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

Higher Intelligence Agency / Biosphere Birmingham Frequencies

...

For those who are interested, check the bolded albums in the top 25 or so of my ballot above for some missed classics.

- octobeard

Hey someone voted for one of my noms, fist bump. I've randomly selected your Fennesz pick as one to check out, anything else in particular you'd recommend for one drawn more to the "trancebient" or industrial-lite extremes of the ambient plane rather than endless Eno?

...And another thing. Last post I swear, but speaking of trance:

I would absolutely take a playlist/recommendation list for the more beat driven/trance stuff of the early-mid 90s as I'm largely ignorant of it - partly down to aesthetics (which I'm working on) but like I say, mostly it's a case of not knowing where to start.

― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski),

Disc 3 of Sasha & Digweed's first Renaissance Mix is a good starting point, although likely widely reviled here. There's also that legendary Oakenfold Goa set but the only version I've found has a persistent buzz in the right channel.

For fun, I made a top 100 list based on the poll results... this is the top 100 *artists* by total points. Any collaborations were scored by giving each artist involved the same amount of points the album received, and I combined solo artists performing under different names (Namlook, Tetsu Inoue, Dirk Serries/Vidna Obmana, Vangelis, etc). I might have missed a few but I'm pretty sure it won't affect the top 100:

1.  Brian Eno                      7202
2.  Gas                            1844
3.  Stars of the Lid               1779
4.  Harold Budd                    1746
5.  Aphex Twin                     1745
6.  Daniel Lanois                  1541
7.  Biosphere                      1360
8.  Steve Roach                    1223
9.  Global Communication           1036
10. Tangerine Dream                 947
11. Laraaji                         820
12. Stuart Dempster                 779
13. Tim Hecker                      744
14. Orb, The                        731
15. Robert Fripp                    717
16. Roger Eno                       711
17. Autechre                        692
18. William Basinski                688
19. Vangelis                        669
20. Fennesz                         666
21. Oneohtrix Point Never           657
22. Windy & Carl                    653
23. KLF, The                        614
24. Hiroshi Yoshimura               611
25. Colleen                         606
26. Zoviet France                   576
27. Loscil                          564
28. Ryuichi Sakamoto                543
29. Manuel Göttsching               532
30. Pauline Oliveros                515
31. Lustmord                        514
32. Caretaker, The                  499
33. Alio Die                        496
34. Eluvium                         478
35. Arthur Russell                  459
36. Laurie Spiegel                  456
37. Éliane Radigue                  438
38. Tetsu Inoue                     415
39. Jon Hassell                     411
40. Future Sound Of London          406
41. Keith Fullerton Whitman         400
42. Bohren and Der Club of Gore     395
43. Thomas Köner                    391
44. Vladislav Delay                 388
45. David Hykes & Harmonic Choir    386
46. Earth                           378
47. Gigi Masin                      369
48. Susumu Yokota                   362
49. Labradford                      361
50. Harmonia                        360
51. Miles Davis                     343
52. La Monte Young                  340
53. Marian Zazeela                  340
54. Raison d'être                   340
55. Andrew Chalk                    339
56. Robert Rich                     337
57. Slowdive                        332
58. Winged Victory for the Sullen   327
59. Dead Texan, The                 326
60. Iasos                           294
61. n/a                             293
62. Nurse with Wound                287
63. DeepChord                       286
64. Chapterhouse                    285
65. Max Richter                     283
66. Michael Stearns                 281
67. Alva Noto                       275
68. Oval                            273
69. Boris                           267
70. Hammock                         266
71. David Sylvia                    265
72. Holger Czukay                   265
73. Constance Demby                 250
74. Oren Ambarchi                   248
75. Popol Vuh                       247
76. Syntonic Research Inc.          247
77. Mountains                       241
78. Kyle Bobby Dunn                 240
79. Meg Bowles                      238
80. Deathprod                       236
81. Terekke                         236
82. Pete Namlook                    235
83. Raymond Scott                   234
84. Charlemagne Palestine           233
85. Spacemen 3                      231
86. Ian William Craig               230
87. Marsen Jules                    230
88. David Behrman                   223
89. Woob                            219
90. Henry Flynt                     218
91. Justin Bieber                   217
92. Sunn O)))                       217
93. Michael Brook                   214
94. Robert Turman                   211
95. DJ Olive                        207
96. Tod Dockstader                  207
97. Richard Skelton                 205
98. 2814                            202
99. Ekkehard Ehlers                 201
100. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith          201

Various Artists - Pop Ambient 2002

- brimstead

Haha this is apparently the only one of the Pop Ambient comps I don't have. Recent years have seen the quality slipping imo. Or just treading water really.

Tuomas, thanks so much for running this poll. This was awesome and you are awesome.

I had a split ballot.

WEIGHTED

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume II
Pauline Oliveros / Stuart Dempster / Panaiotis - Deep Listening
Brian Eno - Ambient 4: On Land
David Hykes & The Harmonic Choir - Hearing Solar Winds
Harold Budd - The White Arcades
Steve Roach - Quiet Music: The Original 3-Hour Collection
Michael Stearns - Encounter (A Journey in the Key of Space)
Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno - Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks
Pulse Emitter - Xenharmonic Passages
Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music For Airports
Steve Roach - Structures From Silence
Don Slepian - Sea of Bliss
Harold Budd / Brian Eno - Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror
Chubby Wolf - Ornitheology
David Casper with Scott Cossu, Jami Sieber & T'ao Chu-Shen - Crystal Waves
Iasos - Inter-Dimensional Music
Vangelis - Invisible Connections
Tangerine Dream - Zeit
Lustmørd - Heresy
Ingram Marshall - Fog Tropes / Gradual Requiem
Antrilon - Mind Erase
Sarah Davachi - Qualities of Bodies Permanent

UNWEIGHTED

Les Halles - Transient
Norman Westberg - 13
X.Y.R. - Reflections
Leandro Fresco & Rafael Anton Irissari - La Equidistancia
Christopher Willits - Horizon
Loscil - Sea Island
Star Turbine - The Sleeping Land
Head Phone Over Tone - Solar Sails
SleepResearchFacility - Deep Frieze
Marsen Jules - Beautyfear
Brian Eno / Peter Chilvers - Reflection
Jeremy Bible - Music for Black Holes
Tod Dockstader - Aerial #1
Tom Heasley - Where the Earth Meets the Sky
Biosphere - Shenzhou
Seconds in Formaldehyde - Suchness #3
Windy & Carl - Antarctica (The Bliss Out, Vol. 2)
Jonas Munk - Absorb/Fabric/Cascade
Thom Brennan - Mountains
Global Communication - 76:14
Harold Budd - Lovely Thunder
M. Geddes Gengras - Hawaiki Tapes
Kyle Bobby Dunn - Bring Me the Head of Kyle Bobby Dunn
Pulse Emitter - Planetary Scale Synth Hypnosis
Greg Davis - Mutually Arising
Warmth - Essay
Deep Magic / Pine Smoke Lodge - Split
Thomas Köner - Permafrost

12 - Don Slepian - Sea of Bliss

right on

can anyone tell me what 5,4,3 were? page won't load for me - too many youtubes.

#5 Gas - Pop, 13 votes, 1 #1 votes, 771 points
#4 Stars of the Lid - The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid, 12 votes, 1 #1 votes, 795 points
#3 Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music for Airports, 18 votes, 1 #1 votes, 1119 points

I wish I loved Gas as much as everyone else does. On paper it should be the ideal thing for me, it just ends up feeling like treading water. I'm going to keep listening though, in hopes of a gradual breakthrough.

XP thanks lukas!

Thanks for organising! My weighted ballot is...

Arthur Russell - World of Echo
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Manuel Göttsching - E2–E4
Jon Hassell / Brian Eno - Fourth World Vol. 1: Possible Musics
Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
Brian Eno - Ambient 4: On Land
Colleen - Captain of None
Various Artists - Mono No Aware
Jon Keliehor - The Beginning of Time
Iona Fortune - Tao of I
Harmonia & Eno '76 - Tracks and Traces
Hiroshi Yoshimura - Green
Pendant - Make Me Know You Sweet
Hiroshi Yoshimura - Music for Nine Post Cards
Happy Meals - Full Ashram Devotional Ceremony (Volumes IV - VI)
Cucina Povera - Hilja
X.Y.R. - El Dorado
Penelope Trappes - Penelope One
Various Artists - Bblisss
Colleen - A Flame My Love, a Frequency
Cucina Povera - Zoom
Huerco S. - Untitled

page won't load for me - too many youtubes.

― massaman gai (front tea for two), Wednesday, 3 July 2019 05:23

pro tip for this kind of thread: go into Preferences and untick the "show images" box for a bit

As it appears I was the only one to vote for it, can I heartily recommend last year's The Fifty Eleven Project by Kasper Bjorke Quartet

https://www.theransomnote.com/music/track-by-track/track-by-track-kasper-bjrke-quartet-the-fifty-eleven-project/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO7Ui7cZMVs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0soJe31PdQ

So much good music to explore. I've tried the Hykes Solar Winds album a number of times over the years but it's never really 'caught'. A bit of context works wonders for me and reading about the cistern chapel suddenly opened everything up. Wow.

Thanks again for the poll, Tuomas.

And cheers for the trance recommendations, viborg!

The Ian William Craig record is really gorgeous and is making me weep tbh, thanks to those who placed it on their ballots.

https://www.amazon.com/DNA-Repair-528-Brian-Baxter/dp/B001MS7IQI

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19 people found this helpful

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Format: Audio CD Verified Purchase

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Format: Audio CDVerified Purchase

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3 people found this helpful

One thing I've taken from this poll is a newfound appreciation for Music For Airports. I've enjoyed Eno's other ambient albums but MFA always just sounded a bit dull to me. With this type of music there is of course a fine line between something being deep/immersive and just plain boring and I felt that it was on the wrong side of that. I gave it another chance after the poll results and for some reason now I get it, so that's good

It seems like ambient's become quite a lot more popular over the last few years. I'm wondering if that's because people are more stressed than they used to be or is it just the way that trends in music work (or a bit of both). I certainly use it for self-care when I'm not feeling great.

I'd say it's the opposite? People work less and less, more time for relaxation, slower lifestyles etc. Spas, wellness, yoga, all booming. Ambient is the soundtrack to that.

People work less and less

uh this is patently false in most of the world

if there's any driver here it's "stress" about the end of the world actually happening in front of our eyes

https://ourworldindata.org/working-hours#the-decline-of-working-hours-per-year-after-the-industrial-revolution
(and this is just for workers, add to that aging populations with more and more retirees)

n 1980, the average worker clocked in 38.1 hours per week, which isn't that much below today's weekly average. However, back then, the typical worker only put in 43 weeks of work over the course of a year for an annual total of 1,638.3 hours. In other words, we're now spending roughly an extra 173 hours per year at our jobs in one way, shape, or form.

And that number doesn't even tell the whole story. Because an estimated 40% of U.S. employees regularly work more than 50 hours per week, and 20% work more than 60 hours per week, there are plenty of folks out there who might easily come close to hitting the 3,000-hour mark year after year (keeping in mind that these are the same people who are likely to forgo vacation time to meet deadlines and stay ahead of work-related obligations). And that could spell trouble not just for their physical health, but their productivity.

https://www.fool.com/careers/2017/12/17/heres-how-many-hours-the-average-american-works-pe.aspx

Siegbran and his Refinement of the Decline (of Working Hours)

Stuck In Traffic? You're Not Alone. New Data Show American Commute Times Are Longer

I don't know, but the combination of (more free time to enjoy long-form art) + (rise of relaxation/mindfulness/yoga) + (more old people who like slower music) looks like a perfect storm for ambient music to me.

oh I totally agree! I just think your perspective is a bit Euro-centric here and doesn't seem to match the actual data

also, stress :)

it’s cause people don’t listen to music anymore, they just put it on

just kidding

hence all the “is this ambient” talk. maybe it doesn’t matter if it’s all ambient now anyway

Personally I'd say that ambient music has more in common with self-care tools like ASMR or guided mindfulness exercises than other types of music in terms of how I use it to relax and/or deal with stress. It's mainly functional music for me.

I went to see O Yuki Conjugate and Zoviet France recently and it was like some kind of group relaxation session. It made me feel more like I was listening to ASMR than on a night out.

wow that's an amazing double bill!

I reckon it's more that the web just facilitates bringing affinity groups together. I certainly don't see any day to day evidence of more people listening to ambient music, but my internet interactions might lead me to think that way. Dunno.

I remember first getting into Richard Skelton back in 2010 and buying one of the 200-limited runs he produced (with pine cones and little bits of moor detritus included) and realising I legitimately knew in real life 10 people who owned one and internet-knew another 25. I could have been forgiven for thinking everyone was listening to Skelbo.

Loving that Caretaker album. Not sure how I'd not come across it before.

Reminds me a lot of playing Bioshock

I was always underwhelmed by anything Aphex Twin

One for the musical controp thread.

For maximum impact, that is.

SAWs I and II, and Polygon Window are nice... the rest, meh. Not my thing. SAW I though, so pretty. SAW II is just weird, it's like a book of ambient paint swatches. Good weird though, I like it a lot too.

i do think the resurgence of ambient/new age has something to do with changing lifestyles, but at least in the US, it doesn't have to do with working fewer hours. if you click that link siegbran posted above with the weekly work hours data and then manually add the united states, we here in the greatest country on earth are going in the opposite direction of europe, with more and more weekly work hours since the 1960s.

however, i do think work has something to do with it. at work, i listen to almost exclusively instrumental music, much of it "ambient". when i'm on the bus or train to and from work and i'm able to get a seat, i listen to ambient while i read. ambient is my work and reading music, and it's easier than ever these days to do make that happen via streaming. maybe more and more people are catching on to that? beats me.

but obviously there's more going on to the resurgence than just work. part of it is probably just the cyclical nature of taste

Ambient is great for office work, it rewards inattention, the hours accommodate listening to long-form works, and bonus: sometimes people come to your office and don't realize there's music playing but get disturbed by the "weird noises" and leave you alone.

interesting how it ends up being a class thing

working retail I just had to hear Coldplay and the National over and over

you guys, it's the "self care" epidemic amongst people who have time to even pencil in a yoga class between hustles.

or is the "sound bath" an older phenomenon than I'm aware of?

new age as a genre has had the self-care element since the 70s, although they didn't call it that then

xp it's really a shame how thoughtless the sound design is in most public / commercial spaces

true.

in all seriousness though, yoga with no music is the best yoga.

xp it's really a shame how thoughtless the sound design is in most public / commercial spaces

i completely agree. the urbanized world sounds like shit

i feel really fortunate that i get to pick my own music at work. it's one of the only reasons that keeps me at this otherwise nauseating job. unfortunately, though, putting on ambient would mean i wouldn't hear 98% of what was playing (kitchens are loud) and it would also be sort of unacceptable / not super morale boosting. i think that partly explains why i have a lot more to say here about the stooges and ac/dc and not so much harold budd

consider open headphones or ear clips?

similar situation here. A delicate balance.

i mean you just cannot be a line cook and wear headphones