Ambient Recommendations

I really love the Andrew Pekler album that was on Kranky a few years back. Very Harmonia-esque

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npZu883f6Qs

New collaboration between Mary Lattimore & Paul Sukeena. First 2 tunes great. https://threelobed.bandcamp.com/album/west-kensington

question about bandcamp - how do you guys play through non-pc speakers? I don't know why this is so mystifying to me as someone who isn't bad with tech - dumb that SONOS doesn't just function a a bluetooth speaker? am I missing something?

What are you playing from?

your computer can cast audio via bluetooth, or you can run a cable from the line out on your computer to an amp/receiver, specifics depend on what outputs your computer has and what inputs your amp/receiver has.

oh yeah forgot i have my mini amp.
xp could use either my phone or laptop to play - will go the phone route next time and keep bluetooth top of mind.

thanks and sincerely,
the 100 year old man who has taken over my body

if you have a Mac I have a cool, overly complicated way you could do it

i'm here for it (i do)

Some bandcamp link for (mostly) recent stuff Ive enjoyed.

https://buymusic.club/list/noplace_drone-npld-ddr-apr-220422-ambient-insurrections

i'm here for it (i do)

okay it does cost money

buy airfoil for $35 https://rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/mac/

use a second browser (say, if your main browser is Chrome, use Safari) just for bandcamp / soundcloud / whatever audio

have Airfoil send audio from that browser to Sonos, bluetooth, whatever you want

what's nice about this is just that you don't have to worry about other sounds from your browser getting sent to your stereo

Self-promotion mode activated, apologies in advance, my new rekkid came out today.

https://soundinsilencerecords.bandcamp.com/album/that-is-not-an-acceptable-lullaby

A few perennial favorites for me:

Steve Roach and Vidna Obmana, Spirit Dome

Oophoi, The Spirals of Time

Scott Lawlor and Rebekkah Hilgraves, Recollecting the Snow

Altus, Rapid Eye Movements

Cello & Laptop, Transient Accidents

Christoph Berg, Paraphrases

Rachel Grimes, The Clearing

The Seaman and the Tattered Sail, Light Folds

Streaming your album now, Maresn3st. Nice work, a bit reminiscent in places to the Berg album I mentioned (which is one of my favorites). I'll add it to my collection.

I was a young teen when Mount St Helens erupted. I lived out west, but not close enough to be affected by it directly. It was kind of surreal.

Thanks so much, Jimbeaux, I'll check out the Christoph Berg!

"buy airfoil for $35 https://rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/mac/

use a second browser (say, if your main browser is Chrome, use Safari) just for bandcamp / soundcloud / whatever audio

have Airfoil send audio from that browser to Sonos, bluetooth, whatever you want

what's nice about this is just that you don't have to worry about other sounds from your browser getting sent to your stereo

― brisk money (lukas), Thursday, May 19, 2022 7:18 PM (four weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink"

wait this is great. I'm going to look into it. thank you!

Another month's worth of ambient Bandcamp links here: https://buymusic.club/list/noplace_drone-npld-ddr-jun-150622-ambient-influencers

new Pontiac Streator via West Mineral --> https://westmineral.bandcamp.com/album/sone-glo-ouest088

It's good, but it's got a lot of beats. There seems to be a mini idm thing going on ATM.

like with the last huerco s., the idm beats are what keep me coming back. both have a bit of an early autechre feel.

it's funny, that's my least favorite type of ambient. i have a friend who worships Autechre and I have to bite my tongue around him constantly

Two of my favourite sources of ambient music are Low Light Mixes, a podcast that has been going for years:
http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/

Of late this mix in particular stands out:
http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2022/05/a-faint-resemblance-tapes-topographies.html

And Sleepbot, an internet radio station that has also been going for years, and has a big collection of old Fax Records records:
http://www.sleepbot.com/ambience/broadcast/

In glorious 22khz or something like that, but it's not a huge problem if you play it real quiet. I think the latter drew me to check out the Pop Ambient albums, of which this one stood out because it has two great tracks, one good track, no bad tracks:
https://www.discogs.com/master/123013-Various-Pop-Ambient-2003

In particular Markus Guenter's "Express Yourself", which is one of those "Bolero"-like tunes that builds and builds, but also Lendro Fresco's "Buenos Amigos", which goes nowhere for eight minutes but sounds fantastic as it does so:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgnDC6MPRPI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXZvlFKGS-Q

yeah, Low Light did that great “Resonant Spaces” mix a while ago that I truly loved, should check in there more often

the first three pop ambient comps are totally flawless

from this (+last?) year I’m enjoying these:

https://oscarson.bandcamp.com/album/blanket-swimming-in-flower-made-masses

https://homenormal.bandcamp.com/album/woven-songs

https://zakedrone.bandcamp.com/album/remembrance

https://pitp.bandcamp.com/album/dwell-time

yeah, Low Light did that great “Resonant Spaces” mix a while ago that I truly loved, should check in there more often

― broccoli rabe thomas (the table is the table)

lol, he even stole our title!

https://www.mixcloud.com/DublinDigitalRadio/no-place-like-drone-061217/

Seems like a fight I'm not interested in having, though thanks for bringing it to our attention!

Re lowlight mixes: I Fell Asleep at my Desk Making This Mix, Drowsy and Slow & Sleepy are some of my goto mixes for nighttime listening

Seems like a fight I'm not interested in having, though thanks for bringing it to our attention!

No fight here, just the first time Ive seen this and am somewhat surprised by the similarities.

_Seems like a fight I'm not interested in having, though thanks for bringing it to our attention!_

No fight here, just the first time Ive seen this and am somewhat surprised by the similarities.

We follow each other on twitter and have had some minor interactions. Im sure, at worst it was an unconscious error.

One thing I remember is that they did a Krautrock mix a while back, but iTunes wasn't happy with the name:
https://i.imgur.com/CTZypvY.jpg

Off the top of my head the favourite mix of all is "Mental Medication", for the opening track, which is a subtle piano piece that - like the two examples above - chunters on for ages, going nowhere, but it's mesmerising:
https://sonmi451.bandcamp.com/album/angel-ep

The podcast also introduced me to Grouper, who I had completely missed. The song was "She Loves Me That Way":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_shjVPzb6eY

Between the two of them they also rekindled my CD collection, because there's a clutch of ambient records from the 1990s that were only released on CD and aren't available on streaming platforms, besides which I wanted physical copies. Albeit that they're mostly compilations that I could assemble otherwise. A Storm of Drones, some stuff by Andrew Chalk, The Planet Sleeps, Lights in a Fat City - terrible name, unappealing concept (ambient didgeridoo, yuck), but the results are great - and Tom Heasley, who played ambient tuba and was part of Pauline Oliveros' Deep Listening project.

Actual physical CDs. I finally picked up a copy of Paul Schutze's Apart, years after seeing it in used record bins. It was part of Virgin's "Brief History of Ambient" series, which was also only released on CD, because it was the 1990s.

On a tangent there's a video game called NaissanceE that uses a lot of ambient music in the soundtrack, including some from Oliveros, and also Patricia Dallio, one of the members of a band called Art Zoyd, who I had never heard of. She has a Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52ack20OaO0

It's one of the few games that has a smell - dusty, processed, air conditioned air.

A Storm of Drones, some stuff by Andrew Chalk, The Planet Sleeps, Lights in a Fat City - terrible name, unappealing concept (ambient didgeridoo, yuck), but the results are great - and Tom Heasley, who played ambient tuba and was part of Pauline Oliveros' Deep Listening project.

yo shoutouts to all of these!

like with the last huerco s., the idm beats are what keep me coming back. both have a bit of an early autechre feel.

More of a seefeel type buzz with this lovely specimen.

https://billowobservatory.bandcamp.com/album/stareside

yeh this record rules

yeah that’s the ticket

Friend released these lovely, extremely lengthy homemade tape loops of meditative synth music. Really good, would probably like even if he wasn't a friend, but yeah, nice stuff.

https://butera.bandcamp.com/album/memorandum-cassettes-vol-1

i don't listen to much dark ambient but this album is very cool

https://civilistjavel.bandcamp.com/album/j-rnn-tter

Apologies for the self-promo, but on Thursday I did the first episode of what I'm planning as a weekly live show on Mixcloud. Not solely ambient (a bit of techno/IDM/jazz in there too) but a lot of deep moods that you may appreciate!
Archive is up here: https://www.mixcloud.com/wildambitions/wild-ambitions-episode-1-20-july-2022/

nice dude! sounds great.

Thoroughly enjoyed this, bamboohouses. Nice one.

Aah thanks so much for listening! Glad you enjoyed it.

yeah i definitely listened to the whole thing, real relaxing.

Bandcamp link for July's enticing ambient scents here:

https://buymusic.club/list/noplace_drone-npld-ddr-jul-130722-open-your-third-nostril

Friend gifted me the new David Cordero, _And Stillness Came_: https://polarseasrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/and-stillness-came I hadn't heard of him before. Lovely ebb & flow washes, which led me to his catalog. Found 2012's _Emma_ and 2011's _0_ equally calming/meditative/pacific, so will be doing some additional purchases.

At least with a few recent finds, the artist and their label(sO can get intermingled, so not all the artist's releases are seen under their individual Bandcamp "music" tab. Makes for some good additional listening discoveries.

label(s)

Inoyama Land - Commissions 1977-2000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7crn4lVhwM

some of the most beautiful ambient stuff I've ever heard. at least for those of us who used to play Game Boy under the covers. they have an album called Danzindan-Pojidon which is fairly popular but I like this more.

yeah, i picked that one up on a whim i while back and have thoroughly enjoyed it. i haven't listened to Danzindan-Pojidon, I gotta check that out!

the clear vinyl makes it an absolutely gorgeous object. I don't wanna come off pretentious about this but I feel like clear vinyl should be reserved for albums which have a purity of soul to them. I love that Computer World is on clear (at least the version I have) but really don't like when rock bands do it for some reason. anyway it's perfect for this.

The B side of medi-music (sleep relaxation) is pure bliss.

https://www.discogs.com/release/12648761-Inoyama-Land-Medi-Music-Series-Self-Control-Music-%E4%B8%8D%E7%9C%A0-Sleep-Relaxation