Robert Rich & B. Lustmord* ‎– Stalker

One of the most essential (and influential) dark-ambient albums of 20th century. It captures the mood of Tarkovsky's film perfectly and contains several sound snippets from it (most clearly heard on Track 3), cleverly blended into the murky soundworlds of Stalker. The album reveals more details with each respective listen. Must-have for every ambient fan.

Dark-ambient albums are a peculiar beast; favourites in the genre frequently achieve the mood and tone without difficulty, but struggle with active direction from that point onward.

Stalker is one of the few exceptions. From the very first track, Elemental Trigger, it's clear that a great deal of time and thought has been put into these compositions. I listen to this album frequently whilst falling asleep, and it manages to trigger some fantastic mental images.*

The album is based liberally on Andre Tarkovsky's 1979 film of the same name, and the mood of the film is captured admirably by Rich and Lustmord. But any resemblance to the arc of the film seems almost inconsequential, as the compositions stand well alone from any existing pretext.

Fans of ambient music, dark or otherwise will be duly rewarded for seeking this album out.

* I could go on for some length about these images, but that would ruin the experience. Just close your eyes and let your mind wander..

The dark ambient geniuses Robert Rich & Brian Lustmord join forces here to introduce us to the film Stalker, a 1979 sci-fi film. This is not the soundtrack or the replacement of the soundtrack, this album is just made in the spirit of that movie. I haven't seen it, so I can't say much about it, but the music in this album lives its own life not minding the movie. Deep, dark, eerie are just a couple of words that first come to mind, when descriping the music, but this is much more. This mysterious album holds in so much potential, it's like a voyage you want to take every day.