why is ambient so popular now

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
really? i am surprised at this.


my kids are always listening to ambient on account of the C148's soundtrack to Minecraft

This is interesting. The effect video game soundtracks had on my generation is perhaps underestimated.

But these days I should wager many video games would have proper orchestral soundtracks ala movies.
 

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
Once again - it depends on your definition of ambient.

Look at the people in Luka's list. Basinski - deeply melancholic studies on decay, Richter & Stars of the Lid - defined narrative structures with periods of extreme intensity - they represent a strain within ambient that has very little to do with the traditional definition. Drone as a genre is characterised as much by its stark bleakness as anything else.

This is not the escapism of New Age, prog hippies like Fripp and Hillage, 90's chill out bliss or Eno's canonical period.

yeah it's a broad term. but generally i think it's meditative, even in the extremes
 

droid

Well-known member
The two tendencies in 'ambient' - experimental avant performance and amorphous chill muzak out are practically diametric opposites.

Noise is not meditative.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
my kids are always listening to ambient on account of the C148's soundtrack to Minecraft

On a video games tip, the soundtrack to the first Quake game (bar the heavy rockin' intro track) works pretty well as an ambient album.

(Yes, it's by Trent Reznor, but don't let that prejudice you.)
 

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
The two tendencies in 'ambient' - experimental avant performance and amorphous chill muzak out are practically diametric opposites.

Noise is not meditative.

Speak for yourself, I know tons of people who use harsh electronic/static-type sounds a la Merzbow as a relaxation noise the same way one might use rain sounds.
 

Leo

Well-known member
goes both way, though. dark ambient can be unsettling and foreboding, while other ambient is soothing and relaxing.
 

droid

Well-known member
Speak for yourself, I know tons of people who use harsh electronic/static-type sounds a la Merzbow as a relaxation noise the same way one might use rain sounds.

'Tons' of people?

Pink and white noise is often used as for relaxation purposes, but that is a particular physiological response related to pre-natal intrauterine sound, and is generally a sleep aid rather than a listening experience - Ive even seen it prescribed.

Whilst their might be some crossover, Id say the contingent of people who listen to Merzbow or avant noise for relaxation are a fairly tiny minority.
 

droid

Well-known member
goes both way, though. dark ambient can be unsettling and foreboding, while other ambient is soothing and relaxing.

Its not just that - power ambient and the experimental are specifically designed with the idea that the audience will pay attention - at odds with Eno's definition of music that can be 'ignorable'. This is a 180 of the New Age approach of music which is intended to diffuse attention and allow the audience to drift away.
 

droid

Well-known member
I may be a bit diadactic on this, but Ive been grappling with these contradictions on a professional level on and off since the 90's, and especially over the last few years.
 

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
'Tons' of people?

Pink and white noise is often used as for relaxation purposes, but that is a particular physiological response related to pre-natal intrauterine sound, and is generally a sleep aid rather than a listening experience - Ive even seen it prescribed.

Whilst their might be some crossover, Id say the contingent of people who listen to Merzbow or avant noise for relaxation are a fairly tiny minority.

i'd say you're underestimating it. the noise world is niche, and the types of people listening to it are not your average music listener.
 

tox

Factory Girl
Though I guess some of this vapourwave stuff is verging on ambient.

Obviously depends how you define ambient, but I have been thinking of the current trend as being influenced by:

1) An progression of the minimal techno scene of the mid-to-late noughties (see ILX's annual minimal house bobbins threads and I think there were equivalents here too). I remember hearing Richie Hawtin adding Alva Noto to his sets back in 2007/8, and the likes of Donato Dozzy and the Mnml SSGs crew always straddled the space between minimal techno and ambient - Dozzy's 2008 Labyrinth set being a good example. Right now Giegling (RA label of the year) are actively mixing ambient and minimal-ish techno and house in their releases and events. From a personal/anecdotal perspective, the folks into the 2000s minimal scene at its peak are now less likely to frequent clubs - ambient is probably better suited to headphone listening on a commute or at work.

2) Vaporwave fans looking for more depth and higher production values. I agree with Tea - some of the stuff on Dream Catalogue is very ambient-y, 2 8 1 4 etc.


 

bruno

est malade
incidentally, i just got back from hong kong and there is a case to be made for this city as an ambient piece in its own right. certainly an influence on (or refraction of) the electric haze of vangelis ca. 1982, and more obviously the recent hk/asian inspired vapourware stuff.

the place is a mesh of sounds, a symphony of electronic pitter-patterings at street crossings going slow and fast and out of sync with the same sounds a block away, of zelda-like chinese traditional melodies issuing from (i suppose) cellphones and unseen electronic sources, an oddly soothing (and melancholy) melody filling part of yau ma tei station signalling a braille map of the station, the chatter and texture of cantonese (and central asian, and philippino) accents, the din of buses, the every-present sound of water brushing against the harbour. the whole is a rich, living tapestry of what can only be described as ambient.

the other very hk, very ambient thing i picked up was the buddha machine, a (now almost ten-years old) little box with pre-set loops by hongkonger christian viraant and beijing musician zhang jian. you turn the thing on and let it drone quietly as you do the dishes or whatever. it's like a minisucule hong kong generator that i appreciate very much as i plot my return to this wonderful (and troubled) place.

Obviously depends how you define ambient
 

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
Whereas noise urges attention and ambient a lack of it, both demands on the listener are equally unwavering - that is what they have in common.

The two tendencies in 'ambient' - experimental avant performance and amorphous chill muzak out are practically diametric opposites.

Noise is not meditative.
 

droid

Well-known member
Nope.

'Music that should be ignorable as it is interesting' - that is the canonical definition. Even the most insipid new age doesn't 'demand' inattention - it may desire it, but it doesn't demand it.
 

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
I think you know what I mean: neither genre has formulaic peaks and troughs that, in a dictated manner, bring about varying degrees of stimulation during a piece.

If you play noise or ambient to a layperson, one of their standard responses would be 'Well, nothing's really happening, is it.'

Nope.

'Music that should be ignorable as it is interesting' - that is the canonical definition. Even the most insipid new age doesn't 'demand' inattention - it may desire it, but it doesn't demand it.
 

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
Or perhaps, in noise, 'everything happens' whereas in ambient 'nothing happens' - but neither really 'goes anywhere.'
 

firefinga

Well-known member
during the early to mid90s I was banging away to (Acid)-Techno, Gabba, and Jungle - well these were my teenage years. simply had no time to explore the Ambient sounds of those years, although the bits and pieces I caught appealed to me. Now, becoming old and grumpy, this is possibly a musical field I should (re-)invastigate.

A sidenote: Didn't many Ambient-listeners switch to TripHip in the mid90s?
 
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empty mirror

remember the jackalope
This is interesting. The effect video game soundtracks had on my generation is perhaps underestimated.

But these days I should wager many video games would have proper orchestral soundtracks ala movies.

without video games, it is hard to imagine what Burial would sound like. i understand a lot of the percussive sounds are from video games - the sounds of weapons reloading and shell casings dropping to the ground.
 
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