Audiopile Review: Just occasionally, we get blessed with a for-the-heads reissue from the deep CD era. The recent first-time-on-vinyl edition of Annette Peacock’s staggering ‘An Acrobat’s Heart’, for example, was a notable highlight of ECM’s ongoing Luminescence series. Maybe, one day, we’ll get a vinyl edition of the godlike Peter Hammill’s ‘Loops and Reels’. In the meantime, Australian ambient composer Paul Schütze’s 1992 masterwork ‘New Maps of Hell’ has finally made it to wax. This strange and heartbreakingly beautiful album was originally released by Melbourne’s legendary Extreme label. The reissue comes via Kontakt Audio, which also released vinyl editions of Muslimgauze’s albums for Extreme. Given the ongoing interest in 90s ambient music, it’s long overdue. Back in the day, Schütze was known as ‘the Miles Davis of ambient’. This basically meant he made ambient music that sounded a bit like 70s Miles. It would be more accurate to describe albums like ‘New Maps of Hell’ as a darkly cinematic take on Jon Hassell’s fourth world sound (Schütze is a sometime soundtrack composer). You could also flag up the Mortiz von Oswald Trio as a descendent. But really, nothing can prepare you for this album’s uncannily dreamlike vibe. A torrent of polyrhythmic percussion underpins a dense soundscape of electronic and live instrumentation, as chaotic improvisation rolls over gorgeous chord sequences. The album is named for a Kingsley Amis book about pulp science fiction, and it kicks off with a sample from David Lynch’s ‘Dune’ (“I did not say this! I am not here!) Clearly, there’s a sci fi theme here, which is appropriate because ‘New Maps of Hell’ is out of this fucking world.

***

One of the very best ever Tribal Ambient Dub albums, originally released on the famous Australian Extreme label.

Brilliantly new mastered, sounds way better than the original recordings.
Includes bonus songs from other Extreme releases.

For fans of early WARP, Muslimgauze, Future Sound Of London, The Orb, Rapoon and alike.