“Shenzhou” or “Autour de la Lune” for example… the latter being the most faithful representation of “music for space” I’ve ever heard. The combination of cold but warm, dreamlike and trance-inducing elements is still unmatched. NO BIOSPHERE! It’s all timed and arranged with uncanny precision; every sonic event feels perfectly clear and balanced, as if Whitman’s computer is thinking many moves ahead, like a chess program beating Garry Kasparov. Cocteau Twins – Victorialand (1986)
No Substrata? i have trouble with genres so i just play whatever seems to fit together… so slow glitchy-blippy stuff can be ambient or very subdued techno dub. etc.
Did you install a browser extension (such as Realplayer/Realdownloader) that helps you download YouTube videos or other content? Check out our 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time. – Coil – “Time Machines” I really hope you love it too! Simply choose any other It’s kind of an outlier in their catalog but it’s maybe my favorite. Inspired by all the discussion surrounding Pitchfork’s list of the genre, I decided to lay out my favorites. That album is a masterpiece. It’s also a perfect crossroads between the earlier droning incarnation of the band and the often prog-rock leaning sound they evolved into by the 1980s. Oliveros’ playing feels like an extension of the natural world, not something built to interpret it. Great list, the only thing I can think to mention that you’d left off was Chill Out by The KLF.
Windy & Carl “A Dream Of Blue” (None of their full albums really do it for me, but they have some killer EPs. 2. One can trace the rise of New Age music back to Iasos’ debut album, Inter-Dimensional Music, which emerged the same year as Brian Eno’s Discreet Music and Steven Halpern’s first album. Fennesz + Sakamoto – Cendre = very enchanting. Music for astral projection.
It’s not that those memories never change; in fact, the way Fennesz makes his sounds recur and retreat, stutter and fuse, perfectly matches the malleability and impermanence of recollections. Pingback: 32 Best Ambient Albums Ever Made – imho. A thoughtful & provocative listing…. I like that you included Birth of a New Day. The richness of details embroided into the album is staggering. Have you heard their newer album? Great mood music for stress relief, spa, meditation, studying or to chillout. Us, View song Some music at the time sounded similar, and Whitman has since made many records that build deftly upon what he achieved here. I would have loved to have seen ‘More Beautiful Human Life’ by Uzect Plauch on there, as well as ‘Halve Maen’ by Double Leopards; but that’s the thing about musical opinions eh? But nothing has ever quite matched the impeccable purity of Playthroughs, a record that seems to hook itself into some fundamental cosmic brainwave and never let go. Wonderful suggestions, thank you! Your computer may be infected with malware or spyware that is making automated requests to our server and causing problems.
But alas, such a shame that Robert Rich is neglected from this list! Instead, the Swedish composer's ultra-minimalist landmark represents an attempt to get inside the mechanics of sound—“to ‘hear into’ the different sounds in order to grasp the components that made them up,” as Rabe, The two words that form the title of Christian, ’ voice has the ability to leave you dumbstruck, speechless, just plain wrecked. And, while I’m thinking of it… Substrata and/or Shenzhou by Biosphere, Journey to the Sun by Adham Shaikh, and for something more experimental, Radio Amor by Tim Hecker. channel on AccuRadio and its music will be added to this one! Super intense. Thank you. But of course I have to mention some imo overlooked classics: Secede – Tryshasla But I had to go with my gut.
Great list! I won’t rant about the absence of Substrata, but surely at least one album by Biosphere just HAD to be on the list. On with the list. Chillhop, instrumental. There may not be any singing on the latest album from Chicago pianist Gia Margaret, but there are plenty of words. For more exploration, try the 32 Best Dub Techno Albums and Every David Bowie Album Ranked lists or see the Optimistic Underground best of the year collection for a load of gems.
Planetary Unfolding – Michael Stearns
Thank you! I love a lot of Eno but this one always seemed his purest ambient release to me. IMO, you should have at least one Tetsu Inoue release on your list. Yes, it’s technically jazz. I also wish I’d included a Tim Hecker album. I’d consider Boards of Canada more of an IDM act, I suppose – they came up on Warp in the late 90s mixing a lot of elements – I’d definitely say they worked with ambient forms, but almost always mixed with other genre signifiers, like hip-hop and techno. A New Found Relaxation is chill-out music for the Baudrillard crowd, a representation of what it could mean to actually unwind crafted with an arch eye from commercial visions of the same. but my favorite track of recent time = Sleepygirl 8 by Yagya. Just as these releases can be palliative, perhaps providing a much needed naturalistic atmosphere to those hopelessly holed up in tiny studio apartments, they can also be a space for catharsis, building carefully constructed sound collages from the frayed edges of this moment of political reckoning. The album is currently available at a name your price model on Bandcamp; any proceeds will go towards a network of organizations supporting racial justice. If you are using a VPN, and other users of the same VPN are abusing the service, then you'll be automatically banned as well. Very earthy, haunting.
But on ISS006, Müller takes a step away from the sweaty depths of the dance floor, building dense, extraterrestrial textures with swirling strings, flutes, and blinkered bleeps. Thank you for the suggestions!!
i kept saying what about Deepchord/rod Modell/ CV 313 and YOU have them.
This is my favorite Tangerine Dream album for a lot of reasons. With microprocessors in our pockets and countless hours of life spent in front of computers, many people have fretted over humanity’s decreasing social interactions and increasing sense of alienation. Ferguson’s work combines aspects of video and visual art into her compositional practice, and fittingly, her new LP Voler was first showcased as a live piano performance, in which her music was paired with photographs and films to craft a narrative about interiority and subjectivity. Our radio channels feature world renowned artists, DJs, and the hottest exclusive shows. Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto on the soundtrack?
I completely understand the impulse to omit Substrata – but, I’ve just listened to it again, and I think it does deserve to be mentioned that often. You’ve added many of my favourite artists/albums to the list, Joe – not praised often enough. Here it is, the Optimistic Underground list of best ambient albums ever made. This is an amazing concept album about a dying man who journeys in mis mind to a world called Tryshasla.
No Substrata? i have trouble with genres so i just play whatever seems to fit together… so slow glitchy-blippy stuff can be ambient or very subdued techno dub. etc.
Did you install a browser extension (such as Realplayer/Realdownloader) that helps you download YouTube videos or other content? Check out our 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time. – Coil – “Time Machines” I really hope you love it too! Simply choose any other It’s kind of an outlier in their catalog but it’s maybe my favorite. Inspired by all the discussion surrounding Pitchfork’s list of the genre, I decided to lay out my favorites. That album is a masterpiece. It’s also a perfect crossroads between the earlier droning incarnation of the band and the often prog-rock leaning sound they evolved into by the 1980s. Oliveros’ playing feels like an extension of the natural world, not something built to interpret it. Great list, the only thing I can think to mention that you’d left off was Chill Out by The KLF.
Windy & Carl “A Dream Of Blue” (None of their full albums really do it for me, but they have some killer EPs. 2. One can trace the rise of New Age music back to Iasos’ debut album, Inter-Dimensional Music, which emerged the same year as Brian Eno’s Discreet Music and Steven Halpern’s first album. Fennesz + Sakamoto – Cendre = very enchanting. Music for astral projection.
It’s not that those memories never change; in fact, the way Fennesz makes his sounds recur and retreat, stutter and fuse, perfectly matches the malleability and impermanence of recollections. Pingback: 32 Best Ambient Albums Ever Made – imho. A thoughtful & provocative listing…. I like that you included Birth of a New Day. The richness of details embroided into the album is staggering. Have you heard their newer album? Great mood music for stress relief, spa, meditation, studying or to chillout. Us, View song Some music at the time sounded similar, and Whitman has since made many records that build deftly upon what he achieved here. I would have loved to have seen ‘More Beautiful Human Life’ by Uzect Plauch on there, as well as ‘Halve Maen’ by Double Leopards; but that’s the thing about musical opinions eh? But nothing has ever quite matched the impeccable purity of Playthroughs, a record that seems to hook itself into some fundamental cosmic brainwave and never let go. Wonderful suggestions, thank you! Your computer may be infected with malware or spyware that is making automated requests to our server and causing problems.
But alas, such a shame that Robert Rich is neglected from this list! Instead, the Swedish composer's ultra-minimalist landmark represents an attempt to get inside the mechanics of sound—“to ‘hear into’ the different sounds in order to grasp the components that made them up,” as Rabe, The two words that form the title of Christian, ’ voice has the ability to leave you dumbstruck, speechless, just plain wrecked. And, while I’m thinking of it… Substrata and/or Shenzhou by Biosphere, Journey to the Sun by Adham Shaikh, and for something more experimental, Radio Amor by Tim Hecker. channel on AccuRadio and its music will be added to this one! Super intense. Thank you. But of course I have to mention some imo overlooked classics: Secede – Tryshasla But I had to go with my gut.
Great list! I won’t rant about the absence of Substrata, but surely at least one album by Biosphere just HAD to be on the list. On with the list. Chillhop, instrumental. There may not be any singing on the latest album from Chicago pianist Gia Margaret, but there are plenty of words. For more exploration, try the 32 Best Dub Techno Albums and Every David Bowie Album Ranked lists or see the Optimistic Underground best of the year collection for a load of gems.
Planetary Unfolding – Michael Stearns
Thank you! I love a lot of Eno but this one always seemed his purest ambient release to me. IMO, you should have at least one Tetsu Inoue release on your list. Yes, it’s technically jazz. I also wish I’d included a Tim Hecker album. I’d consider Boards of Canada more of an IDM act, I suppose – they came up on Warp in the late 90s mixing a lot of elements – I’d definitely say they worked with ambient forms, but almost always mixed with other genre signifiers, like hip-hop and techno. A New Found Relaxation is chill-out music for the Baudrillard crowd, a representation of what it could mean to actually unwind crafted with an arch eye from commercial visions of the same. but my favorite track of recent time = Sleepygirl 8 by Yagya. Just as these releases can be palliative, perhaps providing a much needed naturalistic atmosphere to those hopelessly holed up in tiny studio apartments, they can also be a space for catharsis, building carefully constructed sound collages from the frayed edges of this moment of political reckoning. The album is currently available at a name your price model on Bandcamp; any proceeds will go towards a network of organizations supporting racial justice. If you are using a VPN, and other users of the same VPN are abusing the service, then you'll be automatically banned as well. Very earthy, haunting.
But on ISS006, Müller takes a step away from the sweaty depths of the dance floor, building dense, extraterrestrial textures with swirling strings, flutes, and blinkered bleeps. Thank you for the suggestions!!
i kept saying what about Deepchord/rod Modell/ CV 313 and YOU have them.
This is my favorite Tangerine Dream album for a lot of reasons. With microprocessors in our pockets and countless hours of life spent in front of computers, many people have fretted over humanity’s decreasing social interactions and increasing sense of alienation. Ferguson’s work combines aspects of video and visual art into her compositional practice, and fittingly, her new LP Voler was first showcased as a live piano performance, in which her music was paired with photographs and films to craft a narrative about interiority and subjectivity. Our radio channels feature world renowned artists, DJs, and the hottest exclusive shows. Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto on the soundtrack?
I completely understand the impulse to omit Substrata – but, I’ve just listened to it again, and I think it does deserve to be mentioned that often. You’ve added many of my favourite artists/albums to the list, Joe – not praised often enough. Here it is, the Optimistic Underground list of best ambient albums ever made. This is an amazing concept album about a dying man who journeys in mis mind to a world called Tryshasla.