Thread: Ambient Music

If I might recommend Steve Roach.

His stuff varies quite a bit between two extremes however; you have his tribal stuff with powerful rhythmic pulses, and his beatless stuff with synthesizer waves. A massive discography too; 30-40 albums, often with multiple discs. He's been doing this a long time.

A couple of my own recommendations, since I haven't heard too much of his stuff admittedly:

Structures from Silence (for the beatless)
The Serpent's Lair (for the tribal)
AND ESPECIALLY Egg Chamber Dreaming as a song from the latter. I've rarely heard anything as powerful.

Steve Roach, Robert Rich, Harold Budd, Brian Eno, Tim Hecker, Biosphere.

Originally Posted by Tarsier

Steve Roach, Harold Budd, Tim Hecker

yah bro

Isan is nice too :3
Isan - Meet Next Life

I don't know if I would consider Isan to be ambient... Definitely not in the way we are talking about here.

Yes! I am a huge fan of ambient space music. Steve Roach is a great performer of it. I also really like Kevin Braheny, Dominic Woosey, Robert Rich, Michael Stearns, Michael American, and especially these two...

Jonn Serrie:



Dwight Ashley:

http://www.last.fm/music/Dwight+Ashl...umbs?autostart

Oooh, very nice. Spacey stuff is real nice.

I'd look up Benn Jordan's Pale Blue Dot album and listen to that from start to finish. Quite the journey through space.

http://www.last.fm/music/Bluetech/_/...r%20the%20love

this is ambient but it has a nice beat.

Of course, there's Stars of the Lid too.



Couple more on the edges of my head: Ulrich Strauss, Klaus Schulze (the great german synth pioneer), Biosphere, Emeralds, and of course all the droners you can find quietly hiding on obscure netlabels.

If you're looking for something a bit different, you might want to look into the classical minimalists. Steve Reich, Phillip Glass, Arvo Part, etc...

Mathias Grassow, really spacey ambient.
Celer for happier, ethereal drone stuff,
Mirror (and Andrew Chalk's solo stuff) and Oöphoi for some darker stuff.

I really agree with Steve Roach, Robert Rich, John Serrie, Eno and I have to add Pete Namlook, Thom Brennan and Mathias Grassow I already mentioned. There seems to be tons of this kind of stuff and personally I'm just getting started with it.

I don't know much about Ambient music. I have only heard a few and I'd say I LOVE Space Ambient. Here's what i've found some days ago.

This thread is turning into a gold mine. I know there is a whole world of phenomenal ambient space music out there that I still haven't discovered, and this is a good place to start exploring it. I plan to check out everybody mentioned in this thread. Just then, I listened to some stuff by this guy...

Originally Posted by oooooo

Mathias Grassow

http://www.last.fm/music/Mathias+Gra...ting?autostart

Extremely good space music. I definitely plan to get my hands on that CD. Finding him on last.fm led me to this...

http://www.last.fm/music/O%C3%B6phoi...ries?autostart

I forgot to mention another one-- Jon Iverson. I think he only has one album, and his stuff is hard to find. You can get samples of his music on Amazon and order his CD.

http://www.amazon.com/Alternesia-Jon...4817795&sr=8-2

I wish I had the first track of the album, it's really the starter to the whole psychological journey Pale Blue Dot takes over with-- the names are really relevent to the point in the experience that takes place (starting with looking to the stars, then ascending to space, then leaving earth, etc etc to very deep space and then returning home)

I really do recommend getting it and just listening to it all from start to finish.

You have synesthesia!?
Oh man, I'm am JEALOUS!
I've been trying to induce synesthesia lol
I think I've got something that would work, if it doesn't work for me I'm gonna try it on my kid if I have one in the future. Since it's apparently cross wiring between the senses, it shouldn't be too hard to purposely induce with a young, flexible mind.
I sound like an evil scientist lol But really it can only be a good thing to have it.

Also, Brian Eno, Enya.
Also I imagine some trance stuff would be good, although not strictly ambient, it has the same feel in a way, really soft trance like Sarah McLaughlin's Silence trance remix.

When in an appropriate situation, it's really awesome to just relax and completely overwhelm myself in movies of the music or out of my surroundings. Sometimes it really interferes, however- sometimes I feel like I'm deaf but I'm not really deaf, I just can't recognize some words as they feed off into "shapes" and linear directions that seem to similar to visuals in music and sounds or just other words spoken. Other than that it's really awesome to relax and listen to music, gives you some serious trippy experiences that's for sure

Minimal objects also seem to give off certain emotions and larger concepts- as if everything in the world to me is a metaphor. A white cube, for instance, is complete relaxation and heaven like feelings encompassing me whilst deeply concentrated on the gentle transition between the shades on each side of it. One of many thousands of examples >_> I just really like white cubes though.

Originally Posted by Universal Mind

This thread is turning into a gold mine. I know there is a whole world of phenomenal ambient space music out there that I still haven't discovered, and this is a good place to start exploring it. I plan to check out everybody mentioned in this thread.

I disagree, this thread pretty much already is a goldmine

How has anyone not mentioned the first of their kind, seriously? Tangerine Dream! Every self-respecting ambient-head should know the first four albums, especially Phaedra and Zeit.

Nebulous Dawn intro (from Zeit)

Zeit (from Zeit....)

Sequent C (from Phaedra)

(if I might recommend something by Mathias Grassow, Mind Riders, The Clear Light of Death and Elixir are incredible, but I have yet to hear an album by him that wasn't incredible...)

I'm definitely going to check out all of the names mentioned here that I haven't heard yet. Keep them coming and thanks for all the great ambient

Originally Posted by oooooo

I disagree, this thread pretty much already is a goldmine

Okay then, it's turning into a diamond mine.

Im listening to steve roach right now actually <- thats how his music makes me feel. I'm still new to ambient, I haven't really explored other great artists. So thanks for the other recommendations!

Originally Posted by Spenner

Minimal objects also seem to give off certain emotions and larger concepts- as if everything in the world to me is a metaphor. A white cube, for instance, is complete relaxation and heaven like feelings encompassing me whilst deeply concentrated on the gentle transition between the shades on each side of it. One of many thousands of examples >_> I just really like white cubes though.

I wish I could join you

Holyshit I want that room.

Brighter lights and I'd be gasming, seriously x___x

Ever played Portal? Pretty much that game is astounding to me with it's mostly white surfaces and very cleanly sported things. Allows me to really connect and feel myself within the spaces, so to speak (that's what it essentially feels like in a minimalist space, anyhow).

Originally Posted by Spenner

Minimal objects also seem to give off certain emotions and larger concepts- as if everything in the world to me is a metaphor. A white cube, for instance, is complete relaxation and heaven like feelings encompassing me whilst deeply concentrated on the gentle transition between the shades on each side of it. One of many thousands of examples >_> I just really like white cubes though.

You got a mac?
You'd definitely be a fanboy haha Just chilled all day.

I forgot about Zoviet France. Something a bit different again.

Originally Posted by tommo

You got a mac?
You'd definitely be a fanboy haha Just chilled all day.

I gotta say I prefer the look of Macs a thousand times more than PCs I don't own one though.

Also, if anyone knows where to find ambient music pertaining to futuristic things (anything, really. Just futuristic in general) please please enlighten me

Yeah I just remembered Mac's now have silver instead of white covers/cases I think on all of them, ah well.

FSOL (Future Sounds of London) has some good futurists ambient.
This is one of my favourite songs....
It's a bit more trancey, but I would still say it's ambient too, especially if you just don't turn it up too loud.

I haven't listened to any of their other songs so I don't know what they're like in general.
Same with this one, more trancey but definitely some ambient in there too.
Listen to the whole thing coz some of it is way more trancey while some is definitely ambient and just beautiful

If you like that sort of music, see the movie One Perfect Day, it's an Aussie movie, you can probably get it online or on torrents, that second song is on it, except a remix. It's a REALLY fucking good movie. It's great for inspiration.