PROLOGUE

The most significant development in contemporary instrumental music in 2007 was the re-emergence of Will Ackerman as a force to be reckoned with in his role as producer. It's almost as if he is reinventing Windham Hill, but not constraining himself to a single label. The artists he has produced this year (and last) have a distinctive “sound” but not to the degree of being imitative, more in the way that early Windham Hill releases seemed to follow the same artistic course, as if lots of smaller streams were feeding into one smoothly flowing river. Proof of this is evidenced in the fact that two of his efforts landed on the list below.

- Bill Binkelman - 2007

THE TWELVE BEST

NEW AGE AND CONTEMPORARY INSTRUMENTAL ALBUMS OF 2007

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: A TWO-WAY TIE

THE TEN BEST
CHILL-OUT, ELECTRONICA, and ELECTRONIC ALBUMS OF 2007 

I decided that this year I wouldn't have the electronica/chill-out albums compete with the drifting Eno-esque ambient releases, since the subgenres are so dissimilar. It would have been almost impossible for me to try to limit my list to just ten or twelve if I had lumped all the various types of ambient music into one category. While you may notice that a number of these recordings have not yet been formally reviewed, I assure you that I have listened to them enough to judge them worthy of inclusion on this list.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

  Infinite Plastic Creation  -  Artist: RICHARD BONE,  Label: Quirkwork
                                                           Review   

  Zen Pause    -  Artist: THIERRY DAVID,  Label: Real Music 
                                 Review

  Inertia    -   Artist: DI EVANTILE,  Label: Self-released   

  A Gentle Rain of Starlight  - Artist: GEODESIUM,  Label: LochNess Productions  
                                                              Review

  Treasure  - Artist: David Helpling & Jon Jenkins,  Label: Spotted Peccary Music Productions   Review

  Obsessive Surrealism   - Artist: Parallel Worlds,  Label: DiN

  Nomads   - Artist: FRANK VAN BOGAERT,  Label: Groove Unlimited  
                         Review

  Elevations   - Artist: ERIK WOLLO,  Label: Spotted Peccary  
                              Review

  Max.Chillroom    - Artist: VARIOUS ARTISTS,  Label: New Land Music  
                               

____________________________________________________________________________________

2007 AMBIENT MUSIC

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

The two recordings listed below stand apart from the "Ten Best" list which follows because of how atypical they each are compared to the rest of the releases as well as how each one represents an unparalleled achievement in musical vision as well as an amazingly rich listening experience. I simply couldn’t place them into the usual ambient category since their "sound" is so unlike the other albums here.

 Sanctum  - Artist: ROBERT SCOTT THOMPSON,  Label: EMF Media  

Like its sonic (not chronological) predecessor, Acousma, Sanctum travels the path of abstract musicality through the sonic manipulation of assorted (and sometimes unexpected) sound sources, leading the adventurous listener to landscapes of startling yet idiosyncratic beauty. It’s an album to be savored and experienced in rapt attentive detail.

The Marmalade Balloon  - Artist: MICO NONET,  Label: Mico Nonet Records  

Staggeringly beautiful, this marriage of subtly applied synths with viola, cello, French horn and oboe may bring tears to your eyes as the music creeps into sorrowful somber corners of the soul with utmost grace and compassion. Chamber music for the 21^st century.

NOW, ON TO THE MAIN EVENT...

THE TEN BEST AMBIENT ALBUMS OF 2007

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: A THREE-WAY TIE

Winter Light  - Artist: JEFF GREINKE,  Label: Lotuspike  Review  

Greinke revisits the melancholic grace and beauty of the earlier Wide View but fine-tunes it to the pristine somberness of evoking frozen landscapes through melancholic melodic phrases and refrains. The result is a superbly realized haunting experience.

 All Points North  - Artist: MANITOU,  Label: SLO.BOR Media  

Manitou's masterpiece of intimate minimalism features brief ambient sketches comprised of warm drones, tones and textures that "sounds like" the emotions evoked by perusing the faded photograph album of a good friend.

 Piano Textures  - Artist: BRUNO SANFILIPPO,  Label: ad21 Music   Review

Sanfilippo explores the myriad possibilities of the titular instrument to dramatic effect, always accessible yet never pedestrian. The album is provocative yet involving on a emotional level.

BEST OF THE REST (alphabetic by artist)

 The Gallery of Subtle Smiles  - Artist: MARK MAHONEY AND M. PECK,  
                                                                   Label: Self-released  

 Dreamfall: Veils and Visions  - Artist: NA-KOJA-ABAD,  Label: Muamer Music  

 Glacial  - Artist: M. PECK,  Label: Gears of Sand  

 The Stellar Sea - Artist: TELOMERE,  Label: Evenfall  

 Anno Domini  - Artist: DEBORAH MARTIN and J ARIF VERNER,  Label: Spotted Peccary