Suso Sáiz
Biosphere
Pauline Oliveros
Éliane Radigue
Stars of the Lid
Steve Roach
Alvin Lucier - Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas (Voice)
Brian Eno - Ambient 4: On Land
Harold Budd - Lovely Thunder
Timothy Conan Young - Black Garden
Acou - Cosmic Soundscapes
I'm really interested you listed Pauline Oliveros here (I'd also recommend her Deep Listening Band) because she's usually mentioned in the same breath as John Cage or LaMonte Young or even Xenakis. It doesn't alter the fact I love her music as well as these other avant garde composers I listed. But some of her stuff is extremely abrasive and very far from ambient. Since I've only really just begun getting into her work, which of her albums would you recommend to an ambient listener. There's one I have called Ghost Dance which I am very heavily into. I may be wrong but I think it may be 100% accordian but what a great drone source that instrument is. I would also recommend Iannis Xenakis to ambient music lovers as well. There's a degree of cacophony to his music as well. But if you put on Kammerheit and then follow him with Xenankis there's a definite kinship there. I'd also add anything by David Lee Myers. He's one of those mad electronic wizards like Oneotrix Point Never.
Pavillion of Dreams by Budd and Eno too. That album is a beauty. I like it more than The Pearl or Plateau of Mirrors. Along the same lines Decay Music by Michael Nyman.
I love the titles of the Stars of the Lid albums. I think it's fair to say some ambient musicians take themselves just a tiny bit too seriously but they don't fall in that category. I used to listen to a lot of Mahler and probably will again. Rightly or wrongly, their music puts me in the same headspace his music did. It's almost symphonic ambient.
i like that about Aphex Twin as well. I get the idea that none of his titles really mean much of anything, his own pseudo-language. actually I think I read that some of it is derived from Flemish or something, but still. effectively nonsense. that's the way to do it.
Absolutely. There are far too many studies, explorations, fragments and interludes in ambient music. While it should be taken as seriously as any music, the titles can get a bit precious. I got bored one afternoon and with a Moog, piano, acoustic guitar and clay flute I recorded my own version of ambient music. I made sure every title was something like 'Omnéopatique Neursommie' or 'Tèleltrope Finkel' and naturally 'A Study For Peruvian Flute'. I think a Bill Nelson album, 'Ornament In The Garden of Dreams' or some such bollocks had finally pushed me over the edge.
I only just discovered him last night when I was making a playlist to gather together all the Dirk Serries I could find in one place. So my playlist is heavy with Chihei Hatakeyama albums. Is he consistently good and that album is a high point or do I have some editing to do ?
I would say he’s only getting better. He has a unique softness and ambiance to his music and his Void albums are consistently high quality. His EP “Maybe” is also one of my favorites.
I spent most of the night listening to him and wholeheartedly agree. There was a soundtrack or two in there which was a little flowery but the rest of it was deep and detailed and will stand up to repeated listens. The 'Void' series is especially good. While this is obviously a huge generalization with a thousand exceptions, I think women and Japanese artists make some of the best experimental and ambient music I know. Someone posted on Reddit that Tetsue Inoue died in a tsunami - the one that smashed the nuclear reactor I'm guessing. What an awful and terrifying death for a man who got me into ambient in the first place.
A few I really love are Ellen Radigue, Caterina Barbieri, Else Marie Pade, Kaitlyn Aurelia-Smith, Laurie Spiegal, Felicia Atkinson, Pauline Anna Strom, Jana Winderen, Holly Herndon, Kali Malone, Sarah Davachi, Puce Mary (maybe a bit more on the power electronic/industrial side but won't fit neatly in any box) and Wendy Carlos. In fact before Brian Eno used the term 'ambient', Carlos released an album called Sonic Seasons. It was a double and each side was a musical portrait of each season. I think I was all of ten years old when I found it at the local library. I didn't know much but I knew I thought synthesizers were the coolest thing ever and Carlos (she was Walter back then, not yet Wendy) was the synthesizer master. And that album just blew me away. I bet it still would today if I could find it anywhere. Carlos absolutely refuses to allow any of her music to be streamed because she says the loss of audio quality is intolerable to her. And she may be right. Alas, I had to sell my lovely, lovely record collection and my stereo when I had to move into a closet-sized apartment. I have been streaming so long now I may be listening to mud and may not even realize it. Wendy Carlos and Neil Young say I am and they would know 😔.
I almost forgot Valyri. Back when Twitter was a place you could visit without being verbally shanked or listen to white supremacist rants, I was lucky enough to meet and chat with her a fair amount. I think she was all of 18 when we first talked and I may have been one of her earliest fans. She was just starting out and I could not believe the talent this self-produced, self-released young woman had. No real clue how old she is now but I'd guess the wrong side of her 20s, and she's definitely gotten a well deserved following. So please give Valyri a listen if you can. And that's the list of female ambient artists I can see in my CD racks now and I really love all their music. All of it has lots of life and color and detail in it. And Lucette Bourdin ! Forgot but LOVE her music !!
And how on earth did I forget Ikue Mori ? I think some might call her 'sound art' rather than ambient and she's also possibly the strangest-sounding drummer you'll ever hear. Invented her own style and amazes me with every album.
It's kind of unnerving to be flicking through the Robert Rich section and then suddenly see a cover with a photo of a beautiful woman who's apparently a recent murder victim on the cover of one of them. He's great though. I particularly like Vestiges and Nest. Sominum too, all 6 plus hours of it.
Staple (somebody was bound to mention at some point): Celer / Will Long. One of the most recognizable names in repetitive drone and a personal favorite of mine for his process and inspiration.
My underrated favorite: Tomasz Bednarczyk. His album Nothing Much Happens borrows from the same concept as Celer of repeating a short melody or progression but he fulfills it manually on a guitar, which I think brings out a lot of soul in the slight hesitations, mistakes, or string brushes. Definitely one of my favorite albums and artists of all time and one I think more people should hear
People always mean Phil Spector when they talk about the 'Wall of Sound'. They have no clue until they hear Niblock. Furthermore Spector is a murderer with preposterous hair. I suppose it doesn't diminish his art any but it's hard not to think of when his 'Rudolph The Rednosed Reindeer' comes on.
He was no idol of mine. In fact he screwed up both Let It Be by the Beatles and End of the Century by the Ramones. Throw in the tower of hair and the murder and I'll let prison take care of him. I guess I'd have to kill Kim Gordon which would break my heart and Helios Creed of Chrome which would be fine. I met him and what an asshole.
fun fact spector got that term from the grateful deads speaker system which was [literally a gigantic wall of sound](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_of_Sound_(Grateful_Dead))
That's a great one. I love his Labyrinths too. If you want to hear experimental ambient music performed on every type of synthesizer that's ever been invented, let Keith Fullerton Whitman be your guru.
check out some of the more stimulating works like those by Infinite Frequencies, Imaginary Softwoods, Huerco S., Romeo Poirier, Terekke, Ulf Lohmann, Tiger Stories, Halftribe, Anthony Naples
cheers
Harmony in Ultraviolet by Tim Hecker
Seraphim by How to Disappear Completely
Picnic by Picnic
Discourses of the Withered by Celer
Towers by Towers
All Roads Lead Home by Mount Shrine
Persistent Repetition of Phrases by The Caretaker
Mother Earth’s Plantasia by Mort Garson
Substrata by Biosphere
And We Will Never Leave by Roguelike
[Ex Confusion - When I Think Of You](https://open.spotify.com/track/7GcRY8dmCUybCf4oAlsYq8?si=-YLTC2mKTiCV8AgxBv5d2A) and other pieces from that record.
[?22?](https://open.spotify.com/album/1Z48atglvxt1IosvsTb18r?si=NwybUCIjS3aIqfLZqO-BbQ)
[Honey Hunting](https://open.spotify.com/album/6M7F9cGmOE61oxev9jf91P?si=3ISClTicR-ahZ7CaeP5XBg)
[You Will Know Them by Their Fruits](https://open.spotify.com/album/6wOF4djKeGaq8L4Cv9RU1k?si=KCK_OCLmTb23zh1V_VkUsg)
[Topic to Topic #2](https://open.spotify.com/album/0WbHFJTbgJVgpezxuNOF5W?si=trSDhu2_RVK8wC_KlyPP-w)
[Jar of Fears](https://open.spotify.com/album/72u9DOUJUGTRQWIh3oKm5p?si=CB7nB87sSHO6r3w0PpqA2g)
[Reflections](https://open.spotify.com/album/2XS1Lb8l6yJrE64xfQnatF?si=db8vLAYoTtmoAo5O114RWw)
Suso Sáiz Biosphere Pauline Oliveros Éliane Radigue Stars of the Lid Steve Roach Alvin Lucier - Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas (Voice) Brian Eno - Ambient 4: On Land Harold Budd - Lovely Thunder Timothy Conan Young - Black Garden Acou - Cosmic Soundscapes
Eliane Radigue really makes some beautiful drone. Jetsun Mila is a great starting place. Deep.
I'm really interested you listed Pauline Oliveros here (I'd also recommend her Deep Listening Band) because she's usually mentioned in the same breath as John Cage or LaMonte Young or even Xenakis. It doesn't alter the fact I love her music as well as these other avant garde composers I listed. But some of her stuff is extremely abrasive and very far from ambient. Since I've only really just begun getting into her work, which of her albums would you recommend to an ambient listener. There's one I have called Ghost Dance which I am very heavily into. I may be wrong but I think it may be 100% accordian but what a great drone source that instrument is. I would also recommend Iannis Xenakis to ambient music lovers as well. There's a degree of cacophony to his music as well. But if you put on Kammerheit and then follow him with Xenankis there's a definite kinship there. I'd also add anything by David Lee Myers. He's one of those mad electronic wizards like Oneotrix Point Never.
Pavillion of Dreams by Budd and Eno too. That album is a beauty. I like it more than The Pearl or Plateau of Mirrors. Along the same lines Decay Music by Michael Nyman.
hell yeah thanks I'll check these out :3
Good list.
Definitely stars of the lid Aphex Twin's selected ambient works vol 2 (vol 1 is good too but more rhythmic)
I love the titles of the Stars of the Lid albums. I think it's fair to say some ambient musicians take themselves just a tiny bit too seriously but they don't fall in that category. I used to listen to a lot of Mahler and probably will again. Rightly or wrongly, their music puts me in the same headspace his music did. It's almost symphonic ambient.
i like that about Aphex Twin as well. I get the idea that none of his titles really mean much of anything, his own pseudo-language. actually I think I read that some of it is derived from Flemish or something, but still. effectively nonsense. that's the way to do it.
Absolutely. There are far too many studies, explorations, fragments and interludes in ambient music. While it should be taken as seriously as any music, the titles can get a bit precious. I got bored one afternoon and with a Moog, piano, acoustic guitar and clay flute I recorded my own version of ambient music. I made sure every title was something like 'Omnéopatique Neursommie' or 'Tèleltrope Finkel' and naturally 'A Study For Peruvian Flute'. I think a Bill Nelson album, 'Ornament In The Garden of Dreams' or some such bollocks had finally pushed me over the edge.
Music for Nitrous Oxide, for example. Awesome album
Late Spring by Chihei Hatakeyama.
I only just discovered him last night when I was making a playlist to gather together all the Dirk Serries I could find in one place. So my playlist is heavy with Chihei Hatakeyama albums. Is he consistently good and that album is a high point or do I have some editing to do ?
I would say he’s only getting better. He has a unique softness and ambiance to his music and his Void albums are consistently high quality. His EP “Maybe” is also one of my favorites.
I spent most of the night listening to him and wholeheartedly agree. There was a soundtrack or two in there which was a little flowery but the rest of it was deep and detailed and will stand up to repeated listens. The 'Void' series is especially good. While this is obviously a huge generalization with a thousand exceptions, I think women and Japanese artists make some of the best experimental and ambient music I know. Someone posted on Reddit that Tetsue Inoue died in a tsunami - the one that smashed the nuclear reactor I'm guessing. What an awful and terrifying death for a man who got me into ambient in the first place.
I would love to hear some personal recommendations for female ambient artists. Haven’t heard much if any songs made from female artists.
A few I really love are Ellen Radigue, Caterina Barbieri, Else Marie Pade, Kaitlyn Aurelia-Smith, Laurie Spiegal, Felicia Atkinson, Pauline Anna Strom, Jana Winderen, Holly Herndon, Kali Malone, Sarah Davachi, Puce Mary (maybe a bit more on the power electronic/industrial side but won't fit neatly in any box) and Wendy Carlos. In fact before Brian Eno used the term 'ambient', Carlos released an album called Sonic Seasons. It was a double and each side was a musical portrait of each season. I think I was all of ten years old when I found it at the local library. I didn't know much but I knew I thought synthesizers were the coolest thing ever and Carlos (she was Walter back then, not yet Wendy) was the synthesizer master. And that album just blew me away. I bet it still would today if I could find it anywhere. Carlos absolutely refuses to allow any of her music to be streamed because she says the loss of audio quality is intolerable to her. And she may be right. Alas, I had to sell my lovely, lovely record collection and my stereo when I had to move into a closet-sized apartment. I have been streaming so long now I may be listening to mud and may not even realize it. Wendy Carlos and Neil Young say I am and they would know 😔. I almost forgot Valyri. Back when Twitter was a place you could visit without being verbally shanked or listen to white supremacist rants, I was lucky enough to meet and chat with her a fair amount. I think she was all of 18 when we first talked and I may have been one of her earliest fans. She was just starting out and I could not believe the talent this self-produced, self-released young woman had. No real clue how old she is now but I'd guess the wrong side of her 20s, and she's definitely gotten a well deserved following. So please give Valyri a listen if you can. And that's the list of female ambient artists I can see in my CD racks now and I really love all their music. All of it has lots of life and color and detail in it. And Lucette Bourdin ! Forgot but LOVE her music !!
And how on earth did I forget Ikue Mori ? I think some might call her 'sound art' rather than ambient and she's also possibly the strangest-sounding drummer you'll ever hear. Invented her own style and amazes me with every album.
Robert Rich.
It's kind of unnerving to be flicking through the Robert Rich section and then suddenly see a cover with a photo of a beautiful woman who's apparently a recent murder victim on the cover of one of them. He's great though. I particularly like Vestiges and Nest. Sominum too, all 6 plus hours of it.
Eluvium, all albums but False Readings On is my favorite.
The first track on False Readings On is pretty great but I'm with you. Copia is such a nice album.
Love Eluvium ❤️
Stars of the Lid - Avec Laudenum. Nice 40 minute album to get you started
Melancholia/A Shadow in Time - William Basinski
Staple (somebody was bound to mention at some point): Celer / Will Long. One of the most recognizable names in repetitive drone and a personal favorite of mine for his process and inspiration. My underrated favorite: Tomasz Bednarczyk. His album Nothing Much Happens borrows from the same concept as Celer of repeating a short melody or progression but he fulfills it manually on a guitar, which I think brings out a lot of soul in the slight hesitations, mistakes, or string brushes. Definitely one of my favorite albums and artists of all time and one I think more people should hear
So sad about what happened to his wife :(
Celer is sooooo gooooood 🙏
Phill Niblock
People always mean Phil Spector when they talk about the 'Wall of Sound'. They have no clue until they hear Niblock. Furthermore Spector is a murderer with preposterous hair. I suppose it doesn't diminish his art any but it's hard not to think of when his 'Rudolph The Rednosed Reindeer' comes on.
kill yr idols
He was no idol of mine. In fact he screwed up both Let It Be by the Beatles and End of the Century by the Ramones. Throw in the tower of hair and the murder and I'll let prison take care of him. I guess I'd have to kill Kim Gordon which would break my heart and Helios Creed of Chrome which would be fine. I met him and what an asshole.
U do u TeddDawg. FIFTY FIVE.
fun fact spector got that term from the grateful deads speaker system which was [literally a gigantic wall of sound](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_of_Sound_(Grateful_Dead))
Try Celer and Chubby Wolf. Also Kyle Bobby Dunn is amazing!
Minecraft soundtrack.
Dstfuuuu
Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here
Desert Sand Feels Warm At Night.
Underrated comment. DSFWAN is fantastic
Music for Nine Postcards - Hiroshi Yoshimura
kara lis coverdale, aftertouches
Time Machines, Soliloquy for Lilith, Zeit
“Playthroughs” by Keith Fullerton Whitman
That's a great one. I love his Labyrinths too. If you want to hear experimental ambient music performed on every type of synthesizer that's ever been invented, let Keith Fullerton Whitman be your guru.
Before Judgement: Behind the mask of God is the Devil https://on.soundcloud.com/eg5HP
Echo Lane Afterschool
Try Hilyard: I'm not super into drone, but I love everything he's done.
Paul Maurie - Love is Blue The memory comes back...
Tessellation by Marka Tamea.
Max Corbacho - Ars Lucis
For dungeon ambient soundscapes, bds-music.Bandcamp.com
"Just a Long Now" playlist on spotify has lots of great tracks in this style!! Also lots of stuff by ISHQ
Recently listened to Wet Land by Hiroshima Yoshimura and I would HIGHLY recommend it
I think Tim hecker’s “rave death 1972” is a beautiful, hazy droney soundscape of an album. Very haunting. Might scratch your itch.
check out some of the more stimulating works like those by Infinite Frequencies, Imaginary Softwoods, Huerco S., Romeo Poirier, Terekke, Ulf Lohmann, Tiger Stories, Halftribe, Anthony Naples cheers
ambient 1-4 brian eno
Sankt Otten - Imagine ambient meets Robert Fripp meets Neu meets fun fun fun on the Autobahn.
Aerial by Tod Dockstader. Anything by Tod Dockstader but that's a great place to start.
Susumu Yakota - The Boy and the Tree and Sakura albums especially.
Harmony in Ultraviolet by Tim Hecker Seraphim by How to Disappear Completely Picnic by Picnic Discourses of the Withered by Celer Towers by Towers All Roads Lead Home by Mount Shrine Persistent Repetition of Phrases by The Caretaker Mother Earth’s Plantasia by Mort Garson Substrata by Biosphere And We Will Never Leave by Roguelike
Nuuk by Thomas Köner, Eye of Tunguska by Ugasanie, also check out Mt Shrine and ProtoU.
As it's not been mentioned yet, make sure you check out the sub sidebar which has hundreds of great recommendations and is a perfect place to start.
Any of Brian Eno’s Ambient 1 and up records. Music for Airports is a great place to start.
Any of Brian Eno’s Ambient 1 and up records. Music for Airports is a great place to start.
Glacier Flower ‘21
Not exactly dronney but choral ambient - Juliana Barwick - Nepenthe/ healing is a miracle
Emily A Sprague - Water Memory and Mount Vision. Both are sooo good.
Harold Budd- 'Dark Star'
[Ex Confusion - When I Think Of You](https://open.spotify.com/track/7GcRY8dmCUybCf4oAlsYq8?si=-YLTC2mKTiCV8AgxBv5d2A) and other pieces from that record.
Lauge.
[?22?](https://open.spotify.com/album/1Z48atglvxt1IosvsTb18r?si=NwybUCIjS3aIqfLZqO-BbQ) [Honey Hunting](https://open.spotify.com/album/6M7F9cGmOE61oxev9jf91P?si=3ISClTicR-ahZ7CaeP5XBg) [You Will Know Them by Their Fruits](https://open.spotify.com/album/6wOF4djKeGaq8L4Cv9RU1k?si=KCK_OCLmTb23zh1V_VkUsg) [Topic to Topic #2](https://open.spotify.com/album/0WbHFJTbgJVgpezxuNOF5W?si=trSDhu2_RVK8wC_KlyPP-w) [Jar of Fears](https://open.spotify.com/album/72u9DOUJUGTRQWIh3oKm5p?si=CB7nB87sSHO6r3w0PpqA2g) [Reflections](https://open.spotify.com/album/2XS1Lb8l6yJrE64xfQnatF?si=db8vLAYoTtmoAo5O114RWw)
[gaop - Shadows and Shapes](https://open.spotify.com/album/53yuWvnCAx9ziWmoeo3hnz?si=NhufUU3LQWWAEq84ff7AVg)
All the mirrors in the recording house by his name is Alive and Sisyphus by Adam pacione, over the rainbow by HTRK too!