Bibio, "Phantom Brickworks"

This is my favourite album of 2018 so far ... or rather, the best album of 2017 that I've only just discovered now.  It's more or less a tribute album to classic 90's ambient records, assembled in some mutant chill ambient laboratory of discarded drones and piano loops by Bibio's heroes.  All the best stuff is cannibalized here, most notably Aphex's "Selected Ambient Works II".  William Basinski's fingerprints are all over this album too, with the way that gentle sounds seem to endlessly loop and slowly drift about.  The coldness of SAW II is also balanced by an overwhelming peacefulness that spreads throughout the entire album, reminiscent of Global Communication's "76:14".  And I detect a whiff of Seefeel's queasy near-masterpiece "Succour" too (at least the quieter bits).