4. David Helpling & Jon Jenkins - Found
Genre: Ambient, Electronic
Sounds Like: Patrick O'Hearn, Tangerine Dream, Jonn Serrie, Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno
Sometimes an hour arrives where you want to let go of rock, folk, pop, metal or whatever lyrically-motivated craftsmanship gives us emotional reprieve in favor of something abstract that takes you beyond the body. Or, in the case of the collaborative efforts of sonic maestros David Helpling & Jon Jenkins, music that takes you into the heart of space & time without words to get in the way.
See, these guys are absolute masters of organic ambient music, an approach that few attempt to begin with and even fewer excel at in 2013. Dreamy guitars, dazzling synthesizer work and all manner of exotic percussion / other layered instrumentation is here in abundance, but even describing what's involved here is doing a miraculous album like Found a disservice. It's the third and final LP in their trilogy of work (debut Treasure came out in 2007 and 2010's The Crossing was even better), the painstaking work of seasoned pros who understand the dynamics of cinematic instrumental music and what you have to do in order to create something that will stand the test of time.
With every year bringing more and more music in every genre imaginable to your attention and only a tiny little fraction of it ever getting decent attention from your favorite publications, its easy for a purely instrumental outing with a vaguely 80's Eno vibe getting completely lost in the shuffle...but you don't want to pass this one up folks. This duo have excellent chemistry, so give 'em their due and hear the magic for yourselves with Found.