All India Radio

The 2003 Australian Album Of The Year may well have been recorded by an act virtually nobody has heard of. Melbourne-based All India Radio's self-titled third album is a breathtaking triumph; one of the most exquisite, ethereal, instrumental records ever made in Australia. - The Brag Magazine

The 2003 Australian Album Of The Year may well have been recorded by an act virtually nobody has heard of. Melbourne-based All India Radio's self-titled third album is a breathtaking triumph; one of the most exquisite, ethereal, instrumental records ever made in Australia. - The Brag Magazine

The Silent Surf opens with an airy sketch of an arid stretch of miraged highway. Think mid-tempo road music with Neil Young’s “Dead Man” soundtrack guitar tumbleweed and mysterious organ lines that curve inward unresolved like question marks. All India Radio work a territory somewhere between instrumental post-rock, film score, and a sort of less-electronic Thievery Corporation. While that description probably seems less than thrilling, the good news is that this album is a legitimate masterwork of mood, flow, vibe and other intangibles. The music really jams and breathes, sounds beautiful, and is easy to listen to – not in any cheap or superficial sense, but in that it grabs you gently and makes it easy to stay within its space while enjoying its feeling of unhurried motion. Quite lovely. - Foxy Digitalis

Let’s begin with the gorgeous cover art of All India Radio’s latest, The Silent Surf. It features a beautiful rendering of the moon rising out of a clear blue ocean. This is one of the reasons people such as myself mourn the demise of vinyl as a format. For all intents and purposes, A.I.R. is Martin Kennedy. His collaboration with Steve Kilbey of The Church, Unseen Music, Unheard Words last year was one of my favorites. One of the reasons I like The Silent Surf so much is that you can listen to a cut like The Bomb over and over, and never really get to the bottom of it. Listen a bit deeper, and you find all sorts of strange and wonderful things going on. All India Radio’s music exists in a place all its own. It is an area where provocative thoughts live, yet never have to be shouted. There is no question that the collection has a soothing, calming effect on the listener. But the subtext is as complex and curious as life itself. - Blogcritics

Australia’s hypnotic chilltronica group All India Radio begins another decade of sonic spacewalks with its new full-length The Silent Surf.

“We are as nonsurfer as you can get,” said All India Radio founder and unabashed sci-fi fan Martin Kennedy (above center). “So, it’s a spacewalk through an alternative surf universe for us!” Since the turn of the 21st century, All India Radio has mashed the ambient-hop signatures of DJ Shadow, Tortoise and Thievery Corporation with the instantly recognizable guitar soundtracking of Ennio Morricone and Angelo Badalamenti. The resulting narcotic musical textures are capable of floating listeners to galaxies far, far away. - Wired

Relegating All India Radio to the all-encompassing genre of ‘background music’ or ‘ambient music’ is doing Martin Kennedy (Kennedy is the composer behind All India Radio) a disservice. It’s not like these terms are an incorrect descriptor. I’m sure they will turn up on numerous postings about The Silent Surf in the coming months. It’s like describing ‘Us And Them’ by Pink Floyd as ambient music (I say this because ‘Clouds’ on The Silent Surf utilizes a keyboard movement in a similar vein to the Floyd tune).

All India Radio is heady and layered music best experienced through headphones. More importantly, All India Radio is music that can easily work it’s way into the background of your life, whether that life is repeated commuting, generating files on a computer, or selling clothing to the afternoon shopper.

Much like Kennedy’s last album A Low High, The Silent Surf delves into sublime movements of somberness, with slow picked bass notes, light snare drumming, and keyboards all merged together to form a prominently instrumental 45 minutes of delicate material.

Steve Kilbey (The Church) whispers lyrics overtop of album intro track ‘The Bomb’, sounding like a musical concierge to Kennedy’s space-rock musical holiday resort. As Kilbey suggests that you ease back into the material you are about to hear, a lulling effect seems to overtake the listener as the remaining eleven tracks on the album unfold. - Fazer Magazine

Relegating All India Radio to the all-encompassing genre of ‘background music’ or ‘ambient music’ is doing Martin Kennedy (Kennedy is the composer behind All India Radio) a disservice. It’s not like these terms are an incorrect descriptor. I’m sure they will turn up on numerous postings about The Silent Surf in the coming months. It’s like describing ‘Us And Them’ by Pink Floyd as ambient music (I say this because ‘Clouds’ on The Silent Surf utilizes a keyboard movement in a similar vein to the Floyd tune).

All India Radio is heady and layered music best experienced through headphones. More importantly, All India Radio is music that can easily work it’s way into the background of your life, whether that life is repeated commuting, generating files on a computer, or selling clothing to the afternoon shopper.

Much like Kennedy’s last album A Low High, The Silent Surf delves into sublime movements of somberness, with slow picked bass notes, light snare drumming, and keyboards all merged together to form a prominently instrumental 45 minutes of delicate material.

Steve Kilbey (The Church) whispers lyrics overtop of album intro track ‘The Bomb’, sounding like a musical concierge to Kennedy’s space-rock musical holiday resort. As Kilbey suggests that you ease back into the material you are about to hear, a lulling effect seems to overtake the listener as the remaining eleven tracks on the album unfold. - Fazer Magazine

Shimmering acoustica; gentle, almost post-rock space folk tunes. It’s comfortable music – big lush and beautiful - Inpress Magazine

Shimmering acoustica; gentle, almost post-rock space folk tunes. It’s comfortable music – big lush and beautiful - Inpress Magazine

The word “haunting” is used a lot when describing ambient music, as though listening to a slow-paced song with no vocals will instantly conjure up moments of extreme self-reflection. Maybe it will. Whatever the case, the phrase actually fits Melbourne experimental group All India Radio rather appropriately. The brainchild of composer/songwriter Martin Kennedy, the band’s completely instrumental tracks radiate a kind of mysteriousness. All India Radio are subtle, and your level of involvement in their music is up to you. You can let it drift past you while you go about doing other things, or you can listen to the different layers and really lose yourself in it. - Time Off Magazine

The word “haunting” is used a lot when describing ambient music, as though listening to a slow-paced song with no vocals will instantly conjure up moments of extreme self-reflection. Maybe it will. Whatever the case, the phrase actually fits Melbourne experimental group All India Radio rather appropriately. The brainchild of composer/songwriter Martin Kennedy, the band’s completely instrumental tracks radiate a kind of mysteriousness. All India Radio are subtle, and your level of involvement in their music is up to you. You can let it drift past you while you go about doing other things, or you can listen to the different layers and really lose yourself in it. - Time Off Magazine

So. Dang. Rad. One of the most uniquely cool things we've seen in a long time! Brilliant! - Perez Hilton.com

All India Radio has taken dream-pop to the next level with some mind-numbingly gorgeous songs that use pianos, strings, and organs to their fullest potential and sit somewhere between the realms of Portishead and Boards of Canada. This is also the band's first album with its new singer Leona Prue, whose voice pulls the listener into a trance-like state from almost the first note she utters. - xlr8.com

If (the older) Portishead and Air ever made a record together, it would sound something like this... Undeniably beautiful work! - WPRK 91.5 FM (Filtered Sunshine Radio)

This fifth album Fall features all of the traits listeners have come to expect from All India Radio so far, with their trademark dreamy trailing guitars and lush instrumental textures firmly in place – the real edge here being the recent addition of Leona Prue on vocals. Whilst providing Fall with far more of a solid grounding than its occasionally meandering predecessor, Prue’s at times spine-chilling vocals manage to take the poignancy of the gorgeous backings to a far more intense level. Fans of the likes of Zero 7 and Velure will be thrilled. - threedworld

If (the older) Portishead and Air ever made a record together, it would sound something like this... Undeniably beautiful work! - WPRK 91.5 FM (Filtered Sunshine Radio)

They’re one Sophia Coppola film soundtrack away from being the next big thing on the softer side of electronica. The music is beautiful and organic with enough depth to keep coming back for multiple listening sessions...it’s a delicate and intriguing piece of work - Wonka Vision

In a word - beautiful. Thats the adjective for the latest AIR release. Notably, the female vocals blend effortlessly the now well-established trademark sublime sound of the ensemble. You'll feel it, you'll believe it - Life really is easy. Neat-o. - Getamungstit

They’re one Sophia Coppola film soundtrack away from being the next big thing on the softer side of electronica. The music is beautiful and organic with enough depth to keep coming back for multiple listening sessions...it’s a delicate and intriguing piece of work - Wonka Vision

Lonesome sagebrush guitar meets swirling deep-space technology during the high points of this Australian trio's fourth album, suggesting a futuristic spaghetti western. - Spin

Lonesome sagebrush guitar meets swirling deep-space technology during the high points of this Australian trio's fourth album, suggesting a futuristic spaghetti western. - Spin

Borrowing the mellow of chill-out masters Boards of Canada and the cinematic spread of Ennio Morricone, Kennedy creates soothing soundtracks for people prepping to do bad things. Tracks like "Mexicola" and "Four Three" demand to played during the defining moment of a Quentin Tarantino film, preferably accompanied by images of people diligently cleaning weapons. Others, like the electronic sigh "Evening Star," should come in after the deed is done. Either way, Kennedy will leave you feeling haunted.
- Las Vegas City Life

Borrowing the mellow of chill-out masters Boards of Canada and the cinematic spread of Ennio Morricone, Kennedy creates soothing soundtracks for people prepping to do bad things. Tracks like "Mexicola" and "Four Three" demand to played during the defining moment of a Quentin Tarantino film, preferably accompanied by images of people diligently cleaning weapons. Others, like the electronic sigh "Evening Star," should come in after the deed is done. Either way, Kennedy will leave you feeling haunted.
- Las Vegas City Life

All India Radio’s self titled third album is an object of rare porcelain beauty...a dreamier, less
beat-orientated massive attack with distinctive shadings of Ennio Morricone and Brian Eno.
- Magnet

All India Radio’s self titled third album is an object of rare porcelain beauty...a dreamier, less
beat-orientated massive attack with distinctive shadings of Ennio Morricone and Brian Eno.
- Magnet

One of the most elegant and simple instrumental rock albums I’ve ever heard…a heavenly cloud of radiance that is simply not of the material world. I can’t wait to hear more. - Brainwashed

One of the most elegant and simple instrumental rock albums I’ve ever heard…a heavenly cloud of radiance that is simply not of the material world. I can’t wait to hear more. - Brainwashed