Terminal Radio, Terminal Interface, Terminal Window – Ambient Bliss

All right, let’s see what we can see… Everybody online… looking good.

Stream this while you read.

I’ve lost track of time, honestly, so don’t ask me when this started.  As I recall, it started as a group of ambient enthusiast who created a forum/board online mainly focusing on The Future Sound of London and that group’s impressive body of work.  What it turned into was a place for like-minded folks to share their own music.  Before long, a compilation was put together, entitled Terminal Window.  That was back in 2011.  It featured 14 tracks by eight different artists.  The end result was nothing short of stunning.  There are now three volumes in the Terminal Window series (go here) and two additional releases under the Terminal mainframe.

Terminal Interface is one of those releases and much like other three Terminal Window compilations, it made me feel very much the way FSOL made me feel upon every listen.  This is the ambient music of the gods.  Well, you know what I mean.  It rekindles my will to live.

Artists who contributed to these became household names for me and new discoveries are still constantly popping up. Folks like Ross Baker (Second Thought), Loose Link, NMESH, Noisesurfer, Akkya, Clockwork Keyboard, Off Land, Herd, Five Minutes Alone and a pile of others became artists/groups to keep an eye on; whatever work they release is always worth hearing.

Terminal Radio also became an outlet for the many artists on the FSOLBoard/Forum.  However, here, the format was the DJ Mix.  Typically clocking in between 2.5 and 3 hours, these ambient trips would sometimes feature two to four mini mixes by artists.  The final result would be sewn together by the “curator,” typically one of the artists from the original Board.  You can stream these via Mixcloud or through the individual Soundcloud pages of the curators (this is especially true if you’re in the states and you find yourself unable to stream a show thanks to our antiquated copyright laws).

The beauty of all of this Terminal stuff is that it’s putting the most cutting edge ambient, experimental and otherwise unheard music right out there in the spotlight while at times, mixing in a few well known classics.  We’re getting to check out new artists that re lurking in the shadows of the music world who have very impressive sounds and talents who SHOULD be heard, who SHOULD have more material in your hands and SHOULD get more attention than they have now.  Yes, some of them already have a massive discography and some are on labels but there are many who are just starting out.  But, all of them are stunning and should infiltrate your headspace.

If you’re an ambient junkie, you need to tune in.

I would like to feature material and info on the artists who partake in the Terminal, so if you’re one of them and you see this, give me a howl.