Jon Hassell, Dream Theory in Malaya: Fourth World Volume Two (side A)

It's amazing how far Hassell's work was stretching the vague genre "ambient" in 1981.  Dream Theory in Malaya employs sounds that seem to have been cut-up and looped.  While an early AMS effect was credited on the back (and its owner was explicity thanked), it's hard to imagine how some of this palette was created without technology that is taken for granted 30 years later.  Hassell creates an incredible sense of space by relying on abstract sounds and repetition—this strategy seems obvious today, but resembles nothing else of its time.  The pressing is not great, but the record still sounds quite good thanks to an obvious attention to detail during its creation.  The cover, however, neither flatters the music nor looks appealing.