Hypnagogue reviews are based on this premise: that ambient and electronic music are evocative media designed to create a space where none exists, to deliver an experience beyond musicality. And so the reviews attempt to look beyond the sound to the sensations it creates for a listener.

These are a listener's reviews, not a musician's. There's no presumption of technical understanding or an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of the genre. It's all about what the music does. Prior to writing a review, a CD is played for several days, sometimes to the exclusion of all other music, until the emotive thread that will form the basis of the review is found.

Hypnagogue reviews cover the spectrum of electronic music, from drifting ambient to experimental to dance-club grooves.

Because music is music.

The Hypnagogue Himself is John Shanahan, a writer and long-time ambient/electronic music lover living in Quincy, Massachusetts. To find out more about what John does when he's not wearing the Hypnagogue hat, visit his personal Web site at shanahan.netfirms.com.