Ambient music pioneer Robert Rich sent word that he’s got a new release out and that he’s completely overhauled his website.

The new release, React, is a live collaboration with Ian Boddy. Here’s what Rich has to say about it:

React is the third collaboration between Robert Rich and British synthesist Ian Boddy. However, unlike their previous two studio outings on the DiN label, Outpost (2001) and Lithosphere (2005), this is a record of their first ever live performance at the Star’s End Radio Show 30th Anniversary Celebration Concert in Philadelphia in June 2007.

The duo forge a fascinating sonic collaboration that offers glimpses into each musician’s personality within the evolving musical landscape. Boddy is mainly responsible for the rhythmic content which he mutates and morphs from the sonic input of Rich’s MOTM modular system. Meanwhile Rich paints a tapestry of sound with hovering keyboards, flutes and his trademark gliss lap steel guitar voicing. The duo references two tracks from Outpost (Ice Fields and The Edge of Nowhere) and the title track of Lithosphere, but presents them in more energized and dynamic versions, in a set filled with improvisations and fresh material.

The music ebbs and flows from abstract soundscapes through gentle reveries to up tempo sections that combine thunderous analog bass and glitchy percussion overlain with a mesmerizing mix of keyboards, flutes and steel guitar. A truly unique performance.

Rich has also given his site a much needed overhaul. The new site is gorgeous and easy to navigate.

There are a few things he hasn’t moved over from his old site, though, so he’s kept an archive of the old site around, also.