Matthew Florianz, Niemandsland (H/S Recordings)

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For a veteran partisan of the genre like myself, Matthew Florianz is an artist who seems to have flown in under the ambient radar. I´m pretty sure I hadn´t even heard his name mentioned before this CD emerged out of the no man´s land of the internet.

Apparently, Florianz´ music has been leased for "airline in-flight entertainment programmes [and] also been successfully licensed [to] corporate clients, including US Healthcare firm Remodulin". While this CV immediately conjures up the dread spectre of New Age Elevator Music on demand, such is definitely not the case.

A master, it turns out. The ambient of Matthew Florianz is very much like his cover art - doggedly minimalistic, monochrome, existing in a state of near stasis, almost sacral. Far from intimate, it is rather desolate, seeming to take in huge stretches of featureless geography at close range. At other times, the music defies gravity, as if observing weather systems sweeping across the face of the earth from above.

Ignorance of Florianz´ excellent work can now be rectified by buying a nine-CD set dominated by his work <http://www.shopsonic.com/product_details.php?id=292>.