Ambient suggestions

Freakaholic

not just an addiction
Ive searched, and found no thread on this topic specifically.

Id like to get some good ambient, but I imagine there is so much more out there than is actually good.

There are two reasons for this: one is that i use it to fall asleep to when tryin to drown out the sounds from outside my door (i get home on weekends around 8-9am, and my roommate gets up at 12 and begins playing records). also, when throwing parties, ive found weve had large walk-thru areas that could be incredibly helped by some good ambient music.

what i know that i like:

orb - orbus terrarum
the klf - chill out
brian eno - music for airports

thanks in advance!
 

henry s

Street Fighting Man
give the Exotica genre a shot: Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, Les Baxter...proto-lounge music with fabulously fake bird sounds...

also, any of the Songs Of The Humpback Whale CD's...

for more beat-driven ambience, track down early Spring Heel Jack (The Sea Lettuce, f'rinstance)...matter of fact, there was a label (Art Core? React?) that put out a slew of "ambient jungle" comps back in the mid-90's, all very worthwhile...ah, the days...
 

nochexxx

harco pronting
chris watson

check out chirs watson's enviromental recordings on touch. he also works as a soundman recording wildlife sounds for BBC documentaries. not sure if it will help you sleep though. : )
 

woops

is not like other people
can i sleep to this?

That's the problem innit ascoltare. The original poster wants blue room chill out classics. There's a world of difference between towers of dub and a close miked sloth toenail. Not that I'm saying its a bad suggestion, just that i've noticed that what you consider "ambient" (background, relaxing sounds) is such a personal thing. It crosses over with all kinds of minimal, avant garde, free form music and from there you get to the heavy shit that the unenlightened, Blunt-rinsing masses will tell you to turn off immediately, mentally marking you down as a complete antisocial freak in the process. :rolleyes:
 

arcaNa

Snakes + Ladders
A classic slice of "ambient" is Global Communication: 76:14 (essential record imo, and just reissued on cd w/extra bonus tracks)

if you're not afraid of avant-classical, Steve Reich: Music For 18 Musicians (the original recording) - is lovely...

the Necks make loooong pieces of extremely minimal, post-jazz(?sic) that rivals most of the current drone/ambient stuff...just piano, bass and drums...


not strictly ambient, but Nusrath Fateh Ali Khan: Night Song (with Michael Brook)
is one of my favourite records of all time...brilliant, brilliant voice and very nice and spacious arrangements underneath.

lot of the drone/doom stuff can be surprisingly relaxing, too- Earth 2 by Earth, or some Sunn 0))) could be worth investigating...
 

zhao

there are no accidents
Mitchel Akiyama
Pauline Oliveros / Deep Listening band
Stephen Matheiu
Steve Roden
Akira Rabelais
Loren Mezzacaine Conners
Toru Takemitsu
Pop Ambient series on Kompakt (latest one very good)
Oval - first few albums
Shuttle 358
Harold Budd
and all the eno albums

oh and
Boren und Der Club of Gore
 
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owen

Well-known member
like that this thread is called 'suggestions', like 'reommendations' is too forthright and unambient. instead we gently suggest ...

on which note the last thing i put on to fall asleep to was this, which is really rather comforting, despite having evan parker, mark fucking knopfler and some alarmingly unpleasant lyrics-

c0597302c78.jpg
 

henry s

Street Fighting Man
owen said:
on which note the last thing i put on to fall asleep to was this, which is really rather comforting, despite having evan parker, mark fucking knopfler and some alarmingly unpleasant lyrics-

I think Billy Ocean (!) also appeared on this, doing background vocals...still, good stuff...
 

nochexxx

harco pronting
womb tunes

'The original poster wants blue room chill out classics. There's a world of difference between towers of dub and a close miked sloth toenail.'

yeah! i must confess i had my tongue firmly tucked in cheek when i suggested chirs watson.

i know this still a little off the mark but how about raymond scott's 'soothing sounds for babies' series. warm comfort music.

http://raymondscott.com/SSFB.htm
 

OldRottenhat

Active member
arcaNa said:
if you're not afraid of avant-classical, Steve Reich: Music For 18 Musicians (the original recording) - is lovely...

the Necks make loooong pieces of extremely minimal, post-jazz(?sic) that rivals most of the current drone/ambient stuff...just piano, bass and drums...

both of those recommendations seconded but I wouldn't necessarily recommend everything by the Necks for ambience - Hanging Gardens and The Boys are pretty intrusive but Aquatic, Aether, Drive By and most of the live stuff would work for me.

given the album depicted in your avatar, arcaNa, I'm amazed you didn't mention Future Days by Can which has to rival the Eno albums as a progenitor of ambient, and from there you might delve further into krauty climes, such as Popol Vuh, Ash Ra Tempel, Cluster....

Harold Budd - I only know The Plateaux Of Mirrors and The White Arcades but I'd recommend them.

Markus Guentner - In Moll or Gas - Pop for the post-techno ambient sound.

After that there are a stack of albums that I might put on for similar reasons but might not necessarily suit you - John Martyn (Solid Air, One World), the Irish fiddler Martin Hayes, with or without Dennis Cahill, the supremely relaxed Afro-Cuban sounds of Orchestre Baobab, Talk Talk (Spirit Of Eden, Laughing Stock) Vaughan Williams Pastoral Symphony etc. etc.

These are all Sunday evening classics for me.

(Edit) did I really forget Happiness by Fridge? Will no doubt be adding more and more as the evening goes on.

(Edit 2) and Labradford, though it's been a while since I listened to them.
 
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notoriousJ.I.M

Well-known member
OldRottenhat said:
given the album depicted in your avatar, arcaNa, I'm amazed you didn't mention Future Days by Can which has to rival the Eno albums as a progenitor of ambient, and from there you might delve further into krauty climes, such as Popol Vuh, Ash Ra Tempel, Cluster....

Quite right and might I add Klaus Schulze - Timewind a spaced out classic. Other things that spring to mind are Steve Hillage - Rainbow Dome Musik and more recently and fairly obvious Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 2. I second the Kompakt Pop Ambient releases and some of the artists on there such as Ulf Lohmann are worth tracking down individually. The new Orb album on Kompakt aint bad either but it's a mix of minimal house and more ambient stuff.
 

tate

Brown Sugar
12K, and especially Line records, have many releases in the ambient electronic domain. Line in particular specializes in extremely quiet music. Glitchy and loop-based and crystalline, but still gentle and sometimes tender, always provocative.

12K just suffered a terrible flood in their offices too, but are determined to soldier on. Both 12K and Line can be jointly accessed here. Worth checking out.
 

big satan

HA-DO-KEN!
nijiumu - era of sad wings
windy & carl - depths, concioussness, singles & rarities comp, the dream house
charalambides - joy shapes, unknown spin
christina carter - living contact, human as guitar, split with black forest/black sea
tom carter & scorces - beats for the beast
keiji haino - next let us try changing the shape & first let us remove the colour
eliane radigue - adnos I-III
popol vuh - in den garten pharoas


these are more of the sleeping time ambient than party ambient
 
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DJ PIMP

Well-known member
Shuttle 358, The Dead Texan, Deaf Center, Gas, Thomas Koner, Porn Sword Tobacco, Oval, Fennesz, Kettel.
 
D

droid

Guest
The B sides of 'heroes' and 'low' by Bowie are organic ambient masterpieces. Id also second Confucius's reccomendation for ALL the Eno LPs. In fact, anything at all on Editions EG or Opal shoould be bought on sight.

Ive just finished a nice little ambinet mix featuring a lot of the artists mentioned here.. I wouldnt normally put any spoilers up - but Im fairly excited about this one, and pretty much every artist on this tracklisting is worth a look IMO. (The LP names are in the brackets):

1. Brian Eno - Brian Eno Speaks - Editions EG (Sonora Portraits LP)
2. Aphex Twin - Blue Calyx - Warp (Selected Ambient Works 2 LP)
3. Alarm Will Sound - Blue Calyx - Cantaloupe (Alarm Will Sound performs Aphex Twin LP)
4. Brian Eno - Sparrowfall 1 - Editions EG (Music for Films LP)
5. Seymour|Van Hoen -Tema - Leaf (Invisible Soundtracks 2 EP)
6. Brian Eno - Sparrowfall 2 - Editions EG (Music for Films LP)
7. Seefeel - E-Hix2 - Rephlex (Chi-Vox LP)
8. Daniel Figgis - Alison Creaking - Rough Trade (Skipper LP)
9. Dust Devil - Blood - Blood (Blood EP)
10. Brian Eno - Lanzarote - Opal (The Shutov Assembly LP)
11. Zrs - Wuhan: Dynamoelectric Frog - SoundTransit Field Recordings
12. Autechre - To Day Retreival - Thrill Jockey (Tortoise/Autechre EP)
13. Nick Miller - New York: Walk in Central Park West - SoundTransit Field Recordings
14. Brian Eno - Discreet Music - Editions EG (Discreet Music LP)
15. Kopernik - The Sea and the Marsh are One - Eastern Developments (Kopernik LP)
16. Queen - The Ring (Hypnotic Seduction of Dale) -Elektra Asylum (Flash Gordon O.S.T.)
17. Sean O'Neill - Vientiane: Night Sounds, Bats, Crickets - SoundTransit Field Recordings
18. Biosphere - Startoucher - Apollo (Patashnik LP)
19. Godflesh - Pure II - Earache (Pure LP)
20. Tim Hecker - Arctic Loner's Rock - Substractif (Haunt Me, Haunt Me, Do it Again LP)
21. Oval - Do While (Christian Vogel Remix) - Diskont (Do While EP)
22. Hex - Shiny - Ninjatunes (Digital love EP)
23. Derek Holzer - Mooste: Walk in the Rain - SoundTransit Field Recordings
24. Ennio Morricone - Contamination - Varese (The Thing O.S.T.)
25. Brian Eno - Innocenti - Opal (The Shutov Assembly LP)
26. Tim Hecker - Untitled (5) - Substractif (Haunt Me, Haunt Me, Do it Again LP)
27. Seefeel - Me01 - Rephlex (Succour LP)
28. Brian Eno - Events in Dense Fog - Editions EG (Music for Films LP)
29. Goblin - Monster Child - Cinevox (Phenomena O.S.T.)
30. Eno - Kites II - Opal (Kite Stories LP)
31. Aphex Twin - Side D Track 2 - Warp (Selected Ambient Works 2 LP)
32. Joe Meek and The Blue Men - Glob Waterfall - RPM (I Hear a New World LP)
33. Vangelis - Deserters - OWM Bootleg (The Bounty O.S.T).
34. Krzysztof Penderecki - Psalmus - Phillips (Prospective 21e Siecle LP)
35. Future Sound Of London - Dirty Shadows - EBV (I.S.D.N. LP)
36. Aphex Twin - Side E Track 2 - Warp (Selected Ambient Works 2 LP)
37. Being - Cue - Leaf (Invisible Soundtracks 1 EP)
38. Deasy – Haul (Ambient mix) - The Fear (Unreleased)
39. David Bowie/Brian Eno - Moss Garden - RCA (Heroes LP)
40. Reza Tahami - Manjil Wood: River and Insects - SoundTransit Field Recordings
41. Michael Brook/Brian Eno/Daniel Lanois - Mimosa - Editions EG (Hybrid LP)
42. Autechre - VLetrmx - Warp (Garbage EP)
43. Brian Eno - Unfamiliar Wind (Leeks Hills) - Editions EG (On Land LP)
44. Tim Hecker - Untitled (6) - Substractif (Haunt Me, Haunt Me, Do it Again LP)
45. Christophe Havard - St Nazaire: Man with a Broom - SoundTransit Field Recordings
46. Howie B - Music For Babies - Polydor (Music for Babies LP)
47. Jon Hassell/Brian Eno - These Times - Editions EG (Fourth World Possible Musics Vol. 2: Dream Theory in Malaya LP)
48. Hex - Surf - Ninjatunes (Digital Love EP)
49. Harold Budd/Brian Eno - Lost in the Humming Air - Editions EG (The Pearl LP)
50. Bedouin Ascent - If Mountains Could Sing - Leaf (Invisible Soundtracks 2 EP)
51. Gyorgy Ligeti - Requiem for Soprano, Mezzo Soprano, Two Mixed Choirs and Orchestra - MGM/Polydor (2001 O.S.T.)
52. Eddie Newmark - Serenity: The Silent Surf - Audio Fidelity (Ambience: An Adventure in Environmental Sound LP)
53. Craig Safan - Joey’s Wet Dream - Varese (Nightmare on Elm Street 4 O.S.T.)
54. Deasy - St Theresa - The Fear (Unreleased)


Ill post a link to the mix itself next week...
 

dHarry

Well-known member
droid said:
a nice little ambinet mix

"ambinet"! I'd love to think that wasn't a typo but a neologism for ambient net mixes!

Droid, is there any genre of which you don't have exhaustive knowledge? That looks like quite a mix to which anyone should feel privileged to fall asleep ;)
 

Ness Rowlah

Norwegian Wood
as mentioned before (in another thread)
Harold Budd/John Foxx's double-CD "Translucence/Drift Music".
And that mix looks lovely ...
 
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