Icelandic musician, Ruxpin (Jónas Þór Guðmundsson), presents a textured set of downtempo ambient and breakbeat soundscapes on his debut on Elektrolux. Many of the tracks here are quite minimalist with sustained passages to allow the music to take deep breaths. Others layer the same meandering mood over sparse jungle rhythms.

Grade: B-.

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Norman Feller’s Elektrolux release delivers a wide variety of beautifully-produced and nicely-arranged mostly instrumental downtempo tracks. Deeply contrasting musical soundscapes provide a rich listening experience. Frameless Structure, Northern Lights, Tiefenrausch, and Arcade of Passion stand out among a dozen cuts that flow well into a pulsing abstract whole.

Grade: B.

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German producer, Rauschfaktor, debuts on Elektrolux with this set of downtempo tracks that wander from spaced out sound experiments to dreamy instrumental pop treatments. The compositions here suffer from identical synthesizer patches used ad nauseum across multiple tracks with a similar feel. Unfortunately, none of these songs particularly stands out.

Grade: C.

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MAS 2008′s debut on Elektrolux records features eighteen tracks that range from abstract dreamy downtempo soundscapes to ambient electro house cuts. The textures here flow from one song to the next without anything grabbing the listener’s attention. Some of the composition and production here seems hurried and lacking consistency.

Grade: C+.

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Estelle Montenegro’s debut album from Germany’s Elektrolux Records takes his listeners through a set of tracks that range from deep downtempo lounge cuts to slowish tech house tunes. Many of the tracks are interesting from an arrangement standpoint, but are challenged by inconsistent production and weird contrasts in sound quality.

Grade: B-.

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In this engrossing album, Jacek Sienkiewicz delivers nine lush spaced-out minimal techno grooves. The music here ranges from downtempo and dreamy soundscapes to fast, driving tech house tracks aimed squarely at DJs. High production craftsmanship, interesting arranging, and detached attitude makes this textured collection of songs an unexpected surprise.

Grade: A-.

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Drøn’s sophomore album is a wonderful meandering journey through sonic textures, synthesized soundscapes, and deep ambient grooves. The music here is much less percussion-driven than their debut album, but it delivers comparably high production value. Just over a dozen songs take us into a wide variety of abstract moods.

Grade: A.

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Drøn’s debut on the German ambient label, Elektrolux, is a lush set of deep downtempo moods, slow instrumental grooves, and rhythmic IDM tracks. The production level here is very high and the arrangements are inventive and imaginative. This beautiful group of recordings takes the listener to other worlds and times.

Grade: A-.

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Dennis Ferrer delivers a beautiful set of house tracks in his first album on Defected Records, producing a wonderful collection that ranges from Latin-influenced deep house to funky soul grooves. The lead vocalists on these tracks are backed up by some well-arranged backing and first-rate composition talent.

Grade: A-.

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Deepsky drops a varied set of techno, breakbeat, trance, and house gems on this fun record from 2002. The production value here is quite high and there are plenty of hooks here to get the listener’s head nodding. Pulsing basslines, aggressive percussion, and inventive arranging make this disk quite unusual.

Grade: B.

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