The AbstrAct Observer
We regard music.
We write notes and share voices about independent releases: ambient, instrumental, electronic, contemporary, experimental, minimalist, whatever.
Submit yours here.
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Our first release is out.
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voices #46
◦ “voices” is the place where we ask, artists reply and you read.
here we got:
virabelo
answering some questions. We have already observed his drone / ambient work here.
[1. IDEA]
■ The A. O.: Can you tell us how the the track “Nova Mistero” came to light?
► virabelo: Nova Mistero (which is Esperanto for ‘New Mystery’) happens to be the sister track of Monolito (‘Monolith’). The two tracks share the same synthesis approach while also being the same total track length, which wasn’t hard to end up that way as they both share the same 60 bpm tempo. While Monolito is much darker in mood, I found that Nova Mistero has a much more lighter and open feel. Originally, the album was going to be called Monolito, with the album’s title track being the final track on the album. After later composing and naming the Nova Mistero track, I found that the track title sounded much nicer for the album name, and also felt the overall vibe of it was perfect to begin the album while the sister track, Monolito, closes the album.
[2. CREATION]
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observation n.89
THE GOLDEN SPIRAL
A Surfeit of Lampreys
○ Feb 2026 | Label: ECHØVEIL RECORDS
■ Genres: Experimental / Electronic
■ Rating: 6.5/10
■ Favorite track: “Pewter”► This abstract and restless track defies easy interpretation. Fragments emerge abruptly, repeat with uneasy insistence, then vanish before the listener can fully grasp their shape. The piece feels intentionally elusive, driven by textures and gestures rather than melody or structure. Each loop carries a sense of tension, as if meaning were constantly forming and dissolving at the edges of perception.
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voices #45
◦ “voices” is the place where we ask, artists reply and you read.
here we got:
end, red dress
answering some questions. We have already observed his experimental / field recordings / drone work here.
[1. IDEA]
■ The A. O.: The track from “the brink” that we prefer is “it’s the thinnest and brittlest of veils”. Can you tell us how it came to light?
► end, red dress: I was messing around with a DIY shortwave radio I just assembled. Walking around in a remote field, listening to all kinds of sweeps and clicks and patterns that traveled through the ether… suddenly I stumbled upon this indiscernible transmission: there seemed to live someone buried in all that static. It’s that sudden rush of discovery, but feeling it slip away at the same time. I tried to get a clearer signal by repositioning around in all kinds of manners, but the signal was lost. Blips and swooshes remained. The transmission itself was probably just foreign radio talk on some mundane topic… but it’s the thrill of the unexpected. Luckily I was recording as well so it could become the starting point of this track: it just expands on that particular moment, as you so astutely observed yourself.
[2. CREATION]
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Observation n.88
Perry Frank
Scenario
○ Jan 2026 | Label: Shady Ridge Records
■ Genres: Ambient / Drone
■ Rating: 8.5/10
■ Favorite track: “Wait For Me”► This evolves in broad, patient movements, with layers of electric guitars drifting like slow, rolling waves. Each line melts into the next, forming a dense yet fluid sound mass that feels both expansive and intimate. Sighs of light tension, sustained tones and gentle feedback create a sense of endless motion, as if the music were breathing at its own pace. There’s a quiet emotional pull in the repetition, a feeling of calm tinged with longing. The track resists dramatic shifts, instead embracing gradual transformation.
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observation n.87
thëm
El Dolor La Norma
○ Aug 2025 | Label: Independent
■ Genres: Experimental / Ambient / Post-rock
■ Rating: 7.4/10
■ Favorite track: “S’Agabbadòra (Mazzolu)”► This ambient / post-rock track builds a vast, immersive atmosphere. That’s done by layering shimmering electric guitars over slow, pulsing bass lines, all carried by a hypnotic three-note synth arpeggio. The arpeggio acts as a steady current, allowing the guitars to swell, recede, and intertwine like waves of sound. Patient and expansive, the track unfolds with cinematic grace, offering a powerful blend of repetition and evolution that invites deep, focused listening.
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the a.O. Audio Show
Chapter #1
A succession of sounds that we like ▼
TRACKLIST
► Gastr del Sol – Eight Corners
► Auditor – Flooding
► The Abstract Observer – i: to devise, to overcome
► Asha Patera – Chapter
► lebenerde – distanz
► Franco Battiato – I cancelli della memoria
► Harry Mason – Mae
► Keith Fullerton Whitman – Modena
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voices #44
◦ “voices” is the place where we ask, artists reply and you read.
here we got:
Droning Cats with NRV
answering some questions. We have already observed their ambient / post-rock / electronic work here.
[1. IDEA]
■ The A. O.: The track from “Cartography of Sleep” that we prefer is “Catastrophic”. Can you tell us how it came to light?
► Droning Cats with NRV: Catastrophic emerged the way much of this album did: in an unplanned moment where intuition quietly leads the way.
During one of our sessions in Brussels, a cluster of bird-like modular tones appeared almost out of nowhere, hovering over a deep, grounding drone. It felt like stepping into a dreamscape — familiar yet shifting. Christophe’s guitar responded instinctively, tracing a melodic path through this fragile sonic terrain.
As with the entire album, the recording was then sent across the world to NRV in Japan, who expanded the space with his subtle atmospheric signature—pads, reverbs, a softened horizon that allowed the track to breathe and unfold.
It’s worth noting that Cartography of Sleep was created entirely at a distance. Although Droning Cats and NRV have never met in person, the collaboration formed a kind of long-distance resonance: Brussels and Japan connected through sound, intuition and shared sensibility.
The title Catastrophic was given by Christophe’s ten-year-old son—a spontaneous suggestion that captured both innocence and emotional scale. We kept it immediately.[2. CREATION]
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observation n.86
Hajime Nakamura
Loop Drawing
○ Jan 2026 | Label: Ingrown Records
■ Genres: Ambient / Electronic
■ Rating: 7.8/10
■ Favorite track: “A Shower of Light”► This ambient electronic track unfolds around a dreamy atmospheric loop. The sound design feels light and immersive, as if floating through a half-remembered landscape. Nothing rushes: each element breathes and dissolves naturally. It’s an introspective, soothing piece that rewards attentive listening while remaining inviting as a background companion. A delicate, serene composition where repetition becomes hypnotic and atmosphere takes center stage.
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observation n.85
Daron Key
On The Slopes
○ Jul 2025 | Label: Independent
■ Genres: Noise / Doom / Experimental
■ Rating: 7.0/10
■ Favorite track: “First Light”► This track is a crushing wall of sound, thick with feedback, low-end rumble, and suffocating disturbances. The guitars move in slow, monolithic waves, creating a sense of overwhelming weight and ritualistic heaviness. Each sustained chord feels like a collapsing structure, vibrating with raw physical force. Layers of distortion blur pitch into texture, while the slow pacing amplifies every vibration and decay. The atmosphere is coercive and monumental, evoking both dread and dark catharsis.
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observation n.84
Substak
Empty Halls
○ Jan 2026 | Label: See Blue Audio
■ Genres: Abstract / Experimental
■ Rating: 7.2/10
■ Favorite track: “Empty Halls”► This is built around a relentless industrial white noise loop that engulfs the listener from the outset. The muffled noise forms a harsh, monolithic presence. Rare echoes of electronic rumblings and distant pulses intermittently surface, like signals breaking through interference. These sparse events offer fleeting points of orientation before being swallowed again. It’s an uncompromising experience, where tension between stasis and emergence becomes the central expressive force.