Top Five Ambient: Your Choices?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by tvstrategies, Aug 23, 2015.

  1. Rocker

    Rocker Senior Member

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    Unfortunately no, I don't... my full want list is just a hard copy, hand-written on paper! :p

    I actually have some of my "to buy" titles listed on the website of a local used CD shop... they have an inventory/wishlist system which automatically notifies you if something you're looking for shows up in stock at one of their locations. It's a pretty handy system, and I've found tons of rare & obscure titles over the years... but unfortunately their database is missing quite a few of the titles on my list. The system has a couple other flaws that are a little annoying too, but overall I'm glad to have it available for use... I'd say about 8o% of my CD purchases during the past decade have been through this particular store!
     
  2. coltlacey1

    coltlacey1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kenai, Alaska
  3. senseabove

    senseabove Forum Resident

    The Basinski vinyl box is on my want list. I've come close a few times on eBay. Unfortunately, I've not had great luck with the ambient(ish) titles I do have. They're not quite in the Eno school, but the Fennesz tecord I have, and to push it even further the Jan Jelinek I have sadly aren't on super quiet vinyl. Luckily Jan is fond of the fake pops and hoss anyway, so I can just pretend it's part of the music.
     
  4. Many excellent choices but I don't see one of my favs:
    Bjorn Olsson-Instrumental Music...
     
  5. kendo

    kendo Forum Resident

    CAN's "ambient album -

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  6. kendo

    kendo Forum Resident

    The Orb - Aubrey Mixes: The Ultraworld Excursions

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  7. kendo

    kendo Forum Resident

    "Space" by the KLF -

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    Millington likes this.
  8. kendo

    kendo Forum Resident

    Bill Nelson's "The Summer Of God's Piano" -

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  9. Rocker

    Rocker Senior Member

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    That one's on my wishlist, but I'm not keeping my fingers crossed to ever find a copy.... apparently it's super rare. :sigh:
     
  10. tvstrategies

    tvstrategies Turtles, all the way down. Thread Starter

    Thank you! Nice. Playing it now, will download in the morning. :agree:
     
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2015
  11. tvstrategies

    tvstrategies Turtles, all the way down. Thread Starter

    I wish! Me, I'm just some guy. Whereas there might be someone. Right now. In these forums. Reading this very thread! Who may have sufficient motivation and access to the right people and resources, knowledge of licensing, k nowledge of the genre and sub-genrae, good production sense, etc etc to pull this off. Any takers? Heck, Hearts of Space managed to build a franchise around Celtic stuff in the '90s. I'd certainly buy or subscribe to a good 'This is Ambient' series! There's enough in this thread for a series! :hide:
     
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  12. fredhammersmith

    fredhammersmith Forum Resident

    Location:
    Montreal, Quebec
    Any love for this? Bill Laswell
    Axiom Ambient: Lost in the Translation
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    kendo likes this.
  13. petem1966

    petem1966 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Katy TX
    I picked this up and have been enjoying it, but I don't find it scary, although I have been listening to it in the daytime! Thanks for the tip, and for the Carbon Based Lifeforms as well; I picked up Twentythree and think it's great.
     
  14. petem1966

    petem1966 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Katy TX
    Picked up volume I of this (with Dlp 1.1 and 2.1) and also his Watermusic. Disintegration Loops is a pretty compelling listen. When 1.1 started I wasn't too sure I could take an hour of it, but I stayed with it the whole time (was on the bus home) and was glad I did. Quite unusual, but very interesting.
     
  15. Spiritual Architect

    Spiritual Architect Well-Known Member

    Play it real loud, in the dark, in the car, in the boonies.

    Between Interval has 3 other albums which sound nothing like it. I would suggest you check out Radio Silence first.

    As for Carbon Based Liforms, Sleepers and Garden are real nice at midnight with the lights off and the windows open. Play them at real low volume and just chill out.
     
    petem1966 likes this.
  16. Trevor_Bartram

    Trevor_Bartram Senior Member

    Location:
    Boylston, MA, USA
    I am not sure if this is 'ambient music' but I really enjoyed Pete Townshend & Lawrence Ball's Method Music collaboration. I bought the 2CD set for a few dollars a couple of years ago, I see a used CD is going for $500 at Amazon, yikes, so if you see a copy at a reasonable price I'd grab it. The story behind the music is interesting too.
     
  17. Spiritual Architect

    Spiritual Architect Well-Known Member

    Secret Extra Terrestrial Intercourse

    The droning sounds of radio waves stretch off into the distant atmosphere, out on their journey thru space. Within this constant drone, the chatter of alien voices can be heard. Detection, direction, distance and decipherment all come into play. It is plain language, scientific discussion mixed with metallic machinery. The orbitals are communicating with the spheres.

    Carbon Based Lifeforms VERY LARGE ARRAY describes this all quite well. It could be the sound of massed radio telescopes directed at a single point in space. Its hour long ambient drone shifts unnoticeable, changing but not changing, constant yet shifting. This track can be found on the album “Twenty Three” in its shortened 10 minute form. It can also be found in its true 60 minute length on its own standalone album titled “VLA”. This is true space music made for the alien among us.

    It is what SETI does on a daily, or should we say, nightly, basis. The acronym Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence is a bold face lie. In actuality it is Secret Extra Terrestrial Intercourse.

    That is right. They are listening. Listening and deciphering the alien code in the sky around us. Close up, scattered across our atmosphere, our Moon, their Mars.

    Sure, you thought they were a company that listened to the stars, searching for signs of life in the cosmos. A company that has been a complete failure even though it has been given a billion dollars to keep its doors open. A company who’s leader always makes television appearances, talking about how different alien life would be compared to the human, carbon based lifeform.

    But of course their doors are not open. They are an offshoot of our space program. A space program with military beginnings. A military that, since the 40’s, have had their heads in the black shadow of the government.

    If I know they are here, and millions of other earthlings know they are here, then you can bet the Air Force knows they are here. And if they know then NASA knows. And if NASA knows that they are here then JPL knows they are here. And if JPL knows they are here then SETI knows the aliens are here already. And they are listening to them on a daily basis.

    But I digress, if anyone wants true ambient music, try out the long version of VLA.


     
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  18. scompton

    scompton Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arlington, VA
    The new album Clockworking by Nordic Affect might be considered ambient. It's chamber music for electronics, strings and harpsicord

     
  19. scompton

    scompton Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arlington, VA
    Another classical album that might qualify is last year's release Silver Threads by Jacob Cooper. It's music for electronics and soprano. The vocals are wordless.

     
  20. Scooter59

    Scooter59 Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Shore, MA
  21. kendo

    kendo Forum Resident

    Michael Danna's "Skys" -

     
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  22. Alan Bumstead

    Alan Bumstead Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tokyo
    Just been researching contemporary ambient in the past few days and have made some wonderful finds.

    1. Otto A. Totland - Pino (blurry solo piano compositions incl. ambience of Totland in his seat, breathing, playing, etc)

    2. Tor Lundvall - his latest two albums (sans vocals, the earlier stuff has vocals, but his singing is awful) The Shipyard and The Park. Low key ghost ambient. Smooth.

    3. Loscil - Sea Island.

    4. Mountains - any of their albums, clean sounds, 'ambient' in the sense of field recordings, mixed with minimalism, tones, guitar.

    5. Anything by William Basinski, if you dig repetition and decay.

    6. Anything by Fennesz, but particularly Venice and Black Sea.

    My problem with ambient as a vinyl-only listener is that so much wonderful stuff from the last decade is only available on CD.
     
  23. phish

    phish Jack Your Body

    Location:
    Biloxi, MS, USA
    I was just turned on to this and another album by the same artist....Talk To The Sea is the other one. This album was selling for over $1K before it was re-released this year. It's selling out as fast as they press them up. Three runs this year..... These albums are 30 years old....

     
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  24. Deaf_in_ LA_1974

    Deaf_in_ LA_1974 Forum Resident

    Some from the last ten years, some differ from the eno camp

    Natural snow buildings -play guitars to crest long form drones try any of the over 45 min tracks(not the new one)
    Loscil-plume
    Any of Rachel Evans projects- motion sickness of time travel,etc


    And a forebearer
    Eliane radigue - falls more in drone category, but too much a milestone not to sample

    Labradford - indie rock slowed to the point of ambient
     
  25. xantus

    xantus Active Member

    Last edited: Oct 16, 2015

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