Consider the following an update file on musicians who have been covered in previous "Sonic Space" columns.

NODENS ICTUS: Spacelines (CD on Stretchy Records)

Surprise! This one is a collaborative project between Ed Wynne from Ozric Tentacles and Joie Hinton and Merv Pepler from Eat Static (who also used to be in Ozric Tentacles), making this 60-minute CD (released the summer of 2000) a space rock reunion of sorts.

Under close analysis, the music on this release is a sampling of tracks from Noden Ictus' rare "The Grove of Selves" album from the late '80s, mixed with live performances by Wynne, Hinton and Pepler, and a pair of new pieces by Wynne alone.

Smooth electronics and serpentine percussives intermingle to generate a softer side of Ozric/Static. Bubbling synthesizers excite the harmonic flow to fanciful heights, far beyond the atmosphere and deep into extraterrestrial turf. Crisp guitar infuses an exquisite verve to the genial tuneage. This tenderness is further enhanced by the dreamy tones and pitches that swim among the sultry notes.

The four live tracks (from 1988-91) display this same delicacy. Winsome keyboards and gurgling crystal machines -- and real drums -- blend to wash like a pink surf across the listener's awareness.

(Well, to be honest, two of these live tracks exhibit too much positive dynamics to be considered "ambient/" "Sharpening the Norm" creates a wall of organic fury with insistent drums and scuttling electronics and "Gopuram" does a serene slow build to an ecstatic pinnacle.)

Despite the mode or personnel, these songs shine with compositional brilliance. The melodies are engaging, and the riffs are pleasantly stimulating.

As a whole, the CD is excruciatingly ambrosial.

RADIO MASSACRE INTERNATIONAL: Upstairs Downstairs (CD on Centaur Records)

This 71-minute CD features a blend of live material selected from RMI's performances between February 1997 and May 1998. Ah, but as with many electronic bands, "live" rarely means concert versions of tracks from previous albums. Wholly new (although included is a section previously released on the limited edition "Live at the October Gallery" CDR), this music once more proves how vital and necessary are the compositions of Steve Dinsdale, Duncan Goddard and Gary Houghton (aka Radio Massacre International).

Beginning with astral ambience, meandering keyboards and glittering electronics, this music develops into sensuous pulsations that dominate the attention with their hypnotic allure. Textural flows are guided into rhythmic passages that tremble with restrained power and grandeur. Utilizing non-percussive sounds for the thickening tempos, RMI unfolds each piece with relaxed delivery, carefully evolving patterns and fusing chord cycles into more complex riffs.

The band's electronics explode into full force with dreamy synthesizer sequences, compelling and serpentine with appealing melodic results. The piercing cries of space guitar achieve the music's dramatic crescendos, producing moments of sonic ecstasy unparalleled in the normal world.

Of interesting note, the title of this release bears no connection to the classic BBC series. It refers instead (and rather obliquely) to the strenuous efforts involved in breaking down RMI's electronic equipment for transportation to the live venues, one of which was staged in an early 20th Century building whose stairways proved almost too tortuous for the band to maneuver from van to performance area.

STEVE ROACH & VIDNA OBMANA: Live Archive (CD on Groove Unlimited)

Internationally renowned for their individual styles of ambient soundscapes, American Steve Roach and Belgian Vidna Obmana have collaborated on a variety of excellent releases, notably the moody "Well of Souls" (double CD on Projekt) and the ethereal "Cavern of Sirens" (also on Projekt).

RealAudio Samples

From Steve Roach and Vidna Obmana's "Live Archive", three samples: one, two, three.

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Featuring selections from this duo's concerts in Italy, the Netherlands and the USA from the late '90s, this 67-minute CD offers a superb dose of ethereal ambience riddled with acoustic atmospherics and environmental airs.

In addition to analog and digital synthesizers and samplers, this music employs various acoustic and ethnic percussives along with classical and primitive woodwinds and live processed voices. Also utilized are such curiosities as hybrid grooves, primordial magma and "brain rattle."

Expect ambience in the extreme with these live performances. Deep drones mixing with breathy atmospheres in an aerial spiral of languid auralscapes. Echoing aspects of nature blending with eerie electronics. Haunting evocations of misty realms drenched in vaporous ghost-fire. Unperceived conversations between stones of ancient origin.

Expect some of these sublime performances to evolve rhythmic qualities, reminiscent of tribal ceremonies located just over the next hill. While other tracks display more delicate attributes, with textural dreampipes and processed flutes. Regardless of its substance, this ethereal music creeps without fail from a quiet whisper to voluminous inflation.

The CD's final track "Divine Innermission" blends performance elements and studio recordings for a subliminally more demonstrative 12 minutes of aerial waves, intricate rhythmics and the gentle throb of a fretless bass.

Want more? Check out the multimedia release "Circles & Artifacts" (CDROM on Contemporary Harmonic) which features the photography of Martina Verhoeven (Obmana's wife), the poetry of Linda Kohanov and 60 minutes of hauntingly evocative music by Roach and Obmana.

Interested parties are encouraged to learn more about the works of Steve Roach and Vidna Obmana at their individual Web sites.

Obmana will be performing concerts in the USA in November 2000. Consult this site for data.

TANGERINE DREAM: The Seven Letters from Tibet (CD on Tangerine Dream International)

After the recent almost quasi-techno edge displayed by Tangerine Dream during its last few releases, the sedateness of this CD comes as a refreshing deviation.

Tangerine Dream's trademark electronics are tempered here by delicate lutes, various eastern instruments, and heavenly aspects. There has always been a notably flutish quality to the band's keyboards, and this attribute is used to admirable effect in these compositions. Other, deeply resonant synthesizer tones sweep through intangible valleys cradled between colorful mountains that pierce the stratosphere with regal calm. When percussive elements do appear, they are fragile and unassuming, contributing subtle hints of tempo to the music.

As the melodies roam from ambient airs to softly emotional structures, things never quite get minimal, with glistening textures arranged in beatific configurations of particularly melodious distinction. A sense of reverent grandeur permeates the flow, imbuing each chord with subtle power.

Surprisingly, this 49-minute release possesses far more new age sensibilities than ever worn by Tangerine Dream's music. The mystical qualities of these songs balance tenderness with majesty, and classical overtones with modern electronica.