Today is the last day to vote... I won't close the poll until I wake up tomorrow morning, which should be aroung 6AM GMT, so you still have 13 hours to vote.
Also, when you send your ballot, remember to mention in the message whether it's weighted or unweighted. I've answered all emails with ballots I've received so far, so if you've sent one but haven't gotten an answer from me, let me know in this thread.
― Tuomas, Sunday, 23 June 2019 16:12 (four years ago) link
I sent an unweighted ballot yesterday and didn't get a confirmation. Mine is a little skimpy at fifteen albums. I had some criteria in mind for deciding what was ambient and what wasn't, but thinking about my ballot I didn't really apply them consistently — broadly I was thinking of an emphasis on space and/or texture over melody and rhythm, but even under those broad guidelines (which don't really equate to "functional as background music") some tuneful things snuck in.
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Sunday, 23 June 2019 16:43 (four years ago) link
What is this other genre that some of you think these other artists ought to fall into, if not ambient? Too spaced out and atmospheric to be electronic, too melodic to be avant-grade. If I were to vote these albums into any poll, it would be this one.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Sunday, 23 June 2019 17:24 (four years ago) link
^^^I don’t mean that to sound antagonistic, just sharing my logic for why I chose some artists that others here seem to be struggling with whether to include or not.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Sunday, 23 June 2019 17:31 (four years ago) link
yeah, i have no idea. for example, tangerine dream. i really like both Phaedra and Zeit. somehow, i decided that Phaedra was not ambient enough (the pink floyd 'on the run' section about 5 minutes into the title track, in particular), but Zeit would qualify. but what is Phaedra? it's...electronic music? in a very different way, i also couldn't figure out whether morton feldman's Piano & String quartet is top of the line ambient, or not ambient
― i will never make a typo ever again (Karl Malone), Sunday, 23 June 2019 17:37 (four years ago) link
anyways, i will try to keep this in mind when we're all complaining about Tired Sounds of Starts of Lid placing high (which is one of my all time favorites, and which i didn't vote for because i don't think of it as an ambient album even though much of it is ambient and i've zoned out to a million times)
― i will never make a typo ever again (Karl Malone), Sunday, 23 June 2019 17:39 (four years ago) link
STARTS OF THE LID
A lid startler if ever there was one.
― pomenitul, Sunday, 23 June 2019 17:40 (four years ago) link
Same but Phaedra: yes, Zeit: no :) It's so arbitrary, and I like that.
Shame 'Music for the Rothko Chapel' wasn't nominated. I'd hit that as ambient. Piano & String too classically classical for me?
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Sunday, 23 June 2019 17:41 (four years ago) link
Heh, it's the other way around for me.
― pomenitul, Sunday, 23 June 2019 17:42 (four years ago) link
Zoning out, music escorting you to a personal and highly particular ambient zone = ambient, to me. So I voted for Tired Sounds.
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Sunday, 23 June 2019 17:43 (four years ago) link
I sent an unweighted ballot yesterday and didn't get a confirmation.
Hmm, I wonder what's up with that... Did you send it to the address below?
https://i.imgur.com/yyJzfhr.jpg
Try to resend it to that address and report in this thread when you've done it, let's see if it gets through.
― Tuomas, Sunday, 23 June 2019 17:43 (four years ago) link
i forgot to nom that jon gibson two solo pianos w/ bonus tracks disc AND suzanne brokesch NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
― massaman gai (front tea for two), Sunday, 23 June 2019 17:43 (four years ago) link
yeah, i'd definitely vote for Rothko if it was there! my fav morton feldman (that i've heard - still exploring!), and yes, definitely more 'ambient'
― i will never make a typo ever again (Karl Malone), Sunday, 23 June 2019 17:45 (four years ago) link
I'm with "Zeit: ambient", "Phaedra: not" camp, and voted accordingly. To me Phaedra has a bit too much sense of direction to count as ambient, whereas Zeit feels like floating in space. But I do understand the case for Phaedra being ambient too, and probably some other albums I voted have even more direction than that, it's not clear-cut.
― Tuomas, Sunday, 23 June 2019 17:47 (four years ago) link
Zeit is definitely ambient to me. Phaedra is too propulsive. And Stars of the Lid has to be ambient, dunnit? Not sure where else I'd place it. Emobient, maybe.
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Sunday, 23 June 2019 18:07 (four years ago) link
The only albums I sort of regret nominating and voting for are the two Growing albums. In both cases the first tracks are epic drones, and that’s what I think of when I think of them. But subsequent tracks really aren’t remotely ambient. Oh well. If I’m the only one who voted for them in the end you can strike them.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Sunday, 23 June 2019 18:11 (four years ago) link
^^ I've had that, where in memory or in 'feeling' records are ambient to me, but when listening w/ this poll in mind I think: wait, no, actually...
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Sunday, 23 June 2019 18:12 (four years ago) link
Yeah, that happened to me too, I had to scrap a couple of albums from my ballot cos I remembered them as being ambient based on how they begin, but upon listening to them I realised they got way too progressive later on.
― Tuomas, Sunday, 23 June 2019 18:15 (four years ago) link
that was my reaction to listening to 76:14 again, i was surprised how beat-heavy a lot of it was
― Vape Store (crüt), Sunday, 23 June 2019 18:28 (four years ago) link
Ah thanks, Tuomas; I did manage to mess up your email. Ballot re-sent! Got your confirmation.
A basic problem I have is that the albums I like best on the noms list don't necessarily seem purely ambient (i.e., I love Phaedra and voted for it but the arguments against it above make sense to me... but I don't love Zeit, so I didn't vote for it).
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Sunday, 23 June 2019 18:29 (four years ago) link
Actually, Chinaski's solution to this problem was probably better than mine. Still, I'll be pleased if anyone else votes for Tierbeobachtungen.
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Sunday, 23 June 2019 18:40 (four years ago) link
I’ve always thought of Biosphere’s Patashnik as ambient but there’s surprisingly little material without beats on it.
― Siegbran, Sunday, 23 June 2019 18:47 (four years ago) link
Patashnik definitely is some kind of a ambient/techno hybrid, as was Microgravity before it. To me, Substrata is the first true ambient album by Biosphere. For a guy who's known as ambient musician first and foremost, Geir Jenssen certainly has done a lot of music based on beats and rhythms. He even released an EP a couple of years ago, The Petrified Forest, which is an obvious throwback to that Patashnik sound. It's a great record, but again, it doesn't sound sound ambient enough for me to have nominated it.
― Tuomas, Sunday, 23 June 2019 18:58 (four years ago) link
Voted
― groovypanda, Sunday, 23 June 2019 19:56 (four years ago) link
Departed Glories is the one for Biosphere
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Sunday, 23 June 2019 22:27 (four years ago) link
voted!
― Siegbran, Sunday, 23 June 2019 23:11 (four years ago) link
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Sunday, 23 June 2019 23:16 (four years ago) link
You don’t have to choose just one though! 50 votes, plenty of space.
I’m also surprised at how many people feel this way about DG. Doesn’t reach the heights (or depths) of Substrata or Cirque for me, but maybe I need to open my ears.
― but everybody calls me, (lukas), Sunday, 23 June 2019 23:17 (four years ago) link
(also had many instances as noted upthread of "shit, I should have nominated ambient album x)
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Sunday, 23 June 2019 23:19 (four years ago) link
^^ same here.
Voted!
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 24 June 2019 00:07 (four years ago) link
voted with a split ballot, it turns out I can in fact pick only 25 ambient albums that are truly close to my heart
the only new one I included was one of the Voice Of Eye noms, I love that double LP of early stuff that VOD put out but had never checked out the later stuff.
I'd like to attempt a Spotify playlist of all the noms, but can't guarantee anything
― Ambient Police (sleeve), Monday, 24 June 2019 00:14 (four years ago) link
There is a Spotify playlist
― Vape Store (crüt), Monday, 24 June 2019 00:51 (four years ago) link
oh I missed that! thanks.
― Ambient Police (sleeve), Monday, 24 June 2019 01:11 (four years ago) link
damn I coulda been shuffling all this time
― Ambient Police (sleeve), Monday, 24 June 2019 01:12 (four years ago) link
for reference cuz I don't think it was linked in this thread:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4fPPFJHHNihMjlO9GVEs6F?si=hVKygUYXRJSuCafBZrfzlQ
― Ambient Police (sleeve), Monday, 24 June 2019 01:15 (four years ago) link
The voting is now closed, thanks to everyone! I'll start the results rollout later today or tomorrow.
― Tuomas, Monday, 24 June 2019 05:13 (four years ago) link
The mind revealing itself to itself: the TOP 100 AMBIENT ALBUMS as voted by ILX
― Tuomas, Monday, 24 June 2019 10:15 (four years ago) link
top 3 albums I slightly regret including on my ballot:
Belong - October Language (soothing noize ≠ ambient!)Slowdive - Pygmalion (too pop! parts of it have a backbeat and proper hummable melodies!)Tangerine Dream - Phaedra (too much chug-a-chug-a sequencer action!)
my ballot started out super purist, but then I got the notion of voting for 50 albums by 50 different artists, so I ended up padding it out with some stuff that wasn't a perfect fit, oops
anyways, here's some great cosmic horror ambient that idk if anyone else voted for:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE9RPDgCn2w
(Tholen - Sternklang)
― tandoor vittles (unregistered), Monday, 24 June 2019 14:47 (four years ago) link
Results rolling out here: The mind revealing itself to itself: the TOP 100 AMBIENT ALBUMS as voted by ILX
― koogs, Monday, 24 June 2019 15:27 (four years ago) link