REVIEWS reviews...... sounds...... pictures...... words...... links...... info Flux 8/98 (e-zine) http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~flux/ Michael Bentley of The Foundry (more anon) wrote to us that he had discovered FLUX through the Ambient mailing list (ambient@hyperreal.org) and recognised a degree of affinity between our coverage and the music on his label. So, apparently, did a number of others as we have been inundated with ambient titles. Some of this material does have an affinity with the more 'extreme' ambient music we normally cover. While there is no absolute dividing line, I have to say that much 'mainstream' ambient music tends towards the soporific Musak you hear in New Age candle-shops. I personally prefer ambient music with epic neo-classical, dark ritual or harsh industrial qualities, and this reflects, no doubt, my rather Nietzschean view of culture as ecstasy and tragedy. Of the material received Foundry's was amongst the best. It's a classy and professional, if small, ambient-industrial label and employs tasteful arty graphics. eM's Djinn (fou.01) is spacey with some harsher industrial rumbles and a hint of classical. Rhomb's Hidden Topographies (fou.04) is sufficiently experimental to lift it out of the candle-shop category. The Apiary's Descent (fou.03) has a strongly oriental opening reminiscent of a traditional Japanese play, developing into more general classical-ambient/filmic style, while Electronica (fou.02) presents a compilation.