Best electronic albums of 2015: the ambient outsiders

Again, let's pause the top ten while I look at some of the albums that didn't make the cut.

Ambient music is as old as the air we breathe and the wind that flaps the ear of the dog. Don't question that: it's an ancient Fat Roland saying. There were a whole bunch of ambient long-players not in my top ten:

It was a shame not to include The Orb's Moonbuilding 2703 AD (Kompakt), a hugely enjoyable album and their best for donkey's years. I loved the crystalline perfection and a gloopy intensity of Acronym's June (Northern Electronics) – half ambient, half techno, all good.

On the reserves bench was worriedaboutsatan's Even Temper (This Is It Forever) which goes a bit Clark on Church Of Red (that’s a good thing). I didn't mind the low-down junglism of ASC's Imagine The Future (Samurai Red Seal), nor the stunning atmospherics of CFCF's Radiance & Submission (Driftless Recordings) and their less successful sister album The Colours Of Life (1080p) which seemed to channel Phil Collins through the pixels of Teletext.

Ones I was less keen on: Steve Hauschildt's pleasing Where All Is Fled (Kranky), Rrose's two-track drone monster Having Never Written A Note For Percussion (Further Records), Biosphere's dark collaboration with Deathprod on Stator (Touch) and the homespun noise of Philip Jeck's Cardinal (Touch).

Back to the top ten shortly. Catch up with this whole series in one long stream by clicking this:

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