Synthetic Water Music, a 51-track compilation of ambient music themed around water, is out now on the Slovakian label mappa. The Quietus reported the release on August 19, 2026, in a piece by Christian Eede.
The set is available digitally straight away, with a cassette edition following on September 10, and the label is selling the compilation through Bandcamp.
It lands as mappa marks its tenth anniversary, and follows on from Synthetic Bird Music, the compilation the imprint put out in 2023 on the same model.
Much of the music is new or has not been released before. The Quietus said it was made by friends and close associates of the label, with a particular focus on musicians from Central and Eastern Europe.
The contributor list is long. Pauline Anna Strom, Visible Cloaks, perila, Jules Reidy, Ursula K. Le Guin & Todd Barton, Memotone, Natalia Beylis and Adam Badi Donoval are among the names The Quietus printed, with many more spread across the 51 tracks.
The compilation goes on the release calendar with the rest of the autumn's electronic records, near Floating Points's surprise ballet album and Tyondai Braxton's Splayed Werks.
Strom's name is a thread back through The Quietus's own archive. The site has written about Trans-Millenia Music, the RVNG Intl release drawn from her records and cassettes of the 1980s, and about Angel Tears In Sunlight, her last album, which came out after her death.
The facts
- Synthetic Water Music collects 51 tracks on the Slovakian label mappa.
- It is out digitally, with a cassette edition due September 10, 2026.
- The compilation marks mappa's tenth anniversary.
- It follows the label's 2023 compilation Synthetic Bird Music.
- Contributors include Pauline Anna Strom, Visible Cloaks and perila.
- Jules Reidy, Memotone and Natalia Beylis also appear.
- Much of the music is new or previously unreleased.
- The Quietus said the set focuses on Central and Eastern European musicians.
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