"Synthesist Jonn Serrie has always traversed a spectrum between deep space excursions and sentimental pop melodies. He charts a similar course on Lumia Nights, creating ambient lounge music full of breathy synthesizer pads and cocktail-bar-at-midnight moods. He even covers the jazz standard, "Autumn Leaves" to cloyingly bad effect. Just think Lawrence Welk plugged in. The lounge rhythms are offered up with none of the irony you might find in electronica artists such as Thievery Corporation or Loop Guru, whose grooves call up an iconography that's twisted on its head. It's not until "Deep Mystery" that Serrie floats off into the night sky with shimmering synthesizer textures that recall some of his Planetary Chronicles recordings, but even here, the synthesist goes for melodies that exhibit more saccharine than soul." ' John Diliberto

As the electro house phenomena spreads from the clubs to the charts, clinching number 1s and filtering into the bars and bedrooms of the land, Ministry of Sound present the finest selection of electro cuts from the dance trend fresh for 2007.

'Classical Fantasy' is Anugama's electronic interpretations of mainly Baroque pieces, ranging from a very 'life-like' version of Pachelbel's 'Canon in D', to several selections by Bach and other baroque masters, as well as one piece by Mozart. While Anugama arranged and produced this album, the synthesizers are actually played by Luna B. Ziegler, who brings a sensitive touch to Anugama's full orchestral arrangements.

This upbeat collection reveals a new side of Davol. Delving into new artistic areas, he occasionally combines spoken word in foreign tongues with his electronic tapestries. For example, the piece 'Just Like You' demonstrates an interesting melange of electronic pop with spoken word in Chinese and English provided by the sultry voice of his friend Meiji. The reliable and uplifting pop-influenced electronic grooves we've come to expect from Davol are aplenty, in such pieces as 'Say It', 'Human' (dedicated to a friend he recently lost to cancer), and 'Lucky Day'. 'Ride' takes us on a percolating electronic journey that will not disappoint. And not forgetting his roots, 'Necessity of Love' is a new age staple, cinematic at times, in a style reminiscent of Vangelis. It may take many years of patience between albums, but it's good to see Davol return and provide us with A Day Like No Other.

The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau has been one of television's most celebrated programs of all time. Jean Michel Jarre, a countryman of Jacques Cousteau, composed and performed an e-music opus on honor of the oceanographer. En Attendant Cousteau is a departure from Jarre's usual format. This disc has three tracks that are longer than his normal tracks. (They are between six and nine minutes.) The fourth track is a major work clocking in at 47 minutes. That track, 'En Attendant Cousteau', is an epic minimalist creation. This is groundbreaking stuff, an unusual mode for Jarre. Jarre has not gone this far out on a limb since his debut in 1976. It is a worthy risk. The atmospheric minimalism of the title track is deep and substantial. This is a great CD, certainly one of Jarre's top three. It will appeal to fans of Robert Scott Thompson, Jeff Pearce, James Johnson, and Mychael Danna. (Interestingly, Paul Nagle created a tongue-in-cheek tribute to this album and Jarre by recording Waiting for Clouseau in the late '90s. Nagle's album is humorous and enjoyable.) - Allmusic.com

Ethereal vocals sway your mood amid downtempo grooves and experimental soundscapes. This is just the beginning of an album that soars high and hits hard. Crossing Dead Can Dance with Portishead and Zero 7, Aurah is a group that has made a bit of a name for themselves by composing the film score for Loving Annabelle and Never After, as well as having their music heard on Little Miss Sunshine and Blood Diamond. Melodic synthesizers offer a psychedelic landscape with heady music fit for the hippest lounges and clubs.

While not without flaws, this second release from Amethystium, aka Oystein Ramfjord (a twenty-something producer from Norway), is another appealing assortment of trance/space/pop/new age textures that may not fully transport you to another dimension, but will set an interesting audio backdrop for the evening. Ramfjord creates inviting, slightly sweetened, slightly mysterious electronic atmospheres, all nudged along by polite grooves and an assortment of subtle, Enigma inspired audio totems (native flutes, Gregorian chant, Middle Eastern vocals). Amethystium is not quite a peer of Enigma, acting more like a mild-mannered distant relative. Stylistic comparisons to Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Mythos, and even Vangelis are also likely to come to mind. Ramfjord's higher-pitched keyboard voices occasionally break the spell his music works hard to cast (as in "Garden of Sakuntala," a pity), but it's a tolerable glitch in this largely inviting 59-minute moodsetter, one that is almost identical in flavor to his debut Odonata.