Ambient Music: 50 Essential Albums

[Russ]

I definitely like this more than the other stuff I've heard, which was far more techno.

Since I'm more old school ambient (beginning in the 70's, but focusing on the 90's), I had noticed that many of the really good/great ambient releases of the 90's were in fact side projects of the more commercially viable "techno" artists of the time. One paid the rent, the other the soul. Several of my artist picks can probably be traced back to their more dance floor roots. That Biosphere album definitely changed course and sort of redefined his musical persona. Unfortunately, I'm not familiar enough with his body of work to know if it was a career move or a flash-in-the-pan.

[Russ]

Return of the Essential Ambient Albums!

Artist: SETI
Album: Pharos
Year: 1995
Scale of Ambience: 3
Style: Space/Electronic



Now here's an album that take's its theme (the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) seriously! SETI is comprised of Savvas Ysatis (Omicron) and Taylor Deupree (a major player in the ambient field), and this project faithfully embodied everything a true X-Files fan could want: the Truth is indeed out there, and on this double disc CD, it's out there in the form of radio transmissions, alien-sounding communications, and sampled speech courtesy of Frank Duke, former president of the SETI Institute. I fear this album kind of got lost back in its time of release (partly due to the confusion with Andrew Lagowski's similarly named ambient project, S.E.T.I.), which is a shame. I really love this album, it's long been one of my favorites. I hope others here enjoy it.

Beacon 01
Beacon 05

[Glass Co.]

Thanks! GC is pretty cool, but they're a little too techno for me. I dig some of their stuff though, and I haven't listened a lot of it. What do you really like of theirs?

I've only heard their debut album and a few other scattered tracks, but the final track on that album is one of my favourites in the genre:

[youtube]R_weJgToZIU[/youtube]

[D_Davis]

Cool. Thanks for the track. I like that.

[D_Davis]

SETI, S.E.T.I., Gas, GAS....

Man, ambient musicians need to cut this crap out.

[D_Davis]

Russ, did you ever listen to the Spacetime Continuum album with Terrence Mckenna?

[Russ]

Russ, did you ever listen to the Spacetime Continuum album with Terrence Mckenna?

Many many moons ago, yes. Recollection's rather hazy, tho. Generally, I like Jonah Sharp's output.

[D_Davis]

Many many moons ago, yes. Recollection's rather hazy, tho. Generally, I like Jonah Sharp's output.

Yeah, I used to like his stuff, but not so much any more. His is the kind of 90s sound that I'm just not that into anymore. However, he has made some amazing stuff, and I saw him live a couple of years ago and he was great.

[D_Davis]

BTW, I really dig Substrata.

[D_Davis]

For the last few years I think I was getting Biosphere confused with Solar Fields and Carbon-Based Lifeforms. For some reason I always though of Biosphere as being more techno-ambient.

[Russ]

Beyond the Valley of the Ultra-Essential Ambient Albums!

Artist: Woob
Album: 1194
Year: 1994
Scale of Ambience: 3
Style: Sampledelic/Electronic/assorted Loops, Drones & Beats





Artist: Woob
Album: 4495
Year: 1995
Scale of Ambience: 2
Style: Electronic/Experimental




Daniel was right when he ranted about his frustration with virtually all of the legendary em:t label's output being out of print. For years, the two Woob releases demanded insane collector's prices...and that was if you could even find them. So what's all the fuss about you might ask? First off, em:t frankly did ambient relases and compilations the right way, immaculately designed and commissioned with a penchant for putting out superb, quallity releases. In this regard, they even stood head and shoulders above Fax, Instinct, Silent, or any other respected ambient label you'd care to mention. These release are highly sought after collectibles made by caring people for caring people. In a perfect world, all releases would emulate the em:t template.

However, greatness always seems to have a short lifespan, and em:t was no different. Such wonderful music, and much of it looking for new life. Paul Frankland, the man behind Woob (arguably the jewel in em:t's crown) took matters into his own hands and put everything up on bandcamp (tho curiously, 4495 is missing). Woob's music always stood out from its labelmates, with its fevered drive to merge an endless bank of samples with electronic music and live instrumentation, topped off with a penchant for bold experimentation. In other words, nobody else sounded quite like Woob. Of course, one of the dangers of relying heavily on sample culture is you run the risk of becoming dated, cliched, or both. Woob's music is not immune to this criticism. However, even though Mr. Frankland may employ vocal chants from World music releases, BBC nature field recordings, dialogue snippets from old films (coincidentally all found on the 32 minute (!) highlight of 1194, On Earth, all of the samples are used intelligently and organically -- nothing seems out of place, and this is one of his strengths.

Woob may not be everyone's cuppa, but anyone wanting to explore the genre further need to at least give this artist a listen.

1194 - On Earth
1194 - Odonna

4495 - Woobed
4495 - Creek

[D_Davis]

This almost made my list.

I think em:t's focus was on quality, while Fax's focus was on quantity.

[Yxklyx]

Cool thread! The ones I've listened to a lot over the years are Eno's Apollo Atmospheres & Soundtracks and On Land. I'd also classify Trent Reznor's Quake Soundtrack as Ambient - love that one! Will have to check some of these out.