Audiopile Review: Cushy debut album from this newly minted duo, both of whom seem to be active members of the electronic underground within Russia. Name checked in the label’s hype sheet are The Orb, Seefeel, Biosphere, and Gas, which was certainly enough to get us to look into what this pair had come up with, though we’re certainly always aware of that it’s easier to mention influences than it is to do something actually original with them. And while we can certainly hear the strains of those originators of the submerged and pulsing ambience sound, this actually brings to mind Paul Dickow’s ambient-dub excursions as Strategy or the even the gaseous glitch of mid 00’s Tim Hecker. The vistas here are wide—slow, plodding dubby textures and sweeping pads lay the base for fraying digital ephemera or a ghostly webbing deployed atop. Issued on the always reliable Patience/Impatience imprint outta NYC, so if you’ve already dug their releases from the likes of John Carroll Kirby, A.R. Wilson, Memotone or Hoshina Anniversary, do not hesitate on this gem.

Uncle Reed In The Purple Mine is the debut record by a new duo, Amkarahoi.

Uncle Reed In The Purple Mine conjures ghosts of 90s chill out tents, aqueous ambient, exploratory turn of the century IDM and echoes of jammy dub. Amkarahoi is named for a remote region of Eastern Siberia an intimidating car and boat journey from the nearest city – several songs are named after rivers – and the record was borne from a largely improvised show in Saint Petersburg, later overdubbed and mixed down in the studio. The combination of heady, melancholic synthscapes, unexpected samples and the loose, spontaneous nature of it’s genesis make for a unique, compelling proposition.

Kirenga alternately swells and submerges ravey pads and shifting kicks, coming up midway for air before plunging again, and Cutima peppers the stereo field with foreboding stabs, collapsing drums and faintly nightmarish ambience before emerging from the darkness with gently plucked erhu. Handa’s simple four note piano loop and cuckoo vocal sample lament blooms into an engulfing E rush, before Mogoul threatens serotonin syndrome with it’s loved up lead and stuttering morning after nostalgia. Chininga ekes out a gentle groove over which is laid a hazy, head nodding shimmer, and on Djegda they finally submit and throw down a speedy breakbeat for some more classically vintage fire twirling shapes.

Amkarahoi is Nikita Chepurnoi and Sergey Dmitriev. Chepurnoi has released records as Minereed on his own Echotourist imprint, and as part of The Patience and Copacabana on Hair Del. Dmitriev has made music as Purple Uncle for Echotourist, Hair Del and Nazlo. They’re currently based in Armenia (Dmitriev) and Europe (Chepurnoi).