It’s been an extraordinary month for ambient music, presenting a spectrum of sounds from introspective journeys to expansive, genre-blending landscapes. Artists like Dylan Henner, zakè, Isaac Helsen, and ojeRum have released captivating tracks that push the boundaries of ambient music. This roundup features the 15 best ambient tracks of June, showcasing the innovation and creativity within the genre. Each track offers a unique listening experience, whether it’s through lush soundscapes, emotive melodies, or experimental textures.
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These are the 15 Best Ambient Tracks of June 2024
Dylan Henner – Lullaby
Dylan Henner (AD 93, Phantom Limb) returns to Dauw with ‘performs Raymond Scott’s Soothing Sounds for Baby’, a new album wxhere he reinterprets a selection of Raymond Scott’s iconic work originally released in 1962. If you’re awake – or at least not deeply relaxed – after this, I’d be very surprised.
zake, Isaac Helsen – Atonement, Pt. III
The collaborative process between Isaac Helsen and Zach Frizzell (known as zakè) has always involved exchanging files, as the two artists reside in different parts of the US. With Atonements, their second major collaboration, the exchange of equipment directly influenced the sounds produced. Helsen gifted Frizzell a reel-to-reel, while Frizzell gifted Helsen a Korg Minilogue, which became the foundation for their respective contributions to this release.
ojeRum – En Sten For Solen
With his latest release En Sten for Solen (A Stone To The Sun, translated from his native Danish) we have an album which builds on øjeRum’s already finely-honed sensibilities and creates an emotive and introspective journey through his refined creativity.
Priori – Everything Forgotten Flows
Montreal’s deep techno and ambient stalwart is joined by Ben Bondy, James K, and more on his latest album. It deftly navigates the realms of techno, drum n bass, and ambient, never overstaying its welcome.
Martha Skye Murphy – Theme Parks
Meaning shifts throughout Martha Skye Murphy’s debut album ‘Um’ with songs that meld moments of baroque beauty with crashes of electronic noise, employing textures that are by turns organic and artificial, hi-fi and lo-fi.
Ekin Fil – Stone Cold
Ekin Fil’s drone-pop consternations surface through vaporous tones and forlorn, distant songs, as if drawn from a dream. They move with their own internal logic, embodying an emotional weight that transcends mere shoegazing ambience.
Illuvia – Vale of Shadows
Ludvig Cimbrelius returns with his third full-length album on ASIP under his illustrious ambient jungle/drum’n bass alias, Illuvia. Shifting focus from the stratospheric highs of 2021’s Iridescence Of Clouds, Ludvig now reflects on the meaning and spectrums of life on Earth with mesmeric results.
Final – Bodyless
Ominous, often overwhelming drone from a project that has existed sporadically since late 1983, when Justin k Broadrick was 13, initially as an industrial / power electronics exploration. FINAL was shelved in 1986 whilst Justin pursued his activities with Napalm Death, Head Of David and GODFLESH, and then revitalised in 1992, to traverse sombre, ambient themes and beatless spaces.
øjeRum – Coreless Whisper
Second inclusion of the month for øjeRum but when you’re this prolific – and talented – it’s hard to argue. Also – it would make the cut based on the title alone.
KMRU, Kevin Richard Martin – Differences
Twin heavyweights Kevin Richard Martin (The Bug) and Joseph Kamaru (KMRU) unite for Disconnect, a powerful study of dread, hope, and profound sonics that marries depth-trawling dub with Kamaru’s voice, ambient sensibilities, and negative space.
Mabe Fratti – Elastica I
One of at least a couple of tracks on this list that’s perhaps stretching the boundaries of what might traditionally be termed ‘ambient’, but what is ambient if not an exploration of the far reaches of music? I’m sure Eno would be fine with it.
Night Tapes – assisted memories
Night time London, genre-blending, multi-fidelity recordings and honest reflection contribute to their atmospheric soundscapes that ultimately make for fresh and envelope pushing dream pop, taken from probably my favourite EP of the year so far.
Actress – Hell
Actress’ tenth studio album, the celestial and expansive Statik arrived via Smalltown Supersound. The collaboration between Darren Cunningham and the esteemed Oslo-based purveyors of elevated sonics evolved organically following Actress’ remix of a Carmen Villain cut for the 12” of her Only Love From Now On LP.
µ-Ziq – Reticulum A
Mike Paradinas, veteran producer and Planet Mu label owner has written a new album called ‘Grush’ and it’s full of weird bangers that reclaim the ‘dance’ part of the woeful term IDM. And it’s littered with these ‘Reticulums’, which are a bit like the chill out room (remember those?) of an otherwise fairly full on rave.
Lina Filipovich – Silver Ghost
Music for an imaginary dancefloor is an fantastic album title, and happily Lina Filipovich backs it up by packing it with post-club, heavily deconstructed dancefloor ‘weapons’ like this, exploring the liminal space between club music and something altogether weirder, elusive, and abstract.
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