today's AMBIENT selection

[shrinkboy]

here is a comp album i found in the mid 90s that is an all time favorite. it comes from a series called 'Excursions in Ambience'; if you come across it on vinyl for cheap, pick it up 'cause it goes for good $$ on ebay and GEMM.

lots of good stuff: Banco de Gaia, Seefeel, Third Eye Foundation (i think), Future Sound of London

 

[Scuzzer]

I have many Eno favorites, but one that comes to mind as perhaps the supreme AMBIENT recording is Neroli (Music for Thinking). anyone have that one?

I skipped that one perhaps I should find a copy. Long late night college homework was usually accompanied by "Thursday Afternoon" with three nerdy Engineering roommates hunched over desks with mechanical pencils furiously jotting down incorrect answers to impossibly difficult problems. If Neroli had been around at that time (mid 80s) it would have been a better choice.

 

[Scuzzer]

I have been listening to premium box set vinyl of 'Small Boat...' just the last couple days and I find it to be a return to the ambient Eno of old.

How's the vinyl quality? I totally forgot to hunt that down when it came out a few months back so I just bought a download copy so I could hear it. Sounds interesting so far.

 

[shrinkboy]

vinyl is primo, heavy and thick, with wide, deep grooves and using four sides for the album. it is quite delicious--i was given the premium vinyl+cd+artwork boxset by a friend who mistakenly purch'd it w/o realizing it was LPs, and does not own or intend to own a TT

 

[Andy_H]

here is a comp album i found in the mid 90s that is an all time favorite. it comes from a series called 'Excursions in Ambience'; if you come across it on vinyl for cheap, pick it up 'cause it goes for good $$ on ebay and GEMM.

lots of good stuff: Banco de Gaia, Seefeel, Third Eye Foundation (i think), Future Sound of London

Hmmm …#I will have to look up this series. Not long ago I found an "Excursions in Ambience - The Fourth Frontier" (Astralwerks label) 2xLP at my neighborhood record store for around five bucks IIRC. It's marked as a DJ/promo only copy and has artists such as Labradford, Flying Saucer Attack, and I can't remember who else at the moment. It has some pretty good tracks - interesting to know it might be worth a few bucks.

 

[tybrad]

Music Of Cirque Du Soleil
... followed by....
Muroc and Deep Starship: Jonn Serrie

 

[satkinsn]

Wire magazine just recently trashed 'Small Boat on a Milk Sea'; Uncut gave it high praise.

It has not stuck to me, yet.

I know some folks wouldn't consider the following 'ambient,' but I do:

and...

To me, both 'Radio' and MLITBOG evoke that weird '1 am alone with the receiver' feeling.

s.

 

[Mr. Lin]

As a huge Eno fan I never really got the ambient phase even though the initial ambient series releases were somewhat interesting. After purchasing some of his later ambient stuff in the 90s I basically listened to it once and forgot about it. When I loaded all my CDs onto my music server I almost didn't bother with them but I did it anyway and now I'm glad I did. Finding music to play late at night is a challenge since I don't want to wake the wife or kids so now I'm listening to that genre more than ever.

Here's the latest one that I completely dismissed but have now found some interest in.

I had thought that The Drop was Eno's first official release, guess I mixed that up with something else.

The Drop is a collection of stuff Eno rounded up from his archives. He is supposed to have 100s of hours of stuff recorded and ready for release. Wire magazine just recently trashed 'Small Boat on a Milk Sea'; Uncut gave it high praise.

I have been listening to premium box set vinyl of 'Small Boat...' just the last couple days and I find it to be a return to the ambient Eno of old. it makes me think a bit of Nerve Net from the early 90s, but also a somewhat later release called The Shutov Assembly.

I have many Eno favorites, but one that comes to mind as perhaps the supreme AMBIENT recording is Neroli (Music for Thinking). anyone have that one?

You mean this Neroli:

That's one of my favorites in the Eno ambient catalog too, it's especially good for sleeping. Scuzzer, it belongs in the same realm as Thursday Afternoon, definitely a piece meant for CD as it goes on infinitely. For some reason my import CD of Thursday afternoon just stopped working one day, I've never had that happen with any other CD, and there are no scratches or visible damage to the information side. Weird.

Now, I would buy the new Small Boat... on vinyl in a heartbeat, but what's with the insane price?! I thought it was a mistake the first time I looked it up.

It has not stuck to me, yet.

I know some folks wouldn't consider the following 'ambient,' but I do:

and...

To me, both 'Radio' and MLITBOG evoke that weird '1 am alone with the receiver' feeling.

s.

Not familiar with the second one, but I think the Eno/Byrne definitely fits into this thread - it's more involved nature does not disqualify it IMO, it's still an "ambient" type of album.

Glad to see this thread is chugging along!

 

[pgerhardt]

Robert Rich has been one of my favorites for a few years. I have several and this one probably gets listened to the most although there are a few others I really like.


http://robertrich.com/site/wp-conte...res/images/discography/sevenveils/120x120.jpg

 

[Mr. Lin]

Steve Roach
Traveler

Original vinyl lp, Domino Records 1983

If you pressed me to tell you my absolute favorite ambient artist, it would be Steve Roach. Unfortunately I have very little of his work on vinyl (because little of it was released on vinyl), but a substantial collection of his work on CD, and I haven't gotten to the CDs yet since I have the turntable hooked up right now.

Steve Roach, IMO, has created some of the greatest works of minimal music - and I mean minimal - ever, and he's prolific too. Lots and lots of albums. Most of it was made with electronic instruments, creating drawn out, droning soundscapes, and strange, unfamiliar worlds.

When we're talking about stuff as bare-bones as Eno's Neroli, what comes to my mind next is Roach's obscure work titled Darkest Before Dawn. I get the sensation not a lot of people have heard of this one, and it's actually difficult to find a copy of it even on the internet (CD only), although Hypnos used to carry it. Darkest Before Dawn (no picture, but it's just an all-black cover) is one of the eeriest, most effective yet sparse pieces I've ever heard in my life. There's almost nothing to it, just slowly shifting synth chords, repeating over and over, but somehow Roach managed to create a feeling that's - I don't know, it just sends a shiver up my spine. For me, it's the ultimate ambient work, and the best extreme-minimal work, at least of what I've heard, and unfortunately almost no one's heard it. I think that's because it's not really marketable, because almost nothing happens.

If you look at his vast catalog on Amazon, and check out the one called Midnight Moon, which comprises simple notes played on a bass guitar, over and over, you'll find even there that some question whether such a simple work is worth an official release. And comparing Midnight Moon to Darkest Before Dawn would be sort of like comparing a Joy Division song to the climax of a Mahler symphony. Ok that's a really bad analogy but you probably get my point.

Traveler, playing now, is much more involved, rhythmic, and trippy as hell at parts. :drool: I happen to think the original cover on my lp is much cooler than the reissue one. See the face?

These things go hand in hand with headphones.

...

 

[Mr. Lin]

Robert Rich has been one of my favorites for a few years. I have several and this one probably gets listened to the most although there are a few others I really like.


http://robertrich.com/site/wp-conte...res/images/discography/sevenveils/120x120.jpg

I like Robert Rich too.

 

[shrinkboy]

Lin-- i would love to come across that Steve Roach LP on vinyl. and Roach is a good nomination for this thread. i have several titles by him, including Traveler, which i dug out of the cassette bin at Goodwill. just got up and dropped it in the Tascam, as i haven't heard it in a long time. excellent.

i was not able to see which Robert Rich album was proposed, as the image was too small to see, but again, a fine artist in the tradition. i'm thinking of an album by him that i own called either 'Beasts' or 'Bestiary'-- muted, subliminal cries, groans, drones and calls from 'the other side'...

two titles come to mind for me now-- Lustmord's 'Solaris', inspired by the Russian science fiction film of the 60s, and 'Where the Dark Stars Hang'. these are in the genre often called dark ambient, because they suggest absolute zero abysses in utterly alien environments. check 'em out.

i keep referring to the new Eno as 'Small Boat' when it is actually 'Small Craft...'

 

[shrinkboy]

just found on my shelf a project by Robert Rich and Lustmord a work entitled 'Stalker', delving the same cracks in the icy abyss....haven't listened in a long time, and i must say, on my Econowaves, the abyss is ....deeeep.

 

[Mr. Lin]

Lin-- i would love to come across that Steve Roach LP on vinyl. and Roach is a good nomination for this thread. i have several titles by him, including Traveler, which i dug out of the cassette bin at Goodwill. just got up and dropped it in the Tascam, as i haven't heard it in a long time. excellent.

i was not able to see which Robert Rich album was proposed, as the image was too small to see, but again, a fine artist in the tradition. i'm thinking of an album by him that i own called either 'Beasts' or 'Bestiary'-- muted, subliminal cries, groans, drones and calls from 'the other side'...

two titles come to mind for me now-- Lustmord's 'Solaris', inspired by the Russian science fiction film of the 60s, and 'Where the Dark Stars Hang'. these are in the genre often called dark ambient, because they suggest absolute zero abysses in utterly alien environments. check 'em out.

i keep referring to the new Eno as 'Small Boat' when it is actually 'Small Craft...'

Turns out we listen to a lot of the same stuff. I'm a big Lustmord fan too, and it seems many feel The Place Where the Black Stars Hang (what a creepy title!) is the ultimate dark ambient album. It sure is intense, if you listen to it in the dark at high volumes there's a sense of total isolation, like you're adrift in some horrifying corner of the universe where you'll never get back home - I totally agree with your description too, and to me it says something about the success of the piece that we both have similar reactions to it, which I'm sure he intended. Yep, that one is something else.

I have a bunch of Lustmord albums, but I don't have Stalker. I originally got into him after reading online reviews and downloading the first track of The Monstrous Soul, and was hypnotized by the repeating sound clip (what is that from?) "It was the night of the demon." Another one I like is Purifying Fire, that's pretty intense too. Heresy is supposed to be one of his classics, but I never gave it much of a chance even though I have the CD.

I dug up my 7" collection tonight, and in it I have a few very obscure ambient releases from Drone Records, which is an underground label. In a little bit I'll pot pictures and descriptions of those, I still have to listen to them again first, it's been a while.

 

[Mr. Lin]

Aalfang Mit Pferdekopf
Fragment 36 7" 45rpm single

Side A: Part A
Side B: Part O

Drone Records DR-79, April, 2006, first edition limited to 300 copies

This is one of the ambient 7"s I referred to above, imported from Germany. If you have the means to order vinyl from Europe without too much of a headache, and you like really minimal but creative (and eerie) drone ambient, I recommend you check out this label.

Side A (I think? They're not labeled) begins quietly with gentle bells ringing, and builds up to a cacophonous climax of swirling noise, finally settling down to the sound of running water. Both sides are similar, and although they play at 45rpm the "songs" seem pretty long.

The cover art for this first run is unique for each record, here it's hand-painted water colors, and obviously the vinyl is colored - it's clear Drone Records caters to the obsessive collector type. I have a couple more of these, but probably won't listen to them til later on tonight.

...

 

[riverrat]

I'm just a dabbler, but this one was suggested in a similar thread on the Steve Hoffman forum and I like it quite a bit:

Global Communication 76:14

 

[Augy]

Cirque Du Soleil

Music Of Cirque Du Soleil
... followed by....
Muroc and Deep Starship: Jonn Serrie

One of my favorite electronic albums is the cirque du soleil TAPIS ROUGE album
Its some of the best tracks remixed by popular dj and electronic artists....

 

[pgerhardt]

I have Stalker as MP3 only and not sure how I got it but I have kept it on there. I also like 'Propagation' a lot. Not really for listening but more bedtime winding down...

 

[Mr. Lin]

I'm just a dabbler, but this one was suggested in a similar thread on the Steve Hoffman forum and I like it quite a bit:

Global Communication 76:14

Yes that's a good one, although it does move away from the minimal approach in ambient music. Certainly worth checking out.

 

[influx]

Here's a picture of the lp I listened to and listed here last night:

Brian Eno and Robert Fripp
Evening Star

...

Beat me to it! I put Discreet Music on to sleep to, love it in vinyl but the CD version is quieter. How about Steve Roach's Begin Were I End or Infinite Shores. Love electronica and industrial from the 70's and 80's most groups had quieter pieces that would qualify as Ambient. Between Group, Holger Czukay (post Can). Great thread!