Ambient ModernAmbient Modern

This is the third of the ambient stations Andrew and Angela Klimek run out of Cleveland alongside Stereoscenic, their small record label of mostly name-your-price albums. The first of them, Ambient Sleeping Pill, was deliberately built to a very narrow aesthetic: calm enough to be slept straight through, and nothing else at all. Ambient Modern exists because that discipline kept ruling out records worth playing, so this one takes the same ear and gives it considerably more latitude.

What it holds is contemporary ambient built from organic texture rather than synthesis alone, so there is more grain and more instrument in it than its sister stations carry. Pieces are allowed to be interesting on their own terms here instead of staying politely in the background. Still no beats, still nothing abrasive, and still the same pair of people choosing all of it.