noted how his Quiet Music album was made the year I was born (1986) and the title itself sort of felt like the perfect description for the world of music I was discovering. And there wasn’t just the new stuff, there were all these classic electronic albums that were out at the same time that House music was blowing in the 80s, yet I’d never heard of them. This album certainly felt electronic, carrying with it some of that classic eighties feel, yet there were sounds of birds and water, that felt organic and natural. Quite a contrast that made me learn about field recording. I was given a dictaphone by a colleague, and started recording some sounds along my walks. It was yet another dimension to this whole new musical world I was discovering and now I was participating in my own simple way. I also started to make my own ambient music to accompany the field recordings I was making. I felt that unlike the dance music I’d dabbled in creating, where a technical perfection and mastery of frequency balancing/mixing was key to avoid a muddy or flat sounding mix (which I struggled with), I was making something that was art, that told a story. From childhood I’d always felt an urge to create art. Yet, I could not quite express it in any way. I felt that ambient music was exactly what was missing, and it was my way of expressing myself.

Tim Hecker - October

After exploring the legendary Ambient artists from the early days of the genre, I quickly started looking at the work of more recent artists, through podcasts and recommendations. I bought Tim Hecker’s ‘Haunt Me’ and I loved the hiss, granular synthesis and light electronics that embodied his work; the track ‘October’ really was a standout from this superb record, and it also happened to be my favourite time of the year. Ambient music and autumn seemed to really heighten my connection further with the genre. The cold, the mist as I went on my walks; the images I was seeing whilst listening to ambient music on my iPod was just so inspiring. Tim Hecker’s work with granular synthesis was a big revelation for me in making my own ambient music; I found a really cheap program called Atomic Cloud that would freeze any sound and turn it into repeating grains. It was very simple and LoFi, and enabled me to be even more creative.

Stars of the Lid - The Evil That Never Arrived

The big ambient record that landed that year (2007) was Stars of the Lid’s ‘And Their Refinement of the Decline’ on Kranky. I think this was my earliest taste of a slightly more classical leaning ambient album. I loved how brass and strings sounded when drenched in so much reverb. It felt like a stirring form of film music. I realised that a lot of the ambient music I enjoyed most had a melancholic feel to it and this album could certainly feel achingly sad. Yet as a positive person, it felt wondrous to me whenever I listened and often on walks I’d take in the landscapes and just feel so lucky to be on this planet. The aching sadness in the music was somehow uplifting, and triumphant to me.

The Netlabel Scene

Zvezdara - Still Life at Sunrise

I had a thirst for ambient music that was far bigger than I could afford back then, with my part time job as a barman. Thankfully I discovered a thriving netlabel scene, with labels such as Resting Bell, Zymogen, EKO and many others regularly releasing loads of free ambient music. When compiling this list, I wanted to pick just a couple of netlabel releases and straight away, I recalled this album by Sasa Vojvodic, as Zvezdara. The album is a wonderfully executed collection of electro acoustic glitch music and the title track has a beautifully looping guitar line and what seems to be a brass instrument or horn accent. Sasa also released netlabel music as Letna and co-ran the SEM netlabel with Alexandre Navarro. I really wanted to re-release his Zvezdara album so reached out to Sasa but he told me he lost the master files and the netlabel files were lower quality mp3s. But, Sasa did send me a beautiful Letna album called Starigrad, which I released in 2022. At the time of writing, the Internet Archive was down, consuming a huge history of netlabel music and I panicked that I might never hear this record again! Thankfully it was still on my old external hard drive, from all those years.

Nest - Trans Siberian

Another absolute netlabel classic was Welsh artist Huw Roberts and Otto Totland’s work as Nest, which was released on the Serein netlabel. I loved the music they were releasing, but this collab in particular was a wonderful little EP and many others felt the same way. As the Serein label developed, Huw and Otto developed the EP into an album called ‘Retold’ which I went on to buy of course. There were lots of great tracks on the EP but Trans Siberian is absolutely fantastic. Another early indicator to me that ambient didn’t have to be electronic in nature; classical instruments such as piano and violin could set a beautiful atmosphere.

The Boomkat Era

Pillowdiver - Nineteen

The next step for me after immersing myself in netlabel ambient music, was the online UK music retailer Boomkat. I found it to be a fantastic resource for discovering music that they used to call ‘Ambient / Home Listening’ and I developed a real trust for their curation of quality music from top labels like 12k, Type and Touch. What I found here with these labels, was really strong artwork and graphic design, and this seemed to be where I began to connect with album concepts more. When I bought music previously, I was buying tracks rather than albums. Yet with the artists and labels on Boomkat, there was a really nice branding to releases that packaged things up so well. I remember discovering Sleeping Pills by Pillowdiver and absolutely loving the artwork first and foremost. But the music combining with this made for a really strong concept and aesthetic, whilst leaving plenty of room for interpretation. The music was based around the guitar and some light noise, and I guess this was my earliest connection with an electro acoustic record.

Richard Skelton - Heys

Richard Skelton was another gem of a find via Boomkat, after initially enjoying his A Broken Consort album. Landings was an amazing record, but Marking Time cemented a preference in me for albums rather than tracks, as every single track on that album is top draw. I bought it on vinyl and I’d say this was the point when I started to buy physical music again. In my DJing days I was strictly vinyl only, when everyone was switching to CDJs, and I’d enjoy building up a shopping cart online and buying the best records I could afford on payday. Yet until around 2009 I wasn’t really buying physical music; mostly due to enjoying my trusty iPod but also, my records were in storage for a while. That year I was also able to afford to buy a bit more music as I left the pub trade for a day job selling sofas! And around this era, the art aesthetic within the records I was discovering on Boomkat made me really want to collect the physical copies.

Rameses III - Across The Lake Is Where My Heart Shines

Another record out at the same time, and also on Type was ‘I Could Not Love You More’ by Rameses III. I had a demo approved by Under The Spire label owner Chris at around that time and this was to be my first ever physical release, which was called Frozen Quarters. I remember Chris raving about this Rameses III record and talking about how much it meant to him, with the birth of his daughter. Strangely many years later, I had my own record label and more importantly, my own baby daughter and I could definitely relate to how Chris must have felt, as a proud father. Aside from a strong, emotion-inducing title and theme, the music on this record is superb and so it was a real classic in my book too. Around this time, helped with my release on Under The Spire, I began to chat online with labels and artists, and started to feel I was playing a very small part of an exciting and developing DIY ambient scene.

Marcus Fischer - Shape To Shore

Above I mentioned graphic design being at the core of the physical editions I was buying. Holding core design values and carrying an aesthetic consistently was what had me checking out every release by some of my favourite labels, simply by knowing I'd always be awestruck by the cover artwork as soon as a new release was announced. It's difficult to think of a record label that has embodied this better and over a longer period of time than Taylor Deupree's 12k. One of the artists he works closely with, both for musical collaboration and with photography too, is Marcus Fischer. I remember Fischer's Monocoastal coming out in winter 2010 and there was a tidal wave of hype around it. For many, this is a stand-out classic in an incredible 12k catalog. As you can see above, I was really starting to enjoy modern classical and folk elements in the Ambient music I was buying. But in this record, minimalism and electronics which also started with some acoustic sound sources, felt like the most complete form of modern Ambient music around at the time. I dare say for many, the simplicity and detail behind this record is a huge influence on many an Ambient musician.

Hibernate

Spheruleus - Losing Transmission

After the buzz of holding a real CD with my music on it, released by an actual record label (with 'Frozen Quarters' on Under The Spire), I had to keep making music and aim for more opportunities to repeat that experience. A label that was emerging at around that time was Hibernate. Another UK record label! I began chatting with Jonathan the label founder after sending him an early demo which became Voyage. He agreed to release this album for me, as well as arrange a call with Rudi Arapahoe to talk about how to strengthen the production and that was really exciting, after admiring Rudi’s own music. But, I also got involved with Hibernate, helping write some press releases and chatting to the artists as part of the writing process. Jonathan and I would email regularly and I had an insight into what it was like to run a record label, the thrill of taking a work of art to market, and some of the challenges he faced. He ran it all superbly and I owe a lot to Jonathan for not only the opportunities he gave me, but how much he shared about the operational and business side of running the label. I attended a Hibernate gig and got to meet quite a few artists there such as Antonymes, Machinefabriek, Simon Scott and Clem Leek - although sadly, being young and stupid, I drank a bit too much and may have fallen onto the stage…

Andreas Ferraris & Matteo Uggeri - Windscreen-Wiper, A Walk Through The Snow

If I were to pick one Hibernate record from Jonathan’s hugely influential catalog, it would be very hard so I’ll go for two… firstly there’s this superb album by Andrea Ferraris and Matteo Uggeri. Again, as with most of my favourite albums, there was a strong album title ‘Autumn Is Coming, We’re All In Slow Motion’ and this was enhanced further with lovely artwork across the CD sleeves. The tracks were named after the events and sounds you could hear in the field recordings, and there is just so much to take in on this record with some of the most narrative field recordings I’ve ever heard that weave a wonderful story.

Offthesky - Round Fever RiverOne of my netlabel heroes was Jason Corder, who records as Offthesky. Jonathan told me Jason was going to release a vinyl album with him and that I could write the press release, in exchange for a free copy. This was an absolute honour to be involved with such a top artist, and to get a chance to exchange a few emails with Jason. The Beautiful Nowhere album was made as Jason spent time recording in a wooden cabin in the wild of Colorado, near to Carter Lake. It was a truly inspiring vision of this artist’s retreat set in a natural space. The melancholy guitar lines on this record are incredible.

Landmark Modern Classical

Dustin O'Halloran - Opus 43

I’m a huge fan of Modern Classical music and so this is a big part of the style I curate in the Whitelabrecs catalog. It all started with Dustin O’Halloran’s Lumiere. This is of course down to Dustin’s piano compositions but the involvement of such a strong line-up, with the late Johann Johannsson involved in the mixing, alongside Nils Frahm, Clarice Jensen and more really enhanced the richness of this album. For me, this is an absolute landmark of a Modern Classical release, and Fat Cat’s offshoot label 130701 was also a big influence on my taste in modern classical music. I’m still buying 130701 records regularly to this day! A great example of how to set strong standards with the highest quality output. I could fill this blog post with lots of Modern Classical music, which some might argue are not Ambient music. For me, the two genres are closely linked in many ways and so I felt I had to give a nod to this record here.

Audio Gourmet

Herzog - Once They Know

Next, a selection of some tracks from my old Audio Gourmet netlabel. This netlabel was set up with the help of Jonathan at Hibernate, and ran between 2010 and 2018. It was where I learnt a lot of the basics on running a record label and there was a clear concept to it too. When I was trying to sell furniture, it was a pretty strict environment and I really valued my breaks! I’d get two per day and I’d always time my coffee break to ensure I took every second of the 15 minutes I was allowed. That gave me the idea of the Audio Gourmet netlabel; all releases were no longer than 15 minutes so that the full EP could be listened to during a tea break. Anyhow, looking back I’m still very proud of this catalog and there are many highlights. I’ve picked a few that stick out at a quick nostalgic glance through the Bandcamp page. First up, Small Loves by Bill Bawden’s Herzog project was a special record and I was thrilled to work with him after admiring his previous netlabel releases. I remember listening to this EP whilst walking into my local town one evening when it was snowing heavily. A car skidded onto the pavement and almost hit me; this little record helped reduce my adrenalin levels after that close shave!

Ibreathefur - Waking In Sync

Chris Spearman’s work as Ibreathefur was really exciting, as I was one of the first people to release music under this project. It was a new experience for me in the first year of running my netlabel, as this was an artist that hadn’t previously been established and so it was my first taste of playing a role in helping newer or less established artists connect with the scene. ‘Phosphenes’ is a set of 3 dynamic Ambient drones which have a clean sense of power throughout them and Chris got quite a bit of good press on this one, which was a useful way to kick off the netlabel in the early days.

Western Skies Motel - Reflections

Another artist I had the pleasure of working with at the start of their career was Danish artist Western Skies Motel, whose most recent album ‘Settlers’ on Lost Tribe Sound has become a classic in the book of many who enjoy acoustic-led Ambient music. I still don't own a copy of that one on vinyl, despite monitoring Discogs regularly to try and snag one. Occasionally a copy will show up in the Marketplace and they're fetching for three figure amounts! This EP features 3 acoustic guitar compositions and feels a good companion to the Settlers album.

Sima Kim & Elintseeker - Lullaby

And the last EP I’ve picked from the Audio Gourmet catalog is this electro-acoustic collaboration between far eastern artists Sima Kim and Elintseeker. It’s called Café Air and I took the cover artwork whilst inside the pub I used to work at and it seemed to be quite fitting. I loved sourcing the photos for the EPs that I released on the label, and it was always great to use some of my own amateur photography from time to time. I have always felt that cover artwork being linked to the titles or concept of a record helps tie everything together. I noted that in buying CDs and vinyl, my favourite albums were ones that meant something, with strong artwork to carry a concept - where you could look at the cover, read the title and get an instant understanding or flash of inspiration or intrigue. This record really bowled me over when I first heard it, the beauty of the acoustic instruments combining with electronics perfectly.

Whitelabrecs (part 1)

Tsone - My Asymmetric Ribs

Enter Whitelabrecs then! I never formally announced it as a replacement or next chapter for Audio Gourmet and they overlapped for a couple of years. In 2016 I rolled out the early discography for my new ‘mini bootleg’ format and due to keeping production costs and the run count low, I felt free to cover a wide range of musical ground. My original plans were to have a label that pushed more musical boundaries than I did with Audio Gourmet, expanding beyond Ambient music. However, the demos kept coming in and I had so many top Ambient records to consider that I just couldn’t say no to. Before long, the label became synonymous with Ambient music and that's fine with me. I’d loved Tsone’s work over the years and particularly his work on Audiotalaia. We had talked about a release on a label I’d started before Whitelabrecs which was called Tessellate. Sadly that didn’t quite work out but we kept in touch and he sent me ‘Dovetail’. His work really pushed the boundaries in electronic ambient music and the track ‘My Asymmetric Ribs’ is a personal favourite track on the label.

Ludmila - Day 4

As much as I place a big emphasis on an album needing a concept with clearly defined track titles and artwork that neatly captures a theme, sometimes a record can break that mould. This is art after all, so why not break the rules? I got sent a demo by Jori Borla with an album he’d written as Ludmila in 2017. It’s a collection of tape improvisations which were recorded each day for a week. The tracks were humbly titled Day 1, Day 2 etc and the cover artwork seemingly didn’t mean anything, despite being pretty gripping; a man plummeting from the sky wearing just a pair of bright blue shorts. On chatting to Jori, it became apparent that the artwork did in fact link to his work. He originated from Argentina and moved to France, and the imagery denotes his sudden landing, in another country and how he might get to grips with settling in. It is a really powerful thing overall, but so simple and relatable too. The music is so good, with looping electro acoustic tape experiments that could honestly each go on forever. If I could reissue an old item of the catalog to reach more ears, it could well be this one I'd turn to.

[Bonus Track]
Fatherhood

Ólafur Arnalds - Inconsist

This album was my album of the year in 2018 and an incredibly special one as I bought it at the time my first daughter Isla was born. Becoming a father was an incredible experience that far outweighs music, yet music doesn’t half help heighten those special emotions and listening back to my favourite records of any given year since my children were born bring floods of memories of small, pleasant family moments. Re:member by Olafur Arnalds is a record I’d play on vinyl whilst standing and holding Isla, trying to get her to sleep, or just simply listening to the music with her. Inconsist is one of the more upbeat pieces, with light drums and rhythm driving the track - I sensed that Isla seemed to like this one whenever I played it to her and it became our song that year. The emotional feeling in this piece still gets me every time, and takes me back to those magical days.

Whitelabrecs (part 2)

Janek Schaefer - Night In Narnia

Probably the biggest omission from this list charting my personal history with Ambient music, is Janek Schaefer’s Lay-by Lullaby on 12k. That album has helped get me to sleep countless times and I’ve listened to it so many times that I feel I know it really well despite all the dozing off. But Janek’s work makes it into the list through his compilation track ‘Night In Narnia’ which opened the first of Whitelabrecs’ flagship Sleeplaboratory series. This series was inspired by Lay-by Lullaby, and some early ‘sleep tape’ compilations I made in my blogging days. I had to invite Janek given how big an influence his record had on this theme and I was flabbergasted by both his answer, and this piece of music he sent me.

Glåsbird - Arktiskul

In 2018 after doing the first printed release on Whitelabrecs (Sleeplaboratory1.0) I followed it with my debut as Glåsbird which was the Grønland album. This was an anonymous project until 2023 and this intrigue managed to win over quite a few fans - but I was particularly honoured that Bandcamp selected the Svalbarð album in a curated ‘Ambient Essentials’ page that used to appear on the Ambient genre page for a few years. This really helped the label and my work as Glåsbird and this album, themed around Svalbard, is the most successful to date in my 8 album ‘A Sonic Expedition’ series. The album is mostly a collection of fractured MIDI piano performances but my personal favourite is this track Arktiskul, a serene drone piece.

James Osland - The Sea Is Where You Go To Reminisce When You Are Far From Home

2020 was the pandemic year and I imagine most labels, artists and well, any walk of life, will have a story or two to tell you from that year. I stopped selling CDs on Whitelabrecs between April and July, so I could avoid trips to the post office. I then got furloughed from my day job meaning that I was shut indoors for that period of time, experimenting what it was like to run Whitelabrecs full-time. Albeit in strange and restrictive circumstances. I had an idea to invite artists to document life in lockdown by producing an album or EP. I had a massive interest in this project and we did 30 editions over a 3 month period! It was incredible and really helped kick-start the recovery of the label. I had some spare cash at the end of the year and in 2021 I made a double album box set compilation containing a track from each of these releases. The artwork was painted by Adrian Lane, recreating the cover image I used for each edition. So this period of time is a really important part of the label’s history; picking one song from the Home Diaries series is hard! It was also a really special time for me because I was able to spend long sunny days with my daughter Isla back then, and so I’ve gone for a track which helps fill me with nostalgia of those times. It’s tempting to choose something from my own Home Diary (as Spheruleus) but I’ve gone for a piece from James Osland’s album which reminds me so much of the outdoors, rather than being stuck indoors. I remember James telling me that in his job m as a tree surgeon he was deemed a key worker - so he was able to be outdoors a lot during that time and his album is full of wonderful field recordings, or birds, wind, and in this one, a dog.

Sven Laux - Fragment 15

In 2021 Whitelabrecs reached 100 physical editions which I felt was a wonderful achievement and a chance to reflect back. To celebrate I did a few things including a mix of tracks from each of the 100 releases, made some limited edition caps and badges available and then I also did a compilation album called ‘Hundred’. I asked fans and followers to vote for their favourite albums on the label’s catalog and then after removing duplicate artists who had released more than one album, I was left with a list of 15. This compilation felt really strong and for me was a really special thing to sink into, as it provided a chance to reflect back on what my artists and I had achieved over the years and gave me all the confidence I needed to keep on going. I’ve worked a lot with Sven Laux over the years and so I thought I’d pick out his track from this compilation, not least because it’s excellently produced, much like all of Sven’s work.

The Inventors of Aircraft - Let's Go Together

In 2023 I launched a new format - the record wallet sleeve. These have a circular cut-out to show the label on the vinyl effect CDr and so they look like mini 45s or disco singles. They’re a bit cheaper to produce than the gatefold sleeves so I usually get the disc custom-printed too with a marble effect, to mimic the fashionable colour disc options you see in today’s vinyl market. This series kicked off with ‘Waiting For Something To Break’ by The Inventors of Aircraft. I’ve been a fan of Phil Tomsett’s music ever since my netlabel days mentioned above and had worked with him a few times over the years on Whitelabrecs and Audio Gourmet too.

Andrew Heath - Landscape after Corot

In more recent times, another really important Ambient artist from my perspective would be my good friend Andrew Heath! I met Andrew when he got in touch with a demo for his album with Anne Chris Bakker ‘How To Breathe Like A Stone’ and he had a lot of input on the design of the packaging for that particular edition. It wasn’t long before I asked Andrew to work on some designs for Whitelabrecs and this became the standard arrangement for all physical releases since 2021. This was around the time I rebranded the label and I guess this was the time I turned Whitelabrecs from a hobby into something a little bit more along the lines of a small business; I started to care that bit more about branding and the label’s aesthetic as much as I did the art and music. Andrew’s been more than just a designer, as we’ve chatted about the ambient music scene regularly, sharing our ideas. At the start of 2024 Andrew sent me his album ‘The Cloud Machine’ and I guess he was the constant as I navigated a busy year of improvements for Whitelabrecs including the website, email community, blog and more. In the second half of the year he agreed to set up a sub-label called Driftworks and we’ll work closely together with a combined community between our labels. So I had to feature some of Andrew’s music as a landmark moment in my Ambient music journey, as he’ll be very much part of the future of my ambient journey as I help him him establish Driftworks. That said, his music is so good, I’d no doubt have had to choose something by him anyway!

If you enjoyed reading this blog post and listening to my mix, you may also enjoy my music as Glåsbird - here's an album called 'Fenscapes' which is about my local landscapes, which you can check out HERE or hit the play button below.