why is ambient so popular now
- Thread starter luka
- Start date
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case tbh as music has BECOME AMBIENT, whether or not it was designed to be.
It's constantly accessible, and so constantly playing, in the background. Nobody sits down and listens to music without any distractions anymore.
What is wanted, most of the time, is a pleasant accompaniment to browsing social media.
I often read on the tube with music in my headphones, and I am constantly forced to stick on some ultra-agreeable classical music or ambient (Eno 'On Land') just so it doesn't distract me from reading.
OFFTOPIC but its similar to the situation with visual art, in which we're so overwhelmed with images these days that images that used to shock or inspire or overwhelm people now have to be stared at for a considerable length of time, perhaps with explanatory captions, in order to puncture our overstimulated senses. Imagery is ambient too.
It's constantly accessible, and so constantly playing, in the background. Nobody sits down and listens to music without any distractions anymore.
What is wanted, most of the time, is a pleasant accompaniment to browsing social media.
I often read on the tube with music in my headphones, and I am constantly forced to stick on some ultra-agreeable classical music or ambient (Eno 'On Land') just so it doesn't distract me from reading.
OFFTOPIC but its similar to the situation with visual art, in which we're so overwhelmed with images these days that images that used to shock or inspire or overwhelm people now have to be stared at for a considerable length of time, perhaps with explanatory captions, in order to puncture our overstimulated senses. Imagery is ambient too.
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
Can you give examples of what she listens to
droid
Well-known member
Really depends how you define 'ambient'.
Dont think it ever went away though, its been a recurring theme in nearly every decade since the 50's and has broken through into the mainstream on several occasions.
If there's one factor that Id say is different now its the sheer number of producers and the massive amounts of music being released.
Dont think it ever went away though, its been a recurring theme in nearly every decade since the 50's and has broken through into the mainstream on several occasions.
If there's one factor that Id say is different now its the sheer number of producers and the massive amounts of music being released.
pattycakes_
Can turn naughty
def escapism
droid
Well-known member
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.
droid
Well-known member
Dont think its held up too well.
Leo
Well-known member
"76:14" still sounds pretty great, actually.
and agree with craner, winter months when the windows are closed is the time for "ambient". once the warm weather comes and the windows open, i can't hear those drones and bleeps/bloops over the outside traffic.
empty mirror
remember the jackalope
really? i am surprised at this.
my kids are always listening to ambient on account of the C148's soundtrack to Minecraft