The mind revealing itself to itself: the TOP 100 AMBIENT ALBUMS as voted by ILX

Having made all the right choices, I'm on board with the ambient prison complex.

Thanks so much for a job wonderfully done Tuomas!

Indeed, thanks Tuomas!!

Thank you!

(hands out donut holes)

"Waiting for Cousteau" is not actually #1 in the poll, in fact it didn't receive any votes at all. I'll post the correct result in a jiffy.

I really feel like I failed here if even I didn't vote for it

Yeah, SAW II ranking notwithstanding, this list is nearly publication-quality, good work

106. FM3 - The Buddha Machine

Let's see if this works:

Artist	Album	Votes	#1 votes	Points
Aphex Twin	Selected Ambient Works Volume II	22	4	1745
Brian Eno	Ambient 4: On Land	18		1193
Brian Eno	Ambient 1: Music for Airports	18	1	1119
Stars of the Lid	The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid	12	1	795
Gas	Pop	13	1	771
Biosphere	Substrata	11		734
Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno 	Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks	12		711
William Basinski	The Disintegration Loops	11		688
Laraaji	Ambient 3: Day of Radiance	11		642
Stars of the Lid	Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline	10	1	625
KLF, The	Chill Out	9		614
Orb, The	The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld	9		613
Global Communication	76:14	9	1	606
Harold Budd / Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois 	The Pearl	11		597
Steve Roach	Structures from Silence	9		584
Tangerine Dream	Phaedra	10		580
Brian Eno	Discreet Music	10		577
Manuel Göttsching	E2–E4	8		532
Pauline Oliveros / Stuart Dempster / Panaiotis	Deep Listening	8		515
Gas	Königsforst	7		486
Arthur Russell	World of Echo	7		459
Laurie Spiegel	The Expanding Universe	9		456
Oneohtrix Point Never	Rifts	8		445
Harold Budd / Brian Eno	Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror	6		424
Brian Eno	Thursday Afternoon	7		421
Hiroshi Yoshimura	Music for Nine Post Cards	6		410
Future Sound Of London, The	Lifeforms	8		406
Gas	Zauberberg	7		401
Autechre	NTS Session 4	6		398
Bohren & Der Club of Gore	Black Earth	8		395
David Hykes & The Harmonic Choir	Hearing Solar Winds	5		386
Various Artists	I Am the Center: Private Issue New Age Music in America, 1950–1990	8		382
Fripp & Eno	Evening Star 	8		380
Éliane Radigue	Trilogie de la mort	6		378
Caretaker, The	An Empty Bliss Beyond This World	7		373
Tangerine Dream	Zeit	7		367
Tim Hecker	Harmony in Ultraviolet	8		364
Susumu Yokota	Sakura	6		362
Harmonia & Eno '76	Tracks and Traces 	6		360
Vangelis	L'apocalypse des animaux	7		360
Miles Davis	In a Silent Way	5		343
Windy & Carl	Antarctica (The Bliss Out, Vol. 2)	8		341
Eluvium	Talk Amongst the Trees	6		340
Fripp & Eno	(No Pussyfooting)	8		337
Slowdive	Pygmalion	5		332
Winged Victory for the Sullen, A	Atomos	6		327
Dead Texan, The	The Dead Texan	6		326
Tim Hecker	Ravedeath, 1972	5	1	322
Jon Hassell / Brian Eno	Fourth World Vol. 1: Possible Musics	5		309
Brian Eno	Music for Films	6		307
Harold Budd	The White Arcades	5		307
Autechre	Garbage	5		294
Iasos	Inter-Dimensional Music	6		294
Thomas Köner	Permafrost	7		289
Fennesz	Endless Summer	5		286
Chapterhouse / Global Communication	Blood Music: Pentamerous Metamorphosis 	6		285
Tetsu Inoue	World Receiver	6		285
Max Richter	Sleep	4	1	283
Alio Die	Aura seminalis	4	1	280
Ryuichi Sakamoto	Async	6		280
Oval	94diskont.	5		273
Loscil	Plume	3		268
Boris	Flood	4		267
David Sylvian / Holger Czukay	Flux + Mutability	5		265
Earth	Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version	4		264
Gigi Masin	Talk to the Sea	6		264
Stuart Dempster	Underground Overlays from the Cistern Chapel	4		264
Robert Rich & Lustmørd	Stalker	4	1	253
Constance Demby	Novus Magnificat: Through the Stargate	4		250
Popol Vuh	In den Gärten Pharaos 	5		247
n/a	Symphonies of the Planets 1: NASA Voyager Recordings	4	1	242
Deathprod	Morals and Dogma	4		236
Terekke	Improvisational Loops	4		236
Raymond Scott	Soothing Sounds for Baby Volume 1: 1 to 6 Months	4		234
Charlemagne Palestine	Strumming Music	3		233
Spacemen 3	Dreamweapon	4		231
Ian William Craig	A Turn of Breath	5		230
Vladislav Delay	Multila	5		230
Biosphere	Cirque	4		224
David Behrman	On the Other Ocean	4		223
Syntonic Research Inc.	Environments 2: Tintinnabulation (Special Low Frequency Version)	4		219
Woob	Woob 1194	4		219
Henry Flynt	You Are My Everlovin / Celestial Power	4		218
Justin Bieber	U Smile (800% Slower)	3		217
Windy & Carl	Depths 	4		217
Loscil	Endless Falls	3		216
Keith Fullerton Whitman	Playthroughs	4		215
Oneohtrix Point Never	Replica	3		212
Steve Roach	The Magnificent Void	4		207
Tod Dockstader	Aerial #1	4		207
Richard Skelton	Landings	4		205
Labradford	Fixed::Context	4		204
2814	新しい日の誕生	4		202
Meg Bowles	The Shimmering Land	3	1	202
Ekkehard Ehlers	Plays	4		201
Hiroshi Yoshimura	Green	3		201
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith	Tides	5		201
Hatchback	Zeus & Apollo	3		198
DeepChord presents Echospace	Liumin / Liumin Reduced	3		197

And here's my (weighted) ballot, I bolded the albums that didn't make it to the top 100:

1. Meg Bowles - The Shimmering Land
2. Shades of Orion - Shades of Orion 2
3. Lucette Bourdin - Radiant Stars
4. Éliane Radigue - Trilogie de la mort
5. Sheila Chandra - ABoneCroneDrone
6. Robert Rich - Somnium
7. Lucia Hwong - Secret Luminescence
8. Alio Die & Mariolina Zitta - La sala dei cristalli
9. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Tides
10. Geinoh Yamashirogum - 輪廻交響楽 Ecophony Rinne
11. Constance Demby - Novus Magnificat: Through the Stargate
12. Organic Cloud - Organic Cloud
13. Tetsu Inoue - World Receiver
14. Hildur Guðnadóttir - Saman
15. Baked Beans - Baked Beans
16. Lucette Bourdin - Nordic Waves, Vol. 2: Spring
17. DeepChord presents Echospace - Liumin / Liumin Reduced
18. Laurie Spiegel - The Expanding Universe
19. Zalys - Sublime
20. Biosphere - Substrata
21. Éliane Radigue - Jetsun Mila
22. Natasha Barrett - Trade Winds
23. Move D / Namlook - XII: Space & Time
24. Iotronica - Of Moons and Stars
25. 2350 Broadway - 2350 Broadway 4
26. Alio Die & Sylvi Alli - Amidst the Circling Spires
27. Datacide - Flowerhead
28. France Jobin - Intrication
29. Gas - Königsforst
30. Syntonic Research Inc. - Environments 2: Tintinnabulation (Special Low Frequency Version)
31. Oliver Lieb - Inside Voices
32. Dreamfish - Dreamfish
33. Meg Bowles - Blue Cosmos
34. Biosphere - Departed Glories
35. Francisco López - La selva
36. Deborah Martin - Eye of the Wizard
37. Vangelis - Soil Festivities
38. Khan & Walker - Empire State Building
39. Ulla Straus - Big Room
40. Ishq - Orchid
41. Tetsu Inoue / Jonah Sharp - Instant Replay
42. Motion Sickness of Time Travel - Motion Sickness of Time Travel
43. Lorenzo Montanà - Phase IX
44. Lucia Hwong - Goddess Vol. 2: Celestial Realms
45. Silence - Silence V
46. Omni Vu Deity - Uvunayatu
47. Suzanne Ciani - Seven Waves
48. Minilogue - Blomma
49. Tangerine Dream - Zeit
50. Solar Quest - Orgship

Tuomas I'm so glad you dig that Datacide album! I love it.

also La Selva <3 <3 <3

It's pretty awesome, yeah. Definitely best of the Atom Heart + Inoue collabs, though I like Datacide 2 a lot too, but that one's not really ambient.

(xpost)

106. FM3 - The Buddha Machine

― space invaders are smokin penises!!!! (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, July 2, 2019 8:08 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I did my part.

couldn't participate but can't wait to spend many hours over many weeks hearing many of these for the first time, thx

also La Selva <3 <3 <3

I wasn't aware of it at all before the nominations, but after it was nominated I found out it was recorded in a Costa Rican rainforest... My wife is Costa Rican, so I had to order it, and we've been listening to it together; obviously she recognises the nature sounds a lot better than I do. I've been to CR a few times but never visited the rainforests, that's definitely something I'll have to do on the next trip there.

I’ve made some wonderful discoveries via this poll and there’s plenty of opportunity to argue left, great stuff.

My weaksauce ballot (weighted):

1. Robert Rich & Lustmørd – Stalker
2. Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works Volume II
3. Raison d'être – The Empty Hollow Unfolds
4. Brian Eno – Ambient 4: On Land
5. Akira Rabelais – Spellewauerynsherde
6. Celer – Engaged Touches
7. Black Swan – Aeterna
8. Caretaker, The – Everywhere at the End of Time
9. Haxan Cloak, The – Excavation
10. Stuart Dempster – Underground Overlays from the Cistern Chapel
11. 2814 – 新しい日の誕生
12. Stars of the Lid – The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid
13. Robert Rich – Somnium
14. Tim Hecker – Harmony in Ultraviolet
15. Tangerine Dream – Zeit
16. Biosphere – Substrata

#1 Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume II, 22 votes, 4 #1 votes, 1745 points
#2 Brian Eno - Ambient 4: On Land, 18 votes, #1 votes, 1193 points
#3 Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music for Airports, 18 votes, 1 #1 votes, 1119 points
#4 Stars of the Lid - The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid, 12 votes, 1 #1 votes, 795 points
#5 Gas - Pop, 13 votes, 1 #1 votes, 771 points
#6 Biosphere - Substrata, 11 votes, #1 votes, 734 points
#7 Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno - Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks, 12 votes, #1 votes, 711 points
#8 William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops, 11 votes, #1 votes, 688 points
#9 Laraaji - Ambient 3: Day of Radiance, 11 votes, #1 votes, 642 points
#10 Stars of the Lid - Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline, 10 votes, 1 #1 votes, 625 points
#11 KLF, The - Chill Out, 9 votes, #1 votes, 614 points
#12 Orb, The - The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld, 9 votes, #1 votes, 613 points
#13 Global Communication - 76:14, 9 votes, 1 #1 votes, 606 points
#14 Harold Budd / Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois - The Pearl, 11 votes, #1 votes, 597 points
#15 Steve Roach - Structures from Silence, 9 votes, #1 votes, 584 points
#16 Tangerine Dream - Phaedra, 10 votes, #1 votes, 580 points
#17 Brian Eno - Discreet Music, 10 votes, #1 votes, 577 points
#18 Manuel Göttsching - E2–E4, 8 votes, #1 votes, 532 points
#19 Pauline Oliveros / Stuart Dempster / Panaiotis - Deep Listening, 8 votes, #1 votes, 515 points
#20 Gas - Königsforst, 7 votes, #1 votes, 486 points
#21 Arthur Russell - World of Echo, 7 votes, #1 votes, 459 points
#22 Laurie Spiegel - The Expanding Universe, 9 votes, #1 votes, 456 points
#23 Oneohtrix Point Never - Rifts, 8 votes, #1 votes, 445 points
#24 Harold Budd / Brian Eno - Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror, 6 votes, #1 votes, 424 points
#25 Brian Eno - Thursday Afternoon, 7 votes, #1 votes, 421 points
#26 Hiroshi Yoshimura - Music for Nine Post Cards, 6 votes, #1 votes, 410 points
#27 Future Sound Of London, The - Lifeforms, 8 votes, #1 votes, 406 points
#28 Gas - Zauberberg, 7 votes, #1 votes, 401 points
#29 Autechre - NTS Session 4, 6 votes, #1 votes, 398 points
#30 Bohren & Der Club of Gore - Black Earth, 8 votes, #1 votes, 395 points
#31 David Hykes & The Harmonic Choir - Hearing Solar Winds, 5 votes, #1 votes, 386 points
#32 Various Artists - I Am the Center: Private Issue New Age Music in America, 1950–1990, 8 votes, #1 votes, 382 points
#33 Fripp & Eno - Evening Star , 8 votes, #1 votes, 380 points
#34 Éliane Radigue - Trilogie de la mort, 6 votes, #1 votes, 378 points
#35 Caretaker, The - An Empty Bliss Beyond This World, 7 votes, #1 votes, 373 points
#36 Tangerine Dream - Zeit, 7 votes, #1 votes, 367 points
#37 Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolet, 8 votes, #1 votes, 364 points
#38 Susumu Yokota - Sakura, 6 votes, #1 votes, 362 points
#39 Harmonia & Eno '76 - Tracks and Traces , 6 votes, #1 votes, 360 points
#40 Vangelis - L'apocalypse des animaux, 7 votes, #1 votes, 360 points
#41 Miles Davis - In a Silent Way, 5 votes, #1 votes, 343 points
#42 Windy & Carl - Antarctica (The Bliss Out, Vol. 2), 8 votes, #1 votes, 341 points
#43 Eluvium - Talk Amongst the Trees, 6 votes, #1 votes, 340 points
#44 Fripp & Eno - (No Pussyfooting), 8 votes, #1 votes, 337 points
#45 Slowdive - Pygmalion, 5 votes, #1 votes, 332 points
#46 Winged Victory for the Sullen, A - Atomos, 6 votes, #1 votes, 327 points
#47 Dead Texan, The - The Dead Texan, 6 votes, #1 votes, 326 points
#48 Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972, 5 votes, 1 #1 votes, 322 points
#49 Jon Hassell / Brian Eno - Fourth World Vol. 1: Possible Musics, 5 votes, #1 votes, 309 points
#50 Brian Eno - Music for Films, 6 votes, #1 votes, 307 points
#51 Harold Budd - The White Arcades, 5 votes, #1 votes, 307 points
#52 Autechre - Garbage, 5 votes, #1 votes, 294 points
#53 Iasos - Inter-Dimensional Music, 6 votes, #1 votes, 294 points
#54 Thomas Köner - Permafrost, 7 votes, #1 votes, 289 points
#55 Fennesz - Endless Summer, 5 votes, #1 votes, 286 points
#56 Chapterhouse / Global Communication - Blood Music: Pentamerous Metamorphosis , 6 votes, #1 votes, 285 points
#57 Tetsu Inoue - World Receiver, 6 votes, #1 votes, 285 points
#58 Max Richter - Sleep, 4 votes, 1 #1 votes, 283 points
#59 Alio Die - Aura seminalis, 4 votes, 1 #1 votes, 280 points
#60 Ryuichi Sakamoto - Async, 6 votes, #1 votes, 280 points
#61 Oval - 94diskont., 5 votes, #1 votes, 273 points
#62 Loscil - Plume, 3 votes, #1 votes, 268 points
#63 Boris - Flood, 4 votes, #1 votes, 267 points
#64 David Sylvian / Holger Czukay - Flux + Mutability, 5 votes, #1 votes, 265 points
#65 Earth - Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version, 4 votes, #1 votes, 264 points
#66 Gigi Masin - Talk to the Sea, 6 votes, #1 votes, 264 points
#67 Stuart Dempster - Underground Overlays from the Cistern Chapel, 4 votes, #1 votes, 264 points
#68 Robert Rich & Lustmørd - Stalker, 4 votes, 1 #1 votes, 253 points
#69 Constance Demby - Novus Magnificat: Through the Stargate, 4 votes, #1 votes, 250 points
#70 Popol Vuh - In den Gärten Pharaos , 5 votes, #1 votes, 247 points
#71 n/a - Symphonies of the Planets 1: NASA Voyager Recordings, 4 votes, 1 #1 votes, 242 points
#72 Deathprod - Morals and Dogma, 4 votes, #1 votes, 236 points
#73 Terekke - Improvisational Loops, 4 votes, #1 votes, 236 points
#74 Raymond Scott - Soothing Sounds for Baby Volume 1: 1 to 6 Months, 4 votes, #1 votes, 234 points
#75 Charlemagne Palestine - Strumming Music, 3 votes, #1 votes, 233 points
#76 Spacemen 3 - Dreamweapon, 4 votes, #1 votes, 231 points
#77 Ian William Craig - A Turn of Breath, 5 votes, #1 votes, 230 points
#78 Vladislav Delay - Multila, 5 votes, #1 votes, 230 points
#79 Biosphere - Cirque, 4 votes, #1 votes, 224 points
#80 David Behrman - On the Other Ocean, 4 votes, #1 votes, 223 points
#81 Syntonic Research Inc. - Environments 2: Tintinnabulation (Special Low Frequency Version), 4 votes, #1 votes, 219 points
#82 Woob - Woob 1194, 4 votes, #1 votes, 219 points
#83 Henry Flynt - You Are My Everlovin / Celestial Power, 4 votes, #1 votes, 218 points
#84 Justin Bieber - U Smile (800% Slower), 3 votes, #1 votes, 217 points
#85 Windy & Carl - Depths , 4 votes, #1 votes, 217 points
#86 Loscil - Endless Falls, 3 votes, #1 votes, 216 points
#87 Keith Fullerton Whitman - Playthroughs, 4 votes, #1 votes, 215 points
#88 Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica, 3 votes, #1 votes, 212 points
#89 Steve Roach - The Magnificent Void, 4 votes, #1 votes, 207 points
#90 Tod Dockstader - Aerial #1, 4 votes, #1 votes, 207 points
#91 Richard Skelton - Landings, 4 votes, #1 votes, 205 points
#92 Labradford - Fixed::Context, 4 votes, #1 votes, 204 points
#93 2814 - 新しい日の誕生, 4 votes, #1 votes, 202 points
#94 Meg Bowles - The Shimmering Land, 3 votes, 1 #1 votes, 202 points
#95 Ekkehard Ehlers - Plays, 4 votes, #1 votes, 201 points
#96 Hiroshi Yoshimura - Green, 3 votes, #1 votes, 201 points
#97 Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Tides, 5 votes, #1 votes, 201 points
#98 Hatchback - Zeus & Apollo, 3 votes, #1 votes, 198 points
#99 DeepChord presents Echospace - Liumin / Liumin Reduced, 3 votes, #1 votes, 197 points
#100 Stars of the Lid - The Ballasted Orchestra, 3 votes, #1 votes, 197 points
#101 Microstoria - Snd, 3 votes, #1 votes, 194 points
#102 Raison d'être - The Empty Hollow Unfolds, 2 votes, #1 votes, 194 points
#103 Michael Stearns - Planetary Unfolding, 3 votes, #1 votes, 193 points
#104 Aix Em Klemm - Aix Em Klemm, 4 votes, #1 votes, 188 points
#105 Eyvind Kang - Live Low to the Earth, in the Iron Age, 3 votes, #1 votes, 188 points
#106 FM3 - The Buddha Machine, 3 votes, #1 votes, 188 points
#107 Gas - Narkopop, 4 votes, #1 votes, 186 points
#108 Keith Fullerton Whitman - Lisbon, 3 votes, #1 votes, 185 points
#109 Nurse with Wound - Soliloquy for Lilith, 3 votes, #1 votes, 185 points
#110 Roedelius - Selbstportrait - Vol. II, 4 votes, #1 votes, 182 points
#111 Dreamfish - Dreamfish, 4 votes, #1 votes, 180 points
#112 Laraaji - Essence / Universe, 3 votes, #1 votes, 178 points
#113 Pendant - Make Me Know You Sweet, 3 votes, #1 votes, 178 points
#114 La Monte Young & Marian Zazeela - The Tamburas of Pandit Pran Nath, 3 votes, #1 votes, 176 points
#115 Colleen - Captain of None, 3 votes, #1 votes, 175 points
#116 Baked Beans - Baked Beans, 3 votes, #1 votes, 174 points
#117 Irresistible Force, The - Global Chillage, 3 votes, #1 votes, 173 points
#118 Colleen - Everyone Alive Wants Answers, 3 votes, #1 votes, 172 points
#119 Various Artists - Pop Ambient 2002, 2 votes, #1 votes, 172 points
#120 Seefeel - Quique, 4 votes, #1 votes, 170 points
#121 Tony Conrad - Four Violins (1964), 4 votes, #1 votes, 169 points
#122 Robert Rich - Somnium, 2 votes, #1 votes, 166 points
#123 Ingram Marshall - Fog Tropes / Gradual Requiem, 3 votes, #1 votes, 164 points
#124 Sleep Research Facility - Deep Frieze, 3 votes, #1 votes, 164 points
#125 Stars of the Lid - Gravitational Pull Vs. The Desire For an Aquatic Life, 3 votes, #1 votes, 162 points
#126 Zoviet France - Just an Illusion, 3 votes, #1 votes, 162 points
#127 Fennesz - Venice, 3 votes, #1 votes, 159 points
#128 Mountains - Centralia, 3 votes, #1 votes, 158 points
#129 Vladislav Delay - Anima, 4 votes, #1 votes, 158 points
#130 Vektroid - Polytravellers, 3 votes, #1 votes, 157 points
#131 Belong - October Language, 3 votes, #1 votes, 154 points
#132 Gavin Bryars - The Sinking of The Titanic [Point Music 1994, originally released in 1975], 3 votes, #1 votes, 153 points
#133 Fennesz - Black Sea, 3 votes, #1 votes, 152 points
#134 Satoshi Ashikawa - Still Way, 2 votes, 1 #1 votes, 151 points
#135 Kraftwerk - Autobahn, 2 votes, #1 votes, 150 points
#136 Marsen Jules - Lazy Sunday Funerals, 3 votes, #1 votes, 150 points
#137 Hildur Guðnadóttir - Saman, 3 votes, #1 votes, 149 points
#138 Biosphere - Dropsonde, 2 votes, #1 votes, 147 points
#139 Celer - Engaged Touches, 3 votes, #1 votes, 147 points
#140 Morton Feldman - Piano and String Quartet [Nonesuch 1993], 2 votes, #1 votes, 147 points
#141 Jonas Munk - Absorb / Fabric / Cascade, 4 votes, #1 votes, 146 points
#142 Kyle Bobby Dunn - Bring Me the Head of Kyle Bobby Dunn, 3 votes, #1 votes, 146 points
#143 Lustmørd - The Place Where the Black Stars Hang, 2 votes, #1 votes, 146 points
#144 Shades of Orion - Shades of Orion 2, 2 votes, #1 votes, 146 points
#145 Global Communication - Remotion: The Global Communication Remix Album, 2 votes, #1 votes, 145 points
#146 Donato Dozzy - Plays Bee Mask, 3 votes, #1 votes, 144 points
#147 Natural Snow Buildings - The Dance of the Moon and the Sun, 3 votes, #1 votes, 144 points
#148 David Tudor - Rainforest, 2 votes, #1 votes, 143 points
#149 Flying Saucer Attack - Flying Saucer Attack, 3 votes, #1 votes, 143 points
#150 Sunn O))) - 3: Flight of the Behemoth, 2 votes, #1 votes, 142 points
#151 Giusto Pio - Motore immobile, 2 votes, #1 votes, 141 points
#152 Rapoon - The Fires of the Borderlands, 2 votes, #1 votes, 141 points
#153 Steve Roach - Quiet Music: The Original 3-Hour Collection, 2 votes, #1 votes, 141 points
#154 David Jackman - Sol mara, 2 votes, #1 votes, 139 points
#155 Eluvium - Copia, 3 votes, #1 votes, 138 points
#156 Steve Roach - Dreamtime Return, 3 votes, #1 votes, 138 points
#157 Jóhann Jóhannsson - Fordlandia, 3 votes, #1 votes, 137 points
#158 Roland Kayn - Tektra, 2 votes, #1 votes, 137 points
#159 Sheila Chandra - ABoneCroneDrone, 3 votes, #1 votes, 136 points
#160 Asmus Tietchens - Eisgang, 2 votes, #1 votes, 135 points
#161 Harold Budd - Avalon Sutra, 2 votes, #1 votes, 134 points
#162 Biosphere - Departed Glories, 3 votes, #1 votes, 133 points
#163 Troum & All Sides - Shutûn, 2 votes, #1 votes, 133 points
#164 Arp - The Soft Wave, 2 votes, #1 votes, 132 points
#165 Karma Moffett - Golden Bowls of Compassion, 2 votes, #1 votes, 132 points
#166 Air [Pete Namlook] - Air, 3 votes, #1 votes, 131 points
#167 Daniel Lanois / Rocco Deluca - Goodbye to Language, 2 votes, #1 votes, 131 points
#168 Colleen - The Golden Morning Breaks, 3 votes, #1 votes, 130 points
#169 J.D. Emmanuel - Wizards, 2 votes, #1 votes, 129 points
#170 Oren Ambarchi - Suspension, 3 votes, #1 votes, 129 points
#171 Francisco López - La selva, 2 votes, #1 votes, 128 points
#172 Manual with Jess Kahr - The North Shore, 2 votes, #1 votes, 127 points
#173 Caretaker, The - Everywhere at the End of Time, 2 votes, #1 votes, 126 points
#174 Seven Fields of Aphelion, The - Periphery, 2 votes, #1 votes, 122 points
#175 Oren Ambarchi - Triste, 2 votes, #1 votes, 119 points
#176 Vangelis - Invisible Connections, 2 votes, #1 votes, 119 points
#177 X.Y.R. - El Dorado, 2 votes, #1 votes, 119 points
#178 Orb, The - Chill Out, World! , 2 votes, #1 votes, 118 points
#179 O Yuki Conjugate - Equator, 4 votes, #1 votes, 117 points
#180 Virginia Astley - ‎From Gardens Where We Feel Secure, 3 votes, #1 votes, 117 points
#181 Grouper - A I A: Dream Loss, 3 votes, #1 votes, 115 points
#182 Lustmørd - Heresy, 2 votes, #1 votes, 115 points
#183 Brian Eno - Lux, 2 votes, #1 votes, 114 points
#184 Earth - Hex; or Printing in the Infernal Method, 2 votes, #1 votes, 114 points
#185 Paul Horn - Inside the Great Pyramid, 2 votes, #1 votes, 113 points
#186 Pieter Nooten / Michael Brook - Sleeps with the Fishes, 2 votes, #1 votes, 112 points
#187 Bang on a Can - Music for Airports (Brian Eno), 2 votes, #1 votes, 109 points
#188 Vangelis - Soil Festivities, 3 votes, #1 votes, 108 points
#189 Coil presents Time Machines - Coil presents Time Machines , 2 votes, #1 votes, 107 points
#190 Labradford - Mi media naranja, 3 votes, #1 votes, 106 points
#191 Gigi Masin - Wind, 3 votes, #1 votes, 105 points
#192 Greg Davis - Mutually Arising, 2 votes, #1 votes, 105 points
#193 Ragnar Grippe - Sand, 2 votes, #1 votes, 105 points
#194 Move D / Namlook - XII: Space & Time, 2 votes, #1 votes, 104 points
#195 2350 Broadway - 2350 Broadway 4, 2 votes, #1 votes, 103 points
#196 Alan Lamb - Original Masters - Night Passage, 2 votes, #1 votes, 102 points
#197 Alva Noto - Xerrox Vol.1, 2 votes, #1 votes, 102 points
#198 Andrew Chalk - The Cable House, 2 votes, #1 votes, 102 points
#199 Andrew Chalk - The River that Flows Into the Sands, 2 votes, #1 votes, 102 points
#200 Arve Henriksen - Chiaroscuro, 2 votes, #1 votes, 102 points

xps La Selva is tru kvlt ambient IMO

even today it continues to both freak me out and lull me to sleep.

wish these 2 types of tracks on it were split up into disc/part 1 vs disc/part 2

did anyone else vote for Shader by Sacred Tapestry or Sleepline by New Dreams Ltd. or was it just me

xp then I wouldn't ever listen to the creepy tracks

oops didn’t get the # of #1 votes in there, sorry

My refrigerator was robbed!

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume II
Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
Brian Eno - Discreet Music
Arthur Russell - World of Echo
Fennesz - Endless Summer
The KLF - Chill Out
Slowdive - Pygmalion
Earth - Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version
Tangerine Dream - Phaedra
Nurse With Wound - Soliloquy for Lilith
Boris - Flood
The Orb - The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
Stars of the Lid - The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid
Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music for Airports
Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
Laurie Spiegel - The Expanding Universe
Autechre - NTS Session 4
Spacemen 3 - Dreamweapon
Flying Saucer Attack - Flying Saucer Attack
Oval - 94diskont
Hiroshi Yoshimura - Music for Nine Post Cards
Tim Hecker - Virgins
William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops
GAS - Pop
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Sunn O))) - 3: Flight of the Behemoth
Harold Budd / Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois - The Pearl
Gigi Masin - Talk to the Sea
Fripp & Eno - Evening Star
Stars of the Lid - Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline
The Caretaker - Everywhere at the End of Time
Grouper - Ruins
Eluvium - Copia
The Seven Fields of Aphelion - Periphery
Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolet
The Dead Texan - The Dead Texan
Gigi Masin - Wind
The Caretaker - An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
Sunn O))) - The GrimmRobe Demos
Ulver with Tromsø Chamber Orchestra Messe - I.X-VI.X
Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno - Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks
Earth - Hex; or Printing in the Infernal Method
Emeralds - What Happened
Mountains - Centralia
Lichens - The Psychic Nature if Being
Ryuichi Sakamoto - Async
Stephan Mathieu - A Static Place
Jute Gyte - Penetralia
Dedekind Cut - Tahoe
Julianna Barwick - Nepenthe

Am I the only person who thinks classifying E2-E4 as ambient is fucking lunacy? How is it ambient?

I'm with you there.

Thanks for running this Tuomas!

It's ambient because, uh, parts of New Age of Earth sort of were.

Poor Hammock :(

agree about E2-E4. i didn’t try to get it removed from noms because i figured people wouldn’t vote for it!

#134 Satoshi Ashikawa - Still Way, 2 votes, 1 #1 votes, 151 points

my #1. ya'll don't know what you're missing

Am I the only person who thinks classifying E2-E4 as ambient is fucking lunacy? How is it ambient?

you have to listen to it while traveling at or very close to the speed of sound

E2-E4 (slowed 800%)

Here's my weighted ballot, top to bottom:
Hoedh Hymnvs
Raison d'être The Empty Hollow Unfolds
Biosphere Substrata
Deutsch Nepal Tolerance (this position's a mistake tho, I meant this to be around #40)
Deathprod Morals and Dogma
Rapoon The Fires of the Borderlands
Entheogenic Spontaneous Illumination
Lustmørd The Place Where the Black Stars Hang
SleepResearchFacility Deep Frieze
Troum & All Sides Shutûn
Harold Budd Avalon Sutra
Shinjuku Thief The Witch Haven
Nurse with Wound Salt Marie Celeste
Herbst9 Buried Under Time and Sand
Tangerine Dream Zeit
Colleen Everyone Alive Wants Answers
Ishq Orchid
Northaunt Barren Land
Klaus Wiese, Ted de Jong & Mathias Grassow El-Hadra: The Mystik Dance
Brian Eno Ambient 4: On Land
Ildjarn-Nidhogg Hardangervidda
Carbon Based Lifeforms World of Sleepers
Inade Aldebaran
Atrium Carceri Ptahil
Les Joyaux de la Princesse & Regard Extrême Die Weiße Rose
Voice of Eye Transmigration
Caretaker, The An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
Fires of Ork, The The Fires of Ork 2
Suspended Memories Forgotten Gods
Natural Snow Buildings The Dance of the Moon and the Sun
Vasilisk Acqua
O Yuki Conjugate Equator
Solar Quest Orgship
Various Artists ...And Even Wolves Hid Their Teeth and Tongue Wherever Shelter Was Given
Air [Pete Namlook] Air
Various Artists Ambient 4: Isolationism
Organum Birds' Wings Were Glued to Their Bodies and Their Feet Froze to the Ground
Bohren & Der Club of Gore Black Earth
Solar Fields Leaving Home
Maeror Tri The Beauty Of Sadness
Oliver Lieb Inside Voices
Various Artists Chill Out or Die!
Eluvium Talk Amongst the Trees
Kammarheit The Starwheel
Thomas Köner Permafrost
Dreamfish Dreamfish
Kreng Grimoire
Celer Engaged Touches
Aeolian String Ensemble, The Lassithi/Elysium
Svartsinn Elegies for the End

Great work Tuomas, looking forward to checking out all the ones in the top 200 I'm unfamiliar with.

Unweighted ballot, bold didn't place. If I had to pick a number one, probably would choose 'Chill Out'.

Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works Volume II
Brian Eno Ambient 1: Music for Airports
Brian Eno Ambient 4: On Land
Brian Eno Discreet Music
Brian Eno Music for Films
Brian Eno Thursday Afternoon
Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks
Constance Demby Novus Magnificat: Through the Stargate
Cornelius Cardew / The Scratch Orchestra The Great Learning [Deutsche Grammophon 1971]
David Hykes & The Harmonic Choir Hearing Solar Winds
David Sylvian / Holger Czukay Flux + Mutability
Eluvium Talk Amongst the Trees
Fripp & Eno (No Pussyfooting)
Fripp & Eno Evening Star
Gavin Bryars The Sinking of The Titanic [Point Music 1994, originally released in 1975
Global Communication 76:14
Harmonia & Eno '76 Tracks and Traces
Harold Budd Lovely Thunder
Harold Budd The Room
Harold Budd The White Arcades
Harold Budd / Brian Eno Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror
Harold Budd / Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois The Pearl
Henry Wolff & Nancy Hennings The Bells of Sh'ang Sh'ung: A Sound
Ingram Marshall Fog Tropes / Gradual Requiem
Jóhann Jóhannsson Fordlandia
Jon Hassell / Brian Eno Fourth World Vol. 1: Possible Musics
KLF, The Chill Out
Meg Bowles The Shimmering Land
Michael Brook with Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois Hybrid
Miles Davis In a Silent Way
n/a Symphonies of the Planets 1: NASA Voyager Recordings
Orb, The The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
Paul Horn Inside the Great Pyramid
Popol Vuh In den Gärten Pharaos
Ryuichi Sakamoto Async
Stars of the Lid The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid
Steve Hillage Rainbow Dome Musick
Susumu Yokota Sakura
Tim Hecker Harmony in Ultraviolet
Tony Conrad Four Violins (1964)
Vangelis L'apocalypse des Animaux
Various Artists I Am the Center: Private Issue New Age Music in America, 1950–1990
William Basinski The Disintegration Loops 1

I would've nominated and voted for this if mixes were allowed, think you'll like it. http://www.polyholiday.com/podcast/

Lots to check out in the coming months years.

Yep, looking forward to digging in.

y'all should check out Sleepline, I've started this at one of my favorite points but just click around in this vid and you'll get the point

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4m15QcAMP0&feature=youtu.be&t=21m2s

Thanks again, Tuomas!

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume II
Various Artists - Pop Ambient 2002
Robert Turman - Flux
Heathered Pearls - Loyal
Microstoria - snd
Gas - Zauberberg
Gas - Königsforst
Terekke - Improvisational Loops
Brian Eno - Ambient 4: On Land
Craig Kupka ‎- Crystals: New Music For Relaxation 2
DJ Olive - Sleep
J.D. Emmanuel - Wizards
DJ Olive - Buoy
Biosphere - Cirque
Brian Eno / Peter Chilvers Reflection
David Behrman On the Other Ocean
Zoviet France Assault and Mirage
Novisad - Seleya
Dolphins Into The Future - Canto arquipélago
Paul Horn - Inside The Great Pyramid
Biosphere - Substrata
Strategy - Noise Tape Self
Milieu - A Warm Wooden Hollow
Oren Ambarchi - Suspension
Randall McClellan - The Healing Music of Rana Vol. II
Randall McClellan - The Healing Music of Rana Vol. III
Brian Eno - Neroli (Thinking Music Part IV)
Tangerine Dream - Zeit
David Sylvian / Holger Czukay - Flux + Mutability
Vektroid - Polytravelers
Zoviet France - Loh Land
Harmonia & Eno '76 - Tracks and Traces
H. Takahashi - Low Power
Jonny Nash - Eden
Novisad - Novisad
Rob Theakston - I Am Waiting for You to Stop Being Mad at Me
Sun Electric - 30.7.94 Live
H. Takahashi - Body Trip
X.Y.R. - Reflections
Main - Firmament IV
Bakground - Saved Data Trilogy
Erik Satie [Alan Marks, piano] - Vexations [London Records 1990]
Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement - Ambient Black Magic
Seconds In Formaldehyde - Suchness 3
Local News - A Simple Dream Pass
Sheila Chandra - ABoneCroneDrone
Tetsu Inoue - World Receiver

did anyone else vote for Shader by Sacred Tapestry or Sleepline by New Dreams Ltd. or was it just me

Aix Em Klemm Aix Em Klemm
Alio Die Aura seminalis
Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto Vrioon
Arthur Russell World of Echo
Arve Henriksen Chiaroscuro
Autechre NTS Session 4
Biosphere Cirque
Brian Eno Ambient 1: Music for Airports
Brian Eno Ambient 4: On Land
Caretaker, The An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
Celer Engaged Touches
Colleen The Golden Morning Breaks
Dead Texan, The The Dead Texan
Deathprod Morals and Dogma
Dirk Serries The Origin Reversal
Éliane Radigue Trilogie de la mort
Eluvium Copia
Fennesz Endless Summer
FM3 The Buddha Machine
Future Sound Of London, The Lifeforms
Gavin Bryars The Sinking of The Titanic [Point Music 1994, originally released in 1975]
Harold Budd / Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois The Pearl
Haruomi Hosono 花に水 (Watering a Flower)
Hatchback Zeus & Apollo
Hildur Guðnadóttir Saman
Hiroshi Yoshimura Music for Nine Post Cards
Jim O'Rourke Long Night
Kazumasa Hashimoto Yupi
Labradford Fixed::Context
Lustmørd Heresy
Main Hz
Max Richter Sleep
Oneohtrix Point Never Rifts
Orb, The The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
Robert Ashley Private Parts
Satoshi Ashikawa Still Way
Secede Tryshasla
Stars of the Lid Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline
Stars of the Lid The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid
Susumu Yokota Sakura
Tangerine Dream Phaedra
Thomas Köner Permafrost
Tod Dockstader Aerial #1
Tony Conrad Four Violins (1964)
Troum & All Sides Shutûn
Various Artists I Am the Center: Private Issue New Age Music in America, 1950–1990
Vektroid Polytravellers
William Basinski The Disintegration Loops
Windy & Carl Depths
猫 シ Corp. Palm Mall

I'm most baffled by Haruomi Hosono 花に水's 'Watering a Flower' not placing. I thought that was a lock for the top 20! Guess it's not as well-known as I thought it was?

I think time will be kind to 猫 シ Corp.'s 'Palm Mall'. Mallwave is a thing (a vaporwave spin-off), and it's a 'Music for Malls'-like modern masterpiece imo.

Anyway, SAW II! I was actually surprised I ranked it #1! Maybe wouldn’t on second thought, it just encompasses so much great atmospheric stasis/slow drift, the highs are extreme. I’m not as passionate about it as like Robert Turman’s Flux, though, probably... I would say there’s a fair amount of stuff out there that sounds like SAWII’s darker amelodic tracks but I don’t know anything that sounds like Flux other than uhhh gamelean recorded underwater and then the treble turned all the way down?

I didn’t vote for discreet music because I’m not nuts about side 2 but in retrospect that may have been very unchill of me

I'm most baffled by Haruomi Hosono 花に水's 'Watering a Flower' not placing. I thought that was a lock for the top 20!

i have no idea why i didn't vote for that! definitely should have made my list

a repeat of side 1 I mean xp

^^^ ditto. I must've missed it on the list.

there are a number of Hosono records I wanted to nominate, but I'm not really sure if they're really 'ambient'. "Watering a Flower" definitely is though.

Unweighted.

Alva Noto Xerrox Vol.1
Autechre Garbage
Boris Flood
Colleen Les ondes silencieuses
Colleen The Golden Morning Breaks
David Jackman Sol mara
Eluvium Copia
Eluvium Talk Amongst the Trees
Fennesz Venice
Gas Königsforst
Gas Pop
Gas Zauberberg
Hash Jar Tempo Under Glass
Julia Kent Asperities
Julia Kent Character
Julia Kent Temporal
Kinski Don't Climb on and Take the Holy Water
Labradford E luxo so
Labradford Fixed::Context
Labradford Mi media naranja
Laraaji Ambient 3: Day of Radiance
Natural Snow Buildings The Dance of the Moon and the Sun
Oren Ambarchi Triste
Vapour Theories Decant
Winged Victory for the Sullen, A Atomos
Zoviet France Mohnomishe

I just discovered that Haruomi Hosono after Vampire Weekend sampled it, but it's amazing.

so glad to see the correct album won