05 May 2026: Far East Family Band "Parallel Worlds"; Sulk Rooms "Songs of Soil" (Quiet Details 49); "Music for Ancient Catacombs"

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Musical Style and Influence

The album features long, hypnotic tracks that reflect the band's experimental approach. It draws inspiration from the psychedelic sounds of early Pink Floyd and the electronic experimentation of Klaus Schulze. The music is characterized by its immersive soundscapes and intricate arrangements, making it a significant work in the progressive rock genre.

 Review by Proghead
PROG REVIEWER 

This is without a doubt the best album FAR EAST FAMILY BAND has ever done. Unlike other albums where the band focused mainly on ballads influenced by PINK FLOYD, on "Parallel World" they decided to merge the prog rock style of the time with electronic music in the vein of Klaus SCHULZE. And just like their previous album, "Nipponjin", this album was also produced by SCHULZE, and you could swear he actually played on the album (he didn't). All the synth duties here are Fumio Miya[&*!#]a (who also played guitar and sang), Akira Ito, and Masanori Takasaki (who we all know as the future New Age star of the '80s and '90s, that is KITARO).

For "Parallel World", the band went to England to record at Richard Branson's Manor Studios to strike a deal with Virgin Records. Unfortunately Virgin rejected the album (their loss), so it was left released only in Japan (with two different album covers, depending what you got, mines is the lesser known one with the peering eyes cover). About these two different album covers, I am unable to determine if what I own is a reissue, but probably is. Let's say this new electronic direction for the band was an excellent move as they produced their ultimate masterpiece. Here you get "Metempsychosis" which shows the band in a more experimental setting, complete with synth drones and percussion. "Entering" and "Times" will fool you for SCHULZE's own works, Shizuo Takasaki's drumming often reminds me of Harald Großkopf (WALLENSTEIN member who was often found playing on SCHULZE's albums), and it's packed with same kind of space electronic effects found on a SCHULZE album. It's the presence of guitar (from Fumio Miya[&*!#]a and Hirohito Fukushima) that separates this from a SCHULZE album. Then you have "Kokoro", which harkens back to their earlier works. This is basically a slow ballad, sung in Japanese that could easily fit on "The Cave: Down to the Earth". This is the only song like this on "Parallel World".

And then you get the 30 minute title track that is just so amazing that it totally justifies the five star rating I give this album! Here the band goes on a lengthy jam, with the Akira Fukakusa's bass dominating with tons of killer synths, lots of great spacy string synths and Moog. After about halfway through this piece, the bass and drums gives away to straigh-up synth experiments. Somewhere you hear some chanting and references to Zen Buddhism. There are some truly mindblowing use of Mellotron that pop up on occasions, and this one synth solo I am pretty sure none other than KITARO is responsible for. I can't believe this album, it's hard to believe that a guy whose later music is often dismissed as New Age fluff (KITARO, that is) is on this album. Truly a wonderful album and if the description of this album sounds good to you, find a copy. 

Next up in the quiet details series, with a beautifully crafted interpretation, is the UK-based musician, Thomas Ragsdale, here as Sulk Rooms with Songs of Soil. (Quiet Details 49)

Full release 6th May 2026.

A mainstay of the UK electronic music and live performance scenes - Thomas has been releasing music for well over a decade and established himself as one of our most important voices, making what he describes as “luminescent electronica”. 

Releasing on a range of excellent labels (Waxing Crescent, Werra Foxma,  Subexotic and more), plus loads of self-releases, has created a deep back-catalogue - and he’s a regular fixture playing live across the country alongside some of the biggest names around. He also plays in the band Pijn and runs his own Frosti label.

His quiet details interpretation, Songs of Soil, is a reflection on his life living in rural Yorkshire and his connection to nature - in his own words this “is an album dedicated to the majesty of worms”. 

Making extensive use of field recordings of these essential parts of the ecosystem in his allotment, Thomas imprints the organic chaos of their hidden world - sounds rarely heard by humans, amplified and shaped into captivating and mesmerising soundscapes.

These worlds are both delicate and evocative of unknown space and are the perfect compliment to the ethereal and powerful sonic atmospherics Sulk Rooms does so well. Using a range of synthesisers, guitars and effects, the album winds its way though a huge range of emotions. Vast dynamics - from time-stopping euphoria to soft introspection - Thomas’s command of his instruments is absolute.

Melodic, textural and deeply moving - this is Sulk Rooms at his very best.

Undulating synthetic motifs unfold to effervesce waves of bliss; choral pads draw you into psychedelic stasis; soft piano evokes gorgeous melancholy - all mixed with the potent textures from the worms and their ceaseless movement.

Overall a stunning and wonderfully constructed piece of work - a true album and exploration into the creativity of Sulk Rooms.

Huge thanks to Thomas.

The artwork was made as always influenced by the music and idea behind the album - originating from a photo from Thomas which was then captured with analogue photography and processed here at quiet details studios.

Credits:

Music by Sulk Rooms

Mastered by Alex at quiet details studios

Artwork by quiet details in collaboration with Thomas Ragsdale

Design by quiet details

© quiet details 2026 all rights reserved 

FreeForm Radio thanks Alex for a complimentary copy of this release.

Album - https://quietdetails.bandcamp.com/album/songs-of-soil

 

 

 

 

Across centuries, catacombs have exerted a powerful fascination on the human imagination. These underground networks, carved beneath cities and landscapes, have served as places of burial, devotion, secrecy, and contemplation. Their presence continues to resonate strongly today, inspiring artists, writers, and musicians who perceive them as symbolic spaces where history, spirituality, and the passage of time converge. The silence of stone corridors, the weight of centuries, and the sense of suspended time still speak vividly to contemporary sensibilities.
“Music For Ancient Catacombs” is conceived as a descent into subterranean spaces where time, memory, and silence accumulate layer after layer. The catacomb emerges as a resonant chamber in which sound takes the form of ritual, meditation, and threshold. These underground architectures, both imagined and real, evoke permanence and decay at the same time, spaces carved to preserve the dead and to host a deep sense of continuity beyond human presence.
Featuring contributions from key figures of the dark ambient scene whose work has long explored liminal zones between sound, spirituality, and darkness, the compilation shapes a coherent sonic environment built from drones, distant harmonics, and slow-moving textures. Each piece unfolds as a chamber within a wider underground complex, distinct yet interconnected, guiding the listener through a continuous immersive experience.

In the same series:

Music For Abandoned Monasteries
eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-abandoned-monasteries

Music For Haunted Asylums
eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-haunted-asylums

Music For Alien Temples
eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-alien-temples  

credits

FreeForm Radio thanks Raffaele Pezzella for a promo copy of this release. 

releases May 14, 2026

REVIEWS

Bizarrechats:
bizarrechats.blogspot.com/2026/05/eighth-towers-music-for-ancient.html




Published by Eighth Tower Records.
Curated and mastered by Raffaele Pezzella.
Photos: The Catacombs of Paris and Naples; the Capuchin Crypt, Rome. Layout by Matteo Mariano.
Cat. Num. ETR071.
2026 All Rights Reserved.

ambient dark ambient drone ambient electronic music industrial noise ambient Italy

 

 

10 April 2018: Alphataurus - Pete Namlook/Klaus Schulze

Alphataurus is an Italian progressive rock band from the Milan area. Under the original lineup Alphataurus released only one album, Alphataurus, dated 1973, at the peak of the European progressive rock wave. The album was generally well received ^[1] and work on a second album started, but due to “a string of personal events” the band split up in 1973.

From the Italian prog website:
      A group from Milan born in 1970, Alphataurus were one of the many unknown Italian bands who suddenly had a recording deal, made an album and disappeared into oblivion.
Having played in some important festivals in 1972, the group was offered by Vittorio De Scalzi of New Trolls a recording deal for his new label, Magma.
ThTheir one and only album, Alphataurus, the first on the newly born label, is a masterpiece, so well crafted and played that it seems impossible that's been made by a group of unknowns. The singer Bavaro has a very original voice, keyboard player Pietro Pellegrini plays with competence and no self-indulgence, guitar-playing of Guido Wassermann is well cared and the rhythm section of Oliva and Santandrea creates a powerful background.
       The album includes five long compositions of which Peccato d'orgoglio and La mente vola are the best, the latter featuring a nice moog intro and a stunning vibes solo.
Soon after this the band split while preparing the second album. A 1992 CD entitled Dietro l'uragano includes some demo recordings of unreleased instrumental parts with no vocals, the result is good though it obviously sounds incomplete at times.
      Drummer Giorgio Santandrea was briefly in Crystals, while keyboardist Pietro Pellegrini has long collaborated with Riccardo Zappa and PFM.
      Singer Michele Bavaro, from Bari, released a commercial solo album in 1988 (Surplace - Macaroni MAC 64701) and various CD's of Italian songs, playing throughout the world.
     In 2010 three of the original members (Pellegrini, Wassermann, Santandrea) reformed Alphataurus to play at the Progvention held in Mezzago (near Milan). The new line-up, which includes singer Claudio Falcone, keyboardist Andrea Guizzetti and bassist Fabio Rigamonti, has stayed together for a few concerts, and at the end of 2011 the original drummer Giorgio Santandrea left his place to Alessandro "Pacho" Rossi.
       The nice 2010 reunion concert has been issued on CD and LP in 2012 with the title Live in Bloom. In the same year the second official studio album by Alphataurus has finally seen the light, entitled AttosecondO, an album of excellent quality.

Tracklist

1	Peccato D'Orgoglio	12:22
2	Dopo L'Uragano	5:05
3	Croma	3:16
4	La Mente Vola	9:20
5	Ombra Muta	9:43

Pete Namlook (born 25 November 1960 as Peter Kuhlmann [ˈkuːlmaːn] in Frankfurt, Germany, died on 8 November 2012^[1]) was an ambient and electronic-music producer and composer. In 1992, he founded the German record label FAX +49-69/450464, which he oversaw. Inspired by the music of Eberhard Weber, Miles Davis, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Chopin, Wendy Carlos, Tangerine Dream and Pink Floyd, and most important Klaus Schulze; He composed and produced his albums while many in collaboration with others.
As of August 2005, Namlook and company had released 135 albums (excluding re-releases, vinyl singles, compilations of existing material, and FAX releases beginning with PS, in which he personally is not involved in the music making).
Pete Namlook released many solo albums, as well as collaboration albums with notable artists such as Klaus Schulze, Bill Laswell, Geir Jenssen (alias Biosphere), Gaudi, Atom Heart, Richie Hawtin, Tetsu Inoue, Atom™, and Tying Tiffany.
"Namlook" is "Koolman", a phonetic rendering of his real name, spelled backwards.
Kuhlmann died on 8 November 2012 after suffering a heart attack.^[2]

AllMusic Review by Jim Brenholts

Pete Namlook (aka Peter Kuhlmann) and Klaus Schulze developed and nurtured The Dark Side of the Moog series. The Dark Side of the Moog 5 also features Bill Laswell. (He has collaborated on four of the CDs.) One of the coolest things on this disc is a 14-second intro by Robert Moog himself. Namlook, Schulze, and Laswell used "Adam's Psychedelic Brunch" as their base track title, a play on Pink Floyd's "Adam's Psychedelic Breakfast" from Atom Heart Mother. And, as listeners expect, this CD features the sequences, atmospheres, and ambience associated with this trio. The soundscape elements flow seamlessly within the intricate sound design. Namlook, Schulze, and Laswell are always at the top of their game. This Berlin school offering will appeal to fans of Ron Boots, Edgar Froese, Ian Boddy, and Paul Ellis.

Dark Side of the Moog 5

Tracklist

1	Psychedelic Brunch (Part I)
2	Psychedelic Brunch (Part II)
3	Psychedelic Brunch (Part III)
4	Psychedelic Brunch (Part IV)
5	Psychedelic Brunch (Part V)
6	Psychedelic Brunch (Part VI)
7	Psychedelic Brunch (Part VII)
8	Psychedelic Brunch (Part VIII)

Credits

• Producer – Pete Namlook
• Written-By [Created By] – Bill Laswell (tracks: 3, 7), Klaus Schulze, Pete Namlook

19 Feb 2013: King Crimson and Peru

The 40th Anniversary Edition featuring a new stereo mix from the master tapes by Mr. Steven Wilson. Larks' Tongues in Aspic is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock group King Crimson, originally released in 1973. This album is the debut of King Crimson's third incarnation, featuring original member and guitarist Robert Fripp and new members John Wetton (vocals, bass guitar), David Cross (violin, Mellotron), Jamie Muir (percussion), and Bill Bruford (drums). Bruford had just left Yes before they embarked on their Close to the Edge tour. Bruford felt that he had done all he could with Yes at this point and thought the more jazz-oriented King Crimson would be a more expansive outlet. (Wikipedia) 

Peru are a Dutch electronic group, consisting of three core members, augmented by a fourth in recent releases. Continents, Points of the Compass, and Forlian are their 3rd, 4th, and 5th releases respectively, and are very representative of the group's formative years. They have, to date, released 6 albums, all of which are available on CD. Continents, released in 1983, consists of five tracks, two of which exceed 10 minutes in length, seemingly influenced by Klaus Schulze of the late seventies/early eighties, with melodic arpeggios over minor chord backing, and then breaking out into the fuzz-guitar-like leads that Tangerine Dream used in the mid-to-late-seventies. Their influences are quite apparent, but the music is enjoyable in its own right. I should also point out that the first track sounds as if it would be at home on Double Fantasy's "hit," Universal Ave., and, in fact, similarities to that release show up at various points. Points Of The Compass was released in 1986, and showed a progression from Continents, in the use of more varied song structures and synth timbres. The music is similar in style to Tangerine Dream of the mid-eighties, circa Le Parc, and possibly the "Heartbreakers" soundtrack. The pace is much more uptempo, and melodic, making this probably the most accessible of the Peru releases. In 1988, Peru released Forlian, which combined the accessibility of their previous release with a slightly subdued mood, with a result that is reminis- cent of some of Johannes Schmoelling's solo works. This will be an enjoyable disc for those who like Schmoelling, and, to some extent, the early eighties version of Tangerine Dream. (Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock)

Label:  Red Bullet ‎– RB 66.70     Country: Netherlands     Released: 1993

Genre: Electronic   Style: Trance

Tracklist 

1		Book Of Revelation	14:26
2		666 (The Beast)	7:52
3		Guru	7:29
4		Nostradamus	8:15
		5  Not Consequent Written By – Peter Kommas	7:03
		6  The Prophet Mixed By – Rob Blanchemance	9:29
7		Nostradamus (Club Version)	4:30
8		Book Of Revelation (Radio Version)	4:04

Credits▼

• Mixed By – Edu van Hasselt, Rob Papen, Ruud van Es
• Producer, Written-By – Rob Papen, Ruud van Es

Notes▼

Except Track 5 was written by Ruud van Es, Peter Kommas & Rob Papen.
Tracks 7 & 8 are Bonus Tracks.