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

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

Boom

lol, wrong thread

Boom wooooooosh.........wooooooooooooooooooosh.......................wooooooooooooooooooooooooooosh.......

fixed

My ballot, unweighted:

Andrew Chalk: Baroque Steps
Andrew Chalk: The Cable House
Andrew Chalk: The River that Flows Into the Sands
Andrew Pekler: Tristes tropiques
Asmus Tietchens: Eisgang
Brian Eno: Ambient 1: Music for Airports
Brian Eno: Ambient 4: On Land
Brian Eno: Discreet Music
Brian Eno: Music for Films
Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno: Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks
David Behrman: On the Other Ocean
Dean McPhee: Four Stones
Elodie: Vieux silence
Erik Satie [Alan Marks, piano]: Vexations [London Records 1990]
Erik Satie [Philip Corner, piano]: Satie Slowly [Unseen Worlds 2014]
Fripp & Eno: Evening Star
Gas: Königsforst
Gas: Pop
Gas: Zauberberg
Giusto Pio: Motore immobile
Harold Budd: Perhaps
Harold Budd / Brian Eno: Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror
Harold Budd / Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois: The Pearl
Ian Middleton: Well of Sorrows
Inoyama Land: Danzindan-Pojidon
Jonathan Fitoussi: Imaginary Lines
Labradford: Fixed::Context
Laraaji: Ambient 3: Day of Radiance
Masayoshi Fujita & Jan Jelinek: Bird, Lake, Objects
Michael Brook with Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois: Hybrid
Microstoria: Snd
Robert Turman: Beyond Painting
Roedelius: Selbstportrait - Vol. II
Tangerine Dream: Phaedra
Vikki Jackman: Whispering Pages

Thank you, Tuomas. Many things new to me to investigate. Meanwhile, I'll be over here crying into my Andrew Chalk lps.

great work Tuomas

compellingly schitzophrenic results

the original post excerpted for the Cousteau troll: Animal Collective / Katamari Damacy link?

Satoshi Ashikawa Still Way
David Hykes & The Harmonic Choir Hearing Solar Winds
Morton Feldman Piano and String Quartet [Nonesuch 1993]
Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works Volume II
Oval 94diskont.
Gas Königsforst
Brian Eno Lux
Tim Hecker Harmony in Ultraviolet
Hiroshi Yoshimura Music for Nine Post Cards
Brian Eno Ambient 1: Music for Airports
William Basinski The Disintegration Loops
Harold Budd / Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois The Pearl
Keith Fullerton Whitman Playthroughs
Syntonic Research Inc. Environments 2: Tintinnabulation (Special Low Frequency Version)
Hiroshi Yoshimura Green
Biosphere Substrata
Constance Demby Novus Magnificat: Through the Stargate
Brian Eno Discreet Music
Oneohtrix Point Never Rifts
Main Firmament IV
Stars of the Lid The Ballasted Orchestra
Steve Roach Structures from Silence
Tangerine Dream Zeit
Harold Budd Avalon Sutra
Brian Eno Thursday Afternoon
Caretaker, The An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
Iasos Inter-Dimensional Music
Gas Zauberberg
John Luther Adams Become Ocean [Cantaloupe Music 2014]
Kyle Bobby Dunn From Here to Eternity
Masayoshi Fujita & Jan Jelinek Bird, Lake, Objects
Richard Skelton Landings

Lotta great music here, categories be damned

Thanks Tuomas, this has been a great rollout, lots of stuff here to listen to (favourite discovery so far: Biosphere - Cirque)

My weighted ballot, non-placing records in bold:

Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works Volume II
Gas Pop
Manuel Göttsching E2–E4
Brian Eno Ambient 4: On Land
Slowdive Pygmalion
Future Sound Of London, The Lifeforms
KLF, The Chill Out
Gas Zauberberg
Autechre Garbage
William Basinski The Disintegration Loops
Oneohtrix Point Never Rifts
Alio Die Aura seminalis
Gas Narkopop
Various Artists Pop Ambient 2002
Boris Flood
Gas Königsforst
Autechre NTS Session 4
Harmonia & Eno '76 Tracks and Traces
Global Communication 76:14
Pauline Oliveros / Stuart Dempster / Panaiotis Deep Listening
Various Artists I Am the Center: Private Issue New Age Music in America, 1950–1990
Bang on a Can Music for Airports (Brian Eno)
Laraaji Ambient 3: Day of Radiance
Fennesz Venice
Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks
Laurie Spiegel The Expanding Universe
Ekkehard Ehlers Plays
Pieter Nooten / Michael Brook Sleeps with the Fishes
Ryuichi Sakamoto Async
Fennesz Black Sea
Virginia Astley ‎From Gardens Where We Feel Secure
John Luther Adams Become Ocean [Cantaloupe Music 2014]
Fripp & Eno (No Pussyfooting)
Sheila Chandra ABoneCroneDrone
Harold Budd / Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois The Pearl
Fennesz Endless Summer
Colleen The Golden Morning Breaks
Vladislav Delay Multila
Oren Ambarchi Suspension
Orb, The The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
Wolfgang Voigt Rückverzauberung 10 / Nationalpark
Fennesz / Sakamoto Cendre
Steve Roach Structures from Silence
Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto Vrioon
Seefeel Quique
Tim Hecker Harmony in Ultraviolet
Brian Eno Music for Films
Laraaji Essence / Universe
Labradford Mi media naranja
Oval 94diskont.

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume II
Autechre - NTS Session 4
Ben Frost - Aurora
Biosphere - Cirque
Biosphere - Departed Glories
Biosphere - Shenzhou
Biosphere - Substrata
Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music for Airports
Brian Eno - Ambient 4: On Land
Brian Eno - Discreet Music
Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno - Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks
Caretaker, The - An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
Colleen - Captain of None
Colleen - Everyone Alive Wants Answers
Donato Dozzy - Plays Bee Mask
Fripp & Eno - (No Pussyfooting)
Future Sound Of London, The - Lifeforms
Global Communication - 76:14
Harold Budd - The White Arcades
Hatchback - Zeus & Apollo
Irresistible Force, The - Global Chillage
Jon Hassell - Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street
Jon Hassell / Brian Eno - Fourth World Vol. 1: Possible Musics
Jonas Munk - Absorb / Fabric / Cascade
KLF, The - Chill Out
Marsen Jules - Lazy Sunday Funerals
Marsen Jules - Yara
Mary Lattimore - The Withdrawing Room
Monolake - Gobi. The Desert EP
Orb, The - The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
Pauline Oliveros / Stuart Dempster / Panaiotis - Deep Listening
Ryuichi Sakamoto - Async
Stars of the Lid - Gravitational Pull Vs. The Desire For an Aquatic Life
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
Steve Roach - Dreamtime Return
Steve Roach - Structures from Silence
Steve Roach - The Magnificent Void
Stuart Dempster - Underground Overlays from the Cistern Chapel
Terre Thaemlitz - Soil
Tetsu Inoue - World Receiver
Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolet
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972
Vladislav Delay - Anima
Windy & Carl - Antarctica (The Bliss Out, Vol. 2)
Winged Victory for the Sullen, A - Atomos
Wolfgang Voigt - Rückverzauberung 10 / Nationalpark
Woob - Woob 1194
Zoviet France - Shouting at the Ground

lotta Zoviet France votesplitting up in here, just shows how strong their catalog is imo

That was a brilliant roll out. Cheers, Tuomas!

(I initially weighted my top ten, then lost my mind so went unweighted. This is how it WOULD have looked.)

1) Brian Eno Ambient 4: On Land
2) Susumu Yokota Sakura
3) Keith Fullerton Whitman Playthroughs
4) Labradford Mi Media Naranja
5) Robert Ashley Private Parts
6) Stars of the Lid The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid
7) Biosphere Substrata
8) Hallock Hill The Union
9) Eyvind Kang Live Low to the Earth in the Iron Age
10) Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works Volume II

Alan Lamb Original Masters - Night Passage
Alva Noto Xerrox Vol.1
Bang on a Can Music for Airports (Brian Eno)
Belong October Language
Ben Frost By the Throat
Brian Eno Thursday Afternoon
Daevid Allen / Ja-Am Seven Drones
David Behrman On the Other Ocean
Dead Texan, The The Dead Texan
Deathprod Morals and Dogma
Earth Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version
Ekkehard Ehlers Plays
Fripp & Eno (No Pussyfooting)
Gas Zauberberg
Harold Budd / Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois The Pearl
Helios Eingya
High Aura'd Sanguine Futures
Ingram Marshall Fog Tropes / Gradual Requiem
Keith Fullerton Whitman Lisbon
Labradford Fixed::Context
Laurie Spiegel The Expanding Universe
Loren Connors As Roses Bow (Collected Airs 1992–2002)
Mary Lattimore The Withdrawing Room
Mountains Sewn
Natural Snow Buildings The Dance of the Moon and the Sun
Peter Wright An Angel Fell Where the Kestrels Hover
Petrels Haeligewielle
Philip Jeck An Ark for the Listener
Piano Magic Son de Mar (Music from the Film by Bigas Luna)
Richard Skelton Landings
Roly Porter Aftertime
Seefeel Quique
Spacemen 3 Dreamweapon
Stars of the Lid Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline
Sun Electric 30.7.94 Live
Tetsu Inoue World Receiver
Vangelis L'apocalypse des animaux
Vladislav Delay Multila
William Basinski The Disintegration Loops
Windy & Carl Antarctica (The Bliss Out, Vol. 2)

I did a mixed ballot. The first 20 are ranked according to plays across my digital platforms (I don't use any streaming services, so— iTunes and iPod).

The rest is either stuff that I rank that didn't make that cut or stuff I discovered through this poll and became obsessed with :-) I'm up to the C's in the nominations list, going to work through the whole thing over the summer.

As with others, non-charters are bolded.

1. Stars of the Lid- Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline

2. Stars of the Lid- The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid

3. Henry Flynt- You Are My Everlovin'/Celestial Power

4. Charlemagne Palestine- Strumming Music

5. Loscil- Endless Falls

6. Aphex Twin- Selected Ambient Works Vol 2

7. The Seven Field of Aphelion- Periphery

8. Stars of the Lid- The Ballasted Orchestra

9. Loscil- Plume

10. Brian Eno/Harold Budd- Ambient 2

11. Brian Eno/Harold Budd featuring Daniel Langlois- The Pearl

12. Laraaji- Ambient 3: Day of Radiance

13. Brian Eno- Ambient 1: Music for Airports

14. Brian Eno- Ambient 4: On Land

15. A Broken Consort- The Shape Leaves

16. Richard Skelton- Landings

17. Aix em Klemm- Aix em Klemm

18. Tim Hecker- Ravedeath, 1972

19. Robert Turman & Aaron Dilloway- Blizzard

20. The Necks- Aether

Unranked:

Popol Vuh- In Den Garten Pharaos

Polwechsel/Fennesz- Wrapped Islands

Kammarheit- The Starwheel

Sunn 0))) & Ulver- Terrestrials

Deepchord- Immersions

Vladislav Delay- Anima

Windy & Carl- Depths

A Winged Victory for the Sullen- Atomos

William Basinski- The Disintegration Loops

Forest Management- Delicate

Taylor Deupree- Northern

The Dead Texan- The Dead Texan

1 Mile North- Minor Shadows

Alio Die- Aura seminalis

Bohren & Der Club of Gore- Black Earth

Bvdub- Return to Tonglu

one of my first goals of this whole thing, tbh, is to get more people to listen to Forest Management. his work is really great, was introduced to his stuff a few years ago when a friend put out a tape of his.

https://forestmanagement.bandcamp.com/

Thanks for running this poll, Tuomas! Fantastic job, don't think I've enjoyed a poll more since the New Order and David Bowie ones.

thanks very much, Tuomas. I've really enjoyed the poll, and am looking forward to continuing to explore the genre— even those realms that I've previously not been too keen on.

I was somehow thinking Kayn's 'Tektra' & Tudor's 'Rainforest' were going to make the top 100, let alone at least one Zoviet-France (vote-splitting in the latter case insured doom, but everyone who voted SAWII should probably just buy that new Z-F box)

happy the NASA Voyager tapes made it (my #1). people may have caught up with Irv Teibel, but given how big the interdisciplinary Science-Art field has gotten over the last 20 years / grants written by sound artists promising to make beautiful sound from data streams, I think people have got to catch up with the career of Dr. Jeffrey Thompson sooner or later. Tuomas posted the cover art for the most widely distributed version, the 5 CD box on Laserlight, you could find across the US budget priced in every rest stop / roadside diner with gift store / K-Mart so god knows how many copies they sold, but it was a LOT. sadly those versions don't mention which planets are featured on each volume -- a user on Discogs has finally answered my questions, and it turns out they are remixes, crossfading between planets from the original 10 CD Brain/Mind series, and also mentions the sound is a little less 'brilliant'. I get why Tuomas consolidated the nominations into the most widely distributed version, but my vote was for the one currently available on Spotify, which is the complete original Brain/Mind set -- with a fondness for the original batshit interdisciplinary Science / New Age Healer liner notes & packaging. iTunes sells it for $10 or you really go into the wormhole and buy direct from the verified healer himself for $184.97 (and get a Neuroacoustic Sound Table Delivery System while you're there, financing available)

https://www.discogs.com/label/114509-BrainMind-Research
https://scientificsounds.com/index.php/store/nasa-space-sounds

while a lot of his other music is more typically Hearts of Space, some of the other pieces are more in line with the Voyager series, like 'Celestial Dolphin' and the later fearsomely titled Gamma Meditation / Awakened Mind System, and I am loving the ads I get when searching those pieces out on youtube

https://open.spotify.com/album/5s8KIKe4zZXQxTxCqdWbIT

etc

Thanks for doing this poll, ILM--I'm excited to dive into things I'm not familiar with. I didn't get to vote because life has been very un-ambient lately. But glad to see 'On Land' place so high--it's been my touchstone for rich, immersive ambient for 20+ years.

If I had made a list, it would've included a lot of albums represented on this mix, which isn't entirely/exactly ambient--though clearly ILX takes a big-tent approach to the term--but gets at the feelings and sounds I'm looking for from it. A lot of heavy mixing, finding pieces that somehow fit together, so even what you already know well will sound different here.

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/musicophilia_00_various_-_translucence_1974-2018_cover.jpg?w=1024

Various – ‘Translucence‘
A Tribute to Brian Eno | (1974-2018)

01 [00:00]
Yazz Ahmed – “Exhale” (2017)
Egisto Macchi – “Le Genti del Deserto” (1974)
Mnemonists – “Limbs” (1981)

02 [05:00]
Earthen Sea – “Delicately In the Sunlight” (2017)
Cliff Martinez – “Will She Come Back” (2002)

03 [09:50]
Pauline Oliveros – “Suiren” (1989)
Francisco – “Cosmic Beam Experience” (1976)
Susumu Yokota – “Saku” (2000)

04 [15:50]
Passengers – “Theme From ‘The Swan'” (1995)

05 [18:50]
Luciano Cilio – “Studio for Winds” (1977)
Paul Motian – “Psalm” (1982)
Bernard Parmegiani – “Geologie Sonore” (1975)

06 [24:20]
Daniel Littleton – “Elegy #1” (2002)
Monoton – “HZ Waltz” (1982)
David Sylvian – “The Wooden Cross” (1986)

07 [29:20]
Huun Huur Tu – “Harmonics in the Wind” (1999)
Brian Eno – “Unfamiliar Wind (Leeks Hills)” (1982)
Peter Gabriel – “Powerhouse at the Foot of the Mountain” (1985)
Matthew Herbert – “Forest Montage” (2002)

08 [34:20]
Shoko Hikage – “Sakura Zukiyo” (2013)
Chuck Johnson – “Riga Black” (2017)

09 [41:50]
Yo La Tengo – “Shortwave” (2018)
Tod Dockstader – “Approach” (2005)
Gigi Masin – “Tharros” (1986)
Michael Brook with Brian Eno – “Pond Life” (1985)

10 [46:00]
Arvo Part – “Spiegel im Spiegel” (1976)
Robert Fripp & Brian Eno – “Wind on Water” (1975)
The Haxan Cloak – “The Mirror Reflecting (Part 1)” (2013)

[Total Time: 56:30]

You can download or stream it here: https://musicophilia.wordpress.com/2018/04/03/tribute-to-brian-eno-translucence/

Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline was the album we were spinning on repeat on the CD player in the hospital room when my wife was going through labor. I think we switched to it from Aerial by Kate Bush since while both were pretty chill SOTL was working better for her.

oh how i wish we hadn't gone with Sheer Hellish Miasma

Pretty satisfied with the poll results except for Day of Radiance in the Top 10. Essence/Universe would have been much more appropriate and is a better record. I think the whole Eno Ambient series notoriety pushed up higher than it needed to be.

Also Fennesz' Black Sea is way way better than Endless Summer, more "ambient", more cohesive, and looking at the results, three of us felt very highly about it. Shame it didn't place.

would have voted Harold Budd's Lovely Thunder up very high, for Gypsy Violin alone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myomvbgu99E

Bold didn't place.

Max Richter Sleep
Fennesz Black Sea
Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks
Global Communication Remotion: The Global Communication Remix Album
Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works Volume II
Biosphere Substrata
Stars of the Lid The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid
Laraaji Essence / Universe
Steve Roach Structures from Silence
Global Communication 76:14
Future Sound Of London, The Lifeforms
Susumu Yokota Sakura
Mountains Centralia
William Basinski The Disintegration Loops
Orb, The The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
Autechre NTS Session 4
Tangerine Dream Phaedra
KLF, The Chill Out
Oneohtrix Point Never Rifts
Fripp & Eno Evening Star
Brian Eno Ambient 4: On Land
Gas Narkopop
Brian Eno Music for Films
Manual Bajamar
Tim Hecker Harmony in Ultraviolet
Slowdive Pygmalion
Yagya Rigning
Brian Eno Ambient 1: Music for Airports
Suzanne Ciani Seven Waves
Gigi Masin Talk to the Sea
Laurie Spiegel The Expanding Universe
Jóhann Jóhannsson Fordlandia
Laraaji Ambient 3: Day of Radiance
Chapterhouse / Global Communication Blood Music: Pentamerous Metamorphosis
Ryuichi Sakamoto Async
Brian Eno Discreet Music
Gas Pop
Autechre Garbage
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith Tides
Woob Woob 1194
Fripp & Eno (No Pussyfooting)
Vangelis Soil Festivities
Jonas Munk Absorb / Fabric / Cascade
Vangelis & Dr. Stergios Tegos Microneurosurgery with Video Tapes
Higher Intelligence Agency / Biosphere Birmingham Frequencies
2814 新しい日の誕生
Ambiant Otaku Ambiant Otaku
Vladislav Delay Anima
Yagya Stars and Dust
Secede Tryshasla