Recondite / Hinterland
Label: Ghostly International

Matthew Stevens
Reviewed 2014-01-14

Berlin-Based producer Recondite used his homeland of Lower Bavaria for inspiration for his debut album on Ghostly International. He samples sound recordings from his recent visits to the area. He incorporates these samples in the very ambient structure held together loosely with frequent four/four baselines that give the album a bit of danceability. Overall, it seems like a very ambient journey through the wood, or Bavaria I guess. Many of the tracks seem to blend or sound too similar, which may lead to an interpretation of redundancy. The sounds are good, and the album would be enjoyable if your are looking for further spectrum ambient. My favorites are 5 and 10.

2:41- Reverbed fluty sounding instruments with woodblock percussion. Sounds like a jungle in the late afternoon or early morning.
5:12- More spaced out ambient with bass. Some cool squeaking in background.
4:01- Very ambient and droned out with delayed bells. Perhaps a bit boring.
5:21- The most synthy of the album with more reverbed aquatic sounding tones.
7:18- Some of the bass reminds me a bit of uk bass, but like others really ambient and chilled out.
2:40- Not much happening, other than wind sounds until 1:05 when low frequencies come in that ebb in and out but pretty much it.
6:34- A lot of xylophone work over four on floor bass with ambient background low frequencies
7:31- Kind of slow with enchanting, yet kind of creepy bells or flutes in the background that pop in and out over the course of the song. Shaker percussion with bass.
4:38- Pretty much just like all the others.
3:45- Most danceable on the album with four on the floor. I like the mid bass melodies under the flute melodies.