I mentioned it in the Ethereal/Goth thread, where it didn't really belong other than being released by Projekt, but Stratosphere's Aftermath is really, really good in 2015:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOCE_xNuMeQ
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Friday, 18 December 2015 00:36 (eight years ago) link
My favorite ambient record of the year was Jonas Munk's Absorb/Fabric/Cascade--really lovely stuff.
Also Chihei Hatakeyama released I think five albums this year, most of them good, but his collaboration with Federico Durand, magical Imaginary Child, was the tops.
Other runners up: Jefre Cantu-Ledesma's A Year with 13 Moons and Sam Prekop's last album, which wasn't really ambient but was all modular synth stuff. Chris Bissonnette put out a nice one on Kranky, too.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 18 December 2015 04:26 (eight years ago) link
basinski: cascade - pulls the same strings he always does, the ones that walk you over to stare at the rain on the window
kaitlyn aurelia smith: tides - you just woke up and you can float above the heap of thoughts on suspended waves of synthesis for a little while, calmly
― home organ, Friday, 18 December 2015 05:13 (eight years ago) link
some of my favs from 2015 (these are all on Spotify in the US):
Sarah Davachi – Qualities of Bodies Permanent: incredible psychedelic analog synth/mellotron/flute drones, everyone should listen to thishttps://ctatsu.bandcamp.com/album/qualities-of-bodies-permanent
Ryuichi Sakamoto / Illuha / Taylor Dupree – Perpetual: delicate and beautiful microsoundshttps://12kmusic.bandcamp.com/album/perpetual
Benoît Pioulard – Sonnethttps://pioulard.bandcamp.com/album/sonnet
Thore Pfeiffer – Im Blickfeld
Ken Camden – Dream Memory
Steve Hauschildt – Where All Is Fled
― miss me belial (crüt), Friday, 18 December 2015 05:42 (eight years ago) link
Oh yeah I like that Kaitlin Aurelia Smith album too. She has another one, Euclid, that's also very good.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 18 December 2015 05:43 (eight years ago) link
I want to like Euclid more but when i listen to it I hear a lot of sounds I really don't like! especially the chipmunk vocals. there are some parts that sound cool to me but too much of it just grates
― miss me belial (crüt), Friday, 18 December 2015 06:01 (eight years ago) link
I really love that Jonas Munk record though
― miss me belial (crüt), Friday, 18 December 2015 06:04 (eight years ago) link
yeah sarah davachi is great
― the late great, Friday, 18 December 2015 06:06 (eight years ago) link
This one is great. I love to put it loud on speakers and let these beautiful sounds fill the room.
The Perils album is pretty enjoyable too (Perils = Benoit Pioulard + Kyle Bobby Dunn)
― moans and feedback (Dinsdale), Friday, 18 December 2015 09:49 (eight years ago) link
Ryuichi Sakamoto / Illuha / Taylor Dupree
Max Richter Sleep is excellent although I must admit I haven't sat through the entire eight hours of it yet.
Any love here for the Northern Electronics label? Acronym, Föd Dödd, Varg (no not *that* Varg).
― Siegbran, Friday, 18 December 2015 10:07 (eight years ago) link
On the "Sleep" note, Robert Rich recently released a Bluray which compiles two extra-long "sleep music" pieces by him, the 7 hour "Somnium", which was previously released in 2001 on DVD, and the 8 hour "Perpetual". which is a new piece. They're meant to be used as background music to doze off to; I've done that on my sofa, and the music certainly works well like that. But considering the length, they're also suprisingly rich in tecture... Obviously, on the surface level they are very slow and unmoving, otherwise they wouldn't serve the sleep function properly, but there's a lot going on beneath the surface.
http://www.discogs.com/Robert-Rich-Perpetual-A-Somnium-Continuum/release/6204275
― Tuomas, Friday, 18 December 2015 11:10 (eight years ago) link
"tecture" = "texture"
― Tuomas, Friday, 18 December 2015 11:11 (eight years ago) link
After being inactive for almost ten years, Northaunt returned this year and Istid I-II should be a sure thing for anyone who liked Biosphere's 'arctic' period.
― Siegbran, Friday, 18 December 2015 12:14 (eight years ago) link
e/tape
https://soundcloud.com/etape/t-12
― saer, Friday, 18 December 2015 12:18 (eight years ago) link
http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/images/245x/TO48.jpg
a classic
also, https://noticerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/i-hope-you-like-the-universe
came out this year, very finely detailed and subtle.
gotta second Imperial Distortion (Drumm), it's both airy and massive sounding.. definitely heavier than the Toral stuff, but calming in its massiveness. still put it on to help me sleep
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Friday, 18 December 2015 18:42 (eight years ago) link
n.b. leave off the last track, "we all get it in the end", for your sleepytime playlist
― COOMBES (mattresslessness), Friday, 18 December 2015 18:45 (eight years ago) link
Haptic is also excellent.. fantastically detailed compositions. Abeyance, for instance, is very slight and airy on the surface but there's remarkable volume and detail to its makeup.
mattress.... i do it every time (take off that track), hah
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Friday, 18 December 2015 18:47 (eight years ago) link
Jason Lescalleet's The Pilgrim has a similar 'surprise', sonically very similar. another hour-long piece worth getting familiar (it's on Bandcamp)
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Friday, 18 December 2015 18:50 (eight years ago) link
kaitlyn aurelia smith: tides
Hey, thanks for recommending this, I bought it from Bandcamp. Like Crüt, I was a bit weirded out by some of the elements in "Euclid" (though I still like them if I'm in the right mood), but this is just excellent ambient music, so oceanic and soothing.
― Tuomas, Friday, 18 December 2015 19:26 (eight years ago) link
i'm a fan, these are really really good:
http://www.discogs.com/Ulwhednar-Withatten-1892/master/635076
http://www.discogs.com/D%C3%85RFDHS-M%C3%B6rkret-Kylan-Tystnaden-Ensamheten/master/890509
― lute bro (brimstead), Friday, 18 December 2015 20:48 (eight years ago) link
i'm prob repeating myself from the noize dude thread but
this is an absolute classic, everyone listen to it right nowhttp://www.discogs.com/Heathered-Pearls-Loyal/master/554972
― lute bro (brimstead), Friday, 18 December 2015 20:50 (eight years ago) link
Thanks for starting the thread Tuomas!
― MaresNest, Saturday, 19 December 2015 11:11 (eight years ago) link
Seraphim Rytm's Aeterna album is my fave ambient thing lately, it is apparently inspired by Tarkovsky and his obsession with water, like a lot of stuff on the Silent Season label it is very watery/evocative of nature type ambient.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XKBTIMGk60
― The New Faeces (xelab), Saturday, 19 December 2015 11:50 (eight years ago) link
yea I love that too
what are some other standouts on silent season? not too familiar
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Saturday, 19 December 2015 20:40 (eight years ago) link
been playing this jack jutson album a lot lately:https://youtu.be/_Zce6sKmbek
<3 how each track has some type of wind sound rustling around it
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Saturday, 19 December 2015 20:43 (eight years ago) link
Oh yeah, that's good stuff.
― lute bro (brimstead), Saturday, 19 December 2015 22:34 (eight years ago) link
Dream Carpets too
https://youtu.be/a4-HcZAa_Yo?list=PLN3rJSAGi0v3ryuJL7eQ5PGrc3J6ePpj5
http://www.discogs.com/Alva-Noto-Xerrox-Vol2/release/1610507
alva noto - xerrox vol. 2 -- similar to tim hecker's work, though it's more exquisite.. super-fine textures and tonal zones. volume 3 was released this year, but it doesn't feel so well-realized.
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Saturday, 19 December 2015 22:45 (eight years ago) link
xxxp
There is an excellent Silent Season comp. Asc has made 2 excellent albums this year and I quite dig Purl and a couple of years back I absolutely loved the Segue album, their follow up - not on SS - wasn't much cop though. They are not the most prolific of labels but I really admire their commitment to such a good aesthetic.
― The New Faeces (xelab), Saturday, 19 December 2015 23:11 (eight years ago) link
Wow @ this thread. So much to catch up on.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Sunday, 20 December 2015 00:02 (eight years ago) link
I'm serious about that Heathered Pearls album, it was one of those "I've been hearing this music in my head all my life" experiences
― lute bro (brimstead), Sunday, 20 December 2015 00:06 (eight years ago) link
xerrox vol. 3 is fantastic imo, probably my favourite of 2015 in this vein
― a cruet of destiny (seandalai), Sunday, 20 December 2015 01:18 (eight years ago) link
Asc has made 2 excellent albums this year
Yeah was about to mention that, I really liked Imagine The Future even though it sounds at times a bit too close to FSOL and Burial. Fervent Dream is the minimalist one, I have only just got that but sounds great on first listen.
― Siegbran, Sunday, 20 December 2015 07:12 (eight years ago) link
If we can recommend stuff that's a bit older, last year Oliver Lieb released Inside Voices (on Psychonavigation), his first ambient record in 20 years, and it's amazing!
Speaking of techno artists releasing surprise ambient albums ...
http://editionsmego.com/release/EMEGO-215
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Sunday, 20 December 2015 10:59 (eight years ago) link
I checked the Silent Season bandcamp page, but it seems all their CDs are sold out, even the one that came last month. :( And I'm not really into paying 12$ + taxes for a digital release alone. Do you have to like pre-order their stuff so you might get a copy?
― Tuomas, Sunday, 20 December 2015 19:03 (eight years ago) link
I'm a big fan of Natalie Beridze/TBA, and enjoyed her ambient album this year, "Between The Naps," which also included her prepared piano pieces (not "prepared" in the John Cage sense, more like programmed via computer)http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUSRfoOcUe4b-Ok7VE3lQNYCIiuA4b_Um
She's also on the Gacha album "Send Two Sunsets," which isn't entirely ambient, but is mostly downtempo/lush. One of my faves this year.http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu6sgxcUkSyMfFg3kgEmZ5MSmFW_PWbkC
― Michael F Gill, Sunday, 20 December 2015 19:24 (eight years ago) link
if only that surgeon was on cd.sounds fantastic.
― mark e, Sunday, 20 December 2015 20:14 (eight years ago) link
Anyways, speaking of decent prizes for digital music, I noticed you can buy all the digital releases (excluding the two of her albums which have been released on CD) by French ambient producer Zalys for 4.50 Euros or more:
https://zalys.bandcamp.com/
Her music is very traditional space ambient, just glacial cosmic drones and synths with no beats, so there's few surprises there, but if this kind of "slowly drifting through galaxies" music appeals to you (as it does to me), you get over 5 hours of that stuff for peanuts.
― Tuomas, Sunday, 20 December 2015 21:29 (eight years ago) link
the best new-to-me ambient album i have heard this year is the lisa gerrard album, the silver tree.gorgeous vocals/production/sonic detail.dark sounds vs layers vs production.i mentioned this on the dedicated LG thread a few weeks ago and the fact that i was willing to send out cd copies to anyone interested given that the cds were being sold for bobbins.i will of course extend that offer to the folks on this thread, however, i will not be able to go back to the shop for a couple of weeks, due to the festive chaos, and so, there is a high probability that all of the cd copies will have been picked up by then.but just in case.and yes, the album is that good.deep sensual trip hop styled ambience.basically, the kinda stuff that soundtracks fragence adverts this time of year.
― mark e, Sunday, 20 December 2015 22:13 (eight years ago) link
http://www.thesirenssound.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Jocelyn-Pook-Untold-Things.jpg
surely i am not the only person that thinks this is special ?
― mark e, Sunday, 20 December 2015 22:54 (eight years ago) link
many x-posts but thank you xelab + others for the silent season recs :D
another one I've returned to quite a bit:https://25000kittens.bandcamp.com/
very new agey & soothing, I often put it on while studying
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Sunday, 20 December 2015 23:05 (eight years ago) link
essential:
http://www.discogs.com/Suzanne-Kraft-Talk-From-Home/release/7110013
one of my fav lps this year
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Sunday, 20 December 2015 23:08 (eight years ago) link
the jonny nash LP on the same label is also excellent
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Sunday, 20 December 2015 23:09 (eight years ago) link
spent so much time w/gas POP, didn't realize that Zauberberg is the real masterpiece.
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Sunday, 20 December 2015 23:15 (eight years ago) link
they're all great but pop is not my fav!
― COOMBES (mattresslessness), Sunday, 20 December 2015 23:44 (eight years ago) link
zauberberg maybe best at invoking that sensation of motion without movement he does so well.
while we're violating the thread criteria, and since it doesn't seem to have gotten much attention here, leyland kirby's "sadly the future is no longer what it was" is my most cherished thing in this neighborhood from the past several years. it affects me so much it's kind of embarrassing: https://leylandkirby.bandcamp.com/album/sadly-the-future-is-no-longer-what-it-was
also haven't quite found a way into KAS's "euclid" like i have "tides," as others said.
loving heathered pearls from stuff posted i've listened to so far, thanks.
― home organ, Monday, 21 December 2015 04:05 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHWeHQwlKzM
― clouds, Monday, 21 December 2015 17:04 (eight years ago) link
yeaahhh
http://vektroid.bandcamp.com/album/polytravellers
― lute bro (brimstead), Monday, 21 December 2015 19:38 (eight years ago) link
I've listened to "Euclid" several times this week and I'm beginning to appreciate it more and more... I guess my initial problem was that I expected it to be an ambient album of some sort, but really it's much more in Mouse on Mars vein, finding childlike joy in these hyperenergetic bursts of pretty sounds. I understand why this kinds of ADHD approach to electronic music can get tiring, but on the level of pure sonics I haven't heard a better thing this year.
― Tuomas, Wednesday, 23 December 2015 08:45 (eight years ago) link
Another valuable thread from Tuomas...
This wasn't my biggest year for ambient/etc. listening, and most of my favorites have been mentioned, including Jonas Munk's Absorb/Fabric/Cascade and Steve Hauschildt's Where All Is Fled. Does the Munk sample Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians, or just closely emulate it?
One 2015 treasure not yet noted here is Asmus Tietchens - Ornamente (Zwischen Null und Eins) (https://lineimprint.bandcamp.com/album/ornamente-zwischen-null-und-eins). Wonderfully delicate, transparent music made from inharmonic specks and washes of digital sound. Tietchens is evidently quite prolific, but new to me, I found the album via SFJ's 2015 EOY list (http://yearendlists.com/2015/12/sasha-frere-jones-89-favorite-albums-of-2015/).
― fka styx (paul santa cruz), Wednesday, 23 December 2015 21:35 (eight years ago) link
I feel like this belongs here somehow - I'm going back to Jacaszek's 2001 LP "Glimmer" and this is just my sort of thing. Romantic electro-acoustic ambient with lots of dark lush timbres, wide soundscapes, a good mix of ... well everything, really - sampled traditional instruments, harsh electronic noise, harmony and dissonance. Looking forward to his other work, I'm going to check out KWIATY next.
― brisk money (lukas), Monday, 31 January 2022 13:44 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-dq9Zn-UyQ
near the top of my list of "artists no one is obsessed with but me"
― brisk money (lukas), Friday, 8 April 2022 04:50 (two years ago) link
I really like that— he seems to have stopped making music.
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Thursday, 28 April 2022 20:57 (two years ago) link
glad you like it!
he's still going actually, I dig this from 2018: http://michaeltrommer.blogspot.com/2018/10/executive-shore-unawatuna-sri-lanka.html
https://www.discogs.com/artist/497234-Michael-Trommer
but yeah his newer stuff is very different. wish there was more hydraulic material.
― brisk money (lukas), Thursday, 28 April 2022 21:08 (two years ago) link
also, if you like that, the rest of the comp it's on (Magnetic Blue, from Interchill) is worth checking out.
― brisk money (lukas), Thursday, 28 April 2022 21:09 (two years ago) link
just loving the Sofie Birch album
is she part of a ... scene? I see a lot of collaborators on this record.
― death generator (lukas), Wednesday, 31 August 2022 17:33 (one year ago) link
good question
a lot of the collaborators are from Copenhagen, afaik joined by common taste, interests, friends
but the international stuff I dunno, if there's a scene I'd like to be more familiar with it
― corrs unplugged, Thursday, 1 September 2022 10:56 (one year ago) link
https://lilienrosarian.bandcamp.com/album/every-flower-in-my-garden
"RYMbient" album that splits the difference between pastoral/cozy/childlike ambient and tape noise — riyl Nuno Canavarro, Colleen, Tim Hecker. ideally this should be used a soundtrack for a Netflix adaptation of Marianne Dreams/Paperhouse
I've also been loving Foresteppe and you c's Seven Sleepers EP from 2016. more folky and less noisy but sort of in the same vein
― a lesson before djing (unregistered), Thursday, 6 October 2022 17:42 (one year ago) link
(er, 2009, not 2016)
― a lesson before djing (unregistered), Thursday, 6 October 2022 17:46 (one year ago) link
(er, it actually was from 2016, not 2009. first thought best thought)
― a lesson before djing (unregistered), Thursday, 6 October 2022 17:48 (one year ago) link
I like the Rosarian album, tho it has taken a minute to grow.
― Goose Bigelow, Fowl Gigolo (the table is the table), Monday, 5 December 2022 23:05 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTb4dlByJfc
― death generator (lukas), Monday, 12 December 2022 07:15 (one year ago) link
yes please
https://laraajinumero.bandcamp.com/album/segue-to-infinity
― sleeve, Friday, 10 February 2023 15:44 (one year ago) link
$10 for the digital version of a 4LP set!
― sleeve, Friday, 10 February 2023 15:48 (one year ago) link
no previews, sadly, releases today though?
― sleeve, Friday, 10 February 2023 15:49 (one year ago) link
This Rival Consoles album from last year (Now Is) is really nice. Mostly beatless rhythmic synth pieces. I've seen the name but never really checked anything out until now.
― 50 Favorite Jordans (Jordan), Tuesday, 5 September 2023 19:18 (eight months ago) link
I've really liked a few of his albums though he walks a fine line for me, the noisier and more experimental he is, the better.
― dan selzer, Wednesday, 6 September 2023 04:36 (eight months ago) link
Persona grabbed me the most. It is a good deep-listening headphones album.
― beard papa, Wednesday, 6 September 2023 06:38 (eight months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwS5cpqFCvo
Maria Steed - Green Eyes
sailing out to sea
― saer, Wednesday, 6 September 2023 06:45 (eight months ago) link
Made some really great discoveries through the latest Trilogy Tapes NTS show, most notably Ernest Hood (jazz guitarist who lost the ability to play and walk from polio, made some amazingly ahead of their time records on zither and synth in the '70s, maybe all you hipsters already know about them?):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvFdJqbV8a4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUdSrNAgr2Y
And this lovely EP of tactile piano/cello/guitar pieces (Flaer - Preludes):
https://flaermusic.bandcamp.com/album/preludes
― 50 Favorite Jordans (Jordan), Tuesday, 19 September 2023 21:34 (eight months ago) link
This new Moritz Von Oswald record is something, drone-y but has so much detail and depth with the choir elements, and just enough rhythm lurking under the surface
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Tuesday, 14 November 2023 16:00 (six months ago) link
Really lovely record from Memotone on The Trilogy Tapes:
https://thetrilogytapes.bandcamp.com/album/tollard
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Monday, 4 December 2023 16:13 (five months ago) link
I’m enjoying this Purelink album on Peal Oil:https://purelink.bandcamp.com/album/signsvery chill moodz
― brimstead, Monday, 4 December 2023 17:11 (five months ago) link
Glad to see that record has somehow had such reach, I've enjoyed Akeem's dance music for years
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Monday, 4 December 2023 17:16 (five months ago) link
xp hearing the Purelink for the first time after noticing it on Pitchfork's AOTY list -- brilliant stuff
― Indexed, Tuesday, 5 December 2023 22:10 (five months ago) link
Not sure where to put this, but I would have nominated it for the EOY poll if I had heard it a few weeks ago (came out in December). Pretty stunning electronics + Rhodes + vocal improvisations.
Joseph Branciforte + Theo Bleckmann - LP2https://josephbrancifortetheobleckmann.bandcamp.com/album/lp2
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Wednesday, 17 January 2024 20:09 (four months ago) link
no idea who ferdi schuster is but this rules
https://cosimapitz.bandcamp.com/album/nun
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Wednesday, 31 January 2024 17:25 (three months ago) link
YES!!
I recently discovered that label exploring Gespensterland connections, love most of it
― dead precedents (sleeve), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 17:28 (three months ago) link
same label also did this stunning 90-minute tape of Arvo Part on guitar
https://cosimapitz.bandcamp.com/album/wherever-i-go
(which I fell asleep to just last night)
― dead precedents (sleeve), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 17:29 (three months ago) link
damn, i can already tell i'm gonna play the shit out of this
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Wednesday, 31 January 2024 17:38 (three months ago) link
ha I immediately bought like six tapes from that label, the Balruin and Spiritual Emojis ones are good too
― dead precedents (sleeve), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 17:44 (three months ago) link
*Baldruin
Part album is sounding very lovely, ty sleeve
― rob, Wednesday, 31 January 2024 17:55 (three months ago) link
<3
― dead precedents (sleeve), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 17:57 (three months ago) link
immense vibe on this track
https://ufordia.bandcamp.com/track/earth-love
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Wednesday, 7 February 2024 16:30 (three months ago) link
This is more like a film score than ambient music per se, but it's super good
https://svbkvlt.bandcamp.com/album/ministry-of-tall-tales
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Thursday, 29 February 2024 18:39 (two months ago) link