Iker Munduate - Argi Zantzuak

San Sebastian scene head Iker Munduate makes a huge volte face with this first LP under his own name, turning away from his former punk and free jazz pursuits into expertly crafted new age ambience. I hear you - Just what the world needs, another ambient record taking influence from Kankyo Ongaka... And yet, Munduate is really on to something here, connecting some threads between the likes of Yoshimura & Shimizu and the more serene examples of the late 90s afterhours/IDM set, who themselves were surely taking cues from 80s Japan (we all know Aphex was listening to B-2 Unit, but maybe The Black Dog & LFO were also thinking about their own 'environmental music'?). Argi Zantzuak does everything you'd expect of the genre, but still manages to expresss its own identity, Munduate's choices always just so, the textures, tones and pacing clearly devised by someone who's done a lot of listening. The press release cites Suso Saiz as an influence, but in terms of contemporaries it's perhaps Visible Cloaks that most comes to mind, a loving ear being turned to a sound they instinctively understand.