Veteran Italian hardware lover Bochum Welt is back with a sixth studio album entitled April. Due for release on !K7 in April 2017, it is a broad 16 track exploration of ambient, IDM and downtempo that revisits and re-edits old works as well as offering up music previously unavailable on vinyl. Real name Gianluigi Di Costanzo, Bochum Welt has long been experimenting with his various machines, and as far back as 1994 was releasing on Aphex Twin’s influential Rephlex label. He went on to put out many EPs and three full lengths there, as well as linking with BMG and Sony Music Japan. In his time he has made it into The Wire’s Top 15 albums of the year and has also worked with the legendary Thomas Dolby's California based Beatnik and Headspace Inc—companies that completed productions for Stephen Spielberg and D. Bowie amongst others. In the live area he has opened for Aphex Twin and Thomas Dolby, so is an accomplished musical engineer, sound designer and master of electornic atmospheres. All of that is proven here across short but absorbing tracks that are all preciously unreleased or newly reworked. Often these sketches form the basis for Welt’s live show, and have been transposed using various vintage pedals and sound manglers. From crunchy beats overlaid with pixelated pads to blissfully organic and spring-like sound tracks via tender piano laced ambient numbers, the music on April is never less than beautiful. It can be heavenly yet of this world, but also synthetic and computerised. Together, though, it makes for dynamic and standalone work that is utterly timeless. Expressive and personal throughout, this album is about sound research and melodic sensibility and is as technically awe inspiring as it is purely enjoyable.