Kompakt’s Pop Ambient series, which has now been going for sixteen years and counting, returns for another crop of techno lushness. As usual, an all-star cast - The Orb, T.Raumschmiere etc - come together to mute their drum machines and create something more widescreen. Much of the music here leans towards the wide-sonic-vistas end of ambient techno, with track after track conjuring up images of vast landscapes. Amid these beautiful impressionistic efforts we also find moments of intimacy - The Orb’s ‘Sky’s Falling’, for instance, is a delightfully slow-burning bit of dubby electronica. Mikkel Metal’s ‘Shame’, in the same vein as The Orb’s effort but with an additional peyote-trip haze, is another of the album’s standouts.