Steve Hillage: Rainbow Dome Musick Baked Beans: s/t Steve Roach: -- several possible choices, but right now I'd go with the 3-disc reissue of Structures From Silence Wendy Carlos: Sonic Seasonings Brian Eno: The Shutov Assembly
For the more commercial of ear Goldfrapp - Felt Mountain ( And the track Clowns from their album Seventh Tree) Eno - Before And After Science (side two) Another Green World. David Sylvian - Brilliant Trees ( Title track, Nostalgia. )
It's hard to top "Music For Airports" as the ultimate ambient album. Eno's "Apollo" album is another good one.
Lot's of good choices here, and I'll add this to the list. I think this is one of the best records Harold Budd has done. If you like "The Pearl", you'll like this. Really beautiful stuff. On a side note, I've been listening to Harold Budd for years and recently read something to the effect that all of his music is improvised. http://www.amazon.com/Translucence-...0346514&sr=1-2&keywords=harold+budd+john+foxx
5 great and contrasting ones, lots more good ones though! Popol Vuh: Affenstunde (1970) Brian Eno: On Land (1982) Harold Budd: Lovely Thunder (1984) Brian Eno: Thursday Afternoon (1985) Leo Abrahams: Scene Memory (2006)
I know what you mean, but for me his "ultimate" is Thursday Afternoon, with probably the longest fade-in in music history. It's 61 minutes long and the first ever 1-track CD. Popol Vuh were arguably the "inventors" of ambient music with tracks like Aguirre recorded in 1969, but Eno was arguably the ultimate, and took it to its "peak" with Thursday Afternoon IMO.
John Foxx - Cathedral Oceans - http://www.allmusic.com/album/cathedral-oceans-mw0000347971 Bill Nelson - Gleaming without Lights, if you like your ambient with a bit of electric guitar worked in Jon Hassell - Last Night the Moon Came Dropping its Clothes in the Street, my favorite album of the 21st century bar none.
KLF - Chill Out (an ambient masterpiece, timed to perfection) Arvo Part - Alina (piano and cello, what else do you need?) Eno - Apollo I only had 3 cents, sorry! DD
I was once in Tower Records Boston, and overheard someone pointing this out as the 'finest record Eno ever made'. I had it, of course, but never thought much of it. More attentive listening confirmed Hybrid as a top notch entry in both artists' catalogs. It continues to grow on me thirty years later. Never more than a few feet from the player. I was just about to post that I wasn't seeing enough Michael Brook in this thread. Certainly Cobalt Blue and Live At the Aquarium need mentioning. In this vein, keep an eye out for The Leaving Time, by Michael Shrieve and Steve Roach, with ravishing David Torn guitar atmospherics. Way OOP but when I see it, it's often cheap. Glad to see my favorite artist bar none catching some ink here. I second and third every Jon Hassell recommendation. Please don't forget Power Spot on ECM.
Couldn't agree more! The purity and sustained intention of 'Thursday Afternoon' is very special, although I consider 'Discreet Music' a close second...
The Paul McCartney? Well that's unexpected. Have to listen to the sample when I get home... Thanks for the recomms so far! So all four of Eno's Ambient series. Anyone know any others like On Land with animals and giant dragonflys lurking on the shadows?
If minimalism can be considered ambient, a favorite is Jerone van Veen's 5 disc box of Simone Ten Holt's solo piano music
Ambient is such a difficult thing to describe to someone that doesn't know what it is. More times than not, once you play something for the uninitiated, they like it and end up like me, looking for more suggestions... This is the kind of homework i like!
There's nothing like On Land. It's unique and awesome. Put it on repeat all day instead When I first got into Eno heavily when I was 14 around 1986, I used to walk around the hills and places for hours with On Land on my Walkman on both sides of a TDK D120 cassette. I'd flip the tape as soon as it ended, and start again. Bliss..
I really love most of the Eno ambient series and collaborations, especially those with Harold Budd and Jon Hassell, but overall my favorite is probably ... Harold Budd & Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois - The Pearl Truth be told, I could be happy with any of these too: On Land, Thursday Afternoon, Fourth World, Apollo, The Plateaux Of Mirror, ... So many more, love the space ambient stuff, and the whole series with Namlook & Inoue produced some great ones ... Pete Namlook & Tetsu Inoue - 2350 Broadway And in more modern times, Robert Rich has a bunch of really nice records of his own, but for dark ambient it is hard to beat ... Robert Rich & Brian Lustmord - Stalker
Top five would be hard to pick, but some favorites include: Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Vol 2 Gas- Pop Deepchord- 20 Electrostatic Soundfields Carbon Based Lifeforms- Hydroponic Garden Cluster- s/t
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Vol 2 David Sylvian - Gone To Earth (Second Disc) David Sylvian and Holger Czukay - Flux + Mutability Burzum - Hliðskjálf David Lynch - The Air Is On Fire
I am a HUGE fan of the genre. Please check out this seamless Dark Ambient mixed I constructed within Logic Pro when you have some spare time. I went deep and dark and on the sinister side with this one. https://soundcloud.com/synthfreek/dark-ambient-mix-1984-2011 Nocturnal Emissions - Bestiae Clamor (1989) 0:01 Bill Laswell & M.J. Harris - Distal Sonority (1994) 3:45 Deep Listening Band - Balloon Payment (1991) 4:34 Deep Listening Band - Metalorgy (1991) 5:20 Lull - Slow Fall Inward (1995) 6:20 Pessary - Decompose (1992) 8:10 Nurse With Wound - Beetle Crawls Across My Back (1993) 13:25 Total - Six (1994) 18:45 Painkiller - Parish Of Tama (1994) 20:30 Bass Communion - Loss (Part 1) (2005) 23:52 [Main] - XX (1998) 34:25 Thomas Köner - Kanon (Part 1: Brohuk) (1994) 35:45 Demdike Stare - Quiet Sky (2011) 37:40 Non - Cruenta Voluptas (1986) 40:26 Lustmord & Robert Rich - Undulating Terrain (1995) 41:30 Hafler Trio - A Thirsty Fish/The Dirty Fire (1987) 45:00 Shinjuku Thief - A Midnight Mass (1993) 47:55 Pete Namlook - Subharmonic Invocation Of The Dark Spirits (1996) 48:40 Sunn O))) - Sin Nanna (2005) 50:48 X Ray - Annul (1995) 52:30 Andrew Liles - The Dying Submariner Part 4 (2007) 55:08 Jeff Greinke - Humid (1998) 57:43 KK Null & James Plotkin - Drowning In Aurora (1995) 1:01:00 :Zoviet*France: - Daisy Gun (1994) 1:02:00 Coil - How To Destroy Angels (1984) 1:04:15
My 5 picks that I thnnk fit the bill? Robert Rich & Lustmord - Stalker Steve Roach - The Magnificent Void Biosphere - Substrata Michael Stearns - Encounter Pete Namlook - Air I & II