Listen to Patrick O'Hearn, Olafur Arnald, Johan Johansson and also Tangerine Dream. Just amazing music. You might like to research on Echoes.org.
Ambient has become a catch all term. If you were to go with just true blue ambient at its most basic I would say Steve Roach's 3 1/2 hour Immersion 3 is the best choice. Other wise I would go with these: 1 Between Interval- Secret Observatory 2 Carbon Based Lifeforms- World Of Sleepers 3 Carbon Based Lifeforms- Hydroponic Garden 4 Steve Roach- The Magnificent Void 5 Carbon Based Lifeforms- Twenty Three
Tangerine Dream - Zeit Tangerine Dream - Phaedra Klaus Schulze - Timewind Fripp and Eno - Evening Star Peter Michael Hamel - Nada
Here are five ambient (or close enough) albums that I really like which I didn't see mentioned yet: Asmus Tietchens - Dammerattacke K. Leimer - Closed System Potentials Michael Stearns - Planetary Unfolding Harold Budd - The White Arcades Holger Czukay/David Sylvian - Plight + Premonition Any fans of Eno or Schulze or Froese will find something to enjoy in the above titles. There is also a Vangelis soundtrack called L'apocalypse des animaux released in 1973--side two is a surprisingly great ambient stunner. Lastly, there's a 20-plus minute track by Richard Pinhas called "Wintermusic" (originally featured as a bonus track on the Iceland CD) that is one of my favorite ambient pieces of all time.
For scary you will want this: Roswell After Midnight Don't be caught out in the dark listening to this. For this is a soundtrack to be abducted by. Dark, mysterious and menacing. This is simply the best album of its kind. There is nothing ambient about it in the sense of being happy or peaceful or reflective. The only new age here is that of an extraterrestrial cosmopolitan Earth. It carries with it a threatening nature, like something in the unknown awaiting you. Like deep dark water, the drones well up from below, lifting you, only to have the swell lower you back down to the depths. There be monsters here. The first of three long-form united pieces, `Garden of the Devine' starts out full bore, there is no buildup. You have woken up far from where you went asleep and everything is already happening. Magnificent drama engulfs you as you try to locate your place in what must be deep space. If Percival Lowell was around tonight, this is what would be playing in his headphones while he mapped Mars. By the end of it, your subwoofer will be beating like it has a heart of its own. `Surreptitious Nature' continues this outer edge trip and two things are now embedded in our minds; space is deep and space is dark. And it is empty. Almost. Is it your own sonar you hear, going out into the void? Or is it one of those alien lighthouses, the pulsars, which you hear? Either way, it is cold and barren out here. If you listen closely you can hear the subtle sounds of machinery that make up your spacecraft. The intro to the next track, `Forested Veins', is actually the beginning of the last track, as it ends like it began. This is very much a concept album meant to be taken whole. No silent interruptions intrude on your trip thru space, as the sonics continue unabated throughout. Here the hum of the vast emptiness of space meets a synthesized choir, joined by low bass rumblings and the pulsing sound of engines. Imagine Holst locked up in a small secluded flat surrounded by banks of synthesizers, producing a Nibiru that is much more sinister than anything he has ever done before. `Entropy' slowly takes us further out. Are those alien voices you are discerning? At eight minutes it is by far the shortest track on here, and it serves as calm ending to your flight. But just remember, you may feel like you are alone in this distant vastness, but... WE are out there, in the dark above, beckoning you ~ waiting for you to start your spiritual sojourn. A 5 out of 5 rating for this one = 5 trillion stars
Distant Transmissions `Arecibo', the giant radio telescope, is ambient space music, with a beat. The images of soaring thru sky and space is created by several layers of smooth synthesizers. There are pulsing keyboard notes laid over the top, with what is either distortion or a planned constant crackle of static coming out of the left channel. In the end, it all fades away into space. The second track, `System', starts off silently. Far in the back ground sounds can be heard. Bells? Birds? It is not easy to tell what you are hearing. Synthesizers swell up amid these sounds, establishing the same tone as the tracks which came before. This same tone will serve you throughout the whole album. `Somewhere In Russia' starts out with a distorted human voice and once again the same tone that pervades the album fills the room. There is a slight background beat for a few seconds, which like much of the album, seems to be coming from just under your breath. Overall what you hear is ambience, made from at least three synths. It is pleasant and you will find that this album puts you in a pacified state of mind. `Terpene' begins with what may be white noise or water flowing. There is melody here, but it is sublime, not deviating from what has gone before it. There are long sustained notes soaring above this melody. Keyboard notes appear below all this making it the most musical track on the album. `Inertia' is next. The noises which were once background are now fully apparent. They are a mixture of something akin to bells, water and wild dogs. A hollow layer of synthesizer is laid over this, with another synth layer over that. It is a laid back but unsettling sound, like sitting in a hot tub on the edge of a foreign forest. You are comfortable, but you don't know what is out there. `VLA' comes next. It stands for Very Large Array, which refers to the radio telescopes in the desert of the American southwest seen on the cover. Having a similar overall sound as before, this one is marked by a low drone, backed with some otherworldly intelligent sounds emanating from the wilderness of space. Almost like you are picking up the radio transmissions of an alien craft. This one keeps up the same steady tone for ten minutes, but `VLA' also can be found as its own stand alone hour long album. "VLA" is great for a long drive home after work. Mind Numbing are the words I use to describe it. `Kensington Gardens' is the one track I do not play as it is too light hearted for the theme of the album. It is too idyllic, though still not bad enough to bring this album down from its lofty perch. `Held Together By Gravity', like bells floating by on the wind, leaves us with a feeling of calm. Like all the rest, it is over five minutes of the same structured tone, which holds the entire album together as one, despite the silence between songs. Carbon Based Lifeforms know what they are doing, and "Twentythree" proves they are good at it. 4.8 stars
Thanks Spiritual Architect--I'm working from home tomorrow so I think I have some background music now
Thought ~ dwelling on it's own Existence The Origin of Ambient? Appearing in 1972, this album may be the beginning of the genre. It is Sound, not Music. To say it takes your mind out into the far reaches of the galaxy would not be farfetched. More probable than improbable. What does the galaxy sound like? Static? If humans can imagine the sound this may be what they hear. "Time". The album's title is a good description of what you will hear. Slowly making its way along smoothly through its hour and fourteen minute duration, there seems to be no beginning and no end. It just seems to start and stop. Always droning but never boring, this is an album meant to played from start to finish. `Birth Of Liquid Plejades' starts it off with a dominating drone. After a while this turns into a more peaceful drone. After more time it builds into something along the lines of gothic prayer. Where the first track placed us in orbit, `Nebulous Dawn' leads us out into deep space. The sounds of alien lighthouses, what 20th century humans called pulsars, can clearly be heard. If one listens closely they will also hear the interstellar traffic that these alien beacons are guiding. Space is a busy place when it comes to trading interplanetary goods. The droning and pulsations of `Origin Of Supernatural Probabilities' could be the sound you hear while being in the presence of The Maker, or some other worldly hive of constant creators. With `Zeit' we seem to reach our destination, a truly alien planet. It has parts in it that are reminiscent of 1950's science fiction movies. Electric running water and perturbed parakeets surrounded by a weird hollow vibe can be found here. Echoes of unusual sounds come at you and if you ask me, the high registers in this recording are distorted. And after all this time, it suddenly ends. It is just over. Sorry guys, ran out of tape. It is hard not to give this album 5 stars, as it sets itself so far apart from the norm. The thought that anyone would buy it let alone listen to the whole thing makes it quite a gamble to manufacture and put on the market. The record company was as much a futuristic thinker as was the band. "Zeit" was a trend setter ahead of its time, a time that still seems to be far in the future.
I'm glad I have helped somebody, hopefully the thread starter too. Ambient is just such a huge space, like a giant museum with everything in it you can imagine. I takes a guidebook to find what you are looking for. Thanks everyone for their choices, many of which I now have to go listen to.
Wow, thanks for the details about Distant Transmissions and Roswell, Spiritual Arch.! I've just discovered an apparently rich vein of Robert Fripp music. No samples on Amzn. Anyone familiar with these? (If so, pls provide comments and what they're about, not just 'Oh, they are R.Fripp and therefore indispensible.' Thanks Wine of Silence (Fripp Keeling Singleton) At the End of Time: Churchscapes Live in England Love Cannot Bear And Fripp with Theo Travis: Follow Discretion Live at Coventry Cathedral They all have 4+ star ratings, but I imagine the persons rating them are a very small vertical market...
I guess I need to write more reviews. These are all shots in the dark on what another person will like, but Carbon Based Lifeorms are my favorite.
Rod Modell/Deepchord/Echospace has released some amazing works that aren't always dub-techno. This listen is DEEP.
For me, it almost starts and ends with William Basinski's "The Disintegration Loops". I do love other ambient pieces, but that's the one I always go back to. Stars of the Lid are fabulous, as are Windy & Carl. Not even sure if any of those artists would be considered ambient, but they are to me.
1.Tangerine Dream -Zeit(maybe not 100% pure ambient) 2-Hillage -Rainbow Dome Music 3-Brian Eno-thursday Afternoon(I could name a bunch with him) 4-Steve Roach-Structures from silence 5-Pretty much anything by Harold Budd
That's good stuff. Sounds like it was recorded in the engine room of a deep space freighter. Like Vangelis "Invisible Connections" on steroids.
As I sit ,listening to "December Train' by Steve Jansen, David Sylvian's brother, I welcome this question and appreciate eveyone's choices ,because it swings open new doors to explore ! Anything by Jon Hassell, Brian Eno, Roger Eno, Michael Brook, David Sylvian (for me , pre Manafon), Robin Guthrie, Harold Budd, Tim Story, Coyote Oldman, Hammock, Eric Wollo, Lisa Gerrard, Patrick O'Hearn are all important artists for me. These are not in order of importance ,by any stretch, but all equally deserve any attention . A couple of favorites include Oystein Sevag and Lakki Patey, "Visual" and David Arkenstone, "Ambient World ". Too many great artists and not enough time !
1. Shadowplay - Tim Story 2. Solstice - Erik Wollo 3. Nighthawks - Harold Budd / Foxx 4. Sleeping On The Edge Of The World - David Helpling 5. Astra - Igneous Flame
