AMN Reviews: RhaD – Ghost Music Library (2026; Unexplained Sounds Group)

RhaD is the alter ego of experimental ambient artist Sonologyst, who also runs the Unexplained Sounds Group family of labels. This is his second release under this moniker.

Ghost Music Library is like a series of strange dreams. Not necessarily nightmares, just weird psychedelic experiences that disorient while expanding one’s notion of what is possible. Each track on this recording is characterized by different mixes of abstract sounds, including synth chords, soft percussion, rattling and buzzing electroacoustic elements, field recordings, and/or voices.

There is an overall haziness to these pieces, adding to the sensory drift. While the music is clearly mixed, the field recordings and voices tend to be muffled or obscured. On top of that, the entire album has a notably retro feel, ripe with analog hiss, static, and imperfections. Its recordings could serve as a soundtrack to a 1960s or 1970s science fiction film.

RhaD frames these sounds as being pulled from a dusty, fictional catalog, with scraps of degraded audio, output of unreliable machines, and media rot stitched into something coherent. The album taps into a hauntological mood with music that feels like a transmission from an alternate past, or a memory of sounds that were never actually recorded. That sense of lost source material is carried by the texture as much as the composition, suggesting the aforementioned aging formats and outmoded technologies. The result is warm, immersive, and exploratory, but interspersed with a quiet sadness, like the afterimage of a world that’s already slipped away.

Ghost Music Library will be released February 25, 2026, by Unexplained Sounds Group.

UCL: Atalanta favored to edge Union SG in a tight 21:00 CET clash, as Union SG chase an upset and a draw remains a plausible outcome.

Royale Union Saint Gilloise 21.9%
Draw 28.7%
Atalanta Bergamo 49.4%

#Football #Soccer #UEFAChampionsLeague #USG #ATA #USGATA

Exciting UCL clash as Bayern are clear favorites vs underdogs Union SG; a draw is possible. Kickoff 21:00 CET.

FC Bayern München 71.8%
Draw 19.4%
Royale Union Saint Gilloise 8.8%

#Football #Soccer #UEFAChampionsLeague #BAY #USG #BAYUSG

AMN Reviews: Sándor Vály – Early Works 1988-1992 (1992 / 2025; Unexplained Sounds Group)

Another unearthed gem from Unexplained Sounds Group, Early Works 1988-1992 is lo-fi sound art from Hungarian Sándor Vály. The album is a sonic representation of two emotionally-resonant times in his life.

After fleeing a military draft, living in hardship in Paris, and facing imprisonment, Vály spent seven months confined in a mental hospital. There, exposure to extreme human experiences and the Tibetan and Egyptian Books of the Dead shaped his outlook. Vály interpreted these events in Bardo Tödol I–II and SoulDrum I, using improvised equipment and instruments.

The former is a set of raw, pulsating, and throbbing drones with a minimal beat. The latter is more rhythm and mechanical-sounding, though overlaid electronics are brighter and almost buoyant. Both have an analog, hazy nature.

After meeting his future wife in 1990, Vály moved to Finland, where in 1992 he first worked with computers and began experimenting with rudimentary sound software alongside cassette mixing, effects, and piano. The emotional impact of marriage, migration, a new language and culture, parenthood, and the northern climate shaped these recordings, from which Limbus Patrum, SoulDrum II, Life-Death, and Melancholy were selected.

Limbus Patrum is by far the longest of these tracks, with an urgent static-oriented beat structure. The repeating structures slowly evolve with echoing and other effects, while Vály explores variations on simple melodies. Over time, Vály includes more abstract and harsh noises, likely real-time effects-laden manipulations. SoulDrum II is based on roiling, scratchy, loop-driven forms. This is in stark contrast to the gentle electronics of Life-Death and the haunting piano of Melancholy that is slowly morphed into white noise.

#USG

AMN Reviews: Runes Order – No Future (1993/2026; Eighth Tower Records)

No Future was released in 1993 by way of a very limited cassette run. Saved from obscurity and remastered for release on Eighth Tower Records, the album is a prescient look forward to the experimental ambient music that would begin expansion as a genre two decades later.

Previously focused on industrial / pagan ritual music, here Runes Order employs synthesizer, tape loops, and light rhythmic patterns. The lines are hazy and repetitive, yet dynamic enough to be engaging, with fluttering melodies and rough textures. Given this, it is not surprising that these pieces tend to be hypnotic, with many blending into the background when not paid attention.

Thematically, the album attempts to paint a sound collage of a post-apocalyptic landscape, echoing the existential dread of the recently-ended Cold War. While not as blatantly dark as many similarly-conceived modern efforts, No Future firmly captures an underlying vibe of dystopian aftermath. The result is a subtle tension, where unobtrusive ambient passages coexist with a sense of unease.

No Future will be released on January 26, 2026. It is another excellent rediscovery by the Unexplained Sounds Group family of labels, surfacing a release from the previous century that remains starkly relevant today, both musically and conceptually.

#USG

LA 301L- Introduction to Digital Methods in the Humanities
Thorsten Ries
TTH 9:30-11:00 am, MEZ 1.204 31105

“What if I could read patterns out of hundreds of texts, and gain new research perspectives, create new knowledge about them using digital tools? Use AI in a way that is controlled and generates new knowledge?” This course introduces digital
research methods, tools and use cases. Hands-on exploration, no prior coding experience required.

#utgermanic #germanstudies #digitalhumanities #usg