Various: bblisss LP

The record that quietly spawned new movements in contemporary ambient, ‘bblisss’ features early/foundational appearances by kindred spirits Ulla, Pendant (aka Huerco S.), Naemi (aka Exael), DJ Paradise (Special Guest DJ, uon) and more. Originally released on an elusive tape run back in 2016, it’s now available on a new edition that’s back on the same white vinyl as the original, sought-after pressing.

Over time ‘bblisss’ has become an influential survey of contemporary ambient music in circulation over the past decade. On its initial release, it introduced many of its artists and aliases to the world for the first time, perhaps most notably Huerco S. trading under the Pendant sigil, and an early appearance from Ulla under the Ulla Anona moniker, pre-empting the formation of both the West Mineral and Experiences Limited labels that would become so quietly influential in the proceeding years.

Opening the set, Ulla Anona's ‘Moon’ trades on chiming bells and padded bass pulses, a sort of blazed take on Jon Hassell that perfectly encapsulates Ulla’s formidably slippery world-building, one we’re still trying to suss out half a decade later. Pendant’s 'Des Vieux Temples’ deploys classic Chain Reaction dub in a way we’ve heard from Huerco S over the years, but here fed through a spinning wheel of aquatic washes - a melted fire x ice scenario that feels airy despite all its bass weight.

DJ Paradise offers two of the set’s headiest highlights with 12 minutes of coagulating ambient clag in ‘Ssumo’, and what sounds like a balearic groove heard from under those greasy puddles on the rocks outside Cafe Del Mar in ‘Mbizi (R)’, while the still-mysterious Billington & Tramposh offer a hyaline interlude, and Naemi aka Exael ends the set with waves of curdled bblisss, taking us straight back to the beginning.

Classic.