Bert Strolember, Sonicimmersion

After the gentle ambience of his 2008-release «BreathStream», Max Corbacho takes us to ambient heaven with his release «Ars Lucis». Those familiar with his work know what he’s capable of, spending lots of time in his studio sculpturing and harmonizing a continuous flow of expansive textures, which now have ended up in deep, captivating meditative realms. As Max explains, a main theme runs smoothly through all tracks of the album in a subtle way, «spreading mystical, delicate scents through labyrinthine passages ascending and spiralling to the vaults».

The contemplative, dreamy sphere (with a touch of Steve Roach) created by this long form, highly atmospheric music is a welcome counterpoint for nowadays fast and hectic life. The almost 74–minute outcome on “Ars Lucis” is velvet, celestial music that drift along in multiple colours and through subsequent different sonic zones around its beautiful core. This grand and spacious music reaches for expansive worlds of splendour, of which the mood is already set by the great photography of a French cathedral on the cd-cover.

Nice going, Max!

«BreathStream» is the first of a series of releases made available as digital download only. The sonic content is described by the Max Corbacho as «seven atmospheric spaces built out of synthetic textures and floating harmonies” which also graced the previous album «The Talisman». This 73-minute work indeed is a great outing in expansive spacious realms, both contemplative as smooth, gently wandering through long form spheres and infinite otherworldly spaces. The continuous flow of quiet soundscapes sparkles from time to time, as it takes another turn before drifting into another outreach of space vistas. All in all, “BreathStream” offers carefully moulded and layered dreamspheres that can compete with those of ”The Talisman”.Highly recommended for fans who love the floating tapestries of Thom Brennan, Steve Roach and alike.The album is available from MusicZeit, iTunes, Amazon, Rapsody and Napster.

Bert Strolenberg

Bert Strolenberg , Journalist E-dition magazine, www.e-ditionmag.com

Max Corbacho’s brandnew album «The Talisman» is another great, highly atmospheric journey. It features 72 minutes of expansive and in-depth textural music with a strong cinematic and dreamy impact, spread out over 11 tracks. The title track is certainly one of the highlights, entering both wonderful as heavenly atmospheres that linger on and on.

A stunning & very well produced album that will absolutely please fans of Steve Roach, Amir Baghiri and all who love state-of-the-art soundscape music»

Moontribe” is contains a collection of previously not published tracks, meant for collaborative projects that finally did not see the light, plus two totally new pieces. I must say it’s great Max didn’t put them on the shelf, as the music presented here is some pretty awesome stuff. It’s an impressive aural journey of 67 minutes through vast tribal-ambient territory in which organic soundscaping comes together with strong rhythmic counterpoints. Captivating tribal rhythms and moving groovescapes know how to pamper the ears. Max proves he can stand in his own right next to ambient-mastery of Steve Roach and alike. The music on “Moontribe” is heartfelt and left a deep impression on me. This bright and varied recording is an absolute must-have fort the fans.

Bert Strolenberg, www.sonicimmersion.org

«Nocturnal Emanations is the 4th album of the Spanish ambientcomposer Max Corbacho, which again is worth the long wait. It features typical quiet longform ambient-spacemusic divided in 8 tracks, in which transparent synthwashes slowly develop and desolve. A certain comparison to the current ambient excursions and light drone-textural worlds of his US collegue Steve Roach (again) can’t be denied, but next to that, Corbacho has arranged a beautiful backing with a vast aray of environmental sounds and fx’s, giving the musical painting an almost dense atmosphere. The slow flowing and morphing soundscapes, sometimes accompanied by distinct ambient percussion and sequencertreats (in which a slight high-tech component like Vir Unis is obvious), even gain effect when experienced in the evening or at night when using headphones. Stillness and introspectiveness all make up for over 73 highly atmospheric music, which seems to be the standard for such recordings since a few years.»

Bert Strolenberg, Journalist & Senior editor E-dition Magazine

“Indalo” is the first full-length collaborative effort of these 2 musicians, who made their own music-business by starting ad21 Music. The concept-album is named after an old Andalusian symbol which still can be found in nowadays Spain. In 2001 Corbacho & Sanfilippo made a journey to a natural park in the south of Spain, where they were overwhelmed by strong impressions & strange beauty of the landscape. Later on they decided to transform them into ambient music. Well, the two have done an excellent job: “Indalo” offers a tremendous atmosphere in which vast textures carry the listener away, accompanied at times by sophisticated tribal percussion. It’s equal to Steve Roach in his best days, where the same beauty lies deep within the carefully crafted soundscapes. Both the darker and lighter shades of life seem to meet in this ongoing journey, ranging from cosmic territory before spiralling down to earth again. This is magnificent stuff, one that deserves a high recommendation.

Bert Strolenberg  E-dition magazine

Bert Strolemberg. Klem Magazine, Issue 116.

«After a long search this talented Spanish ambient musician has found a new home to publish his new cd. This is Cobacho’s 3rd album, and again it has become one of pure beauty. There are 4 lenghthy tracks, the last one being the 38 min. titletrac.

They all are absolute candy for the ears. In fact, this cd offers one vast drift of transparent, non-rhythmic soundscapes; these soft coiling and morphing textures are one continues drift into the outer regions, where mysterious undercurrents escort you along the way. The title-track is the only one which features a heavy ambient beat after appr. 20 min. This is heavy atmospheric textural music for a deep drift into the dimensions of space, time and place, sometimes somewhat reminiscent to the stuff of Steve Roach, but with an nice core-sound to it all. Production & soundquality are superb.